Morlocks (The Time Machine)

"You are the inescapable result of your tragedy. Just as I... am the inescapable result of you."

- The Über-Morlock

The Morlocks are the main antagonists of the novel The Time Machine by H.G.Wells and its movie adaptions. They are an evil race that evolved from humans. They hunt the Eloi, another humanoid race.

Original Novel
In the original novel, the Morlocks evolved from minor social classes, who live on the streets or even beneath Earth's surface, while the ascendant class of society lived in high houses and evolved into Eloi. In the very far future, they rule and hunt Eloi. When the unnamed Time Traveller arrives, he fights them with fire, their greatest weakness, but, unlike some other adaptions, never completely defeats them.

The Time Machine (1960)
In the first movie adaption, the Morlocks are very similar to their novel counterparts, but their backstory is different: These Morlcoks didn't evolve from lower social classes, but instead their existance was caused by wars that destroyed the civilisation of the human race. They also have other tactics to lure humans into their underground world. This time, the Time Traveller is able to destroy their home with fire in the end.

The Time Machine (2002)
In the 2002 movie, the catastrophy that devided th Human race into Eloi and Morlocks wasn't an atomic war, but instead failed blasting operations on the Moon. These Morlocks do not fear the daylight and therefore act as an even higher threat. They are also stronger and even have intelligent members, like the Über-Morlock, who confronted Professor Alexander Hartdegen and gave him his time machine back. With the machine, the Professor was able to destroy the Morlock-Cave, but afterwards couldn't return to his own time anymore.

Trivia

 * The Morlocks also appear in Sheldon Coopers nightmare in one episode of The Big Bang Theory.