About

Adam Smasher is a secondary antagonist and final boss that appears in the 2020 role-playing video game Cyberpunk 2077. He is a full-borg "solo" or hitman hired to protect Yorinobu Arasaka, leader of the Steel Dragons. He found himself in his position as head of security for Arasaka after being offered life as an indebted machine following a crippling injury from an RPG blast. The villain also makes an appearance as a major antagonist in the Netflix anime adaptation Cyberpunk Edgerunners, though he was originally introduced in the 1988 tabletop game Cyberpunk. Due to Smasher's notoriety in the games and anime adaptation, the character has been the subject of numerous memes, fan art depictions and discussions online since at least 2020 following Cyberpunk 2077's release.

Origin

Cyberpunk (1988 TTRPG)

The character Adam Smasher first appeared in the 1988 tabletop RPG game Cyberpunk, created by Mike Pondsmith and published by R. Talsorian Games. Before his career as a solo (hitman), Smasher was involved in New York City gang violence and turned to the Army following the dissipation of his gang. He was later discharged from the Army for bad conduct.

His affinity for cruelty and needless violence made him an ideal hitman and gun for hire. He suffered a debilitating RPG blast he barely escaped from and received an offer from a mysterious corporate benefactor that was willing to turn him into an indentured robot in return for a chance at more "life." Faced with the choice of corporate servitude in a metal body or death, Smasher refused the latter.

He went on to work full-time for Asaraka security, developing animosity toward Morgan Blackhand, a Militech solo, and eventually being recruited to fight in the Fourth Corporate Wars. After surviving the nuclear blast that killed Johnny Silverhand, Smasher was reconfigured with even more machinery, eventually working his way up to becoming the head of Arasaka security and Yorinobu Arasaka's personal bodyguard.^[4]

Cyberpunk 2077 (2020 Video Game)

Adam Smasher is not provided an extensive backstory in the Cyberpunk 2077 video games, instead making an ominous appearance in Evelyn Parker's braindance before being referred to by Jackie Wells as a "Night City Legend." Smasher then makes an appearance in the final boss fight, where V is given the option to kill him or spare him.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners (2022 Netflix Show)

Adam Smasher works as an integral link tying the storylines of Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk Edgerunners, appearing in the last segment of Season 1.

Spread

Primarily since the release of Cyberpunk 2077 in late 2020, Adam Smasher has been widely discussed online, as well as become the subject of various fan art, memes and other media around the internet.

On July 6th, 2022, Redditor^[5] KamilCesaro posted a meme about how easy it is to beat Adam Smasher in the Cyberpunk video game. The post gathered over 4,700 upvotes in two months (seen below)

Following the events of Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Cyberpunk 2077 players began discussing how they were going to return to the game to beat Adam Smasher in the final boss fight. Fans of the series also discussed how Smasher appeared more brutal and ominous in the anime series than in the video game.

On September 14th, Twitter^[1] user @2paclypsenow posted a meme about Adam Smasher across Cyberpunk installments. The post gathered over 1,000 likes and 100 retweets in eight days (seen below).

On September 16th, 2022, Twitter^[2] user @TariyakiA posted a video of Rebecca from the Edgerunners anime series dancing in front of Adam Smasher's video game corpse. The post gathered over 3,000 likes and 600 retweets in six days (seen below).

Rebecca dances with Adam Smasher beaten in the background #CyberpunkEdgerunners #cyberpunk #sadcatdance pic.twitter.com/igyLOyUZR3

— 茶亽 (@TariyakiA) September 17, 2022

On September 19th, Twitter^[3] user @ratfacepunk posted a tweet about how users are replaying Cyberpunk 2077 to exact revenge on Adam Smasher for his actions in the anime series. The post gathered over 18,000 likes and 2,000 retweets in three days (seen below).

Related Memes

You Look Like A Cut Of Fuckable Meat

The Cyberpunk 2077 video game introduces Adam Smasher's character early on in the story with him delivering the dialogue "You look like a cut of fuckable meat. Are you?" An upload of the scene can be accessed in a YouTube^[6] video from Villain Crew, uploaded on December 14th, 2020. The video has gathered over 6,000 views in two years (seen below).

Following the game's release where the dialogue appeared, it has since become a meme associated with Smasher. For example, on December 22nd, 2020, a Redditor posted a meme using the line to the /r/dankmemes^[8] subreddit, receiving over 38,000 upvotes in roughly two years (seen below, left). On September 18th, 2022, Twitter^[7] user commented on the dialogue, gathering over 1,000 likes and nearly 70 retweets in four days (seen below).

Various Examples

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7145768141749210414

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7145130571851779330

Search Interest

External References