The Thing's most iconic catchphrase was used during The Fantastic Four: First Steps' production, but Ben Grimm actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach isn't sure it'll make the cut
Marvel Studios has to keep it in, right?
As we eagerly await Marvel Rivals' Fantastic Four-led Season 1 kickoff tomorrow, January 10, we're starting to hear more interesting bits about Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps from the cast and crew ahead of a first public trailer.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays Ben Grimm aka The Thing in the long-anticipated movie, dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week (via Entertainment Weekly), where he teased that the character's most iconic catchphrase ("It's clobberin' time!") may or may not be in the movie come July 25.
"I slipped it in there a couple times... We'll see what happens. I don't have final cut on this one." He makes it sound like the actual phrase wasn't in the script and it was up to him to sneak it in, but it's hard to imagine Marvel Studios (known nowadays for being as fan service-y as possible) overlooking that key bit of the superhero. That's like having Deadpool never say the word 'chimichanga' or making Tony Stark humble.
In any case, it might be a while before we learn whether it's in or out, as post-production on the movie only kicked off recently and a final cut likely won't be ready until extremely close to its late July release date. On the other hand, the first public trailer should arrive soon-ish, especially with Captain America: Brave New World offering the perfect opportunity to begin promoting Marvel Studios' third and final 2025 movie (Thunderbolts* is dropping between them).
As for The Thing himself, he might not have a ton of screentime in the first preview either, as he's a complex CGI character that's being fully figured out and worked on as we speak. "I have seen a very crude rendering, because it takes a while to build this stuff... They've got lots of animators working on this. I wore a motion-capture suit, two cameras right here and so they're capturing absolutely everything, every nuance in my eye. It takes a while to build it, and they're building it right now," explained Moss-Bachrach, who also revealed that mo-cap godfather and pioneer Andy Serkis helped them get the character totally right.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases on July 25, 2025, and stars Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards aka Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Susan Storm aka The Invisible Woman), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm aka The Thing), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch), Ralph Ineson (Galactus), and Julia Garner (Silver Surfer). NetEase Games and Marvel Games' seems to be leading the cross-media charge with the four characters hitting Marvel Rivals over the course of online hero shooter's first season.