The X-Men are founded on teamwork; coming together to combine skills and abilities to become even stronger than alone. One of the most famous teams in the comic world, its expected to see the members help bolster each others powers, but there’s one X-Men teammate that’s often forgotten about when it comes to working together. That’s because this member isn’t technically a character, but instead, the jet the team uses to travel from mission to mission, the Blackbird. Believe it or not, as seen in Uncanny X-Men #154, this vehicle actually works together with Cyclops to be his most powerful weapon.
The Blackbird, also sometimes referred to as the X-Jet, is a staple member of the X-Men team no matter how much the rest of the members switch around. The jet resembles the Lockheed SR-71 spy plane, nicknamed the Blackbird which inspired the comic name, although the X-Jet version being much larger and modified for vertical take off and landing. The aircraft feature holographic active camouflage, advanced weaponry, and is able to reach hypersonic speeds. While the plane has been destroyed and rebuilt time and time again, it stands as a constant in the arsenal of tools the X-Men uses on a regular basis.
So how exactly does a plane, known for its speed and stealth, combine with Cyclops, a mutant known for his high intensity optic energy blasts, to become his most powerful weapon? This teamwork comes in the form of another modification to the Blackbird, specialized ruby quartz infused windshields. Made of the same exact material as Cyclops’ visor, the windshield amplifies any blast that passes through it. The windshield essentially acts like a magnifying glass to a beam of sunlight, increasing the intensity of the blast immensely. The full power of this weaponized combo is put to use in Uncanny X-Men #154 when Cyclops and Storm are trying to escape an alien Sidrian attack.
While being chased through New York City by a Sidri ship, Cyclops pilots the Blackbird over the East River. The Sidri fire laser after laser at the ship as Cyclops carefully dodges each attack. Due to conventional weapons being too dangerous to use around all of these innocent civilians, Cyclops decides to test out something new that should provide a more controlled attack, the ruby quartz infused windshield. Firing his optic blasts at full power, the ship amplifies the strength of the beam enough to slow down the Sidri attack and change the tide of battle in their favor.
This issue isn’t actually the only time this awesome weapon is put to use however. The not-so-well received film X-Men: Dark Phoenix surprisingly pays homage to this awesome piece of X-Men history, although the design of the weapon is altered ever so slightly (and arguably more realistically). As the X-Men take on a mission in space in response to a distress signal from the Space Shuttle Endeavor, Cyclops is called upon to put his powers to use in stopping the spinning shuttle. Rather than simply blasting his beam through the cockpit windshield, Cyclops is lowered into a special chamber below deck of the ship where he grabs hold of periscope like device. This device, much like its comic counterpart, allows Cyclops to amplify his optic energy blasts through the ship, shooting out an even more powerful beam from the Blackbird.
Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t do the best job of displaying just how greatly the ship increases the power, and the beam comes across seeming not much more powerful than his typical blast, although this situation specifically called more for accuracy than power. So in that X-Men story, the result is a bit less than “most impressive.”
