Why is Marvel turning Beast into a villain?

[Hogun]

Not a Marvel Legends discussion. I just had no idea where to post this discussion.

Can we talk about how Marvel is treating Beast? He is an original X-Man, one of my personal favorites before Hickman's run, and by turning him into essentially Dark Beast 2, they are sharting on Stan Lee's memory. I am sure Stan and Jack are looking down in heaven wondering WTF they do with one of their creations, unlike Jean, Scott, and Warren who all had the excuse of turning evil due to an outside force. No longer is he using his famous catchphrases, nor quoting famous authors. Now, he is too busy playing mad scientist. Hank is the only one of the original 5 to become a villain of his own free will and it seems that neither the Quiet Council nor Scott and Jean give a damn about it. In fact, in the latest issue of Wolverine, it is revealed that he has CARTE BLANCHE. Isn't Xavier constantly downloading the minds of the inhabitants of Krakoa? Why did he not notice something was fishy with Hank?

[TheArrow]

Everything in comics.........EVERY THING, is cyclic.  Every death, every change of heart, every costume........all of it cycles.  So whatever was the status quo........transforms........persists for a short while and then reverts.   Every X-man, for example, has died........and been resurrected, every member of the FF, the Avengers.  Every villain.  So whatever change you are seeing is just a fad...literally.
It'll change back.  Don't worry, it's just a story.  😉

[leokearon]

Heroes turning evil is sadly nothing new, but the Beast is one of the worst. Even worst is the cheap cop-out they have planned to make him a Karma Houdini

[Chunkylover]

I don't like the constant changing of heroes to villains and villains to heroes. They haven't done that to Beast yet, right? They had Dark Beast, but he was a distinct character. Maybe they'll use him as their escape hatch.

[leokearon]

On 4/12/2023 at 1:31 PM, Chunkylover said:

I don't like the constant changing of heroes to villains and villains to heroes. They haven't done that to Beast yet, right? They had Dark Beast, but he was a distinct character. Maybe they'll use him as their escape hatch.

They sadly have and it's not the Dark Beast, his head is in Sinister's lab.

[tarot]

Let's see. Jean became a god and essentially destroyed a star and several planets.

Angel volunteered for Apocalypse to make heal him and become his Horseman as well as trying to become Apocalypse himself

Cyclops turned against the government and became a renegade.

The less said about the stuff Prof X did in the past the better.

Sorry mate but out of the original 5/6, only Iceman is pure.

Also Stan and Jack constantly encourage writers to think for themselves. Hell, how do you even think X-men or even the majority of Marvel character came about? By Stan and Jack trying something different from the norm. If some people had their ways, Iron man would still be an alcoholic, Spider-man would still be in high school, Cap would be still frozen and Thor would still be Donald Blake. 

[McHogan]

I get the disappointment that Marvel has taken another beloved hero down a dark path. I'm sure you recall how they allowed Bendis to warp the a Scarlet Witch into a villain for a couple of years. It was a dumb heel turn that was done for shock value and with hindsight being what it is, today I can say it was completely unnecessary as she is back on the side of the angels and the events leading up to amd following her turn are rarely if at all mentioned. 

Beast will be back to being a hero in no time, and I'm sure back to a personality we all recognize. By this I mean  when it's convenient for the NEXT writer.

Think of it like a pro wrestling character. We've all had our favorite turn heel for a bit to change things up. But it will all return to the status quo before you know it.

 But maybe not before Marvel runs off another fan

[leokearon]

On 4/14/2023 at 12:01 AM, McHogan said:

I get the disappointment that Marvel has taken another beloved hero down a dark path. I'm sure you recall how they allowed Bendis to warp the a Scarlet Witch into a villain for a couple of years. It was a dumb heel turn that was done for shock value and with hindsight being what it is, today I can say it was completely unnecessary as she is back on the side of the angels and the events leading up to amd following her turn are rarely if at all mentioned. 

Beast will be back to being a hero in no time, and I'm sure back to a personality we all recognize. By this I mean  when it's convenient for the NEXT writer.

Think of it like a pro wrestling character. We've all had our favorite turn heel for a bit to change things up. But it will all return to the status quo before you know it.

 But maybe not before Marvel runs off another fan

Don't remind me what happened to Wanda, an absolute disgrace.

That's actually the plan with the Beast. Hank has altered his Cerebro backup so when he gets resurrected his memories will be back to when he was with the Avengers, therefore he gets off all the evil he's done

[Benn]

Beast’s descent into villainy has been thirty years in the making, and one of the most organic character arcs I’ve ever seen, despite having been penned by a huge roster of unconnected writers. He gave Threnody to Sinister in 1993, for crying out loud. This all began with him making occasional ethical concessions in the name of science, or advancement, or the greater good, but has really seamlessly evolved into a paranoia and trauma-fueled god complex over the course of many, many years of extremely dubious choices and actions. I actually think it’s a real testament to several decades of writers that it took him doing mad scientist nazi experiments on prisoners of war and punishing dissent among his teammates by lobotomizing and enslaving them for many readers to realize how villainous he is. He’s been on this path for half his existence as a character, under the penmanship of Nicieza, Claremont, Morrison, Whedon, Bendis, etc. I haven’t found much to like in Percy’s runs on X-Force or Wolverine, and honestly I think his writing of Beast is a little heavy-handed, but it’s definitely not coming out of left field.

On 4/11/2023 at 10:41 PM, Hogun said:

In fact, in the latest issue of Wolverine, it is revealed that he has CARTE BLANCHE. Isn't Xavier constantly downloading the minds of the inhabitants of Krakoa? Why did he not notice something was fishy with Hank?

Xavier knows exactly what’s going on, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he put Hank in that role. Xavier’s no Mother Teresa himself, and putting Beast in position to get his hands dirty to preserve [i]his[/i] mutant utopia, while also retaining the benefit of plausible deniability, is absolutely his MO.

On 4/13/2023 at 7:01 PM, McHogan said:

I get the disappointment that Marvel has taken another beloved hero down a dark path. I'm sure you recall how they allowed Bendis to warp the a Scarlet Witch into a villain for a couple of years. It was a dumb heel turn that was done for shock value and with hindsight being what it is, today I can say it was completely unnecessary as she is back on the side of the angels and the events leading up to amd following her turn are rarely if at all mentioned.

Maybe it doesn’t get mentioned in Avengers books, but it’s still brought up in X-titles. She was grief-stricken and mentally manipulated, though, right? That’s a long way from the stairway of moral compromises that led to Hank hitting ethical bottom. The fact that the X-Men, for years, largely held that against her, despite knowing the circumstances involved, is actually surprisingly emotionally sophisticated writing for Marvel. It would have all been pointless if everyone was understanding and forgave her right away, but her actions had real consequences. Despite her lack of agency, many mutants held that against her for [i]years[/i] after the damage had even been somewhat undone. That’s storytelling with some actual depth.