A Eulogy for Scott Summers

I mean….what would you do? How would you handle the pressure? After everything you have sacrificed, loves you have lost, would you not take that chance? To be given the power to achieve everything you have ever hoped for, everything you have been fighting for since a boy. To find peace for your kind, free of the persecution that has plagued you for all of your life. Is it possible to leave it be?

I have been known Cyclops since I was a small boy. Groomed to be the leader of Professor X’s X-men, fulfil his destiny and achieve the dream of equality and peace. Scott had the world on his shoulders and the responsibility of mutant kind in his hands. He trained so hard, practiced so many drills that he struggled to talk to his team. He couldn’t communicate and his feelings for Jean Grey were buried for so long. Eventually he grew and became the leader he needed to be with the love of his life by his side.

His torture began with the death and rebirths of Jean. Self sacrificing as ever, she would allow the Phoenix power to consume her in order to save the world. Scott would not be allowed to mourn as she would be allowed to rest. Unknown to Scott he would reform his relationship with a clone of Jean and they would raise a child. But then he would have to let his son fight for the end of times and watch his plight. The real Jean Grey would return and Scott would renew his love and fight along side her once again. The resurgence of Apocalypse would be the toughest fight for Cyclops as it cost him his mind. Melded to Apocalypse he would be eventually freed but left wounded in ways no one could imagine, especially not his telepathic wife. He pushed her away and hid in a corner of his mind only to be reached by another telepath, Emma Frost.

A scarred and lonely man pursued by a villainous temptress into a psychic romance, betraying his teenage love. A confused and guilt ridden Cyclops led the X-Men into war with Xavier’s nemesis Magneto. Jean once again would succumb to the Phoenix and sacrifice her life for the last time. Scott would lose his wife again knowing he betrayed her love, and there would be no recompense except in the arms of his mistress.

Emma helped him control his feelings of guilt and despair, as another tragedy would befall the X-Men. Professor Xavier’s pedestal would come crashing down together with the principles he had taught his students. He had abused his power, wiping memories, betraying new sentient life, and controlling the minds of his students. Scott would expel his mentor and father from the X-Men and his beloved school. The sins of the father brought to light as Scott lost the man who raised and inspired him.

M-day would force Cyclops to take an aggressive stance regarding the future of his kind. The Scarlet Witch had declared “No more mutants” and her reality altering powers prevented the conception of further mutants. Extinction was the agenda and preservation the goal, no matter the cost. The remaining 198 mutants needed a leader, a man to guide them and save them. Scott fought battles against xenophobic purist groups over the mysterious birth of a child, a mutant. Her name was Hope and she was the key to the future. After a bitter war Cyclops eventually created a safe haven for his species, an island called Utopia. Even Magneto took asylum under Scott’s supervision, the archenemy of his former teacher. The times were changing, the dream was slipping, and there was no more time. Scott would cross a line he could never return from.

He created an X team who would be used to kill their enemies under a secret veil. A shadow taskforce that would protect his people but he did not stop there. He enlisted his poorly trained teenage students into battle, placing precious lives at risk. This would cause a rift between him and Wolverine, which extended to all the X-Men. A division in ranks occurred and Logan would take the teenagers and recreate a school, the Jean Grey School for gifted youngsters. Scott’s team were the aggressors ready to take on all challengers. Xavier’s dream of peace disappeared with Scott’s premiership and the dwindling mutant race.

Word came that the Phoenix force was making its return to Earth. The entity his wife failed to control was ready to consume and destroy once again. Scott sought to take advantage and planned to make Hope its new host and with that power, the mutant race could thrive once again. It did not go as planned. After a long and arduous fight against the Avengers and Wolverine, the Phoenix did not come for Hope, it came for the X-Men. The power shared between five of them with Emma and Scott at the head. They used this power and changed the world for the better, ridding the world of evil, stopped natural disasters and fed the hungry. Mutants were in control and the world knew its place. Cyclops was its all-powerful leader and there was no one that could defeat him.

The Avengers put up a fight knowing what the Phoenix could do. They defeated the other X-Men leaving the Phoenix power divided between Scott and Emma. Magneto and Professor X emerged as the leaders of the fray, knowing that the Phoenix would consume Cyclops as it had done Jean. He had turned into the most powerful dictator and refused to listen to anyone. His life became of this moment and his dreams could be finally realised but the power was too much and the pressure to high. Scott would betray his only love in order to take full control of the Phoenix. Emma, the woman who stood by his side, guided him through the death of his wife, the loss of his mentor, and extinction of his species, sacrificed to power.

The Phoenix came full circle. After taking Jean’s life it came to take Scott’s. He was powerless to stop it as he faded away, leaving a vessel for the carnage to reign. His life taken from him in front of the people who loved him most. The enemy that would be his mentor, the friends that would become his family, the woman that would be his lover and his beloved teacher that would become his father.

The strain and the struggle led Scott Summers to his death. He was a strong and dedicated leader to the X-Men, a forever giving friend and a loving father and son. May he finally find peace.