I was more illustrating that I think a good artist could do something interesting and updated for him. I actually like the cap too - Roy Harper/Arsenal (Titans) also incorporates that into his look. My point though is that Adam is peak 90s because he hasn't been used much since then and is kind of
stuck there now. Cable and Shatterstar were very much created with the same 90s excesses (in temperament, in design) but have evolved with the times. The cap is now more used as a device specifically to make him more recognizable because he's been seen so seldom and far in between appearances and the artist needs you to right away say 'oh there's Adam'.
Speaking of appearances...
...was this confirmed as Adam in X-Force #12? The reason I ask is because that book came out the same day as X-Factor #3, where Aurora notes she was watching Adam-X's established show which was a top-5 Mojoverse TV program. I know the chronology of the X-books don't have to perfectly line up to publication dates (though these issues lead right into the massive
X of Swords crossover), but this makes the timing kind of wonky. It's almost like editorial said "ok we're gearing up to bring Adam-X back" and then folks jumped the gun a bit about how/when to use him (which is a good sign overall in my opinion).