I really makes sense to me that Kirkman is serious about making Cable be Wolverine in the future. The Ultimate Universe is all about re-imagining the story and streamlining, fixing & improving what worked before. I think that more than anything I've seen in the Xmen UU so far, Cable as Wolverine fixes SO many problems that I can see why they might have done it. Let's explore them!
:neutral: First off, Cable as Nathan Summers, Scott's son, has SO many problems with it: #1 is that Scott is a relatively boring character and thus does not evoke the sort of emotion or interest in fans that Wolverine does. Ie if Scott has a son: who cares?, but if Logan were to have one: you'd be all over that, like "holy cow! Who is it?!!!" [edit:]
I do not mean to imply Cable is Wolverine's son, just that if wolverine had a son we'd care more than if Cyke had one
:shifty:#2 having 'children' FORCES the writers to marry Scott and Jean, which just destroys their characters. Their characters ARE the suspense, tension and suffering of their unfulfilled love. Seal the deal and they are uber-boring. Plus you screw any love trianglige. Having children never worked as a story element for them. Their characters will be saved if that's written out of the UU.
:noway:#3 The idea that Scott & Jean's combined genetic line is this super powerful thing is hooey. And that Mr Sinister cloning Jean (Madeline) so he could get her & Scott to produce an ultra-powerful offspring who Sinister could then use to destroy Apocalypse, who then gave him a virus, which led to Nathan being taken to the future to be cured... it's outlandish, and as such has no place in the UU.
:shifty:Further, the time frame that Cable was raised some 2,000 years in the future by Rachel (and Scott & Jean's time-traveling soul/minds) is even more nonsense. It destroys the immediacy of the story, and was only written that far off because setting Cable's future in the soon & immediate would have disrupted too many of the X books in the mid 90's. But with only one book to deal with, and no multi-writer negotiating necessary, having Cable be from the immediate future like Bishop is WAY more compelling. Having the Cable character be from the immediate future AND be someone we really care about is a masterstroke for making the character relevent to the X story line (something 616 Cable rarely is).
Cable, more than almost any character, needs to be streamlined. His creation was haphazard, and done by so many creators over the years. Many elements of it don't work. Many of his traits and powers were written to make stories work, and only fit inside those stories. As a character he has always been untenable. But Cable as future-wolverine makes the character work in SO many ways.
:|The no 1 problem with Cable as a character in the X-books is that he is supposedly near all-powerful, except for the restraint of having to mentally keep his techno-organic virus in check. The writers made him ultra-poweful because it was necessary to explain how he could kill an all-powerful Apocalypse, but then they had to weaken his character so that he could fight a regular slew of villains. Inconsistant claptrap. Rachel once told him that he was the most powerful mutant ever, the most powerful telepath, the most powerful tk... and again while that served the writers in explaining how he could kill Apocalypse it just destroyed his character. Cable can't be a badass gun carrying anti-hero cliche if he is a super powerful telepath, because then he'd be wiser, less brash, and more diplomatic like Xavier. If he had awesome tk powers, he wouldn't need the guns (like Jean). Either he has these awesome powers or he doesn't. Really Marvel needed two characters with two different ability levels. Trying to make the Cable character fill both shoes is what made him suck. And if the story or Marvel want an all powerful dude, Cable is not a good fit for the bill. He was best when he was a badass, and the hootenanny about him being amazing but limited by his T.O. virus constraints is lame. We need a tough-as-nails limited capability Cable.
:crazy: Having Cable be the future version of Wolverine TOTALLY makes the Cable character work! He's a badass mutha now! Why does he use weapons and not fight like Wolvie? cos he lost his healing factor and is a terrified and desperate Logan from the future. How compelling is the idea of Logan
desperate?!! If he has
any telepathic or tk powers in the UU, it can be chalked up to Wolvie's resistance to telepathy, or to enhancements acquired in the future. And this would explain why "Cable" uses such powers so rarely.
:razz: Best of all, Cable = future Wolverine solves one of Wolverine's problem's as a character. While his past is interesting and his present is cool, ultimately his character never goes anywhere. In Days of Future Past he has not grown or developed as a character at all. WEAK! Wolverine should have an amazing past AND future! If future Wolverine were an action figure would you want "Days of Future Past"s unemployed trucker Wolverine,
or kick-*** bionic Rambo/James Bond time-traveling Wolverine (tm pending). Clearly!
So my vote is that Cable is truly going to be future Wolverine. I am really excited at the prospect. I stopped buyint the UU xmen after the 6th trade (I never stopped reading it, just wouldn't buy it), but I've resumed because this storyline is so exciting. Rock on Kirkman :rockon:
