The Thing

The Thing is an extremely hostile shape-shifting extraterrestrial organism and the primary antagonist of the 1982 science-fiction film The Thing, its prequel, video-games and literature. The Thing has the ability to assimilate other life forms in order to survive and spread. The original physical characteristics of The Thing are unknown as it could have assimilated hundreds if not thousands of other species before it crashed on Earth.

Appearence
The Thing is an amorphous  parasitic extraterrestrial lifeform that can transform into other lifeforms by eating them and transforming into them.

The Thing (1982)
In winter 1982, an American Antarctic research station is alerted by gunfire and explosions. Pursued by a Norwegian helicopter, an Alaskan Malamute makes its way into the camp as the science station's crew looks on in confusion. Through reckless use of a thermite charge, the helicopter is destroyed and its pilot killed in the resulting explosion. The surviving passenger fires at the dog with a rifle, grazing George Bennings (Peter Maloney), one of the researchers. Lars is shot and killed by Garry (Donald Moffat), the station commander. Not knowing what to make of the incident, the station crew adopts the dog. Unable to contact the outside world via hand radio, helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) and Copper (Richard Dysart) risk a flight to the Norwegian camp to find it destroyed, most of its personnel missing, and one member dead of apparent suicide. Finding evidence that the Norwegians had dug something out of the ice, the pair return to the station with the partially-burned remains of a hideous creature composed of station members Adam Finch and Edvard Wolner which bears some human features. An autopsy of the cadaver by Dr. Blair (Wilford Brimley) is inconclusive, save to find that the creature had what appeared to be a normal set of human internal organs.

At Bennings' request, the station's dog-handler, Clark (Richard Masur) kennels the stray with the rest of the station's sled dogs. Noises from the kennel cause Clark to return, finding almost the entire sled team in the process of being assimilated by the stray dog, which has transformed into a monster. MacReady overhears the commotion and pulls a fire alarm, and everyone gathers to the kennel. MacReady and Garry shoot the creature to no avail, Childs (Keith David) incinerates it with a flamethrower. A subsequent autopsy by Blair reveals that the stray dog was an alien capable of absorbing and perfectly imitating other life-forms. Realizing the implications of this, Blair quickly becomes withdrawn and suspicious of the others. A second helicopter expedition discovers an alien spacecraft unearthed by the Norwegian research team, revealing that the creature had awakened after being buried within the ice for thousands of years.

Bennings and Windows (Thomas G. Waites) quarantine the remains of the dog-creature and the Norwegian cadaver in the storage room, while Fuchs (Joel Polis) confers with MacReady in a Snowcat that Blair is becoming unstable and his research indicates the burned creatures are still alive. Moments after Windows left, strands of tentacle-like sinew emerged from the remains of the dog-creature and the Norwegian, and proceed to assimilate Bennings. Windows returns to find the creature assimilating Bennings, and alerts MacReady, who activates the fire alarm; the team corners the alien in mid-transformation and burn it with fuel. Blair, meanwhile, has calculated that the creature will assimilate the entire planet within three years upon reaching civilization and suffers a mental breakdown: to prevent the alien from escaping, he disables the helicopters, tractors, kills the remaining dogs, and proceeds to wreck the radio room until the team overpowers him and lock him in the tool shed.

Now isolated, the crew realizes that they might be contaminated and speculate on how to determine who is human. Windows finds that the medical blood supply has been destroyed, eliminating the chance of blood tests that could reveal the infected party; because the perpetrator used Garry's keys to access the blood, the team nearly dissolves into rampant paranoia as to who is guilty. MacReady puts Garry, Copper, and Clark into isolation, and orders Fuchs to continue Blair's work before an encroaching Arctic storm forces them inside tight quarters.

Fuchs, attempting to continue Blair's research, goes missing shortly after a power failure. Fuchs' body is found severely burned, MacReady speculates that Fuchs used a flare to burn himself before the Thing could get to him. MacReady comes under suspicion when a scrap of torn shirt containing his name tag is found at the camp, and he is locked outside in a severe blizzard. Somehow finding his way back to camp without a guide line, MacReady breaks into a storage room and threatens the rest of the crew with dynamite. In the course of the standoff, Norris (Charles Hallahan) appears to a heart attack after he and Cooper unsuccessfully attack Macready from behind. When Copper attempts to revive him by defibrillation, Norris' body transforms and bites off Copper's forearms, killing him. Norris' head detaches from his body and the alien uses it in an attempt to escape as the others burn the body, leading MacReady to theorize that every piece of the alien is an individual animal with its own survival instinct. He then burns the head with his flamethrower after Palmer (David Clennon), the backup pilot, spots it trying to flee.

In an altercation that precedes a test proposed by MacReady, Clark in an act of mutiny tries to stab MacReady with a scalpel, but is shot in the head and killed by MacReady in self-defense. The rest of the crew complies with the test; blood samples are drawn from each member of the team including Copper and Clark and jabbed with a hot wire to see whose blood will react defensively. First, Clark, Copper, Windows, and Macready are proved Human. Upon Realizing that Clark was not infected, Childs begins to threaten McReady as a killer, but McReady ignores him. When Palmer is tested, blood flees from the hot wire, revealing that is an imitation. Exposed, Palmer then transforms and begins mauling Windows. Macready tries to burn Palmer, but his flamethrower jams and fails to ignite. After it finishes mauling Windows, Macready finally gets the flamethrower working and burns Palmer, then finishes it off with a stick of dynamite, before burning the transforming Windows.

Confirming that MacReady, Childs, Garry, and Nauls (T.K. Carter) are still human, the surviving crew set out to the tool shed in order to administer the test to Blair while Childs keeps watch, only to find that he has escaped by tunneling his way underground. They follow the path and discover that not only had Blair been assimilated, but he had been constructing a small flying vehicle of alien design underneath the tool shed in order to reach and infect the mainland. They return to the surface to witness Childs inexplicably abandoning his post at the main gate, followed by the facility losing power. Realizing that the creature now wants to freeze again so a future rescue team will find it, the remaining crew acknowledge that they will not survive and set about destroying the facility in hopes of killing the creature.

While setting explosives in the underground generator room, Garry is killed by the infected Blair. Nauls follows the sounds of the creature and is never seen again. The only indication of Nauls' fate is sealed by a lone noise MacReady hears from the other underground chamber. Alone, MacReady prepares to detonate the charges when the creature, larger than ever, emerges from beneath the floor and destroys the detonator. MacReady attacks it with a stick of dynamite, which sets off the rest of the charges and destroys Blair and the entire facility.

MacReady wanders the burning ruins to face his fate with a bottle of Scotch and encounters a returning Childs. Childs claims that he thought he saw Blair in the storm, so he went on after him and got lost, but MacReady is unconvinced. With the polar climate closing in around them and with no way to determine whether or not either of them is really human, they acknowledge the futility of their distrust, sharing a drink as the camp burns and the cold returns, awaiting their inevitable deaths.

The Thing (2011)
In 1982, paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is recruited by scientists Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen) and his assistant Adam Finch (Eric Christian Olsen) to join a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across a crashed extraterrestrial spaceship buried beneath the ice of Antarctica. They discover the frozen corpse of a creature that seems to have briefly survived the crash 100,000 years ago.

After the creature is transported back to base in a block of ice, Dr. Sander orders them to retrieve a tissue sample, against Kate's protests. Later, while the others celebrate, co-pilot Derek (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) sees the creature escape from the block of ice. The team splits up into groups to search for the alien. Olav (Jan Gunnar Roise) and Henrik(Jo Adrian Haavind) discover it hiding under one of the buildings. The Thing grabs Henrik and pulls him into its body. The others converge on the scene and set the creature on fire. In the chaotic aftermath, the lone dog of the team is found dead in a bloody heap in its kennel, a massive hole torn in the wire mesh.

During an autopsy, Kate and Adam discover that the cells of the Thing appear to be absorbing and imitating Henrik's cells. Meanwhile, Derek, pilot Sam Carter (Joel Edgerton), Griggs(Paul Braunstein), and Olav prepare to leave the base in the only helicopter to bring back help. Just as they prepare to take off, Kate discovers bloody, discarded metal tooth fillings and large amounts of blood in the showers. She runs outside to flag down the departing helicopter, fearing the Thing may have imitated someone on board. When Carter decides to land, Griggs transforms and kills Olav, causing the helicopter to spin wildly out of control and crash in the mountains, presumably killing all on board.

In the rec room, Kate tells the other scientists her theory on the nature of the creature: It is perfectly capable of imitating any life form and that it may have done so with members of their camp, but cannot imitate inorganic material much as metal, hence why it spit out the tooth fillings. Most of the team members either do not believe her or accuse her to turning them against each other out of paranoia. After everyone else leaves, Juliette (Kim Bubbs) tells Kate that she believes her and that she saw Colin (Jonathan Walker) leave the shower holding a towel. Juliette tells Kate that she knows where they keep the vehicle keys, and that they can take them to prevent anyone else from leaving; however, when the two go to retrieve them, Juliette transforms and attempts to kill Kate. Kate escapes, running past Karl (Carsten Bjornlund), who is killed by the Juliette-Thing. Lars (Jørgen Langhelle) arrives with a flamethrower and burns the Thing as it assimilates Karl.

As they burn the remains outside, Carter and Derek return, both half-frozen and barely alive. While some of the team believes they are Things and should be burned, Kate convinces them to simply lock them up until a test can be prepared. Adam and Sander are in the lab preparing a potential test, but when both leave for a short while, the lab is engulfed in flames in an apparent sabotage. Tensions rise as accusations by both the Norwegians and the Americans are made, but Kate proposes another, much simpler test to single out those who might be the Thing from those who aren't. She uses a flashlight to inspect the teeth of all the other team members to see who has fillings and who doesn't. This test singles out Adam, Dr. Sander, station commander Edvard (Trond Espen Seim), and Colin. Peder (Stig Henrik Hoff) sends Lars and Jonas (Kristofer Hivju) out to bring back Carter and Derek, but they have tunneled out of the floor of the storage shed and into a neighboring building. When Lars leans in the doorway of the other building, he is suddenly pulled him inside. Jonas runs back pleads with Peder to help him rescue Lars, but Kate orders him to guard the prisoners.

During the argument, Carter and Derek force their way inside, armed with Lars' flamethrower. Edvard pushes Peder to burn both of them, assuming that they have killed Lars. When Peder takes aim, Derek shoots him, puncturing his flamethrower's tank and causing an explosion that kills Peder and knocks Edvard unconscious. While Edvard is being carried back to the rec room, he awakens and transforms into the Thing, killing Jonas and Derek and assimilating Adam while Sander and Colin flee. Carter and Kate head off to hunt it down. The Thing, which is now in the form of a creature with the faces of both Edvard and Adam, finds and kills Dr. Sander. The monster manages to separate Carter from Kate and traps him in the kitchen. Just as it is about to kill him, Kate arrives and torches the monster.

Kate and Carter see the Sander-Thing driving off in one of the Snowcats and give chase in the remaining vehicle. They follow it out to the wreck of its ship, which has been opened up and restarted, slowly preparing to take off. Kate and Carter are separated once again and Kate encounters the Thing. She barely manages to stay out of its reach, and when it finally catches her, she destroys it with a grenade. She and Carter escape and make it back to the Snowcat. As they are prepare to leave, Kate notices that Carter is missing his left ear piercing and determines that he is one of those Things. Carter points to his wrong ear. Kate then burns him, during which he screams like an alien, proving Kate's determination correct. Kate slowly climbs into the remaining Snowcat and stares blankly into the night.

The next morning, a Norwegian helicopter pilot, Matias (Ole Martin Aune Nilsen), arrives at the Norwegian camp and finds the facility burned and deserted, as well as the charred remains of the two-faced Thing. He shouts, looking for any survivors. It is revealed that Colin went into the radio room and committed suicide by slitting his wrists and throat to ensure the thing could never get to him. Lars, now revealed to have survived uninfected hiding in the building where Derek and Carter attacked him, shoots at Matias but recognizes that he is human after ordering him at gunpoint to show him his tooth fillings to prove it. At that moment, the Thing in the form of Lars' deceased dog bolts out of a ruined building and runs away. Lars realizes that it's the Thing and fires at it, then orders Matias to take off in pursuit. While Matias pilots the helicopter, Lars begins shooting at the animal from the helicopter, directly leading into the beginning of John Carpenter's The Thing.

Abilities

 * The Thing can transform into any lifeform after eating it.

Weaknesses

 * The Thing has a weakness to fire shown at the end of the movie.

Trivia

 * It has been stated that not even director John Carpenter himself knows precisely when each character was assimilated by The Thing. In fact for the first assumed assimilation by the malamute in the US base showed it walking into the bedroom of a silhouetted figure played by a stunt actor just to keep his identity ambiguous. However it is often argued to be either Palmer or Norris, though arguments towards Blair and Fuchs are not unheard of.
 * It has been speculated that Who Goes There?, the short story that inspired The Thing movie, was inspired by the HP Lovecraft's novella At the Mountains of Madness, in which an Antarctic research team uncovers a cryogenically preserved Elder Thing, which thaws out and attacks them. The former was published in 1938 while the later was in 1936.
 * In the novel that inspired the movies, Who Goes There?, The Thing is actually rather different in several aspects. For starters, it has a "true form" - a blue haired creature with three red eyes -, and rather than assume the horrific transformations in the movies, it simply reverts to this form when exposed or assimilating. While the details of the assimilation process are kept very vague, it appears to be nowhere as virulent as in the movies, as it defends itself with weapons and can ostensibly be killed in ways other than incineration. The characters also attempt to make an antibodies test by way of combining a suspected person's blood with that of a sled dog that has been conditioned with presumably safe human blood. While the blood test caveat still applies, as removing chunks from itself still results in an organism still fighting for survival, the Thing comes across more as a full multicellular organism rather than a plastic cell colony, simply resulting in separation and regeneration as with starfish and similar animals; it's not clear if it can even live on a unicellular level.
 * The anime and manga Parasyte the Maxim was practically inspired from The Thing. the Parasyte species is similar to the Thing species, but Parasytes can produce blades and stretch with their bodies for miles, or in the case of the Parasyte dog, they can be shown to fly. Parasytes can fail their mission as proven with Migi, Jaw and the late Dog (as they need and were meant for a human host). Things can not fail their mission and/or produce blades from their body or stench for miles. The Things crashed in a UFO whereas Parasytes landed in virus-like green spiked spheres. they appear as worm-like or snake-like creatures at first and the thing does not have that. Thus they are different alien Species.