Harvey Allen is the secondary antagonist in the 2015 superhero film Fantastic Four, the first reboot of the Fantastic Four film series.
He's a government agent and scientist who oversees the Quantum Gate project. Allen also greedily exploits the four teenagers when they receive superpowers from an interdimensional trip gone wrong.
He was portrayed by Tim Blake Nelson, who also played Dr. Pendanski in Holes, Jonathan Jacobo in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Officer LeFlore in Meet the Fockers, The Leader in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Martin Kirby in Angel Has Fallen.
History[]
Dr. Harvey Allen first appears alongside other government agents when discussing funding for the Franklin Storm project. Allen is skeptical and he is shocked to learn that Victor Von Doom is on the team saying he should be in jail. Despite some reluctance, Allen finally agrees to finance the project.
We see him again later in the film when the Quantum Portal has finished being built. He participates in the test of teleporting a chimpanzee into the other dimension and is satisfied to see that the gate works. He goes downstairs to congratulate Reed's team before announcing that NASA will take over the project. He then rejects the team of teenagers saying that other characters will travel to the other dimension.
The next time we see Dr. Allen again is when he puts the four teenagers who have undergone mutations into military custody. He confronts Professor Storm when he learns that Reed has escaped from the compound. By establishing that they are very powerful, they can be useful to the government, which Franklin dislikes. Allen replies that they have no choice and goes to see Ben transformed into a huge rock creature. He tells him that there is bound to be a way to bring him back to normal but in exchange he has to work for him. So we see a year later that Ben is being used as a weapon for war. During a conference, Allen presents the protagonists with their superpowers and their potential for military purposes. He also explains that their abilities come from a dimension that has been named "Planet Zero". After fixing the Quantum Portal, Allen declares that the government will be able to control both this planet and the world on Earth.
In order for Reed to help fix the portal, Dr. Allen orders Ben and a team to bring him back after locating him. Allen then goes to the lab with Reed who begins the adjustments to the portal. Once the repair is done, scientists return to planet Zero and they discover Victor who survived after the incident. Allen cancels the main mission and asks to bring Victor back to the lab. He questions him on how he survived and what to know about the other dimension. Victor replies that the power of the planet has kept him alive and that its resources are off limits to humans. He begins killing the scientists in the room, scaring Allen. Victor stands up and blasts Allen's head with his new telekinetic powers before heading back to the portal.
With Dr. Allen dead and their victory over Victor/Doom saving the world, the Fantastic Four decide to work independently of the government and they get their own research base.
Trivia[]
- The character of Harvey Allen is based on Mole Man, real name Harvey Rupert Elder. In the first writings, the character was to be a super-villain named Harvey Elder, although he was replaced by the government agent.
- Harvey Allen is Tim Blake Nelson's second role in a Marvel Comics live-action film, after previously playing Samuel Sterns in The Incredible Hulk.
