Man With The Killer Gaze

The summer box office season got under way this weekend with the release of "X2: X-Men United."

All of the stars of the original "X-Men" returned to reprise their roles as the embattled "mutants," including James Marsden who plays "Cyclops."

Marsden visited The Saturday Early Show to discuss the X-Men phenomenon, and the expectation that the X-Men sequel will exceed the first movie's gross of $300 million worldwide.

The X-Men is based on Marvel Comics' ensemble of social misfits. They aren't superheroes in the traditional sense. The X-Men are "mutants" who are evolved humans with extraordinary powers, such as superhuman strength or the ability to control the weather.

The mutants live in a world that fears and shuns them, yet the X-Men have sworn to protect all life. In the movie, Cyclops, or Scott Summers to the rest of society, generates optic blasts from his eyes that he can't control. Every time he opens his eyes, they fire a blast. So he wears special "shades" - a visor with ruby quartz lenses that block the beams.

In "X2," Cyclops leads the X-Men to prevent an assassination attempt against the president of the United States by "mutant" extremists, while trying to save the Mutant Academy the X-Men call home.

Some Facts About James Marsden

• James Marsden was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma on September 18, 1973
• While vacationing with family in Hawaii, Marsden met actor Kirk Cameron and his sister Candace; the Camerons invited Marsden to visit them in L.A.
• In 1992, Marsden left Oklahoma to live in Los Angeles; he worked for a time as a Versace model
• In 1992, Marsden made his television acting debut on two episodes of CBS' "The Nanny"
• In 1993, Marsden made his television movie debut in "In the Line of Duty: Ambush at Waco"
• From 1996 to 1997, he played a teen father on the ABC drama series "Second Noah"
• In 1997, Marsden starred in the NBC television-movie "On the Edge of Innocence"; the same year he had a featured role in the CBS miniseries "Bella Mafia"
• In 1998, Marsden co-starred with Nick Stahl and Katie Holmes in the teen thriller "Disturbing Behavior"
• In 2000, Marsden's movie acting career advanced with roles in "Gossip" and "X-Men"
• In 2001, he joined cast of the Fox comedy "Ally McBeal" for 13 episodes
• Marsden's next two movie projects will be "Preacher" (2003) and "The Notebook" (2004).