Scott
Summers grows up in an orphanage after his parents were killed in a plane
accident and his memories of a brother named Alex have everyone thinking he’s
crazy. He is disdained by smaller kids and bullied by bigger and he has
headaches that are increasingly debilitating. Then one night, he and the other
kids marvel to the appearance of the Fantastic Four on television and his world
is changed. He identifies with their trauma (same as his own family, a disaster
involving four people in flight) and admires how they decided to help people
with their new powers. He obsesses over them as though he can unlock the
meaning of his own life through them. Other heroes arise and soon the world is
full of Marvels. Around this time, Scott consults a specialist and is given
red-tinted glasses to deal with his headaches. Then Scott learns that Reed Richards
is speaking at a conference nearby and he cuts school to go hear him.
At the conference, Peter Corbeau and Tony Stark speak first then Richards takes
the podium…and then mad scientist Doctor Mantis attacks, riding a giant praying
mantis. As Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man swing into battle the floor collapses
trapping Scott and several others in a basement. It is Scott who figures out a
way to signal outside the rubble, leading to rescue. Scott ponders the incident
and decides that his own way of helping people can be to be prepared to help,
knowing what to do before trouble happens….
Scott
soon begins studying up on how everything works so as to be prepared. A
librarian recommends The Art of War by Sun Tzu, the classic on tactics.
Soon after he is picked on by bullies and his headache grows stronger and laser
beams shoot from his eyes, putting a hole though the school walls. He panics
and runs away, feeling like a freak or monster, hitching a ride to the city, where
he comes upon the scene of a construction accident, workers trapped in rubble
while an air conditioning unit hangs over them…and then the cable snaps. Scott
takes off his glasses and….
Years
later, Scott, now Cyclops of the X-Men, plots out a dangerous mission for the
team; Reed Richards warns him that they may not all survive. Scott quotes his
own words back to him that he has to rely on his instincts and trust the rest
will follow. And Scott has learned that it’s okay not to have the answers but
to keep trying….