The X-Men Comics Have Been Hiding One Massive Cyclops Secret For 10 Years

Comic books are notorious for two things: never changing and always making massive changes to characters that inevitably return to their original state. Comic book characters are made to be the protagonists of never-ending stories, after all, so while they are allowed to grow and change to some degree, they must have a baseline they can return to that will always be recognizable. Sometimes, however, there are changes that are so beloved or impactful that they manage to stick around in spite of the traditional status quo. There’s Superman and Lois being married, Venom becoming a hero, and Mar-Vell’s death. These are massive changes, and the X-Men comics have sat on another major one for a decade.

“The Black Vortex” was a crossover event between the Guardians of the Galaxy and the X-Men, mainly starring Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde, who were together at the time. This story followed an artifact called the Black Vortex, which was a mirror that physically and mentally altered whoever looked into it. Numerous heroes were affected, including X-Men like Beast, Iceman, and Cyclops. While the lasting changes to those two were immediately revealed, the shift in Cyclops was much more subtle and has remained unknown for over ten years. Specifically, his time-displaced younger self was affected.

A Secret Change to Cyclops’s Heart

The Black Lotus left an impact physically and mentally, depending on the person. Time-displaced Iceman developed the ability to fully convert his body to ice, for example. Meanwhile, modern-day Beast struggled a lot with his self-image and seeing himself as less than human, but found himself beautiful after the debacle with the Lotus. Scott, meanwhile, was affected differently. A young Jean Grey read Scott’s mind and discovered that the change wasn’t purely mental like it was with Beast, but instead in his heart. Despite learning what it was, however, she refused to share. Eventually, these younger X-Men returned to the past, and their older selves gained these memories, meaning this change should still affect our modern Cyclops.

The question that remains is what this change could have been. The change wouldn’t affect the modern Cyclops until after Extermination #5, as he was dead for most of the time his younger self was around, and their memories about the present were suppressed until they got older. With this in mind, while the secret was never revealed, we might be able to parse out some details about it by dissecting what happened with Cyclops’s character around this time period. The biggest clues lie in his character reversal following his return from the dead.

A Hero Restored In Heart and Mind

The 2010s were not kind to the X-Men, but they were especially cruel to Cyclops. Marvel seemed determined to ruin their reputation by any means necessary, up to and including Cyclops murdering Professor X and becoming an extremist in every sense of the word. A lot of the drama between his younger self and modern self stemmed from this portrayal. However, in the same comic where the young X-Men returned to the past, Cyclops was revealed to have returned from the dead, and immediately started acting more like his old self. In fact, he was better in some ways. He still put mutantkind’s needs first, but he was more heroic and more self-assured, but not arrogant or tyrannical. 

I propose that the change in Cyclops’s heart was building his self-confidence. Scott has always struggled with the burdens placed on his shoulders and feeling like he can never measure up to the man he has to be. While Scott did struggle with finding hope following his resurrection, by the time Krakoa rolled around and he was given a direction, he took the entire hopes and dreams of mutantkind onto his back to ensure that everyone felt safe. Scott never shrank from his burden, but here he finally felt like he had grown into it. Much like Beast’s mind changed to let him accept his appearance, Scott’s heart changed to be kinder to himself, and thus, reignited his heroic spirit.

Of course, while there’s always the possibility that this secret change is nothing more than a dropped plot point, the fact remains that Cyclops’s return to heroism coincided with him receiving these memories and the timeline solidifying. Cyclops learned to accept himself, faults and all, and that opened the door for him to become the symbol and leader that mutantkind really needed at that time. What do you think the change that occurred with Cyclops was? Growing self-confidence, a dropped plot, or something else we have yet to see?

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