It’s time for Marvel Comics and the X-Men to address and solve the greatest weakness of Cyclops. Ever since his debut as the X-Men’s team leader in 1963, Scott Summers’s chief weakness has been his inability to control his mutant power, fearing the powerful optic blasts he seemingly has no mastery over without his visor made of ruby quartz. However, despite how iconic the visor has become, there’s actually no reason why he couldn’t get control over his power sans visor, as there’s solid evidence from past comics that show he’s done it before (albeit temporarily). Given that the X-Men are about to enter a brand new era, it’s the perfect time for Cyclops to lose the headgear and embrace his full potential.
While Professor Charles Xavier made Scott’s visor as a means to contain and focus his uncontrollable optic blasts, it wasn’t revealed until Uncanny X-Men #138 that Scott received brain damage during a plane crash as a child, and it was theorized that the trauma to his head is what made him unable to control the optic blasts that came forth once his mutant ability manifested itself. However, Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run in the early 2000’s revealed that the reasoning was more nuanced than that.
In Astonishing X-Men, Emma Frost revealed that the deeper reason is the mental and psychological trauma the plane crash caused in young Scott’s early development. This was only compounded when Scott got his powers, leading to a psychosomatic barrier that created the inability to control his optic blasts without his visor, coming from his own fear and self-hatred. However, Astonishing X-Men #23 saw Scott overcoming this barrier, and he was temporarily able to have full control over his powers without the visor. This led to some impressive and devastating blasts from Cyclops, which all came from Scott harnessing his full potential as an X-Man.
However, this level of evolution and growth in Scott was seemingly forgotten once Whedon’s run ended, and Cyclops soon went back to wearing his visor (with very little explanation as to why). Most likely, Marvel Comics probably didn’t want to have to deal with the fact that Cyclops no longer needed his signature accessory. However, things are different now, and the X-Men are operating on their own mutant island nation of Krakoa that’s all about embracing one’s full potential and power as a mutant. Krakoa also has resurrection protocols, which means Scott Summers is now operating with a new body free of any physical head trauma, leaving only the psychological trauma to be dealt with.
Considering that Cyclops is about to lead an all new tam of X-Men on Krakoa with Jean Grey in the upcoming Reign of X era, it seems as though there’s no better time for Xavier, Emma, Jean, or any other number of telepaths to finally help Scott overcome his fears and barriers. Iconic and stylish as it may be, Scott’s visor is the biggest thing that’s always held him back and kept him from embracing his full potential as Cyclops.
