In July 2019, fans rejoiced at the news that Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four, would be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe at long last. After being tied to Fox Studios for years and having been the subject of three films whose quality fare from goofy to extremely lacklustre, we would finally be getting a proper adaptation that did the comic justice. But something else came to mind for me, and that has come up again with the previous Moon Knight casting rumor kerfuffle. That is, will Disney and Marvel have a Jewish actor play The Thing, and will he be Jewish in the movie?
We have previously discussed The thing here on Tribe Herald, but a recap of the character and his importance as a Jewish icon is as follows. In the comics, The Thing, or Benjamin Jacob Grimm as his civilian name goes, first appeared along with the rest of the Fantastic Four in the first issue of their self-titled series. He was once an All-American athlete and an ace pilot before exposure to cosmic radiation turned him into an orange and rocky monster just called The Thing. Despite his monstrous appearance, Ben Grimm is one of the most beloved characters in the comics and known for his sarcastic wit and rough but lovable personality.
In the first few decades of the comic, there was no indication the character was Jewish, and one holiday comic special even had a small girl explain what Hannukah was to him. The thing is though, that as far as the co-creator of the Fantastic Four was concerned, this was not the case. To him, Ben Grimm was a Jewish American with an extremely specific background.
Jack Kirby, born Jacob Kurtzberg, was one of the most legendary comic creators of all time, having given us classic characters like Captain America with Joe Simon, the aforementioned Fantastic Four with Stan Lee, as well as the X-men, Thor, The Hulk, and the Silver Surfer among others for Marvel. He would latter create classics like The Fourth World Saga at DC on his own, as well as other characters such as The Demon and Kamandi. He is renowned throughout the comics industry for his impact and his dynamic artwork and style and his legendary output.
Jack Kirby grew up in New York’s Lower East Side, the son of Austrian Jewish immigrants, and brought many aspects of his own life to his characters, in particular The Thing. The Thing grew up on Yancy Street, which was based on Delancey Street where Kirby grew up, and both were involved with a rough crowd as youths. Kirby always considered The Thing to be his avatar of sorts in the Marvel Universe and thought of the character as Jewish person much like himself. He even had drawings in his home of the Thing wearing a Tallit and Tefillin and reading from a Siddur, and drawings of the Thing used for Hanukkah cards.
Ben’s brother died young just like Jack Kirby’s brother did, and Kirby’s father was named Benjamin, while the Thing’s middle name is Jacob for Jack Kirby himself. Later writers continued to expand on the Thing’s backstory and fleshed out the connections to Jack Kirby as a form of tribute as well. All this being said, it was not until 2002 in a story called “Remembrance of Thing’s Past” that the character was revealed to be Jewish.
On a bit of a sad note, the reveal was made that the character had been hiding his Judaism, so people would not use him and his monstrous appearance as a source for anti-Semitism. Since that story was published, the Thing’s Judaism was explored more and one story even saw him have a belated Bar Mitzvah, noting it was 13 years (in universe) since he became The Thing. In the time since, The Thing has become one of the most prominent Jewish comic characters of all time.
Now we come to the movies and the issues with adaptations. In the first two Fox movies, The Thing was played by Michael Chiklis who, while a great actor and who did a great job in the role, is not Jewish himself. The character was also not Jewish in the movies, despite the character having been established as Jewish by this point in the comics. Fast forward now to 2015, and the failed reboot of Fantastic Four saw the character played by Jamie Bell this time. This movie, while an overall disaster as a film, was a mixed bag for the character. While Jamie Bell is not Jewish himself, the Thing’s Jewish background was shown in passing with a Mezuzah on a door and a Menorah shown in his home. This was a nice step in the right direction but still not where we needed things to be.
In the upcoming incarnation of the Fantastic Four for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ben Grimm needs to be played by a Jewish actor and have his Jewish heritage be a bigger part of the character. Representation matters a great deal, and Marvel has done a great job with representation for various characters and showing a more diverse cast in its films. This is a great thing, but Jewish characters deserve proper representation as well, and if a character is Jewish in the comics, it would only be the right thing to have them be Jewish in the films and played by a Jewish actor as well.
There is sadly a trend of Jewish comic characters not being played by Jewish actors as seen with Ruby Rose playing Batwoman in the first season of the Batwoman TV show, and this is a chance to fix that and put things right. As mentioned before, Jack Kirby saw the character as an avatar of himself as a person and as a Jew, and it would be a great tribute to the legendary creator if Marvel and Disney reflected that. They could even have the film make the connections that that comics made to Kirby’s own past. It would both be a way to give proper representation and honor a true legend of the industry in a heartwarming way. The Thing has become a good representation of Jews in the comics, and we need to see that reflected in the movies.
