WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for X-Corp #1 by Tini Howard, Alberto Foche, Sunny Gho, VC’s Clayton Cowles, and Tom Muller, on sale now.
The X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe has only gotten larger over the past year, both literally and figuratively. Krakoa’s victory in the “X of Swords” tournament won them a whole new mutant island, and their various endeavors have recently taken them to the stars. The mutants Warren Worthington III and Monet St. Croix are now looking to bring their kind to the forefront of the corporate world with the formation of X-Corp, their latest venture.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
Along the way, they recruit superstar sleuth and scientist Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, pulling him away from his ideal life that draws back to his earliest appearances.
After Krakoa’s meteoric rise to the top of the pharmaceutical industry, the time has never been better for the mutant nation to enter into other corporate enterprises. While Warren deals with business matters in Brazil and Monet seeks out additional members for the company’s board, Jamie Madrox and several dozen of his duplicates toil away in the Savage Land facility where they produce and experiment with the various medicines that Krakoa has created. It might be tedious work, but it is work that he genuinely enjoys, and when Monet comes to offer him a place at X-Corp’s highest table it is hard for him to accept. Being in the lab, dedicating himself to scientific pursuits is where his heart has always been.
When he first appeared in 1975’s Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 by Len Wein, Chris Claremont, and John Buscema, Jamie Madrox’s powers were completely out of control. He had lived the past six years in solitude, and when the power-dampening suit built by his deceased parents malfunctioned, he found himself unwittingly playing the role of the villain. Thankfully, the combined efforts of the Fantastic Four and Professor Xavier were enough to subdue him, and Charles took Jamie away to help him gain control over his abilities.
After doing so, Jamie turned down a spot on the X-Men when it was offered to him, opting instead to join Moira MacTaggert on Muir Island as her new lab assistant. His time spent working alongside Moira proved to be some of the most meaningful, although it wouldn’t be long before he was pulled back into the action to face off against various superpowered threats. Soon, Madrox’s life was being pulled in multiple directions, including a stint as a private investigator, and Multiple Man’s days in a lab came to an end altogether.
Now Jamie is once again begrudgingly setting aside his personal desires to take on a role bigger than himself, and even though he thought it would be office work and meeting rooms, it has so far proven to be anything but. Warren’s business meeting in South America soon takes a turn for the worse, and it becomes clear that these negotiations were never intended to be fair. Jean Pierre Kol has decided his previous arrangement with mutantkind is no longer good enough, and to drive home how serious he is about the matter he has the Savage Land facility destroyed with a roaring explosion. Without being able to reabsorb the duplicates who were lost int he blast, everything they had learned on their own was lost, and for someone with such an inquisitive mind as Jamie Madrox, that was one of the most tragic losses he could have possibly suffered.
Thankfully, the members of X-Corp, including the original Jamie Madrox, were safe from the attack on board the company’s very own flying headquarters, leaving Kol infuriated when the base is unveiled to the world.
Jamie is also enraged, but his anger stems from the loss of his lab, his duplicates, and the seeming indifference of his teammates, although when he finally steps outside with the others to see the world staring up at them those feelings seem to subside. Even though he might not be where he wants to be, Multiple Man is most certainly where he is needed most.
About The Author