Popverse's top stories

• Kpop Demon Hunters will be "one of the best" Magic: The Gathering collabs of 2026, says Wizards of the Coast exec
• Here's how to watch all the New York Comic Con 2025 panels
• Marvel is teasing the end of its Miles Morales comic book in January

Remember the other day, when Popverse reported that Michael Chiklis, who played Marvel's Ben Grimm in the first two Fantastic Four movies, would not be returning as The Thing in Avengers: Doomsday? Well, now we have a possible candidate as to the reason why. Appearing during a packed panel at New York Comic Con 2025, Chiklis recounted what it was like getting into the practical FX suit Fox had whipped up to play FF's heavy.

And let me tell you - Clobberin' or not, it sounds like a bad time.

Chiklis made the revelation to Popverse's own video producer, Ashley Victoria Robinson, beginning by telling both her and the assembled crowd at the Javits Center that the Thing suit took "took 5 hours to get into."

"I would show up at 3:00 in the morning," Chiklis explained, "And basically lay down and fall asleep while they worked on my face for an 8:00 call. They designed [the suit] for the look of the character, not thinking of a human being in the suit at all."

Not thinking of a human being? What do you mean, Michael?

"There was no zipper. Guys, you know, you need a zipper."

Ouch. That said, even if he star did get a zipper in the suit, it's not like he could use it. The Ben Grimm gloves, explains The Shield actor, were entirely restrictive, dividing his fingers "like a Vulcan" and ironically, probably making hard for him to prosper at much of anything. 

"The irony was," Chiklis continued, "I could only pick up like a bottle of water. That's the only strength I had, and I'm playing a superhero. [...] Then I'm trapped in this suit with no zipper, and I'm thirsty all the time because [...the latex...] didn't breathe at all, so immediately my body core would go up, my body temperature would rise, I would start to feel a little panicked. I'm not claustrophobic at all, but in that situation, I was like 'Okay.'"

It sounds like the kind of thing that only the bravest of us wouldn't walk away from, and as Chiklis explained, there was a time in which he nearly threw in the FF-branded blue towel. That was on the very first day.

"The first day they put it on me," the ex Ever-Lovin' Thing says, "I just went home I spoke to my wife who was next to me. I said, 'Honey, I think I'm going to have to quit, because I don't know if I can do this.' So we called a psychiatrist, and I had to speak to the psychiatrist and say, 'I've never quit anything in my life. I don't know if I can do this.' She said, 'Okay, let me help you out,' and she gave me a bunch of different things to get me out of my head and into the room."

But even with the psychiatrist's help, Chiklis says in conclusion, there were still times when the Thing FX simply had to give way fro the actor inside. 

"There were two occasions," he wraps, "Where I flipped out and said, 'I got to get out. I got to get out.' And they pulled everything off me, and that cost us, you know, hours [of filming]. I didn't mean it. I was just flipping out."

That's a hell of a story and, I'm not going to lie, if it were me in Chiklis's (probably terrible) shoes, I would never agree to go back into the suit again. But as you and I both know - Chiklis did get back into the role of the THing just two years later, in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. So what changed?

"In the second Incarnation," Chiklis said, "We redesigned the suit. It was much better but the first one."

Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer are streaming on Disney+ now.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters