Captain America: Brave New World Star Tim Blake Nelson Once Played Another Marvel Villain You Forgot About

Towards the end of The Incredible Hulk, supporting character Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) is knocked against a table holding vials of Bruce Banner’s enhanced blood. Droplets of this liquid fall into a wound in his forehead, causing it to slightly vibrate and expand. A wicked grin emerges on his face, an indication that, in any subsequent Hulk outings, this character would be turning into the green-skinned baddie The Leader. Given that The Incredible Hulk 2 never happened and Mark Ruffalo took over the Hulk role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it looked like, for the longest time, that Nelson would never play The Leader.

Then Captain America: Brave New World rolled around and not only promised to bring back Nelson’s Sterns as The Leader but to make him the primary adversary of this 2025 blockbuster. It took 17 years from Incredible Hulk’s June 2008 debut to finally pay this off, but Tim Blake Nelson is finally getting to fulfill his potential as The Leader. The gap between his MCU roles is really apparent when one considers how, in between Nelson’s two Samuel Sterns appearances, he took on another Marvel Comics baddie in a separate franchise. Back in 2015, Nelson had a role in Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four.

Who Did Tim Blake Nelson Play In Fantastic Four?

Taking cues from the Ultimate Comics version of the Fantastic Four and Trank’s own Chronicle, 2015’s Fantastic Four focused on a version of the titular team that were teenagers. Just because the principal cast members were supposed to look young, though, didn’t mean that the project was totally devoid of older actors. Tim Blake Nelson showed up as a version Dr. Harvey Allen, a key member at the Baxter Foundation who oversees the interdimensional exploits Reed Richards is pioneering. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s a version of Harvey Elder A.K.A. Mole Man, one of the Fantastic Four’s most famous villains, and their very first adversary in the comics.

In a sign of how chaotic the Fantastic Four production is, an official featurette with generalized soundbites sees Nelson repeatedly refer to his role as “Harvey Elder,” the character’s comic book name, rather than “Harvey Allen,” his name in the theatrical cut of the film. Presumably, the name change occurred during those infamous reshoots that resulted in things like Kate Mara’s terrible wig. It’s unclear why this tweak happened, but it just further separates Nelson’s character from his comic book incarnation.

[RELATED: The Fantastic Four Trailer From 2015 Promised an Epic Movie Marvel Fans Never Got]

Prior to Fantastic Four’s release, rumors spread that Nelson’s role here would mirror his Samuel Sterns part in Incredible Hulk. Nelson would show up in this initial Fantastic Four movie as just a guy before taking on superpowers and a nefarious identity in sequels. Even if 2015’s Fantastic Four had broken the bank at the box office, though, those rumors would’ve never materialized. In a weird turn of events, Nelson’s Harvey Allen is killed (via his head exploding) through Doctor Doom’s telepathic powers. Once again, Nelson’s hopes of becoming a multi-movie supervillain presence were dashed away.

Nelson’s Fantastic Four Role Has Fallen Into Obscurity

Since Fantastic Four debuted, Nelson has rarely talked about the feature beyond briefly remarking that he was doubtful a sequel would ever happen. Because of the lack of constant reminders from the man himself that he portrayed some variation on Mole Man onscreen, it’s been easy for the internet to forget that Tim Blake Nelson played a role in this woe-begotten reboot. Nelson’s late-2010s resurgence which included a lead role in a vastly superior ground superhero project, Watchmen, has also helped keep people from constantly remembering his other Marvel Comics baddie role.

With Nelson getting to finally inhabit the role of The Leader, the actor’s gotten long overdue closure for his initial Marvel Cinematic Universe screen credit. His Brave New World exploits also ensure that his time on Fantastic Four will inevitably become even more obscure. Why focus on an unrealized supervillain in a detested film when Nelson got to become The Leader in a modern tentpole? On top of all that, Josh Trank’s 2015 film never allowed Nelson to utilize his best traits as an actor. It’s certainly fascinating Nelson’s become one of the few actors to play Marvel villains in two separate films. However, there are countless better options for superior Tim Blake Nelson performances worth remembering instead.

Fantastic Four is now streaming on Disney+.