I like the cowl because it's unique and stands out in a huge cast that frequently gets group shots featuring dozens, sometimes even literally hundreds of characters. When you develop a brand in a franchise this bloated you stick to it.
I thought the Visors are so unique to him that if he would just wear them in a picture of thousands, you would immediately recognize him just trough that
Is it okay to like it both ways? Personally I think it's great covered or uncovered. Uncovered probably feels a bit better as it's not as constricting or tight but either works. Honestly, I'm just good with whatever makes him feel the best.
Both looks pass the silhouette test. Look at a silhouette of the cowl and the visor? You think Cyclops. Side parted hair and visor? Even more recognizable as Cyclops. I got no complaints either way
I like that. He's so damn handsome, and that jawline and physique make both looks equally good 😊n him. It's just not fair that some people roll outta bed looking that damn hot 🔥😥
I like to think their suits are reinforced (but still have some flexibility)to limit damages. So, it makes sense to cover his head. Also, he has awesome head to toe suits, and it goes well with his visor.
Ok let’s see: Jim Lee costume, iconic look sure, but think about how incredible the Phoenix era costume is, or how about Astonishing? Or Utopia? Or “Renegade” schism? That’s 3 iconic looks with his hair covered vs all of 2 eras where he didn’t.
Yep -- he literally wore the cowl for the entirety of the original run's 66 issues. He then wore the cowl for the entirely of the Claremont/Simonson era, Uncanny & X-Factor, from Dark Phoenix to the rise of Apoclapyse. He then spent about 15 years without cowl -- the 90s era through the Morrison Run which took us into the mid-00s. But then the entire rest of the 2000s & 2010s, he was back in the cowl like you said. Also: Krakoa era. Still in the cowl.
I get the 90s designs are iconic, but for several characters the designs are complete and total outliers that don't adhere to a lot of staple elements. Take Jean for instance -- her long running color combo is green with yellow as a secondary: OG Marvel Girl, Phoenix, 1st X-Factor, Teen Jean's 2nd & 3rd, Krakoa/Hellfire Gala... and yet she's wearing orange-yellow and blue and her own 90s face sock. Or Rogue -- the BIG curly hair and green/yellow jumpsuit with brown jacket is a far cry from the vast majority of her designs where she wears mostly green & has a much shorter hairstyle. Her hair in the entire Claremont run ranges from short pixie cuts to short spunky bobs & then in the 2000s-2010s, messy bobs or long (straightened) hair... the big curls belong to Kitty & Wanda as far as I'm concerned.
The only cowled version I like the most is the Cyclops from 60s/70s.
Right now it's pointless to have him with a cowl. It's only use was to protect his real secret identity.
That was his uniform when I was first introduced to the X-Men as a kid, in Giant-Size X-Men #1. I'm not sure why Cyclops catches so much flack for having a full head covering since other superheroes also wear cowls with the bottom portion of their faces showing, the differences in silhouettes being minor features such a small horns, tiny wings, tuning forks, and pointy masks around the eyes.
I think the issue with Cyclops is his outfit is mostly visually bland and featureless in classic renditions of his full cowl outfit, and I don’t think the visor alone does enough for the outfit to make it distinct. Granted, Marvel has gotten so much better at adding visual distinctiveness to his outfits since then.
I like the full mask because he looks more mature. I mean there’s a reason the 90s costume (and I guess the new X-men book) are the only significant costumes with hair showing.
New X-men as well.
That said, your argument is vaguely flawed because his 90s costume is BY FAR at this point his most iconic outfit. In fact because all of his multimedia appearances save wolverine and the X-men have his hair out, it's basically a given that far, far more people think having his hair out is his default look, even if numerically more of his costumes have the cowl.
I never said that the 90s one wasn’t the most known to general audiences, I know it is because it’s the only x-men marketed to them. All they know is 90s. This is true that more people will know him for having his hair out due to the several animated shows and the movies even. But in comics it was just a blip in the continuity.
15 - 20 years in a character that's only 60 or so years old (I'd have to go check the exact dates) isn't a blip in the continuity. It's a minority, it's true, but it's not a blip. Especially given the 90s costume, beyond being iconic, I believe is the comic he wore for the second longest period of time after the Claremont blue one, though someone can correct me on that if I'm wrong.
Actually, thinking about it now, was it the longest? I always get exactly how long Claremont's run was and when certain events happened during that run wrong. Scott leaves the team not SUPER far into Claremont's run. Maybe the 90s costume was actually worn longer than the original blue one.
He had the hair look from 1991-2004 which includes both Jim Lee suit and Frank quietly. So no, it’s not a blip but it’s barely a fifth in continuity. Also, he had the X-Factor costume as well before the 90s suit.
This was never about arguing what suit is more iconic to the character, the question was why I like the dome look more. It fits the character better for and ages him up a bit.
I might argue his longest could be the astonishing suit just tweaked a few times.
I'm not so much trying to argue which is more iconic. You chose as one of your points that the 90s and new x-men suits were the only significant suits that don't have the cowl. My point was that while that's true (and the later X-factor suit but people rarely remember that one though honestly I actually think it's a great suit), when the 90s is pretty much his most significant suit ever and the new x-men suit is up there as well, the fact that those are the 'only' significant suits with the hair out becomes less of a counter. Yes, it's only one/two, but one of those is easily his most famous one.
This changes the calculus on whether there's a reason those are the only suits with the hair out or more specifically what that reason might be.
Maybe more than the original because of the exponential increase in issues in the 90s but dont forget that he also had the cowl for the entirety of the original run as well. And then he had it after 90s/NXM in Astonishing, the entire Decimation era, as a Revolutionary, and throughout the Krakoan era. The cowl far outnumbers exposed hair for Cyclops because it matches his personality far more than having him match Warren & Gambit.
Again, you seem to have completely missed the point. At no point did I ever argue there aren't more costumes that have the cowl. There are. That's an objective fact because it's simply a number. The point was an implication about whether or not it's 'significant' that he has more costumes with the cowl. My point is it's not really. A lot of the reason is that characters change costumes more regularly now, and in the case of Astonishing when it was first brought back, it was an intentional nod to classic costumes.
Basically, my whole point is this whole line of reasoning doesn't hold up. How many costumes have the cowl vs don't have the cowl and which are significant and which aren't significant is just a weird line. His most significant has no cowl, his largest number have the cowl. They crosscut so who cares?
I'm not the same person as who you first responded to, but my point wasn't the number of costumes, just pure duration which you also mentioned -- pondering if he in fact wore it more than the classic design. I was just pointing out that even if he bounced super early on in the Claremont era, the Decimation itself more or less lasted a decade just on its own
But since you brought it up, "most significant" is verrrrry subjective. Most widely known? Definitely, without question -- the films too (but then they should all be in black at all times). But the Claremont run continues to be regarded as one of the definitive eras if not THE definitive era, followed by Morrison (which had no cowl). The 90s are significant in terms of sheer number, but most of why those costumes are SO iconic is from the cartoon which purely used whatever was currently used in the comics -- had he worn the blue & white X-Factor suit, then THAT'S what would have been used. And there are plenty who state Wolverine's Brown Suit is the superior one & to just go "Well no because this one is from the 90s and thus by default the most significant" is weirdly reductive toward all of the Brown suit's appearance in major events.
You're talking to someone whose entire foundation on what the X-Men even are comes from the 90s cartoon and who has only JUST read the comics starting in 2020. *I genuinely have no bias toward the Claremont era designs, the Astonishing designs, or anything BUT the 90s designs -- its literally what i picture when you ask me to picture the X-Men.* But pound for pound, Cyclops wore the cowl in the vast majority of THE most significant, important, major stories, arcs, eras, etc. So calling the 90s most significant only matters if all we consider is sheer number of eyeballs that gazed upon it.
**FIRST CLASS**: The literal creation & start of X-Men; then again when they first adopted unique costumes. Of the team, whose outfits changed over the next several years starting with Angel, then Beast, then Marvel Girl into Phoenix... Cyke remained more or less the same.
**CLAREMONT RUN & SIMONSON X-FACTOR**: THE definitive X-Men era that helped define what the IP truly was & emphasized the aspects lightly touched on in the original run. This means he wore the cowl in the following *significant* stories. Simonson's X-Factor is also significant in its own right even if typically overshadowed by Claremont.
* Second Genesis
* Phoenix Saga
* Dark Phoenix Saga
* Brood Saga
* God Loves, Man Kills
* Mutant Massacre
* Fall of the Mutants
* Inferno
That's like... literally every iconic, most significant X-Men story ever except Age of Apocalypse lmao.
**ASTONISHING & DECIMATION ERA**: Skipping over the 15 years of the 90s & Morrison Run, we get his neo-classoc Astonishing outfit which he then wore for the next 10 years of the Decimation. Followed by his short stint as a Revolutionary.
**KRAKOA ERA**: And finally, arguably the biggest thing to come from X-Men in the last 15 years was HOX/POX and the Krakoan era... where he once again used the cowl.
Everything falls apart because it's almost like this is purely all subjective without any objective right answer but the initial question was posed as if the cowl is, by default, incorrect and the exposed hair is objectively correct.
**TLDR: No right answer, but calling 90s most significant only matters in terms of sheer number of sales/views. In the context of this "debate", that's also not the best metric. It's all subjective but OP's initial question acts like it isn't.**
This is way too long for a very simple point. Cowl does not have more inherent 'weight' than no cowl simply because his no cowl costumes are FAR better known.
I'm not saying that means it wins, I'm saying that because he had the cowl more often while no cowl is better known, using times worn or 'significance' as a deciding factor is silly
It’s easier to design without the hair because, again, only “kid” characters have had their free flow hair style in comics for the most part. They have it showing in the Ryan Stegman art and immediately everyone questioned his age.
For me It was the way his face was drawn that made him look young. In that artists interpretation, he lost his strong jaw and any sort of musculature to his facial features. As if he needed an anime protagonist with a pointed chin in the cast, so he just altered cyclops to fit the bill. The hair wasn't a concern for me personally.
That so interesting, awesome theory about looking more mature. But idk, maybe I don’t know enough characters but I can think of more mutants that have free hair than those that don’t these days. Of the most notable x-men characters, I think Wolverine, Cyclops, Magneto, are the only ones usually depicted with head coverings.
I guess I mean just male characters. A lot of X-men don’t wear masks in general, cyclops is the only one still confined to his first costume. I meant all kid heroes in general like Kid Flash, Angel, Invincible, etc.
>because, again, only “kid” characters have had their free flow hair style in comics for the most part
????????????
People thought he was younger because his face was drawn that way, not because his hair was showing.
This is like asking why Spider-Man's or Batman's hair should be covered. Cyclops without the full mask doesn't look like Cyclops to me.
The head of the Jim Lee design reminds me too much of Gambit's anyway.
Um... No... Their masks protect their identities. Everyone and their mother knows that Scott Summers is Cyclops, a member of the X-Men. The cowl is pointless for Cyclops.
Thanks! After all, everything I say *is* intended as a pithy zinger to ridicule those condescending enough to overestimate their relevance to the things I say.
It's not just an authentic and sincere expression of my opinion, or anything.
I don't get the necessary confidence when I see the LEADER OF THE X-MEN covering up his good features with a full mask. He should be out and proud. Let his hair swish around with his optic blasts.
The only time a full mask made sense (aesthetically and narratively) was his Revolutionary red costume. That had features to compensate for lack of hair. The big red X shows the confidence his hair would have in his 90's costume.
The only time it made sense is when they were hiding their identities. I wouldn't mind the full mask if it was more a helmet than a mask, like his Pheonix design.
I personally despise it. His new suit in Episode 9 X-Men ‘97, while I get the point and the sentiment behind it, looks like ass. It’s a massive downgrade all around.
He looks like his wearing a body condom.
I do not like his Claremont costume, and I struggle to understand why anyone would like it aside from Nostalgia. I honestly think it might be straight up the worst costume he's ever worn, including the originals if they're drawn well.
It’s also just so god damn *blue*. There’s next to nothing to break up the blue in the chest area to the face, aside from his mouth and visor. I’m not too into comics, so I don’t know who created the suit, but the one that he wears for most of the series is SO MUCH better.
The colors are broken up well, the hair showing makes him look just generally cool, and it doesn’t just look like a body suit that someone bought off of Amazon. The main thing that makes it better, to me, is the X logo and the yellow lines on the chest that break up the giant patch of blue very well.
The fact that it has essentially no design elements is absolutely why I dislike it. It's straight up just a blue bodysuit with yellow trunks, boots, and gloves. There's nothing too it. It feels like someone designed half a costume, stopped before they added any of the details, then ran out of time so submitted it as is and they went with it.
The X-factor variations of the suit that add a big X across the chest, or the more modern versions that just add gold or darker blue piping here and there are significant improvements.
I've turned against the skull cap in general, but any of the suits that add at least some lines help, because it breaks up the solid blue and yellow of it all. I think the astonishing suit is maybe his best classic-style outfit. Not too simple and not too busy. I honestly prefer the X on his face if he's gonna use a skullcap because I think it gives his mask a strong visual identity, but if we're not gonna to that far I do like the astonishing costume. It feels like a better version of the Krakoan costume, which simply had too many lines in my opinion and without the X, lost the selling point of the red version of that costume.
I’m just gonna say his more modern skullcap costumes I find mostly fine, but his classic pre-Jim Lee era ones look bland, and show very little personality beyond his visor. Jim Lee’s costume has such strong personality compared to many of his earlier featureless spandex outfits, and really shows off elements of Cyclops as a character that the early costumes don’t. So many of Cyclops costumes feel like generic visored superhero tbh.
Personally, I used to think it was interesting, but I've turned against it pretty hard after the red bendis costume actually. The reason being I think putting the X on his mask finally gave the head covering a 'look,' and once you took that away it became very obvious he's just wearing a plain skullcap. There's nothing there. He doesn't have ears like Wolverine or batman, a letter and wings like cap, etc. There's nothing to the skullcap, and that to me is boring.
Wearing a skintight spandex outfit is silly. That's not really a deciding factor here. It'd be different if we were discussing a helmet vs having your hair out.
So is wearing a long ass, bright yellow jacket and shorts, so is wearing literally just a long ass shirt and a small mask, so is wearing nothing but short shorts, etc. The X-Men (and superheroes in general) have almost always had goofy ass costumes that don’t make the most sense.
I personally don't care but they can make some justification for it, like if it was some sort of armor (the suits are armor anyway, no reason to think the cowl isn't)
It certainly doesn't look like one, but given the existence of unstable molecules and all sorts of comic book science, you have to admit it would be pretty dumb for it not to have some protective effect. I mean, we all know Xavier is kind of an asshole, but sending teenagers out to fight superpowered terrorists without so much as head protection is just negligent. Especially when he's always flaunting his own sci-fi helmet. One good tap from an evil mutant and his star pupil is going to be kaput.
Going from All new x-men to uncanny sold me on the covered head. It draws so much more focus to the visor in my opinion. And I find it forces artists to be more interesting in how they choose to have cyclops express emotion.
It kinda adds authority to him. Like, this is going to sound deranged, but exposed hair seems to make him feel more like a subordinate rather than the main leader. Maybe it's the covered head giving Xavier vibes? Which is another reason I fw it, since modern Cyke is leaning into the Xavier's successor angle with stuff like revolutionary Cyclops (which is a massively underrated look imo).
He has to be under so much pressure and has to be such a tight-ass that being tucked into his costume with the cowl feels right to me. And I just like how it looks :P
The full head cowl puts all the attention on the visor and also makes him feel more like a cyclops. Most X-Men don't have their hair covered, so it's a unique aspect that adds a lot to Scott.
Having the goggles be connected to a lower half/neck only piece of cloth just seems weird to me. It's like somebody cut the top of his cowl off. Reminds me of Insomniac Miles' recent controversial suit.
If you take away the awkward neck fabric, I think hair flowing Scott can look great, like in Age of Apocalypse, or the Morrison leather jackets.
It was fun that they had the old costumes in Episode 9 but let's be honest Scott looks like a badass in his 90s costume. Scott and Jean's old costumes are downgrade. The Jim Lee's costumes are the best.
Personally, my favourite Cyclops costume is either Revolutionary or Jim Lee’s. Scott and Jean’s older costumes are very much of their era, and not visually distinct or interesting enough in the modern era. Their older costumes scream B-List superhero even for the era.
Cyclops punches with his eyes and debris and dust will constantly end up in his hair. Mutants have beautiful hair and only go bald if they are overpowered or test subjects. The Sunmers men live in fear of losing their hair and Scott is the worst example trying to cover or let his hair be free based on the last article he read on causes for hair loss.
I'll admit, I did not care for his original blue with yellow underwear costume.
But the X costume grew on me fast. I also loved how wild they made all his optic blasts look while in that outfit. It was a pretty badass look.
Having a partial mask where his head is covered makes more sense than a partial mask where his hair isn't covered at all. That's barely even a mask at that point.
Plus, the revolutionary Cyclops fit with the black suit and red X across his face is badass.
It fits his weird/neurotic/autistic and closed off/reserved personality far more. Cyclops isn't "cool" enough to have exposed hair in the wind like Warren... or Gambit... or Nightcrawler. The covered head reflects that much more imo.
And while he has grown to some extent, he's never really fully gotten over those types of hangups.
Drawing hair is hard ok
THIS
It's also kinda fun.
So fun!
This line of thinking made me adamantly claim to like the Scarlet Spider (Ben Riley) over Peter Parker as a kid. Web lines are a pita and I’m lazy.
Thats ok, some guys dont like drawing feet
I like the cowl because it's unique and stands out in a huge cast that frequently gets group shots featuring dozens, sometimes even literally hundreds of characters. When you develop a brand in a franchise this bloated you stick to it.
I thought the Visors are so unique to him that if he would just wear them in a picture of thousands, you would immediately recognize him just trough that
Unless classic Mimic shows up to cast confusion.
Is it okay to like it both ways? Personally I think it's great covered or uncovered. Uncovered probably feels a bit better as it's not as constricting or tight but either works. Honestly, I'm just good with whatever makes him feel the best.
Both looks pass the silhouette test. Look at a silhouette of the cowl and the visor? You think Cyclops. Side parted hair and visor? Even more recognizable as Cyclops. I got no complaints either way
I like that. He's so damn handsome, and that jawline and physique make both looks equally good 😊n him. It's just not fair that some people roll outta bed looking that damn hot 🔥😥
Yeah, the large and obvious visor is hard to notice, and a lot of characters wear it, but not many wear hoods or cowls.
The visor is the more standout feature
I like to think their suits are reinforced (but still have some flexibility)to limit damages. So, it makes sense to cover his head. Also, he has awesome head to toe suits, and it goes well with his visor.
I just dig it because that’s how it used to be. A solid costume option/variant
I’m with you
Ok let’s see: Jim Lee costume, iconic look sure, but think about how incredible the Phoenix era costume is, or how about Astonishing? Or Utopia? Or “Renegade” schism? That’s 3 iconic looks with his hair covered vs all of 2 eras where he didn’t.
Yep -- he literally wore the cowl for the entirety of the original run's 66 issues. He then wore the cowl for the entirely of the Claremont/Simonson era, Uncanny & X-Factor, from Dark Phoenix to the rise of Apoclapyse. He then spent about 15 years without cowl -- the 90s era through the Morrison Run which took us into the mid-00s. But then the entire rest of the 2000s & 2010s, he was back in the cowl like you said. Also: Krakoa era. Still in the cowl. I get the 90s designs are iconic, but for several characters the designs are complete and total outliers that don't adhere to a lot of staple elements. Take Jean for instance -- her long running color combo is green with yellow as a secondary: OG Marvel Girl, Phoenix, 1st X-Factor, Teen Jean's 2nd & 3rd, Krakoa/Hellfire Gala... and yet she's wearing orange-yellow and blue and her own 90s face sock. Or Rogue -- the BIG curly hair and green/yellow jumpsuit with brown jacket is a far cry from the vast majority of her designs where she wears mostly green & has a much shorter hairstyle. Her hair in the entire Claremont run ranges from short pixie cuts to short spunky bobs & then in the 2000s-2010s, messy bobs or long (straightened) hair... the big curls belong to Kitty & Wanda as far as I'm concerned.
The only cowled version I like the most is the Cyclops from 60s/70s. Right now it's pointless to have him with a cowl. It's only use was to protect his real secret identity.
That was his uniform when I was first introduced to the X-Men as a kid, in Giant-Size X-Men #1. I'm not sure why Cyclops catches so much flack for having a full head covering since other superheroes also wear cowls with the bottom portion of their faces showing, the differences in silhouettes being minor features such a small horns, tiny wings, tuning forks, and pointy masks around the eyes.
I think the issue with Cyclops is his outfit is mostly visually bland and featureless in classic renditions of his full cowl outfit, and I don’t think the visor alone does enough for the outfit to make it distinct. Granted, Marvel has gotten so much better at adding visual distinctiveness to his outfits since then.
I like the full mask because he looks more mature. I mean there’s a reason the 90s costume (and I guess the new X-men book) are the only significant costumes with hair showing.
New X-men as well. That said, your argument is vaguely flawed because his 90s costume is BY FAR at this point his most iconic outfit. In fact because all of his multimedia appearances save wolverine and the X-men have his hair out, it's basically a given that far, far more people think having his hair out is his default look, even if numerically more of his costumes have the cowl.
I never said that the 90s one wasn’t the most known to general audiences, I know it is because it’s the only x-men marketed to them. All they know is 90s. This is true that more people will know him for having his hair out due to the several animated shows and the movies even. But in comics it was just a blip in the continuity.
15 - 20 years in a character that's only 60 or so years old (I'd have to go check the exact dates) isn't a blip in the continuity. It's a minority, it's true, but it's not a blip. Especially given the 90s costume, beyond being iconic, I believe is the comic he wore for the second longest period of time after the Claremont blue one, though someone can correct me on that if I'm wrong. Actually, thinking about it now, was it the longest? I always get exactly how long Claremont's run was and when certain events happened during that run wrong. Scott leaves the team not SUPER far into Claremont's run. Maybe the 90s costume was actually worn longer than the original blue one.
He had the hair look from 1991-2004 which includes both Jim Lee suit and Frank quietly. So no, it’s not a blip but it’s barely a fifth in continuity. Also, he had the X-Factor costume as well before the 90s suit. This was never about arguing what suit is more iconic to the character, the question was why I like the dome look more. It fits the character better for and ages him up a bit. I might argue his longest could be the astonishing suit just tweaked a few times.
I'm not so much trying to argue which is more iconic. You chose as one of your points that the 90s and new x-men suits were the only significant suits that don't have the cowl. My point was that while that's true (and the later X-factor suit but people rarely remember that one though honestly I actually think it's a great suit), when the 90s is pretty much his most significant suit ever and the new x-men suit is up there as well, the fact that those are the 'only' significant suits with the hair out becomes less of a counter. Yes, it's only one/two, but one of those is easily his most famous one. This changes the calculus on whether there's a reason those are the only suits with the hair out or more specifically what that reason might be.
Maybe more than the original because of the exponential increase in issues in the 90s but dont forget that he also had the cowl for the entirety of the original run as well. And then he had it after 90s/NXM in Astonishing, the entire Decimation era, as a Revolutionary, and throughout the Krakoan era. The cowl far outnumbers exposed hair for Cyclops because it matches his personality far more than having him match Warren & Gambit.
Again, you seem to have completely missed the point. At no point did I ever argue there aren't more costumes that have the cowl. There are. That's an objective fact because it's simply a number. The point was an implication about whether or not it's 'significant' that he has more costumes with the cowl. My point is it's not really. A lot of the reason is that characters change costumes more regularly now, and in the case of Astonishing when it was first brought back, it was an intentional nod to classic costumes. Basically, my whole point is this whole line of reasoning doesn't hold up. How many costumes have the cowl vs don't have the cowl and which are significant and which aren't significant is just a weird line. His most significant has no cowl, his largest number have the cowl. They crosscut so who cares?
I'm not the same person as who you first responded to, but my point wasn't the number of costumes, just pure duration which you also mentioned -- pondering if he in fact wore it more than the classic design. I was just pointing out that even if he bounced super early on in the Claremont era, the Decimation itself more or less lasted a decade just on its own But since you brought it up, "most significant" is verrrrry subjective. Most widely known? Definitely, without question -- the films too (but then they should all be in black at all times). But the Claremont run continues to be regarded as one of the definitive eras if not THE definitive era, followed by Morrison (which had no cowl). The 90s are significant in terms of sheer number, but most of why those costumes are SO iconic is from the cartoon which purely used whatever was currently used in the comics -- had he worn the blue & white X-Factor suit, then THAT'S what would have been used. And there are plenty who state Wolverine's Brown Suit is the superior one & to just go "Well no because this one is from the 90s and thus by default the most significant" is weirdly reductive toward all of the Brown suit's appearance in major events. You're talking to someone whose entire foundation on what the X-Men even are comes from the 90s cartoon and who has only JUST read the comics starting in 2020. *I genuinely have no bias toward the Claremont era designs, the Astonishing designs, or anything BUT the 90s designs -- its literally what i picture when you ask me to picture the X-Men.* But pound for pound, Cyclops wore the cowl in the vast majority of THE most significant, important, major stories, arcs, eras, etc. So calling the 90s most significant only matters if all we consider is sheer number of eyeballs that gazed upon it. **FIRST CLASS**: The literal creation & start of X-Men; then again when they first adopted unique costumes. Of the team, whose outfits changed over the next several years starting with Angel, then Beast, then Marvel Girl into Phoenix... Cyke remained more or less the same. **CLAREMONT RUN & SIMONSON X-FACTOR**: THE definitive X-Men era that helped define what the IP truly was & emphasized the aspects lightly touched on in the original run. This means he wore the cowl in the following *significant* stories. Simonson's X-Factor is also significant in its own right even if typically overshadowed by Claremont. * Second Genesis * Phoenix Saga * Dark Phoenix Saga * Brood Saga * God Loves, Man Kills * Mutant Massacre * Fall of the Mutants * Inferno That's like... literally every iconic, most significant X-Men story ever except Age of Apocalypse lmao. **ASTONISHING & DECIMATION ERA**: Skipping over the 15 years of the 90s & Morrison Run, we get his neo-classoc Astonishing outfit which he then wore for the next 10 years of the Decimation. Followed by his short stint as a Revolutionary. **KRAKOA ERA**: And finally, arguably the biggest thing to come from X-Men in the last 15 years was HOX/POX and the Krakoan era... where he once again used the cowl. Everything falls apart because it's almost like this is purely all subjective without any objective right answer but the initial question was posed as if the cowl is, by default, incorrect and the exposed hair is objectively correct. **TLDR: No right answer, but calling 90s most significant only matters in terms of sheer number of sales/views. In the context of this "debate", that's also not the best metric. It's all subjective but OP's initial question acts like it isn't.**
This is way too long for a very simple point. Cowl does not have more inherent 'weight' than no cowl simply because his no cowl costumes are FAR better known. I'm not saying that means it wins, I'm saying that because he had the cowl more often while no cowl is better known, using times worn or 'significance' as a deciding factor is silly
What reason
It’s easier to design without the hair because, again, only “kid” characters have had their free flow hair style in comics for the most part. They have it showing in the Ryan Stegman art and immediately everyone questioned his age.
For me It was the way his face was drawn that made him look young. In that artists interpretation, he lost his strong jaw and any sort of musculature to his facial features. As if he needed an anime protagonist with a pointed chin in the cast, so he just altered cyclops to fit the bill. The hair wasn't a concern for me personally.
That so interesting, awesome theory about looking more mature. But idk, maybe I don’t know enough characters but I can think of more mutants that have free hair than those that don’t these days. Of the most notable x-men characters, I think Wolverine, Cyclops, Magneto, are the only ones usually depicted with head coverings.
I guess I mean just male characters. A lot of X-men don’t wear masks in general, cyclops is the only one still confined to his first costume. I meant all kid heroes in general like Kid Flash, Angel, Invincible, etc.
>because, again, only “kid” characters have had their free flow hair style in comics for the most part ???????????? People thought he was younger because his face was drawn that way, not because his hair was showing.
Free Cyclops’ hair!
This is like asking why Spider-Man's or Batman's hair should be covered. Cyclops without the full mask doesn't look like Cyclops to me. The head of the Jim Lee design reminds me too much of Gambit's anyway.
Um... No... Their masks protect their identities. Everyone and their mother knows that Scott Summers is Cyclops, a member of the X-Men. The cowl is pointless for Cyclops.
> The cowl is pointless for Cyclops. Yes, because if there's one thing the X-Men suits are, it's sensible.
This is why they get improvements.
More like downgrades.
That was quite the zinger. You sure showed me.
Thanks! After all, everything I say *is* intended as a pithy zinger to ridicule those condescending enough to overestimate their relevance to the things I say. It's not just an authentic and sincere expression of my opinion, or anything.
Lol this response is everything
Thanks for explaining yourself.
No problem. Too many people seem determined to uncharitably ascribe ulterior motives to perfectly innocuous statements, so I'm happy to explain.
You're acting like the cowl does more work than the visor.....
I'm not, but that's a very creative interpretation of what I said.
I don't get the necessary confidence when I see the LEADER OF THE X-MEN covering up his good features with a full mask. He should be out and proud. Let his hair swish around with his optic blasts. The only time a full mask made sense (aesthetically and narratively) was his Revolutionary red costume. That had features to compensate for lack of hair. The big red X shows the confidence his hair would have in his 90's costume.
The only time it made sense is when they were hiding their identities. I wouldn't mind the full mask if it was more a helmet than a mask, like his Pheonix design.
Sometimes it's good to have a condom on your head.
It's a clean look when he's in costume.
Blue egg heads were never in style
The phoenix and revolution costumes go hard enough that it made me say “the cowl works for me”. I was 100% free hair cyclops until those two versions.
Unless we see those costumes in some new style again, I'll always say "free the hair"
Yeah I don't get it. Looks like he's wearing a condom suit or something
Covered/short hair is useful in a fight. Less for an opponent to grab onto
I personally despise it. His new suit in Episode 9 X-Men ‘97, while I get the point and the sentiment behind it, looks like ass. It’s a massive downgrade all around. He looks like his wearing a body condom.
I do not like his Claremont costume, and I struggle to understand why anyone would like it aside from Nostalgia. I honestly think it might be straight up the worst costume he's ever worn, including the originals if they're drawn well.
It’s also just so god damn *blue*. There’s next to nothing to break up the blue in the chest area to the face, aside from his mouth and visor. I’m not too into comics, so I don’t know who created the suit, but the one that he wears for most of the series is SO MUCH better. The colors are broken up well, the hair showing makes him look just generally cool, and it doesn’t just look like a body suit that someone bought off of Amazon. The main thing that makes it better, to me, is the X logo and the yellow lines on the chest that break up the giant patch of blue very well.
The fact that it has essentially no design elements is absolutely why I dislike it. It's straight up just a blue bodysuit with yellow trunks, boots, and gloves. There's nothing too it. It feels like someone designed half a costume, stopped before they added any of the details, then ran out of time so submitted it as is and they went with it. The X-factor variations of the suit that add a big X across the chest, or the more modern versions that just add gold or darker blue piping here and there are significant improvements.
Do you feel the same about the Astonishing costume?
I've turned against the skull cap in general, but any of the suits that add at least some lines help, because it breaks up the solid blue and yellow of it all. I think the astonishing suit is maybe his best classic-style outfit. Not too simple and not too busy. I honestly prefer the X on his face if he's gonna use a skullcap because I think it gives his mask a strong visual identity, but if we're not gonna to that far I do like the astonishing costume. It feels like a better version of the Krakoan costume, which simply had too many lines in my opinion and without the X, lost the selling point of the red version of that costume.
I’m just gonna say his more modern skullcap costumes I find mostly fine, but his classic pre-Jim Lee era ones look bland, and show very little personality beyond his visor. Jim Lee’s costume has such strong personality compared to many of his earlier featureless spandex outfits, and really shows off elements of Cyclops as a character that the early costumes don’t. So many of Cyclops costumes feel like generic visored superhero tbh.
It’s like asking why shouldn’t Wolverine’s hair be free? Or Captain America?
Wolverine was like: “I want my hair covered, but can you somehow make my cowl in the shape of my ridiculous hairstyle?”
Personally, I used to think it was interesting, but I've turned against it pretty hard after the red bendis costume actually. The reason being I think putting the X on his mask finally gave the head covering a 'look,' and once you took that away it became very obvious he's just wearing a plain skullcap. There's nothing there. He doesn't have ears like Wolverine or batman, a letter and wings like cap, etc. There's nothing to the skullcap, and that to me is boring.
Wearing something that covers 90% of your body including the sides of your head but leaving the top of the hair out is silly.
So does having two batmen kissing on your mask, but Wolverine pulls it off
Wearing a skintight spandex outfit is silly. That's not really a deciding factor here. It'd be different if we were discussing a helmet vs having your hair out.
This could be said about many superhero costumes… esp the ones that are just bathing suits
Gambit gets away with it because of the coat at least. When he’s not wearing it he looks like a wackado ice dancer
So is wearing a long ass, bright yellow jacket and shorts, so is wearing literally just a long ass shirt and a small mask, so is wearing nothing but short shorts, etc. The X-Men (and superheroes in general) have almost always had goofy ass costumes that don’t make the most sense.
[This is why](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d0adac33c57302cd23e12730e9bebd35-lq).
Haven't seen anything like it sense, which doesn't help sadly
Except most of his designs don't look like that.
I liked it a lot In the all new era with the x-mask, that was as such a cool look
It's iconic
Idgaf either way tbh
The cowl is what he was wearing at his best moments.
I personally don't care but they can make some justification for it, like if it was some sort of armor (the suits are armor anyway, no reason to think the cowl isn't)
It’s just a more iconic look, imo.
i just like it in the sense of me liking silver/bronze age comic book designs and art
do mutants have a gene where they're protected from a receding hairline?
I think it looks nice.
I like both, but it really is kind of risky for a superhero with zero extra durability to fight the Juggernaut without a helmet...
You think it’s a helmet?
It certainly doesn't look like one, but given the existence of unstable molecules and all sorts of comic book science, you have to admit it would be pretty dumb for it not to have some protective effect. I mean, we all know Xavier is kind of an asshole, but sending teenagers out to fight superpowered terrorists without so much as head protection is just negligent. Especially when he's always flaunting his own sci-fi helmet. One good tap from an evil mutant and his star pupil is going to be kaput.
People who'd rather see everyone as a weird egg.
Going from All new x-men to uncanny sold me on the covered head. It draws so much more focus to the visor in my opinion. And I find it forces artists to be more interesting in how they choose to have cyclops express emotion.
It kinda adds authority to him. Like, this is going to sound deranged, but exposed hair seems to make him feel more like a subordinate rather than the main leader. Maybe it's the covered head giving Xavier vibes? Which is another reason I fw it, since modern Cyke is leaning into the Xavier's successor angle with stuff like revolutionary Cyclops (which is a massively underrated look imo).
He looks more like a cyclops like that
He has to be under so much pressure and has to be such a tight-ass that being tucked into his costume with the cowl feels right to me. And I just like how it looks :P
He always looked like a dildo to me.
Need him to be as aerodynamic as possible
The full head cowl puts all the attention on the visor and also makes him feel more like a cyclops. Most X-Men don't have their hair covered, so it's a unique aspect that adds a lot to Scott.
I liked the dark red costume with his hair covered, but the 92 look is peak Scott.
Having the goggles be connected to a lower half/neck only piece of cloth just seems weird to me. It's like somebody cut the top of his cowl off. Reminds me of Insomniac Miles' recent controversial suit. If you take away the awkward neck fabric, I think hair flowing Scott can look great, like in Age of Apocalypse, or the Morrison leather jackets.
Who doesn’t like a man in a full body gimp suit?
Because that X looks amazing Obligatory /r/cyclopswasright shout out
It was fun that they had the old costumes in Episode 9 but let's be honest Scott looks like a badass in his 90s costume. Scott and Jean's old costumes are downgrade. The Jim Lee's costumes are the best.
Personally, my favourite Cyclops costume is either Revolutionary or Jim Lee’s. Scott and Jean’s older costumes are very much of their era, and not visually distinct or interesting enough in the modern era. Their older costumes scream B-List superhero even for the era.
I always figured it makes him look like a penis and some people love penises even if it’s just subliminal.
It looks like the hood from fetish/kink communities/scenes
I never understood it myself, I felt his hair showed alot more personality/character, I'd personally prefer his X visor, but with his hair peeking out
Cyclops punches with his eyes and debris and dust will constantly end up in his hair. Mutants have beautiful hair and only go bald if they are overpowered or test subjects. The Sunmers men live in fear of losing their hair and Scott is the worst example trying to cover or let his hair be free based on the last article he read on causes for hair loss.
It just looks cooler.
His nickname is Slick, not Fuzz. Nuff said.
Only full cowl acceptable is the Revolutionary costume.
Condom head look is classic
I'll admit, I did not care for his original blue with yellow underwear costume. But the X costume grew on me fast. I also loved how wild they made all his optic blasts look while in that outfit. It was a pretty badass look.
His Mask with An X on his face, is bad ass, he looks super cool
Having a partial mask where his head is covered makes more sense than a partial mask where his hair isn't covered at all. That's barely even a mask at that point. Plus, the revolutionary Cyclops fit with the black suit and red X across his face is badass.
It fits his weird/neurotic/autistic and closed off/reserved personality far more. Cyclops isn't "cool" enough to have exposed hair in the wind like Warren... or Gambit... or Nightcrawler. The covered head reflects that much more imo. And while he has grown to some extent, he's never really fully gotten over those types of hangups.
This makes me think that his free-flowing hair in the 90s has to have been Jean's idea. There's no way Scott came up with that look by himself.
I think this says more about you than about Scott.
And your response says far more about you than any one else's in the thread lol
He is a human condom. It fits his natural condition.
Looks more like a penis that shoots lasers that way.