From Leader To Mole Man! Tim Blake Nelson To Join THE FANTASTIC FOUR

His future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe may be on hold, but that won’t stop Tim Blake Nelson from taking his rightful place as a super villain. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Nelson is in final talks to play Harvey Elder, an “eccentric and socially awkward scientist,” in The Fantastic Four. Elder is better known in the comics as the Mole Man,  a intelligent super villain who is the leader of the subterranean Moloids.

THR states that Nelson won’t become the Mole Man in the film, but Elder’s appearance “does set up the character to be the villain in future installments of the franchise.” If cast, Elder would be the second Fantastic Four villain to appear, the other being the primary antagonist Doctor Doom, played by Toby Kebbell.

Nelson’s no stranger to comic book movie roles. He previously appeared in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk as Dr. Samuel Sterns, a university professor who tries to help Bruce Banner create a cure for his “condition” (a.k.a. turning big and green and smashing things to pieces). In the comics, Sterns is known as The Leader, whose was also exposed to gamma radiation, but acquired super intelligence. The last we saw of Sterns, it looked like Marvel was setting him up for his future “Leadership” when some of Banner’s blood dripped into his head wound. Alas, with Marvel Studios’ mandate of only putting Hulk in team-up movies, it’s unlikely we’ll see The Leader anytime zoo in the MCU, if ever.

Nelson is the first actor announced for this film that has me excited. I’m sure these other actors are good, but the problem is that I either haven’t seen them before or nothing about their performances was especially unique to me. Nelson, on the other hand, has a great body of work. From O Brother, Where Art Thou to Lincoln, this guy is talented. If there’s one reason to root for The Fantastic Four (and at this moment there are few of those), it’s to see Nelson eventually put on the visor and become the Mole Man. Fox better not pull the same stunt Marvel Studios did and not follow up on that.

Plus, we finally have someone in this movie older than 35. I get that this movie is based off Ultimate Fantastic Four, but there’s quite the excess of young’uns in the story.

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter