Brace yourselves — the Cable guy is coming!
Ever since the post-credits tease at the end of the smash hit Deadpool, comic book fans
have been excitedly awaiting the arrival of Cable.
"Oh, but I can tell you one thing and it's a bit of a secret.
For the sequel, we're gonna have Cable."
And ever since that post credits tease, non-comic book fans have been wondering, who the heck
is Cable!?
Well, we're about to answer that question for you, because here's a dangerously in-depth
look at everything Marvel fans need to know about Marvel's most complicated mutant.
[Singing] "Who the f--- is that?
He's a man out of time!
Who the f--- is that?
He likes to fight crime!
It's f---in' Cable!"
Convoluted history
If you thought X-Men: Days of Future Past was confusing, grab a bottle of aspirin and
lie down, because Cable's convoluted history makes that film look like child's play.
Which is fitting, because Cable began messing up X-Men continuity from the moment he was
born.
See, Cable is actually Nathan Summers, the son of Scott Summers - aka Cyclops - and a
lady named Madeline Pryor, who was actually an evil clone of Jean Grey.
Cyclops and the real Jean Grey then raised Nathan for all of a hot minute before Apocalypse
infected the baby with the techno virus, a disease that turns flesh into parasitic robotic
circuitry.
In order to save him, Cyclops and Jean gave him to a time traveling prophet from the distant
future named Mother Askani, who was actually their daughter from an alternate universe.
It was tragic, but then Scott and Jeansent their consciousnesses into the future as well,
inhabiting host bodies in order to secretly raise their son in the future without his
knowledge.
So… yay?
After he became an adult, Cable spent decades time traveling around history, battling the
forces of Apocalypse.
As a grizzled old man, he finally returned to the time period of his birth and became
leader of the New Mutants, turning them into a paramilitary mutant team called X-Force.
Eventually, he revealed his purpose was to protect a messiah baby who was supposed to
save mutantkind.
He adopted her, naming her Hope, and then did a bunch of time-travel-y things to protect
her from other folks who wanted to get her.
This is important, because clues in the Deadpool 2 trailer - like Cable's teddy bear - suggest
that protecting Hope may be a major part of the plot for the film.
Got all that?
Good, because things are about to get even more confusing…
Clones and doppelgangers
Considering his mother was an evil clone of Jean Grey, it's only fitting that Cable himself
also has an evil clone.
Named Stryfe, Cable's clone was kidnapped at a young age by Apocalypse and raised to
become the vessel for Apocalypse's consciousness when his current host body died.
That didn't work out, however, so Stryfe got to just be an evil Cable instead, but with
a really cool giant helmet.
Not quite so cool is Nate Grey, the X-Man, an alternate universe version of Cable whose
mom was actually the real Jean Grey.
This Nate never got the metal arm and stuff, but he did get a bitchin' 90's haircut and
jacket, so we'll call that even.
Honestly, you know what, we can't even figure out this crap anymore.
Just pretend it makes sense and let's move on.
Convoluted powers
If you're wondering just what Cable's actual powers are, you're not alone, as they're almost
as confusing as his backstory.
Thanks to his mom, he inherited extremely powerful telekinetic and telepathic abilities.
However, he often can't use either, because those powers are entirely spent keeping the
techno virus from turning him into a full-on robot.
Don't worry, though, because he has other powers, at least... sometimes.
While he usually uses a time machine to travel through the ages, sometimes he can just...
do it himself, and other times he can predict the future as well.
His robot arm also gives him super strength, and he has a ton of super-advanced guns from
the future, which he loves shooting people with.
And sometimes one of his eyes glows for no apparent reason, which is a fantastic party
trick.
Straight man
Cable is a grim and gritty avatar of deadly serious earnestness, which makes him a perfect
foil for Deadpool, who is… you know, exactly the opposite in every way.
The one thing they do have in common, though, is they both love guns, not to mention superfluous
pouches on their costumes.
As a straight man for Deadpool to play off of, Cable has no equal.
"The survival of Earth entirely depends on…"
"Wah wah wah wah."
The long road to the big screen
After Cable was teased at the end of Deadpool, the big question for fans was: who is going
to play him?
Finding the answer turned out to be quite a saga.
While fans rallied behind Avatar's Stephen Lang, rumors claimed that Deadpool director
Tim Miller's insistence on casting Kyle Chandler in the role led to his ultimate departure
from the franchise.
Miller denied this, but the production reportedly considered everyone from Brad Pitt to David
Harbour in the role before finally landing on Josh Brolin.
And Brolin is pumped for the role, both literally and figuratively.
"There's a lot of stuff going on in Deadpool that's very surprising, and that will be very
satisfying when you see it.
To me, it's even funnier than the first one."
We can't wait!
Thanks for watching!
Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!