The Fate Of Cyclops Revealed In Death Of X #4

Marvel has kept fans in the dark ever since Uncanny X-Men #600 in regards to the fate of Cyclops. In issue #4 of Death of X, all the cards are laid on the table, accompanied by one huge twist.

Spoilers incoming for Death of X#4, so you've been warned.

Scott's X-Men formulate a plan to extinguish one of the Inhuman's Terrigen clouds, though extinguish isn't really their approach. With the help of their recent pickup Alchemy, the group is looking to transform the cloud into something less harmful to mutants. In the previous issue, Scott and Emma sent Magneto to preoccupy Crystal's Inhuman forces and Storm's group of X-Men, and for the most part, he succeeded.

Crystal was able to get out a distress call to the rest of the royal family, though, including Queen Medusa and Blackbolt. Their group transports to the location of the Terrigen cloud and knocks Alchemy and Sunfire out of the sky. The two groups face off for a minute until the cuckoos find a way around the the royal family's telepathic shields. Through some mental trickery, the cuckoos are able to manipulate the non-royal blood Inhumans into hurting their own, buying Alchemy and Sunfire some additional time to transform the cloud.

It wouldn't be the last illusion of the day.

Cyclops and his team are able to hold off the Inhumans just long enough for Alchemy to do his work, and as the green cloud turns to red, it appears they've done the impossible. Their team celebrates as the red cloud unleashes a downpour, harmless to those underneath it. As Alchemy joyfully expresses how he didn't touch the cloud, the scene pulls back to reveal his skin heavily mutated, apparently from absorbing the cloud's toxic elements.

As Emma and then Scott attempt to console him, he closes his eyes and passes out, and it's unknown if he's still among the living.

Medusa asks Scott why he did this, choosing to make an enemy out of the Inhumans forever, to which he says "I've been a student, a warrior, a teacher, a revolutionary, a...killer. I've tried to learn from my mistakes, inspire people, help every way I can. But now...everything's tainted. Too much has happened. I'm not even a person anymore. I'm gone. All that's left is the idea of me. But here's the nice thing...ideas never die"

Right as he is about to deliver that last line, Medusa gives the okay to Black Bolt. He opens his mouth, vaporizing Scott in the process. Scott is dead, but that's not where things end. Alex is speaking to Emma that something doesn't make sense, leading to Emma filling Alex in on some unrevealed details.

Black Bolt didn't kill him.

He was dead long before that. In fact, he died back in Death of X #1. In that first issue, Scott and Emma come into contact with the Terrigen mists at Muir Island, and Scott starts coughing and passes out. In the panel immediately after, Scott and Emma come out of the facility and proceed to find Jamie Madrox dead on the facility grounds.

Scott never made it out of the facility, as he suffered an immediate reaction to the Terrigen mists, dying in Emma Frost's arms. Since then Emma has been projecting him to everyone else for one simple reason. As he fell to MPox, Scott uttered the words "We..can't..can't end like this. Don't let it end Emma!", and Emma fulfilled that wish.

The Terrigen mists killed Scott Summers, and almost killed mutant kind, but they couldn't kill his legacy. Death of X #4 is in stores now.

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