If you were disappointed by X-Men: Last Stand, join the club. It’s a black mark on the franchise, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to see it continued. First Class has inspired me to think what I would like to see out of X-Men 4. It always comes down to one character me;Cable.
Cable was the epitomy of 90’s anti hero. One might say he’s as much of a archetype as Superman. Okay maybe that’s a bit much, but Cable the first of a series of characters that so saturated the comic book industry, it almost choked it. Despite being the first and quintessential 90’s anti hero Cable is the exception to the rule. He has more depth than those who imitated him, and remained relatively popular even after the anti hero fad died down. He is the child of Cyclops, and Jean Grey’s clone, with powers reminiscent of both. As a baby a villain infected him with a technorganic virus which turned him into a cyborg. To save his life Cyclops sent him into the future where a cure might exist. The virus was halted and he grew up in a post apocalyptic nightmare, fashioning himself into a one man army. Eventually he traveled back in time to our present to save the world from the mistakes which caused his world to be so horrible. In some ways he was a violent soldier, in others he was a messianic figure. His worst enemy was Apocalypse, the “first” mutant who had destroyed/ conquered most of the world in his timeline. Apocalypse’s presence was one of Cable’s reasons for being in the present.
So how would I work this into X4? As of the end of Last Stand, three of the most prominent X-Men were dead. The bulk of the world’s mutant population was depowered. This would be a great setting for someone like Apocalypse to attack the world. Like Magneto, he believes mutants are the next stage of human evolution but whereas Magneto was simply militant about mutant rights, Apocalypse wanted to force the world to destroying itself so that the fittest would survive. With so few mutants left to oppose him he would succeed. To set things right Cable would journey back in time to resurrect or prevent the death of Jean Grey, Cyclops and Professor X. With both Jean Grey and Cyclops alive, they’d be able to have a child namely a young Cable. Cable would create himself in a predestination paradox. We can simplify the comic booky elements. Instead of being a technorganic cyborg Cable could simply have lost his arm and replaced it with robotics. Instead of making Apocalypse an overpowered cheese ball, maybe his powers are simpler and involve time travel. Born in ancient Egypt as the first mutant he could travel forward to get future weapons becoming a “god” to lesser beings. Cable’s time travel technology could be reverse engineered from Apocalypse’s DNA. Conversely Apocalypse could be a presence instead of a standard physical threat. The characters could fight his minions, and talk about him but never actually confront him, similar to LOTR’s Sauron. A Cable centric movie could incorporate elements of the epic “Days of Future Past” comic and have a similar narrative flow to 12 Monkeys. Cable himself could be a mysterious figure, who continually appears to help, influence or affect the X-men in a non linear fashion.
(On the note of 12 Monkeys Bruce Willis would make an EPIC Cable)
Like all good time travel stories with a devastated world, the heroes would seek to change the future. One of the characters would theorize that time is immutable because Cable causes his own birth. The resolution could be that the time line wouldn’t need to be prevented. In the future Xavier’s dream wins out. Though Apocalypse does try to destroy the world he would never be successful. Xavier’s message of peace and acceptance could change humanity for the better. The X-Men would unite mutants and humanity to save the world. Thought there would always be discrimination mutants aren’t a persecuted minority or the overlord masters. They would be equal and accepted. Cable’s mission would allow the resurrected characters a chance at redemption, and inspire them to redouble their efforts to save the world. In this capacity Cable would fulfill his dual role of violent antihero, and messiah to the world.
As epic and awesome as the X-Men prequels might be, I’m always worried they will try to reboot the franchise when they run out of stories. A time travel base Cable movie could reinvigorate the X-Men Movies. I think it has a world of potential.
