In addition to keeping TV audiences entertained by playing Detective Vic Mackey on FX’s The Shield, Michael Chiklis also stood out in the mid-2000s by bringing Ben Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing, to life in the Fantastic Four movies (though he nearly quit the role). While not as critically well received as the likes of the X-Men and Spider-Man movies released a few years earlier, that first movie’s box office performance in 2005 showed that enough moviegoers were intrigued by Marvel’s First Family. That led to Rise of the Silver Surfer following in 2007, but Chiklis revealed that there was also a spinoff movie pitched that I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see.
During his recent visit to C2E2 (via PopVerse), the actor informed attendees at the Fantastic Four spotlight panel that there were talks at one point of pitting his version of The Thing against another super-strong Marvel hero amidst other spinoff ideas. As Chiklis explained:
