Phase Zero
Characters

Hank McCoy / Beast

Beast

Henry McCoyX-MenEarth-10005

A brilliant scientist who tried to cure his own mutation and made it much more visible instead.

Hank McCoy is the character the Fox films use to ask whether a mutation is something to be treated. He is a scientist whose own mutation is mild enough to hide, so he builds a serum to suppress it, and it does the opposite: it makes him blue, large and unmistakable.

Nicholas Hoult plays the version that carries the arc, and Kelsey Grammer plays the older one in The Last Stand, arguing for mutant rights from inside a cabinet. Both are the same idea seen from two ends of a life.

Show detailsA different Beast

Grammer plays a version of McCoy in The Marvels as well. The reference article records that as a different version of the character rather than a continuation of this one, so it is not listed here.

Played by
Steve Bacic, Kelsey Grammer, Nicholas Hoult
Role
Scientist and teacher
Affiliation
The X-Men
What they can do
Great strength and agility, and a mind that was the reason he was hired first.

The journey

What happens to this person, title by title.

  1. X22003

    On a television screen in the background, before anyone knew what the films would do with him.

  2. X-Men: The Last Stand2006

    A cabinet secretary, arguing for mutants inside a government that has just funded a cure.

  3. X-Men: First Class2011

    A young researcher who builds the plane, the suits and the machine, and then takes his own serum.

  4. X-Men: Days of Future Past2014

    Keeping Charles alive in a house that has emptied out.

  5. X-Men: Apocalypse2016

    Back in the lab and back in the field, with a school to rebuild.

  6. Deadpool 22018

    In the mansion, in the roster shot.

  7. Dark Phoenix2019

    On the team, and the one who leaves it.

Appears in

  1. X22003
  2. X-Men: The Last Stand2006
  3. X-Men: First Class2011
  4. X-Men: Days of Future Past2014
  5. X-Men: Apocalypse2016
  6. Deadpool 22018
  7. Dark Phoenix2019

Sources

Facts last checked on Sep 8, 2026