10 Best Cyclops Storylines in Marvel Comics, Ranked by Impact

Cyclops is credited as being the first X-Men member, as he was the senior member of the team when they debuted in Marvel Comics in X-Men #1 (1963) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Over his time in Marvel Comics, few superheroes have been more polarizing than Cyclops, from his time as a mutant militant to the killer of Professor Charles Xavier to his new series in 2026, where Marvel attempts to redeem the founding X-Men member. Through the years, he has been involved in some universe-changing storylines, and the ones that feature him as the central character remain among the best.

Here is a look at the best Cyclops storylines in Marvel Comics, ranked on the impact on his character and the overall X-Men comic book line.

10) Uncanny X-Men #201 (1986)

For many years, Cyclops led the X-Men and was determined to keep that role even as his personal life changed. Jean Grey had died, and Cyclops fell in love with a woman named Madelyne Pryor. The two got married and had a baby named Nathan. The baby’s first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #201, and Madelyne wanted Scott to leave the team and live a peaceful family life with her and Nathan. Cyclops refused, and a depowered Storm challenged him for the leadership role. Shockingly, Storm beat Cyclops in the duel, despite having no powers of her own at the time. This led Cyclops to quit the X-Men and move away with Madelyne, something that he maintained until Jean Grey returned from the dead.

9) “Messiah Complex” (2007-2008)

The “Messiah Complex” storyline was a 13-part crossover that ran through Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, New X-Men, and X-Factor from 2007 to 2008. The story follows the first mutant child born after M-Day, the event where Scarlet Witch depowered almost every mutant on the planet. This child was Hope Summers, and several groups, including Cyclops and the X-Men, raced to claim her. This was the series where Cyclops took leadership of the X-Men from Xavier and turned the team into more of a pragmatic militant approach rather than an idealistic superhero team. This was where the rule of Cyclops as a brutal and more violent mutant leader began.

8) Astonishing X-Men: Gifted (2004-2005)

The first arc of Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday put Cyclops and Emma Frost out front as they promoted the X-Men as a public-facing team, with their new mission to be to “astonish” the world as heroes. This series would twist and turn its way to the “Mutant Cure” storyline with the Beast, but the first six issues were all about Cyclops and Emma trying to change the world’s outlook on mutants, although they would fail in the end to change many minds. This was also where Scott and Emma’s love affair blossomed, a dynamic that played out throughout the 2000s.

7) Cyclops Vol 4 (2026)

It had been 11 years since Cyclops last had a solo series. In 2026, with the fall of Krakoa and the mutants’ struggles to find acceptance in the world after that event’s conclusion, Marvel decided to work on rehabilitating Cyclops’s image in this fourth volume of his solo adventures. The series launched in February 2026 with Cyclops attempting to find his way in the world after his knowledge of what happened in the “Age of Revelation” alternate future. Whether this actually rehabilitates Scott or not remains to be seen, but it is an important first step in that direction.

6) Inferno (1989)

Inferno is an X-Men crossover event from 1988-1989 that has Cyclops at the center of an emotional journey. The villain here is Madelyne Pryor, Scott’s ex-wife, who has become the Goblin Queen, and her attempt to sacrifice her and Scott’s son, Nathan, to open a gate between Earth and Limbo. Cyclops and Jean Grey fight to save Nathan and stop Madelyne (who is a clone of Jean) before she kills Scott’s son and brings evil demons to Earth’s plane. This was important as Scott had to save Nathan (who would later become Cable), and it was also the series that set up Mister Sinister as Cyclops’ main nemesis, as he was responsible for creating Madelyne and then driving her to the edge of sanity.

5) Uncanny X-Men #11 (2019, Resurrection of Cyclops)

Uncanny X-Men #11 by Matthew Rosenberg and Salvador Larroca is a triple-sized issue and is a celebration of Cyclops’s return. This was the first part of the “This is Forever” storyline after all the X-Men were seemingly wiped out and presumed dead. With the world and even the government demanding the death of all mutants, even children, Cyclops sent out a message to any X-Men left alive to find him, and what he found was Wolverine. This was the storyline that reunited Cyclops and Wolverine for the first time since Schism, and it set up the entire build to Krakoa.

4) The Dark Phoenix Saga (Uncanny X-Men #129-138, 1980)

“The Dark Phoenix Saga” remains one of the best X-Men storylines of all time, and it was the turning point for Cyclops and did more to set up his future in Marvel Comics than any other. This was the storyline where the Shi’ar Empire arrived on Earth and demanded that Jean Grey stand trial for the genocide of an entire civilization when Phoenix destroyed a star. When Jean died, it changed Cyclops forever, leading to him marrying Madelyne Pryor, having a son in Cable, and eventually bringing him back with X-Factor. This was also a seminal tale in Scott and Jean’s relationship.

3) The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (1994) & The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (1996)

“The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix” was a four-issue miniseries by Scott Lobdell and Gene Ha that starts right after Scott Summers and Jean Grey got married. Their honeymoon is interrupted when Rachel Summers accidentally pulls them 2,000 years into a future ruled by Apocalypse. The couple then raised Scott’s son, Nathan, there, and they set him on the path to becoming Cable. This entire story rewrites Cable’s own origin and makes him the literal son raised by his own father and Jean Grey. There was a sequel two years later that sent Scott and Jean back to the past, where they learned why Mister Sinister had such an obsession with Cyclops and Jean Grey.

2) Avengers vs. X-Men (2012)

Avengers vs. X-Men was the comic book that vilified Cyclops more than any other. In this story, the Phoenix Force was headed for Earth. The Avengers wanted to find Hope Summers to hide her from the Phoenix, while the X-Men wanted to protect her and allow her to accept the Phoenix. However, when the Phoenix arrived, it didn’t take Hope, but took the Phoenix Five (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik, and Namor). While they started out wanting to help save the world, the Phoenix Force began to corrupt them, and it all ended with Cyclops killing Professor X and becoming a martyr for mutantkind. This did more to ruin Cyclops’s reputation than any other storyline.

1) X-Men: Schism (2011)

“X-Men: Schism” was the storyline that shattered the X-Men and tore the team apart. Cyclops had taken over as the X-Men’s leader from Professor X, and his anger at society’s bigotry and hatred led him to send the team into a more militaristic approach rather than the idealistic dreams of Xavier. For a change, Wolverine wanted peace and sought to protect the teenage mutants, while Cyclops wanted to weaponize them as soldiers. By the end, Wolverine and Cyclops fought each other as the Sentinels attacked, and it split the team in half, with Wolverine taking half the mutants into his care and Cyclops staying on Utopia with those who supported his cause. This entire story rewrote Cyclops as an angry mutant willing to force people to listen through violence.

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