WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Multiple Man #3, by Matthew Rosenberg, Andy MacDonald, and Tamara Bonvillain, on sale now!


Marvel Comics has released a handful of solid X-Men miniseries as of late. Some of them tie into the larger universe, while others are more like stepping stones for subsequent ongoing series. One of the prime examples of the latter is the transition from Rogue & Gambit to the continuation of the titular mutants' story in the pages of the new ongoing Mr. & Mrs. X. But one miniseries that so far has seemed more isolated than its brethren is Matthew Rosenberg and Andy MacDonald's hilariously bonkers Multiple Man.

Three issues in, and we're no closer to seeing where exactly this bizarre experiment in X-Men storytelling is going, other than to deliver a tale of solid laughs and high concept tomfoolery. From the get-go, the five-issue series quickly sped readers through the surprise survival of Jamie Madrox and the sudden appearance of time-traveling duplicates of Multiple Man, who believe the sole surviving copy might be able to save their dire, dystopian future. Of course, this is a future where Madrox is both the staff of the totalitarian regime, making the world a living Hell and the last bastion of hope to fight against it.

It actually all makes perfect sense.

RELATED: Uncanny X-Men #2 Cover Offers a Healthy Dose of Multiple Man

The whole comic's run thus far has ostensibly been a literal version of the "man vs. himself" external conflict. However, there have been a couple glimpses of something bigger going on, clues which may ultimately come together to show Multiple Man as more than just a stand alone story starring a B-minus mutant. The first comes in the form of the recently released cover for the second issue of the upcoming relaunch of Uncanny X-Men.

On this cover, a team of Jamie Madrox dupes are imitating the poses and weaponry of the X-Men team from the cover of issue 1. Now, this could just be a fun riff on the character coming back into the fold in the X-Men Universe, but the fact that every Madrox dupe has the iconic "M" brand across their eye, makes us question if all the time-traveling lunacy from Multiple Man isn't leading to Jamie Madrox becoming the new foil for the X-Men.

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Over the course of his current series, Madrox has encountered several versions of himself from the future with various mutant powers, presumably from adsorbing them somehow (much like how he absorbs his own clones and retains their memories and experiences). If this is the case, it would mean Madrox has low-key become one of the most powerful mutants in existence, and is thus a perfect fit for the mold of supervillain. (We're getting a Sylar from Season 1 of Heroes vibe, here.) And while this sounds like it could be pure conjecture (Madrox is on the massive team promo pic, after all) the way Multiple Man #3 ended lends a little more credence to this notion.

Despite the fact we announced it at the top of the article, we're to reiterate that there are some pretty major spoilers ahead. And we mean major. So, if you have't read this issue yet, turn back now...

Are they gone?

Okay, good.

RELATED: The Most Important X-Men Missing From Marvel’s Disassembled Teaser

Multiple Man #3's final page is filled with the very matter of fact image of Jamie Madrox, the sick dupe who was trying to stop a tyrannical version of himself in the future, getting his head cut clean off by the tyrannical Madrox, who the resistance has been fighting against (and losing to, horribly).

Now, for all we know, Jamie made another dupe or pulled a switcheroo at the last minute, and whoever got taken by the blade wasn't our main Multiple Man at all. But as frantic as things played out in this issue, that's gonna be a tough argument to make, even in flashback. This "Emperor Madrox" has a device to slip back in time, and given his very lavish trophy room filled to the brim with X-paraphernalia, he seems to be keen on hunting down his former teammates. What's to say he wouldn't love a mulligan?

Now, Emperor Madrox does not have the "M" brand over his eye (yet), so we could be way off base. But for a character who can essentially live multiple lives and curate a practically endless amount of knowledge and experience, a hedonistic, sadistic version of Jamie Madrox could be seen as the logical progression of the character. It's like vampires in Gothic novels; after a while, they get bored of paying by their rules. And if Madrox can collect mutant abilities like Pokemon cards, perhaps a taste for tyranny goes hand in hand with that much inherent power.


Uncanny X-Men #1 by Matthew Rosenberg, Kelly Thompson, Ed Brisson, Mahmud Asrar, R.B. Silva, Yildiray Cinar and Pere Perez goes on sale November 14.