Name: Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 350 pounds
Affiliation: X-Men
Previous Affiliations: Avengers, X-Factor, The Defenders, The Champions
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #1
Known Relatives: Edna McCoy (mother), Norton McCoy (father)
Known Allies: Ororo Monrue, Trish Tilby, Robert Drake, Scott Sum}ers, Jean Grey-Summers,Warren Worthington III
Known Enemies: Apocalypse, Dr. Carl Maddocks, Dark Beast
Powers: Dr. McCoy has the mutant abilities of agility, dexterity and strength on his side. His mutant gifts, however, came with side effects. He has extremely large hands and feet, which do allow him to grapple objects much easier than others. His blue fur is due to an experiment that he conducted on himself. It has nothing to do with his mutation.

Origin: When Norton McCoy put his life in danger to save an entire area from destruction, he had no idea what would happen to his children, if he had them. Henry McCoy was an abnormal child at birth. He was born with extra large hands and feet, and an intelligence comparable to Einstein. As the oldest member of the original X-Men, Beast had a sense of humor that held together the team. However, he left after graduating from Xavier's School and tried to make a life out in the real world. Getting a job at the Brand Corporation, McCoy created a formula that would counteract mutations. He tried it out on himself, but ended up mutating a mutant. Thus, his blue furred look was born. He later joined the Avengers, but once X-Factor was looking for members (namely the 5 original X-Men), he left to join his friends.

Dr. Carl Maddocks, father of Artie Maddocks, kidnapped Beast, he had no intention of allowing him to stay the way he was. So, he reversed Beast's initinal transformation back to his previous form (just big hands and feet). However, this transformation caused problems in the future. Pestilence, one of Apocalypse's four horsemen, nearly killed Beast, but ended up giving him incredible strength if he exerted himself. However, the exertion "drained" his mind, making him stupid over time. BUT!! This was reversed by Infectia, who resorted him to full mind and blue body. Like the other members of X-Factor, Beast joined the X-Men after the Muir Island Saga.

Beast rejoined the X-Men as a member of the Blue team, commanded by Cyclops. In his first mission as Blue team member, Beast faced Magneto and his Acolytes. Unfortunately, Beast and the rest of the Blue team were captured and taken to Asteroid M, Magneto's home. There, he was conditioned to be a servant of Magneto. However, the more he used his powers, the faster the conditioning deteriorated, allowing him to think for himself again. Not much later, the X-Men were captured by Mojo, who had arranged for them to be a part of his production of "The Wizard of X". Beast was not mind controlled like the rest of the X-Men, just exaggerated (he spoke like Astro from "The Jetsons"). Along with Longshot and Dazzler, the X-Men defeated Mojo and returned their own dimension. While Professor Xavier was shot by Stryfe, Beast took care of Xavier and attempted to cure him of the techno-organic virus that Xavier was infected with. Beast was cautious of having Apocalypse cure Xavier, but the ploy worked. Beast remain ed on Earth to care for Xavier as the rest of the X-Men attacked Stryfe on the moon.

Since the tragic death of Illyana Rasputin, Beast has been working around the clock to find a cure for the deadly Legacy Virus. When our timeline was restored to normal after the Age of Apocalypse, Beast's doppleganger from the AOA took his place until our McCoy was rescued by X-Factor in X-Factor #126. Henry was a big help after the EM pulse that Onslaught fired, saving Iron Man from death. At Christmas, Gladitor came to Earth to get the X-Men to assist the Shi'ar against a threat able to destroy the entire Shi'ar empire. So, five X-Men (Beast, Joseph, Rogue, Bishop and Gambit) and Trish Tilby were sent to Shi'ar space, where they faced the Phalanx. It was Beast's intelligence that allowed the mutants to defeat the Phalanx. When the X-Men returned to Earth, they found themselves in Antarctica, specifically the former base of Magneto. There, Nanny had field in place that would nullify mutant powers (which, for some reason, made Beast lose his blue fur). So, Trish and Hank planned a little plot to defeat Nanny by whacking off her head. It worked and Beast turned blue again (he should have stayed that way in the first place). However, they were not done yet, as they had to face Erik the Red and participate in the Trial of Gambit. Even when they did that, Beast got back to the X-Mansion to deal with a nanotech bomb in Cyclops' chest. Interesting way to end a "vacation" in space. After that, Beast hung around for a while, but disappeared. It was later revealed that he had just gone to Muir Island to spend more time researching the Legacy Virus. Avengers #14 had a great special appearance by Beast, who is extremely well written by Kurt Busiek.