It’s impossible to read comic books and not imagine what it would be like to have some fantastic powers beyond mere mortals.Whether it’s controlling magnetic fields like Magneto, or having a power ring like Green Lantern, the possibilities are endless.
Now, already being blessed with the mutant ability of Super Sexiness, I’m not immune to such fantasies myself.
And while there are many abilities out there I think it would be awesome to wield, being able to create autonomous duplicates of myself like Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, is right near the top of the list.
 |
Warning: Do NOT Enlarge!!
(Standard monitors just can’t handle this much sexy.) |
Two main reasons, actually.
For one, with a full time job, writing three columns for Forces of Geek, promoting a book on politics and terrorism, being a husband, and raising a wild two year old, I could use the extra help to keep it all together, not gonna lie.
And two, it would piss a lot people off who aren’t even happy with the prospect of there being one of me, let alone a veritable clone army.
 |
And, believe me, we’d get stuff done.
|
Jamie Madrox is one of those characters than languished in virtual obscurity for years before finally getting his due.
Debuting back in 1975’s Giant Size Fantastic Four #4, Jamie was introduced to the X-Men by Mr. Fantastic (That’s like naming yourself “Awesome Guy,” by the way. Check yourself, Reed. Seriously.) and spent most of his appearances helping out at Moira MacTaggert’s Muir Island facilities.
While his mutant ability to generate a duplicate of himself after an impact—and he got to the point where he could do it with a foot stomp or a finger snap—would have been useful to the X-Men, he turned down an offer to join the team.
After a brief stint as a member of the Fallen Angels in the mid-1980s, Jamie found himself affected by the Shadow King during the Muir Island Saga (Uncanny X-Men #278-280 and X-Factor #69-70) that left Legion comatose and Xavier bound to a wheelchair once again.
 |
Ok, everybody else is looking down, so what the hell is Cyclops shooting at?!
|
With the original X-Factor team being brought back into the fold of the X-Men, Val Cooper came with an offer to create a team officially sanctioned by the US Government and Jamie became part of the new X-Factor as of issue #71.
It was there that his character took off, providing part of the one-two punch of Peter David penned humor along with fellow teammate, Strong Guy, and showing that he could be more than just a background character.
Eventually, exposure to a mutate on the island nation of Genosha led Jamie to contract the fatal Legacy Virus unleashed by Stryfe at the end of X-Cutioner’s Song and he was presumed dead as of X-Factor #100.
 |
Havok was so distraught, he couldn’t bring himself to do something with his hair.
|
But, like many comic characters, Jamie bounced back and he returned as an amnesiac, the truth being that it was actually one of his duplicates that died.
After the House of M, he set up X-Factor Investigations to help residents of Mutant Town cope with the loss of their powers and became the de facto leader, finally headlining a book of his own.
Jamie took a hardline stance against the US Government during Civil War, refusing to back the Superhuman Registration Act and then later showed Cyclops he wanted no part of the greater drama that followed the other X-Teams and preferred to help the little people.
His dupes became more complex, each of them having different personality traits and some of them even having lives and families of their own. One of his dupes impregnated teammate Siryn and the birth of his son was marred by tragedy when he absorbed the baby upon contact, thereby ending its existence.
 |
“Well, sure, you can call him Sean…just not for much longer…”
|
Another dupe became lost in time during the Messiah CompleX and came back as the villainous Cortex, so Jamie has had his share of jacked up moments in recent history, including the revelation by the mysterious Mr. Trypp that he may not be a mutant at all, but something altogether different known as a killcrop, the ramifications of which have yet to be fully explored.
Most recently, he was killed again, this time not just as a dupe and spent some time bouncing around alternate realities only to return with the aid of a different version of Dr. Strange and to find out that former X-Factor leader, Havok, had returned and was now in the leadership role, post Schism.
What this means for him going forward we’ll see soon, but there’s no doubt that Jamie will find a way to make it all work out in the end.
On a life journey with multiple options, who better to chart the course than the Multiple Man?
 |
| Plus, just think of the bitchin’ dance choreography he can probably come up with… |
