Although Cyclops was one of the main heroes in the original X-Men movies, it’s been a long since we’ve seen him play a major role. X-Men: Apocalypse is remedying this by introducing a younger version of Scott Summers (played by Tye Sheridan), who is just getting started on his mutant journey. The previews have shown Scott unleashing his optic blasts in battle, but the latest clip from the blockbuster features his power awakening for the first time at an especially inopportune time.
The clip begins with Scott in class listening to a history lesson about when Magneto and Mystique revealed the existence of mutants to the world in 1973 (see X-Men: Days of Future Past for the full story). During the lesson, Scott’s eyes start to get irritated, and when he starts blinking repeatedly, which earns him a weird look from a girl looking back at him. When her boyfriend notices, he angrily asks if Scott’s winking at “his girl,” to which Scott retorts that the other guy certainly looks old enough to be her father. The irritation gets bad enough that Scott asks to be excused to the bathroom. Unfortunately for him, that jock follows him there, and when he starts banging on the stall, that’s when Scott’s optic blasts manifest for the first time, blasting the stall door door off and pulverizing the ceiling.
Various tales, both in the comics and other media, have shown Scott discovering his ability for the first time, and just like the others, X-Men: Apocalypse’s version was destructive. We previously saw a teenaged Cyclops in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (played by Tim Pocock), but in that movie, he already had his optic blasts under control with his trademark ruby quartz glasses. In this movie/new timeline, that’s not the case, and some recent footage showed that when his older brother Alex, a.k.a. Havok, brings Scott to the X-Mansion, he’s wearing a blindfold to keep his eyes closed, meaning that Scott won’t get his glasses until he’s enrolled as a student at Xavier’s school. Given how how Alex can shoot similar blasts, one would think that the possibility of Scott being a mutant would have been discussed at the Summers household.
While studying at the X-Mansion, Scott will meet Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Jubilee and other young mutants who are learning about their abilities and want a place to feel accepted. However, they’ll soon be thrust into battle when Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen set our to remake the world as they see fit. So even though Scott and a few of the others don’t have full control of their abilities yet, they’re being tossed in head first to fight back against folks who want widespread death across the world.
X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters on May 27.
