WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Marvel’s Man-Thing

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my Name is Robert Lammin. This is the Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time.

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<v Speaker 2>Let us return to the pages of Marvel Comics to

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<v Speaker 2>consider a true monster. Man Thing. It's not to be

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<v Speaker 2>confused with DC's swamp Thing, but he stands as something

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<v Speaker 2>of his spiritual twin sibling, So both man Thing and

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<v Speaker 2>swamp Thing are hybrid swamp based humanoids created through an

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<v Speaker 2>explosive collision of humanity, mad science and swamp water. Both

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<v Speaker 2>characters hit the comics for the first time in nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>seventy one. However, most commentators seem to see it merely

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<v Speaker 2>as coincidence and point to very differences in the characters.

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<v Speaker 2>Plus Marvel's walking swamp creature the Heap, predates both of them,

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<v Speaker 2>dating back to the early nineteen forties, as does the

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<v Speaker 2>muck Monster It from Street and Smith Comics. Still, these

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<v Speaker 2>various swamp beings become linked. They have a kinship, and

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<v Speaker 2>you'll even find a panel in Alan Moore's swamp Thing

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<v Speaker 2>run visually suggesting kinship between swamp Thing, man Thing, the Heap,

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<v Speaker 2>and others. But I've already talked about swamp Thing on

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<v Speaker 2>the Monster fact, so let's get serious about man Thing.

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<v Speaker 2>As pointed out by Kelly Knox in the book Monsters

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<v Speaker 2>Creatures of the Marvel Universe, man Thing started off with

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<v Speaker 2>a human scientist named Ted Sallus. Now, like a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of Marvel comic books, scientists, Ted worked on super soldier serums,

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<v Speaker 2>at least until enemies tried to take it from him.

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<v Speaker 2>Ted then injected himself with the serum and accidentally wrecked

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<v Speaker 2>his car in the Everglades and was also exposed to

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<v Speaker 2>extra dimensional forces in the process. So what emerged from

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<v Speaker 2>the swamp was neither man nor Thing, but man Thing,

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<v Speaker 2>a humanoid swamp creature that would become the guardian of

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<v Speaker 2>the Nexus of Reality, where science and magic converge. Man

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<v Speaker 2>Thing boasts incredible strength and can throw down with the

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<v Speaker 2>toughest of physical opponents, but some of his most impressive

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<v Speaker 2>powers are due to his empathy. Man Thing is so

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<v Speaker 2>empathic that negative emotions in others can cause him physical

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<v Speaker 2>pain and distress, especially when he senses fear. This will

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<v Speaker 2>also cause him to lash out violently at individuals in

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<v Speaker 2>the throes of fear and lay his burning hands upon them.

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<v Speaker 2>Man Thing's burning hands are fascinating superpower, brought to life

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<v Speaker 2>most wonderfully in the twenty twenty two MCU Werewolf by

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<v Speaker 2>Night special, which captures it as a kind of holy

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<v Speaker 2>fire that incinerates Ted's victims. On one level, this seems

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<v Speaker 2>to be just another version of various magical tales in

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<v Speaker 2>which creatures feed off of fear or sense fear in others,

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<v Speaker 2>as if it is an actual energy or a quantifiable substance.

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<v Speaker 2>Man Thing's abilities, however, are frequently explained in terms of chemistry.

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<v Speaker 2>NOx attributes his burning touch to chemicals in man Thing's

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<v Speaker 2>body and sumeric and wallace in marvel anatomy. The authors

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<v Speaker 2>here presume that this chemical secretion is something akin to

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<v Speaker 2>sulphuric acid, that it's excreted through man Thing's pores. I

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<v Speaker 2>suppose we might compare this ability to the self defensive

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<v Speaker 2>secretions of various natural world organisms, and given man things

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<v Speaker 2>plant based physiology, we have to acknowledge that certain plants

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<v Speaker 2>do secrete acidic substances through their roots, in some cases

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<v Speaker 2>to dissolve rocky soil, and in other cases to eradicate competition.

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<v Speaker 2>But what about this notion that a monster like man, thing,

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<v Speaker 2>or even a natural world organism can quote sense fear.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a common trope, but is there anything to it.

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<v Speaker 2>Certainly there is no true sixth sense for fear in

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<v Speaker 2>which humans or other animals can tap into an otherwise

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<v Speaker 2>invisible video game fear meter. Fear, like other human defined

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<v Speaker 2>emotional states, is hard to quantify in animals and subject

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<v Speaker 2>to human testing bias, as Ralph Adolf's discussed in the

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<v Speaker 2>twenty thirteen Current Biology article The Biology of Fear. Some

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<v Speaker 2>argue that fear is a mere psychological construct and something

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<v Speaker 2>we can't apply to animals as we cannot truly know

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<v Speaker 2>their minds. On the other hand, neuroimaging in rodents would

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<v Speaker 2>seem to reveal a clear fear network in their brains.

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<v Speaker 2>Ad also stressed a distinction to be made between the

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<v Speaker 2>conscious human feeling of being afraid and fear as a

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<v Speaker 2>functional state of an organism. This state exists in relation

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<v Speaker 2>to fear inducing stimuli, which for humans at least can

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<v Speaker 2>be in the present past or in imagined future, and

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<v Speaker 2>induces fearful behavior. Fear in both cognition and behavior is

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<v Speaker 2>largely adaptive, and it is because fear can help us survive,

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<v Speaker 2>though of course, all of this can become maladaptive as well. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>man things relation to fear is interesting in light of

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<v Speaker 2>all of this. He acutely fears the effects of another

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<v Speaker 2>organism's fear, but the source of his own emotional distress

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<v Speaker 2>in this scenario is not the fear inducing stimuli that

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<v Speaker 2>caused the original distress, but the distressed organism itself, which

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<v Speaker 2>he may then incinerate with his burning hands due to

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<v Speaker 2>a fear response chemical secretion in his own body. So

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<v Speaker 2>there's a lot to unpact there. But hey, still a

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<v Speaker 2>pretty great swamp monster and I'm always down for a

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<v Speaker 2>cool swamp monster. Tune in for additional episodes of The

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us

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<v Speaker 2>at contact at stuff Toble your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio.

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