Every superhero's life can get complicated, and the same could be said for their families. That holds especially true in the world of the X-Men, which features more time-traveling, alternate dimensions and clones than any other major superhero franchise.

From the earliest days of the franchise to Johnathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu's ongoing run on X-Men, Cyclops has been one of the franchise's most consistent core characters. Naturally, Scott Summers has amassed quite a family during his adventures with the rest of Marvel's mutants. Now, we're going to break down the rest of his very extended family from across the Marvel Multiverse to see who knows who in this family of mutant royalty.

RELATED: The New Mutants Are Betrayed By a Classic Marvel Team

Major Christopher Summers was am Air Force pilot, who, on one fateful day, had his aircraft shot out of the sky by the Shi'ar. This plane crash would forever alter the lives of his children, Alex and Scott Summers. After the crash, Chris and his wife, Katherine Anne were taken to the Shi'ar Imperial Throneworld of Chandilar, where Katherine was murdered by Emperor D'Ken.

While imprisoned, Chris met Cho'd, Cr'reee, Hepzibah, and Raza. Together, they escaped and formed the Starjammers, a group of space pirates who sought vengeance on the Shi'ar starting in Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum's Uncanny X-Men. Chris became Corsair, the swashbuckling leader of the group and years later, he was reunited with his sons, Scott and Alex. During Ed Brubaker, Billy Tan and Clayton Henry's "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire" arc i, Corsair was seemingly killed by his long lost son, Vulcan. However, he appeared alive and well in the short-lived ongoing series Cyclops, where he spent time roaming the galaxy with a time-displaced version of Scott.

When Corsair's plane went down, Alex held onto Scott as the brothers jumped out of the plane. When the two were found, Scott became comatose as a result of his head injury, and Alex was placed in an orphanage. Alex was soon adopted by the Blandings, a family who tried to mold Alex into the memory of their dead son, Todd. During this period in his life, he discovered his own mutant powers.

After Arnold Drake and Don Heck introduced him to the X-Men, he reunited with Scott and went on to become an X-Man of his own. As Havok, he played a part on the main X-Men team and adjacent teams like X-Factor. During the aftermath of Brubaker's "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire," he became the leader of the Starjammers, taking his late father's role. While Havok has been manipulated into becoming a villain more than once, he's also led the Avengers and currently lives with the Summers family on the Moon.

RELATED: Marvel's X-Men are Making Black Panther a Future Enemy

For years there were inklings of a third Summers brother, but it wasn't until Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine'sX-Men: Deadly Genesis that readers learned the truth about him. Gabriel Summers, also known as Vulcan, was the Summers brother no one knew existed --and Charles Xavier wanted it to stay that way. When Corsair and Katherine Summers were captured, Katherine was pregnant with Gabriel. The fetus was removed from Katherine's body and placed in an incubation accelerator, allowing Gabriel to reach adolescence at an accelerated rate. He was sent to Earth to become a slave for Erik the Red but was found by Moira MacTaggert instead. Moira took him in and soon, Charles noticed his existence as well.

Alongside Petra, Darwin, and Sway, Vulcan became an X-Man and was tasked with a mission to rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. The mission went awry, and Gabriel developed a deep hatred for the Summers clan after he was left adrift in space. Charles Xavier even wiped all memories of Gabriel from Scott's mind. For a while, Vulcan served as a major cosmic villain, ruthlessly ruling the Shi'ar Empire and wreaking havoc on his family members in various ways, even killing Corsair. Now, he lives at the Summers' lunar base, seemingly on good terms with his once-estranged family.

Jean Grey and Scott Summers' romance started all the way back in the early years of X-Men comics, becoming something of a staple for the series. After 1980's "Dark Phoenix Saga" ended, Jean Grey was thought to have died. However, then the hear-broken Scott met Madelyne Pryor, the genetic clone of Jean who was created by Mister Sinister. Sinister wanted to carry on the Summers/Grey bloodline, so he used Madelyne to make that happen, although neither Scott nor Maddie herself was initially aware of this.

Out of grief, Scott retired from the X-Men and moved to Alaska to settle down, engaging in a whirlwind romance with Madelyne Pryor. Noting her striking resemblance to Jean, he found himself questioning who she was. His suspicions certainly weren't helped by the fact that she had gaps in her memory. Nonetheless, the two wed and eventually, they had a son, Nathan Christopher Summers.

RELATED: X-Men: Marvel's Strangest Mutants are the Keys to Dawn of X

For all Scott's talk about moving on and starting a new life, he couldn't quite get his lost first love out of his mind. Scott and Maddie's relationship suffered and by 1986, Jean Grey had returned. Scott rushed to see her, leaving his wife and child behind to join the new mutant team, X-Factor. As it turned out, Jean hadn't died in the "Dark Phoenix Saga" at all --she was merely suspended in a cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay.

While her physical form was healing, the Phoenix had assumed Jean's identity. After theInfernostoryline, a crazed Madelyne (then going by the Goblin Queen) confronts Jean. Jean ends up absorbing the remnant of the Phoenix Force housed inside Madelyne, giving her the memories of both Madelyne and the Phoenix. In 1994, Jean and Scott finally wed but were transported to the future to raise their son, Nathan. Although they were separated by death for most of the 2000s, Scott and Jean seem to have gotten back together.

When Cable first appeared, he was baby Nathan Christopher Summers, the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor. However, shortly after theInfernostoryline, Nathan contracted a techno-organic virus that was rapidly killing him. In order to save his son, Scott was forced to give him to the Mother Askani, who promised to heal himin a future timeline. Nathan returned to the X-Men from the future around that same time, appearing as the time-traveling, gun-toting Cable. Eventually, it was revealed that Cable was really Nathan, Scott's long lost son. During theExterminationevent, Cable was murdered --by a younger version of himself. This Kid Cable is the one currently found in X-Men comics and he lives at the Summer Home with his family.

Nate Grey --who's also known as X-Man-- is an alternate version of Cable, who hails from the "Age of Apocalypse" reality. Nate is the biological child of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, born from Mr. Sinister's genetic tampering. Unlike Cable, Nate was not infected by the techno-organic virus, allowing him increased telepathic and telekinetic powers. Nate Grey was the antagonist in the recentAge Of X-Manstoryline, where he stayed behind to tend to the universe of his own creation.

Rachel is the biological daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, hailing from the apocalyptic "Days of Future Past" timeline. She was drugged and brainwashed, forced to hunt down other mutants until she broke her own conditioning. Eventually, she found her way into the 616 timeline and after a while, Scott learned of her true identity and came to view her as his own daughter.

RELATED: Marvel's New X-Force Isn't a Team -It's a Mutant CIA

She joined several teams including Excalibur and the X-Men, and formed close bonds with heroes like Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde. It was later revealed that a future version of Rachel was the Mother Askani who brought Nathan into the future to heal him. In the future, she also has a romantic relationship with Franklin Richards, another incredibly powerful mutant. She takes after her mother, inheriting her powerset and is one of the few mutants capable of controlling the Phoenix force. She currently lives on the Moon with her parents and brother.

Hope was the first mutant born after the Scarlet Witch decimated the mutant population inHouse of M.To some, she was seen as the mutant's messiah, someone who could save their dying race with her mutant power to borrow and activate other mutants' powers.

Eventually, Cyclops put Hope in the care of Cable, wanting to save her from being raised into this world. As such, Cable raised Hope as an adoptive daughter in the future and since then, she has appeared in severalX-Mencomics. Unlike the other characters on this list, she does not have any biological connection to Cyclops or the other Summers, but she is an accepted adoptive member of the family. She currently resides on Krakoa as one of the Five, a group of young mutants who can effectively bring back the dead.

Ruby is the daughter of Scott Summers and Emma Frost, hailing from the dystopian future of Earth-1191. Alongside her father and Layla Miller, she is a founding member of the Summers Rebellion in the same future that Bishop hails from.

Like her father, she can fire force beams from her eyes, though hers are colored black. Similarly to Emma's diamond form, Rubycan turn her body into organic ruby. An alternate version of Ruby was briefly seen in one of the realities inSecret Wars. Unlike the other characters on this list, Ruby still hasn't appeared in the main Marvel Universe, even though she's present in multiple alternate timelines.

KEEP READING: Make More Mutants: A Major X-Men Couple Wants a Baby

Wonder Woman Is Humbled Before a More Powerful Wonder-Woman... From China

Tags:x-men,feature

More here:
Cyclops and the Summers: The X-Men Family Tree, Explained | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Comments are closed.