Multiple Man #2 Revisits a Major Peter David Era Plot Thread

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Multiple Man #2, by Matthew Rosenberg, Andy MacDonald, Tamra Bonvillain, Travis Lanham and Marcos Martin, on sale now.

When Peter David and Neil Edwards brought the curtains down on Jamie Madrox's tenure with X-Factor in 2013, it seemed like the happy ending the mutant deserved. In that issue, X-Factor #262, the Multiple Man had finally settled down on a farm with a pregnant Layla Miller, ready to retire from his superhero-detective gig and prep for fatherhood.

However, life went south in Death of X a few years later when Madrox was infected by the Terrigen Mists, which killed him and all his duplicates who were investigating the threat on Muir Island. While we didn't get to see how Layla coped in the wake of this devastating loss, the current Multiple Man series is now picking back up on the loose plot threads laid down years prior.

As a result, we now have deeper insight into Jamie and Layla's son, Davey, as Matthew Rosenberg and Andy MacDonald are presenting the youngster as a mutant resistance leader in a dystopian future.

Multiple Man #2 time-jumps 15 years into the future to as Jamie tries to save his own life, as well as a timeline he may well have broken. Of course, this Jamie is a direct dupe of Jamie Prime, and one whose scientific experiments allowed him to stay alive even after the original Jamie died. Sadly, he's still withering away, which led to him asking Beast to create a cure.

However, things backfire because, thanks to time travel, this sick Jamie finds out the cured Jamie takes over the world and becomes an evil dictator. Basically, this Emperor Jamie must be stopped and so, the good dupe journeys into the future along with four soldiers who are hybrid versions of himself and other superheroes -- Doctor Strange/Cloak, Hulk/Thor, Deadpool/Wolverine and Cable/Warlock.

It gets pretty interesting in the time-jump though when they meet Davey, a genius who is leading the revolution against someone he believes is sullying his father's legacy. Davey has gathered good dupes (as each dupe has a distinctive personality so the kid is rallying the virtuous ones to his cause) and is also using an android with Forge's memory as his technical lead.

In short, Davey wants to burn the system down, and he believes it's fate that Jamie and Co. have arrived as he sees them as part of his plan. More so, he sees Jamie as a savior.

As is the norm in the life of Multiple Man, nothing's ever this easy as Layla enters the mix, chiding Jamie for returning to their lives. She sees him as a selfish person and someone who can't live up to her husband's name.

Jamie and Davey clearly realize her animosity is stemming from her depression, so they let her vent. Layla is skeptical of Davey's revolt, and isn't convinced the dupe and his ragtag band of heroes can help the cause, warning her son these guys represent the bad parts of his dead father and they will get them all killed.

It's pessimistic to say the least, but Layla of all people has had a lot of experience, and disappointment, with Jamie's wayward dupes, so one can't really blame her for being this bitter. She always "knows things," after all, and as the issue ends, Team Jamie finds themselves on the firing line and seemingly on the verge of death, affirming Layla's words yet again. Only time will tell if he can prove his "wife" wrong and set an example for Davey, but it's obvious that time is running out in this dark future.