10 Insane Alternate Versions Of The Thing You Won't Believe Exist
7. Ricardo Jones
The tale of Ricardo Jones is a tragic one, and one that is oft-forgotten. This is due to one of the most tragic elements of the story: nobody in the Marvel Universe even knows that it happened, except for Ricardo Jones himself. And unfortunately, he won't be telling anyone any time soon.
Ricardo was born with an unfortunate skeleton. Aside from having human skin instead of orange rocks, his frame was almost identical to that of the Thing's. Bullied his entire life because of his appearance, Ricardo grew deeply jealous of the Thing's fame, power, and relationships. So, he decided there was only one thing for it: he would replace the Thing.
After drugging a down-and-out Ben Grimm and sending him to sleep, Ricardo used a machine of his own making to transfer the Thing's powers and appearance to his own body. The rest was easy: he simply walked right in to the FF's headquarters and began his new life.
Unbeknownst to Ricardo, while absorbing the Thing's powers he had also absorbed a part of his heroic spirit. When an experiment went wrong and Mister Fantastic ended up falling through a dangerous portal, Ricardo didn't even think twice: he jumped in after this man he barely knew, and saved his life. Ricardo died in the portal, knowing he had done a heroic deed and not even caring that the Thing would get all the credit for it.