The X-Men first appeared in Marvel Comics in September 1963. The characters were created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby as a result of Stan Lee needing more superheros but not wanting to have to design an origin story on how they acquired their super powers.
The X-Men are mutants, a subspecies of humans who are born with superhuman abilities. They are led by Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, a powerful mutant telepath who can control and read minds. Early X-Men issues introduced the original team composed of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, and Iceman.
Cyclops is typically considered the first of the X-Men and his power is that he can emit powerful beams of energy from his eyes. He cannot control the beams without the aid of special eyewear which he must wear at all times. He most often is portrayed as the archetypal hero of traditional American popular culture —the opposite of the tough, anti-authority antiheroes that emerged in American popular culture after the Vietnam War (e.g., Wolverine).