Beast's Descent Into Darkness, Explained

More than any of the other X-Men, Beast has never feared evolution. While he may have started as a teenage science prodigy and football player, Hank McCoy transformed himself into an iconic mutant leader and a celebrated member of the Avengers.

However, darkness always festered under Beast's happy persona. As mutants faced crisis after crisis and endured countless losses, Beast allowed his curiosity to become recklessness, following his worst impulses into dark places. By the time mutants built a paradise on the island of Krakoa, Beast morphed into one of the nation's greatest threats.

Let's break down how Beast turned into one of the most dangerous mutants in the world and how the X-Men saved Hank McCoy from himself, just as Beast jumps into action with his new team in X-MEN (2024) #4 by Jed MacKay and Netho Diaz. Additionally, Beast confronts a few of these demons from his past starting in X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES INFINITY COMIC (2024) #15 by Alex Paknadel and Phillip Sevy, a four-issue arc now available on Marvel Unlimited. 

BEAST'S BAD BEGINNINGS

AMAZING ADVENTURES (1970) #11 by Gerry Conway and Tom Sutton set Beast on a long journey of careless behavior that would end with a transformation into a full-on villain. Doctor Hank McCoy’s ego plagued him from an early age. When Stryfe released a mutant plague called the Legacy Virus, Beast surrendered the young mutant Threnody into the care of Mister Sinister, a mad scientist who wanted to use her in his research.

This reckless behavior morphed into something more nefarious after the Scarlet Witch depowered most of the world's mutants. Beast took drastic measures to restore mutantkind, even working with villainous Dark Beast, his twisted counterpart from the dystopian "Age of Apocalypse" alternate reality.  

Following a partnership with Abigail Brand that saw him take on some of the S.W.O.R.D. agent's more ruthless traits, Beast helped the Illuminati secretly destroy alternate realities that were threatening to crash into the main Marvel Universe.  

To convince Cyclops and his allies that they were pushing mutantkind in the wrong direction, Beast brought the original teenage X-Men to the present day in ALL-NEW X-MEN (2012) #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen. That reckless decision threatened the timeline, causing a young version of Cable to take matters into his own hands and force the time-displaced teenage X-Men to return to their original era.  

BEAST AND X-FORCE 

When the mutants of the world came together to form a nation on the island of Krakoa, Beast initially continued his work as the X-Men's resident science genius. While he spent his early days on the island researching and developing medicines, McCoy drastically changed course after a vicious surprise attack briefly killed off Professor X in X-FORCE (2019) #1 by Benjamin Percy and Joshua Cassara.  
 
With an aggressive new outlook on protecting mutants, Beast became the head of the new X-Force team, the island's intelligence and black ops spy agency. He worked alongside Sage and her computer-like mind, tracking threats against Krakoa and directing X-Force's field agents like Domino and Wolverine.

In the nation of Terra Verde, Beast saw a potential enemy to Krakoa in Hadwin Cocom, who developed plant-based biotechnology that rivaled Krakoa's own. After neutralizing the biotech and erasing Cocom's mind, Beast used Terra Verde's telefloronic technology to manipulate several of Terra Verde's leaders and representatives into acting on his behalf.  
 
After Mikhail Rasputin orchestrated an attack on Krakoa, Beast retaliated by taking Colossus, Mikhail's younger brother, as well as their Russian mutant compatriot Omega Red in for questioning. In X-FORCE (2019) #12 by Percy and Jan Bazaldua, the director of X-Force staged a humiliating public spectacle meant to intimidate his fellow Krakoans. Beast also oversaw the killing and resurrection of Omega Red, who he implanted with a surveillance device that kept tabs on him.

BEAST AND WOLVERINE 

With ruthless efficiency and a complete lack of morals, Beast became a full-on villain in his final days leading X-Force. With the help of the mercenary Maverick, Beast built a secret prison in deep space, where he conducted horrific experiments on his cosmic human and alien prisoners, as revealed in X-FORCE (2019) #34 by Benjamin Percy and Chris Allen.

Frustrated by Wolverine's increasing disapproval over his actions, Beast launched a deeply personal campaign against Logan starting in WOLVERINE (2020) #26 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Jose Ryp. Beast intentionally sent Wolverine on a dangerous mission, killing his old teammate and resurrecting him in a feral state.  

Using a biotechnology collar, Beast took control of Logan's mind, using him as his personal assassin to attack Logan's allies, such as CIA agent Jeff Bannister. As Wolverine's mind slowly began healing, Sage eventually found him and rescued him from Krakoa's Pit of Exile. Seeking revenge, a recovered Wolverine tracked Beast down and killed him. Not without a backup plan, Beast resurrected himself through a machine in his lab at the Pointe, X-Force's headquarters.  

BEAST'S WEAPONS OF X 

With his secrets on full display, Beast left X-Force. He continued his violent plans to protect mutantkind through extreme measures from afar. To preserve his future plans from prying telepaths, Beast deleted almost all backup copies of his mind that were stored in Krakoa's Cerebro machines.  
 
Taking the name Beast Prime, he turned the Pointe into a biomechanical giant and fled Krakoa in WOLVERINE (2020) #31 by Benjamin Percy and Juan Jose Ryp. To execute his plans, Beast Prime created an army of clones of himself and a battalion of mindless Wolverine clones, which he collectively called the Weapons of X.

As Beast Prime activated his private army and destroyed a submarine monitoring Krakoa, several of his former X-Force teammates traveled to future timelines where he had planted other versions of himself to rule, as seen in X-FORCE (2019) #40 by Percy, Paul Davidson, and Robert Gill. Across the Multiverse, X-Force defeated versions of Beast who evolved into the monstrous God of All Mutants and powerful Nimrod-like Sentinels.  

Once they returned to the present, X-Force teamed up with Wolverine to defeat Beast Prime. Without the support of Krakoa's leaders, Wolverine and his allies found the original Beast and killed most of the clones he had created in WOLVERINE (2020) #35 by Percy and Ryp.

BEAST VS. BEAST

When Beast Prime deleted the backups of his mind from Cerebro, he left a years-old version of himself in the machine. Dating back to his time on the Avengers, this backup of Beast was a happy-go-lucky hero, a jovial mutant activist, best friends with Wonder Man, and unburdened by the cascading crises that mutants endured in the subsequent years.

In X-FORCE (2019) #48 by Benjamin Percy and Robert Gill, the mutant strike placed this backup of a younger Beast's mind in a cloned body, effectively resurrecting him. Disoriented by the drastically different world he faced, the Beast clone escaped Krakoa and sought out Wonder Man, who agreed to help him track down the insane Beast Prime.

Enacting one of his plans, the older Beast prepared to use a black hole cannon to move the mutant planet Arakko into a cosmic vault for safekeeping. Wonder Man, the Beast clone, and X-Force caught up with Beast Prime, resulting in the two Hack McCoys facing off, each trying to convince the other that they were on the wrong path. As Wonder Man tried to stop the black hole gun from activating, the corrupted Beast Prime sacrificed himself after seeing his old friend in peril in X-FORCE (2019) #50 by Percy and Gill. 

BEAST'S RETURN 

Following his counterpart's death, the Beast clone began adjusting to an unfamiliar world after Krakoa's fall. After briefly staying with Wonder Man, he returned to the X-Men to help usher the team into a world without Krakoa. Following a brief mission where they encountered Kid Juggernaut, Cyclops approached Beast about starting a new X-Men team and operating outside of a decommissioned Sentinel factory located in Alaska in X-MEN (2021) #35 by Jed MacKay, Gail Simone, and Javier Garron.

In X-MEN (2024) #1 by Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman, Beast joined Cyclops’ small team of X-Men to investigate mysterious new mutants appearing around the world. This new roster of X-Men based in Alaska also features Psylocke, Magik, Magneto, Temper, Juggernaut, and Kid Omega.

Choosing to spend more time in the lab rather than the battlefield, Beast retrofitted the Sentinel factory into an operating base for the mutant heroes. He has spent his days researching Magneto's malfunctioning powers, working on secret projects, and developing weapons like the mass driver, which turns the Juggernaut into an unstoppable projectile.

Despite his outward attitude, Beast still seems bitter over missing the experience of living on Krakoa, and the possibility of becoming a cruel monster deeply troubles him. Although he may have started out as a clone, this Beast is working hard to restore the reputation that his corrupt predecessor ruined, proving himself to be the real Hank McCoy. 

Catch Beast on his path to redemption in X-MEN (2024) #4, available now!

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