History Main / SuperSoldier

[[caption-width-right:315:[[LargeAndInCharge Eight feet tall]], [[PoweredArmor power-armoured]], [[BioAugmentation genetically-engineered]], [[HandCannon a full-auto armour-piercing explosive-round pistol]], [[PowerFist and a fist that can kill tanks]]: Your ''average'' SpaceMarine in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'':
** Phase Sixers or Super Warriors are powerful enough to fight armies of other Transformers and lay waste to entire planets with ease. ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye More Than Meets the Eye]]'' shows that they aren't created from normal Transformers, but Cybertronians who are already abnormally stronger then the usual, in a process that would kill any regular 'bot, and very nearly kills them. They also have an amazingly high tendency to turn traitor, at which point the Decepticon Justice Division, a whole ''crew'' of psychotically fanatic Super-Soldiers, are sent after them.
** [[CombiningMecha Combiners]] are what you get when you take a number of ordinary Transformers and merge them mentally and physically -- which also results in their total mass increasing a factor ten or so, and their total strength a factor hundred. Combiners are officially designated as super-warriors.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': The Guardian Robots were HumongousMecha (even for the setting) tasked with defending Cybertron's cities and were relied upon by the Autobots to keep the peace. After the current war broke out, Omega Supreme is the LastOfHisKind, serving as the last line of defense for the Autobots.

** '''Stormtroopers''' ([[RedshirtArmy Imperial Guard]]/Tempestus Scions, Imperium of Man): The Stormtroopers (also called Tempestus Scions) carry backpack-powered hellguns, heavy carapace armor, and -- depending on the regiment -- can receive genetic enhancements. In older editions, squad leaders could even carry [[PowerFist powerfists or lightning claws]]. Stormtroopers are trained in Schola Progenium, the orphanage for children of deceased war heroes, but some Imperial Guard regiments maintain equivalent formations under various names (Grenadiers is probably the most common, while the Cadian Kasrkin are probably the most famous).

** The Imperial Guard are conspicuous for being the sole ''exception'' to this trope. They're not bioengineered killing machines or ancient warriors with hyper-advanced weaponry, they're just ordinary human men and women, handed a rifle and a flak jacket, or put inside a tank if they're lucky. On a good day they'll beat any of the armies listed above, and ''that'' arguably makes them the most badass of all. However, Catachan Jungle Fighters might qualify as a {{Downplayed|Trope}} example of the trope in action: while ostensibly still ordinary humans, their homeworld has a higher gravity than Earth ([[{{Heavyworlder}} which explains their massive frames and muscles]]) and more importantly, is the most dangerous DeathWorld in the entire galaxy. It is home to scorpions the size of tanks, giant bats and plants that literally ''eat people''. [[CrapsackWorld Only a quarter of Catachans born survive to see their tenth birthday]]. The survivors among those are exceptionally tough and cunning as a result.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Every faction worth their salt has at least groups of those. Examples include: Cadian, Catachan and Krieg (even more so with the Kaskrin, White Shields and Grenadiers),[[note]]Learn to shoot before they learn to walk[[/note]] Stormtroopers, Sisters of Battle[[note]]Raised in an orphanage with very intense military training[[/note]], every form of Space Marines, Adeptus Custodes,[[note]]"proper" Super-Soldiers created from template or personally by God Emperor of Mankind[[/note]] Skitarii[[note]]Cybernetic warriors of the Mechanicus[[/note]], every Eldar that walked Path of Warrior[[note]]Creates entire new personality from scratch that is filled with only rage and hate. Sometimes the person can no longer revert to their normal persona[[/note]], the Fire Caste of Tau[[note]]Trained from birth, have minor cybernetic augmentations.[[/note]], the entire Tyranid, Ork, Necron and Daemon races[[note]]They all were designed for war. Some are more elitist than the others[[/note]]. In this kind of universe, it's pretty much a prerequisite for survival. And sometimes even these aren't enough.

** '''Stormtroopers''' ([[RedshirtArmy Imperial Guard]], Imperium of Man): The Stormtroopers carry backpack-powered hellguns, heavy carapace armor, and -- depending on the regiment -- can receive genetic enhancements. In older editions, squad leaders could even carry [[PowerFist powerfists or lightning claws]]. Usually Stormtroopers are trained in Schola Progenium, the orphanage for children of deceased war heroes.

** Space Marines (Imperium of Man): Fanatically dedicated, comprehensively superhuman, bio-engineered giants selected through decades of religious indoctrination and a form of TheSpartanWay that only one of a hundred (or thousand, depending on the source material) aspirants even ''survive'', who carry weapons firing fully automatic armor-piercing explosive-tipped rocket-boosted ammunition as their basic gun[[note]]Boltguns are NOT rocket launchers[[/note]], are strong enough to rip a man (or a cow) apart and can survive having a tank dropped on them. They are made by implanting a young male human with bioengineered organs that radically alters their development on top of giving them superhuman capabilities; this includes a second heart, a third lung, a second stomach, an organ that causes bones to coat in naturally occurring ceramite and fuses the rib cage that is solidified into one large chunk of bone, can spit acid, and a tremendously enhanced sensory apparatus. On top of their high intelligence they also have the ability to eat the brains of enemies to incorporate their knowledge. They are also "hypno-indoctrinated" to make them fanatically loyal and to give them a very narrow focus, so that all they think about is war and how to do it better, and possibly to impart knowledge on how to do just that. [[DependingOnTheAuthor Depending on who you ask]], they may also get genetic enhancements on top of their bodies being reworked from the ground up. Some chapters have had the genome of their bioaugmentations corrupted for some reason or another, in some cases losing out on some abilities, but just as often it gives them something like giving them razor sharp bone spurs or perfect recall. Whatever the case, every Marine has muscles so thick that they are immune to any weapon smaller than a 9mm handgun, they can breathe water, they are immune to most diseases, and they require only four hours of sleep though they can go days on end without it. If they are not killed, they will live forever, with the oldest existing one having lived over a millennium being generally no worse for wear aside from WhoWantsToLiveForever biting at him a bit. And Chaos Marines are ''even deadlier'', possessing thousands of years of combat experience over their loyalist brethren as well as various boons and mutations granted to them by the Chaos gods to make them even stronger, tougher, faster or give them whole new abilities altogether.

** '''Terminators''' (Imperium of Man): The Elite Imperial Space Marine -- veterans of countless battles, the strongest and fittest and most capable of all marines. And they get a super-power armor (Tactical Dreadnought Armor) and even more obscene weaponry (like [[GatlingGood Assault Cannons firing thousands of large-calibre rounds per minute]] or [[DropTheHammer Thunder Hammers]] that can rip tanks to pieces). They can also {{teleport|Spam}}. It's commonly agreed that a Battle-Brother becomes eligible to the First Company (where Terminators are grouped as per Codex Astartes) posting after at least a full ''century'' of service. And some chapters require even more.

** [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist The manga]] has Olivier Armstrong being introduced to [[spoiler:an army of artificial "humans". Souls of those killed in Amestrian wars are collected and infused into white, emaciated, nigh-immortal bodies created by alchemy. The goal of the Amestris high command was to use these puppets to replace their human armies, creating more soldiers from the souls of their fallen enemies]].

* The creation of Serpentor in ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]'' was approved by Cobra Commander with the objective of creating the ultimate Super-Soldier to be a general serving under him. Unlike the [[WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero cartoon version]], Serpentor wasn't explicitly created to replace Cobra Commander, but his natural charisma in leading the defense and evacuation of Springfield just moments after his "birth" made Cobra Commander [[OhCrap realize]] he'd inadvertently greenlit the creation of his own rival.

* In the Altered Destinies FanVerse, averting this is the reason that Clark and Diana moved to Japan in the first place during the Reagan era. Clark got fed up with the government trying to pressure him into taking sides in the Cold War.
** He actually did during the Second World War, however the American War Department were weary of using his vast abilities against the Axis. They only relented upon discovering his weakness to kryptonite and magic. During the war Clark was used in an undercover role, playing the part of a lowly war correspondent. That was how he wound up working for a major metropolitan newspaper instead of working on a farm to help his mom pay the bills. The government started footing those bills while Clark went to work as a fearless Nazi fighter, sometimes appearing from out of nowhere to rally the troops, then vanishing back into his secret identity in time for the regular grunts to take all of the credit.

* ''FanFic/HarmonyTheory'': How Rainbow is viewed by those in the setting, 1000 years after ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''.
* The ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'' has the Hooviets' Project Hybrid, a project devoted to creating powerful pony/deer hybrids soldiers. [[BigBad General-Admiral Makarov]] is the most successful of them and the only one still alive in modern day. He has immensely powerful magic and enough physical power to [[CurbstompBattle curbstomp]] Shining Armor. [[spoiler:Subverted in that the experiment was ''supposed'' to be a complete failure, as even if it succeeded it'd have just resulted in pony/deer hybrids rather than Super-Soldiers. Makarov's true form, a [[RealityWarper reality bending]] monster called the Shadow of Chernobull, altered history so that he survived. It's also revealed that Makarov was the one responsible for killing the other hybrids so he could be unique.]]
* Athene and her siblings from ''Fanfic/MobileSuitGundamStorm''.

** First, there's Steve, thanks to Project Rebirth -- he's at MCU physical levels, and explicitly superhumanly fast, strong, and durable, and is implied to have a limited degree of superhuman intelligence (though WordOfGod has indicated that it's just a faster mental processor, so he can think faster than he otherwise would, but not necessarily better). This is also implied to translate to a considerably longer natural lifespan, as [[spoiler: his daughter is in her early 60s and has yet to age past her mid 20s]]. It's also proven that the serum can be inherited, and not watered down [[spoiler: as proven by his descendants - it ''looks'' like it declines with each generation, with his daughter being a full SuperSoldier and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren being only a couple of shades to a shade above normal. However, it turns out that the potential just needs a kick in the pants]].

** The Red Room have Omega Red, described as a 'Weapon X reject', and a clone of Alexei Shostakov, the Red Guardian. Their ultimate example, however, is the Red Son -- [[spoiler: Harry, or rather, his BlankSlate body]] programmed into a weapon and infused with nanotechnology. He's capable of upending entire continents.
* ''FanFic/TheBridge'' elaborates on [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Monster X's]] lack of backstory. [[spoiler: He was a normal Xilian Super-Soldier given a Captain America styled augmentation with the operation turning him into a {{Kaiju}}.]] Some of the Mysterian-Human hybrids, this world's version of the Final Wars' mutants, are also this if they aren't psychics.
* ''Fanfic/SecondAmericanCivilWar'': Project Dewdrop is a Southwestern project to create supersoldiers with nanotech biomechanical implants that give enhanced speed and strength, pain resistance, accelerated healing, and enhanced hearing, and a SelfDestruct that kills the subject. Project Obelisk is a Canadian project to recreate and enhance the implants while removing the SelfDestruct. Isabella is the last surviving Dewdrop-enhanced soldier at the beginning of the story; her implants are later upgraded to Obelisk, and Colin is given similar implants.
* In {{FanFic/Warverse}}, the [[Franchise/MassEffect Alliance]] has the SIGMA program -- 7+ feet tall, reinforced bones, nervous system, and all kind of other things. Once they meet the Turian Ghost Corps (which has all that plus a few centuries of simulated reality training), they hold their own reasonably well, but it's close enough to start a new program combining all that with TheSpartanWay -- [[ArcNumber 612]] orphans aged six to seven are taken in secret as a first batch and are subjected to TrainingFromHell. Well, [[spoiler:611 orphans and John Shepard -- his biotic talents convinced the recruiters to stretch the rules a bit.]]
* Many examples exist on the mad world that is ''Fanfic/CoreLine'', but to provide one example: the Stingray Industries "Hellsoldier Project", which takes people (living ''and'' dead) with PowerNullifier mutations and turn them into virtually unkillable infantrymen-capable of surviving the wrath of things as nasty as a pissed-off, no-holding-back ComicBook/{{Superman}} or [[EldritchAbomination supernatural monsters]] like [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Bill Cipher]] long enough to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu blow their brains out with the biggest gun they have available at the moment]].
* The DC Comics fanfic ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'' explains the origin of Xalitan Xor, "Konvikt", as part of the War Hound program operated by his government, transferring the minds of children into enhanced bodies (several meters tall, with NighInvulnerability and SuperStrength), and mentally programming them with a strong sense of honor to make them loyal. Xor doesn't really resent what happened to him, he just gets upset when he discovers that their leaders are not similarly honorable themselves. When he leads the War Hounds in rebellion, though, the Alignment government doesn't have anything that can reliably put them down.

* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', a Marine who escapes from a mental institution (funded by a {{private military contractor|s}}) and is brought back in by Gibbs' team claims to have been experimented on, a claim backed up by cybernetic implants found in his body and his unprecedented ability to defeat [[ActionGirl Ziva]] in a fistfight. When a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive company official for the private military contractor]] demands his return, it is suspected that he was an involuntary subject of a Super-Soldier project. [[spoiler: It turns out that he'd been self-medicating with steroids, and the 'implant' was a homing device placed after his return to the US.]]

* ''TabletopGame/SLAIndustries'' have the baseline humans as the main species of the "World of Progress", but ruler Mr. Slayer needed operatives with a little more punch. He got it with the discovery of two alien races - the Shaktar who are honorable warrior much tougher and stronger than humans and the Ebon/Brain Wasters - a race that can manipulate an otherdimensional energy known as Flux. Mr. Slayer also has the Stormers developed - these were initially a regenerating living weapon that had a even higher baseline physical stats than the Shaktar, but later on new Stormer breeds were developed which differing abilities based on their purpose.

%%* ''Webcomic/{{Accidentals}}'': Everyone in the [[spoiler: [[http://accidentals.webcomic.ws/comics/30/ Gods and Monsters]]]] chapter.

** Also, [[spoiler: Airman Higgs]] looks a lot like this. It's eventually confirmed that he is [[spoiler:the "sneaky" Jäger General, and an expert in disguise and able to pass as human]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': The Action Man was a member of the original '60s/'70s-era [[BadassCrew Team Venture]] under Jonas Venture Sr. [[GunsAkimbo Dual-wielding]] a pair of semi-auto pistols, he [[TheBerserker seemed to enter some kind of battle frenzy]] in which he'd dish out ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill slaughters to whoever opposed him. Like most characters in the series, he is a [[CorruptedCharacterCopy deconstructed archetype]] of more heroic "Super-Soldiers" in other media. His most infamous episode saw him [[PistolWhipping pistol-whip]] the HarmlessVillain Turnbuckle's skull in before executing him via bullet to the brain, right in front of a terrified 10 year-old Rusty. (It actually caused the [[WeirdTradeUnion Guild of Calamitous Intent]] to invent their "[[RandomPowerRanking Equally Matched Aggression]]" system, meant to ensure that heroes and villains only battle people they're on equal terms with.) He mentions that Jonas Sr. has him on "Go-Juice", which seems to straddle the line between SuperSerum and PsychoSerum, causing (or at least enhancing) his bloodlust and [[HeroicComedicSociopath sociopathy]], which [[DrugsAreBad he has since kicked]], making him a more sympathetic figure by the time the series takes place.

* Creator/BenCroshaw wrote [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/6530-Extra-Punctuation-Supersoldiers a column]] for ''The Escapist'' dedicated to explaining why Super-Soldier Projects, at least those that are generally presented in video games, are not such a great idea.

** The most prominent examples from the Skrulls are simply called "Super Skrulls". The most famous and likely first one has been engineered to [[AllYourPowersCombined replicate all of the powers]] of the original ComicBook/FantasticFour, as well as HypnoticEyes. There have been attempts to replicate his powerset, but ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' really runs with the concept by giving the Skrull Empire an entire army of skrulls engineered to have a mish-mash of powers from Earth heroes. There was also a super Skrull engineered with the flying brick powerset along with eye beams as a pastiche of Superman. Another had energy absorption powers that made him so effective he managed to kill all the heroes and conquer the Earth in an AlternateTimeline.

* Midnighter from ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' was specifically designed to be a Super-Soldier. He was given extensive bionic implants which gave him superhuman strength, speed and durability plus disease immunity and the ability to determine over a million different combat outcomes. This tends to mean he can mow through most opponents and boasts that he's already won the fight in his head. Then [[Bullying he tries this on]] fellow example of this, [[PhysicalGod Captain Atom]]. Who asks exactly how well he thinks that trick is going to work on him. Answer: [[CurbstompBattle not very]].

%%* ComicBook/{{OMAC}} - Administrivia/ZeroContentExample

* Midnighter from ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' was specifically designed to be a Super-Soldier. He was given extensive bionic implants which gave him superhuman strength, speed and durability plus disease immunity and the ability to determine over a million different combat outcomes.

** First, there's Steve, thanks to Project Rebirth -- he's at MCU physical levels, and explicitly superhumanly fast, strong, and durable, and is implied to have a limited degree of superhuman intelligence (though WordOfGod has indicated that it's just a faster mental processor, so he can think faster than he otherwise would, but not necessarily better). This is also implied to translate to a considerably longer natural lifespan, as [[spoiler: his daughter is in her early 60s and has yet to age past her mid 20s]].
** Natasha, as per mainstream continuity, is at the very peak of standard human potential (Steve being the peak of non-standard potential) and supposedly TheAgeless thanks to the Infinity Formula.
** The Winter Soldier is a cocktail of Zola's enhancement stabilised by the Infinity Formula, with a result roughly equivalent to Steve.
** Mar-Vell is implied to be a Kree version, due to his FlyingBrick abilities, which are implied to have been developed based on his study of/collaboration with Jor-El.
** Technically, the Hulk. The jury is out on whether that one went very wrong or very right.

** Peter Wisdom also alludes to the British Super-Soldier project in Porton Down, darkly noting that it's something that his companion (Psylocke) really ''doesn't'' want to know about. Since Porton Down is, in RealLife, Britain's equivalent of Area 51 with a well-earned reputation for sometimes less than ethical human experimentation and previously admitted lack of governmental oversight, this is almost calculated to be ominous.