Fantastic Four Concept Art Shows The Epic Thing We Almost Had

Marvel artist reveals wild the Thing concept art from a scrapped Fantastic Four movie. Adapting the Fantastic Four to live-action has proven unexpectedly difficult despite the team’s status as Marvel’s central superhero family. On the surface, the premise seems straightforward, but in practice, every adaptation has struggled to balance the team’s lighthearted nature with realism and high enough stakes. The underlying challenge is that the Fantastic Four are simultaneously pulp adventurers, science-fiction explorers, celebrity scientists, domestic sitcom protagonists, and modern mythological figures. Adapting them accurately requires committing to a tone that combines retrofuturism, cosmic spectacle, family drama, and superhero extravaganza.

The member of the Fantastic Four who has historically posed the greatest challenge for live-action adaptation is undoubtedly The Thing, whose entire characterization depends upon audiences accepting a hulking, orange, rock-skinned man who’s both tragic and deeply lovable. Earlier movies relied heavily on prosthetics to convey Ben’s humanity, but they compromised his scale and physicality in the process. Marvel Studios finally reconciled these competing demands in The Fantastic Four: First Steps with a fully digital approach. The result is arguably the first live-action Thing to capture the full scope of the character as he exists in the comics.

Before Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s portrayal of the MCU’s Ben Grimm, the Thing almost looked unrecognizable in previous Fantastic Four adaptations that never saw the light of day.

Artist Jerad S Marantz Reveals Ben Grimm Concept Art For Scrapped Fantastic Four Movie

The Thing Could Have Looked Extremely Different On The Big Screen

On both Facebook and Instagram, artist Jerad S Marantz shares his official concept art for a late 2000s Fantastic Four movie reboot that was ultimately scrapped. Marantz explains that these Ben Grimm designs were part of early explorations for a Fantastic Four film, which was one of many evolving Marvel projects that “would go in and out of development” at the time. Without a fully established Marvel Cinematic Universe and with the Fantastic Four’s movie adaptation rights over at Twentieth Century Fox, reboot ideas seemingly floated around constantly, parallel to the blooming MCU.

Marantz’ Ben Grimm concept art pieces are all considerably grittier than The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ fully accurate and lighthearted Thing. However, each design looks drastically different from the other. Some versions of the Thing are dramatically more muscular or leaner than the rest. A couple of them feature a pot belly, another possesses sharp extensions of his limbs that resemble the Abomination’s bulging bones, and another is made of large round grey stones.

Ultimately, Josh Trank’s 2015 Fantastic Four reboot appears to have ended up adapting some of these elements into Jamie Bell’s portrayal of the Thing, who sported sharp and irregular rocks, and famously lacked clothes. Ten years later, Marvel Studios dropped all intentions of modernizing the Thing’s appearance. Instead, The Fantastic Four: First Steps went straight for the classic Jack Kirby look, complete with blocky brows and expressive, deep-sunken eyes.

The Thing Is One Of Those Characters That Need To Be Comic-Accurate To Feel Realistic

A Truly Realistic Ben Grimm Is Jarring To Look At

The Thing works precisely because audiences don’t perceive him as a biologically plausible rock creature, but as the Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing. Jack Kirby’s original design, with his exaggerated proportions, expressive brow, oversized hands, and distinctive orange, plate-like hide, has a visual coherence that transcends the need for realism. Ben Grimm’s stylized features communicate everything essential about the character. Hence, attempts to make the Thing appear more realistic often fail because they strip away the artistic exaggeration that allows audiences to accept him as a person rather than as a special effect.

Fantastic Four’s Thing Comes in as Many Different Colors as the Hulk

Hulk is famous for his different colors, but Fantastic Four’s Thing has also turned green, blue, black and more – often with new powers.

A physically plausible rock-skinned human would likely resemble a grotesquely textured and asymmetrical creature. Although a realistic Thing would be scientifically interesting and his monstrous appearance would fit Ben Grimm’s struggle for self-acceptance, he would no longer be recognizable as the Fantastic Four’s heart of gold. Considering that the Thing‘s classic look survives the most drasic artistic overhauls in the comics, its faithful adaptation in the MCU shouldn’t be that surprising.

Which live-action the Thing design is your favorite?