Scott Summers is easily one of the most recognizable characters out of all the other X-Men. Typically depicted as the leader, Cyclops is one of the earliest members of the team and also one of the more important ones. However, fans of the X-Men tend to be divided on their thoughts towards the character. Some love him for his valiant leadership and take charge attitude, while others hate him for many of his personal choices and actions. Regardless of people’s opinions towards the character, he has definitely had some darker moments and made some sketchy decisions over the years. To look into some of those rockier moments in Cyclops’ history, here is our list of 10 times where he was the true villain of the series.
10 His Relationship With His Teammates
Over the years, on several occasions, Scott has used his rude mannerisms and passed them off as being a “tough leader.” Especially after the launch of Giant-Size X-Men #1, Scott began to head down a drastically different and darker road.
He would constantly get on to those who annoyed him or questioned him. He would also flaunt his leadership position about just to remind people who was really in charge and the like. Despite being the poster child for the X-Men, Cyclops certainly had quite the ego throughout his time with the X-Men.
9 Madelyne Pryor
Scott’s entire relationship with Madelyne was doomed from the start. The two initially got together due to Scott’s loss of his long-time love interest, Jean Grey. Madelyne happened to bear a striking resemblance to Jean, and Scott began projecting his feelings onto her. Eventually, the two would even get married and have a son together.
Upon learning that Jean is still alive, however, Scott immediately abandons his family and rejoins the X-Men under the new X-Factor team. Though it’s understandable that Scott would experience a whole new wave of emotions, the fact that he completely abandoned his family without hesitation really doesn’t bode well for someone who’s supposed to be the shining example of an X-Man.
8 His Relationship With Other Women
Jean Grey has died or been presumed dead many times throughout X-Men history. Every time she seems to die though, Scott seems to head straight for another woman. This was the case with Madelyne Pryor, though it wouldn’t be the only time. Scott also hooked up with two other women, two separate times when Jean had “died.”
Scott has passed this behavior off as him grieving, yet it doesn’t quite come across like that especially when the supposed love of his life has been dead for less than a day. Instead, Scott seems to display a lack of remorse for a loved one, which is a personality trait that a villain would likely also possess.
7 X-Force
A few years back, Cyclops actually assembled one of the many iterations of the X-Force team. X-Force has always been a darker, more violent approach to the X-Men and the team usually operates covertly. However, being assembled by the golden boy of the X-Men showed a significantly darker side to Cyclop’s character that would become more apparent in years to come.
By directly establishing his own version of X-Force, Cyclops actively and knowingly set out to do extreme harm to various anti-mutant groups. Furthermore, he hand-picked X-23, who was around 13 at the time, to be a member of his X-Force. Cyclops had no issue putting a very young girl on an incredibly brutal team. While he may have meant good in the long run, he certainly didn’t check his morals when he assembled this group.
6 Attacked the Avengers
The popular story, Avengers vs X-Men, or AVX for short, saw the two teams battle each other over how to handle the upcoming return of the Phoenix Force. Those familiar with X-Men history know that the Phoenix Force is a powerful cosmic essence that is mostly responsible for the death of Jean Grey.
When it was apparent that the Force would be returning, both groups sought to handle the crisis in their own way, resulting in a clash of ideals. From there, Cyclops would lead a devastating assault against the Avengers, despite both sides attempting to retain peace. Thus, the conflict escalated to the point where both mutants and Avengers were at each other’s throats.
5 Organized an attack on the Inhumans
Shortly before his death in Death of X, Cyclops was actively searching for a way to put an end to the Terrigen cloud. This cloud served as the catalyst for Inhumans and activated whatever superpower they had subdued in their DNA. However, this could was also toxic to mutants and killed them upon exposure.
While Cyclops was only attempting to protect his own, his attempted assault on the Terrigen cloud was very drastic and extreme. Much like Magneto, Cyclops had a very misguided sense of justice in this case. Due to his actions, Cyclops himself would perish due to his exposure to the cloud. He would also start a war between the X-Men and Inhumans shortly after, making for one of his biggest blunders in history.
4 Cheated On Jean Grey
One of Scott’s most famous acts is in how he cheated on his wife. Following a marriage to his teammate, Jean Grey, the two would come to live a fairly happy life and have children of their own. However, some time later, it would be revealed that Scott had started a psychic affair with Emma Frost, The White Queen.
To this day, Scott’s affair is considered to be one of his greatest sins. This was also a dramatic twist for his character at the time and began the darker change for Cyclops. Though he did a terrible thing to someone he knew so well, his relationship with Emma would be on and off all the way up until his death.
3 Killed Professor X
Upon the arrival of the Phoenix Force towards the end of AVX, the cosmic entity actually split itself into 5 other hosts. One of these hosts was Cyclops of course, who used his new power to wipe out the Avengers who were still trying to help.
However, the worst thing that Cyclops would do with the power of the Phoenix, is use it to obliterate his mentor, Charlex Xavier. In murdering the ultimate symbol for peace between humans and mutants, Cyclops sealed his fate and began down an even darker road than before. Especially considering everything Chales meant to him, Cyclops was practically irredeemable in the eyes of many X-Men.
2 Schism
Shortly before the Start of AVX, the X-Men had their own Civil War of sorts. The battle took place primarily between Wolverine and Cyclops over which direction to take the X-Men in. Surprisingly, Wolverine sought an approach that was much more in line with Charles Xavier’s original vision.
Cyclops, on the other hand, actually wanted to take the X-Men in a much different, more radical direction. Cyclops would hold onto this directive and attitude long after the end of AVX. Thankfully, Wolverine would still be there to steer the younger mutants onto the right path. Regardless though, Cyclops was certainly far removed from the character he first started as.
1 Joined Magneto
Immediately following the events of AVX, Cyclops decided to remain on his darker path and walk further away from the X-Men. In doing so, he actually teamed up with Magneto, the X-Men’s greatest and oldest foe.
While the two were working together, they had a scarily similar mindset. Of course, this meant that they were both willing to take things to extreme measures and even sacrifice peace. Furthermore, with their combined mutant abilities, Cyclops and his team were all the more dangerous. While he was convinced that he was still the good guy throughout all of this, Cyclops was undoubtedly the villain more so than anything.
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