While the history of the X-Men in cinema has been a mixed bag, one consistent aspect is the disappointing way that Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops, has been handled. He is the leader of the team in many comic books and has been a well-written character most of the time, but the films never matched that.
Cyclops has been negatively received on the big screen by both critics and audiences. He was often sidelined, placed in the background, and never given anything cool to do, which has made him much less popular than the likes of Wolverine, Magento, and other mutants. Thankfully, there’s a chance to finally fix that.
Cyclops Has Never Been Portrayed Properly In Movies
Scott Summers has been played by three actors in the Fox movies over the years. James Marsden took on the role first and was mostly relegated to just being the third wheel in the Wolverine and Jean Grey story. He never felt like the leader he should be and he doesn’t even get character arcs.
For a brief appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Tim Pocock played the character and then Tye Sheridan took over in the prequel films X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. Again, the character was mostly just in the background and not given a lot to do. This hasn’t helped Cyclops’ popularity.
Although the films played a part, it feels like some of the dislike for Cyclops dates back to X-Men: The Animated Series. While he was better written there, he was often at odds with the much cooler Wolverine, which placed some people against him.
Avengers: Doomsday Can Give Cyclops His Due
The big cast reveal video for Avengers: Doomsday shocked many by including names from the original X-Men movies by Fox. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, Kelsey Grammer, and James Marsden are all returning, which opens the door for Cyclops to be saved.
The last time we saw prominently saw Marsden as Cyclops, he was killed by Jean Grey after the Phoenix revived her. He could’ve had something of interest to do in the Phoenix storyline but was just not included. Even his return in Days of Future Past saw him in the background.
Cyclops deserved better and Avengers: Doomsday provides that opportunity. The MCU has done a good job of redeeming past Marvel movie characters like Elektra, Blade, and even Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man. Marsden should be next in line to get a better send-off.
X-Men ’97 Shows How To D A Great Job With Cyclops
Prior to Avengers: Doomsday, the most recent take on Cyclops was in X-Men ’97 and it did a masterful job with the character. He is clearly shown to be the leader of the team, has an actual storyline of note, and does more than just be “guy who doesn’t like Wolverine.”
On top of that, X-Men ’97 gave Cyclops great moments to showcase his powers. He got the kind of cool scenes that the movies needed to have so the audience could grow to love him. If Avengers: Doomsday is able to do something close to X-Men ’97 with Cyclops, they could save the movie version of the character.
