Warning! Contains a preview for Fantastic Four #41
Mrs. Grimm's bashful, blue-eyed boy Benjamin, widely known as Thing, might be fighting his last battle ever. In a preview for Fantastic Four #41 - by Dan Slott, Rachael Stott, and Erick Arciniega - Ben comes face to face with the enemy who is destined to kill him: Rapture.
Rapture is a member of the Reckoning, the Marvel Universe's latest villains who resemble an The Luminous erected a barrier around what was left, sealing the Reckoning outside and taking their famous oath of never interfering again with other species, thus becoming the Watchers.
Back in Fantastic Four #28, Marvel's First Family faced a deadly villain known as the Griever at the End of All Things. This cosmic embodiment of entropy made the team live through their future deaths time and time again as a form of torture. What Ben saw in those moments was his fight against an alien warrior called Rapture, a fight that ended with his death. Ben did not stand a chance at winning, despite the hundreds of thousands of times the battle played out, so he was understandably upset when he saw Rapture actually appearing in flesh and blood in front of his eyes. The preview for Fantastic Four #41 shared by Marvel Comics shows a glimpse of the outcome of this fated confrontation.
These ancient foes have now returned to get their revenge by destroying the entire universe. Their plan is to kill Eternity, the physical manifestation of reality, by spreading war and conflict throughout every galaxy. As part of this scheme, the Reckoning has targeted the M'Kraan Crystal, the nexus of all realities whose destruction would cause the implosion of time and space. The crystal is defended by the mighty Shi'ar Imperial Guard, but the Reckoning, consisting of Rapture, Reject, and their Morani allies, make short work of them, including the powerful Gladiator. The Fantastic Four and their allies arrive in time to try to stop them but they seem to be outmatched. Ben's fight against Rapture apparently plays out in exactly the same way as the Griever showed him, with the alien warrior dominating the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing.
It takes more than that to scare Ben Grimm, however, and he chooses to not run away from what could be his last fight. The Thing has very little chance to change the outcome, as his enemy is more powerful than a god. To find out if this is really the Thing's last fight, readers should not miss Fantastic Four #41 when it is released on March 2.
