THUNG(of Earth-665)
THUNG
(of Earth-665)
Real Name: Bim Grimm
Identity/Class: Extradimensional/alternate
reality (Earth-665) human mutate
Occupation: Adventurer
Group Membership: Fantastical Four (Human
Scorch/Sonny Storm, Inevitable Girl/Shrew Storm, Mister
Fantastical/Weed Wichards)
Affiliations: Anemia, Aunt May, "Bunky" Barnes, Blech Bolt, Bulk (Brucie Banter), Captain Marvin (Mar-Vinn), Doctor Deranged, Echhs-Men (Angel-Face, Beastly, Cyclomps, Icy Man, Professor Ecchsavier), Fantastical Four, Forbush-Man (Irving Forbush), Knock Furious, Ka-Zar, Medoozy, the Phantom Beagle, the Revengers (Charlie America, Giant-Sam, Hog-Eye, Ironed Man/Bony Stark, Sore, the Visage), Rotten, Scaredevil (Splat Murdock), Scarlett Wench, Silver Burper, Spidey-Man (Peter Pooper), Sunk-Mariner (No-More), the Unhumans (Gristle, Loosejaw)
Enemies: Baron Zemo, the Clancy
Street Gang, Doctor Bloom, Doctor Octopus, Galacticus, Green Globule,
King Konk, Lizard, Mandarin, Red Skunk, Stuporman
Known Relatives: Pneumonia (aunt)
Aliases: Ben Grimm, Benjamin J. Grimey, "the Ever-Lovin'
Thung," "the Idol o'Millions," "Sir"
Base of Operations: The Bopster Building/Shmaxter Building, New York City, New York, USA
First Appearance: Not Brand Echh I#1 (August,
1967)
Powers/Abilities: Thung, much like his
Earth-616 counterpart, the Thing, has superhuman strength sufficient
enough to tear buses apart and lift entire buildings.
His rock-like form also grants him superhuman
durability, allowing him to survive at least a collision with a truck
with no permanent damage.
Height: 6'0" (by approximation)
Weight: 500 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: None
History: (Not Brand Echh I#7/1 (fb)) - Told he
was taking an experimental rocket into space to beat Communists to the
moon, Bim Grimm accompanied Weed Wichards, Shrew Storm and Sonny Storm
into space, where Bim wondered who was piloting the ship. When Weed
replied "who cares?," Bim got angry that he had been told they were beating
Communists to the moon and Weed assured him that they were doing just that,
unaware the rocket was heading towards a large bit of Cosmic Fuzz.
Crashing into the Cosmic Fuzz, the foursome were transformed by it,
with Bim becoming a rock-skinned monster and threatening to slap a
lawsuit on Weed for earlier insisting the Cosmic Fuzz was harmless.
Stretching to confront Bim, Weed commented that no one would Bim
seriously but Bim pointed out how Weed had also been mutated. Weed then
happily exclaimed how they would become rich and famous and Bim
suggested they might even get their own comic book before they started
wondering what had happened to Shrew Storm. When Shrew revealed herself
to be invisible, Bim tested his strength by lifting an entire hill and
after Sonny Storm realized he could catch on fire, the foursome decided
to become superheroes as the Fantastical Four. Unfortunately, all four
put their hands into a huddle and Sonny, now calling himself the Human
Scorch, put his fiery hand in the huddle, burning Bim and the others'
hands. Bim, Weed and Shrew then chased after Sonny.
(Not Brand Echh I#13/1 (fb)) - During a battle against Galacticus and his herald, the Silver Burper, Thung and the rest of the Fantastical Four were given lifetime subscriptions to Life magazine by the Silver Burper in an act of defiance against Galacticus. As Thung and the Fantastical Four looked at their magazine confusedly, Galacticus angrily berated the Silver Burper, claiming that the lifetime subscriptions would break him.
(Not Brand Echh I#1/1) - The Thung
assisted Mister Fantastical as he tested his Molecular Twangulator
device in an attempt to find a way to transform the Thung back into his
human form of Bim Grimm. Unfortunately, despite being told to inhale
from the tubing of the device, the Thung exhaled, blowing the device up
as well as blowing off some of the rocks that made up his body. Still
managing to use the device to develop a burning hot serum that he hoped
would turn Thung back into human form, Mister Fantastical ordered Thung
to drink the serum, threatening to belt Thung with a ten-syllable word
if Thung refused. Human Scorch immediately jumped to the Thung's
defense as the Thung commented on the serum's foul smell. When Mister
Fantastical threatened to explain the Negative Zone again, the Thung
relented, drank the serum and ran off to look at himself in the mirror
to see if he changed, soon returning with green skin and purple pants.
Soon deciding to attack the at-large villain, Dr.
Bloom, Thung joined the Fantastical Four as they flew towards Dr.
Bloom's country of Batveria while Thung continued to mutate thanks to
Mister Fantastical's serum. The group soon hit a gigantic dandelion
that sprung up seemingly from nowhere as they hit, Thung's head mutated
to resemble the criminal Mandarin. Sneezing their way out of the
dandelion, Mister Fantastical, Inevitable Girl and the Thung (now with
Thor's head) confronted Dr. Bloom. Mister Fantastical and Dr. Bloom got
into standoff until the Thung's head mutated to that of Dr. Bloom
himself, frightening Dr. Bloom into fleeing. With Dr. Bloom defeated,
Mister Fantastical attempted to free the Human Scorch from an ice cream
cone that Bloom had trapped him while the Thung continued taking drinks
of Mister Fantastical's serum, transforming into Aunt May before
admitting he was growing to like the taste of the serum.
(Not Brand Echh I#5/1) - When the Way-Out Wonder,
Forbush-Man, appeared on the scene, Thung suggested clobbering the bum
as his fellow heroes remarked on how absurd and insane Forbush-Man for
muscling in on their territory. He later witnessed Forbush-Man bumbling
defeat of Juggernut and praised Forbush-Man for his actions.
(Not Brand Echh I#5/3) - Thung picked up some daises
for his girlfriend Anemia, unaware that the inedible Bulk was on his
way to Anemia's as well. Arriving just as the Bulk did, the Thung
stopped to smell the daises and hit what he thought was Anemia's
doorbell, not realizing that he was actually hitting Bulk's face.
Accusing Thung of being too violent, Bulk hit Thung so hard that he
went through the ground and emerged on the other side of the world.
Taking the Bulk's hint at wanting a fight, Thung uprooted a tree
housing the savage Ka-Zar and used it as a vaulting pole in an effort
to get himself back to Anemia's house quickly. Grasping a plane in
midair, Thung hitched a ride on the plane's wing, shoving his head
through a plane window when someone mentioned a movie. Jumping from the
plane and landing in front of Anemia's house just in time to see the
Bulk posing for Anemia, Thung assumed Bulk was trying to move in on his
girl and lifted up half of Anemia's house to confront Bulk. Quickly
discovering that Bulk was merely posing for a sculpture and that Anemia
was not two-timing him, Thung lowered the house, accidentally dropping
it on his toe. Angry that Thung had spoiled his pose, Bulk then went on
the offensive, punching Thung in the face and stomping him into the
ground, where the Mole Man told Thung to beat it. Emerging from the
ground and chasing after Bulk, who had gotten on a bus, Thung caught up
and ripped the bus in half, soon squeezing the Bulk out. Thung then
turned to see that the Bulk was still reading the book he was reading
on the bus and, annoyed that the Bulk wasn't reading an issue of the
Fantastic Four, Thung hurled Bulk to a nearby roof. Soon growing
annoyed that Bulk wasn't fighting back, Thung shook the building until
the Bulk fell through it, only to have the Bulk slam Thung into the
ground once more and proclaim his hatred of Thung. Reaching into the
ground to continue pummeling Thung, Bulk accidentally grabbed a loose
wire and the electrical surge transformed Bulk back into his human
form. Unwilling to give up, the now-human Bulk continued shouting at
Thung, who thought the man was simply a nutcase. The fight was then
interrupted when the Keeper of the Comics Code appeared on the scene
and ordered the fight to stop, citing all of the damage the fight had
done to the city. Thung tried to play it cool but the Bulk kept
exclaimed how strong he was and the two were soon ordered to repair the
city, leaving the Thung to wonder when the Bulk was going to transform
into his monstrous form again and help out.
(Not Brand Echh I#6/1) - During the wedding of the
Human Scorch and Gristle, the hungry Thung began eating the rice
instead of waiting to toss it at the new couple. When the Scorch
hesitated to kiss the bride, Thung twisted Scorch's head around to
force the kiss, wishing to see if Jack Kirby could draw a good kiss.
(Not Brand Echh I#7/1) - A disguised Thung was
visiting a mask shop hoping to find one that resembled his human form.
While there, he tried on a Charlie America mask, a politician mask and
even a Thung mask before a flare went across the sky summoning Thung
home. Deciding to disguise his face with the entire building, Thung
stuck his feet through the floor and lifted up the building, running
down the street towards the Shmaxter Building, headquarters of the
Fantastical Four. Once there, the Thung asked if someone could get the
building off of him.
(Not Brand Echh I#7/2) - After getting rid of his
heroic competition, Stuporman prepared to fly back to the city of
Megopolis, only to find that someone had torn down the Megopolis sign
and replaced it with a New York City sign. Seeing figures in the
distance, Stuporman flew down to investigate, only to find that Thung
and several other Marble Comics heroes had taken up residence there.
(Not Brand Echh I#9/2) - Thung acted a mascot at a baseball game between superhumans.
(Not Brand Echh I#9/4) - Thung and the Fantastical
Four flew over as Agents of SHEESH raided the home of criminals Boney
and Claude. As Mister Fantastical remarked on music being played, Thung
played with a yo-yo.
(Not Brand Echh I#11/1 (fb) - BTS) - Mister Fantastical created another formula intended to transform Thung back into Bim Grimm but the formula only succeeded in making Thung look like Artie Simek.
(Not Brand Echh I#11/1) - As the giant ape King Konk
rampaged through New York, Mister Fantastical was promising to make a
new formula meant to transform Thung back into Bim Grimm. Thung
suggested otherwise, remarking on the failure of the previous formula,
before he noticed someone else breaking his mirror. Human Scorch
quickly pointed out King Konk outside and the Fantastical Four flew in
to stop King Konk. The heroic Revengers soon noticed the ape as well
and arrived to team with the Fantastical Four against King Konk. When a
terrified King Konk climbed the Umpire State Building, more heroes
joined in and King Konk ultimately cannonballed into the river and swam
away. As Spidey-Man arrived on the scene, only to find the battle over,
Thung and the other assembled heroes attempted to get Konk's
captive/ally Elizabeth Tailor's autograph.
(Not Brand Echh I#11/4) - After a trio of superheroes gave J. Jawbone Junkton mouthwash for his bad breath, prompting J.J. to return with gifts for each of the heroes' personal hygiene issues, Thung suggested Sunk-Mariner get Poli-Bent for his wobbly dentures and a fight soon broke out amongst several heroes, who all felt personally attacked.
(Not
Brand Echh I#12/2) - The Fantastical Four's baby became lost in a maze
and Thung joined the Fantastical Four in traversing the maze to
retrieve the infant before Brand Echh got to the child. By the time the
Fantastical Four made it to the infant, however, the baby had crawled
around and out of the maze, where he captured by the Revengers, who
were disguised as a band of roving yippies. However, the Revengers soon
found the infant to be more trouble than he was worth so they returned
the child to the maze, falling into the maze themselves just as the
Fantastical Four was exiting the maze.
(Not
Brand Echh I#13/1) - The Silver Burper, now calling himself the Simple
Surfer, flew through the night sky, hitting Thung and the Fantastical
Four, as well as several other superheroes, along the way.
(Not Brand Echh I#13/2) - On a notion, the residents of Yancy Street sent Thung a Christmas gift of nitric acid disguised as after shave lotion. As he later shaved (using a a "rapid" shave acetylene torch), Thung applied some of the "after shave" to his face and subsequently caused quite a commotion.
(Not Brand Echh I#13/3) - Thung joined several other superheroes in being a part of a carnival and Thung, thinking he had found a clean restroom, unknowingly participated in a booth where patrons could hurl objects at his head (placed in a bullseye target). After failing to harm Thung with baseballs, an apple core, a hammer and arrow, one patron hurled a grenade at Thung, who had only just started realizing he was not in a restroom.
(Marvel
Comics I#1000/15) - Thung visited the Forbush Icy Cream truck to get an
avocado lime ice cream bar, only to find that the inedible Bulk had
requested the last bar. Demanding the last bar himself, Thung accused
Bulk's grandma of wearing army boots, prompting a fierce battle between
the two heroes. The battle eventually destroyed the ice cream truck,
launching the owner, Forbush-Man, onto some nearby power lines and
Thung was ultimately defeated by Bulk. As Thung lay dazed on the ice
cream truck, Bulk was happy to taste the tootie frootie ice cream that
had spilled on his head.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and
Frank Giacoia.
Thung identified himself as "Benjamin J. Grimey" in
Marvel Comics I#1000 and "Ben Grimm" in Not Brand Echh I#13 but for
most of his appearances, his real name is "Bim Grimm" so I went with
that for the purposes of this profile. It's not uncommon for humor
characters to have several different names depending on the writer.
Thung has several non-story appearances in Not Brand Echh including one of the superhero greeting cards in Not Brand Echh I#9, a color-by-numbers silly activity page, a fake comic book advertisement and a how-to-draw section, all in Not Brand Echh I#12, and a fake record album advertisement, superhero Valentine card and story intro page in Not Brand Echh I#13. Interestingly enough, the maze as part of the activity pages in Not Brand Echh I#12 does contain a very basic story so Thung's appearance there IS included in the History above.
A version of Thung also appears in the "Auntie Goose Rhymes" story in Not Brand Echh I#10 and a parody of the musical "Camelot" in Not Brand Echh I#12 but both of these appearances feature someone else telling a fictional story so these two appearances would actually be an alternate reality version of Thung, whose realities were glimpsed by characters on Earth-665 and not actual appearances by Earth-665's Thung.
A version of Thung (or possibly "Thing," as he was not identified in the story) appears in the "Secret Empire: Abridged" story in Not Brand Echh I#14 but this story, while being silly, does not appear to take place on Earth-665. The characters that are identified are named for their Earth-616 counterparts (i.e. Captain America instead of Earth-665's Charlie/Chaplain America, Spider-Man instead of Spidey-Man, etc.) and the entire story is a humorous recap of the Secret Empire event. I'm leaning towards this story not being Earth-665 and therefore, it is not included in this profile. I suppose one could argue that an event similar to Secret Empire occurred on Earth-665 and this recap was how it played out on Earth-665 but all of the characters' names matching the Earth-616 versions kind of throws it off for me. If something comes along to verify that the story does take place on Earth-665, I will update the profile to reflect this.
All characters listed in this profile are natives of Earth-665 unless otherwise noted.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-665's Thung has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Not Brand Echh I#5, p19, pan3 (Thung holding a bus, main)
Not Brand Echh I#5, p1, splash page (Thung, headshot)
Not Brand Echh I#7, p8, pan3 (Bim Grimm, pre-transformation)
Not Brand Echh I#1, p2, pan5 (Thung in green-skinned form)
Not Brand Echh I#1, p6, pan1 (Thung in Skrull-headed form)
Not Brand Echh I#1, p6, pan3 (Thung with Mandarin head)
Not Brand Echh I#1, p7, pan2 (Thung with Thor head)
Not Brand Echh I#1, p8, pan5 (Thung with Dr. Bloom head)
Not Brand Echh I#1, p8, pan6 (Thung with Aunt May head)
Not Brand Echh I#5, p7, pan3 (Thung with a shaw on his head)
Not Brand Echh I#5, p16, pan1 (Thung with hat & flowers)
Not Brand Echh I#7, p3, pan5 (Thung in Captain America mask)
Not Brand Echh I#7, p3, pan6 (Thung in politician mask)
Not Brand Echh I#9, p10, pan1 (Thung in baseball cap)
Not Brand Echh I#9, p24, pan1 (Thung writing a report card)
Not Brand Echh I#11, p8, pan5 (Thung in booties with broken mirror)
Not Brand Echh I#12, p11, pan1 (Thung panicking)
Not Brand Echh I#13, p10, pan2 (Thung with after shave)
Marvel Comics I#1000, p16, pan7 (dazed Thung)
Appearances:
Not Brand Echh I#1 (August, 1967) - "The Silver Burper!" story - Stan
Lee (writer, editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks)
Not Brand Echh I#5 (December, 1967) - "The Origin of Forbush-Man the
Way-Out Wonder!" story - Stan Lee (writer, editor), Jack Kirby
(pencils), Tom Sutton (inks); "The Ever-Lovin' Thung vs. the Inedible
Bulk!" story - Stan Lee (writer, editor), Marie Severin (pencils),
Frank Giacoia (inks)
Not Brand Echh I#6 (February, 1968) - "The Human Scorch Has to
Meet...the Family!" story - Stan Lee (writer, editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Tom Sutton (inks)
Not Brand Echh I#7 (April, 1968) - "The Origin of...the Fantastical
Four" story - Stan Lee (writer, editor), Jack Kirby, Marie Severin
(pencils), Tom Sutton (inks)
Not Brand Echh I#9 (August, 1968) - "Casey at the Bat!" story - Roy
Thomas (writer), Tom Sutton (art), Stan Lee (editor); "Boney &
Claude" story - Gary Friedrich (writer), John Verpoorten (art), Stan
Lee (editor)
Not Brand Echh I#11 (December, 1968) - "King Konk '68" story - Roy
Thomas (writer), Tom Sutton, Marie Severin (art), Stan Lee (editor);
"It's a Mad, Mad Ave!" story - Stu Schwartzberg (writer), Marie Severin
(art), Stan Lee (editor)
Not Brand Echh I#12 (February, 1969) - "Not Brand Echh's Puzzle Fun"
story - uncredited writer, John Romita, Jr. (art), Stan Lee (editor)
Not Brand Echh I#13 (May, 1969) - "The Origin of the Simple Surfer!"
story - Roy Thomas (writer), Marie Severin (art), Stan Lee (editor);
"Liltin' Limericks!" story - Roy Thomas, Phil Seuling (writers), Tom
Sutton (art), Stan Lee (editor); "Who Says a Carnival Has to Be Good?"
story - Arnold Drake, Roy Thomas (writers), Marie Severin (art), Stan
Lee (editor)
Marvel Comics I#1000 (October, 2019) - "The Return of Not Brand Echh"
story - Jeph Loeb (writer), Tim Sale (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 08/06/2020
Last updated: 08/06/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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