History SuperSoldier / Literature

* In the ''Death's Head'' series by David Gunn, the Death's Head are the most elite special ops for the Octavian Empire. They're not the super soldier. That would be one particular officer in the Death's Head, Sven Tveskoeg. He's a 7-foot tall, well-muscled brutal man who's even more skilled than he is strong. Besides having a pain threshold that's off the charts, Sven uniquely can recover from any injury short of dismemberment (he has a bionic arm). Once he recovered from being disemboweled by simply stuffing his guts back in. He's also hidden items by cutting himself putting the item into the wound and letting it seal, later cutting it out again. No one knows why he regenerates; genetically, he's 90% human. Later in the series, the remaining 10% is discovered to be Old World human.

* ''Cyborg'' by Creator/MartinCaidin is about a test pilot who is transformed into a super soldier through bionics. It was later adapted for television as ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan''.

[[AC:Examples by author:]]
* Australian author Rick Kennett wrote several short stories about Cy De Gerch, a [[ChildSoldiers sixteen-year-old]] Martian girl who's genetically engineered to interact with the fire-control systems of a spaceship. Since she's not a SpaceMarine, she has minimal combat training, but her reflexes still make her dangerous in hand-to-hand combat.
[[AC:Examples by work:]]

* In the ''Death's Head'' series by David Gunn, the Death's Head are the most elite special ops for the Octavian Empire. They're not the super soldier. That would be one particular officer in the Death's Head, Sven Tveskoeg. He's a 7-foot tall, well-muscled brutal man who's even more skilled than he is strong. Besides having a pain threshold that's off the charts, Sven uniquely can recover from any injury short of dismemberment (he has a bionic arm). Once he recovered from being disembowelled by simply stuffing his guts back in. He's also hidden items by cutting himself putting the item into the wound and letting it seal, later cutting it out again. No one knows why he regenerates, genetically he's 90% human and later in the series the remaining 10% is discovered to be Old World human.

* ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'' gives us anybody from either the Fourth or Fifth Imperium military (Battle Fleet or Imperial Marines). Dahak's '' 'improvements' '' make a Fifth Imperium soldier a serious super soldier compared to a Fourth Imperium super soldier. Talk about helping someone [[TookALevelInBadass Take A Level In Badassery]].
* ''Literature/EndersGame'': Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin and the rest of the Battle School students; note that they were trained, not to fight personally, but as super-''generals''. The spin-off ''Shadow'' series has a scientist attempt to use genetic engineering to create super-intelligent people with the downside being an extremely low lifespan. [[spoiler:Bean is the only survivor of the program]].

* The ''Literature/{{Acacia}}'' series features several in this fantasy setting. The Mein are a [[BarbarianTribe warlike tribe]] from the GrimUpNorth that had been subjugated centuries by the the Acacia empire, when the Acacian king used words stolen from [[{{God}} Elenet]] to curse their violent forebears with undeath and [[SealedEvilInACan exile into a limbo dimension]]. However undeath had the [[CursedWithAwesome benign side-effect]] of giving these ancient veteran warriors, now known as the Tunishnevre, SuperStrength and [[NighInvulnerable Invulnerability]]. After the Mein usurped the Akaran Dynasty, they intended to ritually sacrifice the royal children to release the Tunishnevre to conqure the world. Helping the Mein were the army of the Numrek, who are exiles of a near-immortal, gigantic and [[SuperStrength super-strong]] race who in their long lives they've developed potent incendiary/alchemical weapons to use when they're not simply bashing their enemies to death. Finally there are the Santoth, these are the wizard-warriors used by the first Acacian king to forge the Acacia empire - twisted into immortal forms and taught only black magic derived from the words of Elenet, the Santoth were cursed by Acacian king to be in constant agony unless they were using foul sorcery on enemies.
* Adam R. Brown's ''{{Literature/Alterien}}'' series:

** New experimental super soldiers were eventually produced that proved to be a challenge even to the Alteriens. These included the Kinetic Absorbing Endoskeleton cyborgs (The Kendos) and the Double Ms (matter manipulators).
* ''Literature/AfterTheRevolution'': During the SecondAmericanCivilWar, the federal government created {{cyborg}} super-soldiers, implanting them with enough chrome to make a single such 'god-soldier' more than a match for a squad of {{Power Armor}}ed troopers or a full rifle platoon of baseline humans. The majority of the god-tier cyborgs went rogue during the War and aligned themselves with one or more of the dissident factors (or simply abandoned the conflict wholesale) as their newly acquired powers (and [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul new mentality thanks to their implants]]) made them effectively uncontrollable by the army. Roland, one of the main characters, is one such cyborg and ends up pummeling a hit squad of 'regular' cyborgs with an infantry support weapon into submission [[GrievousHarmWithABody with his own severed arm]] in less than thirty seconds, all while missing his gun and heavily tripping on acid.
* ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown'': The Tesks (short for "[[TheGrotesque grotesque]]") were genetically engineered as soldiers, but they ultimately rebelled against the government that made them, ending the war they'd been made for. Their descendants have had a [[FantasticRacism hard time trying to be accepted]] in mainstream human society in the years since, however.

* ''Literature/CoDominium'' setting:
** The Sauron Supermen.
** The Motie warrior caste in ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye''.
* In Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/CouncilWars'' series, the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Elves]] are the virtually immortal genetically engineered superhuman soldiers of the last Resource Wars.

* Creator/DavidWeber's ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'' gives us anybody from either the Fourth or Fifth Imperium military (Battle Fleet or Imperial Marines).
** Dahak's '' 'improvements' '' make a Fifth Imperium soldier a serious super soldier compared to a Fourth Imperium super soldier. Talk about helping someone [[TookALevelInBadass Take A Level In Badassery]].

* ''Literature/{{Gladiator}}'': Hugo Danner [[GuineaPigFamily has a professor father who experimented on him as a fetus]], so that he developed a reasonable degree of NighInvulnerability and SuperStrength. Trapped in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, he becomes a Super Soldier killing as many German soldiers as he can for the French Foreign Legion. He decides to win the war by InstantWinCondition: hijacking a plane, infiltrating Germany and killing the German Emperor and his generals to force a DecapitatedArmy. Unfortunately, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs and the war ends on his own accord. The truth is, modern wars (maybe since the nineteenth century) are not won nor lost by soldiers anymore, but by economic and politic reasons bigger than any human beings control.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington''.
** The Scrags were engineered to be elite shock troops in Earth's final war, however, the novels takes place a thousand years or so afterward and they have devolved into [[{{Mooks}} none-too-bright thugs]] that tend to get [[VillainDecay easily trounced by powerful, but mostly unagumented humans]].
** The Salamander herself. It's revealed a few books in that Honor is herself is descended from Super ''Colonists'', her ancestors being genetically tweaked to thrive on the planet Meyerdahl which had [[{{Heavyworlder}} gravity quite a bit higher than Earth]] (they also serve her well on her own home planet of Sphynx which is has a gravity lower than Meyerdahl but still higher than Earth). For her, this translates to a tall, solid frame, [[LightningBruiser much higher than average strength and very fast reflexes]]. The tradeoffs for Honor are an extremely fast metabolism (Upside? [[CursedWithAwesome She eats all the cookies she can find without gaining a pound]]. Downside? [[BlessedWithSuck When she was being held prisoner in a later book by folks who didn't know about her metabolism, she nearly starved to death on what would normally be considered generous rations for a prisoner]].)
*** It's implied that many members of the Manticoran upper and middle class are "Genies", but it's generally played down because of bad memories of the Scrags.
** The backstory also mentions another group of Super Soldiers, originating in Asia around the same time as the Scrags. This heavily-augmented group of cyborgs proved to be even more monstrous than the Scrags' progenitors, which were created in Ukraine by [[ANaziByAnyOtherName racial supremacists]]. Unlike the Ukrainian supersoldiers, the Asian ones were incapable of reproducing and died out after a single destructive generation. It is implied that things went rapidly downhill at this point in history as every nation unleashed their own supersoldiers, chemical weapons, and biological agents on each other in what became known as the Final War.
* In Matt Sudain's trippy, black comedy SF novel about food reviews ''Hunters & Collectors'', there's the Water Bear legion which bodyguard Gladys "Good Night" came from. The Water Bears were originally female clones made for working in weapon factories for a star system that specializes in arms manufacturing. The clones were genetically engineered to be small in size and have superior vision and stamina for the hard and delicate task of assembling electronics for weapons. When the factories came under a more liberal new management, the practice of creating clone workers was discontinued. Despots and criminals believed the system was ripe for conquest, but before they could do so, the factories got volunteer clones to undergo further enhancement (including not needing sleep because only one half of the brain is unconscious when tired) and elite commando training. After the assassinations of a few prominent dictators, enemies decide to leave the factories and their new Water Bears alone.
* The Shrike from the ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' -- if a metallic, nine-foot-tall, time-bending, godlike killing machine covered in spikes doesn't qualify as a supersoldier, nothing does.
** Also Rhadamanth Nemes and her twins. [[spoiler:They manage to take on the ''Shrike'' and survive. One of them even temporarily defeats it!]]

* Painless soldiers in the Literature/InheritanceCycle. They are [[FeelNoPain incapable of feeling pain]], so they can fight with stuff like missing limbs and crushed sternums. Nothing is {{Squick}}ier than fighting a laughing madman with only half a face. Those soldiers didn't feel pain, so they didn't exhibit a survival instinct, allowing them to be easily lead into traps.

* Australian author Rick Kennett wrote several short stories about Cy De Gerch, a [[ChildSoldiers sixteen-year-old]] Martian girl who's genetically-engineered to interact with the fire-control systems of a spaceship. Since she's not a SpaceMarine, she has minimal combat training, but her reflexes still make her dangerous in hand-to-hand combat.

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/LineOfDelirium'', a professional bodyguard named Kai Dutch reveals that he was created as one of these in secret, as genetic engineering is illegal in TheEmpire. For the first 15 years of his life, he was a weakling and constantly bullied (and raped). [[PubertySuperpower Once he hits 16]], he hits a huge growth spurt and develops superhuman strength, speed, reaction time, and analytical powers. However, even when he has to fight a Meklar hand-to-hand (normally a death sentence to any non-Meklar), he has a doctor (working for TheMafia) give him tons of "enhancements" and a "battle cocktail" that turns him into a killing machine that can survive a few minutes against a Meklar.
* The Uruk-Hai were Super Soldier ''[[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]]'' in both book and film versions of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Notable in that though they're bred for it; they are speculated by Treebeard to be [[HalfHumanHybrid hybrids]] of human and orc. In [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings the Movieverse]], it's regular orc and goblins (which are the orc equivalent of gnomes or dwarves), capitalizing on HybridPower.
* In Max Barry's ''Literature/MachineMan'', this is the goal of Better Future's CorruptCorporateExecutive, the Manager. Better Future eventually starts making them, with Carl being given prototype arms and Charles Neumann, after being recaptured, being crammed chock full of military prototype hardware.
* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin:
** The Unsullied in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', a type of eunuch slave soldier using armament and tactics similar to Greek hoplites. Due to [[TheSpartanWay brutal training]] and drug use [[TykeBomb from a young age]], the Unsullied are robotically loyal, utterly fearless, and immune to pain. However, their castration during youth causes them to lack raw muscular power. They are also specifically not [[OneManArmy one man armies]], being far more effective in their phalanx fighting formation. The point of their training isn't to make them physically superhuman, but to give them superhuman discipline, maintaining good order in any situation from a hopeless battle to the sack of a city.
** The first sci-fi story Martin had published, "Hero", is about this trope. The protagonist is a {{heavyworlder}} raised and trained on a War World, with drugs used to maintain his speed and stamina. Despite his superior trying to dissuade him, he decides to retire to Earth at the end of his enlistment instead of returning to his native planet like his colleagues, thinking he'll be a hero there instead of just another retired soldier. Instead he's murdered by his superiors who have no intention of letting such a dangerous person anywhere near ordinary humans.

* The ''Literature/MoreauSeries'' of books by S. Andrew Swann dealt heavily with the aftermath of this trope, with the novels' soldiers being {{Half Human Hybrid}}s who eventually became [[FantasticRacism second-class citizens]] after the war they were built for ended.
* Creator/RichardKMorgan
** The ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs'' novels feature a whole variety of augmentations and genetically engineered supersoldier bodies. However the premise of the universe (that FTL travel is only possible by beaming your consciousness to another planet and downloading yourself into a new body) means that the ultimate soldiers are 'Envoys' who undergo an intense mental version of TheSpartanWay to condition them to fight effectively in a new and unfamiliar body.
** ''Literature/BlackMan'' has the Thirteens, genetic throwbacks to early hunter-gatherers who were forced out of the breeding pool by the rise of agriculture. Several nations had programs that birthed and trained them, particularly the U.S.'s Project Lawman and the U.K.'s Project Osprey, but these were dismantled by the Jacobsen Accords.
* The serjants of the ''Literature/NightsDawnTrilogy'' are also an example of this, as they are initially used to police Tranquility, and later used as the front line troops to fight the possessed.

* The Colonial Defense Force from Creator/JohnScalzi's ''Literature/OldMansWar''. Earthborn humans are given the option to join the off-world military instead of retiring at age 75. Once off-planet, [[spoiler:[[BodyBackupDrive their consciousness is transferred to a genetically engineered body grown from their DNA]]]]. Notable in that the ''entire force'' from privates to generals consist of supersoldiers. (It's made very clear that unenhanced humans wouldn't last five minutes against the aliens they have to fight.) [[spoiler:The Special Forces are much worse: they are ''born'' with the knowledge of how to be supersoldiers, and not much else. They make a conscious comparison between themselves and FrankensteinsMonster as part of the series' general commentary on the ethics of super soldiery]].

* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': Haruka is a teenaged TykeBomb raised in the Rebuild Institute’s secret facilities as part of a SecretWar. She was originally just a DifferentlyPoweredIndividual called an Old World Connector capable of {{Telepathy}} and enhanced capability for processing information as a result. She was given a SuperSerum based on LostTechnology that allows for VoluntaryShapeshifting, PullingHerselfTogether, splitting into multiple beings (like two of herself or several spider drones) and recombining, and regenerating FromASingleCell.

* In Christopher Ruocchio's ''Literature/TheSunEater'' series, humanity, despite being the HigherTechSpecies, are barely holding ground in a centuries long war against the superhuman Cielcin. Things get worse when the Cielcin join forces with renegade human technologists, the Extrasolarians. The result are the Chimeras, bionic Cielcin warriors who are armored in adamant (the only material that can withstand a [[AbsurdlySharpBlade high-matter blade]]) and have built-in [[PlasmaCannon plasma burners]] and arm blades. Finally the Chimera have their already superhuman strength and speed greatly augmented, making each a OneManArmy.

*** And finally there's the Imperial Guard, the 100 chosen warriors of TheEmperor. Together, they're considered worth the other three corps ''combined'', as each fighter is at least the level of an Enlightened/Sage and equipped with Legendary-class equipment (which according to [[TheHero Rimuru]], comparing such a weapon to a "normal" weapon is like "bringing a machinegun to a sword fight"). The single digits are even stronger, having all the advantages of the double digits at bare minimum combined with receiving [[SuperEmpowering a blessing from the Emperor]] that grants them a pseudo-Ultimate Skill, making them borderline {{Reality Warper}}s. The top six in particular are at the level of Saints and wielding the even stronger Mythical/God-class equipment and capable of matching up against ''[[MaouTheDemonKing True Demon Lord]]'' level foes. The top two were even capable of matching blows with [[spoiler:two of the seven Primordial Demons, one of which is powerful enough to ''destroy the planet''.]]
* The Specials in Scott Westerfeld's ''Literature/{{Uglies}}'' series. They have [[UnbreakableBones bones made of aircraft material]] with servos inside for better movement, artificial muscles that are stronger and don't get sore, weaponized fingernails and teeth filed to sharp points, {{nano|machines}}bots in their blood that allow them to [[HealingFactor heal quickly]], antennas implanted in their skin to allow for more efficient communication between themselves, a direct link to the city's interface that they can manifest as a GUI by closing their eyes and thinking about it, and an artificial addition to their brain that gives them enhanced senses and reflexes, a serious superiority complex towards non-Specials, and violent tendencies. Oh, and their facial features are modeled to look vaguely lupine to stir up the primal fear of predators in unmodified humans.

* The Hradani of the ''[[Literature/TheWarGods War Gods]]'' series by Creator/DavidWeber. Bigger, faster and stronger than humans and twisted by magic to become [[TheBerserker berserkers]] in combat.
* ''Literature/WarWithNoName'' has a inhuman variation. The Alpha soldier ants are specially bred by a mutant colony of ants to exterminate humanity. Capable of standing upright to 10 feet tall, the Alpha are intended to have carapaces so tough that gun and cannon fire just bounces off them and powerful enough to rip through tanks. In addition, the Queen of them - Hymenoptera Unus ([[TheDreaded Humans refer to her as the Devil's Hand, the Monarch of the Underworld]]) has the power of imparting GeneticMemory so the Alpha quickly become expert warriors. In actuality, the Alphas [[OverratedAndUnderleveled aren't nearly so impressive]]. While certainly very dangerous and a big reason for humanity losing against the Colony, the Alphas aren't nearly as strong or invulnerable as hoped plus the [[WeakSpot sections between their carapace]] are highly vulnerable. They're also barely sentient and require a host of smaller ants to guide them.

* Comes up frequently in the works of Creator/TimothyZahn, often also highlighting the drawbacks and pitfalls.
** The title characters of ''Literature/TheCobraTrilogy'' Series are man-made supersoldiers originally created for a major war. They have {{unbreakable bones}} and numerous weapons built into their bodies. At the end of the first book (Well after the war ended), it is revealed that the process that made their bones unbreakable also caused people who underwent the COBRA treatment to become arthritic and anemic as they got older. This is in addition to the question brought up earlier in the book of what you're supposed to do with supersoldiers when there isn't a war going on.
** Also in Zahn's ''Literature/{{Blackcollar}}'' trilogy: the Blackcollars are deliberately low-tech supersoldiers, created using drugs to enhance speed and strength, then equipped with low profile body armor and weapons like shuriken, nunchaku, and slingshots, in order to wage a guerrilla war against an enemy capable of tracking more advanced weapons. This was a part of a two-pronged strategy for combatting an enemy with superior numbers: the Blackcollar use guerilla tactics on occupied planets, while ''Nova''-class cruisers are individually superior to anything the enemy has.
** In ''Literature/TheConquerorsTrilogy'', The Copperheads are cybernetically augmented humans capable of "Mindlink" with their fighter craft, to the extent where the highest level makes the pilot feel like they ''are'' the ship, and allowing the equivalent of instant telepathic communication among a squadron. For obvious reasons, they're incredibly effective in combat. Unfortunately, because the Mindlink is both highly stimulating and designed to suppress things like physical and emotional pain while it's active, it can become addictive and even cause brain damage if it's used more than absolutely necessary.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' version of [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]]. They have [[WolverineClaws extendable claws in their fingers]], are superhumanly strong, can [[HealingFactor recover from lethal wounds]], and created by {{the Igor}}s for the Evil Empire from [[spoiler:[[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans]]]]. They were used as cannon fodder in ZergRush tactics, and were considered to be both AlwaysChaoticEvil ([[spoiler:though as is pointed out, they needed... [[WhipItGood encouragement]]. Not many creatures will charge a pike emplacement by choice]]) and StupidEvil. The one we meet is a WarriorPoet. It's implied that there was a discrepancy between the people who ordered orcs made (who expected super-strong cannon fodder to throw en masse at the enemy, and as such used them like that) and the Igors who made them (who heard super-soldiers and made super-soldiers -- in ''every'' respect, including extremely quick learning and a grasp of tactics and strategy so strong it bleeds over into other aspects of intelligence).

* In ''LightNovel/{{Kieli}}'', the main character Harvey is an 'Undying', an undead soldier that was created from the corpse of a soldier who had died in combat. Upon being reanimated, the Undying are nigh-unstoppable. They don't have any more strength or speed than a regular human, but they aren't affected by pain (although they still feel it), they don't age, do not need nourishment or sleep, and they can take nearly any amount of damage and keep going. Harvey, at one point, had half of his head blown off, along with one leg and an arm. Though it took months, he recovered. The only way to kill an Undying is by ripping its 'core' out of its chest, as the core is what gives them animation. After the war, the Church (who originally created the Undying to win the world war they were fighting) began to hunt them down and slaughter them mercilessly, offering a massive bounty for anyone who located or killed an Undying. Despite being technically dead, the Undying still have the same emotional capacity and personality that they did when they were alive, so the scant few who escaped the Church's massacre went on the run. At the beginning of the story, Harvey has been avoiding the Church for eighty years and counting.

* ''Cyborg'' by Martin Caidin is about a test pilot who is transformed into a super soldier through bionics. It was later adapted for television as ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan''.

* ''Literature/{{Genome}}'': In ''Dances on the Snow'', Phages (AKA Knights of Avalon) are genetically-engineered special operatives, who have superhuman strength, speed, and reaction time (although not nearly to comic book levels), as well as training in combat, infiltration, computer systems, starship piloting, and using the CompellingVoice. In addition, they also have an innate desire to do the right thing, which isn't always the logical thing, in stark contrast to the overly rational (in their opinion) society. Their WeaponOfChoice is a semi-living plasma whip, which can be used as both a weapon and a tool. They admit that plasma whips may not be as efficient and powerful as common blasters, but they're far more versatile. Oh, and don't go around calling them [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi]]; they don't like that. A century later, when the first novel ''Genome'' is set, advances in genetic engineering have made Phages obsolete, since a sizable percentage of humans in the galaxy are now "specialized". Those of the Fighter specialization are capable of even greater feats than the Phages (e.g. {{Flash Step}}ping).

* The ''Literature/{{Acacia}}'' series features several in this fantasy setting. The Mein are a [[BarbarianTribe warlike tribe]] from the GrimUpNorth that had been subjugated centuries by the the Acacia empire, when the Acacian king used words stolen from [[{{God}} Elenet]] to curse their violent forebears with undeath and [[SealedEvilInACan exile into a limbo dimension]]. However undeath had the [[CursedWithAwesome benign side-effect]] of giving these ancient veteran warriors, now known as the Tunishnevre, SuperStrength and [[NighInvulnerable Invulnerability]]. After the Mein usurped the Akaran Dynasty, they intended to ritually sacrifice the royal children to release the Tunishnevre to conqure the world. Helping the Mein were the army of the Numrek, who are exiles of a near-immortal, gigantic and [[superstrong SuperStrength]] race who in their long lives they've developed potent incendiary/alchemical weapons to use when they're not simply bashing their enemies to death. Finally there are the Santoth, these are the wizard-warriors used by the first Acacian king to forge the Acacia empire - twisted into immortal forms and taught only black magic derived from the words of Elenet, the Santoth were cursed by Acacian king to be in constant agony unless they were using foul sorcery on enemies.

* ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}]]'': The main character, Charlie, is the result of her parents, Andy and Vicky, having been part of what they thought was a medical study on LSD. It was actually an experiment by the secretive government agency The Shop, using a hallucinogenic drug called Lot 6 that also produced superhuman mutations. The experiment was seemingly a failure, as all but three participants were driven insane or committed suicide, and Andy and Vicky only developed very limited telepathic and telekinetic abilities (the third survivor didn't get any powers at all). However, Charlie ends up developing ''extremely'' potent pyrokinesis that only keeps growing as she matures. As a result, The Shop is obsessed with turning her into a super soldier.