The Thing received his powers when cosmic rays bombarded his body. He is extremely strong and durable. Nick Fury's intel classified him as power level 8.

Rock-like Skin: The Thing possesses a smooth, rock-like hide as a result of exposure to cosmic rays. The mutagenic process caused his musculature, bone structure, internal organ composition, soft tissue structure, and skin to greatly increase in toughness and density. After being subjected to a serum, he now reverts to human form once a year, which is now the only time he ages.

Superhuman Strength: The Thing's primary superhuman power is his great physical strength. Initially, he was only strong enough to rate as a class 5. Over the years, through rigorous training and further mutation, his strength dramatically increased to the point where he rated as a class 85. (The rating system is only for comparing characters with each other, and should not remotely be taken literally.) His latest rating put him as class 100. His feats include successfully holding back a giant alien spacecraft from jettisoning from Earth, lifting an oil rig and stopping a multiple story building (weighing roughly 30,000 tons) from falling over and lifting it back into place. Another feats include holding bridges main cables together for an extended period (which support about 10,000 tons). The most impressive feat was to overpower a pile driver mechanism stated to be powerful enough to push through a planet.

Superhuman Stamina: The Thing's advanced musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a normal human. At his peak, he can exert himself for about 24 hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to affect him. Incidentally, The Thing's lungs are of greater volume and efficiency than a normal man's, enabling him to hold his breath underwater for up to 9 minutes, despite the fact that he used to smoke.

Superhuman Durability: The rock-like composition of the Thing's body renders him highly resistant to physical injury. The Thing's body can resist extremely powerful impact forces, such as the force of the Hulk's punches (the Hulk is far above class 100, which makes his punches devastatingly strong). He can also withstand exposure to high levels of explosives, such as being struck full with bazooka shells, without sustaining injury. His body can also withstand extreme temperatures. However he couldn't withstand being slashed by Wolverine's adamantium claws, and sustained facial injury, making adamantium one of the few things that can pierce the Thing's nearly impenetrable body.