How Many Super Soldiers Are In The MCU?

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduces more Captain America-like superpowered characters to the already long list of MCU super-soldiers, which began with Steve Rogers and is currently getting bigger with the Flag-Smashers. Through Project: Rebirth, Steve Rogers became the most popular super-soldier in the history of the experiment. The Super Soldier Serum enhances the user’s strength, stamina, speed, and healing factor, but also magnifies the attributes its users already have, which can result in even more unstable fighters.

The Super Soldier Serum and its variations have been a main staple of Captain America stories, but they also have affected other Marvel characters, such as Flash Thompson, Black Widow, and the Superman-like hero Sentry. Although the serum is not a surefire method to gain superpowers, a large number of people in the comics have dared to try their hand with it. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is now showing just how widespread the use of the serum has been in the MCU, as well.

Before the Easter egg-filled second episode of Falcon & the Winter Soldier, the MCU had only revealed nine super-soldiers: the most famous WWII duo, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes; the self-administered Red Skull (whose deformed face is a side effect of the serum); the Gamma-powered monstrosities Hulk and The Abomination, and five other Winter Soldiers who were revealed to be hiding in Siberia and were later murdered by Helmut Zemo in Captain America: Civil War.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals that the Flag-Smashers, a group of freedom-seeking rebels, have gained superpowered abilities from a figure known as the Power Broker, which allows them to go toe-to-toe with Falcon, Bucky, John Walker, and Lemar Hoskins a.k.a. Battlestar all at the same time. Perhaps the most exciting character introduction in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier so far has been that of Isaiah Bradley, a super-soldier with as much honor as Steve Rogers, but who was misused by the U.S. government and thrown in jail after fighting in the Korean War. His grandson Elijah Bradley, who makes a brief appearance in the same episode, is also expected to become a super-soldier in his own right and the Young Avenger known as Patriot.

Some super-soldiers aren’t part of MCU’s official canon, or at least not yet. These include those in the Deathlok program created by Cybertek, the pill-based powers designed by IGH — which spawned superhumans like Will Simpson, a.k.a. Nuke, and Jessica Jones, as well as the shady experiment that gave Luke Cage his super-strength and bulletproof skin and the Hydra-Cybertek collaboration, the Centipede Project. There’s also Project: Patriot, which turned Jeffrey Solomon Mace into the “Patriot” Super Soldier. However, all of these characters belong to either Netflix’s Defenders franchise or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and could be easily retconned by the MCU.

Without counting those, there have been 17 confirmed Super Soldiers up to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 2. It’s highly likely that the number will only rise, as more people set their sights on gaining similar abilities. Other characters who might become super-soldiers include new Captain America John Walker, Lemar Hoskins, Elijah Bradley, and Sam Wilson himself, although it’s also possible that Zemo and will also get his hands on the serum. With the Super Soldier Serum becoming more accessible and less unstable, expect the MCU to be populated with more superpowered humans moving forward.

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