Weak-kneed Wednesdays: Cyclops

I think it’s fair to say that the X-Men movies revolved almost exclusively around Wolverine until X-Men: The Last Stand.

By then I’d written off Cyclops as a mildly irritating secondary character who got in the way of the Wolverine/Jean Grey romance. Sure, he represented conflict but that was about it.

My opinion changed during the third movie. Now I saw Cyclops as a sympathetic character, genuinely grieving for the loss of his partner. It also dawned on me, now she was out of his life, and he could no longer see her, that he’s never been able to truly see her. If he took his glasses off he’d fry her to a crisp. Jean has never been able to look at him, either.

I can’t imagine the torture of not being able to look into the eyes of the man I love.

I treasure those little moments when you look into your partner’s eyes across a crowded room and convey whatever you’re thinking. It could be a joke, a plea for help to be rescued from the dreadful bore that has you cornered, or the look that says “I’m so proud to be your man and that you’re mine”.

In the movie, something wonderful happens and it’s at this precise moment that my knees went weak.

Jean comes back from the dead and persuades him to remove his glasses, the same ones that keep his laser vision in check. He protests but she insists she can control his power and removes his glasses. He’s standing in front of her, terrified, but she gives him the courage to look at her. His laser vision retreats and she’s finally able to look directly into his eyes before kissing him.

*sigh*

I think it’s a beautiful scene…

…until she kills him.