Madelyne Pryor makes Scott’s personal life much harder to talk about honestly. He meets someone who looks startlingly like Jean, and that resemblance immediately hangs over thei…

Madelyne Pryor makes Scott’s personal life much harder to talk about honestly. He meets someone who looks startlingly like Jean, and that resemblance immediately hangs over their relationship. Mastermind exploits those fears, but Scott and Madelyne still go on to marry and have a son, Nathan Christopher. There is an opportunity there for Scott to build a life outside the X-Men. The problem is that being Cyclops has been the center of his life for so long that he struggles to put it down. In Uncanny X-Men #201, his contest with Storm over leadership puts that conflict right in front of everyone. Storm is without her powers, and she still defeats him. Then Jean returns, and Scott leaves Madelyne and their baby to go see her. However shocking that news is, there are people on the other end of that decision. Madelyne is his wife. Nathan is his son. His feelings for Jean don’t make those responsibilities disappear. The later revelations about Madelyne’s origin don’t make the earlier marriage meaningless, either. Scott didn’t enter it knowing what Sinister had done. She experienced that marriage and its breakdown as her own life. That’s where Scott becomes particularly difficult. The same person who can think through a battlefield can make a devastating mess of the decisions closest to home. Keeping both sides in view gives a much fuller picture of him than either excusing everything or reducing him to his worst choice.