A live-action version of “Cable” recently blessed homes around the world when the trailer for “Deadpool 2” hit the internet, and oh boy, Josh Brolin looks great as the time-traveling leader of X-Force. He will be an important part of the latest superhero starring super-powered mutants.
But who is Cable and where does he come from? These answers aren't easy, as many characters from the X-Men comics have overly complicated and convoluted backstories, especially Cable. We do our best to keep you up to date and tell you everything you need to know about Cable.
Nathan Summers – the baby who would later become Cable – made his debut in 1986's The Uncanny X-Men #201. His parents were Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey. During the child's early years, Mr. Sinister wanted to use Nathan as a weapon to destroy Apocalypse.
However, things didn't go exactly as planned and Nathan fell into the hands of Apocalypse. A villain in the X-Men world, Apocalypse infected Nathan with a techno-organic virus. It was incurable. To save the boy from dying, Askani – a woman from the future who leads the fight against Apocalypse – instructs Cyclops to kidnap Nathan 2,000 years into the future.
It turns out that Askani is Rachel Summers, the daughter of Cyclops and Jean Gray from an alternate reality. Askani clones Nathan in case he doesn't survive the virus. This clone was kidnapped during an attack by Apocalypse's followers (more on that later). The real Nathan survives the illness and is raised by Askani for some time.
The version of Cable we all know and love (created by Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld) debuted in 1990's New Mutants #87. He was a really cool looking character with a military mindset who was trying to defeat the Mutant Liberation Front. Cable has several confrontations with the MLF's leader, Stryfe. In issue #100 of New Mutants, Stryfe removed his helmet and revealed that he looks exactly like Cable. You probably know where this is going.
Cable took charge of a new X-Force team with a host of new mutants. During X-Cutioner's Song, Stryfe goes undercover as Cable and attempts to kill Professor X. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Jean Gray are kidnapped and the X-Men learn that Stryfe is behind it. It turned out that Stryfe was Cable's cloned baby from the future, which was a shock at the time. Eventually, the story leads to an epic battle on the moon, where Cable seemingly sacrifices himself to kill Stryfe.
However, it turns out that Cable was not dead and was displaced in the future. For more than 20 years, there have been stories about Cable banding together and fighting other members of his lineage, facing a new Mutant Liberation Front and working with unlikely enemies. It wasn't until 2004 that comic fans got one of the character's best series: Cable & Deadpool.
While the two characters met in Deadpool's first appearance in 1991's New Mutants #98, the 2004 series Cable & Deadpool explored the relationship between them. It's funny, bizarre, and while there aren't any earth-shattering stories that would completely change the trajectory of either character, it's widely regarded as a brilliant, entertaining and compelling series.
Back to the serious part of Cable's story, one of his bigger stories follows “Decimation,” a storyline in which Scarlet Witch said the words “No more mutants,” which resulted in all but 198 mutants disappearing from the Marvel Universe. Then one day a new mutant named Hope was born. Their city was under attack by The Purifiers – another anti-mutant terrorist group – but Cable showed up and saved them. He believed Hope was destined to save all mutants. However, others – like Bishop – thought otherwise, and so Cable was tasked with looking after them.
During this story, Stryfe reappears and tries to kill Hope. He was repeatedly stopped by Bishop, Cable and the X-Force. After saving Hope again, Cable broke up with her and formed a new X-Force team.
Cable's abilities are a mix of mutant powers and technological enhancements. As a mutant, he has telepathy and telekinesis, similar to his mother – without all the demonic black magic that Madelyne had as the Goblin Queen. Cable's mutant abilities are extremely powerful and he possesses variations of both telepathy and telekinesis that many other mutants with his abilities do not have, such as the ability of premonition: receiving visions from the past or – occasionally – transferring them to his mind and his powers into other people.
Technically, Cable has a metal arm that gives him more power. Additionally, he has a force field that protects him, as we saw in the Deadpool 2 trailer when someone shoots him. (Depending on the comic, however, some creators have said that this is part of his telekinetic powers.) Cable has a cybernetic eye. This eye allows him to see various spectrums that a human eye could not see, and has also been known to use it to fire a laser. Of course, he has other technological advantages, but none of them are more important than the ability to travel through time, which doesn't happen as often as you would think in the comics.
Looking for reading recommendations? Check out these storylines!
- Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix: Cyclops and Jean Gray travel to the future to raise Cable. They meet Askani and Cable is cloned in case he dies from the virus that infected him. Occurs in The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1-4.
- X-Cutioner song: A man named Stryfe tries to tear the X-Men apart and kill Cable. It's an important story for the character that travels throughout all of the X-Men titles. Occurs in Uncanny X-Men #294-#297, X-Men #14-16, X-Factor #85-86, X-Force #17-19 and Stryfe's Strike File.
- Cable & Deadpool: If Looks Could Kill: The first Cable and Deadpool story from their new series. Deadpool is hired by a religious group to steal a virus, and Cable learns to use his newly enhanced abilities. Of course, the two end up working together and it's just as bizarre as you think. Takes place in Cable & Deadpool #1-6.
- Messiah War: Set 1000 years in the future, X-Force is on a mission to bring back Cable and Hope – the baby Cable protected. However, Bishop, Apocalypse and Stryfe are also after them. Occurs in X-Force/Cable: Messiah War, Cable #13-15 and X-Force #14-16.
- Ultimate X-Men: Cable: Cable appears in the Ultimate Universe, albeit with a major reimagining of the character. Occurs in Ultimate X-Men #75-78.
