After the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it was announced that a series of prequel comics revolving around their first encounters with their most iconic supervillains would be explored in The Fantastic Four: First Foes. What began with the Mad Thinker soon explored other unseen incidents in the MCU, such as Shalla-Bal’s time as the Silver Surfer under Galactus.
The newest addition to this ongoing mini-series,Dragon Man, revolves around Marvel’s First Family paying a visit to Dr. Damien Albo to help cure Ben Grimm of his appearance. Considering the nervous crowds of people still balking at The Thing, this was likely much earlier in their careers as superheroes when the people hadn’t fully embraced all of them yet.
To help him, the self-proclaimed alchemist affixed several transmitters all over The Thing’s rock-like body, which would drain the cosmic energy out of him. When the device was turned on, it managed to actually work, although it didn’t completely turn Ben Grimm back to normal. He still retained a rocky texture, but it gave him a more human-like face, which looked nothing like Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
It also greatly reduced his weight, allowing him to actually sit in a chair without crushing it, much to his relief. Sadly, this was quickly revealed to be a ploy by Dr. Damien Albo so that he could siphon off enough cosmic energy to power and bring life to his creation: Dragon Man.
As the team fought the creature, they were no match for it. Its strength and impermeable skin make Mister Fantastic useless against it, while its icy and acidic breath put a stop to both Human Torch’s flames and Invisible Woman’s force fields. It was up to Ben Grimm as the last one standing, but he had forsaken his super strength, becoming an even bigger liability than the rest of his teammates.
After a well-timed distraction, the cosmic energy was returned to Ben Grimm, which meant he would be turned back into his original form as The Thing. With his strength returned, The Thing was able to easily subdue the Dragon Man with a single punch, while Dr. Damien Albo fled, later revealing himself as Diablo and no doubt returning as one of the Frightful Four to enact his revenge.
Will The Thing Ever Be Cured in the MCU?
While finding a cure for his condition had long been Ben Grimm’s goal in the comics, he eventually abandoned the idea once he became comfortable enough in his own body again and found unconditional love with his future wife, Alicia Masters. He also realized that the people who mattered most around him didn’t care and loved him regardless, not to mention the good he could do with the powers he was given. However, it took many years for that realization to sink into Ben Grimm’s thick skin and even thicker skull.
In the meantime, Richards did as he promised and tried to find a cure for his friend at every opportunity. What made it difficult was that any cure he found was only temporary, and the same treatment could never be used more than once because Ben Grimm’s cells would constantly adapt to each one.
Eventually, Richards managed to create a formula that could make Grimm human for a week, but he could only reproduce the result once a year. So, perhaps in a future sequel, fans will finally get to see Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s face in the MCU again outside of a motion capture suit.
In First Steps, it’s obvious that Grimm hadn’t quite gotten over the way he looked yet, like he has in the comics, and while the public did admire him, they only did so superficially for his powers and super strength. Natasha Lyonne’s Rachel Rozman seemed to be the first person outside his found family to show him some genuine human connection beyond his celebrity status.
After Avengers: Secret Wars and the Fantastic Four have been folded into Earth-616, hopefully, this aspect of The Thing will be explored in more depth, including the introduction of Alicia Masters.
