Jonathan Dobres

Air date: January 15, 1994

Beast is one of the original X-Men, debuting all the way back in issue #1. Back then, Dr. Hank McCoy’s mutations granted him enhanced strength, agility, and intelligence, but left him looking like a mostly normal guy. It wasn’t until 1972’s Amazing Adventures #11 that he underwent the transformation that turned him into the blue (initially, gray) creature we know and love. Wikipedia informs me that this was done to capitalize on the popularity of Werewolf by Night, but of course, it gives Hank McCoy a whole new set of interesting problems. He can no longer pass for human, tends to scare the ignorant on sight, and sometimes contends with atavistic impulses at odds with his genius-level intellect and gentle heart.

The contradictions are, of course, the whole appeal. Here’s a guy who can bend steel bars with his bare hands but chooses to stay in prison for all of season one because he believes in justice. He’ll climb a lamp post and effortlessly wrest an assault rifle from some goon’s hands while sarcastically remarking that perhaps the man does not know what a dangerous weapon this is. He’ll acrobatically tumble through a laser grid while quoting Lord Tennyson. Beast is a great character, and George Buza’s vocal performance—a mix of the gee-whiz optimist and the erudite uncle with more hobbies than sense—has made Beast a reliably delightful presence.

All this is to say, it’s about damn time he got a spotlight, and it’s a good one! It turns out the show has an explanation for all those times they forgot to write him into an episode: when not engaged with superpowered dramatics, he works as a medical researcher at a local hospital. This makes him one of the few (only?) X-Men with a day job.

This episode, like all the good ones, manages to do a lot with twenty minutes. Beast is about to perfect a sight-restoring treatment for a young woman named Carly, and the vibes between them are distinctly romantic.¹ Graydon Creed and the Friends of Humanity show up to shriek about the mutant working at the hospital, threatening everyone’s lives in the process. Unlike the last time we saw Creed, there’s no sci-fi virus, no time travel, no immortal supervillain lurking in the shadows. The bad guys are just bigots, as believable as the KKK or the Westboro Baptist Church.

Wolverine is furious that the FoH would endanger people at a hospital, and while he tends to get furious at a lot of things, I’m 100% with him on this one. In fact I think he should be angrier. But the B-plot goes in an interesting direction, having Wolverine pose as a sympathizer to infiltrate the FoH and strike at their heart. Over the course of the episode, Wolverine cozies up to Creed, follows a hunch, and eventually reveals him as Graydon Creed Jr., son of Sabretooth.² The leader of the anti-mutant hate group is the son of a mutant. Wolverine already gets a ton of attention on this show, but this is a genuinely great side story for him. Rather than just charging into FoH headquarters and knocking a few heads, he puts on his tightest black t-shirt, does some espionage, and forever ruins Graydon Creed’s life.

In the climax, it’ll be Beast who’s busting heads at FoH headquarters as Wolverine engineers the shocking reveal. It’s a character reversal that deepens both of them. Wolverine is playing the subtle game for once, while Beast is getting angrier and angrier. He’s angry at the FoH for endangering Carly and others. He’s angry because those hateful morons successfully spooked the hospital, preventing him from seeing Carly on her big day (he’ll be there anyway, just not in the position of honor he should be). Flipping through old photos of himself, he’s angry that his mutation makes him so visibly different, and thus forever an outsider despite his many talents and good nature. When the FoH abducts Carly, Beast is furious, and he singlehandedly takes out at least a dozen henchmen. This man is the definition of the phrase, “do not mistake kindness for weakness.”

With the FoH dealt some serious blows (Beast hospitalized a lot of them, and their soon-to-be former leader has had a public nervous breakdown), the day is won. Even Carly’s father, initially anti-mutant, has come around on Hank McCoy. Carly isn’t the least bit put off by Beast’s appearance, and you get the sense she’d be perfectly happy as his significant other. But Beast pulls a Spider-Man and tells her that they can’t be together, for her own safety. It’s a bittersweet ending, but given everything packed into these twenty-two minutes, an earned one.

Oh, and a Savage Land interlude! A frogman called Amphibious captures Magneto and Xavier! But some kind of river beast attacks and the duo make their escape. God, just reveal that Sinister is running the place already.

Stray observations:

• “I’m sorry, gentlemen. Your anger at the inexorable alienation of late twentieth century life is sadly misdirected,” Beast says as he tosses two goons to the ground in the initial confrontation.

• A black t-shirt, baseball cap, and sunglasses is a great look for Wolverine. He probably “borrowed” those red shades from Cyclops.

• As Beast is agonizing over whether to cut Carly off for her own safety, Jean urges him to maybe ask Carly her opinion on the matter.