Did you think Captain America was the only Super Soldier? There are tons of these bad boys out there in the whole wide comic book universes of Marvel and DC. How many do you know beforehand? Presenting – Every Super Soldier of the DC and Marvel Comic Book Universe – Ranked!
1. Master Man – Germany
Master Man was Nazi Germany’s answer to the Allies Captain America. Back when Cap was kicking Nazi ass left, right and centre, Wilhelm Lohmer – a Nazi sympathizer, agreed to become the test subject for a Nazi Super Soldier program. He was successfully mutated into a Hulk of a man, with pure Aryan features. Master Man has even defeated Captain America in hand to hand combat. Although he was a villain, he did regret his actions after growing old and gave up his life to save Cable.
2. Warhawk – Vietnam
Warhawk is not of Vietnamese origin. But his superhero alter ego tells a different story. Michael Tanner was an ordinary US Citizen who found the love of his life in Vietnam and decided to settle there. When American forces killed his family during the Vietnam War, Michael Tanner was saved thanks to an experimental super soldier serum injection. His body turned into steel and his skin turned blue. He also gained superhuman attributes and went insane from all the violence he witnessed as an assassin for hire.
3. Captain Britain – United Kingdom
Captain Britain’s real name is Brian Braddock. As a child belonging to a rich upper-class family, Brian was soon orphaned due to a freak car accident. Brian would later join a Nuclear research laboratory where he would himself be injured in another mishap. The Wizard Merlyn and his daughter Roma soon appear to give him the gift of the Amulet of Right, which turns him into the popular superhero known as Captain Britain.
4. Union Jack – Britain
Union Jack is a name shared by a father-son duo. James Montgomery Falsworth is a World War 1 and World War two veteran with peak superhuman physical attributes and expert firearms proficiency and hand to hand combat skills. After his death, his son Brian Falsworth takes up the role after being injected with a rudimentary version of the Super Soldier Serum. He also has the ability to shoot mystical lightning bolts.
5. Black Widow – Soviet Russia
Natalia Romanova is the final and most successful product of the infamous Soviet Super Soldier Program called the Red Room. Natalia Romanova is extremely agile, has superhuman reflexes and has heightened physical attributes all thanks to scores of bodily modifications in her body on a biological level. Black Widow has been trained from birth in the art of war and combat and is widely regarded as the most dangerous assassin of the Marvel Universe.
6. Super Boy – USA
Believe it or not, Connor Kent aka Super Boy was supposed to be the next generation super soldier for the United States. Derived from the DNA of Superman, Super Boy had all the powers of Superman courtesy of a powerful ability called ‘tactile telekinesis’ but at a slightly reduced level. Super Boy though, decided to not follow orders and listen to his heart. He would later become a superhero and one of the most well-known members of the Teen Titans.
7. Omega Red – Russia
Omega Red is USSR’s answer to Weapon X’s Wolverine. Soviet Russia had a hard time synthesizing and moulding Adamantium, widely regarded as the toughest Marvel Universe metal. So they opted for the next best option – Carbonadium. Omega Red was actually a serial killer before he was infused with Carbonadium and given superhuman physical attributes. But in order to survive, Omega Red requires a critical piece of machinery called the carbonadium Synthesiser without which he will surely die.
8. Terry McGinnis – Gotham
Granted, Gotham is not a country. But it has been in the limelight of mainstream DC Comics America for so long that the city has developed its own twisted identity as the home of the one true Caped Crusader. Terry McGinnis is the Batman of the future, where an older Bruce Wayne has decided to retire from fighting crime. Terry is actually a clone of Bruce created by Amanda Waller herself to replace Bruce when he could no longer carry out his late night wild hunts through the city of Gotham and beyond.
9. Nuke – America
Nuke is a nationalist first and super soldier second. He loves his country. But more importantly, he is a psychopath. Nuke knows no pain. With the American flag tattooed on his face, Nuke is one of Marvel Universe’s most popular guns for hire. It is later revealed that Nuke was just another run off the mill Vietnam War veteran who was captured and tortured by Wolverine and put into the Weapon Plus Program, where he was given cybernetic enhancements and biological modifications.
10. Red Skull – Germany
Johann Schmidt was a Nazi Sympathizer and one of the foremost believers in Nazi Germany. Once an ordinary Bellhop, Johann was taken under the tutelage of Adolf Hitler where he was trained rigorously both mentally and physically, to become the Red Skull. He wore a red mask to call himself the Red Skull. Johann was so effective at taking out his opponents that the USA had to create Captain America to defeat him. In later issues, we learn that an ageing Johann’s mind was transferred to a Steve Rogers clone. A Super Soldier’s body coupled with Red Skulls’ mind is a deadly combination.
11. Sabretooth – Canada
Sabretooth was originally a mutant. But he also was part of the Weapon Plus Program, like his brother Wolverine. But Sabretooth’s enhancements were more streamlined in nature. While Wolverine got the Adamantium skeleton and claws and the super healing, Sabretooth was modified to have superior musculature and increased durability. He also possesses adamantium claws attached to his nails permanently thanks to the Weapon Plus program.
12. The Colonel – Iran
The Colonel is a bit of a surprise entry into the list. Abdul Al-Rahman is an Azerbaijani national who despised America. He volunteered to become a part of a multinational funded Super Soldier Program and was successfully turned into a Super Soldier with the same powers and abilities as that of Captain America. When The Colonel spearheaded the invasion of America, he fought Captain America and almost defeated him before the Hulk sliced his hands off. Abdul happens to be the only other person apart from Steve Rogers whose body is completely compatible with the Super Soldier Serum.
13. Sentry – USA
Robert Reynolds is a middle-aged obese man with no sense of purpose in life. But one day he realizes that he just might be the most powerful being in the whole Marvel universe. Once the revelations set in, Reynolds finds out that he is the Sentry, a long forgotten superhero. He became the Sentry after a serum gave him the power of a ‘thousand exploding suns’. The Sentry would later come to know that the Serum also gave him a split personality, with an evil personality called the void. To keep him at bay, Reynolds again used his powers to remove the memories of the Sentry from everyone’s mind, including his own.
14. Wolverine – Canada
Wolverine aka Logan is the eponymous mutant super soldier. More than two hundred years old at the very least, Logan was originally a mutant with lupine abilities. When Sabretooth killed his wife, Wolverine agreed to join the Mutant experimentation unit of Weapon Plus projects and was infused with Adamantium. The painful process turned his body invulnerable and enhanced his already heightened physical and mental attributes. The side effect of the process is that Wolverine acquired permanent amnesia, without the ability to recall anything from his past.
15. Captain America – USA
Who can even think a list about Super Soldiers will be complete without the one true Captain America aka Steve Rogers. Captain America was injected with the Super Soldier Serum by Abraham Erskine so that America can have the perfect weapon to tackle the threat of the Nazi Red Skull. Steve Rogers has peak human physical attributes and represents the best of human mind, body and spirit. Steve Rogers is not just a super soldier that holds the Avengers together but also the moral compass of the entire Marvel Universe.
16. Captain Atom- USA
Captain Atom’s alter ego is known as Nathaniel Christopher Adam, a United States Air Force officer and a veteran of the Vietnam War. When Nathaniel was framed for a crime he did not commit, he was sentenced to death. As an alternative, Nathaniel was asked he could become the subject of a suicide mission, which Nathaniel agreed to. The experiment involved him being placed in an alien metal container and a nuclear bomb being exploded under him. The process seemingly disintegrated Nathaniel but he would later emerge as a guy completely encased in the alien metal with the ability to manipulate energy and tap into the mysterious Quantum Field for a variety of effects.
