Professor X might be the founder of the X-Men, but when it comes to the battlefield and making the hardest calls, Scott Summers is the one who takes command. One of Xavier’s first students at the School for Gifted Youngsters, Scott has become one of the most iconic characters not just in the X-Men, but in all of Marvel comics — not merely for the devastating optic blasts he fires from his eyes, but for the brilliant tactical mind behind them. That’s why, despite the mixed reception of James Marsden’s portrayal, fans erupted with excitement when he tore off his visor and unleashed chaos in the teaser for Avengers: Doomsday — a reminder that Cyclops has always been far more than the straight-laced boy scout he’s often reduced to.

Origins

The curse of any superhero is how their origins always include a tragic twist in the most ordinary circumstances, and Scott is no exception. Scott’s dad was an Air Force test pilot, which allowed him to take his wife and sons, Scott and Alex, on a trip in their own plane. However, an alien spacecraft piloted by D’Ken—the Shi’ar emperor at the time—attacked the plane. The reason would later be revealed to be from how Scott’s mom accidentally stumbled on the Shi’ar’s plans for Earth, and since D’Ken was pretty unstable and paranoid, he believed that the Summers family was a loose end that needed to be cut off. Thankfully, the parents pushed their sons out of the plane before the Shi’ar could abduct the whole family, leaving the parents at their mercy. But since Scott and Alex had no idea of this, instead only seeing the plane explode, this would lead them to believe their parents were dead. Anyway, as they plummeted to the ground, Scott’s powers would unconsciously manifest, but instead of optic blasts, his body would absorb the kinetic energy of the fall’s impact. This wouldn’t be a smooth landing, though, as Scott would hit his head and permanently damage the part of his brain that would allow him full control over his powers. 

Unfortunately, Scott would find this out the hard way. When he was later hospitalized, he felt intense headaches and eyestrain until his eyes finally shot optic blasts that blew the roof off his room. The misfortunes would continue as this would grab the attention of Mr. Sinster, who arranged for a family to adopt Alex, while he would be free to shuffle Scott off to his orphanage. After suffering from years of physical and psychological abuse and (unknowing) experimentation, Scott would walk around a nearby city until his optic blasts accidentally destroyed part of a crane at a construction site. But while he saved the people from being crushed, he was still pursued anyway. Eventually, he would have a run-in with a criminal known as Living Diamond, who forced Scott to join his gang. Along the way, Scott’s fear of his own powers—and the other negative mindsets Mr. Sinister influenced in him—would drive him to forget about Alex and many other parts of his life. But things finally turned around when Professor Xavier found him. Unlike Sinister, Charles would offer an empathetic approach to Scott’s powers and invite him to his school to help Scott better control them, to which he agreed. And Scott would take that first step when Charles created a visor made of ruby-quartz, the only substance that can handle the sheer force and energy of Scott’s optic blasts. This would not only allow Scott to finally open his eyes without hurting anyone, but also drive him to become more tactful and resourceful with his powers and how much force to exert in a battle. Soon, Scott would become the head of the first generation of X-Men, fall in love with teammate Jean Grey, and the rest is history. 

Powers and Abilities

The most common misconception about Cyclops is that he can shoot lasers out of his eyes, like Superman. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Scott’s optic blasts aren’t made of what you’d normally see in typical heat vision: solar/cosmic radiation, bio-electric energy, or high temperatures that can melt through steel. Instead, his beams are composed of pure concussive and kinetic force, enough to punch through a mountain if Scott really wanted to cut loose. Also, unlike Superman, this energy isn’t stored within Scott’s body. Instead, his eyes open portals to an alternate dimension (commonly referred to as the “Punch Dimension”) where the concussive force originates. Although due to his aforementioned brain injury and trauma, he can’t ever “turn off” his access to this dimension, meaning that the optic blasts will always burst out whenever he opens his eyes. Thankfully, outside of his visor and glasses, Scott’s body accounts for the massive amount of power. His brain constantly emits a psionic field that surrounds his body, so any amount of Punch Dimension energy that comes into contact is dispersed and redirected back to its origin. So even though closing his eyes closes the portals, Scott’s psionic field explains why his eyelids don’t have to be strong enough to keep that energy from destroying his eyes or causing internal damage. Further, it allows Scott to handle the massive recoil that would normally come from being a human cannon. 

But of course, Scott is more than just a human cannon. While many people recognize him as the X-Men’s field commander, I feel like not enough attention is paid to how brilliant and tactful he is. For starters, thanks to Charles’s aforementioned mentorship, Scott has developed a variety of ways to use his powers in battle, aside from simply knocking back opponents. Scott can use his visor to change the width of his optic beams at will, from the width of a pencil to that of half a football field, with the intensity (PSI) varying with the width. This means that he can make his beams small enough for extremely precise targeting (locks, weapons, etc) or large enough to push back or completely immobilize opponents twice his weight class. He can also use his beams to propel himself over vast distances or slow his descent from great heights (like what we saw in the first episode of “X-Men ’97”), and he’s even been known to ricochet his beams off surfaces or strike multiple targets at once. Having the power to obliterate mountains is one thing, but having the discipline to control that power in various ways and levels is severely underrated. However, Scott’s tactical brilliance goes far beyond how he conducts his blasts. He may not be on the same level as Professor X or Captain America, but there’s a reason Scott is regarded as one of the greatest superhero commanders in comics. No matter the scenario, anything from fighting the Friends of Humanity to even combating the Dark Phoenix, Scott can read these events like a book. He analyzes behavioral patterns in enemies and teammates alike, closely observes the progression of the battle, coordinates and integrates his teammates’ powers with his own, all to determine the best possible outcome in a battlefield with endless, changing factors. Such fights are enough to break anyone except the most disciplined man, and Scott is no exception. Scott has trained himself to the point where he puts his personal feelings—as well as the glaring hate and fear from humans—aside and makes the hardest calls no one else can make. 

However, having extraordinary powers and one of the greatest tactful minds doesn’t make Scott perfect in any sense of the word. Outside of having ridiculously overpowered optic blasts, he’s just a normal guy. Any of the typical ways to incapacitate a normal human can be used on Scott if he isn’t careful, and going up against superpowered foes without proper strategy or backup is suicidal. Scott has shown the ability to overcome this weakness multiple times, but one that he most commonly struggles with is control over his powers. Despite being able to use his beams in many creative ways, he still can’t control them without his visor. As previously mentioned, Scott’s brain injury prevents him from fully controlling his powers, and later comics hint that it could be more related to the intense trauma he experienced from his parents’ “death” and what Sinister put him through. Either way, once the visor comes off, Scott has to keep his eyes shut, or else he’ll knock back or blow apart his allies. But both of these weaknesses pale in comparison to his greatest one that he still struggles to overcome: himself. Like any other leader, Scott knows when to set aside his feelings for the greater good, but he often does it to an unhealthy level. For instance, he hides his emotions to show invulnerability, but it more often hurts relationships or makes him seem so closed off that he’s unapproachable. While it’s admirable that he wants to be strong for his team, suppressing all that emotional weight for too long will make him implode or slip up. Cyclops is still a great leader, but he’d make an even better one if he didn’t allow his trauma to hold him back. 

Greatest Feats

However, not even his trauma can restrain him every time, because Scott has proven multiple times why he’s the guy you want in your corner. For instance, during a time in the “Astonishing X-Men” run, a race of aliens from a planet called Breakworld tried to destroy Earth because of a prophecy that a mutant (AKA-Armor) would destroy their world. Therefore, they set out to kill Armor and destroy the Earth before that could happen. In response, the organization S.W.O.R.D. (basically the space version of S.H.I.E.L.D.) teleported them all onto their ship to deal with the problem. However, it ended badly as everyone was captured or separated on the Breakworld planet. After being freed from imprisonment by Emma Frost, though, Scott would not only strike back but unite the team in one of the best ways possible. The first—and most costly—mistake the aliens made was assuming Scott could neutralize him by taking away his visor, but they would soon find out how wrong they were. While the beam can be chaotic in normal circumstances if he isn’t careful, Scott is calm and collected as he aims the beam at the aliens’ weapon, ripping through terrain, structures, and defenses in the process. Then, to rally the remaining X-Men, he utters the line we all know and love: “To me, my X-Men!” With the X-Men witnessing the tide turning and Scott’s calm yet firm leadership, the group banded together and ultimately saved the Earth from destruction, but at the cost of Kitty Pryde’s sacrifice to phase the planet-destroying projectile through Earth. 

Scott’s resolve is so strong that he is prepared to face any opponent on any battlefield, even if it includes his own teammates on his own home turf. In this particular instance, during the 175th issue of “Uncanny X-Men,” Scott returned from a long hiatus to mentally/emotionally recover from many stressful factors (strained relationship with Jean, past childhood, doubts about himself as a leader, etc.). However, he wasn’t simply welcomed back as the leader just like that, because Storm took the mantle in his stead. As you’d expect, tensions immediately flared up as the pair clashed over who should be in charge. Therefore, to resolve this, they agree to a duel in the Danger Room (which can generate any scenario and any enemy for combat training). At this point, Storm has lost her powers thanks to a power-neutralizing weapon (so Scott obviously agreed not to use his powers at full strength), but that definitely doesn’t make it any easier for Scott. One thing that many people (including myself) forget or don’t know is that Storm is trained in martial arts, has Olympic-level agility, and great reflexes. Despite this, Scott matches her almost perfectly. Throughout the duel, Scott uses his beams either as attacks or to redirect her into predictable paths by ricocheting the beams off of various items or structures. Even when Storm was able to block his visor by pushing his arm up to it, Scott was able to kick her off and keep firing. Scott also read Storm’s fight and thought patterns, keeping up with her ambush tactics and even matching her in fist-to-fist fights. Ultimately, Scott would cost himself the duel when he briefly hesitated (because he was thinking of his wife and son), which Storm takes advantage of and takes off his visor. But don’t let this loss fool you, because Scott proved he is capable of taking down the X-Men if he wanted to, and the only thing that stopped him from doing so was an intrusive thought about his family. Scott may have lost the fight, but he won by proving a point. 

By now, the point is painfully obvious that Scott is one of the greatest and most iconic leaders in Marvel comics. But what if I told you Scott didn’t just lead the X-Men, but a WHOLE NATION?  In this case, after the events of “Messiah Complex,” the X-Men and other mutants around the globe are fractured, scattered, and constantly facing persecution from humans. In response to this, Scott and the remaining X-Men took the remnants of Magneto’s destroyed Asteroid M, transforming it into a sanctuary for mutants (now called Utopia). Once Scott made a public announcement about Utopia on TV, mutants flocked there and formed their own society. Despite the drastic change, Scott tackles the responsibilities head-on. To defend the island, he placed many mutants and X-Men in strategic locations, often pairing rookie mutants with veterans for maximum efficiency and integration. And whenever threats like Sentinels (mutant hunting robots) roll up, Scott can anticipate their attack patterns and strategies, and coordinate multiple teams of mutants at once to respond accordingly. But this level of command goes far beyond the battlefield, though. Thanks to many public broadcasts and private negotiations, Scott can de-escalate dangerous situations before they escalate into war. I don’t know much about politics or leadership, but dealing with multiple levels of conflict and command at once (political, military, social, and psychological) sounds like A LOT. Yet, somehow, Scott handles it very well! While some of his decisions are questionable (like using his team as a Trojan horse to distribute a virus that would kill many Skrulls during “Secret Invasion”), Scott proves that he’s more than an army general; he’s a leader of a whole nation!

Conclusion

Scott’s most dangerous isn’t when he rips off his visor; it’s when he’s able to outthink you. Time and time again, Scott proves how discipline, strategy, and vision (metaphorically and literally in his case) make for a lethal combination. And the best part about this? Scott backs all of that up with his undying willpower, no matter what crap he’s been through. Hopefully, “Avengers: Doomsday” will finally bring this energy back to Cyclops and portray him the way he always should’ve been in the original X-Men movies.