It started over a decade ago, in the aftermath of HOUSE OF M. The Scarlet Witch decimated the mutant population with her “No More Mutants” command, and less than 200 mutants retained their power after M-Day. With so few mutants left in the world, the majority turned to the X-Men for protection. Under Cyclops’ banner, the remaining mutants eventually relocated to San Francisco to find the tolerance they always hoped for.

Around this time, Cyclops became more media savvy and hired a PR agent named Katie Kildare to get his message out. During Norman Osborn’s DARK REIGN, Cyclops founded the mutant nation Utopia off the coast of San Francisco. It was the only way to protect his people, but it alarmed the rest of the world because it proved that the X-Men could claim their own land if they wanted to.

Cyclops’ more militaristic turn led to a Schism with his long-time ally Wolverine. The man called Logan grew disillusioned by the way Cyclops called upon the younger mutants to fight and kill. Cyclops even reformed X-Force as squad of killers designed to take out the deadliest enemies of mutants. But the straw that broke the camel's back came when Cyclops gave his tacit approval for a teenage girl named Idie Okonkwo to kill Hellfire Club soldiers who would have killed her and the X-Men if she hadn’t acted. Wolverine fought Cyclops over that decision, effectively splitting the team between them.