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Fantastic Four fans know what time it is — usually because the Thing is all too happy to tell them. But just as Ben Grimm’s refusal to say “It’s clobberin’ time!” was a centerpiece of the final trailer for July 25’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it also proves to be important to Marvel Comics’ new comic book tie-in to the movie… which tells the origin story not just of the team, but of the catchphrase itself. (At least, as the FF themselves would have you believe it.)

As announced back in April, the First Steps comic is published as if it’s a comic book created in the same reality that First Steps takes place in, with an introduction that states that it’s “produced under the auspices of the Fantastic Four themselves” and “corroborated by the Four’s own testimony.” The story inside the comic doesn’t just recount the MCU version of the team’s origin story — spoilers, it’s exactly the same as the comic book version: they head into space in a rocket and are “bombarded in a blaze of celestial radiation” — but also their first adventure, facing off against the Mole Man and the monsters he brings forth from under the ground.

…Which, yes, would suggest that that Little Ceasar’s pizza tie-in ad is technically canonical after all.

It’s when facing off against Giganto that the MCU Ben Grimm first utters his famous phrase. In response to Reed Richards trying to prevent him from attacking the monster from the depths by yelling, “We have no strategy, no tactics —“ the Thing replies, “Sure we do, stretch — it’s clobberin’ time!”

In case you missed the moment, Johnny Storm immediately asks, “What did he just say? No, seriously, what did he just — ?” At the end of the issue, Johnny teases Ben one more time, as the ground jump into action in a pin-up ready shot: “Heh. ‘It’s clobberin’ time…’” Ben, in response, simply says “Shuddup.”

So, now you know where the catchphrase came from, and arguably why Ben Grimm is so reluctant to say it again on demand for fans. At least... you know the version of events that the Fantastic Four want their fans to believe. (After all, this is a comic that's meant to be in-universe promotion for the team.) The questions that remain are twofold: how much of this material — written by Matt Fraction, who has been described as one of the primary comic book influences on the movie — will appear in the movie itself, and when are we actually going to get to see Ben say the damn phrase again?

The answer to both will doubtlessly come on July 25, when The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters. The Fantastic Four: First Steps comic book is available now.

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