How did Cyclops go from Professor X’s golden boy to his killer?
Scott Summers inspires hate and devotion.
Even when he was the uptight boy scout, fans rooted for Jean Grey to choose Logan. Scott evolved into a General giving marching orders for an X-Men army then became what you could call the new Magneto.
Now Cyclops leads the mutant revolution in Uncanny X-Men. How did his go from Xavier’s heir-apparent to such a divisive character?
Brian Michael Bendis faced the fans in a special X-Position on CBR. I wanted to share the writer’s response to this fan question about a moment or era that led to the current way Scott Summers is portrayed.
“I think going back to the Paul Smith issues, you can start seeing a characterization there — particularly [Chris] Claremont trying to dig deeper than just vanilla guy, you know what I mean? That’s where I remember as a fan reading and going, “Hm. I wonder what’s cooking with this guy.” I think Jean’s death started him on a path, if I may. I think it started to manifest itself during the Paul Smith [issues] slowly, slowly, slowly and I think Jason [Aaron] and [Kieron] Gillen did really interesting work with it, and it’s certainly worth pursuing as far as we can pursue it,” Bendis told Comic Book Resources.
“Of all the characters, he does seem to be the one where if he went full bad guy, people wouldn’t be surprised. If he went full good guy, people wouldn’t be surprised. That’s what makes him the most interesting character in the X-Men Universe if not the Marvel Universe.
By the way, when we all argue with each other about the X-Men at the retreats, some people want a full-on bad guy, some people want [a full-on good guy]. It’s a great conversation.”
The original (young) Cyclops is starring in his own solo series with his father and the Starjammers. Scott Summers is now learning the secret of Professor X’s Last Will and Testament. Ever since Schism – Scott and Logan became rival mutant leaders, the new Magneto and Xavier in a sense.
With the death of Wolverine – how will affect the X-Man who was his greatest rival within the team?
By Editor