Ben Grimm’s full beard fromThe Fantastic Four: First Steps' final trailer has a tragic origin in Marvel Comics, where The Thing becomes theFantastic Four’s last surviving member and presumably the oldest hero in the Marvel universe.
Two shots inThe Fantastic Four: First Steps' final trailer feature Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm sporting a long beard made of the same rock material as the rest of his skin. Both shots appear to come from the same sequence, which may take place during the team’s final battle against Galactus. This detail suggests a time skip, during which the team might prepare for the encounter.
Still, the fact that the Thing suddenly sports a full beard raises a lot of questions, as Ben Grimm isn’t supposed to grow hair in any part of his rocky exterior. So, something else might be at play.
The Thing’s Beard Has A Bittersweet Meaning In Marvel Comics
Fantastic Four #605; Written by Jonathan Hickman; Art by Rob Garney and Jason Keith
Indeed, Ben Grimm doesn’t grow any hair on his head, face, brows, or any part of his body in the comics. Otherwise, he would sport rocky stubble during many of the missions that take longer than expected for the Fantastic Four.The only time the Thing has sported an actual beard in the comics has been inFantastic Four #605, written bySecret Warsscribe Jonathan Hickman.
Ben lets his regular beard grow every day he spends as a regular human
InFantastic Four #605, Reed Richards and his father Nathaniel travel thousands of years into the future and realize that Ben Grimm has aged extremely slowly. Thanks to his unique physiology,the Thing is virtually immortal. However, the Thing ages only one day a year due to the serum Franklin Richards gave him so he could revert to his human form for one day each year.
Every time the Thing reverts to his human form in the comics, he has a full head of hair.
Ben lets his regular beard grow every day he spends as a regular human. Over the course of millennia, this accumulated hair has solidified into a rocky beard permanently attached to his face, serving as a reminder of the thousands of years he has outlived the Fantastic Four. Why exactly his head and brows aren’t always covered in hair-like rock isn’t explained, however.
What The Thing’s Beard Could Mean For The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The Fantastic Four: First Steps May Play With Time
The fact that Ben Grimm has a long beard in only a few shots of the trailers suggests thatThe Fantastic Four: First Steps' timeline won’t be as straightforward as it seems. There’s a chance the team has already found a way to grant Ben some time in human form.As they prepare to battle Galactus over the course of a few months or years, the Thing may already have grown a full beard.
Otherwise,the Fantastic Four’s plan to defeat Galactusmay involve some form of time travel.The Fantastic Four: First Stepstakes place in an alternate universe. This allows the Fantastic Four to play with time without causing any changes to the MCU’s Earth-616. Drawing inspiration fromFantastic Four #605, the Thing could spend hundreds of years preparing to fight Galactus inside a time pocket designed by Reed Richards.
A simpler but stranger possibility is that Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm simply grows a rocky beard normally. In that case, Reed Richards may have designed a special device or treatment to help Ben shave regularly without damaging his skin. This scenario would also mean that the Thing will sport different beard styles in future MCU movies likeAvengers: DoomsdayandAvengers: Secret Wars.
Is The MCU Adapting The Thing’s Fantastic Four #605 Story?
The Thing’s MCU Beard May Only Be A Nod To The Comics
The ancient, bearded version of Ben Grimm remains exclusive to the timeline explored in the self-containedFantastic Four#605.This timeline is only one of many possible versions of the future explored in Marvel Comics, and it isn’t the Fantastic Four’s definitive fate. In countless other futures, it’s other Marvel characters' turn to be the last surviving heroes of their time.
It would be a little too soon forthe MCU to go down theFantastic Four #605route andlet Ben Grimm revert to his human form occasionally, as Ben Grimm is only making his debut. That said, theFantastic Four’s first MCU movie pits the team against Galactus, so nothing is off the table. Still, the Thing’s rocky beard probably has a different explanation than several millennia of slow aging.
