With the relaunch of Marvel titles under the All-New, All-Different Marvel banner, there's been an eight month gap (comic time) since the events of Secret Wars where the Marvel Universe was somehow re-created. The fact that SECRET WARS has been delayed has added to the mystery. As we see the new titles with familiar characters released, there's still some things we don't know. One in particular is what happened to adult Cyclops?
When we last saw him, in UNCANNY X-MEN #600, he had gathered a bunch of mutants and things seemed okay.
Cyclops didn't fair too well in SECRET WARS (he was obliterated by Doctor Doom) but with characters like Doctor Strange now appearing, we know that what happens in the mini-series doesn't have a direct effect on the current status quo.
In the current comics, we still have the young X-Men that the present day Hank McCoy pulled out of the past into the present. This included young Cyclops. There hasn't been any sign of the adult Cyclops and all we knew was mutants have become sterile because of the Terrigen Mists.
This week we got some answers.
In ALL-NEW X-MEN #1, the young X-Men have been trying to locate young Cyclops. They hadn't been able to detect him because he hasn't been using his powers. It's Angel that reveals the fate of the adult Cyclops.
Cyclops did something pretty bad and died as a result.
Surprisingly, that wasn't the only mention. In EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #3, young Jean Grey sought out Old Man Logan and as she's trying to talk him into joining the [adult] version of the X-Men in this timeline, she mentions Cyclops.
Because the Terrigen Mists made mutants sterile, Cyclops must have decided to attack the Inhumans. It's not really clear what this would've accomplished but Cyclops didn't always think things all the way through. Currently, the adult Hank McCoy is working the Inhumans to try to find a cure for mutants. The big questions are, how did Cyclops attack the Inhumans and why would this make him the "World's Most Hated Mutant"?
Is adult Cyclops really dead? This is comic books we're talking about. Being dead rarely sticks. There is the young Cyclops so Marvel may not be in a hurry to revive him (just like they're handling young Jean) or figure out a loophole to explain how he didn't die. We didn't actually see what happened so there can be plenty of doubt whether or not he's truly dead.
With his death, he's become a sort of martyr and has inspired some young mutants to wear an "X across their face."
Because this is mentioned in two separate X-Men comics and we have Beast in UNCANNY INHUMANS, it's likely we will find out some more details. It'll be good to see a flashback to see what exactly happened and how Cyclops died. Hopefully we'll find out the whole story sooner rather than later and hopefully the outline of what happened has already been established within editorial. Until then, we have young Cyclops trying to figure out his own path with the X-Men and in the Marvel Universe.