Originally called "The Beast", the character was introduced as a mutant possessing ape-like superhuman physical strength and agility, oversized hands and feet, a genius-level intellect, and otherwise normal appearance and speech.

Despite Hank McCoy's feral appearance, he is depicted as a brilliant, well-educated man in the arts and sciences, known for his witty sense of humor, and characteristically uses barbed witticisms with long words and intellectual references to distract his foes.

During Jim Steranko's tenure, which added "exciting art", Roth returned, working with Neal Adams who blended Kirby's style with "realism, idealized beauty, and epic grandeur".

2 #11 (March 1972), written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Tom Sutton, Beast underwent a radical change and mutated into his now familiar furry, blue (originally grey) appearance.

Morrison continues, "I saw Henry McCoy as an incredibly clever, witty, cultured, well-traveled, experienced, well-read character so I brought out those parts of his personality which seemed to me to fit the profiles of the smartest and most worldly people I know—his sense of humor is dark and oblique.

Henry's mutation more fully manifests during adolescence, providing greater strength and agility, and although his powers allow him to briefly excel in athletics during his remaining time at school, he soon attracts the animosity of his fellow students and other non-mutant humans.

[17] He grows grey fur, which later turns blue, all over his body and acquires pointed ears, elongated canine teeth, claws, the ability to run on walls and ceilings like a spider, enhanced senses, an accelerated healing factor, and a feral side he struggles to control.

[27] Beast and fellow surviving Defenders members Angel and Iceman are contacted shortly after by Cyclops and Marvel Girl (Jean Grey) to form a new group, X-Factor.

During the events of Inferno, Beast, along with the rest of X-Factor team up with the X-Men and various other heroes to fight the evil forces invading the city; eventually, they manage to stop a portal between Limbo and Earth from remaining open and peace returns for the survivors.

Based on Moira's notes, Beast concocts the anti-virus to much elation, but when it is revealed that its use requires a mutant to die, Colossus chooses to sacrifice his life to release the remedy.

A psychic attack by the genocidal Cassandra Nova leaves Beast humiliated, badly beaten (by the controlled body of his friend Beak) and haunted by the possibility that his new form is simply a step in a continuous state of devolution.

Despite the 'aid' of his other self (the Dark Beast), along with exploring such diverse avenues of investigation as analysis of alternate timelines or an attempt to track down the Scarlet Witch, he is unsuccessful in his research, but the final part shows him holding a child wearing a three-eyed smiley face shirt saying "Evolution" on it as a promotion of the Messiah Complex.

[citation needed] He helps Tabitha Smith, teaching the young and flippant woman to use research instead of brutal strength to fight her enemy, a mutant with sedation powers called Nuwa.

[volume & issue needed] However, shortly after joining her in space, Brand's co-commander, Henry Peter Gyrich (hired by Norman Osborn) begins to round-up the aliens residing on Earth, in a xenophobic attempt at avoiding another Secret Invasion.

Beast, who is apparently dying due to side-effects of his secondary artificially-accelerated mutation, stumbles upon a solution after a chance comment from Iceman to the effect that the Cyclops they knew when they were young would not tolerate his present self's actions.

Beast travels back in time to the early days of the Xavier Institute to bring the original five X-Men from that period into the future, hoping that Scott's past self will be able to convince his present self to stand down.

[65] Beast lapses into a coma shortly after bringing the team into the present,[66] and Jean's telepathy, which is artificially accelerated by the trauma of her trip to the future and witnessing what Scott has become,[67] manages to connect the minds of the two Hanks.

This allows the younger Hank to spot a mistake in his future self's calculations and stabilize his physiology by reverting to a blue-furred ape-like state again where this form is bald and has no head hair aside from the blue fur covering his whole body.

Havok helps Emma to escape for the sake of his brother's memory, while Beast and his remaining teammates make up, all regretting what their lives have come to ever since discovering that the Terrigen could kill them.

Originally, Hank McCoy retains the basic features of a normal human alongside a generally simian physiology (e.g., elongated limbs and enlarged extremities) equivalent to that of a great ape.

[78] Later, he drank an experimental solution of his own making and mutated further through the growth of grey fur covering his entire body and the enhancement of all of his existing abilities, especially his strength, and Hank also gained a nearly instantaneous healing factor.

[80] However, his body suddenly mutated again after a short time, changing his fur color from grey to black (although comic book printing technology depicted it as blue), returning his strength to previous levels, and losing his healing factor.

A Renaissance man, McCoy is well versed in many fields including linguistics (fluent in English, German, French, Latin, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and Russian as well as the fictional language Latverian[24]), literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, art and art history, anthropology, music, political science and economics with a special affinity for science and technology and a penchant for quoting literary classics including Shakespeare's plays.

Between the two appearances he was working with Henri Le Pym, a natural philosopher employed by Baron Octavius to create a potion that will counteract the effects an octopus based serum have had on his physiology.

Beast starts an online relationship that eventually leads to the Ultimate War debacle, when he lets it slip that Magneto is still alive (the supposed mutant "supermodel" Naomi he is chatting with is actually the Blob fishing for information).

Having reversed himself back to his normal human appearance (maintaining the blue hair from his former kangaroo kidney transplant, which was independent of Weapon X's modifications), Hank is now working on a cure to a "Legacy Virus", created by an anti-mutant government conspiracy led by Admiral Stryker, that threatens mutants.

His mutation grants him a simian physiology with superhuman strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, agility, flexibility, coordination, balance, and manual and pedal dexterity so great he can write with all his hands and feet at once and tie knots equally well with both his fingers and toes.

The Weapon X program mutates Hank further, causing him to evolve into a more animalistic form with claws, fangs, pointed ears, enhanced senses, and thick, blue fur covering his entire body.

as the leader of a newly formed X-Men team following his former teammates' demise on Krakoa, consisting of Theresa Cassidy (who named herself Banshee in honor of her late father), Rahne Sinclair, Namorita, and James Proudstar, the brother of the original Thunderbird.

[volume & issue needed] In the Old Man Logan storyline, Beast is among the X-Men who perish at the hands of Wolverine when he is tricked by Mysterio into believing his friends are super-villains attacking the mansion.