Cable (Nathan Summers) is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as Nathan Summers in Uncanny X-Men #201 (Jan. 1986). Cable's identity was created by writer Louise Simonson and artist/co-writer Rob Liefeld and first appeared in The New Mutants #87 (March 1990). He is the son of Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Madelyne Pryor (Jean Grey's clone) and the "half" brother of Rachel Summers. Cable was born in the present Marvel timeline but was sent into a distant future.
Publication history
Creation
The character's first appearance was in The New Mutants #86 (Feb. 1990). He does not appear anywhere in the issue's story, but the "next issue" teaser includes a small drawing of the character. This was followed by a full appearance in The New Mutants #87 (March 1990). Though the artist Rob Liefeld is responsible for his visual design, name, and much of his personality, it is claimed that Cable also got some inspiration from editor Bob Harras. Liefeld explains the creation of the character:
New Mutants and X-Force
Cable is first seen in conflict with Stryfe's Mutant Liberation Front, the United States government, and Freedom Force. The New Mutants intervened and he asked for their help against the Mutant Liberation Front. Cable saw them as potential soldiers in his war against Stryfe. He became their new teacher and leader, and outfitted them. He came into conflict with Wolverine, noting that the two had an old feud between them. Cable and the New Mutants teamed up with Wolverine and Sunfire against the MLF. Cable also led the New Mutants against the Genoshans.
With the aid of Domino, Cable reorganized the New Mutants into X-Force. The New Mutants ended with issue #100, with Cable and other characters then appearing the following month in X-Force #1. The X-Force series provided further detail for the character's back story revealing that he was from the future and that he had traveled to the past with the aim of stopping Stryfe's plans as well as preventing Apocalypse's rise to power. Cable traveled between the 1990s and his future with his ship Graymalkin, which contained a sentient computer program called Professor, the future version of the program built into X-Factor's Ship.
In 1992, the character had a two issue miniseries, titled Cable: Blood and Metal, written by Fabian Nicieza, pencilled by John Romita, Jr., and inked by Dan Green, published in October and November of that year. The series explored Cable and the villain Stryfe's ongoing battle with one another, and its effect on the people that surround Cable.
Cable (vol. 1) and Soldier X
Shortly after Blood and Metal, Cable was given his own ongoing series titled Cable. Issue #6 (Dec. 1993) confirmed the character to be Nathan Christopher Summers, the son of Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Madelyne Pryor (Jean Grey's clone) who had been taken to the future in X-Factor #68 (July 1991), introduced by writer Chris Claremont, and appeared in Uncanny X-Men #201 (Jan. 1986). The series ran for 107 issues from May 1993 until September 2002 before being relaunched as Soldier X, which lasted 12 more issues until Aug. 2003. The book initially had trouble finding a stable creative team. A writer/penciller team would complete no more than three issues in a row until Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill began work on issue #20 and finish on #35. Loeb and Churchill provided the first instance of stability, working together on fifteen of the twenty issues from #20â€"39. During their run, they explored characters in Cable’s past, his feeling of responsibility toward Nathan Grey, his relationship with Domino and Blaquesmith, and further adventures with Kane, the Sugar Man, and the Microverse.
The 1994 miniseries The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix provided further information on the character's back story. In the future, Mother Askani, a time-displaced Rachel Summers, pulled the minds of Scott and Jean into the future where, as "Slym" and "Redd", they raised Cable for twelve years. During their time together, the "family" prevented Apocalypse from transferring his essence into a new body, ending his reign of terror. It is furthermore established that Mister Sinister created Cyclops' son Nathan (who became the time-traveling soldier Cable) to destroy Apocalypse.
Cable and Deadpool, Cable (vol. 2)
After his solo series ended, he was paired with the mercenary Deadpool in a new ongoing series titled Cable & Deadpool. The series largely dealt with Cable's efforts to change the world for the better, including turning his old spaceship Greymalkin into the floating utopian island of Providence. The first story arc of the series features a Cable that has learned to suppress his techno-organic virus to a nearly effortless degree, allowing him to access the better part of his vast psionic powers. He gains a power level similar to his Nate Grey counterpart from The Age of Apocalypse reality and tries to use them to force the people of the world to live peacefully. Using his powers at this magnitude also means that he will die due to the vast power being too much for his body to continuously maintain. He tries to carry out his plans quickly, defeating the X-Men, Six Pack and S.H.I.E.L.D. with little effort. They turn the tide of the battle on Cable by enlisting the aid of the Silver Surfer. Cable and the Silver Surfer battled, destroying buildings and other structures but were immediately rebuilt by Cable's vast telekinesis. All the while Cable tried to explain his good intentions to the Surfer with no avail. Although Cable destroyed his board and briefly held his own against the Surfer, he was ultimately defeated when the Surfer destroyed Cable's arm. Eventually Cable recovered his psionic powers which became stronger than ever due to the Silver Surfer's radioactive beams. Around the same time period, Cable becomes a member of a team of X-Men that consists of Rogue, Iceman, Cannonball, Sabretooth, Mystique, Lady Mastermind, and Omega Sentinel. In preparation for Messiah Complex, Cable seemingly died when he detonated Providence remains to prevent Gambit and Sunfire from stealing his database, causing the series to focus mostly on Deadpool for the next six or so issues. This series was canceled at the fiftieth issue and was replaced by two series starring each of the characters.
It is revealed that Cable survived, and has the mutant baby girl that the X-Men, Marauders, and Purifiers have been seeking during the Messiah Complex storyline. In 2008, Marvel Comics released Cable vol. 2, a new ongoing series by Duane Swierczynski and artist Ariel Olivetti. This new series directly follows the events of "Messiah Complex". The series features Cable, and the messianic child's time traveling adventures. The dangers of the future and pursuit by Bishop are balanced with the humor of "Cable the soldier" becoming "Cable the Nanny."
It is revealed that Cable and the mutant messiah have taken refuge in the future in the secluded safe haven of New Liberty. There, Cable gets married to a resident, Hope, who later dies defending the child. Cable decides to name her Hope, in honor of her deceased stepmother.
In 2009, Cable vol. 2 had a seven-issue crossover with X-Force, X-Force/Cable: Messiah War, which is the second story in a three-part storyline that began in X-Men: Messiah Complex.
After the events of the Messiah War, Hope and Cable are separated in time, appearing in the same spot but in different years. When Cable touches down from the spot, he appears two years after Hope, and is steadily losing control of his body due to the techno-organic virus within him. It alters his appearance so much that Hope doesn't register Cable's face. Eventually, Bishop, using his codename as a way to portray himself as a holy figure, gains on them, and Cable and Hope jettison themselves into space in the last ship the planet had. Bishop, armed with a thermonuclear device in the stump of his arm, states that he knows how to make his own ship and it'll only be a matter of time.
Cable was canceled in April 2010 with issue #25 (the final issue being called Deadpool and Cable #25).
The 2010 event Second Coming built upon the events of both Messiah Complex and the cancelled Cable series, and as part of the storyline, the character was killed. Within the narrative, the character succumbs to the techno-organic virus in his bloodstream while holding open a time-portal that allowed other members of X-Force to escape from the future. The death was shown in X-Force #28 written by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost, who noted that, "For us, Cable was always a character whose death was something the character himself would put forward â€" if that's what it took to complete his mission, he wouldn't think twice about it."
Avengers: X-Sanction
On July 27, 2011, Marvel announced at the San Diego Comic Con the return of Cable. The new project, originally titled as "Cable Reborn", was re-titled as Avengers: X-Sanction, written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Ed McGuinness. The miniseries served as a lead-in to the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline beginning in April 2012.
Having been teleported to the future during his last act, Cable learned from his old mentor, Blaquesmith, that Hope will apparently die in some future accident caused by the Avengers, prompting him to go back in time and try to use his last 24 hours of life before the techno-organic virus completely consumes his body to stop the Avengers before they can kill Hope.
Although he manages to defeat Captain America, Falcon, and Iron Man, he is caught off-guard when he is attacked by the Red Hulk, initially assuming that the Red Hulk is "Talbot," a foe from the future, before the Red Hulk informs him with grim satisfaction that he is actually someone who Cable has never fought before. With the aid of Blaquesmith â€" flashbacks revealing that they discovered various anti-mutant technologies in the Avengers Mansion â€" Cable manages to fight off the Red Hulk, partially infecting him with the techno-organic virus, only to be interrupted by Hope and Cyclops, who both denounce his actions as unnecessary, culminating in Wolverine and Spider-Man attacking him as they vow to take back the Avengers. During the fight with Wolverine, Spider-Man is taken out by Cyclops, and Blaquesmith convinces Hope to counter Cable's moves by freeing the Avengers, ripping the bomb that Cable threatened would blow them up out while Red Hulk burned the techno-organic virus out of his system.
The Avengers then proceeded to fight Cable until he was nearly dead from both the fight and the virus, and Cyclops asked to take his son home, with Captain America insisting the Avengers keep the weapons and ship. Back at Utopia, Blaquesmith helps Hope to realize that she can still save Cable, and she begins to absorb the techno-organic virus before fully manifesting the Phoenix Force raptor for the first time around herself. When it vanishes, Cable is cured not only of the advanced incursion of the virus, but apparently fully, as his left hand is shown to be fully organic along with his left eye, but he remains in a catatonic state. Afterwards, Cable and Cyclops speak telepathically, with Cable informing his father that Hope is indeed the Phoenix and is destined to save Earth from an unknown disaster. He goes on to say that a war will come with the Avengers and that he needs Cyclops to protect Hope. Cable promises to be there when he's needed in the future.
Cable and X-Force
Cable's next appearance was in a new series, Cable and X-Force by writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Salvador Larroca. The series debuted in December 2012 and features Cable and a new fugitive team, unofficially referred to by the Marvel Universe media as the new "X-Force". This version of X-Force initially consists of Cable, Colossus, Doctor Nemesis, Domino, and Forge. This series focuses on eliminating disasters based on mysterious visions that Cable is receiving, resorting to occasionally more brutal methods than the prime X-teams would use.
Characterization
According to Duane Swierczynski, although the writer "missed Cable's heyday in the early 1990s," Cable is "[his] kind of antiheroâ€"the cryptic, Man with No Name of mutantkind. If [Swierczynski had] quibbles with the Cable of yesteryear, it's that he was just a tad too powerful. [Cable] could port around the world at will, fetch beer from the fridge with the power of his mind, and then crush said beer can against his metallic love handle." When asked whether Nathan Summers was a tragic character in his mind, Swierczynski replied that, "Cable's still a bad ass soldier, make no mistake. But [the mission to protect Hope Summers in X-Men: Messiah War] is breaking him down like he's never been broken down before" and said that "[the readers are] going to see Cable struggling with a new bodily problem, one directly borne out of his experiences in 'Messiah War.'"
Powers and abilities
Cable was born with telepathic and telekinetic abilities, however, the extent to which he has been able to utilize these powers have varied dramatically throughout his appearances. Originally both were limited by his need to restrain his techno-organic infection and his powers were negligible compared to his more traditional fighting skills. However, following the subsidence of the infection they gradually increased to the point where they were similar in magnitude to those of Nate Grey, to whom he is genetically identical. At their height, he demonstrated the ability to simultaneously levitate the floating city of Providence and combat the Silver Surfer. Following that story, his powers were burnt out and he replaced both with technological substitutes. He later states that both his telepathy and telekinesis have faded to nothing.
When Professor Xavier's son Legion travels back in time to kill Magneto in the "Legion Quest" storyline, Beast notes that Cable possesses "latent time-travel abilities". With the assistance of Shi'ar technology, Professor Xavier "jump-starts" this ability while Jean Grey telekinetically holds Cable's body together, allowing Cable to send his consciousness into the past.
In the Messiah War storyline, during the fight with his clone, Stryfe, Cable demonstrates the ability to hide others from Stryfe's mental view, implying that at least he retains some of his telepathic powers. He also still possesses some of his telekinesis, but he is using it solely to keep the techno-organic virus in his body at bay.
His techno-organic body parts possess enhanced strength and durability, and his techno-organic left eye gives him enhanced eyesight, allowing him to see farther than a normal human and in the infrared spectrum. He is also able to interface his techno-organic body parts with machinery, using them to hack into computers, open electronic locks, and travel through time.
As of the end of Avengers: X-Sanction, Cable has apparently been fully cured of the techno-organic virus by the Phoenix Force (via Hope Summers), and appears to at least have his telepathy. As a result his cybernetic eye and arm have been restored to flesh and blood, although almost nonfunctional and atrophied, forcing Cable to wear an eyepatch and use an enhanced brace, made by Forge and laden with special weaponry.
Cable also made use of a spear-like weapon called the Psi-Mitar, which was originally a long staff with a spear point on one end and a scythe blade on the other, used primarily by the Askani. It functions as a focus and amplifier for telepathic or telekinetic power, which it can project as power blasts.
Other versions
In addition to his mainstream Marvel Universe incarnation, Cable has had been depicted in other fictional universes.
In the Cable and Deadpool series storyline "Enema of State", Deadpool and the mutants Cannonball and Siryn discover several alternate versions of Cable as they traverse several alternate universes via "Bodyslide", searching for Cable after he disappears. They remain in each separate universe for only a brief time, while Deadpool searches for the Cable from "his" timeline/universe. They first encounter an evil incarnation of Cable who has become one of the four Horsemen of Apocalypse, War. Other versions include a guru-type Cable known as "Brother Nathan", on whose alternate earth ll violence had been abolished, a Phalanx-Cable, consumed by the techno-organic virus within his body, and the Cable of the "House of M" reality, an infant in the care of a subdued Mister Sinister on a quiet Nebraska farm, which Deadpool eventually realizes was his Cable. Deadpool seized the infant, took him back to his home universe, and cared for Nathan, who grew rapidly after having been injected with Deadpool's DNA.
Cable appears in Marvel Zombies 2. Cable is uninfected, forced to work for the Acolytes in order for him to forever end the zombie virus. With the help of Forge, he constructs new artificial limbs for the Black Panther, after the zombie Henry Pym consumes the original ones.
In the setting of the Earth X storyline, the Techno-organic virus has overtaken Cable's body, who has become a blob of organic metal.
In the Deadpool Pulp timeline, Cable is now General Cable, who, along with Stryfe (also a General) and J. Edgar Hoover, hires former CIA man Wade Wilson to get back a stolen nuclear briefcase.
In the fantasy world depicted in the graphic novel Wolverine: Rahne of Terra, Cable's counterpart is a wizard called the Mage, who carried the Warlock Staff and a crossbow.
In Ultimate X-Men, Cable is a future version of Wolverine who goes back to the past to capture Professor Xavier, returning with him to the future in order to train him for the coming battle with Apocalypse. After Apocalypse's death, Cable fades out of existence.
A two-part storyline in What If... asks, "What If Cable Destroyed the X-Men?" In this story, Cable clashes with Professor X and the X-Men over their beliefs and differences in methods. Ultimately, Cable leads a faction of mutants loyal to him and assassinates the Professor, Cyclops, and Jean Grey before embarking on a violent crusade. Cable is ultimately killed by Wolverine, but his actions have already led to the further oppression of mutants. Magneto attempts to take control of America in the chaos, but is killed by a new model of plastic Sentinels, who decide that enslaving humanity is the best way to root out mutants. However, Wolverine assembles several surviving mutants to fight against the Sentinels as a new team of X-Men.
X-Men Forever is an alternate universe written by Chris Claremont that takes place after the events of X-Men vol. 2, #3. In it, it is revealed that X-Factor's confrontation with Apocalypse ended differently â€" Nathan was saved, but aged somehow from a toddler into a child. Nathan lives with his great-grandmother and grandfather in Alaska. An attack by mysterious agents causes Nathan to be moved to the protective custody of the Starjammers. He is shown to possess telepathic powers. Cable appears in one panel of the series but no connection between Cable and Nathan is made.
In other media
Television
- Cable made six appearances in X-Men: The Animated Series in the episodes "Slave Island", "The Cure", "Time Fugitives" and "Beyond Good and Evil" voiced by Lawrence Bayne in the English version and by TesshÅ Genda in the Japanese dub. This version of Cable possessed his trademark metal arm but it is said to be a bionic construct rather than a result of the techno-organic virus. He is never shown to be telepathic, though he does use telekinesis in one episode. He is also depicted as coming from the year 3999, where he leads an army in a desperate war against the forces of the immortal villain Apocalypse. It is shown there is some connection between Cable, Jean Grey, and Cyclops; Jean Grey scans Cable's mind in one episode and detects images of herself and Cyclops. She remarks to Scott, "He's more important to the future...to our future, than you can imagine." In the episode "Time Fugitives" shows Cable using a sentient computer, similar to the Professor from the comics. In the episode "Beyond Good and Evil," he uses a time machine named Graymalkin to travel back in time to destroy Apocalypse.
Film
- In 2009, Marvel attempted to hire a team of writers to help come up with creative ways to launch its lesser-known properties, such as Black Panther, Cable, Iron Fist, Nighthawk, and Vision.
- In December 2013, comic-book writer/artist Rob Liefeld confirmed that Cable would appear in the upcoming X-Force film.
Video games
- Cable appears as a playable character in the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 2 voiced again by Lawrence Bayne.
- Cable is an exclusive hidden character in the PSP version of the role-playing game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.
- Similarly, Cable was a hidden character in the Sega Game Gear platform game X-Men 2: Game Master's Legacy.
- Cable is seen in the X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse video game for the Game Boy Advance.
- Cable appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 voiced by Keith Ferguson. He is a non-player character and serves as a boss fight for the Pro-Registration side. In the Pro-Registration campaign, the heroes fight Cable at an Anti-Registration base in New Jersey. After his defeat, Cable is arrested. He and Hercules are later broken out by Captain America. In the Anti-Registration side, he commands the player during the New Jersey base mission. In the funeral scene following the Prison 42 incident, Cable is featured amongst the missing and presumed deceased heroes indicating that he was absorbed into the Fold. In the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, he is one of six downloadable characters.
- Cable makes a cameo in Deadpool's ending in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.
- Cable is a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.
- Cable appears as an unlockable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
- Cable appears as a supporting character in Deadpool, voiced by Fred Tatasciore. He occasionally assists Deadpool in dealing with enemies by providing support-fire with his massive futuristic cannon. In the game, Cable time-travels to Genosha to give Deadpool a dire warning, but bores Deadpool into killing himself. He later reprograms a Sentinel boot to take Deadpool to Magneto's citadel, which (predictably) goes completely haywire. however later on He then helps Deadpool recover the souls of dead mutants and deliver them to Death. and lastly He last appears in the final cutscene, confirming that Deadpool killed the right Mr. Sinister.
- Cable is a playable character in the MMORPG Marvel Heroes voiced by James M. Connor.
Influence
Artist Alex Ross drew upon his dislike of Liefeld's design of Cable when Ross designed the character Magog for the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come. Following writer Mark Waid's instructions that the character's appearance be based on aspects of superhero design trends of the time that they disliked, Ross said of Cable, "That's a character that Mark Waid invented that was really just put to me like come up with the most God awful, Rob Liefeld sort of design that you can. What I was stealing from was â€" really only two key designs of Rob's â€" the design of Cable. I hated it. I felt like it looked like they just threw up everything on the character â€" the scars, the thing going on with his eye, the arm, and what's with all the guns? But the thing is, when I put those elements together with the helmet of Shatterstar â€" I think that was his name â€" well, the ram horns and the gold, suddenly it held together as one of the designs that I felt happiest with in the entire series."
Awards
Cable #34â€"35 were part of the "Onslaught" storyline, which was a top vote getter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic-Book Story for 1997.
Collected editions
The stories have been collected in a number of trade paperbacks.
Cable volume 1 (1993 series)
Cable mini-series
Cable volume 2 (2008 series)
Cable and X-Force (2013 series)
References
External links
- Cable at Marvel.com
- Cable at the Comic Book DB
- Spotlight On...Cable at UncannyXmen.net
- Cable at the Internet Movie Database
- Comics Buyer’s Guide Fan Awards