View Full Version : What's Cool/What's Not: Cyclops
Tobias March
10-12-2006, 12:17 PM
The first Marvel annual I ever owned (the UK thick reprint editions with three/four stories per volume) featured a reprinted Neal Adams X-Men story (I think) with Beast, Marvel Girl & Cyclops. I dug Cyclops immediately for a very simple reason - he had the same power as Superman.
Of course that was thought to be intentional. With the exception of Jean Grey, Stan Lee allotted four of Superman's abilities (if you allow for ice-cold breath) to each of the X-Men: flight, strength, temperature reduction & optic blasts. I get the impression the devil-may-care Angel may have been the Wolvie of his day. Flirting with Cyke's beloved, contesting the leadership with him, confident in the use of his powers.
Cyclops has always been cast in the role of the leader, even though he struggles to retain control over the team. There's always some fellah having a laugh at his expense. Even the Beast's 'oh fearless leader', jibes can be traced to that (though I've never seen Scott so frustrated with Hank as during his abortive 'outing'). His own son, Cable, returns to his original time period older than his father and a born leader. He's commanded whole armies! Scott can't even command a disciplined civilian force. It must be galling.
The Summers family has the most traumatic past. Peter Parker has melodrama applenty, but Cyclop's past is so extreme. Parents abducted by aliens. Almost died in the resulting plummet from a plane which caused brain damage that prevented his powers from developing properly. Later his father emerges as a buccaneering space pirate. His mother was in turn taken as consort by the evil D'Ken and later died. Alex Summers is discovered brainwashed. That happens a lot actually. His lady love is also possessed/empowered/replaced by a cosmic entity and seen to be killed on the moon. He later meets a woman who looks JUST LIKE HER. They have a kid who will later be infected by a fatal disease and transported into the future. Although future progeny have already begun popping out of the woodwork. That brings us up to the 90's and it's exhausting to think about.
Cyclops is a model of self-restraint, but this is typically portrayed as repression in every sense. He is further emasculated by deferring to the women in his life, seeming passive: Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Elizabeth Braddock.
Often this can be frustrating. His filial devotion to the manipulative Xavier, his assumption that every negative emotion is a product of his possession by En Sabah Nur. The man seems to have no backbone!
But I don't accept that. I still think of him as the natural inheritor of Superman, the bearer of the most visually exciting power. Wolvie's 'rebel' schtick got old fast (I mean he's over a hundred). Cyclops is a man tormented by conscience ideally, a feckless loser at his worst. His abandonment of Madelyne Pryor is often cited as proof of this.
Oh and now yet another brother has popped up. See the guy has it tough, be a little more sympathetic to his troubles :D
Joe Acro
10-12-2006, 12:28 PM
Almost died in the resulting plummet from a plane which caused brain damage that prevented his powers from developing properly.That's been retconned.
His filial devotion to the manipulative Xavier, his assumption that every negative emotion is a product of his possession by En Sabah Nur. The man seems to have no backbone!I will agree that for a while, Cyclops has seemingly been far less confident in himself. The merging with En Sabah Nur did nothing but worsen the situation (though it probably should've slightly improved it). The merging itself made little sense and the after-effects weren't that great. It that could be retconned, Scott would be a better character.
See the guy has it tough, be a little more sympathetic to his troubles :D
It's hard to sympathize with a character who has troubles I don't understand. It's also hard when I don't like how he's been treated ove the past few years. But I do realize he struggles. I do realize he has flaws, like every hero should. This man needs a serious confidence boost in order to become the leader I want him to be.
Tobias March
10-12-2006, 12:30 PM
That's been retconned.
.
Really? What was the resulting retcon? Are Marvel too embarassed to have a hero whose suffered brain damage :rolleyes:
Joe Acro
10-12-2006, 12:32 PM
In Astonishing, it's been established that him not controlling his powers has been psychological. He may have not had control due to head trauma for a brief period, but he apparently eventually made the decision to not control them, or some such nonsense.
Atom_basher
10-12-2006, 12:32 PM
ok this may piss some off, but the reason i dont like cyclops is because he seems like a typical republican, which really annoys me
The Fury
10-12-2006, 12:38 PM
In Astonishing, it's been established that him not controlling his powers has been psychological. He may have not had control due to head trauma for a brief period, but he apparently eventually made the decision to not control them, or some such nonsense.
Yeah, weird bullcrap that was.
A decision he forgot about in such a way that Xavier, nor phoenix jean could find it and sort it out. :p
Frodo-X
10-12-2006, 12:48 PM
Yeah, weird bullcrap that was.
A decision he forgot about in such a way that Xavier, nor phoenix jean could find it and sort it out. :p
They knew. They just didn't tell him so people could still make fun of his glasses and he could complain about everything being red.
They're mean like that.
Alan2099
10-12-2006, 12:50 PM
So they finally got around to touching up the fact that he got brain damaged AGAIN in the same part of the brain he was damaged in before, or did they just make up another excuse?
Oh, and really, I find Cyclops to be an unlikeable character. He's far too straight laced and the majority of the time lacks any real drive of his own.
Joe Acro
10-12-2006, 12:53 PM
So they finally got around to touching up the fact that he got brain damaged AGAIN in the same part of the brain he was damaged in before, or did they just make up another excuse?
He got brain-damaged again? How?
Alan2099
10-12-2006, 12:55 PM
Hit his head on a rock while falling during a fight with Ozymandius.
The Lucky One
10-12-2006, 02:09 PM
In Astonishing, it's been established that him not controlling his powers has been psychological. He may have not had control due to head trauma for a brief period, but he apparently eventually made the decision to not control them, or some such nonsense.
It actually hasn't been officially confirmed yet that the brain damage didn't do it; I know Joss suggested some notion that it's all psychological or whatever, and it may well move in that direction, but I'm not counting it as official until the storyline's over.
They knew. They just didn't tell him so people could still make fun of his glasses and he could complain about everything being red.
He doesn't complain about everything being red because everything's not red; the ruby quartz glasses function like sunglasses, so colors are simply muted.
-D
Frodo-X
10-12-2006, 02:15 PM
It was a joke, man!
The Lucky One
10-12-2006, 02:25 PM
It was a joke, man!
I know, dude; I'm not completely humorless. ;) I just pointed it out because most people actually do think he sees things in red.
-D
Frodo-X
10-12-2006, 02:28 PM
Sorry. I never know on these boards.
Sometimes people get the joke and play along.
Other times I get yelled at for being an idiot.
Joe Acro
10-12-2006, 02:44 PM
It actually hasn't been officially confirmed yet that the brain damage didn't do it; I know Joss suggested some notion that it's all psychological or whatever, and it may well move in that direction, but I'm not counting it as official until the storyline's over.
My comment is based on the words of Emma Frost within the series.
I know, dude; I'm not completely humorless. I just pointed it out because most people actually do think he sees things in red.He doesn't see in red? My word is flying apart!
The Lucky One
10-12-2006, 02:59 PM
Sorry. I never know on these boards.
Sometimes people get the joke and play along.
Other times I get yelled at for being an idiot.
It's cool; I don't post as much lately, so you don't know me as well. I'm incredibly anal retentive, but WITH a sense of humor, at least.
:cool:
-D
Papa Moai
10-23-2006, 05:19 AM
ok this may piss some off, but the reason i dont like cyclops is because he seems like a typical republican, which really annoys me
Interesting. He has always seemed more like a bleeding-heart liberal to me.
twilight
10-23-2006, 05:48 AM
What's cool?
The visor.
Great visual.
Sentinel K
10-23-2006, 05:53 AM
I know, dude; I'm not completely humorless. ;) I just pointed it out because most people actually do think he sees things in red.
-D
According to morrisson doesn't he see things in YELLOW?
twilight
10-23-2006, 06:02 AM
According to morrisson doesn't he see things in YELLOW?
Wasn't it blue?
The Fury
10-23-2006, 06:13 AM
According to morrisson doesn't he see things in YELLOW?
Yeah, but that makes no sense with science at all. If I look through red coloured gems, I see red colours not yellow. It's impossible to see yellow through red.
Editor
10-23-2006, 06:17 AM
Yeah, but that makes no sense with science at all. If I look through red coloured gems, I see red colours not yellow. It's impossible to see yellow through red.
Well seeing as though there is no such thing as Ruby Quartz I wouldn't worry about it.
The Fury
10-23-2006, 06:22 AM
Well seeing as though there is no such thing as Ruby Quartz I wouldn't worry about it.
http://www.healingcrystals.com/images/ruby_quartz.jpg
Really?
Editor
10-23-2006, 06:25 AM
http://www.healingcrystals.com/images/ruby_quartz.jpg
Really?
...............
Well how about that.
Learn something new every day.
The Fury
10-23-2006, 06:28 AM
...............
Well how about that.
Learn something new every day.
Okay, it depends on if the structure of comic ruby quartz is the same as the real life stuff. I think ti is. but you never know with Stan Lee.
oh snap...im a get a pair of dem for glasses....to urrhhh hold back my optic blasts
I will agree that for a while, Cyclops has seemingly been far less confident in himself. The merging with En Sabah Nur did nothing but worsen the situation (though it probably should've slightly improved it). The merging itself made little sense and the after-effects weren't that great. It that could be retconned, Scott would be a better character.
I'm one of those that believe his merging with En Sabah Nur turned out to be a good thing, simply because it saw the return of the gutsier, more gung-ho, and overall more active Cyclops that's been missing ever since Claremont left in 1991. Sure, it hurt relationships along the way, but I'm glad that there was a lot of notice within the books that Cyclops changed back. He wasn't called a stick in the mud during Morrison's run anymore, and other writers started using Cyclops in crossovers as a more forceful leader than he had been in the 90s (Cyclops rallying the heroes in Captain America's absence in House of M would've been non-existant, or vastly played down, if the story played out six years ago).
Omega Alpha
10-23-2006, 12:54 PM
Interesting. He has always seemed more like a bleeding-heart liberal to me.
Considering that the X-men ideology were always very liberal, and no one in the X-men defended them more than Cyke, he's most likely one of the most liberal characters in the whole MU.
I'm one of those that believe his merging with En Sabah Nur turned out to be a good thing, simply because it saw the return of the gutsier, more gung-ho, and overall more active Cyclops that's been missing ever since Claremont left in 1991. Sure, it hurt relationships along the way, but I'm glad that there was a lot of notice within the books that Cyclops changed back. He wasn't called a stick in the mud during Morrison's run anymore, and other writers started using Cyclops in crossovers as a more forceful leader than he had been in the 90s (Cyclops rallying the heroes in Captain America's absence in House of M would've been non-existant, or vastly played down, if the story played out six years ago).
That's right, since Morrison and the merging with Poccy, he has been much more important to the X-books and to the MU he has been ever since his X-factor days, and much more active in general. He's now the one who puts the X-men together and which everyone runs to when they are in need, which he haven't been ever since Claremont/Byrne ( except maybe from Onslaught until OZT, and even so not as much as he used to).
Mikl C
10-23-2006, 01:00 PM
I don't like his blatant homosexuality.
mrcassandranova
10-23-2006, 02:50 PM
Well I don't like him as a character either. He doesn't seem like the fearless leader he used to be; he seems really whipped now. Also, I still can't get over the fact that he may not need his visor anymore!
Well I don't like him as a character either. He doesn't seem like the fearless leader he used to be; he seems really whipped now. Also, I still can't get over the fact that he may not need his visor anymore!
Cyclops was at his most-whipped in the 90s. These days, I really don't think he's as whipped as a lot of people make him out to be. He's even shouting down Emma these days.
basically in my eyes he's always been awesome and I hate X-men the movies due to the fact wolverine is running the team more than cyke is. I love how whedon is doing cyke, how he was when he came back from the dead as well and was showing off when he and wolverine had to attack mags, and just morrison's run. cyclops is the shiiiiznit
Omega Alpha
10-23-2006, 09:27 PM
Cyclops was at his most-whipped in the 90s. These days, I really don't think he's as whipped as a lot of people make him out to be. He's even shouting down Emma these days.
Me too. He never had as much influence in the X-men and in the Marvel Universe as he has today. It's funny that people saying Emma is the boss of him since in the very 1st issue of Astonishing, he tells her to shut up in front of everybody, yells and disagrees with her even in public (which he never did with Jean, ever), and lead the entire MU in House of M. I think people are just not over the fact he is not with Jean anymore and try to find anything they can possibly complain about his relationship with Emma.
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