First Appearance: Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #37
History
In 1951, a nuclear detonation in the Nevada desert left a single American cockroach alive, exposed to extreme levels of radiation. That cockroach would integrate itself into a nearby nest and that nest developed a collective consciousness. As the cockroach collective grew and developed, it would begin using humans as hosts for its immense numbers. Fifty-five years later, the collective, searching for a new host body, swarmed into the apartment of a man watching a news report covering the Fantastic Four. Taking the man over and viewing the world from his eyes, the Collective saw Ben Grimm, the Thing, and targeted him as the next host body. The Collective entered the Baxter Building and attacked the Thing. Sue Storm tried to contain them with one of her force fields, but the Collective easily shattered it. This knocked Sue back to the ground, where she quickly became unconscious. This left it up to the Thing and the Torch to fight the Collective. It took quite a while, but the two of them finally prevailed.