WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Extermination #1 by Ed Brisson, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now.


There are many mysteries heading into the X-Men event Extermination, ranging from what the final fate of the original, younger X-Men will be, to what effect the miniseries will have on the past, present and future timelines of the Marvel Universe.

One mystery that hasn't gotten nearly enough attention has to do with the hooded figure displayed on the very first panel of Extermination #1. Of course, we took our own educated guesses at the character's identity, but nothing could have prepared us for what Marvel revealed in the opening salvo of the series.

RELATED: Magneto's Time-Traveling Offers An Intriguing Extermination Detail

Time Hunters

As we mentioned earlier, the unknown figure appears in the opening pages of Extermination #1, which take place twenty years in the future. We're taken to the destroyed grounds of the Xavier Institue for Mutant Education and Outreach after an army of Sentinels wiped out the remaining X-Men. This attack was featured in various Extermination post-credits scenes leading up to the miniseries, but the mystery character believes things are not as they should be. He then quickly disappears in a flash of blue light, teleporting to the present-day where he picks the young Iceman as his first target.

Iceman isn't the only original X-Man being hunted, however. Cyclops' date with Bloodstorm is interrupted by Ahab and his mutant-hunting Hounds, resulting in Bloodstorm's death. Believing Ahab to be behind Iceman's disappearance, X-Men young and old regroup at the Xavier Institute to begin their search.

Luckily, Iceman has another time-traveling X-Man in his corner as back-up. Cable has arrived to offer his aide, and eventually has to step in once Iceman is rendered unconscious by a stun dart. Cable and our mystery character wind up sparring with one another, and it is here that we start to gain additional clues to his identity. The hooded figure blames Cable for everything that happens, declaring he neglected to do his duty. It's not until Cable replies that we learn they're both referring to the time-displaced X-Men.

RELATED: All of the Uncanny X-Men in Marvel's Disassembled Teaser

"They needed them to see," Cable says. "Needed to see what they became so that they... so they could go back with that knowledge and be better." In essence, Cable is referring to Beast bringing the original X-Men from the past to the present, in order to knock some sense into present-day Cyclops back in Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen's All-New X-Men.

So we know the mystery character has a grudge against the original X-Men, but we still don't know his identity. Well, that wouldn't come until the end of the issue, and the loss of another X-Man's life.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Extermination%27s%20Mystery%20Character%20Revealed%2C%20and%20Explained']

The Bloodbath Continues

After getting the upper-hand on Cable, the mystery man calmly picks up a gun and begins to call Cable soft and old -- unable to do what is necessary. Cable makes one last plea, telling the unidentified man he's making a mistake. The mystery character won't be deterred from his mission, however, and kills Cable in a blaze of gunfire.

The loss of Cable's life is so traumatic and sudden that it sends a psychic shockwave crashing to the young Jean Grey at the Xavier Institute. She was attempting to use Cerebro to find Iceman, but discovered Cable was with him and tried to peek into his mind to get answers on who attacked Bobby. With Cable dead, the hooded character picks Iceman up and calls for a body-slide by two, teleporting away. The importance of this ability will become apparent later on.

RELATED: Cable Has Begun to Investigate Extermination's Time Anomalies

Cable's death brings even more X-Men into the story, as the adult Jean Grey and Nightcrawler teleport to the crime scene to join the remaining X-Men conducting an investigation. While everyone is determined to get revenge for their fallen comrades, they still debate who the killer really is. Cyclops believes it's Ahab, but Prestige, who was enslaved by Ahab in her alternate future, isn't so sure. All they know is the person is a teleporter.

Mystery Character Revealed, And Explained

We find the hooded character at an undisclosed location, where he has Iceman locked up in a stasis pod. After taking one last glance at the X-Man, he removes his hood and says, "One down...four to go." Shockingly, the man behind the hunting of the original X-Men and the killing of Cable is none other than... Cable?!

Behind this much younger Cable is a computer screen with the faces of the X-Men from the past, with Iceman's face crossed off his list. Remember how I mentioned the importance of the mystery character body-sliding earlier? For those not familiar with Nathan Summers, body-sliding is his preferred method of teleporting from one place, or timeline, to another. Calling out a body-slide for himself and Iceman was the biggest red flag and clue to his identity.

So, with the big reveal out of the way, all that's left is to explain just how one Cable could kill another. It all ties back to the original X-Men and their decision to stay in the present and not return to the past. The Extermination post-credits scenes showed how the future turns to crap for the X-Men, and it's all because the original five aren't where they are meant to be.

X-Men Blue's "Cross Time Capers" story arc had the team jumping to different alternate timelines, before realizing it was all a scheme of the evil Brotherhood from the future. The conclusion of the story had the X-Men solving their time paradox with the knowledge that at some point, they would be destined to go back to their proper place in time. However, the Extermination future twenty years from now proves that never happened, thus all these terrible things starting to occur.

RELATED: Extermination Introduces a Big Twist to the Original X-Men's Situation

The answer to how a young Cable could show up to kill his older self is the younger counterpart must originate from the Extermination timeline that was created. In this timeline, Nathan Summers was never injected with the techno-organic virus by Apocalypse, and therefore never sent into the future where he would be raised by Cyclops and Jean Grey (it's a long story). From what we can tell, the young Cable on the last page has no signs of the techno-organic virus on the lefthand side of his body. Also, he looks to be in his mid-20's, which is about how old Nathan would naturally be if he never traveled to the future.

Young Cable still has a time-traveling background, similar to his older-and-now-dead counterpart, and is the only person who would realize something's off with the timeline. He knows the only way to fix things is to forcibly make the original X-Men return to their past, even if it comes at the cost of his/Cable's life. What's really interesting is if Young Cable is successful in his mission, it could result in him no longer existing. But again, whether it's young or old Cable, all that's important is the mission.

We know Extermination will end with the time-displaced X-Men going back home, but Marvel has shown it can still throw curveballs at readers who think the story won't be jam-packed with twists and turns along the way. The revelation of Cable killing Cable is just the first example.

KEEP READING: Extermination Teaser Promises the X-Men Will 'Set It Right'