X-Men: The 11 greatest characters of all time

2. Cyclops

While Professor X started it all, he chose this guy, Scott Summers to lead his group into the future. Scott was a boy scout who had the looks and straight and narrow personality that may have turned some fans off. He always got the girl and was the polar opposite of his team member and rival, Wolverine. Scott has two brothers, Alex who became Havok, and the Omega-level mutant Vulcan. Scott’s optic blast powers manifested when his parents plane was blown up with him and his brother Alex on board. He was able to shield his brother and use his powers to slow them down as they plummeted to earth.

Scott would grow up in an orphanage away from Alex and became the subject of experimentation and torment at the hands of Mr. Sinister. After escaping from the orphanage Scott would be rescued by Professor X and asked to lead his young newly formed team, the X-Men. Over the years Scott would go from a kid burdened by the role of leader into a man with his own ideals as the unquestioned leader of the X-Men. As the story goes, Cyclops would fall in love with Jean and after her death he’d leave the X-Men. Ultimately he would return as leader and thus his story continues. Though he is the unquestioned leader of the X-Men his popularity paled in comparison to our No. 1.