SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for New Mutants: Dead Souls #2 by Matthew Rosenberg, Adam Gorham, Michael Garland and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.

New Mutants: Dead Souls is a new take on the team and it’s more than just a nostalgia trip back to the original line-up. However, it obviously has a lot of affection for the most iconic and well-remembered roster and slowly paying tribute to that as the series goes on.

This week’s issue ends on the cliffhanger return of a fan-favorite New Mutant who hasn’t been seen in a number of years and whose arrival will change the dynamic and mission statement of the supernatural strike force going forward.

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The Alone Man

While the New Mutants have been off on missions around the world, we’ve cut back to a spooky cabin in Canterbury, Connecticut a couple of times now. Home to someone dubbed “The Alone Man” by local teens, the strange cabin in the middle of the woods glows with an otherworldly energy and mysterious light, making it a hotbed for tall tales among the local community.

As often happens with strange cabins in the middle of the woods, legends have grown about it to the point that it’s become somewhat of a rite-of-passage for teenagers to approach it and knock on the front door, to prove how brave they are. This is how we learn that The Alone Man is in fact the alien robot Warlock, who for some reason is living in the woods in isolation.

Self Friend

Warlock is a member of The Technarchy, the alien race of mechanical organisms who survive by infecting living beings and absorbing their “lifeglow”. While most members of his race are happy to do this, Warlock has an a level of compassion and empathy which makes him a mutant among his people and he fled his own father to Earth, seeking refuge. He became a member of the New Mutants until his death in Genosha and was later resurrected as “Douglock” with all the memories of his best friend, Doug Ramsay aka Cypher.

In recent years, Warlock joined Doug as members of Serval Industries’ own X-Factor team and established a relationship with Danger. His most recent appearances was during Civil War II when he aided Sunspot’s Avengers Idea Mechanics in the fight against S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s unclear at this point how Warlock went from working with the Avengers to living in a shack in the middle of the woods. He was last seen with Cypher but is now known as “The Alone Man,” suggesting that he and Doug have gone their separate ways, which should be quite a story to watch unfold.

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