Did Morgan Blackhand Beat Adam Smasher? No Winner

No. Morgan Blackhand and Adam Smasher launched themselves at each other on the roof of Arasaka Tower, and then the nuclear device went off. The Cyberpunk Wiki says the battle's outcome was never determined, so nobody beat anybody. (Firestorm: Shockwave; Cyberpunk Wiki)

What happened on the roof?#

Smasher's feud was one-sided. The wiki says he saw Morgan as a threat to his belief that metal beats meat, and challenged him again and again, while Morgan ignored him at every meeting. Smasher was delighted to join Arasaka in the Fourth Corporate War because Morgan was working for Militech. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Adam Smasher; Firestorm: Shockwave)

During the August 2023 raid on Arasaka Tower, Morgan led Strike Team Omega and went up to the roof to stop Arasaka making a backup of its database. As the survivors boarded their aircraft, Smasher appeared in DaiOni armour, waving a captured teammate's biopod and saying Johnny was dead and Shaitan would follow unless Morgan took the biopod back. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Morgan Blackhand; Firestorm: Shockwave)

Morgan told his people to leave without him. Once the aircraft lifted off, he made a remark about testing Smasher's "meat vs. metal" belief and the two went at each other. That's where the account stops, because the nuclear device went off soon afterwards and the Night City Holocaust began. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Morgan Blackhand; Firestorm: Shockwave)

Who survived?#

Smasher did. The wiki says he somehow survived the blast, and he's back in Night City in the 2070s as Yorinobu Arasaka's bodyguard. See whether Smasher survived the nuke. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Adam Smasher)

Morgan's story is murkier. The wiki says his status was unconfirmed after the blast, and that rumours between the 2030s and 2040s put him in several First Wave cities. Its infobox lists him as alive in 2077, and its development section says Mike Pondsmith confirmed that in an interview. In Cyberpunk 2077 itself he's only a name: Jackie mentions him as the most famous Solo, and the Afterlife has no drink named for him because his fate was never settled. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Morgan Blackhand; Cyberpunk 2077)

What are Adam Smasher's powers?#

None that break the rules. Everything he does comes from chrome, and the stat blocks show it. Here's how the wiki's Cyberpunk 2020 numbers set the two against each other. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Adam Smasher; Cyberpunk Wiki, Morgan Blackhand)

| | Adam Smasher | Morgan Blackhand | |---|---|---| | REF | 15 | 10/13 | | BODY | 18 | 10/12 | | Build | Full-body conversion, modified Samson frame | Right cyberarm, neural processor with Sandevistan boost | | Built-in weapons | Wolvers in both arms | Rippers and a custom 12mm heavy SMG in the arm | | Armour | SP 25 frame, SP 20 coveralls | SP 24 vest, SP 18 bodysuit | | Heavy hardware | Tsunami Helix, Magnum Opus Hellbringer, DaiOni armour | Malorian Arms Assault Cannon |

The edge is plain on paper: more body, more armour, a frame designed to be a weapon. What the table doesn't show is how Mike Pondsmith says he plays Morgan: the best because he's alive, and never one to put himself in harm's way for a table of green players. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Morgan Blackhand)

In the 2076 of Edgerunners, Smasher's moves are more flamboyant. He keeps pace with David Martinez's Sandevistan and calls it a rudimentary implant, and the Edgerunners stats the wiki lists give him an experimental Sandevistan, a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher and three layers of self-ICE. That ICE is why Lucy's hack only annoys him. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Adam Smasher; Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)

Johnny vs Smasher, and Maine vs Smasher#

Johnny lost, both times. In the tabletop version he draws Smasher's fire with his Malorian Arms 3516 so his team can get out, and is cut in half by auto-shotgun fire. The 2077 database entry just says Smasher killed him during the attack. See how Johnny died. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Adam Smasher; Cyberpunk 2077)

Johnny's engram does get revenge in one ending. On the Rogue route, V's body under Johnny's control fights Smasher alongside Crispin Weyland, and Smasher is defeated. That's V's fight, not a duel with Johnny. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Adam Smasher; Cyberpunk 2077)

Maine never fights him. In Edgerunners, Maine dies in episode 6, which the wiki dates to 2075: after losing himself to cyberpsychosis and seeing Dorio killed, he blows up a pile of explosive canisters and takes several MaxTac officers with him. Smasher's fight with the crew comes in the final episode, in 2076, and his target there is David, with Rebecca and Falco caught in the way. (Cyberpunk Wiki, Maine (Edgerunners); Cyberpunk Wiki, Adam Smasher; Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)

My read#

I think the books leave this open for a reason. A Morgan who loses would break the character, who is meant to be the best because he's still alive. A Smasher who loses in 2023 couldn't come back as 2077's head of security. Nobody wins, and both walk away from the page. It's a cheat, and I like it anyway.

Canon Notes#

Where to go next#

Start with the Adam Smasher profile, see who killed Adam Smasher and read the Morgan Blackhand page.