Warning: Contains spoilers for Wolverine #32The X-Men hero Wolverine's reputation as a brutal but honorable warrior is being tarnished, as the despicable Beast unleashes his army of Logan clones on unsuspecting victims, all in the name of "the greater good."
Beast's descent into villainy is the single most terrible example of a former X-Men hero turning evil. Most heroes become villains due to outside influence or power manipulation. However, Beast is choosing to abuse and defile his former friend Wolverine simply because his self-righteous mind thinks his ends justify his means.
Beast's full-blown status as a villain has been building for months now, potentially even years, but Wolverine #32 - from writer Benjamin Percy and artist Juan Jose Ryp - shows that Hank McCoy is now simply beyond redemption. He has turned Logan's horrifying experience as a victim of the Weapon X program into fodder for his "Beast Agenda," utilizing clones of Wolverine as an army of "ultimate weapons." This is the exact opposite of the kind of man Logan truly is.
Beast Has Bastardized Everything Wolverine Stands For
Beast is convinced that everything he is doing is a "last-ditch effort to save mutantkind," but he has provided absolutely zero evidence as to what he is saving mutantkind from by doing Nazi-level human experimentation, murdering human allies and their children, and killing and then mind controlling Wolverine, a former friend of his. In Wolverine #32 Hank states that his army of Wolverine clones, using hijacked Krakoan biotechnology, are his "mindlessly sharp instruments." He is using these instruments to preemptively take down any potential threat to the Krakoan nation, using Logan's face as the symbol of his aggression. Not only does Beast use his Wolverine clones - who have Logan's mind and are just controlled through Krakoan biotechnology - to ruthlessly slaughter a pair of humans, breaking one of Krakoa's main laws. He then has Logan assault one of his longest known friends, the mutant Maverick, also known as David North or Agent Zero.
In Wolverine #32 Beast has his Wolverine clones attack a submarine that North is on, where he is leading a team of mercenaries after stealing some Krakoan medicine. The Logan clones brutally murder everyone on board before attempting to kill Maverick as well. North survives and even takes one of the clones with him, to hopefully deprogram. As Maverick says to the Wolverine clone attacking him, this assault stands for everything opposite of what Logan believes in. Logan has been in healing and recovery from the horrific trauma done to him while under control and experimentation by Weapon X, and has spent his entire life since atoning for his many sins. While that does often include killing people, it is never without cause, and it always pains him to do so. Wolverine spent a long time living in Japan and training as a samurai, and since then has had a strict an unbending moral code that he follows regardless of how furious or sad he may be.
Logan Has More Reason Than Ever To Take Beast Down
Beast's repeated abuse and mind controlling of Logan, and his various Wolverine clones, is an affront to everything that Logan holds dear. It is truly disgusting that Hank McCoy would think this behavior would be acceptable in any situation. Wolverine already had good reason to take Hank down, thinking he killed Beast in Wolverine #31, but once he discovers the true extent of Hank's treachery, there is nothing that will stop Logan from ending his reign of terror.
Beast's despicable agenda has turned the X-Men's beloved hero Wolverine into a mindless killer on a mass scale, tarnishing his hard-fought reputation and using his powers in the exact opposite way Logan would, showing there is no limit to Hank's depravity.
Wolverine #32 from Marvel Comics is available now in stores.
