The X-Men have been heating up lately, with Marvel Comics announcing their bext big event book, DNX. This story spins out of the events of X-Men (Vol. 7), which has pit the mutants against 3K, an organization of villains like Cassandra Nova, Astra, Joseph, Wire, and various mutants the group has created with a special virus, led by the mysterious Chairman. “Age of Revelation” was a dud, but it revealed the shocking identity of 3K’s evil genius leader – the original Beast, who had went villainous in the Krakoa Era and was thought dead. DNX involves the Beast and 3K preparing to release the virus after the villain got a version of it from the future, with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four stepping up to stop them.
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Beast’s looks have changed a lot over the years, with the Chairman changing from his trademark blue fur to white. He looks fantastic, and more bestial, but this isn’t the first time that we saw a white Beast. The last time was 22 years ago in the final story of the one of the greatest runs in the history of the X-Men. There was a whole interesting backstory to why Beast had turned white, and it may be the key to DNX and the redemption of one of the original X-Men.
There’s a Sublime Reason Behind the First Time Beast Turned White
Grant Morrison’s New X-Men was a masterpiece, 40 issues of X-cellence for the men and women of X. Morrison introduced two main villains during their run – Cassandra Nova, who ended up in Deadpool and Wolverine, and John Sublime. Nova has gotten all the attention, but Sublime was one of the most interesting villains of the run and ended up being the big bad of the whole shebang. When readers were first introduced to him, he was seemingly a human who wanted to vivisect mutants and use their body parts to give powers to his U-Men, who he believed were the true next evolution of humanity.
The X-Men defeated him, but he was much more than they knew and readers would learn that in the last story of the run, “Here Comes Tomorrow”. Sublime wasn’t human, but a bacteriological lifeform that had been evolving on Earth for billions of years. It hated humans and mutants, creating the drug Kick to enhance mutant power while allowing Sublime to control those who used it, trying to spark a war that would destroy both sides. He took control of the Beast, who would become the Beast of Apocalypse and almost destroyed the world. Sublime was trying to get its hands on the Phoenix Egg and take control of the cosmic force, finally becoming the pinnacle of evolution. He was defeated and a resurrected Jean Grey used the Phoenix Force to destroy the entire timeline.
Beast has been evolving for years, with Marvel taking the character in darker directions. His villain turn made sense to a degree after years of him being placed in ever worse situations. However, the fact that he became so okay with killing, something that he once got on Cyclops and Wolverine for when he learned about their secret X-Force, was a change that many fans hated. There’s a chance that DNX may reveal that Hank McCoy didn’t become a monster on his own, but that Sublime has taken control of him.
The white fur is a big clue towards this. There’s a chance that Hank decided to give his body a full dye job, but it might be a visual cue towards a coming twist. X-Men editor Tom Brevoort has talked about being a huge fan of Morrison’s New X-Men and X-Men (Vol. 7) has used a lot of elements of that run, so there’s a good chance this will play into that. Making Beast under control the Sublime would explain his worst actions and allow the original to return to his friends, putting a dark chapter of his life behind him.
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