CYCLOPS (X-Factor and Return to the X-Men)

Shortly after the birth of Nathan, it is revealed that Jean is not dead. The Phoenix is revealed to be a cosmic entity who had supplanted Jean, placing her in a healing pod at the bottom of Jamaica Bay, to be eventually revived by the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. Cyclops leaves his wife and son and returns to Jean, although Warren moves in on the now single woman. Jean joins with Cyclops and the other original X-Men as X-Factor, who pose as mutant hunters but in reality are trying to help their genetic brethren. Meanwhile, Pryor goes on to be an assisting member of the X-Men, apparently sacrificing her life during the Fall of the Mutants with her teammates, although she was left with feelings of despair over the loss of Scott, who felt bad himself over the way he had handled the situation.

No longer married, Scott moves on. During an adventure, his teammate Warren, the Angel, loses his wings. Bitter, Angel is transformed by a villain the team recently encountered, immortal mutant Apocalypse, into Death, general of his Horsemen. Iceman manages to bring Warren back, who becomes Archangel.

The demons S'ym and N'astirh corrupt Madelyne's feelings of self-despair, transforming her into the Goblin Queen. Madelyne seeks revenge on Scott for leaving her. When it is revealed that she is a clone created by geneticist Mister Sinister, essentially for the purpose of becoming a brood mare, Madelyne can't take it any more and kills herself. Scott seemingly kills Sinister with an optic blast, and pursues a romance with Jean, reclaiming his son. Scott soon learns that Mister Sinister ran the orphanage in which Scott was raised, and battled Sinister over this.

Shortly after the X-Tinction Agenda, Scott reencounters Apocalypse, who infects Nathan with a techno-organic virus. Although Scott saves his son with the help of his fellow teammates and through the combined strength of Nathan, Jean, and himself defeats Apocalypse, he was unable to save his son from the fatal infection. Distraught, Scott sends his son into the future where he can be cured.

Next, Xavier's psionic enemy, Shadow King, returns to combat the X-Men and X-Factor. After his defeat, Cyclops and X-Factor rejoin the X-Men team, and Scott is named leader of a newly created "Blue Team".

After Cyclops' return as field leader, much of the Blue team is kidnapped by Omega Red and the ninjas of The Hand. After the captured teammates' rescue, Mr. Sinister sends Caliban, a former X-Factor member, to kidnap Cyclops and Jean for Stryfe, a madman and rival to Cable, both time-lost mutants. Stryfe tells the two that he is Nathan, sent to the future and abandoned. In a fight, Cable and Stryfe apparently die. Afterwards, the team battles Omega Red again, and fellow teammate and telepath Psylocke tries to lure Cyclops into an affair behind Jean's back. Ultimately, however, Cyclops remains with Jean. Cable returns as well and reveals to Cyclops that he is the real Nathan Christopher Summers.


Scott Summers and Jean Grey finally marry. During their honeymoon, they are brought into the future where they raise Cable for the first 12 years of his life during The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix miniseries. After helping Cable defeat the future version of Apocalypse, they are sent back to the past. At the request of Rachel Summers, Jean assumes the Phoenix identity. Mister Sinister, involved with the machinations of Apocalypse and Stryfe and still alive, tells Cyclops that there is another Summers brother, and leaves him wondering.

As Cyclops deals with the fact that his son is now old enough to be his father, the X-Men are forced to battle their mentor when Professor Xavier is transformed into the evil Onslaught as a result of mind-wiping Magneto. Although the X-Men defeat the evil entity and free Xavier, most of Earth's heroes are lost for a time. Xavier, who is left powerless after Onslaught's defeat, is arrested for his part, leaving Scott and Jean as leaders and co-headmasters of the school.

Cyclops (Scott Summers) is a fictional character, a superhero who is the leader of the X-Men in the Marvel Comics Universe. A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes (an "optic blast"). In uniform, he wears a battle visor with a single, ruby-quartz lens running eye-to-eye; the resulting one-eyed appearance is why he is codenamed "Cyclops."

Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in The X-Men #1 (September 1963). Originally dubbed Slim Summers, by X-Men #3 his name was changed to Scott—Slim became just a nickname. Scott is the first X-Man recruited by Professor Charles Xavier; Xavier hand-picks Scott to lead his X-Men, and to carry on the legacy of his mutant-human-harmony ideals. Xavier views Scott as one of his most prized pupils; their relationship exhibits father/son qualities. From time to time Scott's extreme loyalty to Xavier has cost him dearly in his relationships with others; but, over the course of the characters' publication history, he eventually emerges from Xavier's shadow as the X-Men's undisputed leader.

Cyclops is most often portrayed as the archetypal hero of traditional American popular culture—the opposite of the tough, anti-authority, antiheroes that emerged in American popular culture after the Vietnam War (e.g., Wolverine, his X-Men teammate). Selfless, self-disciplined, and ethical, Cyclops also possesses tremendous leadership abilities, and great tactical and strategic skills.