Cyclops' plan?

[salinea]

2 pages from Uncanny X-Men #11 & 3 pages from AvsX #3



HEY I MADE THAT JOKE. SORT OF.



There's your "solid, unqualified win", Cap.



Here Tony makes one of those "you're starting to sound like me" speech that Magneto has been giving Scott a lot lately.











Scott plays dirty.

I like it.

Comments

[darkknightjrk]

...Wait. Didn't Rachel go into a coma in W&TXM along with Quentin?

[salinea]

she got better?

[auggie18]

Hah, Rachel's back to calling him "Scott." Not too long ago it was "Dad." Not sure if it's inconsistent because of sloppy writing or if Scott and Rachel's relationship is just that weird.

[angelophile]

She was calling him "Cyclops" a couple of issues of Legacy ago. This is a step up.

[shadowpsykie]

Heh, okay... That's the scott I know

[salinea]

I may be the last person on the internet to do so, but.... I rather like Scott in his current incarnation :)

[abriel]

And Scott again shows that he's a douchebag, a militant isolationist who is dragging the X-Men franchise I knew and loved as a kid into a grave, a pale shadow of what it once was.

Excuse me while I drag my broken and hurt and betrayed self into the corner to weep. And please save the defenses...I've heard them all. It won't change my mind.

[icon_uk]

Except, Cyclops has a point, the Avengers, with NO experience at dealing with the Phoenix are tromping around invading what is essentially sovereign territory because "They know best", ignoring the people who actually HAVE dealt with the Phoenix in the past, refusing to even listen to their POV.

[lucean]

Okay, that was just kind of awesome. No, scratch that, not just kind of. I also love how they're showing him to be the general, always thinking beyond the battle ahead and making moves four turns in advance.

I don't care what anyone says, I love this incarnation of Cyclops and I think they're finally making him one of the big players of Marvel Universe that he deserves to be with this storyline.

[salinea]

OH MY GOD I M NOT ACTUALLY THE ONLY PERSON ON THE INTERNET TO LIKE THE CURRENT INCARNATION OF SCOTT!

Yay :)

[biod]

I had a bit of a freak out when Namor said Cerberus.
For their sake I hope that was just a mistake on his part.

[darkknightjrk]

I didn't get that bit. :|

[atom_punk]

Okay that open letter is clearly intended to raise public sympathy for the X-men using lies of omission. Makes sense since that is the point of the letter and strategically it's probably a smart move but it still makes me angry that Cyclops chose such a low move. Fighting dirty indeed.

The letter leaves out 2 important details:
1) There is no mention of the Phoenix or that it has recently been observed to be a possible cause for several planets getting destroyed and that the anonymous "girl" is most likely the host for this entity.

The Avengers aren't trying to take Hope into custody for being a mutant it's because she could become host to a potentially hostile cosmic being.

2) There is no mention of Cyclops' intent to harness the Phoenix to make more mutants.

Regardless of how badly the Avengers have responded to the threat of the Phoenix, this "Letter to Humanity" is a lie.

And it especially disgusts me the moral high ground the letter is taking considering that Cyclops has done his share of shady dealings. You need only look to his side to see Magneto who I'm fairly certain has never been held accountable by trial or imprisoned for attacking humanity.

I think I can't read or enjoy X-men books (at least not about the main group on Utopia) because as I've become more aware of the real-life global situation, the X-men seem more unlikable. There are people, in the real world and Marvel world both, being oppressed and subjugated and they don't have a self-sustaining island fortress or god-like superpowers but the X-men are consistently written as being underdogs and it feels hollow to me.

I liked it when it was just a school. A school for kids with superpowers but still a school, where saving the world was an extracurricular activity.

Now the flagship X-men title is about being a country and politics and whatnot.

I dunno. Just IMHO

[damar148]

Heavily agreeing, always hated the 'just a little girl' moral defense that's used often by 'heroes' to justify endangering everyone and leaving out the context of the little girl in question being extremely dangerous.

I cannot see how we're suppose to sympathize with the X-Men here.

[filthysize]

Aaaaand here's Cyclops with the Godwin...

[salinea]

He learned it from the best!

Wait.... this reminds me of a real life event....

[silverzeo]

Was this entire event base off of the Elian Gonzalez case? The way police broke into a lower class citizen's house with armed guns POINTING to Elian and his aunt, after they gas the house, on Easter morning in front of a crowd? Was that the whole point to this crossover!?!

Re: Wait.... this reminds me of a real life event....

[big_daddy_d]

...I didn't even consider that.

[r0b666]

I understand Cyclops' thinking here but I don't agree with it. This is supposed to make SCott look so cold and brilliant but it actuall ymakes him look like Magneto-lite.

Captain America doesn't care who the Phoenix is coming to hook up with (mutant or not) he'd put Aunt May into protective custody if he thought that's who it was after.

It's a convenient ploy to get sympathy but if the status quo of how the average person in the marvel universe is generally portrayed holds true then most people are going to side with the guy wearing a flag trying to save their asses. Not the pissed off leader with his own island lopping thinly veiled threats at them.

Not to mention the fact that it's not like Tony Stark can't hire a flack to release their own statement.

"Captain America wants to save you from a giant firebird that wants to eat the planet and Cyclops is crying racism. Assuming we don't all die rest assured Captain America is not coming to arrest little Johnny for not eating his peas".

[salinea]

The writers have been very deliberate about setting up Scott as Magneto lite, so I don't think one counters the other.

[espanolbot]

Y'know, if Scott attempted integration instead of isolation, and didn't repeatedly attempt to weaponise children we might be able to take him more seriously as a potential hero in this storyline.

Wanting to turn a teenage girl into a person of mass destruction to bully the world into complying with a list of demands seems like more of a Dr Doom plot than a heroic one. Though this was also the guy whose response to finding a girl programmed into being a murderer by a government programme that has repeatedly targetted his people was "Whelp, she's be a good addition to my covert death squad!".

There's being determined to protect your people in the face of repeated attempts to kill them, and then there's viewing children as being expendable on the road to your goals.

The ends justifies the means GENERALLY isn't a philosophy associated with the good guys, Scott. If it was, then the methods that Stark used to try and keep the general public safe during and after the Civil War wouldn't have been as contested as they were.

[icon_uk]

If the people who kept building Sentinels by the hundred would sort of stop doing that too, and the assorted mutant hate groups stopped doing that too, in their efforts to wipe out a population of less than 500, I could see Cyclops as being more unreasonable than I think he is.

Based on their previous dealings with Phoenix, Jean and Rachel in particular, assuming that the Phoenix host WOULD be a weapon of mass destruction is a major assumption.

[sinisterlink]

That letter from Cyclops is filled with such douchebaggery and lies that I can't do anything but laugh. Nice of you to totally omit the whole part about the Phoenix and why the Avengers are really there, instead just being like, "They wanted to arrest her just because she's a mutant! They think of us like property! Don't you feel sad for us?" Also, the line saying, "Be grateful we aren't as bad as you think we are". Really, Scott? The "normal" people should be grateful that you don't run around killing them with your super powers? That would be like if I bought a gun and was going up to every person I know being like, "You should be GRATEFUL that I don't want to shoot you". And lastly, the "jackboot" line. Laughing so hard at that one. So the Avengers are like Nazis, right? Yeah, whenever someone does the whole, "So and so is worse than Hitler/like a Nazi" that's the point where I basically stop listening to them. Sorry, Scott.

[espanolbot]

If the Avengers see them as property, how exactly is Scott seeing Hope other than in exactly the same way but on different terms?

[donnblake]

Hey, Cyclops, remember that time the Phoenix murdered a planet? Just straight up killed an entire civilization cause she thought their sun looked tasty? No? Just me?

[deepspaceartist]

So, Cyclops wants to risk the entire population of Earth so that Hope MIGHT be able to control the Phoenix and use it to advance his cause. The most convincing argument on this side so far from anyone in or out of univerese is that the phoenix was occaisionaly helpful in the past. And all signs point to the fact that despite past good actions, the Phoenix is currently in planet destroying mode. And even if his stupid plan is successful, that will still sacrifice the population of any inhabited planet between the Phoenix and Earth as well as anybody who happens to get killed on Earth in the process (if Hope is on the other side of the planet from the Phoenix when it arrives, will it go around the planet or continue in a straight line?), all so Scott can have his precious mutants back.

How are we supposed to see the X-men as being even remotely on the side of good after this?

[icon_uk]

The Phoenix was UNIVERSE-SAVING in the past, and the only time it went to the bad was after a concentrated effort on behalf of some throughly insidious mutants, most of whom are dead, or are reformed and working with Scott.

And what exactly is the Avengers guaranteed foolproof plan to stop this cosmic entity from doing what it wants anyway? Science based on a device that didn't work last time.

[drmcninja]

Out of all of this, the only thing that really sticks with me is how strange it is that Magik overpowered Dr. Strange. I realize she's no slouch, but it's going to take some getting used to Strange not being nigh-omnipotent anymore.

[icon_uk]

Depends where the fight took place I think. She's still, AFAIK, Sorcerer Supreme in Limbo.

[angelophile]

"I'm making this up as I go along."

I hope he was being sarcastic there. Because... yeah...

[salinea]

Sometimes it's hard to tell with Cyke.

[ravenous_raven]

Don't know what's going on, don't care.

Man, comic-book characters need to invest in conflict resolution courses like whoa.

[salinea]

but then they wouldn't try to solve everything by hitting one another and then where would comics be?

[crabby_lioness]

it's full of major bs, but any day Ilyana Rasputin takes down Stephen Strange, punks out all the Avengers and saves the X-Men's asses is A GOOD DAY.

HELL YEAH GO MAGIK!

[salinea]

I know right? WAY TO GO ILLYANA!

[md84]

Cyclops is being more Magneto-ish than Magneto. Mags is going along with the plan, but he's the only one on the team who thinks pinning their hopes on a monster that killed billions while on its way to Earth might backfire.

Pretty weird that Cyclops is becoming Magneto-lite when Magneto himself is trying -- emphasis on 'trying' -- to be better.

BTW, anyone else think the only reason the Phoenix is going on a planet-munching rampage in this crossover is to make the Avengers seem less like jerks by giving them good reason to fear it?

If the Phoenix hadn't been established as a mass-murdering monster in this crossover, I'd probably side with the X-men. As it stands, the Avengers are the ones who look more heroic because they are trying to save the entire planet as opposed to their own little pseudo-country. Granted, they really should have asked for more advice from people who have had experience dealing with the Phoenix -- but what could those people say?

"Oh the Phoenix is perfectly safe. Just keep it away from any evil BDSM clubs. Otherwise, it'll go insane and eat a sun."

[big_daddy_d]

Ok, Cyclops plays dirty. I guess someone has to but I gotta call bullshit on him saying they were pushed. Dude..you fuckin threw the first punch. The only reason I have an issue with that is..while it does make for good political strategy...I can't help but feel that Scott honestly believes that. Dude is gonna have his own Brotherhood at this rate. Also Steve, while on his side, needs to tone it down just a bit. Tony is sorta right.

[starwolf_oakley]

First, let's remember that Phoenix saved the universe that time because mad emperor D'Ken tried to use the M'Krann crystal to destroy it. There was a certain sense of self-preservation there. No universe means no stars for the Phoenix to eat.

Second, I wonder if Scott is acting like this because he figured "This time, *I'm* going to be the rebellious bad boy who goes against the system and does what he wants and won't play by your rules!"

Finally, let's say Hope does whatever Cyclops thinks she will do, and mutants births start happening. So, in 14 years will Cyclops arrive at someone's front door acting the way he claims the Avengers are acting now?

[salinea]

I don't think Cyke see it as being a rebellious bad boy. I think he's seeing it as their last hope (no pun intended) while being in a place of great desperation. He's been acting as if they had their back against the walls and they'd do anything not to be pushed more since Decimation.

[amaniwolf]

This is just....bleh. Seriously...he's soccer kicking Hope one sec and now he's got letters going out acting like the poor mutants are wronged. This is just dumb, not to mention the whole idea that the phoenix is going to restore mutants is just bizarre, why would it even bother? How did this idea even form, seriously, except as an excuse to start a battle? You have to love how Emma refers to Logan's school and kids as turncoats.

[brooms]

How did this idea even form, seriously

i think it was a mix of messiah complex and x-sanction.

[md84]

And is the restoration of mutants honestly a good thing? Not all mutants get cool and beneficial superpowers. Of all people, Mr. Scott "uncontrollable eyebeam of death" Summers should know this.

[amaniwolf]

Seriously...some people were happy to be rid of their mutations. But no, he wants what he wants and screw the rest.

[md84]

Scott's biggest problem is that he honestly doesn't seem to think that he and other mutants are part of humanity anymore.

Heck, even the freaking SENTINELS realized this was wrong.

[nyadnar17]

If I came home from a hard day of saving humanity only to find my front lawn full of crusified children and my neighbors did nothing to lend a hand I can't say I wouldn't have a hard time viewing myself as separate from them either.

To me the very fact that Cyclops has humans on the X-men, the psychatrist, Prodigy, the human on the Science Squad, and that he still has a close working relationship with the human mayor of San fransico and a human PR company despite all the reasons he has to be a speciist makes him something of a saint.

Yeah the letter is a blantant PR student and Cyke is pulling the Marvel Universe equivalent of the race card to discredit the Avengers but that doesn't mean the man doesn't have a point.

[red_menace]

Ok, so from what I gather, Scott's plan is "Phoenix grabs Hope, Hope restores mutants."

So...these hypothetical new mutants...any of them get a choice?

[bruinsfan]

It was nagging at me that Cyclops' plan seemed very familiar and then it hit me... it's more or less what Magneto was doing in the first X-Men movie. In which he was the villain, and Scott was leading the team trying to stop him.

I wonder if Hope will be staning on top of the Statue of Liberty's torch when she lights up all the mutants again?