Grimm, Benjamin

Benjamin "Ben" Grimm a.k.a. The Thing was an astronaut and former USAF test pilot. Grimm was exposed to high levels of cosmic radiation when his best friend, scientist Dr. Reed Richards took him and his friends Sue Storm and her younger brother Johnny Storm, into space in the stolen rocket; Marvel-1. The radiation mutated him and his friends, turning him into a super-strong rock like monster with a "Heart of Gold". Together they became the Fantastic Four, a team of adventurers who explored space, time, and alternate dimensions and saved the world along the way from science-based threats.

## Benjamin Jacob Grimm

### Aliases

The Thing (code name), Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew,[2] B,[3] Bashful Benjy,[4] Benjamin J. Grimm,[5] Benny,[6] Big Orange Stephen Hawking,[3] Blackbeard the Pirate,[7] Butch,[8] Brick Man,[9] Commander Benjamin J. Grimm,[10] Count Crag,[11] Dr. Josiah Verpoorteen,[12] El Morrito,[13] The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing,[14] Grim Ben,[15] Grimm Reaper,[16] Immortal Thing,[17] Orange Slice,[18] Rock-Man,[9] Rocky Grimm,[19] Uncle Ben,[20] Uncle Benjy[

### Relatives

Daniel Grimm (father, dead), Elsie Grimm (mother, dead), Benjamin Grimm (paternal grandfather, presumed dead),Mary Grimm (paternal grandmother, presumed dead),unnamed maternal grandmother (dead), Daniel Grimm Junior (brother, dead), Petunia Grimm (aunt by marriage), Sophie Grimm (paternal aunt, deceased), Alyce Grimm (paternal aunt and former legal guardian, deceased), Jake Grimm (paternal uncle and former legal guardian), unnamed cousin, Franklin Richards (godson)

### Affiliation

Yancy Street Gang (formerly), Fantastic 4

### Occupation

Student (State University, graduated; U.S. Air Force pilot training; NASA astronaut training), construction worker (formerly), security guard (formerly), astronaut (formerly), test pilot (formerly), college football player (formerly), wrestler (formerly), Soldier (U.S. Army) (formerly), U.S. Air Force Pilot (formerly), Advenuturer

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

New York City, New York, United States of America

## History

### Early Years

Benjamin J. Grimm was born and raised at 7135 Yancy Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where he grew up in poverty. His father Daniel, an alcoholic was unable to hold a job. Much of the family's income came from Grimm's older brother, Daniel Jr., who obtained funds illegally as leader of the Yancy Street Gang. The earliest recorded event in Ben's life was when he was a young boy and one of his aunts had died of cancer. At only eight years old, when Ben learned that the doctors could not do anything for his ailing aunt Sophie, he prayed to God to save her. When she eventually died, the already miserable young boy raged up at the heavens at what he saw as a cruel an uncaring god. Grimm, who idolized his brother, became further embittered against the world when Daniel Jr. was killed in a battle between rival gangs

### Teen Years

Seeking to become a member of the Yancy Street Gang, he was tasked with stealing a golden Star of David pendant from local pawnshop owner Hiram Sheckerberg. Succeeding, Ben was accepted into the group. Within ten years, he had succeeded his brother as leader of the Yancy Street Gang. Around this time, Ben's parents died, although the circumstances of their deaths are unrevealed. Grimm was taken in by his Uncle Jake, who had risen from poverty to become a successful physician, and his wife Alyce. At first, Grimm resisted his new guardians' kindness toward him. But eventually, he came to return their love. One day during this transition period, Ben and his friend Tommy sneaked onto a fairground to check out the freak show. There Ben bullied a young deformed boy Istvan that was the son of the fair's gypsy. Seeing Ben treat her son with cruelty, she cursed Ben claiming that he would know tears one day, seemingly foretelling his later transformation.

#### High School

When Ben tried to return to the gang, he found himself pelted with garbage and called a traitor. The general census among the rest of the gang was that when Ben left Yancy Street he lost all right to lead the gang. Grimm has been at odds with the gang ever since. Ben moved on with his life without looking back, leaving his life with the Yancy Street Gang behind, entered high school, and became a football star there. While he was a senior at Stuyvesant High School, Ben received a football scholarship to State University in Hegeman, New York. On the football field, Ben received the nickname "Grimm Reaper".

### College Years

Grimm's freshman year roommate was the brilliant science student Reed Richards, who became his closest friend. During their first meeting Richards confided in Grimm his intention to build a starship for interstellar travel someday. Grimm jokingly promised that he would pilot the starship for Richards if he ever built it. Also during this period, Ben met Latverian student Victor von Doom, Reed's chief rival, who was later expelled from school after an unauthorized experiment literally blew up in his face. A failure that von Doom bitterly blamed Reed for. While in Empire State University Ben began dating fellow student Alynn Chambers, while also trying to push Reed to become more social, despite Reed's lingering crush with his landlady's niece Sue Storm. Shorty after this, Ben encountered a strange man claiming that aliens were attempting to invade Earth. Thinking it would be a good prank to send a supposed crack-pot to his pal Reed, Ben's prank inadvertently prevented an early invasion of Earth by the Skrull race. On the day of a big game, Alynn suddenly broke up with Ben, upsetting him enough to lose the game. Ben tracked Alynn down and attempted to propose to her with his mother's wedding ring, but Alynn turned him down, telling Ben that she feared that in pursing a career in Hollywood she might neglect their marriage and left him for good. Angrily, Ben threw his mother's ring into a nearby river.

### Adult

#### Military Career

Upon graduating Grimm went into the U.S. Air Force and became a highly skilled fighter pilot. Ben met Logan shortly before Logan was experimented on by the Weapon X Project, coating his bones with Adamantium, and wiping out his memories. Ben flew Logan to Washington D.C. so that Logan could meet with Myron MacLain, the inventor of Adamantium. Ben was later tapped by veteran soldier Nick Fury to fly a new prototype stealth plane into Russian territory to investigate why the Soviets were setting up ultra-low frequency radio wave transmitters. Joining him on this mission was his previous acquaintance Logan and Department of Defence agent Carol Danvers who were part of a secret sealed mission the details of which they would know only once they crossed over into Russian airspace. As they crossed over into Russia they were intercepted by KGB fighters led by Russian operative Natalia Shostakova, soon realizing that someone betrayed them and their mission. Forced to land their plane, Ben and Logan faced off against Russian forces while Carol fled into the woods with their black box flight recorder. Ben and Logan were soon captured and loaded aboard a prisoner train that was also carrying a Soviet weapon called Project: Red Storm, the objective of Logan's mission. Ben and Logan managed to break free, steal Red Storm and were pulled off the train by Carol who had stolen a scout plane. The trio then managed to recover their stolen plane and escape the Russians, but their mission was not yet complete. However, the details of the rest of their mission are unrecorded.

After his tour of duty, Ben continued to be a fighter pilot as well as an astronaut. During his time as a fighter pilot, Ben began a romance with Dr. Linda McGill. During an outing at a freak show, Linda admitted to Ben that she loved him no matter what he looked like, as she cared about who he was on the inside. In the meantime Richards went ahead with his project to build a starship, using both his own fortune and funding from the Federal government. On the day that Grimm left the military, Richards came to him to remind him of his promise to pilot the starship. The last night Ben spent with Linda was the evening before the fated launch that would change Ben's life forever.

Ben relocated to Central City to prepare for the launch which was partially funded by Reed's money and a grant from the government. The project was jeopardized by the arrival of an alien invader named Gormuu a creature that grew massive in size and was seemingly unstoppable. When Reed deduced that the alien drew power from his ship to grow in size, he created a device to infuse Gormuu with more energy. Unaware of Reed's full intentions, Ben and Reed's fiancée, Sue Storm, attempted to stop him. However they failed and Reed's invention worked: so bombarded with energy, Gormuu grew until his molecular structure dissipated, ending his threat.

### Birth of the Fantastic 4

Following the Gormuu incident, the federal government threatened to withdraw its funding from Richards' project, so Richards decided to take the starship on a test flight himself as soon as possible. Grimm was opposed to the idea, warning that the starship's shielding might prove to be inadequate protection from intense radiation storms. Nevertheless, Grimm was persuaded to serve as pilot, along with his passengers Sue and her teenage brother Johnny who insisted on accompanying Richards. The four friends stole into the launch facility, entered the starship, and launched it. They intended to travel through hyperspace to another solar system and back. However, unknown to Richards, a solar flare caused Earth's Van Allen Belts to be filled temporarily with unprecedented, ultra-high levels of cosmic radiation. Since the ship was designed to shield against ordinary levels of radiation, the cabin interior was subject to intense cosmic ray bombardment which irradiated the four passengers and wrought havoc on the ship's controls. Pilot Grimm was forced to abort the flight and return to Earth.

Once back on Earth, the four passengers discovered that the cosmic radiation had triggered mutagenic changes in their bodies. Grimm was transformed into an orange-colored, thick-skinned, heavily-muscled, and superhumanly strong "thing." Richards convinced the three others that the four of them should use their new powers for the good of humanity as members of a team named the Fantastic Four.

Richards called himself Mister Fantastic, Susan and Johnny Storm took the names of the Invisible Girl and the Human Torch, and Grimm, morose over his new grotesque appearance, named himself the Thing. The quartet were quickly picked up by the government and were then contained in a government quarantine facility for those exposed by cosmic rays under the command of Reed's colleague General Walter Montgomery. There Reed was contacted telepathically by Professor Franz Stahl, another cosmic ray mutate who saw their transformations something that evolved them beyond humanity. Ben lashed out over his transformation, trashing his room. When Linda attempted to see him in his room, she was frightened away after looking at him. Stahl caused another mutate, Raymond Perry to go on a rampage in the facility. While the fledgling Fantastic Four stopped Perry's rampage, Stahl escaped from his cell. Having demonstrated the effectiveness of their new powers, Reed managed to convince General Montgomery into releasing the Fantastic Four and allowing them to operate freely. When a series of nuclear facilities began to vanish, Montgomery convinced his superiors to give the Fantastic Four a change to prove themselves.

After his transformation, Ben returned home and when Linda came to visit him she was still horrified to find him in his new form and ran out on him. This threw Ben into a rage, destroying his apartment. Slipping into a depression, Ben traveled to a nearby bridge and contemplated committing suicide. However Linda tracked Ben down, having come to her senses and suggested that they give their relationship a try, but Ben angrily rejected her, sending the frightened woman fleeing.