Good afternoon, folks,
Hope everyone's been enjoying the weekend. I'm winding down the day with a discussion of the seventh Marvel Two-In-One annual. The cover showed the Thing in boxing togs alongside Colossus, Sasquatch, Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Hulk, Wonder Man, and the mighty Thor. The title of the 1983 annual's story was "And They Shall Call Him...Champion!"
In Alicia Masters' sculptor studio, the Thing was about to lose what remained of his patience. He'd been standing in the same pose for quite some time to accommodate Masters' request to help her finish a new sculpture. She worked on that miniature before working on a likeness of the Avengers' arch-enemy, Ultron. Ben Grimm was distracted by a bright light that signaled the arrival of a four-armed alien named Proja.
The stranger was a promoter who arrived to offer Ben an opportunity of multiple lifetimes. He proposed that Grimm join in a contest for the championship of the galaxy. Proja left his business card before disappearing the same way that he'd arrived. The alien would go on to offer the same proposition to Thor, the Hulk, Doc Samson, Colossus, Namor, Sasquatch, Wonder Man, and the Vision. He disqualified the Vision after learning that the Avenger was a snynthoid. The Scarlet Witch fired a hex bolt at him just as the intruder vanished from their room.
The other heroes that Proja had approached were transported to an artificial world together. They were then introduced to their host, an otherworldly being who called himself the Champion. He wanted to battle Earth's strongest warriors to determine who was the best. They rushed at him before being dismissed. The Champion left the room, leaving the heroes behind to be trained by his lackeys.
Ben's disappearance from Alicia's studio apartment was eventually noticed by his Fantastic Four teammates Sue (the Invisible Girl) and Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). Alicia explained to them what happened. Sue tried to console Ben's girlfriend, while Reed used one of the many machines he'd created over his lifetime to scan the room for any traces of energy left behind by Proja. Reed learned that the Thing had been taken by someone whose strength rivaled that of Galactus himself, but chose to keep that knowledge to himself for the time being.
While Colossus' teammates and mentor, Professor X, were trying to determine who was responsible for their friend's kidnapping, he and his fellow captors were going through their initial workouts under the tutelage of the Champion's assistants. Doc Samson was the first challenger to be eliminated, followed closely behind by Namor, who refused to partake in the training sessions.
Colossus, Sasquatch, the Hulk, Wonder Man, and the Thing pressed on. Their match would be held at Madison Square Garden in New York, and news of the event spread across the globe. Tickets were sold, and final contracts were signed before the event was about to begin.
Thor was the first hero to be summoned to the ring, which was enclosed under a transparent dome in the center of the stadium floor. It was strong enough that Wolverine and Cyclops' attacks on it were ineffective. The Champion took his place in the ring and greeted his first challenger before the initial bell rang. Thor was disqualified for using his hammer Mjolnir, and the (now-intelligent) Hulk was chosen to replace him. Hulk became more savage with each passing second and was also eliminated, since the Champion preferred not to battle a savage combatant.
Sasquatch soon took his place. He stood his ground before finally falling to the Champion's mighty blows. Colossus was next, but was removed after being unable to defend himself from more volleys flung at him by the alien. Wonder Man was next, but he was disqualified for trying to tear the floor of the ring out from underneath them.
The Thing was the only hero left to face the Champion. He was ready, but it turned out to be one of the most brutal fights of his lifetime. Grimm had faced many powerful foes before, but this one was in a league above most of them. Ben outpaced the friends before him and actually lasted three rounds before giving out after the bell rang for the fourth round.
The Champion smiled and held his trophy belt high to the disbelief of the audience. Ben crawled to face him, ready for a rematch. The Champion would not grant him that opportunity, and he and his referee vanished from sight moments before Grimm collapsed to the floor. His friends propped him up and carried him off.
I think that the script for this issue was likely influenced by the popularity of the Rocky movies. We would later learn that the Champion was an Elder of the Universe. He has since battled similarly powered beings like Galactus, Thanos, and the Silver Surfer, but as far as I know, he has not gone up against Grimm or his comrades since. I'm kind of surprised that a person who could pose that much of an intergalactic threat hasn't taken on other teams like the FF, X-Men, or Avengers at least once.
If you want to find out what happened to Ben on his road to recovery, tune in tomorrow for my recap of the ninety-sixth issue of Marvel Two-In-One. That story reminds me of a similar plot that was rolled out in an often-reprinted Marvel Annual. Until then, have a great weekend and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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