Characters / Marvel Comics: Cable

Nathan Christopher Charles Summers / Cable

"Sometimes the ends justify the means, no matter the cost to your soul."

Aliases: Nathan Dayspring, Askani'son, Soldier X

Nationality: American

Species: Human mutant

First Full Appearance: New Mutants #86 (1990)

"Irene... when are you going to understand what I've been trying to tell you for so long? I have lived and loved and cried and died across thousands of years gone by and still to come. I've watched Apocalypse kill billions. And every single one of them is on 'my back'. That's why I keep facing forward..."

The son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor (Jean Grey's clone), Nathan Summers was sent to the future as a child to save him from a techno-organic virus he'd been afflicted with, with the understanding that his parents would never see him again. In actuality, Scott and Jean soon followed him thanks to the machinations of Sister Askani, and raised him under the guises of Slym and Redd Dayspring, which is where Nate got his surname. Eventually, Cable would travel back to the past to save the world from Apocalypse — in actuality his native era — as a grizzled soldier, start up Six Pack, mentor the New Mutants, reform them into X-Force and butt heads with and later join the X-Men — also reconciling with his parents along the way.

Being anything from heroic lone wanderer to mercenary to teacher to father to mutant messiah, Cable is always willing to be what the world needs him to be, even if the world itself and those he loves turn against him.

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Cable

• '90s Anti-Hero: Cable is probably the original; if not, he's certainly a major Trope Codifier. However, in a much later subversion by Fabian Nicieza, he will apparently try to leave the territory entirely at times.
• Age Lift: Recently, he's been replaced by a teenaged version of himself, colloquially dubbed "Kid Cable".
• Alternate Company Equivalent: Magog, The Heavy of Alex Ross's Kingdom Come, was modeled on Cable's appearance. Ross threw out the design as an embodiment of everything he hated about modern comics, though he and Waid eventually admitted to growing a certain fondness for the guy.
• Alternate Timeline Ancestry: He and X-Man are considered the "same" person from two separate timelines, despite the fact that Cable's mother (Madelyne Pryor) was a clone of Nate's mother, Jean Grey.
• Ambiguously Bi: Not at all for the first 15 or so years of his existence, then it was added in, though only in his interactions with Deadpool.
• Anti-Hero: Usually type a Pragmatic Hero, but introduced as type a Unscrupulous Hero. (Sticking enemy heads on pikes as a warning, etc).
• Archenemy: Stryfe, Mister Sinister and Apocalypse. Also Bishop, during the man's "gotta kill Hope" phase.
• Archnemesis Dad: His son Tyler was turned against him by Stryfe.
• Artificial Limbs: The techno-organic virus has transformed most of the left half of his body into metal.
• Artificial Intelligence:
  • Cable has multiple for his artificial arm which he switches depending on the task at hand.
  • He uses a devil themed one called Nicky for his mission on Breakworld.
• Artistic License – Biology: Marvel canon states that Cable is biologically the child of Jean Grey-Summers because his actual mother was her clone, Madelyne Pryor. In fact, Nate Grey (X-Man) is his Age of Apocalypse counterpart, driving home the idea. However, modern science has discredited that possibility. Even if two individuals (such as twins or clones) are genetically parallel, they are not identical, due to the epigenetic markers shaped by the individuals' unique environments. Even a clone that is produced on the spot will not be completely identical to its progenitor, no less producing the same sperm or egg cells which carry its genetic material. As it is, the Metus arc of the 2017 Cable series gives a nod to this in flashbacks when Cable refers to Nate as his half-brother.
• Badass Teacher: Originally introduced as this to the New Mutants when he took over as their teacher, being far more militaristic, tough and intense, especially compared to both Magneto and Professor X, his predecessors in the role. Later mellowed out in personality thanks in part to his time as a mentor, though remained no less badass when it came to teaching.
• Bash Brothers: Occasionally with Nate Grey, and more often with Deadpool.
• Beneath the Mask: On the surface, a gruff, brooding anti-hero. Beneath that... is more complicated. Cable often wrestles with the foreknowledge his time-travel has given him, insecurities, doubts and fondness for his friends and teammates which he has problems showing.
• Big Brother Instinct: Has a degree of this towards Nate Grey, who initially doesn't like Cable very much, but in a very little brotherly 'get out of my life and leave me alone' sort of way. He does eventually warm up to Cable, nearly killing himself to warn his brother of the threat posed by Metus. Even before that, they are more than willing to work together when required. Inverted with Rachel, who is his older sister (well, the "older" itself is squiffy with all the time travel and deaging), but they still are very protective of one another.
• The Big Guy: At 6'8" and a whopping 350 lbs of muscle Cable is among the largest of X-Men. And is capable of altering his size with his powers, growing into a literal giant.
• BFG: One of Cable's trademarks. Covers frequently just have him holding a gun.
• Blue Is Heroic: Blue is his recurring superhero color for his uniforms and armor, either on it's own or combined with yellow.
• Body Horror:
  • While Cable's body was still infected with the TO virus, he could become hideously distorted◊ if it was allowed to run unchecked. At one point in his childhood◊ (as depicted in one issue of The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix), he looked like something out of The Thing (1982).
  • One typical way of depicting him losing control of the virus was to have his left arm grotesquely deformed◊.
• Byronic Hero: Depending on the Writer. When operating alone Cable has no problem using any means at his disposal to achieve his goals, such as torturing Captain America prior to Avengers vs. X-Men. However, he recognises this, and has a habit of teaming up with morality pets to rein himself in.
• Cain and Abel:
  • Cable and Stryfe, as Stryfe is Cable's clone.
  • Cable also has an Absalom thing going on with his son Tyler... or at least, he did, until Wolverine killed him.
• Calling the Old Man Out: In the tie-in issue to The Wedding of Cyclops and Phoenix, he calls out Scott for abandoning him by allowing him to be transported into the future as an infant. Cyclops says it was the only way to save Nathan's life, but Nate isn't particularly forgiving. Coincidentally, the follow-up to that series, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, showed Scott and Jean on their honeymoon... where they were transported into said future and did raise Nate!
• Carpet of Virility: He has a very hairy chest under there.
• The Cassandra: During Civil War (2006), he tried telling the president of the US that the Superhuman Registration Act was a bad thing, and it'd eventually lead to a police state. The president's reaction? "Not my problem." Then he sicced Deadpool on Cable.
• Characterization Marches On: Straight-up jerkass when he first appeared, to say nothing of not having any telekinesis (the original idea was he was a future Cannonball). Nicieza taking over from Liefeld meant he started softening up somewhat. And then came the reveal of just who his parents are.
• The Chosen One: He's the messianic figure of the Askani.
• The Comically Serious: When paired up with Deadpool, or sometimes just in the same room as Deadpool, he's often the Straight Man to Deadpool's antics or makes deadpan comedic remarks.
  Captain America: [after beating up Deadpool] What do you suggest?
  Cable: Duct tape. Lots of duct tape. At least a roll of it for his mouth.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In Cable's attempt to unite the world against him in a Genghis Gambit, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Reed Richards get nervous. So after being effortlessly defeated by Cable, they call in the Silver Surfer to take care of Cable. It... does not end well for Cable. This was a shocking event, given that the Surfer generally does not get involved in Earth's affairs. Nevertheless, part of why he loses is because he didn't prepare for or anticipate the Surfer. Cable still holds his own for a while while simultaneously repairing all the destruction their fight causes, talking to the Surfer, and holding up Providence, and his powers are simultaneously diminishing as he fights the Silver Surfer. He also destroys the Surfer's indestructible board.
• Cyborg: Thanks to the techno-organic virus he was infected with.
• Darker and Edgier: Cable's initial appearances, before his complicated character development/retcons.
• Dead Guy on Display: Early in the pages of X-Force, he dragged the bodies of Masque and Sauron down to the Morlock tunnels as a show of force to convince the Morlocks never to go against his team again. Amusingly, both Masque and Sauron returned to life later.
• Deadpan Snarker: Since he first showed up, but it became much more pronounced come his Odd Friendship and team ups with Deadpool.
• Death Is Cheap: It happens. He's an X-Person after all. In 1993's X-Cutioner's Song him and Stryfe are apparently killed during a climactic battle on the moon, but reappeared again soon after. X-Men vol 2 issue 204 has him supposedly blow himself up to stop the Marauders getting at his database. He popped up again partway through the Messiah CompleX storyline a few months later. And at the end of Second Coming in 2010, he blew up trying to hold a time-portal open. He got better from that one, too. He was also murdered by his younger self during the 2018 Extermination event. Come 2020's Cable, he turns up alive again.
• Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: Cable was the victim of rape by deception, courtesy of Copycat disguising herself as Domino early on and helping Cable train and lead the New Mutants/X-Force. Over the course of the sexual relationship between them, Copycat fell in love with Nathan and her new place among X-Force, preferring it to her other employment, being torn between the two. When she is eventually revealed to be a spy working for Tolliver, Nathan is depicted as shocked and disturbed by the revelation, but it is quickly dropped and glossed over for the most part and forgotten about. Copycat receives no real comeuppance for what she did, or is ever called out for it. Though a story written much later further shows his thoughts on the matter in the aftermath, how disturbed it left Nathan.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Despite Cable's potential power, since most of his storylines require him to use his power to keep the techno-organic virus inside him in check, he rarely uses his full mutant potential and relies on weapons and tactical skills to hold his own.
• The Dreaded: Is often considered this by his enemies and allies alike. An issue of his series even has Storm and Nightcrawler reveal most of the X-Men considered him this for awhile and were afraid of him being around the mansion. In part because of being a time traveler who knows how terrible the future might be, and in part because of his grim, intimidating, introverted surface.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In Extermination, he is casually and anti-climatically killed off in the first issue, for cheap shock value and to inspire angst in the rest of the cast. He is then replaced by a younger alternate version of himself, who is the one that murdered him in the first place. To add insult to murder, the X-Men go on to forgive this new version of Cable for murdering him, and sweep Cable's death under the rug.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: The man simply gets no respect, no matter what he does for the X-Men, mutants and the world. Not long after Nathan helps talk Professor X down from committing suicide on the astral plane to be reunited with the dying Moira, X immediately believes that Nathan is a murderer in an obvious frame up from the Dark Sisterhood. Writing Nathan off as being nothing more than a violent man. Also later on, despite everything Cable did and sacrificed for them over the years, the X-Men and most of his own family effectively replace him with his own murderer, an alternate universe version of himself. With Scott even telling Kid Cable he doesn't want the 'old man' back, won't let him be resurrected when Kid Cable decides he wants to resurrect him, saying that 'his day is done' and the future belongs to Kid Cable. And allowed his life long nemesis and tormentor who infected him with the techno organic virus and murdered billions Apocalypse to join Excalibur. Also the X-Men, especially Xavier stealing his idea of founding an island country and being a messiah figure, after he came up with pretty much the same idea first with the island of Providence. The X-Men thought he was insane at the time and tried to stop him back in the day. With Xavier himself trying to correct Nathan and discourage him from what he was doing. Rubbing more salt into the wounds, Mister Sinister, the Mad Scientist supervillain responsible for his very existence and a great deal of his suffering and angst, is allowed on the Krakoa Council.
  • Later somewhat subverted in certain cases; while Kid Cable was apparently welcomed with open arms, he was also watched very closely in case he turned out to be Stryfe, at which point he would have been nuked without hesitation - also, absolutely no one respects Kid Cable, with Apocalypse in particular dismissing him as a pale shadow of his nemeses Old Cable and Nate Grey, and Abigail Brand only giving him a job as SWORD's head of security because it gives her influence on the Grey-Summers clan and thereby the Quiet Council. Likewise, Krakoa is shown to be much more dysfunctional than Providence was, and Xavier demonstrably lacks the approval rating Cable had. As for Sinister, it's later revealed that a large part of why he's kept around is because they want him where they can see him.
• During the War: A lot of Cable's backstory comes from his conflicts in the future against Apocalypse and the New Caananites.
• Evil Twin: His clone Stryfe.
• Fate Worse than Death: He's lived his entire life while infected with a virus that progressively and painfully turns his body into living technology and has to constantly use his telekinetic abilities to keep the disease from rapidly spreading until he's fully transformed and killed.
• Fair-Weather Mentor: During his time with the Six-Pack he mentored the younger members (particularly Garrison Kane) but remorselessly left them to the mercies of a collapsing base when forced to make a Sadistic Choice by Stryfe. As part of his Character Development he largely grew out of this.
• Fights Like a Normal: He has powers (very strong ones) but they're largely ignored in favor of his really big guns and master hand to hand combat skills. This is because his psionic abilities are constantly being focused on containing the techno-organic virus trying to spread through his body.
• Foil: His half-brother and alternate counterpart, Nate Grey. The two undergo share backgrounds (born to fight Apocalypse and are dedicated to that goal), share misfiring powers, undergo similar Character Development, and even both take up the mantle of saviour, as Nate did as the Mutant Shaman and original Mutant Messiah, and Cable did during Cable & Deadpool. They even both wore trenchcoats at the time. And both willingly gave up the mantle to Hope. However, speaking of that burden, Cable is generally better at handling it, thanks to experience, a surprisingly functional childhood all things considered (complete with loving parents), and a more patience.
• Future Badass: He was born "in the present" — roughly five or six years ago in Comic-Book Time - and sent to the future to save his life, then growing up to become a warrior and freedom fighter.
• The Generalissimo: He played as this for a stint, taking over the fictional nation of Rumekistan in the pages of Cable & Deadpool.
• Genius Bruiser: He's a huge, intimidating man and a highly experienced, very dangerous warrior and soldier whom some accounts describe as having an intellect rivalling Reed Richards. He also apparently has a law degree. When he reveals this, he makes an offhand comment about finding the New York bar exam laughably easy. Easily one of the best fighter, leader, strategist and soldier characters to exist in the Marvel universe, and has defeated many notable characters.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Well, one eye, anyway. A vestigial holdover due to being the son of Cyclops, though it may have something to do with the techno-organic virus, seeing as how the glowing eye is always on the same side of his body as his metal arm.
• Goo-Goo-Godlike: As a baby, he already showed tremendous power as a baby... enough for Apocalypse to decide he wanted it for himself.
• Good Is Not Nice: One of the walking epitomes of this trope, particularly when he first appeared in 1990. This trope has stayed with him over the years, but nevertheless he soon went through a great deal of character development, making it less pronounced in time.
• Guile Hero: Pulled off some messed up actions sometimes balanced by his Omniscient Morality License from being a time-traveler, to make sure the world doesn't lead to the future he grew up in. Such as turning everyone pink to eliminate racism and changing them back, showing Knight Templar tendencies and playing up his role as a messianic figure when his powers were boosted to get the world's leaders to unite against a common enemy: himself. And later reviving his arch-enemy Apocalypse for the same reason when the mutant race threatened with extinction, in the aftermath of the Decimation Wave - though that was also part of a complicated Timey-Wimey Ball issue (he had to revive Apocalypse so he could be defeated in the future, which is also Cable's past).
• Ham and Deadpan Duo: Deadpool is a Large Ham and Cable is a Deadpan Snarker; when they're together, Deadpool overreacts and makes constant quips, while Cable is serious and snarky in his responses to Deadpool's nonsense.
• Happily Adopted: In a sense. Jean is his biological mother, but she isn't the one who gave birth to him. Though she is the one who raised him in the future and taught him to use his powers to keep back the techno organic virus. He's shown nothing but warmth to her and considers her his true mother, and she considers him her son.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: For a grizzled guy normally covered in guns and pouches, Cable can actually look surprisingly handsome when he puts on a suit and combs his hair.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Deadpool. They are extremely close despite Deadpool's personality being obnoxious even at the best of times. Despite Deadpool's general lack of allegiances, he genuinely believes in what Cable attempts with Providence. Deadpool is the first person Cable pictures and makes psychic contact with while trying to decide whether to blow himself up, and he uses this possibly instinctive or unintentional telepathic one phone call to manipulate Deadpool into doing the right thing. Their series lampshade hangings Homoerotic Subtext regarding their teleporter accident genetic commingling,their interactions, and their "divorce". Despite their split, the two have a secret pact no one else has been clued in on; they will protect each other's loved ones if the other dies by destroying the deceased's safe houses.
• I Have Many Names: Exaggerated. He lampshades it to Moira MacTaggert the first time he returned to the present from the future and got to know her.
  Moira: "I think that we shall be great friends. Err... but what's yuir name? I presume ye have one."
  Cable: "Oh, I have many, Mrs. MacTaggert... I have many."
• Informed Ability: In his early years, his telekinesis was so weak that he could only use it to move really small objects^note it's theorized that his mutant power was originally a token power given him by the writers to justify Liefeld's "cyborg gunman" character leading the New Mutants. Later RetConned that he was the most powerful non-Phoenix telepath/telekinetic on Earth (as routinely demonstrated by his counterpart, Nate Grey, who's created entire planes of existence), but 99.9999999999% of his power was committed to holding back his techno-organic infection. Rachel Summers even states that potentially, he has the power to extinguish a star with barely a conscious effort.
• Insistent Terminology: Though he loved Tyler, he also sometimes referred to him as "Jenskot's son". While never confirmed, it's thought by some that this might be a hint Tyler is not actually his son, but rather Stryfe's.
• It Runs in the Family: Let's just say sometimes it's easy to see how much he's got from Scott. Like him, Nathan is an expert at fighting and leading, mainly because of the same reason that it's pretty much been his life, but his interpersonal skills are often terrible. Very, very terrible. On the other hand, like his half-brother (who shares the terrible interpersonal skills - in fact, his are arguably worse), he inherited his mother's All-Loving Hero streak. Grizzled soldier he may be, but he fights to protect the world, because he genuinely loves everyone in it.
• It's Personal: Apocalypse and Stryfe have more or less killed everyone that Cable has ever loved. Mister Sinister also applies, due to his machinations and role in Cable's origin story.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: 1990 Pre-character development Cable was, put bluntly, sometimes an asshole. And also a bit racist (during a crossover with Uncanny X-Men, he keeps calling the Native American Forge "Indian", and often called Banshee "Irish"). Though he went on to become friends with both men, especially Forge. After some time with the New Mutants, they were able to help him develop the "Heart of Gold" part. It's not that he doesn't care about his friends, he's just not good at showing it, even when he wants to.
• Knight of Cerebus: His first appearance in New Mutants marked the beginning of the Dark Age.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Not that he'll ever say "squee", of course, but he's amazed to be in the same room as Rocket Racoon. He even salutes him, which Rocket really wasn't expecting.
• Knight Templar: Cable continually verges on this.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: On the occasions he can actually use his full power-set.
• Lighter and Softer: Over time, he became this thanks to a burgeoning sense of heroism, and the revelation of his origin and family.
• Lightning Bruiser: Cable's not only huge, he's capable of reacting and moving at higher than normal speed, although it's not really Super-Speed in the traditional sense.
• Loss of Identity: Another problem with his current T-O virus problem. If he can't keep it in check, the Technarx would take over. And that would be tremendously bad.
• Love Interest: A couple of his most important relationships are with Domino and Irene Merryweather.
• Manly Tears: Despite Cable's hard, cold exterior most of the time, he has shed a few of them over the years. Examples include over the death of his wife Aliya in the first issue of his series, the first time he went back in time when he is found and taken by Moira Mactaggert to Muir Island and remembers his traumatic past, when he is transported forward in time and meets his younger wife when she was alive but is forced to let her go, when his mentor and friend Prosh is forced to leave Earth to save Nathan from the Techno Organic Virus, when he witnesses his parents wedding and in a Storm mini series when he believes that Ororo is dead.
• Mechanical Muscles: His mechanical arm is extremely jacked, just like the rest of him.
• Messianic Archetype: Cable is always like this but totally embraces this role in Cable and Deadpool.
• Morality Pet: The New Mutants, Sam Guthrie (Cannonball) especially; Hope, Deadpool (!!).
  • Cable and Deadpool seem to function as morality pets for each other. Sometimes Cable is an inspiration for Deadpool about morals and the like, but Cable also has to constantly change his own actions to be better than Deadpool's so he doesn't end up an example of "Do as I say, not as I do."
  • Also Nate Grey, essentially both his alternate counterpart and little brother, who Cable went to a great deal of effort to try and protect on the grounds that he saw him as having the chance to be his own man that Cable himself never did. Unfortunately, even being in each other's presence was (initially) painful for both of them, and Nate wasn't exactly the most trusting individual, having already been subject to multiple attempts to manipulate and control him from all sides by the time they met, and having also inherited his mother's Hair-Trigger Temper. They did end up getting on later on, and Nate reappeared during a flash-back in the Metus arc of Cable's series, almost killing himself to get to Cable in time to warn him that Metus was coming.
• Mother Nature, Father Science: He is a male psionic associated with all kinds of technology. His sister Rachel is a female psionic associated with mysticism.
• My Greatest Failure: It's a tossup between failing to save his son Tyler and abandoning his Six-Pack teammates in a collapsing base. He eventually made amends with the later, and while he was unable to save the former, he guards Hope with his life now so that she never suffers the way Tyler did. For a while the murder of close friend Moira MacTaggert and the assassination of Senator Kelly, who he was trying to protect at the time, were this to him. These events were traumatic enough for him to quit the X-Men afterwards.
• Odd Friendship: Part of the fun of Cable and Deadpool is the acknowledgement that the two have nothing in common and probably should be mortal enemies; after all, Deadpool debuted trying to kill Cable, and they have very different personalities. Their only shared interest is weaponry. Instead, they become Heterosexual Life-Partners and stay connected despite their "divorce".
  • With Senator Kelly at the end of his life, having been assigned to be his bodyguard for the entirety of the senator's campaign, the two greatly differing men coming to an understanding and mutual respect. To the point that between failing to protect Kelly from his assassin and the death of Moira MacTaggert, Cable soon decided to leave the X-Men and resume adventuring alone.
• Old Superhero: His exact age is hard to pin down due to the amount of time-traveling in his history; he was around 50 in his first appearances as an adult, and must be around (or over) 70 at this point after having raised Hope for 17 years on top of that. Being aged and de-aged several times makes it a little complicated. He's still not someone you should mess around with.
• One-Man Army: Have pity on anyone stupid enough to fight against him. He has single handedly defeated Apocalypse, Stryfe, the X-Men, Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., among others.
• Papa Wolf:
  • In his earliest appearances he became the protective mentor, leader and drill sergeant gruff father type figure for the New Mutants. In turn his students, who he considers his children, helped tone him down a bit over time, helping his character growth.
  • He is very protective of the new mutant child Hope, raising her as his daughter.
  • Takes a similar attitude towards Nate Grey who is... less than receptive, though he warms up to Cable eventually.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Sent to the future as an infant - Returned a few decades older than his parents, before the point he was abducted.
• Power Limiter: It's stated that Cable's inherent telepathic and telekinetic powers are almost off the charts, but he can very rarely use them to their fullest extent because the techno-organic virus that makes him a cyborg could completely consume him if he wasn't constantly, actively suppressing it. When he broke free of that, he could use his powers to their maximum... and promptly burned them out with overuse.
  • Interestingly enough, he has two sets of powers and they both act as Power Limiters to each other. His techno-organic virus has been compared to the virus that created the Phalanx, a Hive Mind behind a Crisis Crossover. Phalanx members and a few rare Phlebotinum Rebels have shapeshifting powers and technopathy, and both abilities can be seen in Cable in minor ways: whenever his psychic powers are overtaxed his metal body parts physically grow and start to take over the rest, and he can physically interface with machines. If the virus ever really consumed Cable, his Phalanx-like abilities would be used to their fullest... but presumably he would be patient zero for a serious threat.
    • The result of Cable becoming the virus was actually shown in an AU that Deadpool hopped into while he was looking for Cable - it's where the infamous "tentacle scene" comes from.
  • Nate Grey a.k.a. X-Man is the ultimate example of what Cable is capable of without the virus — he's "the ultimate telepath and telekinetic", "the most powerful psychic in any reality" and comparable to Dark Phoenix even at the age of 17. And this last was said when he was only approaching his full power. By the time he got a full handle on his powers, he was capable of resurrecting himself at will, treating the multiverse as his personal stepladder, stepping outside of time, and being compared by Norman Osborn to Dark Reign era Sentry in terms of raw power (with whom, incidentally, he might have previously taken on Galactus. While Nate could have been lying, his dialogue suggests that he was telling the truth). A possible future showed a fight between Nate and Stryfe, which wiped out half the planet, and was chicken-feed compared to Nate's later feats as a Reality Warper, including the creation of the Age of X-Man.
• Primary-Color Champion: Sometimes wears outfits with blue, yellow and red on them, though mostly he wears blue and/or yellow costumes.
• Psychic Powers: He's both a telepath and a telekinetic. His power levels varies according to the needs of the plot, usually involving his techno-organic virus.
• Really Gets Around: Has had a number of love and sexual interests over the years to varying degrees. Including his first wife Aliya Dayspring, Domino (A disguised Copycat as well as the real Domino later on), Lee Forrester, Storm, Stacey Kramer, Irene Merryweather, his second wife Hope Summers Sr, Psylocke and Esme Cuckoo.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Cable is the blue to Deadpool's red, right down to their respective costume colors. Cable is serious, focused, and out to save the entire world; Deadpool is constantly joking, erratic, and selfish.
• Remember the New Guy?: Cable was introduced in 1990, but once he was introduced he was treated as though he had been around and known for a long time. Justified mostly by Time Travel.
• Rugged Scar: Has a scar (or several, Depending on the Artist) over his right eye. It serves to show that he's a Future Badass from a Bad Future, although his early appearances played up the gruff aspects of his character as well.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: On the receiving end of this from his past self, when he is murdered for doing what was right. Also posthumously by his own family and the X-Men, who go on to forget his murder and replace him with his murderer. Or so it appears. As it turns out, they were fully aware that, like Nate Grey before him, there was a very real risk that Kid Cable was a young version of Stryfe. Consequently, they kept him under very close surveillance and were fully prepared to nuke him if necessary. Old Cable was then resurrected, and Kid Cable went back to the future to become his older self.
• Signature Scent: According to Sabretooth, he smells of gunpowder and Old Spice.
• Smug Super: He got this way at points in the pages of Cable & Deadpool. Having his full power unlocked, he was more than willing to use it against anyone that stood against him, particularly his longtime pursuer G.W. Bridge.
• Sociopathic Hero: In his original portrayal. Louise Simonson made a personal statement that this was to introduce a "constructive" youth role model teacher counter to Xavier's "whiny" idealism. He was later clarified as trying to prevent the engineering of an apocalyptic warzone... Then Nicieza turned him into a more moral character instead, and nowadays he seems like a much tamer "general non-bloodcrazed soldier" version of the original.
• Soldier vs. Warrior: He has this dynamic with Wolverine, with himself as the soldier and Wolverine as the warrior.
• Star-Spangled Spandex: One of his costumes featured a patriotic star on his right shoulder, giving him the appearances of having a bionic arm like the Winter Soldier's.
• Status Quo Is God: No matter what changes are made to Cable, be it killing his archenemy, getting a new power, curing himself of the techno-organic virus, gaining complete control of his psionic powers, getting weapons other than guns, etc. He always comes back to being a white haired, time tossed soldier with the BFG and metal arm.
• Tangled Family Tree: Cable is a member of the Summers/Grey family, and contributes a lot to the complexity of said family tree. His biological parents are Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor (a perfect clone of Jean Grey who contained part of the Phoenix Force), he grew up in the future, was raised by Scott and Jean inhabiting the bodies of people from that period as arranged by his sister from a different future timeline, returned to the present before he was born (or maybe slightly after, and then went back even further), and acted as adoptive parent to Hope, who was at the very least the Phoenix's Replacement Goldfish of Jean Grey (in another future timeline). Then there's his clone, Stryfe, his son/nephew Tyler (whose parentage is ambiguous), and his half-brother/alternate counterpart Nate Grey. In short, Cable's not his Own Grandfather, but he might as well be.
• Tagline: "The man called Cable" is frequently associated with the character and his series, having appeared on the cover of his first appearance.
• Technopath: he was this for a little while, when the techno-organic virus got stronger.
• Tele-Frag: A problem that Cable has occasionally suffered from.
• Temporal Mutability: Cable is aware that just because he knows the future that doesn't mean he knows exactly how everything plays out, especially with the future always changing.
• Terminator Impersonator: Some depictions play up his Terminator similarities (being a hulking, time-travelling, BFG-toting cyborg with a glowing eye).
• Terminal Transformation: As a baby, Nathan Summers was infected with a techno-organic virus that slowly started turning his body into metal. He manages to keep the infection in check through his mental abilities, but if it ever finishes, he will die.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: He's older than his father, mothers and big sister (when the latter is in the present), all thanks to time travel.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: one alternate reality comic set in the future shows that Nate Grey will grow up to look exactly like Cable, to the point where an elderly Sunfire mistakes the two. Conversely, a de-aged Cable in Cable & Deadpool looks exactly like X-Man, skunk stripe and all.
• Unresolved Tension: Appeared to share this with Moira MacTaggert. She was the first person to find and treat him well when he first came back to the present and washed up in Scotland, standing up for him against an angry mob. She took him back to Muir Island where he saved her life from falling debris, scanned her mind and learned her worst secrets and how to speak English, promising to keep her secrets. In turn she taught him all about life in the late 20th century, literature, and put him in touch with the X-Men. They were quite close and fond of each other ever since, and there was implied tension. He felt guilt over her later infection with the Legacy Virus by his evil clone Stryfe, and privately blamed himself for it, and her murder by Mystique. As such, whatever had been between them was tragically never resolved. It devastated him to the point Storm and Nightcrawler had to stage an intervention for him to confront his grief over her loss. Her death ultimately led to him leaving the X-Men to operate alone again.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Back when he was just little Nate Summers. It's been a long time since then. This is part of why he's so protective of Nate Grey, as he recognises shades of his younger self in the other.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Deadpool. The two don't always get along perfectly, and their personalities couldn't be any more difficult, but when push comes to shove they do respect each other and will always have the other's back.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: One of Cable's early 90s outfit had no shirt whatsoever, only a pair of suspenders.
• Walking the Earth: Cable does this whenever the pressures of being a time travelling demigod get to him.
• Wolverine Publicity: Not these days, but there was a lengthy period in The '90s when he was absolutely everywhere in Marvel Comics.

Kid Cable

Nathan Christopher Charles Summers / Cable

The boy called Cable!

Aliases: Kid Cable

Nationality: American

Species: Human mutant

First Appearance: Extermination #1 (2018)

"Look at you. You got old. Soft. Weak. You've outlived your usefulness. Cable... you're relieved of your duty."

The younger version of Cable that debuted during Extermination (2018), who went back in time at an earlier point in his life than intended. In stark contrast to how this usually goes, he's more ruthless than his older counterpart, much more willing to shoot first and talk later. He ends up killing the original Cable as part of his campaign to return the young, time-displaced X-Men to their time, which he succeeds in. Having succeeded in his quest, he vanishes, also being forgiven for his deeds by the X-Men — but not X-Force.

A motivating factor for his plan was the resurrection of his father, Cyclops. Unlike his older self, he was willing to abuse his time-travel to achieve this, eventually succeeding in resurrecting his father. Realizing that Cyclops was unwilling to sit by in safety as mutants were in need, Kid Cable parted ways with his father.

Kid Cable would return to the modern day very soon after, tracking down an arms dealer selling weapons from Kid Cable's own future timeline, in the process gaining an ally in Deathlok and some enemies in the form of the original X-Force. After a confrontation with Stryfe where they fought together, he and X-Force come to a truce.

With the founding of Krakoa, Kid Cable would get another chance to bond with his parents. However, being a soldier in peacetime, he isn't able to embrace his new life, and ends up forming a new incarnation of the Fallen Angels with Kwannon and Laura Kinney.

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• Alternate Self: Initially appears to be this. He makes a trip to the past at a much younger age than the adult Cable did, and Cable himself has no memory of doing so, but his solo series hinges on his connection to the adult Cable, before it's eventually revealed that yes, he is past Cable and he's going to go back to the future after the old man is resurrected.
• Beneath the Mask: As time goes on, it turns out more and more that Kid Cable is struggling with a massive case of Imposter Syndrome.
• Break the Haughty: The Krakoa era shows not only his Imposter Syndrome, but also makes clear that while he has genuine love from his family, no one holds him in the same esteem as original flavour Cable, and that he has a lot to learn before he becomes even half the man his older self was and is, once he's resurrected and Kid Cable is sent to the future.
• Character Development: Softens up after his introduction, and eventually realises that killing his future self was a bad idea, and they need "the old man" back to deal with Stryfe.
• Chick Magnet: Like original Cable and their counterpart, X-Man, he is most definitely this - as the Stepford Sisters can attest (he's dating all of them. At once. Even with Krakoa's Free-Love Future social norms, that's... something). It later turns out that only one of them really had feelings for him, and all of them were hanging out with him to keep a very close eye on him - a.k.a. in case he turned out to be Stryfe.
• Darker and Edgier: He hasn't had the life experience to teach him any better, so his go-to move is to shoot and kill.
  • Lighter and Softer: After his debut.
• Demonic Possession: During the events of King in Black, he winds up controlled by Knull and set on Krakoa. Eden Fesi punches Knull out of him. With a sun.
• Easily Forgiven: Murders the original Cable, and is subsequently forgiven for it by the Summers/Grey Family and X-Men, who act like he's the original Cable, despite everything the original Cable was to them and sacrificed for them and did for them over the years. X-Force isn't as forgiving, however, and he's occasionally called out for it. Later subverted, when it's revealed that while the Grey-Summers family accepted him with open arms, they, and everyone else, was keeping a very close eye on him to make sure he wasn't really Stryfe in disguise and wouldn't have hesitated to nuke him if that was the case.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Kid Cable, which he is not fond of.
• Flanderization: As written by Jonathan Hickman, he's mostly a particularly stupid Gun Nut.
• Heroic BSoD: Following on from his Knull possession, he's found murmuring to himself about how he's not as adept as his future self.
• Hypocrite: He supposedly kills Cable because he failed to safeguard the timeline by letting the O5 stay, and Kid Cable specifically says Cable got sentimental. Yeah, Kid Cable himself abused time-travel, the Phoenix and technology to resurrect Cyclops, and he himself has displayed a very strong affection for his parents. He's called on this by Rachel when he's set to execute a similarly young Stryfe, with Rachel — who has every reason to want to fry Stryfe — stating that he can't, no matter how evil Stryfe is going to be, because it'll screw up history in the same way he's been working against.
• Literal Disarming: During King in Black, Frenzy manages to slow him down by tearing off his artifical limb (which also robs him of his bodyslide tech) and clubbing him with it.
• Momma's Boy: If his interactions with the adult Jean are anything to go buy, he adores his parents. He's also fully aware that she was Redd, something the regular Cable didn't learn until he was much older.
• Nepotism: He's made head of S.W.O.R.D. security despite his youth. Eventually, an internal memo from Abigail Brand has her admit that, yeah, it was pretty much to keep the Summers clan on side and gain influence on the Quiet Council, not because of any of Kid Cable's abilities. Of course, this also means when original flavor Cable returns, he's got his younger self's job...
• Polyamory: While on Krakoa, he ends up dating all five of the Stepford Cuckoos simultaneously. It turns out they had ulterior motives of keeping an eye on him and none of them were ever actually interested in him except Esme.
• Pretender Diss: More than one character has basically told him that he's not Cable, and one quote from an anonymous character in his solo series is that everyone was scared of adult Cable. Kid Cable? Not so much.
  • Apocalypse in particular treats him with barely veiled contempt; adult Cable, and his half-brother/counterpart Nate Grey (the latter of whom Kid Cable bore an uncanny resemblance to), he considered to be Worthy Opponents - one his most implacable enemy, the latter, "a ruler worthy of the counsel of Apocalypse". Kid Cable? Not so much.
• Sociopathic Hero: Like his adult counterpart was originally, he firmly believes that the ends justify the means and is willing to go so far as to kill his own older self for not living up to his expectations.
  • Subverted, he's a Nice Guy now. Except when being written by Jonathan Hickman, that is.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After X-Force and especially in his solo run.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Strongly resembles Marvel Comics: X-Man in his early days, albeit with the short cropped hair look that Nate sported at points, and the techno-organic arm.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: For the dark way he went about his plot in Extermination, in the end, all he wanted was to fix the timeline. In addition, he endangers the life of the man who helped him resurrect Cyclops just to make sure his father returned to his heroic roots as a hero (and possibly to avoid Cyclops confronting X-Man with the rest of the X-Men).
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: It's literally what he says to his older counterpart.
• Younger and Hipper: Is described as being a teenage boy, and is repeatedly called Kid Cable.

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