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Issues: Uncanny X-Men #149-150, Uncanny X-Men Annual #5, Captain America #264, Uncanny X-Men #151
I have many goals with this project, but the most important one is to have fun talking about comics. And so sometimes I just have to revel in the scenes that helped make one of my all-time favorite comic book characters into one of my all-time favorites. Twice while taking notes for this essay, I encountered panels that made me say aloud to myself, “I love him so much!.” This is the first one 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 8). Just like when Quicksilver pitched Scott Magneto’s idea of a mutant nation 
(X-Men #45 9), Scott isn’t blind to the appeal of Magneto’s vision. He understands Magneto’s frustration and even agrees, on some level, that the injustices in the world need to be addressed 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 4). Unlike during his conversation with Quicksilver, Scott does not dismiss Magneto’s vision purely on the basis of Xavier’s simplistic rhetoric about “evil” mutants. He has grown far more independent during the intervening issues. Instead, he analyzes Magneto’s plan for himself and sees the flaws at its core. No dictatorship founded on the absolute power of one man can outlast that man. Not peacefully anyway. Especially not if the dictatorship begins with violence. Lee’s points about the loss of freedom hold weight in Scott’s mind, too 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 3). But this problem of violence is the core flaw he latches onto. No good can come of a peace tied so explicitly to one man’s continued existence, how ever he achieves it. And Scott knows that he and Lee, depowered and alone, have no real chance of stopping Magneto at full power. Not only do they have no chance, but they could take the easy path and try to ride out his takeover, safe as prisoners/guests in his fortress. But Scott has always been someone who tries to do the right thing, and since he sees the flaws in Magneto’s dream, he’s going to try to do the right thing now, no matter the cost to himself. The second moment is this one 
(Uncanny X-Men Annual #5 15). Logan is right; Scott understands how poor their odds are. But Scott isn’t realistic so much as he’s pragmatic, and he isn’t interested in sitting around bemoaning their poor odds. Instead, he dives straight into the practicalities. The X-Men resolved to help their friends and allies 
(Uncanny X-Men Annual #5 10); that is not a commitment he wants to break, so he gets to work making the best plan possible. And it works! No plan survives contact with the enemy, and this one certainly doesn’t go off without a hitch, but they achieve victory in the end, and Scott’s focus on creating a reasonable plan against terrible odds is a massive part of that victory. These two panels explore some similar ideas. To me, they are both about thoughtful practicality combined with the drive to do what is right despite insurmountable odds. And that combination is a big part of what makes Scott Summers one of my favorite characters.
Going back to that first moment, Scott’s recognition that Magneto is genuinely seeking a golden age also speaks to a slightly deepening understanding of Magneto as a complicated person. Scott will miss most of Magneto’s attempt to reform in the 80s and will be one of his staunchest critics in the 90s. It won’t be until after M-Day that the two men reach any kind of mutual understanding, but said understanding will, to a certain extent, persist until the present. So I don’t want to overstate how clearly Scott sees Magneto’s potential here. He certainly doesn’t accept Magneto’s genuine regret over Jean’s death 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 4) or show much empathy for Magneto’s own losses 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 4). But the fact that he doesn’t dismiss him outright as an “evil mutant,” in addition to exhibiting some willingness to think beyond Xavier’s rhetoric, also demonstrates that Scott has, on some level, begun to internalize that there is more to Magneto than mere villainy.
I couldn’t remember how this period of X-Men history addressed Scott coming back to the team. So I was excited to see what happened. In these issues, however, the answer was nothing. The topic isn’t addressed one way or the other. True, Scott hadn’t decided if he was leaving permanently or temporarily when he left 
(X-Men #138 18). And equally true, his use of the word “sabbatical” in Uncanny X-Men #148 implies he had decided to make it temporary before the events of these issues 
(5). However, considering all the factors that contributed to him leaving, him rejoining the X-Men with no consideration or discussion is still strange. It feels more like he falls into old patterns after the fight with Magneto than like he made an active decision to return. Additionally, Ororo taking over leadership while Scott was gone also goes undiscussed. Scott behaves as the default leader during missions, but that appears to have more to do with him coming up with strategies than any formal agreement for him to take over leadership again 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 16) 
(Uncanny X-Men Annual #5 16). Xavier asks Scott’s opinion on whether to assist Akron and Sue but poses the question to him as “senior member of the X-Men,” not as leader. And when the subject of Kitty accompanying them on their mission comes up, Xavier requires both Scott and Ororo’s agreement 
(Uncanny X-Men Annual #5 11). That last factor implies to me that they are probably operating on some kind of joint leadership concept, with Scott’s skill as a strategist and experience giving him slightly more authority in the field. This idea also aligns with what we saw in Bizarre Adventures #27. Still, I know the matter of leadership will be addressed with greater clarity in the future, so I’m not putting too much weight on any of these conclusions. The subject of Scott’s return is another story, and him falling back into old patterns seems the only logical conclusion there.
Speaking of Kitty, unlike during X-Men #131, a lot of thought goes into her involvement in superheroics. She is only at Magneto’s fortress because she snuck onto the Blackbird when the X-Men went on a scouting mission 
(Uncanny X-Men #149 7). Technically, since she hasn’t finished her training, she isn’t allowed on any mission. And when the fight against Magneto is at its worst, Scott expresses his reluctance to ask a child as young as Kitty to risk her life 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 33). However, he also recognizes the reality of the situation. They cannot reject someone as useful as Kitty when she is willing and eager to help, not when so many lives, including Kitty’s, are at stake. And the consensus between Scott, Ororo, and Xavier seems to be that once Kitty has proven herself as an X-Man, they have no right to prevent her from joining any mission she wants 
(Uncanny X-Men Annual #5 11).
Scott also begins developing a genuine friendship with Kitty. Although he and Kitty met and worked together during Dark Phoenix Saga, their only contact since had been when they spoke on the phone during Scott’s calls to the mansion. Now, they form a bond fairly quickly, especially compared to Scott’s history. By Uncanny X-Men #151, they are quite comfortable with each other. Until Ororo requests to do so, it was intended to be Scott that drove Kitty to her new school 
(Uncanny X-Men #151 7). And their farewell is sweet 
(Uncanny X-Men #151 6). Plus, when Kitty is upset, she runs right through Scott 
(Uncanny X-Men #151 2). She may simply be so distressed that she would have run through anyone, but I imagine it takes a certain level of comfort with someone to not notice or care that you’ve run straight through their body. I would put most of this new camaraderie down to Kitty being a friendly girl, but Scott’s comfort level with the current team probably helps him reciprocate more easily than he has before.
Scott and Lee’s relationship, on the other hand, has settled. All the conflict between them in the last five issues is gone, and they are engaged in a romantic relationship. Despite Lee’s claims that she was only looking for casual comfort, by Uncanny X-Men #150, she’s already reflecting on how much her dad would have liked Scott 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 13). And after the danger has passed, Scott’s teammates observe them continuing to behave romantically 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 38). I think the imminent threat of death likely helped them move past any hang-ups they had 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 8). The relationship won’t last, as the realities of Scott’s return to the X-Men prove too much for them, but for now, they have a real connection.
I want to explore this panel for a minute 
(Uncanny X-Men #149 3). There is a lot of ambiguity here. It seems unbelievable that Xavier wouldn’t know his psychic shouting causes people pain. However, the fact that this has never come up before, despite Xavier regularly psychically shouting in close proximity to other characters 
(X-Men #1 6), raises some questions about how seriously we should take Kitty’s claims. Perhaps one could argue that it only hurts Kitty because of her inexperience. Someone more accustomed to psychic communication may not have a problem. Still, because this concept hasn’t been discussed anywhere else that I recall/am aware of, this thought from Kitty is the only real piece of evidence we have. And that evidence suggests Xavier deliberately used his ability to cause psychic pain to keep the original X-Men in line during training. That conclusion is disturbing, but I also think it is also the most straightforward one to draw.
There are two other smaller concepts I want to comment on. The first is Scott sitting alone at a party again 
(Uncanny X-Men Annual #5 37). Between Reed and Sue’s engagement party and now, I can’t yet confidently call it a pattern. But it fits so neatly with everything we know about Scott that I will argue this is his typical party behavior when forced to mingle with people he doesn’t know well. He’s not quite as tucked away as he was last time, but he’s still distanced himself from the party-goers. The other panel shows the X-Men have been searching for Scott since the storm 
(Uncanny X-Men #150 11)
(Uncanny X-Men #150 14). Look, I’ll admit to drawing attention to this fact somewhat out of pettiness. I vastly prefer this line-up of the X-Men to the original five—who I don’t actually like as a team—and this instance gives me a chance to negatively compare the original team to the current one. We know, since separating, the original X-Men haven’t done a great job of keeping in touch. They were unlikely to notice right away if one of them went missing (and presumably Hank, Warren, and Bobby haven’t been looking for Scott). Meanwhile, Scott has not only kept regular contact with this version of the team but does so frequently enough that they were aware of where his and Lee’s boat would be and knew roughly where to begin looking. It hasn’t been their sole focus, but they are concerned about his safety.
Lastly, I want to try to explore Scott’s influence on the world around him because it comes up in a few minor, but interesting, ways in these issues. Captain America #264 is what really got me thinking about the subject and is also the reading of which I am least sure. The comic centers on 4 Earth-616 civilians being given the power to reshape reality according to their dreams/visions. A Nazi is one of the people given this power, and she reshapes the world into one where the Nazis won WWII. In her reality, mutants were among the groups Nazi’s had rounded up. While navigating this new reality, Rogers sees the imprisoned mutants being marched through the streets wearing the original X-Men costumes 
(Captain America #264 10). And when another dreamer starts to shift the reality allowing the mutants to escape, the two Rogers interacts with turn out to be Scott and Hank 
(Captain America #264 11). Determining how much of these new realities the dreamers control vs. how much springs up naturally is impossible using only the information the text gives us. But at minimum, I would argue that all the captured mutants wearing the original X-Men costumes indicates that, on some level, the way the original team first presented themselves is the image of mutants that many civilians still have. One could even go further and argue that the original X-Men are who the public imagines when they think of mutants, but that’s probably a bridge too far. The other ideas I want to explore regarding Scott’s impact are far simpler. First, we have how much Scott has shaped the fighting style of many of the current X-Men, demonstrated by Piotr’s comment on Scott teaching him judo throws 
(Uncanny X-Men #151 16). And the second is just how ridiculous Scott’s assumption that Magneto doesn’t recognize him is 
(Uncanny X-Men #149 21). While I think this assumption is primarily built on Scott’s expectation that Magneto would have attacked them instantly had he recognized Scott, it still means he fails to account for just how much impact he’s had on Magneto’s life.
I don’t really feel like my conclusions are improving. But unlike introductions, I don’t want to give them up, yet, anyway. It feels necessary to wrap up somehow. But I do find writing my crappy little two sentence wrap-ups depressing. I think they might get better if I focus on looking toward future parts. Like in these issues, the topics of leadership, Kitty, and Magneto are all ones I’m looking forward to seeing explored in the future. But that’s still a list format.
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Bibliography:
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Allie and Fiction 