Believing in Reed’s scientific gifts and his promise to return him to his human form, Ben becomes a stalwart member of the team until the original Secret War. He temporarily develops the ability to change to and from his monstrous rocky form. Ben chooses to remain on the foreign planet for some time before finally returning to Earth. Regardless of his exterior features, Ben has found love in the arms of a blind sculptress named Alicia Masters. Ironically she is the step-daughter of the Fantastic Four’s enemy Puppet Master. During the Civil War, Ben initially sides with Reed and Sue as members of the Pro-Registration side, but during a battle with the underground resistance innocent civilians are injured and even killed. Though it is the fault of villains looking to take advantage of the situation, Ben berates both sides for their negligence and leaves the United States for France. Following the Civil War he returns to the Fantastic Four with Johnny who are joined by the Black Panther and Storm. The latter two were asked to replace Reed and Sue who had left to work on the strains their marriage had suffered due to the war.
Cosmic radiation never seems to mix well with humans, and in the case of Ben Grimm the results were literally monstrous. His body is covered with orange rock-like plates. As a result he possesses superhuman strength, stamina, and durability at levels just below that of the Incredible Hulk. His rocky skin is capable of withstanding immense blows from superhuman opponents as well as nearly any calibre of firearms. Ben is a highly trained and experienced pilot due to his time in the United States Air Force and NASA. He is also a skilled hand-to-hand combatant incorporating numerous forms and styles including street-fighting, boxing, and wrestling into his own personal style.
Personally, if I had never known Ben Grimm from reading about him in the comics I would never choose him as part of my team. Don’t mistake me, he’s a useful tank-class character who, when properly levelled up, can clear a room all by himself. However I’ve always found that type of character boring. In the first Ultimate Alliance, the Thing had a handful of powered attacks. Uppercut was capable of knocking down multiple enemies when fully charged, Hand Clap could stun several enemies at once and Earthclobber could knock down opponents and deal radial damage. As much as I like him, and as useful as he is, I just always felt that their were other characters that could do the job a little better than the Thing. Still teaming all of the Fantastic Four characters together gets you a team bonus (either EP per knockout or increase in overall EP) and even with a different group of heroes, the Thing is a capable melee fighter who will serve you well.
