Who Is Adam on ‘Yellowjackets’? Every Theory Explained

Yellowjackets is a surprisingly good horror-drama-thriller series that explores the characters and backstories of different personalities involved when a team of female high school soccer players got stranded in the woods in 1996 due to a plane crash. As the story jumps between 1996 and 2021, we see the adult version of Shauna flirting with a man named Adam and even having an affair with him.

While Adam seemed like an innocent cutie when Shauna first bumped into him (quite literally), things are never quite as they seem. This is true, especially when you consider that the 2021 versions of the Yellowjackets were getting blackmailed by a mysterious person who was even killing off the survivors of 1996. And this leads us to Adam, who looks like he could be involved in the grander scheme. So, let us look at some theories regarding Adam’s real identity.

Adam Is Javi Martinez

This is one of the more popular theories about Adam’s identity. We know that Javi is Travis’s little brother and is the younger of the two sons of Coach Martinez, who died in the plane crash. And there are plenty of pieces of evidence that support this theory.

First off, it could be possible that Javi, who was several years younger than the Yellowjackets, developed a boyhood crush on Shauna during their time in the woods. After Coach Martinez died, you could see Shauna comforting the young boy, who might have fallen for her then and there.

We also know for a fact that Adam is someone who is interested in art. But there is something that connects his passion for art and the events that happened in 1996. Back in the woods, Javi finds Shauna writing in her journal. Shauna then rips out a page and gives it to Javi, who might have developed his artistic side due to this incident.

There is also the incident where we see Shauna asking why Adam was keeping track of their score when they were playing mini-golf. In case you haven’t noticed, Travis and Natalie always kept score during their younger years whenever they were out hunting. This could be something that Javi picked up from his older brother.

In 1996, Javi also showcased his talent for art when he used a hunting knife to carve out a wolf figure that he called “an art project.” While Adam is yet to show the same kind of talent, what we know is that he is good with his hands, especially considering that he works in a body shop. On top of that, he also has an animal figurine and several pieces of art in his apartment. Coincidence?

Another thing you need to know is the fact that Adam has a back tattoo that resembles a mountain. While we don’t want to overthink this detail, this tattoo could be connected to the fact that Javi was in the mountains and was looking to put his past behind him by putting a mountain tattoo on his back.

Then there is also the clue regarding Travis’s bank account after he was murdered. Misty said that someone emptied out his bank account right after he was killed. Only a family member could possibly do so, and this points to the possibility that Javi could have been behind it. However, we are not sure as to whether or not Javi is the type of person who would kill a brother or if he is even Adam.

All that said, there is a good chance that Adam could be Javi. However, the thing that is most troublesome here is that Shauna doesn’t seem to recognize him one bit. She never even stopped to consider whether or not this guy seemed familiar to her. It would be impossible for Javi to have undergone such a glow-up that Shauna doesn’t recognize him one bit.

Adam Could Be (Gross) Shauna’s Son Or Perhaps Travis’s Son

We know that Adam is quite young compared to Shauna. This has led some people to theorize that he could be related to Shauna and might have been his mountain baby, who she ended up abandoning right after surviving the incident in 1996. Then again, this is one of the craziest and grossest theories on the internet because of the sexual relationship that Shauna has with Adam.

The theory is that Shauna had sex with Jeff up in the mountains and got pregnant. After that, she had to abandon the baby for her future, but the baby grew up and followed her back to her hometown to plot his revenge on his mother. But sleeping with your own mother is the worst thing to do if you want to exact revenge on someone who abandoned you.

There is also the theory that Adam could be Travis’s son with Jackie up in the mountains. It could also be a similar case of Travis and Jackie abandoning the boy, who ends up murdering his father for revenge.

However, what you should know here is that the timeline here seems off. We know that Adam is a lot younger than Shauna, but being someone who is about 25 years younger seems to be a stretch here. We know that Shauna graduated from Brown in 2000, and she also guessed that Adam was someone in the Class of 2007 or 2008.

So, if you think about that, the math doesn’t add up as Adam should at most be 25 years old in 2021 if he were the son of one of the people trapped in the mountains in 1996.

Adam Could Be Working For Jeff

Throughout the earlier parts of Yellowjacket, the 2021 version of Shauna was suspecting her husband Jeff of having an affair because of the fact that he usually stayed out late for work and that their sexual relationship had gone sour. However, this was eventually proven false in the latter episodes, as Jeff was proven to be blackmailing the Yellowjackets.

We know that Jeff has always been quite sneaky because, as a teen, he sneaked into Jackie to hook up and even snuck behind Jackie to hook up with Shauna. There is also the possibility that he was the one who stole Natalie’s $50,000 and then used it to buy a dress for his girlfriend as a way to prove that he was more than what everyone thought of him.

From there, we saw that Shauna found glitter on the floor of her closet close to the safe where she keeps her journals of what happened up in the mountain. Shauna assumed that this was from Adam, but it could also be possible that it was from jeff. It could be possible that Jeff was using Shauna’s journal to gain access to the other Yellowjackets’ whereabouts so that he could blackmail them.

We also know that Shauna and Jeff had financial problems, considering that they didn’t have a lot of money for their daughter’s college tuition fees. It could be possible that Jeff was looking to use the story of the Yellowjackets as a way to earn money, considering that someone offered a seven-digit sum of money at the very start of the series to learn more about what happened up in the mountain.

But where does Adam fit into this? Well, for starters, Natalie and Misty theorized that the blackmailer was most likely a man and that he could be working with or for someone. The possibility is that Adam is the one working with Jeff, who could be the blackmailer. 

We also know after episode 9 that Jeff is indeed the blackmailer and that he wasn’t sneaking around to cheat. However, the reason why he wanted to blackmail the Yellowjackets was to make enough money to pay off some loan sharks. This explains why Shauna never received a text from the blackmailer, as Jeff knew that his wife didn’t have the money.

But this still doesn’t truly answer who Adam is and how he fits into the entire mess. Episode 9 would indicate that he and Jeff don’t know one another, but the possibility is still out there.

Adam Is A Reporter

At the start of the series, Taissa told Shauna that anyone can be a journalist and could possibly pop out of nowhere just to get a story from them. This means that there is a good possibility that Adam was sneaking around and was actually a reporter or journalist on the side while still working on his body shop. Of course, everyone also knows that Shauna is a Yellowjacket because a simple Google search would reveal that she was one of the girls who survived the 1996 incident.

So, in a way, Adam knows for a fact that Shauna is a Yellowjacket and is now looking for a way to get a story out of her by gaining her trust and sleeping with her. It could also be possible that sleeping with her was never part of the plan but ended up becoming a part of the entire charade in an attempt to get her side of the story.

Adam Is Just Adam

Finally, one of the theories that can instantly disappoint all of the fans out there is that Adam is just Adam. And after episode 9, this seemed like the most likely conclusion.

We now know that Adam is not the blackmailer, as Jeff is clearly the one doing the blackmailing. However, Shauna didn’t know that at first, as she confronted Jeff in a frantic rage. Despite how Jeff was trying to calm her down, Shauna still felt betrayed and ended up killing the man. It was only after his death that she learns that Jeff was the true blackmailer.

So, in that sense, the most likely conclusion here is that Adam was just merely Adam, who fell in love with Shauna for who she is. We can’t blame Shauna for wondering who he was, especially because there are no traces of him online.

But while Adam may be dead, we still cannot reject some of the other theories, especially the ones that point to the possibility that he may have been Javi. Then again, all that is moot as Adam is now deceased.