X-force 35. Spoiler synops review. Finally justice

[BobbysWorld]

Honestly, with all the focus on 'mutant magic' and the fact that the 05 got their memories from their time traveled unlocked and returned to them not long before the start of the Krakoa era.....I wish instead of going the clear mad scientist route, they'd muddied the water a bit with an interest in the occult. Which could pave the way to revealing Beast is being heavily influenced by his experiences with dark magic as a teenager, that suddenly just popped into his brain one day out of the blue....when those experiences and the magic/Goblyn Queen's influence back then was never even actually resolved and definitively dealt with....just swept under the rug when it got locked away and reframed as 'but all of that happened over a decade ago now so its all in the past, obviously.'

(And then when you consider that yeah, the 05 were only ever in the future because of future Hank's own choices to bring them there....this still makes Hank the architect or at least first step on his own road to ruin....but in a completely different way than expected. One that's accidental enough AND paved with a lot more misguided 'good' intentions that took very unforeseen turns....that it becomes a bit more tragic that he's still the one that first turned the key in the ignition when starting that road trip).

[Agent Grayson]

That's possible I guess. Though I doubt it. I think Beast just lost his moral compass over the years. Just compromising on issues of morality over and over again in the name of "science". I've said it several times on these boards: Beast is an antagonist now and I'm here for it. If they do put him in the pit I hope they weave a decent tale out of it. Something like Beast having to rely on the intelligence that got him in there to now get him out, could be a cool story.

I actually do think that a good version of Hank breaking bad could be written. There are certainly points way back when he's shown a willingness to make hard choices for what he perceives to be the greater good, and that could easily lead him down a dark path. For example, when the Legacy Virus first hit, he overruled Rogue and Iceman to let Sinister take Threnody as his prisoner because he thought that Sinister would have a better chance of exploiting her for a cure. The problem is, we haven't really seen any gradual development of that. There's no natural path from the happy-go-lucky Hank to the guy who's got Wolverine chained up in his basement as a pet assassin.

It's not exactly an unusual element of the Krakoan era, though. Characters acts in ways they never would for the sake of the story and the reader is expected to just accept it all too often. I think this one just takes that to the extreme.

[Odd Rödney]

The problem is, we haven't really seen any gradual development of that. There's no natural path from the happy-go-lucky Hank to the guy who's got Wolverine chained up in his basement as a pet assassin.

I'm not sure I agree with that, he's been getting worse and worse over time, ever since Scott and Logan had that "Schism", if I recall correctly. I certainly don't feel it happened overnight.

[Agent Grayson]

I'm not sure I agree with that, he's been getting worse and worse over time, ever since Scott and Logan had that "Schism", if I recall correctly. I certainly don't feel it happened overnight.

Maybe I should have said "natural development" rather than "gradual development". I just don't see how we've gotten to a point where he's doing what he's doing. He feels like an entirely different character, whereas for an arc like this to work, you have to be able to clearly see how he got there.

[Mungho]

Honestly, with all the focus on 'mutant magic' and the fact that the 05 got their memories from their time traveled unlocked and returned to them not long before the start of the Krakoa era.....I wish instead of going the clear mad scientist route, they'd muddied the water a bit with an interest in the occult. Which could pave the way to revealing Beast is being heavily influenced by his experiences with dark magic as a teenager, that suddenly just popped into his brain one day out of the blue....when those experiences and the magic/Goblyn Queen's influence back then was never even actually resolved and definitively dealt with....just swept under the rug when it got locked away and reframed as 'but all of that happened over a decade ago now so its all in the past, obviously.'

(And then when you consider that yeah, the 05 were only ever in the future because of future Hank's own choices to bring them there....this still makes Hank the architect or at least first step on his own road to ruin....but in a completely different way than expected. One that's accidental enough AND paved with a lot more misguided 'good' intentions that took very unforeseen turns....that it becomes a bit more tragic that he's still the one that first turned the key in the ignition when starting that road trip).

I remember someone on this board saying that Hank bringing the 05 to the future has been retconned as not happening, but they didn't say how or why.

[Saithor]

..If it happened it did so very recently, because in Children of the Atom Scott remembers being part of the Champions.

[Krakoa]

I remember someone on this board saying that Hank bringing the 05 to the future has been retconned as not happening, but they didn't say how or why.

Yeah that's not a thing lol whoever said that was wrong

[Mungho]

Yeah that's not a thing lol whoever said that was wrong

I figured.

Anyway, if they did replace the current Hank with a backup from the past, which one should it be? I was leaning into the Hank in 1992, when he canonically celebrated his 30th birthday. I don't think he'd done anything untoward by that time.

[Hulkout42]

I so hope it is the end of Beast, i mean when Sinister tells a severed head of Dark Beast he isn't the darkest version anymore says something about the state of affairs that character is in.

[Mungho]

I so hope it is the end of Beast, i mean when Sinister tells a severed head of Dark Beast he isn't the darkest version anymore says something about the state of affairs that character is in.

Why should he have to be permanently killed off because of stupid writing? There's any number of things they can do to rectify this situation.

[Grunty]

I figured.

Anyway, if they did replace the current Hank with a backup from the past, which one should it be? I was leaning into the Hank in 1992, when he canonically celebrated his 30th birthday. I don't think he'd done anything untoward by that time.

Some version from around 1997-2000. Mainly because i don't want him to lose the familarity with Cecilia Reyes. Even without the need of them becomming romantic, i liked their interactions. Definetly a version from before Morrison though.

[BobbysWorld]

Some version from around 1997-2000. Mainly because i don't want him to lose the familarity with Cecilia Reyes. Even without the need of them becomming romantic, i liked their interactions. Definetly a version from before Morrison though.

Honestly, as much as I like his interactions with Cecilia, if they do back him up from an earlier point, I would have it be from before he handed Threnody over to Sinister. Otherwise that's still gonna hang over his head with a lot of readers in a big way, so might as well go from before that and have it be told to the younger Beast as a cautionary tale about what he'd end up capable of. Personally I've always looked at that point as the source of when later writers like Morrison and the post-Decimation ones were like yeah, being a callous dick is within this guy's wheelhouse.

And he can always get to know Cecilia all over again, and it could be interesting to see him having to put in the work to win over someone he's been told did eventually become a good friend of his but now is wary of him because of who he became after that point....there could be a poignancy to the fact that Hank historically never had to work hard to win people over or make friends despite his appearance, because his personality was just so harmless and loveable. Even with a personality reset, you're still going to have to 'wash the taste of Percy's Beast and his actions' out of readers' minds if you want them to love him again, and these actions aren't easily forgotten....and we've seen with characters like Gorgon that just trying your best to ignore their past misdeeds might let you advance a plot, it'll do nothing to actually improve this character's image in readers' minds or make them like them if they ARE familiar with those past storylines.

(Yes there are readers in this era who are like yaaaas, Gorgon, so badass, but like, I'd argue most of them had no real familiarity with the character before Krakoa - as he mostly appeared out of X-books - so it was easy to just blank slate him in their eyes...knowledge of his past was abstract for most readers. Its a different thing with Hank because he's not an obscure character you're just introducing to a whole slate of new readers for the first time, so readers are going to be more viscerally aware of his misdeeds and not super amenable to sweeping them under the rug, even with a handy do-over personality button. So, even while knowing that past Hank isn't responsible for current Hank's actions or choices, seeing him actually put in effort to repair his image with friends and allies, have to actively work to win them over and get them to see him as the him he is now at this point in HIS life versus the him they remember from a later point.....that's far more likely to 'win back' fans of Hank.)

[Odd Rödney]

And he can always get to know Cecilia all over again, and it could be interesting to see him having to put in the work to win over someone he's been told did eventually become a good friend of his but now is wary of him because of who he became after that point.

This is how I imagine things will play out between Star Lord and Gamora in GOTG 3. So, I guess it could work for Beast and Cecelia too.

[Hulkout42]

Why should he have to be permanently killed off because of stupid writing? There's any number of things they can do to rectify this situation.

I did not say permanently.

[Odd Rödney]

I did not say permanently.

It's comics. Death is never permanent. Even before we had resurrection protocols this was true.