Cable (vol. 3) #11- Summary, Spoilers, and Spew

[worstblogever]

If you couldn't figure it out by the title, this is a summary thread, with SPOILERS in it. Ideally, to get the best experience from a comic, you already bought or read it, and are coming in to discuss it now. Because let's be honest, a summary like this is no substitute for the actual comic, with the art contained therein.

That having been said, if you continue along down here a bit, we're going to have SPOILERS from the issue. Shocking, I know. Last chance to turn back, anyway.
















Cable (vol. 3) #11

Cable's a few more years flung ahead in the future, with Hope (the artist formerly known as Baby Goo) in his care, discussing war strategy with a General Zyker. Zyker's forces, and most of the world have been overrun by that army of human/cockroach hybrids, and worse yet, they can fly now. Zyker's got a doomsday weapon that should attack them on a genetic level. Cable seems to think it'll also attack ALL life on a genetic level. Zyker, unswayed by Cable's concerns, goes ahead and fires his weapon, before they're swarmed literally and figuratively by the roach-men. Before it detonates, Cable time-jumps another 100 years into the future with Hope, to avoid the fallout.

The trick doesn't quite work, and they're left in a total wasteland. The rest of the issue is Cable and Hope trying to eke out some sort of chance of survival, with the closest thing they can find to an animal to hunt and eat is a robot wolf with fur thrown over it to look real, and all the rain water isn't potable.

While they mill about, there's some good interaction where Cable explains to Hope what a mutant is, and who the X-Men are, and such, and in between time jumps where she ends up puking every time. Once, right on the Askani'Son, well... things look bleak. Cable finally gets them still another 1000 years in the future, and the ecosystem of North America still hasn't recovered. Cable heads to Westchester, as they run out of rationed food and water left on their person, hoping that in the past, the X-Men have left an object for him, so that it might be there now, for him in the future. And that's when, Cable passes out, leaving Hope by his side, panicked.


Thoughts: Story arc pacing... this is the issue that shows you, that yeah, Bishop's whole plan to eff things up in the past so Cable's doomed and can't escape to the future seems to have worked. Why Cable never thought to check Westchester for time machine parts left by the X-Men sooner, I'm not sure. It sets a pretty bleak mood, and in the midst of it, there's finally more interaction between Cable and his adopted daughter, Hope that gives this book some heart. Hate to nitpick, but I have to on bad math. Hope, at one point, says she's almost seven years old. Cable's journal says they're on like Day 1512-1528 or whatever, during this issue... which based off of dividing by 365, for days in the year... she's actually like a little older than four. Not sure what that's all about. If it was like 2528, then she'd be closer. But whatever.

What's more important to me, is that after the first grim & gritty seven pages, where Zyker opts to doom the world, is that Olivetti is off of art duties, and Jamie McKelvie pencils the rest of this issue. McKelvie's got a much "softer" art style, compared to the hyper-muscled action one of Olivetti, that really gives the Hope/Cable relationship a much needed jolt of emotion this book has been lacking, in my opinion.

So yeah, the story is, "Cable and Hope screwed in a futuristic desolate wasteland". That's the long and the short of it. 6.5/10

[drwho]

Sounds like bishop was right. cable and hopes involvement seems to have destroyed the world. :tongue:

[Beast]

Sounds like bishop was right. cable and hopes involvement seems to have destroyed the world. :tongue:
Self-fulfilling prophecy. Considering he's the one who destroyed the world.

[Cayman]

It was good. Nice to get some point of view from cute lil' Hope.

The art change was jarring but you can't complain too much about McKelvie art.

[LemonJynx]

Sounds good, I was looking forward to see what hope will do once cable is down. Does this trigger something in her??

[Jackob]

he said that many days till his wife died.

[worstblogever]

he said that many days till his wife died.

Actually, he said, Day 1514. Exactly two years since your mother died.

Which, would only be 730 days since that.

[protogarrett]

Something needs to actually happen in this series. This story is just eeking out a bit too slowly at this point for me.

[worstblogever]

Something needs to actually happen in this series. This story is just eeking out a bit too slowly at this point for me.

Pacing has been this series' achilles heel, thus far.

I'm hoping that Messiah War will provide a much needed tempo shift, though.

[Stephen Moreno]

Look people if you don't know there are spoilers in this thread based on the title with the word "spoilers" in it, you are a moron. That huge giant sign in the top of the thread is annoying.

[drwho]

So are we to believe bishop created the killer cockroaches?

[worstblogever]

Look people if you don't know there are spoilers in this thread based on the title with the word "spoilers" in it, you are a moron. That huge giant sign in the top of the thread is annoying.

I agree, I'm annoyed with myself for putting that disclaimer in my threads starting a few weeks back, but it's there specifically in case there are morons about.

So are we to believe bishop created the killer cockroaches?

Bishop's actions in the past, via cause & effect, made people do that in the future. But he didn't specifically sit down and genetically engineer them, if that's whay you're asking.

[Stephen Moreno]

I agree, I'm annoyed with myself for putting that disclaimer in my threads starting a few weeks back, but it's there specifically in case there are morons about.



Bishop's actions in the past, via cause & effect, made people do that in the future. But he didn't specifically sit down and genetically engineer them, if that's whay you're asking.

But shouldn't we let the moron's be weeded out and eliminated? They are dumb, they deserve this displeasure for not reading the title and understanding that spoilers means spoilers inside.

[worstblogever]

But shouldn't we let the moron's be weeded out and eliminated? They are dumb, they deserve this displeasure for not reading the title and understanding that spoilers means spoilers inside.

It's not like that disclaimer made me have to cut out details about the issue.

Tell you what, just go to the Darwin Awards website, and know that nature takes care of such things, given time.

[DeniseXfrost]

Doesn't this Hope girl have any power? She sounds usless.

[worstblogever]

Doesn't this Hope girl have any power? She sounds usless.

Well she does say she has the mutant nobility to make things essssplode. PSSSEW! PSSEW!:

Really.

[drwho]

Doesn't this Hope girl have any power? She sounds usless.

Well when she passes gas her powers are released and deserts turn into

http://www.treksf.com/podcast/trek32.jpg

[Falconen]

I, for one, am glad that this thing is coming to a head pretty quickly with the impending Messiah War. Hopefully this title will pick up a bit, or at least change its trajectory.

[Phoenix_Force]

So I feel like Cable never searched for parts at the Westchester location because the X-Men had abandoned it as far as he knew in the past . . . But to me this was Cable's assertion that yeah, they probably moved back their after a while because comics always return to the original status quo. :tongue:

[drwho]

watch out mutated cockroaches guess what cable just found in the x-mansion. thats right

http://ibuyofficesupply.com/images/products/240/DRA94400_1_1.JPG

[darknessatnoon]

Doesn't this Hope girl have any power? She sounds usless.

Potentially, she has the power to kick Rachel Summers out of my comics.

[drwho]

Potentially, she has the power to kick Rachel Summers out of my comics.

i guess hope also means different things to different readers as well as the characters in the comics. like a real life metaphor

[jrc_burgess]

I love this book... but I miss the beard.
Cable's beardy look was cool!

[Leirus]

Potentially, she has the power to kick Rachel Summers out of my comics.

And the power of being potentially deleted by a reicarnated Jean Grey. So, full circle...

[jarrod]

Potentially, she has the power to kick Rachel Summers out of my comics.
Naw, when Hope takes up Jean and Rachel's mantles as "White Warrior Phoenix Princess of the Crown", it just clears the way for Ray in X-Force and Jean in Legacy. <3 <3

[Stephen Moreno]

Just got my books and I really enjoyed this, I like the bound between Cable and Hope. Looking forward to Messiah War.

[rwsmith]

Not bad. I wasn't crazy about the art, but did like seeing the interaction between Cable and Hope. The part where he joked about having to eat her since there was no food definitely felt like a real father-daughter moment. My only concern is how old Cable seems to be getting. Seems like every issue there is some reference to his getting on in years, which leads me to believe that he is nearing the end of his journey and that once Hope is old enough to fend for herself that he is going to die some heroic death.

Not sure what that would mean for the character or this title, however. I still have to wonder about all of the cryptic comments from Marvel during and after Messiah Complex about "which version of Cable it will be" in this new series that seemingly went nowhere. Was that all smoke or is there some fire there? Is there another version of Cable who is not quite so old out there somewhere, ready to come in and take his place in the X-verse? Or will Cable simply die and his series be cancelled? Or perhaps it centers around Hope after his death? Or maybe he doesn't die at all and just continues to get older and more geriatric?

[drwho]

Not bad. I wasn't crazy about the art, but did like seeing the interaction between Cable and Hope. The part where he joked about having to eat her since there was no food definitely felt like a real father-daughter moment. My only concern is how old Cable seems to be getting. Seems like every issue there is some reference to his getting on in years, which leads me to believe that he is nearing the end of his journey and that once Hope is old enough to fend for herself that he is going to die some heroic death.

Not sure what that would mean for the character or this title, however. I still have to wonder about all of the cryptic comments from Marvel during and after Messiah Complex about "which version of Cable it will be" in this new series that seemingly went nowhere. Was that all smoke or is there some fire there? Is there another version of Cable who is not quite so old out there somewhere, ready to come in and take his place in the X-verse? Or will Cable simply die and his series be cancelled? Or perhaps it centers around Hope after his death? Or maybe he doesn't die at all and just continues to get older and more geriatric?

Do you recall how cable came back to life in the cable and deadpool series? That would be a way they could bring Cable back because he supposedly died at Providence. Then deadpool picked up an alternate reality baby version of Cable that for some reason aged into Cable. My theory is the original Cable survived the explosion at providence.

[rwsmith]

What!? The original Cable did survive the explosion at Providence (I assume you're talking about in X-men #200) because he showed back up during Messiah Complex in the same costume and with the baby.

Perhaps you're talking about during House of M when he somehow de-aged into a baby, but that happened way before.

[drwho]

Just stick some wheels on this bad boy with machine guns and Cable will be already to go into action

http://www.medcareproducts.com/images/FoldingWalker.jpg

[rwsmith]

Ha! Sad but true. Dude is getting old. Like, Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino old.

[Leirus]

What!? The original Cable did survive the explosion at Providence (I assume you're talking about in X-men #200) because he showed back up during Messiah Complex in the same costume and with the baby.

Perhaps you're talking about during House of M when he somehow de-aged into a baby, but that happened way before.

OR Hope could come back code named as She-Cable or something... lol

[darknessatnoon]

OR Hope could come back code named as She-Cable or something... lol

They mentioned that her full name is Hope Cable Summers. It's pretty obvious that they're setting her up to replace him as a legacy character.

[drwho]

are the editors and writers aware that cable is a codename and not cable's actual name/ ayayayay Who the hell gives their daughter cable as a middle name?

[Leirus]

They mentioned that her full name is Hope Cable Summers. It's pretty obvious that they're setting her up to replace him as a legacy character.

Umm... and then you have that cover with her holding a gun bigger than herself. She just need the shoulderpads to be a real "Cable" legacy character. And maybe some pouches. You can never go wrong with a couple of docens of pouches...

[darknessatnoon]

are the editors and writers aware that cable is a codename and not cable's actual name/ ayayayay Who the hell gives their daughter cable as a middle name?

Cable's middle name is the code-name for the Askani who saved him. It's family tradition.

[Stephen Moreno]

One way to bring Cable back, if he does bite it in this book/storyline is to say that the version that showed up in Messiah Complex isn't the one that was on the island. Say Cable jumps to the future, maybe 2-3 years in the future. He sees what he sees about the Messiah baby and jumps back in time to Alaska to save her. That gives us a couple years of relatively young Cable again without messing up the story's we've already had.

[timbox]

They mentioned that her full name is Hope Cable Summers. It's pretty obvious that they're setting her up to replace him as a legacy character.

Is the T/O virus a sexually transmitted disease?

[worstblogever]

Is the T/O virus a sexually transmitted disease?

Let's just say... Warlock gave it to Doug Ramsey, and leave it at that.

[Pach!]

I am a huge fan of this book. I like that this arc shows us Hope's point of view. Can't wait for the next issue.

[drwho]

im looking over that story does anyone here really know what happened in the whole baby grows to cable storyline? I was under the impression that that was an alternate universe cable, but now i cant recall what happened to Cable before he was turned into a kid.

[darknessatnoon]

I am a huge fan of this book. I like that this arc shows us Hope's point of view. Can't wait for the next issue.

I was thinking how cool it would be if Messiah War was written from Vanisher's POV.

[Slyfer]

I believe Hope's mutant powers will trigger and give back Cable his abilities.

[ZeoVGM]

Cable is a great book. A little slow-moving, but that's fine. This was a really nice issue and I like the relationship between Cable and Hope.

[Ex_]

Maybe it's a time-traveling wolf.

[Bingo!]

Potentially, she has the power to kick Rachel Summers out of my comics.

I'm beginning to see the folly in believing Hope will change or remove any characters we're currently seeing. Except maybe Cable. You can't get barfed on that many times without contracting a serious illness.

[sneggz]

Not bad. I wasn't crazy about the art, but did like seeing the interaction between Cable and Hope. The part where he joked about having to eat her since there was no food definitely felt like a real father-daughter moment. My only concern is how old Cable seems to be getting. Seems like every issue there is some reference to his getting on in years, which leads me to believe that he is nearing the end of his journey and that once Hope is old enough to fend for herself that he is going to die some heroic death.

Not sure what that would mean for the character or this title, however. I still have to wonder about all of the cryptic comments from Marvel during and after Messiah Complex about "which version of Cable it will be" in this new series that seemingly went nowhere. Was that all smoke or is there some fire there? Is there another version of Cable who is not quite so old out there somewhere, ready to come in and take his place in the X-verse? Or will Cable simply die and his series be cancelled? Or perhaps it centers around Hope after his death? Or maybe he doesn't die at all and just continues to get older and more geriatric?

Nate Grey is the other version of cable

[darknessatnoon]

Nate Grey is the other version of cable

He's a nobody. Hope Summers is the other version of Cable.

[DeadXMan]

Sounds good, I was looking forward to see what hope will do once cable is down. Does this trigger something in her??

her Moot ant nobility, maybe?

[darknessatnoon]

her Moot ant nobility, maybe?

Ironic


.... character limit.

[sneggz]

He's a nobody. Hope Summers is the other version of Cable.
Not until her moot ant nobility kicks in she aint.

[B. Kuwanger]

Damn I love this book.

[Waterlily]

Well she does say she has

Originally Posted by Hope Goo Summers
the mutant nobility to make things essssplode. PSSSEW! PSSEW!:

Really.

She also healed Rogue, didn't she?

What that has to do with explosions, I'm not really sure.

I'm beginning to see the folly in believing Hope will change or remove any characters we're currently seeing. Except maybe Cable. You can't get barfed on that many times without contracting a serious illness.

....

Maybe I should see a doctor.

Nate Grey is the other version of cable

Nate Grey is AcesXIX in comic book form.

[Prodigy55]

This was a fun book.
But it kinda went nowhere.
Cable is looking pretty old now, do you think he'll officially retire?

[Josef F.]

If Cable dies of Old age, he should totally stay dead.
I would hate hate, let me get this straight, hate for any of this "Time displaced" character nonsense.
Let his character arc come to a natural end, if he dies, I'm cool with that. If he lives, He can just be really old, and make Cyclops feel weird, I am also cool with that. They could de-age him again, I would be cool with that.

Killing him, and bringing back a younger version, is awful. just awful. Don't even suggest this to me.

[Omega Alpha]

Since Stryfe is coming back, maybe Cable will end up taking his body instead? This would solve the age problem and he would still look like Cable.

[rwsmith]

If Cable dies of Old age, he should totally stay dead.
I would hate hate, let me get this straight, hate for any of this "Time displaced" character nonsense.
Let his character arc come to a natural end, if he dies, I'm cool with that. If he lives, He can just be really old, and make Cyclops feel weird, I am also cool with that. They could de-age him again, I would be cool with that.

Killing him, and bringing back a younger version, is awful. just awful. Don't even suggest this to me.

I'd agree if not for the fact that no one stays dead in comics. I actually felt like Cable should've stayed dead after X-Cutioner's Song, as it was the perfect send-off for the character. But he didn't, and won't this time (assuming he dies).

They'll either find some way to de-age him, give him a new body (maybe Stryfe's), or bring in a younger version from an alternate timeline or something. That's just the way it works, man. Nobody but Uncle Ben and Thunderbird get permanently side-lined (and once upon a time I'd have included Bucky in that list, so you never know).

[DeadXMan]

I don't think it's old age that got him, but lack of water and food.

[sneggz]

If Cable dies of Old age, he should totally stay dead.
I would hate hate, let me get this straight, hate for any of this "Time displaced" character nonsense.
Let his character arc come to a natural end, if he dies, I'm cool with that. If he lives, He can just be really old, and make Cyclops feel weird, I am also cool with that. They could de-age him again, I would be cool with that.

Killing him, and bringing back a younger version, is awful. just awful. Don't even suggest this to me.

Ya know, I love Cable, but killing him and bringing another time tossed version of himself? Headache central. If he brings Hope back, and is around 50-60 yrs old, it'd be pretty cool to see him and Chuckie taking turns tutoring kids in the danger room.

Of course if they wanna replace him with Nate Grey I'd be a happy camper.

[ClanAskani]

I don't understand why Cable had to be so old to begin with in this series. In Cable/Deadpool, he was never that old. I'm not sure exactly how old Hope is (that was rather unclear in this issue), but if she returns as a teenager, Nathan is going to be ready to retire to a nursing home.

Rather than doing something ridiculous like replacing him with Stryfe, why not have him be so old? He seems so utterly useless any way. His powers haven't been clear, but he seems very low TK/telepathy. Of all the characters, Cable has been the least defined.

I'm glad this issue dealt with the relationship with Hope and Cable, and it was very well done. Still slow, but at least with Messiah War coming, it doesn't feel like the story is being bogged down.

Although, it seems strange that Cable is doing so little to try to get back to the present. The story is probably stalled due to Messiah Complex, but for someone like him to be waiting to be rescued seems odd. I suppose he would assume the others are doing something to find him. Obviously, if Rachel was around and not stuck in space, they'd already be able to find him, since Rachel was able to send a message to Cable from billions of years in the future. I suppose if Cable's telepathy is completely gone he can't contact her.

[$5 Milkshake]

I finally got around to reading this, and I loved it. This book is REALLY growing on me. This was basically a Hope/Cable bonding issue, and it was extremely well done. The connection between the two feels very genuine and natural. 9/10

[pariah-1972]

Started off interesting then got quickly dull very soon after the flying killer cockroaches left.

This book obviously needs more Cable fighting Flying Killer Cockroaches from the future.

[markdienekes]

Rather than doing something ridiculous like replacing him with Stryfe, why not have him be so old? He seems so utterly useless any way. His powers haven't been clear, but he seems very low TK/telepathy. Of all the characters, Cable has been the least defined.

i can't recall which issue, but in the messiah complex, Sinister says something like - he's on his own and he's damaged - maybe cable isn't cable but something sinister made and got loose thinking he's cable...

[Omega Alpha]

i can't recall which issue, but in the messiah complex, Sinister says something like - he's on his own and he's damaged - maybe cable isn't cable but something sinister made and got loose thinking he's cable...

Nah, they won't pull a Ben Reilly.

[ClanAskani]

i can't recall which issue, but in the messiah complex, Sinister says something like - he's on his own and he's damaged - maybe cable isn't cable but something sinister made and got loose thinking he's cable...

I highly doubt there's been any switching Cables or anything like that. It seems like the whole point of the Cable relaunch was to simplify Cable, so I doubt there will be anything that makes him any more convoluted.

I think the point of removing his TK and telepathy is to put Nathan at as much of a disadvantage as possible. If his power level is too high, he's able to easily protect himself and the Messiah child.

Although, I wonder if Hope is going to restart his powers. After what she did to Rogue, maybe Cable gets repowered since he'll be facing off against Stryfe.

[rwsmith]

That would be nice. Cable needs some level of power. Speaking of, how is he able to keep the T-O virus at bay without his TK? Shouldn't it have eaten him alive by now without it?

Having said that, I did notice that in the first arc only his left arm and pectoral muscle were metal, yet in this most recent one his entire left side (or at least upper body) seems to be metal. Perhaps the virus is consuming him more and more?

[ClanAskani]

From what Duane has said, all of Nathan's TK right now is going towards fighting the TO virus.

[rwsmith]

Ah. Makes sense. Where did he say that, though? Just out of curiosity. I don't remember seeing it.

Also, what about Cable killing Stryfe and taking over his body? I could see him mortally wounded and dying and somehow tricking Stryfe into entering his mind, then trapping him there while transferring his consciousness over to Stryfe's body. They are the same person, after all. Only problem with that is that then Cable would be too powerful. IMO there's a happy middle-ground. I always preferred the power levels he had when he was running with X-Force back in the day (some TP and TK, but not too much).

[Bingo!]

Ah. Makes sense. Where did he say that, though? Just out of curiosity. I don't remember seeing it.

Also, what about Cable killing Stryfe and taking over his body? I could see him mortally wounded and dying and somehow tricking Stryfe into entering his mind, then trapping him there while transferring his consciousness over to Stryfe's body. They are the same person, after all. Only problem with that is that then Cable would be too powerful. IMO there's a happy middle-ground. I always preferred the power levels he had when he was running with X-Force back in the day (some TP and TK, but not too much).

Cable must always been in danger of dying. Plus, switching bodies with Stryfe is too Cassandra Nova.

[pariah-1972]

From what Duane has said, all of Nathan's TK right now is going towards fighting the TO virus.But he was cured of that in Cable and Deadpool.
:confused:

[sneggz]

That would be nice. Cable needs some level of power. Speaking of, how is he able to keep the T-O virus at bay without his TK? Shouldn't it have eaten him alive by now without it?

Having said that, I did notice that in the first arc only his left arm and pectoral muscle were metal, yet in this most recent one his entire left side (or at least upper body) seems to be metal. Perhaps the virus is consuming him more and more?
In C&D Cable was bonded with benign T-O, i'm pretty sure.

[markdienekes]

I highly doubt there's been any switching Cables or anything like that. It seems like the whole point of the Cable relaunch was to simplify Cable, so I doubt there will be anything that makes him any more convoluted.

my hope he's cable - i'd be very upset otherwise : /


Although, I wonder if Hope is going to restart his powers. After what she did to Rogue, maybe Cable gets repowered since he'll be facing off against Stryfe.

makes sense, I forgot she repowered rogue...

[rwsmith]

In C&D Cable was bonded with benign T-O, i'm pretty sure.

Oh, yeah. I think I remember that. He destroyed his left half or something after he fought the Silver Surfer in 'The Burnt Offering', and Deadpool saved him by bonding him to a baby techno-organic alien that he got from somewhere. So I guess it was benign and not viral.

There's so many things that have happened to Cable and his powers or his techno-organics over the years that it's hard to keep track. At one point I remember he could transform his techno-organics into flesh. Guess he can't do that anymore, huh?

Regardless, Marvel has really made this character needlessly complicated over the years IMO. :confused:

[timbox]

Cable is going to get old and die pretty soon. Before that happens, Hope will absorb his psyche and become the new Cable.

[B. Kuwanger]

Oh, yeah. I think I remember that. He destroyed his left half or something after he fought the Silver Surfer in 'The Burnt Offering', and Deadpool saved him by bonding him to a baby techno-organic alien that he got from somewhere. So I guess it was benign and not viral.

There's so many things that have happened to Cable and his powers or his techno-organics over the years that it's hard to keep track. At one point I remember he could transform his techno-organics into flesh. Guess he can't do that anymore, huh?

Regardless, Marvel has really made this character needlessly complicated over the years IMO. :confused:
Funny, I was going to start a thread on Cable's power history, since it's not laid out clear anywhere, but now it appears that it wouldn't even make complete sense if we all mapped it.

When I think about that, and Cable's age, he seems to be running on fumes as a character. Makes me wanna get this Messiah stuff out of the way so they can get a better focus on who he'll be and how he'll work.

[rwsmith]

Of course, without this messiah stuff, who is he anymore? My opinion would be to turn him back into the cyborg soldier/mercenary he was when he first debuted (before he had these grandiose missions that he was "destined" to fulfill, like preventing Apocalypse from manipulating the High Lord ascension or protecting the mutant messiah child). But some would probably say there's more than enough "hardened warrior" archetypes running around the Marvel U these days (Wolverine, Punisher, Bucky Barnes/Captain America, War Machine, Ares, etc.). Having said that, there's only one of those in the X-men, and if someone like Matt Fraction or Warren Ellis could make as good use of Cable as Mike Carey did during his X-men run then I'd be all for it.

Otherwise I'd say, as much as it pains me (because I do like the character personally), that perhaps he's outlived his usefulness. In fact, perhaps all of the time-displaced X-characters have?

[Josef F.]

Of course, without this messiah stuff, who is he anymore? My opinion would be to turn him back into the cyborg soldier/mercenary he was when he first debuted (before he had these grandiose missions that he was "destined" to fulfill, like preventing Apocalypse from manipulating the High Lord ascension or protecting the mutant messiah child). But some would probably say there's more than enough "hardened warrior" archetypes running around the Marvel U these days (Wolverine, Punisher, Bucky Barnes/Captain America, War Machine, Ares, etc.). Having said that, there's only one of those in the X-men, and if someone like Matt Fraction or Warren Ellis could make as good use of Cable as Mike Carey did during his X-men run then I'd be all for it.

Otherwise I'd say, as much as it pains me (because I do like the character personally), that perhaps he's outlived his usefulness. In fact, perhaps all of the time-displaced X-characters have?

He. . .he didn't DO anything, lul.
He had a mummadrai for a bit. And nothing really happened. Then he 'sploded.
He also hit Northstar.
He was kinda "nothing"

Perhaps he could bow out with this story. I don't know.

[rwsmith]

Not true. Cable:

- stopped Northstar from killing Rogue,
- interrogated Creed and planted weird suggestions in his head,
- had an interesting discussion with Mystique regarding her name being synonymous with "Judas" in his time,
- fought the Children of the Vault,
- helped rebuild the Children of the Vault's ship so that they could use it as a base,
- launched Creed out of said ship at that guy who absorbed mutant abilities via a virus,
- came up with the gameplan to defeat that guy (have him absorb Creed thereby neutralizing the very virus that gives him his abilities),
- brought Rogue to his island haven of Providence in an attempt to save her,
- merged with the mummudrai on Providence to help defeat the greater threat (whatever that thing was called),
- figured out what Sinister and the Marauders were after (the messiah baby);
- and faked his death by blowing up Providence.

And all of that was pre-Messiah Complex! Then, during MC, he rescued the child and took out Blockbuster and Prism (which I wish we had actually seen on panel), fought Deathstrike in hand-to-hand combat (while protecting the baby), crashed a truck through Forge's building, lost the baby to Bishop, took out Tempo before she could turn the tide of the battle between the X-men and the Marauders/Acolytes, regained the baby from Gambit, ducked Predator X and caused Bishop to get his arm bitten off, and finally escaped into the future with her.

I'd say he did quite a bit under Carey's pen, and that's just the stuff I remember off the top of my head!

But I do agree that unless one of the current X-writers has plans to use him as well as Carey did during his run that perhaps he ought to bow out at the end of this whole mutant messiah story.

[Josef F.]

*Needs to re-read Supernovas TPB*

I cannot really concentrate on other characters when Mystique is there.

[$5 Milkshake]

*Needs to re-read Supernovas TPB*

I cannot really concentrate on other characters when Mystique is there.

Just pretend all the other characters are Mystique in disguise.

[TYCOONXXXX]

My theory is that Hope grows up to be Mother Askani. We know they said that when Cable went to the edge of time to save Rachel it made it so Rachel never traveled to the future and became her. So someone else must have become Mother Askani because Cable was still saved by one of Mother Askani’s minion’s sister Askani as a kid and sent to the future where he became Cable. The clues are right there. The woman has psi powers and seems to have something to do with the phoenix force. The symbol of the clan was the phoenix. She has red hair. Also it would explain why Cable wants to save her. The crypt statement s gambit gave Cable might have made cable realize who she is. Also they keep coming back to baby Nathan and sister Askani scene where Cyclops gave Nathan to her. But this also would explain that Cable and Bishop are both right. The kid in Bishop’s timeline stayed in the present and slowly became evil and did what Bishop said she did. But I think the kid with Cable will continue to time travel with him to she reaches Cable’s future he grew up in. She will be about the age Cable was in the Phoenix Cyclops mini series when Scott and Jean had to leave him. She tells Cable for him to go back home and she will stay here and help these people they need her. Bishop will agree because if she stays in the future his timeline will never come to be in the 616 universe. She uses her powers to deage Cable down to at least take off all the years he aged during this story or at most make him 3 years younger then his dad and give him back certain level of his mutant powers. Cable and Bishop go home. She grows up in the future and founds the clan Askani and becomes Mother Askani. She latter sends sister Askani to the past to get baby Nathan and bring him to the future where he grows up to be Cable. Who else do you know beside the baby was called the Messiah or Chosen one Cable was. Since this seems to be about both Cable and Bishop’s timeline.

[rwsmith]

Nah. That would just take an already overly complicated situation and make it much, much worse. And while that would've been par for the course for Marvel in the 90's, I seriously doubt Joe Q would sign off on that sort of thing (or at least I hope he wouldn't, but, then again, he did sign off on the magical endings to 'House of M' and 'One More Day'). :frown:

[ClanAskani]

My theory is that Hope grows up to be Mother Askani. We know they said that when Cable went to the edge of time to save Rachel it made it so Rachel never traveled to the future and became her.[


That doesn't make any sense. If you've read The Adventure of Cyclops & Phoenix or Cable's first series or Rachel's solo mini-series, X-Men: Phoenix (aka Askani Rising), Mother Askani was clearly Rachel Summers, who essentially went straight from Scott & Jean's wedding to the Askani future.

I think that Hope the one responsible for the Age of Xavier that Rachel spoke of in The Adventure of Cyclops & Phoenix.

[rwsmith]

I'd be willing to bet that Duane Swiercynski gives any plot threads from the Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix a wide berth.