Marvel's Multiple Man is getting his own comic book series. The news comes three months after it was reported that 20th Century Fox is developing a Multiple Man movie with James Franco in the lead role. Generally used as a member of a team, the character has only headlined his own title once. It appears that Marvel is preparing to take advantage of the mutant hero's rising popularity.

Created by Len Wein, Jamie Madrox first appeared in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4. As Multiple Man, the character has the mutant ability to create duplicates - or "dupes" - of himself. Madrox was a minor supporting character who recurred in the pages of The Uncanny X-Men until he became a founding member of the second incarnation of X-Factor, alongside Valerie Cooper, Polaris, Havok, Quicksilver, Strong Guy, and Wolfsbane. Writer Peter David's run on X-Factor helped Multiple Man to become an important, fan-favorite Marvel character. Jamie Madrox has gone on to appear in various video games and cartoons.

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Marvel Comics has announced a new Multiple Man five-part miniseries from Matthew Rosenberg, the writer of Phoenix Resurrection, Tales of Suspense, and The New Mutants. The series will be illustrated by Andy MacDonald. Multiple Man hasn't been the star of his own title since 2004's MadroX, a five-issue miniseries from Peter David.

Marvel Comics fans may know that Multiple Man was killed in the Death of X event, the same story that killed off Cyclops. According to Rosenberg, the series will begin with someone discovering that Madrox is still alive. The mystery of how he isn't dead will be a major "driving force" in the series.

Apparently, Madrox won't be "long for this world" in the new miniseries. If he wants to stay alive, he'll have to contend with a new team of enemies who's willing to go toe-to-toe with the X-Men to get to him. It will be up to Multiple Man to stop a conspiracy for global domination. As with past Multiple Man stories, the series is expected to reach into a number of different genres. There will be time-travel, comedy, noir, and horror. The series will also explore the morality of clones.

Debuting in July, Multiple Man is one of the summer's many new titles to go along with Marvel's "Fresh Start" initiative. Thor, Black Panther, Venom, and The Avengers will all be relaunched. Another former X-Factor member, Quicksilver, will also receive his own miniseries in May.

More: Marvel Prepares Fans For The Death of Thor

Source: Comic Book