The Thing in the MC2

 

Marvel Studios’ has released The Fantastic Four: First Steps in cinema, and I’m inspired to keep delving into the MC2 Universe’s own founding members of the Fantastic Four …. or the Fantastic Five, as they are now known in this world. For today, let’s look at Aunt Petunia’s ever-lovin’ baby blue-eyed Ben Grimm aka The Thing in the MC2.

 

All four core members of Marvel’s First Family debuted in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s 1961 title Fantastic Four #1, launching the very Marvel Universe itself as we know it today by depicting the fateful space launch which gave this famous four their powers.  Poor Ben got the rough end of the deal, being permanently rendered rocky in appearance.

 

Just like Johnny Storm, Benjamin Grimm made his first appearance within the MC2 in the story which launched a new universe in the pages of What If #105. While it’s only a cameo appearance, it does give us our first glimpse of the MC2’s Fantastic Five and we see that Ben’s left side is now metallic.

 

It’s not long until the Fantastic Five make their full debut in the pages of Spider-Girl #3 battling Spyral. We learn Johnny now leads this new team comprised of Reed Richards aka Big Brain, Franklin Richards aka Psi-Lord, Lyja Storm aka Ms. Fantastic and , of course Ben Grimm aka The Thing.

 

   

Here’s the MC2-specific events in The Thing’s past. While we don't know the exact point at which the history of the Main Marvel Universe Fantastic Four stops being the same as that of the MC2 Fantastic Four/Five, we do know a few things about the team’s history. While it's unclear exactly when, Ben Grimm and Sharon Ventura married and had twins named Alyce and Jacob Grimm (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1, #3, #5).

 

During a battle with the villainous Terrax, Ben Grimm aka The Thing had the rock-like hide torn from much of the left side of his body by a miniature black hole. Reed Richards created bionic armour to cover the exposed tissue but explained it could take years to regenerate his missing hide. As a side effect of his bionics in situ, it would be impossible for Ben to revert to his human form (Fantastic Five Vol. 2 #1- #2).

*I think I should point out the slight continuity error in the flashback above: Other flashbacks depicting events occurring after the one above clearly show the team wearing F4 uniforms and operating under the name Fantastic Four. Likely, the F5 uniforms are a simple oversight or artistic error*

 

Approximately five or so years prior to the events of Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1, the Fantastic Four prepared to battle Hyperstorm, a cosmically powered warlord from an alternate future who had built a doomsday weapon in the Negative Zone (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #4, Spider-Girl #87). Lyja was pregnant at this time and did not join the team on their mission, meanwhile Sharon and Ben argued about Ben remaining behind with their twins, though Ben insisted he had to go for everyone’s sake (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #4). Franklin engaged Hyperstorm in a 'mind-war' on every plane of existence which ultimately left Hyperstorm comatose and apparently stripped Franklin of much of his god-like power (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #4).

 Unfortunately, the doomsday device had already begun to tear a hole in the fabric of reality. When Reed Richards was forced to overload the device to stop it, Susan Richards attempted to shield him from the radiation with her force field. Caught in the blast radius, half of Reed's body was left in a melted and deformed state. With the reality rip still widening, Susan used her powers to hold the tear in place, with the strain leaving her in a coma and she was placed in suspended animation.

 

In the wake of the tragedy, The Fantastistation was built in the Negative Zone around the tear in reality. This allowed Reed to keep Sue company while she remained in suspended animation as he worked to slowly repair the hole in the fabric of reality (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #4, Spider-Girl #87). Over the next few months, while the Fantastic Four remained in seclusion, rumours and speculation spread about the fate of Susan Richards despite the team never releasing details to the public. Reed developed the Big Brain robot to allow him to remain on the team by remotely controlling it from the Negative Zone (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1).

 

The team formally changed their charter, membership and name, finally re-branding themselves as the Fantastic Five, with John Storm aka The Human Torch leading the team of Ms. Fantastic aka his wife Lyja Storm; Ben Grimm aka The Thing; Reed Richards as Big Brain and Franklin Richards now known as Psi-Lord (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1, Fantastic Five Vol. 2 #1).

 

It's not stated exactly when it occurred, but prior to the present day, Ben and Sharon divorced and Ben hadn’t seen the twins Alyce and Jacob for some months (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #2 - #3). It’s a difficult position in which Ben Grimm finds himself in but he takes it on and keeps going as always.

 

Until I find myself between a rock and hard place like Ben Grimm, I remain

 

frogoat

  

The Rhino: The Sytsevich Family Tree

 

Maybe I’ll grow tired of doing these MC2 Family Trees one day, but right now I’m enjoying them. So, here’s another vaguely connected tie-in for Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off film Kraven the Hunter, this one taking a run at the MC2-centric family of one Alexsei Sytsevich aka The Rhino: The Sytsevich Family Tree.

 

*Before we dive right in, the usual rules: For the purposes of these family trees, I accept that MC2 characters share their published history (up to a point) with their 616/Main Marvel Universe counterparts. I make exceptions for any retcons implemented after the point the MC2 diverges from the 616 and in cases where it's explicitly or implicitly different (Aunt May really died) or when a writer later introduces a previously unheard of relative (the Pym family) who is never mentioned, seen or heard of in the MC2. With the last exception, I would add them to the family tree in later updates should they be mentioned in MC2 material at any point. Got it? Excellent! *

 

A recap, cribbing from myself: Though unnamed at the time, Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich made his debut as The Rhino in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #41 by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr in 1966. There he is seen rampaging all the way to New York on his way to capture John Jameson before being defeated by Spider-Man and placed in a state corrections hospital. Escaping shortly afterwards, Rhino attempts to complete his original mission but is again defeated after Spider-Man uses a special acid webbing created by Curt Connors (aka The Lizard) to dissolve the Rhino’s armour (Amazing Spider-Man #42-43).

 

It is also in Amazing Spider-Man #43 that we get glimpses of Rhino’s origin where we learn he was ‘a hired hood—a muscle man’ working for professional spies. He was considered so unintelligent he would not betray his employers even after they subjected him to months of experiments and treatments, culminating in gifting him enhanced strength. Finally, he was covered in a molecular adhesive protective ‘second skin’ and truly became the Rhino. However, not only had Rhino received increased strength, but also increased intelligence…at least enough to realize he did not need to follow his employers’ orders anymore and went solo.

 

It is interesting to note that the Rhino has had his suit destroyed on various occasions, the first being his above-mentioned encounter with Spider-Man, but despite this through the first few decades of his existence he inevitably found his way into a new and sometimes improved second skin thanks to various super-geniuses. All this would come to an end when Rhino grew tired of being trapped in his latest suit after it had once again become permanently bonded to him following a shuttle explosion (apparently off-panel in Incredible Hulk #159 implied in Thing #24 and confirmed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #10).This became the Rhino’s motivation going forward, driving him to find a cure for his condition as noted above in the Thing #24.

 

In Amazing Spider-Man #280, having joined Beetle’s Sinister Syndicate, Rhino debuts a new design, his ‘1^st armor hide’ additions to his suit. We also learn that after turning himself over to Project: PEGASUS, Rhino had given up because ‘they couldn’t do much’ and instead opted to return to crime to fund a series of illegal operations in hopes of removing him from his suit and making him ‘human’ once more. As an aside, this is my all-time favourite Rhino design, and its courtesy of the fantastic Ron Frenz once again. I even had the Toy Biz action figure as a kid!

 

 Much later, Rhino betrays his Sinister Syndicate team mates for a deal with the Kingpin after the doctor attempting to cure him was killed by the team. Despite the Kingpin’s promise of a cure, he instead planned to retain the Rhino as muscle. When Rhino kidnapped one of the scientists in the Kingpin’s employ, he was finally freed from his suit. Unfortunately, the Kingpin threatened the scientist’s family and Rhino reached out to Justin Hammer for a new and improved Rhino suit once more, one he could once again remove this time (Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1-4).

A mention in the sequel mini-series’ Lethal Foes of Spider-Man #1 refers to Rhino’s desire to ‘gather enough money to enable his family to escape Eastern Europe’. This segues nicely into Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 where Rhino has managed to bring over his mother and niece Alexa to live in America. It is mentioned that Rhino could not yet afford to also bring his father, sister and brother-in-law. When Alexa’s locket (a gift from her mother) is stolen, Rhino takes it back from the thieves and steals money from them also, intending to us it for his family. However, upon learning he had stolen, his mother kicked him out of their apartment and disowned him. It’s worth pointing out that Alexa is the only named member of the family at this point, and all Official Handbooks have spelt her name ‘Alexia’ which might be an example of transliteration, anglicisation or perhaps a sly reference to Rhino’s real first name which, ironically, was revealed years after his niece’s.

 

Rhino’s real name was first revealed in 2003’s Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 4: Spider-Man (and not the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Hulk 2004 as I initially incorrectly claimed) as Alexsei Mikhailovich Sytsevich. Previously, he used the alias Alex O’Hirn (the surname being an anagram) while posing as a baseball player in Incredible Hulk #435, a pseudonym that other adaptations have also used, including the Ultimate Spider-Man comics and the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. The use of Rhino’s real name in this MC2 narrative illustrates how later details, characters, and story elements from the Main Marvel Universe have been incorporated into the MC2 after the point of divergence.

 

The aforementioned Hulk 2004 profile for Rhino doesn’t list his mother’s name but the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 9 published in 2009 gives her the name ‘Miriam’ and I can find no earlier source, but I’ve elected to include it in the Sytsevich Family Tree regardless. Let me know if you have seen it mentioned some place prior! Alexsei mentions his mother on a few occasions following Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28, such as Green Goblin #2 and Amazing Spider-Man #409 which strongly suggests the two reconciled.

 

Never seen or named, Alexsei’s father’s name has been identified as ‘Mikhail’ by Marvel Fandom wiki contributor MarvelBoy2002. He points out that Russian patronymic naming convention custom means Alexsei’s middle name ‘Mikhailovich’ would traditionally be derived from the father’s own name with the ending ‘-ovich’ essentially denoting ‘son of,’ making Mikhail Sytsevich the patriarch of the family. This doesn’t appear to be officially confirmed by Mavel anywhere, but I’m choosing to adopt it here because I feel it makes logical sense and it’s some good deductive reasoning.

 

In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man Family #3, Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt Anna bring a sick baby May Parker to a hospital emergency room. There they encounter Aleksei Sytsevich who is seeking medical attention for his aunt Yulya Sytsevich. Peter mentions hearing that Aleksei had finally managed to surgically remove his Rhino suit. Aleksei struggles with the registration process and becomes agitated until Mary Jane offers to help with the paperwork, which his aunt accepts. Aleksei recognizes Peter as the Daily Bugle photographer and invites him to get a coffee. Aleksei mentions his was once hired to threaten Peter, a direct reference to Spectacular Spider-Man #190.

 

Meanwhile, Anna and Mary Jane help fill out the forms for Yulya who tells them that Aleksei sacrificed a lot to bring his family over from Russia, which is most likely a reference to Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 where we see he has only managed to bring over his mother and niece Alexia, with intentions of bringing the rest of his family to the United States once he has more money. Aleksei and Peter discuss the expenses of paying for medical treatment and they bond over their common lack of money, both working job to job. Aleksei mentions some of the ‘bad bosses’ he’s worked for including the Beetle, the Leader and Doctor Octopus, the last of which may be a reference to Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #17-#18 by MC2 alumni Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz.

 

Peter explains Spider-Man does what he does because of the loss of a family member and Aleksei relates to this, mentioning how his aunt Yulya lost her beloved Borya who was ‘taken away in the night and never seen again’. Aleksei explains that he joined Russian gangsters to protect his family, using the money he was paid to support them, and how this eventually led to him being turned into the Rhino and finally earning enough to migrate his family to America. Though Peter believes Spider-Man and Rhino are destined to meet again as enemies, Peter and Aleksei found common ground and part ways on good terms.

 

I have omitted a few characters from this MC2 Family Tree for reasons I’ll elaborate on separately. Here they are for the sake of completeness:

•   Aleksei retires from crime after he meets and eventually marries a waitress named Oksana making her Oksana Sytsevich (Amazing Spider-Man #617). She is killed by an unidentified new villainous Rhino, prompting Aleksei to return to his old life after avenging her (Amazing Spider-Man #625).

•       By extension, a clone of Oksana appeared during the ‘Clone Conspiracy’ storyline after first appearing in the Free Comic Book Day Captain America 2016 promotional comic before later also perishing.

•      Oksana has a niece named Tanya that Rhino looks out for and helps rescue in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #2-#3.

 

This look at the Sytsevich Family Tree, coupled with the previous Kravinoff Family Tree has provided me some new insight into the nature of Russian naming customs, given me an opportunity to read a wide smattering of comics I hadn’t before and as always, an excuse to consult the Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. As always, a special thanks to arias-98105!

 

Until I learn that Aleksei is a fan of Archimedes’ assertion about straight lines, I remain

 

frogoat