History Characters / XMenTheAnimatedSeriesXMen

-->[[VillainsWantMercy ''"Charles, please-!"'']]

[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Cable]]
!!Cable / [[spoiler:Nathan Charles Summers]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cable_9.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/LawrenceBayne (original series), Creator/ChrisPotter (''X-Men '97'') (English), Jorge Santos (Latin American dub)

A mysterious vigilante, later revealed to be a time-traveller and enemy of Apocalypse. He is also the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor.
----
* EleventhHourRanger: Joins the team during the three-part '''97'' first season finale. To signify this, he switches out his usual costume for the one he wore when he joined the X-Men in the comics (Cyclops' old costume with some slight modifications), despite having no in-universe reason to do so.
* NinetiesAntiHero: He was one of the trope codifiers. He's elderly, gruff, and not terribly nice half the time he interacts with the X-Men, but he is trying to save his future.
* AdaptationalNameChange: [[spoiler: This version's full name is "Nathan Charles Summers", dropping the comic version's first middle name "Christopher".]]
* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: [[spoiler: While both versions had Madelyne Pryor as their birth mother, the comic version of Cable considers Jean to be his real mother ([[HappilyAdopted as she raised him]]) and would choose to save her over Madelyne in a heartbeat. This version is far more connected to Madelyne due to the psychic message she implanted in him expressing her love and he starts out rejecting Jean. He gradually accepts that, since Jean has all of Madelyne's memories and feels the same love for him that she did, she's his mother too.]]
* ArtificialLimb: His left arm is cybernetic.
* {{BFG}}: His main weapon.
* {{Determinator}}:
** He will stop Apocalypse, and nothing's going to stop him. Not even potentially sacrificing family members.
-->'''Apocalypse:''' You have crossed a dozen lifetimes to stop me! When will you learn it cannot be done?\\
'''Cable:''' Guess I'm just a slow learner.
** In '''97'', Cable [[spoiler:went back in time ''two hundred times'' to prevent the genocide on Genosha and Bastion's Prime Sentinel future.]]
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His first appearance has him show up in Genosha making trouble, apparently having some history with their government. This never comes up again, except going after Warren Worthington for funding the creation of the power-negating collars. He also doesn't have his cybernetic arm.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: When last seen, he's returning to the future where, hopefully, Apocalypse is gone forever and his son is back from the dead, allowing him to live a life free of war.
* ExtraParentConception: [[spoiler:Cable is the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, but since Madelyne's an identical clone of Jean Grey, and the latter inherited the former's memories including giving birth to Cable, Jean is also his biological mother.]]
* FailureHero: [[spoiler:Tries to warn the people of Genosha about an incoming Wild Sentinel attack, but he's unable to get anyone to hear him before the attack begins, and his computer drags him away. Judging by his remark before it happens, it's not his first attempt at doing so. The finale confirms he tried over two hundred times.]]
* FightsLikeANormal: He's a mutant with telekinetic powers, but most of the time he just uses his guns and martial arts prowess.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: In ''Tolerance is Extinction - Part 2'' [[spoiler:Cable shows losing his gun doesn't make him less dangerous. If anything, he was holding back the entire time as he proceeds to overwhelm Jean in a psychic battle.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: Gets his own theme music, an electronic piece.
* MysteriousPast: Jean manages to get a scan of his mind at one point (and for once, ''doesn't'' immediately faint) and gets several fragmentary glimpses, including one of what looks like her and Cyclops. Whether his backstory is quite as complicated as the comics was unknown, but Jean learns that he's important to their future. Cable also bitterly mentions that while he knows little about the X-Men as a whole, he does know about Cyclops and Jean Grey. [[spoiler:''X-Men '97'' settles this with the birth of Scott and Madelyne Pryor's son, who has to be sent to the future in an attempt to cure him from Sinister's techno-organic virus. Cable later meets with Madelyne where the latter realizes who he is.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:His reappearance in "Remember It" has him frantic, even panicking, as he tries to get the people of Genosha to listen to him. And this is a man who stared down Apocalypse without blinking, which helps indicate just how bad things must be.]]
* PapaWolf: Much of his motivation in "Time Fugitives" is finding a way to stop his son being erased from existence.
* RebelLeader: He's the leader of the last remaining resistance against Apocalypse in the 40th century, which seems to consist of him and four other people.
* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: While Nightcrawler joining the core team was heavily hinted at in the promos, Cable was barely mentioned at all.
* {{Teleportation}}: Uses his computer to bodyslide. It can bring along additional people.
* TheUnfettered: Come "Beyond Good and Evil", he's so determined to kill Apocalypse for good he's willing to leave his son to die, which makes him even more bad-tempered than usual.
* UnknownRival: He's hell-bent on getting Apocalypse, who barely acknowledges him beyond being a mildly irritating nuisance.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: One remark Cable makes to Apocalypse kickstarts his final plan to wipe out time itself.
* YoureNotMyFather: In ''X-Men '97'' whenever he's around Jean he keeps telling her she's not his mother. [[spoiler:By the end of the first season he seems to be over it and accepts that while Jean didn't give birth to him, she's still his mother and he's her son.]]
[[/folder]]
----

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: His psychic abilities are so great that he can even take control of other mutants' powers, however it also risks wrecking their psyche. [[spoiler:He does this to Magneto as he has no other choice in order to restore the Earth's magnetosphere. In addition he does ''another'' of these to restore Magneto's mind though he puts himsel at risk of going down with Magneto if they're still linked.]]

* MindRape: In an early episode he ''forces Magneto to relive his horribly traumatic childhood.'' While Magneto ''was'' being a total sadistic prick at the time, it's still pretty damn disturbing.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Much like other incarnations, he isn't quite as much of a ManipulativeBastard or even a jerk as he is in the comics. [[spoiler:Most notable is how he deals with Magneto in the "Tolerance is Extinction" three-parter, which partially adapts the ''Fatal Attractions'' storyline including the infamous moment where Magneto rips all of the adamantium out of Wolverine's body. While in Charles in the comic book storyline declared that Magneto was BeyondRedemption following the act and completely wiped his mind, Charles here ''still'' chose to attempt to appeal to his old friend's better nature, using his telepathy instead to help Magneto finally confront the trauma that had caused him to return to his human-hating ways time and again.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:She joins back with the X-Men after Charles and Magneto are rendered comatose from their mental battle.]]

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: When they believe they're about to die in "Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3" they tell a comatose Wolverine that they love him.

* HandBlasts: Shoots fireworks out of her hands. Unfortunately, apart from occasionally blinding someone in a fight or blowing up something small, her powers don't tend to be particularly useful for combat due to inexperience and whoever she comes out against being MadeOfIron.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Much like other incarnations, he isn't quite as much of a ManipulativeBastard or even a jerk as he is in the comics. [[spoiler:Most notable is how he deals with Magneto in the "Tolerance is Extinction" three-parter, which partially adapts ''Fatal Attractions'' storyline including the infamous moment where Magneto rips all of the adamantium out of Wolverine's body. While in Charles in the comic book storyline declared that Magneto was BeyondRedemption following the act and completely wiped his mind, Charles here ''still'' chose to attempt to appeal to his old friend's better nature, using his telepathy instead to help Magneto finally confront the trauma that had caused him to return to his human-hating ways time and again.]]

* SquishyWizard: Her psychic powers are matched only by Charles', but she is practically useless in combat.

* ExtraParentConception: [[spoiler:Cable is the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, but since Madelyne's an identical clone of Jean Grey, and the latterinherited the former's memories including giving birth to Cable, it means Jean is also his biological mother.]]

* {{Determinator}}: He will stop Apocalypse, and nothing's going to stop him. Not even potentially sacrificing family members.

* HasTwoMommies: [[spoiler:Madelyn is the one who birthed him, but since she's a clone of Jean it also means Jean is his biological mother. He even gets three if Mother Askani is counted.]]

* ImmuneToMindControl: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]], he's not outright immune, but ''super'' resistant. The only person who successfully manages to MindRape him is Sauron, and even he has a lot of trouble, and remarks that no one has ever been able to resist him as much as Xavier.

* SouthernBelle: ''No surprise there'', Sugah.

** On the flip side, ''X-Men '97'' sees them adopt the look of those versions of Morph: off-white skin, blank eyes, a noseless face, and bald. [[spoiler:"Tolerance is Extinctionn, Part 2" sees them even take on a capeless version of their ''Exiles'' costume.]]