Cyclops is a mutant possessing the power to shoot beams of concussive force from his eyes. Due to an injury suffured as an adolescent he can't control these beams, so he must always wear a special "ruby quartz" visor to control his power.
History
When Cyclops was a boy growing up in Alaska, his father, Christopher, took the family for a flight in their airplane. It came under attack by an alien Shi'ar spaceship. As the plane caught fire and was crashing, Cyclops' parents fastened Cyclops and his younger brother, Alex (later to be the hero Havok) into a parachute and pushed them off the plane, in hopes that they would survive. Unfortunately, the parachute caught fire and Scott cuffered a head injury which resulted in his inability to control his optic blasts, as well as prolonged amnesia about his childhood.
Cyclops spent most of his childhood in an orphanage alone. When he was sixteen, he was found by Professor Charles Xavier and became one of his students and a member of the X-Men. He soon graduated to become the team's leader, a position he would hold several times over the years.
As a member of the X-Men, Cyclops evenutally met his father, now known as Corsair, leader of the Starjammers, a group of aliens opposing what they saw as the tyranny of the Shi'ar empire. It was nonetheless several more years before the two learned of each other's true identities.
Cyclops had an on-again/off-again relationship with Marvel Girl during their time in the X-Men, culminating in her tragic death when her power as Phoenix ran out of control. Cyclops left the X-Men for a while after this, drifting for several months until reunited with the team against Magneto. Not long after, Cyclops met Madelyne Prior, an uncanny double of Marvel Girl, and they married.
Surprisingly, the original Marvel Girl was not dead; her Phoenix identity turned out to be an alien who replaced her while she lay in a coma at the bottom of the ocean. Revived by The Avengers and the Fantastic Four, she joined with Cyclops and the other original X-Men as X-Factor. It was eventually revealed that Prior was a clone of Marvel Girl, created by the villain Mr. Sinister. Together they had a son, Nathan Christopher Summers (see Cable). Eventually, Sinister took control of his clone and Prior became the villainous Goblin Queen. This chain of events led to Prior's death. Cyclops and the real Marvel Girl eventually married.
In 2000, Cyclops was killed while fighting Apocalypse, but he was later brought back to life.
In the X-Men film and its sequel, Cyclops was portrayed by James Marsden.Movies & Television