The Thing #3
The Thing #3 (2025) sits at the midpoint of Ben Grimm's first solo limited series in nearly two decades, a street-level gauntlet that deliberately strips away the cosmic scaffolding of Fantastic Four storytelling to focus on the working-class, Yancy Street roots that Jack Kirby built into the character from the very beginning. Writer Tony Fleecs constructs the series — and this issue in particular — as a villain-gauntlet story in which classic Marvel antagonists compete to collect a bounty on Grimm, a structural choice that lets each chapter function as both a standalone action set-piece and a chapter in a larger character study. Reviewers singled out issue three specifically for a 'shocking surprise appearance' that reframes the conspiracy threading through the arc, raising the dramatic stakes heading into the final act. Coming out the same summer as the character's MCU theatrical debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the series — with this issue as its dramatic pivot — serves as an accessible, character-first entry point for readers drawn to Ben Grimm for the first time.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Marvel announced the five-issue limited series in February 2025, positioning it as a deliberate companion piece to the theatrical release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Tony Fleecs, best known in independent circles for Stray Dogs and his work on Venom War: Wolverine, was tapped to write, with Justin Mason — fresh from Spider-Punk — handling interior art and Nick Bradshaw supplying covers throughout the run; the series is edited by Darren Shan under executive editor Tom Brevoort. Fleecs stated publicly that the creative challenge he set himself was identifying which villains and situations would actually catch a character as unflappable as Ben Grimm off guard, leading him to reach broadly across the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe for the series' antagonist roster.
Trivia · 10 facts
- Published July 30, 2025 (cover-dated September 2025); the third of five issues in the limited series officially titled The Thing (2025).
- Written by Tony Fleecs with interior art by Justin Mason; colors by Alex Sinclair; letters by Joe Caramagna; cover art and inks by Nick Bradshaw with cover colors by Rachelle Rosenberg.
- Edited by Darren Shan; Executive Editor Tom Brevoort; Editor-in-Chief C. B. Cebulski.
- The issue continues a Yancy Street–rooted criminal conspiracy that connects to Ben Grimm's childhood, with New York's underworld placing a bounty on the Thing and a parade of super-powered enforcers attempting to collect.
- Confirmed villains in the broader arc include Bullseye and the Juggernaut; the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) is also named in collected-edition solicits as a key antagonist across the series.
- Issue #3 features what multiple reviewers independently described as a 'shocking surprise appearance' of an unexpected character that sets up the story's final issues — the specific identity was not publicly spoiled in pre-release materials.
- Key Collector Comics lists the issue as a non-key, with no confirmed first appearances of new characters in this installment.
- The full five-issue run was collected in the trade paperback The Thing: The King of Yancy Street, published by Penguin Random House / Marvel.
- Variant covers for issue #3 include a 1:25 incentive variant by Andrei Bressan and an open-order variant by Pete Woods.
- This series represents the fourth self-titled Thing solo series in Marvel history, following the 1983–1986 John Byrne/Ron Wilson run, the 2005–2006 Dan Slott series, and the 2021 Walter Mosley/Tom Reilly series.
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Thing: The King of Yancy Street #[nn] (2025), La chose - Le roi de Yancy-Street #[nn] (2025)
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