i wish scott knew that he is so much more than a child groomed by xavier
Like a lot of superheroes, Scott’s backstory varies with each retelling, but here’s a quick list to show how extra depressing the above panels are:
In Champions #18, Scott recounts a story from when he was 7 or 8 in which he stopped a runaway school bus when he noticed the driver going into cardiac arrest. Kind of over-the-top, but then again, if anyone, it would be baby Scott Summers who would be that hyper prepared. Also being Scott, he is upset that he failed to revive the bus driver.
Several flashbacks tell the story of an 8-year-old Scott leaping from a burning plane with his arms wrapped around his brother. Their parachute caught fire but Scott still held on to Alex and kept him safe all the way to the ground.
X-Men Classic 41 & 42 tell the story of a lonely, now cynical 12-year-old Scott who is being neglected and bullied in a (pretend) state orphanage. The story starts with him jumping in between a bully and a smaller kid, getting himself beaten up for his trouble. He later admits that he doesn’t even like the kid he was protecting. The same bully taunts him after a ptsd nightmare causes him to wake up crying. However, the next day, when the bulky climbs up onto the roof, Scott doesn’t even hesitate to climb up after him to talk him down. Despite his absolute best efforts, Scott is unable to save the other kid and is devastated over it.
Different comics, but most notably Children of the Atom tell the story of Scott’s time with abusive criminal Jack Winters. The young teen was on the run from police after his powers cause (and then fix) an accident. Winters used his limited telepathic influence to lure Scott to his home and then proceeds to threaten and abuse him into helping him with petty crime. Once again alone in the world with Jack as his only means of survival (barely), and threatened with bodily harm or worse, Scott still chooses to defy him when commanded to use his powers to kill.
When all is said and done, Scott’s life before Charles is shown to have been riddled with misery, gaslighting, physical and emotional abuse, isolation and Sinister’s insidious chipping away at his sense of self, but through it all, there is an unwavering desire to save others, even people he doesn’t know or like, above all else. A true hero.
Interestingly, in most versions of the story, Charles’s first order to Scott upon “rescuing” him results in Scott killing a man for the first time.