Visorless Cyclops

[Dread]

exactly...you want a more heroic Cyke...then stop writing him as Emma's *****. You want him to be in the forefront then write him in the forefront.....taking away his one iconic image is stupid. Why dont we take away Cap's shield while we are at it

I agree. Actually, one of the things that always gets me is how everyone talks about how much more of a "bad-arse" Cyclops became after he was merged with Apocalypse. The thing that gets me is, I saw the Apocalypse-mergence as an excuse for plenty of writers since to write Cyclops, at least at times, as the "bad arse" he was during the end of the Silver Age.

Confused? Read some of the X-Men stuff post GIANT SIZE #1. Cyclops is the resident leader X-Man, and he's hardcore. When Wolverine gives him too much grief, he BACKHANDS him. If some training situation or psychic bad guy forces Cyclops to spar against his fellow teammates, he often prevailed, even when being piled on by the likes of Colossus, Nightcrawler, Rogue and Wolverine. When Magneto threw the new team a beating, Cyclops was going all "experience/prep time" to hold his own so they could regroup. And so forth and so on.

But then the mid or late 80's happened and Cyclops had time away doingf stuff with X-FACTOR and whatever, and other characters rose in popularity like Storm, Rogue, and especially Wolverine. And by the time the 90's hit full on, Wolverine and other characters led the popularity charts while Cyclops just became the leader-man who pointed at the target in the background. He took a back-seat.

The mergence with Apocalypse gave writers aftwards, like Morrison, Casey, et al an easy excuse to write a more "hardened" Cyclops, when in reality he always was a bit hard and efficient, he'd just spent about 15+ years stepping back so Wolverine, Gambit, etc. could be Mr. Cool without competition. Plus, they fit the "trenchcoat and grit" motif of the 90's.

FYI, Cap also had some trials and tribulations with his shield during the 90's. Anyone remember that hokey "energy shield" he had for a bit?

While I have no allusions that a "visorless Cyclops" would last very long, I do agree with a lot of the criticisms. Without that vulnerability, Cyclops becomes "just another energy shooter". And if one wants to evolve Cyclops, it's the character, not the powers, that do it. Powers are just there to advance the plot. The character him/herself is part of what drives the narrative. In truth I could list a half dozen X-Men with capable, controllable energy powers. But if they don't have clear character distinctions, then they're not worth writing about, they're just names and a trading card bio. But too often when writers want to "advance" someone, they choose the powers. Just look at Spider-Man. Over the past 2 years he's gotten a laundry list of new powers, from claws to enhanced strength to "controlling spiders" and lord knows what else, but has it really advanced the character? Has he even used 'em? Even when Superman was "revamped" in the 90's and got big media attention, what'd they do? Give him new powers and an electro-design.

Many characters in comics or stories in general have that one hook or twist that propells them, and Marvel characters are no exception. Why do we believe this is a bad thing? Thing's rock hide and the issues it gives him sometimes have allowed fans to like him for generations. Lord knows Wolverine's milked the "loner/rebel" thing for years to no one's chagrin. So now why is Cyclops' optic blasts something that needs to go? And if it reverts back to "normal", it always makes one ask, what was the bloody point? It's like with "Armored Spider-Man". Everyone goes, "well, it won't last". To that I ask, "then why string us along? Why not do something that improves the CHARACTER, not what he uses to punch someone out, and work on it, work on it really heard and think it through, so that it IS worth our time?" The visor is Cyclops' schtick, and naturally it's silly to abandon it to just tell all of your enemies about your new status, but whatever.

Hopefully whatever Whedon does with it, it is done well and enjoyably. Because while ASTONISHING X-MEN is still reabable and enjoyable, it's hardly been innovative after the first arc and is at times horribly overrated. I would hope that Whedon does something poingnant and effective with a book that has some of the best art, and the best roster, of the X-Universe.

 

[unstoppable]

Moment of silence for his cool glasses

 

[The Batman]

I agree with Dread.

The Cyclops I remember was alot better than the one today.This guy was a true leader. He was confident too. While everyone else was freaking out that he'd ever DARE to goad Wolverine into a fight, he kept his cool. X-Men trying to kill his ass? He fended them off. He'd even go as far as to sacrifice an X-Man if it meant stopping an enemy. Not to mention, he was much friendlier. Seeing his friendships with Storm, his brother, and the original X-Men were excellent.

But now...he's whipped. He's Headmaster in name only. When a writer wants to show how badass an X-Man is....they verbally own Cyclops. He's incompetant now. The Cyke i know would never have let Sentinels take over the school. The Cyke I know would tell Emma to shut the **** up more often. The Cyke i know actually had people's respect.

 

[MyPokerShirt]

Dread, you're obviously a man who knows his stuff, but don't get me started on the new costume. I assume that's what you meant when you said armoured spider-man (not the old silver thing i remember seeing somehwere!). Well IT'S A PLOT POINT! I know people don't like it but it's the very representation of Spider-Man's loyalty to stark and i think that's a very good idea. That's the point. It doesn't need to last to have a lasting effect. It's part of what's got him unmasked and it's part of what will get a loved one killed.

As for my 2penny 'orth on cyke, I think he'll take more control now Emma's been revealed as "bad" and hopefully more control over his powers will return him to former glories like those you can read on wikipedia. Seriously, take a look at this:
X-Men #112: While infiltrating Genosha with Wolverine, he fires a blast, deflecting it round two corners to take out two waiting enemies. Wolverine later remarked that it was the first time he'd ever seen Cyclops 'showing off'. In the same comic, while battling Magneto, he fires past Magneto (who he had just blasted through a wall), hitting Magneto's fallen helmet, which rebounds and strikes Magneto in the head. In the same comic yet again, he and Wolverine come up against a force of armed guards. Cyclops uses several small blasts to disable the weapon of each one of his enemies before they even fire a shot. Lastly, although it isn't shown on panel, Wolverine recounts a memory in which Cyclops opened a car door-lock using only his blasts.
All bad-ass.

 

[Dread]

I agree with Dread.

The Cyclops I remember was alot better than the one today.This guy was a true leader. He was confident too. While everyone else was freaking out that he'd ever DARE to goad Wolverine into a fight, he kept his cool. X-Men trying to kill his ass? He fended them off. He'd even go as far as to sacrifice an X-Man if it meant stopping an enemy. Not to mention, he was much friendlier. Seeing his friendships with Storm, his brother, and the original X-Men were excellent.

But now...he's whipped. He's Headmaster in name only. When a writer wants to show how badass an X-Man is....they verbally own Cyclops. He's incompetant now. The Cyke i know would never have let Sentinels take over the school. The Cyke I know would tell Emma to shut the **** up more often. The Cyke i know actually had people's respect.

Exactly. When I started getting into comics in the late 80's-early 90's when I was a kid, I didn't care for Cyclops much, usually because he seemed like the stiff "straightman". But after a while when I saw what could be done with him in reprints, in X-MEN EVOLUTION and in Millar's ULTIMATE X-MEN, my appreciation of the character grew almost expotentially.

While Morrison sparked a lot of interest in Cyclops during his run, he also started the trend of linking him to Frost, which subsequent writerse seemed to exaggerate to make Scott sometimes nothing more than her yes-man. Why? Well, Frost is not only hot, but can say the sort of snarky, cool things that you'd expect a 90's rebel X-Woman like Rogue to have said. Cyclops isn't like that most of the time. Whedon actually does write Cyclops' dialogue pretty well most of the time; he wrote this article for WIZARD once about how Scott would view, say, Capt. America and Iron Man and it made a lot of sense. His quote from the early ASTONISHING issues about the news media is also one of the most insightful and honest statements about them I've yet read.

What I felt Cyclops was was a person who was a cabaple and good leader on the field or in a mission, but in the Mighty Marvel Fashion, was less sure and efficient when it came to interpersonal relations, likely because he spent a great deal of his life in an orphanage or on the streets before the X-Men. Furthermore, unlike Xavier, who had a clear agenda and ambition for the X-Men as a philosophy, Cyclops usually excelled as a middle manager. While he didn't always have the imagination of Xavier, he also had some blunt honesty about things that sometimes clashed with Xavier, or agreed when he felt that Xavier was right. However, I usually felt Cyclops would be more willing to lower the hammer on an enemy than Xavier used to be (at least before ULTIMATE X-MEN got hot and Xavier started getting more "creepy"), letting things rip with Apocalypse or Mr. Sinister when they pushed too far. He never had that "old friend" quality against Magneto, he usually just wanted to blast him down.

With Xavier not as big in the mentor field anymore, it would be a better idea if someone was going to try to find out what Scott's vision of the X-Men would be. The early issues of ASTONISHING started on that, with him wanting them to be "superheroes" again (which makes sense as when he started, they were, they fought monsters, aliens and robots same as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers at the time), but after CURE their arcs have taken place inside the Mansion's walls, and not outside. I could see him as a middleground between Magneto's militaristic nihilism and Xavier's "idealism", which the X-Universe desperately needs, IMO.

Power issues come and go, but something more defined to the character can last a lot longer.

Dread, you're obviously a man who knows his stuff, but don't get me started on the new costume. I assume that's what you meant when you said armoured spider-man (not the old silver thing i remember seeing somehwere!). Well IT'S A PLOT POINT! I know people don't like it but it's the very representation of Spider-Man's loyalty to stark and i think that's a very good idea. That's the point. It doesn't need to last to have a lasting effect. It's part of what's got him unmasked and it's part of what will get a loved one killed.

I know it's a plot point. Rather than digressing from the topic I'll say I have my reasons for not being too keen about it, even if I consciously know it has a finite purpose for CW.

 

[hippy fascist]

Exactly. When I started getting into comics in the late 80's-early 90's when I was a kid, I didn't care for Cyclops much, usually because he seemed like the stiff "straightman". But after a while when I saw what could be done with him in reprints, in X-MEN EVOLUTION and in Millar's ULTIMATE X-MEN, my appreciation of the character grew almost expotentially.

Scott was one of the few things I liked about evolution

Nightcrawler was a complete bell-end in it though

 

[The Batman]

Exactly. When I started getting into comics in the late 80's-early 90's when I was a kid, I didn't care for Cyclops much, usually because he seemed like the stiff "straightman". But after a while when I saw what could be done with him in reprints, in X-MEN EVOLUTION and in Millar's ULTIMATE X-MEN, my appreciation of the character grew almost expotentially.

While Morrison sparked a lot of interest in Cyclops during his run, he also started the trend of linking him to Frost, which subsequent writerse seemed to exaggerate to make Scott sometimes nothing more than her yes-man. Why? Well, Frost is not only hot, but can say the sort of snarky, cool things that you'd expect a 90's rebel X-Woman like Rogue to have said. Cyclops isn't like that most of the time. Whedon actually does write Cyclops' dialogue pretty well most of the time; he wrote this article for WIZARD once about how Scott would view, say, Capt. America and Iron Man and it made a lot of sense. His quote from the early ASTONISHING issues about the news media is also one of the most insightful and honest statements about them I've yet read.

What I felt Cyclops was was a person who was a cabaple and good leader on the field or in a mission, but in the Mighty Marvel Fashion, was less sure and efficient when it came to interpersonal relations, likely because he spent a great deal of his life in an orphanage or on the streets before the X-Men. Furthermore, unlike Xavier, who had a clear agenda and ambition for the X-Men as a philosophy, Cyclops usually excelled as a middle manager. While he didn't always have the imagination of Xavier, he also had some blunt honesty about things that sometimes clashed with Xavier, or agreed when he felt that Xavier was right. However, I usually felt Cyclops would be more willing to lower the hammer on an enemy than Xavier used to be (at least before ULTIMATE X-MEN got hot and Xavier started getting more "creepy"), letting things rip with Apocalypse or Mr. Sinister when they pushed too far. He never had that "old friend" quality against Magneto, he usually just wanted to blast him down.

With Xavier not as big in the mentor field anymore, it would be a better idea if someone was going to try to find out what Scott's vision of the X-Men would be. The early issues of ASTONISHING started on that, with him wanting them to be "superheroes" again (which makes sense as when he started, they were, they fought monsters, aliens and robots same as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers at the time), but after CURE their arcs have taken place inside the Mansion's walls, and not outside. I could see him as a middleground between Magneto's militaristic nihilism and Xavier's "idealism", which the X-Universe desperately needs, IMO.

Power issues come and go, but something more defined to the character can last a lot longer.


I know it's a plot point. Rather than digressing from the topic I'll say I have my reasons for not being too keen about it, even if I consciously know it has a finite purpose for CW.

Man oh man, I agree. Now shouldve been the time when cyke STEPPEd up, and proved to everyone that he does have a vision that works.

I've always felt that people misunderstood scott. He isnt nearly as wuss as people like to think. Whedon writes a good cyke, but no one else seems to do that. I guess its because they're not writing the character personally

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Man oh man, I agree. Now shouldve been the time when cyke STEPPEd up, and proved to everyone that he does have a vision that works.

I've always felt that people misunderstood scott. He isnt nearly as wuss as people like to think. Whedon writes a good cyke, but no one else seems to do that. I guess its because they're not writing the character personally

Heh, pun.

 

[The Batman]

Heh, pun.

hahahhaha...I didnt even notice.

 

[Hulkster]

I agree with Dread.

The Cyclops I remember was alot better than the one today.This guy was a true leader. He was confident too. While everyone else was freaking out that he'd ever DARE to goad Wolverine into a fight, he kept his cool. X-Men trying to kill his ass? He fended them off. He'd even go as far as to sacrifice an X-Man if it meant stopping an enemy. Not to mention, he was much friendlier. Seeing his friendships with Storm, his brother, and the original X-Men were excellent.

But now...he's whipped. He's Headmaster in name only. When a writer wants to show how badass an X-Man is....they verbally own Cyclops. He's incompetant now. The Cyke i know would never have let Sentinels take over the school. The Cyke I know would tell Emma to shut the **** up more often. The Cyke i know actually had people's respect.

Yes I remember that too, Cyke is a good fighter and a better leader in the old days, he even fight with Nightcrawler and he can even dodge Wolverine's claws in close combat.

I hope they bring back the old Cyclops we know, and give Cyclops the respect he deserve.

 

[ghost113]

I read somewhere that he has black belts in like threee different forms of martial arts.

 

[Hulkster]

I never heard that, but I know he's really great in hand to hand combat in the early years. I remember him training the other X-men, and they're attacking Cyclops and he can defend himself very well against Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler & Shadowcat.

 

[Sentry2005]

Scott was one of the few things I liked about evolution

Nightcrawler was a complete bell-end in it though

Wolverine was good in it And Gambit

You just don't like cool things

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I read somewhere that he has black belts in like threee different forms of martial arts.

Judo is all I know him to be a black belt in. However he definitly has knowledge of hand to hand. But he interchanges hand to hand with his powers. Judo and more passive attacks seem to be his forte. Not being offensive, but holding the attacker off at enough length so he can use his optic blasts on him. Uncanny X-Men 175 is an excellent example of this, as is a few issues during the Phoenix Saga. One in which he fights Wolverine and uses several obvious Judo manuervers to keep Logan at bay and then nails him with blasts.

 

[ghost113]

I think one was tae kwon doe

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I think one was tae kwon doe

Maybe, but I doubt they've truly mentioned any to be honest.

 

[supermarvelman]

Cyclops should be what Captain America is to Avengers.

 

[Wolverazio]

Cyclops should be what Captain America is to Avengers.

Unless they retconned it, Cyclops spent time training under Capt. (how he learned to do such great trick shots with his blasts...sure he has the power, but the training sharped the blade, so to speak).

 

[Torchd]

On the cover of that issue is cyclops in the new xmen costume(the jacket with the big yellow ) ?

 

[The Dude]

On the cover of that issue is cyclops in the new xmen costume(the jacket with the big yellow ) ?

Thats what it appears to be.

 

[Vanguard07]

Unless they retconned it, Cyclops spent time training under Capt. (how he learned to do such great trick shots with his blasts...sure he has the power, but the training sharped the blade, so to speak).

I find that hard to believe. You got issue numbers to back that?
He got good with his shots because of his enhanced spatial sense and his countless hours training at the xavier institute.

Cap had nothing to do with it.

 

[Exploding Boy]

Doesn't it have something to do with his ******ed 'secondary mutantion'?

 

[Silicon Surfer]

If they ever said that Cyke trained under Cap that was the retcon. Cyke had the richochet trick down cold long before he ever met any of the Avengers. In the early days the X-Men did not know the other heroes very well and none of them except Spidey knew of Xaviers link to the X-Men. Xavier knew Reed on the academic level but did not openly acknowledge his link to the X-Men for years. They barely knew the Avengers to even speak to in costume.

 

[The Geek Vault]

Now that he doesn't have the visor, you can see his two eyes, so it doesn't make sense to call him cyclops... biclops maybe but not cyclops. I hope he gets the visor. Thats his signiture thing like wolvie's claws even none comics fans recognize him from those.

 

[ghost113]

Maybe just call him scott