 the thing' is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by marvel comics. he is a founding member of the fantastic four. his trademark orange rocky appearance, sense of humor, blue eyes, and famous battle cry, "it's clobberin' time!", make him a very recognizable comic book character. the thing's speech patterns are loosely based on those of jimmy durante.stan's soapbox, bullpen bulletins, september 1997 actor michael bailey smith played ben grimm in the fantastic four film from 1994, while michael chiklis portrayed the thing in the 2005 film fantastic four and its 2007 sequel fantastic four: rise of the silver surfer. jamie bell is scheduled to portray the thing in 2015's the fantastic four. in 2011, ign ranked the thing 18th in the top 100 comic book heroes. ==publication history==  created by writer-editor stan lee and artist/co-plotter jack kirby, the character first appeared in the fantastic four #1 (nov. 1961). in addition to appearing in the fantastic four, the thing has been the star of marvel two-in-one, strange tales (with his fellow fantastic four member the human torch), and two incarnations of his own eponymous series, as well as numerous miniseries and one-shots. the thing was named empires tenth (of fifty) greatest comic book characters. ===strange tales=== the thing joined his fantastic four partner and frequent rival the human torch in #124 (1964) of strange tales, which then fea
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