It may have taken Fabian 30 years or so to finally tell the tale; but X-Men Legends #1 and #2 was exactly that. The story and origin of Adam-X.
The issue opens with Eric the Red leading the Crystal Claws in an attack against a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska; while at the same time, Cyclops and Havok find themselves attacked by the Crystal Claws (who they recognize as Shi’ar). Alex and Scott fly to Alaska where they learn their grandparents had been abducted and a note in Shi’ar reads: His time has come. The Empire needs the Burning Blood to free the Light of M’Kraan to save the Galaxy. To spare the lives of the Summers’ progenitors, you must deliver the Forsaken One.”
We switch scenes to see Adam’s flashback – of being in a vat, as an infant – and the place being up in flames – and someone rescues him. A vat that reads “Eve” is left to their fate. (Interesting side note – in the Age of Apocalypse from Secret Wars, Fabian wrote the X-Men books and Adam, who was called Burner there – showed them vats that showed his as “Adam” – and three other vats – labelled “Eve”, “Abel” and “Cain”).
We learn Adam’s rescue was a Mephitisoid (same race as Hepzibah, of the Starjammers) named Jonath who had at one time been a commander of the Jath’che – the personal guards of the Shi’ar Emperor (D’Ken). The Jath’che had been banished to the planet Ch’reesharaa – where they were the once proud warriors were forced to be simple farmers. But for Adam, this life of peace was all he’d known. We then see Adam training with these great warriors to ensure if the times comes he’d always be able to defend himself. It was during one of these training sessions that Adam’s mutant ability awakened, and he was able to ignite oxygenated blood.
The next scene we see, Adam is at a farm on Earth, in “present time” (during the telling of this story, which takes place in the past – so present time in the past) and he’s approached by Cable, who had encountered Adam previously (in X-Force Annual #2) and told him what had happened with Scott and Jean’s grandparents (Adam met Scott and Alex’s grandfather in X-Men #39). Adam agrees (though he seems hesitant) to help – and begins hitchhiking when he’s attacked by Hepzibah and Raza of the Starjammers. Scott and Alex show up and try to keep things calm – but Adam decides to run away – but when they catch up with them again – he cuts all four of them and triggers his powers – only to discover – Cyclops and Havok are not affected (A few notes – it was established previously that Cyclops and Havok were immune to one another’s powers due to being siblings; this was also seen in the aforementioned Secret Wars Age of Apocalypse – where Adam used his powers there and Cyclops and Havok were not affected).
The first issue ends with the arrival of Corsair shooting Adam after mentioning that Cyclops and Havok had just met their brother. (A note here – back when Fabian originally wrote that fateful bit of dialogue between Sinister and Cyclops and mentioned “brothers” as in plural – Fabian had planned to always make it be Adam, but Fabian departed from the X-Books before the story finished being told).
The second issue opens with Corsair correcting himself and saying, “Technically he was your half brother” and much to his surprise, Adam stands back up. Adam explains that he was bio-genetically engineered to handle a shot to the head (a standard thing someone might try to do to assassinate someone on the throne). Adam then explains that his brain is literally in one of his ass cheeks. (I thought this was a little weird… and probably unnecessary… Adam already has a rough go of it because of his looks; now Fabian is saying his brain is in one of his ass cheeks? But, I digress… moving on) Corsair explains that he was coming for Adam, as were Raza and Hepzibah because Eric the Red has a bounty on Adam. So a plan is hatched to bring Adam to Eric the Red – but to take care of this once and for all. During the flight to the moon, Adam explains that he’d only recently learned the truth of his birth (in the pages of Captain Marvel #3) but much of it was still incomplete. Corsair fills in the rest – that Adam was a part of Emperor D’Ken’s eugenics program; merging Shi’ar DNA with that of other species in search of a way to advance the deteriorating evolution of the Shi’ar race. (Note here – the Shi’ar are an avian race; so for example, Deathbird is considered a throw back who was genetically born with her wings; I assume D’Ken was wanting to ensure that they got their wings, or perhaps that “mutants” would be born among the Shi’ar – especially if he could produce an heir with mutant abilities to take his place when the day came). Corsair explains that D’Ken used Katherine Summers (his wife, and the mother of Scott and Alex) to create Adam.
Adam explains that when he was taken from the vat before his actual birth time was due, that Jonath had taken him (and the other Jath’che) to the planet that they’d been exiled to and that the Crystal Claws eventually found them and when they refused to turn over Adam, Eric the Red deemed the defiance unacceptable and essentially bombed the entire planet with lethal toxins and there was only one skimmer among them and Adam was forced to use it to escape while the rest of the planet perished.
They arrive on the planet, signal Eric the Red, who shows up with members of the Crystal Claws. Adam “escapes” the shackles (that were never actually secured) and with lightning speed reflexes cuts all of the Crystal Claws and Eric the Red before the others can react and stuns them when he ignites his powers. Eric the Red and the Crystal Claws are captured; but Corsair them summons the Shi’ar Imperial Guard – and that’s when Adam gets an idea. He will have Oracle, further enhanced by Mentor, erase the memory of Adam’s existence in order to spare the Shi’ar Empire from a bloody civil war. Oracle explains she will leave fragments of their memories; enough to recall the contact, but not the context.
At the end, Adam returns to the farm he was at in the first issue, and asks the boy if he can be a farm hand, to help him and his father around the farm; after all, Adam had spent a large part of his early life as a farmer.
The scene ends with Sinister watching Adam at the farm; and yet someone is watching Sinister (I initially believed that it was somehow Erik the Red; but later learned it appears to been The Stranger, which Fabian wrote during X-Men Forever).
