Newborn baby Nathan Summers plays a key role in X-Men ’97‘s latest episode, “Fire Made Flesh.” So, who is Nathan Summers – not just in X-Men ’97, but in wider X-Men continuity, as well?
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X-Men ’97’s Nathan Summers, Explained
Nathan Summers is the son of Scott Summers/Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor/The Goblin Queen (a clone of Jean Grey). His conception represents the culmination of supervillain Mister Sinister’s long-running – and frankly, gross – plan to create an incredibly powerful mutant using Scott and Jean’s combined DNA. Sinister’s scheme will ultimately pay off, even though baby Nate escapes his clutches. As hinted at in X-Men ’97‘s precursor, X-Men: The Animated Series, Nathan is destined to become Cable: a cybernetically-enhanced warrior with considerable telepathic and telekinetic abilities at his disposal.
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All of the above is true of Nathan Summers’ comic book counterpart, too – although his X-Men ’97 backstory is much less complicated. Indeed, the Nathan/Cable character arc in Marvel’s mid-90s X-Men comics is notoriously confusing. It involves another clone, time travel, retcons, and editorial edicts. Heck, at one point, nobody at Marvel could even agree whether Nathan actually was Cable. There’s also a lot of stuff in the comics about Nathan (as Cable) trying to bring down future world conqueror Apocalypse. X-Men: The Animated Series has already covered the general gist of the Cable/Apocalypse rivalry, largely downplaying the comics’ “Chosen One” undertones.
Why Did Cyclops and Jean Grey Send Nathan Summers Into the Future?
Something else the cartoon X-Men canon dramatically simplifies is Nathan Summers’ Techno-Organic virus. In the comics, Apocalypse infects Nathan with the deadly virus as a twisted way of determining whether the poor kid could one day make a suitable host body. True to form, things get convoluted fast. However, the key takeaway is that Cyclops sends Nathan into the 38th Century to be cured. And Maddie’s not present because she’s dead (don’t worry: she eventually gets better).
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That’s essentially how things play out in X-Men ’97 Season 1, Episode 3, “Fire Made Flesh,” with a few notable tweaks. Here, Nathan’s virus results from further experimentation by Sinister, pruning Apocalypse from his origin story. What’s more, Bishop – not Nathan’s alternate timeline half-sister, Rachel Summers – takes l’il Cable forward in time in X-Men ’97. Oh, and Maddie (not Scott) spearheads the handover in the show. But in both versions, Nate taking a trip to tomorrow is the only way to save him.
X-Men ’97 is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping Wednesdays.
