The Fantastic Four’s leader Reed Richards has a reputation for being the smartest man in the entire Marvel Universe. Not only is Mr. Fantastic a natural super genius, his power to stretch any part of his body allows him to remold his brain to solve virtually any problem in record time. So, it seems strange that after almost sixty years, Reed still hasn’t been able to permanently cure his best friend Ben Grimm from being trapped as the orange rock-like monster the Thing.
Caught in the same cosmic ray storm that created Mr. Fantastic, the Human Torch, and the Invisible Woman, Ben’s transformation into the Thing is one of Marvel Comics’ great tragedies. Unlike the other three members of the quartet, who appear human, Ben is (usually) unable to revert to human form and hates having to live his life as the Thing. So why can’t Reed come up with a permanent cure for Ben Grimm?
Several stories have shown that it is possible for Ben to become human again, which begs the question. Surprisingly, there are many answers – each indicating that even the smartest man in the universe can’t solve this problem.
Ben Grimm Doesn’t Want to be Cured
Shortly after Ben Grimm became the Thing, Reed Richards began working on various cures for his condition. While many of these cures succeeded in reverting Ben to human form for a few hours, he would inevitably regress to his rock-like state. There were even times when Ben would transform back to his human self for no apparent reason, indicating that he could turn back and forth from man to monster. Unlike the other members of the Fantastic Four, however, Ben couldn’t do this at will.
Finally, Reed deduced that Ben’s problem wasn’t physical but psychological. Ben had fallen in love with a blind sculptor, Alicia Masters, who helped him immensely in adjusting to life as the Thing. However, since Alicia only knew Ben as the Thing and not a regular human, Ben was terrified that she wouldn’t love him if he ever became human permanently. Thus, Ben created subconscious mental blocks that not only kept him from turning human but also resisted several cures to make him human again.
At one point in the comics, Alicia left Ben and ended up marrying Ben’s friend Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch). This proved unpopular with readers and the story was later retconned by revealing Johnny’s wife was actually a Skrull pretending to be Alicia. During this time, however, the Thing was caught in a radioactive accident and became Ben Grimm for several months, possibly because he didn’t have to worry about his relationship with Alicia. Eventually, however, the status quo was restored, Ben became the Thing again, and the real Alicia returned – possibly restoring Ben’s mental block.
The Thing’s appearance has changed dramatically since his original appearance. When he first transformed, Ben had a grotesque, clay-like orange hide. Over time, the Thing became more rock-like and cartoony-looking. Eventually, Reed discovered that this was because Ben’s body was becoming more “comfortable” with being the Thing, which made him harder to cure. Distraught, Ben took Reed’s latest cure and traveled back in time, hoping he could give it to his past self and regain his humanity. Ben succeeded, but learned he’d only affected an alternate past timeline (due to Marvel’s rules of time travel).
The Universe is Against the Thing Being Cured
Of course, most comic fans know the real reason Ben Grimm can never be cured. As Marvel Comics’ original hard-luck heroes (predating both Spider-Man and the X-Men), Ben’s sadness at being stuck in the Thing’s body is one of the Fantastic Four’s biggest draws. Readers like seeing Ben’s struggle in adjusting to life as the Thing and don’t like it when he becomes human (and happy).
In bestselling author Neil Gaiman’s weird alternate comic Marvel 1602, readers get to hear a more comic book-based version of this explanation. This story features an alternate version of the “Fantastick Four” who got their powers during a sea voyage in the early seventeenth century. After years of being imprisoned by Doctor Doom, Ben Grimm asks if Reed can restore his humanity. However, Reed – who posits that the fundamental particles that control the universe is that of a story – sadly told him that fate was literally against the Thing being cured. According to Reed:
The natural sciences say yes, a cure is possible. But the laws of story would suggest that no cure can last for very long, Benjamin. For in the end, alas, you are so much more interesting and satisfying as you are.
So, not only is Ben’s body and subconscious mind against him. The universe itself is against Ben enjoying being human for any length of time. While this would seem to doom Ben to an eternity as a monster, one clever Fantastic Four storyline offered a loophole.
In this story, Reed turns over the problem of curing the Thing to a group of kid geniuses. Realizing no cure would ever stick, the kids look at the problem from a different angle, creating a formula that would let Ben become human... but only for one week every year. Thus, instead of removing Ben’s pathos, the cure would actually highlight it by offering him only a very brief moment of humanity in a life otherwise dominated by the Thing.
Unfortunately, the universe (aka writers and artists), kept torturing Ben even when this became part of the new status quo. The first time Ben took the cure, he had to watch powerlessly as Fantastic Four teammate Johnny Storm apparently died in the Negative Zone. More recently, Ben arranged to turn human during his honeymoon to Alicia Masters, allowing them to start a family. Instead the Hulk showed up and knocked the Thing unconscious for days, making him sleep through his one week of humanity. So, it seems that even when he does get cured, Ben Grimm just can’t catch a break.
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December 14, 2019 at 03:33PM
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Fantastic Four: Why CAN'T Reed Richards Cure The Thing? - Screen Rant
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