Known superhuman powers: Havok is a mutant with the superhuman ability to absorb ambient cosmic energy into the cells of his body, transform it in an unknown manner, and release it as waves of energy that heat the air in their path enough to turn it into plasma. (Plasma is a super-heated state of matter consisting of charged subatomic particles.) These waves will emanate from his body in all directions unless he purposefully tries to channel them in a single directions, usually along the length of his arms. Havok is himself immune to the intense heat he creates. Whether he is immune to intense heat from other sources is not yet known.

Despite past accounts, the energy that Havok releases is not truly a concussive force. When Havok strikes an object with the waves of intensity of hot plasma, the sudden vast jump in temperature will often cause objects to shatter, explode, or seemingly disintegrate, and an observer might therefore wrongly think that the object had been struck by a concussive force. Should Havok direct his energy at the lowest level, he can project it towards a human being and his target will suffer a severe headache but will not burn up.

Havok's body is constantly in the process of absorbing cosmic radiation. When each of his body's power-storage cell enclaves reaches its capacity, excess cosmic energy is thereafter absorbed and immediately re-emitted in negligible quantities. Upon the total expenditure of all his available energy, it takes Havok's body about 16.5 hours to recharge to its peak level. The act of concentration involved in releasing his energy in anything other than an omnidirectional wave is physically exhausting for Havok if he continues it over an extended period of time.

Alex was unaware of Scott's developing mutant power or his identity as Cyclops of the X-Men until after the younger Summers had graduated from college. It was at that time that Alex first became aware of his own mutant abilities. A professor of archeology named Ahmet Abdol, also a mutant, had discovered a psychic link between himself and Summers. While both of them had the latent mutant power to absorb and transform cosmic radiation, Abdol's ability to exercise the power was jammed in an unknown manner by Summers' body. The Living Pharoah, as this mutant was calling himself, captured the youth and took him to his laboratory in Egypt. Abdol found a way to screen Summers' body from ambient cosmic radiation, permitting his own body to attain its latent potential. Abdol was transformed into the Living Monolith, a gigantic mutant with vast cosmic power. The Monolith was defeated while in combat with the X-Men when Summers' latent mutant powers surfaced under the stress of entombment within the mechanism designed to screen him from cosmic radiation.

Incapable of controlling the shock waves his body emanated, Summers chose to remain in the Egyptian desert rather than accompany the X-Men back to America.

Summers was soon captured by one of the mutant-hunting robotic Sentinels and brought to the headquarters of Larry Trask, the son of the Sentinels' inventor. Trask gave Summers the codename Havok and a costume whose chest display monitored the build-up of cosmic energy within him. When the X-Men finally freed Trask's captive mutants, Summers accompanied his brother and his teammates back to civilization where he began training to help him keep his energy in check. Eventually Havok gained enough mastery over his power that he would release it only when he wished to do so, and could wield his power skillfully enough to become a formidable opponent in battle.

Havok fell in love with Lorna Dane, the mutant now known as Polaris. They both served for a time in the X-Men helping to repel the invasion by the alien Z'nox. Neither Havok nor Polaris wished to lead a life as an adventurer, but they discovered that they had a mutual interest in geophysics. Hence, they began doing doctoral research in that subject in the Diablo mountain range in Arizona.

The plan to stay out of the affairs of the outside world did not last long. Havok and Polaris found themselves hunted by the Marauders. Polaris was now under the mental control of Malice. Polaris was forced to attack the X-Men as the leader of the Marauders. Havok, now a member of the X-Men, had to fight his lover. Polaris was eventually freed from Malice's control, but was captured by the mutant named Zaladane, who claimed to be her sister and stole her powers. For a short while, Polaris gained new superhuman powers.

Later, Polaris regained her original powers and, with Havok, returned to the Institute, as one of the school's teachers, not as an X-Man unlike Alex.