01 June 2011

Onscreen History of Beast

Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy better known simply as Beast first appeared in 1963's X-Men #1 along side other founding X-Men Marvel Girl Jean Grey, Cyclops, Angel, and Iceman. Although he was originally just acrobatic and strong, Beast later developed a much more beastly appearance.


Beast's onscreen debut occurred in 1966 during an episode of The Sub-Mariner that ran as part of The Marvel Super Heroes animated series. Although the series primarily adapted stories directly from the page to screen, the X-Men filled in for the Fantastic Four during this particular adaptation.


A still hairless Beast next appeared briefly during a flashback of The Origin of Iceman, a second season episode of the 1981 Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends series.


Finally blue and ready for business, Beast was a main player in the 1992 X-Men animated series. Unfortunately, Hank spent most of the first season locked away in prison.

In 1995, the Beast from the X-Men series made a crossover appearance along with his fellow X-Men on a two-part tale during the Spider-Man animated series.

Although Beast did not appear during the disastrous 1999 Avengers: United They Stand series, a portrait of the furry fellow could be spotted by eagle eyed viewers in the Remnants episode.

Dr. McCoy's transformation into the perma-Beast was one of the plot elements of the animated X-Men Evolution series in 2000.

While originally the intention was for Beast to be included in the first live-action X-Men movie, his character was cut out. When X2: X-Men United premiered in 2003, even though Beast was still not included in the cast, fans were treated to a Easter Egg in which the mutant scientist was briefly seen on television advocating for mutants.

Oh my stars and garters! Finally, in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, Beast got an official onscreen treatment fighting along side his former X-Men teammates.

Beast was once again spotted in the 2008 Wolverine and the X-Men series. In this series, Beast took a leading role, second only to Wolverine as the leader of the reformed X-Men team.

The X-Men Anime series which is set to debut in the US later in 2011 also features Beast, notably combining a more feline take on the character seen in more recent comics with the traditional simian form.

2011's X-Men: First Class will present the transformation of Beast from simple nerd to full blue form for the first time in live action.

By movie's end, Beast will have transformed into the lovable and refined hairball that we all know and love - set to steal the show in potential Wolverineless sequels.

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