Henry Phillip "Hank" McCoyBeast

A mutant with unusually large hands and feet, Hank McCoy is welcomed into the first class of X-Men as the Beast. Although self-experimentation further mutates Hank, giving him fur, fangs and claws, he eventually becomes one of the world’s foremost mutation experts, joining various X-teams and the Avengers.

A Whole Different Beast

While working at a nuclear power plant, Norton McCoy is exposed to massive amounts of radiation that affects his genes. As a result, Norton’s son, Henry Phillip, is born a mutant who shows from birth signs of being different in the form of unusually large hands and feet. As a youth, Hank’s peers ridicule his freakish appearance, earning him the nickname of “Beast;” however, classmate Jennifer Nyles comes to know the real Hank as he tutors her in biology. Jennifer insists that Hank accompany her to the junior prom as her date, and she stands up for him when he’s teased. She also encourages their high school’s football coach to give Hank a larger role in the team, and Hank’s superhuman athletic prowess eventually makes him a star football player. During one game, he easily stops a trio of robbers attempting an escape across the football field. This gets McCoy noticed by the super-criminal Conquistador, who kidnaps Hank’s parents in an effort to coerce the young mutant into working for him. The X-Men soon arrive and defeat the villain, and Professor Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X, invites Hank to join the team of teenage mutant heroes and enroll in his School for Gifted Youngsters. Unable to resist the temptation of a private institution that could offer him limitless academic opportunities, Hank accepts, adopting his old “Beast” nickname as his costumed alias. 

To preserve the X-Men’s secrecy, Xavier telepathically eliminates certain memories of Hank’s special abilities from the people of Hank’s hometown, including Hank’s best friend Jennifer, by now studying genetics at a London university. Unfortunately, due to the length of Hank and Jennifer’s relationship, suppressing her knowledge of Hank’s abilities requires suppressing her memories of Hank in general, ending their friendship. 

When a future version of Beast travels back in time, he convinces the original X-Men, including his past self, that he needed them to fix the future and save him from his secondary mutation. Hank and the others agreed and in the future, they soon learn that the adult Cyclops killed their mentor, Xavier, and adult Jean was dead. During this time, the young Jean accidentally learns that the adult Hank had feelings for her when they were young. Jean confronts the young Hank and they share a passionate kiss. Hank also helps his future self solve his health issue, stabilizing his condition. Jean leads the team and they choose to stay and help with the X-Men’s issues. The adult Kate Pryde oversees them and young Jean leads the team. When anti-mutant hysteria rises, the team separates and Hank goes on a road trip with X-Man Genesis and Oya, helping others around the world. Beast struggles to figure out how to get the group back home to their time, so he turns to magic. Thanks to Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, he finds success with the Third Eye of Horus. Though in his experimentations with the stone, he finds it tainted by Madelyne Pryor, AKA Gobin Queen’s demonic forces, but Hank banishes her and her army to Hell with a mystical upgrade. He soon finds out that he could travel through time but only within the timeline they inhabited, and informing the team, they realize they couldn’t get home. Though they soon end up in a time-traveling adventure where they discover the Brotherhood was impersonating them and should they ever go home, they’d have to return to the moment they left.

Soon, mutant hunter and time traveler Ahab threatened the young team with death and a dystopian future. The time-traveling Nathan Summers, AKA Cable, intervenes and helps them get back to their past as the older X-Men fight Ahab. Jean conceals Hank’s and everyone’s memories of their time in the future, only to resurface once they return home and close the time loop. 

Back in his own time and as an X-Man, he fights many foes including Max Eisenhardt, AKA Magneto, and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. When he encounters a group of mutant haters, Hank briefly quits the team and works as a professional wrestler. One of his opponents is fellow mutant Unus the Untouchable who joins the Brotherhood. Hank returns to the X-Men to help defeat the Brotherhood. Hank soon meets librarian Vera Cantor and the pair begin dating.

Hank eventually completes his doctoral studies while under Xavier’s tutelage, and finally graduates from Xavier’s to join the Brand Corporation as a genetic researcher under Dr. Carl Maddicks. McCoy also starts dating Maddicks’ assistant Linda Donaldson. During one of his experiments, Hank discovers the hormonal extract that causes genetic mutation and goes to inform Maddicks of his findings; however, he discovers Maddicks secretly plotting with Linda, an agent of the subversive Secret Empire, to steal top secret government documents, and Hank takes it upon himself to stop Maddicks. To disguise himself, McCoy takes the hormonal extract and undergoes radical physical changes that enhance his agility and strength, as well as causing him to grow fangs, pointed ears and gray fur all over his body, though the fur soon changed to a bluish-black color. Staying too long in this state, Hank finds he could not return to his original form. He initially tries to hide his mutation with a latex mask, gloves and a harness, but learns to accept his new appearance.

Intellect and Beastly Prowess

The Beast possesses superhuman strength, enabling him to lift up to 10 tons, as well as superhuman agility, endurance and speed. He has the agility of an ape and the acrobatic prowess of an accomplished circus aerialist. His physiology is durable enough to allow him to survive a three story fall by landing on his feet without suffering any broken bones or sprains. The Beast’s legs are powerful enough to enable him to leap 32' high, 50’'in a standing broad jump, and he can also run on all fours at approximately 40 miles per hour for short sprints. The Beast can crawl up brick walls by wedging his fingers and toes into the smallest cracks and applying a vise-like grip on them, as well as walk a tightrope with minimal effort. He is adept in performing complicated sequences of gymnastics such as flips, rolls and springs, and can also walk on his hands for many hours. Further, his manual and pedal dexterity are so great that he can perform multiple tasks such as writing with both hands at once or tying knots in rope with his toes. The Beast has enhanced senses, can secrete pheromones to attract members of the opposite sex, and has a healing factor that allows him to regenerate from minor wounds and recover quickly from minor ailments such as colds. The Beast also possesses cat-like night vision, as well as razor-sharp claws on his hands and feet.

A globally recognized expert on mutations and evolutionary biology, McCoy has extensive knowledge of genetics, biochemistry and various other scientific fields. When he drinks catalyst AZ-3194-T, he gains much of Earth-295’s Henry McCoy, AKA Dark Beast’s knowledge and experience. 

He is fluent in German, Latin, Spanish, Japanese and Russian and other languages, well-versed in literature, history, philosophy, art and music, and is also an accomplished keyboard player.

Menaces

As an X-Man, Hank fights menaces such as Magneto, his Brotherhood of Mutants, Cain Marko, AKA Juggernaut, the Sentinels, Factor Three and others. 

During his Avengers stint, Hank battled foes such as Eliot Franklin, AKA Griffin, Attuma’s Atlantean army, Franklin Hall, AKA Graviton, Eric Williams, AKA Grim Reaper, Super-Adaptoid, Typhon, the Lethal Legion, Count Luchino Nefaria, AKA Count Nefaria, Ultron, Phillip Sterling, AKA Death-Stalker, Killer Shrike, Stephen Weems, AKA Modular Man, Stinger, Unicorn, Arsenal Beta, AKA Arsenal, Ulysses Klaw, AKA Klaw, Carl Creel, AKA Absorbing Man, Chthon, the Elements of Doom, Paul Duval, AKA Grey Gargoyle, Taskmaster, Red Ronin, the Crawlers, the Plan Tzu, AKA Yellow Claw, Pyron the Thermal Man, Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk, the Shadow-Lord, the Berserker, Mesmero, Magneto and others. 

X-Men & Avenger Allies 

Beast fights Super Villains alongside fellow X-Men founders Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, Warren Worthington III, AKA Angel, Bobby Drake, AKA Iceman, and Jean Grey, AKA Marvel Girl.

He later joins the Avengers as a full-fledged member. When working alongside the Avengers, Beast sometimes goes solo or teams up with heroes like Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, Bob Frank, AKA Whizzer, Mar-Vell, AKA Captain Marvel, the Champions, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Carol Danvers, AKA Ms. Marvel, and Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil. He also stayed in touch with the X-Men, aiding the team on occasion, and once fought alongside his old foe Magneto to save the world from Victor Von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom.  

Beast takes an early liking to longtime Avengers ally Simon Williams, AKA Wonder Man, who later officially joins the team. Hank helps Simon regain full consciousness when he returns from the dead, designs a short-lived new costume for Williams, and gradually befriends the moody ionic strongman. Despite or because of their sharply differing personalities, the merrily outgoing Beast and the quietly thoughtful Wonder Man form a close, lasting friendship that endures to this day. 

When not helping the X-Men and the Avengers, Beast helps other teams become official, like X-Factor and The Defenders. He even teams up with the Fantastic Four. He later joins the Sentient Worlds Observation and Response Department (S.W.O.R.D.), an espionage agency that handles extraterrestrial affairs under director Abigail Brand, and they start dating during his time there.

A Scientist’s Report

Earning his doctorate in genetics and becoming a world-renowned expert on mutations and evolutionary human biology, Hank left Brand and applied to join the Avengers. Initially accepted as a probationary applicant alongside arrogant telepath Heather Douglas, AKA Moondragon, he quickly proved himself during battles with Mortimer Toynbee, AKA Toad, David Cannon, AKA Whirlwind, the Squadron Supreme and the Brand Corporation’s corrupt leadership, soon achieving full membership. Over the course of these adventures, he also helped his one-time ally Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat, become an Avengers reservist. Amidst battling many Avenger foes, he becomes a staunch friend and ally to Avenger Wonder Man.

Hank later reunited with his old flame Vera, but an alien Skrull poisoned her, forcing Beast to seek the life-restoring Resurrection Stone. Journeying into the past, Hank and the Avengers obtained the Stone; however, realizing its power was too great, Beast destroyed it. Beast’s teammates helped him rescue Vera, but she remained in a near-death state. Soon after, Hank left the Avengers to resume his scientific career.

After Reed Richards, AKA Mister Fantastic, of the Fantastic Four and Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, failed to cure Vera, Strange’s ally the Son of Satan Daimon Hellstrom, AKA Hellstorm, finally restored her to full health. 

Beast subsequently joined Strange’s loosely-organized Defenders team, including Hank’s old ally Hellcat, and fought menaces such as the demonic Six-Fingered Hand, the Secret Empire, Amora, AKA Enchantress, Nebulon the Celestial Man and his wife Supernalia (who pitted the Avengers and Defenders against each other), Miracle Man and Null the Living Darkness, whom they fought alongside the Squadron Supreme. 

Hank also teamed up with Spider-Man against Professor Power during this period. Gradually frustrated by the Defenders’ loose-knit nature, Beast began lobbying to make the group a more official team, like the Avengers. The eventual result was a formal full-time Defenders roster consisting of Beast, Isaac Christians, AKA Gargoyle, Samantha Parrington, AKA Valkyrie, and several new recruits: unstable ex-Avenger Moondragon and Hank’s old X-Men teammates Iceman and Angel, later joined by sentient nebula Cloud and Atlantean warrior Andromeda. The new team fought foes such as the Secret Empire and the Dragon of the Moon, an evil cosmic entity linked to Moondragon, who ultimately turned against the team under its influence. Meanwhile, Beast continued to date Vera, adopted a cute little dog named Sassafras and began moonlighting as a college lecturer, though inept amateur Super Hero Eugene Patillio, AKA Frog-Man, and novice Super Villain the Walrus helped spoil Hank’s lecturing debut.

Following the apparent death of multiple Defenders during a battle with the Dragon of the Moon, the group disbanded. Hank reunited with the other four original X-Men to form X-Factor, an organization that publicly posed as mutant hunters while secretly working to aid mutants. Shortly after X-Factor’s formation, Carl Maddicks captured Hank to experiment on him, seeking a “cure” for his son Artie’s own mutancy; however, while the serum Hank was given caused him to revert to his original human appearance, he retained his basic mutant abilities. Maddicks had conducted his experiments without the knowledge or consent of his new Ryan Bio-Chemical employers, and he sacrificed his life to buy time for Artie, Hank and X-Factor to escape while Ryan security forces stormed his lab. The orphaned Artie became an X-Factor trainee alongside fellow young mutants Rusty Collins, Sally Blevins, AKA Skids, Leech, Tabitha Smith, AKA Boom-Boom, and Julio Esteban Richter, AKA Rictor, all mentored by Beast and the other senior X-Factor members. By this time, the previously prim and proper Vera was going through a free-spirited bohemian phase, gradually drifting away from Hank. During this same period, Beast first met television anchorwoman Trish Tilby, who was investigating X-Factor. 

When the eternal mutant Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen attacked New York, the Horseman Plague infected Beast with a virus that sapped his intellect and increased his strength every time he exerted himself physically. The more Hank used his strength, the stronger he got, but the less intelligent he became. Later, to save his friend Iceman from the deadly kiss of the mutant Infectia, Hank intervened and was himself infected; this returned him to his blue-furred form and restored his intellect, though his physical strength remained somewhat greater than before. Soon after, Hank and Trish Tilby began seeing each other romantically, though her work often undermined their relationship. Hank was briefly reunited with Vera Cantor (now a schoolteacher) when Infectia’s agent Mesmero tried to use Cantor against Beast, but Vera helped Beast defeat Mesmero and parted with Hank on friendly terms. Hank had a more traumatic reunion with his old high school flame Jennifer Nyles (now a leading genetics researcher) when her backer Lieutenant-Commander Guillaume Courage tricked her into aiding his world conquest plans using techno-organic technology. Beast reawakened Jennifer’s memories of him, foiled Courage’s plans with the reluctant aid of super-criminals Constrictor and the Red Ghost, and used Courage’s techno-organic technology to heal Nyles after Courage shot her. Dr. Nyles survived, though she and Hank parted as friends after declaring their long-unspoken love for each other.

After X-Factor disbanded, Beast rejoined the X-Men and became the team’s resident technological and medical genius, studying everything from advanced alien technology to the mutant-killing Legacy Virus. He continued his on-again, off-again relationship with Trish until she released information on the Virus to the public, causing hysteria that culminated in a young mutant’s fatal beating, for which Hank blamed Trish. Later, Hank was trapped and replaced in the X-Men’s ranks by his alternate Earth-295 (“Age of Apocalypse”) counterpart the Dark Beast. Sealed behind a brick wall, Hank was nearly about to give up and accept his fate when his water tube broke, the liquid revealing the grooves of a trap door in his cell. Re-energized, Beast broke his restraints and escaped. Hank returned to the X-Men in time to aid them against the powerful psionic monster Onslaught. After the battle, Hank met with Trish and apologized for his previous harsh treatment of her; she forgave him and the pair renewed their relationship. McCoy also kept close ties with the Avengers, particularly Wonder Man. He occasionally accompanied the Avengers on missions, though he declined to resume his status as an active member, preferring to remain with the X-Men.

Hank did eventually take an extended leave of absence from the X-Men to seek a cure for the Legacy Virus, which he ultimately discovered partially thanks to the work of his late colleague Moira MacTaggert, among others. Soon after, Beast joined Storm’s team of X-Men in their quest for late mutant seer Irene Adler, AKA Destiny’s diaries. Almost killed in the team’s first battle with the swordsman Vargas, Hank was saved by his teammate Tessa, who used a heretofore-unseen power to accelerate his mutation to a new level. McCoy returned to Xavier’s mansion to recuperate and mutated further, becoming bulkier, heavier and more lionesque in appearance. Forced to relearn fine motor control over his body, Beast once again served as the team’s resident scientist, as well as an active teacher of dozens of young mutants at the renamed Xavier Institute of Higher Learning. Unable to deal with his latest mutation, Trish called Hank and ended their relationship over the phone. Soon after, he was beaten into a coma by a student possessed by Xavier’s malevolent twin Cassandra Nova, who herself had possessed Xavier’s body. Hank recovered in time to expose Nova’s plans, and Cassandra was ultimately defeated. After fellow X-Man Emma Frost was shot while in her diamond form, Hank refused to believe her dead and painstakingly reassembled her shattered form’s pieces, which Jean Grey then telekinetically fused back together. When Cyclops and Emma took over as headmasters of the Institute, Hank remained as a member of the school’s senior staff, also operating as part of Cyclops’ restructured X-Men field team. Following the announcement of a “cure” for mutation developed by Dr. Kavita Rao, Hank considered taking it so he could once again appear human, but his teammate James Howlett/Logan, AKA Wolverine, talked him out of it.

Following the events of “M-Day,” when most of the world’s mutants lost their powers, the remaining mutants—who had banded together as the 198 under government supervision—escaped their confinement; Beast reunited with his surviving original X-Men teammates in an effort to prevent mutant policeman and former X-Man Lucas Bishop, AKA Bishop, and the Office of National Emergency (O*N*E) Sentinels from recapturing the 198, then subsequently joined with Bishop to help save the 198 from the machinations of mutant-hating O*N*E commander General Lazer. After the passing of the Superhuman Registration Act, Hank assisted the federal 50 States Initiative program as an advisor. He subsequently learned that “M-Day” had caused the mutant gene to be erased altogether and he became obsessed with finding a cure, working with heroes and villains alike through means ranging from scientific to magical, all without success. He then  begrudgingly agreed to work with Dark Beast. He imbibed Dark Beast’s “liquid memory” to gain knowledge of his unethical experiments to expedite their research, but ended the partnership after Dark Beast experimented on Lewis Guthrie, brother of X-Men Sam Guthrie, AKA Cannonball, and Paige Guthrie, AKA Husk. Later, Hank personally buried 6000 mutant victims of the clandestine anti-mutant Weapon X program discovered during his search for M-Day’s reversal. 

After the X-Men relocated to San Francisco, Cyclops sought a “doomsday” weapon to protect the city from invading Skrulls. Despite his reservations, Hank adapted the mutant-killing Legacy virus to Skrull physiology; Cyclops unleashed the virus, and the Skrulls died refusing the antivirus. Resuming the search for M-Day’s cure, Hank recruited scientific experts, including Rao, into the X-Men’s science team (“X-Club”). Captured by corrupt businessman Norman Osborn, AKA Green Goblin’s troops during a riot, Hank was subjected to Dark Beast’s Omega Machine and experimented upon. After being freed, Hank was furious with Cyclops for not rapidly rescuing him and making questionable decisions, such as the secret establishment of the lethal X-Force strike team and welcoming arch-enemy Magneto to the X-Men. Hank quit the team, ended his long friendship with Cyclops, and joined S.W.O.R.D., where he helped his girlfriend Abigail Brand fight invading Drenx aliens and foil Osborn-appointed Henry Peter Gyrich’s plan to deport all aliens from Earth. 

As one of the world’s “eight smartest men,” Hank assisted fellow geniuses in various crises revolving around the Hulk. Hank briefly returned to the X-Men during anti-mutant Bastion’s war on mutants, but soon re-joined the Avengers, participating in a covert faction dubbed the Secret Avengers and led by Steve Rogers (formerly Captain America) to protect the world from hidden threats. When the alien Brood threatened S.W.O.R.D. and infected Brand, Beast recruited X-Men familiar with the Brood to confront them and rescue Brand.

When the Phoenix Force threatened to return to Earth, Beast joined the Avengers to confront the entity on the Moon where it broke into five pieces and inhabited mutants Cyclops, Emma Frost, Illyana Rasputin, AKA Magik, Namor McKenzie, AKA Namor the Sub-Mariner, and Piotr Rasputin, AKA Colossus. Though the Phoenix Five attempted to make the world a better place, Hank and the Avengers didn’t trust the entity and soon witnessed the Phoenix-possessed Namor nearly destroy Wakanda among other terrible acts, proving them correct. When the Phoenix-possessed Cyclops killed Xavier, Hope Summers intervened, taking control of the Phoenix entity and reversed the effects that M-Day had on mutantkind.

When Xavier died, Beast’s memory revealed his inherited membership into the Illuminati, a secret organization that shaped the superhuman world and protected Earth. The position came with responsibility over the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity Gems. 

Meanwhile, Beast soon started to mutate further which would result in his death while Cyclops was leading a mutant revolution. He time-traveled to his younger self and the original X-Men seeking their help with both problems. He brought them forward to the present day in hopes that Cyclops would turn a corner seeing his younger self and the young Hank helped survive his mutation issue, though he became even more ape-like in appearance. Ultimately, the X-Men weren’t all together pleased with Beast’s choice to bring the original team forward in time, and in an intervention, Beast didn’t handle the scrutiny very well. Despite Cyclops bringing the mutant revolution to a close in a peaceful way, Beast couldn’t abide by their ungrateful behavior and departed the team once again.

From the Illuminati, he soon learned about the incursions, where alternate universes would collide with Earth. Beast helped the Illuminati avert such events by destroying a world that would end them.    

When a final incursion threatened Earth, Beast turned to his younger self for advice as he felt conflicted with the Illuminati’s decision. The young Hank had trouble wrapping his mind around it and then shouted at his older self for bringing him and the other young X-Men forward to a time when the world would end. He also asked his older self when it was that he had lost his way, leaving Beast with a lot to think about. The Illuminati decided they couldn’t let another world die but it was too late as Namor betrayed them by releasing several of their prisoners, and formed The Cabal to destroy worlds. Captain America soon found out about the Illuminati and started hunting them all down. Beast went on the lam and hid in Nation X, Cyclops’ sanctuary. Beast soon revealed the Illuminati’s secrets to Roberto Da Costa, AKA Sunspot, to help with the man-hunt and ending The Cabal. The Illuminati couldn’t avert the final incursion, so they built a life raft to usher themselves, including Beast and others, away from the event, but they got caught in it and Beast along with several others perished. The Multiverse was later restored and Beast along with it.

When Terrigen Mist was released on Earth, it was at first inert but it soon resulted in M-Pox, a disease that was toxic to mutants. Storm secured mutants away in Limbo and recruited Beast to help the Inhumans find a cure. Despite his best efforts, no cure could be made. He suggested to key mutant leaders that they leave Earth and start anew but they were already planning a war with the Inhumans. Beast attempted to warn the Inhumans but Storm had him locked up. Medusalith Boltagon, AKA Medusa, Queen of the Inhumans, ended up destroying the Terrigen cloud and exposed Emma Frost’s plot to mislead the mutants, thus ending the conflict between the two races. Beast, though he blamed himself, he was released from imprisonment and rejoined the X-Men.

While Beast was teaching at Harvard, his old friend Alex Summers, AKA Havok, attempted to recruit him to his new team of X-Men. Beast corrected him that Kitty Pryde owned the rights to the team, having inherited after Charles died. Their disagreement that followed was interrupted by cyborg killers, the Reavers, who attacked, targeting Beast. Beast unleashed Sean Cassidy, AKA Banshee, who had been resurrected by Apocalypse’s Death Seed and suffered uncontrollable behavior. While Banshee held the Reavers at bay, James Proudstar, AKA Warpath, joined the fight, having been sent by Pryde to keep an eye on Summers. Together, they defeated the Reavers, and their growing team soon added Alison Blaire, AKA Dazzler, and Colossus, though Banshee was in the wind. Meanwhile, Beast discovered that the Reavers were federal agents known as O*N*E and while overseen by Colonel Callahan, Donald Pierce was their field leader. Beast lost his job at the University due to the destruction, so he offered himself and his scientific background to Callahan to keep an eye on O*N*E. With his access, he found that O*N*E’s new project was a new batch of Sentinels that attacked him and the team. The Reavers joined the fray and interfaced with the Sentinels, launching an all-out attack on the “X-Men”. The team seemingly died thanks to Dazzler who created versions of them out of light, allowing them a clandestine escape. Beast soon realized that the real X-Men were under attack by the Sentinels so the crew joined the fight. Banshee arrived as well and while Dazzler took in all of Banshee’s screams, she used the sound she absorbed against the Sentinels to defeat them. Kitty offered Beast a position on the official X-Men team, and in need of a lab to help Banshee recover from his ordeal, accepted, but Banshee refused the kind offer and returned to the wind. Havok turned himself over to the government to secure his crew’s escape, who were now considered fugitives.

Hank, along with many other mutants, was soon unwillingly part of Nate Grey, AKA X-Man’s new reality where Xavier’s dream was realized and mutants lived in a kind of utopia. In this new world, no one remembered their real lives, intimate relationships were banned, and Beast was a feral prisoner leading a gang. Though he soon helped fellow inmate Bishop with issues within the prison and started remembering his original life. Finally discovering the truth about their reality, Beast and other mutants escaped and in confronting X-Man, convinced him to restore their world.

Beast soon assisted the returned Professor X and Magneto with establishing the sovereign island nation state of Krakoa, a safe haven for all mutants where resurrection was possible for all fallen mutants. He soon led X-Force, which became Krakoa’s intelligence arm. His new role created an obsessive need to protect Krakoa and he went to immoral lengths to do so, from creating a secret space station prison and using the inmates as lab rats, to secretly killing Wolverine, so that Hank could resurrect him with a primal mind. Beast used Wolverine as his own private assassin, sending him on missions so clandestine that they were unknown to the rest of X-Force. Though Wolverine escaped, regaining his memories in Krakoa’s pit. Wolverine captured and killed Beast, but Beast had a contingency plan. Under the ocean in a secret mobile lab in the form of a plant-based kaiju, Beast auto-resurrected himself into a new body and created dozens of clones of himself and Wolverine, equipped with controlling collars, to carry out his mission of protecting Krakoa at all costs. He dubbed his clone organization Weapons of X. When he saw a passing submarine from the United Nations, he directed his kaiju to rip it apart without a thought for the lives contained within.

Beast had also captured Wolverine’s trusted ally, C.I.A. agent Jeff Bannister, and used him as a bargaining chip with Wolverine for a prisoner exchange. While making the exchange with Wolverine, X-Force infiltrated Beast’s kaiju headquarters and killed every Beast clone they could find. Wolverine and his “prisoner” released the clone Wolverines from their controlling collars and they took out the remaining Beast clones. Despite destroying the kaiju headquarters along with all clones, three Wolverines escaped as did Beast Prime with the Cerebro sword.