Super Soldier Serum

## Overview

The Super Soldier Serum is something of a misnomer as it refers to not just the serum itself, but the surrounding processes that stabilize the serum's transfromative properties within the individual. The original purpose of the serum was to enhance a subject to their peak physical performance and capabilities, transforming them into the apex of human development. The first subject of the Super Soldier Serum is Steve Rogers though many others would come to follow in his foot steps. Additionally, the serum and the pursuit for it has led to an expansive and clandestine array of more powerful serums and projects, often coming with more prominent mutations and unstable developments. Overall, the super soldier serum leaves a complicated legacy.

## Granted Capabilities

The original purpose of the Super-Soldier Serum is uplifting the human treated with it to peak physical and mental potential.The individual reaches the pinnacle of the natural capabilities of baseline humanity, being stronger, faster and more durable all at once. The following capabilities have been recorded in all recipients of the Super-Soldier Serum and its baseline relatives:

* Lifting around 800 pounds over their heads.

* Running at speeds of 30 mph or possibly more.

* Maintain strenuous physical activity for up to 12 hours on end before tiring.

* Increasing the individual's metabolism, allowing them to heal faster than normal humans.

* Increasing the individual's durability to where they can survive falls from several stories high, gunshots, seemingly fatal wounds, etc.

* Granting individuals heavy resistance to virtually any disease, illness, and poisons due to being able to process it, to where they are often describe as being "practically immune." This includes most known drugs and alcohol which has no effect on the Super-Soldier Serum recipient. Many have described not being able to become intoxicated

* Individuals to retain and recall any information they take in, such as Captain America, who possesses enhanced mind and is capable of remembering any military tactic and can apply it to any situation.

* Increase the individual's reflexes to a degree of enabling dodging gunfire.

* Individuals maintain peak physical status for extended periods of time, regardless of changes to diets or living conditions. Cells have reached a state of much greater durability or maintanance.

* Extensive deceleration of aging process due to the consistent reproduction of healthy cells, enabling the recipients to maintain physical capabilities to their autumn years and have longer lifespans. A related ability is being able to enter a state of "dormancy" and surviving being frozen for decades, as seen with Steve Rogers.

### Side Effects

The Super-Soldier Serum possesses another key factor in that it enhances and refines key personality features of the individual within as a result. In Erskine's own words: "*good becomes great, bad becomes worse*". As such, it's postulated individuals with unresolved truama, suppressed personality issues or so on would have their vices magnified and render them mentally unstable. This risk is amplified with the serum's more powerful variations. Similar side effects are seen in various derivatives, duplications and recreations.

## History

### Inspiration and Origins

While myths of men with beyond mortal capabilities are prevalent within various aspects and cultures, the idea of making a superhuman soldier through scientific developments entered the modern age through the stories and myths of John Steele. Once an ordinary Union soldier during the American civil war, an incident occurred while he was escaping Confederate soldiers during an espionage mission led to his disappearance and upon the return of just him after several months, came back changed considerably. He now possessed superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability and capabilities, becoming a legend of sorts among certain individuals. According to his family, he would often have nightmares, explaing that he was "abducted" and "changed", leading to the suspicion that during his disappearance was the result of abduction by extraterrestials who may have augmented him via genetic manipulation.

Research into his unique condition only started when he was captured by Nazis after recalling his capabilities during World War I and when he reenlisted during World War II. However, the research in trying to examine him was very limited, only getting the basic details. However, it's this that served as the starting point for the various research programs for creating super-soldiers. Steele himself remains an obscure figure though it's believed his feats and capabilities were the inspiration for the protagonist of the novel "Gladiator". Additionally, the initial research into possibly creating apex humanity was more grounded. Dr. Abraham Erskine outlined a special Brazilian revolutionary diet and isometric exercise regimen that he theorized would result in the individual achieving the peak of human potential.

However, because the diet and regime required the subject adhere to the regime since early childhood, this research was rejected by the US government as they needed a more time-effective method due to the nature of the war. The diet and exercise regime research would be validated as seen in Erskine's great-grandson, Micheal Van Patrick, who was raised since infancy on it. Additionally, biological descendents of Super-Soldier Serum recipients can utilize the regime to achieve peak human performance without having to start since infancy, as proven by Elijah Bradley (who would achieve peak human physicality as an adolescent upon a blood transfusion from his grandfather and require only half a year of following the routine to make the effects permanant), the grandson of Super-Soldier Serum recipient. While the blood transfusion did expedite the process, the data showed that he would've only needed an additional six months of the program without the transfusion for the effects to occur.

### Project Nietzsche & Project Rebirth

During World War II, after the capture of John Steele, his body was kept in stasis at a lab located in Frankfurt, Germany. In February 1941, the Nazis had Dr. Abraham Erskine & Professor Eric Schmitt put in charge of Project Nietzsche, with the hopes of turning German soldiers into *ubermensch*. However, both Erskine and Schmitt were secretly Jewish and thus worked to delay or sabotage the Project while keeping Steele in good enough condition and researching his unique capabilities. As the war intensified, American spies within the Nazi government enabled Dr. Erskine to pursue his opportunity in escaping. He would fake his death and escape to the United States with help of American forces, where he introduced them to his work regarding John Steele and the possibilities of creating super soldiers to combat the Nazi menace. He was given the alias of "Professor Reinstein" to hide his identity

And thus was born Project Rebirth.

Using the work he and Schmitt had done along with the own research of the Americans, he would construct the first ever Vita-Ray chamber as part of the process to create a super-soldier. The Super Soldier Serum was split into two compounds to be taken in different ways; the first compound would be taken orally which would begin the process within the body and then have it be accelerated through the second compound introduced intravenously while being bombaded in the Vita-Ray chamber to stabilize the process. The first test subject was a brave enlistee in Steve Rogers. The test would prove to be very successful as seen by the radial transformation on him.

However, shortly after the successful transformation of private Steven Rogers/Captain America, a Nazi sympathizer named Heinz Kruger attempted to kidnap Rogers and Erskine for the purposes of sending the information and subject back to Nazi Germany.

Erskine instead triggered his own demise and as a contingency plan, triggered the destruction of the Vita-Ray Chamber to ensure it would not fall into the hands of the Nazis. While the initial blueprints remained in tact, Erskine kept a large portion of the knowledge by memory and many of his notes on the serum and chamber were written in a code based on Hebrew. Despite this, Steve Rogers, christened Captain America, would go on to lead the Liberty Legion into many victories before his disappearance in 1945 and subsequent rediscovery in 1995.

### Project Rebirth 1.5

After the loss of Steve Rogers and with only basic information on the Super-Soldier Serum, they saw the need to further pursue the goal. While Captain America was deemed still living by having the "Spirit of '76" and then the Partiot masquerade as Captain America, they sought to replicate the Super-Soldier Serum in a secondary phase that remains one of the most controversial decisions in modern American history. Under the command of Col. Walker Price, 300 African-American solders were brought in under the guise of being granted "miracle shots" to try and recreate the Super-Soldier Serum. The process was overseen by Dr. Wilfred Nagel, codenamed "Josef", one of the lesser scientists who oversaw the original process with Rogers. The entire experiment was done over at Camp Cathart.

The project became infamous for its high mortality rate as Dr. Nagel was overruled regarding time constraints, health concerns and developments of the serum, with many of the soldiers suffering painful deaths throughout it all (all of whom were given the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals posthumorusly when truth of their deaths came to life, partially out of Nagel's final will and testament). Out of the 300 African-American soldiers, only 30 of these men survived the gruesome process. These survivors became a covert black ops team, being whittled down until only Isaiah Bradley remained. Information on the program existed primarily through post-mortem documents written down by Nagel, who would be murdered in 1951 (with some speculated he was killed under orders) while Col. Walker Price would help establish the Weapon Plus Program.

The closest success within the United States was Private First Class Isaiah Bradley, having achieved the most stable process known. As such, his survival and dedication to his missions and nations, including leading the black ops team. To where he was recognized as a Captain America by some of the overseeing officers (it's unknown whether he or Naslund came directly after Rogers though dating seems to indicate Bradley was considered second after Rogers). While achieving peak human condition, he would suffer the beginnings of mental deterioration (surmised to be the result of an incomplete recovery from a concussion prior to his treatment.) This mental atrophy would be exacerbated by his wrongful imprisonment of several years before he was released by President Eisenhower. Additionally, unearthed documents indicated that President Kennedy had plans to publically announce the existence of Isaiah Bradley as part of his plans to push for civil rights reform. Plans included awarding Bradley the Medal of Honor along with official recognition of him as the second Captain America. However, he would be assassinated prior to this development and the plans were never shared, not even with Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Despite this, Bradley would eventually receive his due justice and recognition for his accomplishment along with the surgery to repair the damage done.

### Similar Super Soldier Projects

The success of the United States with the creation of Captain America have led to similar attempts across some of the major powers during World War II though to varying successes and degrees. The most successful was through Professor Eric Schmitt's version of the serum. Unlike Dr. Erskine, he remained in Nazi Germany, if to sabotage the process. This would backfire as he would be caught by the Red Skull and sentenced to a concentration camp. Unaware to the Red Skull, Schmitt created his own version of the Super-Soldier Serum which he entrusted to Brian Falsworth, an Englishman who would use the serum to become the second Union Jack. The Schmitt variant serum only needed to be administered orally though it lacked the Vita-Ray treatment for stabilization (though he was able to stabilize it through biolelectricity, courtesy of Namor the Sub-Mariner). The Schmitt serum was also lost with Schmitt dying from wounds soon after passing the flask of serum to Falsworth. Falsworth himself would pass away in 1953 in a car crash.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, awed by the success of the Super-Soldier Serum, strived to make their own and did have their own agents within to gather some information. Most of the details came from the accounts of Aleksey Lebedev, the first Red Guardian, prior to his disappearance. However, their own approach would be spun to creating more to try and not repeat the Americans' failure. The USSR would design two variants of the serum, both by Dr. Lyudmila Kudrin. The Black Widow Ops Program had the Red Room serum; this variant of the Super-Soldier Serum was given to children, ranging to their prenatal stages, up until approximately 5 years old. Upon injection, they would be able to grow and develop into peak human potential along with have their rate of post-adulthood aging decelerated like the original Super-Soldier Serum. The second was the Red Guardian serum, which was a deriative of the Red Room serum. It functioned more to prevent fatigue and physical atrophy, allowing the Red Guardians given it to remain in their prime for longer periods of time. Notably, Lebedev never got the serum, having seemingly been killed during the 1950s Soviet purges.

Nazi Germany would also attempt to replicate the Super Soldier Serum, but the various setbacks in Project Nietzsche meant that the success was varied. They *were* able to get some information on Erskine's formula through their spy Julia Frieda Koenig and her associate in American Nazi sympathizer Wilhelm Lohmer. This along with the sample of Steele's blood would lead to the Nazi's attempts at a Super Soldier Serum. The first major success came in Baron Heinrich Zemo, a prominent geneticist of the Reich. So determined to prove his success, he tested it out on his rival within the SS, the Red Skull (who accepted it as it would enable him to match Captain American and protect his Fuhrer). While successful, Zemo would be sidelined by other projects and the notes of this serum lost in the destuction of his first lab days later.

Meanwhile, an embittered Koenig would be determined to show him up and would create her own version augmented with the data gathered from analyzing Steele's blood. The first test subject would be on Lohmer, who would gain superhuman physiology and would become *Meistermenchen* or Master Man. Seemingly satisfied with her work, she would produce a sample over for herself and becoming *Kriegerin or* Warrior Woman. However, the lab would soon be invaded by spies and most of her work destroyed in the lab. It has been speculated that some of these notes were acquired or duplicated by Soviet plants, with the information later spreading to agents aligned with terrorist organizations such as HYDRA or Leviathan. Lohmer and Koenig were meant to be married as part of a eugenics progam, but the ceremony interrupted with an invasion by the Liberty Legion. Both later begin suffering physical atrophy from the instability of the serum, resulting in Lohmer suffering rapid aging and Koenig mental degradation.

## Legacy

The legacy of the Super Soldier Serum is defined by the attempts at reproducing or enhancing the serum to create more peak humans or even superhumans in a practical and feasible manner. While some of these persisted in official if clandestine political operations, most of the underpinnings were done by criminal organizations or terrorist groups in the hopes of creating a legion of super-powered soldiers for their own agendas. This was compounded by the increasing unethical procedures that some of the governments took in the pursuit of such endeavors.

### The Next American Super-Soldiers

During the Cold War, the United States of America continued their endeavors in recreating the Super-Soldier Serum and maintain a Captain America throughout the ages, though the attempts would meet in grim fates. William Burnside [Captain America V] would be chosen to be active during the 1950s and was given the first modern recreation of the formula. However, the formula's instability and the lack of the Vita-Ray treatment led to Burnside suffering increasing mental psychosis such as episodes of paranoia and hallucinations, most prominent seen in a psychotic breakdown during a Civil Rights march in the 1950s. He would be put under a form of stasis in the hopes of curing his psychosis in the future. It also spelled the end for official atempts at recreating the serum until decades later. Burnside himself would be thawed out in the 1990s though the shell-shock of being awakened decades in the future only worsened his psychosis though he regained sanity briefly enough to give his life in a final act of heroism.

The Super-Soldier Serum recreation attempts would continue indirectly through Power Brokers Incorporated. A private company who's front operations was of the development of energy sources and similar operations such as constructing power plants covering for their real business: providing private superpower augmentations for paramilitary operations and related superhuman-based organization, most famously the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation. Using their government connections, their first major successes would be in augmenting U.S. Army Major John Walker & First Lieutanant Lemar Hoskins through the first stable implementation of the Power Broker process. This would be the first major collaboration of the Power Brokers working with the US government on the matter, as seen when John Walker would briefly become Major America and Hoskins becoming Battlestar.

### Project: Sentry

Project: Sentry remains one of the most controversial, clandestine and obscure projects within the American scientific community, primarily due to how little is known or remains about the project. Initially starting as a project to recreate the Super Soldier Serum, it evolved into creating the "ultimate super soldier". Little remains of the information on the project itself, but it has been confirmed that besides research on the original Super Soldier Serum, the project also delved into other research fields and incorporating other breakthroughs such as Professor Horton's Solar Gem and Horton Cells, the genetic discoveries by Herbert Wyndham along with the medical files of Emmett Proudhawk, an individual associated with Project Starship. Other information besides that remains lost and anyone knowing the information of the project has been declared deceased.

### The Weapon Plus Program

Even after the lack of success with the Super-Soldier Serum itself, the idea behind it was maintained through the establishment of the secret American program known as the "Weapon Plus" program. Founded in 1945, when Truett Hudson, a civilian adviser to the U.S. Army given the pseudonym "Professor Thorton", discovered a hidden laboratory under a liberated concentration camp with research from the rogue geneticist Dr. Nathaniel Essex. Funded by the U.S. Government, Thorton formed the Weapon Plus Progam alongside various other individuals, such as Col. Walker Price. The goal of the program was the creation of super-soldiers and superhuman weapons and served as a successor to Project Rebirth, so much so that Steve Rogers is retroactively considered to be *Weapon I* with Isaiah Bradley considered *Weapon II.*

Most of the Weapon Plus programs did not focus on following in the traditional footsteps of the Super-Soldier Serum . One exception was Project Power, designed to create *Weapon VI*, and spearheaded by Dr. Noah Burstein, which created the superhuman Warhawk for the purposes in the Vietnam War. Despite Weapon Plus moving on, Project Power was spun off into its own independent project though now shifted for the purpose of restoration properties and got private funding from Stark Industries. The Project would ironically produce a stable superhuman that surpasses the work of the previous serum in the subject known as Luke Cage.

### Successors of Rogers & Bradley

One side-effect of the Super-Soldier Serum was it would affect the genetic material in the reproductive systems as well. This would be observed in Josiah Bradley, son of Isaiah Bradley. Josiah would inherit much of his father's apex human capabilities and thoughout his training during the Vietnam War, would reach the peak of human physical potential, making him the same as if he took the Super Soldier Serum. These developments would also be seen in Josiah's son, Elijah Bradley. Unlike Josiah, Elijah did not display any significant physical advantages over his peers though it would be later proven that he could achieve the same physical perfection by taking Erskine's original diet and workout routine for a year (expedited into six months by receiving a blood donation from Isaiah). As such, it's speculated that any biological descendent of Steve Rogers would have similar capabilities.