Cyclops
Happenstance
Posts: 113
Ever since Deadly Genesis Cyclops has been getting a darker, more focused character and you could say that his relationship with Emma Frost could almost reflect that.
Im just wondering if any of you think we'll ever get the old Cyclops back? Despite the change arguably making him more interesting I do miss the old more likable Cyclops (partly because I miss the old style X-men, not a big fan of them almost being an army at this point).
I think its because I just read the X-Men Season One graphic novel and they did a good job of writing the Scott/Jean relationship but when she inevitably returns again im wondering if it will be her that pulls Scott back from the person he has become.
Just some random thoughts really, be interested to hear everyone elses opinions.
Im just wondering if any of you think we'll ever get the old Cyclops back? Despite the change arguably making him more interesting I do miss the old more likable Cyclops (partly because I miss the old style X-men, not a big fan of them almost being an army at this point).
I think its because I just read the X-Men Season One graphic novel and they did a good job of writing the Scott/Jean relationship but when she inevitably returns again im wondering if it will be her that pulls Scott back from the person he has become.
Just some random thoughts really, be interested to hear everyone elses opinions.
Comments
I have never liked Scott Summers. He is the wet blanket of the Marvel Universe.
And as much as I hate him with Emma Frost (*slut*), he definitely never deserved the ultimate hotness of Jean Grey.
My best friend from 4th grade on through high school absolutley loves Cyclops, the character could do no wrong no matter what. I miss the days, when he would be going off on the latest issue of X-Men or X-Factor and I would chime in by saying that Cyclops was a bed-wetter just to get him riled up, and then top it by apologizing, saying that it was an insult to bed-wetters comparing them to Cyclops.
No disrespect or offense intended.
He has become a bigger jerk then Professor X ever was, if he gets any worse he might as well shave his head and buy a wheelchair.
Hopefully after AvsX he will realize how bad he has gotten and mend his ways...but I am not holding my breath.
Even Nick Fury isn't fully loved. someone has to be the fall guy.
I did always like the way his relationship with Jean played out though.
I always took it that the new, unlikeable Cyclops was a result of his abduction by Apocalypse, back just before Morrison's New X-Men, and that caused his steady decline to the unlikeable hardass we've got now. So, at least that is interesting.
So, to me, for the "old" Cyclops, we'd have to go back to, I don't know, 1980?
Also, mark me down as another person who is a fan of Cyclops as a character. I was never one to find him weak or whiny.
He has grown as a character. He has had good times and bad times as only mighty marvel can deliver.
And for me Scott summers personifies what the x-men are.
He has been there since day one. Xavier made him a leader even though he didn't want it.
His one true love has died how many times?
He went from lonely awkward nerd to Whiney leader to leading his own team to being the one person in all the world that protects all mutants.
Arguably he has suffered more than daredevil.
How many timelines does Scott have to keep track of to try to understand his kids?
How many lookalike wives/girlfriends has he had betray him?
And all that time he had to spend with Xavier. That would make anyone miserable.
So he has earned the massive chip on his shoulder. And he is now on par with most of the big hitter tacticians in the 616. He earned everything he has.
I would love to see Madelyne come back as Goblin Queen and bring about some havoc.
Speaking of Madelyne, one thing I've always had a problem with is Cyclops' relationship with his children. I mean, Cable is his actual child (with Madelyne) but I never see a real relationship between the two nor do I see Scott trying. I can understand him not having a connection to Rachel (who is his child from an alternate future) and Nate (who is an alternate reality version of Cable) but I still would like to see some connection.
Speaking of Madelyne, one thing I've always had a problem with is Cyclops' relationship with his children. I mean, Cable is his actual child (with Madelyne) but I never see a real relationship between the two nor do I see Scott trying. I can understand him not having a connection to Rachel (who is his child from an alternate future) and Nate (who is an alternate reality version of Cable) but I still would like to see some connection.
There is nothing wrong with underboob.
I always felt that was more Cable's decision not to be close than Scott's. They have had moments but Nate shies away or plays pompous.
Do you think if Jean came back Scott would go be with her again? It just seems that his relationship with Emma is rather stale at the moment.
So count me as someone who likes the new Cyclops much better than the old Cyclops. Keep in mind that while I've read a ton of back issues, I started reading X-Men at the point where Scott began his slow descent into boringness, so that might influence my opinion of the old Scott as boring. But I just find him so much more interesting than he's been in years, if not ever.
We can undo lion Beast though. I still don't like that.
Jean comes back. Scott kisses her and they feel weird. He confesses to Emma who already felt betrayed psychically. She has a revenge fling with namor. And tony. And Alex. And broo. And kitty. And jean. Then she is a bad guy again, turns magneto bad again, takes half the mutants, takes over San Fran and next year's x-crossover battle is set. Scott fights along jean, they marry again and more future babies appear and lead the counter attack against Emma's evil mutants. Xavier comes back at the end and finally unifies all the mutants only to be killed. Then it is revealed that chuck has been a dire wraith for twenty-five years.
As for the Jean thing, I don't think she'd be able to go back with Scott after what happened between her, Scott and Emma. Perhaps we will luck out and Emma & Jean get together. I mean, the X-men are in San Francisco and no one there would oppose it.... I know I wouldn't.
Seriously, though, what's great about Scott is that he *is* an asshole. If I met him in real life, I think I'd instinctively hate him. He's not a whiner, but there's a definite "his way or you suck" vibe about him. It's always been there, even in the early days. He was the first X-Man. He leads the X-Men. Don't kid yourself there isn't a part of him that doesn't enjoy that.
The two best quotes that sum him up were made by Wolverine:
"Yes, Cyclops is a jerk, but he's OUR jerk!" - X-Men/Teen Titans crossover.
"Now I know why you lead the X-Men" - Astonishing X-Men, after he pretty much wipes out a baseball-field sized swath of ground with his eyebeams.
He's always been a favorite character.
Provided that by stand up guy you mean "married the first chick he met who looked like his dead girlfriend, then abandoned her and their newborn child to go back to not-actually-dead dead girlfriend once she came back." I'm convinced that whole Goblin Queen / Jean's clone thing was Claremont's way of retconning Scott out of looking like an ass. "No, really! She was an evil clone created by Mr. Sinister and... and... demons and stuff." And shipping the kiddo off to the future (and then years later sending Scott to the future to "raise" him) was a way to keep him from looking like a deadbeat dad.
Yup, good ol' Cyclops. A husband and father so bad they spent the next 10-15 years trying to undo the storyline that made him that way.
never did like him much, unlike my best friend, but i've appreciated how much his character has grown over the past few years. maybe something needs to happen for him to dial it down a bit, if that's what people like, but i hope they don't just erase everything that's happened over the last decade by saying he was mind-controlled by this, or was just an impostor, or whatever.
Wolverine: Hey! It's me.
Cyclops: Prove it!
Wolverine: You're a dick.
Cyclops: Okay.
I assume we started reading the X-Men around the same time. For me, Cyclops has always been a jerk. I think recently writers have embraced the character, and progressed his jerky status. When I started reading he had left his wife. He left the X-Men because he got his butt handed to him by storm. He quasi-cheated on his new wife, Jean, with the White Queen.
Scott is not a likeable character because he is weak. He is not really that nice a guy.
He is certainly not a model husband or father, nor is he a nice guy. But for me, that is not the kind of weakness I am talking about. I see him as a strong, decisive leader (as opposed to his lingering reputation for being a wet blanket or whiny), and passionate about protecting mutants as a race. But he has deep personal flaws. For me, those flaws (and, I will grant, you could call them weaknesses) are what make him interesting as a character. If he were an intense, dedicated leader, but also morally flawless and emotionally mature, then he would just be another Captain America (and that is not to say Cap is not interesting, but more that we already have one).
So, for me, I think he is a strong leader, but he is not a happy or good person. And that has been shown in a lot of the personal life decisions he's made. And I always find flawed characters more interesting than idealized perfect ones. For me, it is not likeable in the sense as I would want to be them. But that those are the characters I enjoy reading. I guess (to grab an example of a very different character in a different setting) the same is true of why I enjoy John Constantine. Wouldn't want to be him, or have him as a friend, but he's great fun to watch.
And I agree that writers have really focused on the jerk side (or, I guess I might call it, the radicalized or even survivalist side) in part because they keep giving him a larger and larger group to lead, and they have made the stakes for mutants as a race higher and higher. So if he ends up being even more of a jerk than Xavier was, it is because Cyclops is given an even harder leadership job than Xavier had back in the good old days.