The Thing (Storyverse)

Ben Grimm or The Thing is one of the main protagonists of the Tim Story Fantastic Four film series.

Why He Goes Clobbering

 * 1) He is the most likeable member of the Fantastic Four.
 * 2) Michael Chiklis does a fantastic job portraying as the Thing on both Storyverse films despite them being average. It helps that he is a big fan of the character and the comics and got an approval of Stan Lee.
 * 3) The makeup/design looks impressive and life-like, and looks very accurate to the comics. Heck, it still holds up to this day.
 * 4) His storyline is quite tear-jerking and relatable, as his fiancée Debbie broke up with him after she saw his mutated form.
 * 5) He has great chemistry with the rest of the characters, especially Johnny Storm and Alicia Masters.
 * 6) He says his catchphrases "It's clobbering time" and "Sweet Aunt Petunia" like in the comics.
 * 7) Heck, the way he got his most iconic catchphrase, "It's clobberin’ timeǃ" is believable, as he got it from a prototype action figure.
 * 8) He retains the gruff voice as in the comics in his rocky form.
 * 9) A great amount of his quotes are memorable such as "If there is a God, he hates me" and "I'll show you a rockslide!"
 * 10) His roar towards a bear is great to listen to.
 * 11) He has plenty of funny moments.
 * 12) Unlike the comics, he is much more intelligent and figured out where the Silver Surfer is headed.
 * 13) He mentioned to Reed “You know, I used to smoke.” This is an Easter egg to the comic books that Ben was a smoker from the 1960s to the 1990s. Other Easter eggs include Ben seeing a sculpture that looks more close to his comic book self and his noir outfit.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) He has less screentime in the second film. He had a little more screentime from deleted scenes.
 * 2) He doesn't have the same size as in the comics.
 * 3) Unlike the comics, he doesn’t seem to be religious. He even said God’s name in vain and at one time said “If there is a God, He hates me.”

Trivia

 * Chiklis insisted on wearing make-up instead of phoning in his performance via motion capture and voice over.
 * Stan Lee considered Chiklis' performance as his favorite Marvel character portrayal.
 * Before Chiklis was cast, Bruce Willis was considered for the role.
 * Chiklis returned to voice the Thing in the 2005 Fantastic Four video game and an episode of Robot Chicken.
 * His roar towards the bear became an Internet meme due to how unique it sounded.