Beast

Origin and Early Life

Hank McCoy

Gray Beast

The Brand Corpration

Hank went on to work as a genetic researcher at a corporation called "Brand Corporation." At Brand Corporation Hank met his assistant, Linda Donaldson, and his bitter superior, Carl Maddicks. Hank successfully managed to create the hormonal extract that creates mutations in organic beings, but when he rushed to tell Carl Maddicks about it he overheard him discussing a plan to steal some government records. Hank took his extract to disguise himself and increase his power. Unfortunately, Hank had the extract in him for too long, therefore leaving him permanently transformed. This enhanced his agility, stamina and strength. Other side effects were the growth of fangs, pointed ears, claws, enhanced senses, a healing factor and blue (originally grey) fur that covered his entire body. Hank then completed his doctorate in genetics and is one of the world's experts on mutations and human biology. As a result of the failure, Linda Donaldson shot Carl Maddicks, since she was actually a spy for Secret Empire.

Hank knew that he couldn't walk around looking like a gorilla, so he spent all night reading up on latex masks and disguises before making gloves and a rubber face mask that he could wear over his own. Hank's posture was also like that of a gorilla, and he had to use a special harness to help him walk and stand like an ordinary man. When Tony Stark visited Brand, a crisis required him and Hank to go to the rescue as superheroes. Iron Man mistook Beast for a villain, and fought with him. The X-Men's old foe Mastermind watched from a distance and created the illusion in Hank's mind of him having killed Iron Man. Hank was then easily tricked into joining the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but he managed to overcome the illusion and leave.

Since Beast had been seen around Brand Corporation a lot, the Pentagon sent Buzz Baxter and his wife Patsy Walker to investigate. Ironically, Beast turned up at Patsy's house after a near defeat from Quasimodo. Patsy helped heal Hank, and for some reason his fur turned from gray to bluish-black. Patsy also learned Beast's real identity, since he had been talking in his dreams. She agreed not to reveal his secret, but didn't tell Hank what she wanted in return. Shortly after wards, Hank was captured by Linda Donaldson, and delivered to the Secret Empire. Along with some of his old teammates, Hank was help captive until he was freed by Captain America, Falcon, Jean Grey and Cyclops.

Time with the Avengers

Beast couldn't return to Brand Corporation after being captured by Linda Donaldson. Hank decided to try being a superhero with another group after he saw an ad for new members on TV. Beast and Moondragon were accepted as probationary members, mere minutes before the Stranger attacked the Avengers (actually Toad in disguise). "The Stranger" filled a stadium with floating mines, which the other Avengers were defeated by, but Beast's agility let him get through the mines whilst Moondragon's mental powers stopped their foe. Whilst a member of the Avengers, Beast became good friends with Wonder Man.

With Beast a member of the Avengers, it was only a matter of time before Patsy Walker returned. It turned out that the deal she had made with Beast in return for not revealing his identity was that she was to become a superhero, since she was bored of being a housewife. Beast had already revealed his alternate identity to the rest of the Avengers, though, so she had nothing to hold over him. Even so, Beast let Patsy accompany them on one mission to repay her for not revealing his identity. Whilst raiding Roxxon Oil, the Avengers came across the old gear of the Cat (who didn't need it now that she was Tigra). Patsy used the equipment to become Hellcat, which meant she got her wish to become a superhero after all. Moondragon and Hellcat both left the Avengers when they restarted their roster, but Beast was more than happy to stay on. One of the many bonuses of being an Avenger was that Beast was no longer hated or feared as a mutant.

Sometimes Beast would leave to help with the X-Men when they were in need of help and to make space for new recruits. One time that he temporarily left was when he hadn't heard from the X-Men in a while, and went to the mansion to check up on them. For some reason, the mansion was abandoned. Beast went looking for the X-Men with Cerebro and found them performing as freaks in a carnival. It turned out that the carnival was run by Mesmero, but shortly after the X-Men were broken free from his hypnosis, Magneto captured the X-Men and took them to his secret base in Antarctica, which was hidden beneath an active volcano. After a fight with Magneto, Beast and Phoenix were seemingly the only ones able to escape, and since they thought the X-Men were dead, they returned to New York, Beast continuing his time with the Avengers. One problem that they Avengers had was that Henry Peter Gyrich of the National Security Agency limited the members of the Avengers allowed. Whilst Beast was on this team, Wonder Man unfortunately was not, and so Beast's best friend on the Avengers had to leave. Shortly after Hank found out that the X-Men were still alive after the events in Antarctica, Henry Gyrich continued to plague the Avengers, this time trying to get rid of their government clearance. The Avengers had a trial in court, and it was not going well, but when reports of a rampaging monster were heard, Beast suggested that Gyrich should fight the monster himself. Gyrich had to admit that the heroes were needed, and so the Avengers got back their security clearances. Shortly after wards, Falcon quit the team, and Wonder Man was called back to replace him.

One night, when Hank was on duty by himself, he received a message that the X-Men were on a rampage in the Hellfire Club. Torn between friends and responsibility, Hank decided to aid the X-Men. Beast witnessed Jean Grey's transformation to Dark Phoenix, a fight between the X-Men and the Shi'ar Imperial Guard on the Moon, Jean's suicide, and her funeral before he returned to the Avengers. Beast met his old girlfriend Vera Cantor in a bar by complete chance, and the two talked all night. Beast took her back to Avenger's mansion, but upon drinking some tea Jarvis provided, Vera fell into a coma. "Jarvis" was actually a Skrull who had poisoned Vera so that she could be used as blackmail. He told the Avengers that he would only provide Vera with a cure to her coma if the Avengers got a rare artifact called the Resurrection Stone for him. The team used the Fantastic Four's time travel device to acquire the item in the past for the Skrull, but Hank destroyed it before they handed it to him, since it was too powerful to trust the Skrull with. The best the Avengers could do for Vera was to give her to Reed Richards in the hope that he could find a cure for her coma. 

Despite that they had been glad that Henry Gyrich was not longer bugging them, the Avengers realized there were some things he had done that made sense. For example, the current team had 10 members, and was too unorganized. After a talk with Wonder Man, Beast began to realize if he really did just want to be a joking superhero. Beast then quit the Avengers.

Defenders

The Defenders

Beast eventually realized that super heroing was what he's good at, but still didn't like the Defenders' status as a non-team. Beast reorganized the Defenders, adding his old teammates Iceman and Angel to it, as well as Gargoyle, Valkyrie and Moondragon. With Nick Fury's help, the new team got government clearance, but there was a problem when both Beast and Valkyrie applied to be the leader of the team. After an argument between the two, they realized that they didn't need an actual leader, but someone to run headquarters, deal with the authorities and other such things. The person they appointed for this was Candy Southern. Whilst a Defender, Beast wrote a letter to Vera Cantor, apologizing, and when they next met, it was as friends, even though their mutual attraction was still there. Unfortunately, Moondragon and Gargoyle were both taken over by a mystical enemy called the Dragon of the Moon. An Eternal called the Interloper was able to defeat the Dragon of the Moon, but only if some people sacrificed themselves. With the exception of the three former X-Men, all of the Defenders sacrificed themselves. With this event, the Defenders disbanded.




X-Factor

X-Factor VS Apocalypse

During a fight with Apocalypse's Horsemen, Beast was touched by Pestilence, whose virus causes a deadly sickness. Instead of Hank becoming sick, it reacted with Hank's recent change so that every time he used his superhuman strength, Beast's intelligence would drop. Hank's intelligence dropped for weeks and he opened up to Trish Trilby, not realizing that she would use the information on TV. Out of respect for Hank, Trish did tell the world that one of X-Factor's members was losing his intelligence, but didn't say which. When Iceman was almost kissed by Infectia, who could mutate people into monsters by touch, Beast intercepted the kiss. This made him change between his furry form and human form, until he finally stayed in his furred form, with his usual intelligence and strength. The next time Hank met Trish, she was having trouble accepting Hank's new furry form. Hank and Trish realized they had missed each other after a mission in space, and started dating.

Trish's duties as a news reporter caused some trouble with their relationship, since she had to make look mutants look bad. During one of Trish's assignments in India, Hank came over to say goodbye to her, only to see her kissing her ex-husband, Paul. Seeing this, Hank left without saying bye to Trish. One day, Hank was invited to attend the International Symposium on Mutant Research in Belgium. Hank wanted to take this very seriously, as his old girlfriend Jennifer Nyles would be attending the conference and a cyborg tried to kill the mail woman who was delivering the letter to tell him that he would be invited. Whilst at the conference, Hank uncovered a plot involving cyborgs and genetic programming. The leader of this conspiracy, Commander Courage, was going to infect world leaders with techno-organic implants and take over the world.Jennifer Nyles was unknowingly working on this, since when Xavier had mind wiped her all those years ago, she knew something precious in her mind had gone, and devoted her life to getting it back. After meeting Beast, Jennifer's memories came back and she helped stop Commander Courage.

It was later discovered that Shadow King had taken over the minds of almost everyone on Muir Island. Since that included most of the X-Men, Professor X enlisted the help of SHIELD and X-Factor to stop Shadow King. After the battle, X-Factor merged with the X-Men, and the team was split into a Gold Strike team and a Blue Strike team. Beast was on the Blue strike team.

Legacy Virus

Despite this, Beast still tried to cure the Virus, going to extremes. Beast allowed Mister Sinister access to a mutant named Threnody, who could sense the effects of the Legacy Virus, since Sinister had more resources and less morals, which gave him more of a chance to cure it. Beast managed to get Sinister's notes on the Legacy Virus by breaking into Sinister's base, using information provided by Sabretooth, who at the time was the X-Men's captive. Beast's girlfriend, Trish Trilby, somehow got information about the Legacy Virus and released it to the public. Feeling betrayed, Beast broke up with her.

Beast's work on the Legacy Virus became an obsession with him. He was curious when he found some of his formulas completed for him. Beast followed the trail of the person who had finished his formulas, which led to the abandoned Brand Corporation. There, Beast was captured by Dark Beast, who had escaped the Age of Apocalypse. Dark Beast joined the X-Men, pretending to be the real Beast, whilst the real one was kept locked up with a tiny supply of water, in case Dark Beast needed any more information from him. Beast wasn't freed until Onslaught revealed himself to the X-Men, and Dark Beast joined him. Since he had been locked up for so long, it gave Hank time to think about what he should do and what he valued, and he called up Trish Trilby to apologize and make up with her.

Beast eventually managed to find a cure for the Legacy Virus, but the only way for it to work was if a mutant sacrificed themselves. Whilst Hank looked for an alternative, Colossus activated the cure when no one was looking, sacrificing himself to save mutant kind.

X-Treme X-Men

After mourning the loss of a teammate, Hank briefly leaves the school with Storm and her X-Treme X-Men team in search of Destiny's diaries. After an attack by Vargas that leaves Psylocke dead, Beast is gravely injured and returns to the Institute.

New X-Men

Beast was one of the few X-Men fond of Emma Frost when she joined the team; everyone else was wary that she hadn't reformed and was still a villain. When Emma was shot whilst in her diamond form, Beast worked day and night to put every piece of her diamond form back together. His efforts were not in vain, as Jean Grey was able to use her telekinesis to fuse the diamond shards together and bring Emma back. Despite that he liked Emma, Beast disapproved of Cyclops kissing Emma at Jean Grey's grave, although Cyclops argued back that it would he hypocritical to not follow his feelings. What neither Beast or Cyclops knew was that Jean had telepathically given Cyclops romantic feelings for Emma, so that he would not be in pain.

Astonishing X-Men

Cyclops formed a new X-Men, and Beast was drafted onto the team along with other X-Men/Women like Wolverine and Kitty Pryde. On their first mission, the team dealt with Ord of the Breakworld and the "cure" for mutants. After a brief encounter with Ord, Beast went to visit his old friend, Dr. Kavita Rao to get a sample of the "cure". He takes it back to the Institute, and begins to study it. Wolverine then comes to his lab, telling Beast that Emma told him that his mind was basically screaming it out that he wanted to take the cure. Wolverine tells him to flush it but Beast refuses to do so, and the two fight it out, until Emma stops them telepathically and threatens to make them tango. When he finds out that Rao had been testing the cure on corpses of other mutants, he helps stop her and Ord, and he and the X-Men destroy the base.

After a confrontation with Danger, Cassandra Nova psionically attacks the team. She strips Beast of all his morality, intellect and basically his mind, leaving him as basically, a feral beast. He attacked Wolverine and bit off some flesh on his leg (obviously it grew back). Luckily, the student Blindfold used a "sensory stimulant", something the Professor and Beast invented, just in case of a situation like this. The stimulant was in a form of a ball of string. Beast then used a special magnet he'd created to stop Danger and Ord.

The X-Men, Ord and Danger are teleported away to SWORD, and travel to the Breakworld. Beast is one of the X-Men taken with them. Later, he and Abigail Brand are separated from the main squad, and almost freeze to death but Agent Brand manages to save them by generating heat to keep them warm (no one knows how she did this yet). She later dives in front of a laser to save him, believing that he is the one with the best chance to save Earth.

Astonishing!!

AS Beast team doubles back to their ship he finds Agent Brand who survived the laser blast and they pick up their antagonistic banter with each other. When Beast accuses Brand of still keeping things from him and after he persisted she admits that she is really attracted to him.

Once back on Earth Brand takes a walk with Henry and waits for his response on the job with SWORD that she has offered him, as she believes him to be qualified both professionally and personally and states as much.

Beast is later shown with Brand and several X-students in a lab both him and Brand looking pleased.

Beast is training with the New X-Men when the Sentinels fly off and the Hulk shows up looking for Xavier. Beast summons several X-Men to the fight; it goes into a stalemate. Beast is endangered by the Hulk when he is saved by several of his teammates. Charles shows them what he saw and Beast is shocked and apologizes to Hulk.

Endangered Species

Messiah CompleX and Divided We Stand

When Professor X discovers the Baby Mutant, Beast is present in Cerebra, and helps fix it. He's there through the multiple other events and then, with the help of Prodigy, saves Hellion from dying by performing surgery on him. He then takes part in the final battle on Muir Island.

In X-men Divided We Stand 2 of 2, Beast was dropped of at the Xavier institute by Logan.  Beast spent his time in the subbasement destroying all the student and teacher files fearing what would happen if they fell into the wrong hands.  He then emailed the information for Stryfe's Legacy Virus to five scientist he trust thinking that no matter what happens to him, the anti virus would always be safe. Beast then took Martha Johansson and left the institute putting a No Admittance sign on the gates.

After Messiah CompleX, Beast relocated to San Fransisco with the rest of the X-Men.  His primary job in San Fransisco was first to set up the Greymalkin Facility with Prodigy, and build all the X-Men's needed computer equipment.  This included Cerebra, security systems, a new Danger Room, and much more.  Currently Beast is forming a science team with Angel.  This science team, known as the X-Club, is working to reverse M Day by any means necessary.  His most recent recruits are Madison Jeffries, Dr. Nemesis, and Dr. Kavita Rao. 

Secret Invasion

Beast discovers that the Super-Skrulls with X-Men abilities can be infected with the Legacy Virus and, despite his ethical protests to the contrary, Cyclops decides to use it on them, offering the antidote in return for the Skrulls' retreat.

Characteristics

Gender - Male

Height - 5'11"

Weight - 402 lbs

Eyes - Blue

Hair - Originally gray, now bluish-black in furry form

Unusual Features : Covered in blue fur, large extremities, fangs and claws

Powers and Abilities

Beast has superhuman strength, agility, endurance, and speed. In his human form, the Beast could lift c. 1 ton. His simian form could lift c. 10 tons. His feline form can lift at least 25 tons.

He has strong fingers and toes and can scale walls. He has razor sharp claws on his hands and his feet and a thick blue fur all over his body. Hank has great manual and pedal dexterity and can perform several complicated tasks using both his hands and feet such as tying knots with his feet. He has long appendages that allow to him to walk on all fours. Beast has superhuman durability, though he is very far from invulnerable. He can survive a fall from 3 stories if he lands on his feet and being struck by superhuman strong foes that would kill an average human.Beast can run for short sprints at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. He has enhanced senses such as night-vision and a sense of smell that can track a human and also has a slight healing factor. This healing factor allows him to recover from slight sicknesses like colds quickly. He also heals broken bones in a couple days, where it takes regular people weeks, even months.

 Furthermore, in contrast to his superhuman powers, he is extremely intelligent. He is one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe. He is a leading geneticist.

Later on, when he has taken on a secondary mutation, his smelling, strength, sight and reflexes are enhanced even further. The secondary mutation gave him the a feline appearance. The downside to this mutation is that Hank has lost his super human dexterity. He has stated that he used to play the guitar but now plays the drums as a result of the lost dexterity.

Beast is a skilled hand to hand combatant. He has been trained by Captain America and Professor Xavier, in a fighting style that makes good use of his agility, strength and speed.

Alternate Realities

Dark Beast

For Beast's counterpart in the Age of Apocalypse reality, see: Dark Beast.

Earth-1610

In the Ultimate universe Beast was an X-Man who at first appeared to be a human with apelike proportions, strength and agility. He has a severe inferiority complex

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Later, it was revealed that Beast was still alive (after being revived at a hospital) and working with S.H.I.E.L.D for a Legacy Virus cure. He has reversed his physique back to human-ish.  Beast in Earth 1610 's abilities are very similar to Earth 616. He possesses superhuman strength, agility, dexterity, flexibility, and stamina. The Weapon X program mutated him in to a form that was covered in thick blue fur and had claws and fangs.

Earth-15104 Beast

Earth-15104

In the Here Comes Tomorrow reality Beast was possessed by Sublime, and was the world's greatest villain.

Earth-1298

For beast in the Mutant X reality, see: Brute.

Earth-311

Hal McCoy

In the 1602 reality Beast was known as Hal McCoy and was a member of Carlos Javier's group of witchbreeds. He appeared in his furless simian form.

Earth-398

In this reality Beast was known as Kreature and was a member of Queen's Vengeance.

Earth-58163

House of M Beast

In the House of M, Hank is working with Hank Pym and Forge, and all of them are working of Iron Man. He feels superior from humans because of his mutation. He has a human appearance in the universe.

Earth-2149

Zombie Beast

Zombie Beast is working with Zombie Mr. Fantastic to rewire cerebro to detect humans. They found a lot of them in Doctor Doom's castle and he is also seen in attacking his home with the other zombie superheroes.

He is later shown arguing with Colonel America (this universe's version of Captain America) and is killed by him when he got his cosmic powers.

What if? (1)

What If? (2)

T.V.

X-Men The Animated Series

X-Men: Evolution

X-Men: Evolution

Wolverine And The X-Men

The Marvel Superheroes

• Beast made an appearance in the episode The Sub-Mariner along with Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel and Iceman.
  

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

• Beast appeared in the episode called The Origin of Iceman.
  

Films

X-Men

X-Men : United We Stand

X-Men : The Last Stand

Video Games

X-Men Next Dimension

X2 : Wolverine's Revenge

X-Men Legends

X-Men Legends 2 : Rise Of Apocolypse

X-Men : The Official Game