13 comic book movie and TV show characters with wasted potential
By Mark Lynch
James Marsden as Cyclops
The X-Men movies get a lot of flack, and in all honesty, the criticism is usually warranted – especially in the cases of X-Men: The Last Stand and Dark Phoenix.
One thing that doesn’t get enough attention is what they did to Cyclops in X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. He went from confidently portraying himself as a hero to being, well, cannon fodder.
Cyclops in the first X-Men movie was confident. He believed in himself and his teammates. His banter with Wolverine was so entertaining. It was one of the best parts of the movie. Cyclops’ reaction to Logan flipping him the middle claw was just like you’d expect: The perfect balance of humor and annoyance. Then, he was used as a drone for Stryker and then was killed offscreen by “the Phoenix”. It was so disrespectful.
James Mardsen has gone on to have a terrific career. Dead to Me is a popular Netflix show that is surely to be renewed for a third season, he was in the popular Sonic the Hedgehog movie and he was on Westworld. 20th Century Fox may not have seen him for what could have been, but at least other companies have.