Deadpool Just Stole Cable’s Arm

The tenuous friendship between Deadpool and Cable has officially gone far off the rails in the first Marvel Legacy issue of the newly re-titled Despicable Deadpool.

Spoilers for Despicable Deadpool #287 follow.

Fans probably recognized that Deadpool and Cable’s relationship was headed for a rocky patch when Deadpool’s first Marvel Legacy story arc title was revealed to be “Deadpool Kills Cable.”

Despicable Deadpool #287 opens with Deadpool and Cable locked in combat. Deadpool has fallen far from his time as a hero and a member of the Avengers, starting with when he killed SHIELD Agents Phil Coulson while working for Hydra’s Captain America during the Secret Empire event.

Deadpool’s lot has only gotten worse since then. Despicable Deadpool #287 reveals that Deadpool is now working for Stryfe, the clone of Cable who was raised by Apocalypse and became a mutant supervillain terrorist. Deadpool feels he has no choice but to work for Stryfe because Stryfe may be the only person capable of saving the Preston family, including his daughter.

Stryfe gave Deadpool a list of names, and he wants each of those people on the list killed. On the top of the list is Cable himself, and so Deadpool goes after his former partner and fellow Avenger.

The battle, as drawn by Scott Koblish and scripted by Gerry Duggan, is brutal. Cable nearly goes down early on and it’s only the AI in his arm, Belle, that manages to save him.

Still, Deadpool ends up with Cable dead to rights and uses his katana to cut Cable’s robotic arm off. Deadpool is ready to deliver the killing blow when a group of time cops arrives to take Cable away, believing him to actually be Stryfe (there’s even a gag about Cable and Stryfe’s original origin, where Stryfe was Cable just further along their timeline).

Feeling he has no choice but to pursue Cable, Deadpool does the only reasonable thing. He uploads his own AI into Cable’s arm, which then partitions off Belle, cuts off his own arm, and grafts Cable’s arm onto his own body so that he can use it to track his target through time.

Despicable Deadpool is off to quite the start, going back to Deadpool’s earliest appearances when he was trying to kill Cable and ramping things up to new levels. The hunt continues next issue.

Despicable Deadpool #287 is on sale now.