The Thing (Benjamin Jacob "Ben" Grimm) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. The Thing was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and he first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 (cover-dated Nov. 1961). Known for his trademark rocky appearance, he has superhuman strength, a sense of humor, and the battle cry and catchphrase "It's clobberin' time!".
The Thing's personality and background is heavily modeled by Kirby's own background. A key feature throughout his character arc is his struggle to accept his newfound powers and form, an experience which often parallels real-world experiences of disfigured people and those with body dysmorphic disorder. This arc culminates in his returning to his human form before again going back to his mutated form. Eventually, the Thing came to accept his mutated form and found love with the blind sculptor Alicia Masters, with whom he was married and adopted two alien children. He has been depicted as an Ashkenazi Jew.
The Thing has appeared in other notable media, including live-action films, with Michael Bailey Smith and Carl Ciarfalio playing the character in his human and mutated forms respectively in the unreleased film The Fantastic Four, Michael Chiklis in the 2005 Fantastic Four film and its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Jamie Bell in the 2015 reboot, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), who will reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
Publication history
Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). Although Thing's speech patterns are loosely based on Jimmy Durante,Stan's Soapbox, Bullpen Bulletins, September 1997 Kirby modeled the character after himself.
In addition to appearing in the Fantastic Four, the Thing has been the star of Marvel Two-in-One, Strange Tales (with his fellow Fantastic Four member the Human Torch), and two incarnations of his own eponymous series, as well as numerous miniseries and one-shots.
Strange Tales The Thing joined his Fantastic Four partner and frequent rival the Human Torch in Strange Tales #124 (1964), which previously featured solo adventures of the Human Torch and backup Doctor Strange stories. The change was intended to liven the comic through the always humorous chemistry between the Torch and the Thing. They were replaced in #135 (1965) with the "modern-day" version of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., who had already been appearing in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.
Marvel Two-in-One (1974–1983) After a 1973 try-out in two issues of Marvel Feature, the Thing starred in the long-running series Marvel Two-in-One. In each issue, Ben Grimm would team up with another character from the Marvel Universe, often an obscure or colorful character. The series helped to introduce characters from Marvel's lineup, by way of teaming up with the more recognizable Thing. In 1992, Marvel reprinted four Two-in-One stories (#50, 51, 77 and 80) as a miniseries under the title The Adventures of the Thing. The series was cancelled after 100 issues and seven Annuals to make way for a solo series.
The Thing (1983–1986) The cancellation of Marvel Two-in-One led to the Thing's first completely solo series, which ran for 36 issues. The Thing was originally written by John Byrne and later, Mike Carlin. The series also featured art by Ron Wilson and later by Paul Neary. It elaborated on Ben Grimm's poor childhood on Yancy Street in its early issues, and chronicled the Thing's later foray into the world of professional wrestling. It also featured a major storyline offshoot from Marvel's Secret Wars event, in which the Thing elects to remain on the Beyonder's Battleworld after discovering that the planet enables him to return to human form at will. A full third of the series' stories take place on Battleworld.
2002–present In 2002, Marvel released The Thing: Freakshow, a four-issue miniseries written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Scott Kolins, in which the Thing travels across the United States by train, inadvertently stumbling upon a deformed gypsy boy he once ridiculed as a teenager, who is now the super-strong main attraction of a troupe of traveling circus freaks. He later discovers a town full of alien Kree and Skrull warriors fighting over a Watcher infant.
In 2003, Marvel released a four-issue miniseries written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by Dean Haspiel, The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street. The story was more character-driven than the stories that usually feature the Thing. Tom Spurgeon found its outlook on relationships "depressing".
After the success of the 2005 Fantastic Four feature film and events in the comics series that resulted in Grimm becoming a millionaire, the Thing was once again given his own series in 2005, The Thing, written by Dan Slott and penciled by Andrea Di Vito and Kieron Dwyer. It was canceled with issue #8 in 2006.
The Thing was a member of the New Avengers, when that team debuted in their self-titled second series in 2010."I Am A New Avenger", Marvel Comics, 1 March 2010. He appeared as a regular character throughout the 2010–2013 New Avengers series, from issue #1 (Aug. 2010) through its final issue #34 (Jan. 2013).
The Thing had another solo series in 2021, written by Walter Mosley and illustrated by Tom Reilly, which lasted for six issues. A new limited series, Clobberin' Time, was launched in 2023, written and illustrated by Steve Skroce. The series sees Thing teaming up with various heroes.
Fictional character biography Background Born on Yancy Street in New York City's Lower East Side, to a Jewish family, Benjamin Jacob "Ben" Grimm has an early life of poverty and hardship, shaping him into a tough, streetwise scrapper. His older brother Daniel, whom Ben idolizes, is killed in a street gang fight when Ben is eight years old. This portion of his own life is modeled on that of Jack Kirby, who grew up on tough Delancey Street, whose brother died when he was young, whose father was named Benjamin, and who was named Jacob at birth. Following the death of his parents, Ben is raised by his Uncle Jake (who married a much younger wife, Petunia, who becomes a frequent reference used by the character until her death)."Doom's Master, Part Three". Fantastic Four #568 (August 2009) He comes to lead the Yancy Street gang at one point.The Thing #1. Marvel Comics.
Excelling in football as a high school student, Ben receives a full scholarship to Empire State University, where he first meets his eventual lifelong friend in a teenaged genius named Reed Richards, as well as future enemy Victor von Doom.Fantastic Four Annual #2. Marvel Comics. Despite their being from radically different backgrounds, science student Richards describes to Grimm his dream of building a space rocket to explore the regions of space around Mars; Grimm jokingly agrees to fly that rocket when the day comes.
The details of his life story have been modified over the decades. Prior to the stories published in the 1970s, Grimm, after earning multiple advanced degrees in engineering,Fantastic Four #367. Marvel Comics. serves in the United States Marine Corps as a test pilot during World War II.Fantastic Four #367. Marvel Comics. These exploits are chronicled to a limited extent in Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders #7. While in the military, Nick Fury sends him, Logan, and Carol Danvers to Vladivostok on a secret surveillance mission.Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm and Logan #1-3, July-Sept. 2000. Marvel Comics. Following this, he becomes an astronaut for NASA, taking part in attempts to reach the Moon, occurring at a time before any crewed spaceship had escaped Earth's gravity.Lee, Stan (W), Kirby, Jack (p), Klein, George; Rule, Christopher (i). "The Fantastic Four!", The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). Marvel Comics.
Religion In keeping with an early taboo in the comic superhero world against revealing a character's religion, the fact that Grimm is Jewish was not explicitly revealed until four decades after his creation, in the story "Remembrance of Things Past" in Fantastic Four vol. 3, #56 (Aug. 2002) by Karl Kesel and Stuart Immonen. In this story, Grimm returns to his old neighborhood to find Mr. Sheckerberg, a pawn shop owner he knew as a child. Flashbacks during this story reveal Grimm's Jewish heritage. He recites the Shema, an important and oft-recited Jewish prayer (which, translated to English, begins "Hear, O Israel") over the dying Sheckerberg, who eventually recovers. In a later story, Grimm celebrates his Bar Mitzvah, as it has been 13 years, the age a Jewish boy celebrates his Bar Mitzvah, since he began his "second life" as the Thing. To celebrate the ceremony, he organizes a poker tournament and invites every available superhero.Slott, Dan (w), Dwyer, Kieron (a). "Last Hand", The Thing vol. 2, #8 (Marvel Comics, Sept. 2006).
In the 2004 Fantastic Four story "Hereafter Part 1: A Glimpse of God", the Thing is killed by an energy weapon wielded by Reed Richards, but is resurrected by God."Hereafter Part 1: A Glimpse of God", Fantastic Four #511 (May 2004). Marvel Comics.
Out of universe, Jack Kirby featured the Thing on his family's 1976 Hanukkah card.
The Thing Some years later, Reed Richards, now a successful scientist, once again makes contact with Grimm. Richards has built his spaceship, and reminds Grimm of his promise to fly it. After the government denies him permission to fly the spaceship himself, Richards plots a clandestine flight piloted by Grimm and accompanied by his future wife Susan Storm, who had helped provide funding for the rocket, and her younger brother Johnny Storm, who helped the group gain access to the launch system. Although reluctant to fly the rocket, Ben is persuaded to do so by Sue, for whom he has a soft spot. During this unauthorized ride into the upper atmosphere of Earth and the Van Allen Belts, they are pelted by a cosmic ray storm and exposed to radiation against which the ship's shields offer no protection. Upon crashing down to Earth, each of the four learn that they have developed fantastic superhuman abilities. Grimm's skin is transformed into a thick, lumpy orange hide, which gradually evolves into his now-familiar craggy covering of large rocky plates. Richards proposes the quartet band together to use their new abilities for the betterment of humanity, and Grimm, in a moment of self-pity, adopts the super-heroic sobriquet, the Thing. The team clashes with the Mole Man in their first appearance.
Trapped in his monstrous form, Grimm is an unhappy yet reliable member of the team. He trusts in his friend Reed Richards to one day develop a cure for his condition. However, when he encounters blind sculptor Alicia Masters,Fantastic Four #8. Marvel Comics. Grimm develops an unconscious resistance to being transformed back to his human form. Subconsciously fearing that Masters prefers him to remain in the monstrous form of the Thing, Grimm's body rejects various attempts by Richards to restore his human form, lest he lose Masters' love. Grimm has remained a stalwart member of the Fantastic Four for years. The Thing first fought the Hulk early in his career,Fantastic Four #12. Marvel Comics. with many such further clashes over the years. Not long after that, he is first reverted to his human form, but is then restored to his Thing form to battle Doctor Doom.Fantastic Four #38-40. Marvel Comics.