Oh My Stars and Garters! Hank McCoy, the Beast Appreciation 2024!

[Mungho]

Poor Beast getting bashed by Beak was a great story. Cassandra was a menacing and threatening foe for the X-men. I loved the moments with Jean at Beast's bedside or the moment where she goes into Beak's mind to discover the truth. These moments bring me back.

Yes it sucked for Hank that he was brutally attacked but I live for those moments our fav characters go through hard times. I hate sounding like the old man in the room but I'd like to get back to the X-men getting through hard times but still remaining heroic. Seeing them murder humans do not do it for me. If it is in war it is easier to justify but Hank breaking into a military base and just blowing up random soldiers... yikes. Again how do we justify even liking this character after they've had him commit so many offenses.

Oh, yes, that issue was gut-wrenching. And like all the other times he was traumatized, he never sought any help in dealing with it after his body had recovered:





And then there was that issue where he found a cat-mutant. He fell in love with her. But it turned out she wasn't a mutant with cat-features, she was a cat that had been mutated.

Sure, we can have our heroes go through tough times. But stacking misery upon misery with no light in between is just too bleak.

[Chris0013]

Sure, we can have our heroes go through tough times. But stacking misery upon misery with no light in between is just too bleak.

The heroes with problems model that was created when Marvel started in the 60s has become heroes who must be constantly miserable in the modern age.

[K7P5V]

Speaking of Henry's cards, here are some of my All-Time Favorites (XD)

[Ogrebear]

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Old Skool Beast and Spidey.

[Mungho]

I'm feeling pretty bummed now. What some posters said a few pages ago, that both of the Beasts active now are not the real ones, just clones, with the real one killed by Wolverine last year. So the real Beast is gone forever. I really hope the upcoming reboot is going to fix this, because I don't even feel like coming back here anymore.

[Rufio]

I'm feeling pretty bummed now. What some posters said a few pages ago, that both of the Beasts active now are not the real ones, just clones, with the real one killed by Wolverine last year. So the real Beast is gone forever. I really hope the upcoming reboot is going to fix this, because I don't even feel like coming back here anymore.

Totally understandable. I completely dropped Marvel at this point. There is literally nothing of interest for me at the moment. I’m really not a fan of good characters turning into mustache twirling villains for the lulz. I like my heroes to be good and I like them being supportive of one another. I like their continuity being respected and I like an evolving story that supports their growth.

It’s just such a shame what has happened. And even though I dropped the books, I was still popping in from time to time to keep up with the Beast situation. It’s like it gets worse every time I come in. I really like the character, he’s always been one of my favorites because he was so charming. So I can only imagine what a super fan like you must be feeling. Hopefully it all works out and we have actual for real original good guy Beast back.

[Exciter]

I'm feeling pretty bummed now. What some posters said a few pages ago, that both of the Beasts active now are not the real ones, just clones, with the real one killed by Wolverine last year. So the real Beast is gone forever. I really hope the upcoming reboot is going to fix this, because I don't even feel like coming back here anymore.

Unfortunately, pretty much every X-Men died and was replaced with a new cloned version during the Krakoan era. A large number of other major Marvel heroes have also died within the last few years and been replaced with clones. Cap, Iron Man, Black Widow, etc.

[Walking Wake]

Unfortunately, pretty much every X-Men died and was replaced with a new cloned version during the Krakoan era. A large number of other major Marvel heroes have also died within the last few years and been replaced with clones. Cap, Iron Man, Black Widow, etc.

I have to ask since I've only also just gotten caught up on all this horribleness from the past few years: Was the body that Wolverine killed a year ago "the" original 616 Hank body in a technical sense? As in, technically, it was the same body from Lee/Kirby all the way up to that issue? I remember from the last time I was regularly reading many, many years ago that Beast was one of the few mainline Marvel characters that had yet to die, but I wasn't keeping up post-Bendis. It's a bit depressing if that was how the original 616 Hank body went out, but I suppose pretty much every mainline character has bit the dust over the years and hopefully all this bleakness starts going away after this month.

[DurararaFTW]

I have to ask since I've only also just gotten caught up on all this horribleness from the past few years: Was the body that Wolverine killed a year ago "the" original 616 Hank body in a technical sense? As in, technically, it was the same body from Lee/Kirby all the way up to that issue? I remember from the last time I was regularly reading many, many years ago that Beast was one of the few mainline Marvel characters that had yet to die, but I wasn't keeping up post-Bendis. It's a bit depressing if that was how the original 616 Hank body went out, but I suppose pretty much every mainline character has bit the dust over the years and hopefully all this bleakness starts going away after this month.

His original body (Disregarding being snapped in and out existence in Infinity Guantlet and dying along with everyone else in Earth 616 in Secret Wars and then being okay again along with everyone else at the end of the event) died in X-Force #18, then he got resurrected by the Five afterwards. After Wolverine killed his resurrected self he died not get resurrected again, as he had the Cerebro Sword set too put his most recent mindscan into clone body already.

[Icefanatic]

I'm feeling pretty bummed now. What some posters said a few pages ago, that both of the Beasts active now are not the real ones, just clones, with the real one killed by Wolverine last year. So the real Beast is gone forever. I really hope the upcoming reboot is going to fix this, because I don't even feel like coming back here anymore.

Mungho, as a fan I have been where you are. Abject misery warring with elusive hope, and hoping just lifts you out of the hole high enough that when you fall again, you fall even deeper.

There use to be a saying in comics, that anyone could come back from the dead except Bucky and Uncle Ben, and then even Bucky came back. Beast is not gone forever.

We are in a weird time in comics, where a character's death long ago became all-but irrelevant; so now they raise the stakes to motivate fan interest not by threatening a character's life, but by threatening core aspects of who a character is as a person. And sadly it works. It has also driven a lot of fans away.

There is a lot wrong with a lot of characters, Beast is perhaps the most severe example of it. It has been that way since the Time-Displaces 05 showed up in the present, with clear differences in history and nature from the characters fans had read about for decades... and yet somehow they and the 'adult versions' we are reading about are the same people...

Hmm, that seems like a story...

I suggest worrying a lot less about clones of Beast(difficult as that may be) and maybe keep an eye out for X-Men Forever, because Jean is the one person now in the one place to notice all that is wrong, and with the power to do something about it...

[Walking Wake]

Man, I am still not prepared for the emotional one-two punch of X-Men 97's premiere on the 20th then the week after's final X-Force. I'm still dreading Percy giving the character a dour, miserable ending so I wish the dates were swapped so that we'd all at least have guaranteed nice cartoon Beast to end the month on.

His original body (Disregarding being snapped in and out existence in Infinity Guantlet and dying along with everyone else in Earth 616 in Secret Wars and then being okay again along with everyone else at the end of the event) died in X-Force #18, then he got resurrected by the Five afterwards. After Wolverine killed his resurrected self he died not get resurrected again, as he had the Cerebro Sword set too put his most recent mindscan into clone body already.

Ah right, by Sage yes. Speedrunning through the recent stuff was so depressing I've already started to willingly forget! Sucks that it was still under Percy's pen as his first "real" death, but I guess what does and doesn't count pre-X-Force depends on the person.

[SturdyMike89]

The cover to X-Men #35/Uncanny X-Men #700 shows good Beast as being part of the group. It also shows them together being a happy team working together so I have some hope.

[M@Bowers2014]

The cover to X-Men #35/Uncanny X-Men #700 shows good Beast as being part of the group. It also shows them together being a happy team working together so I have some hope.

Yeah a happy Beast with the rest of the team and a high flying Banshee makes this cover for me. Plus the amazing artwork by Pep Laraz. BUT it also shows lots of X villains happily parading with the rest of the heroes so I don't know if we take happy Beast as a sign of things to come or not. This cover is epic though and should definitely released as a poster.

[Mungho]

Yeah a happy Beast with the rest of the team and a high flying Banshee makes this cover for me. Plus the amazing artwork by Pep Laraz. BUT it also shows lots of X villains happily parading with the rest of the heroes so I don't know if we take happy Beast as a sign of things to come or not. This cover is epic though and should definitely released as a poster.

Yes, this one:



The Hank they just had to use was the bad gorilla-one. I'm going to forever associate those glasses with the bad one, since he wore them all the time during Percy's run (except the last year).

Here's a Hank on a recent beach themed cover:



I thought this was cool when I saw it on the cover art thread, but then someone said Hank was just looking for someone to murder.

YOU did this Percy!!!

[Hypestyle]

anybody ever put together a Beast cosplay? How did you go about it?