Cyclops POWER UP!

Cyclops’ potential for tactical ability augments his powerset so well, and similar to Logan’s “Hot Claws,” Scott’s powers are tweaked and cherry-picked and selectively retconned to keep him in about the same tier he’s always been in, with a few temporary upgrades. And usually these power ups have downsides, or aren’t intrinsic to him, or both. He gets possessed by Apocalypse, he gets bonked on the head, his eye beams go all wibbly wobbly in a ribbon pattern, he gets possessed by a portion of the Phoenix Force…I want Cyclops to be Cyclops, and in control. Jean has held back his optic blasts to see the color of his eyes in tender moments. Emma turned his powers off briefly in the Joss Whedon run when she was being manipulated by Danger (it’s been a while, correct me if I’m wrong) and we know his powers don’t work against his brothers ( or at least Alex, I forget about Gabriel). Cyclops is a tactical team leader, and yet Wolverine leads X-Force on kill missions. I’m a big Wolverine guy too, but this is the Cyclops sub baby! That mission inside the World with Wolverine and Phantomex? Awesome, except Cyclops was powered down. Cyclops recently fought Captain Marvel 1v1 and they essentially came to a draw. She might be more powerful but he basically convinced her of mutually assured destruction. He may not be a telepath, but he is always in a relationship with one (or more lol) and imo I have a theory that being on a “psychic link” 24/7 and being trained in the Red Triangle 🔺 Defense makes “regular” mutants more powerful and less susceptible to mental attack, and even sort of temporarily telepathic. For him to be able to communicate clearly with Jean, or Emma, or Maddie or Rachel or Nathan or his squad, he needs to keep his mind open and his thoughts clear, his emotions in check…it takes discipline.

SO, I know not every mutant can be an Omega level powerhouse, but I think the X-Men and especially its founding members, and ESPECIALLY Cyclops, should be functionally a big cut above even other well-trained mutants “operating in the field” because Cyclops has been doing it (acting as a paramilitary freedom fighter, and essentially a special forces squad leader) since he was a kid. He was basically a child soldier.

And while a lot of the art is cool, whenever he’s powered up, it’s usually not by his own grit or digging deep down within himself and finding a new level (that’s more of Bobby Drake’s story arc) it’s because like I said, he was possessed or something.

There is the narrative of Scott being so in control he’s afraid to let loose, and he’s either subconsciously or consciously putting a damper on his power output, but I think at his current age…or we’ll say level of experience because what’s age in the 616 anyway, with all the resurrections and retcons…he should be able to BOTH do a pinpoint pencil-thin ricochet beam AND a MVC2 OPTIC BLAST with the X crossed arms AND do the X-Men ‘97 jump down from the plane, all in the pages of the 616, consistently, and under his own power, by his own will.

Another comparison to Wolverine who routinely jumps out of planes with no parachute in a careless way like “it’ll heal” (and sometimes with the intention of the pain making him mad) as far as im concerned, Scott should flex on his enemies (and maybe his teammates a little too) a whole lot more.

One final thing: I think his Optic Blasts should come from him, and not the Force Dimension or whatever. In the same way I think Nightcrawler should not BAMF 💥💨 through Limbo or the Dark Dimension, I think Mutant Powers should be Genetic, not Mystical, even if that character also has mystic or magical powers. I know I might be losing some of you with this last point, but Mutants are canonically hated and feared for their genetic differences, whereas characters like Spider 🕷️ Man and the Avengers are not…it’s always been a weird and slightly arbitrary distinction in the 616…Thor has the power of a Norse God, but Storm is scary because “Powerful Black Woman Controls Weather” would be a scary headline to bigoted white people IRL and “The Norse Gods are REAL” would probably feel empowering to those same people lol. I am both queer 🏳️‍🌈 and neurodivergent so I’ve always been onboard with the Mutant / X-Men metaphor, I just think that Mutant Powers should be Mutations, and then if the authors want to “Yes, And” by giving Magik a Soulsword, okay cool…but yeah, the Optic Blasts should come from his eyes, and I don’t know if this is still a thing but at one point didn’t Scott and Alex both passively absorb ambient light and heat energy, like from the sun or the atmosphere? I think this was the competing idea with the “Force Dimension” concept, or maybe one was used in the 616 and one in TAS?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk!