X-Men's current era will go out with a bang by replacing a founding member, as one of the five original mutants undergoes an irrevocable change.
Summary
- X-Men's current era is coming to a close, and a founding hero is being replaced for good.
- Over the last few years, a founding member has fallen to evil, becoming a despicable villain. Now, X-Force reveals a new version of the hero will be created.
- X-Force #49 is coming from Marvel Comics February 21, 2024.
Marvel's X-Force comic is officially replacing an iconic founding X-Men hero, and with the last person you expect. Over the last few years, Hank McCoy (aka the Beast) has undergone a horrifying transformation. Despite being the heart of the X-Men for years, Beast has lost his way, becoming a villain just as disgusting as the ones he used to fight. Now, X-Force are on a mission not just to kill the Beast, but to replace him.
In recently revealed solicit information from Marvel Comics, fans get a first look at X-Force #49. This issue will continue the comic's 'Target: Beast' storyline, in which X-Force attempt to kill off their former leader. However, in this issue, it appears they'll also be replacing the Beast... with himself.
WONDER MAN AND BEAST - THE DYNAMIC DUO RETURNS! In a simpler time, the bounding Beast partnered up with Avenger Wonder Man! But after Beast’s fall from grace, is there any chance these two can see eye to eye? In a last desperate attempt to take down Beast, witness the return of… Beast?!
When Beast officially broke away from the mutant nation of Krakoa, he left behind the stored memories of his time with the Avengers, apparently seeing no use for his former heroic life. Now, it appears a new version of Beast will be created to replace the corrupted Hank, likely using those memories to 'reset' the hero before his turn to darkness.
Since the beginning of the Krakoan Era in 2019, the X-Men have been able to resurrect fallen mutants using a complex cloning process that relies on stored memories. However, since 2023's Mutant Massacre, this capability has been offline, creating a minor mystery about how a new Beast could be created.
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Beast Is Replaced by Own Past Self
Over the course of the ongoing volume of X-Force, Beast has been corrupted by his leadership of X-Force. Beginning with pre-emptive strikes against potential competitor nations, Beast then progressed to outright assassinations and grotesque experiments on his fellow mutants, including the cloning of lobotomized versions of Wolverine. After his crimes were discovered, Beast took the new codename Beast-Prime and began working from an autonomous base, claiming to be fighting for mutant interests. However, Quentin Quire traveled back through time, warning X-Force that Beast would become a planetary despot in the future. X-Force dismantled Beast's plans, but the former hero escaped.
Now, it seems X-Force will rope Beast's former best friend Wonder Man into the mission to bring him down, and even recruit a new version of Beast from the height of his heroic era. It's clear that by the end of X-Men's Krakoan era (coming to a close in early 2024), the 'evil' Beast will have been replaced, however it's not clear by who. While X-Force's new, heroic Beast feels like the most likely contender, Marvel's upcoming Original X-Men has also revealed it will strand a teenage, time-lost version of one of the original X-Men in the future. Fans had assumed this would be a young Hank, giving him another chance at life, but X-Force's new Beast raises fresh questions. Either way, the original Beast is getting replaced - and almost certainly killed off in the landmark X-Force #50.
Is Marvel's New Beast a Clone... Or Something Weirder?
Skrull Beast Is the Perfect Replacement
It's likely that the new Beast will be a product of the X-Men's established Resurrection Protocols, however there is another possibility. In 2008's Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? by Brian Reed and Lee Weeks, a Skrull with Beast's memories was left living in the Savage Land after escaping Wonder Man. This Beast was a replica of Hank from his Avengers days, and Wonder Man knows he's still out there. It would be fun to see X-Force bring this loose plot thread back, replacing Hank with his own shapeshifting pretender.
However it's going to happen, the X-Men franchise just revealed it's replacing 'Beast-Prime' with a new version, as the last few years of X-Force comics have turned Hank McCoy from founding hero to despised villain.
X-Force #49 is coming from Marvel Comics February 21, 2024.
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Source: Marvel Comics
