Brie Larson's Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels, is gradually being retconned by Marvel Studios after its failure to replicate the first film's box office success. The studio will take its first major step in that direction with Avengers: Doomsday, the December 18 blockbuster that pits the MCU's biggest heroes against Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom. Among the hero factions are the Fox universe's X-Men, including Kelsey Grammer's Hank McCoy. Beast, it turns out, will play an integral role in Marvel's decision to distance itself from The Marvels.
Marvel Studios has just given fans their clearest look yet at Beast in Avengers: Doomsday, and the blue-furred mutant looks nothing like the version from The Marvels' post-credits scene. A new Hot Toys collectible figure shows Grammer's character bare-chested, wearing dark blue pants with yellow trim and a yellow belt with the X-Men logo on the buckle.
This take on Beast looks far more feral and aggressive than the gentle, lab-coated version who appeared in Brie Larson's sequel. That movie ended with Monica Rambeau sacrificing herself to seal a tear in space-time after she, Carol Danvers, and Kamala Khan defeated the villainous Dar-Benn. The stinger revealed that her sacrifice had transported her to an alternate universe, one where her mother, Maria Rambeau, was alive and operating as a hero named Binary in a red and white costume.
Monica woke in a hospital bed as Grammer's Beast appeared at her bedside in a lab coat and glasses. The scene electrified fans, since it tied the Fox X-Men to MCU continuity and even featured music cues from X2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Naturally, it was assumed to be a direct pipeline into Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Marvel, it seems, has different plans.
The studio has been hinting at the Beast redesign for a while, well before the Hot Toys figure. The first promotional mural, designed by former Marvel Studios director of visual development Andy Park, showed that Beast would go completely bare-chested for the first time in his live-action history. A Hasbro Marvel Legends figure later gave fans an even better look at the redesign.
It is entirely possible that the Beast spotlighted in Doomsday's marketing hails from a different universe than the one in The Marvels. The re-release of Avengers: Endgame, titled Avengers: Endgame Encore, included a TVA post-credits scene showing the Fox X-Men universe, designated Earth-10005, on the brink of an incursion with the mysterious Earth-1127. In that scene, Mobius, Ouroboros, and Casey watch the two worlds collide, with Ouroboros saying, "The multiverse is collapsing." The Russo Brothers have called it "the most profound thing that's ever happened to the MCU."
If Doomsday's Beast comes from a world in constant war, fighting for survival, a more aggressive and feral design makes sense. The Beast from The Marvels, by contrast, had a much calmer demeanor, suggesting he belongs to a separate universe altogether. This signals Marvel's first step in distancing itself from that movie, which was poorly received by general audiences.
Teyonah Parris, Brie Larson, and Iman Vellani, the three leads of The Marvels, have all been left out of Avengers: Doomsday, which only reinforces the sense that Marvel is quietly retconning that post-credits scene. Resolving it properly would require Parris to appear in Doomsday in some capacity, but it has become increasingly obvious that she does not factor into the film at all. Using a different Beast diminishes the significance of The Marvels' post-credits scene.
The Marvels' Historic Box Office Flop Changed the MCU's Plans
Brie Larson's Captain Marvel was a resounding success, pulling in over $1.1 billion during its 2019 theatrical run. Marvel Studios decided to give the character a sequel with a more ambitious storyline. Five years later, The Marvels arrived with Larson back as the lead, surrounded by exciting new heroes. Marvel was confident in the movie, given how the first performed, and it staked its biggest X-Men reveal to date on the post-credits scene, believing fans would flock to theaters for the follow-up.
The film instead became a historic flop, opening domestically to just $46.1 million, the worst debut in MCU history. And the worst was yet to come. In its second weekend, ticket sales cratered by 78%, the biggest second-weekend drop the franchise had ever seen, as brutal word of mouth took its toll. The movie ended its run with $84.5 million domestically and $206 million worldwide, falling short of its reported $220 million budget and landing deep in loss territory.
It became the lowest-grossing MCU movie of all time, the first in franchise history to fall short of $100 million domestically, and Disney eventually stopped reporting its grosses altogether. The message from audiences was unmistakable.
Avengers: Doomsday is Marvel's most ambitious project yet, and tethering a film of that scale to the franchise's biggest-ever failure risks rubbing off on the crossover event and reminding audiences of the Multiverse Saga's missteps. So even though The Marvels delivered one of the saga's most important post-credits scenes, Marvel appears intent on distancing Doomsday from it as much as possible. Hence the new Beast.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
