Should Marvel stop focusing on Cyclops character and focus more on the other X-Men characters

To be honest, i don't think they're focusing on him all that much nowadays, as opposed to Pre Schism/Pre-AvX.

In my mind, even when Cyclops is the leader of the X-men, his best moments happen when he isn't the main character. As I mentioned a while ago:

I love Cyclops, I do, but there are far more weak stories, stories that make him look bad, and stories that he adds very little to than there are that make him seem really great. It kinda just makes me feel like he just shouldn't be the main character all the time.

Something I think writers like Claremont, Whedon, and even Lobdell seemed to understand was that, even if Cyclops is the leader of the X-men, he shouldn't really be the main character most of the time. It usually doesn't really fit his personality as he's obviously not a very naturally outgoing person (which, if you add that to his issues with authority and the pressure he feels to be a leader, says a lot about what a poor diplomat he's been, when put in that role. Whedon even addresses this when he has Cyclops make Kitty the public voice of the team), it makes him less mysterious, and most importantly, it sort of makes his great moments less great.

But, as 'Hurricane pointed out, it does seem like writers are starting to realize that again, so hopefully we'll see him used more accordingly in the future.

@oldnightcrawler: I doubt that sincerely.

They're focusing a lot more on Wolverine lately than they are Cyclops, in my opinion.

They already are. Though you would know that if you bothered to actually read the current books and pay attention.

Yes, and I like Cyclops. They've always focused on Cyclops or Wolverine for some reason. Maybe because a large part of their demographic is composed of white males? There is usually years where one of those two are the focus of the stories - Cyclops had the Stryfe, Mr. Sinister, the Apocalypse stories, intermittent with Wolverine's Weapon X drama, for example.

As long as he continues to act like a douche he has been since AvX then yes.

It always comes back to the Summers\Grey Family. I think Marvel should focus more on Storm. Charles Xavier and has made it's mark on the X-Men mythos, The Summers\Grey Family has made their mark, Wolverine\The Lupines have had their moments, The House of Magnus has solidified themselves in the X-Men history, Storm is probably the most popular\important character they have that doesn't seem to really get her moments.

@snyderman567: They are now, but most of the most important stories have been about him.The last 6 years have been about him. Now we got 2 Cyclops running around and there in center of the X-Men comics. You would know that if you pay any attention to X-Men comics and it's history.

@oldnightcrawler: completely agree u, Cyclops doesn't have the best powers or the best personality, but some how stories are centre around him a lot of the time. I don't understand why.

@vance_astro: I would not say that Vance. Actually my fondest memories of the wind rider was the issues after she lost her powers to forge's machine she became my second favorite character of the 80's and in my opinion the only person to truly best Scott Summers at his own game. Life/ death I and II, the early 210's and 220's of Uncanny, taking control of the morlocks ,man. She is the core of the real all new X-Men, not Logan or Piotr. She has had stories a plenty my friend, but now if you say there has been a drought of good stories regarding Ororo since the 90's THEN we agree completely.

@vance_astro: I think your right, it time other characters make there mark on the X-Men franchise. Personally I prefer Rogue and Gambit to start a family. Have Beast or Iron Man create some technology so they can touch.

@chasereis said:

Let me try and explain this a different way. Storm has had moments that were pretty big for her as a character but when you think of the The X-Men and their biggest moments, not to many of the revolve around Storm. You know what I mean? Like the Phoenix Saga, Fall of the Mutants, Curse of the Mutants, Kingbreaker, House of M, Days of Future Past, Mutant Massacre, Messiah Complex, Mutant Genesis, etc were all big moments for the X-Men and some characters were more important to those stories than others but most of the time it's not Storm. The X-Men throughout history seem to always have Cyclops, Wolverine, Xavier, & Magnus and related characters in mind when Marvel is coming up with their ideas for the progression of the "mutantkind" idea, but those moments rarely have Storm in the forefront.

Eh, I guess I agree. However I would contend that Ororo actually was paramount to Fall Of the Mutants as it was she who started it by accidentally?) stabbing forge at Naze' (s) request. Shes critical in 201 to lead Scott away from the X-Men and she lead the team. She has progressed the X-Men in perhaps more subtle ways than Scott but just as much if indirectly.

This ...."progression of the "mutantkind" idea", this doesnt exist. We saw a reprieve in X-Factor for a few years in the eighties but that has been all but retconned out of existence. No progress has been made. (not trying to alter the course of the subject)

This. This will not happen.

I would argue, from the X-men's prospective at least, that both the Mutant Massacre and Fall of the Mutants were Storm stories. The Mutant Massacre set up a leadership arc for her, the forming of the almost x-force like Outback team and FotM represented the end of a personal character arc that either began during the Paul Smith years or at the latest Life Death I.

The aftermath of AvX has but Cyclops has made him a critical character at the moment, focus will turn away from him once the current events have been dealt with.

I think it has a lot to do with him being the first X-man, and having been one of the most constant through most of their history. It could well be argued that the story of the X-men is as much his story as anyone's.

I mean, he was sort there from day one, the X-man before there were X-men; and unlike other characters who came and went over the years, including the rest of the original class, the X-men was his home; Xavier was his father (legally, anyway), so it makes sense that he would feel that much more invested in and entitled to the role of leading them.

And, as hard as it may be for some people to believe, he's actually, classically, been one of the characters that a lot of readers had the easiest time identifying with, despite his cold exterior. I think all of these things add up to a pretty good understanding (for me) of why he would or should be the main character of the series.

Of course, that said, he just doesn't make for a good main character most of the time. I personally think the most natural way that his character could have developed would be to grow into a more Xavier type role, eventually replacing his mentor as the backbone of the team, not so close to the limelight. Ah, well; maybe someday.

eh, maybe not.

I don't know that any of us really knows that for sure.

@oldnightcrawler: I don't mind old Cyclops, but I haven't really like him since Morrison run. I don't mind what Bendis is doing with him though.

I haven't cared much for Cyclops since Whedon's Astonishing' run (in which he was actually really great, for the first time in years), but I'm actually starting to enjoy him again under Bendis' pen.

@oldnightcrawler: Much better than Gillian and Matt Fraction, them 2 bored me to death.

yeah. I think they were both okay at coming up with crazy situations for the X-men to be in, but it just didn't mean anything without the solid characterization that made the X-men great in the first place.

@oldnightcrawler: personally I prefer marvel to moved pass Cyclops and focus on someone esle.

@time said:

Well said Time.

@oldnightcrawler: The only thing I know for sure is that there will be a lack of creativity and effort.

There does need to be balance in the X-Men roster with regard to who get how much 'panel time', but I think Cyclops through the many many years he has been with the team has never been one to take the full measure of the spotlight. That being said I think they could do with a little more time spent on him,

I know- I know,

he's not everybody's cup of tea- and to tell you the truth I hated his ass for the longest, but I think his time has come and the development he's had of late is long overdue. The writers are seemingly backing off of him, but I hope they don't just drop him out of sight like so many other loose hanging story threads. Therefore I voted no- because I want a gradual transition, not a simple stoppage of his story.

Sure. I mean, ideally X-men should be an ensemble cast, with multiple characters focused on; but Cyclops generally works better as a supporting character anyway, so I certainly wouldn't mind seeing less focus on him. 'much as I like him.

oh, well, no one can know that for sure.

I think the writers of Marvel can do a lot with Cyclops and right now I think they should definitely be focusing on him post AvX. I like what they're doing with his character. Instead of being so aggressive like he has been these last few years he's acting more of a peace-keeping when it comes to aiding the new mutants.

However, I am sick of ALL the books revolving around the same characters. We need a New X-Men with the students back please!

Well it's Wolverine who's been the primary focus of X-Men for quite sometime now. Just look at the number of books he's in, and then there's the movies, which are more like WOlverine & Friends, than X-Men lol.

Scott gets the focus because a) his actions in AvX, which basically divided the Marvel Universe and mutants in half. And b) He's the friggin LEADER of the X-Men. The stuff that happens to the X-Men eventually lands on his shoulders. His actions and decisions carry alot of weight. But I'm sure you know that already ;)

It's like trying to focus on the Avengers, WITHOUT focusing on Captain America. So yeah, not gonna happen anytime soon ;)

Well its just going to happen naturally. X-Men franchise took a risk of sorts about a decade ago after the success of the Grant Morrison run by thinking they could reinvent the X-Brand by focusing on a smaller set of characters and especially focus on Cyclops. X-Men is an anomaly within comics because for decades its teams were very non default as far as not being dominated by young white American straight males or people that looked like young white American males. They did have some young white American males in its team and those characters were great, Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, coincidentally three characters of the 05. Wolverine isn't American but he is young looking, white, male, straight etc and he also played a large part in X-Men history. Except you also had Xavier, Magneto, Storm, Rogue, Psylocke, Emma Frost, Kitty, Jean, X-23 so on. Those characters as relevant and important as the aforementioned as opposed to say Avengers or JLA where Supes/Bats stood above, Avengers with Cap, Tony and Thor above the rest.

Grant Morrison did something many didn't think was possible, in making Cyclops more accessible and popular to the guys who were always suppose to like him a lot, comics supposed biggest demographic. They also culled the mutant race despite you know, a mutant culture being something many fans enjoyed about X-Men. Ordinary people put into extraordinary situations because of genetic mutations and well its complicated.

Except X-Men has struggled under the editorial changes made a decade ago, and it may be the ideas, it may be the writers execution not living up to the hype, but now and for a long time we have started seeing decisions being reversed. Now what Marvel has to do is maintain the fans it did pick up in the last few years whilst getting back old fans and getting new fans but such a thing is not always easy. I don't think Cyclops should be neglected though, since some writers can use him very well.

He's in two books at the moment - how is that "focusing"?

he's had his moment. nobody cares about him now.

IMO the focus has been too much on Wolverine. And by the way at the moment he's being terribly portrayed in my opinion. He and Cyclops seemed to have switched personalities. Wolverine as a headmaster at a school thats sits ona Krakoa is very silly cartoonish to me. The only thing i think they have been guilty of focusing on was Cyclops relationships alot more than others but other than that the character that gets the most face-time is Wolverine

This, Wolverine is now the new Cyclops, and Storm is the new Emma in terms of appearances.

Exactly if there were ever a person who is over exposed and over rated its Wolverine

Well, in order to see this stupidity through, the "focus" will have to be on Cyclops -- and the addition of young Cyclops gives it that extra push in terms over-exposure, but to say too much focus isn't necessarily true. It's the story-arc that is just....DRAGGING. Drrraaaaggggginnnnnngggggg......

Cyclops is not the leader of the X-Men -- he is the leader of his little band of "X-Men" but the claim he's the leader of all X-Men is not true. Not anymore. That I find annoying. Frankly, it's all annoying.

@illyanarasputin: well said

Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine, are at the moment the X-men most popular characters so the majority of the story's will be focused on them.

cyclops Is just the bIf bad guy rIght now Im sure once he has hIs redemptIon arc they wIll stop It. I personally want Iceman to be the maIn for a whIle hes my fav. colossus and Ilyana would be good too

@vance_astro: well now storm is leading her own team, and she's in X-force.

@xmentas said:

Not good enough.

I don't think that they are focusing on him.It's just that Bendis hates him and wants to make him the biggest and baddest villain of all.

really? I feel like Bendis has actually made Cyclops a more sympathetic character than he's been in years. But that's just me.

Dictator Summers is the new Magneto, whats not to like/ focus on :p

@oldnightcrawler: Well Bendis is currently making Cyclops smething like Magneto before.Everybody is against current Scott.Wolverine,Captain America,SHIELD,everybody.Cyclops' character is being even further ruined than before currently.

I'd rather Marvel actually write Cyclops, rather than whatever the Hell that thing is wearing the Tron costume.

Also, time, please make a thread that's a bit different. I'm begging you.

see, that's the direction he was going in, and I got pretty sick of that, but I like the direction they've taken him in since AvsX ended.

I see your point, but I disagree. I like the direction his character's taken since leaving Utopia. It's not like how he was before he was on Utopia, but if it was it I think that would be less interesting. And it wouldn't make sense anyway.

@oldnightcrawler: I didn't meant that he should stay on Utopia but before Fraction,Gillen and now Bendis I was just starting to like Cyclops as a character and he was quickly becoming one of my favorites but now he is again a character that is just plain,gets the Bendis treatment and doesn't deliver annything interesting.

Sure, I can get that. I wasn't a fan of Fraction or Gillen's runs either, particularly; and though I am enjoying Bendis' X-men books, I can totally see why his style makes him such a polarizing writer, and that his books don't really seem to be meant for everyone.

I liked the direction that Gillen had placed Cyclops in at the end of Consequences, seriously riling things up and that, getting us prepared for something, but Bendis has crapped all over it. He's just a big attention-seeker. Where, exactly, is this Revolution ? And what, exactly, is he doing for Mutantkind ?