There's been a lot of discussion among X-Men fans lately regarding omega-level mutants since Jonathan Hickman confirmed his list of powerful mutants for the House of X/Powers of X event, which featured some known additions like Iceman and Magneto with some surprise omissions like Rachel Summers, who was previously considered to be the first Omega-level mutant.
The X-Men are full of incredibly destructive mutants who aren't omega-level, and like his daughter Rachel, Scott Summers/Cyclops is a great example. His optic blast is a powerful force to be reckoned with that has staggered gods. So today we are going to take a look at a few of Cyclops' most OP uses of his optic blasts to prove you don't have to be an Omega to cause damage.
10 BLEW MISTER SINISTER INTO LITERAL PIECES
Mister Sinister's manipulations of Scott Summers and his brother Alex have left an uneasy relationship between Cyclops and Sinister, which was further tested by the events of Inferno, which revealed Sinister's manipulations continued with his creation of Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey and the mother of Cyclops' son.
With the events of Inferno halted and Madelyne Pryor defeated, Scott lashed out at Sinister with an optic blast full of rage that completely destroyed Sinister's body. It was one of the first times fans had seen Cyclops unleash on a living villain that way, and the devastating result was very graphic.
9 CRACKED APOCALYPSE'S CELESTIAL ARMOR
Apocalypse has always been one of the strongest mutant threats of the Marvel Universe, both due to his own mutant abilities as well as the highly advanced Celestial tech makes up his armor. However, as seen in X-Factor #68, Cyclops was able to break through Apocalypse's armor, which had previously withstood an assault from the X-Men and Black Bolt of the Inhumans.
It's important to note that Cyclops was a bit amplified at the time due to a psychic connection with Jean Grey and his baby son Nathan (who would grow up to become Cable), but Apocalypse was also amped at the time, so this is still an impressive feat from Cyclops that he would repeat a few times over the years.
8 SHEARED THROUGH ADAMANTIUM
After the events of Legion's Quest resulted in the death of Charles Xavier in the past, a new Age of Apocalypse was created that took the X-Men in a number of different directions without Xavier. The mutant population was largely divided between the ruling class of Apocalypse and Magneto's rebellious teams of X-Men.
However, even in this dark reality, Logan/Weapon X and Prelate Scott Summers didn't see eye-to-eye, and they each carried the wounds of their previous battle. Prelate Summers lost an eye to make his codename much more fitting while Logan had his hand blasted clean off, meaning Scott's optic blast was able to destroy or sever the adamantium-laced bone as well.
7 PUNCHED A HOLE IN ONSLAUGHT'S ARMOR
Cyclops' optic blasts are usually held in check by the ruby-quartz visor he wears that contains and focuses the energy. The visor allows Scott to live a semi-normal life, while also giving him precise control over the power of his optic blasts. So when Scott removes his visor, chances are whatever he's looking at is in serious trouble.
One such moment came during a battle between the nearly omnipotent being known as Onslaught and the combined forces of the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four. Scott unleashes the full power of his optic blast and manages to penetrate Onslaught's psionic armor, which had been created by the combined powers of Xavier, Magneto, Franklin Richards and Nate Grey.
6 OVERCHARGED BISHOP'S ABSORPTION ABILITIES
While the Civil War pitted the majority of Marvel's heroes against each other, the X-Men were dealing with their own issues as the 198 surviving mutants were being hunted by the corrupted Sentinel O.N.E. program, which was working alongside Bishop and his squad of mutants.
Cyclops had been temporarily taken over by the mutant Johnny Dee, who unleashed the entirety of Scott's optic blasts on Bishop, whose own power-absorption abilities were pushed to the limits, and he was forced to release the energy upwards into the atmosphere.
5 KICKED A SENTINEL OFF HIS LAWN
The Sentinels are one of the X-Men's oldest enemies, and as we've seen in HoX/PoX, they are an eternal threat to mutants and humans. So it's a good thing that Cyclops has become so efficient at taking down the Sentinels with his optic blasts using both precision attacks and his intense wide-angle unfiltered optic blasts that take out almost anything in their path.
During Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men run, the X-Mansion is under attack from a Sentinel, and instead of engaging in a lengthy battle Cyclops takes the quickest course of action, removes his visor, and wipes out the Sentinel and half the forest surrounding the Westchester estate.
4 SLOWED DOWN THE WORLDBREAKER HULK
Sure, only slowing down someone doesn't seem like a destructive feat, but we have to take into account just who was being slowed. During the World War Hulk event, the heroes of Earth that were associated with Marvel's Illuminati were under attack by an overpowered Hulk and his Warbound full of equally powerful aliens.
Worldbreaker Hulk, as he has become known, tore his way through the X-Men, which even included Juggernaut at the time. The only one who seemed to deter him slightly was Cyclops, who went to "max power" in order to deal with Hulk's attack, slowing the rampaging monster before he decided to leave on his own after seeing the state of mutantkind after House of M.
3 VAPORIZED A GIANT KRAKOAN BROOD MONSTER
We've already discussed one of Scott's overpowered optic blasts seen during the Astonishing X-Men run, though another OP blast occurred in the same series during Warren Ellis and Phil Jimenez' run that Saw Cyclops' team take on genetically-created monsters fresh from a horror movie set.
When a giant monster mashup of a Brood alien and the island of Krakoa was dropped from orbit, Cyclops again decided to take out the threat quickly with an incredible optic blast that vaporized half of the monstrous creature instantly, ending the fight and impressing Wolverine with the fact that Cyclops has a "frickin' nuke" inside of his head.
2 POST-PHOENIX UNCONTROLLED OUTBURSTS
Cyclops reached new levels of power when he was possessed by the Phoenix Force, so much so that we would become corrupted by it and turn into a new Dark Phoenix. He didn't really need his optic blasts much in this form, but after the Phoenix was removed from his body and reality, his powers were left dangerously broken.
This proved to be incredibly dangerous when he was forced to unleash a wide-angle optic blast to take down a fleet of Sentinels, which devastated the area he was in, cutting through buildings and Sentinels alike.
1 TOOK ON DORMAMMU OF THE DARK DIMENSION
It was during that time when Scott's powers were broken that his team of rogue X-Men was forced into a confrontation with the Dread Lord Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension and frequent enemy of Doctor Strange. Dormammu had attempted to take over the dimension of Limbo, which was ruled by Illyana Rasputin/Magik.
Scott showed he wasn't there to bargain when he removed his mask and gave up the last bit of control he had with his broken optic blasts, which actually managed to hurt and push Dormammu back, giving the X-Men time to regroup and eke out a victory.