Subject: Thing (Ben Grimm)

Universal Studios - Marvel Ben Grimm grew up in poverty at 7135 Yancy Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. His drunken father couldn't hold down a job, so much of their family's income came from Ben's older brother Dan, who led the Yancy Street Gang. Ben idolized his brother, and when Dan was killed in a gang fight, Ben grew increasingly bitter-especially after his aunt Sophie died of cancer that same year. Ben joined the Yancy Street Gang himself, eventually becoming its leader; however, when his parents were killed in an accident, the teenage Ben was forced to move uptown to live with his new guardians, his Uncle Jake and Aunt Alyce. The Yancy Street Gang denounced Ben as a sellout after he moved away, developing an enduring grudge against their former leader. A respected medical doctor, Jake had pulled himself up from the Yancy Street slums and hoped he could help Ben make something of himself as well. Jake and Alyce were tough but loving parents, and while Ben resisted them at first, their unconditional affection gradually won him over. Ben finished high school, discovering his natural football talent along the way, and won a full-ride sports scholarship to State University.

Ben roomed with Reed Richards, who dreamed of someday building a starship; Grimm jokingly promised that if Reed ever built it, he would fly it. Ben became a star quarterback at State, and spent much of his time trying to coax his more socially awkward roommate out of his shell.

Reed had begun to build his starship and asked his old friend Ben to be its pilot. When the government abruptly cut off their funding, Reed asked Ben to help him make an unauthorized test flight before the project could be shut down. Ben feared that the ship might not be adequately shielded against cosmic radiation; but Reed's girlfriend Sue Storm -to whom Ben was somewhat attracted-played on Ben's machismo and he acquiesced. Joined by Sue and her kid brother Johnny Storm, they successfully launched the ship into space, but cosmic rays penetrated their shielding and forced them to crash-land back on Earth. The radiation had mutated them into superhuman beings-unluckily for Grimm, who transformed into the grotesque, scaly-hided strongman dubbed the Thing. The quartet decided to use their powers for the betterment of humanity as the Fantastic Four.

Powers
The Thing's mutated physiology grants him tremendous superhuman strength and durability, the levels varying with his different forms. There have been periods where Ben could assume human form at will; however, these situations seldom last long. He also has enhanced stamina and lung capacity, and increased resistance to sensory and temperature extremes. His reflexes are above-average by human standards despite his immense mass, and he retains a reasonable level of agility and dexterity.

Abilities
Ben is an exceptionally skilled and experienced pilot, proficient with many varieties of both conventional and exotic aircraft, and was also trained as an astronaut. He is uniquely gifted in the art of hand-to-hand combat (a skill Ben honed long before he became the Thing), though his fighting style tends to be a rather loose brawling technique all his own. In his youth, Ben was a talented football player.

Paraphernalia
Like the rest of the FF, Ben wears highly durable costuming composed of unstable molecules. In a few early outings as the Thing, Ben wore a helmet that concealed his face, but he soon discarded it; he later resumed wearing a helmet when he was recovering from facial scars inflicted by Wolverine, scars which were later healed by Hyperstorm.