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In the past, Hank McCoy’s Beast was defined by the contrast between his feral exterior and the deep intelligence and compassion he held inside.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for X-Force #24, available now from Marvel Comics.
In the past, Hank McCoy’s Beast was defined by the contrast between his feral exterior and the deep intelligence and compassion he held inside. Throughout his long career with the X-Men, Beast proved time and time again that he was truly dedicated to achieving Charle Xavier’s dream of peaceful coexistence between humanity and mutants, even acting as the moral compass that led the team back onto the right path when they began to stray from it.
But after years of moral ambiguity, the mutant nation of Krakoa has shattered what remained of Beast’s innate kindness. Sinc taking over X-Force, Beast has had to make many difficult choices to protect mutantkind’s new homeland, and Hank to compromise his beliefs, which caused many of his closest friends to disown him out of disgust. X-Force #24 by Benjamin Percy, Martin Coccolo, Guru-eFX, VC’s Tom Carmagna, and Tom Muller further cements Beast’s new ruthlessness by showing that he is not only willing to kill his allies at a moments notice but that he’s even willing to mutilate himself it means preserving the perceived peace on Krakoa.
One of the most persistent and powerful threats that Krakoa has faced since its founding is the aggression of the Russian government. As one of the small handful of nations that have refused to acknowledge Krakoa as a sovereign nation, Russia has taken its animosity towards Krakoa a step further than its peers by launching a ruthless campaign of espionage and sabotage against the mutant nation, spearheaded by Colossus and Magik’s estranged older brother Mikhail Rasputin. During its most recent attack, the Russian-backed anti-mutant group Xeno released an army of “Russian Nesting Dolls,” biologically engineered soldiers housing a series of increasingly smaller clones inside of themselves. These agents were able to do serious damage to Krakoa during their time on the island, ultimately resulting in the Cerebro Sword falling into Mikhail’s hands. Upon discovering Mikhail’s involvement, Beast publically arrested and humiliated Colossus on suspicions of assisting his brother, outraging many of Beast’s oldest allies.
Like many of his other controversial actions, Beast justified his treatment of Colossus by insisting that it was for the good of Krakoa, revealing that his public display of cruelty was part of a plan to silence any potential moles on Krakoa. Beast’s insistence that all of his actions serve “the greater good” proves to be gruesomely ironic when Beast discovers that he has been infested with microscopic Nesting Dolls in X-Force #23 by Percy, Coccolo, Guru-eFX, Carmagna, Muller. Realizing that his infection could give Mikhail unlimited access to Krakoa’s secrets, Beast calls upon the former X-Men villain Black Tom for assistance.
Using his plant-based anatomy to create a miniature replica of himself, Black Tom enters Beast’s body and begins systemically killing the Dolls, which have multiplied across Beast’s body. The process proves to be agonizing to Beast, who struggles to remain conscious to give Black Tom instructions. Eventually, Black Tom manages to corner the dolls in Beast’s stomach, where he uses the remains of the salad Beast had for lunch to overwhelm and kill all the Dolls. After vomiting up Black Tom, a grateful Beast is horrified to discover that Black Tom appears to have a Doll on his face. Pulling out a scalpel, Beast prepares to attack Black Tom to prevent the spread of the Dolls before realizing at the last second that the Doll is inside of his eye. With little hesitation, Beast rips out and crushes his eye to kill the last remaining Doll.
Beast’s willingness to harm another mutant and mutilate himself highlights just how far Beast is willing to go to protect Krakoa. Unlike Mikhail, who has thrived in his role as Russia’s mutant spymaster, Beast has lost a fundamental part of himself to his role as Krakoa’s. Earlier in X-Force #23, Beast openly acknowledges how much he has changed after taking control of X-Force, noting that he is no longer the man his former teammates loved. However, he firmly states the if Krakoa is to survive, it needs a monster at the head of its defense, and he is more than willing to become dar scarier than his appearance if he can keep his home sage.
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