The Fantastic Four might be Marvel's first family, but when it comes right down to it, fans tend to agree that the best character of the group is the Thing. Ben Grimm is just an average working Joe from Yancy Street, but this blue-eyed boulder of a man is uncompromisingly heroic, willing to stand against forces he cannot comprehend because it's the right thing to do.
As the Fantastic Four love to engage in extradimensional universe-hopping adventures, it is easy to imagine them ending up in the DC Universe. In such a situation, the Thing would have plenty of heroes to test his strength against. These are ten DC heroes that the Thing is stronger than.
10 Black Lightning
Jefferson Pierce is one of the most underrated DC heroes. He has gotten more fame in recent years since the release of The CW's Black Lightning TV series, but even this is not able to show just how awesome the lightning-wielding hero is. Black Lightning is an educator in his civilian life, but as a superhero, he has fought as a member of the Justice League, standing against Amazo and the Amazons of Themyscira.
Unfortunately for Jefferson, he is just not as strong as Ben Grimm. Not only is Black Lightning physically weaker, but the Thing's rocky exterior would just shrug off the electric current of a lightning bolt.
9 Shining Knight
The most recent incarnation of Shining Knight is Sir Ystin, an immortal intersex Knight of the Round Table who has fought against the many faces of evil throughout time. They have resisted the forces of Hall, slain dragons, and helped put down a vampire army. They may once have been a mere mortal, but the magic of Camelot has altered them, making them into a superhuman champion.
Honestly, a fight between the Thing and Shining Knight would be surprisingly close. Ultimately, Shining Knight has better technique, but when it comes down to it, the Thing is stronger.
8 Aqualad
There have been two primary characters to hold the title of Aqualad: Garth, and Kaldur (the latter also being known as Jackson Hyde or Kaldur'ahm). Both of these young men are inhumanly strong and capable of swimming along the bottom of the ocean floor where the pressure is strong enough to crack open submarine hulls.
Aqualad could go blow for blow with the Thing for a good long fight, but at the end of the day, the Thing is stronger, tougher, and more experienced. In fact, if there was some way for him to breathe, the Thing could even withstand the pressures at the bottom of the ocean.
7 Hawkman & Hawkgirl
Both of the Hawks have roughly the same powers, so for the purpose of this list, they are both being considered here. Each is physically stronger than almost any other man or woman, capable of flight, and uses Thanagarian weapons made from Nth metal. They also are destined to continue to be resurrected, life after life.
While their Nth metal weapons might actually be able to hurt the Thing, neither of the Hawks is quite as strong as he is. In fact, it would be surprising if either was strong enough to lift him into the air, though he could easily snatch them out of the sky mid-flight.
6 Midnighter
Few characters are as skilled in combat as Midnighter. He is a connoisseur of violence with a computer in his brain that lets him run every scenario of a fight through his head a million times before the first blow is thrown. He also has been biologically altered, giving him an additional heart, insanely high pain tolerance, and enhanced physical strength.
Midnighter is crazy strong. He also could probably beat the Thing in a fight, as the computer in his brain would show him a scenario to win in a fight against the Fantastic Four's strongest member. However, as raw strength goes, it's not even close. Being able to beat someone up is not the same as being stronger than them.
5 Cassie Sandsmark
Cassie Sandsmark is one of a number of young women to don the mantle of Wonder Girl. As the daughter of Zeus, she is a demigod, having all of the strength, speed, and endurance of one of the champions of the Heroic Age of ancient Greece (though in the continuity of The New 52, she is portrayed as Zeus's granddaughter instead).
The Thing is personal friends with Hercules and has spent time chilling with a notable Asgardian mead-drinking hero. While a full god would be stronger than the Thing, a mere demigod like Cassie would need to at least grow up a bit more to be in his league.
4 Booster Gold
Booster Gold is a time-displaced hero from the future. He has the greedy ambitions of a CEO and tries to use his knowledge from growing up in the future to enrich himself. Unfortunately, superheroes are basically the polar opposites of businessmen, as heroes care about helping others while the point of business is helping oneself get richer. His powers are all the result of future tech and include flight, force field projection, enhanced physical strength, and time travel.
That enhanced physical strength makes Booster Gold quite impressive. He has even fought against the villain Doomsday on multiple occasions. That said, he relies on other powers, as his physical strength is nowhere near on par with the Thing's rock-hard muscles.
3 Black Canary
Black Canary is among the top martial artists in the DC Universe. She is also empowered with the ability to generate sonic blasts, using her signature Canary Cry. She has been a member of both the Justice Society and Justice League teams, fighting alongside some of DC's most powerful heroes.
Time and again, Black Canary defeats heroes who are stronger than she is. However, she is merely human, even if she is a metahuman. The Thing is quite a bit more than a regular human, thanks to the cosmic rays which gave him his powers.
2 Cassandra Cain
Cassandra Cain is the strongest and most gifted martial artist among the members of the Bat-Family. She is an even better hand-to-hand combatant that Batman, being perhaps the second most skilled martial artist in the DC Universe.
As has been demonstrated in other examples, skill and technique are not the same as strength. Cassandra Cain can kick through a solid tree. The Thing can pull the tree up by the roots and hurl it over the forest canopy and beyond the horizon.
1 Batman
Batman is physically stronger than Batgirl, if slightly less skilled in martial arts. He has fought against Superman, Wonder Woman, and Darkseid, beating each of them. However, he has needed special mech suits, rare powerful weapons, or magical objects to beat these people.
The Dark Knight might be able to get out of any situation, but he can only bench press so much. The Thing is not quite so limited. Ben Grimm does not need fancy gadgets or special detective skills. People can set their watches by his arrival, because when he shows up, it's clobberin' time.