Hank McCoy, the Beast Appreciation 2023

[Mungho]

No worries mate, us comic book people gotta stick together!
Yeah I punched it into the Googz and it told me it was a digital comic. I wonder if it ever got released physically.
He really is. This really ought to be explored a bit. There's fodder for a good story in that.

It would be good story if it had been introduced better. A man who's dated humans and adores his human parents, now is a mutant supremacist who would make Magneto blush(and isn't Magneto slightly better about humans?)? If Percy had introduced traumas Hank was struggling with, maybe even PTSD instead of suddenly making him act like this.

[Mungho]

Well, this is a Beast appreciation thread, not 'Mungho whines because a character he likes is being written terribly', so I want to show these images, a couple I posted in the other thread. After Gambit, Storm, Hank, his parents, Artie, Leech and Franklin have a country breakfast(so wholesome!), anti-mutant bigots capture Artie and Leech. Hank let's the bigots tie him up and beat him so they won't harm the boys. That's the true measure of a hero I think, being self-sacrificing. The Beast in X-Force is a completely different character(oh, and I still think Norton looks scary in the first image's bottom right panel:

[Mungho]

Ya'll are really going to make me bump this thread all by myself, huh? I had a question to ask, but internet etiquette says it's very rude to triple-post. I'll just ask anyway.

I remember reading the Onslaught event and I read this issue were Hank escapes after being imprisoned by Dark Beast, only to be confronted by some shadowy beings. And then a future issue shows him right back to being imprisoned. I remember being very confused by this. Was there an issue I missed, or is this something the writer just forgot about? Here's the relevant page:
EDIT: from X-Men issue #54 sorry, should have said what issue.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Was this the short-lived Waid run? I haven't read that in decades...

**EDIT** Hmmm, it's from X-Men #54, honestly do not remember what happened there.

[Mungho]

Sorry about that, should have included the issue #.
Guess I'll throw up a few pics a Hank and Logan being pals:






And a bonus of Hank in the bath:

[K7P5V]

Guess I'll throw up a few pics a Hank and Logan being pals:

Indeed. Truly sad for the loss of friendship between these two (T^T)

[Mungho]

Indeed. Truly sad for the loss of friendship between these two (T^T)

Me too.


I'll share this from Astonishing X-Men #3. Where Hank and Logan have a knock-down drag-out brawl over Hank debating taking the mutant cure. I remember thinking this was so awesome when I first read it:

[Mungho]

And the fourth page, because it's too funny to leave out. I think I'd have liked to see them tango, Emma:

[Chris0013]

Me too.


I'll share this from Astonishing X-Men #3. Where Hank and Logan have a knock-down drag-out brawl over Hank debating taking the mutant cure. I remember thinking this was so awesome when I first read it:

I can see Hank's side of that argument though. Logan...for all his animal-like powers...still looks human. Hank does not...and maybe there is a part of him that will always want that 'humanity' back.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I just had to pass on the opportunity to by the 3 3/4 inch Beast figure at a used toy shop while on a grocery run.
Prior to getting married and having kids, I would have jumped on the soup and Cup O' Noodle diet until payday to get something like this, but yeah...not these days.
SIGH...

[Mungho]

I can see Hank's side of that argument though. Logan...for all his animal-like powers...still looks human. Hank does not...and maybe there is a part of him that will always want that 'humanity' back.

Yeah, I do sympathize with Hank in this case. Like in the Holiday special I posted a last page:

He really is portrayed as suffering because of his frequently changing inhuman appearance. What's strange is that now on Krakoa, he could get his DNA in the resurrection protocols altered to look like his old human self while retaining his powers. But he doesn't...probably because the various writers didn't think through the ramifications of the RP. Unless my theory that Hank's been split into his mutant and human sides is true(thus the mutant side wouldn't want to).

A perfect solution would be for him to be able to transform back-and-forth at will between human and Beast-form. Let the guy be happy for once.

[Chris0013]

Yeah, I do sympathize with Hank in this case. Like in the Holiday special I posted a last page:



He really is portrayed as suffering because of his frequently changing inhuman appearance. What's strange is that now on Krakoa, he could get his DNA in the resurrection protocols altered to look like his old human self while retaining his powers. But he doesn't...probably because the various writers didn't think through the ramifications of the RP. Unless my theory that Hank's been split into his mutant and human sides is true(thus the mutant side wouldn't want to).

A perfect solution would be for him to be able to transform back-and-forth at will between human and Beast-form. Let the guy be happy for once.

I stand by my belief that blue and furry...and cat-like...is not a natural evolution of his mutation. From the formula he came up with at Brand that originally made him blue and furry, to Artie's dad experimenting on him to remove mutation, to the thing Pestilence did that made him stronger but dumber to Infectia kissing him and making him blue and furry again. I would say there are a lot of outside influences on his condition. So before this whole Krakoa thing ends let him get deaded and resurrected with a DNA sample from before all that other stuff happened.

[Mungho]

I stand by my belief that blue and furry...and cat-like...is not a natural evolution of his mutation. From the formula he came up with at Brand that originally made him blue and furry, to Artie's dad experimenting on him to remove mutation, to the thing Pestilence did that made him stronger but dumber to Infectia kissing him and making him blue and furry again. I would say there are a lot of outside influences on his condition. So before this whole Krakoa thing ends let him get deaded and resurrected with a DNA sample from before all that other stuff happened.

Yeah, the guy's DNA has been royally screwed with. Of course, he started it off:

EDIT: I've been posting a lot of full pages. Is that alright? If not, I can go back to posting single panels. I just wanted to post that great fight between Hank and Logan for full effect and illustrate a short history of Hank's changes in this post for those who haven't seen them.



After that, Quasimodo drained his life energy, turning him from grey to blue. His blue form is so iconic, though. Then Carl Maddicks had to experiment on him:



Cool, you're human again! Then, like you said, he had to make a kiss interception from Infectia meant for Bobby, destabilizing before ultimately making him blue and furry again:



But Sage jump-starting his healing factor when he was mortally injured, making him a cat-man was when everything really started. You're right, he does need a clean DNA slate, but I wonder: the serum just draws out what's already there, right? Maybe he was always destined to be blue and furry.

[The Negative Zone]

Hello, I don't venture into the X-Men forum much, but I wanted to ask Beast fans a question. I've been doing an Avengers read through, Beast joining was a great highlight but I'm at the point where he's left the team and joined in the Defenders. I did enjoy Beast but I'm not sure if I really like the Defenders, is Beast's stint in these worth reading?

To note, I'm doing an X-Men readthrough too, but reading X-books have always been more difficult for me.

[Chris0013]

Yeah, the guy's DNA has been royally screwed with. Of course, he started it off:

EDIT: I've been posting a lot of full pages. Is that alright? If not, I can go back to posting single panels. I just wanted to post that great fight between Hank and Logan for full effect and illustrate a short history of Hank's changes in this post for those who haven't seen them.



After that, Quasimodo drained his life energy, turning him from grey to blue. His blue form is so iconic, though. Then Carl Maddicks had to experiment on him:



Cool, you're human again! Then, like you said, he had to make a kiss interception from Infectia meant for Bobby, destabilizing before ultimately making him blue and furry again:



But Sage jump-starting his healing factor when he was mortally injured, making him a cat-man was when everything really started. You're right, he does need a clean DNA slate, but I wonder: the serum just draws out what's already there, right? Maybe he was always destined to be blue and furry.

Just doubling down on my theory...Sage jump starting him just exacerbated what all the DNA altering already did to him.