Cyclops, Havok, Vulcan, Cable, Prestige, Hope, X-Man, and the list goes on and on. The Summers family is the cornerstone of the X-Men's world, both as heroes and villains, with numerous stories being built off their lives. Unfortunately, few of those stories are happy ones.
Being a Summers means being familiar with tragedy. It also means getting used to having relatives that travel through time a lot or show up from other dimensions. When you are a Summers, the term "extended family" gets taken to a whole other level. The downside is that it gives you many more funerals to attend.
10 Scott's Son Is Taken To The Future
The son of Scott Summers and Madeline Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey, Nathan Summers was born into a strong mutant family. Naturally, that made him a target from moment one, particularly by one of the X-Men's most devastating villains, Apocalypse.
Recognizing the threat the infant posed, Apocalypse infected Nate with a techno-organic virus that would kill him. The only way to save Nate was by sending him to the distant future where the technology existed to help him. The catch being it was a one-way trip. It's a heart-wrenching choice for any parent, though the baby would eventually return to the present as an adult warrior named Cable.
9 Havok Gets Captured By His Own Brother
During the civil war that would rock the Shi'ar Empire, family would face off against family. Siding with the deposed and rightful ruler, Havok and the Starjammers fought against Vulcan and his forces. As time went on, Havok and his side slowly got the upper hand.
Unfortunately, Vulcan would capture the Starjammers, including his own father, and use them as hostages to convince Havok to stand down. Taking his own brother prisoner, Vulcan would torment Havok with news of what was happening to mutants on Earth and how he could do nothing about it.
8 Mister Sinister, Orphanage Owner
No one is more obsessed with the Summers genetic line than Mister Sinister, originally a biologist named Nathaniel Essex born in Victorian-era London. His twisted genetic work would lead him to wake up the immortal mutant now known as Apocalypse and make a bargain.
Apocalypse upgraded him and Mister Sinister was born. Scott unknowingly first encountered Sinister as a child in an orphanage after the deaths of his parents. Disguised as Mr. Milbury, Sinister would conduct horrific experiments on Scott and place memory blocks in his mind that continue to haunt him.
7 Havok Survives Genosha
Genosha has gone through a lot of phases but none were as infamous as the era they used mutants as slaves. After a trip through the Siege Perilous, Havok ended up in Genosha with his mind wiped and working for the Genoshan Army as a high ranking magistrate. In addition to helping subjugate his fellow mutants, Havok was forced to fight his former teammates which included his own brother.
Havok did regain his memory but had to continue to play the part to lull his captors into a false sense of security. Without Havok, they never would have brought Genosha down but it came at great sacrifice.
6 Vulcan's Twisted Life
When killed by D'Ken Neramani, the mad Shi'ar leader, Scott's mother Katherine Anne Pryde was pregnant with her third son. The fetus survived the attack and was raised to maturity, though his age was accelerated by the process. He was sent to Earth as a slave of the Shi'ar but eventually found his way to the X-Men and his family.
Like his brothers, Vulcan is a powerful mutant, a power he eventually used to take over the Shi'ar Empire. His leadership eventually led him to battle Black Bolt and the Inhumans, with Black Bolt and Vulcan apparently dying in the final confrontation. It now appears both men survived.
5 Age Of Nate Grey
Born in the alternate reality called the Age of Apocalypse, Nate Grey, aka X-Man, was created by that world's Sinister from the genetic material of Scott Summers and Jean Grey. When the Age of Apocalypse collapsed, Nate survived and made it into the main continuity, one of several mutants to do so. Despite his best efforts, Nate's life has been a hard one.
Nate's time on a new world has been filled with various parties trying to manipulate the young mutant. At one point, he had to sacrifice himself to stop a villain's plan for world domination, though he did eventually return. Nate is a survivor but still has a difficult life.
4 One Of The Last Greys
Like Nate Grey, Rachel Summers, sometimes called Rachel Grey, is the survivor of an alternate timeline. While the child of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, Rachel was born in the horrific timeline called "Days of Future Past."
Eventually making it to the main timeline, Prestige carved out a path for herself as a hero and member of various mutant teams. The Shi'ar, obsessed with ending the threat of the Phoenix, attacked a Grey family reunion Rachel was attending and killed almost everyone there. She swore vengeance after losing most of the family she had ever known.
3 The Death(s) of Jean Grey
One of the most powerful mutants on the planet, Jean Grey is the love of Scott Summers' life. Nobody should tell Emma Frost that. Jean also loves Scott more than anyone else, much to the chagrin of Wolverine. Not to diminish the pain it puts Cyclops in, but Jean has an unfortunate habit of dying.
The most devastating, and confusing, was the first time that involved the Phoenix Force taking her form while leaving the real Jean to recuperate in a cocoon at the bottom of the ocean. The eventual death of the Dark Phoenix version of Jean Grey was devastating to the X-Men and Cyclops.
2 The "Deaths" of Scott's Parents
As hard as it is to imagine, there was a time that Cyclops and his brother Havok were not battle-hardened mutant warriors. But even as children, tragedy followed Scott and Alex. On a leisure flight with their mother and father, a Shi'ar ship attacked their plane, forcing the parents to strap their sons into a parachute and push them to safety.
They sacrificed themselves to save their kids, or at least they appeared to. The traumatic incidents of that day continue to plague Scott and have been blamed for his lack of control over his mutant eye blasts.
1 Christopher Summers, Space Pirate
Thought to be dead after the Shi'ar attack that Scott and Alex barely escaped, Christopher Summers and his wife Katherine Anne also survived. They were taken prisoner by their Shi'ar attackers, then transported back to the Shi'ar homeworld and separated.
Christopher escaped just in time to see the insane leader of the Shi'ar kill Katherine Anne. He was transported to a prison colony where he took the name Corsair and teamed up with four other prisoners to escape. They stole a ship, becoming the space pirates called the Starjammers. Christopher believed his family to be dead and didn't return to Earth until he met the two boys he knew about as adults.