Jamie Madrox
| Multiple Man | |
|---|---|
| File:X FAC COV007catalogue.jpg Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man. Art by Ryan Sook. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Giant Size Fantastic Four #4 (February, 1975) |
| Created by | Len Wein with Chris Claremont John Buscema |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | James Arthur "Jamie" Madrox |
| Species | Human Mutant (possibly variant) |
| Team affiliations | X-Factor Investigations Muir Island X-Men X-Factor X-Corps X-Corporation Fallen Angels Nasty Boys S.H.I.E.L.D. |
| Notable aliases | The Multiple Man |
| Abilities | Self-Duplication |
Jamie Madrox, also called the Multiple Man, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero, associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Len Wein with script from Chris Claremont and art by John Buscema, he first appeared in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 (February 1975).
Madrox has the ability to create duplicates or "dupes" of himself. The duplicates have some level of autonomy from Madrox creating a complex psychological condition, although Madrox is outwardly joking and friendly.
Originally a lab assistant of genetic researcher Moira MacTaggert, Madrox joined the 1990s-era Pentagon-sponsored mutant team X-Factor where writer Peter David did much to flesh out his character. Currently, Madrox is the leader of the detective agency X-Factor Investigations in a new David-written X-Factor series.
Publication history
A MadroX miniseries was published in 2004, written by Peter David, who had previously written the character in X-Factor.
He and the other members of his detective agency now star in a revamped X-Factor monthly series that is again written by Peter David.
Fictional character biography
Jamie Madrox was born to a family living near the Los Alamos research facility; the background radiation may have stimulated his mutation. When Jamie was born, the doctor’s slap caused him to multiply into two identical babies, which was rather shocking to both his parents and the doctor. Professor Charles Xavier, a friend of the Madrox family, suggested that they move to Kansas to raise the boy in privacy. Dr. Daniel Madrox, Jamie's father, created a suit for him to wear which was designed to absorb kinetic energy, the presumed source of the duplication. Later, Damian Tryp, of Singularity Investigations, makes his own offer to look after Jamie, claiming that Jamie is not in fact a mutant, but a "changeling", a predecessor to mutants who develops its powers at birth. Jamie's parents, however, refuse to give Jamie to Tryp. When Jamie was 15, his parents were killed when a tornado struck their farm (alleged to have been caused by Tryp) and for the next few years he ran the farm by himself until one day when his suit malfunctioned. Madrox went to New York City for help, where he met Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. Mister Fantastic agreed to help him with the suit and informed Professor Xavier of the situation.
Cover art by Rich Buckler.
X-Factor
Following the X-Men's battle with Proteus on Muir Island, Madrox was invited to join the X-Men, but he declined. Instead, he remained on Muir Island to assist Dr. Moira MacTaggert with her research. While there, he was among the residents who came under the mental control of the Shadow King. Following the destruction of Muir Island and the defeat of the Shadow King, he became a member of the second X-Factor team which was assembled by Val Cooper. Here, he began to develop a reputation as the team's resident prankster, and formed a close friendship with fellow humor-inclined teammate, Strong Guy.
During the early days of this team, a duplicate was shot and killed, and Madrox learned for the first time that he was unable to reabsorb a deceased duplicate. This made him consider for the first time how independent his duplicates actually were. This became clearer to him when he faced a duplicate who sought his own independence and planned to replace the original.
During his time with X-Factor, Jamie (along with Wolfsbane) was brainwashed and taken by the cosmic entity known as Goddess. He and his duplicates were used as support staff by the entity in her attempts to gain cosmic power. One of Jamie's few other cosmic adventures was during the Infinity War, where he mostly helped fellow super-heroes fight wave after wave of evil, alien-duplicates, including many duplicates of Jamie himself.
A confrontation in Genosha left Madrox infected with the Legacy Virus. This was after Jamie exposed himself in order to give medical attention to a mutate who had the virus anyway. An attempted cure by Haven left him dead. Or so it seemed. Unknown to all, it was a duplicate who had been infected and died; the real Madrox lived, amnesiac.
Jamie soon discovered the fate of Strong Guy, who had become very ill after Jamie's alleged death. A well-intentioned rescued attempt went terribly wrong as Strong Guy, though delighted to see Jamie again, became even more sick. Jamie's mistake was fixed by the inventive genius of Forge.
Jamie was the motivation for the current version of X-Factor to break ties with the government and go underground. X-Factor had been tricked into thinking Jamie and his duplicates were a squad of super-powered terrorists. When it was revealed they were hunting an old friend, things went sour quickly. Although he did not rejoin X-Factor, he did regain his memory and returned to the super-heroic life.
For a second time, he served as the majority staff for an organization, this time willingly for Banshee's X-Corps. The group hired ex-criminals to police other mutants who got out of line. Unfortunately, things turned sour when a number of the members began rebelling, Mystique went on a murderous rampage and number of Madrox's dupes fell under the control of the female Mastermind. The resulting battle severely damaged the city of Paris, France, entirely destroying the Eiffel Tower. Ultimately, he was able to regain control of them, but the memory left him with deep guilt.
Mutant Town
It shows Madrox working as a private detective in the "Mutant Town" area of New York, along with former X-Factor teammates Wolfsbane and Strong Guy. It also reveals that he has sent "dupes" out to lead alternate lives, including one who spent years as a Shaolin monk, another who spent years on an Olympic Gymnastics team; this has allowed him to gain years of expertise in certain martial arts, gymnastics, and numerous foreign languages. However, allowing dupes to exist for such extended periods before returning to the whole seems to have generated a form of multiple personality disorder unique to Madrox: his duplicates' minds are now reflections of individual aspects of his personality, rather than mental copies of his whole personality. Madrox has no control over what personality trait will manifest in his dupes, or whether the traits will be positive or negative. This has severely curtailed Madrox's ability to use his power effectively, as his dupes are now rarely willing to follow his direct commands; they will often be indifferent or opposed to his current actions, and some even display criminal or homicidal tendencies that are not only inappropriate to the situation at hand, but also put both others, including Madrox himself, at risk of harm. Currently, Madrox will only create dupes at great need, or in a rare situation where a course of action can be agreed upon by all the conflicting manifestations of his psyche. Of course, because his power is triggered by physical impact, he may still produce dupes involuntarily if struck or jostled.
Jamie also fought a mysterious assassin named "Clay", who has solid yellow eyes, and was ultimately revealed to have Jamie's multiplying abilities also. While it seemed Clay and his duplicate were killed in the end, Clay recently re-appeared in a recent issue of X-Factor. Before "dying", Clay also said "You really don't know WHAT you are, do you?"
X-Factor Investigations
After the events in the House of M, Madrox has upgraded his detective agency to a new building, with expanded X-Factor membership. He bought the building using the money he won through a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-type show, using a room full of dupes as one of his lifelines.
His dupes still manifest specific personality traits. A dupe sent to talk a de-powered Rictor out of jumping off a building instead pushes him off. The dupe calls himself "The X-Factor" and threatens Madrox that he will come out whenever dupes are made, and Madrox won't be able to tell.
Civil War
A duplicate of Jamie created a few years ago went his own way and became an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. As an enforcer of the Superhuman Registration Act, he registered M and Rictor. However, Jamie prime and the rest of X-Factor stand adamantly opposed to the legislation, going so far as to make a public statement regarding their position. Jamie stands in direct opposition to the neutral stance taken by Cyclops, and remains furious with the X-Men for withholding the truth about M-Day.
In a literal confrontation with Cyclops and the X-Men, Jamie and his team declare that 'Mutant Town' will be a sanctuary for superheroes being pursued by the government.
Post-Civil War
Agent Madrox recently met "his" end when he was surprised and re-absorbed by the original Madrox during an investigation of a Hydra cell (which, incidentally, had just been killed - smothered to death in an immense swarm of Madrox duplicates). Jamie is undergoing therapy.
Jamie Madrox continues the task of hunting down his stray duplicates and reabsorbing them[1]. He and his team then battle the X-Cell and defeat Quicksilver. It is suggested that possibly either Jamie or a dupe impregnated his teammate Monet during the one night stand as she vomited after smelling Rahne's 'doggy' breath[2].
Messiah Complex
In Messiah Complex, Cyclops sends Jamie and Layla to go see Forge, who has built a machine that allows him to monitor alternate timelines. Madrox sends two dupes to find information on two timelines that showed "spikes", after the birth of the Mutant baby. Before anyone can react Layla jumps into the portal along with one of the dupes. However, minutes after the dupes and Layla are sent, Madrox collapses into a coma.
Layla and Madrox duplicate arrive eighty years in the future to discover that the mutant race has been wiped out following a genocidal conflict with baseline humans, and that no reference remains to their existence in the public consciousness. Layla and the duplicate are eventually captured and placed in a mutant internment camp where both their heads are shaved and faces are branded with the same "M" as Bishop. It turns out that Layla and Jamie are in the same timeline that Bishop had originated from and find him at the same camp. The young Lucas Bishop tells them that the mutant baby is responsible for killing over one million baseline humans, fulfilling Stryker's prophecy of a "mutant antichrist." This causes the United States government to round up the remaining mutants and put them into camps. Young Bishop says that if he has a chance he would go back in time and kill the child which prompted Layla to kill the Madrox duplicate. In the present, Madrox awakens with his face branded with the same "M" as his duplicate and warns the X-Men of Bishop's treachery. He also demand to go back for Layla but Emma psionically sedates him.
Powers and abilities
Madrox's power is the ability to create duplicates of himself (sometimes at will) through an unknown process whenever he absorbs kinetic energy such as when he is struck, when he snaps his fingers, or stamps his foot. Each of the duplicates (dupes) is completely capable of independent thought and can create duplicates of himself. Madrox's duplications also creates copies of the clothing he is wearing and a Hydra scientist has speculated that he could duplicate any matter he is holding, a power surpassing simple self-duplication. His powers have, at least once, been shown to affect the actual design of the shirt he was wearing.
The original Madrox can absorb them back into himself at will, at the same time absorbing the memories, knowledge, skills and experiences of the dupe. The dupe usually appears to his side or often near a focused area, such as a finger. Jamie wears special shock-absorbent suits that inhibit his dupes from manifesting inadvertently. Older versions of the suit covered Madrox's entire body, except for his face, and were dotted with small, circular shock-absorbent pads. Jamie currently wears a stylized shirt with only six large green shock-absorbent pads on the front of the torso. Whether this indicates a greater degree of control over when his dupes manifest or simply an advance in technology is unclear.
During his time with X-Factor, the maximum number of dupes Madrox could create (including the dupe's dupes) was about 40, but has grown far larger since then. Duplicates have independent minds from the original, but are usually willing to merge back because their memories and knowledge are retained. However, there have been exceptions where duplicates have wished for independence completely. A dupe that is "the part of you (Madrox) that can't be trusted" has announced that he plans to keep popping out.
As a last ditch effort, Madrox's abilities can be used to deadly effect, which were used in self-defense against Seamus Mellencamp[3], when Madrox jammed his hand into Mellencamp's mouth and activated his power, creating duplicates inside Mellencamp and exploding him from the inside out.
Madrox also uses merging with his duplicates as a form of healing. Originally, uninjured dupes "shared" the damage when they merged, e.g., if an injured Madrox merged with an uninjured Madrox, the resulting Madrox had an injury half as severe as the original injury. Now, however, the core Madrox can reabsorb injured or even near-dead dupes without taking on any of their physical injuries at all, although the memories of traumatic experiences still affect him. He still uses this technique to combat the effects of poisons. Splitting them between duplicates lessens the effect.
As a consequence of splitting into multiple selves, Jamie has accumulated a vast wealth of knowledge and experience, along with some confusion over which Jamie did what. For example, although he says his duplicates have had active sex lives, he is not sure whether the main Jamie ever has. Because of the infinite nature of his powers, his duplicates can potentially represent a variety of aspects of his character and to varying extents. One or two of his duplicates have already been shown to be gay or bisexual.
Specific special skills accumulated through his vast experience include picking locks, some proficiency in Shaolin kung fu, handgun training, multiple languages including Russian and Hawaiian, and playing-card throwing. Along the way, he and/or his duplicates participated in an Olympic gymnastics team and apparently became a licensed attorney.
The extent of how many 'dupes' Madrox can produce and how many are still at large is unknown — at one point, an upper limit of forty, counting the original, was established, but this has since been called into question. It is conceivable that he has dupes in the far corners of the world.
Madrox has generally been considered a mutant. However, unlike most mutants whose mutant powers emerge during adolescence, Madrox exhibited his gifts from the day he was born. As a result, recent issues of X-Factor have raised some question as to whether or not he is a mutant or something altogether different. Damian Tryp has referred to him as a "killcrop," a term he uses for himself. Nevertheless, an examination of Marvel's many mutant characters shows that Madrox is not the only mutant whose powers have been depicted as manifesting at birth or otherwise earlier than adolescence, so his early manifestation in and of itself is not as unusual as Tryp implies.
Other versions
Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse crossover event, Jamie Madrox is one of the many mutants captured by Sinister and the Dark Beast for experimentation. His powers are overextended beyond its limits, leaving him nearly mindless, and his duplicates become the Madri - a fanatical cult worshipping Apocalypse and serving as his inquisitors and secret police. The original Madrox is reduced to a diapered, drooling lunatic who plays with children's toys such as rattles and building blocks while being kept in seclusion at the Church of the Madri in Quebec. Eventually, Banshee and Quicksilver attempt a rescue; however, in the end, Madrox shuts down all of his duplicates and dies in the resulting psychic backlash. The destruction of the Madri was one of the major blows to Apocalypse's regime that helped the X-Men overthrow the mutant overlord.
Earth X
Jamie Madrox is referenced in the appendix of issue 6 of Earth X: “Multiple Man. Jaime Madrox lives in every city of the earth. He's sort of a street informer who peddles himself on his ability to convey anything going on to anyone – should they pay high enough”. Madrox would later appear in the sequel series “Universe X” in the “Beasts” special, in which Jamie's hunger for meat during a food shortage causes him to eat one of his own duplicates. This action brings the curse of Wendigo upon Jamie. Interacting with his own mutation, the curse created a pack of Wendigo. This pack follows the combined force of the Wakandian nation and the X-Men to the Savage Land. In a last stand against the Wendigo, the combined forces of Black Panther, the X-Men, the Ani-Men and the Hulk defeat the Wendigo in a circle of fire. Jaime then reverts to normal and confesses his cannibalism before dying. It is not specified if the Jamie in this book is the original Jamie or a duplicate that had died.
Marvel Zombies
Multiple Man is one of the zombies that Ashley G. Williams encounters in issue #3 of Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness. Duplicated already, all the copies try to devour Ash, who seemingly destroys them all. It is not shown how exactly Madrox became a zombie.
Ultimate Multiple Man
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Madrox is a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants. He was once an entire mutant rights protest march. A sample of his stem cells were stolen by the French military to create a "mutate" (a Marvel term for genetically-modified humans as opposed to those who developed mutant powers naturally) called the Schizoid Man, with similar powers, who was used to stop a riot single-handedly. Madrox recently appeared alongside Mastermind, Blob, and Toad when they gate-crashed the Academy of Tomorrow's Homecoming dance, though this was later shown to be an illusion. He also appears to be British. In the Return of The King arc, Jamie states that he can only produce approximately 27 or 28 dupes before he gets a bad sense of deja vu. Jamie has appeared on the recently released cover of Ultimates Vol. 3, alongside the Brotherhood.
In other media
Television
- In the X-Men animated series, Multiple Man appeared in the episode "Cold Comfort" as a member of X-Factor led by Havok and Forge.
- The animated series X-Men: Evolution features Jamie Madrox under the codename Multiple, instead of Multiple Man. In the series, Jamie is a member of a "junior team" of X-Men, roughly equating to the New Mutants. The reason for the name change was that being a kid, assumed to be the youngest in the Evolution version of The New Mutants, he was not yet a Multiple "Man" in this instance. The young Jamie was extremely clumsy, his frequent pratfalls often triggering his powers. He was voiced by David Kaye.
Film
- In the film X2, his name appears on a list of names Mystique scrolls through on Stryker's computer while looking for Magneto's file.
- In the novelization of X2, Jamie has an expanded role as a student living at Xavier's having a sort of relationship with Siryn, who often unintentionally causes him to create duplicates of himself.
- X-Men: The Last Stand includes Multiple Man, whose name is James Madrox according to the prison truck's "guest list", being recruited into the Brotherhood of Mutants. Played by Eric Dane, the character is an ex-bank robber (having robbed seven banks at the same time) and serves as a decoy for Magneto's Brotherhood, duplicating himself to appear as many people (somewhere around 150 duplicates) on satellite images, while the rest of the Brotherhood escape, it is currently unknown what happened to him after he was caught but its possible that he was either sentenced to the cure or just imprisoned. He's rearrested by U.S. Army troops after the ruse is discovered. This version of Jamie is a combination of his 616 and Ultimate counterparts. He resembles the 616 version of the character but, like his Ultimate counterpart, is a criminal and a member of the Brotherhood. In addition, the film version is able to copy himself at will, as opposed to requiring a kinetic impact.
Video games
- In X-Men: The Official Game, Multiple Man appears as a villain; he is battled on the Brooklyn Bridge.
- In the video game X-Men Legends, Multiple Man (spelled as "Multipleman" and voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) makes a brief cameo on Muir Island.
Bibliography
- Giant Size Fantastic Four #4 (December, 1975; first appearance)
- X-Factor (Vol. 1) #71-100 (presumed killed) #128-129 (discovered alive) #132-133 #135 #146 (1991 - 1998)
- MadroX #1-5 (September 2004 - January 2005)
- X-Factor (Vol. 2) On-going series (December, 2005 - Present)