When Reed Richards finished his experimental starship and wanted to take it on an unsanctioned test flight, his college buddy (and former USAF pilot) Ben Grimm agreed to fly it. Together with Richards' girlfriend Sue Storm and her brother Johnny, Ben and Reed launched into space, where they were exposed to unprecedented levels of cosmic radiation.Marvel Source
The radiation triggered mutagenic changes in each of the four passengers. In Grimm's case, he became a brutish creature with orange, rocky skin. Sue's description of him as a "thing" stuck as his heroic nickname, and Thing became a founding member of the Fantastic Four.
This build is viable now, Senkan, since power synergies were removed from the game. This build is very similar to my lvl 1-39 Normal/Heroic build but would have a fairly difficult time in Superheroic given that there have been many patches since this build was created.
You will get more damage if you take points off your basic powers and put it into gaurdian aura. The synergy in gaurdian works better than the synergy in the basic attacks. And you get a power to use for teams play and boss rushing.