CYCLOPS

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Unknown, possibly Sub-species of humanity

Occupation: Smashing things, throwing big rocks, eating people who wash up on his island

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Namor, the Sub-Mariner

Enemies: Mr. Fantastic

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Hidden Isle, in the Mediterranean

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#9 (December, 1962)

Powers/Abilities: The Cyclops is of huge size, probably around thirty feet tall and has super human strength. He could lift huge boulders a hurl them across great distances with ease.

History: (Marvel Saga#8 (fb) - BTS) - Cyclops was mutated to resemble the one-eyed cyclops from the days of Greek mythology. (see comments)

(Fantastic Four I#9) - Waaaaaayyyy back when, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four invested all of the group’s money into the stock market, only to lose it all when the stocks plummeted. For a while it looked as through the Fantastic Four were washed up, forced to such lengths as selling off their numerous vehicles and equipment. But then they received a letter from "S.M Studios" in Hollywood. The letter offered a cool million dollars if they were to star in a movie. Naturally, the Fantastic Four headed to California to check out the offer and to their great surprise, found that none other than Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, owned S.M Studios. Namor explained that he bought the studio using various treasures he had discovered in sunken pirate ships, and out of boredom had decided to make a movie about his at-the-time arch-foes. In a fix for the money, the FF accepted the offer.

The first day of filming the movie was to begin with a scene in which Mr. Fantastic did battle with a giant Cyclops on Hidden Isle in the Mediterranean, a small and seemingly lifeless island. Namor told Reed that the Cyclops he was to "rassle" with was mechanical and he was to just do what came naturally. Little did Reed suspect that the Cyclops was real, and that Namor planned to destroy the Fantastic Four member by member (Namor also sent the Human Torch to an African jungle to battle a tribe of fireproof natives).

When Reed came to the island, Cyclops immediately discovered him. In between trying to smash Reed with rocks, the Cyclops explained his alliance with Namor. The two battled for a few minutes until Reed tripped the big lug into a giant pit. Reed later returned to the others in time to defeat the Sub-Mariner. Namor, being the honorable but misguided sort, gaves the FF the million as promised and promptly returned to the ocean. The FF returned to New York, not only rich again but also movie stars.




Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Sorry about the poor quality of these pictures. I got them from The Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 1. No problem. Besides, Future provided some very nice substitutes, as you may see.

It seems like a lot of bald, super-strong immortal monsters fall into giant pits.

I think the Cyclops was meant to be the cyclops Odysseus/Ulysses ran into, who also appeared in another Lee/Kirby comic-- Tales of Suspense I#10, and in Journey Into Unknown Worlds#50. This could mean two things -- that Cyclops here is actually Polythemus (also seen in Sub-Mariner I#29), the mythical one-eyed giant who was the son of the Greek sea god Poseidon. In the myths he was supposed to have been blinded by Odysseus, but let’s assume that Homer goofed. If he is Polythemus, he has lots of other cyclopean brothers running around, like the ones working for Hephaestus as blacksmiths. Also this would explain his alliance with Namor, because as the Atlanteans still worship Poseidon (as Neptune), Polythemus would be seen as somewhat holy to them.

The Cyclops that Reed encountered could well be one of the brothers of Polyphemus who were sons of Poseidon. Traditionally, they were never named, but one children's book I discovered on the Odyssey has Polyphemus screaming, "Pallas, Argus, Nobody has blinded me. Atlas, Actaeus, please help!" or something to that effect. They're four names which appear on several characters in Greek myth so who ever it was who wrote the book picked names that appeared often enough to have worked. Then again, Reed's Cyclops could just have been a Deviant mutate.
---Will U

Polyphemus showed up in Sub-M I#29 with a big gem in place of his eye. Whether this was the real deal, or just a creation of the Huntsman remains to be seen. This is discussed in the comments for the Huntsman--Snood.

The other explanation is that Cyclops is yet another big, monstrous Deviant mutate (a speculation George Olshevsky supports in the Official Marvel Index to the Fantastic Four#1). I kinda prefer the first explanation, but both are equally valid. Am I the only person who wants to see a huge battle between all of Marvel’s monsters? A fight between this Cyclops here and that A-Chiltar cyclops robot would be neat!

Thanks to Per Degaton for pointing out the revelation in Marvel Saga#8. Unfortunately it was not revealed who mutated the Cyclops.

Here is a previous image of this profile, with delicious flavor text:

Profile by Ben Peberdy, Spaceknight

CLARIFICATIONS:

The Cyclops may very well be the same entity as:

  • The Cyclops of Greek myth, last seen frozen on a deserted Mediterranean island, @ Tales Of Suspense I#10
  • Polyphemus, summoned or created by the Huntsman, @ Sub-Mariner I#29

But should not be confused with:

  • The Cyclops Robot, also based on a deserted Mediterranean island, @ Tales to Astonish I#46
  • Psyklop, insectoid Hulk villain, @ Avengers I#88
  • Cyclops, Scott Summers, X-Men founder, @ X-Men I#1
  • The cyclopean creature of the Quadriverse, @ Dr. Strange II#23
  • The Cyclops of the Isle of Colossa, @ The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad (A movie with cool Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation)
  • Or any other one-eyed, rock-throwing giants

images:
Fantastic Four I#9, p11, pan1;
Fantastic Four I#9, p12, pan7, 8


Other appearances:
Marvel Saga8 (July, 1986)


Last updated: 11/12/05

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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