Ralph Ineson as the planet-devouring giant Galactus in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” it seems the film’s version of Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) has gone and grown himself a beard. You can see as much in the newly-unveiled final trailer for “First Steps,” which gives the toughest, roughest member of Marvel’s First Family more attention than we’ve seen in past previews (including the one that finally revealed Pedro Pascal in action as Reed Richards).
Judging by this new promo, it seems the Thing — who’s known for, among other things, his piercing blue eyes and catchphrase “It’s clobberin’ time!” — will be both the heart of “First Steps” and the butt of many of its jokes, just as he was in the previous live-action “Fantastic Four” movies. And while “First Steps” aim to change things up from those films by skipping over the Four’s origin story, it appears that Ben is still just a misunderstood man who’s been turned into a “monster” and is merely trying to get by.
Be that as it may, that beard of his is a pretty jarring sight, even in the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like, how does one even deal with rocky facial hair? Is it more than just a simple comb and clippers situation, maybe requiring a hammer and chisel instead? Where does his beard actually begin and end? ( It’s too bad Wolverine apparently isn’t around to give him a helping hand.) More importantly, since the trailer footage shows Ben looking clean-shaven at another point in time, does this mean he’ll be taking a long break from superhero-ing to grow out his beard in the film?
Perhaps we should look to the comics to shed some light on the situation.
