Henry McCoy was born a mutant with gargantuan hands and feet. He initially rejected his mutancy, and concocted a serum hoping to cure himself, but it was unsuccessful and resulted in his skin turning into blue fur. Hank was dubbed "Beast" and joined the X-Men.^[1] Hank was one of Charles Xavier's original students and a founding member of the X-Men.^[2]

X-Men[]

When the X-Men learned that the Mutant Control Agency had been supplying details of their registered mutants to the mutant-hunting Sentinels, they decided to break into the Agency's headquarters to destroy the files. During this raid, Morph was seemingly killed and Beast was arrested.^[3] Beast rebuffed an attempt by Magneto to rescue him, wishing to have his case tried in court, where he could convince humanity that mutants posed no threat to mankind. Beast got his day in court, but was denied bail. He resigned himself to his fate, and remained in prison, where his friends visited him as often as they could.^[4]

After the X-Men rescued the mutant-hating Senator Robert Kelly, first from an an assassin, and then from the Sentinels, he softened his stance on mutants, and had Beast pardoned.^[5]

Teaming Up with Spider-Man[]

Hank's former colleague, Herbert Landon, continued Hank's work on a cure and founded the Brand Corporation. However, it turned out that Landon's real intention was to destroy all mutants. He had Beast kidnapped and told him that he was to be first victim of the serum, although Wolverine and Spider-Man saved him.

While he was Landon's prisoner, Beast became friends with Landon's assistant Genevieve who eventually revealed herself to be a mutant telekinetic. She had joined Landon's employ because she had been desperate to find a cure for her mutancy, thinking of herself as a monster. Beast suspected as much, and helped her overcome her demons by promising to introduce her to Professor Xavier.

As it turned out, though, Landon had been so fixated on creating something harmful to mutants that he never bothered to learn what effects it would have on normal humans. When he accidentally came into contact with the serum, it turned him into a 30' mutate that absorbed energy and threatened the city, but the X-Men and Spider-Man teamed up to stop him.^[6]

Beauty and the Beast[]

Beast also worked as a medical researcher in a New York hospital, where he fell in love with one of his patients, Carly. Carly's father hated the idea of her having a relationship with a mutant and demanded that it cease when she was ready for surgery. When the Friends Of Humanity kidnapped Carly after her operation, Wolverine infiltrated their ranks and Beast went on a mad rampage, determined to save his love no matter the cost. After the X-Men rescued her, Beast told her that he couldn't see her any longer, as she was in constant danger around him. He told her he hoped he would be able to return to her when mutants and humans could live in peace together.^[7]

• Multilingual: In addition to English, Beast is also fluent in Russian.^[8]

Seemingly those of the Henry McCoy of Earth-616.

• George Buza voiced Beast in X-Men: The Animated Series, Spider-Man, and X-Men '97.
  • Buza later made a cameo appearance in the 2000 film X-Men as a trucker.