Captain America is the well-known Super Soldier. He is believed to be the best version of it. He reflects the pinnacle of human strength, capabilities, and intelligence. He is admired and revered by masses for his service to the country and humanity. He is highly principled and has always put people and his team’s interests before his own interests. He is a true leader who exemplifies all the qualities of someone who has led by example.
Back when the Allies were almost about to lose the Second World War, Doctor Abraham Erskine initiated Project Rebirth. The aim of the Project was to create an Allied Super Soldier. Steve Rogers became Captain America and led the Allies to victory. He is now the most important member of the Avengers. But Captain America is not the only Super Soldier. Throughout History, Marvel has given birth to several heroes who became Supersoldiers, some on par with and some even better than Steve Rogers himself.
In fact, the current season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. featured a Super Soldier Program started by HYDRA’s Daniel Whitehall that he claimed to be better than Steve Rogers. Here is a list of Marvel heroes who you may not know were part of the Super Soldier Program at one point.
Anti-Cap
Anti-Cap was the United States Navy’s attempt at creating a Super Soldier. They believed that most of the Super Soldiers created had a tendency to go rogue. So they decided to keep their subject dependent on them, using regular dosages of powerful steroids to keep him super. The plan backfired when the procedure mentally destabilized the hero.
Master Man
Wilhelm Lohmer was the Nazi version of Captain America. He fought the Cap several times and defeated him too. Wilhelm Lohmer was the first of the three super villains to call themselves Master Man. Wilhelm later realizes his mistakes and comes to know that it takes more than just physical strength to best Captain America.
Luke Cage
Believe it or not, the bio-organic process that gave Luke Cage his powers was an attempt at recreating the Super Soldier Process. Luke Cage was supposed to get enhanced healing and regenerative abilities from the process. Tampering with the process by a sadistic prison guard accidentally turned him into Power Man.
Josiah X
Josiah is the son of the ‘Black Captain America’ Isaiah Bradley. After the Super Soldier Serum renders him sterile, Isaiah’s cells and Faith’s ovarian eggs and used a surrogate mother to give birth to Josiah. Josiah is a Muslim Preacher and one of the finest heroes on Earth. Josiah also ages pretty slowly.
Union Jack
Brian Falsworth was a British Aristocrat who was imprisoned in a Nazi prison. He then meets Schmitt, a Jewish scientist who had managed to perfect the Super Soldier Serum by himself. Falsworth drinks the serum which gives him peak Physical attributes. He dons the mask of the Violent Superhero destroyer and later that of his father, Union Jack and works behind enemy lines and fights the Nazis.
Nuke
Nuke was a crazy Vietnam War Veteran with an immensely bad attitude. Nuke has gone toe to toe with several well-known superheroes like Wolverine and Daredevil. It is later revealed that Nuke is actually a part of the Weapon Plus Program, the same program that bonded Wolverine with Adamantium.
Black Widow
Black Widow started her life as a Soviet Super Spy. She was trained from childhood to be the most ruthless and efficient sleeper agent in existence. Natalia Romanova was also part of the Elite Soviet Red Room Program. Black Widow was given an experimental serum that gave her enhanced strength, speed and agility.
Omega Red
Omega Red’s real name is Arkady Rossovich, a Russian serial killer and a mutant with the ability to drain the life force of others. Rossovich was put through the Soviet Super Soldier Program. His body was mutated with Carbonadium tentacles and enhanced to include superhuman physical attributes. Omega Red is perhaps the only mutant with the ability to halt Wolverine’s healing process, making him one of Logan’s deadliest foes.
Isaiah Bradley
Isaiah Bradley is an unsung hero of the Marvel Universe. Back when America was still racist as hell (like it is now), an all-black regiment was used to test an early version of the Super Soldier Serum. The results were catastrophic with only a handful surviving the gruesome mutilations that killed the rest. Isaiah Bradley was then part of a Covert Ops team who later rebelled against his officer and singlehandedly stopped the Nazi Super Soldier Program. He was awarded a court-martial for his valor on the Battlefield.
Wolverine
The Weapon Plus program’s latest developments led to the initiation of the Weapon Plus program. The objective was to recreate the process of the Super Soldier Program using mutants instead of humans. Wolverine, with his advanced healing and endurance, was an ideal candidate. We all know what happens next after the Adamantium is bonded to his skeleton.
Man-Thing
This monster entered into Marvel comics in 1971, created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow. He was a scientist named Ted Sallis who was working on a Shield’s research project to produce the best form of super soldier serum. When AIM soldiers attacked him, he injected that experimental serum into himself just before he was about to fall into the swamp. As a result, the combined effects of both turned him into Man-Thing. He is considered to be the worst form of super soldier with limited intelligence and desire to burn everything that fears.
The Destroyer
He made his first comic book appearance in “Mystic Comics” #6 in 1941. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Binder. He was first a journalist named Kevin Keen Marlow who was investigating Nazi’s camps. He got caught and was thrown into prison where his cellmate was a scientist who had developed super soldier serum, he took it and then escaped the prison as ‘The Destroyer’. He became a Nazi hunter and was a super soldier right before Captain America was created to fight the Nazis.
Nomad
He was created by Steve Englehart and John Buscema. He first made his appearance in Captain America #155 in 1972. The post-war comics were supposed to be about Rogers and Bucky but it was revealed that Cap had been frozen for a brief period before he was revived in 1960’s. In the gap years, Jack Monroe was introduced who took the identities of Cap and Bucky. William Burnside, a professor, was inspired by Captain America created a super soldier serum which he used it along with Monroe. Monroe became the Scourge of the Underworld aka Nomad but was later killed by Winter Soldier.
Mockingbird
It was created by Gerry Conway, Barry Windsor-Smith, Len Wein and Neal Adams. She made her debut appearance in “Astonishing Tales” #6 in the year 1971. Barbara Bobbi Morse was a woman of many talents. She was a Ph.D. in Biology as well as champion high school gymnast. Her skills attracted attention from all quarters including Shield which made her an agent. She was at first side-kick to Ka-Zar from Savage land but in 1980’s she became a superhero named “Mockingbird”.
She never had any special powers but when in 2011 she was dying, she was injected with a deadly combination of the Nazi version of Super soldier serum and Infinity formula that kept Nick Fury’s ageing process at bay. This had a massive impact on her body and she came back with super strength, stronger than ever.
Warhawk
Chris Claremont and Pat Broderick created the character and it first appeared in 1975’s “Marvel Premiere” #23. It all started when Tanner settled down in a local village in Vietnam after he married a woman during his time of deployment. His village got attacked by US army and he was found to be on the verge of dying. He got injected with super soldier serum that brought him back and turned him into a bad-ass assassin codename WARHAWK. He was so powerful that he can withstand Iron fist’s blow, Wolverine’s claws or even deadly bullets.
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