Marvel Brings Back One of the X-Men’s Deadliest Villains in Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool & Wolverine have become Marvel’s team supreme. Their movie was a massive success and the publisher decided to give the two their own ongoing team-up series. Deadpool/Wolverine reunites the two heroes with the creative team of Benjamin Percy and Joshua Casssara, who worked with the duo during the Krakoa Era of X-Men comics in X-Force. The first issue of the new series arrived this week (earning a 4 out of 5 rating in ComicBook’s review) and it is a doozy, an action-packed banger featuring the two characters coming together after a mysterious villain returns to the Marvel Universe – Stryfe, the evil clone of Cable.

Cable is familiar to Deadpool fans, both those who only love the movies and those who watch the movies and read the comics. The character has been had a banner year following his turn in X-Men ’97, which reminded fans of his pedigree – the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor sent to the future and returned to the present as the supreme mutant soldier. Stryfe plays an important role in Cable’s history, and Deadpool/Wolverine #1 hints that he may have something to do with Deadpool and Wolverine’s past, including Wolverine’s days as a member of the CIA’s Team X, when he teamed with Sabretooth and Maverick, the latter appearing in the issue.

Stryfe Is the Evil Clone of Cable

Fans of X-Men ’97 got a primer on Cable and while there are some differences in the comics, the broad strokes are the same. Nathan Summers was born to Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, eventually infected with a techno-organic virus, and sent to the future to learn to deal with it. While in the future, he joined the war against Apocalypse. Apocalypse, knowing that Cable could be a weapon against him, was able to get his hands on his genetic structure and created Stryfe, a clone of Cable without the techno-organic virus, which gave him access to the full mental powers of Cable, which were usually tied up in holding back the virus.

Much like Cable, Stryfe was sent into the past in order to pave the way for Apocalypse’s eventual triumph and destroy Cable. Stryfe battled Cable and X-Force before turning his sights on the X-Men in the ’90s classic “The X-Cutioner’s Song,” where he pretended to be Cable and shot Professor Xavier. This piece of continuity plays into Deadpool/Wolverine #1, specifically the word “X-Cutioner.”

Related: Deadpool & Wolverine Almost Didn’t Happen Before Hugh Jackman’s Return

Stryfe is found in the beginning of the first issue imprisoned in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, naturally leading to his escape. This escape awakened something in Deadpool, who was on a mission of his own, initiating him as a “X-Cutioner” and causing him to find Wolverine. The mind-controlled Deadpool took Wolverine to a graveyard in Deadwood, South Dakota, where a bunker under the graves of James Howlett and Wade Wilson hosued suits of armor (which match the armor that Wolverine, Maverick, and Sabretooth used to wear as Team X). Maverick shows up, as he was hired to deal with Stryfe’s earlier escape, and Deadpool attacks, eventually escaping and finding his way to Stryfe.

Stryfe’s Return Brings a Major Danger Back to the Marvel Universe

Stryfe and Deadpool have crossed paths many times in the past. Stryfe hired Deadpool as muscle in the early days of his war with Cable. Deadpool has also battled Stryfe, having been responsible for one of the mutant villain’s deaths. At one point in Deadpool/Wolverine #1, Wolverine speculates that Deadpool is under the control of nanites, which Stryfe could have implanted into the Merc with a Mouth at some point in the past. However, the most interesting thing about the issue is the use of “X-Cutioner” and how that relates to Team X.

Team X was one of several mutant strike teams under the employ of the West during the Cold War and beyond. Cable’s Wild/Six Pack was another, and Stryfe was working for the Soviets at that time, in opposition to Cable. Wade Wilson was also in this black ops game at the time, bringing them all together in a bloody cat’s cradle. Stryfe having access to Deadpool isn’t surprising, but him having created some nanite based failsafe that led to Team X armor is. Stryfe is a dangerous villain, and the secrets Deadpool/Wolverine reveals about him could have major repercussions for the Marvel Universe.

Deadpool/Wolverine #1 is on sale now.