If you read X-Men: Schism #4, you know that things aren't good between Wolverine and Cyclops, and Marvel's E-i-C recently sat down to speak with Comic Book Resources about the development of both the event and of Cyclops as the leader of the mutant race. As usual, there's much more to be found from this interview over at the site, so be sure to click on the link below in order to head on over there to check it out!
On The Divide Between Cyclops And Wolverine: The story that became "Schism" was one we work-shopped at one of our post-SDCC X-Men retreats, and went to that knowing that Jason [Aaron] would be the writer. The conflict between Cyclops and Wolverine is a philosophical one, but when two fellas get to the point of throwing punches, personal #$%# tends to emerge -- in the case of Scott and Logan, the dark undercurrents of a long and complicated relationship. Logan and Scott aren't fighting over Jean, of course, they're fighting over the future of the X-Men, but when Scott tells Logan, "[Jean] never loved you, you know. You always frightened her," he's not just stabbing his opponent, he's twisting the knife. That's something Scott probably thought for a long time -- now he's actually saying it. Ditto when Logan responds, "And if she were here right now, who do you think she'd be frightened of?"
On How Cyclops Has Evolved As A Character Over Recent Year: When we sat down and plotted out "Messiah CompleX" several years ago, we knew we were about to send Cyclops down a long, dark road that would start when he took the reins as the unquestioned leader of the X-Men. When that blip came up on Cerebra, signaling a possible mutant birth, the stakes couldn't have been higher for the mutant race, so our first question was. "Who will lead them?" And we realized it had to be Cyclops. It wouldn't be Logan or Emma or Colossus. And it couldn't be Professor X -- been there, done that! [Laughs] It had to be Cyclops.
Even back then, we saw the general shape of the road Cyclops would be traveling. We knew that the tough decisions he'd be forced to make would take a toll on him. We didn't know exactly what that toll would be until we were sculpting "Schism," but we were already asking questions like, "What does it do to your soul when your responsibility to your species compels you to do things you never thought you'd do?" Back then, it was a whole different group of writers at the table -- Ed Brubaker, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Mike Carey, Peter David. After that, the story continued to evolve under the direction of a new group of writers -- Matt Fraction, Zeb Wells, Kieron Gillen, etc. Eventually, Jason emerged as the writer with the clearest vision for what the final story could be. When he ad-libbed the "Jean never really loved you" line at the table, we were like, "Oh yeah!"
On The Fallout Of "Schism" And The Future Of The MU: After "Fear Itself," "Schism" and "The Children's Crusade" come to a close, all the various houses will be reorganized to some degree or another. We've already spoken about the X-Men, but without revealing any spoilers, I will say that the Avengers -- especially Cap, Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk, all of whom have huge crosses to bear after the events of "Fear Itself" -- will be profoundly affected by "Fear Itself." Those that survive the event -- and the shape they're in after they do -- will have great bearing on how the Avengers are able to respond to the next big challenge. "Fear Itself 7.1," "7.2," and "7.3" in stores in November, start the ball rolling.
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