Marvel Two-In-One in the 1980s
Marvel Two-In-One began the 1980s in much the same way the series worked in the 70s: Teaming the Thing up with other characters in the Marvel Universe. The stories either delved into explaining some mysteries of the Marvel Universe or were inconsequential. Issue #59 kicked off 1980 with a one-off story about the Thing and Human Torch having to deal with a man named Norman Dunsell who has a ridiculously dangerous bucket list that he wants to accomplish before he turns 30. It’s only notable since it has a plot point where one of the original twin towers at the World Trade Center was set ablaze. Sadly, tearing down capitalism was not on Dunsell’s bucket list. This was followed by an Impossible Man story written by Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio and pencilled by George Perez. It’s the typical fourth-wall-breaking nonsense featuring Marvel staffers interacting with the character. It is also notable for the introduction of the Impossible Woman.
Gruenwald then teamed up with Jerry Bingham to create a three-part story that introduced Adam Warlock’s better half, the woman known as Her, as well as explain what the hell happened to Counter-Earth. It featured guest stars such as Starhawk from the Guardians of the Galaxy, Moondragon, and the reanimated corpse of Adam Warlock. What happened to Counter-Earth? It was stolen by aliens for… reasons.
Gruenwald, Macchio, and Pereze then worked together on the next Two-In-One epic, the three-part Serpent Crown affair. This epic went to try and explain what the hell the Serpent Crown was and introduced the demon known as Set and the costumed mercenaries known as t Serpent Squad. It had the Thing team-up with Stringray, Triton, and the Scarlet Witch. The title also began weaving in sub-plots that carried from issue to issue, such as the Thing breaking up with his long-time girlfriend Alicia Masters, and Hyperion trying to romance Thundra. Issue #67 wrapped up the Hyperion/Thundra romance with a story where they Roxxon Oil Nth Command sending both to another dimension. Hyperion would go on to appear in Gruenwald’s epic Squadron Supreme limited series, while Thundra would languish in minor appearances until the 2000s when she became a central character in the Red Hulk saga.
This was followed by a one-off story about the Thing and Angel shutting down Toad’s amusement park, this issue had Ron WIlson pencil. This story didn’t do much except set-up a plot in Uncanny X-Men that had the titular mutants battle Doctor Doom and Arcade. This was followed by issue #69 which had the Guardians of the Galaxy travel back to stop their leader Vance Astro from interfering with the timeline of his past self. This had reality breaking ramifications which the Fantastic Four and the Guardians of the Galaxy apparently stop even though Vance Astrovik of the past ends up becoming a superhero later on instead of the astronaut that left him stuck in the 30th century. Issue #70 had the Thing and Alicia Masters not only patch things up but also with Alicia moving in to the Baxter Building. Alicia later moved out because it was too dangerous to live in the Baxter Building 11 issues later. The Annual for 1980 was your generic Thing vs the Hulk story, only this time the fight was egged on by a wager made between the enigmatic Stranger and the Pluto, the Olympian god of death.
This was probably to cater to what John Byrne planned to do with the character in issues of the Fantastic Four. Issues #71-72 were another instance of Two-In-One being used to tie up loose ends. That story had Mister Fantastic, the Thing, and the Inhumans working together to cure the Hydro-Men, a group of people who were mutated into mer-people by Doctor Hydro in the long done Sub-Mariner and Super-Villain Team-Up series. The story also provided some backstory to the Inhumans and featured a battle with the evil geneticist Maelstrom. Issue #73 was written solo by Ralph Macchio and featured the Thing teaming up with Quasar to stop the Nth Command from exploiting the natural resources of a parallel Earth.Mark Gruenwald and penciler Frank Springer then did a Christmas story that saw the Thing team-up with the Puppet Master during one of the villain’s short-lived periods of reformation. It served to explain where the Puppet Master got his special clay the nation of Transia, alluding to the fact that the radioactive material a mystical component. Issue #75 was written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Alan Kupperberg. It saw the Thing teaming up with the Avengers to stop a war between Annihilus and Blastaar in the Negative Zone from spilling over to Earth It was notable for being a story where Annihilus losing his Cosmic Control Rod, an event that plays out in the pages of John Byrne’s run of Fantastic Four.
Defalco would continue writing the title from hereon, usually with Ron Wilson doing the pencils. Gone were the epic storylines in favor of one-off stories of little consequence. This was likely done so as not to interfere with John Bryne’s work on Fantastic Four. One interesting issue is #77 which features the Thing crashing an experimental ship into the swamps for Florida. Although billed as a team-up with the Man-Thing, the story was mostly focused on an apparent flashback dating back to World War II that showed Ben Grimm fighting side-by-side with Nick Fury and His Howling Commandos. At the time this would have worked, but almost 40 years later this story becomes an impossibility unless you want the Thing to be an elderly man. Marvel’s Sliding Timescale also makes this impossible so this could probably be chalked up to a hallucination or something. From issue #81 to 85 were devoted to wrapping another loose end, that of William Foster (aka Giant-Man) getting cancer. Team-ups during this period included Wonder Man, the wartime hero known as Blue Diamond, the original Ghost Rider, the Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Sasquatch, and later the whole Alpha Flight team. It saw the Thing working hard to find a cure ending with Spider-Woman sacrificing her immunity to poison to help cure Foster at the expense of Foster’s size-changing powers, not that these changes would have any kind of permanency for either character. The 1981 annual introduced a new Native American hero called American Eagle, who went on to do… not a whole lot afterward. Issue #86 is also noteworthy as it saw the Sandman go straight and the character would go on to become a hero for a while. DeFalco finished off his run with an Ant-Man team-up that saw the Thing venture to the Microverse.
The rest of the series had Tom Defalco alternating as a writer with David Anthony Cook. David Craft took over starting with issue #88 and 89, using both issues to revisit his work on the Savage She-Hulk by having the Thing team-up with the then canceled She-Hulk, and fighting She-Hulk villain the Word with the Human Torch. This was followed by a generic monster-of-the-month battle guest-starring Spider-Man written by Jan Strand and drawn by Alan Kupperberg. DeFalco returned with issue #91 which was the return of the Sphinx, who cheated his apparent death at the end of Marv Wolfman’s run of Fantastic Four. This was followed by a two-part story that had the Thing battle Ultron alongside Jacosta and the Machine Man. David Craft took the next two issues which featured team-ups with Power Man and Iron Fist and the Living Mummy. DeFalco did the final annual with the series having the Thing go up against the Champion of the Universe in a boxing match which led to issue #96 that saw the Thing recuperating in the hospital. This issue featured nearly every guest-star and every villain who appeared in the pages of Marvel Two-In-One brawling outside the Thing’s hospital room.
David Michelinie took over with one-off stories of little consequence, with the Thing teaming up with Iron Man, and Franklin Richards in issues #97 and 98. Bill Mantlo returned to pen a story that saw the Thing team-up with Rom the Space Knight. This issue is significant in that due to rights issues surrounding Rom the Spaceknight (who, as of this writing is owned by Hasbro who has, in turn, licensed the rights to Rom to IDW Comics) have left this issue in limbo and the likelihood of it getting published are very slim. Which is too bad since Marvel also licenses out their characters to IDW for “kid-friendly” titles, it wouldn’t take much for Marvel, IDW, and Hasbro to work together to do modern reprints of all Rom and Micronaut comics that Marvel published in the 70s and 80s. I suppose the only thing stopping that is market demand.
The final issue of Marvel Two-In-One, issue #100, was written by John Byrne and drawn by Ron Wilson. The story was a follow up to issue #50 where the Thing tried to go back in time to curse himself of becoming the Thing. In issue #100 it is revealed that the Thing didn’t go to his own past, but to an alternate reality. Going back to this world the Thing discovers what happened in a world where he was no longer a member of the Fantastic Four. This story has the Thing team-up with the Ben Grimm of that reality to liberate America from the tyranny of the Red Skull. At the end of this story, it was announced that Marvel Two-In-One was being canceled and replaced by a Thing solo series by John Byrne and Ron Wilson. For more on that, check out my section on the Thing series.
