The battle we’ve all been waiting for seems to be coming to a head in X-Force #48. Beast, the once lovable and agile mutant who coined silly phrases, is now quite evil and needs to be stopped at all costs. Given the cliffhanger of X-Force #47, it’s high time to kill him already, or else be killed.
X-Force #48 centers on an intriguing setup. We know there have been clones of Beast running around, but what if there was one offline? Could the X-Force awaken to even the odds against Beast Prime? Maybe even more intriguingly, what would a blank slate Beast even think about the current situation mutants are in? Writer Benjamin Percy gets to explore that in a key scene, all the while setting up the last few strategic steps in beating back a hyper vigilante and evil Beast.
The issue opens with a reminder this evil Beast is far more dangerous than we can even imagine. More mutants die, which means something now that mutants can’t be resurrected. This leads to a major loss for the X-Force and a turn in the story that requires some tough choices.
Mutants are dropping like flies.
Credit: Marvel
Artist Robert Gill shows off a keen sense of action-oriented scenes, first with the evil Beast slinking about and then with a freshly awakened cloned Beast hopping around with all the agility in the world. It’s quite fun to see Beast flip upside down without breaking a sweat or bounding as if he always was the jovial jumping type. Given how evil Beast has slowly gotten heavier and slower, it’s neat to see an old-school Beast back. Gill gets to show off this new Beast in a great six-panel page showcasing his agility as Black Tom tries to answer many questions. He also supplies some cool team posing panels in his strongest issue to date.
These questions add some weight to where we’re at with the X-Men comics. Imagine learning about Krakoa for the first time or how another self has turned evil and been on the run for ages. It’s a lot to take in. The plot of the issue is a bit thin, though. It’s interesting to see Beast ask questions, but not a lot happens in the issue. Much of it is devoted to the X-Force trying to contain Beast or a different version of Beast running away.
X-Force #48 is a good step towards Beast’s final demise, earned ten times over. It’s more of a small step than a lunge, though, as we await some ramifications and further developments to see where this story is going.
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