X-Force #48 - Preview

[Frontier]

Can't wait for classic Beast to come back .

[Mungho]

Wait, how did I miss that? When (title and issue please ) did Hank learn Dark Magic from Madelyne Pryor?

I believe it was X-Men Blue #10-12.

Can't wait for classic Beast to come back .

Me too! Almost there!

[Kurolegacy]

Wait, how did I miss that? When (title and issue please ) did Hank learn Dark Magic from Madelyne Pryor?

X-Men Blue from a few years ago.

[yogaflame]

Can't wait for classic Beast to come back .

Me too. I always say that TAS had the best versions of Beast and Apocalypse, not the comics. (The most recent work with Apocalypse has been somewhat compelling, especially by Lord Ewing, but Beast? Oh dear!)



I hope classic Beast can come back in the comics, at least as well as is possible! Evil Beast has been hard to witness; Percy went too far!

[Mungho]

Me too. I always say that TAS had the best versions of Beast and Apocalypse, not the comics. (The most recent work with Apocalypse has been somewhat compelling, especially by Lord Ewing, but Beast? Oh dear!)



I hope classic Beast can come back in the comics, at least as well as is possible! Evil Beast has been hard to witness; Percy went too far!

I hate to admit this, but I've only watched a little of the TAS, I think from season 2. It wasn't on air where I lived at the time, and well time got away from me. The last few years when I got back into X-Men I've used my extra money to buy collected editions of the comics. Another reason I didn't get the DVD later on was I heard that Hank barely appeared at all in the 1st season because the network executives hated him. I thought why should I spend money on their stuff when they were perfectly willing to exclude one of the O5 X-Men? So, is that true, he didn't appear in the first season at all?

Also, since the Hank that's coming back will only have his memories up to the Avengers, how old would that make the returned Hank? Like, how old was he when he joined the Avengers (if it is even known)? I know he canonically celebrated his 30th Birthday in 92, and he must have been in his early 20's sometime when he joined, but what about when he left?

Edit: Wait, I'm assuming they'll revive his body at the same age as his memories. I can imagine it being quite a shock to wake up in a 35-year-old body and see this group of unfamiliar people tell you that another 'you' has been doing horrible things.

[H-E-D]

I love Percy's Beast. First writer since, i think, Bendis? that written a recognizable Beast for me.

[numberthirty]

How is locking Beast out of the system not the very first thing that you do?

They almost deserve to whatever the worst case scenario here is.

[yogaflame]

I hate to admit this, but I've only watched a little of the TAS, I think from season 2. It wasn't on air where I lived at the time, and well time got away from me. The last few years when I got back into X-Men I've used my extra money to buy collected editions of the comics. Another reason I didn't get the DVD later on was I heard that Hank barely appeared at all in the 1st season because the network executives hated him. I thought why should I spend money on their stuff when they were perfectly willing to exclude one of the O5 X-Men? So, is that true, he didn't appear in the first season at all?

Also, since the Hank that's coming back will only have his memories up to the Avengers, how old would that make the returned Hank? Like, how old was he when he joined the Avengers (if it is even known)? I know he canonically celebrated his 30th Birthday in 92, and he must have been in his early 20's sometime when he joined, but what about when he left?

Edit: Wait, I'm assuming they'll revive his body at the same age as his memories. I can imagine it being quite a shock to wake up in a 35-year-old body and see this group of unfamiliar people tell you that another 'you' has been doing horrible things.

Beast wasn't going to be included in TAS originally(neither was Jean), but as the show developed more, rather late in the game, they decided to add them both, but that does explain why he was used sparingly in the first season(yes, he gets captured in the second episode and is in jail the entire season, only freed in the epilogue of the season finale). Even still, he makes a big impression every time he makes an appearance, even in that first season. I'd say he really had a great role in the "Obsession" episode, which kinda interprets his X-Factor days in his interactions with Apocalypse's AI Ship. If you haven't seen TAS in it's entirety, I would look into that. With Disney Plus you can stream all the episodes, and there are plenty of other routes possible. It's not perfect by any means, but it's really good. And with Beast, you can clearly see the writers love him. He gets great dialog quoting all this literature. I excited for you to see what you've missed!

As for Hank's age, I mean, yes, back in the early 90's, Beast kinda alludes to almost turning 30, but I'd take that with a grain of salt. It gets weird because time was moving in almost real time in the oldest comics in the 60's/70's, but now the sliding timeline makes it so that the entirety of the team's history is barely more than 10 years. Beast was a senior in high school when he was abducted by the Conquistador, and later saved and recruited by the X-Men, so even to this day he should barely be 28 or 29. He was the oldest of the original team, but Bobby was explicitly aged at 16, implying Jean/Angel/Scott to be like 17 or so, leaving Hank to be 18 or 19, so there is barely a difference in their ages, despite Bobby often being portrayed as a kid and Hank some wizened old man. Different writers and editors and fans will all argue the details of this, so to each their own, but Hickman reinforced the 10 year timeline in his HoX/PoX opening, so I'd say it's pretty well defined. You can think of Hank being anywhere from his late 20's to mid 30's. He joined the Avengers back in the 70's, so he still would have been pretty young then, but surely his Cerebro back ups would have been consistently updated well through the 90's when he was still characterized as the fun bouncy Beast who was besties with Wonder Man, so I wouldn't sweat the details too much.

[Nicoclaws]

Yeah, but if they go with my 'lost soul' idea, how long has this been a soulless Beast? Back to when he first brought the O5 to the future? Further back?

When he got tortured by Osborne ? That was the beginning of the end for him.

[DurararaFTW]

I hate to admit this, but I've only watched a little of the TAS, I think from season 2. It wasn't on air where I lived at the time, and well time got away from me. The last few years when I got back into X-Men I've used my extra money to buy collected editions of the comics. Another reason I didn't get the DVD later on was I heard that Hank barely appeared at all in the 1st season because the network executives hated him. I thought why should I spend money on their stuff when they were perfectly willing to exclude one of the O5 X-Men? So, is that true, he didn't appear in the first season at all?

Also, since the Hank that's coming back will only have his memories up to the Avengers, how old would that make the returned Hank? Like, how old was he when he joined the Avengers (if it is even known)? I know he canonically celebrated his 30th Birthday in 92, and he must have been in his early 20's sometime when he joined, but what about when he left?

Edit: Wait, I'm assuming they'll revive his body at the same age as his memories. I can imagine it being quite a shock to wake up in a 35-year-old body and see this group of unfamiliar people tell you that another 'you' has been doing horrible things.

He didn't appear much, but his willful imprisonment, turning down Magneto even he came to break Beast out was a great statement for what his character was about.

[Frobisher]

No. He's a brain in a jar. This is regular beast who was made overtly evil so they can reset him to the movie version for synergy

Which one? The MAGA Beast from the end of The Marvels?

[DurararaFTW]

Which one? The MAGA Beast from the end of The Marvels?

The one at the end of Marvels it what they are likely aiming for, yeah.

[Triniking1234]

Calling Beast MAGA cuz of his actor is just mean as what Percy did to him.

[Mungho]

Beast wasn't going to be included in TAS originally(neither was Jean), but as the show developed more, rather late in the game, they decided to add them both, but that does explain why he was used sparingly in the first season(yes, he gets captured in the second episode and is in jail the entire season, only freed in the epilogue of the season finale). Even still, he makes a big impression every time he makes an appearance, even in that first season. I'd say he really had a great role in the "Obsession" episode, which kinda interprets his X-Factor days in his interactions with Apocalypse's AI Ship. If you haven't seen TAS in it's entirety, I would look into that. With Disney Plus you can stream all the episodes, and there are plenty of other routes possible. It's not perfect by any means, but it's really good. And with Beast, you can clearly see the writers love him. He gets great dialog quoting all this literature. I excited for you to see what you've missed!

Ugh, my boy imprisoned the whole season?! Well, I guess I could check it out. Strange they didn't include Jean at first as well. You'd think an attractive red-headed superheroine would be a sure thing to include.

As for Hank's age, I mean, yes, back in the early 90's, Beast kinda alludes to almost turning 30, but I'd take that with a grain of salt. It gets weird because time was moving in almost real time in the oldest comics in the 60's/70's, but now the sliding timeline makes it so that the entirety of the team's history is barely more than 10 years. Beast was a senior in high school when he was abducted by the Conquistador, and later saved and recruited by the X-Men, so even to this day he should barely be 28 or 29. He was the oldest of the original team, but Bobby was explicitly aged at 16, implying Jean/Angel/Scott to be like 17 or so, leaving Hank to be 18 or 19, so there is barely a difference in their ages, despite Bobby often being portrayed as a kid and Hank some wizened old man. Different writers and editors and fans will all argue the details of this, so to each their own, but Hickman reinforced the 10 year timeline in his HoX/PoX opening, so I'd say it's pretty well defined. You can think of Hank being anywhere from his late 20's to mid 30's. He joined the Avengers back in the 70's, so he still would have been pretty young then, but surely his Cerebro back ups would have been consistently updated well through the 90's when he was still characterized as the fun bouncy Beast who was besties with Wonder Man, so I wouldn't sweat the details too much.

I see. I tend to overthink and overanalyze things, no matter what they are. It's just comics, you know, don't sweat the details, like you said.

Which one? The MAGA Beast from the end of The Marvels?

Calling Beast MAGA cuz of his actor is just mean as what Percy did to him.

I agree. I wonder if Percy made Hank evil just because the character was associated with a republican actor.

[Mungho]

When he got tortured by Osborne ? That was the beginning of the end for him.

I don't remember that, when did that happen?