Marvel Just Gave Cyclops & Wolverine’s Rivalry the Perfect Ending

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Weapon X-Men #1! Wolverine and Cyclops have always had a healthy rivalry between them in X-Men canon, whether that be on the battlefield or as romantic rivals. However, more often than not, the two find a way to work together, as the respect they have for each other and their roles as fellow X-Men outweighs any rivalry. And that’s exactly how their story ends, as Marvel Comics just gave Cyclops and Wolverine the perfect shared conclusion, one which puts their rivalry to bed once and for all.

In Weapon X-Men #1 by Christos Gage and Yildiray Çinar, an alternate version of the Phoenix Force (merged with Jean Grey) has collected a small team of Wolverines from across the multiverse to find and kill Onslaught, who has taken to the multiverse in an attempt to rule over every conceivable reality. While Onslaught could have been practically anywhere, the Phoenix narrowed their search down to a few worlds, and the ‘Weapon X-Men’ were sent to the most likely one first.

In this reality, humans and mutants live together in peace after they were forced to join forces against an alien invasion. The alien invaders, known as the Badoon, nearly decimated the entire world. However, because of the brave actions of Wolverine and Cyclops, specifically, they never got the chance. As explained by Jean Grey of this reality, Wolverine and Cyclops sacrifice themselves on the Badoon homeworld in order to give the forces of Earth the time they needed to win the war.

Wolverine & Cyclops Died Fighting Side-By-Side to Save the Entire World

While these versions of Wolverine and Cyclops aren’t those of Earth-616 (and are therefore just alternate versions of the iconic X-Men heroes), that doesn’t make their ending any less significant. Based on everything readers can gather of this reality – designated Earth-93068 – it’s actually not too different from Earth-616.

The only real difference between this reality and the ones fans are most familiar with is that, in this universe, humans and mutants actually achieved peace. Therefore, it’s fair to assume the Cyclops and Wolverine of this reality were more or less identical to the ones from Earth-616, deep-seated rivalry and all, which makes their sacrifice much more impactful than if they were totally different variants.

Wolverine & Cyclops’ Final Fate Highlights the Importance of Alt-Universe Stories

In a more meta sense, alternate versions of iconic characters are simply stand-ins for how certain writers see their stories unfolding – or, in this case, ending. While Earth-616 is one extremely long continuity, different creatives take over crafting new lore for these characters all the time, and the same is true for writers and artists who create new stories with these characters that take place in a different timeline or universe. Those details are only there to experiment with impactful stories without messing up the established continuity, but that doesn’t make what happens in those stories any less significant.

It is true that Wolverine and Cyclops have had power struggles over what’s best for the X-Men, along with romantic issues involving their shared love for Jean Grey, but the two always end up having each other’s backs. And that is highlighted beautifully in this issue of Weapon X-Men, as Marvel Comics just gave Cyclops and Wolverine’s rivalry the perfect ending – even if it did take place in an alternate reality.

Weapon X-Men #1 by Marvel Comics is available now.