Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for Midnight X-Men #1.

While Midnight Spider-Man and Midnight Fantastic Four are fairly self-contained, Midnight X-Men doesn’t have that luxury. There was always going to be a lot of worldbuilding demanded of it due to how many characters the book might encompass, but especially with it introducing the premise of Midnight X-Men’s empyres.

A ton of lore is left to unpack, but there’s one thing more fascinating: Cyclops. Midnight X-Men’s potential for horror hasn’t been tapped as quickly as Midnight Spider-Man’s, but it’s wonderful to see a new iteration of Cyclops that is somehow even cooler than his classic counterpart. Midnight X-Men will hopefully have plenty of novel designs for other mutants, vampires, and empyres, but Cyclops being a protagonist is one of its best decisions so far. The cherry on top, then, is that this new Cyclops design seemingly leans into the X-Men’s funniest meme.

Midnight X-Men Reinforces Cyclops’ Best Meme

The joke, which has probably only endured as long as it has because of how absurd it is, is that Cyclops is Batman’s mentor. Now, when either character bears a resemblance to the other, you can be sure that this meme will persist with even greater ammunition.

In Midnight X-Men, specifically, Cyclops is visually distinct due to his shaved head and full beard. That said, the most striking elements of his design in issue #1 are that he uses a grappling hook and his vambraces have two scallops each. It’s tough to imagine that this was a conscious choice made in an effort to further corroborate the meme’s validity for fans. However, whether it was intentional or not, it’s almost impossible to ignore how much he resembles Batman.

Cyclops Has Never Been Cooler, And The Other X-Men Want To Take A Bite Out Of Him

Between X-Men ’97 Season 2, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Kit Connor’s MCU X-Men casting, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, Midnight X-Men, and Avengers: Doomsday, Cyclops’ sorely needed heyday is undeniable. With Midnight X-Men, in particular, Hickman is continuing to do God’s work by giving readers maybe one of the coolest Cyclops designs and depictions in recent memory.

Indeed, the Midnight universe’s Cyclops is a vampire/empyre hunter, described as the “one-eyed ronin” in the vague solicitation for Midnight X-Men #4, which reads as follows:

Two sets of letters go out. All sides are summoned. Two threats are made by both man and mutant. The one-eyed ronin finds a clue that will unravel long-laid plans. And a half-healed wound is hidden by shadow.

Midnight X-Men #1 is out now.

Movie(s)

X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

TV Show(s)

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men ’97 (2024)

Video Game(s)

X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)

First Film

X-Men (2000)

Character(s)

Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23

Comic Release Date

213035,212968