It wouldn’t be Cyberpunk without Cybernetics.
Enhancing your body in the Cyberpunk universe is both commonplace but also incredibly dangerous.
A slippery slope where if you deck yourself out too much, you risk losing your humanity.
But this was of little concern to one cyborg that didn’t have much humanity back when
they were human, and that’s who we’re talking about today.
The legendary Adam Smasher, aka the guy who killed Johnny Silverhand.
When it comes to these Cyberpunk Lore videos, we try and talk about characters and history
we think might be relevant to the upcoming video game.
Adam Smasher is no exception as he’ll be making an appearance in 2077.
Right there.
So let’s take a look at the brief but important history of Adam Smasher.
Adam, real name unknown, started out as a typical street punk in New York City.
Growing up in the South Bronx, Adam was the leader of his neighborhood gang, the bloodboys.
Even back then he had a nasty sadistic streak with a dismissive attitude towards human life.
This would serve him well when he later joined up with the Army, although the Army didn’t
see it the same way, discharging him for quote ”bad conduct and Insubordination”.
Adam would return to the Big Apple as a gun for hire, or Street Samurai as he likes to
call it.
This line of work suited him until around 2015, when one day a job went south and Adam
was hit by several RPG-A Warheads, turning him into a bag of meat.
That’s not a metaphor.
His friends literally shoved the chunky remains of his body into a backpack and dragged him
back to New York.
And yet Adam was not fully dead.
A mysterious corporation put him on life support as a pile of flesh only able to communicate
through a tech interface.
They gave him an offer.
He could be saved, fully converted into a metal body, in exchange for 15 years of service
to them.
Adam accepted and was reborn as the combat cyborg Adam Smasher.
This mysterious employer turned out to be none other than the Arasaka Corporation.
Adam Smasher became one of their prized killers while still given the freedom to work freelance.
He would take on any job as long as it fulfilled one condition.
It needs to involve collateral damage and civilian casualties.
Adam has long been obsessed with the idea of being the strongest and considered himself
superior with his metal body, adopting the mantra, “metal is better than meat”.
His need to prove his way of life led to a rivalry with the famous solo Morgan Blackhand.
Morgan was the opposite of Adam in almost every way, a professional that handled delicate
situations with grace, taking his targets in alive if possible.
If Adam could beat Morgan, he could prove that metal was in fact better than meat.
However everytime Adam challenged him, Morgan would ignore it.
Eventually the Fourth Corporate War kicked off, a bloody conflict between Arasaka and
Militech.
Adam was called in, working the front lines for Arasaka.
All the while waiting for his chance to take on Morgan who just so happened to be working
for Militech.
He finally got his wish during the infamous attack on the Night City Arasaka Tower.
The details of this event are vague, a mystery to the general public of the cyberpunk universe,
and books like Cyberpunk RED state that no one really knows what went down.
However the adventure book Shockwave not only details what happened but lets players participate
in the event.
What I’m about to talk about is canonically supposed to have happened but it's worth keeping
in mind that Cyberpunk 2077 might change some of the details.
Looking to end the war, Militech sent several strike teams into Arasaka Tower, one led by
Morgan and another led by rockerboy Johnny Silverhand.
Johnny’s team was tasked with breaking into the Soulkiller lab, which housed a dangerous
program that trapped people’s minds in a digital prison, leaving their body an empty
shell.
The plan went well but Johnny’s team took a little too long and on their way out they
were confronted by Adam Smasher and a group of Asasaka soldiers.
Pinned down in a cramped hallway by gun fire, things were not looking good.
Knowing their situation was hopeless, Johnny, SMG in hand, tried to buy his team some time
by taking on Adam Smasher.
But against Adam’s metal shell there really wasn’t much Johnny could do.
Adam pulled out his auto shotgun and tore Johnny’s body into pieces.
In a matter of mere seconds, the body of the legendary Rockerboy hit the ground.
Johnny was dead.
This sacrifice gave Johnny's team the chance to escape.
Meanwhile Morgan Blackhand’s team had set up a nuclear device inside the building and
then began extraction on the rooftop.
But of course it wasn’t gonna be that simple.
Adam Smasher appeared, holding the mangled remains of one of Morgan’s friends while
taunting him over the death of Johnny.
Morgan couldn’t ignore Adam this time, and stayed behind so the rest of his team could
escape.
There on the rooftop of Arasaka Tower, Adam Smasher finally got his duel with Morgan Blackhand,
a chance to see if metal was better than meat.
Morgan’s team watched the battle from the sky.
The two were still fighting each other, even as the nuclear detonation destroyed the tower
under their feet.
The rivals both fell into the chaos below.
Their fate left unknown.
But as we now know Adam Smasher did in fact survive.
We don’t know much about what he’s been up to in the last 50 years but he still works
for Arasaka and has made Night City his home, which brings us to Cyberpunk 2077.
Though it hasn't been confirmed, I think it's safe to say he’s not going to be an ally
to protagonist V.
In fact, with V on the run from Arasaka after stealing their prototype chip, I’m hoping
Adam’s role is not unlike a cyborg version of Resident Evil’s nemesis, a metal monstrosity
constantly hunting V down.
V also has the digital ghost of Johnny Silverhand in their head who I’m sure will want some
payback for their untimely death.
Perhaps we’ll finally get our answer if metal is better than meat.
Thank you so much for watching this episode in our Cyberpunk lore series.
If you’re new I highly recommend you check out the rest of our videos, such as the ones
on Johnny Silverhand and The Fourth Corporate War, both of which provide more information
on the events of the destruction of Arasaka Tower.
We have a new video up every saturday leading up to Cyberpunk 2077's release, so we’ll
see you next week.