Published Jun 1, 2026, 12:10 PM EDT
Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
Marvel finally reveals what would have happened if the X-Men's Cyclops had chosen a different path. Beneath the cosmic stakes and mutant allegory, the X-Men are deeply human heroes trying to navigate timeless challenges like love, insecurity, belonging, and peace of mind. Whether it's Charles Xavier wrestling with his failures as a mentor, Storm balancing leadership with self-doubt, or Rogue learning how to love while physically unable to touch, saving the world is often secondary to the X-Men's deeply intimate struggles.
Human messiness is everywhere in the lives of Marvel’s major mutants. Cyclops and Wolverine’s rivalry is iconic because their conflict reflects fundamentally different philosophies, heightened by their complicated history with Jean Grey. Rogue and Gambit’s romance has long revolved around communication and trial and error. Beast’s moral compromises reflect the all-too-human tendency to rationalize ethical erosion in pursuit of noble ends. Even mutants capable of reshaping reality are still forced to wrestle with jealousy, heartbreak, resentment, and exclusion.
Cyclops knows a thing or two about intimate drama, as the mother of his son is the clone of his girlfriend.
Cyclops Chooses Madelyne Pryor Over Jean Grey And Nathan Summers Doesn't Become Cable
What If…? Uncanny X-Men #1; Written By Gerry Duggan; Art By Jan Bazaldua & Arthur Hesli
Parallel to a timeline where Captain America wakes up in the future and one where Jessica Jones hides her past as Spider-Girl instead of Jewel, Uatu the Watcher introduces an alternate timeline where Cyclops chooses to stay with Madelyne Pryor, who doesn't die during the events of Inferno. In this universe, Jean Grey also prevents Mister Sinister and Apocalypse from experimenting on Nathan Summers, who enjoys a regular childhood raised by both parents in the present day.
Related
New Image Suggests Cyclops' Next Appearance Will Fundamentally Change His Powers
Cyclops' powers might evolve in Marvel's new X-Men series, as he seemingly gains the ability to manipulate his optic blasts in a brand-new way.
The alternate timeline introduced in What If...? Uncanny X-Men #1 seems to be a much better scenario for Madelyne Pryor, Nathan Summers, and even Cyclops himself than the reality they live on Earth-616. However, this wouldn't be a What If...? story worthy of publication if it had no conflict. While she manages to punish Mister Sinister, Jean Grey is deeply affected by Cyclops' decision, so she may be vulnerable to a Dark Phoenix-level crisis that could spell doom for her fellow X-Men and the rest of the world. Otherwise, fate may have a way to lead both Madelyne and Nathan to their traditional fate.
Cyclops' Family Is The True Victim Of His Story
The Summers Family Has Suffered A Lot
Scott Summers is undeniably surrounded by pain, as Marvel repeatedly frames his loved ones as collateral damage caught in the wake of Cyclops' impossible role as mutantkind’s burden-bearer. Havok spends years trapped in his brother’s shadow, constantly measuring himself against Scott’s impossible standard of leadership. Jean Grey is repeatedly forced into cycles of sacrifice, resurrection, and cosmic destruction that are inseparable from her bond with him. Nathan Summers is sent into a horrific future because of circumstances born from Scott’s fractured family life, while Rachel grows up in an apocalyptic timeline carrying psychic scars inherited from the Summers-Grey legacy.
Madelyne Pryor is the clearest example of this pattern. Marvel has rightly explored the catastrophic fallout through her transformation into the Goblin Queen. Yet painful as it was, Scott’s decision to let Madelyne go and fully return to Jean is ultimately the more logical and mature choice. Staying with Madelyne out of guilt or obligation would have been its own form of dishonesty. Jean is the original person with whom Cyclops forged his identity, and while Madelyne's death is tragic, it's the only path that acknowledges the grim reality of her nature as Jean's clone.
Do you think Madelyne Pryor deserved a better chance in regular X-Men continuity?
What If…? Uncanny X-Men #1 is available from Marvel Comics on June 3, 2026.
TV Show(s) X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men '97 (2024)
Video Game(s) X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)
First Film X-Men (2000)
Character(s) Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23
Comic Release Date 213035,212968
English (US) ·