Maybe We Were Wrong: Marvel's Cyclops vs Rogue Rivalry Is the Perfect X-Men Showdown

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for ALL ongoing X-Men series.

Since the fall of Krakoa, the X-Men have been left shattered and scattered across the country, with no clear chain of command to lead the fractured team forward. Without Charles Xavier or Magneto to guide them, a new era of mutant leadership has had to rise from the ashes. However, the two most prominent factions, led by Cyclops and Rogue respectively, will soon clash, leading to a highly exciting crossover event.

As announced by Marvel, starting in early 2025, the X-Men are facing their first major crossover since the start of the franchise's new era.

The Uncanny X-Men #11 (2025) Release Date: March 3, 2025 Writer: Gail Simone Artist: Javier Garron Cover Artist: David Marquez X-MANHUNT PART ONE! At the end of the Orchis War, Charles Xavier surrendered himself to the authorities and allowed himself to be imprisoned in Graymalkin Prison! But now something has spurred him into action, into escaping his incarceration and embarking on a mad scramble across the nation! What has caused Professor X to go on the run? And will his assorted pupils move to protect him, recapture him or kill him? The answer, of course, is all of the above. In this opening chapter, Rogue and her team of X-Men are forced to ally with their worst enemy in order to betray their most trusted friend!

In the shadow left behind by Charles Xavier, heroes like Cyclops, Rogue, Storm, and Forge have had to build their own teams and step up to the challenge that Xavier left behind. However, Xavier also left a tarnished legacy defined by atrocity and deceit, and not everyone can agree on how to handle it. Soon, matters will only get worse when Xavier breaks himself out of prison and the "X-Manhunt" ensues.

After Years As Their Guiding Light, Charles Xavier Destroyed The X-Men In The End

Leaving His Children Of The Atom To Pick Up The Pieces

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Since Krakoa’s fall, Marvel Comics has intentionally kept the previous X-Men allies divided. Partially to offset what many felt the Krakoa-era failed to do, the subsequent seven X-Men series have been kept isolated to preserve more ongoing stories with smaller casts of characters. While some series like NYX and Exceptional X-Men have kept the stakes relatively low, taking time to introduce slower-paced intimate narratives, the Uncanny X-Men and the primary X-Men series have been building toward something bigger. At the center of the two series lies the once-beloved leader turned war criminal, Charles Xavier.

After Charles had singlehandedly made multiple bold decisions, each ultimately failing and costing thousands of lives each time, his final conspiracy to work alongside Orchis to ensure Enigma’s defeat felt like an ultimate betrayal to many of the X-Men . Time and time again, Xavier turned not just the world, but his family into pawns to save existence from a greater threat. For some, like Cyclops, this was a necessary evil that only the strongest minds could conceive and see through. To others, like Rogue, Xavier was a monster who used his children like cannon fodder while keeping them clueless.

A New Era For The X-Men Means New Conflicts, Stemming From The Consequences Of Professor X's Actions

Can Charles Xavier Be Forgiven?

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At the end of it all, readers have been left with two polarized sides in a new ideological war. Before, it was a question of whether mutants and humans should or should not coexist. Now, it’s a question of whether to condone or condemn people like Charles Xavier. When considering which of Xavier’s children to lead these opposing factions, Cyclops and Rogue couldn’t have been better picks. The two come from different generations of X-Men but have both served on either side of the old battles between Xavier’s philosophy and Magneto’s . They care for their X-Men but in different ways.

When given children in a world that hated them, Charles created soldiers.

Scott Summers was one of Xavier’s first students. More than a student, Scott was one of Xavier’s first children and first weapons. There’s always been this secondary conversation about whether it was ever okay for Charles to put literal children at risk to fight in his dogmatic wars with Magneto. When given children in a world that hated them, Charles created soldiers. However, the world has only gotten harder for mutantkind, and when faced with threats as metaphysical as Enigma, there are no good decisions. From a parent’s perspective, Charles is evil. From a general’s perspective, he was right.

Cyclops and Rogue’s X-Men Teams Represent Different Halves Of Xavier’s Dream

Both Sides Are Willing To Sacrifice For Different Reasons

Clearly, fans can tell which position either leader has chosen. It exists not just in their conversations, but in their actions. Cyclops’s Alaskan X-Men are a tactical and militant team. They are all, including the youngest members, battle-hardened veterans who have seen the costs required for mutants to exist. Scott is a routine and relatively professional leader, keeping his operations clinically controlled. Cyclops weighs every possible decision with every possibility, playing a larger game of tactics. His goal is still Xavier’s, to see a world where mutants and humans can peacefully coexist, but he’ll make harsh decisions to do so.

Related It's Been a While, but X-Men Is Ready to Return to the Theme That First Defined the Franchise Chris Claremont should be proud that the X-Men have returned to his vision for the beloved franchise; it has always been about social justice.

Meanwhile, the Louisiana X-Men couldn’t be more different. Rogue laments that she was turned into a soldier as a child. She appreciates her strength but despises what she was made to go through to earn it and certainly wouldn’t wish it on anyone else. While her old home has been perverted into a prison, she is trying to build a new home where scared mutant kids can live peacefully. Rogue’s team is a familial one; while there are greater goals, no mutant gets left behind. Her goal is still Xavier’s, but never at the cost of another’s life.

Cyclops And Rogue Have Become More Interesting Rivals Than Xavier And Magneto

Will The New Generation Of Leaders Make The Same Mistakes?

X-Manhunt Omega #1 (2025) Release Date: March 26, 2025 Writer: Gail Simone & Murewa Ayodele Artist: Gleb Melnikov Cover Artist: Gleb Melnikov X-MANHUNT FINALE! X-MANHUNT concludes as Professor X reaches his destination, and his assorted pursuers, friend and foe alike, catch up with him! Alliances will be battle-tested, the blades of betrayals will cut deep with poisoned tips, and when the dust finally settles, Charles Xavier will have to make a tectonic-shifting choice with the fate of all mutantkind in the balance. The world is about to change. This time around, everyone is wide awake.

The X-Men are facing a civil war and, frankly, it’s a long time coming. Charles Xavier’s ever-so-repeated dream is a two-part issue. It’s not just about fighting for peaceful coexistence, it’s about deciding the means to do so. Cyclops can take everything Xavier’s done and justify it, radicalized to believe the ends justify the means. Rogue is horrified by the legacy of her mentor, outright condemning his deceit and casual discarding of life as a means to an end. Both of Xavier’s children grew up clinging to every word. However, the lessons they took from it couldn’t be more different.

Like Xavier and Magneto, both Cyclops and Rogue are right. They are both sympathetic leaders, each approaching mutant rights with understandable motivations.

With other current mutant leaders like Storm or Kate Pryde, it wasn't immediately clear whether Cyclops and Rogue would be the “Charles and Magneto” of the modern era. However, after looking back on it, perhaps it was wrong to think otherwise. Like Xavier and Magneto, both Cyclops and Rogue are right. They are both sympathetic leaders, each approaching mutant rights with understandable motivations. They were both children who needed a home and mutants who were ready to pick a fight. Stripping away their heroic monikers, Scott and Anna Marie were raised as siblings, cared for and weaponized by the same man.

This isn’t just a war about ideology, it’s a war to keep the family together. Charles Xavier broke time, space, and Krakoa’s trust to continuously chase his greater dream. He deserves to be punished for his crimes; even he admits that. But when Charles decides to prematurely end his sentence, the question becomes whether it is the right call to protect him or turn him in. Soon, the X-Men will be faced with a civil war to decide which philosophy is strong enough to prevail.

Source: Marvel.com