The Morlocks are a group of mutant characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters are usually depicted as being associated with the X-Men in the Marvel Universe. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Paul Smith, they were named after the subterranean race of the same name in H. G. Wells' novel The Time Machine. They first appeared as a group in Uncanny X-Men #169 (May 1983). (Caliban appeared prior to that (in Uncanny X-Men #148), but he was not yet a member of the Morlocks.)