If it helps, Beast was a villain in the X-Men 92: House of XCI series because he died on Otherworld partway through and "came back wrong." I think (and hope) that X-Men 97 will mostly still treat Beast as the gentle and philosophical guy he was in the original series. For what it's worth, you really have my sympathies about Beast's whole descent into over-the-top villainy in recent comics, Mungho. I know it sucks watching that happen to your favorite character.