The Marvels ended with one heck of a mid-credits scene surprise when X-Men: The Last Stand star Kelsey Grammer reprised his role as Henry "Hank" McCoy for the hero's MCU debut. With Photon trapped in a parallel universe the X-Men call home, the stage has been set for those characters to eventually make their way to Earth-616, a world which currently has only a handful of mutants.
After recently showing off his final design for the movie's take on Beast, Marvel Studios' Director of Visual Development Andy Park has today revealed the versions which didn't make the final cut.
It's clear X-Men: The Animated Series and the character's classic comic book appearance were the main sources of inspiration here. However, there's also a cat-like take on the mutant which is more in line with Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's divisive redesign in New X-Men.
The one thing they all have in common, though, is that they're vastly superior to the Beast we saw in all of 20th Century Fox's X-Men movies. Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner, Matthew Vaughn, and Simon Kinberg all failed to nail Hank's live-action appearance, and Marvel Studios' decision to head down the CG route has clearly paid off.
"It is my hope that you will [see him again]," Grammer recently said of his surprise MCU debut. "I can say with a certain amount of confidence that you will. I would love to." The actor went on to say he'd been "very pleased" with the response to his appearance in The Marvels and revealed that "a lot of people got in touch" with him after they saw it.
"I’ve always wanted to play him again," the Frasier star concluded. "I see him as an extraordinary character, a real character of gravitas and importance in our culture. I’m delighted Beast is back and hope he’s back in a real way."
Take a closer look at Park's alternate designs for Beast in the Instagram post below. Are any of these better than what we saw in The Marvels? We'll let you decide!
In The Marvels, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe.
When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as "The Marvels."
The movie stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson, Zawe Ashton and Park Seo-joon.
The Marvels is now playing in theaters worldwide.