Hank McCoy was one of the five original X-Men. Although his super agility, strength and enlarged feet and hands are what made him a mutant, it was his keen intellect that the X-Men have come to value so much. Eventually his insatiable hunger for knowledge lead him to test an experimental serum on himself. The result was the growth of fur all over his body and sharp claws to match, making him fulfill the codename given him by Professor Xavier: the Beast.

   After his startling transformation, Beast went on to join Earth's Mightest Heroes, otherwise known as the Avengers. As an Avenger, Hank became perhaps the most well respected known mutant in America. His urbane manner help foster the opinion in the public that although there were some bad mutants, their were others equally heroic.

   Though he enjoyed his time with the Avengers, his true ties always rested with the X-Men. While on monitor duty at Avengers Mansion, Hank recieved a distress call from the Hellfire Club saying that a group of mutants, most likely the X-Men, had attacked innocent civilians. Caught between his responsibility as an Avenger and not wanting to attack his former comrades, Hank did not report the alarm and instead went to join aid them himself. When he finnaly caught up with them, Jean Grey had been corrupted into Dark Phoenix and decimated the X-Men before flying off into the cosmos. With the rest of the X-Men, Hank returned to the X-Mansion to devise a method of stopping Dark Phoenix.

   Despite his seeming return to the X-Men, he eventually returned to his life as a scholor. It wasn't until Jean Grey was revealed to have been replaced by the Phoenix Entity that he rejoined the super hero business. Re-uniting with the other four original X-Men (Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl, and Angel) he formed the agency called X-Factor. To the public eye, X-Factor was a team of humans formed to capture and deal with renegade mutants and with the help of an image inducer, Hank did appear human. Their other personnas were the X-Terminators, a group of mutants, so that they could openly display their powers and not risk anyone connecting X-Factor with the X-Terminators. It wasn't until Cameron Hodge had revealed the connection, that X-Factor became a superhero team acknowledged as a force of good by the government.

   With his teammates in X-Factor, Hank met a celestial vessel that had once been a captive of Apocalypse; their arch nemesis. Ship, as she was called, befriended the team and housed them for a time. She dwarfed sky scrappers with her immense height. Having similar intrests, Hank became quite a good friend with Ship. Eventually Ship was destroyed but some connection clearly exists between Cable's Professor and Ship.

   Hank came to the X-Men's aid while the Shadow King was wreaking havoc worldwide from Muir Isle. After Farouk was defeated, the original X-Men rejoined the X-Men to begin a new era of the X-Men. Hank joined the X-Men's Blue Team and has been with the X-Men ever since.

   After Stryfe unleashed the Legacy Virus upon the world, and mutants in particular, Beast was one of the first to become actively involved in finding a cure. Along with Charles Xavier, Moira MacTaggert and others in the scientific community, Hank has struggled with the Virus for several years. Ironically, it was his girlfriend, Trish Tilby, who released the news of the Legacy Virus' existence on national television. The backlash from her report ended in increased hatred of mutants and at least one, probably more, mutant dead. Their relationship was on the rocks as a result, until the two got teleported into Sh'iar space to stop the threat of the Phalanx. During their adventures, the two became closer, yet still remained distant at times.

   Beast has found a collegue of sorts in Dr. Cecilia Reyes. The two have recently been discussing medical issues from an insiders viewpoint and may possibly be developing feelings for eachother. Hank has resolved to cure the Legacy Virus within the coming year. Only time will tell...