There are many iconic couples in comics - Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Sue Storm and Reed Richards, Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon (and Starfire, although not all at once), Batman and Catwoman, and many more. However, one of the longest-running couples in comics is Cyclops and Jean Grey.
The two met as teenagers and stayed together for many years afterward, barring Jean's occasional deaths. The two of them were perfect for each other and while their relationship today is pretty undefined, they are still one of the most iconic couples in all of comics. Are they the most iconic, though? Let's break down some reasons for and against.
10 The Best Couple: Trials And Tribulations
Comic book couples go through a lot of things in their relationships but Jean Grey and Cyclops have been through some things that few other couples would have been able to survive. Even after Jean committed genocide as the Dark Phoenix (well, a remarkable simulacrum of Jean Grey), Cyclops was still there for her.
After Cyclops got with a new woman that looked just like her and started a new family, Jean was still in love with him. Luckily, she turned out to be a clone of Jean who made a deal and sold her soul to demons. Those are just two examples; there are many more.
9 Not The Best Couple: Wandering Eyes
While there's no doubt that Jean and Cyclops were very much in love, both of them kind of had a tendency to... well, not cheat, but they were pretty flirty with other people. Jean and Wolverine had their whole thing going, flirting back and forth and Cyclops had his psychic affair with Emma Frost.
Both of them skirted the line of cheating during their relationship on several occasions and while it doesn't mean they don't love each other, other comic couples don't have that going against them.
8 The Best Couple: Their Honeymoon
Jean Grey and Cyclops had a very unorthodox honeymoon; pulled into the future and put into new bodies, they were tasked with raising and training Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor's son Nathan, the man who would become Cable.
Most people would get very mad that their honeymoon got highjacked so they could go and raise a kid in a war-torn apocalyptic future, but Jean and Cyclops took it in stride and it made their relationship that much better in the long run.
7 Not The Best Couple: Cyclops's Lack Of Options
Cyclops and Jean met when they were very young and became an item in a very dangerous environment. They were basically child soldiers in Professor X's war against evil mutants and the negative publicity those evil mutants garnered the mutant race.
While Jean had four people to choose from (well, three, because Iceman was gay; although since he was closeted, he probably would have gone out with her), Cyclops just had her. She was pretty much his entire romantic world for most of his life and circumstances like that don't always build the strongest relationships.
6 The Best Couple: Team Work
Cyclops and Jean have been working together for most of their lives, both as superheroes and as a couple. In fact, everything they learned when they were younger, they learned together. It's gotten to the point where they can anticipate each other's needs or next moves just by a look.
This simpatico has nothing to do with Jean's telepathy; it's all in the sheer amount of time they've spent together - the training with each other, the fighting side by side, the living together.
5 Not The Best Couple: The Circumstances Of Their Relationship
We've established that Cyclops had no other romantic choices than Jean but looking at both of their times as a teenager, they were kind of forced together in general. Jean may have had more choices, but they weren't great- Beast was obsessed with science, Iceman was busy hiding who he was behind jokes and insecurity, and Angel was full of himself and desired her more as a trophy than anything else.
Given actual choices, neither of them probably would have chosen the other. They were pretty much just thrust together because of a lack of anyone else.
4 The Best Couple: The Psychic Link
Jean and Cyclops loved and trusted each other so much that Jean established a psychic link between the two. They could communicate from just about anywhere, which made Cyclops giving orders through her easier in situations where the team was split up.
It also opened up a whole new level of intimacy between the two of them. Most couples have a problem with sharing the passwords to their social media accounts; having the ability to read each other's minds? Even idealized comic couples like Lois and Clark and Reed and Sue wouldn't even consider something like that.
3 Not The Best Couple: The Best Triple
Dawn Of X has changed a lot of things about the X-Men. A map of the Summers House, Cyclops's home on the moon, was released in the new X-Men #1, and fans noticed something- Jean, Cyclops, and Wolverine all had adjoining rooms, which some fans found... intriguing to say the least.
Beyond that, there was a change in the way that they were all treating each other and people started talking and a consensus was come to- the three of them were in a polyamorous relationship and were comics first- and best- triple. So, this precludes them from being the best couple.
2 The Best Couple: First Love
There's something to be said about first love. It binds two people together in a lot of ways that other types of love don't. Cyclops and Jean have that type of bond and it's one that has served them very well. It has allowed their relationship to survive all kinds of terrible things that would have ended a weaker relationship.
Cyclops and Jean will always end up around each other in some way and even if they aren't together, there is always the chance they will get back together.
1 Not The Best Couple: They Hold Each Other Back
As great as they are together, Jean Grey and Cyclops are actually a lot better apart. Before her latest death in 2004's New X-Men #150, her and Scott's relationship was on the rocks. She had regained the power of the Phoenix Force but it didn't drive her mad; in fact, she was in complete control.
After her death, Cyclops would go on to become the sole leader of the X-Men and eventually lead the mutant race through some of its most trying times. He did a great job protecting his people until the Phoenix Force got added into the mix. It seems like both of them are better off without the other.