X-Men: Legends showed how Cyclops and Havok’s brother can be one of Marvel’s fastest mutants, for a few seconds.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for X-Men: Legends #1 by Fabian Nicieza, Brett Booth, Adelso Corona, Guru-eFX and VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
The X-Men have returned to the ’90s with their latest miniseries X-Men: Legends. In the process, Marvel brought back one of the most extreme characters from that era: Adam X. The fierce warrior mutant raised by aliens had a chance to once again show off how devastating his blood-based abilities could be.
And while Adam was trying to run away from Cyclops, Havok and bounty hunters in X-Men: Legends #1, he revealed that he could turn his powers on himself, gaining super speed for a short amount of time.
The Marvel Universe has speedsters, but in the past, people like Quicksilver received their speed as their special abilities in and of themselves. Adam’s temporary use of super speed seems to be a subset of his own powers, one that could be highly effective for a quick maneuver in combat, or in this case, escaping combat. The key to this skill lies in the nature of Adam’s abilities though.
As a mutant, Adam has a vast amount of power. This is only emphasized by the confirmation that he is in fact a member of the Summers family. That fact alone implies there are greater depths to his power than perhaps even he himself knows. But much like his brothers, Cyclops and Havok, Adam’s powers are based on energy manipulation. But the way he uses it against his foes is much less straightforward than his brothers. And, it’s seemingly, more painful, too.
Adam has the power to send an electrical surge through oxygenated blood. He targets the electrolytes inside the blood, supercharging them and essentially burning his targets from the inside out. Of course, he can only do this when his enemy’s blood has been exposed to the air. To that end, he’ll arm himself with blades and try to cut into his target. Only a small cut is necessary for his powers to take effect. He also possesses finer control than his brothers, able to specify how much energy is sent through the blood. He could briefly warm a person up or incinerate them entirely.
But using the power also drains him. That’s why Adam X using his powers to give himself super speed is so exhausting. He is still boiling his own blood to the point that he can run at an incredible rate, but the act is still extremely painful and exhausting. It is a surprising use of his power, possibly using the electrical surge to increase his own reflexes to escape dangerous situations. While Adam X has been the butter of many, many jokes since his creation. this application of his powers and the super-speed it produces shows just Adam X needs to be taken at least semi-seriously.
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