Unless you’re counting Professor Charles Xavier then Cyclops might just be the most
well known character out of the original team of X-Men.
His power is simple and iconic.
He just shoots laser beams out of his eyes.
Except, that’s not how that works.
Like… at all.
You see, the problem with Scott’s eyes is that they have been up for debate for decades
and they are one of the most oddly confusing things in all of comic books because they
might just be portals to an alternate dimension…
Because comics!
Hello and welcome to Because Comics, the show where we take a look at all of the crazy,
strange, and straight up bizzare things that make comic books well… comic books.
I’m your host, Drake McWhorter!
Before we get into the video though, I want to give a big thank you to Wondershare for
hooking me up with some of these awesome comic book style graphics.
You might have noticed the spiffy looking lower third that I had earlier in the video,
but they also gave me graphics like this, this, and this that might spice up things
going forward in terms of my editing.
Fun fact, all of these come in one big comic book pack and they directly work with their
own editing software that I’ve been learning how to use and having a lot of fun with.
So if this is something that’s up your alley then definitely take a look at the link in
the description below to download it for yourself.
Anyway, onto the video!
It’s worth noting first and foremost that Cyclops doesn’t have heat vision or laser
vision.
His “OPTIC BLAST!” is a beam of pure concussive force.
There’s no heat involved.
I mean Cyclops said it himself and I’m pretty sure he would be the expert on the matter.
Honestly though, it’s an easy mistake to make.
It’s a red beam and fire is red.
Honestly, even Scott’s own dad was mistaken about it.
More or less, Scott’s optic blast is just a punch in pure energy form.
You know how Green Arrow has that boxing gloves arrow for when he wants to punch something
that’s far away?
Yeah, it’s kind of like that.
“But Drake, what about this scene with him lighting these candles?”
Alternate universe, bro.
Alternate universe.
Now I’m sure that there have been some instances of Cyclops lighting things on fire with his
eye beams.
I mean the dude has been in almost two thousand books and writers forgetting and/or straight
up ignoring canonical details is partly what makes comic books comic books in the first
place.
If you want to get super pseudo-science with it then you could argue that the concussive
force that the beams are made of can create intense friction which causes heat and fire.
Okay, we good?
Good.
We first got an explanation of Cyclops’ powers in Uncanny X-Men #43 in 1968 where
it was stated that Scott takes in sunlight and converts it into his beams by metabolizing
the energy like photosynthesis and storing it like a solar battery.
Even at night, most natural light is reflected from the sun so there’s really no issue
there.
These beams also have a finite amount of energy that can be expended at one time, requiring
Scott to metabolize more energy before shooting off again.
Fast forward to 1983 when Marvel releases the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
which contained a section on Cyclops.
It says in regards to his eyes that
“They are interdimensional apertures between this universe and another, non-Einsteinian
universe, where physical laws as we know them do not pertain.
This non-Einsteinian universe is filled with particles which resemble photons, yet they
interact with this universe’s particles by transferring kinetic energy in the form
of gravitons (the particle of gravitation).
These particles generate great, directional concussive forces when they interact with
the objects of this universe.”
Okay wow.
That was a mouthful.
The handbooks are notorious for including a bunch of wordy technobabble and adding a
lot of weird science that’s not mentioned in the comics themselves, but let’s look
at that entry once again.
This OFFICIAL Marvel guide says that Scott’s eyes are little portals to a dimension of
pure concussive force.
Because comics.
This dimension has gone down in infamy with fans, who have lovingly decided to name it
the “Punch Dimension”.
Now oddly specific dimensions are nothing new for Marvel.
Heck, I even made an entire video about the Lightforce and Darkforce Dimensions which
work in a somewhat similar way.
Yet this leaves the door open for so many other questions.
Such as if his eyes are portals then how can they run out of energy?
I mean if it’s a universe of endless force then that just wouldn’t make sense.
Also, can the portals be adjusted to tap into other dimensions like the Darkforce Dimension?
It’s just weird, man.
There’s so many questions that you can get out of this.
However, just three years later, Marvel released a new version of the official handbook and
with it, a new entry on Cyclops.
This time, it said.
“Cyclops is a mutant with the superhuman ability to project a beam of ruby-colored
concussive force from his eyes.
The precise nature of this energy and its origin remain unknown, although various hypotheses
have been made in the past.”
It later went on to talk about how there seems to be a connection to sunlight and possibly
starlight, but yeah, this make it seem like Marvel acknowledged just how dumb the Punch
Dimension was and left the exact source of Scott’s beams intentionally vague.
Okay, fine.
However, in the year 1996, Marvel decided to release one of the most 90s things imaginable,
the Wolverine Encyclopedia.
It’s like the Marvel Handbooks, but only about things that are vaguely related to Wolverine.
Which is like… the entire Marvel universe.
In it however, we’re given the original explanation that Cyclops simply converts solar
radiation into concussive energy.
Easy enough.
Unfortunately though, it’s not that simple since there was a X-Men specific official
handbook that was released in 2004 and it decided to reopen this old wound that we hadn’t
seen in over two decades.
Rather, I guess you could say that it reopened old portals because guess what’s back!
It’s the Punch Dimension!
This new handbook even decided to go so far as to tie in the previous solar explanation,
now claiming that absorbing solar radiation is what allows these portals to open up in
the first place.
Oh and DK Publishers also released the Marvel Encyclopedia in 2009 which basically just
rehashed the 2004 entry.
So wow, that was a lot of back and forth with these official handbooks and guides.
It’s no wonder why people are just so confused by this!
But here’s the thing.
Basically none of this stuff about eye portals is backed up in the comics at all.
Now sure, maybe I am just overlooking some stuff because remember that Cyclops has been
in nearly two thousand freaking books!
I definitely try to be as thorough as I possibly can be in my research for these videos, but
I’m still only human and I am just a one man operation.
However, here is something interesting.
While the canonicity of the eye portals are still up to debate, the Punch Dimension itself
IS explicitly canon.
For that, look no further than America Chavez, a character who’s main power is opening
up wormholes to other dimensions.
Most times, her powers are just used to travel between things, space, worlds, dimensions,
universes, whatever, but there are plenty of times where she utilizes the unique makeup
of other universes and dimensions to suit her needs.
Well in Ultimates 2 Vol 2 #9 in 2017, she opened up a portal to a universe of pure concussive
force and it’s even red to boot!
So even if it’s not directly linked to Cyclops, the Punch Dimension DOES in fact exist in
canon and that ladies and gentlemen is pretty much comic books in a nutshell and I freaking
love it.
Maybe some day, we’ll get a definitive answer about how the Punch Dimension directly links
with Cyclops if it does at all, but until then, I am more than happy with it just being
this funny recurring joke in the Marvel fandom.
It helps kind of bring us all together and that’s not a bad thing.
Anyway, wow!
I am getting really sweaty wearing like three layers of clothes in the middle of summer
in Texas so I am going to go.
But if you liked this video then why not consider subscribing or even watching another one?
In fact, you can check out all of the episode of Because Comics in our dedicated playlist.
I go over some pretty crazy stuff so if you liked this one then you’re probably going
to like those as well.
Anyway, I hope you learned at least a little something new and hopefully, I’ll see you
next time!