Henry McCoy (Earth-616)

For the current Beast, see: Henry McCoy (Krakoan Duplicate) (Earth-616)

Beast Prime
Name	Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy
Current Alias	Beast Prime
Aliases	Impersonations: Nelson Rockefeller Other Aliases: Beast, Wildlife, Agile Avenger, Blue, Golden Armed Boy, Hanko, Kreature, Magilla Gorilla, Mutant #666, "Monkey Man", Monkey, Dr. M, Tabby, Beastie Boy, Tanar McCoy
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Weapons of X Formerly X-Force (Krakoa), X-Men (founding member), Rand Corporation Board of Directors, Avengers Unity Division, ally of the Inhumans, X-Men (Blue Team); Illuminati, Stark Industries's Board of Directors, Murder Circus (brainwashed), S.W.O.R.D., Secret Avengers, X-Club (founding member), Initiative (consultant), Exemplars (squad leader), X-Treme Sanctions Executive, Acolytes (while mind-controlled), X-Factor/X-Terminators (founding member), Rejects, Defenders, Avengers, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Brand Corporation, Hex-Men, X-Men (New Charles Xavier School), Queen's Vengeance
Relatives	Grandparents: Sadie McCoy (paternal grandmother) Parents: Norton McCoy (father); Edna McCoy (mother) Other Relatives: Robert McCoy (paternal uncle); John McCoy (paternal uncle); unnamed cousin; Hank McCoy (clone, deceased); Hank McCoy (clone)
Host of	Unnamed Symbiote (formerly)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′11″ (1.8 m)
Weight	402 lbs (182.34 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Blue, Brown
Unusual Features	Covered with blue fur, snout, vertical pupils, pointed ears, fang-like teeth, claws, unusually large hands and feet (shoe size: 20)
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant; further mutated by his own experimentation
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Dunfee, Illinois
Cause of Death	Killed by Wolverine (resurrected by The Five) Atomized by his Black Hole Gun
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	American, Krakoan
Occupation	Adventurer; former vice-principal, S.W.O.R.D. agent, biochemist, science and math instructor, mutant activist, college lecturer, researcher, professional wrestler
Education	Six PhDs, (one in biophysics) undergraduate degree from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Base of Operations	Krakoa, Pacific Ocean; The Pointe, Atlantic Ocean Formerly Danger Room Prison Complex, Age of X-Man; Avengers Mansion, Manhattan, New York City, New York; New Tian, California; Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Salem Center, North Salem, Westchester County, New York; Quincarrier; Peak, Earth Orbit; Utopia, San Francisco Bay, California; Graymalkin Industries, Marin Highlands, California; Ship; X-Factor Complex, Manhattan, New York City, New York; Defenders Mansion, Rocky Mountains, Colorado; Sanctum Sanctorum, Greenwich Village, New York City, New York; Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Carnival; Necropolis, Birnin Zana, Wakanda; X-Mansion, Hightown, Madripoor; New Charles Xavier School for Mutants, near Roanoke, Alberta, Canada
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
First	X-Men #1 (July, 1963)
First	X-Men #1 (July, 1963)
Death	X-Force (Vol. 6) #50 (March, 2024)
Death	X-Force (Vol. 6) #50 (March, 2024)

 Oh, my stars and garters! 

—Beast

As a member of the first class of X-Men, the intelligently gifted Dr. Hank McCoy has been fighting for the peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans for most of his life, under the tutelage of Professor Xavier. Born with an enhanced physique, strength, and muscular structure, he has adopted the name Beast. McCoy's mutation further developed when he worked at the Brand Corporation and developed a serum that triggered his transformation into a blue-furred creature with sharp fangs and claws.

As a cheerful and bouncing super hero, Beast established a renowned reputation as a veteran Avenger, a Defender, and a founding member of X-Factor. Having found himself back to the X-Men and the Xavier Institute, Beast was one of the most engaged X-Men in carrying on Xavier's dream. However, under the leadership of his longtime teammate Cyclops, the X-Men turned to extremism, leading Beast to defect. His opposition escalated with the schism between Cyclops and Wolverine, for he joined the latter in building the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. The war between the Avengers and the X-Men consolidated Beast's allegiances, as he supported the Avengers and focused on opposing Cyclops' operations in any possible way. Additionally, he also assumed Professor Xavier's legacy in the shadowy organization known as the Illuminati.

Mutantkind has been reunited by Professor Xavier on the mutant nation of Krakoa. Beast was a central part in planting the first seeds of the Krakoan civilization. In order to deal with external threats to the mutant nation, Beast has taken a position as the chief of the intelligence agency X-Force. This has costed him his morality, as he descended to questionably authoritarian actions to guarantee the Krakoan sovereignty.

History

This is an abridged version of Henry McCoy's history. For a complete history see Henry McCoy's Expanded History

Early Years

Henry "Hank" McCoy was born and raised in Dunfee, Illinois, the son of Norton and Edna McCoy. His father worked at a nuclear power plant where he was exposed to massive amounts of radiation during an accident. Norton was completely unharmed, but the radiation affected his genes and, as a result, his son was born a mutant. Unlike most mutants, Henry showed signs of mutation from birth: unusually large hands and feet, coupled with unusual strength and agility. A prodigy, Hank was also endowed with an innate superhuman intellect and during adolescence further increased his powers of simian-like augmented agility, reflexes, and strength.

Education

Football star

While attending Bard College, thanks to his powers, Henry became a star football player as a teenager and earned the nickname Magilla Gorilla. Hank hid his mutation and thirst for knowledge in plain sight - until the school asked him to leave after he was exposed as a mutant. Hank's remarkable athletic abilities and brilliance attracted the notice of Professor Charles Xavier, who was forming the original X-Men. Xavier offered Hank, who excelled in the classroom, the chance for unlimited academic opportunities at his prestigious School for Gifted Youngsters. The costumed criminal named El Conquistador, however, also took note of his abilities and captured McCoy's parents in order to force McCoy to aid him in his criminal schemes. With the help of Prof. Xavier and the X-Men, Henry defeated the Conquistador and then joined the X-Men as their fourth member, taking the code-name "Beast".

Time-Displacement

In his first costume

A version of Beast from the future traveled to their time in order to inform them that the future was in a bad state, and that only the original X-Men could help fix it. Hank and the other X-Men traveled with this Beast to the future, where Cyclops had killed their mentor Charles Xavier, Jean Grey was dead (and the school now named after her), and Beast was dying from the changes in his body being brought on by his secondary mutation.

After Hank and the team confronted the future Cyclops, Hank then turned his priorities to saving his future self. With the help of Kitty Pryde and Jean (whose telepathic powers were just forced to surface), Hank managed to stabilize his future self's condition and saved his life. With Jean's leadership, the team decided to stay in this time until its problems were resolved, before going back to their own time.

As a result of a conflict between Wolverine's X-Men and the future versions of the X-Men and Brotherhood at Cape Citadel, Kitty decided to quit Logan's school and took herself and the younger X-Men to Cyclops' school instead.

Following several adventures as members of Cyclops' schools, the young X-Men decided to part ways and lay low for a while with the emergence of a new wave of anti-mutant hysteria and the beginning of the M-Pox crisis. Beast started a road-trip with young X-Men Genesis and Oya, and decided to reunite with his teammates six weeks later in order to continue the journey with more company, helping out people across the globe wherever it was needed with the help of a teleporting Bamf named Pickles.

Frustrated by his inability to find a way to bring himself and his friends back to their time, Beast decided to experiment with magic. These experiments eventually made way for him to find a way to travel through time using the Third Eye of Horus, gifted to young Beast by Doctor Strange. Over the course of time, Hank began to dabble in experimentation with mysticism in order to discover a new way home.

A portal to some demonic nether pit set beneath the X-Men's new home in a trailer park. What he didn't realize was that his equipment had actually been tainted by the demonic forces put out by the Goblin Queen left over from the Secret Wars. While his friends did their best to abate Pryor and her forces, Beast made an accidental discovery which enhanced his mystical knowledge and abilities tenfold, enabling him to single-handedly banish her forces back to Hell while their interested conductor made a hasty retreat.

Mystic Beast

Over time Hank believed he had discovered that he had merely found a way to travel through time within the timeline he was currently inhabiting and not his own. Beast reunited the original five X-Men to show them in person his unfortunate discovery, and they witnessed what they thought were the younger X-Men of this timeline inhabiting the past they believed would've been available for them to return. The young X-Men then returned to the present and proceeded to look forward to their future, which would no longer be tied to their concurrent older selves. The time-displaced X-Men assumed they could stay in the present with no consequences until the collapse of the timestream forced them into a time-hopping adventure that resulted in the young heroes discovering that the divergent versions of themselves in the past were in reality the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from an alternate future impersonating them to take advantage of the void they left. The young X-Men returned to the future, but with the knowledge that they would ultimately have to return to the exact moment they had left to prevent the Brotherhood from carrying out their plan.

When the time-traveler mutant-hunter Ahab targeted the younger displaced X-Men, threatening to bring forth a dystopian future if he killed one of the five original X-Men, a younger version of the time-travelling warrior Cable set out to send the young mutants to the past on his own. After defeating Ahab, the young X-Men agreed to return to their original time. Before doing so, Jean Grey sealed off the memories of her and her friends' time-displacement, causing them only to resurface on their older selves as soon as their younger selves returned to the past.

X-Men

Under Prof. Xavier's tutelage, Hank's days were rich with differential equations, Proust, and workouts in the Danger Room. With the X-Men, Hank battled Magneto, the Vanisher, the Blob, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Namor, Unus the Untouchable, Lucifer, and many others. At one point Hank became discouraged with humanity and quit the team to start a brief a career as wrestler.

Hank immediately became friends with Bobby Drake aka Iceman. Hank dated a librarian, Vera Cantor, but he kept his identity as the Beast a secret from her. Hank and Bobby briefly battled Maha Yogi while on a double date.

Hank was sought out by Kraven the Hunter, who wanted to hone his skills in battle against the Beast. Kraven drugged Beast to dull his reflexes, but it caused Hank to regress to a more feral state and he went into a berserker rage. Hank would have killed Kraven if his teammates hadn't separated them.

Gray Beast

Bouncing, Blue Beast

A brilliant student, McCoy completed his doctoral studies and finally left the X-Men and Professor Xavier's school to take a position as a genetic researcher with the Brand Corporation, a division of Roxxon Oil. There he began working with Dr. Carl Maddicks and started a romance with his assistant, Linda Donaldson.

While at Brand Corporation, McCoy isolated the hormonal extract that created mutation. The resulting serum acted as a catalyst for activating latent mutations for short periods of time (this serum would become the basis of the Mutant Growth Hormone). Dr. Maddicks grew increasingly envious of Hank and witnessed his new discovery.

Eager to inform his superiors of his discovery, Hank overheard Dr. Maddicks plotting to steal his research. Unaware of the consequences, Hank drank the serum, trying to disguise his appearance, and underwent radical, physical changes. Hank grew gray fur over his entire body, his muscles expanded, ears became larger and pointed, and his canine teeth became larger, longer and sharper, resembling fangs. The serum further increased his superhuman agility, endurance, speed, and strength, as well as enhanced his senses, and granted him an extraordinary healing factor.

After stopping the security guard from stealing his work for Dr. Maddicks, Hank realized that he had failed to keep track of the time. Because Hank hadn't taken the antidote within an hour, he permanently remained in his altered state. Dr. McCoy was now a beast, in body as well as in name. Angry, Hank attempted to exact revenge on Dr. Maddicks, but stopped short of strangling him. Dr. Maddicks was shot by Linda Donaldson, who had actually been a spy for the Secret Empire all along.

In an attempt to continue a normal life, McCoy began wearing a synthetic mask and gloves and harness to correct his posture. No one at the Brand Corporation was able to connect that the Beast and Hank were the same person, despite the many attempts by the head of security, Robert "Buzz" Baxter.

Hank worked tirelessly to correct his condition, but shunned the help of Professor X and Marvel Girl. After Tony Stark showed interest in Hank's work, Mastermind of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants planted the illusion of having killed Iron Man in Hank's mind. Unable to remember meeting Blob, Unus, and Mastermind before, Mastermind convinced Hank to join the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, until he remembered the truth and single-handedly defeated them.

Beast

An encounter with Quasimodo, who was attempting to steal Beast's metabolic abilities so that he could get a step closer to becoming more human, caused a majority of Dr. McCoy's life force to be expelled, which resulted in his gray fur becoming blue and the loss of his newfound healing factor. While healing from his battle with Quasimodo, Hank found himself at the home of Buzz and his wife Patsy Walker, and he revealed his dual identity to Patsy. Patsy had long idolized "super heroes", and she elicited the promise from him that in exchange for keeping his secret, he would help her become a "super-heroine".

After hearing that an old colleague, Professor Hans Jorgenson, had been kidnapped, Professor X summoned the X-Men to track down Spider-Man, but Hank refused. Attempting to check-in on Hank, after hearing of all of the Beast disturbances, Angel arrived and aided Beast in battling Griffin and creating a story to explain Hank's recent disappearances. Depressed about his appearance, Hank returned home for a time, thanks to Cyclops, but he left again, after reassurance of his importance from his old girlfriend, Jennifer Nyles. Hank finally reunited with Vera and learned that she was seeking his help, but they were interrupted by the Juggernaut. Hank battled the Juggernaut alone and was losing, until taking-off his synthetic mask scared the Juggernaut and rapidly aged him, due to the mystics that bond him to Earth. Hank and Vera traveled to Canada where Vera's dilemma revealed itself. Mimic's mutant powers were out-of-control and sapping the energies of people to the point of killing them. Hank attempted to cure Mimic but was interrupted by the Hulk who was looking for the source of what was draining his strength. The Hulk left after Mimic drained his gamma radiation, seemingly committing suicide.

Avengers

Eventually, Dr. McCoy, gained clawed hands and feet, left Brand and applied to the Avengers. During his interview, the Avengers were attacked by Toad, impersonating the Stranger, and Hank aided the team. Beast and Moondragon were then accepted on a probationary basis.

Patsy returned to make good on Hank's promise to turn her into a super-hero. Beast and Walker accompanied the Avengers to Brand where they were defeated by the Squadron Supreme and imprisoned by Walker's ex-husband Buzz Baxter. After escaping their bonds at the Brand Corporation, Patsy found a costume formerly used by The Cat and became the heroine Hellcat - fulfilling the promise Hank had made her. The Avengers were then sent to the Squadron Supreme's reality, where they discovered that this reality's US President was under the control of the Serpent Crown. After finding a device to return them to their own reality, Hank impersonated that President and convinced the Squadron Supreme to allow them to escape.

After several adventures with the Avengers, Hank was finally accepted as a member. He publicly revealed his secret identity. Hellcat departed with Moondragon to receive additional training. After becoming an Avenger, Hank soon realized that his popularity with the women had grown immensely.

Hank received a distress call from Polaris stating that she and Havok had been kidnapped by The Living Pharaoh. After finding the X-Men's mansion deserted, Hank tracked down the X-Men and found them working in a circus, enthralled by Mesmero. Hank managed to snap the X-Men out of Mesmero's illusion just before Magneto arrived and transported them to his Antarctica base. After battling Magneto and his robot, Nanny, the Beast and the Phoenix ended up separated from the other X-Men, each group mistakenly believing the other to have died.

After returning to the Avengers, Hank spent a lot of time in nightclubs with Wonder Man. He was approached and manipulated by Manipulator to steal a box that, when opened, placed Hank under the Manipulator's mental control. Hank was simply released from his control to prove it could be done.

The Avengers were shocked to hear from Henry Gyrich that the team was only allowed seven members: Captain America, Iron Man, Wasp, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, and Hank. Later, Hank and Wonder Man were among the Avengers invited to Thing's first Super-Hero Poker Game that was interrupted by an attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier by General Pollock. Later, while attending the Empire State University Technology 1980 science exhibit, Hank aided Spider-Man in battling Killer Strike and Modular Man.

Detecting activity at the X-Mansion, Beast returned to his old home to find that the X-Men he thought were dead were alive and well. Hank informed Scott Summers that Jean was still alive and staying on Muir Island. While checking a hidden complex beneath Avenger's Mansion, Hank and Hawkeye were captured by Arsenal and rescued by the Avengers. After a Senate hearing, the Avengers were absolved of Gyrich's restrictions and Beast suggested reinstating Wonder Man's membership.

Hank raced to aid his old teammates after he intercepted a distress call that the X-Men were in trouble at the Hellfire Club. Hank arrived after Phoenix underwent another transformation into the Dark Phoenix and soared through the universe, where she devoured an entire star and the five billion inhabitants of one of its planets. When she returned to Earth, Phoenix threatened to kill everyone. Hank designed neural inhibitors, but Phoenix simply shorted them out. Professor Xavier was able to keep Phoenix under control and helped her will herself back to normal. The X-Men and Beast were teleported away by the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar Empire had witnessed Dark Phoenix consuming the star and Beast and the X-Men were forced to battle with the Imperial Guard over Phoenix's fate. The battle triggered her transformation into Dark Phoenix once more. Phoenix understood that she would never be able to fully control the dark hunger inside and sacrificed herself on the moon.

Around this time, Hank took the opportunity to introduce himself to Dazzler. Hank reunited with Vera, but a Skrull posing as Edwin Jarvis poisoned her to blackmail the Avengers into retrieving a powerful gem called the Resurrection Stone for him. Using Mr. Fantastic's time machine, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Wonder Man accompanied Hank into the past to retrieve the stone. After returning, Hank decided that it was too powerful and destroyed it, leaving Vera in the care of Mr. Fantastic.

Hank was reunited with Iceman and Angel after they and a group of heroes were manipulated by Moondragon to try out for the Avengers. After Moondragon's manipulations were revealed, Hank took a leave of absence from the Avengers.

Defenders

Seeking a cure for Vera's condition, Hank went to Dr. Strange and aided the Defenders in battling the mad sorcerer, Ian Fate. Dr. Strange enlisted the aid of Reed Richards and together they deduced that the Resurrection Stone had to be reassembled. After being transported into the stone, the three heroes were turned into crystalline statues by the Giver of Life until they were freed from the stone by Daimon Hellstrom. Hellstrom offered his assistance and, seeing no further course of action, Beast agreed, reviving Vera.

After years of service with the Avengers, Beast took it upon himself to reorganize the Defenders into a more formal combat organization. Beast's X-Men cohorts, Angel and Iceman, served in the Defenders along with him. Warren Worthington III funded the team and provided his Colorado penthouse as a headquarters. They obtained governmental clearance, thanks to the help of Nick Fury.

Beauty and the Beast

In a period of self-given vacation from his duty in the Defenders, Beast travelled to Hollywood to spend time with Wonder Man. During a party the duo of friends attended, Beast recognized the famous mutant performer known as the Dazzler among the attendees. At the time, Dazzler struggled with media backlash for her public condition as a mutant and worked for the greedy Alexander Flynn and Hugo Longride, who drugged her to keep her at their control at the Underground Theater. Noticing something was odd, Beast confronted one of Dazzler's co-workers, the mutant Max Rocker, but was unable to reach out to her. Following reports of her going missing, Beast beat her whereabouts out of Rocker, arriving at the Heartbreak Hotel, a sanctuary for runaway mutant children. Having no control over her light-based abilities, Dazzler was nursed back to health by Beast. As days went by, they delved into a romantic relationship.

Their happiness was short-lived, for Flynn visited Dazzler to return her to the Underground Theater. Despite Beast's warning, she complied. Soon, she found herself performing in a gladiator-styled combat Arena, lethally fighting other mutants for the amusement of a crowd of humans. In horror, Beast attempted to rescue her with no success, since she decided to stay with the other Gladiators. Despite her refusal, they maintained their relationship, which struggled due to Dazzler's dangerous lifestyle. Adamant about having Dazzler out of the Underground Theater, Beast carried out an investigation only to learn she was being drugged to disrupt her powers and mind. Captured by Flynn's forces, Beast was brainwashed into fighting against Dazzler in the Arena. Their love for each other prevailed, but Flynn took advantage of the commotion to seize full control of the Arena from Longride and capture Beast and Dazzler. They were freed by the Gladiators, who feared Flynn's unreasonable plans to gain power. Counting with help from the Gladiators and the children from the Heartbreak Hotel, Beast and Dazzler brought an end to Flyyn, liberating the gladiator ring together. Returning to the Heartbreak Hotel, they left the vile Arena behind and enjoyed peace.

X-Factor

Moondragon, who was possessed by Dragon of the Moon, seemingly killed most of the members of the Defenders in a climactic battle and the Defenders disbanded. Hank was looked-over in a position at Boston's Harvard Medical School. When he learned that Jean Grey was still alive, Hank joined his former teammates and founding members of the X-Men in the formation of X-Factor, an organization that intended to seek out and aid mutants under the pretense of hunting down mutants as menaces to society. The public assumed they were humans hunting mutants when in fact they were training young mutants in the use of their powers at the X-Factor Complex. They also worked as mutants in a team the media referred to as X-Terminators.

After Dazzler was captured, to awaken a latent drug in humans which would give them metahuman abilities, Hank teamed-up with bounty hunter O.Z. Chase to rescue her and her mother, Barbara London. After killing one of her attackers, Hank asked Alison to join X-Factor, but she declined. Hank looked-up his old girlfriend Vera, who had drastically changed her appearance and become a political activist for the pro-mutant cause.

Carl Maddicks returned and tried to use Beast in an attempt to develop a cure for mutantcy, which had rendered his son Artie Maddicks mute. He developed a serum and tested it on the Beast, which caused the Beast to revert to his original, more human appearance.

Hank met television news reporter Trish Tilby, who used a tip from Mystique to reveal that Warren, a mutant, was financially backing X-Factor.

In a battle with the Horsemen of Apocalypse, Beast was infected by Pestilence. Every time Hank used his superhuman strength, his intelligence decreased. Hank grew increasingly childlike, but his strength continued to grow with every exertion.

After their defeat of Apocalypse, his sentient Ship crash-landed on their Complex and X-Factor began living on it. X-Factor was approached by the media and finally revealed the truth of X-Factor's mutant origins. After saving the city from a series of fires from their battle with Apocalypse, X-Factor was given a ticker-tape parade.

The parade was witnessed by the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, and Doctor Doom, who had just arrived in New York from Wakanda. During the parade, Doom and the Fantastic Four were attacked by forces loyal to Doom's usurper, Kristoff, prompting X-Factor to help defend the FF. Both teams refused to help Doom retaliate against Kristoff, so Doom kidnapped both Hank and Ms. Marvel (who had recently been mutated into a female Thing) and took them to Reed Richards' then-vacant laboratory in Four Freedoms Plaza. Hank and Sharon escaped Doom's trap, and in the ensuing fight, Hank's rage grew out of control, causing him to attack friend and foe until The Thing subdued him. After T'Challa granted Doom passage out of New York in order to end the conflict, Hank was turned back over to X-Factor.

Hank witnessed Infectia transform a police officer with her powers. Hank attempted to warn Bobby, who was being seduced by her, but due to his lack of intelligence Bobby couldn't understand him. After saving Bobby from her kiss, Infectia's powers undid both Dr. Maddicks and Pestilence's changes, returning him to his intelligent, blue, furry, more animalistic look, but much stronger.

Although Trish found it difficult to accept Hank's furry appearance at first, she came around and they started a relationship. Hank and Trish bickered over her reporting of X-Factor and his need for disclosure, a problem they had for the entirety of their relationship. After defeating the Shadow King, the Beast and his fellow X-Factor founders returned to the X-Men.

Return to the X-Men & the Legacy Virus

Back with the X-Men

Beast served as the resident technological and medical genius at Professor Xavier's, working on everything from advanced alien technology to the mutant-killing Legacy Virus while also serving as an active member of the X-Men's Blue Team. He even became field leader at one time. At this time, Hank began calling Scott "Fearless Leader".

After Prof. Xavier was shot by Stryfe, Beast and Dr. Moira MacTaggert worked diligently to cure him of the Techno-Organic Virus ravaging his body, until Apocalypse stepped-in and provided the cure. Hank found the challenge of his career once Stryfe tricked Mr. Sinister into releasing the deadly Legacy Virus. During a televised debate Hank smeared political candidate and mutant hater, Graydon Creed.

In San Francisco Hank and Bobby visited Infectia who was dying from the Legacy Virus. There, they met a young mutant, Threnody, who could sense the Legacy Virus's effects. Hank decided to leave her in Sinister's care, hoping that because of his lack of morals, Sinister could find a cure to the Legacy Virus with her help. Hank held the dying Infectia in his arms as she watched her final sunrise. After months with no progress on the Legacy Virus, Hank used information provided by Sabretooth to lead a small team of X-Men to Scott's old orphanage, The State Home for Foundlings in Omaha, Nebraska. The team found Threnody in a workshop, working to cure the Legacy Virus for Sinister. This time, Hank had a change of heart and refused to let her stay in Sinister's care. Threnody promised the X-Men that she would work for them while gaining Sinister's trust, warning they should leave before Sinister became aware of their presence. Hank disagreed, but was forced to accept her decision.

Trish broke the news that the Legacy Virus, initially a mutant virus, was now affecting humans, putting more strain on her relationship with Hank. Hank participated in a press conference with Professor Xavier to calm the populace over the threat of the Legacy Virus in San Francisco.

Hank's counterpart from an alternate reality, the Dark Beast, was startled to see his counterpart working with the X-Men. After Dark Beast researched Hank, from visiting (and killing) his elementary school principal, his old girlfriend Mindy, his priest, his parents (who he couldn't bring himself to kill, but killed an innocent bystander instead), and apparently members of his high school, Hank was kidnapped by his alternate self in an attempt to hide from this reality's Sinister. Hank was kept alive at the abandoned Brand Corporation building, just in case the Dark Beast would need more information while impersonating him. Hank was trapped while Dark Beast took over his life as an X-Man and his research, including the work on the Legacy Virus. Hank escaped at the same time that Dark Beast was discovered by Onslaught. Upon returning to the team, Hank met Trish and the two reconciled their relationship.

Dr. MacTaggert, the only human to contract the virus, discovered a cure to a certain strain after Mystique's irresponsible manipulation of the virus. She died delivering the data to Professor Xavier's, leaving her work incomplete. Based on Moira's notes and his work combined, Beast finished the antivirus, but discovered that in order for it to work he needed a sample of an infected mutant. Acting before anyone could stop him, Colossus decided to sacrifice his life. According to Operation Zero Tolerance Colossus sub-file 94520 (which was considered by the X-Men as a trick intended to disturb them), Beast was about to test a vaccine on himself, but backed down from injecting himself with the virus to do so.

Death of Psylocke

X-Treme X-Men

Hank spent a short time with Storm's X-Treme team, in search of Destiny's diaries. Hank underwent a Secondary Mutation, that caused him to mutate further into a more feline creature, after having his "latent genetic potential" jump-started by Sage. After Vargas killed Psylocke, Beast returned to the Institute.

Cat Beast and New X-Men

New X-Men

The combination of the loss of a friend and his further mutation caused Beast to become very insecure, feeling that he was devolving into an animal. Hank withdrew deep into his work, helping Prof. Xavier build a stronger Cerebro, named Cerebra. Prof. Xavier opened the school to a larger student base and publicly announced that he was a mutant. Hank finally ended his relationship with Trish, as she was afraid what would happen to her image if she was seen with him in public.

After he discovered the mad Cassandra Nova had stolen Prof. Xavier's body, Nova manipulated his student Beak into beating Beast into a deep coma. Nova left him with the thought that his secondary mutation was actually de-evolution and that he would soon have the intelligence of a house cat. Hank eventually woke up just in time for Jean and Emma to perform a psychic surgery and keep Prof. Xavier alive.

Over time, Beast struck up a strong friendship with Emma, even collecting her shattered diamond form and arranging thousands of pieces into place, after she was attacked by Esme Cuckoo. Hank began falsely claiming he was gay to the public, in the hope of inspiring wider support for tolerance (after having initially said it to drive off a repentant Trish Tilby).

Hank finally found his place as a guidance counselor. Hank began to question his intentions as far as mutant rights went, firstly during Dr. Kavita Rao's so-called cure for mutation, then after the events of House of M. Emma found that he was considering taking the serum, but after a fight with Wolverine in front of the students, and Cyclops asking him to wait on it, Hank decided otherwise. Beast began dating S.W.O.R.D. agent, Abigail Brand.

Decimation

Following the events of M-Day, mutantkind was driven to the brink of extinction. Only roughly 200 mutants maintained their powers, and no further mutant activations were possible. Hank endeavored to find a way to reverse the de-powering effects of M-Day, and thus prevent the extinction of the mutant race. To this end, Beast enlisted numerous villains, after having exhausted the help of the likes of Reed Richards and Tony Stark, to help him understand the situation. The scientists he contacted were Doctor Doom, Mr. Sinister, the High Evolutionary, Dr. Kavita Rao, Mojo, Sugar Man, Arnim Zola, M.O.D.O.K., Spiral, and Pandemic. He gave them a detailed history of M-Day and the events that followed, including the work he and various other brilliant scientists had done in trying to find a cure. The Beast then asked them for their help, offering in return the myriad of discoveries that he had made. Beast was rejected by all except his alternate reality duplicate Dark Beast.

Hank traveled to Transia in search of the High Evolutionary, whose earlier cryptic comments aroused Hank's curiosity. Scaling Mount Wundagore, Hank and his group of travelers were confronted by the Knights of Wundagore. Hank began working with Dark Beast, until at the Guthrie home, the Dark Beast injected one of the non-mutant children with a serum as a test subject, prompting Beast to part ways with him. Hank eventually decided to track down the Scarlet Witch. Seemingly with no memory of her past life, Wanda encouraged him to move on, and Hank finally gave up his quest.

During the Civil War, Beast, was among the original X-Men that helped Bishop rescue the trapped 198 and also provided Spider-Man with a holographic disguise, then enlisted in the Initiative program.

Endangered Species

Given the decline of the mutant species, Beast became alarmed to reverse the situation. The ordinary death of Matt Landru, one of the few surviving mutants after the decimation, sparked desperation. Having explored all the possible analyses with his allies, Beast made contact with unscrupulous scientists he would usually regard as enemies. Among these, he only was welcomed at first by the High Evolutionary, prompting him to go on a journey to Mount Wundagore. Their meeting was not fruitful, however, since the Evolutionary had little hopes in restoring the mutant race. Still, Beast was informed that another individual shared a similar mission. Beast next had access to Dr. Kavita Rao's research on the mutant cure. From this endeavor, Beast was led to the ruins of Neverland, a concentration camp formerly run by Weapon X. Tragically, he had access to information about the victims who were brutally tortured and merciless executed in the location. There, he was met by his shadow, the Dark Beast from the Age of Apocalypse timeline. Reluctantly, Beast saw in his doppelgänger a resource to approach and revert the mutant extinction.

Together, the Beasts went on a mission to collect data for their research. Dark Beast provided Beast with a memory serum, which upon administration gave Beast all of the scientific knowledge from the macabre reality led by Apocalypse, including all the atrocities Dark Beast performed in the name of science. Overwhelmed by the shared experience, Beast arrived on the research center in Alamogordo, where researchers such as Xavier's father and Mister Sinister carried out illicit experiments on mutant babies decades ago. From there, they dissected mutant corpses on the ruins of Genosha, only to learn the dimension of the decimation, which had eradicated the mutant genome even in dead tissues. In District X, Beast teamed up with Bishop to look for traces of mutant DNA in the drug supplies of Mutant Growth Hormone. Similarly to the material from the corpses on Genosha, it had also been rendered inert. Beast realized his search went to a dead end when he discussed with Forge the possibility of the mutant genome being present in other realities, only to find, through Forge's results, that the repercussions of the mutant decimation were multiversal.

Seeing no hope, Beast returned to his extradimensional twin. They went to the Guthrie Farmhouse in order to assess the possibility of recreating the potential for mutant birth from the members of the Guthrie family. Tragically, Dark Beast showed his indecent methods by risking the life of the young Lewis Guthrie in a forced attempt to jumpstart his genomic potential by infecting him with carrion material from Genosha. Beast knocked out his evil double and permanently cut ties with him, although severely worried about his own corruption. Being taunted by the sorceress from Mojoworld who regarded the mutants as entertainment, Spiral, Beast decided to search for a solution in the realms of magics, beyond science. He visited Doctor Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum, only to learn the Scarlet Witch's spell could not be reversed. In desolation, Beast abandoned his mission and marched to his last resort: searching for the Scarlet Witch. Back to Mount Wundagore, he found her amnesiac and living an ordinary life. Accepting the tragedy that surrounded his race, Beast ended his research.

When the first mutant child since M-Day was born, at last, Beast helped with locating the child at the mansion. After a three-way conflict between the Marauders, Purifiers, and X-Men, the child was taken to the future to be raised by Cable. In the course of the battle, the X-Mansion was destroyed and Professor X seemingly killed.

X-Club

While the X-Men briefly disbanded, they reunited in San Francisco when the city's mayor Sadie Sinclair invited the X-Men to settle in the city.

In order to save mutantkind from the effects of M-Day, Beast and Angel decided to gather a team of specialists, the X-Club. They recruited Madison Jeffries, Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi, Dr. Nemesis, and Dr. Kavita Rao. Beast and the X-Club traveled back to 1906, in order to find Dr. Nemesis's parents and discover the origins of modern mutation. During the mission, they also fought an early version of a Sentinel, created by the Hellfire Club, and inadvertently caused the San Francisco earthquake. However, when they returned to the present, they found that their DNA evidence had been buried beneath theDreaming Celestial. Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi died of natural causes shortly after, and Beast spoke at his funeral.

Cyclops then asked him to locate Cable and the messiah child in the timestream, as well as provide time machines to send a group of X-Men to aid them. Although Beast was unaware of the formation of X-Force, he warned Cyclops that he did not agree with the plan if they were to assassinate Bishop, who had gone rogue and was hunting the child in the future and further protested when Cyclops pulled X-Force from a mission to save the lives of Boom-Boom, Hellion, and Surge in order to send them after the messiah child.

Utopia

After being arrested by H.A.M.M.E.R. for protesting in San Francisco, Beast became a test subject for the Omega Machine (designed by Dark Beast to drain mutant powers and feed them to Weapon Omega), while being held prisoner along with Professor X on Alcatraz Island by Norman Osborn. Hank was tortured daily, until Cyclops sent Magik and X-Force to rescue the captive mutants. In order to escape the jurisdiction of Norman Osborn the X-Men raised the remains of Asteroid M and declared it an independent mutant nation; Utopia. After they settled on the island, Beast decided to leave the X-Men, despite Cyclops' protests, feeling that his friend had gone too far in trying to defend mutantkind, and harrowed by the torture he had experienced in Osborn's custody.

Secret Avengers

Fall of the Hulks/World War Hulks

Reed Richards took the liberty of assembling five of the eight smartest people on the planet, including Hank McCoy, Hank Pym, T'Challa, Amadeus Cho, and himself, to help analyze Bruce Banner's condition after becoming unable to change into the Hulk. McCoy ran DNA tests and reported no mutant or mutate cells in Banner's bloodstream.

The super-villain scientist cabal known as the Intelligencia plotted to kidnap the world's eight smartest people to remove their opposition. To this end, Red Ghost and his Super Apes captured Hank and T'Challa, while Reed, Doctor Doom, Pym, and Banner were captured by other means. Cho evaded capture, and Tony Stark was already brain-dead. Hank was one of the heroes gamma-irradiated, but Banner released Beast, Mister Fantastic, Black Panther, and Wasp to help him re-tool the Cathexis Ray Generator so that he could draw the gamma energy out of the heroes. Once restored as the Hulk, Banner destroyed the Intelligencia Helicarrier.

S.W.O.R.D./Second Coming

Beast joined his girlfriend Abigail Brand as a member of S.W.O.R.D. Not long after, he was made a fugitive by Henry Gyrich and returned to the X-Men to attend Nightcrawler's funeral where he confronted Scott Summers and blamed Kurt's death on Scott's increasingly militant and extremist attitude to protecting the mutant species at all costs. Hank stayed on as a doctor during Bastion's attack on Hope. Hank and Prodigy briefed the team about the time sphere Bastion was using to send the horde of over 170,000 Nimrods to Utopia and was instrumental in finding Bastion's timeline and attuning Cable's time-travel device. Hank tended to the wounded when they returned. He once again left the team, despite Namor insulting him as a deserter.

Secret Avengers

Beast returned to the Avengers, helping Steve Rogers with his team of Secret Avengers. The team first battled a resurrected Fu Manchu and the Shadow Council.

Avengers vs. X-Men

Beast sided with the Avengers in the battle against the X-Men and joined a group of Avengers on a mission to space to confront the Phoenix Force. Their mission failed however, and the Phoenix arrived on the Moon to claim its host. An attack from Iron Man however broke the Phoenix into five pieces which claimed Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magik, Namor, and Colossus as their hosts.

The Phoenix Five went about making the Earth a better place to live by outlawing and stopping all wars, destroying weapons, and providing free food, water, and energy for everyone. The Avengers still plotted to stop them, believing that they would eventually lose control. Hank was initially opposed to this, but then witnessed Namor invade and nearly destroy Wakanda (bringing Professor X to the Avengers' side). Hank then aided the Avengers in rescuing their captive members from Limbo, where Spider-Man tricked Colossus and Magik into defeating each other. This left only Cyclops and Emma remaining.

After witnessing several atrocious acts by the remnants of the Phoenix Five, the remaining X-Men defected to the Avengers. In the final battle, Hank witnessed his longtime friend Cyclops murder Charles Xavier, and become a new Dark Phoenix. After Cyclops was defeated, Hope Summers took control of the Phoenix Force. She then used it to undo the Scarlet Witch's spell, and undo the effects of M-Day.

New Mutation & Joining the Illuminati

Before his death, Professor X buried a telepathic prompt in Beast's mind. He showed him a hidden room in the mansion that held records of his involvement with the Illuminati and the Mind Stone before hiding the memory within Beast's subconscious. Xavier saw to it that upon his death, Beast would receive a trigger that would restore the memory, intending for Beast to inherit stewardship of the Mind Stone and thereby membership in the Illuminati. Just as Beast opened the room, he was collected by the Illuminati, who were assembling the Infinity Gauntlet.

The Illuminati caught him up to speed on the incursions, mysterious events wherein alternate universes had begun to collide with each universe's planet Earth as the point of impact. Beast joined the Illuminati in their quest to stop the incursions occurring, averting them peacefully for as long as they could until eventually being forced to destroy worlds.

Sometime after joining the Illuminati, Beast began to mutate once again. Realizing that this time he wouldn't survive the mutation and believing that Cyclops' nascent mutant revolution would spell the end of mutantkind, Hank resolved to try and make his old friend see reason. Hank traveled to the past and gathered the five original X-Men and brought them to the present, hoping that seeing his younger self would make Cyclops rethink his decisions. The young X-Men confronted the present day Cyclops but chose to remain in the present rather than return to the past. With the help of his past self, Beast was able to survive his mutation, now changing into an ape-like form.

While Beast served the X-Men to the best of his abilities, his obsession with proving Cyclops wrong and his unrepentant attitude towards his many mistakes, primarily bringing the original five X-Men to the present under false pretenses and inadvertently preventing them from returning home, made the X-Men greatly concerned. On Storm's initiative, the X-Men held an intervention for him, trying to make him see the error of his ways. Beast responded negatively, accusing them of being ungrateful and of putting him on trial. Even when Cyclops concluded his "mutant revolution" with a peaceful rally in Washington D.C., seemingly mending the schism between the X-Men, Beast refused to accept responsibility for his actions, and left the X-Men.

Time Runs Out

Faced with an incursion that forced them to destroy another populated Earth, the Illuminati decided to abandon their struggle and chose to die with their world. Unwilling to let the universe die, Namor freed the Illuminati's prisoners and created the Cabal.

Beast was forced to go on the run with the rest of the Illuminati after Captain America discovered that the Illuminati were destroying incursive worlds and ordered the Avengers to hunt the Illuminati down. Eight months later, as the last incursion approached, Beast had sought refuge in Nation X, a mutant sanctuary run by Cyclops. Cyclops took Beast in, despite their differences in recent years. With the Illuminati making moves to set-up the Captain America-led S.H.I.E.L.D. team hunting them, and to also rid themselves of the Cabal, Beast shared the Illuminati's plans and machinations with former X-Man Sunspot, hoping his team of Avengers would aid them.

With their plans a success, the Illuminati began preparing for the final incursion. Realizing that they could not stop the multiverse from ending, they created a "Life Raft" to help them and a number of key humans survive the end. Beast rode along on the transport ship bringing the chosen few to the raft, but the ship was caught up in the final battle between the last two remaining Earths and was destroyed, with Beast dying in the explosion.

Following the events of the creation and end of Battleworld, and the subsequent restoration of the multiverse, Beast was brought back to life.

M-Pox

Sometime after the restoration of the multiverse, a phenomena termed M-Pox was discovered. M-Pox was caused by Terrigen Mist released into Earth's atmosphere during a battle between Black Bolt and Thanos. While initially harmless, the mists eventually became toxic to mutants, causing a disease known as M-Pox, which served to fuel human fear and hatred of mutantkind. With the Earth increasingly uninhabitable, Storm evacuated the X-Men and created a mutant sanctuary in Limbo.

Beast was enlisted by Storm to join the Inhumans and moved to New Attilan in order to find a cure for the M-Pox.

Inhumans vs X-Men

Despite maintaining an unwavering optimism that the M-Pox problem could be solved, Beast eventually discovered that the Terrigen saturation levels in the atmosphere would soon reach a point that would make the Earth permanently uninhabitable to mutants. Still nowhere near a cure, Beast called together several key mutant leaders and informed them of his findings. Beast believed that the best course of action was to evacuate mutantkind from Earth and to begin again somewhere else, as he believed that a war against the Inhumans would spell mutantkind's end. The other mutant leaders objected and revealed they had already begun planning for such a war. When Beast left to inform the Inhumans, Storm incapacitated him. He was then imprisoned for the duration of the conflict.

Despite Beast's fears, the X-Men's surprise attack quickly gave them an advantage against the Inhumans, giving them the upper hand for most of the conflict.

However, after learning what the cloud would do to mutants, Queen Medusa unexpectedly chose to activate a generator that destroyed the Terrigen cloud, leaving Emma Frost to be branded a traitor for lying about the circumstances surrounding Cyclops' death, and for trying to lead the X-Men into destroying the Inhumans. After the end of the conflict, Beast was released. He forgave his friends, blaming himself for the conflict, but chose to remain apart from the X-Men.

Return to the X-Men

Following X-Man Banshee's resurrection as a Horseman of Death, Beast took care of him, trying to help reverse the destructive effects his time as a Horseman had on his psyche and body. Beast took a teaching position at Harvard University, since the school was able to provide him with the labs he needed to further his research and to care for Banshee.

Former X-Man Havok sought Hank out and tried to recruit him to his new unofficial X-Men team. Hank initially refused, but after being targeted by the Reavers, Hank found himself dragged into a conflict with the Reavers and the O.N.E.. He was also fired from Harvard after the Reaver-attack. Hank and the rest of Havok's team briefly found themselves wanted fugitives, but after exposing O.N.E.'s mutant experiments, Havok was able to cut a deal, clearing Hank and the others' names.

With the X-Men stretched increasingly thin, Kitty Pryde, who had become the leader of the X-Men following the war with the Inhumans, asked Hank to return to the X-Men full-time. Finding himself without a job, Hank agreed.

Age of X-Man

When Nate Grey found himself dying, he used a Celestial Life Seed to try and save his life. It instead amplified his already immense powers. Attempting to use his abilities to remake the world, Nate was opposed by the X-Men. He finally used his immense powers to create a pocket reality, where everyone was a mutant and intimate relationships were outlawed. Beast and the other X-Men who had been present in the battle against Nate were trapped in this new reality.

No longer remembering his old life, Hank was now a prisoner in the Danger Room Prison Complex, home to mutant "criminals" such as Bishop, Mirage, Polaris, and Honey Badger. Rather than a learned man who avoided violence whenever necessary, Beast was now the aggressive head of the feral prisoner clique.

He fought Bishop on multiple occasions, but eventually began aiding him in unravelling the mysteries of the prison. Hank, like the others, began to experience flashbacks to their real lives. Together, he and the other prisoners discovered what Nate had done, and that he had used Legion to help keep the prison and reality together. They managed to escape and confronted Nate, eventually being restored to their old selves.

Krakoa

When the recently returned Professor X, Magneto and the secretly alive Moira MacTaggert launched their plans to create an independent mutant homeland on Krakoa, Beast joined his old teacher in realizing the project. Planning to create a nation that would be the home of every mutant, the newly united mutantkind found themselves able to accomplish great things, even the resurrection of mutants who had died prematurely. Together with Cypher, who served as an intermediary to Krakoa, Beast helped develop three miracle cures that would help buy Krakoa recognition from the nations of humanity.

He accompanied Xavier and Emma Frost to a meeting with the United Nations, that saw Krakoa recognized as an independent state. Together with the rest of the mutants of Krakoa, he celebrated the nation's independence in a grand feast, seen sharing a drink with fellow original X-Men Iceman and Archangel.

Hank was made the head of X-Force, Krakoa's new intelligence service.

One of their earliest rivals was Russia, a country that refused to recognize Krakoa's sovereignty. As part of Russia's, counterintelligence mission against Krakoa, they sent in infiltration team of Nesting Dolls, soldiers with with exponentially smaller sleeper cells inside of them. Each time one dies, a smaller one emerges. A swarm of the microscopic ones nearly invaded Beast's body, but Beast was able to extract them with Black Tom's help. One of the dolls, Beast ripped out right through his eye, which is now gone.

Going mad

These new responsibilities were a bad influence on Hank. His obsession with the security of his new nation led him to act unilaterally for the greater good. First, Beast took it upon himself to sabotage the Terra Verdean strain of telefloronics causing it to overrun the Terra Verde country in a few months time. He also squirreled away funds to open a space station prison with the help of Maverick and interrupted one of Wolverine's resurrections to attach an obedience collar to send him on clandestine operations, all of which was kept secret from the rest of X-Force.

This behavior led Wolverine to question Hank's morals, which greatly annoyed him to the point of sending Wolverine on a mission only to be captured for an auction for which Hank attended and where he murdered Wolverine. This was in order to resurrect Logan in a primitive state and turn him into Weapon X, where Beast sent him on missions assigned to him by himself.

When Logan was freed with the help of Sage and the island of Krakoa and at the request of Maddie Bannister, the daughter of Jeffrey Bannister who said that Hank was holding captive. After Maddie was allegedly attacked by a mosquito sent by Hank, Sage and Wolverine went looking for Jeffrey while Maddie was left in the care of Dr. Cecilia Reyes and Black Tom. When they found Jeffrey, he explained that Hank had threatened his daughter, but before he could say more, Hank shot him with a sniper rifle and proceeded to flee while being chased by Wolverine. When Logan caught up with him, Wolverine confronted Beast for his actions before killing him. However, Hank was resurrected in a secret laboratory, and as he came out of the tank where he was, he mentioned that it was time to move on to the second part of his plan.

After resurrecting in a new body, Beast began the next phase of his plan, which was to take his entire laboratory and the X-Force headquarters out of Krakoa in the form of a colossus. Once far away he was sighted by a UN submarine that passed through that place, and without remorse, Beast proceeded to destroy it, killing the entire crew, to later create several clones of himself. At the same time he proceeded to communicate with the rest of the X-Force just to say goodbye and tell them that everything he did was for the good of the mutantkind, and then proceeded to the laboratory where some of his clones managed the creation of Wolverine clones, calling this project Weapons of X. Beast and his clones would eventually be defeated, forcing Beast to go into hiding, although he would reappear a few months later, attacking X-Force's new compound in the North Pole to steal a Krakoan battlesuit.

Encountering his clone and sacrifice

In order to put a stop to Beast's actions, X-Force tried using one of his clones against him, but the clone escaped, hoping to fix things by himself. He met with Wonder Man and convinced him to go after the original Beast with him, hoping to remind him of his once noble goals. When the duo caught up with Beast underwater, off the coast of California, he removed Wonder Man's breathing apparatus to force him to go back to the surface and give him some time alone with his clone. He showed him his Black Hole Gun and explained his plan to send Arrako to a cosmic vault for safekeeping. However, the clone wasn't moved by his words and, when the weapon was deployed, they got into a fight. The original Beast tried to end his clone's life, but Wolverine's surprise appearance allowed the clone to free himself. Wolverine then attempted to kill Beast, but the clone was adamant no one should die and tackled Wolverine. Without losing more time, the original Beast escaped, but was shocked to find Wonder Man attempting to stop his weapon. As the gun was about to fire with Wonder Man in front of it, Beast made one final selfless act and sacrificed himself to save his friend's life.

Personality

Henry McCoy wondered why he wasn't one of the "lucky ones." If he had to remain a mutant, why did he have a power that made him look and sometimes feel like a beast? He continued to struggle for the acceptance of others. As a man of arts and letters and the sciences, Beast was very much the Renaissance man, and while his peers in the intelligence community knew this, they still considered him very much a mutant. He even knew what it was like to be jilted by the proverbial Beauty, his recent fear of human emotion had caused him to turn away from longtime lover Trish Tilby, who had finally seemed to find the error in her ways as far as an attitude towards his secondary mutation.

Despite his ongoing battle with the demons of loneliness and rejection, he was an inveterate prankster and wit, and besides his brutish exterior, Beast was the most literate and eloquent of the X-Men, possessing a million-dollar vocabulary. Henry was every bit a human being plagued by duality: man/beast; genius/sports star; gentle giant/feral aggressor. Equal parts biochemist and activist, Beast focused on the X-Men's goals of building better relationships between man and mutant. In immersing himself in this campaign, Beast held hope that in the world he and the other X-Men dream of, he'll finally be known more for the genius within than for the creature outside.

Although a prankster at heart, Beast's bitterness towards humans and will to protect mutantkind no matter the cost would corrupt him. By the time the mutant nation of Krakoa was founded, Beast was violent, secretive, and extremely paranoid, committing horrific acts to protect Krakoan sovereignty and national security.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Beast is a mutant.

Genetic Atavism: It is possible that Beast's mutation is a result of genetic atavism (or genetic traits that resurface in a species after many generations of dormancy). He also possesses neotenous (or traits in a descendant that resemble those of an ancestor organism) characteristics, which would explain why he has a big modern brain with an ape-like physique.

Due to Secondary Mutation, Beast transformed from his original ape-like physique to a more cat-like physique. A subsequent mutation affected him, and he required the help of his past self, who was able to stabilize him in a new appearance.

His powers have varied at times due to ongoing and subsequent mutations.

• Superhuman Strength: Originally in his teen years, Beast was able to lift about 1 ton. From breaking chains to headbutting through a solid metal wall, he always made full use of his physical prowess by combining muscular strength with agile kinetic buildup. After his mutation into a blue simian form, which eventually stabilized afterward, his strength was increased to the point where he can now lift about 10 tons, which is sufficient for him to smash through a brick wall with a single punch, toss a smaller car, and to tie an iron barbell into a knot. When enhanced after Infectia´s kiss, he was strong enough to smash a tank with his bare hands and punch the ground to create a massive shock wave. Even before these extreme levels though, he has lifted part of a full-grown oak tree made of solid gold, with effort. His strength also extends to the muscles in his legs, allowing him to leap a height of 32 feet high and 50 feet in a standing broad jump.

• Superhuman Speed: Beast can run and move at speeds that are slightly beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete, despite his abnormal size. He can run at speeds up to 40 mph for short distances, particularly if he runs on all fours. It also allows Beast to attack opponents before they can react and pull their trigger fingers and keep up with opponents who can move at low-level superhuman speeds.

• Superhuman Stamina: Beast's highly advanced musculature produces fewer fatigue toxins during physical activity than that of an ordinary human. He can exert himself at peak capacity for several hours before the buildup of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him. He also commented that after his mutation into a cat-like form that he no longer needs a full night of sleep, although it is unknown if he still retains this side effect of his stamina after becoming a new ape-like form once again.

• Superhuman Durability: Beast's bodily tissues are harder and more resistant to certain types of injuries than the bodies of normal humans. His physiology can withstand great impact forces, though he can be injured by many types of conventional weapons such as standard firearms and bladed weapons. However, he can withstand physical impacts, such as falling from several stories by landing on his feet without suffering any broken bones or sprains. Also, he is able to be physically struck by many superhumanly strong beings like Colossus and The Hulk that would either severely injure or kill a normal human with little to no discomfort.

• Superhuman Agility: Beast's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. While in his simian form, he has the agility of a great ape combined with the acrobatic prowess of an Olympic level gymnast. He can walk a tightrope or a slack rope as easily as most people can walk on a sidewalk. He can also walk on his hands for many hours or perform a complicated sequence of gymnastic stunts such as flips, rolls, and springs. He can easily match or surpass any Olympic record in gymnastics.

• Superhuman Reflexes: Beast's reflexes are similarly enhanced and are on levels beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. His training with the X-Men, as well as his experience battling enemies, has granted him the reaction time to evade gunfire. He can react at low-level superhuman speeds, even catching smaller missile mid-air with his feet. His reflexes are a partial reason why the Beast is able to be so agile and fast, despite the abnormal bulk of his ape-like form.

• Superhuman Dexterity: He can perform many tasks with his feet as easily as a human could do with his hands. His manual and pedal dexterity are so great that he can write using both hands at once or tie knots in rope with his toes.

• Regenerative Healing Factor: Beast's metabolism enables him to repair mild to moderate injuries much faster than a normal human. For instance, he can recover from minor ailments, such as a severe cold or fever within a few hours. More severe injuries, like broken bones, used to heal within a few days, whereas normal humans might take many weeks or even months. However, his healing abilities have increased to the point where he recovers from mild to moderate injuries within the span of a few hours. However, he cannot regenerate destroyed organs or severed limbs.
  • Contaminant Resistance: Hank possesses a highly advanced immune system, which is a partial reason why he is able to recover from mild ailments, among other forms of sickness, within a few hours. Hank also possesses a high immunity to foreign chemicals, such as tranquilizers and certain types of poisons used by Kraven the Hunter in their encounter during his early years with the X-Men.
  • Temperature Resistance: Due to a combination of his own healing abilities and his fine coat of blue fur, Beast is resistant to freezing temperatures. This was evident even before his ape-like form, to the point of being frozen in solid ice by Iceman for a short time and survived with a moderate case of shivers once freed during his early years with the X-Men.
  • Telepathic Resistance: Hank possesses moderate resistance to telepathic manipulation and was able to resist Cassandra Nova's high-level telepathic powers for a short time until she used his own fears of devolving into a mindless animal against him.
  • Slowed Aging: Beast also possesses a slight degree of slowed aging due to his own healing abilities. Despite being 40 years of age since the time of Cassandra Nova's attack, he still retains the physical appearance and vitality of a man in his prime.

• Superhuman Senses: Hank possesses enhanced, acute senses that are comparable to those of certain animals, enabling him to see and hear distant objects more clearly than a normal human, and identify and track someone purely by scent over open terrain and his hands and feet are sensitive enough to detect electronic signals (from bombs, listening devices, etc.) through solid walls and floors. He also possesses cat-like night-vision that also allows him to see even in near-total darkness and when asked by Nick Fury, he was able to identify that it was the real Colossus when he came back to life all by scent.

• Timestream Attunement: Hank's experiments with time travel have attuned him to the timestream, making him aware of changes in history.

• Minor Pheromone Manipulation: Beast has the ability to secrete pheromones to attract members of the opposite sex.

• Razor-Sharp Claws and Fangs: Beast sports retractable, 3" razor-sharp claws at the tip of each finger and toe. Their natural edges, coupled with his strength, are sufficient to rend most conventional materials including flesh, wood, stone, and even metal effortlessly and enable him to climb up vertical surfaces by wedging his fingers and toes into the smallest of cracks. He possesses elongated canines that he can use, if he chooses to do so, as effective weapons in close-quarter combat situations.

Former Powers

• Black Vortex Empowerment: When Beast submitted to the power of the Black Vortex the cosmic energies infused into him augmented both his genius intellect and mutant capabilities boosting his already impressive power set and understanding of the universe to new heights.
  • Flight: Beast could fly under his own power.
  • Accelerated Probability Generator: His brain and analytical thinking had been boosted to unprecedented levels making is mind comparable to that of a quantum computer, able to fabricate a detailed map of the space-time continuum which would enable him to predict and act on any and all possible outcomes that may occur.
  • Cosmic Energy Blasts: Like others who were altered by the black vortex, Hank could discharge potent blasts of energy from his being at will.
  • Cosmic Awareness: Either a combination of his natural intellect being ascended or via interaction with the black vortex, Henry McCoy had achieved a form of epiphany that entitled him enlightenment to the truth of the cosmos.

• Recursive Retaining Enhancement: After coming in contact with an extraterrestrial anomaly, Beast, while retaining his still humanoid form before multiple secondary mutations, ended up losing his enhanced simian like physiology to eventually regain all of his powers with clear physical enhancements, showcasing his strength to be equal to that of a green pre-Merged and/or Gravage Hulk, able to lift a whole plane atop his head with ease.

Symbiote: While on Ulgriath, Hank bonded to a symbiote that escaped from Haze Mancer's collection, which adapted to his unique powers. While bonded to it, Beast's appearance was similar to his demonic form, and it augmented his physical strength and enabled him to summon symbiote-augmented demons as extensions of his body. This symbiote later separated from him to return to its homeworld.

Magic: Taking Stephen Strange's advice Hank decided to delve into magic and many of its practices. Dabbling in the mystic arts has granted Beast with an odd new beast form, one in which he can channel immense amounts of magical powers through.

• Banishment
• Teleportation
• Time Travel
• Portal Creation
• Demonic Transformation

Abilities

• Genius Intelligence: Dr. Hank McCoy is one of the eight smartest people in the world. He has six PhDs, including one in biophysics. A world-renowned biochemist, Henry McCoy's greatest asset is his keen scientific mind. As the X-Men's resident technological and medical genius, he possesses extraordinary expertise in genetics, biochemistry, and electronics. He discovered the hormonal extract that is the chemical cause of mutation and cured the Legacy Virus. Among his technological feats, McCoy has designed and built Cerebra; a time travel device with the X-Club; a machine which separates the Evolutionaries from cosmic rays; and the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, outfitted with Shi'ar technology as well as a thermonuclear reactor. During his time travel situation he was placed behind the curve on the technologies of the day. He is also quite the gifted computer scientist, hacking Bruce Banner's computer and designing a computer system that locked down as soon as Kitty Pryde tried to access it. He has extensive knowledge of a variety of other scientific fields. Cecilia Reyes was impressed with his knowledge of theoretical physics and basic anatomy. Though, he has humbly stated himself to be an amateur in physics and technology. He has an eidetic memory and it shows in his ability to recall complex mathematical or chemical formula with little to no research. He can additionally remember and quote historical text, literature, or even comic strip quotes from memory. Hank is also an accomplished keyboard musician.

• Excellent Hand to Hand Combatant: The hyperactive, bouncing Beast is an excellent hand-to-hand fighter. He gained his initial combat training from Professor Xavier, and then continued his tutelage in combat gymnastics from Captain America. He typically uses a freestyle form of combat, similar to that of Spider-Man, that allows him to make full use of his great strength and agility. During times of anger, however, the Beast is known to resort to brawling and street fighting tactics.

• Multilingual: He is fluent in several languages including English, German, French, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and Russian as well as Latverian. The Black Swan has also been teaching him a few extinct languages.

• Expert Tactician: He is a capable leader as he has led his own team of Defenders with fellow X-Men Iceman and Angel as teammates. Even when he is not the leader of a team, he has been a key member in some of the greatest team accomplishments, such as helping to rescue Nova on Mars with the Secret Avengers. He is also a great team player.

• Indomitable Will: Hank's dedication to science and coexistence between humans and mutants is unwavering. He never gave up on finding a cure for the Legacy Virus in which he eventually did find a cure. He has great compassion for both humans and mutants alike, and his unflagging courage allows him to protect both of them at any cost, even with his own life.

• Voice mimic: Hank can impersonate others' voices.

Weaknesses

• Animal Instincts: For years, Hank McCoy has had to come to terms with his increasing animal instincts, which come with each new mutation. Cassandra Nova took advantage of this by making him act like an animal much to his humiliation until Beak managed to break him out of her control. Due to Beast's transformation into a cat-like being he has developed a carnivorous taste for flesh, which he is conflicted over.

• Vulnerable Senses: Due to his animal-like mutation, the only other "weakness" that Beast has is the fact that his heightened senses can be taken advantage of.

• Allergy: Beast claims to be allergic to sawdust.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

The Beast possesses a fully-equipped laboratory in Xavier's mansion. Presumably, it holds the latest in biological and material analysis devices. It may also contain Shi'ar technology. At one point, Beast had possession of the Mind Gem.

Former Equipment

Stealth Cyber Gear: Technology Hank picked up while traveling through time-space. The Cyber Gear implant directly interfaces Henry's cerebellum with any and all technological appliances, giving him complete control.

Weapons

While known to use heavy weapons in battle, Beast prefers to fight bare-handed.

Transportation

X-Men Dove, Quincarrier, X-Men Blackbird, X-Men Stratojet, X-Copter, Professor Xavier's Rolls Royce, Sentinel Air Transport, X-Factor Plane, various aircraft constructed by Ship, Quinjet.

Notes

• It was revealed that Hank had a crush on Betsy Braddock when she was a supermodel. They flirted with one another.
• The Beast has a weakness for Twinkies. Evidence can be found in his New Year's Resolutions revealed that one of his resolutions was to "Eat fewer Twinkies" (the other resolutions were to "read more 15th century texts" and "cure Legacy Virus", the latter the only one which it is evidenced that he did).
• Beast doesn't have blue skin but a fine coat of blue fur.
• If Beast loses his higher mental functions and reverts to his animalistic state, he can be brought back by a ball of yarn. Synthetic fiber laced with pheromones, aerosol smart-drugs, and light sequences to bring back his higher brain functions.
• Henry McCoy claims that he does not like being called the "Beast", and that it brings him sorrow. He considers it an unwarranted cognomen, since he is a scholarly and refined man. He admits to having been called many unflattering things before, and that this has bruised his ego.
• Henry McCoy claims that he does not care for the identity of the Beast, and that he feels relieved when removing his X-Uniform. He preferred his civilian identity as an honor student.
• Hank's pheromone abilities should be considered apocryphal as they're only mentioned in supplementary material and have never been depicted in any media.

Trivia

• Beast's original furry transformation was an idea that originated from Roy Thomas, with input from Stan Lee, in an effort to make the character more visibly striking. He also became more werewolf-like to capitalize on the success of Werewolf by Night.
• Beast was once captured by S.H.I.E.L.D and imprisoned in "The Cage". His prisoner number was: 412076.
• Hank identified himself as an agnostic. Despite this, he has prayed to God on occasion and affirmed his belief. He ultimately expressed strong belief in God's existence during a conversation with Spider-Man, who, during the conversation had declared his atheistic beliefs. Recently however, he has expressly stated his atheism.
• Hank played obstacle chess with Nightcrawler frequently.
• Beast has had at least 1143 websites devoted to him.
• Beast favors Chamomile tea.
• Beast has been a MacArthur Fellows Program recipient, a Nobel Prize winner, and a nine-time recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• In Avengers (Vol. 3) #14, Beast and Wonder Man shared the first on-panel kiss between two male superheroes in mainstream Marvel comic book history, 10 years before the more romantic gay kiss shared by Rictor and Shatterstar in X-Factor (Vol. 3) #45.

See Also

• 1986 appearance(s) of Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
• 32 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
• 333 minor appearance(s) of Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
• 276 mention(s) of Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
• 23 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
• 2155 image(s) of Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
• 126 quotation(s) by or about Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
• 3 victim(s) killed by Henry McCoy (Earth-616)
• 10 item(s) used/owned by Henry McCoy (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Henry McCoy on Marvel.com
• Henry McCoy on Wikipedia.org
• Marvel Directory
• uncannyxmen.net Spotlight On... Beast
• Wolverine's Revenge
• "The religion of Beast (Hank McCoy)"
• X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse Hero Handbook
• Marvel Encyclopedia, Vol 1, 2002. David Bogart, ISBN 0-785-10984-6
• Science of the X-Men, 1st edition paperback, 2004. Linc Yaco, Karen Haber, ISBN 0-743-48725-7
• The Xavier Files, 1st edition paperback, 1994. Justine H. Korman, ISBN 0-679-86177-7
• X-Men: The Ultimate Guide, 2nd edition hardback, 2003. Peter Sanderson, ISBN 0-789-49258-X
• The Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game, 1st edition hardback, 2003. Marvel Entertainment, ISBN 0-7851-1028-3
• TSR Marvel Superheroes Judge's Book
• The Complete Guide to Marvel Legends: Beast MOC Back
• stason.org - when did the beast turn blue?
• Henry McCoy article at Memory Beta, the licensed Star Trek Wikia.