Cyclops (comics)
Cyclops (Scott Summers, occasionally nicknamed "Slim") is a
comic book superhero in the
Marvel Comics universe, and a member of the
X-Men. Created by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby, he first appeared in
X-Men #1 (
1963).
Powers
Cyclops is a mutant, possessing the power to project beams of concussive force from his eyes. Due to an injury suffered in his early years, these beams are always "on," and can only be impeded by either closing his eyes or with a barrier of ruby quartz, which is what his trademark sunglasses and visor are made of. The visor is designed to open the quartz lens at various angles to allow his optic blasts to fire freely when Cyclops desires it.
He is immune to the effects of his own powers, and those of his brother Alex (Havok); Alex shares a similar immunity.
Fictional Biography
When Scott was a boy growing up in Alaska, his father, USAF Major Christopher Summers, took the family for a flight in their airplane. 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 and pushed them off the plane, in hopes that they would survive. Unfortunately, the parachute caught fire, and Scott struck his head upon landing. This caused brain damage to Scott, which is responsible for his inability to control his optic blasts, as well as prolonged amnesia about his childhood.
(Although Scott and Alex believed their parents to be dead, they were actually captured as slaves by the alien attackers. See Corsair.)
Scott spent most of his childhood in an orphanage in Nebraska, and subjected to batteries of tests and experiments by the orphanage's owner, Mr. Milbury (an alias for the geneticist Mister Sinister). When he was sixteen, he was found by Charles Xavier, and became one of his students and the first official X-Man. He soon graduated to become the team's field leader, a position he would hold several times over the years.
As a member of the X-Men, Cyclops eventually met his father, now known as Corsair, leader of the Starjammers, a group of aliens opposing what they saw as the tyranny of the Shi'ar empire. It was nonetheless several more years before the two learned of each other's true identities.
Cyclops had an on-again/off-again relationship with Marvel Girl during their time in the X-Men, culminating in her tragic death as she tried to pilot a space shuttle through a solar flare, her rebirth as Phoenix, and her suicide on the Moon. Cyclops left the X-Men for a while after this, drifting for several months until reunited with the team against Magneto. Not long after, Cyclops met Madelyne Pryor, an uncanny double of Marvel Girl, and they married.
Surprisingly, the original Marvel Girl was not dead; her Phoenix identity turned out to be a cosmic entity who had supplanted her, placing her in a healing pod, in a coma at the bottom of the ocean. Revived by The Avengers and the Fantastic Four, she joined with Cyclops and the other original X-Men as X-Factor. It was eventually revealed that Pryor was a clone of Marvel Girl, created by the villain Mister Sinister. Together they had a son, Nathan Christopher Summers, who was later sent into a future timeline to become the cyborg called Cable. Eventually, Sinister's plans came crashing down, and Pryor became the villainous Goblyn Queen. This chain of events led to the death of Pryor and the apparent death of Mister Sinister.
Several years later, Cyclops and the real Jean Grey (who had ceased to use the Marvel Girl identity some time before) eventually married; she subsequently assumed the Phoenix identity. Sometime afterwards, Cyclops was unwillingly merged with the villain Apocalypse, but Jean and Cable tracked him down and separated them, apparently killing Apocalypse in the process.
As a combination of the latent influences of Apocalypse's mind and Jean's emergent Phoenix persona, Scott and Jean gradually became more distant. Emma Frost, the former White Queen of the Hellfire Club and current member of the X-Men, took advantage of this situation to get close to Scott; the two had an affair and fell in love, to the detriment of all parties. When Phoenix discovered the affair, she psychically assaulted Frost; Scott subsequently left the X-Men to mull over what was happening in his life. As he returned, Magneto once again attacked the X-Men, this time taking Phoenix's life in the process. Scott and Emma are currently romantically involved, a fact that several of their teammates are none too happy with.
Movies & Television
In the X-Men film and its sequel, Cyclops was portrayed by James Marsden.
Category:X-Factor membersCategory:X-Men members
