SUNDAY FUNNIES WITH KERRY CALLEN!
By KERRY CALLEN
Continuing my series reviewing 20th Century comic books that claim The Battle/Fight/Bout/Showdown of the Century on their covers…
This week’s battle — THE THING vs. THUNDRA! First presented in 1973’s Fantastic Four #133. By Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway (two men), Ramona Fradon (a woman) and Joe Sinnott (also a man). Published by Marvel (natch):
Note that the cover claims not only is it “The Battle of the Century” — it’s of “Any Century!” Basically, this is the greatest battle of all-time! This is going to be insane!!!
WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING?
They are fighting because Thundra wants to fight. She’s incredibly straightforward about it.
But before we get to that, I have a quick detour I’d like to make. In Fantastic Four #25 (which we looked at last week), Ben refused to take an antidote to change him back to human because he was afraid his girlfriend, Alicia, would no longer love him. Of course everyone thought that was ridiculous! However, in this issue of FF, we get this panel with Alicia:
Well, well.
This all takes place on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Thundra stops the clock to challenge the Thing to a duel in Shea Stadium, in three days. She’s up high, so the Human Torch goes after her. Thundra breaks off a clock hand, uses it as a giant fan blade and blows out the Torch’s flame. Then she gets all sexist, and throws snow on him as an added bonus.
Oh! Medusa is in this comic too. The Invisible Girl’s away. (Just a little tidbit. Totally irrelevant to the story.)
Thundra grabs Alicia to ensure the Thing will show up for battle.
Reed is anxious to get back to FF headquarters, so this happens:
I’m hoping this is how they get around in the upcoming movie.
Note — Important Factoid: This story takes place in early 1973, during a high social awareness of the lack of sexual equality. Feminism was in the news quite often. Later in ’73 was the famous “Battle of the Sexes,” with Billie Jean King facing Bobby Riggs on the tennis court. So, of course, in the Marvel universe, this battle has caught the attention of the entire nation!
It turns out that Thundra is a part of the Frightful Four! Their hideout is an old water tower, which I think is cool. It’s kinda like a tree house.
HOW EPIC IS THE BATTLE?
The day has arrived!
Why is the home team listed first?
I’m not sure why everyone looks angry. Soon, Thundra shows up and throws the referee aside. Referee? I’m not sure what he was going to do anyway.
Thundra immediately grabs Ben and throws him out of the stadium. Home run!
No worries. He lands on a buffalo.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Frightful Four are upset because their plan was to blow up the stadium and get rid of both the Thing and Thundra! It turns out she’s not much of a “team player.”
The battle continues on top of the nearby Unisphere. It’s not much of a fight.
Thundra basically beats on Ben for a couple of pages. He did better in his other Battle of the Century against the Hulk.
WHO WINS?
Suddenly (and this comes out of NOWHERE), Reed has a gun that changes the Thing back into regular ol’ Ben Grimm!
Thundra says, “You’ve won this round, Ben Grimm.” What?! He didn’t win! He was losing, and on top of that, the Fantastic Four cheated!
Thundra flies away on that very convenient flying disc of hers. It was never really explained why she wanted to fight in the first place. For women’s rights in the ’70s, I guess. Later, she attacks the Frightful Four and returns Alicia to Ben, all off-panel.
IS IT THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY?
Perhaps… metaphorically. If you consider the Thundra and Thing skirmish to be the comic book “battle of the sexes,” then maybe it IS the Battle of the Century. It pits one half of the population against the other!
But… I’m not going to do that. The fight was too lame.
The Battle of the Century title remains with the Hulk/Thing fight of ’64. At least as of 1973.
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NEXT TIME AROUND: Superman vs. Spider-Man!!!
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MORE
— What WAS the Comic Battle of the 20th Century? PART 4: 1964’s THE THING vs. THE HULK. Click here.
— What WAS the Comic Battle of the 20th Century? PART 3 — Starring JOE PALOOKA. Click here.
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Want more SUNDAY FUNNIES WITH KERRY CALLEN? Come back next week!
Want a commission? Send an email to KerryCallenArt@gmail.com. You can also find other work at linktr.ee/kerrycallen.
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KERRY CALLEN spent much of his career as an artist and art director, developing product for Hallmark, but has also dabbled in comics for many years. As a freelancer, he creates work for a range of needs, spanning from Mad Magazine to children illustrations. He has two graphic novels available on Amazon worldwide, Halo and Sprocket: The Definitive Collection, as well as Dirtnap: Mystic Spit.
June 29, 2025
Just an observation, but the reason the crowd looks angry on that panoramic splash page may be simple miscommunication since I’m willing to bet my geek cred on the fact that that page was penciled by John Buscema and not Ms.Fradon. Perhaps a last minute addendum?
June 30, 2025
Ron Frenz, great observation. I bet you’re right!
June 29, 2025
That definitely looks like J. Buscema civilians in that panel.
Thundra would always seek to battle Ben in those days, in her mind it was a contest against one of the strongest male’s on Earth.
June 29, 2025
Wow!! I missed this one back in the day!
July 1, 2025
This was the first FF comic I ever bought. I liked it at the time but in retrospect Ben didn’t come off too well. Roy Thomas also wasn’t the best when it came to inserting “Women’s Lib” into his stories. He also created the “Lady Liberators” in the Avengers, who were pawns of the Enchantress if I remember correctly.