Dark Beast has a bestial appearance similar to the one formerly possessed by his mainstream counterpart, prior to him undergoing further mutation into a form with feline features rather than primate. He also possesses fur, fangs, and retractable claws

Origin

McCoy is a mutant possessing various superhuman abilities similar to those of his mainstream counterpart. However, unlike the Beast that's native to the Earth-616 reality, the Dark Beast hasn't undergone the various mutations that his counterpart has over the years. As a result, many of his powers are considerably less developed.

Universe

Earth-295

Place of Birth

Dunfee, Illinois, (Earth-295)

Created by

Scott Lobdell, Roger Cruz

First appearance

X-Men: Alpha #1
(February, 1995)

1 HistoryEdit
2 Powers and AbilitiesEdit
- 2.1 Powers
- 2.2 Abilities
3 NotesEdit
4 LinksEdit
- 4.1 Discover and Discuss
- 4.2 Footnotes

HistoryEdit

He is both gifted and savage at the same time.

-- Apocalypse

Early Activities on Earth-295

When Legion, the mentally unbalanced mutant son of Professor Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, traveled back in time in an attempt to kill Magneto, he accidentally killed Xavier instead, creating a splinter universe known as the Age of Apocalypse. In that reality, mutants became the dominant species of the planet. Apocalypse rose to power enslaved humanity.

On Earth-295, Henry McCoy would be be a twisted and sadistic genius, the exact opposite of the caring and nurturing Earth-616 counterpart. When Apocalypse took over America, McCoy would become one of his most valuable geneticists, completely devoted to creating the fittest beings. McCoy's genius would be second to that of Sinister, one of Apocalypse's Horsemen. McCoy experimented on numerous mutants notably Blink^[1], creating the Infinite Soldiers^[2], turning Jamie Madrox into the Madri^[3], creating the creature known as Wolverine^[4] and creating the armor for the crippled Nemesis which earned him the name Holocaust^[5].

When Christoper Summers crashed landed on Earth after years in space, he would be recovered by Apocalypse's forces. As he was infected with a Brood embryo he would be taken to the Beast for examination. When reporting the discovery to Sinister, Sinister would order Beast to keep Summer's existence a secret as his two biological sons Scott and Alex were being groomed as soldiers in Apocalype's Elite Mutant Force. For five long years the Beast would experiment on Summers as well as on himself mutating himself into a grey furred form more appropriate to his name. After the years of experimentation Summers would break free of his bonds and easily get past the Beast. The Beast would warn security of the escape and ultimately Summers own children would eliminate Christopher in order to prevent a Brood infestation of the planet^[6]. Shortly thereafter, McCoy would almost stumble upon Sinister's creation of Nate Grey, a mutant created from the DNA of Cyclops and Jean Grey that Sinister hoped to use as an ultimate weapon against Apocalypse^[7].

When the Impossible Man from the planet Popup would come to Earth as an ambassador, Apocalypse would turn the creature over to the Beast for experimentation. The Beast would find the Popupian's DNA extremely interesting and would go overboard with his experimentation. When Blink would find the Impossible Man, the Beast would mock her inability to bring herself to kill the creature to put it out of it's misery. She would surprise him however when she would find the strength to do so^[1].

Twilight of the Age of Apocalypse

In recent times, the Beast would continue his ghastly experiments on mutants despite the signing of the Kelly Pact between Apocalypse and the Human High Council that was supposed to put an end to such work. When the Beast's latest experiment Fred Dukes would break free, the Summers brothers would be forced to destroy it to save Hank's life. Cyclops would berate Beast for continuing his experiments before being summoned away by Sinister. Sinister would soon abandon his post, leaving the Beast as the primary expert in Apocalypse's slave pens^[8]. When Prelate Havok would find himself fused to the arm of a Sentinel following a lost battle with Weapon X and Jean Grey, it would be the Beast whom would use his medical skill to free him^[9]. With the Kelly Pact in place however, McCoy would be limited by the raw materials he could use to create new Infinite soldiers. However, when some mutants in the slave pens escaped, the Elite Mutant Force would slay them and turn them over to the Beast. Hank would melt them down to their core genetic material and use them for future soldiers. While doing this, Prelate Havok would ask Beast's advice on dealing with his brother whom he sought to succeed as leader of the EMF by any means. Hank would warn Alex of how he dealt with the situation as Cyclops was well regarded by Apocalypse and was Sinister's preferred son^[2].

When a break out of slaves was witnessed by Polaris, the EMF would take her out of the slave pens and give to the Beast for interrogation. When the brain probes failed to reveal the identity of the person helping slaves escape Hank would attempt to extract the information from her brain the "old fashioned way" before being stopped by Cyclops. He would warn Hank against continued violations of the Kelly Pact and remind him that with Sinister gone, he was in charge of the pens and would destroy some of Beast's equipment to prove the point. Hank would be forced to return Lorna to the pens, unaware that Cyclops himself was responsible for the break out^[10]. Soon after, Havok would capture Jean Grey and expose his brother as a traitor to Apocalypse, both would be turned over to the Beast for experimentation. However, before Beast could get a chance, Cyclops and Jean would break free of his restraints and escape^[11]. As punishment for allowing Cyclops and Jean Grey to escape, Havok would order every living thing in the slave pens to be eliminated much to Beast's protest. A full out riot would break out as Cyclops and Jean would attempt a break out and the Beast would be attacked by some of his creations. Although he would be able to hold his own against some, he would eventually be overpowered and beaten into unconsciousness^[12].

The X-Men would later storm Apocalypse's citadel to rescue Magneto and use the stolen M'Kraan Crystal to restore the Earth-616 universe (at the time supplanted by Earth-295 thanks to Legion killing Charles Xavier in the past), Gambit would find the Beast who would tell the X-Men of the breakout. Not wishing the Beast to go free to warn Apocalypse of their arrival, Iceman would take the Beast with them. In the final battle, the Beast would manage to sneak toward a transporter and teleport himself into the center of the M'Kraan Crystal, allowing him to escape the seeming destruction of his world by travelling into the past. As Bishop would prevent Legion from killing Xavier, he would fix the damage done to reality diverging Earth-616 and Earth-295 from each other^[13].

Although on a world not his own, the Beast would find infinite potential on this new world.

Early Activities on Earth-616

Stricken with partial amnesia, the Dark Beast would have his full memories restored thanks to an encounter with the young Emma Frost^[14]. McCoy would begin his experiments in secret, using the genetic skills he learned from his realities Sinister to manipulate the Morlocks^[15]. However, when the Earth-616 Mr. Sinister would learn that his techniques were being used on the Morlocks he would send his Marauders to slay them^[16]. Fearing discovery, the Dark Beast would continue to operate in secret. During this time he would also train Marshall Stone III how to control his powers, and set him up as the bounty hunter known as Random^[17].

The Dark Beast would be summoned out of hiding by Marrow, a Morlock survivor of the Mutant Massacre that spent time in another dimension. Referring to the Dark Beast as the "First One" they would seek him to guide her group of mutant terrorists known as Gene Nation^[15]. However, Gene Nation would prove to be too detrimental to his plans after they would attempt to eliminate their ancestor Leech, leading to a clash with Generation X, and attempt to destroy them in an explosion but all parties would survive^[18].

Learning that fellow Earth-295 refugee Nate Grey was also on Earth-616, he would seek the boy out. Saving him from being assassinated by Sugar-Man's assassin Rex^[19]. The Beast would attempt to convince Nate to join his side in taking over the world in exchange for preventing the young mutants powers from eventually burning him out. Nate, remembering the atrocities that the Beast created on his world would refuse and easily defeat the Dark Beast in battle^[20].

By this time, the Beast was gathering a group of mutants he dubbed the Brotherhood. Early members would include himself, Random, and the assassin known as Fatale. By this time, Random had established a relationship with the government sponsored X-Factor team, and with their leader Havok's powers flaring out of control would order Random to infiltrate the team^[21]^[22]. Random would follow orders but would be at odds due to his loyalty to the Dark Beast and his love of Polaris^[23]. Random would join X-Factor but refuse to capture Havok right away, instead waiting to get him alone^[24]. Random would defeat Havok in battle and turn him over to the Beast for experimentation, while Fatale would leave a fake letter behind to make it seem as though Alex left the team due to his powers growing out of control so as not to arouse suspicion^[25].

The Real McCoy

The Beast and Sugar-Man would begin working together, taking special interest in Bishop of the X-Men. Realizing that Bishop retained the memories of his Earth-295 counterpart, they wold see him as risking to expose their existence should his memories be probed by Mr. Sinister. The two men would begin to conspire to eliminate Bishop^[26]. To this end, the Dark Beast would send Fatale to pose as a cafe waitress named Pamela and attempt to assassinate Bishop. Bishop would help defeat Fatale with the help of the Earth-616 version of Beast. Witnessing his counterpart in action, the Dark Beast would then decide that the best place for him to hide from Sinister would be to pose as this worlds Hank McCoy^[27].

In order to do this as convincingly as possible, the Dark Beast would begin altering his mutation so that he would resemble his blue furred counterpart and begin learning as much about his life as possible by meeting with people from Hank's past. Ultimately, the Dark Beast would trick Hank into coming to an abandoned Brant Corporation warehouse under the pretense of helping to cure the Legacy Virus. Instead, the Dark Beast would defeat Hank in battle and shackle him up and building a brick wall around him. With this realities Hank McCoy dealt with, the Dark Beast would take his place, hoping that hiding in plain sight would protect him from discovery from Sinister^[28].

However, the Dark Beast would find posing as his double less than tranquil as he would constantly be called to task to help the X-Men deal with various conflicts, as well as continuing his doubles work trying to find a cure for the Legacy Virus. His first test to see if he could fool the X-Men would come during an accidental lab explosion, and successfully pulls off his impersonation to members of X-Force who respond to the blast^[29]. The Dark Beast, Gambit and Bishop would be called to investigate a subway train where the passengers are beginning to spontaneously mutate^[30]. This would be an experiment conducted by Mr. Sinister and he would capture the X-Men after they manage to cure the passengers. Sinister would come close to probing Bishop's memories of the Age of the Apocalypse the one thing that the Dark Beast fears most. However Gambit would break the trio free and they would escape before Sinister could discover the truth of this alternate reality^[31]. Later, when on a mission to save Phoenix and Gambit from Bastion, the Dark Beast would use the previous lab explosion as an excuse for not remembering how to operate some of the X-Men's equipment^[32]. When Gene Nation, led by Mikhail Rasputin would resurface and aided in establishing their own Gene Nation in Africa thanks to Storm, the Dark Beast would mark this and vow revenge against Mikhail and Storm^[33].

Later, when Cable's technogranic virus would begin to ravage out of control, he would seek the Beast's aid in trying to determine what is wrong, unaware that he was giving his DNA and a sample of his virus to a most deadly opponent^[34].

Onslaught

During the period that the Dark Beast was posing has his Earth-616 counterpart, the various X-Men teams were plagued by a mysterious villain named Onslaught, who was building forces for some final conflict yet to come.

On the eve that Jean Grey would meet Onslaught, and the Juggernaut (the only being who knows Onslaughts true identity) would come to the X-Mansion seeking the X-Men's aid, the Dark Beast would be asked to look over Wolverine, who at the time was regressing into a more feral form. By this point the Dark Beast's patience with the X-Men and their constant crisis response had begun to grate him^[35]. With the Juggernaut sighted on the premises and Charles Xavier acting strange, Cyclops would order the Beast and the other X-Men to seek out the Juggernaut quietly^[36].

Unknown to all, Onslaught was really an extension of Charles Xavier himself, tainted by the dark side of Mangeto. When Onslaught would reveal himself to the X-Men, he would try to get him to join his cause, but the X-Men would refuse. Their initially attempt to stop Onslaught would be a failure, and in the aftermath of the battle the Dark Beast would reveal his true nature to Onslaught. Onslaught already knew of the Dark Beast's presence, and would accept him as an ally and they would teleport away to begin Onslaughts attack on the human race. The X-Men, unaware of the truth would wonder why their long time member would betray them to Onslaught^[37].

The Dark Beast would provide Onslaught with one of his old labs under Manhattan as the staging ground for his attack and offer his loyal minions^[38]. When X-Factor would attempt to stop Onslaught from launching Sentinels on Manhattan, the Dark Beast would send Havok, Fatale, Post attack the group and order Random to betray them. Meanwhile, he would attempt to recruit Mystique and Sabretooth into joining Onslaught, revealing he still this worlds Hank McCoy as his prisoner. To try and win the two villains into joining, he would reverse X-Factor's control and offering them the opportunity to slay Forge. The two would refuse and help Forge try to stop the Dark Beast, but fail^[39]. They would track the Dark Beast down to the room where his counterpart was held prisoner. Despite posing as the "real" Hank McCoy, Sabretooth would see through the deception and free the real Hank. In a rematch, Beast would defeat his evil counterpart. The Dark Beast and Fatale would be captured and taken into government custody^[40].

The Dark Beast would remain incarcerated until Onslaught would be destroyed thanks to the seeming sacrifice of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers^[41].

The Brotherhood

The Dark Beast would eventually be broken out of prison by Havok, who managed to avoid capture during the Onslaught invasion. Thinking that Havok has come to kill him and Fatale, the Dark Beast is surprised when Alex asks him to join his new incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. With no other options, the Dark Beast would accept^[42]. The Dark Beast would be present when Alex's failed attempt to recruit his former comrades in X-Factor into the Brotherhood^[43]. The Brotherhood would next attempt to recruit Nate Grey into their ranks, offering to help restore his lost telekinetic powers^[44]. After Nate helps the Brotherhood rescue Aurora from Department H as a cover for the Brotherhood to recover an experimental gas CS-9 in return for having his powers restored. Nate would be horrified to learn the true goal of his mission and that the man responsible for restoring his powers was none other than the Dark Beast^[45]. Seeing that Aurora has mutliple personality disorder, Nate would demand that the Dark Beast attempt to cure her^[46]. Ultimately, X-Man would defeat the Brotherhood and foil their plot^[47].

When the Shi'ar would seek to eliminate Holocaust for still having a chunk of the M'Kraan Crystal inside his body (an act of heresy to the Shi'ar), he would be aided by X-Man, Sugar-Man, and the Dark Beast in saving himself. During this encounter, the Dark Beast would only refer to Holocaust by his original name of Nemesis, unwilling to call him anything else^[48]. Back with the Brotherhood, the Dark Beast would join them and the X-Men in preventing the anti-mutant group known as Humanity's Last Stand from wiping out the Gene Nationals in Africa. Although the Dark Beast would earn the ire of the X-Men for seemingly slaying some of the humans in the battle, he would be instrumental in saving the Gene Nation by helping destroy HLS's Razors^[49].

The group would continue to operate out of Dark Beast's lab below Manhattan. When X-Factor would be wounded by Sabretooth, Havok would recover them and justify it to the Dark Beast. Unknown to the Dark Beast, Havok has been plotting to end his genetic testing once and for all^[50]. Havok and fellow Brotherhood member Ever would break into the Dark Beast's lab and learn that he had been experimenting on the humans he seemingly killed in Africa earlier^[51]. Havok soon reveals that he is a double agent and he and the Brotherhood are about to shut down the Dark Beast's operation when things are complicated by the arrival of the X.S.E^[52]. While the combined efforts of the Brotherhood, X-Factor and the X.S.E., the Dark Beast's operations are smashed but the Dark Beast himself manages to escape^[53].

Going Solo

A short time later, the Dark Beast would resurface in the sewers of Manhattan, taking Callisto when she was poorly recovering from fatal wounds^[54], he would heal her^[55], however his motivation for doing so is unknown. Later when Holocaust's armor is damaged in yet another clash with Nate Grey, he would seek the aid of the Dark Beast to make repairs and improve it^[5]. The Dark Beast would once more attempt to continue his experiments, recruiting members of Gene Nation still loyal to him and targeting Generation X as his next test subjects, he would be foiled again by the young mutants with help from Nate Grey^[56]^[57]. Following this defeat, the Dark Beast would go into hiding again and not be seen for quite some time.

Excalibur

The Dark Beast would resurface on the island of Genosha when Charles Xavier and Magneto would be busy in attempting to rebuild following the nations destruction at the hands of Cassandra Nova^[58]. He, along with the mutants Wicked, Stripmine, Appraiser and some Asgardian Trolls would attempt to loot the ruined island of valuables, leading to a clash between them and the mutants trying to restore the island. Dark Beast and his subordinates would be defeated and imprisoned^[59].

The Dark Beast would offer his services to the recovery effort however he would have his own secret agenda in exploring the nation^[60]. In reality, he would be working with the former rulers of Genosha, the mutant enslaving Magistrates in locating a secret room where a applies were stored. The Dark Beast would find this room, they would be ambushed by Sugar-Man and his creation Rastus. In the fight the Magistrates would be slain and Dark Beast seriously wounded^[61]. Following his recovery^[62], the Dark Beast would continue to offer his aid in restoring Genosha^[63].

Following the events of M-Day, the Dark Beast would be one of the few mutants to maintain his mutant powers^[64].

Endangered Species

Growing desperate to revive the mutant gene following the events of M-Day in order to prevent the extinction of mutants, the Beast would have to put the past aside and seek out the help of the Dark Beast to help find a cure. Right off the bat the two men find their approaches to science completely different. They would begin trying to solve the problem by examining the DNA of families that bore both mutant and non-mutant children. This would bring them to the Guthrie Family. The Dark Beast would experiment on the non-mutant Lewis Guthrie without telling the Beast. When the boy is going to die, the Dark Beast then attempts to experiment on one of the Guthrie girls. The Beast would learn of this and the two men would come to blows. Ultimately, the Beast would knock out his evil counterpart with the help of Lucinda Guthrie and save young Lewis's life.^[65]^[66]^[67]^[68]^[69]^[70].

The Dark Beast would once more go into hiding.

Utopia

Following Norman Osborn reforming SHIELD into a new organization called HAMMER, he would begin creating his own government sanctioned teams. Among them he would form the Dark X-Men, and select the Dark Beast to be the team scientist. He would setup the Dark Beast in Alcatraz to experiment on mutants. The Dark Beast would begin working on this, using the Beast as his test subject^[71].

The Dark Beast would create the Omega Machine, a device that would torture mutants. However Osborn would not be impressed and demand that the Dark Beast create a device that eliminates mutant powers. To this end, the Dark Beast would target Mindee of the Stepford Cuckoos^[72]. This would only enable the X-Force Strike Team to track down the Dark Beast^[73] and horribly maim him and free his captives^[74]

Dark X-Men

Recovering from his injuries, Dark Beast was tapped into Osborn's restructured Dark X-Men team and was sent to Burton California to investigate a strange phenomenon happening in that town. They would go and find that the entire population of the town in a trance repeating the same phrase "I am X-Man" over and over^[75]. Ultimately, the Dark Beast would witness the resurrection of Nate Gray, who had seemingly died some months before. Witnessing the return of his old foe would fill the Dark Beast with horror^[76]. Dark Beast would battle Nate Grey along with his fellow X-Men and the Dark Avengers, when Nate would attempt to eliminate Osborn. In the battles aftermath Nate would be contained and the Dark Beast would go on to experiment on others^[77]^[78]^[79].

Following the downfall of Norman Osborn, McCoy captured the Lizard and used his power to revert others to a primal, reptilian mental state to find out how to make a similar physical transformation in his test subjects. His experiments were ended by Spider-Man and the X-Men, and McCoy was taken into custody. He was broken out of custody by X-Force (ironically Wolverine was on the team that captured him and the on the one that freed him), who need his help in dealing with Archangel. McCoy said that with the death of Apocalypse (in a prior X-Force adventure) Warren was transforming into the Heir of Apocalypse, and ascending into his role. They would need to travel to the Earth-295 to find a life seed to counteract the death seed in Archangel.

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

McCoy possesses a number of superhuman physical attributes similar to those of his mainstream counterpart. However, McCoy continuously subjects himself to genetic alteration experiments, so the full scale of his powers often remain in a state of flux.

Superhuman Strength: McCoy is superhumanly strong and his strength has increased considerably due to his own self-experimentation. Originally, he possessed the same level of physical strength his mainstream counterpart originally possessed and could lift approximately 1 ton. He currently possesses superhuman strength equal to that of his counterpart prior to undergoing the mutation gave him his current feline form. At his peak, McCoy can currently lift about 10 tons.

Superhuman Stamina: McCoy's musculature produces less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of an ordinary human. He can exert himself physically at peak capacity for several hours before fatigue begins to impair him.

Superhuman Agility: McCoy's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.

Superhuman Reflexes: McCoy's reaction time is enhanced to a level that is beyond the natural limits of even the finest human athlete.

Superhuman Durability: The tissues of McCoy's body are somewhat harder and more resistant to injury than those of an ordinary human. While not invulnerable, he can withstand impact forces and blunt force trauma that would severely injure or kill an ordinary human with mild to moderate discomfort.

Accelerated Healing Factor: If injured, McCoy is capable of healing mild injuries faster and more efficiently than an ordinary human. His body can heal roughly twice as fast as the body of an ordinary human. His self-experiments have also resulted in extending his longevity by slowing his natural aging process to an unknown degree.

Pheromone Manipulation: McCoy possesses the ability to secrete pheromones that causes members of the opposite sex to become attracted to him. The full limits of this ability isn't known but it is one that his mainstream counterpart possessed at one time.

Claws & Fangs: McCoy possesses elongated canines and razor sharp, retractable, claws at the tips of his fingers and toes. He is able to use these claws to cut most conventional materials including flesh, bone, wood, and stone.

Power Grid ^[80]

Abilities

McCoy is a skilled geneticist capable of numerous experimental techniques of genetic alteration, mutation, and combination.

NotesEdit

Dark Beast possesses a counterpart in the Mutant X Universe, who also allied with the Mutant X Hank McCoy (The Brute) to undo the effects of that reality's M-Day.

Wikia

Henry McCoy (Earth-295)

Contents

HistoryEdit

Early Activities on Earth-295

Twilight of the Age of Apocalypse

Early Activities on Earth-616

The Real McCoy

Onslaught

The Brotherhood

Going Solo

Excalibur

Endangered Species

Utopia

Dark X-Men

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Abilities

NotesEdit

LinksEdit

Discover and Discuss

Footnotes

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