Cyclops' Villain Era Is the Only Thing I Want to See From the MCU

After years and years, the MCU is finally ready to do Cyclops justice in live-action (in a couple of exciting ways). While it may be too early to wish for it at the moment, I’m still really hoping we might one day see one of Cyclops’ darkest eras from the original comics.

Unfortunately, Cyclops has never really received the live-action spotlight he deserves as one of the X-Men’s most dynamic leaders. As such, Marvel Studios has a ways to go to give Scott Summers that much-needed redemption (though that’s not stopping me from hoping for darker evolution all the same).

The MCU Is Bringing Back James Marsden’s Cyclops For Avengers: Doomsday

James Marsden’s Cyclops engages his visor in X2 X-Men United

Right off the bat, 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday is set to bring back James Marsden’s Cyclops after two decades (twelve years if you count his brief cameo in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past).

Now, the most recent Avengers: Doomsday teaser shows Scott in a comic-accurate blue and yellow suit for the first time in live-action, firing a massive optic blast surrounded by destruction and what looks to be Sentinels in the background.

Seeing as how Marsden’s Scott was consistently sidelined in Fox’s X-Men films until he was killed off-screen in 2006’s The Last Stand, Doomsday looks prepared to give us a very exciting redemption for this version of the character, potentially positioning Cyclops as a key focal point hero among the full ensemble of heroes we’ll be seeing in the new MCU movie.

Hopefully, Marsden’s return will start normalizing Cyclops as the leading X-Men character he always should have been. Once that happens, the MCU will then have even greater room to explore one of the best Marvel mutant heroes of all time (including his darker side).

The MCU Is Also Planning For Brand-New X-Men (Which Is Great For Scott Summers)

X-Men’s Cyclops in his yellow and blue uniform using his optic blast

Beyond Avengers: Doomsday, the MCU is actively developing its own X-Men reboot to release after the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, which is where Cyclops’ future gets really exciting.

A fresh reboot with X-Men native to the MCU’s Earth-616 will hopefully allow Scott Summers to finally exist without all that Fox-era baggage, enabling Marvel to present him as the dynamic leader he’s always been in the original Marvel Comics.

A rebooted X-Men timeline within the MCU could build toward that transformation organically, positioning Cyclops as the backbone of mutantkind and its X-Men projects overall, a cornerstone leader fighting for greater equality and coexistence with mankind.

However, it would also be fascinating to see what happens when Scott Summers finally has enough of all the violence and oppression mutants have faced, just like in the pages of Marvel Comics.

Will Cyclops’ Darkest Chapter Ever Get A Live-Action Adaptation?

The freedom the MCU will soon have with the X-Men also opens the door for one of Scott Summers’ darkest comic arcs, sometimes described as his Magneto-era. This was a Cyclops stripped of his idealism shortly after 2012’s Avengers vs X-Men, where he had murdered Professor Xavier by its end, feeling betrayed by his mentor/surrogate father (and under the influence of The Dark Phoenix).

In the aftermath, Scott doubled down and took a much harder stance, prioritizing mutant survival above humanity’s approval. Operating out of a former Weapon X facility, Scott’s darker team of X-Men prominently included Emma Frost, Magik, and Magneto himself, essentially a cell of mutant revolutionaries who took more proactive action against human oppression. Cyclops also had a new black-and-red suit, symbolizing his darker heel turn.

What made this dark pivot even more striking was that this era of Marvel Comics also had a younger version of Scott from the past operating in the present and clashing directly with his older self, providing a direct and living comparison to the idealistic hero Cyclops once was, and the darker man he had become.

Although the MCU has never adapted any Marvel Comics story so directly, it would be amazing to see a similar dark turn for a live-action Cyclops at some point down the line. After years of being sidelined in live-action, it would be pretty incredible to see an MCU Cyclops embracing a level of complexity we’ve never seen from him before on the big screen.