The Thing Rocking A Glorious Rock Beard In Latest Fantastic Four Trailer Just Confirmed Something Important To Me About The Movie

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know I needed to see Benjamin Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing, rocking a glorious rock beard when I woke up this morning. Now it’s a desire that’s been fulfilled after watching the final trailer for next month’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. However, this simple look at the unique facial hair on Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s character seemingly confirmed something important for me: there will be at least two time jumps in the upcoming Marvel movie.

Before we go any further, take a look at the new Fantastic Four trailer for yourself. There are plenty of other things to enjoy in the preview, including more teasing looks at the magnitude of Galactus’ threat:

The Thing’s beard is most prominently seen when Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm, a.k.a. The Human Torch, is transporting him through the air and urging him to say, “It’s clobberin’ time!” It’s something Ben’s hesitant to do since in this continuity, that’s his catchphrase from a cartoon about the Fantastic Four, not something he actually says in real life. The beard is also briefly scene in some action shots at the end of the trailer, including when Ben is ramming his way through some load-bearing concrete pillars.

I remembered that shot from the previous Fantastic Four trailer, except in that earlier version, Ben’s beard isn’t noticeable. So the facial hair was edited out months back, presumably since at the time, it was deemed too much of a spoiler. Evidently that’s not the case now, and it actually gives me a pretty good idea of how the timeline of events in The Fantastic Four: First Steps will unfold.

Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm, a.k.a. Invisible Woman, informing Ben and Johnny that she and Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, are expecting a baby is obviously going to happen early in the movie. Then a few months later, Ralph Ineson’s Galactus and Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer will arrive on Earth after Reed catches their attention by stretching “the bounds of space.” We know it’s a few months later because Sue is noticeably pregnant at this point.

And then we’ll eventually meet baby Franklin Richards, whom I suspect may be the key to defeating Galactus. Given Franklin’s reality-warping powers in the comics, I wondered if there was a possibility that they could result in his birth being accelerated in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. However, Thing’s beard indicates we will be jumping forward another several months, as that kind of facial rockiness doesn’t just grow overnight. So following their initial clash with Galactus and Silver Surfer, apparently the team won’t reengage these adversaries until some time after Franklin is born.

That now leads me to wonder why it’s taking months for Galactus devour this Earth rather than him nourishing his appetite instantly, but that question and many others will be answered when The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters on July 25. Until then, I’ll be envious of The Thing for having such a one-of-a-kind, and frankly badass, beard.