Monday, April 17, 2017

HERO OF THE WEEK: CABLE (Marvel)
Real Name: Nathaniel Summers
First Appearance: New Mutants #87 (March, 1990)
Fight Club Ranking: #105

Featured Fights:
- vs AHAB: X-Men Annual #14 (Jul 1990)
- vs BARON ZEMO & MODOK: Captain America #6 (Apr 1997)
- vs AVENGERS: Civil War #3 (Sep 2006)

He was DC's Jonah Hex in an already forgotten 2010 Warner Bros western, and is gearing up to voice Marvel's Thanos in the next installment of Avengers: Josh Brolin is basically breaking all the comic book movie rules -- adding another superhero to his fast growing oeuvre!

His third starring appearance as Cable is now confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, beginning with next year's Deadpool 2. The news ends a whirlwind of speculation that whipped up every would-be aging action star from Dolph Lundgren, to Ron Perlman. Ten months ago, even I did a pretty good job of convincing myself Eric Dane should be considered. All moot as of mid last week.

Cable is expected to lead a new era of FOX's X-Men franchise, filling the void left by Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. He's another of Marvel's testosterone fuelled mutants who were big in the nineties. Instead of claws, he's a cyborg mutant with telekinetic powers and huge guns! Did I mention he's also from the future? Oh, and his parents are Cyclops and Jean Grey. Yeah. A lot going on with this guy.

While it remains to be seen if the character can live up to expectations, it's certainly clear that Josh Brolin brings the right blend of character, stature, and star-power to give it the best chance to succeed. All that's left now is to put him in movies and avoid screwing it up!

If all goes to plan: Brolin will likely transition from Deadpool 2 to the long rumored X-Force movie, which has ambiguous ties to next year's New Mutants.

Comics fans know the New Mutants were rebranded X-Force when Cable assumed teaching duties, reshaping the young X-kids as a paramilitary group. It was a shift in direction courtesy of Cable co-creator Rob Liefeld. Early speculation suggests the film version will actually wind up being more in line with 2008's relaunch, which refashioned the team as a lethal black-ops compilation of X-Men characters, eventually including the likes of Deadpool and Psylocke.

The uncertainty surrounding FOX's plans is part of what's making them the most exciting superhero movie maker of the moment. X-Men: Apocalypse may have been a disappointment, but with Bryan Singer possibly moving away from the franchise, the future looks a little brighter. Hopefully as bright as X-Men: First Class, which still remains the high-point in the X-film catalogue.

As you can see from the Featured Fight list we're a little anemic in the Cable department, but I'm sure we can look forward to exploring the character further in the future. If you need your X-fix right now, be sure to follow links provided, and explore the Secret Archive for features arranged by publisher, series, and issue number.

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