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Earlier this year, we learned that 20th Century Fox and Josh Trank had found the leads for the new ‘Fantastic Four’ in the forms of Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell. Since that news got out, things have been mostly quiet on the FF front, but now some new information says that we may have found another villain that these heroes will have to deal with in addition to Toby Kebbell’s Doctor Doom.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tim Blake Nelson is in final negotiations to play Harvey Elder, an “eccentric and socially awkward scientist”.

Fans of Marvel’s First Family may recognize that name as the secret identity of Mole Man, who retreats from the surface world to live in the catacombs of the city and become the leader of the subterranean group known as Moloids. The report indicates that we won’t see Elder’s villainous alter ego in the film, but rather he’ll be set up to the big bad in a future installment of the franchise.

The eclectic actor has appeared in a number of memorable roles in such films as ‘Holes’, ‘Lincoln’, and ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’, but he’s no stranger to playing an off-putting scientist in a Marvel movie. Previously, Nelson played Samuel Sterns in ‘The Incredible Hulk’ opposite Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner. Similar to his role in ‘Fantastic Four’, he was being built up as a villain for a sequel, but the next time we’d see the Hulk on the big screen, it would be assembling with the Avengers, which didn’t offer much opportunity to see Sterns evolve into the Leader. Hopefully, he’ll get his chance to reprise his role as Elder in another Fantastic Four movie so that he’ll finally get to be a supervillain after all these years.

What do you think of Tim Blake Nelson joining the cast of ‘Fantastic Four’? Are you looking forward to seeing Mole Man take on Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.