Favorite Story Line:Fantastic Four 296 where Reed goes out to find the Thing with Johnny and Susan only to find that he's know friends with the Mole Man. It was the 25th Anniversary of the book.

Least Favorite Story Line:Fantastic Four 375 where Ben nearly gets his faced sliced off by Wolverine. The book's quality took a nosedive right around this time.

Little Known Fact:Ben's intellegence is above average. He has multiple degrees from college, he's one of the world's greatest test pilots, and he still remains a great hand-to-hand combatant even in his human form.

History:Ben was born and raised in the poverty stricken part of New York on the street known as Yancy Street. His father, who was a alcoholic, was unable to keep a job. Ben's older brother supported the family for the most part through the illegal money from the Yancy Street gang. When Ben was 8, his older brother was killed in a violent gang war. Within 10 years, Ben, idolizing his brother, became leader of the gang.        After the death of his parents, Ben moved in with his uncle Jake who brought Ben out of poverty and into a decent home. In Ben's senior year of High School, Ben received a Football scholarship to Empire State University. There he met Reed Richards where Reed asked him to test fly his ship once it was built. Ben jokingly agreed and the two went their separate ways after college. Ben became a test pilot with the Air Force.       Ben met up with Reed again years latter where Reed was preparing to launch the ship with Ben as the pilot. Although Ben argued how the ship wasn't ready, the two along with Susan and Johnny Storm launched into space. Due to a high amount of radiation in the Van Allen Belt, the four where bombarded with Cosmic Rays. As the team blacked out, Reed was able to hit the auto pilot and the ship crash landed on Earth. There Ben mutated into the hero that Susan dubbed the Thing. At first the Thing's skin was smooth and lumpy. As the years passed though, he formed a rocky appearance. His strength level changed as well. While he could only bench 5 tons at first, his strength has vastly multiplied due to the continuous absorption of Cosmic Rays.      Ben learned to accept his change due mostly to his ex-girlfriend, Alicia Masters. During his stay on the Secret Wars Planet, Alicia was kidnapped and replaced with an alien Skrull (see Lyra).  The impostor Alicia married Johnny and nearly carried his child. Ben quit the team all together, returning finally and taking Reed's place as leader. There he fell in love with an old friend, Sharon Ventura, the second Ms. Marvel. After she was exposed to cosmic rays and transformed into a Thing, Ben and Sharon fell in love. It wasn't to last though for during a freak accident, Ben was turned human, which made Sharon feel alienated. To save their relationship, Ben turned himself back into the Thing, while Dr. Doom transformed Sharon back to human form. Shortly there after, Alicia was revealed to be a Skrull imposer, and the true Alicia was recovered, still in love with Ben.       Ben, feeling betrayed by this since he still believed with his heart that Johnny married Alicia, Ben couldn't return to her. Sharon then returned, an agent of Dr.Doom and allied herself with the team. During a battle with Wolverine, the Thing's face was slashed horribly. Due to Sharon's love for Ben, she betrayed Dr. Doom, which Dr. Doom then transformed her human form into a Hulk like monster. She was contained in the team's headquarters and then released, only to vanish after a battle with the team. The son of Ben's godson, Franklin, restored his face to normal and the team was thrown into another dimension during the battle with the mutant menace known as Onslaught. There they lived out their earlier days of the team. After a year, the team was returned to normal space with a number of other heroes.        Due to the destruction of their old base, the team took up base in Pier Four. There Ben learned that Alicia had fallen in love with the Silver Surfer, which didn't last long at all. Due to a recent battle with the Grey Gargoyle, the Thing was transformed into stone. Due to the chemical mix of Diablo's potions that Ben was exposed to and the mutagenic effects of the Grey Gargoyle's powers, Ben can now transform into his human form. Since nearly every transformation has been followed by certain side effects, it remains unclear on what the outcome may be of Ben's current situation.

Personal Note-The one member who carried the spirit of the team, Ben was always one of my favorite members. The only member of the team to have his own title twice (see Marvel Two-In-One and the Thing), Ben has stood out among all of the other charatcers.