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A super soldier (or supersoldier) is a concept
soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...
capable of operating beyond normal human abilities through technological augmentation or (in fictional depictions) genetic modification or cybernetic augmentation. Soldiers that obtain greater-than-normal physical abilities by wearing powered armor or a technological exoskeleton (such as the Mobile Infantry in Robert A. Heinlein´s Starship Troopers novella) are a distinct, but related concept and the two often overlap, as is the case for Halo and Warhammer 40,000 universes, for example.


Fiction

Super soldiers are common in
military science fiction Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction and military fiction that depicts the use of science fiction technology, including spaceships and science fiction weapons, weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters ...
literature, films, and video games. Well-known examples include the novel ''
The Forever War ''The Forever War'' (1974) is a military science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, telling the contemplative story about human soldiers fighting an interstellar war against an alien civilization known as the Taurans. It won the N ...
'' by Joe Haldeman and the '' Halo '' franchise. Super soldiers are also prevalent in the science fiction universe of Warhammer 40,000 and its prequel
The Horus Heresy ''The Horus Heresy'' is a Book series, series of science fantasy novels set in the fictional ''Warhammer 40,000'' Campaign setting, setting of tabletop Miniature wargaming, miniatures wargame company Games Workshop. Penned by several authors, t ...
. Critic Mike Ryder has argued that the super soldiers depicted in these worlds serve as a mirror to present-day issues around sovereignty, military ethics and the law. ''
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
'', and by extension the
Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...
, feature a wide array of heroes and villains whose powers are obtained through various competing attempts to create a super soldier, including
Captain America Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...
,
Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...
, the German Red Skull, and the Russian Red Guardian. Fictional super soldiers are usually heavily augmented, possibly through surgical means,
eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...
,
genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...
,
drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...
, brainwashing, traumatic events, an extreme training regimen or other scientific and pseudoscientific means, or a combination of some of these methods. Some depictions can be categorized as
cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
methods or technology, and science of extraterrestrial origin. The fictional masterminds of such programs are depicted often as
mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...
s or stern
military personnel Military personnel or military service members are members of the state's armed forces. Their roles, pay, and obligations differ according to their military branch (army, navy, marines, coast guard, air force, and space force), rank ( office ...
depending on the needs of the plot, in stories that typically explore the
ethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...
boundaries of the pursuit of science and victory.


China

In 2022, the People's Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences reported that a team of military scientists inserted a gene from the
tardigrade Tardigrades (), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them . In 1776, th ...
into human embryonic stem cells in an experiment with the stated possibility of creating soldiers resistant to
acute radiation syndrome Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time. Symptoms can start wit ...
who could survive
nuclear fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the mushroom cloud, radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is ...
.


U.S. Army

In the book '' The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), Welsh journalist Jon Ronson documented how the U.S. military repeatedly tried and failed to train soldiers in the use of parascientific and pseudoscientific combat techniques during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, experimenting with
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
methods and
psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...
phenomena such as
remote viewing Remote viewing (RV) is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen subject, purportedly sensing with the mind. There is no scientific evidence that remote viewing exists, and the topic of remote viewing is generally regarde ...
, astral projection, " death touch" and mind reading against various Soviet targets. The book also inspired a war comedy of the same name (2009) directed by Grant Heslov, starring George Clooney.


Fictional examples

The following are examples of fictional super soldiers in various media: * Bloodshot from
Valiant Comics Valiant Comics is an American comic books, comic book publisher, the first incarnation of which was founded in 1989 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter along with lawyer and businessman Steven Massarsky. In 1994, the company was ...
* Bane, Captain Atom, Deathstroke, KGBeast, Major Force, and Ravager from
DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
*
Captain America Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...
, Deadpool, Deathlok, Nuke, Sabretooth, U.S. Agent, Winter Soldier, Abomination and
Wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...
from
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
* The Clone troopers and the Stormtroopers from the ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' franchise * Duke Nukem * Coloninal Defense Forces soldiers from the '' Old Man's War''
military science fiction Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction and military fiction that depicts the use of science fiction technology, including spaceships and science fiction weapons, weapons, for military purposes and usually principal characters ...
novel series by
John Scalzi John Michael Scalzi II (born May 10, 1969) is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his ''Old Man's War'' series, three novels of which have been n ...
. * Genetic infantry (G. I.) soldiers from ''
Rogue Trooper ''Rogue Trooper'' is a science fiction strip in the British comic book, comic ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'', created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons in 1981. It portrays the adventures of a "Supersoldier, Genetic Infantryman" named Rogue ...
'' comic strip by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons, featured in the comics anthology '' 2000 AD.'' * Hannah from the 2011 live-action film of the same name and the 2019 TV series of the same name * Jason Bourne from the Bourne novel series and Bourne movie franchise, which should also include numerous other covertly-developed super soldiers across various programmes by various governments. * Jill Valentine from '' Resident Evil'' * Lars Alexandersson from the '' Tekken'' franchise * Kull warriors from the
Stargate ''Stargate'' is a military science fiction media franchise owned by Amazon MGM Studios. It is based on Stargate (film), the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin; production company StudioCanal owns the ...
television series. * Master Chief and other SPARTAN soldiers from '' Halo'' * The Doomguy (Protagonist in the Doom Franchise) * The protagonist of the 2006
First-person shooter A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
game '' ÜberSoldier.'' ** Soldier: 76 and Reaper from the Overwatch franchise. *
Solid Snake , real name David, is a fictional character and one of the protagonists of Konami's ''Metal Gear'' series, created by Hideo Kojima. He is depicted as a former United States Army Special Forces, Green Beret and highly skilled special operations so ...
and Big Boss from ''
Metal Gear is a Media franchise, franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear (video game), Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX, MSX home computers. The player often takes con ...
''. Also unit FOXHOUND and Genome solders appearing in Metal Gear Solid 1, Cobra unit soldiers appearing in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Beauty and the Beast Corps soldiers appearing in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and the characters of Quiet and the Parasite unit, "Skulls" soldiers appearing in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. * The Space Marines from the '' Warhammer 40,000'' universe. * The Terminator * Universal Soldier franchise * Xavier Renegade Angel * Supersoldaten from the Wolfenstein videogame franchise. * Homelander from The Boys comic book series. * Agent 47 from the
Hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...
videogame franchise. * Frank Horrigan from
Fallout 2 ''Fallout 2'' (also known as ''Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game'') is a 1998 role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Productions. It is a sequel to ''Fallout (video game), Fallout'' (1997), ...
.


See also

* First Earth Battalion * Future Soldier 2030 Initiative * Human enhancement * List of psychoactive drugs used by militaries *
Superhuman The term superhuman refers to humans, humanoids or other beings with abilities and other qualities that exceed those naturally found in humans. These qualities may be acquired through natural ability, self-actualization or technological aids. ...
* '' Übermensch'' * Space marine *
Superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...


Other

* Hysterical strength


References

{{Stock characters Military projects Research projects Fiction about eugenics Military science fiction Fictional soldiers Stock characters Science fiction weapons Superhero fiction themes Fiction about cyborgs