50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History

17. The Thing

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

Any time people talk about the early years of Marvel Comics and how the company helped propel the industry into the Silver Age, there’s inevitably a discussion of how its heroes had problems normal people faced, or even had powers that were as much curse or blessing. Ben Grimm was the epitome of that trend as far as I’m concerned. Sure, Bruce Banner turned into a gamma-powered beast when he got angry, and Tony Stark was forced to wear his chestplate at all times. But Bruce could at least transform back, and you knew it was a matter of time before medical science cured Tony. Poor Ben simply got the shaft.

Did he let this cruel twist of fate ruin him? Nope. The Thing has constantly put himself in harm’s way during any number of world-endangering threats, somehow remaining a lovable underdog despite his great strength and rocky hide. Maybe it’s because he didn’t back down when the deck was stacked against him, like in his legendary series of battles against the Hulk.

Other writers have continued to hand him bad luck, like the promise of cures from Reed Richards that never seem to pan out for long, or the time when it seemed like the Human Torch stole his girlfriend while he was off-world (she turned out to be a Skrull). Ben has been framed for murder, turned into a vessel for an ancient Asgardian evil and beaten down more times than anyone could count, but he just keeps getting back up.

That’s true heroism, even if it comes in a package that isn’t the sexiest.

Next: No. 16: Laughing in the face of fear