As always. Cable is on the run from doing something that no one else in the Marvel Universe understands. Sure it’s for the greater good and all that. but once again Cable is being viewed as the bad guy. It’s an old role for Cable to play and you’d think Marvel’s writers would have been sick of abusing it at this point. However, high quality story telling lets us ignore that once again heroes are ignoring that Cable always ends up being there to save the day and not make things worse.

In the previous story arc, Cable’s X-Force spent the entire time breaking an alien out of prison to avoid a prophetic vision of an alien race destroying the Earth in order to kill him. The alien still ended up dying, but the Earth was saved. Of course, no one really knows that, so it’s another mark added onto X-Force’s tally of being the bad guys. Great.

This issue marked quite a few changes and plot points that are going to build into the next story arc. The introduction showed everyone hanging out on an old ranch Forge tinkered at. The group was resting, recovering, and Cable was trying to figure out what to do next. He’s at a standstill as his visions are coming faster and stronger with multiple events happening at the same time and no way he could lead the group to handle them all at once. With no idea how to stop it all, he felt frozen in indecision. It’s a very un-Cable like response, however, it gives us a great way to bring Domino in as the voice of reason (whoever thought that would happen?)

Domino reminds Cable that he handpicked his new X-Force team and got him to repeat that he trusts them or they wouldn’t be on the team. She then counters by saying if he truly trusts them, he should split the team up to do multiple events at once. He finally agrees to this and as he splits the team into various assignments, they are attacked. The Uncanny Avengers have tracked them down and are trying to contain them.

While Forge responds to The Avengers with weaponized vehicles to buy the team time to escape, they quickly realize it doesn’t work. Cable might still have a few mental issues going on from the visions he has been experiencing, but with no need to hold the virus at bay that had plagued him his entire life, he flexed his new mental powers for the first time and the Uncanny Avengers all drop. He is so powerful that even Thor falls. As X-Force all makes their departure, Cable uses a new weapon to destroy The Avengers’ plane. As he readies to leave, we find out that his brain issues are actually a major factor as he falls unconscious.

Of course it’s not just an all out battle between X-Force and the Uncanny Avengers we see here. Hope is in this issue as wel and is trying to track Cable down to find a way to work things out. She ends up tracking down Blaquesmith. Long term fans of Cable will know that Blaquesmith is a partial friend and supporter of Cable, at least when their missions are the same. Hope goes looking for help and at first it seems that Blaquesmith is going to help. After some great banter, it’s quickly obvious, after he knocks Hope out and admits that he is part of Cable’s problem, that there is much more up his sleeve.

I believe the game we’re going to see play out is going to highly involve Blaquesmith in the upcoming issues.

That won’t be the only focus as X-Force has their own agendas where we will see them trying to save the world. Most importantly, though, is that in the last panel we see the members of The Uncanny Avengers standing over the unconscious Cable as they prepare to take him into custody.

CABLE AND X-FORCE #10
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Salvador Larroca