Warning! Spoilers ahead for Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #3!For years, fans have wondered whether Cyclops’ optic blasts would still continue to fire from his eyes even if he weren’t alive. The appearance of a new zombie version of Cyclops seemingly answers this question by revealing that they will continue firing for a while after he’s dead.

In Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #3 by Iman Vellani, Sabir Pirzada, Scott Godlewski, Erick Arciniega and VC’s Joe Caramagna, Kamala and her friend Red Dagger are attacked on a rooftop by a zombie Scott Summers. Thanks to the X-Men’s Resurrection Protocols, whenever a mutant dies, they are resurrected in a new body. Ms. Marvel realizes that this corpse was left behind after Cyclops died on a mission, and it was subsequently stolen and reanimated as a monstrous weapon. The two heroes manage to defeat the zombified version of Kamala’s former Champions teammate. Kamala knocks its body into the air while Red Dagger stabs it, riding its body down as it falls into an alley below.

But even though it’s apparently vanquished, its optic blasts continue to fire into the air.

Cyclops Keeps Firing His Optic Blasts Even After He Dies

Is There a Limit to How Much Energy He Can Expel?

While Ms. Marvel is concerned about the fact that the blasts are still firing, Red Dagger isn’t worried at all. “Relax. It’s only a danger to the clouds,” he says. “And given how easily his skin flays, it won’t be long before the body burns itself out too.” After that, the two do not seem concerned about the zombie, instead pivoting into a romantic moment. As they share a kiss on the rooftop, the zombie Cyclops’ red eye beams can still be seen behind them, firing up into the sky. It’s almost as if the optic blasts are fireworks, adding to the romance.

In most zombie fiction, a reanimated corpse can only be defeated by destroying its brain. This is usually accomplished with a headshot or a tough blow to the skull. In this issue, readers don’t get confirmation that the zombie Cyclops is actually down for the count. However, Ms. Marvel and Red Dagger are clearly not concerned about it getting back up and resuming its attack. Therefore, it’s safe to assume that the reanimated corpse has been “killed” once again.

During a subsequent fight with more zombified X-Men, the red eye blasts are no longer seen, indicating that they may have burned out. The zombie Cyclops isn’t seen again until the issue’s last page, when it and the other zombie X-Men are held in the powerful hair of Medusa, queen of the Inhumans. It’s unclear if the zombies have been truly neutralized or if she’s just seized them, though there seems to be little reason that she would keep them “alive.”

How Cyclops’ Optic Blasts Work

Are Cyclops’ Eyes a Portal to Another Dimension?

In order to make sense of why Scott’s beams continue to shoot out even after his body is dead, it’s important to understand how Cyclops’ powers actually work. Way back in 1968’s X-Men #43, a back-up story titled “Call Him…Cyclops” by Roy Thomas and Werner Roth established how Cyclops shoots his incredibly powerful optic beams. It’s revealed that Scott’s eyes absorb light from the sun and convert it into energy. Later stories would expand on this, establishing that his body absorbs and metabolizes other types of energy, such as cosmic rays and gamma rays. It’s stated that as he gets older, his body becomes capable of absorbing and storing even more energy, making his blasts potentially even more powerful.

There is some controversy over the source of Cyclops’ concussive blasts. Many fans believe that the energy in Scott’s optic beams actually comes from another dimension. This confusion stems from the first edition of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, published in 1983. The book states that Scott’s eyes act as “interdimensional apertures between this universe and another, non-Einsteinian universe, where physical laws as we know them do not pertain.” This other universe is filled with particles that “generate great, directional concussive forces when they interact with the objects of this universe.”

The next edition of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, published in 1985, would do away with this explanation. This version states that “the precise nature of this energy and its origin remain unknown,” but that it is likely due to absorbing sunlight. According to CBR, some subsequent Official Handbooks published by Marvel, as well as postings on its website, would mention the portals to the non-Einsteinian universe. However, this has never been established in an actual comic story, so its canon status is unclear. This new zombie Cyclops seems to indicate that his body stores energy, and that his optic blasts will die down as he expends that energy and his body burns up.

Cyclops Doesn’t Play a Big Role in Any Marvel Zombies Stories

Marvel Needs to Give Fans More Undead Scott Summerses

Zombies have been a popular staple of Marvel Comics for years, particularly after the Marvel Zombies universe was introduced in the pages of 2005’s Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 by Mark Millar and Greg Land. In the various Marvel Zombies series and one-shots that have been published, Cyclops has occasionally made appearances, but has rarely ever been featured. He’s usually seen in the background or depicted as another shuffling member of a zombie horde. He’s almost never seen firing his optic blasts, but given that most Marvel heroes retain their powers after becoming zombies, it’s reasonable to think that the undead Scott does as well.

The best zombie iteration of Cyclops can be seen in 2020’s Marvel Zombies: Resurrection #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Leonard Kirk. In this story, the X-Man Forge has turned the deceased Cyclops’ head into a weapon that fires Scott’s optic blasts like a laser gun. It’s never revealed exactly how Forge managed to harness the power of Cyclops’ blasts or how long this gun will last, but it’s safe to assume that its power is limited until it runs out of energy.

The Many Deaths of Cyclops Are All Missing One Key Element

Scott Almost Always Dies with His Visor On

Cyclops and his fellow X-Men are no strangers to death, particularly in recent years with the establishment of the Resurrection Protocols. But even before that, readers saw Cyclops die many times, both in the main 616 universe and in various alternate timelines and What If scenarios. In the cases where we see his body, such as in 2017’s Death of X #4 by Charles Soule, Jeff Lemire, Aaron Kuder and Javier Garrón, he’s always wearing a visor. Marvel has yet to show fans what would happen if Cyclops died while his eyes are uncovered, and if his optic beams would keep firing.

The closest we’ve gotten is the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, when Deadpool is given Cyclops’ powers. When Logan decapitates Deadpool, his eye beams continue firing, causing a ton of destruction as it falls to the ground. However, you would be hard-pressed to find an X-Men fan who takes anything that happens in that movie to be canonical or authoritative.

The ending of Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #3 does not explicitly state whether or not the zombie Cyclops is dead or merely incapacitated. But the events of the story certainly give the impression that Cyclops’ beams continue firing after death, until the energy that’s stored up in his body runs out. The upcoming new chapter for the X-Men sees Cyclops leading a new team, and the current Resurrection Protocols are unlikely to last into this new era. Therefore, it might be a while until we see Scott Summers die on the comics page and get more answers about what happens to Cyclops’ optic blasts after he dies.