Ultimate X-Men #78

Issue Date: 
March 2007
Story Title: 
Cable: part 4: Conclusion
Staff: 

Robert Kirkman (writer), Ben Oliver (pencils), Jason Keith (colors), VC’s Joe Caramagna (letters), Anthony Dial (production), John Barber (associate editor), Ralph Macchio (editor), Joe Quesada (editor-in-chief), Dan Buckley (publisher)

Brief Description: 

As they are on their way to Finland in the X-Wing, Scott remains quiet on the entire trip and refuses to talk about what Xavier said earlier about his feelings towards Jean. However, when they arrive on the battlefield, Scott leaves Xavier alone from the still airborne plane and recklessly jumps into action! Storm has to react quickly and creates winds to help Scott land safely. As Ororo is then shot in her shoulder by Domino, the other X-Men keep fighting Kane, Grizzly and Hammer. The Professor isn’t fast enough to take control over the plane again and crashes, though he manages to do so into his enemies. Just in time to warn his students about this, Xavier also uses his powers to survive the plane’s destruction. Due to the explosion of the crash, Hammer’s spine gets broken and Domino, Grizzly and Kane are wounded as well. Remarking that Cable isn’t paying them enough for this and wanting to get Hammer to a medical center, Kane opens a portal and he and his teammates take their leave. Cable, however, is left behind and, while he’s fighting Bishop, he destroys Bishop’s chronal displacer, which enables him to travel back to his own timeline. Cable then tries to run back into his base but is followed by a furious Cyclops. Though Cable throws a shuriken at Scott, which splices his visor apart, the X-Man bravely keeps on fighting. However, Xavier has had enough of this and crawls into the base, intending to kill Cable for what he did to his students. However, Cable takes out a detonator. Xavier, realizing what the device is, punches Scott out of the base, which explodes a moment later. Once the dust clears, the X-Men go in, only to discover that the Professor is… dead, only his skeleton remaining… Strangely enough, though, Cable’s body is nowhere to be found. Bishop thinks it could have vaporized during the explosion, though Wolverine believes otherwise. Elsewhere, Jean uses her powers to burst out of her cell and quickly finds her friends. She is shocked to find the Professor dead, and is quickly hugged by Scott, who does his best to comfort her.

Full Summary: 

In the X-Wing…

With Cyclops steering the plane, the Professor thinks it’s best they talk about this. Scott hasn’t said a word to him since they left the mansion. Scott refuses to talk. They’re E.T.A. is 4 minutes and he would prefer not to talk until then.

Finland…

The other X-Men and Bishop are in full battle against Cable and his team. Colossus confronts Kane, who protects himself by covering his face with his metal arms. Domino shoots at Storm, hitting her in the shoulder. As she falls, thunderclouds appear above. Nearby, Hammer is glad to be defeating Iceman, as he sees him as a legend and can’t believe Bobby is so inept at this point in his life. Wolverine runs towards Hammer, who has no idea who Logan is. Logan snikts his claws right into Hammer’s stomach, remarking that, apparently, he has been keeping a low profile. However, the wounds quickly heal, though Hammer still thinks it’s going to leave a mark. Wolverine looks surprised at Hammer, who slams his fists against Logan. Bishop powers up and a sphere of purple energy forms around his arm. Cable tries to attack him, but Bishop instead quickly punches Kane away from him.

Above, the X-Wing finally arrives. Scott gets up, leaving behind the Professor, who pleads with Scott to come back, as he needs to land the plane. Scott thinks there’s no time: he opens the door of the plane and jumps straight down! Xavier tries to telepathically reach Scott, thinking he has lost his mind, but Scott telepathically replies that it would be best for him to tell Storm to get him to the ground safely. Xavier can then pull the information out of his brain, so he will know how to land the thing. Scott doesn’t think either of them wants to die.

Xavier quickly telepathically reaches out to Storm, who’s sitting on her knees in the storm, holding one hand over her wound. He begs Ororo to save Scott’s live, describing him as being reckless. When Ororo doesn’t know where Scott is, Xavier tells her to look up. She does and is startled, quickly making some winds to lower Scott’s fall. Scott, in the meantime, fires a blast at Grizzly, after which he safely lands and thanks Storm for the help. He then tells her to hang on, promising this will be over soon. Grizzly stands back up, ready to fight Cyclops. Grizzly admits he never told Scott this… but he always really hated him! Scott angrily kicks Grizzly into his face and next fires another blast at him, shouting he’s not here to talk to him!

Nearby, Cable punches Bishop into his face, calling him a traitor since he knows what they are fighting for. Bishop confirms, as that’s the exact reason why he’s fighting him now. Cable punches Bishop down and grabs him by the throat, asking Bishop if he knows what his favorite part in all this is. When this is all over, when he’ll have this mission completed and when Bishop will be battered and beaten, he’ll be back home… and Bishop will be stuck here! In this time! Cable takes Bishop’s chronal displacer away from him… and breaks it apart! Bishop freaks out and starts kicking Cable, who thought the old man was all out of fight.

While Domino and Hammer are having trouble defeating Storm and Colossus, the jet begins to descend. From inside, Xavier shouts at his students to go limp, and a moment later the jet crashes right onto their enemies, followed by a giant explosion. As Cable is tossed away by the blast, emerges from the debris, having used his powers to safely bring himself out of the blast.

Once the dust clears, Cyclops gets up and shouts after Cable. Wolverine tells Scott to go after him, so he can bring Jean back home safe. Not far away, Domino crawls up and freaks out when she sees a badly injured Hammer. Grizzly thinks Hammer’s spine is broken and warns they’ve got to bring him to a med center immediately. Kane, with one of his metal arms broken off, says he’s on it. He opens a portal and steps through it. Domino wants to kill the X-Men for this, but Grizzly warns Domino not to as she can’t even stand. He realizes it’s over for them. He tells her Cable doesn’t pay them enough for this, and he’ll be on his own from now on. He asks Domino to help him get Hammer up before the portal closes. As the time traveling mutants step through the huge portal, Xavier watches them in despair, believing this is all his fault.

Meanwhile, Cyclops follows Cable, who was trying to run back into his base. Scott shouts at Cable not to take another step, but Cable only mocks that Scott apparently still has a death wish, and that he should have taken out Scott long ago. He throws a shuriken at Cyclops, which splices right through Scott’s visor! Though Scott is hurt by it, he’s still alive. As the broken visor falls on the ground, Cable warns Scott it saved his life, and finds that a pity. Scott refuses to let Cable win and fires another optic blast on him. Surviving the blast, Cable holds a knife ready, telling Scott that’s not enough. Scott shouts he’s just getting started and keeps firing his blasts on his opponent. Meanwhile, outside, Xavier does his best to crawl inside the base.

Cable slices his knife through Scott’s uniform. Though injured, it doesn’t prevent him from fighting. However, when Cable then throws a ball at Scott, the sphere stops in mid-air, hanging right in front of Scott. A moment later, it begins to emit a screeching noise, which hurt Scott’s ears. Cable takes advantage of this and punches Scott harsh in his face. The two keep fighting each other for a while, until Xavier shouts at them to stop. Xavier tells Cable he’s there for him. With an exhausted voice, Cable remarks that the Professor is much bolder than he remembers. Scott quickly hits Cable with a final blast, but now, Scott is too tired as well and falls down at the same moment Cable does.

Xavier warns Cable that this is over, and that he’s still there. After what Cable did to Charles’ students, the Professor wants to end Cable’s life for this. Cable, however, doesn’t think that his mission is over yet, and refuses to admit he failed. He then takes out a device and presses a red button on it. Seeing this, Xavier panics and shouts at Scott to get out of there. Since Scott is still down, however, Xavier punches him, forcing him outside. On that very moment, Cable’s base ends in a fiery explosion.

A short while later, after they have had time to regroup and it is once it’s safe to go closer to the former base, the X-Men quietly walk inside it… only to find a skeleton. Wolverine quietly stares at it, as he holds a wounded Storm in his arms. A solemn Colossus stands next to them. Bishop follows and Iceman is uncertain how to properly react.

Elsewhere, Jean uses her powers to burst free of her cell, only to find the rest of the base completely destroyed. She calls out to the Professor and Scott, wondering what happened.

Scott drops on his knees in front of the skeleton. He wonders if this is the Professor and, if Cable did this… where is his body? Bishop thinks the body could have vaporized, if Cable was the center of the blast. Wolverine disagrees. He thinks Cable teleported away before the blast. That has to be the case, since Cable’s body isn’t there. When Bishop asks how Logan can be so sure, Logan tells Bishop to just trust him: he knows it wasn’t vaporized.

Jean finds her friends and is shocked when she finds the Professor dead. Scott apologizes and says there was nothing he could do. Jean is startled. Scott walks over to his girlfriend and, with his eyes closed, just hugs her.

Characters Involved: 

Colossus, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Professor X, Storm, Wolverine (all X-Men)

Bishop

Cable, Domino, Grizzly, Hammer, Kane

Story Notes: 
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