With his peerless intellect, Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy, better known as the X-Men's Beast, was placed in charge of X-Force. This modern iteration of X-Force is essentially Krakoa's equivalent to the CIA, mutantkind's own covert group to identify and neutralize threats to the fledgling nation. Beast's belief in his mission is absolute, and his tenure leading X-Force has seen him increasingly abandon morality in the name of security. His latest project, however, goes well beyond the pale as the once-lovable blue scientist-philosopher establishes himself as nothing short of a monster.

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Beast Is Conducting Horrific Experiments

X-Force (2019) #35 by Benjamin Percy and Christopher Allen sees Beast requisition a grand sum of $100 billion in order to create his own black site prison in outer space. With X-Force #36, from Percy and Robert Gill, fans are treated to the full extent of the depravity Beast is capable of. With a steady supply of intelligent beings, ranging from humans to aliens to robots to even mutants from Arrako, Beast conducts a ghastly array of medical experiments and biological weapon tests. McCoy's attitude to his subjects is callous and detached: they're little more than tools at his disposal and the only mercy he's willing to offer is a chance to forgo the wait for their turn. There's no hope for survival here, and those that inevitably perish after being subjected to his experiments are unceremoniously jettisoned into space.

Beast's Path To Villainy Has Been A Long One

It's a grim, morally indefensible revelation about Beast, but it's a natural conclusion to the path he set out upon when given charge of X-Force. While McCoy defends his actions as necessary for the protection and long-term survival of Krakoa, it's far from his first venture into moral ambiguity while striving for this goal. Beast previously sought to sabotage the small Central American country of Terra Verde's attempts to pursue telefloronic technology, a scientific breakthrough in plant-based biology that could have created medicines to rival Krakoa's own natural flora. He ultimately enslaved the entire population of Terra Verde. While his distrust of humans has ventured well into outright bigotry, Beast has also made xenophobic overtures of his fellow mutants: it's become his point of view that the era of "all mutants are welcome" is no longer warranted, and that new mutant refugees are a security risk "dirtying" Krakoa's shores. Beast has become the very monster he wishes to protect Krakoa from: a xenophobic murderer that views his victims as inherently lesser.

Beast is walking the road to damnation and given the extent of his crimes, true redemption now seems impossible. A founding member of the X-Men and once an Avenger, Beast's fall from grace is total. Now, with X-Force turning against him for his monstrous deeds, it seems inevitable a showdown looms between Beast and his own teammates - founding X-Men hero or not.

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X-Force #36 is on sale now from Marvel Comics