The latest trailer for the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse had a LOT of awesome moments. The movie looks like it’s crammed full of great fights, but the one that has us most excited is the apparent battle between Cyclops and Storm.
In case you missed the epic moment in the trailer, here’s what we’re talking about:
It’s a debate that’s raged among X-Men fans for years with no real consensus: Who would/should win in a fight between Cyclops and Storm. Obviously, like with most superhero fights, it’s hard to get a clear decisive victory. Cyclops and Storm are friends, which means they’re never really trying to hurt each other in the comics.
In X-Men: Apocalypse, however, Storm is (at least temporarily) a villain — she’s one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalyse controlled by Ivan Ooze. So, it seems like this is about as close as we could get to an actual no-holds-barred deathmatch between the two.
The movie has its own continuity, so we don’t need know the exact limits of each character’s powers. But if they’re anything like their comic book counterparts they both have a LOT of power that both of them constantly must fight to hold back. They can’t use their full powers most of the time for fear of losing control.
Let’s take a look at some of the epic comic book clashes between Cyclops and Storm…
Most of the time, like this scene in Uncanny X-Men #175 involving mind control, it boils down to a simple quickdraw contest. Cyclops and Storm are both powerful enough to take the other one down with a single well-placed blast. The thing that matters most is whoever makes the shot first.
There’s also their personalities to consider. Cyclops is a genius tactician and might be able to think of a way to beat Storm more confidently with prep time. Storm is an incredibly agile and devious fighter though. Uncanny X-Men #201 had Cyclops duel a depowered Storm for leadership of the X-Men.
Storm proves that she’s not to be underestimated… even without powers she uses the element of surprise to incredible advantage.
As you can see, this fight ends with Storm beating Cyclops by taking advantage of the fact that he can’t control his powers.
Here’s another Cyclops vs. Storm battle…
The two frenemies came to blows once again in the miniseries X-Men: Worlds Apart in which Storm faces off with the Shadow King as he divides her loyalty between her country of Wakanda and her family, the X-Men.
Here Cyclops is being mind-controlled by the evil Shadow King.
It’s kind of hard to gauge this fight. The mind control means we’re seeing a Cyclops who isn’t held back by safety concerns towards Storm, but it also means he doesn’t have the full experience with his powers that Scott Summers does.
This fight ends with another pretty decisive Storm victory. Overall, she seems to be the winner more often than Cyclops. It’s important to remember though that most of these fights have had special circumstances.
They don’t go head-to-head very often, like they do in the movie, where their beams are directly fighting against each other like a DBZ episode.
Storm is a goddess. Let’s not forget though just how powerful Cyclops is when he ISN’T holding back.
Find out who wins the big-screen battle between the characters when X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters on May 27.
For more information on the X-Men, check out the Marvel Database!