I always assumed it was because Cable was the thread(cable) that held everything together. Jean, Cyclopes, Phoenix, Rachel, Mother Asknai, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Ahab, Madie Pryor, Stryfe all = Cable. It's like half the history of the X-Men is all rests on him coming to be and fullfilling his destiny.
Oh, that's right. It's actually The Dead Pool, which Wikipedia tells me is the final Dirty Harry film. And it's named for, yes, a type of betting pool pertaining to when someone will die or which person will die next.
So it's not as much a typical Liefeldesque gibberish character name as I thought. Sure sounds like one, though.
(While we're on the subject, why the hell is Cable called Cable? How are we supposed to be impressed or intimidated by a guy who sounds like his purpose in life is to deliver reruns and home shopping channels to your living room? Though on second thought, that's a pretty intimidating concept...)
Thats a fairly interesting way of looking at it, one I hadn't ever thought of and I've been reading the X-books for 20 years now. While thats a good explanation for his name NOW, we have to remember that Cable wasn't originally intended to be the son of Cyclops. In fact, I believe Liefeld originally planned for him to be a version of Cannonball, travelling backwards through time. Hmm, actually, I guess you could still use the same line of thinking in saying he's called Cable because he serves as a link from one timeline to the next.
