The hero and X-Man known as Cyclops is Scott Summers. Scott is a Mutant, or homo-superior, born with an X-gene that often leads to the development of special powers in early adolescents. For Scott, he gained the ability to fire powerful concussive beams from his eyes. The beams emanated from a parallel dimension so that there is no recoil or counter-thrust from the blast. The power of these beams are dependent on the duration and focus of Scott’s gaze and the upper limits of their destructive force has yet to be determined.
Scott endured a head injury in his youth that impacted his ability to use these beams. As such, merely opening his eyes releases the beam without control. To compensate for this, Scott has had to utilize a pair of ruby-quartz glass or a special ruby quartz vizor to enable him to see without realizing the beams. Adjusting the vizor allows him to fire the beams with varying degrees of precision and power.
Scott was one of the first students recruited by Professor Charles Xavier when he started his School For Gifted Youngsters. This has been a school for young Mutants that, along with a traditional education, also prepares Mutants to best use their special gifts. Xavier believed that were the general public to see Mutants acting as heroes they would be less likely to hate and fear them. As such, the student body became The X-Men, a team of costumed heroes with the goal of ensuring peaceful coexistence between humans and Mutants.
Taking on the codename ‘Cyclops,’ Scott became the field leader of The X-Men, a position he has held off and on for many years. Cyclops has guided The X-Men on countless missions and adventures and even became the headmaster of Xavier’s School during a time that Xavier was believed dead.
Scott and his fellow teammate, Jean Grey, fell in love. When Jean was possessed by the Phoenix Force and seemingly perished on the moon, Scott could not contend with his grief. He left the team for a brief time, before ultimately returning. He also met a young woman named Madeline Pryor who possessed an uncanny resemblance to Jean Grey. The two fell in love and eventually married, all the while unaware that Madeline was a clone of Jean created by the villainous Mister Sinister. Sinister was convinced a child produced by this couple would prove to be a vastly powerful Mutant whom the villain hoped to control.
Madeline became pregnant and went on to have a son whom they named Nathaniel Christopher Summers. The couple’s relationship became strained by Scott’s duties to the X-Men and Madeline concerns that Scott was still in love with Jean.
When Jean Grey was revealed to be alive, Scott ended up abandoning Madeline and his child to be with her and create the new team of Mutant heroes known as X-Factor.
Jean’s return caused Mr. Sinister to alter his plans and he sent his Marauders to kill Madeline and cover any tracks of his involvement in creating her. Madeline was believed killed and Scott gained custody of their son. The baby was reveled to be suffering from a rare virus that would prove fatal unless drastic actions were taken. Scott was forced to send the baby into the distant future where the technology to control this virus existed. The child would ultimately return as the time traveling Mutant hero known as Cable.
Scott and Madeline’s marriage was later annulled and he would go on to marry Jean. Yet the two became distant and somewhat estranged following a harrowing battle against the Mutant villain called Apocalypse. Not long thereafter, Scott entered into a psychic affair with his new teammate, Emma Frost. Jean once more appeared to perish in battle and a bereaved Scott found comfort in the arms of Emma.
When Mutantkind was on the brink of extinction, Cyclops gradually transformed the X-Men into a more extremist faction to ensure the survival of mutants, even going to war against the Avengers during the coming of the Phoenix Force to Earth, an event that costed the life of his former mentor, Professor Xavier.
As a revolutionary leader, Cyclops has become an iconic figure for all of Mutankind, amalgamating aspects of Xavier’s dream and Magneto’s ideals. Sadly, he was not able to bring his goal to fruition and died following exposure to the poisonous Terigen Cloud.
After Xavier’s resurrection, a Mutant-exclusive nation was established on the living island of Krakoa, which completely reshaped mutant society.
Xavier engineered the resurrection of Cyclops, assigning him the nation’s defense as the Captain Commander of Krakoa, being the de facto leader of the X-Men.
Cyclops has appeared in a number of the Fox Films X-Men movies, portrayed by actors James Marsden, Tye Sheridan and Tim Pocock. The hero first appeared in the pages of X-Men Vo. 1 #1 (1963).
Via DocGold13.