When it comes to Marvel heroes whose powers were given by a Super-Soldier Serum, many think of Captain America. He is said to be the peak of perfection, a man whose physique and abilities have been enhanced to a level where the human body can achieve impossible heights....but he's not the only hero blessed with this gift.
Super serum was originally created by German scientist Abraham Erskine, which is basically a chemical solution to enhance the human body and mind. It was utilized by the United States Armed Forces during World War II in order to create the world's most advanced soldiers through a program called Project: Rebirth.
Related: Everyone Who Has Ever Been Captain America in Marvel Comics
After Erskine's death, the serum has been semi-reproduced over the years by several parties interested in creating their own super soldier. With advances in genetic research, the serum has found some success in other candidates resulting in some pretty badass heroes.
Having been given a similar serum to Rogers' Super Soldier Serum during her time in the Black Widow Program, Natasha Romanoff doesn't stay beautiful and deadly due strictly to her genetics. She actually is resistant to aging and disease, and she has the same super-human strength and agility that Captain America has. That could explain why she has lived for so long. After all, she was born in 1928. And even if the movies ignored this part of her origin, the Avengers video game confirms Black Widow is superhuman.
After Erskine’s death, Project: Rebirth replaced him with Wilfred Nagel who was tasked to duplicate Erskine’s research on a massive scale. Nagel’s research was conducted on about 300 African American soldiers out of Camp Cathcart. Unfortunately, this was not a voluntary campaign, as all the candidates were experimented on without consent. Most of the candidates died through this forceful experiment, but Isaiah Bradley would be the only survivor to come out of the experiments and test field missions in the European front. The project was then deemed another failure after Bradley lost his mind, and the government executed the entirety of the population of Camp Cathcart in order keep their actions a secret.
Despite the U.S. government's efforts to stop the legacy of Project: Rebirth from coming to light, Isaiah Bradley, wearing a stolen Captain America uniform, went on to single-handedly destroy the Nazi Super Soldier program and kill Rebirth founder Dr. Koch. Unfortunately he was then captured by the Germans, who experimented on him in hopes of replicating the Super Soldier Serum. He was later rescued but court-martialed and imprisoned in the U.S..
While imprisoned Bradley was again experimented on... this time by the U.S. government. When Bradley was eventually freed from prison by President Eisenhower the government was more successful in their experiments than the Nazis had been. They did this by combining Isaiah’s DNA with his wife Faith’s and manipulating the embryo’s genetics. In this way, the government was able to produce an infant born with Super Soldier abilities. This child would eventually be rescued by his surrogate mother and raised in an orphanage as Josiah Bradley, later known as the hero Josiah X.
Formerly known as Brian Falsworth, he was a spy who worked behind enemy lines during World War II. First became the Destroyer, then later followed his father's mantle as Union Jack (the second). He was the brother of Spitfire, who helped create the team called the Invaders. Falsworth possessed various enhanced attributes as a result of ingesting a derivative of the Super Soldier Serum that would be used on Steve Rogers.
First known as the size-changing Dyna-Mite, Aubrey was later exposed to the variant of the Super Soldier Serum which had enhanced him like Brian and those before him. The effects of the serum gave him physical prowess and slowed down his aging to keep him fighting fit for decades after the end of the war. He would later become the Destroyer - an identity he adopted from his boyfriend Brian Falsworth.
After Captain America's "death" during World War II, William Burnside later took the mantle in the 1950s. Even going as far as calling himself and legally changing his name to Steve Rogers. The original Steve Rogers at this time was presumed killed in action at the end of World War II. Burnside was an obsessed admirer of Captain America and discovers a secret Nazi file that contained Dr. Erskine’s complete formula for the chemical portion of the Super Soldier process. Burnside takes the formula to the U.S. government in return for being made the next Captain America. Initially, his plan goes well, but with the Korean War coming to an end they no longer needed a Captain America and shut down the project once again.
A few years after Burnside's failed attempt to become Captain American the Red Skull reemerges and threatens the UN. Burnside then doses himself and a sidekick, Jack Monroe, with the Super Soldier Serum. With Super Soldier abilities, they take the mantle of Cap and Bucky to fend off the Red Skull, but the side effects of taking the serum without being exposed to Vita-Rays soon bites them and they develop a form of psychosis. Monroe, who would become the vigilante known as Nomad, is later killed by the original Bucky who at the time was brainwashed into becoming Winter Soldier.
Elijah Bradley the nephew of Josiah-X and grandson of Isaiah Bradley would become The Patriot. The Patriot originally claimed to have inherited his grandfather and uncle's Super Soldier Abilities, but it was later revealed that Bradley had merely been using Mutant Growth Hormone to gain superpowers. Later after an intense battle, Elijah required a blood transfusion, which he received from his grandfather Isaiah Bradley. The blood transfusion transferred Isaiah's Super Soldier Serum into his grandson who gained similar abilities to his grandfather in his prime. The Patriot would then go on to be one of the founding members of the Young Avengers.
Some may question this one, but according to the Ultimate Universe, Bruce Banner transformed himself into the Incredible Hulk during his time with S.H.I.E.L.D. There he conducted experiments to replicate the Super Soldier Serum given to Captain America (an idol of Banner's), often injecting the serum into himself while also exposing himself to Gamma Radiation instead of Vita Radiation. The combination of the Gamma rays and the serum turned him into an aggressive muscular, giant humanoid version of himself with green skin. The first time Banner became the Hulk he went on a rampage for while until he went face to face with Spider-Man, but then became the Hulk again after cracking under the fallout of the first Hulk event. He would then inject himself with an improved version of the serum laced with Caps blood. Unfortunately, this led him to go on another rampage in a grey Hulk form until he was subdued by the Ultimates.
The man who would eventually become the new Captain America didn't always have super soldier abilities. Mostly known for his ability to fly as high as the birds, Sam Wilson was introduced to the serum in the Heroes Reborn universe. In Captain America Vol 2 issue #1, both Sam and his father, Abraham, fought alongside Captain America in World War II. During the Heroes Reborn events, he didn't have his mental connection to birds but instead gained Super Soldier powers from a friend....the Cap. Wounded during a battle with Nazi villain Master Man, the Falcon is given a blood transfusion with Captain America's blood, thus giving him the powers to defeat the man who wounded him in the first place.
During his time as an inmate, Luke Cage was experimented on to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that gave Captain America his abilities by Doctor Noah Burstein. When the doctor began the experiment, he submerged Luke in an electrical field conducted by the organic chemical compound acetovaxidol. This procedure should of went smoothly, but it was learned that Billy Bob Rackham snuck in and tampered with the controls. Fortunately for Luke, the tampering did not kill him, but instead enhanced his body, giving him the super strength and durability that he would go on to utilize throughout his crime fighting career.
One of the most recent heroes created by a super serum, Robert Reynolds (aka. Sentry) received his powers when he ingested a variation of the Super Soldier Serum. After the failures of Project: Rebirth, Canada and the United States decide to once again recreate the Super Soldier Serum that packed a really big punch. One that is a thousand times more powerful than the serum given to Captain America. What they did not expect was for Reynolds, at this time a drug addict, to stumble upon the serum in search of a quick fix. Upon finding the variant Super Soldier Serum and mistaking it for an illegal drug, Reynolds consumes it.
He is then given "The power of a million exploding suns." He would then become the powerful hero known as the Sentry, who would go onto become the world's greatest hero...but it wouldn't be a super serum story without some tragedy. As a result of the serum, Reynolds developed extreme psychosis that manifested itself into what is known as the Void. This Void would take one life away every time Sentry would save a life, making him the interesting recipient of a super serum.
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