Cyclops Officially Debuts Matching Team Costume as X-Force’s New Leader

Scott Summers’ Cyclops has a brand-new costume, as the X-Men‘s longtime leader launches his own deadly X-Force roster. While X-Force have answered to the Summers Family patriarch before, he’s never actually been part of the team. That’s no longer true, but it takes a huge loss to get him there.

X-Men‘s Cyclops has undergone a major renaissance over the last two decades, going from the team’s stern straight man to perhaps the franchise’s most beloved hero, fending off species-wide extinction multiple times, and proving he’s potentially the best leader and tactician in Marvel lore.

It’s therefore not surprising that Cyclops is starring in a number of comics at the moment, including his own solo series Cyclops as well as team books X-Men United and X-Men. He’s also the focus of the recent What If…? Uncanny X-Men, which reimagines his darkest moment…

What If…? Transforms Cyclops Into X-Force’s Leader

In What If…? Uncanny X-Men #1 – from Gerry Duggan, Jan Bazaldua, Arthur Hesli and Clayton Cowles – fans discover what would have happened if Scott had stayed with Madelyne Pryor way back in 1986. In this new timeline, Madelyne survived the events of Inferno, and Scott chooses to leave the X-Men to raise their child together.

The family become a superhero team, avoiding Apocalypse infecting Nathan Summers with a Techno-Organic virus, and thus the need to send him into the future to become ‘Cable.’ Sadly, without Cyclops to lead them, the X-Men are killed in an attack orchestrated by Mister Sinister. Losing Madelyne, Cyclops recruits an X-Force roster to take revenge.

As part of X-Force – along with Wolverine, Domino, Colossus and Nathan – Cyclops wears a black and white costume with a single shoulder pauldron. His visor is far more tech-based, with a red symbol in the center. In this story, Scott loses his eyes during Sinister’s attack, and his visor allows him to see and to channel his kinetic blasts into his gun.

Sadly, the timeline ends in tragedy. Not only does Cyclops eventually lose Nate to X-Force’s lethal missions, but his campaign against the extra-dimensional Arakki mutants results in a nuclear exchange that destroys the world.

Cyclops’ Darkest Moment Has a Brand New Meaning

For decades, fans have criticized Cyclops for leaving Madelyne and their newborn son to be with the returned Jean Grey. However, this What If? story establishes that if he’d stayed, it would have ended with the entire world paying the price.

Recent comics have attempted a soft retcon on this decision, with the recent Giant-Size X-Men #2 revealing that the Phoenix’s cosmic power has bound Cyclops and Jean Grey together, ensuring they’re never apart for long.

While the moral aspects of Scott’s decisions are set in stone, it’s something of a game changer that his most selfish decision was both motivated by a cosmic god and avoided a nuclear apocalypse.

​​​​​​​The Summers Family Are X-Men’s Best Non-Team

One of the coolest aspects of this What If? story is seeing Cyclops’ superhero career without the X-Men. The story details how Madelyne, Nathan and Scott become their own team, called the House of X. As a family unit, they’re more trusted than the X-Men, and combine the X-Men’s greatest tactical mind with a psychic powerhouse.

It’s a sadly mostly ignored facet of X-Men lore that the Summers family is big enough to comprise its own hero team. During the early days of the Krakoan era, Jonathan Hickman’s ‘Reign of X’ era of X-Men comics focused exclusively on Cyclops’ family, teaming him with son Cable, daughter Prestige, brother Vulcan and more.

Given Cyclops’ current popularity, it would be great to see Marvel dedicate a comic series to the sprawling Summers family, with What If…? Uncanny X-Men showing they work perfectly well as a team. With time-traveling son Cable, space-faring father Corsair, and alt-future daughter Ruby Summers, there are countless storylines available, while Mister Sinister’s interest in Cyclops’ DNA gives them a natural recurring villain.

X-Men fans just saw the dark path Cyclops could have taken if just one decision had been different, but at least in joining X-Force, he got an awesome redesign in the process.

What If…? Uncanny X-Men #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.

Movie(s)

X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

First Film

X-Men (2000)

TV Show(s)

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men ’97 (2024)

Character(s)

Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23

Video Game(s)

X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)

Comic Release Date

213035,212968

The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.