Adam Jensen is the mechanically augmented protagonist of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. He is voiced by Elias Toufexis.
Adam Jensen was born in 1993. At a very young age he was one of a group of infants subjected to experimental genetic therapy treatments by White Helix, a subsidiary of VersaLife. All other children in the group died as a result of the treatments, but Jensen survived. Two scientists in charge of Adam found out they had succeeded with him, but had grown too attached to let Versalife continue experimenting on him. Also, not wanting any more children to undergo the same treatments, they burned down the facility where the experiments had taken place. They were murdered by the Illuminati and later reported as fire casualties, but their plan worked and infant Jensen was rescued by a kind-hearted facility worker named Michelle Walthers. Walthers gave up the baby Jensen for adoption, and at age five he was adopted by two loving parents. The rest of his youth and his adolescence were relatively normal. He grew up unaware of his origins, and believing that his foster parents were his birth parents.
However, unbeknownst to Walthers, or Jensen himself, or anyone else alive, the White Helix gene therapy had permanently altered Jensen's biochemistry. His body would no longer damage PEDOT electrodes with glial tissue buildup; instead, it would form a strong bond with the electrodes - meaning that if he were to be augmented, he would not require Neuropozyne. For the thirty years that followed the White Helix experiment, Jensen would unknowingly carry the secret of universal augmentation in his DNA.
As a young man, Jensen earned an Associate's Degree of Criminal Justice from the University of Phoenix. At the age of 21 he joined the Detroit Police Department. Four years later, he volunteered for the Department's SWAT unit, and was accepted under the command of Quincy Durant.
Jensen rose quickly through the ranks as part of SWAT Team Two, but his police career came to an end during an incident known as the Mexicantown Massacre. A young augmented boy was identified as dangerous, and Jensen was given the order to shoot to kill. He refused that order, and quit the force. The order was passed on to Jensen's commander, Wayne Haas.
At the time that he left the police force, Jensen was in a relationship with Sarif Industries neurologist Megan Reed. During their relationship Reed discovered Jensen's unique genetic traits. She advised her employer, David Sarif, to hire Jensen in order to ensure access to Jensen's genetic material.
Jensen joined SI as Head of Security. David Sarif, being a cautious man, hired private investigator Brent Radford to investigate Jensen's past. Radford discovered Jensen's role in the White Helix experiment and the fate of his biological parents. Sarif chose to not tell Jensen, believing that knowledge of his origins as a human test subject would be harmful to him.
Although Sarif was impressed with Jensen's loyalty and skills, Jensen was unwittingly even more important to the company as "Patient X" in Reed's research. If Jensen's genetic quirk could be reproduced in adults, augmentation would become as simple as plastic surgery - ushering in a new age of human enhancement and destroying VersaLife's Neuropozyne market. Megan Reed's research was completed in early 2027.
On the eve of a series of high-profile augmentation hearings in Washington DC, Illuminatus Bob Page responded to Sarif Industries' announcement of a Neuropozyne alternative by ordering the Tyrants, an augmented Black Ops team, to attack the SI laboratories. Megan Reed and four other key researchers were apparently killed in the attack.
The Tyrants copied and destroyed all data pertaining to the breakthrough, but as the attackers were unaware that Jensen was the source of the announced research breakthrough, they did not realize he was as important as the five key researchers. However, Jensen sustained life-threatening injuries attempting to repel the attack, culminating in being shot in the head by Jaron Namir.
