Welcome to Canon Events, a weekly column where I’ll take a look at some of the darkest comic moments from our favorite heroes and villains and how they left an indelible impact on fans and sometimes even the comic industry.
Scott “Slim” Summers/Cyclops was hand-picked by Professor Charles Xavier to lead his X-Men as one of the founding members of Marvel’s merry band of mutants. When Professor X and the team’s paths separated years later, Xavier’s dream of mutant and human coexistence fell on Cyclops’ shoulders, along with the survival of the entire mutant race. No pressure, right? Cyclops could handle it. Cyclops was always the one who could handle it, thanks to a lifetime of hardships and hurdles that molded him into the leader of mutantkind.
Cyclops lost his parents in a traumatic airplane crash/alien abduction that also tore him apart from his brother Alex, keeping him alone for most of his life. When he finally found love with Jean Grey, she was lost due to the Dark Phoenix. Even when he recovered and aimed to start a family, his son was ripped from his hands and raised in the future to become Cable. But through it all, Cyclops soldiered on. He dedicated himself even more to the X-Men, and life continued. Yet when the moment came for him to sacrifice everything to save his son again, he did it without hesitation. And for the first time, Cyclops opened himself up to corruption from a lasting enemy, changing the X-Men and their world forever.
Cyclops Was Part of “The Twelve” Prophecy
Image via Marvel Comics
Classic X-Men fans will recall the prophecy of “The Twelve,” which was gradually developed over the years during Chris Claremont’s epic run with the mutants. The idea was first seeded into the X-Men’s world when Madame Sanctity, the same time-traveler who took young Nathan Summers into the future to become Cable, returned to the past again. Sanctity was actually Tanya Trask, the mutant daughter of Dr. Boloviar Trask, creator of the mutant-hunting Sentinels. Trask’s mutant time-travel powers sent her 3000 years ahead to a future ruled by Apocalypse when she was younger.
It was there that she first learned the prophecy of The Twelve and gained the name Sanctity. The prophecy stated that twelve mutants of power were integral to the ascension of Apocalypse in the future. While she had been trained in the Askani religion, which was the same one taught to Cable as he grew up, she turned her back on their teachings and tried to change the past so that her father’s creations wouldn’t decimate the world. In one of those attempts, she uploaded the identities of the fabled Twelve into Master Mold’s programming in an effort to take them out early so that Apocalypse could never rise to power.
Fans never learned the full roster of The Twelve, though Master Mold let a few possible mutants slip as he attacked them over the years. Cyclops was one of the first mutants revealed to be a member of the Twelve, though others that were teased included Xavier, Jean Grey, Storm, and even Apocalypse, who further confirmed the prophecy when he claimed to be a member. Other sources seemed to confirm the warning of the Twelve as well, as prophetic mutant Destiny wrote about the same mutants in her diaries, teased a few more, and even further expanded on the prophecy.
But then, all of the signs disappeared. The prophecy of The Twelve faded away into obscurity, and Chris Claremont left the X-Men in the ’90s as the Jim Lee era took off. There were small bits included over the decade that kept the prophecy alive, though it was largely forgotten by fans and mutants alike. Chris Claremont returned to the X-Men a few times in different ways over the years, though he was set for a full takeover of both main X-titles in the 2000s called Revolution.
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However, before he took the X-Men in what was promised to be an exciting new direction, the creative team of Alan Davis and Terry Kavanaugh decided to first help wrap up one of his oldest lingering storylines. After some time away, signs of Apocalypse’s return were seen by his long-time enemy Cable and other members of the X-Men. When En Sabah Nur finally did return, he launched a secret attack on the X-Men that caused the team to disband. Xavier had seen clues of Apocalypse’s attack and took his own measures, eventually discovering the full roster of The Twelve from Destiny’s recovered diaries.
Cyclops, along with his wife Jean Grey and son Cable, brought their family dynamic into the representative Twelve, along with their powerful Summer/Grey mutant potential. Magneto and his daughter, Polaris, served as the group’s magnetic poles. Earth’s elementals were represented by Storm, Iceman and Sunfire. Bishop, who had previously been stranded in a post-apocalyptic future, returned to represent time. Colossus’ brother Mikhail Rasaputin represented space due to his transmutation and teleportation abilities. Xavier then represented the mind, while the Living Monolith served as the group’s core.
Apocalypse and his new Horsemen (which included a brainwashed Wolverine as Death) attacked and captured The Twelve, holding them within a machine built from Celestial tech hidden in Egypt. He then finally revealed the truth behind the prophecy that had haunted the X-Men for years.
Apocalypse Needed a New Vessel
Image via Marvel Comics
Once the Twelve were gathered and imprisoned, Apocalypse revealed that the prophecy had been a ruse all along. He had designed it to bring the eleven mutants of power together, along with the Living Monolith, to absorb and rechannel their mutant energy. Apocalypse planned to steal their power and ascend as a mutant god. Of course, this reveal didn’t quite touch on all of the lingering details of the actual prophecy. But the mystery behind the actual Twelve and their connection to Apocalypse was resolved, along with years of storylines that explored Apocalypse’s dark future where Cable grew up.
The Twelve were simply a power-up for the eternal Apocalypse, but there was a twist. A late addition to the prophecy that discussed a thirteenth mutant. Apocalypse revealed to the captive mutants that part of the prophecy was true as well, and he had already captured the thirteenth mutant, Nate Grey/X-Man. Now I already wrote about Nate Grey and exile from the Age of Apocalypse, so I won’t dive into his history here. But what’s important is that he is the pure genetic offspring of an alternate reality Cyclops and Phoenix, creating one of the most powerful mutants from any world.
Apocalypse’s plan didn’t go off without a hitch, as he didn’t realize that Magneto had recently lost most of his power. This destabilized the machine that was absorbing their power, allowing them to escape and take the fight to Apocalypse while the machine continued to channel their power into young Nate Grey. During the battle, Apocalypse’s armor was split open to reveal the withered and dying body of En Sabah Nur inside. His final plan was exposed, as Apocalypse intended to possess Nate Grey’s body so he could control the incredible power of The Twelve.
Cyclops and Phoenix had very recently bonded with Nate Grey, developing a familial connection with the young mutant that he had never had in his own reality. Scott Summers, temporarily drained of his power by Apocalypse to further power the transfer, saw his newfound son in danger and did the only thing he knew how to do. Cyclops made the sacrificial play and jumped in between Apocalypse and Nate Grey, hoping to sever the connection. But as the weakened and now free Nate Grey pointed out, given their shared genetics, Cyclops’s body would serve Apocalypse just as well.
The last coherent image Jean receives from him, before their rapport dissolves in psychic static… is of laughter. This is the foe — and the battle — he was born to fight. For him, as he fades from view, there is no doubt of the outcome.
The X-Men were ultimately able to stop Apocalypse from using his newfound mutant powers to reshape the universe in his image. But they weren’t able to free Cyclops from Apocalypse’s grasp. Xavier found no trace of Cyclops within Apocalypse’s new body, though Jean Grey and Cable never gave up hope. Apocalypse disappeared, and the X-Men titles jumped ahead six months for Claremont’s ill-fated Revolution relaunch.
Cyclops Was Corrupted and Traumatized
Image via Marvel Comics
The X-Men moved forward without Cyclops during the Revolution relaunch, though his absence was hard to ignore. When the Revolution relaunch faltered, plans were put in motion to make the X-Men popular again. However, they would need one of their most important pieces. X-Men: The Search for Cyclops followed Scott Summers’ amnesiac return in Egypt, and Jean Grey and Cable’s mission to bring him back.
Cyclops had painfully and traumatically rejected Apocalypse after his initial takeover of his body. His constant fight was torturous and forced him on a journey to find peace, which unknowingly led to Akkaba in Egypt, the birthplace of Apocalypse. There, he was found by Jean and Cable, and they were eventually able to burn the essence of Apocalypse from Cyclops’ body. He returned to the team after some time away, but he did so as a changed man.
Cyclops had dealt with powerful mutant enemies who brought him to exreme lows before, but he always had his own mind and resolve to fall back on. After Apocalypse corrupted his mind and body in the climax of “The Twelve” storyline, Cyclops became even more somber, and he started to withdraw from his relationship with Jean Grey. While the New X-Men were reaching exciting new highs, Cyclops was stuck in the trauma of his encounter with Apocalypse. And while that brief possession went nowhere despite the story’s potential, it left a lasting mark on Cyclops that would impact the X-Men for years.
In one fell swoop, En Sabah Nur had tainted the strongest soldier in Xavier’s army, making him question his own skills and abilities. The former tactical surgeon had trouble trusting himself on the battlefield, which weakened the X-Men at a time when they needed to be at their strongest. Jean Grey, who had taken on a new role as the headmistress of Xavier’s now-fully operational mutant school, didn’t have as much time to help Cyclops and their failing relationship, so she sought clinical help to work with him.
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Emma Frost was the Hellfire Club’s former White Queen and a telepathic therapist who had turned over a new leaf and started working with the X-Men. She seemed like the perfect choice to help break through to Cyclops and help him start dealing with his trauma. And it even started to work, though fans and the rest of the X-Men soon discovered the nefarious reason why Cyclops’ mood had shifted. He had engaged in a telepathic affair with Emma Frost that would fundamentally change the makeup of the team, and in the worst-case scenario, bring an end to mutantkind in the future.
The X-Men Would Never Be The Same Again
Image via Marvel Comics
Shortly after the affair was discovered and exposed, Jean Grey was killed by Xorn/Magneto during his attack on the X-Men and New York City. The New X-Men era then jumped forward into the dark “Here Comes Tomorrow” future, which saw the end of mutantkind after the X-Men separated following Jean Grey’s death. Yet it was Jean Grey herself, resurrected in that dark future by the Phoenix Force, who found a way to save the world by saving the X-Men in the past.
She sent a psychic message back to another important moment when Cyclops stood over her grave. This was just before he succumbed to the loneliness and doubt that would doom the X-Men and kick off the new cascade of events that would lead to the “Here Comes Tomorrow” timeline. Instead, Jean’s message persuaded Cyclops to live and embrace his new relationship with Emma Frost and lead the X-Men once again, instead of retreating into himself and leaving the team that needed him more than ever. They restarted the school and led the Astonishing X-Men together towards a new future.
It may seem like there are a lot of unconnected events here that ultimately reshaped the X-Men, but it really can all be traced right back to the main Canon Event: Cyclops’ sacrifice for Nate Grey that led to Apocalypse’s brutal takeover of his body. If Cyclops had never been corrupted at that moment, the X-Men’s timeline might have progressed much differently. It still took years for Cyclops to recover from this moment, but it remains an important chapter in not just his life, but the history of the X-Men as well.
It also highlights the importance of not just Cyclops, but the Summers/Grey bloodline and the ongoing battle against Apocalypse that lasts for thousands of years. Cyclops has been fighting it since he first joined the X-Men, and his sons and daughters will continue to fight it long after he’s gone.