Why Comic Fans Hate Cyclops

5. He Killed Professor X

We all know the old saying about becoming a villain if you live long enough.

After a history of not always being exactly embraced by the readers of Marvel Comics, Cyclops carried out something truly heinous in 2012 - he killed Charles Xavier!

This was all part of the huge Avengers vs. X-Men crossover event in which Cyke ends up being corrupted by the power of the Phoenix, before ultimately becoming the all-out, all-powerful Dark Phoenix. When Professor X tries to psychically stop Cyclops' rampage as deranged terror, the end result is Scott murdering his long-time mentor.

The combined might of Hope Summers and the Scarlet Witch managed to separate the Phoenix from Cyclops, although this whole event led to a new attitude for Cyclops, where he grew increasingly violent in his mission to protect mutant rights.

It's not like readers hadn't seen Professor X killed off before - Charles seemingly has a competition with Jean Grey on that front - but seeing Xavier killed off at the hands of his most loyal soldier, that gave X-Men fans further reason to hate on Cyclops.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 4th Jun 2020

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Marvel Comics Cyclops