Ben Grimm

## Romantic Relationships

* Alicia Masters: Girlfriend (2000 - 2005); Fiancée (2005 - 2006); Wife (2006 - )

## Personality

Benjamin Grimm possesses a gruff, tough exterior & can appear grim. However, he is actually kind-hearted & often well liked among other heroes. Although stubborn & sometimes hot tempered, it often makes him very determined, enthusiastic & brave.

Despite his tough attitude & personality, he has at times lightly teared up during extremely touching moments, proving he does have a sensitive side beneath his hard disposition. He is also often sarcastic & quick to throw a wise crack.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Mutate Physiology:** The Thing possesses a smooth, orange, rock-like hide as a result of exposure to cosmic rays. The mutagenic process caused his musculature, bone structure, internal organ composition, soft tissue structure & skin to greatly increase in toughness & density. After being subjected to a serum, he now reverts to human form once a year, which is now the only time he ages.
	+ ***Superhuman Strength:*** His primary power is his great physical strength. Over the years, through rigorous training and further mutation, his strength has dramatically increased. Impressively, even being less powerful, the Thing proved strong enough to knock out the Hulk.
	+ ***Superhuman Stamina:*** His advanced musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a normal human. At his peak, he can exert himself for about 24 hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to affect him. Incidentally, The Thing's lungs are of greater volume & efficiency than a normal man's, enabling him to hold his breath underwater for up to 9 minutes, despite the fact that he used to smoke.
	+ ***Superhuman Durability:*** The rock-like composition of Ben's body renders him highly resistant to physical injury. The Thing's body can resist extremely powerful impact forces, such as the force of the Hulk's punches. He can also withstand exposure to high levels of explosives, such as being struck full with bazooka shells, without sustaining injury. His body can also withstand extreme temperatures. However, he couldn't withstand being slashed by Wolverine's Adamantium claws, making adamantium one of the few things that can pierce the Thing's nearly impenetrable body.
	+ ***Superhuman Sensory Adaptation:*** Though his senses aren't superhumanly acute, his senses can withstand greater amounts of sensory stimuli than he could when he was a normal human being, with no reduced sensitivity.
	+ ***Immortality:*** The Thing cannot age. The only way for him to age is by being in his human form.
* **Aviation:** Ben is an exceptionally skilled & experienced pilot, proficient with many varieties of both conventional and exotic aircraft.
* **Astronaut:** Ben has also trained as an astronaut & was piloting Reed Richard's spacecraft during the team's fateful bombardment with cosmic rays.
* **Hand to Hand Combat/Martial Arts:** He is uniquely gifted in the art of combat (a skill Ben honed long before he became the Thing), though his fighting style tends to be a rather loose brawling technique all his own. This style often incorporates collegiate wrestling techniques, boxing & occasion Jujutsu. In his youth, Ben was a talented football player.
* **Music:** He can play the saxophone.
* **Fantastic Four Uniform:**The Thing's costume & the rest of his wardrobe is constructed of unstable molecules. His costume has a complete data processing & telemetry system woven into its fabric on a molecular level, making it a wearable computer. The costume forms a network with the rest of the Fantastic Four, providing a constant uplink of everyone’s physical condition as well as their location & current situation. The costume has an intricate scanner system which can detect things around the wearer, from how many people are in the next room to what dimension or planet they are on.
* **Universal Translator:** He has a Universal Translator that can decipher & interpret languages, both alien & terrestrial, into the native language of the user.

### Ratings

* **Acumen:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Might:** 7 - Master / Elite
* **Quickness:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Mysticism:** 1 - Nonexistent
* **Gadgetry:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Projection:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Strategy:** 4 - Trained / Learned
* **Battle:** 5 - High / Exceptional
* **TOTAL:** 104 - Power Level 4 / Moderate Threat

## Trivia

* He is Jewish.
* Prior to his mutations, Ben's height was 6'1.
* His favorite food is pizza, especially New York Pizza.
* He dislikes mayonnaise, at least in his sandwiches.
* Ben does not get along with the Hulk due to Ben having a chip on his shoulder when it comes to other "strong" heroes. He always wants to prove that he's tougher than they are. This is made worse by the fact that the Hulk is just generally grumpy & also always claims to be "the strongest there is."

## Notes

* The original character of The Thing belongs to the Marvel Universe.