The original Super Soldier in Marvel Comics is Captain America, but he isn’t the only character in the comic book line who gained his powers from this technique. This is not really a serum, but actually a technique that can enhance a person’s abilities to reach peak potential, and there have been several who have reached the maximum of their skills to become Super Soldiers. Captain America is the most famous, turned into what the government considered to be the “perfect man,” but there have been many others, including some who have taken offshoots of the formula, and others who were transformed in different countries.
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From Captain America’s contemporaries to some more recent offshoots, here are the best Super Soldiers in Marvel Comics who aren’t Captain America.
7) Shadow Soldier
Shadow Soldier is Josiah X, and he is the genetically engineered child of Isaiah and Faith Bradley. Unlike most Super Soldiers, Josiah was born to be a Super Soldier, created by the U.S. military using Isiah’s harvested blood. However, a woman learned what the government had planned for the baby and helped him to escape, where he eventually grew up and served in the Vietnam War, which is when he learned about his powers and legacy.
He eventually became the Shadow Soldier, a hero who looked out for the poor and disenfranchised in America. He finally came out of the shadows when he saved Sam Wilson and the Falcon, and they worked together to end a major conspiracy. Shadow Soldier’s first appearance came in Crew #1 in 2003, and his powers are similar to those of Isiah Bradley and The Patriot, his father and nephew.
6) Union Jack
Union Jack is the U.K.’s version of Captain America, and like his U.S. counterpart, he was given his powers with the Super Soldier serum. There have been several versions of Union Jack, including Lord Montgomery Falsworth, who was part of the Invaders in World War II. When James Falsworth was a young man, he was captured and sent to a concentration camp, where he met someone who worked with Dr. Erskine, and he helped develop his own Super Soldier variant.
Brian became the Destroyer and began fighting Nazis inside Germany. He became the new Union Jack after his father was paralyzed and had to retire from his role as a hero. Union Jack remained a hero for years before he eventually died in a car crash.
5) Isaiah Bradley
Isaiah Bradley is one of the most famous Super Soldiers other than Captain America because he appeared in the MCU. He was part of both the Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and the movie Captain America: Brave New World. In the comics, he was created with the Super Soldier serum before Captain America was. He also fought in World War II, but he had a more disturbing legacy.
Bradley took the Captain America costume with him and went to fight the Nazis in World War II. However, the U.S. government called this treason and sentenced him to life in prison. He was in solitary confinement for 17 years before he was finally pardoned in exchange for his keeping the entire situation a secret. Isaiah has since donated blood to his injured nephew, Eli, which turned him into a hero as the Patriot.
4) Taskmaster
It isn’t common knowledge that Taskmaster’s powers come from the Super Soldier serum. He is mainly known for his photogenic reflexes, where he can copy anyone’s fighting style perfectly by just seeing it once. However, this skill comes from the Super Soldier serum. Tony Masters was born with the ability to duplicate the movements of others. However, as a SHIELD agent, he was injected with the Nazi version of the Super Soldier serum, which enhanced these skills.
While Taskmaster in the movies was very different from the comic book version, the Marvel Comics version remains one of the most popular villains of all time. He has since become a trainer to heroes and villains, and he uses his skills to copy the fighting styles of anyone from Captain America to Black Widow to ensure he gets anyone he trains ready for any battle.
3) Winter Soldier
Bucky Barnes was Captain America’s sidekick in World War II. However, Bucky seemingly died around the time that Cap sacrificed his own life to help end Red Skull’s threat in the war. Just like how Steve Rogers was frozen on ice and returned years later as a hero, Bucky was saved by Russians and placed in cryostasis. He ended up revived and turned into an assassin with a powerful mechanical arm to replace the one he lost.
However, after he was able to escape the mental control his Russian handlers had on him, he became the hero known as the Winter Soldier. During the Fear Itself crossover event, Bucky almost died, and Nick Fury was there to inject him with the Infinity Formula, which was a perfected version of the Super Soldier serum, giving him powers close to those of Captain America.
2) The Black Widow
Natalia Romanova began her career as the Black Widow when she worked as a Russian KGB agent. She was trained by the Red Room and was groomed to be an ultimate super spy. While in the Red Room, she was enhanced with the Russian version of the Super Soldier serum, created by Dr. Lyudmila Kidrin. This enhanced her abilities to the level of Captain America, and she also explains why her aging process has slowed, keeping her young.
Black Widow quickly defected to the United States to join SHIELD. Then she became a member of the Avengers in the second version of the team, when Captain America recruited her, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver to join him after every founding member left the team.
1) Sentry
Sentry was an interesting case for the Super Soldier serum. Robert Reynolds was a drug addict when he accidentally found his way to an experimental Super Solder serum called the Golden Sentry Serum. When he took it, he gained immeasurable powers. Unlike heroes like Captain America and Isaiah Bradley, this wasn’t just enhanced abilities, but it also gave him superhuman powers.
Other than superhuman strength, durability, agility, and other natural abilities, Sentry also ended up with the power to control molecules, similar to the Molecule Man. He is also immortal, mostly invulnerable, and has powers greater than any other Super Soldier in Marvel Comics, and more than most heroes and villains in comics, regardless of their origins.
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Image courtesy of Paramount+
