X-Factor #68
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeX-Factor #68 is the narrative hinge on which the entire Cable mythology turns: it is the issue in which Cyclops, faced with the imminent death of his infant son Nathan Christopher from a techno-organic virus inflicted by Apocalypse, surrenders the boy to the time-traveler Askani, who carries him to the far future where he will grow up to become the warrior known as Cable. That single act of parental sacrifice seeded years of X-Men continuity — the Askani mythology, the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix miniseries, the Stryfe/Cable rivalry, and the ongoing Cable solo series — making the issue foundational to one of the most elaborately constructed character origins in Marvel history. Claremont deliberately structured the finale to echo the emotional register of 'The Dark Phoenix Saga,' deploying a closing Watcher soliloquy that mirrors Uatu's speech in Uncanny X-Men #137 and frames Cyclops's loss as the defining tragedy of the original X-Factor run. It also functions as the effective conclusion of that first X-Factor era, clearing the deck — removing Nathan, destroying Ship, and resolving the team's long conflict with Apocalypse — so the characters could be folded back into the relaunched X-Men titles that followed.
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The 'Endgame' arc (X-Factor #65–68) was co-plotted by Whilce Portacio and Jim Lee, with scripting by Chris Claremont, under editor Bob Harras and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco. The decision to establish baby Nathan as Cable's past self originated with Harras, Lee, and Portacio over the objections of Rob Liefeld, who had co-created Cable for New Mutants and had his own plans — reportedly intending Cable to be a future version of Cannonball. The final image on the Watcher's closing page, which places an image of Cable adjacent to the infant Nathan, was deliberately seeded by Lee and Portacio to ignite fan speculation about the connection, even before the link was formally confirmed in Cable #6 (December 1993). Claremont's narration-heavy approach — the issue is told entirely through Cyclops's first-person interior monologue, a departure from the format of the preceding three chapters — is widely credited with supplying the emotional weight that the dense, action-driven plotting alone could not achieve.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Core narrative event: Cyclops relinquishes infant Nathan Christopher Summers to the time-traveler Askani, who transports the boy to the far future so the Askani Clan's advanced technology can halt a fatal techno-organic virus Apocalypse has used to infect him — the act that retroactively establishes Nathan as the child who grows up to become Cable.
- The issue features the first appearance of Jen Askani (Sister Askani) as an active character, the time-traveling woman from the 37th century who serves as Nathan's guardian and is later revealed to be a future incarnation of Rachel Summers leading the Clan Askani.
- The Watcher (Uatu) appears on the final page to deliver a closing monologue, a deliberate structural callback to his identical role at the conclusion of 'The Dark Phoenix Saga' in Uncanny X-Men #137; the same page visually juxtaposes an image of Cable alongside the infant Nathan, the first time the two were shown in proximity — sparking early reader speculation about their connection.
- X-Factor's living spaceship 'Ship' merges its substance with Nathan's to slow the virus, and is effectively destroyed in the process; later retrocon continuity established that Ship traveled with Nathan to the future and became Cable's computerized companion known as 'the Professor.'
- The issue was narrated entirely in Cyclops's first-person voice, structurally distinct from the other three chapters of 'Endgame,' a scripting choice Claremont used to give emotional depth to what is otherwise an extended battle sequence set in Apocalypse's fortress on the Blue Area of the Moon.
- The issue has been reprinted multiple times: in X-Men: Wrath of Apocalypse #1 (February 1996), the X-Men by Chris Claremont & Jim Lee Omnibus Vol. 2 (2011), Essential X-Factor Vol. 5 (2012, black and white), and the X-Men Epic Collection Vol. 19: Mutant Genesis (2017).
- The connection between Nathan Summers and Cable was not formally confirmed in print until Cable #6 (December 1993); Rob Liefeld, who co-created Cable for New Mutants, opposed the Nathan-as-Cable retcon and had planned his own separate origin for the character.
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