Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

THING versus WRECKER

RAGE (Marvel)
Where: Fantastic Four #355 When: August 1991
Why: Danny Fingeroth How: Al Milgrom

The Story So Far...
The Thing's feeling down and his funk has brought him to the Lower East Side slums of his old stomping grounds. He's so bleak he doesn't even care about the kids whipping bricks at him as he skulks toward the stairs of 7135 Yancy Street -- the apartment block he grew up in!

A new family lives there now, but after accidentally scaring the tenant, and a run-in with her feisty son Raul, it's a trip down memory lane as Ben Grimm finds himself a house guest for home cooked meal, and the adoration of little Javier Garcia.

Unfortunately for all, The Wrecker's mood hasn't been good since the passing of his mother, and after shaking down "Weasel" for information about his recently incarcerated turncoat teammate -- The Wrecker is coming to Yancy Street to bust his old buddy out of a secret secure prison cell -- and nothing's going to stop him!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Thing 3 (Straight A)
Speed: The Wrecker 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: The Wrecker 6 (Generator)
Agility: The Wrecker 2 (Average)
Fighting: Draw 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: The Wrecker 4 (Arsenal)
Total: The Wrecker 26 (Metahuman)

In our previous update we explored the role of powerhouses as mountains for an underdog to scale -- but what happens when the challenger is an equal threat?

The Thing is one of Marvel Comics' premiere bruisers! Bombarded with cosmic rays - space pilot Benjamin Grimm was transformed into a rocky monster with super-human strength, durability, endurance, and a heart of gold.

Thing defends the world from earthborn dangers and extra-terrestrial terrors as a founding member of the Fantastic Four! His adversaries typically originate from, and wield powers of, the realm of science -- so the magical enchantment that fuels The Wrecker and his crowbar will be a bit of a change of pace.

The only time we've observed Thing against a magical opponent was when Luke Cage was turned against his old friend, and Avengers teammates, by the mystic Agamotto. Thing helped subdue the possessed hero by matching his mystically enhanced strength with brute force -- something he's done countless times against some of the grandest opponents in the Marvel Universe!

The Wrecker is famously an arch-nemesis for Thor -- but don't think that puts him in a weight class significantly higher than The Thing!

With his famous indomitable will to call upon, and the keen strategy of Mister Fantastic; Thing was able to endure the crushing pressure of journeying to the center of Thor's old adversary, for a memorable defeat of Ego The Living Planet!

Thing has also matched muscle with everyone from Hulk, Rhino, Doctor Doom, Paibok the Power Skrull, his own Infinity Doppelganger, Super-Skrull, The Adaptoid, and a sixty-foot tall mummy called Gomdulla! He can fight above his weight class, and win, lose, or draw -- he always leaves a lasting impression!

We've seen The Wrecker and his Crew make mincemeat out of Sasquatch, and their battle with The Thunderbolts showed that it takes more than brute strength to bring them to a stop. A straight fist fight doesn't necessarily favour The Thing, but as we saw in another recent entry -- The Wrecker's enchanted crowbar can be wielded by another. That's one tactic Thing might be able to use to turn the tables.

We've looked at the record and done some theorizing. Now it's time to find out what actually happened when The Wrecker came to Yancy Street!

The Tape: The Wrecker Ranking: The Thing (#11)

What Went Down...

In a hidden, high-security basement prison bunker -- The Wrecker closes in on his former teammate Thunderball! The erstwhile Crewman is without his famous ball & chain, or the enchantments that grants him his super-human powers. Just Dr. Eliot Franklin, alone with the lights out, and a failed electrified bed frame.

All hope seems lost for the powerless turncoat as The Wrecker approaches striking distance when suddenly -- it's The Wrecker sent hurtling by a powerful blow!

To The Wrecker's surprise -- The Thing stalks through the darkness, but his fists aren't raised for the simple sake of saving Thunderball. It's righteous anger that fuels his fury! For the innocent people who lost their homes and lives to the wanton destruction of The Wrecker's warpath through Yancy Street!

Thing hammers his fist toward the floored Wrecker -- but the villain's enchanted wrecking bar blocks the heavy blow!

Wrecker fires back -- rising to his feet to strike Thing across the chest with the mighty crowbar! The pain inflicted stuns Thing, allowing Wrecker to collect Franklin in his left hand, and escape through the hole in the ceiling!

On the street, Wrecker raises his bar in preparation to beat Franklin to a pulp -- but a huge chunk of concrete knocks the weapon out of his hand!

Thunderball takes the opportunity to make a run for it as The Thing marches across the street with fists raised. He wants to test the villain without his magical crowbar. The Wrecker gladly runs into the fray!

Clutching both hands together -- The Wrecker strikes with a polish hammer that topples the Fantastic Four's powerhouse!

He had no real issue with Thing before, but now that Thunderball has escaped his clutches once more -- the leader of the former Wrecking Crew is developing a real dislike for his rocky adversary.

He reaches for his nearby wrecking bar -- just in time to swing it directly into the mid-section of an oncoming Thing!

Thing lets out an agonized yell as the impact of the bar echos boomingly between the remaining buildings.

Wrecker wraps both hands around the hilt of his crowbar and raises it overhead to bring the curved end smashing down into the Thing! The devastating blow elicits another pained grunt!

Wrecker gloats over his opponent as Thing lies on his side on the street like a prize fighter struggling to get back up.

"Hah! I'm beatin' ya, Thing! And ya know why? 'Cause I'm not lookin' to anyone for help! I'm doin' it alone -- just me and my wrecking bar!"

The villain wallows in epic self-pity and self-aggrandizing as he dwells on the recent passing of his mother and Thunderball's failed attempt to turn against him with the rest of The Wrecking Crew.

"So, a bunch'a pathetic nobodies died here today? So what?! The world's done me enough wrongs -- I got lots to pay it back for!"

Thing is disgusted by Wrecker's callous, self-important disregard for life. He may be hurting from the enchanted crowbar, but he's heard enough!

Safe in the knowledge that the inhabitants had just been evacuated -- Thing grabs Wrecker by the ankle and throws him at the wall of a nearby tenement!

Wrecker crashes into the structure, but with a simple flex of his shoulders -- he shrugs the rubble and crumbling building off like it was nothing!

They tie up again, and for all his might, The Thing finds himself teetering on the edge of being overwhelmed by the mystical strength of his opponent. He cannot maintain his wrist lock any longer -- The Wrecker breaks free and violently peppers him with punches and jabs from his crowbar!

The frenzied assault is merciless and unrelenting! A swiping strike to the face, an overhand clubbing blow to the right shoulder, a grand slam swing to the left side, a devastating two-handed overhead to the shoulders and back of the head!

Thing does his best to cover up, but the god-like hits take their toll!

The Thing begins to shrink under the impact of yet another clubbing strike from the wrecking bar. Police holding back a crowd of onlookers share in the horror of witnessing their beloved hero succumb to approaching defeat.

Wrecker gleefully swings his bar with one hand into The Thing's exposed side, delighted as the prospect of killing the hero and perhaps even showing mercy to what remains of besieged Yancy Street.

He raises the enchanted crowbar high overhead and once again brings it crashing down upon The Thing -- a direct strike right to the head! Thing winces but at last sees his carefully cultivated opportunity to pounce!

Thing throws his right hand out with lightning speed and precision!

He grabs a good hold of Wrecker's wrist and squeezes it tight.

It was a dangerous game, and with a couple more good shots they really might've been writing Ben Grimm's obituary -- but the high stakes have paid off. Thing covered up and took as much as he could, baiting Wrecker to get overconfident and careless.

Wrecker desperately pounds his free hand against Thing's shoulder, but the rapid punches do nothing. The dope has been successfully roped! Thing grabs hold of the other wrist and keeps squeezing!

Wrecker drops to one knee as Thing lords over him and keeps squeezing.

The pressure grows so great The Wrecker drops his crowbar!

For a moment the villain snaps and starts snarling: "So what?! I told ya before. I don't need the bar to beat ya! I'm still gonna kill ya! Just let go 'a me!"

It seems like the last ditch threats of a man pleading on his knees, but remarkably -- The Thing obliges. He releases his grip, but it's no act of mercy. He's just freeing his hands up...

Thing winds back with his right hand and delivers an all mighty knockout blow!

Wrecker is launched across the street and lands unconscious, where SHIELD agents are ready to lock his enchanted crowbar in adamantium containment, and collect him with "energy-sappers" for transport.

The Hammer...

It wasn't quite a textbook execution of the Muhammad Ali rope-a-dope technique, but The Thing successfully endures a pummeling -- only to turn the tables in similar fashion, by lulling The Wrecker into a false sense of security. Then it's full-scale clobberin' time!

The tactical win spares both Dr. Eliot Franklin, and most of Thing's old stomping grounds, but not without some shocking casualties!

Wrecker's violent incursion may've targeted an ostensibly abandoned Yancy Street building, but the attack also inadvertently shook the neighbouring apartments to their foundations -- instantly killing some occupants in the resulting collapse, while injuring many others as well.

It's an unusually brutal illustration of the potential for collateral damage when gods & monsters wage their private wars on the streets of the Marvel Universe. A realm The Thing remains earnestly tethered to, despite his cosmic adventuring.

He's able to help some in the building, as you would expect any good hero to, but the Garcia family -- who now lives in his childhood apartment and kindly offered to share a meal -- suffer the greatest of tragedies when their youngest, little Javier, can't be saved by medics, and succumbs to his injuries in the aftermath.

It's a surprisingly grim episode for an otherwise fun & dandy superhero slugfest, but we observe a simple morality tale of personal choice & accountability through the innocent eyes of the child, and the callous self-centeredness of The Wrecker.

The Thing's commitment to doing good against overwhelming odds elevates him from his monstrous appearance and humble beginnings, while The Wrecker can only expect to be regarded with disdain and incarceration for his pathetic disregard. Wrecker is the simple-minded malcontent who cannot see beyond himself and his own shallow self-pity. A tale as old as time we can all still learn from in our age of algorithmically curated echo chambers, and social unrest.

Indeed, it's sometimes disheartening to see even the superhero concept twisted and subjected to the demands of a loss of moral integrity and aspirational fantasy. Here, in a single-issue story from thirty-four years ago, we see The Thing choose the greater good of helping save lives before indulging the base entertainment of the superhero slugfest. A serve of responsibility with great power.

Here on The Comic Book Fight Club we're also seeking to learn more about The Wrecker's status and capabilities. It's an initiative that all started because of a harmless social media post -- arousing my curiosity, and long-held desire to look more at some of these now-classic battles against a favourite badguy!

Essentially it boils down to an assertion that The Wrecker losing a fight to Daredevil and Elektra was a career low. We've come at it from the perspective of whether or not street-level heroes can challenge The Wrecker, and whether or not Daredevil can rise to an enchanted powerhouse. This time around I thought we should take a look at how Wrecker handles a high-level opponent. A chance to see the peaks he regularly operates in, before we come back down to Earth again for the recent, offending battle.

I could've gone with any number of classic matches against Thor, and one day I'm sure I will, but Fantastic Four #355 has been burning up my desk, and the To Do List, for far too long. It's also a topical choice in a year that saw the Fantastic Four enjoy a revival kicked off by the release of Fantastic Four: First Steps. Let's face it -- I also really like the issue and just wanted to finally dive into it.

I've been enjoying the heck out of the late eighties and early nineties lately, particularly from Marvel. The characters, the melodrama, the action. The bombastic art style and vivid colours. A foot in the classics, but inching ever closer to what we come to regard as the modern comic book.

Al Milgrom does some great work here on pencils. I don't know that the isolated panels I've scanned can really do it justice, but I invite you to luxuriate in that last kayo panel. If The Wrecker were just breaking the border -- and maybe a couple of teeth -- it'd be a face-belter right out of the Sal Buscema playbook. Hey. Don't tempt me, fanboy! You know I'm always on a razor's edge for our pal Sal!

Under the intense scrutiny of our premise, I actually might cast some aspersions about Thing so brazenly absorbing as much punishment from the enchanted crowbar as he does. I've also got questions about the genius who thought to hide a former super-felon in the basement next door, but one problem at a time...

The Wrecker is at the peak of his strength at this time, having re-absorbed the totality of his enchanted strength from the rest of The Wrecking Crew, who are kinda on the outs with ol' Dirk Garthwaite, since trying to steal the rest of his power from themselves. That means those are some pretty heavy duty shots Thing's absorbing - and it may stretch the credibility of the battle ever so slightly.

Danny Fingeroth's script does offer lip service to the potentially fatal consequence of the strategy, but I think there are roughly three takeaways here:

As we build our record of The Wrecker's combat history, the reality may not be quite as impressive as we like to think. Conversely, this could also serve as a nice reminder of just how powerful and durable The Thing is! A fact that's been diminished over a couple of decades of bad movies, and even worse deliberate corporate mismanagement. Let it be known: Juggernaut may be unstoppable -- but a foundational principle of Marvel Comics is that The Thing doesn't quit!

The third option is that the practical necessities of a functional shared universe of super-heroes and super-villains means the bad guys lose. They lose a lot. Even when they seem impossible for a hero to defeat -- their apparent superiority only functions to make a greater mountain to scale, a more impressive dragon to slay.

For a guy like Ben Grimm usually you need somebody on the scale of Champion of the Universe, or Ego The Living Planet, to make that kind of grandiose stand, but perhaps a full-powered assault from The Wrecker is just as impressive a feat.

Your mileage for Thing's periodic moping sessions may vary, but I enjoy the human tale here of Ben Grimm revisiting his old stomping grounds. It's fun to see peeling back the shocking secret that he was once a member of the Yancy Street Gang and even tagged the apartment hallway -- at least until his father smacked him straight. We don't condone violence against children or anything like that, but it's nice that Benjy got his head on straight, and grew up right, despite the abuse.

These are some pretty heavy themes, dealing with class structures, child abuse, gang violence, tragedy, and even the death of a minor, but it's handled with a certain light touch. Again, I think of the fetishization of the "Evil Superman" in series like The Boys, where so many have managed to completely overlook the utter contemptibility and pathetic core behind those fragile, juvenile figures.

I find myself nostalgic for a simple thrill. The kind of comics they just don't seem to make any more. A single issue tale with a favourite character. A cheap impulse purchase, with a heroic lead, and a general sense of good. Not a multi-year commitment to the temporary decimation of an icon, or the "realistic" loathing of one character for another. Not even a well-meaning but hyper-fixateded, clumsy social message of the day. Just mature storytelling. Fiction for what it is. Completely bear and unashamed. Unique, wholly realised, and a quick bit of fun.

Back issues are where I'm finding my thrills, but in the interest of getting this thing moving, I think our next stop will be the offending issue of Daredevil from the year 2025. We'll go straight to the source to see just how bad it is, and maybe then we'll reconvene, because you know I want more Wrecker on the record, but there are also other subjects I'm interested in, in addition to random odds & ends.

There are plenty of good stories & battles from all years and you can find them in the Secret Archive! That's where we keep a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number. If you'd rather find more from your favourite characters & topics you should hit up links throughout posts to discover more. Just don't forget to flex your mind muscle and see what else is there!

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has been serving superhero smackdown for well over 700 fights and ranked more than 1000 of your favourite characters! If that sounds like a good thing to you -- I'd really appreciate it if you considered getting involved on Patreon. It's free to follow, and a Tier 1 sub is a great, cheap way to support 100% man-made, farm fresh niche content.

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Winner: The Thing
#9 (+2) The Thing
#453 (-14) The Wrecker
#441 (+2) Thunderball [+1 assist]