Hank's remarkable athletic abilities and brilliance attracted the notice of Professor Charles Xavier, who was forming the original X-Men. Hank hid his mutation and thirst for knowledge in plain sight - until the school asked him to leave after he was exposed as a mutant. While attending Bard College, thanks to his powers, Henry became a star football player as a teenager and earned the nickname Magilla Gorilla. A prodigy, Hank was also endowed with an innate superhuman intellect and during adolescence further increased his powers of simian-like augmented agility, reflexes, and strength. Unlike most mutants, Henry showed signs of mutation from birth: unusually large hands and feet, coupled with unusual strength and agility. Norton was completely unharmed, but the radiation affected his genes and, as a result, his son was born a mutant. His father worked at a nuclear power plant where he was exposed to massive amounts of radiation during an accident.
Henry 'Hank' McCoy was born and raised in Dunfee, Illinois, the son of Norton and Edna McCoy. For a complete history see Henry McCoy's Expanded History Early Years History This is an abridged version of Henry McCoy's history. 1.18 New Mutation & Joining the Illuminati.1.9 Return to the X-Men & the Legacy Virus.
