WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Future State: The Flash #2 by Brandon Vietti, Brandon Peterson, Will Conrad, Mike Atiyeh & Steve Wands, on sale now
The Flash family typically has enough wits, skills and speed to deal with any kind of threat. But in the Future State era, the heroes have lost their powers and have been dwindling in numbers. Another one has passed away as well, and his loss hints at even greater danger to the world.
Future State: The Flash #2 teases a dark fate for Max Mercury, with the character dying off-page to a mysterious and dangerous disease.
The Future State era of the DC Universe hasn't been a pleasant one for the Flash Family. Wally West has been taken over by Famine, one of the Horseman of the Apocalypse, and the dark presence quickly used him to kill Wallace West. Meanwhile, Bart Allen was killed helping procure the equipment needed to potentially save him, and Famine was able to murder Jay Garrick during the attempt. With no other options, Barry Allen has committed himself to convert the Rogue's technology into a means of stopping the corrupted Wally once and for all. At the time, he still had two other speedsters at his side -- Avery Ho, and Max Mercury. But while Future State: The Flash #2 doesn't reveal the fate of the former, it does hint at a particularly tragic fate for the latter.
When the issue picks up, it's been two months since the last attempt to save Wally. Avery is nowhere to be found, and Iris ends up missing after going on a supply run. But Max Mercury died of a more tragic condition. Although it isn't made clear exactly what happened to him, Barry notes that Max ended up contracting some mysterious disease, perhaps at the hands of one of DC's other Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Thanks to his advanced age, it's not a huge surprise that Max could end up with some lethal disease. However, there was something different about Max's disease, hinting it wasn't just a regular illness. It was bad enough that Barry was forced to burn Max's body to stop any chance of the disease further spreading through the world and making the already ravaged reality an even harsher place.
This isn't the only version of Max who ended up being killed by a powerful disease recently, either. The Max Mercury of the DCeased reality was one of the heroes who worked to save as many people as possible by opening a Speed-Force assisted gate to another reality. In the process, Max ended up exposing himself to one of the Blighted-Ones and was infected by the Anti-Life Virus in Tom Taylor and Carmine Di Giandomenico's DCeased: Hope at World's End #4. But rather than be corrupted by the virus or mercy-killed by his allies, Max chose to venture into the Speed Force, becoming one with it and seemingly escaping the virus as a result.
At best, it's a strange coincidence that two versions of Max both were felled by a dangerous and infectious disease within a year of each other. But at worst, it could suggest that something about Max entering the Speed Force with the Anti-Life Virus could have ended up having an effect on other versions of the character as well. The fact that Barry wasn't able to help combat it despite his impressive intellect -- and that he could only think to cremate the body of a close friend to stop the spread of the disease -- also suggests that it could have at least been infectious enough to warrant such a fearful response. Even if the timeline of Future State doesn't come to be, it's worth keeping an eye on Max and his general health, especially if he ends up spreading something dangerous across the DC Universe.