—ThingHeck, I'm glad I got this second life. In fact, if you ask me, I think......I'm the luckiest guy there is!
Appearing in "Last Hand"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Fantastic Four
- ⏴ Impossible Man ⏵
- ⏴ Alicia Masters ⏵
- ⏴ Arlo North ⏵
- ⏴ Hiram Scheckerberg ⏵
- Rabbi Lowenthal ⏵ (First appearance)
- ⏴ Jacob Grimm
- ⏴ Petunia Grimm ⏵
- New Avengers
- X-Men
- Great Lakes X-Men/Defenders/Champions
- Inhuman Royal Family
- ⏴ Constrictor ⏵
- ⏴ Hercules ⏵
- ⏴ Wonder Man ⏵
- ⏴ Yellowjacket ⏵ (Secretly Criti Noll)
- ⏴ Wasp ⏵
- ⏴ She-Hulk ⏵
- ⏴ Falcon ⏵
- ⏴ Sub-Mariner ⏵
- ⏴ Goliath ⏵
- ⏴ Tigra ⏵
- ⏴ Doctor Strange ⏵
- ⏴ Nighthawk ⏵
- ⏴ Iron Fist ⏵
- ⏴ Ms. Marvel ⏵
- ⏴ Stingray ⏵
- ⏴ Willie Lumpkin ⏵
- ⏴ Dum Dum Dugan ⏵
- ⏴ Justice ⏵
- ⏴ Aquarian ⏵
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
- New York City
- Manhattan
- Bar Mitzvah
- Central Park
- Yancy Street (Only in flashback)
- Himalayas (Only in flashback)
Items:
- Extremis Armor
- Cloak of Levitation
- Eye of Agamotto
- Spider-Man's Web-Shooters
- Spider-Man's Suit
- Captain America's Shield
- Captain America's Uniform
- Squirrel Girl's Costume
Vehicles:
Events:
Synopsis for "Last Hand"
It's Saturday night and the Thing is throwing one of his regular poker games, but tonight is a special occasion and everyone is in attendance. During a high stakes game, the Constrictor loses a large sum of money from Hercules. Just then the Great Lakes X-Men crash the party. When Marvel Girl telepathically forces them to change their name, they change their name to the Great Lakes Defenders, but Doctor Strange uses his magic to force them to change their names. Luke Cage is about to throw them out when the Thing recognises Squirrel Girl and tells her and her friends to come in. He recounts how he and Squirrel Girl recently teamed up and stopped the Bi-Beast. He recounts how the battle took place in Central Park, and Squirrel Girl exploited Bi-Beast's double senses by having her squirrels bring a bunch of trash to offend the Bi-Beast's sense of smell long enough for the Thing to knock him out.
At Ben's table, the Thing is winning the current round, soon it's down to him and the Impossible Man. The Thing gets the winning hand and the Impossible Man admits that he was trying to bluff, based on a tactic the Thing used a week earlier. The Impossible Man recounts how at that time he was stuck with a case of the hiccups, which cause his powers to go out of control. The Thing was sent to a Tibetan village to stop him. The Impossible Man makes a great deal of damage. It's only when the Thing pretends to be dead and uses the opportunity to scare the Impossible Man bad enough to stop the hiccups. When the Thing learned that the village was centuries old and uniquely constructed, the Thing comes up with an idea of how to help repair the village. He puts in a call to Alicia Master's boyfriend Arlo North and tells him about the opportunity. Arlo, finding this a unique opportunity and knowing that Alicia is still sorting out her feelings for Ben, decides to take off and rebuild this story. Alicia interrupts with recollection who congratulates him for his big day.
This cause Ben to think back to a few days ago when Hiram Scheckerberg finally told Ben that he has worked off his debt. When Ben admits he's going to miss his times down there, Hiram suggests that Ben get back in touch with his Jewish roots. Soon Ben is taken to the local rabbi who agrees to educating him on his faith and performing his Bar Mitzvah. When Ben points out that that is typically done when someone is 13, they explain that it can also be done to someone who lives to the age of 83. When Ben points out that he is not that old, they say that it's actually been 13 years since Ben first became the Thing and that they consider that rebirth. With that out the way, Ben begins the proper training. Soon he was ready for his Bar Mitzvah and invites all of his friends.
With this recollection over, the Thing thinks he's won his hand against the Great Lakes member Flatman, but loses. Proclaiming that they are the champions, the GLX decide to rename themselves the Great Lakes Champions. With the last hand over, Alicia tells Ben that it's time for everyone to leave, hinting that they are about to get romantic. The Thing quickly tells people they it's time to go, abruptly ending the night for some alone time with the love of his life.
Solicit Synopsis
- Pull up a chair, true believer, you’ve just been invited to the biggest super hero poker game EVER! Everyone’s coming-- from Goliath to Tigra, from the Torch to Ms. Marvel, and many more (even camera-shy fellas like Cap, Spidey, and Wolverine!).
- So sit in while we play a few hands and swap some tall tales about the Idol of Millions! And if THAT doesn’t hook ya, what if we told you that this poker party is celebrating a MAJOR MARVEL MILESTONE! An event that’s taken over a decade (in Marvel time) for the Thing to reach... if he can go through with it.
- We’re not kidding! This’s SO big, even AUNT PETUNIA’S showing up for this one!
Notes
Continuity Notes[]
- The Yellowjacket and Spider-Woman seen here are not Henry Pym and Jessica Drew are actually Skrull spies as revealed in Secret Invasion #1.
- Doctor Strange mentions Earth-A, he is referring to Earth-721 which the Fantastic Four first visited in Fantastic Four #118.
- The Sub-Mariner inquires about Spider-Man's new costume. This is in reference to the Iron Spider Armor, which was designed in Amazing Spider-Man #529. The costume has that ability to change appearance.
- The Great Lakes X-Men were originally called the Great Lakes Avengers, formed by Hawkeye in West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #46. They had changed their names to Great Lakes X-Men after a cease and desist letter from the Maria Stark Foundation in G.L.A. #4.
- Hiram states that it has been about 13 years since the Ben became the Thing. However per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 it has actually been roughly 11 years.