X-Men Gives an Original Team Member the Ultimate Dark Evolution – Screen Rant

Warning: SPOILERS for X-Force #42!Throughout their uncanny publication history, the Marvel Comics heroes known as the X-Men have seen their fair share of dark timelines and more than their fair share of corrupted team members. From the Dark Phoenix to Archangel, the House of Ideas Merry Mutants have watched countless teammates and friends give in to their dark sides through alternate timelines, mind control, or simple character evolution. But a new version of one of the founding X-Men is the darkest evolution of all.

X-Force #40-42 by Benjamin Percy, Paul Davidson, Robert Gill, and GURU-eFX finds the titular team roped by their former teammate Quentin Quire into traveling into Marvel's future to topple the dark machinations of Hank McCoy aka the Beast. As the team work backwards from the far future to the present, fans see how Beast will evolve as thousands of years pass - becoming first a deadly mutant/Sentinel hybrid, then a living moon who controls an army of plant-based clones, and finally 'the God of All Mutants' in a post-apocalyptic future. Fans have seen X-Men fall before, but never so far.

Related: X-Men Officially Gives an Original Member a Horrifying New Codename

Over the course of the Krakoan Age, fans have watched the formerly Bouncing Beast spiraling down a dark path that has made him one of the X-Mens greatest villains. Tasked with safeguarding the mutant nation of Krakoa, Beast gradually shed any sense of heroism, convinced of his righteousness and unique genius. Now, its clear this path will ultimately lead him to merge with the most dangerous threat the X-Men have ever faced - the unbeatable Nimrod Sentinel. However, Hank won't even stop there. For most of X-Force, Beast has argued that his amoral tactics are all in mutantkind's best interests, however his sick evolution proves this is a lie. The Beast has become addicted to power, and will continue to twist his own mind and form (not to mention the world) for the rest of time if given the chance.

The X-Men are no strangers to evil teammates, but usually when one of the mutant heroes falls, there's some mitigating element - Cyclops became a 'villain' to literally keep mutantkind from immediate extinction, Angel was brainwashed to serve a mission handed down by the Celestials, and Jean Grey was possessed by the cosmic Phoenix Force. While they crossed lines in these transformations, they did so either against their will or while retaining shreds of their former heroism. The same can't be said for Beast, who has used the general mandate of Krakoan security to bring the entire world under his rule. It's the most damning transformation any of the original X-Men have undergone because it all comes from Beast's true self, unforced and emerging from his ego and lack of moral restraint.

It will be incredibly hard for Marvel to redeem Beast after this, since fans have now seen that - left to his own devices - Hank McCoy will become as bad as any X-Men villain, simply because that's his true nature when given the excuse. X-Force has permanently changed how fans see one of the X-Men's most hopeful and compassionate heroes, revealing that in his dark heart, Hank McCoy doesn't just have villain potential, but the inclination to warp himself again and again into a monster beyond imagining.

X-Force #42 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.

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X-Men Gives an Original Team Member the Ultimate Dark Evolution - Screen Rant