AskScottSummers

Scott Summers was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. He is the oldest son of Katherine Anne Summers and United States Air Force pilot Major Christopher Summers. One day, when Christopher took the family for a flight in his private plane, they were attacked by a Shi'ar space ship. Katherine strapped Scott and his younger brother Alex to the only available parachute and pushed them out of the plane in the hopes that they would survive. The plane exploded, causing their parachute to catch fire. Scott's mutant power manifested for the first time, and he used the blasts to slow their descent, while shielding Alex from the landing with his own body. The two survived, but Scott suffered a head injury upon landing. This injury caused Scott a slight amount of brain damage, affecting the portion of his brain which controlled his latent optic blasts. For a time, Scott also suffered amnesia about his childhood.


Scott was brought to an orphanage in Nebraska, where he would be used in experiments by the owner, Mr. Milbury. As he matured, Scott developed a destructive mutant power; his eyes produced incredibly powerful concussive energy blasts. Scott couldn't control his ability as a result of the head injury and psychological trauma he had suffered. While living in the orphanage, Scott was given a pair of glasses with red lenses. He didn't understand why, but he knew that they somehow restrained his mutant power. Scott later discovered that Mr. Sinister had played many roles in his formative years, including those of Mr. Milbury and the head doctor at the orphanage, as well as the orphan bullies 'Nathan Masters' and 'Lefty'. As Lefty, he tormented Scott, often by killing his potential foster parents. When Scott befriended staff member Robyn Hanover, due to their shared interest in planes, Sinister brainwashed her so that she would be cold like all the other staff.

When Scott was fifteen years old, he ran away from the orphanage and found a mutant named Jack O'Diamonds, who became a father figure to him. Jack wanted Scott to help him break into the nuclear power plant, which had triggered his mutant abilities in the first place. Scott only agreed to help because he knew that Jack would kill the guards if he didn't. Professor Xavier heard of the break in and tried to stop them. Eventually, Jack was defeated by Xavier with help from Scott. Professor X offered Scott the opportunity to join the X-Men. He accepted so that Xavier would teach him to control his power and adopted the code name "Cyclops", becoming the first X-Man.

Professor X provided Cyclops with a ruby quartz visor to help him restrain his destructive optic blasts. Cyclops never gained full control of his power, but he finally had a means to use it with confidence. He soon met his new teammates, other mutants his age. Cyclops bonded very well with the group, who gave him the nickname "Slim" Summers due to his thin build. Together, they became the original five X-Men. Cyclops was given the role of field leader by Professor X, and the two developed a strong father-son relationship.