Fantastic Four #59

Continuing the arc, after Reed Richard's discussion with his alternate selfs, he begins building a "Virtual Time" device to develop the Thing's epidermal shell into a future construct. In the Thing's world, he is continuing the fight with his evil counterparts, but it doesn't look good. Reed Richards converses withy the highly evolved sentient shell of Ben Grimm,, which resembles a totem with glowing dots surrounding it. The Alternate Grimms and Ben come through into the present universe,   causing Reed Richards to utilize the totem to cause the Alternate Grimms to disintegrate. The arc ends with the revelation that the Thing will not be able to shed his shell again.