I’ve rambled about how much I enjoy the character. I’ve even said how a joke character like Squirrel Girl went on to be a major player, so while many joke about Adam-X for his “90’s X-Treme Looks” – there’s no reason Adam couldn’t be used in a viable manner, and be given the chance to get away from the 90’s nitch so many people know him for. I’ve even compared him to Vulcan, who went on to “steal” Adam’s story to explain Sinister’s “brothers” comment to Scott.
But something I’ve not talked about is… what would I do, if I was given the chance to write Adam-X in the Marvel Universe as it stands right now.
One of the things I discussed previously, is about how I’d do a slight redesign of Adam-X. Wouldn’t even be that big of a change; mostly tapper down on the amount of blades he has. Adam originally had blades on his shoulders, arms, legs, everywhere. So I would remove them, and just leave the ones on his glove and a knife on the side of his boot (which is what he would use to throw to cut people), plus his axe (maybe just one). I would leave the long hair, the backwards hat. Maybe remove the soul patch on his chin, and just leave him five o’clock shadow or just clean shaven.
So now, story wise – what would I do. One of the important details to know is, Darkhawk, under the control of one of the Talons, murdered Lilandra. This, it would seem, left the Shi’ar Imperial Throne without an heir. Lilandra had no children of her own, Deathbird is exiled (again), and D’Ken was killed (again), by Vulcan. And Vulcan, who had married Deathbird to take the throne vanished into the Cancer Verse (fitting, since I felt like he was a disease) and has not (yet) returned.
So who sits on the Shi’ar Throne? Right now, it’s none other than the Shi’ar most powerful member of the Imperial Guard – none other than Gladiator. Gladiator does not want the throne, but he is the best suited when there’s no natural heir.
Enter, The Starjammers. We discover that Adam, at some point (perhaps after Cyclops had called on him to help stop Juggernaut in Uncanny X-Men #542, had asked Cyclops (off screen) about finding a way to return to space, since he wasn’t having much luck on Earth – and wanted to check out if there was indeed any truth to what Erik the Red had told him, in the pages of Captain Marvel (Legacy) #2 and #3. With Corsair alive again in the Marvel Universe, the Starjammers are called down to pick up Adam and take him to Shi’ar space. The entire trek, Corsair keeps talking about how Adam looks strangely familiar, similar to how Phillip Summers (Christopher Summer’s father) had done in the pages of X-Men #39. Adam insists that he doesn’t know Corsair, but Corsair persists. Hepzibah and the others think that Corsair is a little out of his mind (since none of them had ever met or seen Katherine before her demise, at the hands of D’Ken).
Refusing to give up his fight, Corsair manages to sneak some DNA from Adam and gives it to Sikorsky to analyze. Sikorsky returns with the fact that Adam possesses both Shi’ar and human DNA (something we already know). Sikorsky then notes that Adam shares a similar DNA strand to Scott and Alex. When Corsair asks what that means, Sikorsky confirms that Adam possesses DNA from Katherine Summers, as the only logical explanation. Corsair is shocked. Corsair confronts Adam about this, and Adam explains he never knew who is “biological mother” was. Only that he was “created” as the sole purpose of combining powerful Mutant DNA into the Royal Shi’ar Bloodline, and that according to Eric the Red, Adam was the son of D’Ken. Adam confirms that, according to Eric that Katherine was kept as a “pleasure maid” and bore Adam as a son, from D’Ken.
Corsair is initially furious, because standing before him stood an heir of D’Ken. But the rest of the Starjammers, upon learning Adam’s secret help talk sense into Corsair. They all agree that what they need to do is go to the Shi’ar Palace and explain who Adam is. With no rightful ruler, Adam – as the son of D’Ken – is the natural heir to the throne. However, despite his displeasure of serving on the Throne, Gladiator does not want to give up the Throne to someone he doesn’t know – especially a “cross breed” such as Adam. Naturally, this leads to a conflict, where The Imperial Guard is fighting the Starjammers. In swoops Deathbird, along with her two siblings, Black Light and White Noise, who promise the Starjammers to aid them with putting Adam on the throne – and the Starjammers, fighting the Imperial Guard, need all the help they can get – and agree, but know that Deathbird plans to betray them.
As the fight with the Imperial Guard escalates, Sikorsky appears with the DNA that indeed does confirm that Adam is the heir of D’Ken. This splits the Imperial Guard into two factions (those simply loyal to the throne; and those who refuse to put a “half breed” on the throne). Those loyal to the throne team up with the Starjammers (which includes Gladiator) and just as the battle seems to be in their favor, Deathbird strikes Gladiator from behind with a blast that weakens him, then throws one of her famous spears at Gladiator. However, the spear that would have killed Gladiator is taken by Adam-X who leaps in front of the spear and takes the hit. Deathbird screams, furiously as she and her siblings are forced to retreat. Adam’s sacrifice that almost gets him killed earns Gladiator’s respect; final page of the limited series is with all of them kneeling to Adam who sits on the Shi’ar throne.
The follow up would be – what would Adam be like as the ruler of the Shi’ar? Would he even want such a position?
