Even the X-Men Think Marvel’s ‘Extreme’ Phase Was Stupid

Warning: contains spoilers for X-Men Legends #1!

The ’90s saw an “extreme” era of comics, chock-full of characters with big guns, lots of pouches, and grim and gritty attitudes – and Marvel and the X-Men were not immune to this trend. But in a recent adventure starring Adam-X, it seems even they admit that it was a bad idea. X-Men Legends #1 takes readers back to the ’90s and showcases the era in all its “extreme” glory. Written by Fabian Nicieza (who actually wrote the title during that time), with art by Brett Booth, inks by Adelso Corona and colors by Guru-eFX, the issue is available in stores now and on digital comics outlets.

In the late 1980s/early 1990s, the comics world saw the arrival of artists such as Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane. These artists were like nothing else seen before: their styles were dynamic and flashy, often featuring lithe, barely dressed women and scarred, musclebound men with ridiculously large guns. Costumes took a more militaristic turn, with belts and pouches proliferating to suggest characters who were always equipped for the battle ahead. Stories changed to match the new attitudes; it became popular to kill off longstanding characters such as Superman and Spider-Man and replace them with new and edgier versions. This era also saw the debut of Cable and Deadpool, two characters who came to represent the spirit of the time. Another character debuting around this time was Adam-X the X-treme, and now Marvel returns to the character almost 30 years later, and provides some commentary on the era in the process.

As the issue opens, Cable is searching for Adam-X and finds him meditating in a cornfield in Iowa. Adam senses Cable sneaking up on him and, true to his high-octane nature, throws a scythe at him. Cable uses his telekinesis to stop it, but disdainfully observes, “I thought both of us had gotten over our… extreme phase?” Introducing two rough and tumble characters by having one hurl a weapon only for the other to catch it in midair is peak ’90s comics, and it’s interesting to see that while Nicieza is revisiting the characters who defined that time (indeed, many fans feel Adam-X can’t truly work outside of it) he’s doing so with a wry eye for their limitations. Cable tells the frustrated and angry Adam that he now works with the X-Men, and that people can change and grow.

Much like Cable, Adam-X represents the over-the-top, “extreme” mentality that dominated early ’90s comics; the word is even in Adam’s name. Both Adam and Cable are hyper-macho with ambiguous moral codes, and both nail the visual aesthetic of the era: Cable with his infamous pouches and guns, and Adam with his long hair, preference for blades, and grunge outfit. But while Cable has moved on from this era, becoming a more thoughtful old soldier before being replaced by his younger self, Adam-X never did. As a result, Cable is still relevant and appears in books today, but Adam has fallen by the wayside and is generally regarded as a joke among fans. Uncanny X-Men #533 even includes a joke where a villain selling mutant powers is staggered when one of his customers asks for Adam-X, showing that he’s become the poster child for forgotten characters.

The “extreme” comics of the 1990s may seem cringe-worthy to fans today (and to be sure, many of them were) but the movement translated to big sales and big press coverage at the time. As X-Men Legends promises to revisit Adam-X’s story and address dangling plot threads around the character, one of the most interesting things to find out will be how Nicieza balances critical hindsight with allowing the character to do what he does best. For now, it seems like Cable was wrong to think that Adam-X was over his extreme phase, but the question remains as to whether there’s anything else for Adam-X to be.

About The Author

Shaun Corley
(1378 Articles Published)

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Shaun Corley is a pop culture enthusiast living in the Pacific Northwest. After stints in both customer service and academia, he’s turned his attention to writing about comic books–his lifelong passion. He is a graduate of Radford University, with a degree in English. When not reading comics, he enjoys spending time with his fiance and their dog.

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