Henry “Hank” McCoy was one of the original members of the X-Men, when they debuted in 1963. With the abilities of extreme dexterity with his feet, super strength, extreme stamina, extreme agility, heightened senses, and a genius intellect, there isn’t much he can’t do. Well, except for protecting those he cares about, that’s something he’s not great at, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to talk about his costumes/looks. Beast went from arguably the most “normal” presenting member of the X-Men to the one who stands out among the original lineup. Going from a human appearance to a blue ape-like creature with fur helped him significantly.
Beast makes an interesting case among the team, along with Nightcrawler. The two may look the most monster-like, but are gentle people who care for everyone around them, but that’s more Nightcrawler’s department. Beast has been on a dangerous trajectory for a long time, but he seems to be better now. With most of his looks maintaining the fur, it’s less about how he looks with the fur. Instead, it’s more about what he wears along with his appearance. Odd character choices aside, here are his greatest looks.
7) All-New X-Men (Future)
All-New X-Men was one of two X-Men books at the helm of Brian Michael Bendis at the time, and this title has two versions of Beast on the team. Beast from the present timeline and one from the early days of the X-Men. Present-day Beast was going through the early days of his heel turn and had a great outfit along with it. During this era, he was much more of a mad scientist, and this outfit reflected that. With goggles for creating gadgets, he also sported a tactical vest and shirt along with tactical pants.
This look was very short-lived, but it was memorable for many reasons. It was what he sported right before Secret Wars (2015), and the look appeared in New Avengers by Jonathan Hickman. It was right as Beast began to sour more fans, but it said a lot about who he was becoming on top of seeing how he was when he was a teenager. It really put into perspective how much the world had beaten him down. The same can be said for many of the other original five X-Men. Especially Cyclops, who was much more radical during this time.
6) New X-Men
New X-Men by Grant Morrison remains one of the most divisive yet praised runs in X-Men history. Part of that is due to the designs of the main X-Men team. To synergize with the highly successful X-Men film from the prior year, everyone now sported black leather costumes with yellow accents. Beast had one of the better looking ones outfit wise, but it was his actual appearance that was a bit strange.
Prior to this, he had a secondary mutation that caused him to shift from his ape-like appearance to something more feline-based. It was a bit jarring to look at, considering how he looked for so long, but we don’t let that hold this look back. As a whole, it’s a product of its time that is incredibly dated, but if you grew up with the Fox X-Men films, there’s a certain sense of nostalgia to these looks.
5) Dark Beast
Not a different look but a different version of Beast from the Age of Apocalypse timeline. Appearing with black fur as opposed to blue, Dark Beast was the original dark mirror to Hank McCoy. While he would later turn into the same character after being made a much more terrifying menace, Dark Beast was the original. He’s a simple pallet swap of Beast with overcoats and more genetic modifications. Appearing a lot stronger and having gnarlier body proportions, Dark Beast became a fan favorite villain. He’s still alive at present, but as a head in a jar. Hopefully, now that classic Beast is back to his old status quo, these two can have proper balance again.
4) X-Factor
One of the rare costumes Beast sported while he looked human was his X-Factor costume. Sporting it starting in X-Factor #4, Beast was without his fur temporarily and had gone back to an orange and yellow jumpsuit to appear more like a costumed vigilante. He had a black and red version as well, but the orange one was unique for him.
It was a breath of fresh air in some ways. It would make sense that he wouldn’t want to wear blue anymore. Giving him a costume on the opposite spectrum made sense. It’s not anyone’s favorite, but it deserves a spot in history for Beast. Despite looking like this in his first appearances, it still makes no sense why he was called Beast before he got the blue fur.
3) Astonishing X-Men
Going back to Beast’s “cat” era, we have his Astonishing X-Men (2004) look. Taking away the jacket and most of the shirt from New X-Men, Beast sports incredibly high-waisted pants without shoes. A back-to-basics approach that gave him a strong sense of identity again. While the pants, if you can call them that, went up a bit too high, it made sense for Beast.
He’s one of the few characters in the X-Men who made both blue and black work seamlessly with yellow. Usually, it’s one of the darker colors by itself and yellow, but he made it work for himself. It may have been in the reviled “cat appearance” era, but it was the best look he had at that time.
2) Lab Coat
For most characters in the X-Men, this would not be considered for best looks, but Beast wears it frequently enough that it’s earned. It’s a staple of Beast’s looks, donning a lab coat and his glasses is what he’d consider casual. Not an outfit for battling Apocalypse in, instead working on something to hopefully save man and mutantkind. As well as being featured heavily in the comics, it has made its way into film and cartoons as well. It’s second nature for him to wear this outfit, and we wouldn’t change a thing about it. Maybe in the future he can wear a white costume, it looks rather good on him.
1) Blue Fur and Trunks
We had to go with the classic blue fur and trunks look for Beast. With how much fur covers his body, I can imagine he gets warm way too often for his comfort. With the same hairstyle as Wolverine and nails to match, Beast is defined best this way. While any other member of the X-Men wearing trunks would be laughed at, Beast manages to terrify you if you’re on his bad side.
It was the perfect redesign of any X-Men except for Archangel. It gave him a reason to live up to the name Beast. The tiny little detail of the yellow belt with a black X in a red box adds so much to the overall look as well. There’s no other go-to image in our heads when we think of Beast, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!