Recently people have been asking which character was right. Does it have to be either or though? This isn't the dilemma that Magneto and Xavier faced. Cyclops isn't going to be attacking Cape Canaveral in the first issue of Wolverine and The X-men.

There are less than 200 mutants left, Cyclops is the leader of all of them. Their island nation has fended off attacked Celestial agents, Human extremists and a reality warper's breakdown. Cyclop's sole focus is making sure those 200 mutants have a tomorrow to live for.

On the flip side, Wolverine joined the X-men in its golden days, he was the outsider looking in on the dream Xavier was trying build. It was something unobtainable for him personally, but the chance to finally have a future where more people like him aren't around is very tempting. 200 mutants left, many of them young kids, Wolverine is looking at them through the glass of his own past (recent and distant). He doesn't want more mutant soldiers, he wants people who happen to be mutants in the future. He wants Xavier's dream.

Without Cyclop's protection, it's pretty obvious mutants would have been hunted down after M-day and wiped out. His sole focus as leader of all the mutants, is to keep them alive. As it should be, I don't agree with Beast's notion of extinction with dignity, and I don't imagine most people do either. So Cyclops isn't wrong for wanting to keep as many mutants alive as possible, they're his people, his race and he's not going around blowing up innocent people to do it.

Yet! Wolverine asks a very important question, through his actions, Cyclops is protecting their future, what future is Cyclops protecting though? We've yet to see any of the students being taught, we haven't seen anyone really acting like a teacher or a professor. They're just fighting from one crisis to another, nothing really long term. Small tangent, Utopia is a nation right? What's its economy? Anyone? Anyone at all? Wolverine wants these mutant kids to have a future, to be on equal socio-economic terms as other humans.

So while Cyclops is protecting their future, Wolverine is trying to cultivate their dreams. Nothing about that is mutually exclusive. This isn't the Magneto/Xavier split, this is something wholly their own. Cyclops needs Wolverine to make the institute to validate his protection of mutantkind, and Wolverine needs Cyclops to protect mutantkind to make sure that the institute will have kids to attend it.

I smell another Marvel event.

Wow....you brokke it up perfectly Bravo on an excellent analysis

@TheCrowbar: You are absolutely correct as far as I'm concerned. Well said I hope lots of people read this.

@TheCrowbar: I really like the way you break it down logically. And the reminder that Wolverine has been the rebel outsider for many years, therefore it is unusual for him to be leading a group of kids. Especially when you consider that he's about 150-200 years older than Cyclops, with a rep for cutting people up. The guy who cut out the cigarettes and chopped up the bodies whill be setting an example for the impressionable student body?

To be honest, I don't agree with either side. Cyclops' idea of "lets all huddle together on a rock waiting to be nuked" and Wolverine's idea of "slice first, ask questions later" shouldn't be the only options. I'm stick with X-Factor, which doesn't rely on creaking morality. But for my X-Men, I'd rather see someone like Storm taking charge like she used to in the 80's & 90's; leading from the front and pushing herself to the same standards that she expects of others... and looking fabulous while she does it.

@Iron_Turtle said:

I smell another Marvel event.

Please don't talk like that... Even in Jest... Quesada or Claremont could be watching and get ideas! :-)

@xerox_kitty: . But for my X-Men, I'd rather see someone like Storm taking charge like she used to in the 80's & 90's; leading from the front and pushing herself to the same standards that she expects of others... and looking fabulous while she does it.

They day Wolverine starts wearing thigh high boots and thongs, I quit Marvel altogether... Although, to be fair, I'm not saying he wouldn't be "pretty" in that getup...But there are SOME things hairy Canadians should just never wear.

@TheCrowbar: Thank you!

This absolutely is not a situation where one side or the other is clearly right... They were both right, and they were both wrong....

As for what the economy of Utopia is... Well... We have to think about things like what are their wealth or resources? What kinds of goods and services do they provide? What is their currency?

Hmmm... Emma sleeps with Scott and has the best room on the rock (island.) So, maybe sex is a form a currency there? Wolverine doesn't sleep with Scot and he has a room with no furniture and a bed that is little more than a mattress on the floor...

During Nation X Loa had to threaten to dissolve Thunderbird's heart before he would let her have ice cream.... Maybe they trade in violence?

Okay... so forget goods and services.. Maybe we could just consider their wealth and resources... Um.... They have lots of.. rock... And Iron.... Of course, if they start selling that, then they won't have an "island" to live on.... OH! I got it! They have Warren Worthington's credit card! There, problem solved...

@Timandm: Great... now I'm gonna have hairy spandex inspired nightmares. Thanks! ;)

@xerox_kitty said:

@Timandm: Great... now I'm gonna have hairy spandex inspired nightmares. Thanks! ;)

Well, at least now you can't say I never gave you anything... Do try to remember me at Christmas...

@TheCrowbar said:

@Timandm: This is what pisses me off a bit. Warren is such an amazing character, the whole 3 seconds they give him he always shines. He's that quiet pillar of the X-men, above the politics of it all and just caring about the people around him and protecting everyone. It's why I think Warren has to die in X-force, if he was around it would be his time to shine. That being said, Warren is about to die, what's utopia's economy then? I'm honestly thinking they sell security services to San Fransico and California. But there's no formal education system on Utopia, there's no industrial economy...on that same token...what is the Altanean economy?

Warren's about to die? Again? WTS???

NO NO NO NO no no no... No... Clearly, you, and everyone else who "believe" that have been mentally smurfed with... Um... And convinced to believe an UGLY lie...

But... Seriously? He's going to die? I believe it was Socrates who first said, "What the hell?" Although, that could have been Sophocles because I often get them confused...

So, that's how they prevent him from becoming Apocalypse? sigh... It would explain why he doesn't seem to be in any of the spoilers or previews...

OH CRUD!!!! People have been wondering where Wolverine will get the money to rebuild the school... So... Warren leaves everything to Wolverine?

AND of course, Betsy gets yet another upgrade... He's making her his guardian and successor... Which, I assume, means that if he dies SHE is the next to become apocalypse...

In which case:

1: Wolverine has the money to rebuild Utopia.

2: Betsy becomes very powerful.

3: Utopia has no economy and... the U X-Men (Utopian X-Men. I just came up with that.) have to start taking odd jobs to make ends meet...

• Cyclops and Juggernaut become a precision demolition company.
• Emma becomes a high priced 'escort' who never actually 'dates' her clients...She just makes them think she did...
• Namor begins selling his own line of 'dolphin free' fish products...
• Madison Jeffries begins restoring antique cars (as well as opens a counseling service for unstable machines.)
• Cypher writes new software that replaces DOS and Windows... He becomes richer than Bill Gates... (Problem pretty much solved here.)
• Magneto does what you said... He begins selling "security" to San Fran... Every month they pay him...um... ONE MILLION DOLLARS, and there won't be an earthquake that would basically send San Fran into the ocean... Cyclops pretends not to notice...

Sseriously though, they have NO economy... If they no longer have Warren's credit card, I suppose they can fall back on Professor X's and Emma's. The prof and Emma are actually wealthy... If Hellion stays with Cyclops, which makes no sense to me, perhaps he will 'mysteriously' be UN-cutoff from his family's fortune...

But.. WHAT IF... They actually decide to start using their abilities to generate an income?

• Bling fires off diamonds, doesn't she? Even if they're not perfect, they would still be valuable... Like the artificial diamonds that are manufactured and used for drilling and what not...
• A telepath could make a fortune gambling.
• Cypher could easily play the stock market as a day time trader. And he has to be the best computer programmer on the planet.. He COULD replace DOS and Windows...

I'm reminded of something The Punisher once did. It was long ago, I can't remember the name of the story arc, but he basically went after a South American drug lord. He began by taking down a crack house and find out who sold the drugs to them... He TOOK THEIR CASH, and then went after the seller. He worked his way up the chain but used the money he took from the criminals to finance his operations... So, why not??? The X-Men know the hellfire club was behind the Schism event... Go after them AND their wealth... Now, we know that Thunderbird found most the hellfire club members dead, but they're not ALL dead.. No way.. Follow the trail and take the wealth from the hellfire club...

As far as their "education" system goes... Telepathy... Just as they train the X-Men to fly the blackbird and speak multiple languages using telepathy... They just... get Emma-fied...

But regardless... Utopia is NOT a nation and it never will be...

@TheCrowbar: In the overall scheme of things, it doesn't really matter because there's going to be an "X-Men Reunited" event within the next couple of years.

@TheCrowbar: No... But for some reason it just didn't dawn on me...

On the flip side, Wolverine joined the X-men in its golden days, he was the outsider looking in on the dream Xavier was trying build. It was something unobtainable for him personally, but the chance to finally have a future where more people like him aren't around is very tempting. 200 mutants left, many of them young kids, Wolverine is looking at them through the glass of his own past (recent and distant). He doesn't want more mutant soldiers, he wants people who happen to be mutants in the future. He wants Xavier's dream.

@TheCrowbar: Nice break down, very concise and well put!

If you read this article you'll see Cyclops has a plan and that Utopia will be more than just fort and they'll be doing more than just fighting.... Its actually pretty cool.

http://marvel.com/news/story/16785/uncanny_regenesis

@TheCrowbar: Actually with Wanda out there repowering mutants they'll most likely be back up to a reasonable number soon

@TheCrowbar: Dude. You totally just verbalized my entire hangup on how much Marvel has been talking about this as a GIANT ASS SPLIT RARAARAR. This isnt Magneto and Xavier at all. The two characters have grown to have immense respect for each other over the years and it isn't going to die over night. They are both protecting the future of mutant kind the way they know best and neither of them is going genocidal on humanity in the process.

@TheCrowbar: Actually with Wanda out there repowering mutants they'll most likely be back up to a reasonable number soon

@TheCrowbar: So he could potentially make himself an army of mutants which would be cool

@rawr: I agree whole heartedly. It gets annoy too how people keep bashing cyke. A lot of people just don't seem to get his character.

@irascendedlolkitten: There is old Cyke from the 60s/70s/80s who was conflicted and broody because he was worried about hurting others and was terrible at expressing his feelings because he grew up alone in an orphanage and has the weirdest family ever. Also a lot of exposition for Cyclops never actually CAME from Cyclops but from Jean or Xavier talking about him and what he must be thinking. We lost that somewhere along the way and it was not good.

Since The New X-Men (and Grant Morrison) Cyke has been given what could be interpreted as extra injections of douchebaggery. At his core he is a character who feels like he is responsible for every single loss and thats why he distances himself... making him seem even more of a jerk. Then when people expect him to be a leader and he does what he thinks his best... people call him a jerk. It has always been a lose lose situation for Cyke. In Regenesis I think they let him vocalize a little more and remind us why he is who he is but I am hoping that in the new Uncanny run we get to see more of that.

Its like the OP said, Cyke wants to protect mutantkind and Wolverine wants to teach mutantkind. The ideas are in no way mutually exclusive as a lot of the PR going into this entire thing has been making it out to be. Its Blue/Gold teams all over again and by sometime next year there will be a rainbow bridge or yet another EVENT to drive us all mad.

@rawr:

Yeah and where getting a new writer too. Though I don't think cyke is making an mutant army as of such. I liked him alot in the more recent comics and liked the dynamic of the group (especially beasts new look. ) Its funny I just get into x-men last week lol. Its sad that beast has left him. I guess part of why I get it is that my other big fandom now and before this was stargate sg1. Makes me feel sorry for cyke when it seems like leading a team of mutants is like hearding cats. I mean it was a shock when jack to one of his team to shut up lol.

@irascendedlolkitten: SG1 mmm delicious. Welcome to X-Men where the motto is "its complicated" for about everything. However you are at a great jumping off point and I am always ready to welcome another to the "Cyke is misunderstood and awesome" club.

@joshmightbe: I for one could always use more mutants. Weird ones. Go crazy new writers! There is about 8 titles to fill and they need more than Sentinels to punch.