Omega Level Mutants are the most powerful of their kind. The exact criteria have changed since the designation was first introduced in the X-Men comics. However, the idea that Omega Mutants are the most powerful has remained constant. Regardless, one hero long denied Omega Level status was confirmed to be one in a big way in Fall of the House of X #5.
Fall of the House of X #5 was written by Gerry Duggan with art by Lucas Werneck and Stefano Caselli. The issue focused on a multi-front battle, with the X-Men fighting the futuristic Sentinel Nimrod. This battle was complicated by the fact that Nimrod had come to inhabit multiple bodies, spread across the globe. Worse, Nimrod had run countless simulations considering how to best destroy all human life on Earth and planned accordingly. It was in the midst of this fight that Nimrod reassessed one target and rated them as an Omega Level Mutant.
Cyclops is an Omega Level Mutant
Nimrod notes that in all of the billions of simulations it ran, there was “always one X-Man left standing after all the others fell.” That X-Man was Cyclops, one of the founders of the X-Men and their original field commander. To Nimrod, Scott Summers’ tenacity and tactical mind made him an Omega Level threat, despite his relatively limited Mutant power.
X-Men Mutant Power Scaling Explained
Designations such as Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, and Omega have been applied to X-Men in the main Marvel Earth-616 setting. Precise definitions or quantifiable limits have never been provided. In simple terms, Omegas are the best of the best, with Alpha, Beta, and Epsilon in descending order below them.
Jonathan Hickman offered a definition in the Kraokoa era of X-Men. He defined Omega Mutants as those “whose dominant power is deemed to register — or reach — an undefinable upper limit of that power’s specific classification.” Magneto, for instance, was an Omega level Mutant, because no one else could approach his command of magnetism. By contrast, Forge, while undoubtedly a brilliant technopath, could not eclipse the technology created by inventive humans, like Tony Stark. This marks Forge as an Alpha Level Mutant.
Cyclops has been traditionally classified as an Alpha Level Mutant, due to his inability to control his eyebeams. Additionally, his power is based upon his ability to synthesize sunlight. His powers would go away, in time, if he were kept underground. Despite this, his eye beams still constitute an infinite source of energy. That, coupled with his training to use his powers to the fullest, has elevated him to Omega Level, at least in the mind of Nimrod.
Fall of the House of X #5 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
