Fox made three live-action Fantastic Four movies in the 21st century, all of which featured an impressive version of the Thing, the team’s gruff and rocky hero. The two Fantastic Fours of the 2000s’ Thing was played by Michael Chiklis, who performed the character from beneath a mount of orange prosthetic makeup. 2015’s disastrous Fantastic Four reboot had a CGI Thing performed by Jamie Bell.
These Things looked fine, but neither one really captured the look of the Thing from Marvel Comics, especially the one with that massive, distinctive brow and angular cheeks drawn by Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby. If a newly posted set photo is to be believed, the Thing in the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps, played by The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach, will recreate the Kirby Thing design in live-action for the first time.
Take a look at the image below:
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For sake of comparison, here is one of Kirby’s classic Fantastic Four covers with his version of the Thing front and center:
Maybe this look shouldn’t be wildly shocking. Marvel Studios has already confirmed their Fantastic Four film is a period piece, set in the 1960s like the original Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comics. If you’re doing a Fantastic Four set in that era, it only makes sense to use a really faithful Jack Kirby version of Thing.
Plus, Marvel has released concept art of their new Fantastic Four team — which also includes Oscar Isaac’s Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby’s Invisible Woman, and Joseph Quinn’s Human Torch — and the version of Thing in it was an unmistakably Kirbyesque take on the character. (The blue and white costume Thing is wearing in this image looks like the concept art as well.)
Still, concept art sometimes gets tweaked on the way to production, so it was not necessarily a guarantee that we were going to see that Thing in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. So that set photo is pretty exciting. The film is scheduled to open in theaters on July 25, 2025.
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