I will post in this thread if i feel like it. This is not the "I have my tongue stuck up Cyclops' rectum" thread. This is a thread in which matter Cyclopean are discussed.
Just as the Halle thread includes more than its fair share of negativity, then this thread may also attract negativity too.
I am a fan of Cyclops, for your information. So don't waltz into here from some other non-X-Men thread and try to tell me, who has been reading X-Men for 30 years, what I am and am not a fan of, thanks.
In the comics, Jean appears to die and immediately returns as Phoenix, being temporarily defeated by Xavier in a psi-battle, and later killing herself in a self-sacrifice when she realised her power and its dark side could not be contained. This was followed by a special issue in which a memorial service was held with Cyclops reflecting back on the X-Men's long history (a great way to catch up with the story of the X-Men) and leaving the team.
As a fan of X-Men, I know this. Do you? Well, the point is that the movies are loosely following the comicbook storyline. Cyclops leaves, Storm takes over the team. The difference in the movies is that Jean's return as Phoenix is not immediate, so the memorial service appears to be being held after her first death, not the self-sacrifice.
In the comics, Phoenix was tipped over the edge into Dark Phoenix by mind tampering caused by Emma Frost and the illusionist Mastermind (who became Mutant 143 in X2, and was killed). She briefly gained her sanity when Cyclops was attacked.
The Phoenix Saga is so-called for a good reason - it is lengthy, involved and fantastical, covering many many issues and huge, surreal twists and turns. A 2hr movies does not have the same luxury of time.
Thus in the movies, we aren't getting the convoluted series of events that led to Dark Phoenix.
I very much doubt you will see any of the main X3 characters in a future X-movie. That would be years away and actors age, retire, commit to other projects, die, etc. That is part of the reasoning for the deaths.
A second part is Marsden's decision to star in a rival franchise, which seems to have pissed off Fox, although we have no direct substantiation of this. It now seems his filming schedule won't clash, but we have no direct confirmation of that either.
The third part is that the movie version of events requires more resolution, for events to be less convoluted, to be more definite. Once you have a woman return from death as a superpowered cosmic 'goddess' in a reality-grounded sci-fi movie, there is one obvious route - her self-sacrifice. There is nowhere else to take the character.
This in turn throws questions over Cyclops. After she is gone, what happens to him? Does he walk off, as in the comics (which sparked a whole new series of bizarre twists involving cloning)? That probably seems a bit lame and not very definite for the final part of the trilogy.
We also need a reason for Jean to have become the equivalent of 'Dark Phoenix'. The Mastermind character died in X2 so mentally projected illusions to drive her insane are out of the question. We also need a reason for Jean to tackle Xavier in an insane rage. What better way than for her to accidentally destroy her lover (while trying to hold back his optic blasts and see his face) and find out that her lack of control over her abilities is all down to Charles Xavier.
I know it's all controversial, and it's not exactly like the comicbook, but that doesn't make it wrong. And i can see why the arguments point towards Cyclops' death happening. They may change their mind, it may not happen, and I am not hysterical about it either way, but i am merely saying that i can see the logic, however perverse it may seem to fans of the character or for those who cannot diffferentiate between finite movies and infinite comics.
