Norton & Edna McCoy

By the time Hank was in elementary school, the principal pulled his parents aside because Hank was starting to get into trouble, taking things apart to understand them. He was the smartest kid in the school and they ended up putting him in an accelerated program.

It might seem a little odd to bring up Hank's parents, but there is an important dynamic between Hank and his parents the affects his personality and his life.

Norton McCoy had been working at a nuclear power plant in Dunfee, Illinois when there was a meltdown situation.  Norton went in to stop it at the last minute, which he appears to have been successful in doing, but he was doused in radiation.  Eventually, the doctors gave him a clean bill of health and sent him home, but the McCoy's expected to never have any kids.  Eventually, Henry "Hank" Phillip McCoy came along - born differently.  As Norton says in X-Men Unlimited #10 "with hands like hams and feet like gunboats".

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X-Men Unlimited. Issue #10

Based on Hank's character, we can gather that his parents gave their son books, extra education, a solid work ethic, and a fairly stable homelife.  We can see this reflected in Hank's respect for others, his ever-lasting love and respect for his parents, occasional reference to his parents like "Mama McCoy didn't raise a fool".

There are positives and negatives to parents who have high expectations for their kids.  Positives - it can boost academic performance, create motivation, the child learns to strive for success, and the child learns earlier (usually) to set goals.  This can also lead to better time management skills, but not always.  Negatives - Too much can lead to anxiety, depression, perfectionism, and can create a fear of failure.  When that child cannot meet the expectations, no matter how great or small, they will start to internalize the sense of being a disappointment.

In Hank's case, there are certain expectations and some of these are self-imposed, BUT pair this with a case of a genius child...and we are set up for some deeper psychological aspects.  A lot of high IQ youth who are either in an accelerated program and graduate early or have to trudge through every year of K-12 tend to have some social-emotional challenges.  This may include, but isn't limited to: bullying, asynchronous development (social and/or emotional maturity doesn't match cognitive abilities), a risk of academic burnout, social isolation, missing "normal" milestones (prom, etc), and legal limitations (driving age, legal forms, etc).

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X-Men Origins: Beast

What we do know is that Norton pushed Hank into playing football and finding friends with his peers.  Edna has always just wanted a "normal" son.  Hank isn't the tallest guy, but he's very broad-shouldered with giant hands and feet and overly muscular.  This automatically sets him apart from "normal" people.  His massive intellect pushes him further away from "normal", BUT does give him the potential advantage of being highly employable.  We'll see more of this dynamic further along.

After Hank's second mutation, which occurred after he was working at Brand Corporation and believed he had created a cure for mutants, things changed.  He was wrong about the "cure" and it turned him into grey beast, then later he turned blue. [Technically, he was supposed to have black fur but for printing issues they went with grey then blue...ultimately stuck with blue.]  It also gave him claws, animal fangs, heightened senses (taste, smell, hearing, sight, touch), night vision, ability to secrete pheromones, and a low grade healing factor.

I also want to quickly point out that blue fur is not something we generally see in nature.  Sure, you get it with fish and sea creatures, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and birds...but not generally mammals.  I have 3 photos (above) of "blue" mammals: blue wildebeest, mandrill, and the De Breeza monkey.  Most other "blue" fur on animals is more of a blue-grey or slate color and is technically grey that takes on the occasional blue sheen.    I'm only bringing this up because it means Hank (and any other blue characters) are completely unique for mammals.

When his parents first saw him, after his transformation, they had some issues.  This was detailed in Marvel Team-Up issue #124.  Norton was more approving than Edna.  Edna literally flips out during dinner when Hank brings his (then girlfriend) Vera  to meet his parents.

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Marvel Team-Up. Issue #124

The revulsion of his mom does a bit of a number on Hank.  It doesn't help his state of mind.  First off, his parents have seen him on television with the Avengers.  Secondly, the big problem lies with his mother.  Instead of getting angry with his mom, Hank goes after her in an attempt to find and comfort her.  He instantly tells himself that he is the problem.  He believes his mom would see herself as an outcast due to her child being one.  Let me point out that Norton doesn't seem to care if his son is super smart or a mutant or covered in blue fur; he's just happy to see Hank.  Norton does explain to Hank that Edna has had a long-time concern about Hank being deformed.  There is also a little mention of Edna having hoped Hank would become a CPA which I find odd since he was super intelligent from the get go.

Is Hank's mom passive-aggressive?  I'm totally getting passive-aggressive vibes from Edna.  She just leaves in the middle of dining out and she just met Hank's girlfriend.  That's a definite "let's not talk about it" thing.  Hank is actually pretty hypervigilant in regards to other people, which is often something a child with a passive-aggressive parent tends to do (at least to some degree).  Hank often has emotional outbursts (dudes, he can be a total jerk at times) - which is due to emotional suppression (a learned reaction to a passive-aggressive parent) that builds up.  Also, we see a little bit of scapegoating going on, where Edna has an issue and the reason is Hank.  See the The Merry X-Men Holiday Special Issue #1 image at the bottom of the page.  If that's not enough, the next two images is from Ultimate X-Men #32 (AU; not canon) where Hank's parents were just fucking awful - also, Hank and Storm were an item.

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Ultimate X-Men #32

Eventually, Hank's parents come around.  The readers don't get a terrible high amount of parents-Hank relations, aside from the appearance of Dark Beast heading to Dunfee and later on as a retreat with Franklin Richards.  When Dark Beast (Hank from a different world - evil Hank) went to the family farm, he was actually pretty touched by Hank's parents.  We also see that Hank has built and installed tech for his parents, including: upgraded farm equipment, upgraded kitchen equipment, and GMO crops to result in a larger harvest.  [Below: Hank in yellow shirt is Dark Beast.]

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X-Men Unlimited. Issue #10

As a quick side note, Dark Beast left the farm and immediately killed someone, but spared Hank's parents.  This is presumably as a response to their positive nature.  Dark Beast, by the way, is a bit psychotic.

We also get a glimpse of Hank and his parents' relationship when the X-Men retreat to the McCoy farm in Dunfee when they are in custody of Franklin Richards (son of Reed and Sue Richards).

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X-Men Unlimited.  Issue #14

If we move forward to post-third mutation, which is after Hank's feline form (happened in Dark Avengers #7), we land on a Christmas special that features a little 1-page scene with Hank at his parents' house.  He overhears them.  What do they bring up?  Typical parent stuff - no kids, his appearance, his health, the fact that he didn't bring anyone home, and to follow it all up...he's expected to act normally "Hank, honey?  Hurry up or we'll be late for church!"

The Merry X-Men Holiday Special. Issue #1

I'm not a psychologist, but I would love to get a psychologists perspective of Hank's relationship with his parents.  I was, however, in special ed for high IQ (which is highly under-funded) and I feel like I understand a lot of what Hank has been through, especially regarding parents.

Sources:

• Beast (Henry McCoy). Marvel Comics. (2026). https://www.marvel.com/characters/beast-henry-mccoy

• Carey, Mike. (Nov 2008) "X-Men Origins: Beast." Single issue. (Illustrator J.K. Woodward). Marvel Comics.

• DeMatters, J.M. (Dec 1982) "Spider-Man and The Beast." Marvel Team-Up. Issue #124. (Illustrator K. Gammill). Marvel Comics.

• Kavanagh, Terry. (Mar 1997) "Innocence Lost." X-Men Unlimited.  Issue #14. (Illustrator J. Cheung). Marvel Comics.

• Millar, Mark. (2010) "Return of The King. Part 6 of 7" Ultimate X-Men. Issue #32. (Illustrator A. Kubert). Marvel Comics.

• Rowell, Rainbow. (2018) "Blue Christmas." The Merry X-Men Holiday Special. Issue #1. (Illustrator K. Anka). Marvel Comics.

• Waid, Mark. (Mar 1996) "Beast vs Beast: Meet The Real McCoy." X-Men Unlimited. Issue #10. (Illustrator F. Toscano and N. Gnazzo). Marvel Comics.