So most people-when asked-will admit they like The X-Men. Most people have their favorites. Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Beast, Wolverine. You know, the important ones. But if there is any mutant that has been dragged through the mud more than a drunk truck driver at a pig-wrestling contest, it's Scott Summers. Cyclops. The X-Man poster boy himself. Or at least, he used to be.
In 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created The X-Men. A team of teenaged superheroes with naturally acquired superpowers, unique designs, and a solid theme. The leader of The X-Men was that creepy bald guy in a wheelchair, but the field-leader was Scott Summers-Cyclops. As the front-man, Cyclops was supposed to be relatively basic. His power was that he could fire a beam of pure force from his eyes. Along with being a walking battering ram, Cyclops was also the perfect representation of what mutants were in the Marvel Universe. People who could otherwise blend into a crowd of people and be indistinguishable, but had one factor that separated them. Something that might hint to them being a mutant. While Nightcrawler and Beast are a little too obvious, with Scott you would always notice he wore sunglasses. It would be easy to assume he had sensitive eyes. But there's always that possibility it's something more. That paranoia is just another part of the X-Men franchise and it's why Scott is one of the main characters. Scott was their leader, their representative, but otherwise kind of boring at first.
Then when Chris Claremont took over as writer, Cyclops married Jean Grey, she killed herself to avoid The Phoenix Force from corrupting her, and Cyclops was left to mourn. But like all great heroes, Cyclops rose from this tragedy and returned to lead his team-his family-The X-Men. He'd move on romantically here and there, but ultimately he'd always stick around to aid The X-Men.
So if this success story ended up being one of the most hated Marvel characters of the last decade, where did it start. Well, as soon as Jean was brought back to life. See, what most people don't know is that Scott and Jean's second marriage wasn't all that great. Jean was being possessed by The Phoenix Force again, Scott and Emma Frost were sharing intimate telepathic feelings behind Jean's back, and, in a shockingly real circumstance, Scott and Jean just weren't into each other anymore. These high school sweethearts grew up, grew apart, and grew to realize they wanted different things. That being said, Scott's first mistake was having Emma on the side.
But on to more universally bad decisions. Through the events of "Civil War", "Siege", and "Schism", Cyclops' leadership came into question. And it all comes to a hard fall when we get to "Avengers vs X-Men". At the end of this event, Scott is possessed by The Phoenix Force and he kills Professor X. Does he submit to persecution? Does he regret his decision? Nah, that'd be to hard to write. Cyclops becomes a mutant criminal, sides with Magneto's ideals, forms his own school for mutants in Canada, and is widely regarded as "Professor X's failure". His former friend Beast then invents a time machine and brings the original five X-Men from the 1960's to the present, hoping it would make Scott see the light. It didn't. And now we have some time-displaced X-Men kicking around in the modern era. But that's where things get interesting.
We then had two versions of Cyclops. Evil adult Cyclops, and pure teen Cyclops. Our current situation is that adult Cyclops died during a battle with The Inhumans, was brought back as a mutant/inhuman, but then dead again. For good it looks like. And teen Cyclops is kind of hated and ignored. His own teammates disrespect him because he isn't the most experienced X-Men in the room anymore, and the superhero community shuns him based on what his adult counterpart did. Cyclops has gone from the the X-Men's leader, to their whipping boy. The only place safe for young Cyclops now is either in space where no one can here him cry, or with The Champions. Go figure, the only book to give Cyclops any respect isn't even an X-Men book.
I'm not the biggest Cyclops fan, but even I can see how badly of a place this character is in. Slowly but surely Cyclops was corrupted as a leader while his more popular teammate became more of a leader. I think that's the real problem here, Wolverine. We all love him and he's just about everywhere. But the bigger Wolverine got, the more Cyclops was ignored. And if writers couldn't make Cyclops as cool as Wolverine they'd make him a villain. That way when Wolverine tried to kill him it would be justified. It was the physical representation of "the new hotness" overthrowing "the old guard". Even with Cyclops and Wolverine dead (at the moment) look at what they left behind. Logan's female clone, his illegitimate son, his other female clone who looks more like the one in the movie, his son from an alternate universe, his rival, and his older self from an alternate future are all around in the Marvel Universe. Scott? Well, there's his young version, his obscure brother, his even more obscure father, and the two alternate timeline children that never talk about him. Marvel's next blockbuster comic event "Generations" teases the revival of adult Wolverine and even adult Jean Grey. But not adult Cyclops. In "X-Men Blue" Young Scott is ignored and teased and challenged by the likes of Young Beast and Young Jean. In the alternate universe of "Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows" Jean Grey has a daughter. Who's the daddy? Wolverine! Not Cyclops. And no, he isn't dead. He's still around, still teaching, still X-ing it up. He's just a third wheel babysitter for the love of his life and her baby-daddy.
But there's always hope, right? They have a young Cyclops, one that-knock on wood-can do no wrong. One that can stay a hero, be a good person, and bring respect to mutant-kind. If anything, Cyclops is more associated with the mutant struggle now than ever before. Along with being a mutant who can disguise himself as a human, he's the child version of mutant criminal, a mutant criminal who killed the founding father of The X-Men. He's like a young Judas! Not only do people hate him for his race, but now they hate him just for being Scott Summers. That is a real struggle, one that could challenge the character and push him to higher achievements. But that remains to be seen. After all, we all saw what that kind of pressure did to the first Cyclops.
Thanks for reading.
Wait, would the young one be the first Cyclops because he's younger or would the older one be the first Cyclops because he was created first. Hmm.
Then when Chris Claremont took over as writer, Cyclops married Jean Grey, she killed herself to avoid The Phoenix Force from corrupting her, and Cyclops was left to mourn. But like all great heroes, Cyclops rose from this tragedy and returned to lead his team-his family-The X-Men. He'd move on romantically here and there, but ultimately he'd always stick around to aid The X-Men.
So if this success story ended up being one of the most hated Marvel characters of the last decade, where did it start. Well, as soon as Jean was brought back to life. See, what most people don't know is that Scott and Jean's second marriage wasn't all that great. Jean was being possessed by The Phoenix Force again, Scott and Emma Frost were sharing intimate telepathic feelings behind Jean's back, and, in a shockingly real circumstance, Scott and Jean just weren't into each other anymore. These high school sweethearts grew up, grew apart, and grew to realize they wanted different things. That being said, Scott's first mistake was having Emma on the side.
But on to more universally bad decisions. Through the events of "Civil War", "Siege", and "Schism", Cyclops' leadership came into question. And it all comes to a hard fall when we get to "Avengers vs X-Men". At the end of this event, Scott is possessed by The Phoenix Force and he kills Professor X. Does he submit to persecution? Does he regret his decision? Nah, that'd be to hard to write. Cyclops becomes a mutant criminal, sides with Magneto's ideals, forms his own school for mutants in Canada, and is widely regarded as "Professor X's failure". His former friend Beast then invents a time machine and brings the original five X-Men from the 1960's to the present, hoping it would make Scott see the light. It didn't. And now we have some time-displaced X-Men kicking around in the modern era. But that's where things get interesting.
We then had two versions of Cyclops. Evil adult Cyclops, and pure teen Cyclops. Our current situation is that adult Cyclops died during a battle with The Inhumans, was brought back as a mutant/inhuman, but then dead again. For good it looks like. And teen Cyclops is kind of hated and ignored. His own teammates disrespect him because he isn't the most experienced X-Men in the room anymore, and the superhero community shuns him based on what his adult counterpart did. Cyclops has gone from the the X-Men's leader, to their whipping boy. The only place safe for young Cyclops now is either in space where no one can here him cry, or with The Champions. Go figure, the only book to give Cyclops any respect isn't even an X-Men book.
I'm not the biggest Cyclops fan, but even I can see how badly of a place this character is in. Slowly but surely Cyclops was corrupted as a leader while his more popular teammate became more of a leader. I think that's the real problem here, Wolverine. We all love him and he's just about everywhere. But the bigger Wolverine got, the more Cyclops was ignored. And if writers couldn't make Cyclops as cool as Wolverine they'd make him a villain. That way when Wolverine tried to kill him it would be justified. It was the physical representation of "the new hotness" overthrowing "the old guard". Even with Cyclops and Wolverine dead (at the moment) look at what they left behind. Logan's female clone, his illegitimate son, his other female clone who looks more like the one in the movie, his son from an alternate universe, his rival, and his older self from an alternate future are all around in the Marvel Universe. Scott? Well, there's his young version, his obscure brother, his even more obscure father, and the two alternate timeline children that never talk about him. Marvel's next blockbuster comic event "Generations" teases the revival of adult Wolverine and even adult Jean Grey. But not adult Cyclops. In "X-Men Blue" Young Scott is ignored and teased and challenged by the likes of Young Beast and Young Jean. In the alternate universe of "Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows" Jean Grey has a daughter. Who's the daddy? Wolverine! Not Cyclops. And no, he isn't dead. He's still around, still teaching, still X-ing it up. He's just a third wheel babysitter for the love of his life and her baby-daddy.
But there's always hope, right? They have a young Cyclops, one that-knock on wood-can do no wrong. One that can stay a hero, be a good person, and bring respect to mutant-kind. If anything, Cyclops is more associated with the mutant struggle now than ever before. Along with being a mutant who can disguise himself as a human, he's the child version of mutant criminal, a mutant criminal who killed the founding father of The X-Men. He's like a young Judas! Not only do people hate him for his race, but now they hate him just for being Scott Summers. That is a real struggle, one that could challenge the character and push him to higher achievements. But that remains to be seen. After all, we all saw what that kind of pressure did to the first Cyclops.
Thanks for reading.
Wait, would the young one be the first Cyclops because he's younger or would the older one be the first Cyclops because he was created first. Hmm.
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