Did Scott Summers have it coming?
After bombshells from Storm in Extraordinary X-Men #2 and Jean Grey in issue 3 — X-fans are debating the fate of Summers.
Marvel announced Cyke’s fate will be revealed in Death of X, a four part limited series by Jeff Lemire and Charles Soule this fall.
As we anxiously await answers about the possible final days of Scott Summers after Secret Wars, we are looking back at the life, times and crimes of the man called Cyclops.
The man Professor Xavier chose to lead the mutants has never had it easy. He’s been put in incredible scenarios against impossible odds and faced tragedy after tragedy. His fellow mutants have constantly been under attack and he’s been forced to make tough calls without a single Avenger coming to his aid. That’s what I love about him.
Scott Summers must always been in control. Holding back his optic blasts is a symbol of the life Scott has been forced to lead. Professor Xavier made him team leader. Cyke pushed himself to be a better leader while the other X-Men got to laugh and escape from training at Harry’s Hideaway. Scott is always living in the Danger Room.
Scott has lost Jean, Madelyne, Nathan. Cyke has held firm despite insults from Wolverine and wavering support from longtime friends. He’s a better X-Man than any mutant…including Logan, but he’s made some hard and sometimes hard to understand choices:
Desertion:
Scott left his wife and infant to rejoin the reunion of the original X-Men. Madelyne Pryor was a clone of Jean Grey then left them again when he learned Jean Grey was alive and formed the first version of X-Factor.
Schism
Scott and Logan were always rivals for Jean Grey but they respected each other and were staunch allies for mutant rights…until Schism. This event by Jason Aaron ripped apart the uneasy alliance between Cyclops and Wolverine and ultimately the X-Men. When new Sentinels and Hellfire Club mercenaries, Scott wanted to use every weapon possible to save mutants…even children. Cyke ordered young Idie to strike. Logan didn’t want kids on the frontlines of the war and was furious. In the final battle with a giant Sentinel Scott cut Logan to the core by saying Jean never loved him and always frightened him.
Murder of Professor X:
I suggested Avengers vs. X-Men should be really be called Operation: Let’s Make Everybody Hate Cyclops. With the Phoenix heading to Earth the Avengers with Wolverine wanted to take away the only Hope (as in Summers) to save the mutants from extinction. I was rooting for Team Cyke. The AvX writers turned one of the greatest leaders in comic books into a monster and almost turned me against him.
In AvX #11 Cyclops and Emma Frost were the only ones sharing the power of the Phoenix then he betrayed her, stole her power and left her broken. Scott had been transformed into an all-powerful cosmic zealot and then he did the killed Professor Xavier.
Cyclops attacks the Inhumans? In the pages of Extraordinary X-Men, Scott is dead after launching an attack on the Inhumans presumably over the Terrigen Cloud killing mutants.
Every hero falls. Every fan loves redemption. Will Scott rise to heroic greatness again in the Marvel NOW or will his final sacrifice mean redemption or damnation among the X-Men?
Death of X arrives this Fall.
By Editor