The fate of Cyclops
By Avengers_4everXX 7 Comments
I have some thoughts I would like to share about the direction Marvel has chosen to take Cyclops in recently. Cyclops was once one of my favorite X-men. To my younger self, Cyclops was the epitome of leadership. He was someone that I aspired to be like. Unfortunately, ever since Messiah Complex, Marvel has been progressively turning Cyclops into more and more of a complete and utter douche bag He was supposed to be the heir to Professor Xavier's legacy, but now it seems as though he has become more of Magneto's protege, and it disappoints me. I find it deplorable that Cyclops isn't still in prison. Possessed by the Phoenix Force or not, he did some messed up stuff during AvX. He murdered Professor Xavier, one of the foremost leaders of the mutant race, in cold blood. What kind of message does it send that he's already out of prison? Yes, I know comic book readers are mostly adults, but younger kids do read these books and they do look to superheroes as a moral compass and I think it sends the complete wrong message to them that Cyclops isn't being punished for his actions. Most of you probably know this, but during the original Phoenix/Dark Phoenix saga, the original ending of the story involved Jean being permanently depowered and going home with the X-Men. Upon seeing this, and upon learning that Jean destroys an inhabited star system, Jim Shooter, who was on the editorial staff, found the ending unacceptable from a storytelling standpoint and from a moral standpoint. He and X-Men writer Chris Claremont had a heated debate over the story and the repercussions of Jean's actions, which lead to them agreeing to break an in-house rule at Marvel that said main characters were not to be killed off permanently. So the ending to the story was changed so that Jean committed suicide due to her actions, and she was supposed to be dead permanently. Obviously this did not stick, only because up and coming writer Kurt Busiek thought of a way to bring Jean back while also absolving her of the atrocities she committed as the Phoenix. Should we not hold Cyclops to the same standard? Clearly he shouldn't have to commit suicide, as he only killed one man, not an entire galaxy. But why is it acceptable now for him to not be imprisoned, when thirty years ago, when the Phoenix was first introduced, it was not acceptable for Jean to even be alive after what she had done? Does it have to do more with the characters involved, the circumstances, or maybe even the gender of the "villain"? Or is it simply an unfortunate result of the desensitizing of the American people? It doesn't really even make sense from a storytelling standpoint. With the five original X-men coming to the present day in New X-Men, there will be an active Cyclops out there anyway, so is it really so unreasonable to expect Cyclops to suffer the consequences of his actions?
7 Comments