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Cable was designed to be "the next Wolverine" and took inspiration from '80s era Arnold Schwarzenegger, accordint to Rob Liefeld
There's a reason Cable is a cyborg with massive guns, and the reason is Arnold Schwarzenegger
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When Rob Liefeld took over as artist of New Mutants, he insisted on bringing in a "brand new, kickass leader" for the team, resulting in his creation of Cable, the mutant freedom fighter from the future. Taking inspiration from iconic '80s and '90s action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cable became what Liefeld calls "the right character at the right time," with his introduction leading New Mutant to become a best seller as the title transitioned into X-Force.
"Cable was intended as a force that would transform the book and give a different voice. And I worked this out with my editor. I mentioned his name a bunch. His name's Bob Harris," Liefeld states during his spotlight panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego 2026
"He was invested in transforming the X-Men. The X-Men office. And that's why he went and got me. He got Jim Lee. He got [Whilce Portacio]. He was recruiting. And I said, 'I can't do this book unless you let me introduce this character.'"
Liefeld was encouraged by Marvel's then recent policy of allowing creators ownership of the characters they introduce. He set about trying to make "the next Wolverine," a character so popular it would become a Marvel staple for years to come. Liefeld did indeed succeed with Cable and perhaps even more successfully Deadpool, one of Marvel's most popular characters.
"I'm telling you, as a 21-year-old kid, I'm like, 'So if I make the next Wolverine, my favorite character, if I somehow strike gold, I'll get a piece of this character for the rest of my life? I'll plant those trees.' That's why I was like, tree planting. I was a gardener for six months, man. I was like digging up soil. Boom, planting seeds, planting seeds. Cable, Domino, Deadpool, all of them," he explains.
"Cable, I wanted to have a giant action hero in answer to this question: What was I seeing with all my buddies? I was watching Die Hard. I was watching Terminator. I was watching Total Recall. It was Schwarzenegger all day. Get to the chopper, okay? Predator, come on," Liefeld continues, laying out his main inspirations for Cable's cybernetic body and massive collection of guns. "So I said, here's the character I want. And they started to mingle. I said, he's from the future. He's seen every X-Men die. He's back here to warn them of a terrible path they're going down."
Cable and X-Force are central to the current season of the smash-hit animated series X-Men '97.
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