WARNING - The Following Article Contains SPOILERS For Deadpool 2.

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The writers of Deadpool 2 believe that future films in the franchise (including, presumably, X-Force) should fully explore the complex backstory of Nathan Summers aka. Cable. One item they particularly think needs to be examined in detail is Cable’s acquisition of a techno-organic virus from the future, that is slowly turning him into a machine-man hybrid.

In the original Marvel Comics, Nathan Summers was the son of X-Men leader Scott “Cyclops” Summers and Madeline Pryor - a clone of X-Man Jean Grey, who was created by the mad geneticist Mister Sinister, as part of a plan to breed the most genetically powerful mutant of all time. Possessing the same telepathic and telekinetic gifts as his mother, young Nathan had the potential to become far stronger than her. This potential was largely put in check by the villain Apocalypse, who infected Nate with a virus that transforms living flesh into organic metal - a usually fatal process. Nathan’s life was saved when he was transported 2000 years into the future by a wanderer from The Askani Clan, who was able to cure the virus. This left Nathan with his trademark metal arm and a reduced level of psychic power, as part of his abilities became focused on repressing the spread of the virus.

In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Deadpool 2 co-writer Rhett Reese spoke about the techno-organic virus and its importance to Cable’s backstory. Reese says the only reason they didn’t discuss the issue in detail in Deadpool 2 was that there wasn’t time given everything else from the X-Force mythos that the film had to introduce. Reese says:

“Cable has such a complex back story. We certainly want to explore the virus that’s killing him. There was a little bit of that in this script and it didn’t quite make it into the cut, but this idea that he is sort of slowly becoming more machine than man, I think is definitely something we want to explore.”

Another aspect of Cable’s background Reese would like to explore in future movies is his status as a time-traveling nomad. Reese believes Cable’s status as a time-traveler offers rich avenues for storytelling that should be explored:

In the original comics, Nathan Summers spent his formative years after being transported to the future being groomed for his eventual destiny as the savior of mutantkind, who would one day destroy Apocalypse. With that accomplished, he lived in peace, until the death of his wife and the abduction of his son by the villain Stryfe. Cable’s pursuit of Stryfe took him back to the past, where he met a young Charles Xavier and agreed to design an advanced security system for the school Xavier was building, in exchange for lessons on how to live in the late 20th Century.

“We also want to explore a little bit of him being a man out of time because now he really is, the way we’ve set it up (in Deadpool 2), trapped, in theory, in this previous time and he’s committed to trying to make the world a better place… We definitely want to explore that too, and then I think largely we just always want to use Cable as a foil for Deadpool. He’s such a man on a mission who doesn’t want to be distracted by irreverence, and silliness, and craziness, and that’s the perfect foil for Deadpool…”

How exactly any of this would gel with the events of X-Men Apocalypse and the other X-Men movies produced by Fox Studios (presuming Deadpool is in the same reality as them) is anybody’s guess.

More: Every X-Force Movie Update You Need To Know

  • Deadpool 2 Release Date: 2018-05-18 X-Men: Dark Phoenix Release Date: 2019-06-07 New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28