X-Men 97’s Cable Twist Explained: Nathan Summers Connection Revealed

Episode 3 of Disney+’s X-Men ’97 series ended with a major twist regarding Cable, and many fans are wondering what it means for the rest of the show.

Although it is not canon, the MCU finally dipped its toes into the world of the X-Men with X-Men ’97, a continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series that was released throughout the 1990s.

The show’s first two episodes brought viewers back into The Animated Series‘ world, with Charles Xavier dead and Magneto ready to work alongside the team of mutants.

X-Men ’97 Episode 3’s Nathan Summers Twist

Warning – The rest of this article contains spoilers for Episode 3 of X-Men ’97.

Episode 3 of X-Men ’97 featured more than a few big moments.

For example, viewers saw Mister Sinister, two different Jean Greys (one being a clone), and Nathan Summers as a baby.

However, Episode 3’s ending featured a twist regarding Nathan Summers that likely made many fans of the 1990s show point to the screen as they put two and two together.

At the end of Episode 3, Jean (a clone who later goes by Madelyne Pryor) and Scott (aka Cyclops) find Mister Sinister in possession of their son, Nathan Summers.

Nathan was being held in a tank that contained green liquid, but Madelyne and Scott were able to free him and take him back to the mansion with them.

However, it was revealed that Mister Sinister was experimenting on Nathan while the baby was with him, which resulted in Nathan having green markings all over him.

It turns out Mister Sinister was trying to make Nathan invincible by exposing him to the techno-organic virus, which unfortunately has no cure in the timeline that X-Men ’97 takes place in.

However, the big reveal then happens. Bishop, who is from the future, knows someone who can likely fix Nathan and heal him of his condition, but he would have to be taken away from Scott and Madelyne and live in the future.

Knowing it will be best for Nathan, Scott and Madelyne reluctantly agree to send him with Bishop.

This point in the episode is where viewers likely realized that they had just seen the origin story for X-Men: The Animated Series‘ Cable, who appeared in multiple episodes of that series and came from the future.

Many comic book fans (especially of X-Men stories) are familiar with Cable being the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, but when X-Men: The Animated Series came out, it was unknown whether Cable’s parents were from a future timeline or something similar.

However, X-Men ’97 did confirm that Cable was born to Scott and Madelyne in the universe that the show primarily takes place in, just that he couldn’t survive without being taken into the future by Bishop.

Speaking of Bishop, it is interesting to note that, in the comics (specifically the Messiah War run that was a crossover between Cable and X-Force), Bishop is hunting down Hope Summer, who is then saved by Cable.

Cable saves her by taking her into the future, which perfectly parallels Episode 3 of X-Men ’97 since Bishop saves Nathan Summers by taking him into the future.

However, it is quite ironic how the roles are reversed, especially since Nathan will grow up to be Cable.

Will Cable Be In X-Men ’97?

Cable didn’t have an extremely large role in X-Men: The Animated Series, but he did appear in several episodes.

However, it was already confirmed that he will have a role in X-Men ’97, and fans can expect to see him as early as sometime this season.

In X-Men: The Animated Series, most of Cable’s attention is on the ongoing war in the future (nearly 4000 AD) with Apocalypse.

It is unclear what Cable will return to the present to do in X-Men ’97. Still, his costume and character design were revealed during San Diego Comic-Con 2022, indicating that he will at least appear in Season 1.

Now that Scott knows exactly what happened to his son, perhaps he and Cable will talk about what happened.

The first three episodes of X-Men ’97 are available to stream on Disney+, and new episodes are released every Wednesday.