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| “ | No! There will never be another Alpha. Not now. Not ever. Alpha is no longer with us... but her words still guide us. She gave us our orders. They have crossed into our land. They have taken her life. Now they all die. | „ |
| ~ Beta to the Whisperers about Rick Grimes' group in Issue 157. |
| “ | For Alpha! | „ |
| ~ Beta's final words before being stabbed in the eyes by Daryl. |
Beta is a major antagonist in The Walking Dead comic series and TV adaptation. He was the second-in-command of the Whisperers and the right-hand man of Alpha. After Alpha's death, he becomes the de-facto leader of the Whisperers. He serves as the secondary antagonist of Volume 26: Call to Arms, and the main antagonist of Volume 27: The Whisperer War and Volume 29: Lines We Cross. In the TV Series, he serves as the secondary antagonist of the second half of Season 9 and the majority of Season 10. After Alpha's death, he becomes the main antagonist for the remainder of the second half of Season 10.
He is portrayed by Ryan Hurst in the TV Series who also voiced Thor in God of War (2018).
Personality and Description[]
Brutal and unmoving, Beta is aggressive to any and all outsiders. He is obedient to a fault and strictly adheres to the rules set by Alpha, even when she does not follow them. He is extremely protective of Alpha, partially as her bodyguard and second in command and also in part due to his feelings for her. Beta becomes even more dangerous after Alpha's untimely death, leading the largest herd ever seen through Alexandria in an attempt to kill the survivors in revenge.
Beta is an extremely tall and muscular man, standing at roughly seven feet tall. He is so tall his action figure is six inches in height, as opposed to five like the rest. One thing that Beta is fiercely protective over is his face and appearance. He wears his 'skin mask' on his face at all times, even outside of the presence of walkers. If anyone tries to remove it, Beta will kill them without a second thought, even if they are fellow Whisperers. It is eventually revealed, just before his death, that his fierce desire to protect his face was because before the apocalypse, Beta was a very wealthy celebrity. He was a famous basketball player turned actor, starring in movies and car commercials.
Comic Series[]
Beta confronts Negan, with many other Whisperers, after Negan crosses the border marking the entrance to the Whisperers' territory. After Negan expresses his wish to join the Whisperers, Beta orders the other Whisperers to take Negan to Alpha. Later that day, Beta confronts Michonne and Aaron, in search of Negan under orders by Rick Grimes of the Alexandria Safe-Zone, in the same location. Michonne attempts to explain that she means no harm and is only after a fugitive who crossed the border. Beta ignores this and with his fellow Whisperers attack the pair. Michonne and Aaron try to deflate the situation and refuse to kill any of the Whisperers. Beta takes advantage of this and stabs Aaron in the gut.
Before Beta can deliver a final fatal strike to Aaron, Michonne intercepts his strike and saves Aaron by deflecting his blades. She then slashes Beta across his face with her katana causing him to scream. After Michonne kills another Whisperer, Beta knocks her to the ground remarking that she "will make a lovely mask". Once again, Beta is interrupted before he can kill Aaron or Michonne this time by the Alexandrian militia led by Dwight. The militia kills every member of Beta's Whisperer party with the exception of Beta himself, who escapes. Beta returns to the Whisperer camp where upon seeing Alpha strike Negan he offers to kill him on the spot. She orders him not to do so. He then slams Negan against a tree for lying and claiming that he was unaware of the existence of the Whisperers. After commenting about Beta's impressive height and intimidating appearance, Negan says that despite his lies he has a lot to offer the Whisperers.
As Negan begins to settle into the Whisperer community, Beta starts to question his presence. Alpha asks whether he is challenging her and her commands, but Beta assures her he isn't and Alpha forgives him. Most of the Whisperers appear amazed on how skilled Negan is at killing walkers though Beta does not trust him in the least. During the night, Negan sees a Whisperer woman being raped, but ends it and tries to kill the two men trying to rape her. Beta intervenes, stops him, and informs Negan of the men's right to rape the girl and that he prevented her from being able to prove her strength. Beta informs Alpha that Negan's insult must not go unpunished, and Negan is forced to sleep by himself. After Beta discovers that Negan killed her, Beta says that after Alpha's death, there will never be another alpha (even though he still becomes the de facto leader of the Whisperers). He declares war against Negan and the rest of the joint communities, saying that they will all die.
Panicking after witnessing the immense herd of Whisperers, Gabriel Stokes, of Alexandria, who was keeping watch in a water tower for the advancement of the Whisperers, abandons his position and begins descending the ladder, begging for help. He suddenly falls, only for one of its railings leaving him stuck and in agonizing pain as his leg snaps. Beta and the Whispers continue on their journey as Gabriel is devoured near to the bone by the horde. Disguised in the herd, Beta attempts to attack Dwight, but fails when Negan starts attacking. Negan first starts attacking Beta by hitting him with the back of a rifle, but Beta is getting the upperhand, but then Dwight throws him Lucille, and Beta does not stand a chance against him then. Negan starts brutally beating beta with Lucille, dodging all of Beta's attacks, before hitting Beta over the head over and over with Lucille. He hits Beta in the back so hard that Lucille is destroyed, infuriating Negan. However, the increasingly overwhelming herd prevents Negan from killing him, and two other Whisperers arrive and carry an unconscious Beta to safety.
One of Beta's rescuers remarks that no one has ever seen Beta's face, and goes to remove it; however, the barely conscious Beta fatally stabs him before he can, starting to say that no one may see his face, before passing out again. Once Beta comes to a few hours later, he and the three Whisperers around him vow to continue their plan. Despite being in tremendous pain (even falling over a few times), Beta and his small group successfully direct their massive herd towards Alexandria, with Beta remarking that the dead will finish what they started. Weeks after Beta's final attempt to destroy Alexandria and the surrounding communities fails after the group successfully directs most of the horde into the ocean and finishes off the rest of the herd, Beta separates himself into the surrounding wilderness, his attempt to avenge Alpha and the other whisperers a failure. One night he finds Paul Monroe and Aaron sleeping in the forest en route to the Hilltop.
Sneaking up on Paul while Aaron is sleeping, Beta prepares to strike but Paul quickly spots him. The two brawl while Aaron rises and has to fight walkers surrounding them. Beta is almost about to plunge his blades into Paul until Aaron shoots Beta through the chest. After finishing off the remaining walkers, Paul and Aaron remove Beta's mask and are stunned to recognize him as a famous and wealthy basketball player and actor. Beta suddenly rises and cries that he has no name and is no one before succumbing to his wound with a thud to the ground.
TV Series[]
Beta is shown to be a brutal, sociopathic, cunning, aggressive, and highly analytical man who is devoted to the Whisperer way of life. Prior to his time with the Whisperers however, Beta was revealed to be a solitary, socially awkward, and mentally unstable individual, having apparently turned into a recluse and gone insane after his best friend died. He is shown to be extremely protective of his identity to the point that he even murders a fellow Whisperer for recognizing him from his days as a celebrity before the apocalypse. This shows that Beta, like Alpha and a majority of the Whisperers, has completely shed the identity and life he once had and has adapted fully to the post-apocalyptic hell. He somewhat appears to hate the person he once was and desperately wants to escape his past though it also seems, in a way, that he wants to preserve his image as the inspiring musician he once was.
He is completely loyal to his leader, Alpha, following her orders without question and respecting her decisions completely and looking up to her. However despite his loyalty to Alpha, Beta is far from being a complete yes-man, and will occasionally voice any disagreements he has with her, even though he will usually do as commanded, regardless of his opinion on the subject.
Due to his large size and strength, Beta is a very dangerous opponent, capable of using excessive force to protect his group and is an extremely skilled fighter, being able to casually overpower Daryl during a fight and later Rosita. He has very fast reflexes, as he effortlessly grabbed Henry's stick when the latter tried to hit him. He is also extremely durable, shrugging off a stab wound and even surviving a more than two-story fall down an elevator shaft after being tricked and shoved in by Daryl. Beta is shown to be quite capable of cold-blooded murder and was fully prepared to kill both Henry and Lydia on Alpha's orders, showing that he has no qualms about harming adolescents and nearly even broke Henry's arm. He appears to be a highly skilled tracker and strategic thinker as well which makes him a vital member of the Whisperers; with Lydia admitting to Daryl that he is the group's best. His strong strategic and combat abilities were demonstrated by his lone attack on Alexandria in which he was able to infiltrate undetected and slaughter numerous residents himself. Beta's final defeat only came when he was focused solely on killing Negan in revenge and so let his guard down to outside attack by Daryl. Even so, he was able to survive being stabbed through both eyes and showed little sign of feeling pain as his end came.
He is more than willing to harm any Whisperer who poses a threat to Alpha and to keep the others in line, as he threatened fellow Whisperer Sean upon learning of his and Helen's disdain for Alpha's decisions and applauded Alpha for murdering them to remind the other Whisperers of her dominance. This shows that he will do whatever is necessary to preserve Alpha's leadership over their "pack". Despite this, he does show respect for members who are committed to the Whisperer way of life as seen by him consoling a dying fellow Whisperer embracing the "change" about to happen to him. While Beta has no problem with killing, he doesn't seem to enjoy it under unnecessary circumstances either, as he openly expresses disdain towards Daryl for not handing over Lydia when he was after her, claiming no one else from his group had to be slaughtered as a result. This is further reinforced during his infiltration of Alexandria, as while he does remorselessly kill several residents to create a distraction, he was also willing to spare Laura, initially only disarming and knocking her down so he could pursue Mary, although he still killed her after she attacked him once more.
Following Alpha's assassination by Negan, Beta is shown to be utterly devastated and filled with rage and even appears to have a mental breakdown. Upon hearing a fellow Whisperer proclaim him as the "new Alpha", Beta punishes him by having Alpha's reanimated head bite his ear off, showing that he refuses to replace Alpha and still accepts her as his leader even though she is dead, showing his respect, loyalty and admiration of Alpha. To honor her, he even adds a piece of her face to his mask, showing that she was one of the people he admired most in life, alongside his best friend. However, in the following episode, Beta's mental breakdown worsens as Beta begins to hear voices in his head, and hallucinates having walkers speak to him, and it's subtly hinted that Beta's refusal to take the mantle of "Alpha" is due to an inferiority complex, as the voices urge him to have faith in his own strength.
In his final moments after being mortally wounded by Daryl, Beta is shown to be completely accepting of his defeat and death. Before meeting his demise, he remembers his time as a Whisperer and also of Alpha, showing his desire to be reunited with his beloved leader in death. He died as a sociopathic, remorseless mass murderer and fanatical, loyal follower of Alpha fully submitted to the barbarianism and savageness of the Whisperers and overall the polar opposite of the person he once was.
Killed Victims[]
This list shows the victims Beta has killed:
- Gabriel Stokes
- Paula (Caused)
- Andrea Grimes (Caused)
- 7 unnamed members of the Militia (3 Direct, 4 Caused)
- 1 unnamed Whisperer
- Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people
Issue Appearances[]
Volume 26: Call To Arms[]
- Issue 154
- Issue 155
- Issue 156
Volume 27: The Whisperer War[]
- Issue 157
- Issue 158
- Issue 159
- Issue 160
- Issue 161
- Issue 162
Volume 29: Lines We Cross[]
- Issue 172
- Issue 173
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Negan nicknames Beta "Frowny McTwoKnives" due to the latter wielding two large knives.
- Beta, like Alpha, is likely a reference to social hierarchy.
- Beta is the tallest character encountered in the comics so far, at least 7 feet in height, as he is a head taller than Negan who himself is a very tall man.
- Even though Beta says that nobody will become the Alpha after the latter's death, he still becomes the de facto leader of the group.
- Beta is one of three primary antagonists not to have their name revealed, the other two being Alpha (until it was revealed to be Dee during Tales of the Walking Dead) and the Stranger.
- In Fear the Walking Dead, Beta makes a cameo on a record cover as his former musician self Half-Moon. One of his Half-Moon records also appears in The Walking Dead: The World Beyond.
External Links[]
- Beta (TV Series) - The Walking Dead Wiki
- Beta (Comic Series) - The Walking Dead Wiki
[]
 Villains
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