The Thing #33
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Thing #33 is a genuinely loaded Copper Age issue that delivers multiple first appearances and a permanent character death in a single story, making it a notable intersection of two major mid-1980s Marvel editorial initiatives: the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation sub-universe and the Scourge of the Underworld kill-spree. The debut of Battleaxe and Gladiatrix meaningfully expanded the Grapplers roster — a group of super-powered female wrestlers whose arc from criminals to legitimate athletes gave Marvel one of its most distinctive all-female ensembles of the era. The death of the original Titania (Davida DeVito) at the hands of a Scourge operative also served as a narrative bookmark, resolving the awkward coexistence of two simultaneous Marvel characters sharing the same code name after the more prominent Titania debuted in Secret Wars. As Ron Wilson's final issue penciling the solo series he had drawn virtually from its first issue, it also closes the book on a specific artistic chapter of Ben Grimm's first solo run.
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The issue was written by Mike Carlin, penciled by Ron Wilson, inked by Kim DeMulder, colored by Bob Sharen, lettered by John Morelli, and edited by Mark Gruenwald — the same tight creative team that steered the series through its wrestling-centric second half. Gruenwald had conceived the Scourge of the Underworld as a cross-title editorial device to prune the Marvel Universe of redundant or ill-conceived villains, and Titania's death in this issue was one of several such executions seeded across various books during 1985–86. The issue carries a cover date of March 1986, with an on-sale date in late November 1985, placing it squarely in the heart of Gruenwald's Scourge campaign. It was later partially reprinted in the 2011 trade Captain America: Scourge of the Underworld, confirming its status as a canonical chapter of that storyline.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Battleaxe (Anita Ehren), a Power Broker–enhanced Grappler who would later appear in Captain America storylines and Superia's Femizons.
- First appearance of Gladiatrix (Robin Braxton), a Power Broker–enhanced wrestler and Grappler who subsequently appeared in Captain America #352, the 'Superia Stratagem' arc, and on the anti-registration side of the 2006–07 Civil War crossover.
- Death of the original Titania (Davida DeVito), the Grapplers' field leader, killed by a Scourge of the Underworld operative disguised as a fellow wrestler named Golddigger — one of the key deaths in Gruenwald's cross-title vigilante storyline.
- The issue also introduces several other Grapplers members in their first appearances, including Cowgirl (Deb Lowry), Butterball (Vivian Dolan), Magilla, Sushi, and Vavavoom, most of whom never appeared again outside of flashback.
- Sharon Ventura appears as a supporting character, clearing the Thing of suspicion in Titania's murder — a relationship that would soon evolve significantly as she became Ms. Marvel in the series' final issues.
- Ron Wilson, who penciled the title with rare exceptions from its 1983 launch, draws his final issue here before Paul Neary takes over for the book's remaining issues.
- Written by Mike Carlin; edited by Mark Gruenwald, whose Scourge initiative supplied the death-of-Titania plot thread running through the issue.
- Partially reprinted (three pages) in the 2011 Marvel collection Captain America: Scourge of the Underworld, documenting its place in that ongoing storyline.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Die Fantastischen Vier #32 (1991), Captain America: Scourge of the Underworld #[nn] (2011), Captain America Epic Collection #13 (2017), Marvel Héroes #88 (2018), The Thing Omnibus #[nn] (2022)
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