In one reality, Cyclops was born during the 19th century as a slave — and became Marvel’s answer to Django Unchained.
Across the multiverse, other realities aren’t just divergent based on simple decisions. There are other worlds where people were born centuries earlier or never at all — setting up radically different lives for major figures. This includes one version of Cyclops, who suffered a particularly difficult life before becoming a powerful mutant soldier.
The Cyclops who appeared in X-Treme X-Men — a former slave turned Civil War veteran — was one of the most engaging versions of the character from across the Marvel multiverse and effectively the X-Men’s own version of Django from Django Unchained.
One iteration of the X-Treme X-Men was a group of multiversal mutants who traveled across various realities, recruiting various heroes to kill evil Xavier variants. This included the Scott Summers from Earth-70213, a world where mutants became prevalent in the United States during the 19th century instead of the 21st century. In this timeline, Scott Summers had been born a black man and was raised under the specter of slavery. After years of brutal treatment and abuse, Scott’s powers manifested and he escaped. Found by Doctor Xavier and Colonel Fury, Summers was trained in the use of his powers and became invaluable in the American Civil War. With his powers, Corporal Summers was able to fell thousands of Confederate soldiers in single assaults — with the conflict only lasting a matter of weeks instead of years.
In the aftermath of the conflict, Summers remained a member of the Union Army until he was recruited to a team of multiversal mutant heroes. After his team was combined with the Earth-616 Dazzler’s group, this variant of Cyclops repeatedly proved himself in battle — and formed a brief romance with Dazzler. Working with his partners, Corporal Summers was able to face off with a rogue Celestial and its twisted creations, helping protect Earth-616 from ruin during the X-Termination storyline. At the end of the conflict, Corporal Summers was one of the only survivors of the X-Treme X-Men — and ultimately decided to join his teammate Howlett in venturing into Earth-616’s underworld in search of their fallen teammate (and Howlett’s lover), Hercules.
Corporal Summers is a unique take on Cyclops, placing the character firmly in an era of persecution and fear. His evolution also effectively makes this version of Cyclops into Marvel’s version of Django Unchained. Like in the Tarantino film, a young man escapes slavery thanks in part to the efforts of someone who wants to mold him into a weapon — and they prove successful, turning the young man into a deadly agent. While Django remained an independent bounty hunter, Corporal Summers gained partners in the Union Army — including his world’s versions of Storm and War Machine. But both also got the chance to fight against slaveowners and murderers from their era, using their abilities to levy some justice against them.
It’d be exciting to see Corporal Summers return in some way. Although the character didn’t appear in the Secret Wars region known as Timely — an entire old-west inspired take on the Marvel Universe — he would have fit in perfectly within that setting. His last appearance had him still in the core-Marvel Universe of Earth-616, suggesting he could eventually return in some capacity. With Krakoa even recognizing clones and alternate reality variants as their own people thanks to the efforts of the Five, it’s possible for Corporal Summers to reunite with Dazzler and become a citizen of Krakoa. It’d give the heroes a unique perspective to explore, and could open the door to a further exploration of Corporal Summers’ original reality.
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