11 Comic Book Characters Who Killed Their Loved Ones

4. Cyclops

Cyclops kills Xavier
Marvel Comics

Ever since the X-Men debuted in 1963, Scott Summers is someone who has so often been at the side of Charles Xavier.

Scott was Professor X's star pupil and was tasked with leading Xavier's band of merry mutants. Not just that, but this relationship was very much that of father and son, with Charles being a father figure to Cyclops and somebody who Cyke could always turn to when he himself was going through his own plentiful issues.

That made it all the more startling and impactful, then, when Cyclops murdered his long-time mentor and father figure during the Avengers vs. X-Men arc. Of course, comics being comics - and, in particular, the X-Men comics being the X-Men comics - means this was not the first time that we'd seen Charles killed. Or the second. Or the third. Or the... you get the point. But to see Xavier's once-prized pupil, with whom he had shared so much, be the one to off Professor X? That was a hard one to take.

In Scott's defence, he was possessed by the Phoenix Force at this point. Even after banishing the Phoenix, though, Cyclops as a character was going in a new direction, with him taking a more aggressive, violent approach in campaigning for mutant rights.

Senior Writer
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 and Presenter, 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 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 and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.