I think I’m ready to talk about the Death of X finale.
They say you only hurt the ones you love. Marvel must be truly, madly, deeply in love with Scott Summers.
Fans have known for a year that Cyclops died in the eight month gap after the Secret Wars finale and All-New, All-Different Marvel Now launch. I kept believing it wasn’t so. Emma Frost was missing in action. The X-Men’s modern mainstay power couple was off the grid as the mutant race faced a new genetic crisis.
Death of X #4 revealed the truth after a year of speculation and set the stage for war in Inhumans vs. X-Men next month.
Did Scott and Emma deserve what Jeff Lemire and Charles Soule crafted for them in this shocking and emotional finale?
Some fans may think Cyclops is guilty of numerous crimes that broke hearts and hurt the mutant cause.
I’m a believer in the “Cyke was right” camp.
Is this X-Man more powerful than ever? What’s up with Emma now? What will mean in the showdown with the Inhumans and ResurrXion in 2017?
Before we continue here’s a SPOILER ALERT!
If you have not read Death of X #1-4 stop reading now and rush to your local comic book shop.
Seriously.
OK.
Here it comes.
Cyclops and Emma led a team to Muir Island where they discovered the deadly impact the Terrigen Mist had on mutants. The Cloud that created new Inhumans killed mutants. After years of averting extinction level threats and hate driven attacks, the mutant race was on the fast track to being wiped out again. Cyclops was not going to let it happen again.
Cyke recruited Alchemy for a bold gambit to change the composition of the Cloud. He succeeded. The Terrigen Cloud turned red but wasn’t deadly to mutants or Inhumans.
Cyclops appeared to commit suicide by Black Bolt as the Inhuman King spoke and obliterated Scott Summers. As I watched the destruction of Scott I had a flash of him killing Professor Xavier in a similar burst of energy. Cyke was possessed by the Phoenix Force so I forgive him of this crime.
Then the twist…
The real truth revealed. Cyclops died in Death of X #1. Shortly after the original Jamie Madrox died in Scott’s arms, the X-Men leader was infected by the M-Pox and quickly died in Emma’s arms.
Scott’s bold plan was really Emma’s plan all along. Frost and her Stepford Cuckoos gave a “psychic broadcast” that allowed Cyclops to “live” and lead the mission to save the mutant race one “last” time.
Cyclops was now an idea. Cyclops would live forever as a martyr, a hero and an inspiration to mutants.
But here are our burning questions:
How did Mister Sinister seize Scott’s body for his experiment to create a mutant/Inhuman hybrid as in seen in earlier Extraordinary X-Men issues?
Is there a chance Scott could be resurrected in ResurrXion next year? If you read the most recent Uncanny X-Men Annual we may have seen the source of a possible resurrection of dead mutants.
What’s up with Emma Frost? It looked like Emma was infected and her eyes had a look of madness. Could Scott’s death and her psychic charade have pushed Emma to madness to driven her back to her wicked ways?
ResurrXion will include a brand new Generation X book. Emma was once co-headmaster of the original book. If Emma’s sanity survived, could she lead this new incarnation of the student book?
Alex Summers/Havok returned to the Marvel stage for the first time since the AXIS event. Is Scott’s brother still inverted and what will Cyke’s death do the unstable former X-Man and Uncanny Avenger?
Final Thoughts on the Fall of Scott Summers:
Starting with Schism, X-Men writers have turned Professor X’s star student and heir apparent into a ruthless military leader more in line or perhaps more extreme than Magneto. I still loved Scott Summers because he played the role the mutant race needed him to play even if it made him a hated villain. Scott would be the bad guy, the terrorist, the extremist – if it meant protecting his fellow mutants.
One of Marvel’s most powerful couples is destroyed but their impact is far from over. Cyclops died a horrible sudden death but his devoted Emma Frost gave him a death he deserved. Emma gave Scott a death with meaning, power and glory.
IvX begins with a zero issue this Wednesday.
By Editor