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| Image copyright MARVEL COMICS |
One thing that's always niggled me about the X-MEN's CYCLOPS is that his supposedly uncontrollable power beam, which can slice its way through walls (and presumably humans) could be held in check by a pair of sunglasses - or in the case of his costume, his visor. The visor I can just about accept, but surely the sunglasses would simply be propelled from his face by the force of the beam? And that mask would need to be reinforced to prevent it eventually splitting from the power of the beam behind it.
Both visor and sunglasses are, I believe, made from 'ruby quartz', which would have to be able to absorb the beam rather than just hold it in check, but I don't know if this has ever been fully explained in the comics. The impression given is that Cyclops' beam cannot penetrate ruby quartz, in a similar sort of way to SUPERMAN's X-ray vision not being able to penetrate lead (not an exact comparison I know), but as every action has an equal and opposite reaction, surely the sheer power of the beam would propel his sunglasses away from him? Two thin semi-curved bits of plastic or metal (or whatever they are) looped over his ears are not going to be enough to secure his glasses in place.
(Another thought that occurs to me is that villains would surely be more than a tad curious as to what that visor was made of, as the knowledge would then enable them to come up with some way of negating SCOTT SUMMER's power. "Here's your ruby quartz-laced uniforms and shields, men - now go get the buggah!")
So tell me, captivated Criv-ites, has it ever been specifically explained in the comics that ruby quartz absorbs the power beam as opposed to simply stopping it, or are we merely meant to assume that such is the case? If the former, and you can remember what issue of The X-Men's comic in which it was explained, share that info here - and save me the bother of having to trawl through my collection of mutant tales. Or is it just another Mighty MARVEL boo-boo?
8 comments:
I think this makes it perfectly clear.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/6/61/Visor_schematics.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130621182538&format=original
Now you could probably build your own.
Can't even read it, OD. Tried enlarging it, just a blur. You ironic rascal.
Haha!
It was meant to be a bigger version of this
https://78.media.tumblr.com/3a221bd959879a8054e4c90b5bf3be62/tumblr_nabq18DinY1rn55nzo1_500.jpg
Ah, that's better. It's a much later development though, which took them ages to think up. Originally, his visor and sunglasses merely 'stopped' his power beam, whereas, if you think about it, ruby quartz would NEED to 'absorb' it to prevent his glasses from flying off his face.
You know, this cyclopean speculation reminds me of a question I've never got a satisfactory answer to either.
What happens to the photons that hit the inner eye & enable us to see? They don't pass through the eye, cos they can't. They don't accumulate inside the eye, cos they can't. So where do they go?
The disagreement on sciency forums gets hilariously bad tempered.
Ooh, that's an intriguing question, OD. I'll be pondering that one all day. Perhaps they simply dissipate, having fulfilled their purpose? H'mm.
Let’s see now, we have a man who can read minds in proffessor x, Another person who can turn to ice and project absolute cold, I’m Nother person who can grow wings and flys, A woman who can move objects just by thinking about it and they fight people who can turn invisible, control metal, and instantly transport themselves somewhere else.
And you think the sunglasses are a logical?
Not so much illogical, Barry - more like impractical given the power of his beam. However, if we assume that ruby quartz absorbs the force of the beam, problem solved.
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