Now that the new year is underway, there are three upcoming Marvel movies to look forward to on the 2025 release schedule. The last of the trio is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which will follow along with the superhero quartet on a 1960s retro-futuristic Earth elsewhere in the Marvel multiverse. Ebon Moss-Bachrach will bring Ben Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing, to life in the new Fantastic Four movie, and he recently revealed that he has gotten to say his character’s classic catchphrase, “It’s clobberin’ time!” It’s a welcome First Steps update, but it’s also resulted in me remember how poorly 2015’s Fantastic Four, a notorious flop, used that line.
What Ebon Moss-Bachrach Said About The Thing’s Catchphrase
Moss-Bachrach stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! the night after the 82nd Golden Globes, where he was nominated in the Best Supporting Performance in a Series, Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television category for playing Richie Jerimovich in The Bear. When Kimmel brought up The Fantastic Four: First Steps during the interview, the actor stayed tight-lipped when it came to plot information and only went into great detail to talk about the motion-capture work he did. However, when Kimmel asked Moss-Bachrach if he says “It’s clobberin’ time!” in the movie, he responded:
I slipped it in there a couple of times. We'll see what happens. I don't have final cut on this one, so we'll see.
Ben Grimm has been exclaiming “It’s clobberin’ time!” in the comics since 1964’s Strange Tales #121, to the point it’s become one of the character’s trademark elements. I’ll be shocked and, frankly, disappointed if Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s version of The Thing doesn’t say the catchphrase at least once in the movie, especially since it would arguably mesh better with the 1960s setting. Moss-Bachrach is joined in The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ cast by Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, Ralph Ineson as Galactus and Julia Garner as Silver Surfer, as well as Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne and Sarah Niles in undisclosed roles.
How 2015’s Fantastic Four Used “It’s Clobberin’ Time!”
Michael Chiklis’ Ben Grimm got to say “It’s clobberin’ time!” in 2005’s Fantastic Four, as did the adorable prototype Thing action figure Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm showed off to him before it was crushed against a wall. Jamie Bell also said the catchphrase in 2015’s Fantastic Four when he was punching Doctor Doom, and that’s all well and good.
But here’s the problem: as I was thinking back on that reboot, I remembered that the origin of Bell’s use of the line originated at the beginning of the movie when Ben and Reed were shown as kids. Ben’s older brother said “It’s clobberin’ time” right before he was going to beat him up, and something tells me that wasn’t the first time that happened. So the origin of the line essentially stems from trauma in this continuity rather than it just rolling off the tongue well or Ben having even come up with it all on his own, and thus taints some of its appeal. You can stream Fantastic Four with a Disney+ subscription if you’d like to see that moment for yourself.
Meanwhile, The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25, 2025. Matt Shakman directed the movie, and Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, Josh Friedman, Cameron Squires, Eric Pearson and Peter Cameron all worked on the script. Be sure to check out Ebon Moss-Bachrach in The Bear, which is accessible with a Hulu subscription.
