MOLE MONK
Earth-8101
Real Name: Harvey Elder
Identity/Class: Alternate Earth (Earth-8101) primate
Occupation: Terrorist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Doctor Ooktopus (Otto Ooktavius), L-ook-i Laufeyson
Enemies: Ape-Vengers ("Captain America"/Brian Falsworth, Captain America/Steven Rogers, Hawkape, Iron Mandrill)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Monkhattan
First Appearance: mentioned: Marvel Apes I#3 (December, 2008); seen: The Spectacular Spider-Men I#6/2 (October, 2024)
Powers/Abilities: Mole Monk possesses no superhuman powers but has heightened senses of hearing, smell, and touch that compensate for his nearly total blindness. A skilled engineer and geologist, he is a master of subterranean architecture and weaponry, capable of designing vast underground complexes and advanced devices. He commands numerous monstrous creatures from Subterranea.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 4'4")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 210 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: None, just brown fur
History:
(Marvel Apes I#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Mole Monk battled the Ape-Vengers, whose ranks at the time included Baron Blood (Brian Falsworth), masquerading as the team's leader, Captain America.
(The Spectacular Spider-Men I#6/2 (fb)) - Banded together with Doctor Ooktopus and L-ook-i, Mole Monk fought the Ape-Vengers in the streets of Monkhattan. During the fight Mole Mank stood on top of a large monster while facing the Iron Mandrill when Captain America expressed they needed the Invisible Simian's help to stop the villains. Mole Monk and the others were unaware they were being watched by Atleza Langunn, guardian of the Infinity Abyss who oversaw her subset of the multiverse.
Comments: Created by Greg Weisman, Humberto Ramos, and Victor Olazaba.
The Marvel Apes limited series (2008) was conceived as a playful companion to the earlier Marvel Zombies phenomenon. Following the unexpected commercial success of Zombies, Marvel looked to replicate the formula by reimagining its superheroes in another offbeat, high-concept alternate reality. Writer Karl Kesel, inspired by Silver Age whimsy and the classic "What If?" tradition, pitched a world where Marvel's heroes and villains were evolved primates rather than humans. The project was greenlit as a four-issue miniseries, launching with a tongue-in-cheek promotional campaign that leaned into its absurdity while still delivering a surprisingly dark, satirical storyline. The series spawned several tie-ins and one-shots, positioning the Ape-Verse as both a parody of and homage to Marvel's multiverse storytelling.
Both Marvel Apes I#2 (December, 2008) and Marvel Apes I#3 (December, 2008) included a Bonobo-Pen Bulletin letter page that established that several Marvel Apes variant covers at the time were part of their reality with fun little solicitations of those issues. This information will be included in the Marvel Apes profiles on the Marvel Appendix.
Earth-8101 is the main Marvel Apes reality, but there are three others as well:
- Earth-81218, possible future of Earth-8101 set in the year 2099.
- Earth-90543, monkey Speedball was send back to his world and branded a traitor by the Ape-Vengers. This was a bad dream of the Gibbon.
- Earth-95019, diverged from 8101 when zombies invaded their world. The reset button was eventually pushed on the original Earth-8101, preventing the divergence.
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mole Monk has no known connections to
Images: (without ads)
The Spectacular Spider-Men I#6, p25, pan3 (main image)
Appearances:
Marvel Apes I#3 (December, 2008) - Karl Kesel (writer), Ramon Bachs (pencils, inks), Stephan Wacker, Tom Brennan (editors)
The Spectacular Spider-Men I#6/2 (October, 2024) - Greg Weisman (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba, Humberto Ramos (inks), Nick Lowe, Kaeden McGahey (editors)
First Posted: 08/29/2025
Last Updated: 08/29/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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