The Thing isn’t just the Fantastic Four’s most popular member, he’s also Marvel’s most popular Jewish superhero – but Ben Grimm wasn’t always the proud Jew fans know him as today. The Thing’s Jewish identity was largely hinted at for decades before Fantastic Four #56 confirmed it in a tragic story about a reluctant Jew returning to one’s roots. The story is a classic but hints at the tragic side of Ben Grimm: a Jew who felt the need to hide his religion to protect his fellow Jews.
Though Stan Lee and Jack Kirby collaborated on nearly every aspect of the Fantastic Four, Ben Grimm’s character was said to have been modeled after Kirby’s own personality. Born Jacob Kurtzberg, Kirby changed his name to sound more professional (“I wanted to be an all-around American,” Kirby claimed in a 1990 interview with Gary Groth in The Comics Journal. “I kept Kirby. My mother gave me hell. My father gave me hell.”) and eventually partnered with Lee. Hailing from Yancy Street (a fictional version of Delancy Street in New York), Ben Grimm grew up poor and learned how to fight from an early age. His friendship with the genius Reed Richards often made Ben feel inadequate, but Ben possessed the street smarts and people skills that Reed severely lacked.
Ben Grimm’s Jewish identity was heavily hinted throughout the years until 2002’s Fantastic Four #56, written by Karl Kesel with art by Stuart Immonen. The Thing walks down Yancy Street, remembering his past as a troublemaker to many, especially his Jewish neighbor Hiram Sheckerberg. In the present, the Thing saves Sheckerberg from the villain Powderkeg – and notably recites the sh’ma when he believes Sheckerberg is dead. He’s bruised but is otherwise fine, and wonders why Ben hasn’t told anyone about his Jewish identity. “All these years in the news, they never mentioned you’re Jewish. I thought maybe you were ashamed of it a little?” “Nah, that ain’t it…I don’t talk it up, is all” replies Ben. “Figure there’s enough trouble in this world without people thinkin’ Jews are all monsters like me.”
Funny, He Doesn’t Look Jewish
The Thing already believes people perceive him as a monster; Fantastic Four #56 reveals his great fear is others believing all Jews are “monsters” like himself. While this is self-deprecating language in the extreme (by this point in the comics, the Thing had already saved the world a dozen times over with the Fantastic Four and is a public hero), it does touch on what many Jews fear: that the entire group will be judged based on the actions of one. Ben isn’t ashamed to be Jewish – but in his haste to make sure other Jews aren’t judged by his example, he’s distanced himself from his roots, and in so doing, forgot that he isn’t a monster at all (in Sheckerberg’s words “In your youth, maybe – but no worse than many, and better than most!”).
The issue ends with Powderkeg expressing disbelief at the Thing’s Jewish identity with the classic “Funny – he doesn’t look Jewish.” While Ben doesn’t have easily-identifiable Jewish physical features, he has acted like a Jew his entire life: he’s defended others, stood up to bullies, and performed innumerable good deeds without expecting a reward in return. Until Fantastic Four #56, the Thing was running from his Judaism, but considering the fact that he publicly reads from the Torah just a few years later and eventually marries Alicia Masters in a Jewish ceremony, it’s safe to say the Thing is proud to be Jewish – even if he doesn’t look the part.
