 As a casual fan of the X-Men, until now Cyclops was my least favorite X-Men. Because of the movies and some of the shows' characterizations of him, in my mind, Cyclops got reduced to being the following. A Boy Scout, annoying, only defined by Jean Grey, lame as hell, boring, weak powers, soft, overrated, pretty boy, a bitch. Because of the franchise's insistence on having Wolverine as the leader of the X-Men, Cyclops loses a lot because of this role change. He's the one who gets the short end of the stick. So when I decided to read up on Scott Summers, you can only imagine my surprise about how layered this character actually is. Cyclops has been judged, and he has been deemed worthy. With that being said though, I do have to mention Storm as someone who is easily Cyclops is equal at worst when it comes to leading the X-Men, and at her best, she even surpasses him. For the sake of time, I'm not going to go through everything that has happened to Scott Summers, but in short, he has lost romantic partners many, many times, he's lost his family, regained them, and lost them again. He had to send his newborn son, Cable, to the future in order to save him from a techno-organic virus, only to meet his son later on as a grown man even older than he is. He's been possessed by apocalypse, and he's had his memories warped more than once. Scott Summers has been through the wringer, in all of his different iterations and reboots in the storied franchise, but I want to look at what makes this character tick. After the plane crash that left him orphaned, Scott's memory became fractured by Mr. Sinister, and much of his past was lost also. Marvel's snapshot showcases Scott's life in the orphanage after losing his entire family, a life that was clearly missing something. Scott became inspired by the Fantastic Four, who despite being in an accident and things having gone horribly wrong for them, they chose to help people. Scott was searching for meaning out of his own circumstances. He needed his loss to mean something, to give him direction in his life. Emma Frost once mentioned that compassion radiates out of the core of who Scott Summers is, and this story showcases that before he even had power, Scott wanted to help people. He just didn't know how. Saving people, making important choices in the heat of battle, was never about power for Scott. It was knowing what to do and being prepared in these situations, being in control. So Scott became obsessed with knowing how to react to emergencies and threats, learning how to think like a tactician. The art of war makes sense to the mutant like nothing ever has. Scott never had control of his memories, and he couldn't save his family or his brother. So learning how to be in control strikes a specific chord with Scott Summers. After awakening his mutation, Scott nearly killed people, and naturally he grew terrified of hurting those around him. Cyclops' powers are unique in The X-Men. Most of the characters we come across learn or already have some sort of control of their abilities at base level. Cyclops never does. Whedon's astonishing X-Men writes that Scott's power is the source of his extraordinary self doubt. It's his greatest setback. So many mutants live in fear of their abilities, of course. But Scott is the leader of the X-Men. The poster child for accepting your mutation, Xavier's golden boy, and every time he opens his eyes, a part of him fears the result. When you consider the sheer destructive capabilities of his powers when left unchecked, that makes him uniquely afraid of his abilities. And why wouldn't it? Imagine opening your eyes one day, and almost leveling an entire building and everyone in it. But it's also fascinating, because through training, he has developed this sniper level accuracy and precision, up to the point where he's able to perform some of these crazy ricochet shots and yet he is still deathly afraid of hurting those around him if he takes that visor off. Astonishing X-Men confronts this fear and suggests that unlike any of the other X-Men who have gotten over their fears and have learned to control their abilities, there is a reason Scott never has. And it's not because he couldn't. But because Scott Summers decided he never would. He decided to let his mutation become his demon and to let that fear control him. If Scott never learned how to control his power, it would force him to always hold himself together. If he doesn't, he risks hurting and killing people. It's as simple as that. Cyclops' greatest wrestling match is the one that he has with control. And it's this decision that has forced the mutant to become the great leader that he is. Cyclops over the years has become a truly genius strategist. When taking down Juggernaut, Cyclops demonstrates that he has at least 26 plans to take the monster down and he goes all the way up to plan number 42. And it's plan number 13 that does the job. He has a plan for the off chance that a Kaiju attacks. He knows exactly what makes each member of his team tick and is ready to poke his teammates so that they are at their best. While so much of that preparation is himself, Charles Xavier has instilled a significant portion of it into him. When Scott meets Xavier, the professor acts as a father figure and a mentor and essentially a paragon to aspire to for the young hero. In one story, Scott mentions how he had deified the professor, and it makes sense. Professor Xavier saved him. X-Men 1991 touches on the idea that Scott was such a bright eyed kid, he was so enthralled by Xavier that he had no will of his own. He had no individual thought from the moment he turned 15. It was all Xavier. Cyclops and Professor X's relationship is complex. Cyclops was his first X-Men, and yet he wasn't the favorite, Gene was, but Scott had all the pressure on him. He was Charles' right hand, the one who would echo all of the professor's ideas and thoughts. His leader, the one Charles bred to be just like him. In basketball, the great point guards are extensions of their coaches, and Scott was the coach on the floor. But more than that, Scott had to be perfect. Being an X-Men isn't a game. Out in the real world, it wasn't like the danger room, where they could just reset the circumstances and the stakes with the press of a button. The X-Men are constantly trying to showcase themselves to the world as representatives of an entire species, and Scott is often the head of that. He was representing Xavier, so Summers always had to make the right decisions. He always had to be perfect. He had to be Professor X. Add on Xavier's dream, and Scott becomes the one to carry that dream forward. We see that most when Xavier loses hope at times, when he's tired from the lack of change or whatever the case may be, Cyclops is often the one to remind him of that dream, and how necessary it is to continue to fight for it and not give in. However, as the years went by and the stories evolved, Xavier's treatment of the X-Men changed as he did. The professor in many stories gains a God complex, and he becomes increasingly cruel and abusive in these stories, all for the quote greater good, and Scott is often at the forefront of these attacks. To name a few of his wrongdoings, the professor wiped Beast's memory of his first girlfriend because he believed that it was in Hank's best interest to forget about these memories. Xavier led a ton of X-Men to their deaths throughout the years, and the X-Men would begin to resent the professor. They were child soldiers, and Xavier was the general. Cyclops was his lieutenant, and his prototype. Used and abused time and again like a soldier uses their rifle and discards it when it is no longer needed. They were tools. The professor famously once even erased the memory of Scott's own brother, Vulcan. Charles constantly demeaned and belittled Scott's leadership. He failed to trust him in times of crisis. Mr. Sinister once called the man absent, overbearing, neglectful, and tyrannical, a man with a good heart and good intentions, sure, but intentions simply aren't enough. At one point, Scott even found it difficult to find the differences between Mr. Sinister and Xavier, even kicking the professor out of the X-Men in one of these stories. In Avengers vs X-Men, we see another example of how Charles speaks to Scott. He knows all the right buttons to push him, to make him feel small, and to make him feel as though they are not equals. I'm ashamed of you. I will get you help, he says, like a father to a son. The professor then threatens to shut down Scott mentally. He threatens to kill him, and Scott, in this story, under the influence of the Dark Phoenix, eventually kills the man. Over the years, Scott becoming the true leader of the X-Men proved to be a necessary change, as Scott grew immensely. He stepped out of the professor's shadow when he became his own person, his own leader. All that death and trauma that Scott experienced set the stage for Scott's summers to forge his own path, littered with his own trials and tribulations, and his own new relationships. As a leader, Cyclops demands order and structure, imposing clear roles and responsibilities on the battlefield. Apocalypse details Scott as the consummate leader, able to weigh complicated battle strategies and moral value judgments, all while carrying this incredible imposter syndrome. Above all else, Scott's summers grows into a man wholeheartedly dedicated to mutant kind. In the first chapter of Fractions and Can you X-Men run, Pixie got beaten up quite brutally by an anti-mutant hate group. And Cyclops says that the thing that stuck with him most wasn't the blood or the gore, but it was that image of her wings. Poor, sad fairy wings trying so hard to catch the sunlight and reflect it, and they just bash them to hell. Magical things ruined, he says. And this is how Scott views mutations. He sees them as beauty. Regardless of his own shortcomings or disappointments, he cares about his kind so damn much, and he swore to make those people that hurt Pixie pay. That's Scott's summers. This is Cyclops' compassion. It's so fascinating to me that it's this character out of all of them who's ready to sacrifice everything to ensure that mutant kind survives. His ability isn't glamorous. He's destructive. To reiterate, this man lives in constant fear of destroying everyone he loves and cares about every waking moment. He can't read minds or control magnetism or face through things. Cyclops isn't an omega level mutant. He isn't absurdly powerful like leaders usually are in these stories. And yet this guy is ready to risk it all to see his people thrive. Compassion radiates out of the core of who Scott's summers is, and Cyclops has suffered for his people. After the events of House of M, many mutants got wiped out, and the birth of new mutants was brought to a halt. The world was left with several hundred mutants on the entire planet. When one singular mutant is born, Scott deems the child as the mutant Messiah. And we see Cyclops' character transform here. Mutant kind was facing the threat of extinction, and Scott's summers was determined to control the outcome. Scott became a true soldier, a general, in this great time of conflict. Cyclops in this run was at odds with Xavier for all the wrong that the professor had done to him. But regardless of his personal feelings, at that time, if someone was valuable to the mutant cause, Scott was willing to use them. And he kept Xavier on standby for that very reason. The purifiers, the reavers, the marauders, and Cable were all in the race for this child. Scott proved himself to be the most desperate. He proved himself willing to do anything to save mutant kind. So much so that he even goes on to create a new X-Force so that they can track and kill Cable, his very own son. This was war, and Cyclops was cognizant that he had crossed the line. War is asking X-23, a child who doesn't know what choice is, to be a soldier and to go on another mission to kill people. Scott was eventually so boxed in that he sent both the X-Force and Cable to their potential deaths. All to save hope. War is seeing children not in their innocence, but as X-Men and soldiers prepared to defend their home against anyone. These are the uniquely tough decisions that one must make as leader. And when it comes time to make these choices, these sacrifices, no one is better equipped to than Scott Summers. Scott has been bred for these situations. He spent his whole life learning and harnessing the ability to be in control, even amidst chaos. He's seen it all and so he has become a master at improvising. Not only does Scott have to make these choices, a leader must have faith in himself and his people. It's building that faith, that trust, that pays off in times of crises. Like he does time and again with Wolverine and here with Cable, as he first trusts the future of mutant kind to him. When he sends Nathan and Hope off to the future. But ultimately, Cyclops has faith in himself and frankly that's one of the strongest traits a leader can have. He backs himself and his plans to the very end. And it's these very plans that save Hope and it's that very faith that has Hope save mutant kind. But Scott is then faced with the challenge of reintegrating the X-Men into a world where they are unwanted. He demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the spotlight that is continually placed on the X-Men and on mutants as a whole. He understands where they sit politically in the world's perspective on them. Being the leader of the X-Men isn't just in times of crises, but it's managing all of these smaller situations as well. The Avengers vs X-Men conflict acts as a microcosm of the way the world views the X-Men and how these views even affect their own members. That view is that mutants are intrinsically dangerous and their rights as people do not deserve to be respected. As Hope summers in this run was never given a fair chance as an individual. With the Phoenix headed towards her, she was immediately labeled as a danger who need to be taken into custody. Wolverine was even willing to kill the girl if it wasn't for cyclops. When Scott ends up bonding with the Phoenix, he actually does end up doing good things for humanity. Bringing food and water to places that needed. But ultimately what is consistent with the X-Men is that humans fear power, no matter how it's used. So the Avengers try and shut him down, forcing out the Dark Phoenix as Scott fights for Mutant Kind's last real chance at a future. To end this conflict in its entirety, Hope would end up being the one to ultimately take control of the Phoenix and she would end up saving Mutant Kind. Just as Cyclops predicted back when Hope was born in the Messiah complex. Cyclops was right. Cyclops never shies away from taking responsibility for his actions. Whether it's the refugees who were displaced because of them, all the people that had to die, Scott ends up tortured because of it. He's been to hell and he acknowledges it all. He acknowledges all the people and even weeps for them. But given the chance, he would do it all over again. Because everything he did, everything he did was to give Mutants a future. He crossed the line, he made the hard choices so nobody else had to. He gave up his own freedom, his own future to save theirs. These events radicalized Cyclops. So Cyclops' character is forced to look at the world for what it truly is. He's given time to reflect on how even his own peers view Mutant Kind. In so many of these stories, government officials attack mutant children. Police officers attack mutants. They will do everything in their power to destroy Mutant Kind and they will even send Avengers to do it. Cyclops has been around for it all, every iteration of it. And the character gets to a point where he's seen enough. We fought alongside them and they kill our children in the streets, he says. We pack up and move to an island and they destroy it. After everything that has happened, Cyclops has finally came to the conclusion that their passivity, Xavier's dream to simply take all of humanity's hate and refuse to fight back, is ultimately harmful to mutants. Because now mutants everywhere begin to believe that they are a group of people who are hopeless and without a voice. So Cyclops becomes that voice. Cyclops was imprisoned for his actions, but he left this conflict understanding that no one would fight for Mutant Kind, not even the Avengers. The greatest warriors of their generation won't even fight for their rights. He says, no one will do it for them. They must fight for themselves against anyone who wishes to deny their freedom. Summers never advocates for any sort of war against humans and even says that he stands with all the humans that stand with them. Cyclops tried to use humanity's fear of mutants to ultimately dissuade humans from waging war on Mutant Kind. A war was the last thing he wanted. Scott's ideology lives somewhere in between Professor X's and Magneto's. He once famously said that Charles had a dream while he had a plan. Charles's dream is the peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. A dream where mutants can live freely among humans and can be accepted as regular members of society. And they try to gain humans' acceptance and approval. Xavier's dream ultimately puts the power in humans' hands. To make the decision on whether mutants should be accepted. It creates an idea that mutants have to be perfect to be accepted. Magneto, on the other hand, has had different ideologies based on the writer. He wants to believe that mutants were superior to humans. He looked for equality through power and force. And at one point he desired mutant independence. Hence the creation of Genosha, Utopia, etc. Magneto's constant is that he is willing to be much more brutal and violent than Charles is about the freedom and the future of mutant kind. Ultimately they all want the same things and that is for mutants to live in peace. Scott, however, understands the reality of the world and the perception of mutant kind in their world. He doesn't believe in mutant elitism, but in the Krokoa era he is on board with the idea of mutants living independently from humans. It puts mutants' lives at the forefront and it ensures that they are safe. His aim is for mutant kind to be left alone, but he will not hesitate to take action against those who wish to take away their basic rights. Scott extends this compassion to all people, period. He has proven time and again that mutant or not, he will fight for marginalized people. Scott Summers is hopeful, but he is not naive. He wants to co-exist peacefully with humanity, but he will not let them walk all over him and his people. That's who Scott Summers is as a leader. And as a character, I think his willingness to do whatever it takes to save humanity, coupled with his incredible vulnerability, his fear of himself, and his desperation for control. Make his character particularly fascinating. Cyclops is a lot of things, a nice whole, emotionally distant, and many stories he is a bad husband, a bad partner. But most of all, the one thing Cyclops is, is a damn good leader. It's the reason why Storm respects him so much, why she continues to follow him time and again. She knows that he is bred for that position, and she knows how difficult it is. Scott is an inspiration. He inspired Wolverine of all people to be a better man. What would Scott Summers do? That would become Logan's mantra. He notes Cyclops as someone worth following. So for me, Cyclops is the most important X-Man. Because he is always there, always. He is a fighter for mutant kind until the very end. The quintessential X-Man.