The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
Encyclopedia
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was a four-issue comic book
mini-series
written by Scott Lobdell
, drawn by Gene Ha
, and published by Marvel Comics
in 1994. It is important in revealing much of the back story for the character Cable
, much of which had been implied before, but was still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. The series' titular characters are two of the founding members of the X-Men
, a group of superpowered mutants dedicated to confronting the bigotry that afflicts their people, and stopping mutants with evil motives. They have regular adventures which fall into almost every subgenre of science fiction
imaginable, including frequent encounters with time travel
.
Also to note, Holocaust
's name was mentioned by Apocalypse in issue #4, a year before the character made its first actual appearance (first referred in Stryfe's Strike Files) in the Age of Apocalypse
story arc.
(Phoenix) was believed dead, Cyclops
(her longtime love interest, real name Scott Summers) met a woman who was almost her exact duplicate named Madelyne Pryor
. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, Madelyn Pryor was a clone
of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister
. Sinister was given vast powers by the virtually immortal mutant Apocalypse
, but he feared Apocalypse's power and began to investigate a means to defeat him. He discovered that the combination of Summers and Grey's DNA
would produce a mutant of sufficient power to do this. With Jean Grey apparently dead, and Sinister for some reason unable to combine their DNA artificially, he created Madelyne Pryor and positioned her to make contact with Cyclops. His plan worked: the two married and had a child, whom they named Nathan Christopher Summers.
Some time later, Jean Grey was revealed to be alive, and her reappearance led to a series of events that caused Madelyn Pryor to become insane and eventually kill herself (as told in the Inferno
crossover
). The baby was left in the care of Cyclops and Jean, who were now part of the group X-Factor
.
Shortly after, X-Factor had an encounter with Apocalypse in X-Factor #68, and the villain infected the young baby with a Techno-Organic virus. The virus was rapidly converting his body into a machine, and had already consumed one of his arms. Unsure of what to do, at that moment a mysterious woman calling herself Askani
appeared in front of the them. She revealed that she was from the distant future, and had the means to save the child, but it would mean that they would likely never see him again. In reality, the child grew up to be the mutant Cable
who had journeyed back into the past and who had appeared a few months before this event in New Mutants
#87.
and Jean Grey
in X-Men #30, some time after the events of X-Factor #68 (approximately 3 years in real time, but perhaps only a year or less in the timeline of the comic books).
During their honeymoon
, their time-lost alternate daughter, Rachel Summers who is then the Mother Askani, brought them into the future. Their physical bodies were left behind, but their minds were brought into two bodies waiting for them in the future. These bodies, very similar to the ones they had left behind, had weaker versions of their original powers. They were reunited with their son, and were given the opportunity to raise him in this bleak future that was ruled by Apocalypse.
Prior to their arrival, the Mother Askani and the Askani clan attempted to save the baby Nathan from the TO virus. They first cloned the baby, fearing that they would fail in their efforts to save the original. They succeeded, however, and were left with two babies. The healthy clone baby was kidnapped by Apocalypse's forces to be raised by the villain, and was named Stryfe
. Apocalypse thought the baby was the original, and had somehow survived the TO virus. Seeing this as a sign of strength (and his own body deteriorating), Apocalypse planned to transfer his essence into the young Stryfe once he reached maturity.
The original baby was left behind, and was raised by Cyclops and Phoenix. As he began to grow, they protected him, and began to train him in the use of his vast, burgeoning telepathic powers, particularly how to use his telekenesis to keep the still present TO virus at bay. Their identity as his true parents (at least, genetically in Jean Grey's case) was kept a secret, and they instead went by the names Slym and Redd (these refer to Slim, a nickname Cyclops had picked up his younger years due to his slender frame, and Red, a common nickname for people with red hair, which Jean has sometimes been referred to over years, usually by Wolverine
).
All together, they spent 12 years raising Nathan Summers, who never knew they were his true parents. When the Mother Askani eventually died, their minds were brought back to their physical bodies, just after a combined effort of Slym, Redd and Nate finally defeating Apocalypse.
. Askani'son chronicled Cable's teenage years after Redd and Slym left, and his further struggles to become a man. The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix sees the two once again misplaced in time, this time back to the turn of the century, to be witness to the origin of Mister Sinister
.
was produced some time after the mini-series finished publication collecting it into one volume (ISBN 0-7851-0171-3). However, it was produced during a period of economic decline for Marvel, and before trades had reached the popularity they would a few years later, and has thus been left out of print.
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was a four-issue comic book
mini-series
written by Scott Lobdell
, drawn by Gene Ha
, and published by Marvel Comics
in 1994. It is important in revealing much of the back story for the character Cable
, much of which had been implied before, but was still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. The series' titular characters are two of the founding members of the X-Men
, a group of superpowered mutants dedicated to confronting the bigotry that afflicts their people, and stopping mutants with evil motives. They have regular adventures which fall into almost every subgenre of science fiction
imaginable, including frequent encounters with time travel
.
Also to note, Holocaust
's name was mentioned by Apocalypse in issue #4, a year before the character made its first actual appearance (first referred in Stryfe's Strike Files) in the Age of Apocalypse
story arc.
(Phoenix) was believed dead, Cyclops
(her longtime love interest, real name Scott Summers) met a woman who was almost her exact duplicate named Madelyne Pryor
. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, Madelyn Pryor was a clone
of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister
. Sinister was given vast powers by the virtually immortal mutant Apocalypse
, but he feared Apocalypse's power and began to investigate a means to defeat him. He discovered that the combination of Summers and Grey's DNA
would produce a mutant of sufficient power to do this. With Jean Grey apparently dead, and Sinister for some reason unable to combine their DNA artificially, he created Madelyne Pryor and positioned her to make contact with Cyclops. His plan worked: the two married and had a child, whom they named Nathan Christopher Summers.
Some time later, Jean Grey was revealed to be alive, and her reappearance led to a series of events that caused Madelyn Pryor to become insane and eventually kill herself (as told in the Inferno
crossover
). The baby was left in the care of Cyclops and Jean, who were now part of the group X-Factor
.
Shortly after, X-Factor had an encounter with Apocalypse in X-Factor #68, and the villain infected the young baby with a Techno-Organic virus. The virus was rapidly converting his body into a machine, and had already consumed one of his arms. Unsure of what to do, at that moment a mysterious woman calling herself Askani
appeared in front of the them. She revealed that she was from the distant future, and had the means to save the child, but it would mean that they would likely never see him again. In reality, the child grew up to be the mutant Cable
who had journeyed back into the past and who had appeared a few months before this event in New Mutants
#87.
and Jean Grey
in X-Men #30, some time after the events of X-Factor #68 (approximately 3 years in real time, but perhaps only a year or less in the timeline of the comic books).
During their honeymoon
, their time-lost alternate daughter, Rachel Summers who is then the Mother Askani, brought them into the future. Their physical bodies were left behind, but their minds were brought into two bodies waiting for them in the future. These bodies, very similar to the ones they had left behind, had weaker versions of their original powers. They were reunited with their son, and were given the opportunity to raise him in this bleak future that was ruled by Apocalypse.
Prior to their arrival, the Mother Askani and the Askani clan attempted to save the baby Nathan from the TO virus. They first cloned the baby, fearing that they would fail in their efforts to save the original. They succeeded, however, and were left with two babies. The healthy clone baby was kidnapped by Apocalypse's forces to be raised by the villain, and was named Stryfe
. Apocalypse thought the baby was the original, and had somehow survived the TO virus. Seeing this as a sign of strength (and his own body deteriorating), Apocalypse planned to transfer his essence into the young Stryfe once he reached maturity.
The original baby was left behind, and was raised by Cyclops and Phoenix. As he began to grow, they protected him, and began to train him in the use of his vast, burgeoning telepathic powers, particularly how to use his telekenesis to keep the still present TO virus at bay. Their identity as his true parents (at least, genetically in Jean Grey's case) was kept a secret, and they instead went by the names Slym and Redd (these refer to Slim, a nickname Cyclops had picked up his younger years due to his slender frame, and Red, a common nickname for people with red hair, which Jean has sometimes been referred to over years, usually by Wolverine
).
All together, they spent 12 years raising Nathan Summers, who never knew they were his true parents. When the Mother Askani eventually died, their minds were brought back to their physical bodies, just after a combined effort of Slym, Redd and Nate finally defeating Apocalypse.
. Askani'son chronicled Cable's teenage years after Redd and Slym left, and his further struggles to become a man. The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix sees the two once again misplaced in time, this time back to the turn of the century, to be witness to the origin of Mister Sinister
.
was produced some time after the mini-series finished publication collecting it into one volume (ISBN 0-7851-0171-3). However, it was produced during a period of economic decline for Marvel, and before trades had reached the popularity they would a few years later, and has thus been left out of print.
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was a four-issue comic book
mini-series
written by Scott Lobdell
, drawn by Gene Ha
, and published by Marvel Comics
in 1994. It is important in revealing much of the back story for the character Cable
, much of which had been implied before, but was still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. The series' titular characters are two of the founding members of the X-Men
, a group of superpowered mutants dedicated to confronting the bigotry that afflicts their people, and stopping mutants with evil motives. They have regular adventures which fall into almost every subgenre of science fiction
imaginable, including frequent encounters with time travel
.
Also to note, Holocaust
's name was mentioned by Apocalypse in issue #4, a year before the character made its first actual appearance (first referred in Stryfe's Strike Files) in the Age of Apocalypse
story arc.
(Phoenix) was believed dead, Cyclops
(her longtime love interest, real name Scott Summers) met a woman who was almost her exact duplicate named Madelyne Pryor
. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, Madelyn Pryor was a clone
of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister
. Sinister was given vast powers by the virtually immortal mutant Apocalypse
, but he feared Apocalypse's power and began to investigate a means to defeat him. He discovered that the combination of Summers and Grey's DNA
would produce a mutant of sufficient power to do this. With Jean Grey apparently dead, and Sinister for some reason unable to combine their DNA artificially, he created Madelyne Pryor and positioned her to make contact with Cyclops. His plan worked: the two married and had a child, whom they named Nathan Christopher Summers.
Some time later, Jean Grey was revealed to be alive, and her reappearance led to a series of events that caused Madelyn Pryor to become insane and eventually kill herself (as told in the Inferno
crossover
). The baby was left in the care of Cyclops and Jean, who were now part of the group X-Factor
.
Shortly after, X-Factor had an encounter with Apocalypse in X-Factor #68, and the villain infected the young baby with a Techno-Organic virus. The virus was rapidly converting his body into a machine, and had already consumed one of his arms. Unsure of what to do, at that moment a mysterious woman calling herself Askani
appeared in front of the them. She revealed that she was from the distant future, and had the means to save the child, but it would mean that they would likely never see him again. In reality, the child grew up to be the mutant Cable
who had journeyed back into the past and who had appeared a few months before this event in New Mutants
#87.
and Jean Grey
in X-Men #30, some time after the events of X-Factor #68 (approximately 3 years in real time, but perhaps only a year or less in the timeline of the comic books).
During their honeymoon
, their time-lost alternate daughter, Rachel Summers who is then the Mother Askani, brought them into the future. Their physical bodies were left behind, but their minds were brought into two bodies waiting for them in the future. These bodies, very similar to the ones they had left behind, had weaker versions of their original powers. They were reunited with their son, and were given the opportunity to raise him in this bleak future that was ruled by Apocalypse.
Prior to their arrival, the Mother Askani and the Askani clan attempted to save the baby Nathan from the TO virus. They first cloned the baby, fearing that they would fail in their efforts to save the original. They succeeded, however, and were left with two babies. The healthy clone baby was kidnapped by Apocalypse's forces to be raised by the villain, and was named Stryfe
. Apocalypse thought the baby was the original, and had somehow survived the TO virus. Seeing this as a sign of strength (and his own body deteriorating), Apocalypse planned to transfer his essence into the young Stryfe once he reached maturity.
The original baby was left behind, and was raised by Cyclops and Phoenix. As he began to grow, they protected him, and began to train him in the use of his vast, burgeoning telepathic powers, particularly how to use his telekenesis to keep the still present TO virus at bay. Their identity as his true parents (at least, genetically in Jean Grey's case) was kept a secret, and they instead went by the names Slym and Redd (these refer to Slim, a nickname Cyclops had picked up his younger years due to his slender frame, and Red, a common nickname for people with red hair, which Jean has sometimes been referred to over years, usually by Wolverine
).
All together, they spent 12 years raising Nathan Summers, who never knew they were his true parents. When the Mother Askani eventually died, their minds were brought back to their physical bodies, just after a combined effort of Slym, Redd and Nate finally defeating Apocalypse.
. Askani'son chronicled Cable's teenage years after Redd and Slym left, and his further struggles to become a man. The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix sees the two once again misplaced in time, this time back to the turn of the century, to be witness to the origin of Mister Sinister
.
was produced some time after the mini-series finished publication collecting it into one volume (ISBN 0-7851-0171-3). However, it was produced during a period of economic decline for Marvel, and before trades had reached the popularity they would a few years later, and has thus been left out of print.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
mini-series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
written by Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell is an American comic book writer.-Early Career:Scott didn't begin to read comics until he was 17 years old, while lying in bed after lung surgery....
, drawn by Gene Ha
Gene Ha
Gene Ha is an American comics artist and writer best known for his work on books such as Top 10 and Top 10: The Forty-Niners, with Alan Moore and Zander Cannon, for America's Best Comics, the Batman graphic novel Fortunate Son, with Gerard Jones, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, among...
, and published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
in 1994. It is important in revealing much of the back story for the character Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
, much of which had been implied before, but was still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. The series' titular characters are two of the founding members of the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
, a group of superpowered mutants dedicated to confronting the bigotry that afflicts their people, and stopping mutants with evil motives. They have regular adventures which fall into almost every subgenre of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
imaginable, including frequent encounters with time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
.
Also to note, Holocaust
Holocaust (comics)
Holocaust is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Men Alpha , and was created by Scott Lobdell and Roger Cruz.-Fictional character biography:...
's name was mentioned by Apocalypse in issue #4, a year before the character made its first actual appearance (first referred in Stryfe's Strike Files) in the Age of Apocalypse
Age of Apocalypse
"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 - 1996 comic book crossover storyline published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616, although it was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295, it had...
story arc.
Back story
Shortly after Jean GreyJean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
(Phoenix) was believed dead, Cyclops
Cyclops (comics)
Cyclops is a fictional character, the leader of the X-Men superhero team in the . A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes...
(her longtime love interest, real name Scott Summers) met a woman who was almost her exact duplicate named Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, Madelyn Pryor was a clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
. Sinister was given vast powers by the virtually immortal mutant Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
, but he feared Apocalypse's power and began to investigate a means to defeat him. He discovered that the combination of Summers and Grey's DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
would produce a mutant of sufficient power to do this. With Jean Grey apparently dead, and Sinister for some reason unable to combine their DNA artificially, he created Madelyne Pryor and positioned her to make contact with Cyclops. His plan worked: the two married and had a child, whom they named Nathan Christopher Summers.
Some time later, Jean Grey was revealed to be alive, and her reappearance led to a series of events that caused Madelyn Pryor to become insane and eventually kill herself (as told in the Inferno
Inferno (Marvel Comics)
Inferno was a Marvel Comics company-wide crossover in 1989 that mainly involved the mutant titles, namely The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, X-Terminators, Excalibur, and The New Mutants...
crossover
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
). The baby was left in the care of Cyclops and Jean, who were now part of the group X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
.
Shortly after, X-Factor had an encounter with Apocalypse in X-Factor #68, and the villain infected the young baby with a Techno-Organic virus. The virus was rapidly converting his body into a machine, and had already consumed one of his arms. Unsure of what to do, at that moment a mysterious woman calling herself Askani
Askani
The Askani are fictional characters, a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe in the future/alternate timeline designated as Earth-4935, also known as Earth Askani...
appeared in front of the them. She revealed that she was from the distant future, and had the means to save the child, but it would mean that they would likely never see him again. In reality, the child grew up to be the mutant Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
who had journeyed back into the past and who had appeared a few months before this event in New Mutants
New Mutants
The New Mutants are a group of teenaged mutant superheroes-in-training published by Marvel Comics. They have been the main characters of three successive comic book series, which were spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise....
#87.
Plot
The series takes place shortly after the wedding of CyclopsCyclops (comics)
Cyclops is a fictional character, the leader of the X-Men superhero team in the . A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes...
and Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
in X-Men #30, some time after the events of X-Factor #68 (approximately 3 years in real time, but perhaps only a year or less in the timeline of the comic books).
During their honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
, their time-lost alternate daughter, Rachel Summers who is then the Mother Askani, brought them into the future. Their physical bodies were left behind, but their minds were brought into two bodies waiting for them in the future. These bodies, very similar to the ones they had left behind, had weaker versions of their original powers. They were reunited with their son, and were given the opportunity to raise him in this bleak future that was ruled by Apocalypse.
Prior to their arrival, the Mother Askani and the Askani clan attempted to save the baby Nathan from the TO virus. They first cloned the baby, fearing that they would fail in their efforts to save the original. They succeeded, however, and were left with two babies. The healthy clone baby was kidnapped by Apocalypse's forces to be raised by the villain, and was named Stryfe
Stryfe
Stryfe is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . The character was created by Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, and first appears in The New Mutants #87...
. Apocalypse thought the baby was the original, and had somehow survived the TO virus. Seeing this as a sign of strength (and his own body deteriorating), Apocalypse planned to transfer his essence into the young Stryfe once he reached maturity.
The original baby was left behind, and was raised by Cyclops and Phoenix. As he began to grow, they protected him, and began to train him in the use of his vast, burgeoning telepathic powers, particularly how to use his telekenesis to keep the still present TO virus at bay. Their identity as his true parents (at least, genetically in Jean Grey's case) was kept a secret, and they instead went by the names Slym and Redd (these refer to Slim, a nickname Cyclops had picked up his younger years due to his slender frame, and Red, a common nickname for people with red hair, which Jean has sometimes been referred to over years, usually by Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
).
All together, they spent 12 years raising Nathan Summers, who never knew they were his true parents. When the Mother Askani eventually died, their minds were brought back to their physical bodies, just after a combined effort of Slym, Redd and Nate finally defeating Apocalypse.
Sequels
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was followed up by two other mini-series, Askani'son and The Further Adventures of Cyclops and PhoenixThe Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix is a four-issue comic book mini-series published in 1996 by Marvel Comics.-Publication history:...
. Askani'son chronicled Cable's teenage years after Redd and Slym left, and his further struggles to become a man. The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix sees the two once again misplaced in time, this time back to the turn of the century, to be witness to the origin of Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
.
Collected editions
A trade paperbackTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
was produced some time after the mini-series finished publication collecting it into one volume (ISBN 0-7851-0171-3). However, it was produced during a period of economic decline for Marvel, and before trades had reached the popularity they would a few years later, and has thus been left out of print.
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was a four-issue comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
mini-series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
written by Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell is an American comic book writer.-Early Career:Scott didn't begin to read comics until he was 17 years old, while lying in bed after lung surgery....
, drawn by Gene Ha
Gene Ha
Gene Ha is an American comics artist and writer best known for his work on books such as Top 10 and Top 10: The Forty-Niners, with Alan Moore and Zander Cannon, for America's Best Comics, the Batman graphic novel Fortunate Son, with Gerard Jones, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, among...
, and published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
in 1994. It is important in revealing much of the back story for the character Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
, much of which had been implied before, but was still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. The series' titular characters are two of the founding members of the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
, a group of superpowered mutants dedicated to confronting the bigotry that afflicts their people, and stopping mutants with evil motives. They have regular adventures which fall into almost every subgenre of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
imaginable, including frequent encounters with time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
.
Also to note, Holocaust
Holocaust (comics)
Holocaust is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Men Alpha , and was created by Scott Lobdell and Roger Cruz.-Fictional character biography:...
's name was mentioned by Apocalypse in issue #4, a year before the character made its first actual appearance (first referred in Stryfe's Strike Files) in the Age of Apocalypse
Age of Apocalypse
"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 - 1996 comic book crossover storyline published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616, although it was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295, it had...
story arc.
Back story
Shortly after Jean GreyJean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
(Phoenix) was believed dead, Cyclops
Cyclops (comics)
Cyclops is a fictional character, the leader of the X-Men superhero team in the . A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes...
(her longtime love interest, real name Scott Summers) met a woman who was almost her exact duplicate named Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, Madelyn Pryor was a clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
. Sinister was given vast powers by the virtually immortal mutant Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
, but he feared Apocalypse's power and began to investigate a means to defeat him. He discovered that the combination of Summers and Grey's DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
would produce a mutant of sufficient power to do this. With Jean Grey apparently dead, and Sinister for some reason unable to combine their DNA artificially, he created Madelyne Pryor and positioned her to make contact with Cyclops. His plan worked: the two married and had a child, whom they named Nathan Christopher Summers.
Some time later, Jean Grey was revealed to be alive, and her reappearance led to a series of events that caused Madelyn Pryor to become insane and eventually kill herself (as told in the Inferno
Inferno (Marvel Comics)
Inferno was a Marvel Comics company-wide crossover in 1989 that mainly involved the mutant titles, namely The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, X-Terminators, Excalibur, and The New Mutants...
crossover
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
). The baby was left in the care of Cyclops and Jean, who were now part of the group X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
.
Shortly after, X-Factor had an encounter with Apocalypse in X-Factor #68, and the villain infected the young baby with a Techno-Organic virus. The virus was rapidly converting his body into a machine, and had already consumed one of his arms. Unsure of what to do, at that moment a mysterious woman calling herself Askani
Askani
The Askani are fictional characters, a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe in the future/alternate timeline designated as Earth-4935, also known as Earth Askani...
appeared in front of the them. She revealed that she was from the distant future, and had the means to save the child, but it would mean that they would likely never see him again. In reality, the child grew up to be the mutant Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
who had journeyed back into the past and who had appeared a few months before this event in New Mutants
New Mutants
The New Mutants are a group of teenaged mutant superheroes-in-training published by Marvel Comics. They have been the main characters of three successive comic book series, which were spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise....
#87.
Plot
The series takes place shortly after the wedding of CyclopsCyclops (comics)
Cyclops is a fictional character, the leader of the X-Men superhero team in the . A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes...
and Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
in X-Men #30, some time after the events of X-Factor #68 (approximately 3 years in real time, but perhaps only a year or less in the timeline of the comic books).
During their honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
, their time-lost alternate daughter, Rachel Summers who is then the Mother Askani, brought them into the future. Their physical bodies were left behind, but their minds were brought into two bodies waiting for them in the future. These bodies, very similar to the ones they had left behind, had weaker versions of their original powers. They were reunited with their son, and were given the opportunity to raise him in this bleak future that was ruled by Apocalypse.
Prior to their arrival, the Mother Askani and the Askani clan attempted to save the baby Nathan from the TO virus. They first cloned the baby, fearing that they would fail in their efforts to save the original. They succeeded, however, and were left with two babies. The healthy clone baby was kidnapped by Apocalypse's forces to be raised by the villain, and was named Stryfe
Stryfe
Stryfe is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . The character was created by Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, and first appears in The New Mutants #87...
. Apocalypse thought the baby was the original, and had somehow survived the TO virus. Seeing this as a sign of strength (and his own body deteriorating), Apocalypse planned to transfer his essence into the young Stryfe once he reached maturity.
The original baby was left behind, and was raised by Cyclops and Phoenix. As he began to grow, they protected him, and began to train him in the use of his vast, burgeoning telepathic powers, particularly how to use his telekenesis to keep the still present TO virus at bay. Their identity as his true parents (at least, genetically in Jean Grey's case) was kept a secret, and they instead went by the names Slym and Redd (these refer to Slim, a nickname Cyclops had picked up his younger years due to his slender frame, and Red, a common nickname for people with red hair, which Jean has sometimes been referred to over years, usually by Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
).
All together, they spent 12 years raising Nathan Summers, who never knew they were his true parents. When the Mother Askani eventually died, their minds were brought back to their physical bodies, just after a combined effort of Slym, Redd and Nate finally defeating Apocalypse.
Sequels
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was followed up by two other mini-series, Askani'son and The Further Adventures of Cyclops and PhoenixThe Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix is a four-issue comic book mini-series published in 1996 by Marvel Comics.-Publication history:...
. Askani'son chronicled Cable's teenage years after Redd and Slym left, and his further struggles to become a man. The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix sees the two once again misplaced in time, this time back to the turn of the century, to be witness to the origin of Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
.
Collected editions
A trade paperbackTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
was produced some time after the mini-series finished publication collecting it into one volume (ISBN 0-7851-0171-3). However, it was produced during a period of economic decline for Marvel, and before trades had reached the popularity they would a few years later, and has thus been left out of print.
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was a four-issue comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
mini-series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
written by Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell is an American comic book writer.-Early Career:Scott didn't begin to read comics until he was 17 years old, while lying in bed after lung surgery....
, drawn by Gene Ha
Gene Ha
Gene Ha is an American comics artist and writer best known for his work on books such as Top 10 and Top 10: The Forty-Niners, with Alan Moore and Zander Cannon, for America's Best Comics, the Batman graphic novel Fortunate Son, with Gerard Jones, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, among...
, and published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
in 1994. It is important in revealing much of the back story for the character Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
, much of which had been implied before, but was still shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. The series' titular characters are two of the founding members of the X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
, a group of superpowered mutants dedicated to confronting the bigotry that afflicts their people, and stopping mutants with evil motives. They have regular adventures which fall into almost every subgenre of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
imaginable, including frequent encounters with time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
.
Also to note, Holocaust
Holocaust (comics)
Holocaust is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Men Alpha , and was created by Scott Lobdell and Roger Cruz.-Fictional character biography:...
's name was mentioned by Apocalypse in issue #4, a year before the character made its first actual appearance (first referred in Stryfe's Strike Files) in the Age of Apocalypse
Age of Apocalypse
"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 - 1996 comic book crossover storyline published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616, although it was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295, it had...
story arc.
Back story
Shortly after Jean GreyJean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
(Phoenix) was believed dead, Cyclops
Cyclops (comics)
Cyclops is a fictional character, the leader of the X-Men superhero team in the . A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes...
(her longtime love interest, real name Scott Summers) met a woman who was almost her exact duplicate named Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor
Madelyne Pryor is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As the love interest and first wife of X-Men leader Cyclops , she became a long-standing member of the X-Men supporting cast, until a series of traumas — being abandoned by her husband, losing her infant son, and...
. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, Madelyn Pryor was a clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
. Sinister was given vast powers by the virtually immortal mutant Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
, but he feared Apocalypse's power and began to investigate a means to defeat him. He discovered that the combination of Summers and Grey's DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
would produce a mutant of sufficient power to do this. With Jean Grey apparently dead, and Sinister for some reason unable to combine their DNA artificially, he created Madelyne Pryor and positioned her to make contact with Cyclops. His plan worked: the two married and had a child, whom they named Nathan Christopher Summers.
Some time later, Jean Grey was revealed to be alive, and her reappearance led to a series of events that caused Madelyn Pryor to become insane and eventually kill herself (as told in the Inferno
Inferno (Marvel Comics)
Inferno was a Marvel Comics company-wide crossover in 1989 that mainly involved the mutant titles, namely The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, X-Terminators, Excalibur, and The New Mutants...
crossover
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
). The baby was left in the care of Cyclops and Jean, who were now part of the group X-Factor
X-Factor (comics)
X-Factor is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is a spin-off of the popular X-Men franchise, featuring characters from X-Men stories. The series has been relaunched several times with different team rosters, most recently as X-Factor Investigations.X-Factor launched in...
.
Shortly after, X-Factor had an encounter with Apocalypse in X-Factor #68, and the villain infected the young baby with a Techno-Organic virus. The virus was rapidly converting his body into a machine, and had already consumed one of his arms. Unsure of what to do, at that moment a mysterious woman calling herself Askani
Askani
The Askani are fictional characters, a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe in the future/alternate timeline designated as Earth-4935, also known as Earth Askani...
appeared in front of the them. She revealed that she was from the distant future, and had the means to save the child, but it would mean that they would likely never see him again. In reality, the child grew up to be the mutant Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...
who had journeyed back into the past and who had appeared a few months before this event in New Mutants
New Mutants
The New Mutants are a group of teenaged mutant superheroes-in-training published by Marvel Comics. They have been the main characters of three successive comic book series, which were spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise....
#87.
Plot
The series takes place shortly after the wedding of CyclopsCyclops (comics)
Cyclops is a fictional character, the leader of the X-Men superhero team in the . A mutant, Cyclops emits a powerful energy beam from his eyes...
and Jean Grey
Jean Grey
Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...
in X-Men #30, some time after the events of X-Factor #68 (approximately 3 years in real time, but perhaps only a year or less in the timeline of the comic books).
During their honeymoon
Honeymoon
-History:One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him...
, their time-lost alternate daughter, Rachel Summers who is then the Mother Askani, brought them into the future. Their physical bodies were left behind, but their minds were brought into two bodies waiting for them in the future. These bodies, very similar to the ones they had left behind, had weaker versions of their original powers. They were reunited with their son, and were given the opportunity to raise him in this bleak future that was ruled by Apocalypse.
Prior to their arrival, the Mother Askani and the Askani clan attempted to save the baby Nathan from the TO virus. They first cloned the baby, fearing that they would fail in their efforts to save the original. They succeeded, however, and were left with two babies. The healthy clone baby was kidnapped by Apocalypse's forces to be raised by the villain, and was named Stryfe
Stryfe
Stryfe is a fictional character, a supervillain in the . The character was created by Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, and first appears in The New Mutants #87...
. Apocalypse thought the baby was the original, and had somehow survived the TO virus. Seeing this as a sign of strength (and his own body deteriorating), Apocalypse planned to transfer his essence into the young Stryfe once he reached maturity.
The original baby was left behind, and was raised by Cyclops and Phoenix. As he began to grow, they protected him, and began to train him in the use of his vast, burgeoning telepathic powers, particularly how to use his telekenesis to keep the still present TO virus at bay. Their identity as his true parents (at least, genetically in Jean Grey's case) was kept a secret, and they instead went by the names Slym and Redd (these refer to Slim, a nickname Cyclops had picked up his younger years due to his slender frame, and Red, a common nickname for people with red hair, which Jean has sometimes been referred to over years, usually by Wolverine
Wolverine (comics)
Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...
).
All together, they spent 12 years raising Nathan Summers, who never knew they were his true parents. When the Mother Askani eventually died, their minds were brought back to their physical bodies, just after a combined effort of Slym, Redd and Nate finally defeating Apocalypse.
Sequels
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix was followed up by two other mini-series, Askani'son and The Further Adventures of Cyclops and PhoenixThe Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix is a four-issue comic book mini-series published in 1996 by Marvel Comics.-Publication history:...
. Askani'son chronicled Cable's teenage years after Redd and Slym left, and his further struggles to become a man. The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix sees the two once again misplaced in time, this time back to the turn of the century, to be witness to the origin of Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #221 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri....
.
Collected editions
A trade paperbackTrade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
was produced some time after the mini-series finished publication collecting it into one volume (ISBN 0-7851-0171-3). However, it was produced during a period of economic decline for Marvel, and before trades had reached the popularity they would a few years later, and has thus been left out of print.