Hank McCoy, the Beast Appreciation 2023

[Arachne]

I don't see a retcon coming, I'm afraid. I think it would require undoing to much of Krakoa.

I just hope that if he does do some kind of penance, it doesn't take him out of the books for too long. When Moonstar was possessed by Hela and trashed Asgard, she decided to stay and put things right. We didn't see her again for years.

[Alpha]

Just killing him and reviving him in a younger body without his recent memories isn't going to fix this, unless it's shown he really wasn't in control of his actions by being possessed, or his soul got forced out of his body by the entities before his awful actions.

What do you mean? Possession is the poisoned well of redeeming characters. It's the hardest way of creating trust

The point of having a clone replace him isn't to take away the memories. The point would be "this beast didn't do any of those things, the other one did, and this beast ended the war between X-Force and Beast by turning against the original Beast. This one is fully aware of what the other guy did, and stopped him the first chance he got. And more importantly, the demise of an evil Beast would be one of his own making becoming good

[Mungho]

What do you mean? Possession is the poisoned well of redeeming characters. It's the hardest way of creating trust

The point of having a clone replace him isn't to take away the memories. The point would be "this beast didn't do any of those things, the other one did, and this beast ended the war between X-Force and Beast by turning against the original Beast. This one is fully aware of what the other guy did, and stopped him the first chance he got. And more importantly, the demise of an evil Beast would be one of his own making becoming good

But that would mean that the replacement is not the original Beast, just someone that looks and has some earlier memories of him. That the original's ultimate fate is to become a disgusting villain with none of his friends caring, and then be killed off forever, is just awful. It would depend on if the replacement has the original's soul or not, which given the conflicting nature of souls and clones as well as how the resurrection protocols fit into it all is very confusing.

Edit: Guess I'll put in a little more information. Next months wolverine unlettered-preview features this lovely image:



Hank-Prime is styling his hair like his younger self used to(you just love to twist the knife, don't you Percy?) and says something that horrifies the other Hanks. Seems like there's dissension in the ranks of the Hanks(lol). Where will this lead? From what I gathered, Logan is going to kill every last Hank and then Hank gets revived in a younger body without his recent memories(we're missing a lot of information though). But if the clones start a revolt...
Ugh, I don't know where this wretched plot is going. I don't think Cebulski, J.D. White, or Percy thought through just how much this damages Beast as a Character.

Wait a minute! I just noticed that none of them have any nipples! Thor is missing his in his Hellfire Gala outfit shown in the other thread. Could they all be robots? (JK)

[From The Shadows]

[K7P5V]

Really?! I thought it was really odd that with a group called 'Uncanny Avengers', Beast wasn't a member(of course, Beast is busy being ruined by Percy, so I'm not surprised that he couldn't be used).

I know, right?! With Apocalypse involved, I'm still shocked that Archangel/Warren Worthington III wasn't a member of UA during Remender's run.
All things considered, it may have saved him from what came after The Dark Angel Saga (IMHO):

[H-E-D]

I haven't been reading Percy's work, but it sounds like he needs to work on his foreshadowing a bit. There should be more clues that something was wrong with Hank. Then again, with the best foreshadowing, you don't see the clues until the endgame.

Hmm, see, I'm personally a fan of how Percy has been writing Hank. I haven't really enjoyed anything else in his run, just his Beast work.

I do feel for all the people who liked Hank's 70s-80s era characterization, of course. The whole Avengers Two duo with Wonder Man.

Then again, I liked Bendis' evil Wonder Man plot. Almost a shame that version of Simon isn't around to hang with X-Force Hank!

[Micabe]

I know, right?! With Apocalypse involved, I'm still shocked that Archangel/Warren Worthington III wasn't a member of UA during Remender's run.
All things considered, it may have saved him from what came after The Dark Angel Saga (IMHO):

Speaking of "The Dark Angel Saga", is it safe to assume Warren's feathered wings to Techno-Organic wings is no longer a thing he can do?

[BobbysWorld]

Speaking of "The Dark Angel Saga", is it safe to assume Warren's feathered wings to Techno-Organic wings is no longer a thing he can do?

No. He can change back and forth between his Angel and Archangel forms nowadays.

[K7P5V]

No. He can change back and forth between his Angel and Archangel forms nowadays.

Hallelujah! The Best of Both Worlds (IMHO):

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Trying to trim down my collection, so I've been sorting out "final read" piles and the `95 series Professor X and the X-Men is on the list.
I still do a double-take when seeing Hank on this page; I keep thinking he's sporting a Padawan look, but no...it's a headphone hanging around his neck.

[Mungho]

Trying to trim down my collection, so I've been sorting out "final read" piles and the `95 series Professor X and the X-Men is on the list.
I still do a double-take when seeing Hank on this page; I keep thinking he's sporting a Padawan look, but no...it's a headphone hanging around his neck.

And...these are supposed to be teenagers?

Anyway, I've gotten the X-Men Epic Collection recently. It's great, but it kind of makes me sad how badly Hank has been treated lately. I'm way to sensitive about fictional characters. A couple of images from the collection:



Dayaaaaammmmm, Hank is an absolute unit in this page! From when he was fighting Mastermind, naturally.




Here was when he fought the robot-thing Quasimodo, who drained his life-force which changed his fur from grey to blue next issue.

[Mungho]

Guess I'll throw up a few more pages from the collection. I'm...pretty bummed because of some new info that seems to indicate that no, the Hank you see in X-Force is 100% him with no possession to explain his actions. It just feels...so unjust for this character, like if you made Captain American into a baby-eating-maniac who stops to pull the whiskers off kittens. He's just cruel for cruelty's sake. I'm hoping that Al Ewing will be the one to fix him after Percy is done shitting on him(not that Marvel itself hasn't been shitting on him for the past 10 years). Everything in these comics seems hateful and miserable. Is this just how it is now, or is this how it's always been? Have I been out of the loop that long?

Anyway, enough of my whining. Here's Hank going toe-to-toe with the Hulk! Hank actually looks rather violet here:





And when after being drained by Quasimodo, he collapsed into Patsy Baxter's apartment, where his fur changed:

[Uncanny X-Man]

I was just thinking, once the whole "dark" Beast plot is over and Hank eventually reverts to a good person, because all things are cyclical in comics, I wouldn't mind his human form to be restored.

O5 X-Men or early X-Factor Hank with just those big feet and hands, no fur. I know it's iconic but I like the symbology of him looking human again when reconnecting to his humanity and compassion.

He could then eventually learn how to "Beast out" and switch back and forth so you would have the best of both worlds.

[Baron of Faltine]

I was just thinking, once the whole "dark" Beast plot is over and Hank eventually reverts to a good person, because all things are cyclical in comics, I wouldn't mind his human form to be restored.

O5 X-Men or early X-Factor Hank with just those big feet and hands, no fur. I know it's iconic but I like the symbology of him looking human again when reconnecting to his humanity and compassion.

He could then eventually learn how to "Beast out" and switch back and forth so you would have the best of both worlds.

<Oh I would like it---And interesting twist would be tha this "human" form is actually the cynical asshole while his "beast" form is the compassionate one. Hank is going "dark" not due to him being mutant but because his human nature choose a dark path. Like could happen to any human. >
One side note It is me or Marvel REALLY hate characters named Hank.

[Mungho]

<Oh I would like it---And interesting twist would be tha this "human" form is actually the cynical asshole while his "beast" form is the compassionate one. Hank is going "dark" not due to him being mutant but because his human nature choose a dark path. Like could happen to any human. >
One side note It is me or Marvel REALLY hate characters named Hank.

You must mean Hank Pym, right? I'd agree with you, but it seems more likely that Marvel really hates smart characters. Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Bruce Banner, Hank Pym, have all had their turn as villains and now, Hank McCoy. Beast held out the longest, but when his turn came they made sure he fell HARD.