I hear that Cyclops killed Professor X a couple of years ago. It will get undone, so...

And this is why "my" X-Men are the pre-Secret Wars X-Men, 'cause everything that's come since has been some mix of infuriating/stupefying/impenetrable.

ALthough the cartoon completely destroyed the character of the Man Eating Cow. I am honestly a little mad about this, and can't really watch the cartoons.

The Cow was a HERO. That was what made it funny!

Yeah, I think this is perfectly normal when it comes to continuing characters that have been written and drawn by a zillion different people over a period of many years, and certainly nothing to feel defensive about. Under those circumstances, it's close to meaningless to say, "I like character-fill-in-the-blank" (though, like most comic book fans, I do say things like that all the time): what we really mean is that we like this or that particular version of the character - a version that might have persisted (more or less, and according to the reader's subjective judgement) through the treatments of more than one creative team, mind you; but that has rarely if ever persisted throughout the entire history of any character that's lasted more than one or two instantiations.

And of course this isn't limited to just comics characters: long-lived fictional characters like Dracula, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, etc are all subject to the same kind of thing. It's a sign of their power as fictional creations that they've lived on long after their creators have passed away, but I think we have to be careful not to value this longevity so highly that it renders everything else about the character insignificant: then you've degraded the entire phenomenon to simply preserving little more than a name plus a few superficial, external identifiers, like a superhero's costume.

MY Character's are those which just grabbed my attention right from the very start. Whether it came from originally the costume or their actions or powers or characterization didn't matter. They just "spoke" to me in some way. Hawkeye the arrogant loud mouth braggart always back talking to Cap but only out of respect and admiration who had a cool costume and self taught skill/power. Captain Mar-Vell the alien Kree soldier who found more in Earth's humanity than his own (again another cool costume) when sent down to infiltrate and chose instead to serve as our protector and defender. Batman the Dark Knight Detective that stalked the dimly lit streets of Gotham protecting those who lived there with a grim vengeance filled heart hoping to prevent others ever having to suffer the same misfortunes and suffering he endures with yes, a cool costume. Metamorpho the Man whose body miraculously transforms into what most would consider to be monstrous but he doesn't dwell on that as he uses his elemental shapes to continue his adventures in hopes of finding a cure to be with the woman he loves with ...wait for it...a cool design. 

I can go on and on about what initially made certain characters (in comics, books, movies, television) so special with a unique connection which drew me to them. The many combinations involved from writing to art to design are something once latched onto remain there forever. I will always go watch a new Western movie because I love the Cowboy concept. I will always buy a Tarzan, Doc Savage, Flash Gordon, John Carter or Conan comic book and give them a try. These are characters which filled my dreams as a child and sparked my imagination into youth and are there as friends in my adult life reminding me always that tomorrow is full of adventure and excitement and splendid dreams.

rberman , @taxidriver1980 , shaxper ...

Let me reassure you, true believers. The first X-Man did not turn into a villain, for all that several writers tried to make him look like one so that other characters would look good in comparison.

After the Joss Whedon days that made him cool again, Cyclops did turn his back on his belief that all mutants had to do to finally gain their place in society was to behave like good citizens. After yet another crossover-spanning event that caused the near-extinction of mutants, and after this catastrophe only generated more genocidal hatred toward his few remaining brethren, Cyke took it upon himself to do what was needed to save his people. He became the sort of militant that his son Cable had been for a long time, and that Cyke had thought he himself could never become. That was actually pretty good character development, and just about the only real one seen at Marvel in the last thirty years! It wasn't "Cyclops the villain", but "Cyclops the idealist turned militant". 

Then came the gonzo AvX series in which Cyclops and four other X-Men got possessed by the Phoenix force, which prompted them to... turn the Earth into a paradise for everyone. To this day, I fail to see why that is considered an evil act. In any case, that was something Captain America's Avengers could not tolerate for some reason, and they decided to attack the Phoenix-powered X-Men. Granted, most of them were getting a little unhinged... but outright confrontation was probably not the wisest course of action to show them how dangerous they might become. In any case, this all ended with a "Everybody against Dark Cyclops" scene, in which he was the subject of several attempts on his life and in which that arrogant bast%$#d, Charles Xavier, more than met his match. 

Cyke was purged of the Phoenix power and sent to jail, the target of everybody's hatred and disdain. He accepted full responsibility for all he had done even while not exactly remembering it, but that didn't keep Captain America and Wolverine from dragging him in the mud and turning a blind eye to the murder attempts he endured in jail. 

Escaping, Cyclops tried to make amends not by looking for forgiveness from his pompous and fickle ex-friends, but by founding a new school for mutants. He started collecting young mutants persecuted by an increasingly hostile world (with state-sanctioned sentinels and mutant-killing cops around every corner, seemingly), and declared a "mutant revolution" like some kind of mutant Malcolm X. He eventually realized that he was suffering from a nervous breakdown and closed his school, just in time to be killed in some entirely forgettable series meant to replace the Fox-controlled X-Men by the Unmarketable Inhumans in the public eye. Luckily, recent real-world business deals put an end to this nonsense.

And to remain in the spirit of this thread, "my" Cyclops was the one from the early days of the New X-Men, with the wickedly cool visor Dave Cockrum designed. The "take charge" one, not the "oh woe is me I have to wear glasses" guy he had been before nor the "I have somehow become a mass of insecurities because nobody knows how to write me" fellow he became next!

I know who "MY" character isn't, he's not the ineffectual drifter of Mark Gruenwald's '80s Captain America, he's not the bizarro Thor foisted on us by Messner-Loebs and Deodato. He ain't Teen Tony, a clone, or an African-American alt-universe version. His name is Luther, he dont need a twin brother, she is, always was, and always will be THE best spy. He is the leader of his people, not a murderer of his mentor. He loves her and she has always loved him since she was 13, they are destined for each other and SHOULD be together. He IS a god afterall(well, almost)and SHOULD bestow upon thee THE Gift.