Frasier star Kelsey Grammer made his debut as Beast in X-Men 3, aka X-Men: The Last Stand, before returning to provide the voice and motion capture for a fully CGI version of the character in The Marvels many years later.
In The Marvels' stinger, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) wakes up in a medical lab after getting trapped in an alternate reality following her battle with Dar-Benn to find her late mother, Maria (Lashana Lynch), by her side. Rambeau is overcome with joy, but Maria - who is actually this world's Binary - has no idea who she is.
As Monica's confusion grows, a familiar voice asks "how's our patient," and a comic-accurate, blue-furred Hank McCoy enters the room.
There were rumors that Grammer was set to return as the fan-favorite X-Man in Avengers: Doomsday, which were confirmed during Marvel Studios' recent cast announcement. While appearing as a guest on The Jamie Kern Lima Show, the actor expressed his excitement to reprise the role while explaining why the character means so much to him.
“I love the character. I love his… he is a stalwart, upright, serious-minded, decent man. And that’s what I love about him. I think of him as being the Martin Luther King of the Mutants. He’s got a dignity and a dream and is willing to fight for it — but slow to action in terms of fighting. He will always find every way he can not to have to fight. And then when it’s the last possible response, then it’s swift and severe. You know, give no quarter, expect none. And I liked that about him.”
“He’s a man of real stature, and that’s what I intend to bring to him — ethical conduct," he added. "He’s a man who studies good and does his best to live by that. And I like that.”
Nicholas Hoult was cast as a younger take on McCoy in X-Men: First Class, and continued to play the character over the next three Fox-era movies. Grammer admits to feeling a bit "crestfallen" at the time.
“The response was pretty big, pretty positive. Like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Beast'. They did the… you know, they had the younger guy come on and play Beast for a couple. And I was a little crestfallen over that. I thought, ‘Oh gee whiz.’ But… I’ve always wanted to play him again.”
It remains to be seen how big a role Beast and his fellow OG X-Men will play in Doomsday, but we do know that Marvel is in the process of casting younger actors to take over as the mutant heroes for the long-awaited X-Men reboot, which will (most likely) be helmed by Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027. Both films will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
You can check out the full (for now) Doomsday cast list below.
• Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
• Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki
• Lewis Pullman as Sentry
• Florence Pugh as Yelena
• Danny Ramirez as Falcon
• Ian McKellen as Magneto
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky
• Winston Duke as M’Baku
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Kelsey Grammer as Beast
• James Marsden as Cyclops
• Channing Tatum as Gambit
• Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm
• Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
• Patrick Stewart as Professor X
• Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
• Letitia Wright as Black Panther
• Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm
• David Harbour as Red Guardian
• Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing
• Anthony Mackie as Captain America