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Cyclops (comics)
Encyclopedia
Cyclops is a fiction
al character
, the leader of the X-Men
superhero
team in the . A mutant
, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes (an "optic blast"). In uniform, he wears a battle visor with a single, ruby-quartz lens running eye-to-eye; the resulting one-eyed appearance is why he is codenamed "Cyclops."
Created by writer Stan Lee
and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby
, he first appeared in The X-Men
#1 (September 1963). Originally dubbed Slim Summers, by X-Men #3 his name was changed to Scott -- Slim became just a nickname. Scott is the first X-Man recruited by Professor Charles Xavier; Xavier hand-picks Scott to lead his X-Men, and to carry on the legacy of his mutant-human-harmony ideals. Xavier views Scott as one of his most -- if not the most -- prized pupils; their relationship exhibits father/son qualities. From time to time Scott's extreme loyalty to Xavier has cost him dearly in his relationships with others; but, over the course of the characters' publication history, he eventually emerges from Xavier's shadow as the X-Men's undisputed leader.
Cyclops is most often portrayed as the archetypal hero
of traditional American popular culture -- the opposite of the tough, anti-authority, anti-heroes that emerged in American popular culture after the Vietnam War (e.g., Wolverine
, his X-Men teammate). Selfless, self-disciplined, and ethical, Cyclops also possesses tremendous leadership abilities, and great tactical and strategic skills.
He is the son of Corsair
(Major Christopher Summers) of the Starjammers; the brother of Havok (Alex Summers) and Vulcan (Gabriel Summers); the father of Cable
(Nathan Summers); and, the widower of Madelyne Pryor
and Jean Grey
. He is also a long-time friend of Beast
(Hank McCoy). In alternate realities, he has also been the father of Rachel Summers
and Ruby Summers
, and a biological parent of X-Man
and Stryfe
. In 2006, IGN.com rated Cyclops #1 on their list of Top 25 X-Men from the past forty years. Wizard Magazine also ranked Cyclops the 106th best comic book character of all time, of their list of the Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time. In 2011 IGN
ranked Cyclops 39th in the "Top 100 comic books heroes" and readers of Comic Book Resources voted him the 9th top Marvel character of all time.
#1 created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and he has been a mainstay character of the X-Men series. Summers remained a member of the team up through Uncanny X-Men #201 when he left the Uncanny X-Men title to be featured in the launch of a new series by Marvel. This new series, X-Factor
, launched in 1986 and would star the original Uncanny X-Men team of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel. Scott would stay with the X-Factor title through X-Factor #70. In October 1991, Summers returns to the X-Men to launch X-Men #1 (2nd series). This series would be the second of two X-Men titles and would feature Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue, and the Beast as Blue team. Cyclops has recently been featured in another title launch with the second introduction of a new X-Men series Astonishing X-Men
. Astonishing X-Men features Cyclops, Wolverine, Shadowcat, Colossus, Emma Frost, and the Beast as a team. Throughout this time Cyclops would continue to make appearances in Uncanny X-Men Marvel has also used Cyclops to launch variant series of X-Men titles most notably Ultimate X-Men
and New X-Men
.
Cyclops has appeared in limited series including Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix, Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix, X-Men: The Asgardian Wars, the second series of Astonishing X-Men, X-Men: The Search for Cyclops, his own self-titled series Cyclops, and X-Men Origins: Cyclops #1.
Cyclops' first appearance was in X-Men
#1 created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They wrote the majority of the first issues in the series. In 1975, writer Chris Claremont started his tenure on the series with Uncanny X-Men #94. He went on to write for the title over the next 16 years until 1991 when Jim Lee took over as the series artist. In 1991, writer Brian K. Vaughan
worked on the self-titled series Cyclops #1-4. In 2000, Joseph Harris
wrote the four-issue run titled X-Men: The Search for Cyclops that dealt with Cyclops' return after merging with Apocalypse in the events of the Twelve from Uncanny X-Men #377. In 2004, writer Joss Whedon
wrote a variant of the series Astonishing X-Men
.
During Joss Whedon
's run of Astonishing X-Men
, Cyclops adopted a new attitude unfamiliar to most accustomed fans. After Emma
's psychic intervention at the mansion, he temporarily lost his powers after owning up to his self-inflicted, traumatic past. This prompted an interview with Joss Whedon in Wizard
magazine #182, when asked if Cyclops didn't have his powers any more, Whedon replied that "No, he doesn't have his powers. Well, he had a choice to either be completely out of control or bury them. He can't use them. That's pretty much it. But the thing that would be fun is that, with no powers, he's going to be the best that he's ever been. That's what the arc is about. [Cyclops has] been the team leader and the team washout in terms of popularity. He was defined by Jean so much, and I just think that this guy is so interesting in his struggle against mediocrity. Then, when it's all laid on the line, when you find out the thing that's been holding him back from being just a complete bad ass has been himself all his life, that he's been lying to everyone, including himself, about who he is-that should be freeing. The Scott we're going to see is going to be a little bit different. This guy is either completely out of control or in control of something we're not used to. I wanted him to be an unabashed tough guy. He is shooting people and turning very much into a leader. Not everyone is going to like it." Now, the X-Men leader has become more confident, outspoken, and audacious. This has had a significant effect on his leadership and his respect among fellow teammates, most notably Wolverine
.
. As a young boy, Scott Summers is orphaned after watching his parents die in a plane crash. Scott and his brother, Alex, are the only survivors. Their parents placed the two boys in the only available parachute and forced them to jump from the plane just prior to crashing. The boys become wards of the state and are separated. When Scott's powers manifest uncontrollably he runs away from the orphanage and wanders before being taken in as ward by Charles Xavier
.
, Alaska
, his father, USAF
Major Christopher Summers
, took the family for a flight in their de Havilland Mosquito
. It came under attack by an alien Shi'ar
spaceship. As the plane went down in flames, Scott's parents fastened him and his younger brother Alex into a parachute and pushed them off the plane, hoping that they would survive.
In Cyclops' first appearance in X-Men #1, he is already leading the X-Men under tutelage of Professor X
. Later, Scott's origin is first presented in Uncanny X-Men #38-42 and later refined in Uncanny X-Men #144 and Uncanny X-Men #156. In 2010, Marvel released X-Men Origins: Cyclops #1 that describes the character's childhood through his joining the X-Men.
The early accounts in the X-Men comics use flashbacks to tell the origin story of Scott parachuting from his parents' plane. The flashbacks are often told from various narrative perspectives and place different emphasis on the events of this period. Scott's poor control over his power have been attributed to events in his childhood. In Uncanny X-Men #156, Scott's parachute caught fire and Scott struck his head upon landing. This caused brain damage to Scott which is responsible for his poor control over his optic blasts. Several origin stories do not feature the head injury account with X-Men Origins: Cyclops #1 being the most recent. The head injury account has also been retconned in Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2 as being due to a self-imposed mental block he made as a child to deal with the traumatic events of his life. With the help of Emma Frost, Scott is able to briefly bypass his own mental block and control his powers, though he reveals that his control is waning and temporary.
For a time Scott had prolonged amnesia about his childhood. Parts of his memory returned when he was unexpectedly attacked by the demon D'Spayre
while on a leave of absence after Jean Grey's perceived first death. Scott spent most of his childhood in an orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska
and was subjected to batteries of tests and experiments by the orphanage's owner, Mr. Milbury, an alias for the geneticist Mister Sinister
, who also placed mental blocks on Scott.
, both Scott and Jean were sent back in time to 19th century England by Madame Sanctity
, a surviving member of the Askani sisterhood
. In 1860, prior to the epilogue of the story, a young English
orphan named Daniel (who was freed, one year ago, from the clutches of Nathaniel Essex
by Scott and Jean) is shown arriving in New York Harbor
from London
. As a form of reverence toward the couple who recently showed him great kindness, when urged by his apparent guardian to adopt a new surname at the immigration station
, Daniel chooses Summers. Although Scott does not make the familial connection between Daniel and himself, he suspects that his presence in this time (along with Jean's) did something else to affect the course of history, aside from stopping Mister Sinister and Apocalypse
.
When Scott is sixteen, he runs away from the orphanage, and while wandering the streets is taken in by Charles Xavier
. On a trip to New York with his orphanage supervisor Scott walks across a construction site and his optic beam activates. The blast damages a metal crane causing it to fall towards an onlooking crowd. Scott thinks quickly unleashing a second blast that destroys the crane. The crowd thinks this is an act of violence, and forms a lynch mob. Scott hops onto a train and runs away. Wandering Scott encounters Jack O' Diamonds
and battles the villain. Scott is found by Charles Xavier
, who erases the crowd's memories. Xavier then asks Scott to join the X-Men, and he gladly accepts, as the first official member.
In the X-Men's first field mission, he battles Magneto
. With the X-Men, he battles the Blob
. He also becomes romantically attracted to Jean Grey
. With the X-Men, he then clashes with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
for the first time. He soon becomes the team's field leader, a position he will traditionally hold over the years.
Cyclops has a relationship with Jean Grey
during their time in the "original" X-Men. For a long time, he refuses to admit, even to himself, that he has feelings for her, afraid he would be hurt again or that his optic blasts would hurt her - or anyone else he cared about for that matter - and also because he feels he is no match for his wealthy teammate Warren Worthington III, a.k.a. Angel, who is at first also romantically interested in Jean. What Scott doesn't know is that Jean actually has a crush on him, but is too shy to make a move. Finally, on Bobby Drake
's 18th birthday, they reveal their passion for each other and begin to date.
When the X-Men are defeated by Krakoa
, Cyclops is the only member able to escape and return to Xavier. He helps train a new group of X-Men, which includes Storm, Colossus
, Nightcrawler
, Banshee
, Thunderbird
, Sunfire and Wolverine
to rescue the others. When the other original X-Men (Angel, Beast
, Iceman
, Jean Grey, and later additions Havok (his own brother Alex) and Polaris
) decide to leave in light of the arrival of the new X-Men, Cyclops stays, feeling that he will never be able to lead a normal life because of the uncontrollable nature of his powers.
At first, Scott believes that his parents died in the plane accident and is unaware that they, in fact, had been captured and sold into slavery by the Shi'ar. As an adult member of the X-Men, Cyclops meets his father, now known as Corsair
, leader of the Starjammers
, a group of aliens
opposing what they see as the tyranny of the Shi'ar
empire. Jean learns of Corsair
's identity but keeps it from Scott and several more years pass before he learns his father's true identity. He later comes into contact with his grandparents, who he learns are still alive and own a shipping company in Canada.
Cyclops privately questions his relationship with Jean after Jean dies trying to pilot a space shuttle through a solar flare, and then is reborn as Phoenix, feeling that this reborn Jean was not the same Jean he had loved. Yet when he thinks her dead for an extended period of time after a battle in the Savage Land
, Scott is not able to mourn her, and believes this meant he didn't really love her anymore. He briefly dates Colleen Wing
. However, when Scott and Jean are reunited on Muir Island
to fight Proteus
, he rediscovers his love for her, and they share a passionate kiss on the way home. A few days before Jean dies, Scott psychically proposes, and she accepts. After her death, he quits the X-Men, unsure of what to do anymore. He signs on as crew of a fishing boat, captained by Lee Forrester. After an adventure in which Lee's father is possessed by D'Spayre
, and Cyclops and the Man-Thing
must fight D'Spayre, Scott and Lee find themselves shipwrecked in the Bermuda Triangle
, where they stumble upon Magneto
's new base of operations.
Scott soon returns to the X-Men. He then discovers that Corsair is actually his father. Eventually, Scott marries Madelyne Pryor
, a woman who bears a strong resemblance to Jean. Scott later battles Storm for undisputed leadership of the X-Men, and after being defeated he retires from the X-Men. Madelyne bears him a son, Nathan
.
and the Fantastic Four
. Cyclops leaves his wife and son and returns to Jean, although Warren moves in on the now single woman. Jean joins with Cyclops and the other original X-Men as X-Factor
, who pose as mutant hunters but in reality are trying to help their genetic brethren. Meanwhile, Pryor goes on to be an assisting member of the X-Men, apparently sacrificing her life during the Fall of the Mutants
with her teammates, although she was left with feelings of despair over the loss of Scott, who felt bad himself over the way he had handled the situation.
No longer married, Scott moves on. During an adventure, his teammate Warren, the Angel, loses his wings. Bitter, Angel is transformed by a villain the team recently encountered, immortal mutant Apocalypse
, into Death, general of his Horsemen
. Iceman manages to bring Warren back, who becomes Archangel.
The demons S'ym
and N'astirh
corrupt Madelyne's feelings of self-despair, transforming her into the Goblin Queen. Madelyne seeks revenge on Scott for leaving her. When it is revealed that she is a clone created by geneticist Mister Sinister
, essentially for the purpose of becoming a brood mare
, Madelyne can't take it any more and kills herself. Scott seemingly kills Sinister with an optic blast, and pursues a romance with Jean, reclaiming his son. Scott soon learns that Mister Sinister ran the orphanage in which Scott was raised, and battled Sinister over this.
Shortly after the X-Tinction Agenda
, Scott reencounters Apocalypse, who infects Nathan with a techno-organic virus
. Although Scott saves his son with the help of his fellow teammates and through the combined strength of Nathan, Jean, and himself defeats Apocalypse, he was unable to save his son from the fatal infection. Distraught, Scott sends his son into the future where he can be cured.
Next, Xavier's psionic enemy, Shadow King
, returns to combat the X-Men and X-Factor. After his defeat, Cyclops and X-Factor rejoin the X-Men team, and Scott is named leader of a newly created "Blue Team".
and the ninjas of The Hand
. After the captured teammates' rescue, Mr. Sinister sends Caliban
, a former X-Factor member, to kidnap Cyclops and Jean for Stryfe
, a madman and rival to Cable
, both time-lost mutants. Stryfe tells the two that he is Nathan, sent to the future and abandoned. In a fight, Cable and Stryfe apparently die. Afterwards, the team battles Omega Red again, and fellow teammate and telepath Psylocke
tries to lure Cyclops into an affair behind Jean's back. Ultimately, however, Cyclops remains with Jean. Cable returns as well and reveals to Cyclops that he is the real Nathan Christopher Summers.
finally marry. During their honeymoon, they are brought into the future where they raise Cable
for the first 12 years of his life during The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
miniseries. After helping Cable defeat the future version of Apocalypse, they are sent back to the past. At the request of Rachel Summers, Jean assumes the Phoenix identity. Mister Sinister, involved with the machinations of Apocalypse and Stryfe and still alive, tells Cyclops that there is another Summers brother, and leaves him wondering.
As Cyclops deals with the fact that his son is now old enough to be his father, the X-Men are forced to battle their mentor when Professor Xavier is transformed into the evil Onslaught
as a result of mind-wiping Magneto. Although the X-Men defeat the evil entity and free Xavier, most of Earth's heroes are lost for a time. Xavier, who is left powerless after Onslaught's defeat, is arrested for his part, leaving Scott and Jean as leaders and co-headmasters of the school. However, the pair go into retirement following Operation: Zero Tolerance
, in which Cyclops is gravely injured when a bomb is placed in his chest.
, in which Apocalypse
plans to use a machine to steal the powers of twelve select mutants and the body of Nate Grey
which will make him virtually omnipotent. In order to save Nate, Cyclops willingly merges with the villain Apocalypse. He is believed dead until Jean and Cable track him down to Egypt and separate him from Apocalypse, killing Apocalypse's spirit in the process.
's suicide
and in recruiting the powerful mutant to the X-Men. The two establish a close friendship; similarly, repeated missions with Wolverine result in the growth of a tentative friendship between the two veteran X-Men.
When Jean begins to show signs of the Phoenix Force again, the distance between the two grows larger and Scott begins abstaining from sex with Jean for the five months. Jean attempts several times to confront Cyclops, but he continues to push her away, claiming that Apocalypse had changed him too much on the inside. Jean, confused by the change in their relationship, confides in Logan and the two kiss in the woods outside the school, but Logan walks away telling her that she should remain with Scott. Xavier leaves Earth while under the control of Cassandra Nova
and Jean is left as Headmistress of the school. Her new responsibilities along with her growing powers, force Jean to put her attention elsewhere leaving Scott feeling ignored and his trauma from being possessed trivialized. Instead of attempting to reconcile with her, Scott turns to Emma Frost
for consolation, feeling that he can talk to Emma about his problems. Their relationship ostensibly begins as a series of psychic therapy sessions, but Emma takes advantage of this situation to get closer to Scott. Under the guise of counseling him, she instigates a telepathic affair.
When Phoenix discovers the affair, Cyclops claims he and Emma shared only thoughts and thus had done nothing wrong. Meanwhile, Emma's snide and mocking jeers provoke a hurt and angry Jean to psychically confront her, using the full-power of the Phoenix Force to 'burn through lies'. She forces Emma to admit her true feelings for Scott, and to face her many failures, sins, and personal demons. Furious at both himself and Jean, Scott confronts Jean and demands that she read his mind; Jean finally complies, only to discover that Scott and Emma never engaged in any physical contact, though Emma had offered it. After confronting Jean with the truth, Scott leaves the Xavier Institute, and a short time later Emma is found shattered in her diamond form and believed killed.
Scott soon finds himself at the Hellfire Club
which had been turned into a sleazy strip club and tries to get drunk, attempting to escape the responsibilities, expectations, and demands which he feels are unjustly placed on him by the X-Men. He then accompanies Wolverine and Fantomex
to the government-created time-pocket called The World and then Asteroid M
. During his time with Wolverine, Scott reveals that he feels his relationship with Jean is stagnant and that the two of them had not progressed romantically since their initial teenage romance. He also confesses that he feels that Jean is so concerned with the school and her new powers that the two no longer communicate like before and that he feels left behind due to Jean once again being connected to the Phoenix Force. When Scott finally returns to the X-Men, their new teammate Xorn
(who was revealed to be Magneto, but was subsequently retconned as an imposter) attacks the X-Men. Having at last reached full Phoenix power, Jean confronts Xorn-Magneto and is killed in the process. As she is dying, Scott apologizes for hurting her, but Jean instead tells him that she understands and has never seen him more alive and urges him to live on.
" storyline that, had he done so, it would have led to an apocalyptic alternate future. To prevent this, a resurrected, future-version of Jean uses her powers as the White Phoenix of the Crown and telepathically nudged Cyclops into a real relationship with Emma, reaching out to him from this alternate future. Together, the pair rebuild the Xavier Institute as co-headmasters.
The new relationship between Emma and Scott leads to problems between them and the rest of the X-Men, all of whom believe that the pair are doing Jean's memory a disservice. Rachel Summers
in particular feels hurt and angry by her father's lack of remorse for the psychic affair that hurt Jean before her death and Emma's part in it, and takes on the last name of Grey in place of Summers. The other X-Men eventually come to accept the relationship and both Scott and Emma manage to reconcile with Rachel in their own ways, such as introducing Rachel to Jean's other family members.
Deciding that the X-Men need to play more of a role in emergency rescue and aid, and thus garner attention on mutants in a more positive light where mutant abilities are used for the good of people, Cyclops hand-picks a new team in Astonishing X-Men, which is subsequently used by Marvel as the chief representation of the X-Men. The team faces an alien named Ord of the Breakworld
, who supplies Earth scientist Dr. Kavita Rao with a "cure" for mutation. The team subdue Ord, but not before learning that one of their own will be responsible for the destruction of Ord's homeworld in the coming year. Not long after, the X-Men's Danger Room
becomes sentient, attacking the X-Men and seeking to ultimately kill Xavier. Calling itself "Danger," "she" reveals that Xavier knew she had been self-aware since Shi'ar technology was installed in the Danger Room years ago, but chose to ignore her, effectively inhumanely using her only to train his teams of X-Men. After her defeat on the island of Genosha, the X-Men abandoned Xavier in disgust, with Cyclops no longer welcoming Xavier's input at the School or with the team.
Cyclops also tutored a squad at the institute called The Corsairs, named after Cyclops' father. The team consisted of Dryad
, Quill, Specter
, and the three remaining Stepford Cuckoos
.
#14, during an impromptu telepathic "therapy session", Emma Frost presented Cyclops with the possibility that his lack of control over his optic blasts actually stems not from physical brain damage, but from a sort of mental block that the young Scott imposed upon himself after the combined traumas of the loss of his parents, separation from his brother, and shocking manifestation of his powers; this is seen as a coping mechanism, giving Scott something to focus on and try to maintain some sort of control over at a time when events completely out of his control had effectively shattered the life he had led up to that point.
Scott admits that this theory is the truth, further admitting that he had blocked making this decision out of his memory, to preserve the fallacy in his own mind and prevent others from discovering his "secret." The issue ends with Scott apparently in a catatonic state, with his eyes uncovered and displaying their natural shade of brown, with no evidence of his powers manifesting. Later he manifests, and has full control over his optical blasts, although it was only temporary.
, nearly all mutants were left depowered
, and Xavier was missing. A mysterious villain then attacked and easily defeated several members of the team, including Cyclops and his alternate-reality daughter, Rachel
. The two were captured and taken to an undisclosed location, which Cyclops vaguely remembered visiting in the past. Eventually managing to free themselves, Cyclops and Rachel attempted to escape, only to run into their captor (revealed to be Vulcan), who informed Cyclops that he was the X-Man's younger brother. A powerless Professor Xavier confirmed this information in the final book of the miniseries. This new information has left Cyclops resentful towards his mentor and has gone so far as to demand that Xavier leave the school as it is no longer 'his.'
, reasoning that the X-Men sympathized too much with Captain America
's side - who, like the X-Men, were persecuted for wanting to do the right thing - but believed that the mutant race had suffered too great a loss recently to take a side either way due to the recent depowerment of so many mutants. Bishop
leaves the team to join the Registration supporters and locate the escaped 198
. In Civil War: X-Men #2, Cyclops under mind control of Johnny Dee helps the futuristic X-Man in recovering them. Cyclops is then manipulated into attacking Bishop
which he does by overloading Bishop's power of energy absorption.
as a target on Hulk's "Hit List" of characters. He is seen fighting the Hulk
in World War Hulk: X-Men #1 and in issue #2, he uses a full beam blast to stop the Hulk, refusing to let the Hulk take Professor Xavier regardless of his own feelings towards his mentor regarding the truth about Krakoa
. While it peels off some of the Hulk's skin, he was able to walk towards Cyclops and clench his entire face, effectively containing the blast. After Hulk left when Mercury told him about the mutant race being near-extinct, Cyclops began to forgive Professor X while the wounded were being tended to.
and Purifiers
, and the baby gone. He sends a team consisting of Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Angel, and Colossus to find former Acolytes
for information on the Marauders. He argues with Xavier, who complains about not telling him about his team. Scott tells Xavier it's not his X-Men anymore and that he can do what he wants. Scott also calls in X-Factor to help with the situation, asks Rictor
to infiltrate the Purifiers, and asks Madrox
and Layla Miller
to go see Forge
. Upon discovering that Cable has kidnapped the new born mutant, Cyclops orders the reforming of X-Force with Wolverine leading the team. Their first mission is to hunt down Cable and retrieve the baby. Cyclops later breaks all ties with Professor X and asks him to leave the mansion, as Xavier continues to question Cyclops' judgement. Later on, Cyclops is seen with his own team and X-Factor, to help out Wolverine against the Reavers
and to capture the baby from Cable. Cable eludes the X-Men.
After finding the Marauders' hideout on Muir Island, Cyclops dispatches X-Force and Bishop to go there and retrieve the baby. During the final battle, Cyclops sends the New X-Men
against the Marauders, believing that Sinister's forces will be caught off guard by unfamiliar opponents. The students prove to be effective. Cyclops then confronts Cable demanding the baby. Cable, with a gun pointed at his father, begs Cyclops to let him escape into the future with the baby, however Cable gives the child to Cyclops, after Xavier points out that the future of all mutantkind is at stake and Cyclops, as leader of the X-Men, speaks for mutantkind. Cyclops holds the baby and, realizing that the child deserves the chance to make its own destiny, gives her back to Cable. Cable teleports to the future just as Bishop fires a round at the child. The shot misses her and hits Xavier in the head. Cyclops strikes Bishop with an optic blast, and Cyclops declares the X-Men disbanded.
after refusing Tony Stark
's request to have the X-Men as part of the Fifty State Initiative
. There, they are contacted by Warren asking them for assistance in San Francisco. Scott and Emma are successful in rescuing not only Warren and the other X-Men, but also in rescuing San Francisco as a whole. As a result, the Mayor of the city offers to help the X-Men reestablish themselves in the city. After building a new headquarters, Cyclops sends word to all the world's mutants that San Francisco, which has welcomed the X-Men with open-arms, is now a safe haven for mutant-kind and that all are welcomed to join them. The X-Men's presence is widely approved of by San Francisco, including the police, who now hire the team to aid them in cases that might be out of their area.
Cyclops dispatches Wolverine to track down Mystique
and revives X-Force
as a clandestine black-ops team whose mission is to take down threats to mutankind that they cannot deal with while under the public eye. Cyclops places Wolverine in charge of the team and adamantly keeps X-Force's existence secret from the other X-Men, including Emma Frost (manifested as a psychic "black box" in his mind that Emma is unable to open), also demanding that X-Force remain unknown to the public. However, Cyclops utilizes other X-Men for parts of the groups mission, including Beast and the Stepford Cuckoos. The team is sometimes less careful, leaving blood-stained clothing around, piquing Emma's suspicions. The controversy of Cyclops' decisions as leader of the X-Men is further highlighted during the Skrull invasion of San Francisco
when he readily utilizes biological warfare
against the Skrull
s by knowingly infecting them with an adapted version of the Mutant Legacy Virus created by Beast without first determining if there was also a cure.
In another controversial decision, Cyclops sends X-Force to track down the Leper Queen
who is infecting mutants with a strain of the Legacy Virus
to use their uncontrolled powers in attacks against humanity in order to stir up anti-mutant hysteria. While on the mission, Beast locates Cable in the future and Cyclops orders X-Force to abandon the current mission and prepare for transport to the future to assist Cable and the baby, Hope. Despite knowing that the Leper Queen has kidnapped and intends to kill Hellion
, Surge
, and Boom Boom
, and despite the protests from both X-Force and Beast that a few more minutes is all that is needed to kill her and save the students, Cyclops makes the difficult decision to activate the time machine. Though Domino
is only moments away from killing the Leper Queen, the team is transported to the future and the Leper Queen appears to shoot Boom Boom in the head, while Hellion and Surge are injected and sent to the United Nations building for another attack. Upon his return to the present Wolverine confronts Cyclops on the risks he took in making that decision.
, designed to deceive the public into believing that the destruction was caused by the newborn mutant messiah rather than the Purifiers. The footage, coupled with Trask's newly formed "Humanity Now! Coalition" pushing anti-mutant legislation, dubbed "Proposition X," aiming to control mutant reproduction, causes an increase in mutant hate crime
s, causing Scott to open the X-Men's base to anyone seeking refuge. During this time, his growing secrecy concerning X-Force and Emma's suspicions that he is keeping something from her which begins creating a rift between himself and Emma. Taking advice from Storm that Scott's actions are always in the best interest of mutant-kind, Emma secretly agrees to participate in Norman Osborn
's Cabal
in her own attempt to insure the protection of the mutant population.
Scott encounters his dead ex-wife, Madelyne Pryor, again when she inexplicably returns as a psychic ghost, calling herself the Red Queen and with a newly assembled all-female team of mutants calling themselves the Sisterhood. Her team attacks the X-Men and Madelyne steals a lock of Jean's hair in Wolverine's possession, with the goal of using it to locate and inhabit Jean's body, allowing her to be reborn. Scott employs Domino
to exhume Jean's grave and swap her body with another. Unaware of the switch and spurning Scott's attempt to reach out to her, Madelyne attempts to possess the body, but seemingly disintegrates into nothingness as no other body than Jean Grey's can house an entity of Madelyne's level of power.
, the growing unrest among the mutant population and calculated instigation from Trask and Humanity Now! leads to violent rioting from mutants against the anti-mutant coalition in San Francisco. Though supported by the mayor, Cyclops is largely viewed as the leader of the remaining mutant population by the media and he takes the brunt of negative media and public opinion, implicated as endorsing and sending the X-Men to lead the rioting. Trask capitalizes on the hysteria, portraying Humanity Now! as victims of oppression in order to push Proposition X. Norman Osborn utilizes the Dark Avengers
to stop the riots and arrest Cyclops and his team of X-Men, calling in Emma to lead a new team of "Dark" X-Men
. Emma agrees to lead the team, which will answer to Osborn, as the Black Queen. Marvel writer Matt Fraction indicated that Emma's alliance with Osborn will place Scott and Emma at odds with one another, providing "a profound schism." Cyclops travels to Osborn's base on Alcatraz Island to speak with him. Osborn tells Cyclops that they can end the riots and hysteria here right now but Cyclops interrupts him and orders him to surrender. A shocked Osborn asks what he means and Cyclops replies that Osborn needs to get the riots under control and then withdraw H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Dark Avengers and leave San Francisco to him and the X-Men. When Osborn refuses Cyclops leaves telling Osborn that he tried. After Cyclops leaves, Osborn tells Victoria Hand that when the time comes Osborn is going to kill Cyclops personally.
As Emma's Dark X-Men slowly get the city under control, Cyclops continues to form his plans to deal with the situation. Scott assigns his X-Men (such as Mirage
, Domino
, Mindee Cuckoo
, and Psylocke
) different tasks, as well as having another team observe Emma's team, as they deal with a group of bio-sentinels attacking San Francisco. When asked how they're expected to take out both the Dark X-Men and Dark Avengers, Scott retorts "Who said you're the squad that's supposed to stop the Avengers?"
Scott's plan finally comes together as he has Magik
teleport X-Force into H.A.M.M.E.R's Alcatraz Island, where they take on the Dark X-Men and Avengers, while Magik teleports all the captured mutants to safety. X-Force is aided by Emma and Namor, who are revealed to be double-agents against Osborn. Immediately after, Scott has the X-Club resurrect Asteroid M which crashed into the Pacific Coast a few years prior. Cyclops then orders Magik and Pixie to teleport every X-Man and allied mutant to what he now calls 'Utopia'. During a press conference, Cyclops informs the world that they have left the United States and that they reject Norman Osborn and his methods.
During this time period, Cyclops struggles to define what he wants Utopia to be (nation/base/etc.) Utopia is attacked by numerous threats, including the events of "Necrosha," "Infernus 2," and "Fear Itself." After the discovery of X-Force, Beast leaves Utopia and blames Cyclops for terrible judgement in how he is running Utopia.
From the wreckage of the museum, a sentinel begins to form. Cyclops returns to Utopia to devise a strategy against the threat. Cyclops realizes the X-men have been setup to have all senior active X-men either incapacitated or on the other side of the globe, and in a desperate feat of rage tries to destroy the sentinel from a far with a powerful optic blast, with no result. The island students approach Cyclops to offer help, and Cyclops begins to organize strategies with them. Wolverine swims on to Utopia and tells the mutant children that they need to leave. Cyclops tells the students to fight together and that they can beat the sentinel, but Wolverine objects to using children to fight battles. Cyclops argues that the students need to stay and fight or they will always be running and begins to prepare the students for combat. Shortly after Wolverine returns with a detonator to blow up Utopia and orders all remaining people on the island to evacuate. Cyclops and Wolverine's frustration with each other come to ahead when Cyclops brings up Jean Grey saying that she never loved Wolverine and was always frightened of him. Wolverine replies "And if she were here right now, who do you think she would be more frightened of?" The two fight each other in a rage while being attacked by the sentinel and as Wolverine claws into Cyclops visor, the students reappear on the battlefield to help them fight the sentinel. In the morning, Cyclops and Wolverine stand victorious with the students all living, but Wolverine can't continue watching Cyclops use children as soldiers to fight these battles. Wolverine announces his departure from Utopia and indicates he will take any mutant on the island who wants to leave with him. Beast leaves Cyclops a voicemail to reiterate his disapproval of how Cyclops is running Utopia and his support for Wolverine.
Cyclops has had multiple serious relationships and is rarely written without a romantic female relationship. Cyclops's relationships are particularly complicated because of the many retcon
s involved in the publication history of the Jean Grey
and Madelyne Pryor
characters.
In terms of publication time, Cyclops's longest relationship would be with Jean Grey
, whom he would eventually marry but not before she would appear to tragically die protecting the X-Men. Grieving from this loss, Scott leaves to the Summers family reunion where he meets and starts to pursue Madelyne Pryor
. Scott would become obsessed with Madelyne's similarity to Jean. Madelyne would turn out to be a clone
of Jean and would be made into a supervillain
but not before Scott marries Madelyne and has a child with her. A love triangle would later be created when Jean is re-awakened from a coma and brought back to life by the Fantastic Four. These relationships would be resolved over the duration of Cyclops's appearance in the X-Factor
series. His son would grow up to be the character Cable
. Jean Grey and Scott would finally marry in X-Men #30.
When Cyclops married Jean Grey, he seemed to have reached a happy ending. Subsequently, Scott would become possessed by Apocalypse and the lingering effects from this would taint his relationship with Jean. This combined with Jean's returning Phoenix powers creates stress in their relationship. Confused Scott turns to Emma Frost
, who takes advantage of Scott's emotional problems, which leads to a telepathic extramarital affair. When confronted by Jean, Scott claims that they shared "only thoughts" and that he had done nothing wrong; Jean, however, disagrees and demands that Emma explain herself, but Emma only jeers and insults her. Enraged, Jean unleashes the Phoenix power on Emma, rifling through her memories and forcing her to confront the truth about herself.
In the aftermath, Scott then leaves the X-Men for a time to understand his own conflicting feelings. He returned to tell Emma that he had made a decision between her and Jean, but Jean was killed in battle before it was revealed which woman he had picked. After Jean's death, Scott feels disillusioned with Xavier's dream, leaves the X-Men, and refuses Emma's offer to reopen the school. Had the school remained closed, this outcome would have led to an apocalyptic future
. To avoid it, Jean, who was resurrected in this apocalyptic future, used her Phoenix Powers to absorb this future timeline into the White Hot Room. She then mentally pushed Scott past the guilt he felt over her death and made him accept Emma's offer of reopening the school with her.
The two have since been together, although not without problems, particularly in light of the "House of M
" storyline in which Emma has alienated herself from many people by completely reformatting the school's workings and the events involving the Hellfire Club's
return. As of the Divided We Stand stories, their relationship seems to be back on track. The relationship begins to deteriorate again with Cyclops keeping secrets about the actions of X-Force, and Emma not telling him of her agreement to join Norman Osborn's secret alliance known as the Cabal. However, both had their secrets revealed to each other and their relationship seems to be back on track once again, apparently stronger than ever. Unfortunately, almost immediately after, their relationship hit a new road-bump. During a battle with Osborn's Dark Avengers, Emma absorbed a piece of the Void (a dark evil power) from the mind of Sentry. In order to keep the bit of evil contained, Emma has transformed permanently into her diamond form. While this keeps the evil power from accessing her enormous psionic capabilities, it shuts off Emma's emotions and empathy, causing her to become cold, rude, and snide towards all, even her boyfriend. Cyclops, Xavier, and Psyocke eventually go into Emma's head to remove the Void piece, only for it to become stuck in Cyclops' head instead. However, Cyclops is able to trap the Void piece inside a psychic prison, rendering it harmless, and leaving his relationship with Emma strong once more.
One striking feature about Cyclops's romantic relationship is the fact that he seems attracted to women with telepathic
abilities and vice versa. He was married to both Jean Grey
and her clone
Madelyne Pryor
, who both proved to have very strong telepathy. His latest girlfriend, Emma Frost
, is a high-order telepath. Psylocke
, another powerful psionic talent, once blatantly tried to seduce him,. Scott has been known, however, to date non-mutant women, in particular during the period in which he thought Jean Grey to be dead. He was known to date Colleen Wing
, Lee Forrester
, and finally Madelyne Pryor
, who at the time was thought to be a powerless baseline human.
in a red wavelength); however, they do not give off heat and instead deliver concussive force. The beams are tremendously powerful and can be used to rupture steel plates and pulverize rock.
In addition varying the beam width, height, and intensity, Cyclops has demonstrated a high degree of skill and accuracy in manipulating his optic blast. Cyclops is able to reflect the beam off hard and shiny surfaces. This feat also demonstrates his intuitive sense of spatial geometry between objects. The reflective qualities of the beams allows him to bounce the beam off many different surfaces in rapid succession. The effective range of his optic beam is approximately 2,000 ft. It has been observed to be focused tight enough to punch a pin hole through a coin, drill through the trunk of a log, and pierce the skin of the Blob
. Cyclops has shown the power of his optic blast by blasting through the walls of a hardened building, tunneling through solid rock, and blowing the top off a mountain. Cyclops' force beams were measured by Iron Man
to be almost 2 Gigawatts. Two Gigawatts is about half the peak power output of the Doel Nuclear Power Plant
and when Cyclops released this much energy he exceeded his control over his optic beam. With Cyclops unable to shut off his optic beam, Leech
came to his aid and negated his mutant power. Against other Marvel characters, Cyclops has been able to use his optic beam to knock Thor
's Hammer from his hand. He is known to be able to overload Bishop's energy absorption power and is revealed to never have willingly used more than a small fraction of his full potential due to his anxiety regarding his optic blast.
Early accounts describe Cyclops' optic beams as the product of his body metabolizing sunlight and other ambient energy. This is similar to his brother Alex (alias Havok) who metabolizes cosmic radiation. This metabolized energy is then released in the form of the beam from his eyes. In some stories Cyclops depletes his body's energy reserves and needs to recharge through exposure to sunlight. When depleted Cyclops continued to emit the beams; however, their intensity was greatly diminished.
Modern accounts state that Cyclops' eyes contain inter-dimensional apertures, releasing powerful energies from another dimension into his own via the beams. These later accounts state that his body naturally metabolizes ambient energy that is used to open and focus the apertures in his eyes. The energy of the beam itself originates from this other dimension.
Cyclops' body is naturally immune to the beams' force.
His mind projects a psionic field that envelops his body rendering it immune to his optic beam, allowing him to shut it off by simply closing his eyes. Scott is also immune to the power of his brother Alex (Havok) who has the ability to emit waves of energy that heat the air into plasma. Likewise Havok has demonstrated immunity to Cyclops' optic beam. Scott has been shown as being able to absorb Storm's lightning bolt, although this act caused Cyclops a great deal of pain. The ruby quartz used in his battle visor has been said to be resonate with his body's psionic field. Scott has only a limited resistance to his brother Vulcan's powers.
For all Cyclops' skill in manipulating his optic beam, he is unable to completely shut it off. The optic beam continuously projects from his eyes which he must keep closed to prevent the destruction of objects within his field of view. Cyclops uses a pair of ruby quartz eye glasses developed by Professor X
to contain the devastating rays. In his X-Men uniform he uses a ruby quartz battle visor in place of the glasses. His uniform has firing studs incorporated into his gloves and on the sides of the battle visor that control the visor's aperture. He has also been observed using casual sunglasses and contact lenses made from the same ruby quartz as his visor lens. Scott's poor control over his power is attributed to events in his childhood. His lack of control is initially described as being due to a head wound during his childhood, disabling his brain's ability to turn off his optic blasts. Later depictions explained that his lack of control is psychosomatic and due to the emotionally traumatic events of his childhood. This later explanation allowed Cyclops to finally control his optic blasts for a short time during a mission on the Breakworld, though at the conclusion of these events, he revealed that he was beginning to lose control again and reverted to using his visor and lenses.
and Northstar
who were moving at superhuman speeds with enough accuracy to hit them with his optic blast.
Expert Pilot: Cyclops is an expert pilot of fixed-wing aircraft, a skill he appears to have inherited from his father. It has also been implied that his geometric sense improves his abilities in the air.
Master Strategist and Tactician: Cyclops has spent most of his superhero career as the leader of either the X-Men or X-Factor and has developed exceptional leadership skills. According to Nick Fury
's files, Scott's abilities are at their best in tense situations. Fury notes that the less time Cyclops has to think about a decision, the better that decision is.
Sebastian Shaw
reflects on Cyclops's skill in taking advantage of the single flaw in the Hellfire Club's defense to reverse a dire situation for the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #134. In another issue, the X-Men are hypnotized into thinking Cyclops is the Dark Phoenix, they try to hunt him down. After thwarting Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Storm in quick succession, he flees to the Danger Room
. Inside, he creates a jungle environment in which to hide from his fellow X-Men. They attempt to hunt him down, but he outwits them, defeating Shadowcat
, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, and Rogue, all the while suffering from broken ribs. In Uncanny X-Men #150, Cyclops organizes the X-Men to defeat Magneto at a time when the team is denied their mutant powers.
Master Martial Artist: Cyclops also has extensive training in martial arts and unarmed combat, holding black belts in judo
and aikido
.
During the 'Riot at Xavier's
' storyline Cyclops faces off against Quentin Quire
's Omega Gang and can be observed doing a cartwheel while firing his optic blast at Radian's leg. In a fight with the Horseman of Apocalypse named War, Cyclops executes an acrobatic flip off a statue in the graveyard and while inverted in mid-air fires his optic blast into the mouth of the robotic mount.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al character
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, the leader of the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
team in the . A mutant
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes (an "optic blast"). In uniform, he wears a battle visor with a single, ruby-quartz lens running eye-to-eye; the resulting one-eyed appearance is why he is codenamed "Cyclops."
Created by writer Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
, he first appeared in The X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
Uncanny X-Men, first published as The X-Men, is the flagship Marvel Comics comic book series for the X-Men franchise. It is the mainstream continuity featuring the adventures of the eponymous group of mutant superheroes...
#1 (September 1963). Originally dubbed Slim Summers, by X-Men #3 his name was changed to Scott -- Slim became just a nickname. Scott is the first X-Man recruited by Professor Charles Xavier; Xavier hand-picks Scott to lead his X-Men, and to carry on the legacy of his mutant-human-harmony ideals. Xavier views Scott as one of his most -- if not the most -- prized pupils; their relationship exhibits father/son qualities. From time to time Scott's extreme loyalty to Xavier has cost him dearly in his relationships with others; but, over the course of the characters' publication history, he eventually emerges from Xavier's shadow as the X-Men's undisputed leader.
Cyclops is most often portrayed as the archetypal hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
of traditional American popular culture -- the opposite of the tough, anti-authority, anti-heroes that emerged in American popular culture after the Vietnam War (e.g., Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
, his X-Men teammate). Selfless, self-disciplined, and ethical, Cyclops also possesses tremendous leadership abilities, and great tactical and strategic skills.
He is the son of Corsair
Corsair (comics)
Corsair is a fictional character, a star-faring hero in the Marvel Comics universe. He leads the space-faring team the Starjammers and was best known as the father of X-Men superheroes Cyclops, Havok, and Vulcan...
(Major Christopher Summers) of the Starjammers; the brother of Havok (Alex Summers) and Vulcan (Gabriel Summers); the father of Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
(Nathan Summers); and, the widower of Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
and Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
. He is also a long-time friend of Beast
Beast (comics)
Beast , Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy, is a comic book character, a Marvel Comics superhero and a member of the mutant team of superheroes known as the X-Men...
(Hank McCoy). In alternate realities, he has also been the father of Rachel Summers
Rachel Summers
Rachel Anne Summers is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne for Marvel Comics....
and Ruby Summers
Ruby Summers
Ruby Summers is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe first appearing in the one-shot X-Factor: Layla Miller.-Fictional character biography:Ruby is the daughter of Scott Summers and Emma Frost from the dystopian alternate future Earth-1191....
, and a biological parent of X-Man
X-man
X-Man is a fictional character and superhero in the Marvel Universe.X-Man may also refer to:*X-Man , a South Korean game show*Xavier Carter, nicknamed X-Man, American track and field athlete...
and Stryfe
Stryfe
Stryfe is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . The character was created by Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, and first appears in The New Mutants #87...
. In 2006, IGN.com rated Cyclops #1 on their list of Top 25 X-Men from the past forty years. Wizard Magazine also ranked Cyclops the 106th best comic book character of all time, of their list of the Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time. In 2011 IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
ranked Cyclops 39th in the "Top 100 comic books heroes" and readers of Comic Book Resources voted him the 9th top Marvel character of all time.
Publication history
Cyclops' first appearance is in X-MenX-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
#1 created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and he has been a mainstay character of the X-Men series. Summers remained a member of the team up through Uncanny X-Men #201 when he left the Uncanny X-Men title to be featured in the launch of a new series by Marvel. This new series, X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
, launched in 1986 and would star the original Uncanny X-Men team of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel. Scott would stay with the X-Factor title through X-Factor #70. In October 1991, Summers returns to the X-Men to launch X-Men #1 (2nd series). This series would be the second of two X-Men titles and would feature Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Rogue, and the Beast as Blue team. Cyclops has recently been featured in another title launch with the second introduction of a new X-Men series Astonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men is the name of three X-Men comic book series from Marvel Comics, the first two of which were limited series. The ongoing series began in 2004, with its first run written by Joss Whedon and art by John Cassaday. It was then written by Warren Ellis with art by Phil Jimenez. Daniel...
. Astonishing X-Men features Cyclops, Wolverine, Shadowcat, Colossus, Emma Frost, and the Beast as a team. Throughout this time Cyclops would continue to make appearances in Uncanny X-Men Marvel has also used Cyclops to launch variant series of X-Men titles most notably Ultimate X-Men
Ultimate X-Men
Ultimate X-Men is a superhero comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics from 2001 to 2009. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running X-Men comic book franchise as part of its Ultimate Marvel imprint...
and New X-Men
New X-Men
New X-Men was a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics within the X-Men franchise. After the end of Grant Morrison's run on X-Men , titled New X-Men, the title was used for a new series, New X-Men: Academy X, serving as a continuation of the second volume of New Mutants...
.
Cyclops has appeared in limited series including Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix, Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix, X-Men: The Asgardian Wars, the second series of Astonishing X-Men, X-Men: The Search for Cyclops, his own self-titled series Cyclops, and X-Men Origins: Cyclops #1.
Cyclops' first appearance was in X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
#1 created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They wrote the majority of the first issues in the series. In 1975, writer Chris Claremont started his tenure on the series with Uncanny X-Men #94. He went on to write for the title over the next 16 years until 1991 when Jim Lee took over as the series artist. In 1991, writer Brian K. Vaughan
Brian K. Vaughan
Brian Keller Vaughan is an American comic book and television writer. He is best known for the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, and Pride of Baghdad, and was one of the principal writers of the television series Lost, during seasons three through five...
worked on the self-titled series Cyclops #1-4. In 2000, Joseph Harris
Joseph Harris
Joseph Vikram "Joe" Harris is an Indian-born Canadian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-hand off-break bowler....
wrote the four-issue run titled X-Men: The Search for Cyclops that dealt with Cyclops' return after merging with Apocalypse in the events of the Twelve from Uncanny X-Men #377. In 2004, writer Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
wrote a variant of the series Astonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men is the name of three X-Men comic book series from Marvel Comics, the first two of which were limited series. The ongoing series began in 2004, with its first run written by Joss Whedon and art by John Cassaday. It was then written by Warren Ellis with art by Phil Jimenez. Daniel...
.
During Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
's run of Astonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men is the name of three X-Men comic book series from Marvel Comics, the first two of which were limited series. The ongoing series began in 2004, with its first run written by Joss Whedon and art by John Cassaday. It was then written by Warren Ellis with art by Phil Jimenez. Daniel...
, Cyclops adopted a new attitude unfamiliar to most accustomed fans. After Emma
Emma Frost
Emma Grace Frost is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 , and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne....
's psychic intervention at the mansion, he temporarily lost his powers after owning up to his self-inflicted, traumatic past. This prompted an interview with Joss Whedon in Wizard
Wizard (magazine)
Wizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011...
magazine #182, when asked if Cyclops didn't have his powers any more, Whedon replied that "No, he doesn't have his powers. Well, he had a choice to either be completely out of control or bury them. He can't use them. That's pretty much it. But the thing that would be fun is that, with no powers, he's going to be the best that he's ever been. That's what the arc is about. [Cyclops has] been the team leader and the team washout in terms of popularity. He was defined by Jean so much, and I just think that this guy is so interesting in his struggle against mediocrity. Then, when it's all laid on the line, when you find out the thing that's been holding him back from being just a complete bad ass has been himself all his life, that he's been lying to everyone, including himself, about who he is-that should be freeing. The Scott we're going to see is going to be a little bit different. This guy is either completely out of control or in control of something we're not used to. I wanted him to be an unabashed tough guy. He is shooting people and turning very much into a leader. Not everyone is going to like it." Now, the X-Men leader has become more confident, outspoken, and audacious. This has had a significant effect on his leadership and his respect among fellow teammates, most notably Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
.
Fictional character biography
Cyclops' history has undergone various revisions, both minor and major. The central fixed element is the character's origin storyOrigin story
In comic book terminology, an origin story is an account or back-story revealing how a character or team gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances under which they became superheroes or supervillains....
. As a young boy, Scott Summers is orphaned after watching his parents die in a plane crash. Scott and his brother, Alex, are the only survivors. Their parents placed the two boys in the only available parachute and forced them to jump from the plane just prior to crashing. The boys become wards of the state and are separated. When Scott's powers manifest uncontrollably he runs away from the orphanage and wanders before being taken in as ward by Charles Xavier
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
.
Youth
When Scott was a boy growing up in AnchorageAnchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, his father, USAF
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
Major Christopher Summers
Corsair (comics)
Corsair is a fictional character, a star-faring hero in the Marvel Comics universe. He leads the space-faring team the Starjammers and was best known as the father of X-Men superheroes Cyclops, Havok, and Vulcan...
, took the family for a flight in their de Havilland Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
. It came under attack by an alien Shi'ar
Shi'ar
The Shi'ar are a fictional species of aliens in the Marvel Comics universe. The Shi'ar Empire also called the Aerie, is a vast collection of alien species, cultures and worlds situated close to the Skrull and Kree Empires, and alongside them, is one of the three main alien empires...
spaceship. As the plane went down in flames, Scott's parents fastened him and his younger brother Alex into a parachute and pushed them off the plane, hoping that they would survive.
In Cyclops' first appearance in X-Men #1, he is already leading the X-Men under tutelage of Professor X
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
. Later, Scott's origin is first presented in Uncanny X-Men #38-42 and later refined in Uncanny X-Men #144 and Uncanny X-Men #156. In 2010, Marvel released X-Men Origins: Cyclops #1 that describes the character's childhood through his joining the X-Men.
The early accounts in the X-Men comics use flashbacks to tell the origin story of Scott parachuting from his parents' plane. The flashbacks are often told from various narrative perspectives and place different emphasis on the events of this period. Scott's poor control over his power have been attributed to events in his childhood. In Uncanny X-Men #156, Scott's parachute caught fire and Scott struck his head upon landing. This caused brain damage to Scott which is responsible for his poor control over his optic blasts. Several origin stories do not feature the head injury account with X-Men Origins: Cyclops #1 being the most recent. The head injury account has also been retconned in Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2 as being due to a self-imposed mental block he made as a child to deal with the traumatic events of his life. With the help of Emma Frost, Scott is able to briefly bypass his own mental block and control his powers, though he reveals that his control is waning and temporary.
For a time Scott had prolonged amnesia about his childhood. Parts of his memory returned when he was unexpectedly attacked by the demon D'Spayre
D'Spayre
D'Spayre is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. He is a demon, and was one of the Fear Lords. He has been opposed by Spider-Man, the Scarlet Spider, Man-Thing, Cyclops, the Juggernaut, Doctor Strange, Cloak & Dagger, and the New Avengers. He first appeared in Marvel Team-Up v1 #68...
while on a leave of absence after Jean Grey's perceived first death. Scott spent most of his childhood in an orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
and was subjected to batteries of tests and experiments by the orphanage's owner, Mr. Milbury, an alias for the geneticist Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
, who also placed mental blocks on Scott.
Ancestry
In The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix limited seriesThe Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix is a four-issue comic book mini-series published in 1996 by Marvel Comics.-Publication history:...
, both Scott and Jean were sent back in time to 19th century England by Madame Sanctity
Madame Sanctity
Madame Sanctity is a Marvel Comics character created by Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb and Gene Ha. She first appeared in Askani'Son #1, though her true identity was revealed in Uncanny X-Men # -1...
, a surviving member of the Askani sisterhood
Askani
The Askani are fictional characters, a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe in the future/alternate timeline designated as Earth-4935, also known as Earth Askani...
. In 1860, prior to the epilogue of the story, a young English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
orphan named Daniel (who was freed, one year ago, from the clutches of Nathaniel Essex
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
by Scott and Jean) is shown arriving in New York Harbor
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...
from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. As a form of reverence toward the couple who recently showed him great kindness, when urged by his apparent guardian to adopt a new surname at the immigration station
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
, Daniel chooses Summers. Although Scott does not make the familial connection between Daniel and himself, he suspects that his presence in this time (along with Jean's) did something else to affect the course of history, aside from stopping Mister Sinister and Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
.
The X-Men
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
. On a trip to New York with his orphanage supervisor Scott walks across a construction site and his optic beam activates. The blast damages a metal crane causing it to fall towards an onlooking crowd. Scott thinks quickly unleashing a second blast that destroys the crane. The crowd thinks this is an act of violence, and forms a lynch mob. Scott hops onto a train and runs away. Wandering Scott encounters Jack O' Diamonds
Living Diamond
Living Diamond is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:The Living Diamond first appeared in X-Men #39 , and was created by Roy Thomas and Werner Roth....
and battles the villain. Scott is found by Charles Xavier
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
, who erases the crowd's memories. Xavier then asks Scott to join the X-Men, and he gladly accepts, as the first official member.
In the X-Men's first field mission, he battles Magneto
Magneto (comics)
Magneto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the central villain of the X-Men comic, as well as the TV show and the films. The character first appears in X-Men #1 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby...
. With the X-Men, he battles the Blob
Blob (comics)
The Blob is a Marvel Comics supervillain, an adversary of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men #3 ....
. He also becomes romantically attracted to Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
. With the X-Men, he then clashes with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
Brotherhood of Mutants
The Brotherhood of Mutants, originally known as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, is a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain team devoted to mutant superiority over normal humans. They are among the chief adversaries of the X-Men...
for the first time. He soon becomes the team's field leader, a position he will traditionally hold over the years.
Cyclops has a relationship with Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
during their time in the "original" X-Men. For a long time, he refuses to admit, even to himself, that he has feelings for her, afraid he would be hurt again or that his optic blasts would hurt her - or anyone else he cared about for that matter - and also because he feels he is no match for his wealthy teammate Warren Worthington III, a.k.a. Angel, who is at first also romantically interested in Jean. What Scott doesn't know is that Jean actually has a crush on him, but is too shy to make a move. Finally, on Bobby Drake
Iceman (comics)
Iceman is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero, a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men vol. 1 #1, ....
's 18th birthday, they reveal their passion for each other and begin to date.
When the X-Men are defeated by Krakoa
Krakoa
Krakoa is a fictional character in Marvel Comics, commonly associated with the X-Men. It is a living island, an intelligent ecosystem able to command all the living things native to its island body, and even its terrain...
, Cyclops is the only member able to escape and return to Xavier. He helps train a new group of X-Men, which includes Storm, Colossus
Colossus (comics)
Colossus is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer Len Wein and illustrator Dave Cockrum, he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1...
, Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler (comics)
Nightcrawler is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe. He has been associated with both the X-Men and Excalibur, originally appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1...
, Banshee
Banshee (comics)
Banshee is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero who operates as a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Werner Roth, Banshee first appeared in X-Men #28 ....
, Thunderbird
Thunderbird (comics)
Thunderbird is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero who was briefly a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 ....
, Sunfire and Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
to rescue the others. When the other original X-Men (Angel, Beast
Beast (comics)
Beast , Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy, is a comic book character, a Marvel Comics superhero and a member of the mutant team of superheroes known as the X-Men...
, Iceman
Iceman (comics)
Iceman is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero, a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men vol. 1 #1, ....
, Jean Grey, and later additions Havok (his own brother Alex) and Polaris
Polaris (comics)
Polaris is a fictional comic book character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular the X-Men family of books. Created by Arnold Drake, Don Heck, Werner Roth and Jim Steranko, Polaris first appeared in The X-Men #49...
) decide to leave in light of the arrival of the new X-Men, Cyclops stays, feeling that he will never be able to lead a normal life because of the uncontrollable nature of his powers.
At first, Scott believes that his parents died in the plane accident and is unaware that they, in fact, had been captured and sold into slavery by the Shi'ar. As an adult member of the X-Men, Cyclops meets his father, now known as Corsair
Corsair (comics)
Corsair is a fictional character, a star-faring hero in the Marvel Comics universe. He leads the space-faring team the Starjammers and was best known as the father of X-Men superheroes Cyclops, Havok, and Vulcan...
, leader of the Starjammers
Starjammers
The Starjammers are a fictional team of space pirates from the pages of the X-Men comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Starjammers first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #107 and were created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum...
, a group of aliens
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
opposing what they see as the tyranny of the Shi'ar
Shi'ar
The Shi'ar are a fictional species of aliens in the Marvel Comics universe. The Shi'ar Empire also called the Aerie, is a vast collection of alien species, cultures and worlds situated close to the Skrull and Kree Empires, and alongside them, is one of the three main alien empires...
empire. Jean learns of Corsair
Corsair (comics)
Corsair is a fictional character, a star-faring hero in the Marvel Comics universe. He leads the space-faring team the Starjammers and was best known as the father of X-Men superheroes Cyclops, Havok, and Vulcan...
's identity but keeps it from Scott and several more years pass before he learns his father's true identity. He later comes into contact with his grandparents, who he learns are still alive and own a shipping company in Canada.
Cyclops privately questions his relationship with Jean after Jean dies trying to pilot a space shuttle through a solar flare, and then is reborn as Phoenix, feeling that this reborn Jean was not the same Jean he had loved. Yet when he thinks her dead for an extended period of time after a battle in the Savage Land
Savage Land
The Savage Land is a hidden prehistoric land within the fictional Marvel Comics Universe. It is a tropical preserve hidden in Antarctica. It was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in X-Men #10...
, Scott is not able to mourn her, and believes this meant he didn't really love her anymore. He briefly dates Colleen Wing
Colleen Wing
Colleen Wing is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics.-Publication history:Colleen Wing first appeared in Marvel Premiere #19 , and was created by Doug Moench and Larry Hama.-Fictional character biography:...
. However, when Scott and Jean are reunited on Muir Island
Muir Island
Muir Island is a small, fictional island off the northern coast of Scotland in the Marvel Comics universe. It plays a prominent role in the X-Men comics and its related series.-History:...
to fight Proteus
Proteus (comics)
Kevin MacTaggert, best known as Proteus and also called Mutant X, is a Marvel Comics character, associated with the X-Men.Kevin was the mutant son of Scottish genetic researcher Moira MacTaggert and politician Joseph MacTaggert...
, he rediscovers his love for her, and they share a passionate kiss on the way home. A few days before Jean dies, Scott psychically proposes, and she accepts. After her death, he quits the X-Men, unsure of what to do anymore. He signs on as crew of a fishing boat, captained by Lee Forrester. After an adventure in which Lee's father is possessed by D'Spayre
D'Spayre
D'Spayre is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. He is a demon, and was one of the Fear Lords. He has been opposed by Spider-Man, the Scarlet Spider, Man-Thing, Cyclops, the Juggernaut, Doctor Strange, Cloak & Dagger, and the New Avengers. He first appeared in Marvel Team-Up v1 #68...
, and Cyclops and the Man-Thing
Man-Thing
The Man-Thing is a fictional character, a monster in publications from Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow, the character first appeared in Savage Tales #1 , and went on to be featured in various titles and in his own series, including...
must fight D'Spayre, Scott and Lee find themselves shipwrecked in the Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....
, where they stumble upon Magneto
Magneto (comics)
Magneto is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the central villain of the X-Men comic, as well as the TV show and the films. The character first appears in X-Men #1 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby...
's new base of operations.
Scott soon returns to the X-Men. He then discovers that Corsair is actually his father. Eventually, Scott marries Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
, a woman who bears a strong resemblance to Jean. Scott later battles Storm for undisputed leadership of the X-Men, and after being defeated he retires from the X-Men. Madelyne bears him a son, Nathan
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
.
X-Factor and Inferno
Shortly after the birth of Nathan, it is revealed that Jean is not dead. The Phoenix is revealed to be a cosmic entity who had supplanted Jean, placing her in a healing pod at the bottom of Jamaica Bay, to be eventually revived by the AvengersAvengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
and the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
. Cyclops leaves his wife and son and returns to Jean, although Warren moves in on the now single woman. Jean joins with Cyclops and the other original X-Men as X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
, who pose as mutant hunters but in reality are trying to help their genetic brethren. Meanwhile, Pryor goes on to be an assisting member of the X-Men, apparently sacrificing her life during the Fall of the Mutants
Fall of the Mutants
"The Fall of the Mutants" was a comic book crossover event by Marvel Comics spanning January to March 1988. It spanned three issues each of The Uncanny X-Men , X-Factor , and The New Mutants ; unlike most crossovers however, the various titles' storylines did not intertwine, but were instead linked...
with her teammates, although she was left with feelings of despair over the loss of Scott, who felt bad himself over the way he had handled the situation.
No longer married, Scott moves on. During an adventure, his teammate Warren, the Angel, loses his wings. Bitter, Angel is transformed by a villain the team recently encountered, immortal mutant Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
, into Death, general of his Horsemen
Horsemen of Apocalypse
The Horsemen of Apocalypse is a team of fictional supervillain characters that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team is first mentioned in X-Factor #10 , and makes their full appearance in X-Factor #15...
. Iceman manages to bring Warren back, who becomes Archangel.
The demons S'ym
S'ym
S'ym is a fictional supervillain in the Marvel Comics Universe, a demon of Limbo who served as a frequent enemy and sometimes supporting character in The Uncanny X-Men and The New Mutants...
and N'astirh
N'astirh
N'astirh is a fictional character created by Marvel Comics as a demonic inhabitant of Limbo. He first appeared in X-Factor #32 and was created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove.-Fictional character biography:...
corrupt Madelyne's feelings of self-despair, transforming her into the Goblin Queen. Madelyne seeks revenge on Scott for leaving her. When it is revealed that she is a clone created by geneticist Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
, essentially for the purpose of becoming a brood mare
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
, Madelyne can't take it any more and kills herself. Scott seemingly kills Sinister with an optic blast, and pursues a romance with Jean, reclaiming his son. Scott soon learns that Mister Sinister ran the orphanage in which Scott was raised, and battled Sinister over this.
Shortly after the X-Tinction Agenda
X-Tinction Agenda
"X-Tinction Agenda" is a 1990 crossover comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics that ran through Uncanny X-Men and its spin-off titles, X-Factor and New Mutants...
, Scott reencounters Apocalypse, who infects Nathan with a techno-organic virus
Techno-organic virus
A techno-organic virus is a fictional virus in the Marvel Comics universe. The virus transforms organic material into techno-organic material. Techno-organic material resembles both machinery and living tissue...
. Although Scott saves his son with the help of his fellow teammates and through the combined strength of Nathan, Jean, and himself defeats Apocalypse, he was unable to save his son from the fatal infection. Distraught, Scott sends his son into the future where he can be cured.
Next, Xavier's psionic enemy, Shadow King
Shadow King
The Shadow King, also known as Amahl Farouk, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Shadow King exists as an entity of pure psychic energy that feeds on the hatred of humanity...
, returns to combat the X-Men and X-Factor. After his defeat, Cyclops and X-Factor rejoin the X-Men team, and Scott is named leader of a newly created "Blue Team".
Return to the X-Men
After Cyclops' return as field leader, much of the Blue team is kidnapped by Omega RedOmega Red
Omega Red is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Men #4 , and was created by Jim Lee...
and the ninjas of The Hand
Hand (comics)
The Hand is a fictional supervillainous organization in the Marvel Comics universe.The Hand is an order of evil mystical ninja who are heavily involved in organized crime and mercenary activities such as assassination plots. The Hand covets power above all other objectives. They are primarily based...
. After the captured teammates' rescue, Mr. Sinister sends Caliban
Caliban (comics)
Caliban is a mutant character in the Marvel Comics universe.-Publication history:Caliban's first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #148 , written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Dave Cockrum.-Fictional character biography:...
, a former X-Factor member, to kidnap Cyclops and Jean for Stryfe
Stryfe
Stryfe is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . The character was created by Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, and first appears in The New Mutants #87...
, a madman and rival to Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
, both time-lost mutants. Stryfe tells the two that he is Nathan, sent to the future and abandoned. In a fight, Cable and Stryfe apparently die. Afterwards, the team battles Omega Red again, and fellow teammate and telepath Psylocke
Psylocke
Psylocke is a fictional character depicted in comic books published by Marvel Comics, most notably those comics featuring the superhero team the X-Men. The character has also appeared in licensed adaptations. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe, she first appeared in the UK...
tries to lure Cyclops into an affair behind Jean's back. Ultimately, however, Cyclops remains with Jean. Cable returns as well and reveals to Cyclops that he is the real Nathan Christopher Summers.
Second Marriage
Scott Summers and Jean GreyJean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
finally marry. During their honeymoon, they are brought into the future where they raise Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
for the first 12 years of his life during The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was a four-issue comic book mini-series written by Scott Lobdell, drawn by Gene Ha, and published by Marvel Comics in 1994. It is important in revealing much of the back story for the character Cable, much of which had been implied before, but was still...
miniseries. After helping Cable defeat the future version of Apocalypse, they are sent back to the past. At the request of Rachel Summers, Jean assumes the Phoenix identity. Mister Sinister, involved with the machinations of Apocalypse and Stryfe and still alive, tells Cyclops that there is another Summers brother, and leaves him wondering.
As Cyclops deals with the fact that his son is now old enough to be his father, the X-Men are forced to battle their mentor when Professor Xavier is transformed into the evil Onslaught
Onslaught (comics)
Onslaught is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Man #15 , and was co-created by writers Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, and artist Andy Kubert....
as a result of mind-wiping Magneto. Although the X-Men defeat the evil entity and free Xavier, most of Earth's heroes are lost for a time. Xavier, who is left powerless after Onslaught's defeat, is arrested for his part, leaving Scott and Jean as leaders and co-headmasters of the school. However, the pair go into retirement following Operation: Zero Tolerance
Operation: Zero Tolerance
"Operation: Zero Tolerance" was a crossover storyline that ran through Marvel Comics' X-Men related titles during 1997. The story followed from the "Onslaught Saga" and focused on individuals, including Bastion and Henry Peter Gyrich, within the United States government and their attempts to use...
, in which Cyclops is gravely injured when a bomb is placed in his chest.
Merging with Evil
Scott and Jean return to the X-Men some time after at the request of Storm, when she grows concerned about the mental well-being of Professor X (who had returned sometime prior). Their return then leads to the events of The TwelveApocalypse: The Twelve
The Twelve is a comic book crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in March 2000.-Background:The story of the Twelve begins with a young mutant by the name of Tanya Trask, who would later become Madame Sanctity. Adrift in the timestream, Tanya was rescued by Rachel Summers, in her guise of...
, in which Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
plans to use a machine to steal the powers of twelve select mutants and the body of Nate Grey
Nate Grey
Nathaniel "Nate" Grey is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those related to the X-Men franchise...
which will make him virtually omnipotent. In order to save Nate, Cyclops willingly merges with the villain Apocalypse. He is believed dead until Jean and Cable track him down to Egypt and separate him from Apocalypse, killing Apocalypse's spirit in the process.
New X-Men
Upon Cyclops' return to the X-Men following his possession, his personality has been altered as a result of being bonded with Apocalypse. This change causes a rift between him and Jean; he claims that Apocalypse made him question not only their relationship, but his life as a whole. He is instrumental in preventing the mutant XornXorn
Xorn is a fictional character published by Marvel Comics. First appearing in New X-Men Annual 2001, Xorn was a new addition to the X-Men membership during writer Grant Morrison's revamp of the franchise....
's suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
and in recruiting the powerful mutant to the X-Men. The two establish a close friendship; similarly, repeated missions with Wolverine result in the growth of a tentative friendship between the two veteran X-Men.
When Jean begins to show signs of the Phoenix Force again, the distance between the two grows larger and Scott begins abstaining from sex with Jean for the five months. Jean attempts several times to confront Cyclops, but he continues to push her away, claiming that Apocalypse had changed him too much on the inside. Jean, confused by the change in their relationship, confides in Logan and the two kiss in the woods outside the school, but Logan walks away telling her that she should remain with Scott. Xavier leaves Earth while under the control of Cassandra Nova
Cassandra Nova
Cassandra Nova is a fictional enemy of the X-Men in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, Cassandra first appeared in New X-Men #114 . Cassandra is a "mummudrai," a parasitic life form born bodiless on the astral plane...
and Jean is left as Headmistress of the school. Her new responsibilities along with her growing powers, force Jean to put her attention elsewhere leaving Scott feeling ignored and his trauma from being possessed trivialized. Instead of attempting to reconcile with her, Scott turns to Emma Frost
Emma Frost
Emma Grace Frost is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 , and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne....
for consolation, feeling that he can talk to Emma about his problems. Their relationship ostensibly begins as a series of psychic therapy sessions, but Emma takes advantage of this situation to get closer to Scott. Under the guise of counseling him, she instigates a telepathic affair.
When Phoenix discovers the affair, Cyclops claims he and Emma shared only thoughts and thus had done nothing wrong. Meanwhile, Emma's snide and mocking jeers provoke a hurt and angry Jean to psychically confront her, using the full-power of the Phoenix Force to 'burn through lies'. She forces Emma to admit her true feelings for Scott, and to face her many failures, sins, and personal demons. Furious at both himself and Jean, Scott confronts Jean and demands that she read his mind; Jean finally complies, only to discover that Scott and Emma never engaged in any physical contact, though Emma had offered it. After confronting Jean with the truth, Scott leaves the Xavier Institute, and a short time later Emma is found shattered in her diamond form and believed killed.
Scott soon finds himself at the Hellfire Club
Hellfire Club (comics)
The Hellfire Club is a fictional society within the Marvel Comics Universe that often comes into confrontation with the mutant superhero team, the X-Men...
which had been turned into a sleazy strip club and tries to get drunk, attempting to escape the responsibilities, expectations, and demands which he feels are unjustly placed on him by the X-Men. He then accompanies Wolverine and Fantomex
Fantomex
Fantomex is a fictional superhero associated with the X-Men in titles published by Marvel Comics. Fantomex first appeared in New X-Men #128 and was created by Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey....
to the government-created time-pocket called The World and then Asteroid M
Asteroid M
Utopia is the name of the sepratist mutant homeland created by the X-Men from the remains of Asteroid M which is the name of several fictional settings, each an asteroid converted by the mutant Magneto into his home/orbiting base, in the Marvel Comics Universe...
. During his time with Wolverine, Scott reveals that he feels his relationship with Jean is stagnant and that the two of them had not progressed romantically since their initial teenage romance. He also confesses that he feels that Jean is so concerned with the school and her new powers that the two no longer communicate like before and that he feels left behind due to Jean once again being connected to the Phoenix Force. When Scott finally returns to the X-Men, their new teammate Xorn
Xorn
Xorn is a fictional character published by Marvel Comics. First appearing in New X-Men Annual 2001, Xorn was a new addition to the X-Men membership during writer Grant Morrison's revamp of the franchise....
(who was revealed to be Magneto, but was subsequently retconned as an imposter) attacks the X-Men. Having at last reached full Phoenix power, Jean confronts Xorn-Magneto and is killed in the process. As she is dying, Scott apologizes for hurting her, but Jean instead tells him that she understands and has never seen him more alive and urges him to live on.
Headmaster
Scott, however, is devastated by Jean's death, and considers leaving the X-Men once more. It was revealed in the "Here Comes TomorrowHere Comes Tomorrow
"Here Comes Tomorrow" is the eighth and final story arc in Grant Morrison's run on the Marvel Comics series New X-Men, which ran from issues #151-154...
" storyline that, had he done so, it would have led to an apocalyptic alternate future. To prevent this, a resurrected, future-version of Jean uses her powers as the White Phoenix of the Crown and telepathically nudged Cyclops into a real relationship with Emma, reaching out to him from this alternate future. Together, the pair rebuild the Xavier Institute as co-headmasters.
The new relationship between Emma and Scott leads to problems between them and the rest of the X-Men, all of whom believe that the pair are doing Jean's memory a disservice. Rachel Summers
Rachel Summers
Rachel Anne Summers is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne for Marvel Comics....
in particular feels hurt and angry by her father's lack of remorse for the psychic affair that hurt Jean before her death and Emma's part in it, and takes on the last name of Grey in place of Summers. The other X-Men eventually come to accept the relationship and both Scott and Emma manage to reconcile with Rachel in their own ways, such as introducing Rachel to Jean's other family members.
Deciding that the X-Men need to play more of a role in emergency rescue and aid, and thus garner attention on mutants in a more positive light where mutant abilities are used for the good of people, Cyclops hand-picks a new team in Astonishing X-Men, which is subsequently used by Marvel as the chief representation of the X-Men. The team faces an alien named Ord of the Breakworld
Ord (comics)
Ord is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. Ord is an enemy of the X-Men. He first appeared in Astonishing X-Men #1 in May 2004. He was created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday.- Ord's mission :...
, who supplies Earth scientist Dr. Kavita Rao with a "cure" for mutation. The team subdue Ord, but not before learning that one of their own will be responsible for the destruction of Ord's homeworld in the coming year. Not long after, the X-Men's Danger Room
Danger Room
The Danger Room is a fictional training facility built for the X-Men of Marvel Comics as part of the various incarnations of the X-Mansion.-Early designs:...
becomes sentient, attacking the X-Men and seeking to ultimately kill Xavier. Calling itself "Danger," "she" reveals that Xavier knew she had been self-aware since Shi'ar technology was installed in the Danger Room years ago, but chose to ignore her, effectively inhumanely using her only to train his teams of X-Men. After her defeat on the island of Genosha, the X-Men abandoned Xavier in disgust, with Cyclops no longer welcoming Xavier's input at the School or with the team.
Cyclops also tutored a squad at the institute called The Corsairs, named after Cyclops' father. The team consisted of Dryad
Dryad (comics)
Dryad is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, she first appeared in New X-Men: Academy X #1.-Fictional character biography:...
, Quill, Specter
Specter (comics)
Specter is a fictional character, a mutant appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in New Mutants, vol...
, and the three remaining Stepford Cuckoos
Stepford Cuckoos
The Stepford Cuckoos are a set of fictional mutant psychically linked quintuplets . They are students at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning and appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics...
.
Astonishing X-Men
In Astonishing X-MenAstonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men is the name of three X-Men comic book series from Marvel Comics, the first two of which were limited series. The ongoing series began in 2004, with its first run written by Joss Whedon and art by John Cassaday. It was then written by Warren Ellis with art by Phil Jimenez. Daniel...
#14, during an impromptu telepathic "therapy session", Emma Frost presented Cyclops with the possibility that his lack of control over his optic blasts actually stems not from physical brain damage, but from a sort of mental block that the young Scott imposed upon himself after the combined traumas of the loss of his parents, separation from his brother, and shocking manifestation of his powers; this is seen as a coping mechanism, giving Scott something to focus on and try to maintain some sort of control over at a time when events completely out of his control had effectively shattered the life he had led up to that point.
Scott admits that this theory is the truth, further admitting that he had blocked making this decision out of his memory, to preserve the fallacy in his own mind and prevent others from discovering his "secret." The issue ends with Scott apparently in a catatonic state, with his eyes uncovered and displaying their natural shade of brown, with no evidence of his powers manifesting. Later he manifests, and has full control over his optical blasts, although it was only temporary.
Deadly Genesis
After the events of House of MHouse of M
House of M is an eight-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2005. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel, its first issue debuted in June 2005 as a follow-up to the events of the Planet X and Avengers Disassembled...
, nearly all mutants were left depowered
Decimation (comics)
Decimation is the late 2005 Marvel Comics storyline spinning off from the House of M limited series. It focuses on the ramifications of the Scarlet Witch stripping nearly all of the mutant population of their powers, thereby reducing a society of millions to one of scant hundreds.This event, which...
, and Xavier was missing. A mysterious villain then attacked and easily defeated several members of the team, including Cyclops and his alternate-reality daughter, Rachel
Rachel Summers
Rachel Anne Summers is a fictional character, a comic book superheroine created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne for Marvel Comics....
. The two were captured and taken to an undisclosed location, which Cyclops vaguely remembered visiting in the past. Eventually managing to free themselves, Cyclops and Rachel attempted to escape, only to run into their captor (revealed to be Vulcan), who informed Cyclops that he was the X-Man's younger brother. A powerless Professor Xavier confirmed this information in the final book of the miniseries. This new information has left Cyclops resentful towards his mentor and has gone so far as to demand that Xavier leave the school as it is no longer 'his.'
Civil War
Cyclops, along with the other living original X-Men, declare neutrality on the subject of Civil WarCivil War (comics)
Civil War is a 2006-2007 Marvel Comics crossover storyline built around a self-titled seven-issue limited series written by Mark Millar and penciled by Steve McNiven, which ran through various other titles published by Marvel at the time...
, reasoning that the X-Men sympathized too much with Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
's side - who, like the X-Men, were persecuted for wanting to do the right thing - but believed that the mutant race had suffered too great a loss recently to take a side either way due to the recent depowerment of so many mutants. Bishop
Bishop (comics)
Bishop is a fictional comic book superhero, appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular the X-Men family of books...
leaves the team to join the Registration supporters and locate the escaped 198
X-Men: The 198
X-Men: The 198 is a comic book limited series that was published by Marvel Comics and set in the Marvel Universe shortly after the House of M and Decimation events...
. In Civil War: X-Men #2, Cyclops under mind control of Johnny Dee helps the futuristic X-Man in recovering them. Cyclops is then manipulated into attacking Bishop
Bishop (comics)
Bishop is a fictional comic book superhero, appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular the X-Men family of books...
which he does by overloading Bishop's power of energy absorption.
World War Hulk
Cyclops is listed at IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
as a target on Hulk's "Hit List" of characters. He is seen fighting the Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
in World War Hulk: X-Men #1 and in issue #2, he uses a full beam blast to stop the Hulk, refusing to let the Hulk take Professor Xavier regardless of his own feelings towards his mentor regarding the truth about Krakoa
Krakoa
Krakoa is a fictional character in Marvel Comics, commonly associated with the X-Men. It is a living island, an intelligent ecosystem able to command all the living things native to its island body, and even its terrain...
. While it peels off some of the Hulk's skin, he was able to walk towards Cyclops and clench his entire face, effectively containing the blast. After Hulk left when Mercury told him about the mutant race being near-extinct, Cyclops began to forgive Professor X while the wounded were being tended to.
Messiah Complex
Cyclops leads a team to Alaska to find the new mutant detected by Cerebro. When the team arrives, they find nearly every child in the town killed, dead MaraudersMarauders (comics)
The Marauders is a team of fictional supervillain characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Romita, Jr., the team first appear in Uncanny X-Men #210 The Marauders is a team of fictional supervillain characters in comic books published by...
and Purifiers
Purifiers
The Purifiers, also known as the Stryker Crusade, are a fictional paramilitary/terrorist organization in the Marvel Comics universe and enemies of the X-Men...
, and the baby gone. He sends a team consisting of Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Angel, and Colossus to find former Acolytes
Acolytes (comics)
The Acolytes is a team of comic book mutant supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe. The Acolytes followed the principles of the mutant Magneto, particularly the mutant right of superiority over normal humans. Some members of the Acolytes even worshipped him with a religious fervor and regarded...
for information on the Marauders. He argues with Xavier, who complains about not telling him about his team. Scott tells Xavier it's not his X-Men anymore and that he can do what he wants. Scott also calls in X-Factor to help with the situation, asks Rictor
Rictor
Rictor is a fictional comic book superhero in the Marvel Universe, who appears in the X-Men family of books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Walt Simonson and first appeared in X-Factor vol.1 #17...
to infiltrate the Purifiers, and asks Madrox
Jamie Madrox
James Arthur "Jamie" Madrox, also called the Multiple Man, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero, associated with the X-Men...
and Layla Miller
Layla Miller
Layla Rose Miller, also known as Butterfly, is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in House of M #4, and was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Oliver Coipel...
to go see Forge
Forge (comics)
Forge is a fictional character in the , a superhero associated with The X-Men.A mutant with an unsurpassed brilliance in technology, Forge has had a lengthy career as a government weapons contractor. He shared a romantic relationship with Storm, and a brief affair with Mystique which led him to...
. Upon discovering that Cable has kidnapped the new born mutant, Cyclops orders the reforming of X-Force with Wolverine leading the team. Their first mission is to hunt down Cable and retrieve the baby. Cyclops later breaks all ties with Professor X and asks him to leave the mansion, as Xavier continues to question Cyclops' judgement. Later on, Cyclops is seen with his own team and X-Factor, to help out Wolverine against the Reavers
Reavers (comics)
In the fictional Marvel Comics universe the Reavers are a team of criminal cyborgs. The most significant team of Reavers were dedicated to the destruction of the mutant X-Men, and a number of them especially wanted to take revenge on one particular X-Man, Wolverine. The name was originally used by...
and to capture the baby from Cable. Cable eludes the X-Men.
After finding the Marauders' hideout on Muir Island, Cyclops dispatches X-Force and Bishop to go there and retrieve the baby. During the final battle, Cyclops sends the New X-Men
New X-Men
New X-Men was a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics within the X-Men franchise. After the end of Grant Morrison's run on X-Men , titled New X-Men, the title was used for a new series, New X-Men: Academy X, serving as a continuation of the second volume of New Mutants...
against the Marauders, believing that Sinister's forces will be caught off guard by unfamiliar opponents. The students prove to be effective. Cyclops then confronts Cable demanding the baby. Cable, with a gun pointed at his father, begs Cyclops to let him escape into the future with the baby, however Cable gives the child to Cyclops, after Xavier points out that the future of all mutantkind is at stake and Cyclops, as leader of the X-Men, speaks for mutantkind. Cyclops holds the baby and, realizing that the child deserves the chance to make its own destiny, gives her back to Cable. Cable teleports to the future just as Bishop fires a round at the child. The shot misses her and hits Xavier in the head. Cyclops strikes Bishop with an optic blast, and Cyclops declares the X-Men disbanded.
Manifest Destiny
During the interim period, Cyclops goes on a vacation with Emma to the Savage LandSavage Land
The Savage Land is a hidden prehistoric land within the fictional Marvel Comics Universe. It is a tropical preserve hidden in Antarctica. It was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in X-Men #10...
after refusing Tony Stark
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
's request to have the X-Men as part of the Fifty State Initiative
Fifty State Initiative
The Fifty State Initiative, often referred to as simply The Initiative, is a fictional governmental plan that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those related to The Avengers...
. There, they are contacted by Warren asking them for assistance in San Francisco. Scott and Emma are successful in rescuing not only Warren and the other X-Men, but also in rescuing San Francisco as a whole. As a result, the Mayor of the city offers to help the X-Men reestablish themselves in the city. After building a new headquarters, Cyclops sends word to all the world's mutants that San Francisco, which has welcomed the X-Men with open-arms, is now a safe haven for mutant-kind and that all are welcomed to join them. The X-Men's presence is widely approved of by San Francisco, including the police, who now hire the team to aid them in cases that might be out of their area.
Cyclops dispatches Wolverine to track down Mystique
Mystique (comics)
Mystique is a fictional character associated with the Marvel Comics' franchise X-Men. Originally created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, she first appeared in Ms...
and revives X-Force
X-Force
X-Force is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero team, one of several spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise. Conceived by writer/illustrator Rob Liefeld, the team was formed in New Mutants, vol. 1 #100 and soon afterwards was featured in its own series.The group was a new incarnation of the 1980s...
as a clandestine black-ops team whose mission is to take down threats to mutankind that they cannot deal with while under the public eye. Cyclops places Wolverine in charge of the team and adamantly keeps X-Force's existence secret from the other X-Men, including Emma Frost (manifested as a psychic "black box" in his mind that Emma is unable to open), also demanding that X-Force remain unknown to the public. However, Cyclops utilizes other X-Men for parts of the groups mission, including Beast and the Stepford Cuckoos. The team is sometimes less careful, leaving blood-stained clothing around, piquing Emma's suspicions. The controversy of Cyclops' decisions as leader of the X-Men is further highlighted during the Skrull invasion of San Francisco
Secret Invasion
"Secret Invasion" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self-titled eight issue limited series and several tie-in books published by Marvel Comics from April through December 2008....
when he readily utilizes biological warfare
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
against the Skrull
Skrull
The Skrulls are a fictional race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics.-Publication history:The Skrulls first appeared in Fantastic Four #2 and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby....
s by knowingly infecting them with an adapted version of the Mutant Legacy Virus created by Beast without first determining if there was also a cure.
In another controversial decision, Cyclops sends X-Force to track down the Leper Queen
Leper Queen
The Leper Queen is a fictional villain of the Marvel Universe. She's the leader of the Sapien League, an extremist anti-mutant organization similar to the Friends of Humanity.-The Mutant Daughter:...
who is infecting mutants with a strain of the Legacy Virus
Legacy Virus
In the fictional Marvel Universe, the Legacy Virus was a devastating plague that ripped through the mutant population, killing hundreds and mutating so that it affected baseline humans as well....
to use their uncontrolled powers in attacks against humanity in order to stir up anti-mutant hysteria. While on the mission, Beast locates Cable in the future and Cyclops orders X-Force to abandon the current mission and prepare for transport to the future to assist Cable and the baby, Hope. Despite knowing that the Leper Queen has kidnapped and intends to kill Hellion
Hellion
Hellion is a fictional character, a mutant appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was a member of the student body of the Xavier Institute before its closing and is a member of the X-Men's training squad. He first appeared in New Mutants, vol. 2 #2.-New Mutants, vol...
, Surge
Surge (comics)
Surge is a fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Universe, one of the student body in the Xavier Institute, and a member of the former New Mutants squad therein. She maintained her powers post M-Day and was the leader of the New X-Men. She first appeared in New Mutants, vol...
, and Boom Boom
Tabitha Smith
Tabitha Smith is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Jim Shooter and Al Milgrom, the character first appeared in Secret Wars II #5 . She later appeared as a member of the X-Force and, more recently, as a member of Nextwave...
, and despite the protests from both X-Force and Beast that a few more minutes is all that is needed to kill her and save the students, Cyclops makes the difficult decision to activate the time machine. Though Domino
Domino (comics)
Domino is a Marvel Comics character, best known as a member of the X-Men offshoot X-Force. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/co-writer Rob Liefeld, she first fully appeared in X-Force, vol...
is only moments away from killing the Leper Queen, the team is transported to the future and the Leper Queen appears to shoot Boom Boom in the head, while Hellion and Surge are injected and sent to the United Nations building for another attack. Upon his return to the present Wolverine confronts Cyclops on the risks he took in making that decision.
Mutant/Anti-mutant rioting and the return of Madelyne Pryor
Footage of Cooperstown, Alaska from X-Men: Messiah Complex is eventually released to the media by Simon TraskHumanity's Last Stand
Humanity's Last Stand was a Marvel Comics radical anti-mutant fringe group and enemies of the X-Men. The group's first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men Annual 1995. They were behind the creation of a false Mutant Liberation Front, formed by human members of H.L.S. posing as mutant. The humans use...
, designed to deceive the public into believing that the destruction was caused by the newborn mutant messiah rather than the Purifiers. The footage, coupled with Trask's newly formed "Humanity Now! Coalition" pushing anti-mutant legislation, dubbed "Proposition X," aiming to control mutant reproduction, causes an increase in mutant hate crime
Hate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
s, causing Scott to open the X-Men's base to anyone seeking refuge. During this time, his growing secrecy concerning X-Force and Emma's suspicions that he is keeping something from her which begins creating a rift between himself and Emma. Taking advice from Storm that Scott's actions are always in the best interest of mutant-kind, Emma secretly agrees to participate in Norman Osborn
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
's Cabal
Cabal (comics)
The Cabal is a comic book secret society of supervillains and antiheroes in Marvel Comics' main shared universe. The group was formed in the Dark Reign storyline very shortly after the Secret Invasion event.- History :...
in her own attempt to insure the protection of the mutant population.
Scott encounters his dead ex-wife, Madelyne Pryor, again when she inexplicably returns as a psychic ghost, calling herself the Red Queen and with a newly assembled all-female team of mutants calling themselves the Sisterhood. Her team attacks the X-Men and Madelyne steals a lock of Jean's hair in Wolverine's possession, with the goal of using it to locate and inhabit Jean's body, allowing her to be reborn. Scott employs Domino
Domino (comics)
Domino is a Marvel Comics character, best known as a member of the X-Men offshoot X-Force. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/co-writer Rob Liefeld, she first fully appeared in X-Force, vol...
to exhume Jean's grave and swap her body with another. Unaware of the switch and spurning Scott's attempt to reach out to her, Madelyne attempts to possess the body, but seemingly disintegrates into nothingness as no other body than Jean Grey's can house an entity of Madelyne's level of power.
Utopia/Dark Reign
After the battle with Madelyne and the Sisterhood, Beast confronts Scott and Emma, stating that he is aware of both of their clandestine actions and that they will discuss them at length together or their secrets will tear the X-Men apart. In the limited crossover tie-in, Dark X-Men/Dark Avengers: UtopiaUtopia (comics)
"Utopia" is a 2009 comic book crossover story arc written by Matt Fraction and published by Marvel Comics, starring the X-Men and the Dark Avengers...
, the growing unrest among the mutant population and calculated instigation from Trask and Humanity Now! leads to violent rioting from mutants against the anti-mutant coalition in San Francisco. Though supported by the mayor, Cyclops is largely viewed as the leader of the remaining mutant population by the media and he takes the brunt of negative media and public opinion, implicated as endorsing and sending the X-Men to lead the rioting. Trask capitalizes on the hysteria, portraying Humanity Now! as victims of oppression in order to push Proposition X. Norman Osborn utilizes the Dark Avengers
Dark Avengers
Dark Avengers was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is part of a series of titles that have featured various iterations of the superhero team the Avengers...
to stop the riots and arrest Cyclops and his team of X-Men, calling in Emma to lead a new team of "Dark" X-Men
Dark X-Men
The Dark X-Men are a Marvel Comics comic-book team. They made their debut during the crossover between Dark Avengers and Uncanny X-Men written by Matt Fraction, as part of the broader Dark Reign storyline. Each member but Namor has been handpicked by then–H.A.M.M.E.R...
. Emma agrees to lead the team, which will answer to Osborn, as the Black Queen. Marvel writer Matt Fraction indicated that Emma's alliance with Osborn will place Scott and Emma at odds with one another, providing "a profound schism." Cyclops travels to Osborn's base on Alcatraz Island to speak with him. Osborn tells Cyclops that they can end the riots and hysteria here right now but Cyclops interrupts him and orders him to surrender. A shocked Osborn asks what he means and Cyclops replies that Osborn needs to get the riots under control and then withdraw H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Dark Avengers and leave San Francisco to him and the X-Men. When Osborn refuses Cyclops leaves telling Osborn that he tried. After Cyclops leaves, Osborn tells Victoria Hand that when the time comes Osborn is going to kill Cyclops personally.
As Emma's Dark X-Men slowly get the city under control, Cyclops continues to form his plans to deal with the situation. Scott assigns his X-Men (such as Mirage
Danielle Moonstar
Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, originally codenamed Psyche and later Mirage, is a fictional Marvel Comics superheroine associated with the X-Men....
, Domino
Domino (comics)
Domino is a Marvel Comics character, best known as a member of the X-Men offshoot X-Force. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/co-writer Rob Liefeld, she first fully appeared in X-Force, vol...
, Mindee Cuckoo
Stepford Cuckoos
The Stepford Cuckoos are a set of fictional mutant psychically linked quintuplets . They are students at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning and appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics...
, and Psylocke
Psylocke
Psylocke is a fictional character depicted in comic books published by Marvel Comics, most notably those comics featuring the superhero team the X-Men. The character has also appeared in licensed adaptations. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe, she first appeared in the UK...
) different tasks, as well as having another team observe Emma's team, as they deal with a group of bio-sentinels attacking San Francisco. When asked how they're expected to take out both the Dark X-Men and Dark Avengers, Scott retorts "Who said you're the squad that's supposed to stop the Avengers?"
Scott's plan finally comes together as he has Magik
Magik (comics)
Magik is a Marvel Comics character, associated with the X-Men. She is the younger sister of the Russian X-Man Colossus.-Publication history:...
teleport X-Force into H.A.M.M.E.R's Alcatraz Island, where they take on the Dark X-Men and Avengers, while Magik teleports all the captured mutants to safety. X-Force is aided by Emma and Namor, who are revealed to be double-agents against Osborn. Immediately after, Scott has the X-Club resurrect Asteroid M which crashed into the Pacific Coast a few years prior. Cyclops then orders Magik and Pixie to teleport every X-Man and allied mutant to what he now calls 'Utopia'. During a press conference, Cyclops informs the world that they have left the United States and that they reject Norman Osborn and his methods.
During this time period, Cyclops struggles to define what he wants Utopia to be (nation/base/etc.) Utopia is attacked by numerous threats, including the events of "Necrosha," "Infernus 2," and "Fear Itself." After the discovery of X-Force, Beast leaves Utopia and blames Cyclops for terrible judgement in how he is running Utopia.
Second Coming and Age Of Heroes
Sometime after Utopia began, Cable returns back to present day Westchester, New York with Hope Summers, the baby believed to be the mutant Messiah. As Cable had no idea that Cyclops and the X-men moved to Utopia, Cyclops deploys his senior team of X-men to search and rescue just as the purifiers and Nimrod begin their attack on Cable and Hope. During the rescue, Nightcrawler is KIA teleporting Hope back to Utopia. Cyclops holds a funeral for his fallen friend (one of the few who really believed in Scott's belief of the mutant messiah). Beast arrives on Utopia for the funeral and blames Cyclops for the loss of Nightcrawler. Shortly after, an impenetrable field surrounds Utopia and sentinels from the future begin to attack. Cyclops is forced to send a team of X-men into the future led by Cable, but upon their return Cyclops and Hope watch Cable die from a combination of the techno virus and time travel. After Nimrod and the purifiers are defeated, Cyclops holds a funeral for his fallen son. As Emma Frost witnesses a sign of the Phoenix manifesting in Hope, she runs to tell Scott who dismisses her as he sees he was right all along: Cerebra detected 5 brand new mutant signals. Cyclops deploys Hope to recruit the new mutant signals and they become her team known as "The Lights." Shortly after, Cyclops is awarded a medal by Commander Steve Rogers for his acts.Fear Itself
A possessed Juggernaut escapes Thunderbolts captivity and begins to make his way west to San Francisco to either destroy Utopia or destroy San Francisco, depending on which side would give up the other first. Cyclops deploys multiple attempts to stop the norse-powered Juggernaut to no avail. As one of his final plans, Cyclops sends Magik, Colossus, and Shadowcat to meet with Cyttorak to convince him to take away the powers he gave Juggernaut. Cyttorak agrees in exchange for making Colossus the new Juggernaut avatar and is able to push Cain Marko back until Cain is summoned by The Serpent.Schism
At the beginning of Schism, Cyclops thanks Wolverine for always being there for him as they seem to finally have come to a mutually spoken and understood respect for each other after years of fighting and rivalry. While at a conference for weapon control, Kid Omega (Quentin Quire) launches a psychic terrorist attack on the ambassadors present. In response, sentinels are deployed at the conference and are disposed of by Cyclops and Wolverine. Due to growing fears of mutant threat, countries around the world begin to mobilize their Sentinel forces. Cyclops begins to deploy X-men around the globe to deal with the threat. Sometime after, Kid Omega shows up on Utopia to plead for amnesty. Wolverine tries to attack Kid Omega when Cyclops stops him. When Kid Omega insults Wolverine, Cyclops defends Wolverine and demands Quentin to be quiet. Later, Cyclops sends a team of some of his most powerful X-men, as well as some of the island students, to a local mutant museum exhibit as a "show of force," Wolverine goes to a local bar to sulk in his aggravation with the current situation. The new Hellfire Club attacks the exhibit and incapacitate all senior X-men present. As Cyclops flies to the museum from Utopia and Wolverine rushes to help from the bar, Idie asks if she should kill the Hellfire Club to help. While Wolverine protests against it profusely, Cyclops tells Idie to do what she feels is right. Idie kills almost every Hellfire Club member left to save her friends and mentors. Wolverine pops his claws at Cyclops in anger that he used a child to save the day, but restrains himself when he realizes what he's doing.From the wreckage of the museum, a sentinel begins to form. Cyclops returns to Utopia to devise a strategy against the threat. Cyclops realizes the X-men have been setup to have all senior active X-men either incapacitated or on the other side of the globe, and in a desperate feat of rage tries to destroy the sentinel from a far with a powerful optic blast, with no result. The island students approach Cyclops to offer help, and Cyclops begins to organize strategies with them. Wolverine swims on to Utopia and tells the mutant children that they need to leave. Cyclops tells the students to fight together and that they can beat the sentinel, but Wolverine objects to using children to fight battles. Cyclops argues that the students need to stay and fight or they will always be running and begins to prepare the students for combat. Shortly after Wolverine returns with a detonator to blow up Utopia and orders all remaining people on the island to evacuate. Cyclops and Wolverine's frustration with each other come to ahead when Cyclops brings up Jean Grey saying that she never loved Wolverine and was always frightened of him. Wolverine replies "And if she were here right now, who do you think she would be more frightened of?" The two fight each other in a rage while being attacked by the sentinel and as Wolverine claws into Cyclops visor, the students reappear on the battlefield to help them fight the sentinel. In the morning, Cyclops and Wolverine stand victorious with the students all living, but Wolverine can't continue watching Cyclops use children as soldiers to fight these battles. Wolverine announces his departure from Utopia and indicates he will take any mutant on the island who wants to leave with him. Beast leaves Cyclops a voicemail to reiterate his disapproval of how Cyclops is running Utopia and his support for Wolverine.
X-Men: Regenesis
While Wolverine doesn't leave as an enemy of Cyclops and his X-Men, he makes clear he wants both sides to stay out of the others business. Wolverine returns to Westchester, New York to open the Jean Grey School for the Gifted while Cyclops organizes new teams of X-Men and remains on Utopia.Relationships
Retcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
s involved in the publication history of the Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
and Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
characters.
In terms of publication time, Cyclops's longest relationship would be with Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
, whom he would eventually marry but not before she would appear to tragically die protecting the X-Men. Grieving from this loss, Scott leaves to the Summers family reunion where he meets and starts to pursue Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
. Scott would become obsessed with Madelyne's similarity to Jean. Madelyne would turn out to be a clone
Molecular cloning
Molecular cloning refers to a set of experimental methods in molecular biology that are used to assemble recombinant DNA molecules and to direct their replication within host organisms...
of Jean and would be made into a supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
but not before Scott marries Madelyne and has a child with her. A love triangle would later be created when Jean is re-awakened from a coma and brought back to life by the Fantastic Four. These relationships would be resolved over the duration of Cyclops's appearance in the X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
series. His son would grow up to be the character Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
. Jean Grey and Scott would finally marry in X-Men #30.
When Cyclops married Jean Grey, he seemed to have reached a happy ending. Subsequently, Scott would become possessed by Apocalypse and the lingering effects from this would taint his relationship with Jean. This combined with Jean's returning Phoenix powers creates stress in their relationship. Confused Scott turns to Emma Frost
Emma Frost
Emma Grace Frost is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 , and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne....
, who takes advantage of Scott's emotional problems, which leads to a telepathic extramarital affair. When confronted by Jean, Scott claims that they shared "only thoughts" and that he had done nothing wrong; Jean, however, disagrees and demands that Emma explain herself, but Emma only jeers and insults her. Enraged, Jean unleashes the Phoenix power on Emma, rifling through her memories and forcing her to confront the truth about herself.
In the aftermath, Scott then leaves the X-Men for a time to understand his own conflicting feelings. He returned to tell Emma that he had made a decision between her and Jean, but Jean was killed in battle before it was revealed which woman he had picked. After Jean's death, Scott feels disillusioned with Xavier's dream, leaves the X-Men, and refuses Emma's offer to reopen the school. Had the school remained closed, this outcome would have led to an apocalyptic future
Here Comes Tomorrow
"Here Comes Tomorrow" is the eighth and final story arc in Grant Morrison's run on the Marvel Comics series New X-Men, which ran from issues #151-154...
. To avoid it, Jean, who was resurrected in this apocalyptic future, used her Phoenix Powers to absorb this future timeline into the White Hot Room. She then mentally pushed Scott past the guilt he felt over her death and made him accept Emma's offer of reopening the school with her.
The two have since been together, although not without problems, particularly in light of the "House of M
House of M
House of M is an eight-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2005. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel, its first issue debuted in June 2005 as a follow-up to the events of the Planet X and Avengers Disassembled...
" storyline in which Emma has alienated herself from many people by completely reformatting the school's workings and the events involving the Hellfire Club's
Hellfire Club (comics)
The Hellfire Club is a fictional society within the Marvel Comics Universe that often comes into confrontation with the mutant superhero team, the X-Men...
return. As of the Divided We Stand stories, their relationship seems to be back on track. The relationship begins to deteriorate again with Cyclops keeping secrets about the actions of X-Force, and Emma not telling him of her agreement to join Norman Osborn's secret alliance known as the Cabal. However, both had their secrets revealed to each other and their relationship seems to be back on track once again, apparently stronger than ever. Unfortunately, almost immediately after, their relationship hit a new road-bump. During a battle with Osborn's Dark Avengers, Emma absorbed a piece of the Void (a dark evil power) from the mind of Sentry. In order to keep the bit of evil contained, Emma has transformed permanently into her diamond form. While this keeps the evil power from accessing her enormous psionic capabilities, it shuts off Emma's emotions and empathy, causing her to become cold, rude, and snide towards all, even her boyfriend. Cyclops, Xavier, and Psyocke eventually go into Emma's head to remove the Void piece, only for it to become stuck in Cyclops' head instead. However, Cyclops is able to trap the Void piece inside a psychic prison, rendering it harmless, and leaving his relationship with Emma strong once more.
One striking feature about Cyclops's romantic relationship is the fact that he seems attracted to women with telepathic
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
abilities and vice versa. He was married to both Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
and her clone
Molecular cloning
Molecular cloning refers to a set of experimental methods in molecular biology that are used to assemble recombinant DNA molecules and to direct their replication within host organisms...
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
, who both proved to have very strong telepathy. His latest girlfriend, Emma Frost
Emma Frost
Emma Grace Frost is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 , and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne....
, is a high-order telepath. Psylocke
Psylocke
Psylocke is a fictional character depicted in comic books published by Marvel Comics, most notably those comics featuring the superhero team the X-Men. The character has also appeared in licensed adaptations. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe, she first appeared in the UK...
, another powerful psionic talent, once blatantly tried to seduce him,. Scott has been known, however, to date non-mutant women, in particular during the period in which he thought Jean Grey to be dead. He was known to date Colleen Wing
Colleen Wing
Colleen Wing is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics.-Publication history:Colleen Wing first appeared in Marvel Premiere #19 , and was created by Doug Moench and Larry Hama.-Fictional character biography:...
, Lee Forrester
Lee Forrester
Aleytys "Lee" Forrester is a comic book character created by Marvel comics. Her first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #143.-Fictional character biography:...
, and finally Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
, who at the time was thought to be a powerless baseline human.
Powers and abilities
Cyclops has the power to emit beams of energy from his eyes described as an "optic blast." The beams have the appearance of red light (i.e., electromagnetic radiationElectromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that exhibits wave-like behavior as it travels through space...
in a red wavelength); however, they do not give off heat and instead deliver concussive force. The beams are tremendously powerful and can be used to rupture steel plates and pulverize rock.
In addition varying the beam width, height, and intensity, Cyclops has demonstrated a high degree of skill and accuracy in manipulating his optic blast. Cyclops is able to reflect the beam off hard and shiny surfaces. This feat also demonstrates his intuitive sense of spatial geometry between objects. The reflective qualities of the beams allows him to bounce the beam off many different surfaces in rapid succession. The effective range of his optic beam is approximately 2,000 ft. It has been observed to be focused tight enough to punch a pin hole through a coin, drill through the trunk of a log, and pierce the skin of the Blob
Blob (comics)
The Blob is a Marvel Comics supervillain, an adversary of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men #3 ....
. Cyclops has shown the power of his optic blast by blasting through the walls of a hardened building, tunneling through solid rock, and blowing the top off a mountain. Cyclops' force beams were measured by Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
to be almost 2 Gigawatts. Two Gigawatts is about half the peak power output of the Doel Nuclear Power Plant
Nuclear Plant Doel
The Doel Nuclear Power Station is one of the two nuclear power plants in Belgium. The plant lies on the bank of the Scheldt, near the village of Doel in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The Belgian energy corporation Electrabel is the plant's largest stakeholder...
and when Cyclops released this much energy he exceeded his control over his optic beam. With Cyclops unable to shut off his optic beam, Leech
Leech (comics)
Leech is a character in the Marvel Comics Universe.Leech made his first appearance in Uncanny X-Men as a Morlock, a group of mutants whose deformities force them to live in the sewers under Manhattan. He is usually depicted as being around 12 years old...
came to his aid and negated his mutant power. Against other Marvel characters, Cyclops has been able to use his optic beam to knock Thor
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
's Hammer from his hand. He is known to be able to overload Bishop's energy absorption power and is revealed to never have willingly used more than a small fraction of his full potential due to his anxiety regarding his optic blast.
Early accounts describe Cyclops' optic beams as the product of his body metabolizing sunlight and other ambient energy. This is similar to his brother Alex (alias Havok) who metabolizes cosmic radiation. This metabolized energy is then released in the form of the beam from his eyes. In some stories Cyclops depletes his body's energy reserves and needs to recharge through exposure to sunlight. When depleted Cyclops continued to emit the beams; however, their intensity was greatly diminished.
Modern accounts state that Cyclops' eyes contain inter-dimensional apertures, releasing powerful energies from another dimension into his own via the beams. These later accounts state that his body naturally metabolizes ambient energy that is used to open and focus the apertures in his eyes. The energy of the beam itself originates from this other dimension.
Cyclops' body is naturally immune to the beams' force.
His mind projects a psionic field that envelops his body rendering it immune to his optic beam, allowing him to shut it off by simply closing his eyes. Scott is also immune to the power of his brother Alex (Havok) who has the ability to emit waves of energy that heat the air into plasma. Likewise Havok has demonstrated immunity to Cyclops' optic beam. Scott has been shown as being able to absorb Storm's lightning bolt, although this act caused Cyclops a great deal of pain. The ruby quartz used in his battle visor has been said to be resonate with his body's psionic field. Scott has only a limited resistance to his brother Vulcan's powers.
For all Cyclops' skill in manipulating his optic beam, he is unable to completely shut it off. The optic beam continuously projects from his eyes which he must keep closed to prevent the destruction of objects within his field of view. Cyclops uses a pair of ruby quartz eye glasses developed by Professor X
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
to contain the devastating rays. In his X-Men uniform he uses a ruby quartz battle visor in place of the glasses. His uniform has firing studs incorporated into his gloves and on the sides of the battle visor that control the visor's aperture. He has also been observed using casual sunglasses and contact lenses made from the same ruby quartz as his visor lens. Scott's poor control over his power is attributed to events in his childhood. His lack of control is initially described as being due to a head wound during his childhood, disabling his brain's ability to turn off his optic blasts. Later depictions explained that his lack of control is psychosomatic and due to the emotionally traumatic events of his childhood. This later explanation allowed Cyclops to finally control his optic blasts for a short time during a mission on the Breakworld, though at the conclusion of these events, he revealed that he was beginning to lose control again and reverted to using his visor and lenses.
Skills
Spatial Awareness: Cyclops seems to possess an uncanny sense of geometry, in this sense used to describe his observation of objects around himself and the angles found between surfaces of these objects. Cyclops has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to cause his optic blasts to ricochet and/or reflect off those objects in a trajectory to his liking. This is commonly called a "banked shot" when applied to this talent. Cyclops has been observed causing beams to reflect from over a dozen surfaces in the course of one blast, and still hit his intended target accurately. It is his sense of superhumanly enhanced spatial awareness that allows him to perform these feats as well. On two occasions Cyclops has been fast enough to blindly predict the position of QuicksilverQuicksilver (comics)
Quicksilver is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in X-Men #4 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby...
and Northstar
Northstar
Northstar is a fictional character, a superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the twin brother of Aurora. Through his mutation, Northstar gains superhuman powers, which he uses for the betterment of society...
who were moving at superhuman speeds with enough accuracy to hit them with his optic blast.
Expert Pilot: Cyclops is an expert pilot of fixed-wing aircraft, a skill he appears to have inherited from his father. It has also been implied that his geometric sense improves his abilities in the air.
Master Strategist and Tactician: Cyclops has spent most of his superhero career as the leader of either the X-Men or X-Factor and has developed exceptional leadership skills. According to Nick Fury
Nick Fury
Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is a fictional World War II army hero and present-day super-spy in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, Fury first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 , a World War II combat series that portrayed the...
's files, Scott's abilities are at their best in tense situations. Fury notes that the less time Cyclops has to think about a decision, the better that decision is.
Sebastian Shaw
Sebastian Shaw (comics)
Sebastian Hiram Shaw is a fictional comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, and an adversary of the X-Men.A mutant, Shaw possesses the ability to absorb energy and transform it into raw strength...
reflects on Cyclops's skill in taking advantage of the single flaw in the Hellfire Club's defense to reverse a dire situation for the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #134. In another issue, the X-Men are hypnotized into thinking Cyclops is the Dark Phoenix, they try to hunt him down. After thwarting Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Storm in quick succession, he flees to the Danger Room
Danger Room
The Danger Room is a fictional training facility built for the X-Men of Marvel Comics as part of the various incarnations of the X-Mansion.-Early designs:...
. Inside, he creates a jungle environment in which to hide from his fellow X-Men. They attempt to hunt him down, but he outwits them, defeating Shadowcat
Kitty Pryde
Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 and was created by writer-artist John Byrne....
, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, and Rogue, all the while suffering from broken ribs. In Uncanny X-Men #150, Cyclops organizes the X-Men to defeat Magneto at a time when the team is denied their mutant powers.
Master Martial Artist: Cyclops also has extensive training in martial arts and unarmed combat, holding black belts in judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
and aikido
Aikido
is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to...
.
During the 'Riot at Xavier's
Riot at Xavier's
"Riot At Xavier's" is a four part storyline that ran from New X-Men #135-138 . It was written by Grant Morrison and features artist Frank Quitely's last work on the title...
' storyline Cyclops faces off against Quentin Quire
Quentin Quire
Quentin Quire, also known as Kid Omega, is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in New X-Men #122 , although he went unnamed until New X-Men #134...
's Omega Gang and can be observed doing a cartwheel while firing his optic blast at Radian's leg. In a fight with the Horseman of Apocalypse named War, Cyclops executes an acrobatic flip off a statue in the graveyard and while inverted in mid-air fires his optic blast into the mouth of the robotic mount.