Matchup · Earth-616 comics
Doctor Doom vs. the Thing
Benjamin Grimm, the Earth-616 original. In this site's ratings, classic Doctor Doom wins 60% of their one-on-one fights, so Doom is the favorite.
Fight rules: both fighters at their peak, no preparation, no allies, only their own powers and personal gear. A win is a knockout, a restraint they can't escape, or a forced surrender. The percentages are fan estimates, not official information.
Doom's edge
Armor that took his punches to a standstill (FF #157), an electric shock, sorcery, flight, and one weapon nobody else has: Doom can cure him, and did it without asking in 2025 (One World Under Doom #2).
The Thing's edge
Strength around 100 tons, a hide that shrugs off bazookas, decades of brawling, and history: he crushed Doom's hands inside his gauntlets (FF #40) and sent him into deep space (FF #23).
Odds against every version of Doom
Doom's chance of winning, version by version. The strongest Doom here, God Emperor Doom, wins >99% of the time; the weakest, Fox Doom (2005), wins 20%. The last column says what moves each version away from classic Doom's 60%.
| Doom | Doom wins | Bar | Outcome | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doom Classic Doom | 60% | Favored | The baseline Doom | |
| Power Cosmic Doom Power Cosmic (1967) | 97% | Favored | Overall +70 for this version; +4: Revenge for his hands: with the Power Cosmic he hunted Ben down and beat him (FF #60, 1967). | |
| Beyonder-powered Doom Beyonder power (1985) | >99% | Favored | Overall +130 for this version | |
| Unthinkable Doom Unthinkable (2003) | 95% | Favored | Overall +65 for this version | |
| Life Force Doom Life Force (2012) | 99% | Favored | Overall +110 for this version | |
| God Emperor Doom God Emperor (2015) | >99% | Favored | Overall +150 for this version | |
| Infamous Iron Man Infamous Iron Man | 53% | Toss-up | Overall −4 for this version; −3: He's trying to make amends, and he dodged the Thing rather than trade blows (Infamous Iron Man, 2017). | |
| Sorcerer Supreme Doom Sorcerer Supreme (2025) | 94% | Favored | Overall +55 for this version; +4: Turned Ben human with a gesture, without asking (One World Under Doom #2, 2025). | |
| Doom 2099 Doom 2099 | 56% | Toss-up | Overall −4 for this version | |
| Van Damme Van Damme (Ultimate) | 40% | Toss-up | Overall −20 for this version | |
| Fox Doom (2005) Julian McMahon (2005) | 20% | Underdog | Overall −45 for this version | |
| Fox Doom (2007) Surfer's board (2007) | 86% | Favored | Overall +35 for this version | |
| Fox Doom (2015) Toby Kebbell (2015) | 40% | Toss-up | Overall −20 for this version |
Tale of the tape
Eight stats on a 1-to-10 scale, classic Doom against the Thing. How the stat scales work.
The Thing's power set
- Rock strength8/10
Around 100 tons; he crushed Doom's hands inside his armored gauntlets (FF #40, 1965).
- Rock hide8/10
Shrugs off bazookas and armor-piercing rounds; adamantium, alien weapons and sorcery are what get through.
- Brawling7/10
Wrestling, boxing and a lifetime of street fights; the handbook rates him a master of one form.
- Stamina7/10
About 24 hours of hard exertion before fatigue sets in; holds his breath around nine minutes.
- Pilot6/10
Military test pilot and astronaut; he flew the ship that made the Fantastic Four.
Official handbook power grid
| Category | Rating (1 to 7) |
|---|---|
| Intelligence | 3 |
| Strength | 6 |
| Speed | 2 |
| Durability | 6 |
| Energy projection | 1 |
| Fighting skills | 5 |
Who is the Thing?
- Real name
- Benjamin Jacob “Ben” Grimm
- Height
- 6 ft
- Weight
- 500 lb
- Eyes / hair
- Blue / none (formerly brown)
- Born
- Yancy Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
- First appearance
- The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov 1961)
- Created by
- Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
- Education
- State University on a football scholarship; military pilot and astronaut training
Ben Grimm grew up poor on Yancy Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where his older brother Daniel was killed in a gang fight and Ben later ran the gang himself before his Uncle Jake took him in. A football scholarship took him to State University, where he roomed with Reed Richards and first crossed Victor von Doom; decades later Ben confessed he may have smudged one of the mystic symbols in Victor's lab the night of the accident, though Reed found no sign it mattered (FF vol. 4 #9, 2013). He became a military test pilot and astronaut, flew Reed's ship through the cosmic rays and came back as the Thing, a body of orange rock that lifts around 100 tons. The family's heart and its fists, he is a proud Jewish New Yorker married to Alicia Masters (FF vol. 6 #5, 2019). Doom has possessed him and forced Reed to kill him to stop it (FF #508, 2004; Ben was brought back), and in 2025 Doom publicly made him human, a life Ben never asked for, until his family went back to the Big Bang to restore his powers (One World Under Doom #2; Fantastic Four #30–33).
Signature feats
- Crushed Doom's hands and tore every device off his armor, then let him limp away.FF #40 (1965)
- Grappling with Doom at the edge of a deep-space portal, he sent Doom through it.FF #23 (1964)
- Fought Doom's improved armor to a standstill.FF #157 (1975)
- Wrecked the Yancy Street lab where Doom's experiments on addicts had already proved fatal, ruining the research.FF #361 (1992)
- Slammed a future Doom into a building across the street for insulting Reed.FF #552 (2008)
- Broke the hypnotic hold at Doom's wedding and smashed the Armagedron.FF vol. 6 #34 (2021)
Weaknesses and limits
- No ranged attack: against a flyer he needs something to throw.Fighting style
- Magic and adamantium get through his hide; Wolverine's claws scarred his face.FF #374 (1993)
- Doom can make him human: a device carried by one of Doom's Terrible Trio did it on Yancy Street in 1964, and Doom's own cure did it in 2025.FF #23 (1964); One World Under Doom #2 (2025)
- Guilt: he has long feared his college prank helped scar Victor.FF vol. 4 #9 (2013)
Gear
His FF uniform with team telemetry, a Fantasti-Flare, and anything he can lift.
Affiliations
- Fantastic Four
- Founding member and pilot.
- Avengers
- Served with the team, including its West Coast branch.
- Yancy Street
- Grew up there and once ran its gang.
- Alicia Masters
- His wife, since 2019.
The Thing vs. Doctor Doom in the comics
Doom came out ahead 3 times, the Thing 3, the team 1, with 3 draws in the encounters listed here.
| Year | Issue | What happened | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | FF #23 | Grappling at the edge of Doom's deep-space portal, Ben sent him through it. | The team |
| 1965 | FF #40 | Crushed Doom's hands and stripped his armor; the team let him limp away. | The Thing |
| 1967 | FF #60 | Doom used the Power Cosmic to take revenge for his hands; Ben was outmatched but kept fighting. | Doom |
| 1975 | FF #157 | Doom's new armor held against his punches: a stalemate. | Draw |
| 1991 | FF #350 | Fought the returned Doom until Sharon Ventura interrupted. | Draw |
| 1992 | FF #361 | Wrecked the warehouse lab where Doom was experimenting on Yancy Street's addicts. Doom blasted him into submission, but the research was ruined and Doom left swearing revenge. | Draw |
| 2004 | FF #508 | Doom possessed him; Ben begged Reed to stop him, and Reed killed him. He was brought back in FF #509–511. | Doom |
| 2008 | FF #552 | Slammed a future Doom into a building across the street. | The Thing |
| 2013 | FF vol. 4 #9 | Watched the accident from outside time with Reed, pulled young Victor clear and smashed the machine; Victor chose to become Doom anyway. | No fight |
| 2015 | Secret Wars | Made part of the Shield, Battleworld's great wall; he marched on Doomstadt when he learned Doom had lied. | No fight |
| 2021 | FF vol. 6 #34 | Smashed the Armagedron at Doom's wedding. | The Thing |
| 2025 | One World Under Doom #2 | Doom made him human without asking. | Doom |
In a team fight
Takes Doom's blows for everyone, and breaks the armor the moment the others open it. Build a team against Doom.
Status, October 2026
The Thing again: the family fought to restore his powers after Doom's cure (Fantastic Four #30–33, 2025), and he's in Ryan North's ongoing series. Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Ben of Earth-828 returns in Avengers: Doomsday (Dec 18, 2026).
Other versions of the Thing
- The Thing (Earth-1610)Ben Grimm · Alternate comicsClassic Doom 63%
- The Thing (Fox films, 2005–07)Ben Grimm · FilmClassic Doom 70%
- The Thing (Fox film, 2015)Ben Grimm · FilmClassic Doom 70%
- The Thing (Earth-828)Ben Grimm · FilmClassic Doom 65%
Looking for pictures? See official art on the Marvel Database, a fan wiki. This site does not host Marvel artwork.