History Main / MoleMen

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

* Robert Barbour Johnson's short story "Far Below" revolves around a secret police squad that guards the New York subway tunnels against attacks from creatures described as giant, carnivorous moles that have evolved into a humanoid form.

* One of the earliest and most famous examples of a civilization of subterranean humanoids are the cannibalistic Morlocks of ''Literature/TheTimeMachine''.

* ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'': Mole Man is a thief who hangs around the protagonists. As a mole person he is skilled in digging.

* The [[Comicbook/FantasticFour Fantastic Four's]] nemesis, The Mole Man, of course! Well, okay, he himself is a disfigured old man (born circa 1904!) who lords over the subterranean Moloids and a select group of giant monsters. There are also various other underground races and societies, including the Lava Men ruled by Grotesk and the Deviants.
* [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]] has encountered several variations of this trope, the most atypical (but iconic) of which are the Terries and Fermies from ''Land Beneath the Ground''.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: In "The Adventure of the Mole Men" Diana and the Holliday Girls deal with a group of Mole Men who have taken to abducting people using sink holes. The Mole Men have odd noses, stooped backs and eyes adjusted to dark but are not wholly different from humans.

* ''Film/SupermanAndTheMoleMen'' was a '50s film that served as the basis for the TV series. It was later chopped into three episodes for air during the series. The world's deepest well invades the home of a group of mole men who come to the surface and scare everyone with their glowing orbs and really big RayGun.
* In the Italian SwordAndSandal adventure movie ''Film/{{Maciste}}, the Strongest Man in the World'' (released in English as ''Mole Men Against [[DolledUpInstallment The Son of Hercules]]''), the title character is captured by a civilization of evil, [[AlbinosAreFreaks albinistic]] underground people and their [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen mad queen]].

* Referenced for a brief gag in Stephen Colbert's ''[[Literature/IAmAmericaAndSoCanYou America Again]]''. Colbert is busy explaining why alternative energy sources aren't good and on the topic of geothermal energy, he points out "Aren't the Mole People going to notice a sudden drop in their water pressure?" (A photo off to the side shows a Mole Person showering, with the caption reading "Gaaah! Who flushed the toilet?!")

* The deros, from the writings and [[ConspiracyTheory conspiracy theories]] of Creator/RichardSharpeShaver, are a diabolical civilization of mole men who have had a hand in just about every major catastrophe in human history.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E2TheHappinessPatrol "The Happiness Patrol"]], the Pipe People are the original inhabitants of Terra Alpha who, following colonization, have retreated into the complex of pipes that run throughout the city.

* ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' has the Mumblers/Clawfingers, who appear in the Sewers leading to the Amusement Park and replace the Grey Children (which they are functionally identical to, except they have more health and hit harder) in the Alley, School and Amusement Park in the European and Japanese versions of the game.

* The Lonesome Road DLC of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has the Tunnelers, reptillian mutants that lurk underground and are encountered in caverns. The first time you see one, you see it killing a [[DemonicSpiders Deathclaw]].
** Before that, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'''s ''The Pitt'' DLC had the Trogs, skinless ape-like mutants that reside in the underground areas and dark corners of the titular city.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 76}}'' has a race of humans with mole rat traits called "mole miners", who inhabit various caves and abandoned mines scattered around Appalachia. They seem to have been former human miners who sought shelter in the depths of the mines, only to be mutated into creatures similar to the giant mole rats by the [[MutagenicGoo Forced Evolutionary Virus]], radiation, or the Scourge plague. They wear the tattered remnants of breathing masks and heaped masses of old rags, and are much stronger than humans, carrying shotguns and grenade launchers as one-handed weapons.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' and its [[VideoGame/GuildWars2 sequel]] has the Dredge, who resemble anthropomorphic moles. Ever since they wrested their freedom away from the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Stone Summit]] [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves]], they established a highly xenophobic society that closely resembles [[DirtyCommunist Communism]]. Because they're blind (or close to it), most of the technology they've developed is sound-based.

* ''{{VideoGame/Rimworld}}'' has Mole men as of their Biotech expansion. The Dirtmole race are nearsighted and hate seeing sunlight, but aren't affected by darkness penalties, are great miners, great at melee, and have fast healing.
* ''Franchise/SamAndMax'' have several mole people. Of note are Shuv-Oohl from ''Hit the Road'', Harry from the new Telltale seasons, and the immense group of mole people who regulate the planet's temperature in the Animated Series.

* ''{{VideoGame/Vanish}}'' has these as antagonists.

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': There's a society of mole men living in [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/091228 The Valley That Time Forgot Lost In The Center Of The Earth,]] which which they share with mole-man eating dinosaurs. The "center of the earth" thing is just a name, though (it's actually a few hundred miles from the earth's core), as is the "valley" part (it's technically a cavern), but mole men who suggest that the world doesn't spin around them get fed to the dinosaurs.

* Kayaba of ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'' hallucinated the existence of mole men during his sleep-deprived state. It's one of the many aspects of his insanity he invokes when explaining [[spoiler:why he thought it would be a good idea to trap everyone in the game to cover a fatal GameBreakingBug he accidentally introduced.]]

* In an episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/Arthur}}'', [[ConspiracyTheorist Buster's]] pet theory about a lost library book is that it was stolen by "Giant Mutant Mole People". A CutawayGag implies that while they do exist in this world, they didn't steal it. (''Arthur'' being a WorldOfFunnyAnimals, they were literal humanoid moles.)

* Vulkanus has an army of alien mole men minions in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Terror of the Terra-Firmians!", the ducks watch a horror movie about fictional mole monsters that are capable of disguising themselves as people, and Launchpad spends the rest of the episode worrying that one of his friends is a mole monster in disguise.
* The Mole People in the eponymous episode of ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'', although they are just regular people (despite being photophobic) who live underground and are unfairly blamed for tremors that are caused by ghost activity due to FantasticRacism. Their princess even becomes a LoveInterest of Eduardo. Probably based on the RealLife [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_people urban legend.]]
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' mentioned the blind Mole Men of Subterra 6 as having destroyed the planet Cyclopia in envy of their eyes. However, the story was a lie, so it's not clear if there actually is a Subterra 6 inhabited by mole people in the ''Futurama'' universe.

* Jay Ward's ''WesternAnimation/HoppityHooper'' has the "Diamond Mine" episodes, featuring mole people who bump into each other and fall down so much they've evolved springs in their tails to bounce back up again.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has Hans Moleman, who looks like a mole, and has at least once been portrayed as the King of the Mole People. He even has an EarthquakeMachine.

* A few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'' had molemen, who were docile humanoid moles (complete with snuffling, "dig dig dig, burrow burrow burrow" chatter), spurred on to be mooks by Mole Master, himself a mole man but with nicer clothing.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'' has a four-part adventure thwarting an invasion by the Mole Men. These are moles that walk upright, and mostly scowl. They're led by a greedy king whose principal weapon is the mole-hole gun. It fires a slow-moving, fast-spinning cylinder that can bore a three-inch hole in almost anything.

* [[http://www.rpc-wiki.net/rpc-037 RPC-037]] are [[DirtyCommunists communist]] molemen with SovietSuperscience [[EarthquakeMachine earthquake machines]]. [[spoiler:Fortunately for the surface world, [[BluffingTheAdvanceScout they're incredibly gullible]]]].

* ''Film/TheMolePeople'' from 1956 is arguably the TropeNamer. It appeared in ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. The mole men in that movie were somehow created through "forced degeneration" (presumably some kind of breeding program) to act as slaves for a lost human civilization living underground.

* The Underminer in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', though he's clearly just a nutjob supervillain in a costume, not a member of an actual species.

* Ground Dragon, a very minor villain from ''Manga/OnePunchMan'', most famous for the memetic face Saitama made right before killing him. More mole than man, however, mostly looking like a giant, talking mole with tattooed kanji. Earlier there was the Subterranians, who got to show up in Saitama's dreams (where they put up a glorious fight Saitama could finally enjoy), then in reality (where they lasted [[OneHitKill about as long as everyone else Saitama's fought]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' has the Mole People, led by Mole King. The Mole Men are whiny subterranean people who come to the surface world on vacation. Once there, they encounter The Tick who becomes their tour guide and protector. The Mole King promptly falls in love with supermodel Mindy Moleford and pursues her despite the intervention of Paul the Publicist.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtomicPuppet'' features them as the main villains in the episode [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Mole Men"]]. They're primarily interested in partying, albeit at the expense of Mega City's citizens.

* Jay Ward's ''WesternAnimation/HoppityHooper'' has the "Diamond Mine" episodes, featuring mole people who bump into each other and fall down so much they've evolved springs in their tails to bounce back up again.
* In ''WesternAnimation/NedsNewt'', there is an entire civilization of "trolls" (pretty much Mole Men under a different name) who often plot to overthrow humanity.
* One of the villains from ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' is actually known as the Mole King. They were introduced stealing from the surface, one thing they stole being leather biker gear they wore for the rest of the series. Their king was [[CampStraight very flamboyant]] and his people were apparently all men, their getup resembling BDSM gear.
* WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck's foe Moliarity and his henchmen. Bonus points for being actual moles.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', sweeper-train driver Vogel insists there are mole men in New York's subways. And when he first spots Transformers:
-->'''Vogel:''' ''Metal'' mole men!
* Vulkanus has an army of alien mole men minions in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' mentioned the blind Mole Men of Subterra 6 as having destroyed the planet Cyclopia in envy of their eyes. However, the story was a lie, so it's not clear if there actually is a Subterra 6 inhabited by mole people in the ''Futurama'' universe.
* In an episode of {{WesternAnimation/Arthur}}, [[ConspiracyTheorist Buster's]] pet theory about a lost library book is that it was stolen by "Giant Mutant Mole People". A CutawayGag implies that while they do exist in this world, they didn't steal it. (''Arthur'' being a WorldOfFunnyAnimals, they were literal humanoid moles.)
* A few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'' had molemen, who were docile humanoid moles (complete with snuffling, "dig dig dig, burrow burrow burrow" chatter), spurred on to be mooks by Mole Master, himself a mole man but with nicer clothing.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Terror of the Terra-Firmians!", the ducks watch a horror movie about fictional mole monsters that are capable of disguising themselves as people, and Launchpad spends the rest of the episode worrying that one of his friends is a mole monster in disguise.
* The Mole People in the eponymous episode of ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'', although they are just regular people (despite being photophobic) who live underground and are unfairly blamed for tremors that are caused by ghost activity due to FantasticRacism. Their princess even becomes a LoveInterest of Eduardo. Probably based on the RealLife [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_people urban legend.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'' has the Mole People, including their queen. She first debuted when the barbarians were trying to clear up Princess Candy's debt, realizing that she, along with Dark Lord Chuckles, were facing the same problem.

* [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]] has encountered several variations of this trope, the most atypical (but iconic) of which are the Terries and Fermies from ''Land Beneath the Ground''.

** ''Hercules the Invincible'', which is essentially a cheaper and generally worse remake of the above ''Maciste'' movie, also features a subterranean tribe called the Demulus, and their [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen own mad queen]]. It, too, was repackaged for American TV as part of the ''Sons of Hercules'' series, in this case under the title ''Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness''.

* In the Literature/BranMakMorn story "Worms of the Earth", the titular hero makes a [[DealWithTheDevil dangerous deal]] with a race of subterranean humanoids in order to breach the walls of a Roman fortress and take revenge on a cruel governor.

* The deros, from the writings and [[ConspiracyTheory conspiracy theories]] of Creator/RichardSharpeShaver, are a diabolical civilization of mole men who have had a hand in just about every major catastrophe in human history.

* ''TabletopGame/HollowEarthExpedition'': Molemen are one of the various species of HalfHumanHybrid Beastmen that inhabit in the Hollow Earth. They spend most time underground and some of their tunnels reach all the way to the sewers of several surface world cities.

* ''Franchise/SamAndMax'' have several mole people. Of note are Shuv-Oohl from ''Hit the Road'', Harry from the new Telltale seasons, and the immense group of mole people who regulate the planet's temperature in the Animated Series.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' has the Mogma, a race of friendly mole-like people who live in the [[LethalLavaLand Eldin region]].
* ''Franchise/BreathOfFire'': [[http://images.wikia.com/bof/images/b/b2/MoguBF1.jpg Mogu]] and [[http://bof.wikia.com/wiki/Dirt-Eating_Clan the clan he is from.]]

* ''VideoGame/BloodyRoar'' has Bakuryu and Kohryu, who can turn into a human-sized mole and a human-sized ''robot'' mole respectively.

* ''VideoGame/{{Transarctica}}'': Mole men appear as a savage tribal people inhabiting abandoned subway tunnels in the new Ice Age. They will ambush you if you try to drive your train through their territory, but if nothing else they're a convenient source of [[MadeASlave new slaves]] to mine coal for your train.
* ''VideoGame/DontStarve'''s resident [[PigMan Pig Men]] have an underground variant of bunny people.
* ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' has the Mumblers/Clawfingers, who appear in the Sewers leading to the Amusement Park and replace the Grey Children (which they are functionally identical to, except they have more health and hit harder) in the Alley, School and Amusement Park in the European and Japanese versions of the game.
* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' has anthropomorphic moles as a recurring malign presence in the Cave levels. They dress like coal miners, ride mine carts and even steam engines across subterranean train tracks, and go out of their way to give Donkey Kong a hard time.
* ''VideoGame/BountyOfOne'' has the Mole Men enemies, which can dig underground to avoid attacks at far range and pop up to throw dynamite that explodes an area after a few seconds. Their [[BossBattle Sheriff]] Crazy Denzel takes their dynamite-throwing ability [[GrenadeSpam to the extreme]], even tossing out dynamite while digging underground!
* ''{{VideoGame/Rimworld}}'' has Mole men as of their Biotech expansion. The Dirtmole race are nearsighted and hate seeing sunlight, but aren't affected by darkness penalties, are great miners, great at melee, and have fast healing.

* [[http://www.rpc-wiki.net/rpc-037 RPC-037]] are [[DirtyCommunists communist]] molemen with SovietSuperscience [[EarthquakeMachine earthquake machines]]. [[spoiler:Fortunately for the surface world, [[BluffingTheAdvanceScout they're incredibly gullible]]]].

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' has the Mole People, led by Mole King.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheHerculoids'': "The Mole Men".

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Moliere, nicknamed "Mole". Not really a mole, but according to the sequel, he was raised by naked mole rats. Unsurprisingly, he drives a DrillTank for digging.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-1091408/scp-2622 SCP-2622]] is a humanoid star-nosed mole claiming to be an ambassador from the Interians, an advanced and civilized race of Mole Men inhabiting a vast subterranean world BeneathTheEarth, and old foes of the Anapsidons, a race of brutish, warlike LizardFolk who live down there with them. [[spoiler:The Interian civilization, the Anapsidons and the whole underground world are just an enormous tall tale he made up after reading too much pulp fiction, although he really is a mole person.]]

* ''{{VideoGame/Rimworld}}'' has Mole men now as of their Biotech expansion. The Dirtmoles are nearsighted and hate seeing sunlight, but aren't affected by darkness penalties, are great diggers, great at melee, and have fast healing.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Hey, this isn't a natural cavern! It's a perverted unnatural cavern!]]]]

* Namechecked by an annoyed DS Seawoll in ''Literature/WhispersUnderground'': in a week that has included [[VaginaDentata]] as a murder weapon, he's not in the mood to hear about "mole people" living under London. [[spoiler: The Quiet People turn out to be perfectly human magic users, just pale from lack of sunlight and... quiet.]]

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': There's a society of mole men living in [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/091228 The Valley That Time Forgot Lost In The Center Of The Earth]], which which they share with mole-man eating dinosaurs. The "center of the earth" thing is just a name, though (it's actually a few hundred miles from the earth's core), as is the "valley" part (it's technically a cavern), but mole men who suggest that the world doesn't spin around them get fed to the dinosaurs.

* Namechecked by an annoyed DS Seawoll in ''Literature/WhispersUnderground'': in a week that has included vagina dentata as a murder weapon, he's not in the mood to hear about "mole people" living under London. [[spoiler: The Quiet People turn out to be perfectly human magic users, just pale from lack of sunlight and...
[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin quiet]].]]

* In the Italian SwordAndSandal adventure movie ''Film/{{Maciste}}, the Strongest Man in the World'' (released in English as ''Mole Men Against [[DolledUpInstallment The Son of Hercules]]''), the title character is captured a civilization of evil, [[AlbinosAreFreaks albinistic]] underground people and their [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen mad queen]].

* The deros, from the writings and [[ConspiracyTheory conspiracy theories]] of Creator/RichardSharpeShaver, are a diabolical civilization of mole men who have a hand in just about every major catastrophe in human history.

* ''Franchise/SamAndMax'' have several mole people. Of note are Shuv-Oohl from "Hit the Road", Harry from the new Telltale seasons, and the immense group of mole people who regulate the planet's temperature in the Animated Series.

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* Kayaba of ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'' hallucinated the existence of mole men during his sleep-deprived state. It's one of the many aspects of his insanity he invokes when explaining [[spoiler: why he thought it would be a good idea to trap everyone in the game to cover a fatal GameBreakingBug he accidentally introduced.]]

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'' also had an adventure titled "The Mole Men".

''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'' has the Mole People, including their queen. She first debuted when the barbarians were trying to clear up Princess Candy's debt, realizing that she, along with Dark Lord Chuckles, were facing the same problem.