History Main / SuperSoldier

* Ben "[[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]]" Crowshaw wrote [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/6530-Extra-Punctuation-Supersoldiers a column]] dedicated to explaining why Super Soldier Projects, at least those that are generally presented in Video Games, are [[{{Deconstruction}} not such a great idea]].

** The [[{{Batman}} Venom]] compound was a synthetic high-grade steroid developed for a rogue general. Combined with hypnotherapy and subcutaneous Kevlar implants, it was used to create a set of six super-soldiers on the tropical island of Santa Prisca. It also nearly drove Batman mad with addiction, before he kicked the habit and shut down the project. Unfortunately the criminal government of Santa Prisca acquired samples of the drug, which led to testing on convicted criminals, which led to ''Bane''...

** Most Showa Era Kamen Riders fall under this [[KamenRiderAmazon save for one]]. The only Kamen Rider to actually be used by Shocker (save for {{Evil Twin}}s) is KamenRiderZX, but it was for a short while.

* The Zuul from ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars''. Made by giving a race of flesh-eating marsupials a human-like intelligence, PsychicPowers (including the ability to MindRape knowledge out of their victims), a HiveMind, and a natural lust for exploration and conquest, the Zuul were created for exterminating any race that wouldn't be subjugated; cargoes of them were simply dumped onto any old planet whose inhabitants needed a good genocide. They became more wildly successful than their creators could ever have dreamed of, insofar they went on to [[ScaryDogmaticAliens voluntarily worship said creators as gods and view their genocidal purpose as a holy war against the unworthy]].

* Samus Aran in the ''{{Metroid}}'' series. Sam's pretty much got the complete Super Soldier package, being adopted by the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens fantastically advanced]] yet [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence consciously going extinct]] Chozo, who infused her with Chozo DNA to gain fantastic speed, strength, agility and sensory capacity, trained her as the last Defender (read: legendary universe-saving warrior/judge figure) and equipped her with a modular suit of PoweredArmor that's the envy of the galaxy. On top of this, she's largely fueled by a [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge burning desire to get back at the Space Pirates who trashed both of her homeworlds and left her orphaned twice over]]. If there's a better warrior in the series' galaxy, we haven't seen him, her or it yet.

* ''{{Harbourmaster}}'''s Super Soldiers are humans who were imbued with [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke DNA-level upgrades]] by the Aquaans to help defeat the [[TheSocialDarwinist Yogzarthu]]. Interestingly, Partasah made sure that those who ''did'' receive the treatment generally fell under the heading of "TechnicalPacifist"; he didn't like the idea of someone ''genuinely'' [[BloodKnight bellicose]] having this upgrade. [[LesbianCop Gwendolyn]] is the main example in the series. She has no qualms about using commensurate force to protect the peace in the Tethys colony, but she'd rather not look upon violence outside of that (a bit of a nuisance when you consider her girlfriend ''loves'' MaskedLuchador films).

* ''Webcomic/Harbourmaster'''s Super Soldiers are humans who were imbued with [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke DNA-level upgrades]] by the Aquaans to help defeat the [[TheSocialDarwinist Yogzarthu]]. Interestingly, Partasah made sure that those who ''did'' receive the treatment generally fell under the heading of "TechnicalPacifist"; he didn't like the idea of someone ''genuinely'' [[BloodKnight bellicose]] having this upgrade. [[LesbianCop Gwendolyn]] is the main example in the series. She has no qualms about using commensurate force to protect the peace in the Tethys colony, but she'd rather not look upon violence outside of that (a bit of a nuisance when you consider her girlfriend ''loves'' MexicanWrestling theme films).

* "GenocideMan'' features Genocide Men, who have nanotube ceramics in their bones to make them unbreakable, artificial glands that provide combat stimulants and negate many toxins, and telomere replacement therapy to mitigate the effects of aging. Many of the genetic deviants they were designed to combat were super soldiers as well, the Ugandan deviancy comprised four-year old children with claws, slitted pupils, and ridiculously fast reflexes, they killed everyone else in Jacob Doe's squad, he only survived because he was a G-Man.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has Olivia 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]].

** Wrath is basically this : [[spoiler:a man trained to the peak of what the human body can endure and then subjected to an experiment that increased his physical abilities ten-folds, made him more durable and slowed-down his aging. His eyes were especially augmented, being able to process information almost immediately and never missing ''anything''.]]

* The titular warriors of the anime ''{{Claymore}}'' are half-human, half-[[OurDemonsAreDifferent youma]] [[HalfHumanHybrid hybrids]] that are generally a match for most ordinary youma. Why the Organization does not simply create an army of them (rather than their traditional 47) and exterminate the youma is never explained, though it likely has to do with the [[spoiler:danger of too many of them slipping through the control process and becoming Awakened Ones, which have the mind of a youma and drastically increased powers. Having a lot of [=AOs=]]] and no more source youma from which to create more Claymores would be kinda bad.

* {{Dracula}} in the original work was already a pretty bad mofo. In ''{{Hellsing}}'', though, experimentation by the titular family has enhanced [[SdrawkcabName Alucard's]] powers to the point where he is, among other things, not worried about [[LosingYourHead losing his head]].

* [[spoiler: The titular character]] in ''{{Hanna}}'' comes from a secret government program that develops otherwise aborted fetuses into powerful soldiers.

* "GenocideMan'' features the titular Genocide Men, who have nanotube ceramics in their bones to make them unbreakable, artificial glands that provide combat stimulants and negate many toxins, and telomere replacement therapy to mitigate the effects of aging. Many of the genetic deviants they were designed to combat were super soldiers as well, the Ugandan deviancy comprised four-year old children with claws, slitted pupils, and ridiculously fast reflexes, they killed everyone else in Jacob Doe's squad, he only survived because he was a G-Man.

George R. R. Martin's

* The Unsullied in George R. R. Martin's ''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.

* In the film, Black Mask; the operators of Squad 701 are this. The 701s were created by the Chinese Government, in order to deal with the escalating crime rate, caused by gang violence and drug distribution. The 701s were selected from elite military units, and subjected to a procedure known as a neurorectomy, in which they injected a chemical solution into their brain stems, chemically deadening the part of their brains responsible for pain, exhaustion and fatigue. Because of this, the 701s no longer feel pain to a large extent, nor are they affected by exhaustion and fatigue. This removes the psychological limitations on the Human body, allowing for them to push themselves harder then the average soldier. They were able to hit with enough force to break through concrete, fast enough to outrun automatic gunfire and dodge it and perform other incredible physical feats.\\

The downside to this process, is that it left the 701s impaired to physical trauma and wear and tear from overexertion, meaning that it was very possible for the 701s to die from internal bleeding caused by their superhuman performance. Another downside to this process, was that it left the 701s with impaired judgment and morality. Major troubles for the 701s started, when one of their own, went berserk and killed a bunch of police officers in the process. After this incident, the government terminated the project and had most of the 701s killed, with only a handful escaping and surviving out in Hong Kong. The protagonist of the movie, Simon/Michael(Chinese dub his name is Tsui) is a 701 attempting to lead a normal life, but is called back into action when his fellow 701s begin taking down gangs all over Hong Kong and begin to cause trouble for the police.

* In the film, Black Mask; the operators of Squad 701 are this. The 701s were created by the Chinese Government, in order to deal with the escalating crime rate, caused by gang violence and drug distribution. The 701s were selected from elite military units, and subjected to a procedure known as a neurorectomy, in which they injected a chemical solution into their brain stems, chemically deadening the part of their brains responsible for pain, exhaustion and fatigue. Because of this, the 701s no longer feel pain to a large extent, nor are they affected by exhaustion and fatigue. This removes the psychological limitations on the Human body, allowing for them to push themselves harder then the average soldier. They were able to hit with enough force to break through concrete, fast enough to outrun automatic gunfire and dodge it and perform other incredible physical feats. The downside to this process, is that it left the 701s impaired to physical trauma and wear and tear from overexertion, meaning that it was very possible for the 701s to die from internal bleeding caused by their superhuman performance. Another downside to this process, was that it left the 701s with impaired judgment and morality. Major troubles for the 701s started, when one of their own, went berserk and killed a bunch of police officers in the process. After this incident, the government terminated the project and had most of the 701s killed, with only a handful escaping and surviving out in Hong Kong. The protagonist of the movie, Simon/Michael(Chinese dub his name is Tsui) is a 701 attempting to lead a normal life, but is called back into action when his fellow 701s begin taking down gangs all over Hong Kong and begin to cause trouble for the police.

* The Original Series/KamenRider was made into this [[InvertedTrope by Shocker]]. However, the Kamen Rider, through a rescue, became a PhlebotinumRebel.

* Mewtwo from "Pokemon" was cloned from Mew and then gentecially altered to be the strongest pokemon in the world.

->''"Space Marines excel at warfare because they were designed to excel at everything. Each of you will become a leader, a ruler, the master of your world and, because there is no more fighting to be done, you will bend your transhuman talents to governance and culture.''

->''"The enemies of the Imperium fear many things, they fear discovery, defeat and death. But most of all they fear the wrath of the Space Marines!"''
-->-- ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''

*** [[spoiler: Though the end of [[Film/{{Serenity}} the movie]] implies she does come to terms with this and [[IGotBetter got better]].]]

* In John Ringo's ''CouncilWars'' series, the [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves]] are the virtually immortal genetically engineered superhuman soldiers of the last Resource Wars.
* Robert A. Heinlein's ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. The mobile infantry in that book were built to take on 12 foot tall insects one on [[strike:one]] one hundred (anything less is a win for the bugs). And Rico states that they are the smallest military in proportion to the civilian population ever. The book goes to great lengths describing the awesome super suits the protagonist and his allies wore in combat.
** Mobile Infantrymen were simply a common [[SpaceMarine Space Marines]], as they were individually highly trained, but [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman unaugmented soldiers]]. They just had the really good PoweredArmor.
** During training one cadet asks why they are bothering to learn hand-to-hand combat when they have nukes, so Sergeant Zim gives him a detailed lecture on how bombing is good if you want to destroy something, but if you want to capture something you need men on the ground. Of course TheMovie has him just toss a knife through the unfortunate cadet's hand.

* A few of these were created in ''{{The 4400}}''. They were injected with Promicin, and the survivors of this made several appearances. However, they were "just" soldiers with superpowers, the latter of which is fairly common in this series, so they often got their asses kicked by 4400s or other P+ s.

* In ''Film/IronMan3'' Extremis makes people super strong with a HealingFactor capable of regenerating limbs in minutes and the ability to produce intense heat at will. Unfortunately the serum is unstable and many eventually explode, hot enough to vaporize anyone nearby.

* Comes up frequently in the works of TimothyZahn, often also highlighting the drawbacks and pitfalls. The title characters of the ''[[TheCobraTrilogy Cobra]]'' 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.

** And again in the Conquerors trilogy 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.

* ''Literature/ThePostman'': 'Augments', of which there were two varieties: one cybernetically altered and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity chosen for their psychopathic tendencies]], the other [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower trained in exotic meditation techniques]] and chosen for their high sense of ethics. [[AdaptationDecay Notably absent]] in the film version, despite their key role in the original.