The Thing

Vanguard Fantastic 4

Vanguard · 700 HP · First appeared 1961 · Human

Origin

Ben Grimm first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961, the same comic that started the modern Marvel universe. Lee and Kirby designed the character explicitly around the trope of the disfigured strongman with a soft heart — a Frankenstein's-monster archetype recast as a working-class New York pilot.

Comic history

The Thing's defining stories are mostly Fantastic Four stories — the Galactus trilogy, the Negative Zone arcs, John Byrne's 1980s run. He has had two solo series of note (one in the 1980s, one in 2006) and remains the emotional anchor of the team. The Marvel Rivals design leans on his Yancy Street Brooklyn-Jewish-uncle personality, which the ability names make explicit.

The Thing in Marvel Rivals

The Thing is the second-tankiest Vanguard at 700 HP, behind only Groot at 850, and the most straightforward melee tank in the role. The kit is built around point control and chain CC. He does not have the wall-building of Groot or the mobility of Cap, but he has the highest single-target burst of the high-HP Vanguards. He is the Vanguard you pick when you want a single point won by attrition.

Abilities

Rocky Jab and Stone Haymaker are the two-tier melee. Yancy Street Charge is the gap-closer with attached knockback. Embattled Leap is the vertical mobility tool. Clobberin' Time, his ultimate, is named after his comic catchphrase and triggers a high-damage AoE punch.

Spotting The Thing in Rivaldle

The Thing is one of the easiest silhouette reads in the roster — wide shoulders, lumpy body, low center of mass, no hair. In Pixelation Mode the orange-rock palette is unique to him. In Classic Mode the Fantastic 4 affiliation narrows him to one of four heroes (Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Thing), and his 700 HP plus Vanguard role pin him down immediately within that group.

Try the puzzle

The Thing is a possible answer in every Rivaldle mode. The fastest way to spot them is usually a combination of two columns in Classic Mode plus a quick read of the silhouette or pixelation. Once you get a feel for the database fingerprints — the unique species cell, the unique origin year, the unique HP value — most heroes can be solved in two or three guesses.

Play Classic Silhouette Emoji