In X-Factor, one of the X-Men’s most infamous members has a new gig in the Mojoverse, and it’s absolutely horrifying.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for X-Factor #3 by Leah Williams, David Baldeon, Israel Silva, & VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Sometimes, characters don’t get to be developed as they were originally planned. When he first appeared in Fabian Nicieza and Tony Daniel’s X-Force Annual #2, Adam-X was initially positioned to be a major player in the world of the X-Men, with some stories even suggesting a deep connection to series mainstays like Cyclops.
While his infinity for blades, mutant power to set blood on fire and distinctly ’90s-era styling, Adam-X quickly faded into obscurity, largely reduced to a vestige of the X-Men’s most extreme era. However, X-Factor #3 just revealed that Adam X has resurfaced in the media-obsessed Mojoverse, where he’s playing a horrifying new role.
The man now known as Adam-X was born on the planet Ch’reesharaa, deep in Shi’Ar-controlled space. Growing up in an unremarkable village, Adam was the only survivor of an alien attack that destroyed the village. He made his way across the galaxy, becoming a skilled pilot and fighter before landing on Earth and losing most of his memories in the process. He was recruited by Martin Strong to become a mutant-hunter, utilizing his powers well against the likes of X-Force. He eventually discovered that he was the son of D’Ken, former Emperor of the Shi’Ar Empire, and an unknown human woman, making him a half-Mutant/half-Shi’Ar warrior. He retained his powers after House of M, but he’s led a fairly unremarkable history since then.
In X-Factor #3, X-Factor has ventured into the Mojoverse, where they’ve discovered that live-streaming of brutal mutant conflicts has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the dimension. Their investgiation finds many former X-Men allies, now taking part in the Mojoverse world of streaming. Shatterstar is famous for his massive battles, Spiral has become a major star, and Wind Dancer allows herself to be murdered for the views. Major Domo has started an ASMR channel, and Arize has a meditation feed.
But as Aurora discovers while flipping through the various channels from the Mjoverse, the fifth most popular Livestream in the Mojoverse is devoted to Adam-X. Adam-X has started a “commentary entertainment” stream, where he seemingly jokes and talks about the footage being shown. The disturbing part is that Adam-X is watching snuff films that contain actual footage of people being killed. It’s a twisted direction for Adam-X to take, especially because as Auroa mentions in her report about the channels, he may not even be fully cognizant of what he’s doing. Even when this Mojoverse society collapses (as it so often does), Adam-X will have built an archive of suffering. It’s a monstrous transformation for the nominal hero and might shake him to his core.