10 Insane Alternate Versions Of The Thing You Won't Believe Exist

We now take another foray into the alternate reality madness of Marvel's What If..? comic. Issue 6 from 1977 asked a very simple question but gave a very strange answer: What If The Fantastic Four Had Different Superpowers?

The issue retold the FF's origin almost verbatim, with the only difference being how their bodies reacted to the cosmic rays. This opened a world of possibilities to writer Roy Thomas, who took an interesting approach. Rather than attaching seemingly random powers to the four astronauts, he wanted each new ability to reflect something about the character, whether it was their personality, their talents, or their interests.

Inspired by Ben Grimm's past as a highly skilled fighter pilot, he was transformed into Dragonfly. Rather than the stocky, muscle-bound fighter that the Thing was, Dragonfly had a pair of wings that were, fittingly, somewhat of a cross between a dragon's and a fly's. This suited Ben perfectly, and we got to see a version of the character who was confident and proud of his powers, rather than ashamed of his deformities. Much more of an agile and tactical fighter than the original character, he flourished and took on more of a leadership role within the team.

That was, of course, until Reed Richard's brain took over Doctor Doom's body, and he resumed the position of leader as the new Mister Fantastic.