X-Men ’97 Revisits Past Wrongs: Cyclops’s Controversy Addressed at Last!

X-Men ’97 updated a classic X-Men storyline and, in doing so, fixed a highly contentious Cyclops narrative that destroyed his characterization.

Nearly 40 years after a highly controversial storyline, X-Men ’97 has rectified Cyclops’s most contentious act from Marvel Comics. X-Men ’97 revives the classic 1990s X-Men: The Animated Series, continuing the narrative just months after it originally concluded in 1997. While the famed original was known for remaining faithful to the comic books, X-Men ’97 has departed significantly from an X-Men comic storyline, and, in the process, redeemed Cyclops’s most shameful deed.

Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, has been a central X-Men member since its first issue in 1963. Cyclops served as the X-Men’s team leader, until retiring from superhero life and moving to Alaska with his wife and child, Madelyne Pryor and Nathan Summers (AKA Cable). Madelyne Pryor and Nathan Summers were explored in X-Men ’97 episode 2 “Fire Made Flesh,” in which it was revealed that Scott’s wife was not Jean Grey, but a clone named Madelyne Pryor. While X-Men ’97 made minor changes to Cable’s origin story, one major change to the original story rectified a highly controversial Cyclops storyline.

Cyclops Famously Abandoned Madelyne Pryor and Nathan Summers In Marvel Comics

In an infamous 1986 storyline, Cyclops completely abandoned his wife and child, with some disastrous consequences. When Marvel resurrected Jean Grey to reunite the original X-Men for a new comic, X-Factor, the writers needed to find a way to bring Cyclops back out of retirement. They achieve this by having Cyclops desert Madelyne Pryor and Nathan Summers when he discovers that his former love, Jean Grey, has returned from the dead. This left Madelyne unprotected when Mister Sinister attacked, allowing Sinister to kidnap Cable and triggering Madelyne’s initial descent into villainy.

Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Cmont objected to Jean Grey’s resurrection so much so that Uncanny X-Men didn’t acknowledge X-Factor or Jean Grey’s return for several years.

While Cyclops later sees sense and returns to his Alaskan home, he is too late – with Madelyne already recovering with the X-Men and his son in Mister Sinister’s clutches. The highly controversial storyline completely undermined Cyclops’s apparent heroism and moral fortitude, proffering a shameful display of selfish behavior that endangered his family. X-Men ’97 rectified this several decades later by bestowing Cyclops with a far more appropriate reaction to his predicament.

Why The X-Men ’97 Cyclops/Madelyne Change Works So Much Better

X-Men ’97 fixed this shameful Cyclops storyline by having the X-Men leader maintain his duty of care over his son while the team explores Madelyne Pryor’s identity narrative in X-Men ’97 episode 3 “Fire Made Flesh.” Cyclops even exclaims during one scene that he won’t abandon his son like his father did to him. This directly challenges his comic book counterpart, who did precisely that.

This change is far more palatable for an audience, primarily because it preserves Cyclops’s moral fortitude as an ideological warrior, traits essential for the X-Men leader. It was hard to consider Cyclops a respectable leader after his disgraceful narrative in X-Factor #1. Thankfully, X-Men ’97 restored the hero by properly exploring the moral dilemma he was faced with and coming to a far less contentious conclusion.

New episodes of X-Men ’97 air Wednesdays on Disney+.