Scott Summers

"It must burn you up that a boy like me saved your life, huh? Gotta be careful. I might not be there next time. Oh, and Logan, stay away from my girl."

―Scott Summers^[src]

Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops, is a mutant whose eyes constantly emit beams of concussive force. Referred to Charles Xavier's school by his older brother, Alex Summers, Scott was accepted in 1983. He joined the X-Men under the tutelage of Mystique and Beast after helping to defeat En Sabah Nur.

Biography

X-Men: First Class

While Charles Xavier used Cerebro to locate other mutants, a boy with sunglasses and a baseball glove is one of the many he sees.

Original Timeline

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

He is first seen being scolded and sent to detention by his teacher for wearing his protective sunglasses in class. Later, while copying words on a blackboard as punishment, he is attacked by Victor Creed who wants to capture him for William Stryker's mutant experiments. During the chase, Cyclops' sunglasses fall off and his optic blasts damage the school building.

He is finally taken captive and temporarily incapacitated with a carbon blindfold over his eyes, but is soon freed when a vengeful Wolverine attacks Stryker's facility. While escaping, Cyclops makes use of his eye beams to annihilate Stryker's minions, being pointed in the right direction by Emma. He is then guided by the telepathic voice of Professor X who leads him and the other mutants to safety. Outside, he meets Professor X for the first time, and he and the other mutants leave with in the X-Jet.

X-Men

"If they have anything that can pick up our jet, they deserve to catch us."

―Scott Summers^[src]

After years of being taught by Xavier, Summers became leader of his X-Men and a teacher at his school. He also developed a romantic relationship with Jean Grey. Summers and Storm rescued Logan and Rogue from a fire in Logan's caravan and from Sabretooth who had been sent by Magneto, and brought them back to Xavier's school. After properly meeting Logan, the pair had many minor arguments with Logan, usually due Logan's attraction to Jean Grey, but nevertheless Summers effectively led the X-Men to stop Magneto's attempt to turn world leaders into mutants using a device on the Statue of Liberty.

X2: X-Men United

During a school excursion to the museum of natural history shortly after the incident at the Statue of Liberty, Jean told Scott that she felt that something terrible was about to occur. Scott assured Jean that he would not let anything happen to her.

Later, Summers accompanied Charles Xavier to Erik Lehnsherr's plastic prison. While waiting for Xavier, a drugged Yuriko Oyama and her guards attacked Cyclops. Despite his struggles, she knocked him out and took Summers and Xavier to Stryker's facility at Alkali Lake.

After Stryker brainwashes him, he has Summers wait for the X-Men. He found Magneto, Mystique and Jean Grey and he fired his optic blasts but Grey sensed it, pushed Lehnsherr and Darkholme out of the way and told them to go. Grey fought against Summers while attempting to break Stryker's brainwashing and during the struggle, Summers' blasts caused the lake's dam to collapse.

After successfully breaking through Stryker's brainwashing, Summers and Grey escaped from Stryker's facility and entered the Blackbird but the dam had already begun giving way. Jean got out of the jet and seemingly sacrificed her life to stop the water hitting the Blackbird.

X-Men: The Last Stand

"Not everybody heals as fast as you, Logan."

―Scott Summers^[src]

After spending many months mourning Jean's death and unable to cope with his grief, a withdrawn Cyclops returned to Alkali Lake. He heard Jean's voice and begged for it to stop. He then unleashed the full force of his optic blast to make it stop, but out of the water, Jean appeared. She told him to take off his ruby quartz glasses because she could control his powers. When Scott removed his protective lenses, Jean's power neutralized his optic blast and his eyes became normal blue eyes.

However, lacking complete control over the Phoenix, Jean killed him as they kissed. His glasses are found, floating in the air around the lake. His grave was erected next to Jean's and Xavier's.

New Timeline

X-Men: Apocalypse

"Not all of us can control our powers."

―Cyclops^[src]

In an Ohio high school class, the teacher is talking about how the world reacted to mutants in 1973. Scott keeps blinking and has problems with his eyes, but a school jock accuses him of winking at his girlfriend. The teacher asks what is happening, and Scott says that he needs to be excused because he has problems with his eyes. In the bathroom, the jock looks for him, angrily. He pounds on his bathroom stall, and Scott releases optic blasts for the first time, his mutant powers triggered. The jock is hit by the stall door and sent back after the optic blast is released.

At home after the incident, Scott wears a blindfold because without it, he'd release optic blasts. He refuses to talk with his parents and so he is taken to Xavier's School in New York by his older brother, Alex Summers. Upon entering the school, he bumps into Jean Grey, who talks to him telepathically. After this, he is introduced to Xavier, who had just finished giving a lecture.

Hank McCoy and Xavier teach him how to control his optic blasts. After destroying Xavier's favorite tree with an optic blast in target practice, Scott asks if he will be expelled. Xavier tells him that he will be accepted.

After this, Hank gives Scott sunglasses with ruby quartz lens so that he can open his eyes without releasing blasts everywhere. He is able to see Jean for the first time and becomes attracted to her. Scott, Jean, Kurt and Jubilee later go to the movies, seeing Return of the Jedi.

When En Sabah Nur and the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse arrive at Xavier's Mansion, in the Cerebro Room, Alex tries to stop them with a blast when they abduct Xavier. However, he accidentally causes an explosion that destroys the mansion and is killed in the process. Peter uses his super speed to save everyone else, including Scott, when the mansion explodes.Scott looks for Alex and is disappointed to hear that he is dead. William Stryker and his men abduct Hank, Raven, Peter, and Moira, taking them to a military facility for interrogation. Scott, Jean, and Kurt follow covertly. Jean frees Logan, who is then known as Weapon X, a test subject of Stryker. Weapon X kills all of Stryker's soldiers while Scott, Jean, and Kurt free the others. Jean gives Weapon X some of his memories back and he then escapes the facility, running off into the wilderness.

In Egypt, Scott helps the others and fights Ororo. He later fights off En Sabah Nur physically, while Xavier fights him telepathically in the astral plane. Eventually, Jean unleashes her full power to destroy En Sabah Nur, her Phoenix powers manifesting. Angel was killed while Ororo and Magneto had betrayed En Sabah Nur and fought him. Psylocke fled during the battle.

Raven and Hank train Scott, Jean, Kurt, Peter, and Ororo to be the new X-Men members.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Due to Logan traveling back in time and altering the past, Scott and Jean no longer died and are still active within the X-Men.

Character traits

Scott is diligent regarding his duties as the leader of the X-Men, he is very serious and a good leader.

He has a good relationship with the X-Men, and cares about Charles.

He has a dislike of Logan for his obvious attraction to his fiancee, Jean Grey, and more than willing to openly out him for doing so and to pick a fight.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Optic Energy Beams: Cyclops can emit beams of energy from his eyes, that can deliver massive concussive force; the extent and limits of his optic energy beams are unknown.

Abilities

Expert Hand-To-Hand Combatant/Martial Artist: Cyclops is extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. In X-Men 2, he was able to defeat two train prison guards without any difficulty, however, he was quickly defeated by Lady Deathstrike.
Expert Pilot: Cyclops is capable of flying the X-Jet.

Weaknesses

Involuntary Control: Cyclops' powers is involuntary, the only way to stop it is by closing his eyes or by shielding his eyes with ruby-quartz, Cyclops also wears ruby-quartz as lenses in glasses or in his visor, which is generally the only way for him to safely see without inadvertently damaging his surroundings.
Sun: It can be assumed, like his comic counterpart; that Cyclops' powers comes from absorbing the energy of the sun, if he is too below ground, his powers will be suppressed.
Ruby-Quartz: So far, Ruby-Quartz is the only known natural substance that can block Cyclops' optic energy beams without any damage.

Equipment

Visor: Scott wears a visor to control his optic energy beams.
Sunglasses: Scott wears sunglasses that prevents his optic energy beams from destroying everything in sight.
X-Man uniform: Scott wears a protective suit, when he is out on the field in battle.

Relationships

Professor Xavier - Mentor.
Havok - Older brother.
Jean Grey - Fiancee and teammate, enemy (Phoenix).
Storm - Friend and teammate.
Beast - Friend and teammate.
Wolverine - Savior, later Rival and teammate.
Rogue - Student and teammate.
Iceman - Student and teammate.
Colossus - Student and teammate.
Kitty Pryde - Student and teammate.
Nightcrawler - Ally
Magneto - Enemy.
Mystique - Enemy.
Sabretooth - Enemy.
Banshee - Friend and teammate.
Quicksilver - Friend and teammate.
Emma - Friend, Ally and teammate.
Toad - Friend, teammate and ally, turned enemy.
William Stryker - Enemy.
Lady Deathstrike - Enemy.
Pyro - Student turned enemy.

Appearances/Actors

Canon (7 films)
- - X-Men: First Class (Possible Cameo)

- Original timeline (5 films)
  - X-Men Origins: Wolverine (As Scott Summers only) - Tim Pocock
  - X-Men (First appearance) - James Marsden
  - X2: X-Men United - James Marsden
  - X-Men: The Last Stand - James Marsden

- New timeline (2 films)
  - X-Men: Apocalypse - Tye Sheridan
  - X-Men: Days of Future Past - James Marsden

Behind the scenes

Cyclops had very little screen time in The Last Stand due to Marsden's filming of Superman Returns.
Due to Wolverine being portrayed as the main character, Cyclops is relegated as a supporting character in the movies despite being a main character in the comics.
Actor James Marsden wore platform shoes In reality, he is actually under 6' 0", shorter than Famke Janssen who plays his love interest, Jean Grey, and even shorter than Hugh Jackman who played Wolverine.
Tim Picock was unfamilar with the X-Men comics, but watched the X-Men: Evolution cartoon to research what his character would be like at that age.

Trivia

In the comics, due to a brain injury, Cyclops is unable to shut off his optic blasts at will and must therefore wear a visor or glasses with ruby quartz lenses that block the beams.
In the first X-Men film many fans claimed that Cyclops' visor seemed too bulky. As a result they were changed for X2: X-Men United.

Snapshot - 165 — Car with license plate B10-1212

Cyclops's license plate number is B10-1212.
In the comics Scott has a younger brother, Alex Summers aka Havok. While a character named Alex Summers, who uses the alias of Havok, appears in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, his relationship to Scott in the films (if any) has not yet been explored.
In the promotional photos for X-Men: The Last Stand, Cyclops was seen in his X-uniform.