What if Cable had his original backstory?

[Hybrid]

Cable as we know today has a convoluted origin story, but the gist is that he’s the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor who got sent to a bad future as a baby and came back a grizzled cyborg gunman. His vast telekinetic powers, which are held back by a techno-virus, was retconned into his character due to his connection to the Summers-Grey family.

However, that wasn’t intended to be the case. Rob Liefeld originally planned Cable to be the future version of Cannonball.



He wouldn’t have his jet propulsion powers because of his injuries, and his cyborg parts were there to show how he barely survived. That was the main reason he used guns, simply because he couldn’t access his normal powers. Cable under this concept wouldn’t have had TK abilities, either.

This was actually foreshadowed in X-Force #8, where he came back in time to recruit the New Mutants with a special eye on Cannonball. There was a memory gap, and there was to be a big reveal that Cable would learn that he IS Cannonball’s older counterpart.

Obviously, what was intended to be big foreshadowing never came to be, because Liefeld left X-Force after the 9th issue, and Marvel itself, to help start Image Comics. Thus, the concept of Cable got away from him, and his current backstory took shape. Cable being Cyclops and Madelyne’s son was a retcon based on an earlier plotline, established in Cable #6 (1993) by Fabian Nicieza

So... in a bit of speculation, say that Cable is Cannonball from the future and that sticks. What changes about comic book history? Anything notable? Thought it would be interesting.

[Frobisher]

Strife would be wearing that big helmet to conceal his massive jug ears.

[Killerbee911]

Well the Summers/Grey Clan is basically the Skywalkers in Marvel. So Cable would have disappeared into limbo maybe to never return or show up in limited fashion like Longshot or Forge. The connection to two of most popular characters is what gave Cable extra longevity and story uses in the X-men series. I like Cannonball I love for that one small period of time in the 90s where he was the rookie on the X-men and he looked could be groomed up to be the next Cyclops type and then poof (along with Celia Reyes, Maggot, Marrow) they just quit went in another direction and Cannonball went back to New Mutants/X-force world of C-list level character. All of this to say the line doesn't have that much interest in Cannonball which is a shame because the Guthrie family is worth exploring more.

[Sutekh]

Wow, I did not know that about Cable, and I would have liked that version way better than what we got. (Not a fan, at all, of the baby Nathan retcon, or of Cable being telepath/telekinetic number 64312, of all the mutant powers Liefield had to choose from.) It would definitely have set Sam up for some more serious storylines, and Rachel kind of already had the Summers-spawn box checked anyway.

That said, I also like the idea of an AU where Cable doesn't exist at all, and the mutant who came back from the future was *Bishop,* earlier than his canonical appearance. Cue X-Factor pretty much as written, but with Bishop instead of Cable (and Shatterstar having teleportation from the start as his mutant power, since Liefield seemed to have a mental block about actually giving his new mutant characters actual mutant powers, and not just lots of guns, knives and pouches, and the 'bodyslide' technology not existing).

[Glio]

Cable would probably be much less relevant right now.

[CRaymond]

Cable is relevant?

[Killerbee911]

Cable is relevant?

He has a solo,Yeah he is relevant enough

[CRaymond]

He has a solo,Yeah he is relevant enough

He's getting a solo. It remains to be seen if it's successful enough to be more than an arc, like FA.

There was a time the X-Men needed his flavor of brutal pragmatism but that's long past. His teen reboot is doomed. Teen heroes are designed to fail and learn, and one with his power and artillery is frightening.

I'm actually MORE interested in going back to read these old NM and XF issues to follow the trail of him as an older Cannonball. Sam was a different character then, and getting pushed as the next big Cyclops.

[Celestialbodies]

He's getting a solo. It remains to be seen if it's successful enough to be more than an arc, like FA.

There was a time the X-Men needed his flavor of brutal pragmatism but that's long past. His teen reboot is doomed. Teen heroes are designed to fail and learn, and one with his power and artillery is frightening.

I'm actually MORE interested in going back to read these old NM and XF issues to follow the trail of him as an older Cannonball. Sam was a different character then, and getting pushed as the next big Cyclops.

TBF, hasn't he had a solo consistently since at least the 90's, that's not exactly representative of relevance. But then again I'll take a somewhat long-term plan for a character than the "resets" they usually receive after relaunches or new writers.

[K7P5V]

Well the Summers/Grey Clan is basically the Skywalkers in Marvel. So Cable would have disappeared into limbo maybe to never return or show up in limited fashion like Longshot or Forge. The connection to two of most popular characters is what gave Cable extra longevity and story uses in the X-men series. I like Cannonball I love for that one small period of time in the 90s where he was the rookie on the X-men and he looked could be groomed up to be the next Cyclops type and then poof (along with Celia Reyes, Maggot, Marrow) they just quit went in another direction and Cannonball went back to New Mutants/X-force world of C-list level character. All of this to say the line doesn't have that much interest in Cannonball which is a shame because the Guthrie family is worth exploring more.

Personally, I thought joining up with the X-Men was a massive setback to Sam's entire character progression. During the Nicieza/Capullo 90's run on X-Force, Sam was a total boss and showed how much he learned from his various mentors. As soon as he "graduated" into the X-Men, Sam regressed into your run-of-the-mill POV character and bumbling sidekick to Logan.

[Maniacal]

Rob Was still at Marvel when baby Nathan becoming Cable was concocted. I don’t remember the interviews anymore. But it was plotted while Rob was still there. It may not have been HIS idea, but it wasn’t done when he left Marvel. Nathan being infected by the techno virus happened at the end of the Xfactor volume 1 which is before Xforce volume 1 - Rob Liedields hit. The idea of Cable being Cannonball was one of many ideas, that includes the Externals and Sam being immortal. Say what you will about the man, but he had some crazy exciting ideas. Some would say extreme.

[Uncanny Mutie]

Personally, I thought joining up with the X-Men was a massive setback to Sam's entire character progression. During the Nicieza/Capullo 90's run on X-Force, Sam was a total boss and showed how much he learned from his various mentors. As soon as he "graduated" into the X-Men, Sam regressed into your run-of-the-mill POV character and bumbling sidekick to Logan.

That's what made Sam more fun and interesting than he had ever been: he was taking a couple of noticable steps back to be built up to one day take a HUGE leap forward.

[K7P5V]

That's what made Sam more fun and interesting than he had ever been: he was taking a couple of noticable steps back to be built up to one day take a HUGE leap forward.

Thank you very much for the explanation. It is greatly appreciated.

[GodfatherIV]

I have never liked Cable or the time travel aspect of storytelling. It just doesnt work in my opinion. That said Cable being an older version of Cannonball works a helluva lot better. Hell it could even be his descendant or someone genetically modified from the future to be him like his clone or whatever. Everything doesnt have to be about the Summers-Grey family. I can tolerate some of Bishop but that should be it. In the inferno stpry the baby Nathan should have just died. It would've ramped up the tragic part of the story. Plus we already had Rachel.

[PrezValentine]

Cable being an AU version of another established character would probably have hurt his viability and it's unlikely we would see anything of him currently.