The Thing

The Thing is the name given to the hostile alien creature featured in the 1938 short story "Who Goes There?" that, compared to the deviated story of the 1951 film "The Thing from Another World", was made into a 1982 film John Carpenter with a prequel to it released in 2011. Ultimately, the Thing's true body is a mystery as it most appears as who ever it impersonates.

Description
In nature, the Thing is basically an ambush predator, isolating a potential victim or threat to consume and assume its form. In certain cases, usually when exposed or the person it assimilated is fatally inflicted, the Thing will discard all causion and defend itself by manifesting features that may be of its natural form, including tendrils, claws, and mouths. But the Thing's most dangerous aspect is its cells, each a functional life form that can become independent from the main body when severed by force or separate to assimilate and self-preservation. For this reason, it is necessary to destroy the body down to the cellular level, with incineration an effective method.

Timeline
Its origins a mystery, the Thing crash landed in a spacecraft within the icy fields of Antarctica 100,000 years ago and was frozen. However, in 1982, the spacecraft and the Thing were found by a team of American and Norwegian explorers/researchers under Dr. Sander Halvorson, who hired Paleontologist Kate Lloyd to take a sample of the creature's blood as it was brought to the base in a block of ice. But later that evening, the Thing bursts from the ice and kills Lar's Alaskan Malamute while ingesting Henrik before it was burned alive. However, an autopsy of the scorched alien corpse reveals that its cells are still alive and in the process of assimilating Henrik.

When Kate realizes the Thing had assimilated others, she places the base on quarratine to weed out the Thing based on those who still have metal fillings in their teeth and such. However, eventually the majority of research team were infected and incinerated before Sander, having been infected, makes a run for the spaceship before Kate manages to kill the monster and heavily damages the ship to be beyond any repair. Thinking the Thing is dead, Kate leaves for the nearest area of civilization to put the event behind her. However, Lar's dog, having been infected and lying low until the time was right, makes its way to an American Antarctic research station with Lars attempting to kill it before he was shot by Lt. Garry, the station commander. Helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady and Dr. Copper fly to the Norwegian's camp, finding the charred remains of the various Things included the burnt yet preserved corpse that was the station's commander Edvard Wolner after it assimilated Sander's assistant Adam Finch.

After the two-faced corpse was brought to the base, the Americans realize the Thing's presence too late when Lar's dog was placed in a kennel with the station's sled dogs and attempted to assimilate them all. After Childs incinerates the creature, with the team finding the ruins of the spacecraft, the autopsy done by Blair confirms the Thing's nature as he later proceeds to trap everyone on the base and kill the remaining dogs so no one can leave until the Thing is truly dead before being locked in a toolshed by the others as they devised a way to weed out the Thing by using its autonomous cells to weed out the assimilated. By the time that the McRandy and the other normal humans remain, they learn that Blair got assimilated and is building a small escape craft. Realizing that the Thing may also intentionally freeze itself to wait for a rescue team in the spring, MacRandy resolves to kill it with dynamite around the complex. After the Thing that Blair became is dead, with Garry and Nauls killed off prior, MacReady finds Childs with both thinking the other got assimilated before seeing no point in distrusting each other as they would die of frost within hours.

Videogame appearance
The Thing also appeared as the main antagonist of the 2002 videogame "The Thing" where the events of the first 1982 film left off 20 years ago with the Thing still alive and waiting for more victims to absorb and kill.