Cyclops
Scott Summers
Biography
Nathan Summers was born into a marriage that barely existed — Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, a clone of the woman Scott actually loved. Apocalypse infected the infant with a techno-organic virus, and the only cure on offer came from a clan two thousand years downstream. Scott let a stranger carry his son into the far future to save him. Nathan came back a grey-haired mercenary with a metal arm, a shoulder rig of guns and a name his father didn't recognise. Cable is the X-Men's ugliest lesson: sometimes you save a child by losing him entirely.
Raised by the Askani as their prophesied Askani'son, he spent a lifetime fighting Apocalypse before travelling back to the 20th century. He found the New Mutants — teenagers being taught to be victims — and remade them into X-Force, a strike team with body armour and live ammunition. Most of his telekinetic power is spent holding the techno-organic infection at bay, which means every fight costs him bandwidth he cannot spare. When Messiah Complex delivered the first mutant baby born after Decimation, Cable took Hope Summers and ran into the timestream, raising her on the move for years.
Vital statistics
- Real name
- Nathan Christopher Charles Summers
- Also known as
- Cable, Askani'son, Soldier X
- Species
- Mutant
- Place of origin
- Born in the present day; raised 2,000 years in the future
- First appearance
- New Mutants #87 (March 1990)
- Created by
- Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld
- Affiliations
- X-Force, X-Men, Askani, Six Pack, New Mutants
Power grid
Intelligence5
Strength4
Speed3
Durability4
Energy6
Fighting6
Rated 1–7 on the classic Marvel power-grid scale.
Powers
- Telekinesis
He moves matter with his mind, though most of that strength is permanently committed to fighting the virus inside his body.
- Telepathy
He reads and projects thoughts, links minds across distance and can shatter a psyche with a focused psi-blast.
- Techno-Organic Physiology
The virus has converted his left arm, eye and much of one side of his body into living machinery he interfaces with directly.
- Time Travel
Bodyslide technology and Askani conditioning let him jump between eras and drag allies along with him.
- Precognitive Flashes
Askani training gives him fragmentary visions of the futures branching off any given present.
Abilities
- Elite military tactician and squad commander
- Master marksman with both modern and 38th-century firearms
- Hardened hand-to-hand combatant
- Field engineer capable of repairing future technology from scratch
Weaknesses
- The techno-organic virus spreads constantly and eats his telekinesis
- Pushing his powers hard accelerates the infection
- Chronic physical deterioration and pain
- A compulsive need to fix the timeline, whatever it costs him
Comics history
Cable was built as a mystery. Rob Liefeld and Louise Simonson dropped him into New Mutants as an unexplained gun-toting soldier, and the book's sales exploded; within two years the title was cancelled at its commercial peak and relaunched as X-Force #1, one of the best-selling comics ever printed. The reveal that he was Scott Summers' son took years and a truckload of retcons to land. He has since carried Cable, the deliberately strange Soldier X, and the buddy-comedy Cable & Deadpool, which turned him from grim 1990s icon into a straight man with a sense of humour.
Allies
- Deadpool
- Cyclops
- Hope Summers
- Domino
- Blaquesmith
- Bishop
Enemies
- Apocalypse
- Stryfe
- Mister Sinister
- Bastion
- Mutant Liberation Front
Weapons & equipment
- Plasma rifles and futuretech firearms
- Psimitar
- Bodyslide teleportation unit
- Graymalkin space station
Trivia
- Cable's shoulder pouches became shorthand for an entire era of comics, and Rob Liefeld has spent thirty years being asked what is actually in them.
- Josh Brolin played Cable in Deadpool 2 the same year he played Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
- Stryfe, the masked warlord who defined Cable's first years, is his clone — and Marvel let readers wonder for years which of the two was the original Nathan Summers.
- New Mutants was cancelled while selling brilliantly so Marvel could relaunch it as a Cable-fronted X-Force #1, which shipped in the millions.
Famous quotes
I've seen how this ends. That's why I'm still standing here.
You want to be soldiers? Then stop letting them call you students.
Timeline
- 1990
Debuts in New Mutants #87 as an unexplained soldier who takes over the team.
- 1991
Turns the New Mutants into X-Force, the flagship of Marvel's new-look 1990s.
- 2004
Headlines Cable & Deadpool, which reinvents him as a reluctant comedy straight man.
- 2007–2010
Escapes into the future with Hope Summers after Messiah Complex and raises her through to Second Coming.
Gallery
Poster art is generated from each character’s signature palette. Drop official art into assets/images/ and set the img field to swap it in.
Related characters
Jean Grey
Jean Elaine Grey
Deadpool
Wade Wilson
Apocalypse
En Sabah Nur
Mister Sinister
Nathaniel Essex
Bishop
Lucas Bishop
Frequently asked
Is Cable Cyclops' son?
Yes. Nathan Christopher Summers is the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, the Sinister-made clone of Jean Grey. He was sent two millennia into the future as an infected baby, which is why he came back older than his own father.
How powerful are Cable's powers?
At full strength he belongs in the top tier of Marvel telepaths and telekinetics, capable of stopping armies without touching a weapon. The techno-organic virus permanently taxes that power, so most versions of Cable fight at a fraction of his ceiling — which is exactly why he leans on guns.
Why did Cable take Hope Summers?
He never saw it as a kidnapping. After Messiah Complex, Hope was the first mutant born following Decimation and every faction on Earth wanted her. Cable carried her into the future and kept moving, raising her as a daughter while Bishop hunted them across centuries.