X-Men: The Last Stand tried to adapt two big comic book storylines with "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and "The Cure," only to ultimately do neither of them justice (a fact that haunted writer Simon Kinberg to the extent he tried again with Dark Phoenix...and failed a second time).
The 2006 movie was a critical and commercial disappointment and, five years later, 20th Century Fox decided to reboot the franchise with X-Men: First Class.
The prequel revisited the formation of the X-Men, meaning everyone aside from Hugh Jackman - who made a brief cameo appearance - was recast. That included Beast actor Kelsey Grammer.
He'd eventually reprise the role for a surprise cameo in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but with Nicholas Hoult taking his place, that seemed to be the end of the road for Grammer. Well, until a shocking return in The Marvels' post-credits scene last November!
With that, the stage has been set for the actor's Beast to become a part of the MCU's Multiverse Saga. While Grammer didn't address that during a recent "Full Comedy Actor Roundtable," he did reflect on how challenging it was to learn he'd been dumped from the X-Men franchise.
"After I just played Beast - my days in Marvel - they came and said, 'We have the most wonderful next film planned...We're gonna go back in time.' And so I suddenly have this sinking feeling of 'Oh so, I won't be in it, so my performance as Beast will not be in it," the actor recalled. "That's what you're telling me'. Sure enough, it went back in time...I was gone!"
Last year, Grammer did weigh in on his unexpected MCU debut. "Beast is a passion for me," he said. "I've always wanted to be a blue person and now I am in film."
Adding that he "certainly hopes" to have a future as the character following his cameo, Grammer noted, "There's been some discussion. I've always wanted to play him again. It's a great feather in my cap now that to have him come back and have people still be interested in seeing who was arguably the greatest Beast ever."
Only time will tell what the future holds in store for Grammer's Beast, though we're expecting the X-Men's world to be revisited in the upcoming Avengers movies instead of a Captain Marvel threequel or Deadpool & Wolverine.
You can hear more from Grammer (the X-Men talk begins around the 27:00 mark) in the player below.