Kelsey Grammer's Beast Return Has Marvel Fans Divided Over One Thing
"The Marvels" goes out on two high notes: its ending sets up the formation of a long-awaited Marvel Cinematic Universe team in the Young Avengers, while the "Marvels" mid-credits scene catches up with Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) in an alternate universe and features a surprise appearance from Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy, aka Beast. This marks the first time that Grammer has portrayed the iconic X-Men character since his cameo in 2014's "X-Men: Days of Future Past."
Despite that fact, Beast's appearance in "The Marvels" has sparked a surprising debate between the comic book fans who support Marvel's decision to bring a CGI version of the character to life and those who would have preferred if the studio had relied on the same practical effects that were used in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and "X-Men: The Last Stand." @NicholasJLevi, for instance, voiced their opinion on the matter, writing on X (formerly Twitter), "To me also, making Beast CGI is like.... Doing the Wolf Man CGI. Like it's a character that works best with makeup [and] practical [effects]."
Meanwhile, @McDermottNY similarly wrote, "After rewatching ['Days of Future Past'], I can confidently say that I prefer Beast done with practical effects [as] opposed to a fully CGI character," while @blurayangel conversely posted, "The CGI for BEAST is GREAT!" Elsewhere, @captaincupkicks admitted, "[I'll] never understand why people hate this design for Beast, he looks incredible [in 'The Marvels'] and the CGI is flawless."
Which Beast will we see in the future?
Unlike their fellow MCU fans, some viewers don't seem to have too strong of a preference between the practical and CGI versions of Kelsey Grammer's Beast. A user named @gregscottbailey wrote, "CGI Beast just feels more solid. But I like them both," while @ReM102005 confessed, "It's a great design but I'd still appreciate a mix of practical and CGI like ['X-Men: First Class'] did. Loved that Beast look."
Andy Park, Marvel Studios' Director of Visual Development, previously revealed that there were multiple designs considered for the version of Beast featured at the end of "The Marvels." Unfortunately for some of the fans mentioned above, none of the alternate designs for Beast's cameo reveal whether or not a practical, makeup-driven approach to the character was ever considered. In all likelihood, the latest live-action iteration of the X-Men hero was always going to be rendered digitally.
That doesn't mean a practical version of the character will never appear in the MCU. Not only does the variant of Beast who shows up in "The Marvels" exist in a different dimension than the MCU's prime reality, but it's possible that Marvel could decide to change its approach to the character in the future. That's assuming, of course, that Marvel even intends to bring Grammer's Beast back again, which isn't something that the studio has confirmed one way or the other yet.