Marvel's marketing machine has been in full swing promoting The Fantastic Four: First Steps, showcasing Reed Richards' stretching abilities, Sue Storm's invisibility powers, and Johnny Storm's fiery flight sequences. But there's one crucial element the trailers have been conspicuously downplaying: the genuine tragedy at the heart of Ben Grimm's transformation into The Thing.
While his three teammates received incredible abilities that upgrade their lives, Ben Grimm suffered something far more devastating: complete dehumanization. The marketing campaign's decision to present The Thing as a cheerful, community-friendly figure lifting cars for delighted children fundamentally misrepresents what should be the movie's most emotionally complex storyline.
Keep your eyes peeled for The Fantastic Four: First Steps as it arrives in theaters on July 25, 2025.
Trailers Hide the Horror of The Thing's Transformation
Unlike Reed, Sue, and the beloved character of Johnny, who retained their human appearances while gaining extraordinary abilities, Ben Grimm lost his basic identity as a recognizable person. His transformation into The Thing represents permanent, irreversible loss on a scale that dwarfs most Marvel characters’ origin stories. Rather than learning to control new powers like the rest of the Fantastic Four team, Ben Grimm loses the physical parts of fundamental humanity.
The comic book origins have always treated Ben's condition as a source of genuine anguish. He can't walk down the street without causing panic. He can't have normal relationships. He can't even look in a mirror without being reminded of what he's lost. Every interaction becomes filtered through his monstrous appearance, turning simple human connections into complex negotiations.
Yet the First Steps trailers present The Thing as an almost jovial figure, happily entertaining crowds and seemingly at peace with his condition. Kids shout in excitement when they see him and he even lifts a car to their cheers.
While one brief shot shows him concealed under a hat and trenchcoat - suggesting he could possibly be hiding from society at some points - the overall marketing narrative frames his transformation as just another cool superhero power rather than a profound personal tragedy.
Marvel's Tone Problem Extends to Body Horror
The sanitized presentation of Ben's transformation reflects Marvel's broader challenge with tone management. The MCU has built its brand on quip-heavy, consequence-light storytelling where genuine trauma gets undercut by jokes and team-up solutions.
But Ben Grimm's story is inherently about permanent loss that can't be undone with a witty one-liner or a rousing speech about found family.
This approach works for characters like Spider-Man, whose great power comes with great responsibility but doesn't fundamentally alter his humanity. It doesn't work for a character whose entire arc revolves around grappling with involuntary transformation and societal rejection.
The Thing's story requires the kind of mature emotional weight that Marvel has consistently shied away from in favor of crowd-pleasing spectacle.
Recent fan reactions have noted subtle improvements to The Thing's characterization, with observers commenting that they've changed Ben's voice to make it more gravelly. But slight physical changes to the character’s presentation are as far as these observations go from the initial trailers.
The Missed Opportunity in Marketing
By the trailers positioning Ben as the team's lovable mascot rather than its tragic figure, the marketing is potentially setting up a disconnect between audience expectations and what the character actually requires dramatically. Fans expecting a fun-loving rock monster might be unprepared for scenes exploring Ben's psychological struggle with his new reality.
This misalignment serves neither the character nor the audience. Ben Grimm's transformation should be shocking and heartbreaking. It should make viewers uncomfortable in the way that genuine body horror does.
The tragedy isn't just that he looks different. It's that he's been fundamentally cut off from normal human experience in ways his teammates never were.
The first teaser's brief glimpse of Ben in disguise hints that the film might address these themes, but it remains buried beneath marketing focused on spectacle over psychology.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps has an opportunity to deliver Marvel's most emotionally complex origin story, but only if it's willing to embrace the genuine horror of Ben's situation rather than glossing over it with superhero polish.
What Previous Adaptations Got Wrong (And Right)
The challenge of balancing The Thing's tragedy with mainstream appeal isn't new. Previous Fantastic Four films have struggled with this exact issue, often defaulting to either complete camp or superficial angst.
The 2005 version starring Michael Chiklis leaned heavily into Ben's self-pity without exploring the deeper psychological implications. The 2015 reboot attempted a darker tone but failed to connect Ben's transformation to meaningful character development.
What made Chiklis's performance memorable wasn't the CGI spectacle, but the moments when he allowed genuine pain to show through the rocky exterior. Similarly, the most compelling Thing stories in comics aren't about his strength or his loyalty to the team - they're about his quiet moments of isolation, his struggle to maintain relationships, and his ongoing grief for his lost humanity.
First Steps has the advantage of modern visual effects that can make The Thing more expressive than ever before. Early glimpses suggest the film is taking advantage of this technology to create a more nuanced performance.
But technology alone won't solve the fundamental storytelling challenge: how do you make audiences care about a character whose defining trait is irreversible loss in a genre built on wish fulfillment?
A Character That Demands Honest Storytelling
The Thing works as a character precisely because his condition can't be easily resolved. Unlike other Marvel heroes who eventually master their abilities and find balance, Ben's story is about learning to live with irreversible loss.
That's what makes him compelling - and what makes the marketing's upbeat presentation feel like a fundamental misunderstanding of the character. Whether the film will honor the tragic complexity of Ben Grimm's transformation as he goes up against Galactus or follow the marketing's lead in presenting a sanitized version remains to be seen.
But based on decades of comic book storytelling, the character - and audiences - deserve better than a rock monster who's just happy to be here.
