An interview from 2025 with Kelsey Grammer has been doing the rounds today regarding his return as the X-Men character Beast in Avengers: Doomsday and while we can’t knock his enthusiasm for his return as the brainy, blue mutant, some fans think his view might be a little off.
Speaking to ComingSoon last year, Grammer talked about his hopes for returning as his version of the hero that we hadn’t seen since X-Men: Days of Future Past, and made a surprise cameo in The Marvels. “Yeah, it was the secret, quiet passion and mind to come back to Beast because I love the character. I love him for what I think he stands for,” Grammer explained. “I mean, to me, to my mind, he’s the Martin Luther King of the mutant community. He’s a man of stature, of integrity, who believes that what you do is who you are, and he’s done everything, and he stands. He was slow to action, but once being immersed, he is given no quarter and expects none. He’s an amazing character, an amazing man.”
The Frasier star deemed the role a rarity, adding, “I love playing him. I think people will be happy with what we’re doing when he comes back. But I’d love to see [what happens] and play him again. Honestly, to me, he is one of the great opportunities in my life.”
There’s no doubt that Hank McCoy has been a hero for most of his time on the big screen, whether being played by Grammer or Nicholas Hoult in the younger years of Beast. It was the comparison to Martin Luther King and “Who believes that what you do is who you are” that raised eyebrows.
@NYCBeastDRKing chimed in, saying, “Man he has no clue does he lol. Beast is MOST definitely not like that.” @MASECHARTIN joked saying, “I’d love to know what this lovable blue furball has been up to in the comics the last couple of years.” Well, for the uninitiated, you might be disappointed to learn that in the last few years Beast broke bad. Like, really bad.
First, there was the Age of Apocalypse, when Beast (commonly known as Dark Beast) performed heinous experiments for Apocalypse and eventually crossed over to the main timeline. “Well, that’s not our Beast,” I hear you cry. Well, no, but that didn’t stop Hank from this universe going down a dark path during the Krakoan era and becoming an outright bad guy that the X-Men had to take down. It was only thanks to one of the many clones of Hank he’d created (and that had memories up until he started to go bad) that a reset of sorts was applied, and he was back on the hero team.
With that in mind, fans have focused on this and think Grammer might need to do some required reading if Beast appears post-Doomsday. “The man never read a comic in his life,” wrote @mgolingan1, with @ColeGmaen also adding, “Calling Beast the MLK of mutants is a stretch when comic Hank went full mad scientist. Still hyped for Grammer’s blue boy in Doomsday.”
Who knows, though? With all the surprises inevitably lined up in Marvel’s massive final chapter of 2026, Beast might become more aligned with his comic book version, in which case it might be the perfect time to panic.
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18. For more, check out our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order, and keep up with new Marvel movies and shows heading your way.