Ranking The Top 5 Cyclops Costumes

The character of Scott Summers was often the measuring stick for where the X-Men were as a group. His growth and maturity often mirrored the team’s, as even from a young age he felt compelled to lead. Combined with his impressive power set, it has made him into one of the most popular characters Marvel has, and over the years most have developed their favorite version of the X-Men leader.

From the classic yellow and blue uniforms of the original X-Men to his latest red and black Marvel NOW reincarnation, the character continues to be a favorite among fans. Some preferred the boy scout days of the 80’s and 90’s, while others loved the calculating strategist of the 2000’s. His look has generally changed with every shakeup in focus, some more successful than others.

ComicBook.com decided to put a list together of the highlights from Mr. Summers’ career, and there were quite a bit to choose from. It’s easy to forget how many differing looks he’s had, including the Grant Morrison “Yellow Jacket” phase, the Phoenix Five incarnation, the Ultimate X-Men version, Age of X, Age of Apocalypse, X-Factor, and numerous stints in the X-Men films, including his most recent role in X-Men: Apocalypse.

With that said, it’s time to rank ComicBook.com’s top 5 Cyclops costumes, so make sure to let us know what you think!

On the movie front, Cyclops was last seen in X-Men: Apocalypse. You can find the synopsis for the film below.

Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

The cast features James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Olivia Munn as Psylocke, Lucas Till as Havok, Evan Peters as Quicksilver, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler, Alexandra Shipp as Storm, Josh Helman as William Stryker, Lana Condor as Jubilee, and Ben Hardy as Angel.

X-Men: Apocalypse is on Blu-ray and DVD now.

MORE X-MEN: Exclusive All-New Wolverine #19 Preview / Emma Frost Leads X-Men Against Hydra In Secret Empire: United / Alexandra Shipp Wants Storm To Return For Another X-Men Movie

Cyclops Marvel Now

The newest addition to this list is rather divisive, but while drastically different than what has come before, it managed to carve out a niche for itself. The look was paired during Scott’s “Mutant Revolution” period, one that lasted right up until his death. It fits the outlook of the character quite well during this time, despite some impractical elements.

One of those would be the red X in front of his eyes. While it’s difficult to explain this away, arguing that he can somehow see through it, the design just looks so slick it gets tossed into the “suspending comic disbelief” bin, along with how why Gambit prefers throwing playing cards to, well, anything that isn’t playing cards, or the fact that the X-Men never seem to learn and keep filling their teams with villains. Just saying…

Cyclops Age Of Apocalypse

In the nightmarish world of Age of Apocalypse, it is somewhat required that you have some sort of tragic backstory. For Cyclops, you don’t even have to ask, as he wears his scar on his face for everyone to see.

Cyclops lost his eye in a fight with Wolverine (who now travels with Jean Grey), a fight which he also took Wolverine’s hand in mind you. He now wears a special visor that allows him to control his optic blast and covers the scarred eye. While the rest of the costume isn’t the most complicated visually, it conveys a military look and feel, which perfectly fits this version of the character. That blue and yellow color scheme also continues to be a fan favorite, so that doesn’t hurt either.

Cyclops Wolverine And The X-Men

While the Wolverine and the X-Men series was a bit short lived, it did produce one of the best Cyclops designs. Again, with Cyclops, less is typically more, and the cartoon version keeps the blue and gold color scheme but

The look is in keeping with Scott’s more apathetic nature in this show, as he was convinced to join the team by Wolverine after leaving the group he once called family. The coat gives the costume movement in battle and looks fantastic in animation. A surprising addition to the list, but when things just work, sometimes you can’t explain them.

Cyclops 90’s

This is most likely the character’s most iconic costume, and for many, it ranks an easy #1 (including ComicBook.com’s Jim Viscardi, who essentially says the list stops and ends with this version). So yeah, he’s not going to like this list then.

In addition to being the preferred costume during the X-Men’s 1990’s heyday, it was also featured on the mega-popular X-Men animated series. The bright blue and yellow costume still catches your eye visually, and the 90’s penchant for pouches for some reason doesn’t hurt this as much as it probably should.

Even all these years later, this is one of the best looks for Cyclops in comics and even inspired the latest Cyclops in X-Men: Apocalypse (towards the end). That said, there is one that is one that is just a bit better. Hit the next slide to see what made #1!

Cyclops Modern

During their stay in San Francisco (and subsequently the makeshift island of Utopia), Cyclops truly came into his own as a leader of the X-Men and adopted a look that resembled that maturity and growth.

This costume adopted a darker blue and gold color scheme, a silver visor, and sleek and minimalist gold lines. The lone X symbol is on his chest (as on the 90’s costume), with three gold lines spawning from it to form over his shoulder.

It was representative of a steadfast and mature leader and is the perfect modern day redesign the character needed. Whether it’s the John Byrne blue and yellow or the 90’s pouchfest, they all pale in comparison.

So, do you agree with the list? Let us know what you think in the comments!