‘Simpsons’ Writer Reveals Hans Moleman’s ‘Long Forgotten Nemesis’

According to legendary Simpsons writer and producer Josh Weinstein, the fan-favorite 31-year-old punching bag Hans Moleman has an archenemy. This villain must have been the man throwing the football.

Despite being so hilariously young to look like a pruney, subterranean schlimazel, Moleman is, in fact, older than the Simpsons series itself. A rough prototype of the Moleman we came to know and love appeared in the Tracey Ullman Show short “Scary Movie” in early 1989 before Moleman made his debut in The Simpsons proper in the 1991 episode “Principal Charming,” wherein he went by the name Ralph Melish as Selma denied his application for a driver’s license. Since then, Moleman has risen to the rank of beloved, unfortunate and cult-followed side character, suffering a violent, on-screen death in 44 different Simpsons episodes and counting.

But even the (mole)man who laughs off death can have a mortal enemy, and, in a recent tweet, Weinstein unveiled the rough sketch of Moleman’s ancient and overlooked foe: Worm Man.

In the Season Two episode “The War of the Simpsons,” Homer stops at a bait store on his way to a marriage counseling retreat at Catfish Lake after he drunkenly embarrassed himself and Marge at a dinner party. Despite promising his wife that he won’t waste the potentially marriage-saving weekend fishing, Homer listens to the Hank-Azaria-voiced Worm Man’s story of the the legendary catfish General Sherman that’s grown to an astounding 500 pounds — or so “they” say — and resolves to wrangle the beast. After Homer catches and immediately releases General Sherman in order to prove his love to his wife, Worm Man closes the episode by rambling on about seven-foot-tall Homer, his tree trunk arms and his hellfire-red hair as the credits rolled.

It’s unclear how exactly Worm Man and Moleman grew to be mortal enemies, given that Worm Man only ever appeared in “The War of the Simpsons” and Moleman doesn’t seem like much of an adventure sportsman. In fact, the layman might think that Weinstein was just making a joke about a lesser-remembered side character who followed The Simpsons' favorite naming convention of “(animal species or brand of beer) Man.”

But, if you ask me, and most people do, Moleman must have been the aggressor in the supposedly adversarial supposed relationship. Moles eat worms, they do.