10 Things Marvel Wants You To Forget About The Thing

What a Grimm history...

by Ewan Paterson
Fantastic Four Thing
Marvel Comics

Everyone's favourite ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing might be the Fantastic Four's best character, but it must be said that the hero hasn't always enjoyed a perfect history.

The subject of retcons, reboots, power-shifts and more, Benjamin Grimm has been the subject of a fair few comic book controversies throughout his time, some on live-action, others otherwise.

And while there's no getting away from the fact that he is one of Marvel's best creations, there have been occasions where Ben's featured in some rather silly moments in the past, being both the victim of comics writers and of some dubious movie-making exploits since his original comic book debut in 1961.

He’s one of Jack Kirby’s very best creations, and an icon of Marvel as much as he is of the medium more generally. That’s majorly important, so it stands to reason that Marvel would probably want you to forget about some of his most embarrassing moments, particularly when he's had so many of them over the years.

We all love you Ben, but some things are just too difficult to ignore...

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.