DEADPOOL versus CABLE

The Beginning of The End: Part One (Marvel)
Where: New Mutants #98 When: February 1991
Why: Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza How: Rob Liefeld

The Story So Far...
The time-travelling soldier known as Cable has come to the present to guide the development of a young mutant he believes will play a vital role in future events. As a guest of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Cable assumes the role of mentor for their newest mutants, training them in the hard truths of war.

 After working up a sweat training in the Danger Room with Cannonball; Cable retires to the school library where he soon finds himself under attack! You don't get to be a mysterious man of intrigue like Cable without making a few enemies! The mysterious Mr. Tolliver has a vested interest in Cable and he's willing to pay big money to see him hurt! Enter the mercenary killer Deadpool, who has a contract for Cable's head!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Cable 4 (Enhanced)
Intelligence: Cable 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Deadpool 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Deadpool 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Deadpool 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Draw 4 (Trained)
Energy: Draw 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Deadpool 26 (Meta-human)

Deadpool Facts:
As featured on card #178 in Marvel Universe Series IV's Famous Battles!

It's one of the great love-hate relationships in comics and it's finally here on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths! The frenemy rivalry begins here with the first appearance of one of Marvel's biggest icons! Welcome back jerks who just click links when a movie tickles their interest. It's show time!

Deadpool is the Merc' with a Mouth who needs no introduction! His services are available to the highest bidder -- at least until a chance meeting with wealthy businessman Edward Lewis! Edward paid to outfit Deadpool with a new uniform, and after taking the mercenary to see La Traviata at the opera, Deadpool falls madly in love with him. DP breaks his "no kissing rule", but the two soon break up, because Edward is not Deadpool's time travelling knight.

That honor belongs to Nathanial Summers - the cyborg from the future called Cable! As the name might suggest, he's the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey, who was dropped off in the distant future to be raised in a time when every child was left behind! You know him as a pocket wearing, giant gun-toting bad ass with a metal arm, but he's also gifted with mutant telekinetic powers he uses to hold his techno-organic virus at bay, and occasionally levitate stuff and bend spoons!

Cable's from the far flung future, so it kinda makes sense our file on him isn't huge. We know he's got the goods to beat-up a turkey at short notice. We saw him team with Captain America in an accidental dimension jump, taking down MODOK & AIM in Captain America (Vol.2) #6! He also grappled with his nemesis from the future, Ahab, in X-Men Annual #14. Emotions got the better of Cable in that fight and he was outwitted by the powerful cyborg!

Of course, Deadpool's no slouch when it comes to taking down cyborgs! Smarts helped him overcome arch-nemesis Ajax in a raw final showdown [in Deadpool #19]! He also punked out the well kitted Taskmaster not once - but twice [Deadpool #2, Cable & Deadpool #36]! Who looks foolish now?! Well...

We've also seen Punisher use his arsenal of tricks to flash fry Deadpool in the mini-series Deadpool: Suicide Kings #2! His best efforts didn't leave a scratch on Juggernaut back in Deadpool: Sins of the Past #2! And everybody looks just a little stupid beating up Batroc The Leaper in a hotel room [Deadpool #20].

We know fighters with healing factors are always prone to a beat down, but when Deadpool's all-business he's a legitimately deadly mercenary. With guns, swords, speed and agility focused on the objective - can take on the Hulk and live to tell about it [Deadpool #4]! Mr. Lewis Mr. Tolliver doesn't like to be kept waiting. Let's just see who takes the famous first fight!

The Tape: Deadpool Ranking: Deadpool (#20)

What Went Down...
Xavier's School for Gift Youngsters, Westchester, 14:51. Cable retreats to the library for some light reading. He swears he's just interested in the articles, but we dig. Without warning -- the "bwompoom" of unexpected teleportation!

Cable falls flat on his ass as he's confronted with the arrival of Deadpool! The merc's been hired by the elusive Mr. Tolliver. Seems he wants Cable found - and killed! Cable says it's no hard feelings, but y'know. Mr. "Articles" over here.

Deadpool draws his gun and sends regards from his employer. Cable and Tollivar don't see their history the same way, but it hardly matters. Deadpool's ready to shoot -- if only Cannonball didn't swoop in from behind for the save!

Apparently the kid's head of the class when it comes to keep his mutant rocket powers running silent. Too bad for him Deadpool's well prepared, tossing a neural disrupted net that wraps Cannonball up nice, tight, and incapacitated!

Cannonball hits the deck hard -- but not as hard as Cable hits when he takes advantage of the distraction and smacks Deadpool in the face! He throws a second punch with his cyborg arm, scoring a "krak" from the impact!

Seems Deadpool's jaw broke, but he keeps the chatter coming. He throws a fancy free quip and a dagger that buries itself in Cable's leg. Ouchy!

Cable goes down and Deadpool once again moves in for the kill - only to be interrupted by one of those meddling kids and their stupid mutant power! This time it's Rictor, who sends a tremor right through the mercenary's path!

DP keeps his feet and identifies three junior targets: Rictor, Sunspot, and Boom Boom. All students at Xavier's school who've fallen under Cable's bad influence.

Knowing his enemies, Deadpool neutralizes Rictor's unpredictable vibration powers first with wires designed to contract the more he tries to shake them off!

Hothead Sunspot is next by request, but Deadpool's counting on the kid's arrogance to leave him wide open. Super-strength isn't always the solution, he says, espousing the virtues of finesse and subtlety as he draws three blades -- only to suddenly succumb to three in his own back!

It seems Cable put a call into an old acquaintance goes by the name of Domino. She's new in these parts, but arrived right on time - just like always. Oh, yeah. Just one catch: She ain't the real Domino. Not so lucky after all, Cable.

The Hammer...
It was a fight that had it all! Guns! Action! Youthful disobedience! Futuristic tactical weaponry! Action movie dialogue! Feet!

One thing it didn't have is Domino! The woman who sure could win the lookalike contest is actually shape-shifting mercenary Copycat! It turns out Mister Tolliver hired her to infiltrate Cable's mutant cadre to spy on him, in what was apparently a needlessly complicated double-bluff that involved knifing Deadpool in the back.

Worse still: Copycat is Vanessa Carlysle -- Deadpool's former girlfriend who he broke up with when he found out he had cancer!

I guess it's a story as old as time: Boy meets girl. Boy gets cancer and loses girl. Boy survives cancer via hideously disfiguring, life-altering experiments. Boy becomes mutant mercenary. Girl becomes mutant mercenary. Girl stabs boy repeatedly in the back. It's young love and we've all been there!

If you're one of those jerks who only reads about comics to pretend to your friends you know all about the characters in movies, you know a version of Copycat portrayed by Morena Baccarin. You're about to know Domino better, too, because Deadpool 2 is bigger, badder, and in theatres May 18th!

She isn't exactly comic book Domino either, but who really is? Well, the real Domino is, obviously... She eventually showed up for realsies a year later in X-Force #8. She became a recurring character in that book, developing into a far more integral part of X-lore than Copycat. That's called living well and finding success, which is really the best form of revenge.

If you really had your heart set on seeing Domino in action, I can offer you Contest of Champions II #1, where she kicked Iron Man in the head. If you stick around, we might have something fun coming up next week, too. I dunno! I don't have magical mutant luck powers! [Note: Domino does].

We've kind of buried the lede here, because if you've heard of New Mutants #98, it's undoubtedly because it's the first appearance of Deadpool!

Not exactly the fourth-wall breaking, madcap mercenary he'll become, but the groundwork of an interesting character is quickly laid. Liefeld leads with a strong visual distinct from some of his other characters. The story goes he wanted to draw a gun-toting, edgy kinda Spider-man. It doesn't sound like a great pitch, but it works! There's a simple cool factor to the design, and introductory fight that sets the table for what we know comes in the years that follow!

It might've been even better if the Copycat/Domino plot wasn't heaped on as well, but he had the better of Cable throughout, and that created intrigue. The layouts get a little sketchy, and story always seems to be vague and chaotic when Liefeld's around.

My previously established childhood bias against kid-heroes kept me pretty well away from New Mutants and X-Force, but Deadpool caught my eye like a lot of others! There was just something there. It was X-Men, iconic super-heroes, with something a little bit different. Once the Weapon X connection was established, that sure couldn't have hurt, either.

Today, I'd equate the added flavor to Larry Hama's GI Joe, or Ostrander's Suicide Squad. Vivid, cool looking characters with key weaponry, skills and objectives, entering into a world that completes them. It can fly off the rails pretty easily, and in the X-books it often did, but when it's good it's great!

As always - you can get a better impression of what I'm talking about by checking out the story for yourself! Shopping via the Amazon link provided will get you a fine collected edition - and support the site at no extra cost to you!

Dive into the Secret Archive to uncover more fights like this one, or follow links scattered throughout this post. You never know what you'll find! You can also follow Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook for daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day!

Fans of the Fight Club Rankings can look below to feast of fresh controversy! For her obvious role in finishing the battle, Copycat collects the win stat. Cable and the intervening New Mutants will all pick up assists -- even Sunspot and Boom Boom, who did technically provide the distraction that set Deadpool up to get knifed!

Winner(s): Copycat (w/ Cable, Cannonball & Rictor)
#311 (new) Copycat (aka; Domino)
#20 (--) Deadpool
#107 (+4) Cable [+1 assist]
#139 (+2) Boom Boom [+1 assist]
#143 (+19) Sunspot [+1 assist]
#318 (+5) Cannonball [+1 assist]
#533 (new) Rictor [+1 assist]

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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HERO OF THE WEEK: CABLE (Marvel)
Real Name: Nathan Summers
First Appearance: New Mutants #87 (March, 1990)
Fight Club Ranking: #99

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

After a couple of big weeks in the world of comic books, the moving image is pulling focus back with news a Deadpool sequel is on track to start filming early next year! Comic Book Resources ended the week with a report via Collider, where X-Producer Simon Kinberg spoke positively about progress at the script level in an expansive interview.

Speculating how FOX will follow-up their surprise 2016 mega-hit has been a fun pastime, in part due to the overwhelming uncertainty of where they'll go next. After an all around disappointing outing with Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse last month, the sense that a change could do everyone good is strong. The question is - can FOX make that change without damaging their new cash cow?

Deadpool was every bit the breath of fresh air it purported to be, even if it was an imperfect exercise in a basic variation of the superhero formula. A sequel demands a fresh angle, if not outright improvement. The potential for connecting to the next phase of X-Men cinema - a temptation that should be handled with extreme caution.

All of this is to say: developing the next piece of the puzzle isn't such a bad idea!

A Ferris Bueller parody isn't exactly a contract, but by promising classic frenemy Cable at the end of the last movie, they've already created natural connective tissue between Deadpool and several rumored projects!

Cable, like Deadpool, made his first appearance in New Mutants: a comic series about a new class of young mutants, reportedly in pre-production for a feature film adaptation. In the comics, Cable introduces a military sensibility that eventually leads to a rebranding as X-Force. That name has been floated as a potential project for a couple of years now, and with modern influences, could be a way to refresh the X-Men formula with new and existing characters (and actors), including Deadpool.

Actors have been the biggest question when it comes to the cinematic debut of Cable. Who do you get to play the musclebound, cyborg soldier of the future? It seems every actor in Hollywood over fifty has an interest in the role!

Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher, Rocky IV) responded to the jokes with a promise he'd kick butt in the role. Stephen Lang (Avatar) has been lobbying for the part. Ron Perlman (Alien: Resurrection, Blade II, Hellboy) has thrown his credentials into the ring. Some are even pointing to wrestler/actor Kevin Nash as another option with a connection to movie versions of Punisher (he was The Russian).

Casting Cable will rest heavily on how the character's to be portrayed - not just in Deadpool 2 - but in any possible subsequent projects. Someone with gravitas to go with their muscle will help, but an understanding of the rat-a-tat-tat of the Deadpool motor-mouth they'll be scowling at, could help.

For a different approach, I'm gonna throw out a suggestion of someone already a friend to the X-Men movies: Eric Dane. As TV's Captain Tom Chandler in The Last Ship [pictured below], Dane bucked his Dr. McSteamy rep to play a military man making touch decisions as the world crumbles around him. It may not have had the weight of the apocalyptic future in Cable's past, but it got me seriously thinking about the potential for Dane to physically embody the role.

Just as Ryan Reynolds and a romantic sub-plot was pitched to bring a female demographic to the first Deadpool; Dane's past as a Grey's Anatomy heartthrob -- (shout out to the Charmed fans, as well) -- could help pitch the sequel to the mass audience who aren't ordinarily be the target, but showed up in droves to make Deadpool a $500 million dollar hit.

What ever happens - Deadpool himself was undoubtedly the thing that made the first movie work. That could be incredibly liberating as they attempt to catch lightning in a bottle once again and move the character, and their time with the X-Men license, forward.

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FANTASTIC FOUR/X-MEN/X-FACTOR/NEW MUTANTS versus AHAB & THE HOUNDS
Days of Future Present Part 4: You Must Remember This (Marvel comics)
Where: X-Men Annual #14 When: 1990
Why: Chris Claremont How: Art Adams

The story so far...
For humanity there exists a dark potential future.
A time where mutants have been hunted to near extinction, and humanity lives enslaved by the robotic Sentinel armies that police the streets so vigilantly.

Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, refugees from this dark time, escape back to seek protection in a more placid time where their parents stood triumphant and hopeful against these evils. Unfortunately for them, their time travelling escape is not the only shift made from this future.

Dr. Roderick Campbell, the man-Sentinel known as Ahab, follows the two mutant rebels back through the timestream, hoping to use the environment to manipulate a final showdown with his longtime targets. Unfortunately for him, the mutants are far from extinct in this time, and despite his advanced technology and many powers, he may find himself overwhelmed...

Previous Form:
X-Men [#1]: The X-Men have defeated the future's super-Sentinel, Nimrod; among others.
Fantastic Four [#2]: Killed in a future where Death's Head II became AIM super-weapon, Charnal.
Invisible Woman (#12): Prominent victories over Iconoclast, Frightful Four and others.
Cyclops (#45): Invaluable in the X-Men's defeat of Xorn, and Executioner.
Ahab: Making his debut in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Ms. Marvel 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Cannonball 5 (Super Speed)
Stamina: Ahab 6 (Generator)
Agility: Warlock 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Cable 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Solar Power)


Okay, so if you're a regular reader you might be scratching your head, trying to figure out what Ahab has to do with Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Rightly so, too, since this is a late post for Monday's on-going celebration of the villains from the video game.

Well, we're closing evil clone month off with a positively epic entry! Pictured to the right, an assembly of the Fantastic Four and X-Teams of the time -- but wait! Can you spy two notable exceptions?

Yes, in his timespanning mission to capture and destroy Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, Ahab has transformed one of each of their parents into dark versions of themselves -- turning them into sadistic, sinister versions of themselves.

The missing parents in question are of course Invisible Woman and Cyclops, and they're going to be front and centre amongst the nameless Hounds, representing Ahab with mad respect, yo. Days of Future Past style, can you dig?

It might not surprise you to know I'm thinking about folding this section up to include only the statistical information, because I think we're reaching a point where I'm just killing time in this section. There are sixteen heroes assembled in the attack on Ahab, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, and scenarios or predictions are only going to be more boring than they usually say.

Suffice to say, there's a tremendous advantage in the number of heroes, and I'm going to probably just go along with that.
Ahab; a super baddy cyborg from a future where mutants are on the brink of extinction and Sentinels patrol the streets, is a tough customer, but come on.
You've got all kinds of Mr. Fantastic, Beast, Forge combinations there, and the Human Torch, and She-Thing, and all kinds of muscle power there...

The Math: FF/X-Men (Total) Ahab & Hounds (Average)
The Pick: Fantastic Four/X-Factor/X-Men/New Mutants

What went down...
The massive collective of heroes sound Ahab's mutant detecting alarms as they burst into his hi-tech stronghold. Distracted from his torture of the former-mutant hunting hound, Rachel Summers, Ahab turns to face many would-be rebels already deceased in a future where he probably killed many of them.

Reed Richards recognises the green garbed humans by Ahab's side as the twisted forms of Scott Summers and Susan Richars -- Cyclops and Invisible Woman, respectively. Boastful of his powers, Ahab sets his Hounds on the invaders.

The armoured Cyclops is the first to do damage, unleashing his optic blasts with enough force to shake even the She-Thing, Ms. Marvel!

Mr. Fantastic steps up to use his elastine body to absorb the brunt of the plasma blasts, while Jean Grey does her best to telekinetically stem the flow of Invisible Woman's malicious invisible forcefields.

The move frees Ms. Marvel up to do more damage where she's better applied, against the nameless bruisers of Ahab's sinister collective of Hounds. The young mutant Cannonball struggles with the moral fact that many of the Hounds were innocent mutants before they met the control of Ahab's machinery.

Meanwhile, Jean Grey suffers moral conflicts of her own, struggling to battle Invisible Woman without inflicting any mortal injury on her during this murderous state. Recognising the issue, Mr. Fantastic taps Banshee to disarm his wife with the non-lethal means of his sonic scream.

Busy grappling with Grey, Invisible Woman is easily blindsided.
Meanwhile, Cable comes up with a plan to use Warlock's tech receptors to absorb the power from Cyclop's power blasts.

Warlock neutralizes X-Factor's jaded leader, while the battle rages onward around him. Cable and Ben Grimm do their best to use non-lethal weaponry to subdue the Hounds, while Gambit, Ms. Marvel and Boomer opt for more physical methods.

Cable, having subdued the Hounds in immediate opposition, sees a path to make a frontal assault on their half-Sentinel leader, Ahab!

Cable lunges at the suspiciously similar looking Ahab, finding himself a little out of his own cybernetic depth. Clutching at Ahab's harpoon staff in the defensive position, Cable soon discovers it is directly connected to Ahab's own power.
With his hands burning, Cable finds himself unable to let go of the weapon, forced to stare into the face of the enemy. Ahab taunts him, asking the mutant whether he sees someone he knows, before swatting him away with the staff.

Storm, suffering the youthful affects of a previous encounter with The Nanny, finds her way to the imprisoned adult Franklin Richards. She does her best to summon Franklin's senses before Ahab can act, but it turns out his trump card affects more than the pod-bound son of Mr. Fantastic.

With the push of a button, Ahab levels the playing field of both his enemies and allies. An energy field attacks the heroes and Hounds alike, attacking their living tissue to the point of incapacitation. Only the mega-powered Franklin Richards is left standing, glowing with incredible mutant energies.

Ethereal, Franklin destroys Ahab's machines of harm with but a gesture.
Unsure and intimidated by the threat he's faced with, Ahab summons his Hounds to heel, including Rachel Summers. Courageously Summers defies her former master, prompting him to toss his harpoon spear for her defiance.

Franklin and Jean Grey intervene, stopping the spear in mid-air with their respective powers. The pressure situation proves more than the adult Richards is able to deal with, impeding his ability to exert his fantastic powers over the mechanical weapon. Likewise, Jean Grey struggles to maintain her telekinetic hold over it.

As Ahab's weapon propels itself gradually closer, Jean Grey unleashes all of her energy, diving between her daughter from the future and the weapon in a last ditch effort. Exhausted in her daughter's arms, Grey is successful.

Seemingly out of tricks, Ahab finds himself surrounded as Reed Richards declares his imminent defeat. The cyborg from the future taunts Richards with the promise that regardless of his fate in the past, Ahab has the last laugh in battle with the heroes. With that he teleports away, leaving the gift of his mark on their loved ones; Cyclops and Invisible Woman.

The hammer...
Woof, well, after all of that, your winners, the Fantastic Four, X-Men, X-Factor and New Mutants. Since everyone is seen to be active in at least panel dressing, I think I'm forced to hand the win to everyone, regardless of the weight of individuals like Franklin Richards. Rachel Summers proved uninvolved in this fight, but for provoking Ahab to seperate from his harpoon, an assist stat.

So, with the pleasantries out of the way, we can finally wrap this one up.
Y'know, it actually turned out to be a lot more straight forward than I felt like it was going to be. I guess part of the issue was that it probably wasn't until the advent of the Fox/Saban cartoon series that I really became a fan of X-Men.

I could be wrong, but this might just about be the first X-Men comic I ever owned, and even then it was probably more because of the story running through from the Fantastic Four annual. Even so, I have to admit to fond memories of this particular issue. Crammed full of characters and action, it actually ranked considerably higher with me at the time than the more subdued FF instalment.

It introduced me to characters like Cable, who was appearing with the New Mutants, a book I was even less interested in than the more recognisable X-books. I mean, I had a passing interest in Wolverine, and Cyclops, and Colossus, and some of those characters, but the New Mutants were barely on the radar!

I couldn't say why that really was. Long before the internet blogosphere, I was pretty removed from the reading public, so I certainly didn't indulge in the Liefeld sensation, or the general X-boom. I can't say if it was all the tail-eating future stories, or the boring similarity amongst the costumes, but something just turned me away from that X-corner of the Marvel universe.

Of course, it's not like there weren't convolusions across the board at the time.
Ben Grimm was finally cured of his rocky predicament, metaphorically passing the curse to Sharon Ventura, who was mutated in much the same way, becoming the affectionately referred to -- She-Thing.
If you've been reading the Infinite Wars recently, you'll know Sharon Ventura eventually showed up, in her human form, to woe the emotionally conflicted Grimm who had again become the Thing [Fantastic Four #367]. If you stay tuned, we'll be filling in some more of those gaps in the coming month.

Fortunately, the combined brilliance of Forge, Beast and Reed Richards, all exibit expertise in fields of mechanics and genetics, are able to use intelligence from the wreckage of Ahab's abandoned facility to return their loved ones back to normal.

The story of Ahab, however, would never enjoy that kind of satisfaction. There are many fabled tales of editorial changes made throughout Chris Claremont's legendary affiliation with the X-Men, and the Ahab character is one of the many.

The reference to seeing someone he recognises during Cable's attack on Ahab alludes to the conceptual conclusion that Ahab was in fact the unfortunate progression undertaken by Cable. The trademark skunk streak, scarred eye, and expanded cybernetics were all indicative of a corruption at some point in the mysterious Cable's future.

Cable would undergo many permeatations, absorbing new pieces of his history and future to eventually become one of the many maligned creations of the X-Universe. His close association with Rob Liefeld and subsequent pad/weapon/pocket heavy design also made for a shakey relationship between fan and character coming out of the declining nineties.

I don't know if you could rightly call this comic fantastic.
It's got that event-heavy action packed quality of the time, with an execution typical of Claremont, occasionally creeping into the embarassingly explanatory.

At the same time Art Adams' artwork is thoroughly effective, and really sticks out in my mind for a lot of reasons. Quiet moments have an odd energy about them, but likewise carry a consistent emotional weight that's prevelant even in the action scenes. His style is beautifully complimented by a slew of inkers, and colours by Brad Vancata which somehow seem to exceed what was typical of the era.

I find myself searching for a reason to call this one of the most enjoyable comics you could ever read, but it's just so hard. Maybe I'm tainted by vague, fond memories from 1990, I do not know. I think what ultimately shines through here is everything positive about this kind of nineties comic book, still sporting the musk of the less spiteful decade of the eighties.

There's playful mystery to the characters, dynamic action sequences, and a pretty clear line between the heroes and the villains. It's not about the internal conflict, even though two heroes are turned to fight against their fellows. It's just about an evil killer cyborg from the future, and a massive collection of heroes culminating their efforts in one big battle.

I'm going to borrow from Bully's criteria, and just call this comic fun!

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 6
[Days of Future Present ran in the 1990 annuals of the titles starring the four respective teams involved. The story played off of the previous decade's famous X-story, Days of Future Past, detailing a dystopian future where mutants are hunted to the brink of extinction. The Claremont/Byrne story from 1981 remains one of the most popular alternate universe tales, heavily influencing the grim future depicted in the recently returned NBC series, Heroes.]

THE AVENGERS versus THE SECRET AVENGERS
Civil War (Marvel comics)
Where: Civil War #3 When: September, 2006
Why: Mark Millar How: Steve McNiven

The story so far...
As the stars of a new superhero reality television programme, the New Warriors have embarked on a journey already of a controversial nature, but when a fight with some villains escalates the Marvel Universe will be rocked forever.

When amped up villain Nitro uses his explosive powers, there are far more casualities than the heroes, and far younger. A nearby school is wiped out, and thousands mourn the deaths of their children.

For the first time ever, the question of hero registration is answered with swift action. Leading the initiative, along with SHIELD commander Maria Hill, is Tony Stark - aka Iron Man.

Registration is mandatory. Those who do not declare, will be declared by Iron Man and the various registered heroes who are obligated by law to server and protect.

Previous Form:
Captain America Annual #9: Cap bitterly challenges a possessed Iron Man.
Marvel Team-Up #145: Jim Rhodes teams up with Spidey against Blacklash.
Captain America #6: Cap and Cable do battle with the forces of AIM.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Spider-man 4 (Olympic Athlete)
Stamina: Vision 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Hercules 6 (Warrior)
Energy Powers: Radioactive Man 6 (Mass Destruction)

It's been a couple of weeks since the last update. I'm doing this one now on Nov 6, having actually done a November update a couple of days ago.
I'll have to admit, I wasn't looking forward to this entry when I realised exactly what I was dealing with. I suppose it's worth establishing first up, exactly what we're dealing with:

Pro-Registration (Avengers)
Atlas
Black Widow
Doc Samson
Invisible Woman
Iron Man
Joystick
Mach-V
Mr. Fantastic
Ms. Marvel
Radioactive Man
She-Hulk
Spider-man
Thing
Thor-Clone
Tigra
Yellow Jacket
Wasp
Wonder ManAnti-Registration (Secret Avengers)
Cable
Captain America
Cloak
Dagger
Falcon
Goliath
Iron Fist
Hawkeye Jr
Hercules
Hulking
Luke Cage
Patriot
Stature
Vision
Wiccan




Okay... That's a lot of characters... Which made doing the stats pretty overwhelming. But, this is the website that's supposed to indulge in these discussions, so I'm going to try not to cheap out on you too much.

I think you can pretty much take one universal fact here, that does seem to be pretty indisputable - The Pro-Registrants have the Anti outnumbered.
This is particularly telling when you take into account the power the pro-team is packing. Characters like Hercules and Captain America are great allies to have, but against a force with the Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, Iron Man, Doc Samson and other heavy-hitters, it's just tough to bet against them.

By the nature of the argument, I suppose, the anti-registrants are chiefly street level characters, who really have very little business duking it out with the combined forces of the establishment.

The core Secret Avengers team of Goliath, Iron Fist (DD), Cap and Hercules isgreat for punking out Vulture's latest team of Sinister Six, but against an organized group of characters who can go toe-to-toe with the Hulk, they're kinda outmatched.
Just for clarification's sake, we're talking about characters like Thing, Doc-Samson, She-Hulk, Atlas, Iron Man... A mighty shield can only do so mcuh against that, and that's not even acknowledging the fact that half the Secret Avengers' allies are the Young Avengers. Against their seniors, you'd have to think experience counts for something.

It seems ill-conceived for Cap to lead this ragtag mob into a head-on collision with Iron Man's forces, and I guess that's perhaps a highlighting point.
This is not a planned confrontation. This is a trap, and a damned good one.

You can never count out Captain America all-together alone, let alone with an army of troops to be inspired. The numbers make it hard to tip against anyone else, though.

What went down...
I'd have to admit, this is probably a somewhat boring section more often than not. Summaries of what's going on the page are never going to be as interesting as seeing it, especially since sometimes I'm just not that interested anymore.

No WWD has ever been as injust as this one, though.
The team of McNiven, Dexter Vines, Mark Morales and Morry Hollowell make this one of the most amazing looking books I have ever read. This truly is artwork that can not be done justice by dull descriptions such as mine.
Never the less, I attempt to at least relay the events of the fight, for future prosperity.

After hearing a call over the police radio, the Secret Avengers rally their troops to converge as Geffen-Meyer Chemicals, where a tragedic accident has said to have left three to four hundred factory workers in peril.

Scanning his info-net, Cable finds nothing in terms of panic signals or other indicative informations. It's this, coupled with a nasty find, that lead the soldier of the future two twig first. Geffen-Meyer is a subsidiary of Stark Industries, and this scenario is purely for their benefit.

Darts fly dramatically from the sky, burying in the backs of Cloak and Wiccan, an attack to designed to prevent mass retreat. An ambush.
SHIELD helecopters and soldiers descend on the area ans the heroes gather in the presence of pro and anti groups.

Tony Stark attempts to reason with his old friend and ally, and with each faction standing tensely, Iron Man extends his gauntlet in the name of the greater good -- and Cap returns the favour.
"All right! Way to go, Wing-Tips! Didn't I say this was all gonna work out fine?," pipes Spider-man, just as Stark notices something attached to his metallic outer-hand.

As the SHIELD Electron-Scrambler, designed as a contingency against Iron Man, and given to Cap by the renegade Nick Fury, fries the Iron Man armor, Cap springs into action with Black Goliath following suit.

As battle begins, the heroes peel off into various pairings.
Goliath/Yellow Jacket, Atlas/Stature, Ms. Marvel/Cage, Cable/Radioactive Man, Wonder Man/Hercules, Thing/Hulking, Spidey/Patriot...

Iron Spidey intercepts Captain America's shield, and uses it against men he once called friends. Iron Fist (DD) and Vision go down, as Thing gets the better of the Young Avenger, Hulking in the mid-ground.

Cap and Patriot go back-to-back, as Spider-man fades from sight.
Cap explains the stealth function built into the Stark-produced Iron Spider-man outfit, and then has opportunity to feel the full effects of the suit, as Spidey rematerializes right infront of him - using the shield against him!

Meanwhile, Iron Man is rebooting his fried armor, and as Cap fights back against Spider-man in the foreground, IM looms rather ominously with his suit fully functional, and ready to torpedo into the fray.

Hercules, battling Doc Samson, does his best to warn Captain America of the incoming attack, but IM's speed gives him the opportunity to plow the patriot through a partially demolished brick wall.

Cap tries to continue the good fight, but the spiritual leaders of the opposing forces are poorly matched. Stark totes the armor's knowledge of Cap's arsenal of moves as he drives his gauntlets into Captain America.
Blow after blow reigns down, with little regard for the distinct margin between the suit of armor's strength, and the Captain's.

"Out of my way, you filthy traitors! He's killing him in there!"
In one of the less 'widescreen' moments, but also most inspiring, Hercules tosses Samson aside, and barrels through She-Hulk and Spider-man with the objective of saving Captain America.
"HOLD ON, CAPTAIN! I'M COMING!"

From the safety of the SHIELD Helicarrier, Maria Hill gives the order to initiate "codename lightning," as a result, Hercules does not have the opportunity to reach his target.

Hawkeye, Cage and Dagger are caught up in the lightning swirl also, as rain begins to fall on the battlefield.
Cable and Iron Fist gaze up to the pouring sky and gaze upon a sight they never expected to see.

They gaze upon a dead God.
They gaze upon Thor.

The hammer...
After Civil War #4, we all now know of course that Thor was in fact a clone manufactured by Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man, and no doubt in the future if I end up getting a hold of the issue, we'll talk some about that.

This is really a difficult situation as far as drawing a usual conclusion. With unfinished fights like this, I think it's best to just consider the end of the issue a cut-off point, thus, it's with no uncertainty that we call the Pro-Registration team he winners.

I probably talked out some of my key feelings on the Civil War during the entirely unrelated review of Thing against the Frightful Four [Fantastic Four #129], and I'm very keen to get this overdue update online, so I'll try to be brief.

I guess what Civil War #3 indicates particularly well is just how mismatched the two sides are at this point in the story. Likewise, it further highlights the lengths at which Captain America is going to fight against a system in which he's already practically involved with.

I mean, I think it's safe to say Cap's stance is one of principle and understanding, rather than one of necessity. He himself could probably be counted among the very first heroes to be techncially registered, purely by his very nature. It's a problem he's run into in the past when he's disagreed with decisions of an establishment, and has been forced to handover the property and trademarks of the government if he wishes to continue superhero-ing.

Even though Cap is probably the majority sentimental favourite, Civil War #3 goes lengths to highlight just how pig headed his stance of principle really is.
The very first scene sees one of the group of children he's leading into battle get taken down. With death right at the heart of this matter, and also all the recent history for the Avengers, there's definitely a negative light to be cast on Captain America and his team's actions.

There's not a lot I can say that hasn't already been said, but I think, when you stop thinking about the pro-registrants who are justly viewed as antagonists, and forget about the victimization of the anti-resgristrants, the other point is there.

Iron Man's team is right because in a Marvel universe where reality is being emphasized, security is what we would want. Likewise, Captain America is turning on his country to the point of blind vendetta, ignoring what is potentially the greater good, and leading this kids into a fight, rather than keeping them safe from the establishment.

The justification comes from the previous discussion [again; FF #129], because these are people reacting to tragedy, but ultimately... Is this the way Cap should go?
Probably not.

The Fight: 5.5 The Issue: 6

NEXT UP: The latest top five, and an all new feature in the long overdue September punch-up!

CAPTAIN AMERICA & CABLE versus AIM
Soldiers (Marvel comics)
Where: Captain America #6 When: April, 1997
Why: Rob Liefeld & Jeph Loeb How: Rob Liefeld

The story so far...
Marvel's greatest heroes are believed dead, sacrificing themselves to defeat the menace of Onslaught.
Unbeknownst to those left behind, the heroes habe been trapped in a pocket universe as an instinctive defensive meaure by the immensly powerful mutant child - Franklin Richards.

Now, reliving a strangely similar but warped version of his previous life, Captain America awakes from a dormant sleep as a defunct SHIELD agent.

Emerging in this strange new world reborn, Captain America goes live once more, facing threats older than anyone in this universe can possibly know.

Previous Form:
Marvel versus DC #2: Captain America outfoxes the devestating Bane.
Incredible Hulk #449: As Citizen V, Baron Zemo leads the Thunderbolts against the Hulk.
MODOK and Cable have not yet been featured on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths.
Tale of the tape...
Strength: Cable 4 (Steroid Popper)
Intelligence: MODOK 5 (Professor)
Speed: Captain America 3 (Trained Athlete)
Stamina: Captain America 5 (Marathon Runner)
Agility: Captain America 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting Ability: Captain America 6 (Warrior)
Energy Powers: Cable 4 (Arsenal)

You know, there are actually a few things working against MODOK, before we even arrive at the fact that he's a giant head floating around in some kind of futuristic, cyborg toilet enhancement.

The first problem - he's compensated for his giant headed immobility by allying himself with a guy who wears a pink mask that he took from daddy's closet, and is named Helmut. Second - he's hanging with AIM, who are essentially a non-threatening sprawl of nameless, faceless super scientist drones, who exist for the sole purpose of making evil look goofy as it gets stomped all over by Captain America. With that in mind, it does not bode well for MODOK and his wacky pal, Helmut Zemo.

Update: In all the fun, this update originally asserted the presumption that this was a Heroes Reborn alternate duplicate of the modern day Baron Helmut Zemo. During this event, Helmut was rather prominently featured in the main Marvel Universe in the guise of Citizen V - the leader of villains disguised as heroes: The Thunderbolts. This supports the subsequent understanding that the Baron Zemo featured here is actually Heinrich Zemo - Cap's original WWII nemesis! Please note this correction when proceeding.

Things are partially balanced in this world gone mad, where Rob Liefeld's pencils ensure MODOK, rather than look proportionate next to his super-deformed figures, is actually gargantuan. Actually, I don't remember MODOK ever being so intimidating in battle, nor as a subject to be read.

Cable is a mutant with low level telepathic abilities, military training from a post-apocalyptic future, and big metal cybernetics where diseased limbs once were.
His chief skill in combat is to carry weaponry, armor and shoulder pads that weight twice his bodyweight. When it comes to guns, this guy's futurewares (which are somehow in abundance, despite his residence in the present...) put the Punisher to shame.

So, even despite MODOK's concerning elevation in the supervillain stakes, there are very few scenarios in which Cable would be grossly challenged. On his own, he could probably mow down AIM goons like tin ducks on a motorized rack - call Zemo a daddy's boy - and strip MODOK for parts before a single shell hit the ground.

Oh, and are you dense? Are you retarded or something?
Lest we forget the god damned Captain America!

Honestly, this one's pretty much a case closed scenario...
That's without even getting into the fact that it's only issue six in a series that had SHIELD, the good guys, in an adversarial position at the beginning; and that this is a gratuitous Liefeldian fan service issue, that squeezes his abismal creation [Cable] into the story through the most obtuse means.

What went down...
We enter the fray somewhat disorientated, not by Lifeld's pencils, but rather by virtue of coming in with the action already underway.
Connecting in no way to the previous issue, Captain America stands beside the man called Cable, before a pack of AIM bucketheads, giant MODOK, and Zemo.

Cable doesn't know how he's arrived here, and is curious as to the fact that Captain America is supposed to be dead. As with most of the folks trapped in the Heroes Reborn blue ball, Cap has no recollection of Cable, a trait we all envy.

MODOK takes offense to orders of surrender, apparently prompting Cable to jump qquite high into the air, before he starts shooting his futuristic guns at the bucketheads.

Captain America throws his mighty shield, and clocks a bunch of the yellow jumpsuiters, before following suit with a variety of rampaging fists, dives, shield swings and kicks.

Meanwhile, Carrie Ke... er... I mean, Heroes Reborn girl-Bucky is crowd surfing over the goons, dropping a few fists and kicks whensoever it does suit her.

Now things start to get a little... EXTREME!

Quite literally lording over Cable, MODOK threatens grievous psychic harm.

Cable retorts that in his own world, he's regarded as a pretty decent telepath himself, and proceeds to jump on to MODOK.
Scrambling around MODOK like a bug on a beachball, Cable reaches around to the ample forehead, and starts to probe psychically.

Battling each other within the mind, it seems MODOK is just a bigger psychic target, falling victim, presumably, to the horror of Cable's backstory.

While MODOK sizzles defeat, Cap is managing the army of AIM goons like the one-man army we all know him as.
A few deformed kicks and dives later, and Zemo enters the fray.

The self-professed "Juggernaut of the Fourth Reich" socks it to the American flag, straight across the jaw, but Cap isn't phased. He returns suit, and lays the smackdown with the shield!

To finish Zemo off, he lays down a cermon that should inspire fear in all Golden Age villains who would seek to return: "Whether you ally yourself with A.I.M. or the World Party -- the nightmare called the Nazi Army will NEVER rise again.
America is too strong now. And I share only a hint of her power."

As Cap lays Zemo out for good, Cable arrives as the indesputable fact that, despite all the time travelling/reality jumping knowledge that would contradict his opinion; this must be the original recipe Cap, and not a man from another time or dimension.
This is the one true Captain America. Victorious, as he, Bucky and Cable regroup, only to watch Cable slip away through the timesteam, back to where he belongs. Or at least the next best thing - the Marvel Universe. *snort*

The hammer...
Score one to the anti-registration heroes.Captain America and Cable pick up the victory, with the assist from girl-Bucky!

Jokes aside for a moment, I've got to be honest: I don't hate Rob Liefeld.
He's probably not an artistic force I rate very highly, but honestly, I was never a big mutant reader, so New Mutants/X-Force was lost on me, and I didn't see the appeal in the Image launch. So, really, I haven't had to have a lot to do with the guy.

I think it is irrefutable that the guy has faults.
I have to highlight one such artistic fault here, which actually isn't too jarring in the context of this issue, but is still just a little disturbing from a page-to-dollar ratio.

There are a lot of splash pages.
I'm not talking Bendis and Finch on New Avengers, either. This is... This is pretty bad. This is the kind of thing that would make a pretty compelling argument against the guy from an overall perspective.

Grabbing a random recent purchase, here's how Liefeld's issue compares to a contemporary book written by Allan Heinberg, and pencilled by Jim Cheung:

Young Avengers #12 (2006)
Double page splash: 2
Double page layout: 0
Full page splash: 4
Three quarter splash: 2
Advertising: 4
General layout: 16 (8)
Recap/letters page: 2Captain America #6 (1997)
Double page splash: 8
Double page layout: 2
Full page splash: 5
Three quarter splash: 2
Advertising: 17
General layout: 6
Recap/letters page: 0

The issue I happened to choose, Young Avengers, should be noted for making very good use of fullpage splashes, and managing to cram a great deal of very cleanly told story telling into each layout. I'm actually exceptionally impressed by YA, which has perhaps an uncommon ratio of splashes, but still puts together a strong story -- AND has a Masked Marvel eight page back-up.

While Liefeld's Captain America reads a fun battle, the ratio of story telling and comic is pretty disgraceful. Ignoring the back-end clogging of previews and in-house advertising, you have six pages dedicated to more traditional panel layouts.
That's utilizing just a quarter of dedicated comic to tell the story, with the rest dedicated solely to very nineties extreme action comic.

As I said earlier, it actually reads pretty well, and isn't overly jarring, but this is a disturbing trait for a comic, and highlights how far comics have come.
Likewise, I should probably commend Marvel for it's efforts to cut back on advertising, which was slowly enveloping publications which just aren't getting any cheaper!

So, what do I have to say about Loeb?
Well, likewise, I don't buy into the Loeb hate. Actually, overall, I probably rate the guy pretty highly on my list of writers, and don't think he should be tarnished by association, just because Liefeld has an exaggerated pencil style, and light reading approach.

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 3.5

NEXT: This time around it's Iron Man's turn to team-up with a future ally in the Civil War. I'll give you a clue: he does whatever a spider can!