Because Dread makes all these longwinded rants about Cyclops because Cyclops is his pet character. He can't stand that the show is doing something different and they are doing something different but still VALID with Cyclops considering the history of Cyclops.
That isn't why I have taken issue with bits of this episode, and I think I have made that very clear. X-MEN EVOLUTION was about as "different" from the 90's X-Men series as well as from the comics as one could imagine and I still greatly enjoyed that. BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD is a far contrast from most Batman cartoons of the past 15 years and that's good fun. Even SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN or the 2k3 TMNT took some liberties with new ideas and that wasn't a deal breaker. It is not a fear of change that plagues me.
A new idea has to work in terms of the show itself and the characters as presented in it. I simply feel that a version of Cyclops here as depicted does not benefit the audience or the show itself as if it had been handled better. Had the episode depicted a Cyclops who had fallen from grace, who used to be some kind of decent and capable leader until he lost Jean and Xavier in the pilot, that would have worked out far better than walking human psychosis and black hole of potential that he has been revealed as. A Scott in this show who was a "Never Was", who was never any kind of competent leader or X-Man, who failed time and again without needing to be coddled by others, and who at the slightest provocation becomes petty, cowardly, vengeful, and selfish does the show, or Wolverine, no favors. He does not have a rivalry in Cyclops, because Logan is now clearly the better man and X-Man, without question or competition. Now any argument they have has a decided outcome; Scott is truly a useless jerk, so Logan is usually right to call him on it. I truly don't know how many times I can present my point about my dissatisfaction.
The show's writers have clearly chosen to take Scott's worst character flaws from the comics and present them as a vital, perennial aspect of his character. It may be easy to understand him now that we know his backstory, but it is not easy to sympathize with the X-Man who has been presented here. He is a coward. He is selfish. He is obsessive and needy, to the point of psychotic obsession. He is incompetent and needs to be emotionally back-rubbed at the slightest drawback or inconvenience. The show's premise was that Logan was forced to fill the role that Cyclops one held, because Cyclops had been crippled by grief. This episode basically says that didn't occur, because there was no role for Logan to fill; it has been vacant since the school was founded, and Cyclops was never fit for it. The show's premise was supposed to be Wolverine forced by circumstance to become the ideal X-Man because the other prime candidate was in turmoil; now we see that there WAS no other prime candidate, because Cyclops was insufficient for the role even WITH Jean, and so therefore Logan is overcoming no prior role model to take his position. He is simply filling a seat that was left open for him.
Cyclops may be the opposite of Wolverine in this show, but so is Sabretooth. In this show, Wolverine is selfless, in control of his temper at most times, tactical, self-aware, determined, confident, and level headed. Cyclops is selfish, reckless, petty, jealous, obsessive, incompetent, and has no self esteem. At first we thought he was like this by losing Jean; now we learn that he was ALWAYS like this, often even WITH Jean, and so now there is no hope. Wolverine honors promises made to woman; Scott uses them for his own needs. Wolverine would NEVER attack ANYONE from the back. This episode revealed that Scott had been exploiting Logan's honor to land cheap shots against him at least once or twice. Wolverine is never rattled; Cyclops is always rattled. And so on.
This show sought to have conflict between the two characters with Wolverine perhaps trying to fill Scott's shoes, or with both men seeing who is the better X-Man. After this episode, there is no rivalry. Logan is clearly the better man in every way possible that any comparison is fruitless. It is like choosing who would be a better leader of the Justice League; Batman or Mad Hatter.
My problem with all this is not that it is different. My problem with this is that this does not best serve the premise of the show, and simplifies character dynamics that would be more interesting for all involved if they were more complex and not as cut and dry. This show needs Cyclops to be a sympathetic character to get tension out of him, and they have failed in my eyes with the turns in the latter third of the episode. They also needed Cyclops to have a past history of competence so we can realize what a contrast he now is acting as, but we do not have that; he was ALWAYS an incompetent, emotional wretch. The show needed a genuine rivalry between the two where the audience may even be split in a way; instead we have a clear pattern of Wolverine = Superior, Cyclops = Inferior. Perhaps it was a failed experiment, but I do not feel the show is better for it. Characters are not usually better for being dismissed, and shows are not usually better when the resolution of any conflict between them is mapped in advance and clear. Had the situation been less cut and dry, handled differently, the show would be more complex, and deep. With some characters, like Archangel, the show has succeeded. With Cyclops, they have now utterly failed.
You disagree, and that is fine.
As for the "it was in the comics" angle, all characters have had periods in the comics where they have been unsympathetic; however, those runs are usually blips on the radar and they are not usually the best runs to emulate and to consider "the heart of the character at all times". In some 90's comics, Spider-Man was so obsessed with his crusade that his sanity splintered, he referred to himself in third person, and he hit MJ. This is fully documented and one could get out issue numbers and everything. Yet if a show decided to establish Peter Parker as a character as a life long abuser or women based on this episode, most would find it as ill suited for a Spider-Man show, even if it has comic context. Wolverine has had long stretches of time in the comics where he was a savage fighter, killing even the most minor of minions for no reason; where he used borderline ethnic slurs constantly ("Irish", "Russkie", "Redskin"), where he viciously attacked any ally who mocked him in any way, and where he rebelled against all authority. Yet these depictions would not suit this show's version of Wolverine, and have been omitted. They would not fit in with the tone of the show, and if used the show would likely be weaker and more chaotic; a Logan with NO HOPE of EVER being a competent leader would be equally boring as a Cyclops who was so inefficient that he left no void to fill, just an empty unclaimed seat. Writing Wolverine from his worst points would not be good, either. It would be simplistic and boring, hurting the show overall.
You are free to disagree, and if you want to just dismiss all of my points as mere bias or fear of change, I can't stop you.
In conclusion, yes, my criticisms of this episode were harsh. The episode let me down. I was genuinely all ready to like it. I counted down the hours practically until I could watch it. It is just a shame they chose the tracts they did for it. I don't believe they were helpful or necessary.
To end the post on a positive note, the worse Cyclops looks, in some ways the better (or more desperate) Emma Frost seems in reaching out to him. Now
here is a character who is genuinely sympathetic.
