Thing #31
Devil Dinosaur: The Movie!
The Thing is in the middle of a practice match against Mister Clean when someone orders the fight to end, much to Clean's relief. The Thing is unhappy with the interruption and it distracts him long enough for Clean to break free from Ben's stranglehold and toss him into the empty spectator chairs outside the ring. The man who interrupted is a representative from the National Safety Commission who has come to check out the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federations operations. The toss punctuates the commissioner's point that matches could be a threat to spectators and he demands owner Ed Garner to do something about it or he will shut them down. Hearing this angers the Thing, and Ed is none too happy pointing out any cancellations will affect the popularity of the UCWF. The commissioner tells him that his people have developed a transparent shell to put around the ring, a solution that both Ed and the Thing are agreeable to use for the safety of spectators. With this installation taking two weeks to complete, Ed calls for a vacation. Ben is happy to hear this because it gives him an opportunity to look up Sharon Ventura and try to spend some time with her.
Later in his hotel room, Ben is packing a bag while his young aide Vance Astrovik questions if Sharon wants to see him. Ben tells his young ward that he just called her and she does want to see him and that she is currently on a movie set and an opportunity to see her has presented itself before she goes off to whatever adventure she seeks out next. When Ben notices that Vance is upset by this, he realizes that it's because Vance wasn't invited along. When they get into an argument suddenly Ben screams in pain and crumples to the floor. When Vance asks what's wrong, Ben shakes off both Vance's concerns and the pain. He brushes off this sudden flare of pain as a sign that a vacation will do him some good and leaves, Vance hopes that seeing Sharon is all that Ben needs right now.
Ben soon takes a flight to California where he takes a helicopter ride to the movie set which is on a remote island out in the Pacific. Ben is quickly reunited with Sharon Ventura and meets her fellow stunt people on the set. As he pauses to take a picture of the three attractive stuntwomen, suddenly a massive red tyrannosaurus rex moves in behind them. Thinking that this is a threat, Ben then attacks the massive lizard, smashing it faces open, revealing it to be nothing more than an animatronic movie prop. As it turns out Sharon is acting as a stuntwoman in the new Devil Dinosaur movie. When the director sees what Ben did to his prop he is none to happy about it, and tells Ventura that the damages are going to come out of her pay. Ben feels bad, but Sharon quickly pulls him away from the scene so they can walk along the beach and have a talk. Ben apologizes telling her that he usually reacts without thinking when someone he cares about is in trouble. Sharon reminds him that he isn't a super-hero anymore and should relax while on vacation. Ben decides to take her up on her advice, assured that there is no trouble here. However as they walk away from the beach, something causes the waters nearby to bubble.
Back on set, Ben helps Sharon get into her ape-woman costume and him thanks her for inviting him out to see the shoot. She tells Ben that it is the least she can do after seeing Ben in the ring. The director then calls everyone together to begin shooting the next scene. Soon the scene is set up where a bunch of ape-people is trying to save Sharon's character from a fly pterodactyl. When it appears that his life is in danger when the animatronic dinosaur is about to drop her, Ben comes storming in to grab her, ruining the shot. Not only is the director angry at Ben this time, but so is Sharon. Ben feels like a complete idiot when they point out that she was supposed to fall and that a crash mat was set up at the bottom of the cliff to ensure she wouldn't get hurt in doing so. When Sharon berates her, Ben is hurt and walks away telling her that most people say "thanks" when someone else is concerned about their safety.
Later, Ben is spending some time alone alongside the beech where he reflects that Sharon is a completely different person to his fantasies. His thoughts are interrupted by Sharon who has stripped down to a bikini and asks if she can join him. She apologizes for yelling at him later and he apologizes as well. She then begins explaining that she has arranged it for Ben to be allowed back on set. Ben is far too distracted by the bubbling water nearby. He witnesses a strange dinosaur-like creature briefly emerge from the water, but he dismisses it as his eyes playing tricks on him when Sharon tries to focus his attention. As the two head back to the set to have a drink, they are unaware that what Ben saw was very real and a threat to everyone on the island. The next morning Ben is awoken to the sound of the crew making a ruckus because the entire set has been trampled flat by some unseen thing in the middle of the night. When Ben tries to express his concern to the director he gets brushed off and told to stay out of the way. Deciding to leave the film crew to their work, Ben decides to hit the fridge. Later while shooting another stunt scene with Sharon, the crew are suddenly surprised when the massive lizard that Ben saw earlier rises out of the water nearby. One of the crew recognizes it as the dinosaur that Iron Man had fought recently.
When Ben hears the screams from outside, he dismisses it as part of the production and convinces himself to stay put. While the special effects crews use the Devil Dinosaur animatronic to get Sharon to safety, the massive dinosaur lands on the island and begins trashing the set again. However despite the racket, Ben stays in the trailer. Meanwhile, the crew sacrifices the Devil Dinosaur robot to send off the dinosaur which returns back to the ocean without further incident. When Ben finally can't sit back anymore, he heads out of the trailer and bumps into Sharon who brushes off the day's events as "show business". The two agree to go out to the beach and there Ben talks about his feelings for Sharon, explaining her resemblance to Tarianna on Battleworld. Sharon gets Ben to stop talking, saying that he wants her to be like Tarianna but she's not. Before she can say anything further, Ben decides they should end the conversation and just enjoy the sunset together.
Recurring Characters
Thing, Vance Astrovik, Sharon Ventura, Godzilla, Ed Garner, Mr. Clean
Continuity Notes
Ben recalls his battle with the Beyonder from last issue.
Ben is infatuated with Sharon Ventura because she resembles Tarianna, the warrior woman that was a figment of Ben's imagination while he was on Battleworld from Thing #12-22. Ben has been pursuing Sharon since he learned of her existence in Thing #26.
Vance Astro has been traveling with Ben since Thing #26, it is later revealed in Thing #32 that Vance ran away from home because his father was abusing him.
The Devil Dinosaur movie is based on the character Devil Dinosaur a creature that actually exists on Earth-78411, as first seen in Devil Dinosaur #1. However, at the time of this story, nobody on Earth-616 knows that Devil Dinosaur actually exists. Devil Dinosaur first travels to Earth-616 in Fallen Angels #4.
The giant creature seen in this story is the monster known as Godzilla. Marvel previously had a license to produce a comic book based on Godzilla in the 1970s from Toho Co. Ltd. the company that owns the rights to Godzilla and produces Godzilla films. He was featured in his own series in Godzilla #1-24 which was set in the Earth-616 and Godzilla regularly interacted with Marvel's heroes. When the licensing deal ended Marvel continued to use their version of the Godzilla character, but changed the creature just enough to avoid any legal issues. For example, in Iron Man #193-194 featured a story where Godzilla was mutated by Doctor Demonicus, giving him a different appearance. With this altered appearance and by not mentioning Godzilla by name, Marvel was able to skirt the legal issues inherent of using the character unchanged. Hence his appearance in this story and why they never mention Godzilla by name, nor specifically cite the Marvel produced Godzilla series. Years later in Uncanny X-Men #506-507 Godzilla makes another appearance and is referred to as Leviathan.
