Many Marvel Comics fans know that Captain America became the superhero he is thanks to the U.S government and the creation of the Super Soldier Serum during WWII. However, they might not know that in the Ultimate Universe (a separate universe than the standard 616 Marvel Universe) the Super Solider Serum was responsible for the creation of several other superheroes as well.

The Ultimate Universe is a much more grounded take on the Marvel Universe, with its characters and environment being much more connected to how our actual world today would respond and react to the emergence of powered individuals. A big part of that is the Super Soldier Serum. What began with the success of Steve Rogers’ transformation into Captain America in WWII kickstarted an arms race that dwarfed that of the nuclear. As such, several attempts were made to replicate and improve upon the success of the rare serum not only by the U.S government but also abroad. While SHIELD served as the forerunner for the U.S government’s serum trials, several private labs were trying to replicate the serum also.

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Over the course of the Ultimate Comics line, the Super Soldier Serum served as a sort of through-line in the origins of several different Ultimate versions of well-known heroes. Dr. Bruce Banner was working within SHIELD, attempting to replicate the serum that created Captain America, his life long hero. In the absence of Vita Rays used in the original experiment, Banner decided to use Gamma Rays and experimented on himself, giving birth to Ultimate Hulk (that idea was adapted by the MCU as well in The Incredible Hulk). The private genetics company Oscorp and its founder Norman Osborn tried their own hand at replicating the serum, which they called the OZ Formula. This led to the accidental creation of Ultimate Spider-Man, as well as the Ultimate Green Goblin when Norman tested the formula on himself. Furthermore, the Ultimate X-Men, Weapon X, and the entirety of mutantkind were the result of the Canadian government’s response to the Super Soldier race.

While those are the biggest examples of the serum’s influence, the serum also influenced several other events and characters in the Ultimate Universe, such as their version of Red Skull (that was actually Rogers’ illegitimate psycho son who was tested on), as well as Iraq actually having incredible success in creating their own Super Soldier known as the Colonel, the only recorded subject who was responsive to the original serum other than Captain America himself.

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The concept that the Super Soldier serum would be responsible for the births of so many superheroes and characters is really interesting and makes total since when one thinks about how people would actually react to the creation of something like that. Everyone would be trying to recreate or get a piece of it, and it would absolutely dominate the political and socio-economic landscape of the world at large. It wouldn’t have just stopped with Captain America. Not that there’s anything wrong with the standard 616 Marvel Universe, but the bigger status of the serum provided in the Ultimate Universe provides a truly entertaining and dynamic realism to that version of the world.

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Kevin Erdmann
(2534 Articles Published)

Kevin Erdmann is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers. With a major in Cinema Studies and a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin is pretty sure he’s writing for the right site. While Kevin is a huge Marvel fan, he also loves Batman because he’s Batman and is a firm believer that Han shot first. Disney also shares a big part of his fan patronage. Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.

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