10 Moments Marvel Have Chosen To Ignore

6. Vulcan Isn't The Third Summers Brother

Nightcrawler Child Of Satan
Marvel Comics

Scott Summers is one of the five founding X-Men and one of the prominent faces of the franchise since its inception. About nine years after Marvel brought his brother Alex into the X-Family. The two would move in and out of each other lives over the next twenty years, discovering the truth about what happened to their parents, falling in love with clones, turning to the dark side, and generally running the full gambit of comic-book escapades.

That all changed in the early 90s when during a confrontation with Mister Sinister, Scott would discover the existence of hither unto unmentioned "Third Summers Brother". The plot was quickly dropped with Marvel treating it as some kind of psychological manipulation by the mutant geneticist. Fans, on the other hand, were not so easily dissuaded. The identity of the missing Summers sibling was debated, speculated and argued over in comic shops around the country.

Fast forward to 2005 and Marvel publish "Deadly Genesis", a six-issue story arc detailing one of Charles Xavier's many transgressions. It would also introduce a new villain called Vulcan, an omega level mutant who had seemingly died on a mission for Xavier years earlier. The last issue also revealed Vulcan to be Scott and Alex's long lost brother.

While this is "technically" true, Vulcan Summers is NOT the third Summers brother. He is the fourth (Or third and a half if you want to split hairs). Back in the 90s, Marvel introduced a short-lived character called "Adam-X The Extreme". Let's just choose to believe his design was meant as an ironic look at the eras biggest cliches and not a genuine attempt to create something "cool" and "relevant".

Amongst the shoulder pads, swords, pouches and spikes there was a reasonably exciting backstory. Adam was the son of the Shiar Emporer D-Ken and Katherine Summers. The mother of Scott, Alex and Vulcan. In all likelihood, Marvel has chosen to ignore this particular tale of alien abduction and sexual assault for readily apparent reasons, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Contributor
Contributor

Kevin McHugh is a code-monkey by day and a purveyor of the unpleasant by night. Having had several comics published by Future Quake Press he is now moving into prose. An avid fan of punk rock, cheap horror movies and even cheaper fast-food Kevin can be found pontificating either on Twitter or over at WhatCulture Comics where he is a regular contributor. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two daughters.