Cyclops Reveals The Tragic Truth Of His Death & Rebirth

Warning: contains spoilers for X-Men #7!

Marvel Comics is finally revealing the intense, and deeply tragic, origins of the X-Men’s new leader, Captain Krakoa, showing in graphic detail how Cyclops sacrifices his own life and was murdered publicly, forcing the Quiet Council to rebrand him as the mutants’ own Captain America. In X-Men #7, the full extent of Cyclops’ selfless sacrifice and brutal death is finally shown, proving that Cyclops truly does view himself as a hero for all people, not just mutants, opposing the beliefs of some citizens of Krakoa.

The creation of Captain Krakoa is an interesting move for the Quiet Council, because while it does give them a formal hero for their new nation-state, it also reinforces Cyclops’ own opinion that he is integral to a successful X-Men team. The Quiet Council, instead of gifting another mutant the newly created bio-organic suit designed by Forge, gives the outfit to Scott so that he may remain in his position as leader of the X-Men without Krakoa needing to reveal the secret of mutant resurrection. Surprisingly, this is not the first time Scott Summers has become a Captain America-like hero, as in the Ultimate Marvel Universe Summers took on the mantle of Captain X-Merica after Steve Rogers death, proving once again that in any universe Scott is a born leader.

X-Men #7 – written by Gerry Duggan with art by Pepe Larraz – follows Scott as he is awakened in the mutant Resurrection Chamber by his former lover Emma Frost, who informs him that he has been killed and will not be allowed to rejoin the X-Men as Cyclops due to the public nature of his murder. The X-Men’s current “big bad” is a mysterious person named Doctor Stasis, first introduced in X-Men #1, who has yet to reveal themselves to the mutants but is an avid anti-mutant human who runs the Sixth Petal of the mutant-hating science organization ORCHIS. Stasis has been tormenting the X-Men for weeks, but has specifically targeted Scott Summers as the focal point of his ire, somehow obtaining a corpse of Cyclops after one of his deaths, and discovering the mutant secret of resurrection which he then revealed to Daily Planet reporter Ben Urich.

After Scott’s resurrection, the story then jumps back several days to witness Doctor Stasis send a team of super-powered animal chimera monsters to attack the people of NYC, in an attempt to kill Cyclops, which is how Scott ends up sacrificing his own life. When Stasis realizes that Cyclops, Synch, Wolverine, and Sunfire are soundly defeating his monsters, he sends in Bornan, his tiger-like chimera, to take out Cyclops directly. Bornan immediately snatches up a human baby from their mother to taunt Cyclops into fighting, something Scott does not hesitate to do. Putting his own life on the line, Cyclops immediately rushes to save the infant, and in doing so is mortally wounded by Bornan. While not fully dead, Doctor Stasis approaches Summers as an EMT worker and kills him off with a knife slice to his carotid artery, officially killing Cyclops in the public eye and forcing him to retire his superhero name and identity.

Marvel has not revealed much about Stasis’ true motives, but it is clear that he is interested in and involved with the studying and manipulation of the mutant genome. He is an established hater of mutants, and his speech in the beginning of the issue given to his chimeras firmly shows that he is attempting to take down the nation of Krakoa any way he can. In his efforts to destroy the X-Men and all of mutantdom he has murdered the mutant known as Cyclops, but his intention to turn the public against mutants might have failed, seeing as Cyclops is now seen as a hero who sacrificed himself to protect a human baby. Thankfully, this issue formally reveals that Cyclops is not permanently dead, as some had theorized about online, but instead reborn as the tragic Captain Krakoa. Make sure to pick up X-Men #7 to get the full story on Cyclops’ transformation into the mutant Captain America, the telefloronic Captain Krakoa, at the hands of the vicious Doctor Stasis.

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