Spider-Man is generally the first Marvel superhero that comes to mind when thinking about clones. Peter Parker was famously involved in the “Clone Saga” years ago, that complicated his life with the addition of several duplicates including Ben Reilly, who eventually became the Scarlet Spider. Recently, Miles Morales entered his own version of the saga, facing multiple clones of himself who have their own spider-powers. However, none of these compares to the X-Men member Cable, who has been intimately associated with clones for nearly his entire superhero career, and is currently immersed in a new wave of clone madness.
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Cable has a unique background to begin with, but his clone raised everything to a new level. As the child of X-Men Cyclops and the clone of Jean Grey, Madeline Pryor, Cable was destined to be a powerful mutant. Apocalypse infected baby Cable, also known as Nathaniel Summers, with a techno-organic virus that would eventually kill him if left untreated. To save the baby, he was taken far into the future where they had the technology to slow the spread of the virus. The leader of Cable’s saviors, the Askani, had him cloned. Even if they could not save Cable, they had a backup.
However, Apocalypse invaded the Askani and took the clone child to raise as his own. Cable grew up in the capable hands of the Askani, growing up to become the time-traveling founder of the original X-Force and an ally to the X-Men. His clone, Stryfe, did not fare as well. With only Apocalypse and his minions to care for him, Stryfe’s cruelty and malice were cultivated, turning him into a monstrous mirror image of his heroic counterpart. After several encounters, the two men found out how deep their connection ran. During 1992’s “X-Cutioner’s Song” crossover event, Stryfe used this to his advantage by attempting to assassinate Charles Xavier while posing as Cable.
In the current timeline, the older version of Cable was killed by his teenage self who lives with the mutants of Krakoa. Some time later, the younger Cable stumbled across a cult of humans who fanatically love mutants called the Order of X. The members of the Order took their devotion to an extreme by kidnapping mutant infants. Cable #7, by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto, made the matter even more complicated by revealing that the mastermind behind the kidnappings was Stryfe, the much older and more experienced original clone of Cable.
With the help of lucky mutant Domino, Cable tracked down a lead on Stryfe to Tokyo. Cable spotted a middle-aged clone of Stryfe and followed him to a hidden doorway. When Cable broke into the secret lair, he anticipated Stryfe. Instead, he was greeted by twelve clones of his young self trying to attack him. It was unclear if the clones were of the younger Cable or a younger version of Stryfe. All the clones were eventually destroyed but the encounter led to more questions rather than any kind of answers.
Cable has been on a wild goose chase in pursuit of his older and wiser clone. Finally, the young mutant concluded that he himself is the problem, rationalizing that the older version of himself is needed to effectively combat his oldest rival. He doubts himself, and longs for “the other guy” to be resurrected, now feeling like he was wrong to ever kill his counterpart, reasoning that his older self was the only one capable of handling the threat of Stryfe. However, the protocol of Krakoa bans the resurrection of clones, leaving the younger Cable on his own to deal with a threat that may be too much for him to handle.
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