History Main / SuperSoldier

* ''ComicBook/TheMetabarons'' has the titular Metabarons, a hereditary line of godlike invincible warriors capable of achieving otherwise impossible victories. A Metabaron (there's only one alive at a time) is considered the ultimate military force in that setting, with the Emperoress's power-armoured [[PraetorianGuard Endoguard]] coming a very distant 2nd.

* Decommissioned Super-Soldier-types similar to ComicBook/MarshallLaw are the focus of the ''Underground'' RPG. This is a setting where a crashed alien ship in the near future provided humanity a bonanza of genetic-engineering breakthroughs in a time period when mega-corporation shenanigans, crime and international tensions has turned the Earth into a [[CrapsackWorld dystopian hell-hole]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Monstress}}'': Prior to the last war (which ended in the explosion of the city of Constantine), the Cumaean witches of the Federation had SuperBreedingProgram to create a new form of warrior. Many of the most powerful witches volunteered to get pregnant and then had lilium injected into their wombs at each trimester. Very few babies survived and those that did were all [[AlbinosAreFreaks scarred albinos]]. The results on the battlefield are also mixed. In power, they rival an Arcanic Lord, but these young women are inadequately trained, arrogant and easily distracted leading to a tactical blunder where they were busy setting enemy soldiers on fire rather than opening a way for the rest of the army to invade. Cumaean inquistrixes Needle and Hammer quickly humble them and intend on shutting down the program after killing one of the albinos and their project observer.

* Decommissioned Super-Soldier-types are the focus of the ''Underground'' RPG. This is a setting where a crashed alien ship in the near future provided humanity a bonanza of genetic-engineering breakthroughs in a time period when mega-corporation shenanigans, crime and international tensions has turned the Earth into a dystopian hell-hole.

** And then [[spoiler:the Project Laz'R'Us -- experimental {{nanomachine|s}}-based AI that confer virtual immortality, including an armored superhuman transitional form to revive from death]]. Tagon specifically calls this a "runt super-soldier".
*** The capabilities of this variety are [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-11-21 discussed]] in regards to its actual value as they're still vulnerable to heavy weaponry. [[spoiler:Later demonstrated when the Toughs face an army of Laz'R'Us Super-Soldiers, once they lose the element of surprise they prove inferior to Toughs in heavy PoweredArmor.]]

* ''Webcomic/Trevor2020'': These are what the military wanted the medical team [[spoiler:to create, with experiments done on Trevor and other test subjects]], after Trevor became the first accidental prototype of sorts, after his leukemia [[spoiler:was cured, but]] he developed some other, mysterious condition that the military thought would be beneficial on the front lines. By the time the story starts, the medical team has been [[spoiler:unable to replicate the results but keep trying because]] they are being paid a hefty sum to run the program.

* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'': The Freelancers. All of them underwent advanced training to be elite soldiers, and most were paired with an AI fragment implanted directly into their head. Each of them also had a special armor ability (invisibility, HealingFactor, time stop). And yes, a number of them [[PhlebotinumRebel rebel]].

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The Huntsman Academies train people to fight, manufacture customised weapons, and unlock their [[{{Mana}} soul power]] to master both [[{{Mana}} Aura]] and [[OnePersonOnePower Semblance]]. Huntsmen are capable of physical feats far beyond a normal person or soldier unless their [[ManaMeter Auras run out]]. Their purpose is to independently protect humanity's existence from the [[AnimalisticAbomination Creatures of Grimm]] without being beholden to political or military interests. However, the martial kingdom of Atlas uses its academy to produce Special Operatives, Huntsman-trained super-soldiers. The other kingdoms and academies do not approve, and the Atlas Arc explores the clash between Huntsmen who are trying to protect all the people, and Huntsman-trained super-soldiers, who are being ordered to protect only the kingdom's elite.

* Creator/BenCroshaw 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 not such a great idea.
* Website/TaerelSetting: The kin'toni (vampires) were made in a lab to be Super-Soldiers for the Xeara zu'aan empire at the end of the Genetic Age. This backfired, leading to the fall of the Xerea zu'aan empire, due to a ZombieApocalypse started by the "vampire" Super-Soldiers.

* Wrestling/MrFuji -- on the November 1988 episode of ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' -- claimed to have found one in the Super Ninja, saying he was unbeatable to the point of fitting this trope, and would crush The Wrestling/UltimateWarrior to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. In the end, very much averted as Super Ninja not only lasted less than three minutes against Warrior, [[CurbStompBattle he never got ''any'' offense in]]. (Super Ninja was actually Rip Oliver, a jobber for the WWF who wore a costume and was likely taking the place of a mid-to-upper card heel who no-showed.)

* The ''Franchise/GIJoe'' toyline included a limited-edition figure named "Super Trooper," a infantryman with chrome accessories, including a riot shield. The backstory of the character indicates that he graduated from an elite training program "so secret that it doesn't even have a name." The tie-in commercial depicts Super Trooper as a OneManArmy, single-handedly raiding a Cobra base and punching Mooks with his shield so hard they fly over railings left and right.

** And then there's Nuke from ''ComicBook/DaredevilBornAgain'', who is... [[AxCrazy less so]].

The Super Soldier can come in many forms, ranging from [[TykeBomb government-raised human weapons]], {{cyb|org}}ernetically, [[BioAugmentation genetically]] or [[SuperSerum chemically]] enhanced ordinary humans, to complete {{artificial|Human}} [[CreatingLife lifeforms]], or any combination of these. Usually trained by TheSpartanWay.

If the super-soldier is a hero, they will often either be ruthless killers who have [[TheAtoner had a change of heart]] and/or [[PhlebotinumRebel angry victims]] who want [[IHateYouVampireDad revenge against their creators]]. They are often [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone wracked with guilt]] over their previous actions and may be extremely "twitchy". Super-soldiers are likely to unintentionally attack their own comrades out of reflex (metaphors for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are optional, but very common). They're also {{Sympathetic Sentient Weapon}}s at times. If the super soldier is a protagonist, then they lie anywhere on the spectrum from hero to villain to VillainProtagonist to HeroAntagonist.

Note that this is a trope unusually likely to bring out the FridgeLogic. The biggest logical flaw is, of course, why the results would [[TurnedOnTheirMasters remain loyal]] (itself creating the logical flaw of why an organization with the resources and know-how to create such beings wouldn't also invest in a bit of [[RestrainingBolt insurance]]). The second biggest logical flaw is the fact that, despite all their oft-expensive augmentations, they're still foot soldiers -- and thus still vulnerable to things like aerial bombardments. (This latter question is often addressed by making the Super Soldier into a [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous spec-ops agent of some kind, not being fielded in open battles but instead sent behind enemy lines to break things]], or just simply being that powerful!)

The SpaceMarine is often a Super Soldier, and if so is even ''more'' likely to be a OneManArmy and may even be part of a BadassArmy. If created by the bad guys, these have a nasty tendency to become {{Phlebotinum Rebel}}s. An army of Super Soldiers often has this as the MassSuperEmpoweringEvent uniting them. If there's only one, it's likely because of a DisposableSuperheroMaker and/or LastOfHisKind.

** Dot Pixis invokes the trope to explain Eren's mysterious ability to transform into a Titan, claiming it to be the result of a military experiment to create a super soldier.

* Alita and the other Panzer Kunst warriors of ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita''. They are of the cyborg variety of super soldiers.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': One of the key events in the series' {{Backstory}} is the Titan War, a particularly brutal conflict that ended about ten years before the series begins. During the war, both sides engaged in many [[PlayingWithSyringes unethical experiments]], including ones with super soldiers; most of these ended horrifically for both the test subjects and the experimenters. One of the test subjects to survive these was Tongpu (codenamed Mad Pierrot) from "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession20PierrotLeFou Pierrot le Fou]]", who came out of the process as a sociopathic walking arsenal [[PsychopathicManchild with the mind of a child]]. One of the few opponents AntiHero Spike Spiegel actually feared, he eventually was incapacitated with one of his own weapons, at which point he broke down crying and begging for his mother until he was finally destroyed.

* The Headdliners of ''Manga/TheFiveStarStories'', who are not super soldiers per sé as they are born with their powers, but this is because they are descended from actual genetically engineered super soldiers. While typically serving as HumongousMecha pilots as they're the only ones with reflexes fast enough to properly control the things, they're no slouches in hand-to-hand combat, either. Later in the story, this technology is reproduced by a couple of characters, and [[MadScientist one of them]] uses it [[DesignerBabies on her own son]]. The guy turns out so [[PhysicalGod uber-powerful]] that he later has to move to the AlternateUniverse where he's something less of a GameBreaker.

** The Human Reform League super soldiers from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'', made from artificially born, gene-boosted and nanotech-enhanced humans. The exact nature of the program that created them is kept in the dark to the viewers, but judging by their only surviving alumni (one sane but EmotionlessGirl working in the HRL military, and one SplitPersonality AxCrazy PhlebotinumRebel who killed all the others and destroyed the program headquarters) and the public backlash the HRL suffered after it was revealed to the world, it was not exactly the prime definition of a 'success'.

* ''Anime/MyOtome'' may well feature the only school for super soldiers that includes embroidery and ballroom dancing as part of the curriculum. Garderobe does not skimp on the traditional survival and combat training though.

** The head of the Vinsmoke family, Vinsmoke Judge, seeks to create super soldiers through [[spoiler:genetically enhancing his own children from a young age, and subject them to TrainingFromHell to bring out their inner potential; he could then have them lead his armies, and clone them to make even ''more'' super soldiers. While that training paid off fine with four of his kids, it seemingly failed with Sanji, who remained a “regular” human being despite his modified genes thanks to the actions of his mother, who took a drug that was meant to counteract the genetic enhancements and the [[EmotionSuppression effects that came with it]]]]. Interestingly for this trope though, due to being in a WorldOfBadass where anyone can gain a CharlesAtlasSuperpower (to the point of being equal to or even greater than Germa's best) and KiManipulation at a minimum, they come across fairly average by New World standards. Especially noticeable when they [[spoiler:face the Big Mom Pirates without the element of surprise. While they can handle some of the lower ranked ones fine, the veterans of the crew can match them or shrug them off and the top dogs of the crew soundly destroy them despite their modifications and technology. Sanji would later awaken his genetic SuperSoldier enhancements during Wano arc, [[EmpoweredBadassNormal on top]] of his CharlesAtlasSuperPower although due to his animosity with his family Sanji personally considers it being BlessedWithSuck.]]

* The Invisible 9 of ''Manga/PumpkinScissors'' are nine whole units of super soldiers. For example; 901-ATT is the unit full of soldiers who can take on tanks and 908-HTT are soldiers that take down their enemies with flame throwers. However, just knowing that they exist seems to mean death...
* ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'': The entire point of the Radam invasion is to turn Earth into more Super Soldiers. They partially succeed, turning a large part of the population in "Primary Bodies", who can partially transform, but have no weapons.

* As ancient, advanced races engaged in a ForeverWar on a galactic scale, both the Kree and Skrulls have their own super soldier programs. This is further motivated by the fact that both species are "genetically locked" and are incapable of naturally evolving further as a species.

*** It's implied that many of the characters in the story were born from an attempt to recreate the super soldier serum. It's stated outright that the experiments that eventually led to the creation of the Hulk were initially attempts to recreate the super soldier serum. The genetic modification of spiders that [[ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan later created Spider-Man]] also has its roots in the super soldier project.
*** Also in ''Ultimate Marvel'' -- the creation of Captain America scared the bejeezus out of the Soviet Union, who [[SovietSuperscience started their own attempts at creating a super-soldier]]. Apparently, however, there were budget considerations, so in their case it consisted of cutting bits of the Ultimate version of the Vision (who had [[TheTunguskaEvent crash-landed in Tunguska in 1908]]) and sewing them onto live human subjects. The results were... less than successful. After the dissolution of the USSR, the human employees eventually just left the bunker where the labs were housed, locking up and leaving the "super soldiers" to their own devices. When the Ultimates and the X-Men work their way in about a decade later in ''[[ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy Ultimate Nightmare]]'', the survivors are ''extremely disgruntled''.
** Project Rebirth 2.0 was intended to give the U.S. Government another super soldier, one who would perform more unsavory acts than Captain America (who had long since established himself as a superhero and willing to ignore orders by that point). The government managed to attain the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote and bonded it to American soldiers. The first was killed after a trial run, while the second was Eugene "Flash" Thompson, [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]'s former highschool bully-turned-best friend. Flash eventually went AWOL, joined ComicBook/TheAvengers, joined the ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy and more, no longer answering to the government.

* The eponymous superhero team in ''ComicBook/TheOrder2007'' is essentially a grouping of {{Celebrity Superhero}}es, crafted to be popular ''and'' powerful, and one of the few teams that [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] had a personal hand in building. Unfortunately, these superbeings have a time-limit on their careers: each person is under contract for only one year (from a marketing perspective, because the idea would get "stale"; [[spoiler:from an ethical perspective, because their granted powers might kill them]]). They also experimented with using Bannermen, mass produced super soldiers inspired equally by ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk, as team members, but the idea was scrapped after Bannermen Green and Brown died fighting the Infernal Man. Also, the main twist of the series is that the villains (the Men from [[FunWithAcronyms SHADOW]] -- that is, Super-Human Development and Operation) were part of a government program that had tried to do the same thing with a Forty-Eight State Initiative back in the 1950s.

* Creator/MarvelUK actually has a series titled ''Super Soldiers'' in which Great Britain creates a team of spec-ops superhumans by genetically augmenting their strength and endurance. Additionally, their appendixes have been replaced with a bio-engineered organ that produces the "Red", "White" and "Blue" drugs used by [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} Nuke]]. Later, the Super Soldiers add non-enhanced superhumans like the mutant Guvnor. The Super Soldiers returned in the 2010s with the limited series ''Revolutionary War'' as a tribute to ''Marvel UK''.

** The Stepford Cuckoos (Weapon XIV) were part of a mass-produced super soldier experiment for creating a HiveMind psychic weapon. They were made by harvesting 1000 ovula from the powerful telepathic mutant Emma Frost and artificially aged up (as young as they are -- physically in their mid-teens, they're actually even [[YoungerThanTheyLook younger chronologically]]).

* 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.

* The Manhunters (which are either androids, Super Soldiers, or {{Badass Normal}}s depending on which continuity we're paying attention to this week).

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Strader Pharmaceuticals is trying to create a serum to make super soldiers to sell to the military, but in the rough early stages the serum causes those who take it to become paranoid, angry and their bodies slowly degenerate. It does give them super-strength though. As their early experiments are illegal and carried out on unsuspecting Gothamites they do their best to dispose of all the evidence once Robin starts investigating.

* 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.
* The ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency'' story "Big Wheel" dealt rather graphically with a Super Soldier program gone very, very wrong.

* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' give us many different types of super soldiers, courtesy of the {{Emotion Eater}}s of the Evronian Empire. Their supersoldiers are perhaps the best example of why the Evronians are smarter than your typical evil empire, since they have made sure to include a safety feature on each one of their experiments to prevent them from rebelling.

** The first to actually show up is Grrodon. Combat-wise he's a normal warrior, but has VoluntaryShapeshifting abilities. Interestingly enough, this kind of super soldier was the only one without some safety, and in the ContinuityReboot they're implied to have assassinated the Emperor in a failed coup that plunged the Empire into chaos;

** 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.

* Creator/WildStorm's ComicBook/Team7 was an army unit involuntarily exposed to a "gen-factor" that turned them into super soldiers. The downside was, the more they used their powers, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity the crazier they got]]. Their children [[SuperpowerfulGenetics were also born super-powered]], forming the heroic ComicBook/Gen13 and the [[AntiHero not so much]] ComicBook/{{DV8}}.

* 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.]]

** 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.

* ''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.

* In ''Film/ArmyOfFrankensteins'', Captain Walton has Lieutenant Swanson inject himself with the [[PsychoSerum Frankenstein serum]], which turns him into a powerful mutant intended to be sicced on the North. The Frankensteins themselves become an army of super soldiers for the Union.

* David in ''Film/TheGuest'' is the product of a [[Film/TheBourneSeries Bourne]]-esque medical experiment (and an actual cyborg in [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the original script]]) who goes rogue and hides out with a family in rural New Mexico, claiming to have served with their eldest son Caleb, who died in Afghanistan. Once a series of mysterious deaths (all David's handiwork) start plaguing the area, the teenage daughter Anna suspects that he's behind them, at which point his programming to [[LeaveNoSurvivors kill anyone who might blow his cover]] kicks in. It's a horror movie with a super soldier as the psycho killer.

* ''Film/Legion1998'' is about a team of death-row convicts who are offered full pardons if they help take an enemy installation. They realize something is wrong when they find nothing but a pile of rotting bodies waiting for them. Then they start getting picked off one by one. It turns out that their entire mission was really a test of the military's prototype super soldier -- the titular "Legion", [[spoiler:who is actually one of the convicts who allowed himself to be a guinea pig to avoid execution]]. Legion was created by [[LegoGenetics integrating lizard DNA into his genetic makeup]] and can shapeshift into his original human form, adapt to environments inimical to humans, and boasts enhanced strength and agility.

** Emil Blonsky/Abomination in ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'' starts out as a super soldier, thanks to work based on a certain WWII project we "later" see in more detail. When that still isn't enough for him to take on the Hulk, he injects himself with even more dangerous crap and full-on becomes the Abomination. Tony Stark later pops in to condescendingly remind General Ross why that program was put on ice.
** There were two Super Soldiers in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': The first one was surprisingly Johann Schmidt a.k.a. The Red Skull. He received the super-soldier formula first. However, it wasn't perfected yet, and he was implied to have been driven [[PsychoPrototype even more insane]] than before and gained the characteristic red face as a result. The second was Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America; the SuperSerum was luckily perfected by that time. The fact that they had different personality traits to start with also led them even further in different directions.

*** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' showed that six more Super Soldiers were created but were kept on ice in a Soviet-era base. Helmut Zemo uses them to lure both Captain America and Iron Man to the base where Stark learns that Bucky, as the Winter Soldier, killed his parents. Since Zemo blamed the Sokovia incident on "enhanced humans," he had already killed the other subjects in their cryo-chambers.

** Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian from ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' calls himself the USSR's [[CaptainPatriotic answer to Captain America]] and its only super soldier, and he has the superhuman strength to back up his claim. However, by the time of the movie, he's largely been forgotten by the same state that made him a superhero.

** Season 1's StoryArc is built around the attempts of [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Project Centipede]] and their leader [[BigBad the Clairvoyant]] to create an army of super soldiers, by combining the Extremis formula from ''Film/IronMan3'' with various other serums and cybernetic enhancements.
** The Inhumans are eventually established as being a Kree attempt at making a race of super soldiers.

** Adam was meant to be the first line in a new (and better) line of Initiative Super Soldiers to the example mentioned above, combining the advancement of technology, the intelligence and adaptability of humans, and the superior strength and emotional detachment of demons in one big badass package.
** Buffy herself is a mystic super soldier from a long line of Slayers. They were intentionally created to fight monsters and the various {{Big Bad}}s that hunt and kill humanity by a collective of shamans who evolved (devolved?) into the Watchers.

** The X series, comprising of nine series of varying make-up and success rates, acting as the soldiers, commandos and field commanders of Manticore's army. Powers include vary from the X5 series' [[LittleBitBeastly feline]] grace and [[InASingleBound jumping ability]] to the X7's batlike ultrasonic communication bordering on [[HiveMind hive mind]]. All the X series have increased the 'standard' super soldier boosts to reflexes, stamina and strength in addition.

** The South African government developed their own super soldiers in the Red Series, which uses an implant to boost a subject's physical abilities to above even an X-5's level. However, this comes at a [[CastFromHitPoints heavy cost]] and, as such, the subjects used are all death row inmates, who typically only have a very short operational lifespan once implanted.

* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', one of [[MegaCorp Rossum's]] secret projects is to create a unit of HiveMind-ed super soldiers using Active brain-architecture used in conjunction with [[ElectronicTelepathy neural radios]]. The result is.... [[GoneHorriblyRight disturbing]], to say the least.

* 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.]]
* In ''Series/OrphanBlack'', [[spoiler:the Project CASTOR clones, the male counterparts to the main clones, are part of a GovernmentConspiracy and have been trained from birth to be super soldiers. Somewhat subverted since, as far as we know, the clones don't have any genetic enhancements to their abilities and in fact some have genetic brain defects]].

* Lex Luthor creates one in the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Prototype". The episode title is appropriate, as Lex's plan was to repeat the process and create an entire army of Super Soldiers for the US military (supposedly, anyway; this ''is'' [[MagnificentBastard Lex]] we're talking about). Fortunately, the facility creating the soldiers was destroyed in a fight between Clark and [[EvilTwin Bizarro]].
* First the Jaffa, an actual human subspecies that was biologically dependent on having a Goa'uld larva inside them and later the [[NighInvulnerability nigh invulnerable]] Kull Warriors (who were actually often called 'Super Soldiers') in ''Series/StargateSG1''.

*** The IDW ''Star Trek Khan'' comics have Creator/BenedictCumberbatch's version of the character stand trial after the events of ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and retell the story of the Eugenics Wars and why he looks nothing like Ricardo Montalban. A [[MegaCorp powerful corporation]] kidnapped a whole bunch of kids from slums all over the world in 1970s and, with backing by various governments, set out to train an army of Super Soldiers, genetically-enhancing them using tech unheard of outside the company, giving them a HealingFactor, among other things. Noonien Singh became the leader of the "enhanced" at the Indian compound. Eventually, all the enhanced all over the world coordinated their actions and escaped, deciding to plot a global takeover in order to keep the foolish humans from destroying the world. In 1992, they make their move by nuking Washington and Moscow and announcing their intentions. Their takeover takes a few weeks. After capturing India, Noonien Singh takes the name/title Khan and becomes the ruler of the Central Asian territory. According to him, he's the only ruler who tries to make the lives of his people better, while the others use their ambition to fight among themselves, which, in the end, allows humans to fight back and push the "enhanced" to Australia. Khan and his followers escape on the SS ''Botany Bay''. He then gets EasyAmnesia (and plastic surgery) and is tricked by Admiral Marcus that he really is John Harrison, agent of Section 31. His memories return when he blows up Praxis as part of his mission.

* ''Series/{{Taken}}'': In "Maintenance", Tom Clarke believes that John was not an alien but a super soldier who was created using psychotropic drugs as a part of an early Cold War experiment carried out by the US government.

** Just when the MythArc couldn't get any more bungled up, they threw in Super Soldiers in the last season. Mind you, they cast Creator/AdamBaldwin and Creator/LucyLawless, so {{fanservice}} all around...

* ''TabletopGame/FadingSuns'' had the Grimsons. This type of genetically engineered Super Soldier not only had greatly increased stats over a baseline human, a Grimson also had a random number of biomods to augment the character further. Note that because Grimsons were genetically altered, they were forbidden to procreate especially with Grimsons of the opposite sex. There was no telling what mutations may be passed on to the offspring.

** Orion's: A lower tech level super soldier who has enhanced reflexes and strength (not super human but very good nonetheless), improved metabolic performance and a high pain thresh hold.
** Artemis: A more advanced [[AmazonBrigade all female super soldier race.]] They have enhanced strength, speed, durability and senses and can reproduce either sexually or asexually but suffer from inherent overconfidence and recklessness. They are also almost always [[CastFullOfGay bisexual or lesbian]].
** Guardian Warriors: Created to be super commanding officers, they have the super human strength and speed typical of super soldiers, though to a lesser degree than most examples of this trope. However, they make up for it by being able to emit pheromones to manipulate others, having enhanced intelligence, an improved resistance to physical damage, poison and disease and by being [[TheBeautifulElite universally attractive]] and all having sexy voices, making them all incredibly charismatic and persuasive.
** Herakles: A very high tech level (and very expensive) super soldier, the Herakles has SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, SuperReflexes, enhanced longevity, resistance to poison and diseases and a decent HealingFactor.
* Also in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', the Mass Combat rules allow to stack the generic Super Soldier modifier on a unit. Super Soldiers are more expensive than a force with equivalent firepower would be, but they are more easily transportable (A squad of super soldiers fights as two squads, costs as much to raise and maintain as three, but is as easy to transport through helicopters or DropShip as a single normal squad).

* ''TabletopGame/MechanicalDream'', four races are essentially all super soldiers and in the racial hierarchy they occupy the top places with the Zins being at the top and the second place is a 3-way tie by the Soleks, the Yakis and the Volkoi while all the other races fall below. The Soleks and Yakis are both nomadic tribes and their journeys into the outside DeathWorld made them both strong and granted them special abilities, the Soleks are immune to psychic attack or influence while the Yakis shortly after birth are given a ClingyCostume, {{Biotech}} Power Armour made from the individual's placenta which had been enchanted by the tribal Awakeners (Yakis born outside of the tribe or had their armour destroyed are shunned as being permanently weak for having no armour), so both tribes are hired en masse as elite forces by the cities of the Core. The Volkoi and the Zin are both created species (the Zin were created by the Frilin to be their soldiers while the Volkoi were commissioned by the pre-Core Empress after learning of an invading force). The Volkoi are a clone race, at the cost of a noticeably shorter lifespan, are blessed with superhuman strength and size, a prehensile tail useful for combat, and an adrenaline rush that makes them even mightier. The Zin have unnaturally dense bodies giving them borderline superhuman stats. They're further made immune to ageing and are fused with a supernatural creature that lets them transorm into the true form of what possesses them.

** Notable examples developed AfterTheEnd are Coalition States Battle Cats, Kill Hounds/Kill Cats, and Ursa Warriors, genetically engineered animal Super Soldiers. A similar project in South America resulted in the Amphibs of Tritonia, as well as two separate independent nations of primarily mutant animals.

** Rifts being Rifts, nonhumans get in on the fun as well with their own Super Soldier creations. The aliens occupying Atlantis have the standard Juicers, Crazies, and 'Borgs, but they also have the Bio-Borgs, beings that are magically mutated and often enhanced with a wide variety of parasites and symbiotes. The results are often strange and disturbing, but extremely effective. The Kreeghor of Three Galaxies favor genetic manipulation: their Invincible Guardsmen routinely feature beings who have been transformed into living metal or who can change into pure light on a whim. In a larger sense, there are a number of nonhuman [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Races]] who are capable of facing down most of the Super Soldiers on this list. For added fun, try applying any of the above Super Soldier creation techniques to one of these beings.
* None are full grown, but in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' the Nazis have young super soldiers in training at Festung Sieg.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': Heavily cyborged individuals, physical adepts, trolls/orks and even HMMVV-sufferers like ghouls have been used in various super-soldier training programmes, usually in combinations of several of the above at the same time. Some nations and corporations will use various super-soldiers as EliteMooks (like Renraku Red Samurai, Aztlan Jaguar Warriors, Tir Tairngire Ghosts and ARES Firewatch teams), and wash-outs are a popular background for a StreetSamurai PlayerCharacter. Ultimately, though, 'super soldiers' are only capable of so much; gameplay-wise it is ''possible'' to stack so many bonuses that an NPC (or your PlayerCharacter) is immune to just about anything below anti-tank weaponry, but at that point you've sunk more time and resources into it than the cost of just buying a tank. This explains why, InUniverse, most actors with the resources to make super-soldiers [[CutLexLuthorACheck simply do not bother]]; why sink a million nuyen into a 'superman' who, if he attracts too much heat, gets killed or crippled by a drone with an anti-tank missile costing, at best, a few thousand nuyen?

* ''TabletopGame/{{Splicers}}'' had any of the classes that were issued "Host Armor", which meant that the character had a {{Biotech}} PowerArmour suit that was symbiotically linked to them and of those classes issued Host Armour, the Dreadguards had the most powerful varieties. While the "Host Armor" classes are the most prominent, the Resistance/Splicers had other super-soldiers including the Biotics, special conscripts who have been genetically modified to the point of no longer being human. Truth is the Resistance need as many Super Soldier types as they can get since they're facing an Earth-conquering army of insane robots who had disabled all [[WalkingTechbane inorganic technology]] with [[SyntheticPlague a nanoplague]].
* ''TabletopGame/SleeperOrphansOfTheColdWar'': The main premise is that the players are all forgotten remnants of the various super soldier projects during the Cold War. After being awoken from cryogenic stasis (hence the term ''sleepers''), in the present day they now work to protect the world from more malevolent sleepers and various other forgotten superweapons.
* Decommissioned Super Soldier-types are the focus of the ''Underground'' RPG. This is a setting where a crashed alien ship in the near future provided humanity a bonanza of genetic-engineering breakthroughs in a time period when mega-corporation shenanigans, crime and international tensions has turned the Earth into a dystopian hell-hole.
* ''TabletopGame/UnhallowedMetropolis'' has the lycanthropes given this origin. They were derived from a project to create a breed of super soldier wolf/human hybrid to help London gain ground against the undead onslaught. Unfortunately the lycanthropes were as bloodthirsty as they were mighty and quickly turned on their makers.
* ''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.

** While Space Marines were Super Soldiers, the Primarchs were Super Generals. Created personally by the Emperor, they fully matured in just a few years with most of them conquering their respective planets by the time they were adults in the conventional sense. When Leman Russ met the Emperor, they had an eating, drinking and fighting contest. Emperor was displeased with such "hospitality", so he quickly ended the last contest by knocking out his son with a power fist hit. Leman Russ was tough enough to say that his headache was caused by the booze rather than by catching a hit that would rip apart a Baneblade by his skull. Lorgar, deemed to be the weakest of primarchs, was able to fight and win against the Anngrath, the mightiest Greater Daemon of Khorne [[note]]The single most dangerous model available at the tabletop[[/note]] (though it should be noted that this was the point he started really tapping into his own psyker powers, and he received the label of "weakest" for his preference for using diplomacy and faith to win campaigns, things he pushed to the side after his fall) and Magnus casually went toe to toe with Ork Super Gargants.

** '''The Orkz''': Orkz are an entire race of Super soldiers [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke created by]] {{Precursors}}, designed for the sole purpose of fighting. They take this trope to the logical extreme, where their fungus-based life cycle creates all the secondary and even tertiary logistics any army would need (including forming livestock that fart their equivalent of gasoline!). Their Mekboys are also genetically encoded to be able to create machines from birth and their biology is robust enough to handle literal MeatGrinderSurgery, meaning none of that "training" nonsense regardless of what profession each ork prefers. Whatever else is sorted out by their gestalt psychic field, literally filling in the blanks of where any of the above would conceivably lack. All this combined results in a massive mob of drunken football hooligans going on a galaxy-spanning pub crawl. ''And winning''.

** The Orks mentioned above? Turns out they are actually the degenerate descendants of the '''Krorks''', the original Super soldier race the Old Ones created to fight the Necrons and C'tan. The Krorks were twelve meter tall behemoths clad in PoweredArmor that makes Astartes' Armor look like scrap. The Krorks degenerated into the far weaker though still very dangerous Orks after the Necrons went into hibernation because their physiology requires them to constantly fight powerful foes to stay in shape. That's right, despite all of the previously-mentioned threats from the other factions above, they're ''still'' not collectively dangerous enough to force the Orks back to their original prime.\\

* Downplayed in ''[[TabletopGame/{{Zweihander}} Dark Astral]]'', the Astrotemplars are clearly modelled on TabletopGame/Warhammer40000's Legion Astartes. The fluff text states a full company of these power-armoured superhumans could wipe out entire alien worlds. The reality though is these are discount Space Marines from the bargain bins. Unlike their MasterOfAll counterparts, the Astrotemplars are only superhuman in 1 or 2 areas chosen at creation. They don't start off with Power Armour, instead they have middling mesh armour and some clothes! They get a huge arsenal, but much of it is mediocre or pure garbage. All Astrotemplars get a decent laser rifle but after that their starting weapon choices include primitive crap like blackpowder pistol, musket, battle axe, warhammer, a shiv and compound bow alongside contemporary weapons like chainblade, laser pistol and shotgun. With Super Soldiers like these, no wonder humanity is reduced to a VestigialEmpire of one city.

** Babel is the MegaCorp that's the most advanced faction of Acid Rain World. Protecting the Babel towers are the Uriel, an [[BadassArmy entire army of super soldiers]]. Babel has taken exceptional individuals, mindwiped and then bionically augmented them before outfitting them with state of the art armor and advanced [[RayGun particle beam]] weaponry. The commanders of the Uriel are known as Archons and many ordinary people and tribals fear the Archons as demigods because of how easily they defeat would-be invaders.

%%* ''Webcomic/AliceGrove'': Several characters are [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld very, very old]] super soldiers.%%How so?

* ''Webcomic/{{Follower}}'': The chio(vloxen) were genetically engineered to be the perfect super soldiers for the U.S. Military.

* ''Webcomic/GenocideMan'' features Genocide Men, who have nanotube ceramics in their bones to make them {{unbreakable|Bones}}, artificial glands that provide combat stimulants and negate many toxins, and telomere replacement therapy to [[LongevityTreatment 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, who only survived because he was a G-Man.

** Almost every MadScientist tries to build his own super soldier, thought the Jägers are the most successful. Other super soldiers tend to [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turn on their creators]].

* ''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 "ReluctantWarrior"; he didn't like the idea of someone ''genuinely'' [[BloodKnight bellicose]] having this upgrade. Jendolyn 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 considering that her girlfriend ''loves'' MaskedLuchador films).

* ''WebComic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'': Commander Badass and his squad/family are time-travelling super soldiers from a nondescript space-future. Among other things, the Commander has punched Hitler, single-handedly won UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, and then prevented himself from doing that after seeing the future where ''Film/FirstBlood'' was never made.

*** The capabilities of this variety are [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-11-21 discussed]] in regards to its actual value as they're still vulnerable to heavy weaponry. [[spoiler:Later demonstrated when the Toughs face an army of Laz'R'Us super soldiers, once they lose the element of surprise they prove inferior to Toughs in heavy PoweredArmor.]]

** The HumanSubspecies known as "Purps", for their purple photosynthetic skin, were originally developed to be soldiers who needed fewer rations. Many human governments had previously attempted to genetically engineer {{Tyke Bomb}}s with more "traditional" super soldier traits like claws, natural armor, and conditioned sociopathy, but found them to be problematic for various reasons.

** Captain Victory is one of these. Unfortunately, the process killed one hundred and four men to get one super soldier. Using the same serum on women had... [[PsychicPowers different]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation effects]].
** The Nazis only managed to make two "proper" super soldiers: PhlebotinumRebel [[BeastMan Hartman]] and his (much more successful) twin brother [[CaptainPatriotic Heinrich]].

** There's an example of a "turned" giggler, Lee, joining up with a group of Core {{Space Marine}}s -- he is of the "created like a Super Soldier, but raised like a normal person" variant, but still has certain... um... "gigglish" tendencies. He was an experiment after they managed to obtain an Anarchist Cloning Cylinder. Most clones (Gigglers) are stupid and have very little education/social conditioning, hence the implants with the happy juice. With this guy they got the process wrong. With the new systems they've been testing on him, he now has FEELING on the outside of his body, which leads to fun like "How much will it hurt if I stick this fork into my knee?".

** The opposing power bloc, the CORE, loves cybernetics. Some would say because they're too cheap to build their own soldiers from scratch so they're experts at patching up the troops they have. Tessa, the original protagonist of the future arcs, and the rest of her squad are experimental CORE super soldiers with {{Nanomachine|s}}-based augmentations that give them enhanced strength, [[HealingFactor accelerated healing,]] ElectronicTelepathy, and PoweredArmor linked to their nervous systems.

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2102 SCP-2102 ("Got Shoggoth?")]]. The experiment that created SCP-2102 was an attempt by the [[SovietSuperscience Soviet GRU Division "P"]] to create a super soldier by increasing the speed at which the human body heals itself.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': One of the theories about the growing number of {{mutants}}, especially in the US and Europe, is the heavy use of super soldier experiments by both the Axis and Allies during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII; the idea is that [[SuperpowerfulGenetics many of the current mutants are the descendants of wartime supers]].
** It has been explained (albeit by an UnreliableNarrator) that most of the early experiments were aimed less at field troops, and more at covert operations and special forces -- an army of super-strong soldiers wouldn't be much value when tanks and aircraft could accomplish more with fewer headaches, but things like enhanced strength, senses, or reflexes could give a commando a crucial edge. It is also explained that most of the super soldier experiments went badly, causing either BodyHorror transformations or [[PsychoSerum severe psychological disorders]], which resulted in many former 'patriotic heroes' [[FromCamouflageToCriminal becoming super-villains in the 1950s and 1960s]].
** It was also claimed that most of the [[CaptainPatriotic 'Flag Heroes']] that were the darlings of Hollywood were actually covers for tests of these super soldiers, where their home front missions were basically used to test whether they would snap under pressure before going into the more crucial roles. Those who didn't make the cut were pumped full of amphetamines and painkillers, then dumped in a corner of the battleground on a SuicideMission far from other Allied troops.
** While the experience of WWII has put most national armed forces off of super soldiers for field units, experiments did continue, often with disappointing or even tragic results. As a result, focus has shifted towards elite training and PoweredArmor rather than augmentation, as well as in using those who were already {{Differently Powered Individual}}s -- primarily mutants, especially those who come through [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy's]] JROTC program. While teams such as [[CapeBusters EQUALIZER]] (better known as [[TheDreaded The Dragonslayers]]) could be considered super soldiers, they accomplished what they did through superior tactics, and at the price of staggering casualty rates.
** However, Super Soldier forces are not unknown as henchmen for {{Super Villain}}s, and even for mercenary units (who are often the same thing). Notable examples include the Paramount Guards' Catamount Troopers, the Tiger Guards' Sabretooths, the Chessmaster's Chessmen, and Dr. Diabolik's Dog Soldiers. Of specific note are [[ArtificialAnimalPeople the Animen]], who were originally created as a breeding population for future super soldiers.
* Creator/BenCroshaw 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 not such a great idea.
* Website/TaerelSetting: The kin'toni (vampires) were made in a lab to be super soldiers for the Xeara zu'aan empire at the end of the Genetic Age. This backfired, leading to the fall of the Xerea zu'aan empire, due to a ZombieApocalypse started by the "vampire" super soldiers.

* Music/{{Gorillaz}}'s Noodle was apparently raised to be one of twenty-three Super Soldier children by a secret organization in Japan, before having her memory erased and being [=FedExed=] to Kong.

* Part of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'''s plot was the city's criminals trying to create sort of super soldiers to take on Spider-Man. But more specifically a later episode [[spoiler:is about villains fighting for the formula that was used to create the villain Rhino, in order to make an army of super soldiers]].

*** The team of ARC troopers managed this because they were Super Soldiers themselves (to a much milder degree than Greivous, sure, but there were a lot more of them than there were of him). They held him at bay with impressive amounts of MoreDakka.
** In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' (the CGI one), it's revealed that the Kaminoans experimented with the Jango Fett clone template in an attempt to create Super Soldiers. The project was overall a failure, but four of the surviving subjects came together to form the elite Clone Force 99, aka "The Bad Batch".
* ''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.

* [[https://blog.rsb.org.uk/is-it-possible-to-make-a-real-life-captain-america/ This article]] details the biological reason why science can not create a super soldier like Captain America in real life.

** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20080606062943/http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Stalins-halfman-halfape-superwarriors.2688011.jp If certain Scottish newspapers are to be believed]], Joseph Stalin once commissioned Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov to create a breed of half-gorillas to serve in his army. It didn't work out.[[note]]The experiment in question happened to regard a scientist attempting to [[ForScience breed humans and chimpanzees]] as a means of disproving God and ultimately the superiority of Communism. The "commission" came at a time when Stalin was throwing grants at any request that included the word "science" in it, and when he found out about it, promptly pulled the funding. This later became exaggerated by tabloids into the super soldier rumor [[/note]]

** The Pheidole group of ants can unlock a [[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/01/06/return-of-the-supersoldier-ants/#.UOaWaqwruho a bigger version of their soldier caste, which are literally referred to as super soldiers.]]. Scientists have even created super soldiers in species that don't naturally manifest them, which may or may not lead to a BugWar.

* WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes:
** ''WesternAnimation/LighterThanHare'': In this cartoon casting WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam as a space alien sent to capture WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, he claims his army of Red Robots as undefeatable. Humorously averted when they are crushed against Bugs.

* ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' (and the novel, ''Cyborg'', from which it adapted) was based on this concept. The pilot movie has several characters describing the concept of a bionic man in the same terms as that of "super soldier". By extension, the spin-off, ''Series/TheBionicWoman'', was a continuation of the theme, but less explicitly stated.

* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'': The 1998 episode "Warriors," where a criminal planning to take over the world kidnaps a genetics researcher who has used DNA to create a healing medicine, with the criminal planning to use it to create an army of genetically enhanced super soldiers. The prototype soldier is the one who menaces Walker, Trivette and others throughout the episode, and it is the scientist who helps Walker get the upper hand and defeat the prototype in the end.

OlderIsBetter very much applies here: The Krorks were only foot soldiers in the War in Heaven, but during the War of the Beast, some Orks managed to grow ''nearly'' to Krork proportions, and they became major raid boss level threats that could give Primarchs a run for their money. And thanks to the collective psychic link between the Orks, the existence of these few leaders made Orks everywhere marter and stronger.

** The Orks mentioned above? Turns out they are actually the degenerate descendants of the Krorks, the original Super soldier race the Old Ones created to fight the Necrons and C'tan. The Krorks were twelve meter tall behemoths clad in PoweredArmor that makes Astartes' Armor look like scrap. The Krorks degenerated into the far weaker though still very dangerous Orks after the Necrons went into hibernation because their physiology requires them to constantly fight powerful foes to stay in shape. That's right, despite all of the previously-mentioned threats from the other factions above, they're ''still'' not collectively dangerous enough to force the Orks back to their original prime.

* The Headdliners of ''Manga/TheFiveStarStories'', who are not super soldiers per sé as they are born with their powers, but this is because they are descended from actual genetically engineered super soldiers. While typically serving as HumongousMecha pilots as they're the only ones with reflexes fast enough to properly control the things, they're no slouches in hand to hand combat, either.
** Later in the story this technology gets reproduced but the couple of characters, and [[MadScientist one of them]] uses it [[DesignerBabies on her own son]]. The guy turns out so [[PhysicalGod uber-powerful]] that he later had to move to the AlternateUniverse where he's something less of a GameBreaker.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' 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]].
** There's also the "perfected" [[spoiler:human chimerae]].
*** In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], they are implied to be the results of both a project to make powerful soldiers and because [[HeKnowsTooMuch they knew too much]] about the government's nasty little misdeeds.

* There are elite cyborg troops in ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'' world who can wipe the floors with regular soldiers. Most of the show's main characters in Public Security Section Nine are former members of such teams.
** One of the chapter titles in the manga is "Super Spartan".

** Because of its age, the UrExample is the Cyber-Newtype. In the mist of the [[EvolutionaryLevels increasingly]] [[PsychicPowers powerful]] [[TelepathicSpacemen Newtype]] of Universal Century Gundam, the Cyber-Newtype was created as a means of combating them on an equal footing. Creating one was usually based on prescribing [[PsychoSerum drug cocktails]] that would give one PsychicPowers on a par with some Newtypes along with some military training and other [[{{Brainwashed}} therapy]]. They are powerful but highly unpredictable while being [[AxCrazy legendarily unstable]]. Throughout Universal Century, there has been at least one starting with the Titan's [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Four Murasame and Rosamia "Rosammy" Badam]]. Unless...

* The immortal EvilutionaryBiologist called [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]] likes to enhance his already super-powered {{mutant|s}} follower/slaves into armored killing machines, while giving them subtle nicknames like "[[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse The Four Horsemen]]".
* Characters/BetaRayBill was the '[[TheGrotesque winner]]' in a competition to create a powerful guardian for his people as they fled the destruction of their homeworld and a demonic invasion. The [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor magic hammer]] simply added to his considerable power.

** There have been several failed attempts to recreate Captain America, none of which have worked out well. [[Characters/CaptainAmericaHeroes U.S. Agent]] was probably the closest thing to a success, if only because he's still alive and a hero [[{{Jerkass}} of sorts]].
** And then there's [[Characters/DaredevilCentralRoguesGallery Nuke]], who is... [[AxCrazy less so]].
** In the ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' adaptation, this is changed to the treatment being eventually fatal, leading Cap and Logan (later Wolverine) to destroy what they thought was [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup the only Project: Rebirth capsule]]. Ironically, in this case there ''was'' a backup, which the X-Men then need to go destroy after it is discovered by BigBad [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]], who found that it [[FountainOfYouth works just fine]] on mutants.
** In the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, the super soldier program was restarted in the 1990s and by the early 2000s several nations and alliances had their own versions producing [[PersonOfMassDestruction Persons of Mass Destruction]]. The final issue of Volume 2 of ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' mentioned a Superhuman Test Ban treaty that was to be signed to stop the [[LensmanArmsRace continued escalation]].

*** Also in Ultimate Marvel -- the creation of Captain America scared the bejeezus out of the Soviet Union, who [[SovietSuperscience started their own attempts at creating a super-soldier]]. But, apparently, there were budget considerations, so in their case it consisted of cutting bits of the Ultimate version of the Vision (who had [[TheTunguskaEvent crash-landed in Tunguska in 1908]]) and sewing them onto live human subjects. The results were... less than successful. After the dissolution of the USSR, eventually the human employees just left the bunker where the labs were housed, locking up and leaving the "super soldiers" to their own devices. When the Ultimates and the X-Men worked their way in about a decade later, the survivors were ''extremely disgruntled''.
** Project Rebirth 2.0 was intended to give the U.S. Government another super soldier, one who would perform more unsavory acts than Captain America (who had long since established himself as a superhero and willing to ignore orders by that point). The government managed to attain the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote, and bonded it to American soldiers. The first was killed after a trial run, while the second was Eugene "Flash" Thompson, [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]'s former high school bully turned best friend. Flash eventually went AWOL, joined ComicBook/TheAvengers, joined the ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy and more, no longer answering to the government.

* The Fifty State Initiative -- California's ComicBook/{{The Order|2007}} is essentially a grouping of {{applied phlebotinum}} media darlings; a team crafted to be popular AND powerful. One of the few teams that [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] had a personal hand in building. Unfortunately, these superbeings have a time-limit on their careers: each person is under contract for only one year (otherwise the idea would get "stale", [[spoiler:plus their granted powers might kill them]]). They also experimented with using Bannermen, mass produced super soldiers inspired equally by ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk, as team members, but the idea was scrapped after Bannermen Green and Brown died fighting the Infernal Man.
** And the main twist of ''The Order'''s series was that the villains (the Men from [[FunWithAcronyms SHADOW]] -- that is, Super Human Development and Operation) were part of a government program that had tried to do the same thing with a ''Forty-Eight'' State Initiative back in the 1950s.
* ComicBook/IronMan dealt with, and was subjected to, the Extremis virus, a serum developed that grants various super powers. Tony Stark modified one version to grant him {{technopath}}y, {{super strength}} and a {{healing factor}}. Tony's brother Arno modified another to heal brain damage done to [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]], who in turn, used it to make the Hulk smarter, creating the Doc Green persona.
* As ancient, advanced races engaged in a ForeverWar on a galactic scale, both the Kree and Skrulls have their own super soldier programs. This is further motivated by the fact that both species are "genetically locked" and are incapable of naturally evolving further as a species.
** The Kree often engineer soldiers with FlyingBrick powers, some being further engineered to remove any psychological restraints or vulnerabilities that would dampen their effectiveness in the long term [[SociopathicSoldier like shame and guilt]]. [[Characters/YoungAvengersTitleTeam Noh-Varr]] is from a near-utopian Kree Empire in a parallel universe and has been spliced with cockroach DNA to enable enhanced agility and {{Wall Crawl}}ing, has psychotropic mind control saliva, can enter a psychological state that converts all sensory information not relevant to action like pain into music, and can fire his fingernails, which are explosive.
** 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 {{hypnotic eyes}}. 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.

* ''ComicBook/RomSpaceKnight'': The Galadorian Space Knights were originally volunteers whose brains and nervous system were cybernetically hooked up into a powerful exo-skeleton of Plandanium armor and given weapons/powers suited to their personality.
* Much like ROM’s Space Knights, ''ComicBook/GunRunner'''s Enhanced are elite alien volunteers who have been cybernetically and biologically boosted to defend their world with individual weapons and powers.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} and the other products of the Weapon Plus program (of which he was Weapon X).
** ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} (another [[CursedWithAwesome beneficiary]] of the Weapon Plus program) at one point faces off against Cap with a spiel about two wary super soldiers watching, respectful yet wary... until [[BoisterousBruiser Hercules]] runs out of fuse.

** Similarly, ComicBook/{{X 23}}, an attempt to produce a controllable Wolverine. However her training and skill set make her more of a super ''assassin''.
* Creator/MarvelUK actually had a series called ''Super Soldiers'' where Great Britain created a team of spec-ops superhumans by genetically augmenting their strength and endurance. Additionally their appendixes had been replaced with a bio-engineered organ that produces the "Red", "White" and "Blue" drugs used by [[Characters/DaredevilCentralRoguesGallery Nuke]]. Later the Super Soldiers added non-enhanced superhumans like the mutant Guvnor. The Super Soldiers return in the 2010s with the limited series ''Revolutionary War'' as a tribute to ''Marvel UK''.

* ComicBook/{{Midnighter}} of 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.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': The 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 ''ComicBook/{{Bane}}''... Later stories revealed that Venom is actually a derivative of Miraclo, a special drug used by the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica member ComicBook/{{Hourman}}.

* ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'': In ''Our Fighting Forces'' #117, the Hellcats are sent to the Alps to disrupt the development of a new Nazi secret weapon. The 'weapon' turns out to be a unit of hulking super soldiers specially conditioned to function at extremely low temperatures.
* The ComicBook/{{Manhunter}}s (which are either androids, Super Soldiers, or {{Badass Normal}}s depending on which continuity we're paying attention to this week).

** The 90s ComicBook/{{Superboy}} was created because Project Cadmus wanted to make a Superman after ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman''. After 12 failures, and with Lex Luthor's help, they were able to do so.
** ComicBook/LexLuthor's Everyman project (Which delivered, but with a nasty catch, that being [[spoiler:Lex Luthor holding the "off" button for all of the powers of the Everymen]]. That button was pressed, [[spoiler:causing the annihilation of all the Everymen, many of them [[ItsRainingMen falling from the sky as they were flying and splattering all over the streets of Metropolis]], because Lex discovered that he was unable to receive the Everyman enhancement and [[EvilIsPetty to put it bluntly, had a tantrum]].]]

* ''Film/AmericanUltra'' features two groups of CIA-trained field operatives taken from civilian volunteers (a surprising number of whom seemed to be ex-convicts), who underwent heavy psychological programming. The earlier group, WISEMAN, produced the film's protagonist, Mike Howell. The later group, TOUGHGUY, produced the assets he faces off against, and are mostly recruited from people with a pre-existing history of mental illness, violent tendencies, etc. While the overriding ULTRA program's techniques gave every subject heightened hand-eye coordination, reaction time, high-threshold for pain tolerance, and a bevy of other mental abilities a field operative would find invaluable,[[note]]much like the below-mentioned ''Bourne series''[[/note]] it was also driving people insane (or more insane). Eventually the process was deemed too costly (on both an economic and a human level) and Mike Howell, the most promising candidate, was put into deep mental cover and relocated to a secure residence.

* In ''Film/TheBourneSeries'', it is hinted at that the operatives in Treadstone and Blackbriar, including Jason Bourne, had some form of enhancements beyond simple TrainingFromHell. While they don't do anything quite superhuman they have an unreasonable amount of stamina, [[FeelNoPain pain tolerance]] and [[HyperAwareness mental acuity]] to the point you know they aren't quite normal. The fourth film, ''Film/TheBourneLegacy'', actually has it as part of its plot. The operatives regularly take specific pills that increase muscle density, give them a mild HealingFactor and sharpen their minds. When cut off from that supply they suffer withdrawal and are threatened with being reverted to "normal" without them. It is later revealed that the newer iterations of the Outcome operatives, the LARX operatives, had these improved traits and abilities made into permanent parts of their physiology via [[BioAugmentation retroviral gene therapy]].

* In ''Film/CubeZero'', the government soldiers are implanted with a chip and "reprogrammed" to become the perfect soldier, [[FeelNoPain feeling no pain]], getting superhuman strength and obeying orders without question.

** Emil Blonsky/Abomination in ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'' starts out as a super soldier, thanks to work based on a certain WWII project we "later" see in more detail. When that still isn't enough for him to take on the Hulk, he injects himself with even more dangerous crap and full-on becomes the Abomination. [[Film/IronMan Tony Stark]] later pops in to condescendingly remind General Ross why that program was put on ice.

** 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 with enough heat to vaporize anyone nearby. Most of the volunteers are implied to be [[HandicappedBadass disabled veterans]].

* ''Film/{{Morgan}}'': Morgan is an {{artificial human}} made to be a soldier better than normal humans, having {{super strength}} and [[MadeOfIron shrugging wounds off]] that would kill or disable them. [[spoiler:Lee is also one, from an earlier model.]]
* ''Film/RoboCop1987'': Alex Murphy is a policeman rather than a soldier, but given future Detroit's criminal situation, there's not much difference. He's also the only one who worked properly, as following attempts to create "Film/RoboCop2" ended... [[CameBackWrong badly]].

* ''Film/UniversalSoldier'' used ''corpses'' as the base. However, the Unisols are more than just random corpses -- they're corpses of soldiers, marines and the like, who are exceptional compared to their fellow service members. They are retrieved from the battlefield and brought back to life, using a complex procedure of freezing, surgery, BioAugmentation and reheating using deep-tissue electrical shocks, and then doped up on performance boosting drugs and the like. They have accelerated metabolisms, meaning they have superior strength and endurance, and they heal from wounds faster than a normal human, though they also run the risk of overheating and must regularly be cooled. They then take it a step further using gene therapy, in ''Film/UniversalSoldierRegeneration'', and further modified with false memories and mind control in ''Film/UniversalSoldierDayOfReckoning''.

* The entire point of the Radam invasion in ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'' is to turn Earth into more Super Soldiers. They partially succeed, turning a large part of the population in "Primary Bodies", who can partially transform, but have no weapons.
* In the sequel to ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', the [[HalfHumanHybrid Quinx]] Squad are intended to be this. Described as human weapons, the stated goal of the project is to create an Investigator capable of surpassing the legendary "Undefeated Grim Reaper", [[TheAce Arima]]. That they haven't lived up to the expectations and hype causes them to be treated as the BlackSheep of CCG.

** ''ComicBook/TheDominatorWar'', the Xenoclone Shocktroopers are genetically engineered Dominators with metahuman DNA. They are larger, stronger and faster than their race's average member.

Expect them to possess, among other things, PsychicPowers, SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, [[GoodThingYouCanHeal enhanced regenerative capabilities]], and if in a fantasy setting, probable {{Magic}}al abilities (or [[MagicFromTechnology pseudo-magical]]).

* ''WebOriginal/BosunsJournal'': During the Nebu-Kadn war, the battling factions created several human strains specialized for combat. After the war ends in the destruction of both warring habitats and humanity starts its slow decline into nonsapience, these mostly become powerful apex predators.

* The Freelancers of ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue''. All of them underwent advanced training to be elite soldiers, and most were paired with an AI fragment implanted directly into their head. Each of them also had a special armor ability (invisibility, HealingFactor, time stop). And yes, a number of them [[PhlebotinumRebel rebel]].

* In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, one of the theories about the growing number of {{mutants}}, especially in the US and Europe, is the heavy use of super soldier experiments by both the Axis and Allies during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII; the idea is that [[SuperpowerfulGenetics many of the current mutants are the descendants of wartime supers]].

*** It was also claimed that most of the [[CaptainPatriotic 'Flag Heroes']] that were the darlings of Hollywood were actually covers for tests of these super soldiers, where their home front missions were basically used to test whether they would snap under pressure before going into the more crucial roles. Those who didn't make the cut were pumped full of amphetamines and painkillers, then dumped in a corner of the battleground on a SuicideMission far from other Allied troops.

* ''Series/TheBoys'':

** 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. And even then, the Catachan, Krieg and Cadian regiments will occasionally straddle this line [[BadassNormal just through sheer competence and training alone]].

** In the fourth episode there was an OrganicTechnology artifact that turned someone into an unstoppable killing machine.

* Quarlo, from ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "Soldier", had superhuman strength and hearing. Raised by the State of a far-future era to do nothing but fight, he was baffled by the peaceful ways and world he found himself in after being transported to 1964 in a freak accident.

** [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries OS]]: Khan Noonian Singh and the other 'eugenic supermen' in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]" and ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan The Wrath of Khan]]''.

** [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]: Roga Danar and the other exiled Angosian soldiers, in "The Hunted", with a Vietnam Veteran Syndrome metaphor {{Anvilicious}}ly applied. Also the "drug soldier" conjured up by Q in the pilot episode as evidence that humans had remained 'savages' even as their technology improved.
** [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]: The Jem'Hadar were genetically engineered by the Founders to be the perfect killers.