History of the Super-Soldier Serum (need suggestions!)

[Susano]

[This snippet is meant to be part of the supers universe I am developing. Borrowing an idea of Ultimate Spider-Man, I like the idea of linking various characters together through a common thread/theme, in this case the super-soldier serum and efforts to create/replicate it. I stop in the early 60s, with the Hulk, and would love to add more examples -- like Solomon Grundy, who could be a failed experiment (I'm not sticking with Marvel, even though Captain American and the Hulk are mentioned). Anyways, any comments? Thoughts? Feedback? Suggestions?]

History of the Super-Soldier Serum

The roots of the modern Super-Soldier Serum can be traced back to Doctor Victor von Frankenstein, and his “monster,” which he created in the very late 1700s. Although modern folklore has his creation stitched together from dead bodies and brought to life via an electrical charge, careful reading of his notes and letters points to a more alchemical process. This seems to indicate that Frankenstein’s monster is some sort of homunculus, albeit one developed through science, not sorcery.

Although Frankenstein died at the hands of his creation, his notes and methods were eagerly examined by learned men all over Europe. One such was Dr. Henry Jekyll, who developed a serum of sorts, apparently based on the chemical processes used to create Frankenstein’s man. Tested it upon himself, in the hopes of gaining some measure of increased physical strength and endurance, Jekyll instead became the monstrous Mr. Hyde. Jekyll ended up simultaneous addicted to, and repelled by, his times as Hyde, and eventually killed himself in an effort to escape his addiction.

As with Frankenstein, Jekyll’s notes ended up in the hands of various others scientists, many of whom were more than eager to continue to the late Doctor’s experiments. One such as the infamous Dr. Moreau, who used a form of Frankenstein’s chemical bath to assist in creating his monstrous human-animal hybrids.

Another were the doctors Bensington and Redwood, who used Jekyll’s formulas to create the compound Herakleophorbia IV. This food additive was a great success, causing increased muscle mass and size in test subjects. However, while it initially seemed to work perfectly, continued use showed serious physical problems with the people and animals who were fed it, with heart failure a common cause of early death. This didn’t deter further research, with both Professor Abednego Danner and Doctor Clark Savage Sr. both of whom fed a form of Herakleophorbia IV to their children in the hopes of bring a new race of superior “super-men” into the modern world.

Doctor Emil Erskine expanded on the concepts behind Herakleophorbia IV to develop a “super-soldier” serum just in time for the start of the Second World War. Several people were tested with the drug, with Steve Rogers receiving the final, “production” version. Rogers’ test was a complete success, transforming him over a period of 6 months into the physical powerhouse Captain America. Unfortunately, Erskine was killed by Nazi spies soon after the initial injection process, and much of his notes were destroyed or stolen.

It is thought that Dr. Eskine’s notes, coupled with data from the likes of Danner, Bensington, and Redwood, among others, provided the bulk of research data for the German Ubermensch program. It had a few successes, more so than the American program, mainly due to a willingness to use humans as test subjects long before the various serums were ready or complete.

After the war, [NAME] dropped the so-called “meta-gene” bomb on New York city. It is thought the bomb was a German “super-weapon” of last resort, intended to be used on the German Army as a last resort, in an effort to instantly create an army of super-humans capable of stopping the Allied and Russian advanced. Conversely, it might have been intended to be dropped on enemy forces, with the idea of creating hordes of unstable metahumans who would either die outright from assuming a nonviable form or destroy each other in their madness. At any rate, the bulk of superhumans in and around New York can trace their origins and ancestry to the dropping of this bomb.

The postwar saw both the United States and Soviet Union continue to experiment with various super-soldier projects. Stalin even went so far to resurrect Dr. Moreau’s methods, seeking to combine humans and great apes to create unstoppable super-soldiers. The Americans tried a derivative of Herakleophorbia IV, with Dr. Bruce Banner creating Herakleophorbia VI, in the process becoming the modern Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with his transformation into the being known simply as the Hulk.

[need more examples...]

[DocSamson]

Off the top of my head you may want to take a look at the myths surrounding Count St. Germain and Rasputin. They were in various folklore, attributed with be immortal or impossible to kill.

[Supreme Serpent]

Personally...

...unless it's going to be a major part of the campaign, I'd avoid tying too much together. Danger of cutting off possible character/plot ideas, and also can remove some of the mystery from the world if you can trace everything back.

IMO.

[proditor]

Personally...

...unless it's going to be a major part of the campaign, I'd avoid tying too much together. Danger of cutting off possible character/plot ideas, and also can remove some of the mystery from the world if you can trace everything back.

IMO.
Agreed. I think it's better to tie things together tangenitally as opposed to directly. Heck, I have my players jumping through wicked hoops right now over Cyberline, Haynesville, and a possible DEMON connection! :eek:

But there is so little directly tied, that it allows them to help me write the history when they start espousing how something *might* work. They haven't figured out that I cherry-pick stuff to fit into my loose outline so far. ;)

Also, personal nitpick: Other than modern rewrites, Hyde was a scrawny little waste of a man who was just so rage filled, that he possessed more strength than would be expected of a being of his diminuative and scrawny build. But it was his presence/aura of evil that set people off, not his physicality. Dr. Jeckyll, on the other hand, was a bear of a man, over 6 foot and strong of body. His "normal" form would have snapped Hyde like a twig.

[David Blue]

After the war, [NAME] dropped the so-called “meta-gene” bomb on New York city. It is thought the bomb was a German “super-weapon” of last resort, intended to be used on the German Army as a last resort, in an effort to instantly create an army of super-humans capable of stopping the Allied and Russian advanced. Conversely, it might have been intended to be dropped on enemy forces, with the idea of creating hordes of unstable metahumans who would either die outright from assuming a nonviable form or destroy each other in their madness. At any rate, the bulk of superhumans in and around New York can trace their origins and ancestry to the dropping of this bombRather than seeing this as a military weapon, I think it's better to recognise it as a pure V-weapon, a Vengeance weapon against the Jews of Jew York, who had manipulated a (mostly) white America into the unjust war against the Reich.

As we know (if we are paranoid lunatic Nazis) the Jews are indifferent to the purity of their doctrines, but intensely protective of the purity of their blood. This unstable random mutation weapon would be the final blow against that perverse purity of the blood, in the most Jew-infested city in the world.

Lest we forget, while we are discussing V for Vengeance, V for Vendetta, V V V V V, there was this British project, also based on captured stocks of war materials and Nazi scientists...


The postwar saw both the United States and Soviet Union continue to experiment with various super-soldier projects. Stalin even went so far to resurrect Dr. Moreau’s methods, seeking to combine humans and great apes to create unstoppable super-soldiers. The Americans tried a derivative of Herakleophorbia IV, with Dr. Bruce Banner creating Herakleophorbia VI, in the process becoming the modern Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with his transformation into the being known simply as the Hulk.

[need more examples...]Are you aware of Stalin's all too real demand for the creation of an ape/human super-race, indifferent to the quality of its food (a key issue for the Soviet Union) and far hardier than human-kind, to use as super-soldiers?

With a super-formula, something like forced Lamarkian evolution, turbo-charged by an utter indifference to humanitarian considerations, became marginally possible.

At this point I believe we have to discuss the so-called Red Ghost and his astonishing results with creatures popularly but inaccurately believed to be genetically pure apes.

[ThothAmon]

You might want to give some time to Dr Herbert West (AKA The Reanimator) and his experiments on soldiers during WWI ;)

"At times he actually did perform marvels of surgery for the soldiers, but his chief delights were of a less public and philanthropic kind, requiring many sounds which seemed peculiar even amidst that babel of the damned. Among these sounds were frequent revolver shots - surely not uncommon on a battlefield, but distinctly uncommon in a hospital."

His reanimation experiments might prove useful as background ambience for those unkillable supersoldier types :ugly:

And there's also the plotline from the PC game 'Return To Castle Wolfenstein' if you want to have a German Super Soldier equivalent :sneaky:

[David Blue]

Are you aware of Stalin's all too real demand for the creation of an ape/human super-race, indifferent to the quality of its food (a key issue for the Soviet Union) and far hardier than human-kind, to use as super-soldiers?http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/12/20/stalinapes.shtml
Stalin Planned Army of Ape-Man Super-Warriors
Created: 20.12.2005 11:20 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:20 MSK

MosNews

Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents, the Scotsman.com reports.

Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia’s top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior.

Stalin reportedly told the scientist: “I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat.”

In 1926 the Politburo in Moscow passed the request to the Academy of Science with the order to build a “living war machine”. The order came at a time when the Soviet Union was embarked on a crusade to turn the world upside down, with social engineering seen as a partner to industrialization: new cities, architecture, and a new egalitarian society were being created.

The Soviet authorities were struggling to rebuild the Red Army after bruising wars.

[Susano]

Personally...

...unless it's going to be a major part of the campaign, I'd avoid tying too much together. Danger of cutting off possible character/plot ideas, and also can remove some of the mystery from the world if you can trace everything back.

Activation of the meta-gene, either through stress, accidents, or induced activation via science, is a major theme of the setting. And, personally, I like the idea of a common origin for some aspects of the setting or characters. I'm not a huge fan of the totally random supers universe, with mutants, and time travelers, and aliens, and EDM beings, and gods, and a zillion lab accidents, and.... Also, the Wold-Newton concept had some influence, as well as the common origin for a number of characters in the Ultimate Marvel universe.

[Susano]

Are you aware of Stalin's all too real demand for the creation of an ape/human super-race, indifferent to the quality of its food (a key issue for the Soviet Union) and far hardier than human-kind, to use as super-soldiers?

Yes. That's why I put it in there.

[Supreme Serpent]

Activation of the meta-gene, either through stress, accidents, or induced activation via science, is a major theme of the setting. And, personally, I like the idea of a common origin for some aspects of the setting or characters. I'm not a huge fan of the totally random supers universe, with mutants, and time travelers, and aliens, and EDM beings, and gods, and a zillion lab accidents, and.... Also, the Wold-Newton concept had some influence, as well as the common origin for a number of characters in the Ultimate Marvel universe.

All good then. :thumbup:

Maybe eventually the PCs will discover that the super-soldier programs are in effect trying to recreate the genetic patterns of folks like Hercules and Gilgamesh. :D

[Susano]

All good then. :thumbup:

Maybe eventually the PCs will discover that the super-soldier programs are in effect trying to recreate the genetic patterns of folks like Hercules and Gilgamesh. :D

In the previous version of the game, Gilgamesh is thought to be one of the first recorded superhumans. So there is that angle., However, the PCs in the previous game never really got into the aspect of the setting. On the other hand, I liked having a somewhat plausible and solid background for why things are. Hence this starting concept for the revised setting.

[Marketeer]

If you are willing to crib from other publishers, AC Comics' Femforce is led by "Ms. Victory", whose V-47 formula is essentially a Super-Soldier Serum by a different name.

[McCoy]

How far afield are you willing to go? Hourman in the 40's took a pill that gave him super strength for one hour, as did the 60's TV version of Mr. Terriffic. Perhapse the animated version of Underdog was inspired by a Wally Cox-ish researcher who needed to use the formula on himself.

Don't forget that during WWII and the Cold War there would hve been Nazi and Communist research going on as well, perhapse connect this to some legacy villians other than the Red Skull.

One other thing to consider, in the 30's scientist in both the United States and Germany begain investigations on a strange, unusually stable yet mildly radioactive transuranic element that seemed to be found only in some recently fallen meteorites. Having a nimber of strange, unexplainable, and sometimes unpredictable properties lead one researcher, in frustration, to dub the substance "Crypto-ite". It has been speculated that the Vita-Ray treatment part of Operation Rebirth, the part that Doctor Emil Erskine kept solely in his head for security reasons, may have involved crypto-ite radiation.

[Susano]

How far afield are you willing to go? Hourman in the 40's took a pill that gave him super strength for one hour, as did the 60's TV version of Mr. Terriffic. Perhapse the animated version of Underdog was inspired by a Wally Cox-ish researcher who needed to use the formula on himself. .

I'm not sure. I don't want to link everything to one common source. But having various ways to activate the "metagene" will help flesh out the ideas behind the setting.

[Susano]

One other thing to consider, in the 30's scientist in both the United States and Germany begain investigations on a strange, unusually stable yet mildly radioactive transuranic element that seemed to be found only in some recently fallen meteorites. Having a nimber of strange, unexplainable, and sometimes unpredictable properties lead one researcher, in frustration, to dub the substance "Crypto-ite". It has been speculated that the Vita-Ray treatment part of Operation Rebirth, the part that Doctor Emil Erskine kept solely in his head for security reasons, may have involved crypto-ite radiation.

Uhmm... is this based on anything real? Or is it pure comics material?

[McCoy]

Uhmm... is this based on anything real? Or is it pure comics material?
Kryptonite.

[Susano]

Kryptonite.

DOH!

:ugly:

[OddHat]

Fantastic stuff! I use something similar. Some quick thoughts:

Moreau would have started his work before Jekyll; they may have colaborated (since they were active in the same period).

Hawley Griffin's Invisibility formula gives us a line of invisible characters, and can still be linked to Frankenstein & Jekyll's work. Griffin's work also gives us potentially some links to energy projection, as he manages to achieve Invisibility without blindiness, implying some sort of energy manipulation.

Gibberne's New Accelerator gives us Super Speedsters, and can be linked back to earlier researchers.

Here are some suggested dates from my timeline, with a few ideas obviously incompatable with your world removed (and most of the Superhero stuff):


1867 - Nemo uses a technologically advanced submarine to wage guerilla war against the British Empire.

1876 – Frank Reade Sr. develops the famed Steam Man Mk II and Mk III.

1886 - Dr. Henry Jekyll develops his “Hyde” formula. The age of the modern therianthrope has begun. Some evidence suggests that Jekyll may have been collaborating with Dr. Jean Moreau.

1886 – Frank Reade Jr. and Nikola Tesla develop the Electric Man and the Electric Horse, cable controlled robots far ahead of their times. Tesla and Reade break when Tesla insists that the robots can be remotely controlled.

1887 - Edward Prendick returns to civilization, reporting the death of Dr. Moreau. This report was false. Moreau, whose research was sponsored by the British Crown, had been moved to a secure location in England to continue his experiments. It seems likely that Moreu’s work was based in part on the work of Victor von Frankenstein.

1888 – Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, is born after his parents, John and Alice Clayton, are stranded in the jungle of French Equatorial Africa through the machinations of the Nine Unknown. The Nine eventually arrange for the infant’s parents to be killed, and for the infant to be adopted and raised by a tribe of Mangani (ape-like primates possessed of near human intelligence). (Farmer, modified)

1890 – Professor Archibald Campion invents a robot soldier based on the Electric Man. The soldier, named Boilerplate, is used in action by Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. Campion attempts to integrate Tesla’s remote control systems, but finds them unreliable

1890 – Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer enter the Wood Between the Worlds, a significant dimensional nexus. Jadris of Charn briefly rampages through London, demonstrating more-than-human strength and resistance to harm.

1891 - Outside of Indian Creek, Colorado, Professor Abednego Danner tests his version of the Prometheus formula on a litter of kittens and then his unborn son, Hugo.

Hugo Danner's amazing physical and mental abilities develop as he ages. His strength, speed, and durability far surpass all theoretical human limits. Professor Danner is able to instill a strong sense of right and wrong in Hugo, but the boy's increasing powers cause him to become a social pariah. (Al Schroeder, modified)

1894 – Ling Ling Fat, master inventor and patriot, becomes increasingly influential in Beijing’s government and intelligence services. His paternity may trace to Ling Fu Shan, aka Fu Manchu. Fat will prove to be an implacable political rival of Shan.

1897 - Dracula, an apparent vampire, comes to the attention of the British Crown. He is eventually driven from England.

1897 - Dr. Hawley Griffin uses fragments of Dr. Henry Jekyll’s research to create his Invisibility formula.

1898 - Mina Murray becomes the first woman to command a group of Britain’s Extraordinary-class operatives.

1898 - The first War of the Worlds concludes with the “Martians” successfully repelled. Dr. Henry Jekyll gives his life in the battle against the invaders. A statue of Edward Hyde is erected in the renamed Hyde Park. The alien vehicles are held for study by the British government.

1898 - Professor Alfred Gibberne builds on the works of Jekyll, Griffin and Moreu to develop his Accelerator formula. This formula alters the subject’s perception of time, permitting the subject to move, think and act at incredible speeds. Unfortunately, use of the formula proves almost invariably fatal.

1898 – Dorothy Gale makes her first visit to the dream-realm known as Oz.

1899 – Using the anti-gravity metal Cavorite, Prof. Cavor attempts a trip to the moon. Evidence suggests that the “meteor” that provided the metal was in fact the wreckage of a space craft being studied by Dr. Clark Savage Sr. Accusations of academic dishonesty are quickly silenced by the British intelligence services. No method for producing more Cavorite has yet been found.

1900 – Nikola Tesla insists that he has received signals from outer space through equipment in his Colorado laboratory. While his claims are derided by mainstream scientists, he attracts the attention and financial support of such luminaries as John Carter of Virginia and Clark Savage Sr.

1900 – Backed by JP Morgan and others, Tesla begins work on the world’s first advanced wireless broadcasting tower. The project fails when Tesla’s laboratory is fire bombed, and his plans and notes for the tower are stolen. Tesla himself escapes unharmed. JP Morgan withdraws his backing.

1911 – Fu Manchu first re-creates the Oil of Life. This formula appears to have been inspired largely by research first doccumented by Victor Frankenstein.

1911 – Moreu created human-gorilla hybrid “Jacko” partners with human Victor Brand in the service of the British Crown. Moreau will continue to create animals with human-level intelligence for decades to come. His activities are tolerated by his handlers in MI5, but not encouraged.

1912 – Kent Allard enters the American Secret Service.

1916 – Nikola Tesla takes on teen prodigy Hans Zarkov as a lab assistant.

1916 – Hugo Danner volunteers for military service in the French Foreign Legion in WWI. In the army he experiences his first true friendships. His strength, speed, and near invulnerability (nothing less than a bursting shell can pierce his skin) make him invaluable to the war effort. After one of the few serious injuries he sustains, Hugo learns of his amazing regenerative abilities, and also learns that his unique blood makes him a universal donor. By the end of the war, scores of allied soldiers have received blood transfusions from Hugo. In decades to come, many of the children of these soldiers will manifest metahuman abilities. (Al Schroeder, Modified)

1917 – Philip Strange, teen prodigy, mentalist and stage magician, enters military service. Rising to the rank of Captain, Strange becomes known as the Phantom Ace of G-2; to the Germans, he becomes known as the Brain Devil.

1918 – Professor Campion receives permission to use an improved version of his cable controlled robot soldier Boilerplate on the front lines in WWI. Boilerplate is at first successful, but its operator is killed and Boilerplate captured.

1918 – “Doc” Clark Savage, still a young man, meets the future member of his Fabulous Five while being held in the German prison camp known as Loki.

1920 - Hugo continues to try to do good works with his powers. He's bad at it. While working in a bank, he rescues a man trapped in the vault only to be fired and threatened with arrest. He attempts to clean up corrupt politicians and influence peddlers in Washington and fails completely.

1922 – Kent Allard receives training from the monks of Shambala in a limited derivative form of Sinanju.

1924 – Nikola Tesla draws up his first detailed plans for his “Death Ray”, and seeks financial support from the military. The support is not forthcoming. Tesla takes on the brilliant young mathematician Alexi Luthor as a lab assistant.

1925 – R’lyeh rises from the sea.

1925 – Clark Savage Jr., using the name “MacReady”, leads an artic expedition that uncovers an alien shape-shifter, a thing from another world. Savage eventually brings the creature’s remains back to New York.

1926 - Hugo Danner, despondent over his inability to find a place outside of the military, fakes his own death.

1929 - Returning to America, Kent Allard assumes multiple cover identities, establishes a network of agents, and begins his war on crime as The Shadow.

1931 – Doc Savage begins the main part of his crime-fighting career. Using technology and data gathered from his many enemies, the remains of the space craft wreckage that had been given into the hands of his father, and his own genius, Doc lays the foundations for the modern Science Hero.

1932 – Richard Wentworth, wartime comrade of Hugo Danner, begins his career as the Spider, assisted by Nita May Van Sloan. Richard manifests near superhuman strength, resilience, and regenerative abilities, fueled by his indomitable will!

1933 – The Skull Island expedition. Skull Island, one of several active breeding grounds for the bio-weapons of the Ancients, is explored by film producer Carl Denham. Denham captures the creature known to the natives of the island as “Kong”.

1933 – Kong is brought to NY by a film company. It breaks free, causes considerable property damage, and is eventually killed.

1933 – The Rogue Planet crisis. A moon-sized object (actually a dimension ship) moves through Earth’s solar system. Astronomers fear that this object will impact with the Earth. Doctor Hans Zarkov (one time lab assistant to Nikola Tesla), Dale Arden and Raymond “Flash” Gordon use an experimental spaceship of Zarkov’s design to fly out to the object. Six days later, the object vanishes. Zarkov, Arden and Gordon are never seen again.

1934 – The Green Hornet, making use of an arsenal of advanced weapons and devices, begins a crime spree. His crimes seem to target criminal businesses almost exclusively. He is assisted by a number of highly skilled Chinese martial artists.

1937 – Chow Sing Cho, a powerful pan-psionic, appears in Shanghai. Many of mainland China’s active psychics in later years claim descent from Chow.

1937 -- Chen Zhen battles General Fujita in Shanghai and then goes on to lead local resistance versus the Japanese.

1937 – Kitty Carroll, grand daughter of Hawley Griffin, is exposed to Griffin’s Invisibility formula. Carroll develops the ability to become Invisible for brief periods of time when exposed to nicotine or alcohol. She will occasionally adventure for the next decade under several names. In 1941 she marries Michael Storm. (Dennis E. Power, Modified)

1938 – Nikola Tesla demonstrates his “Harmonic Shield Generator”. The apparatus, which fills a small room, generates a field of energy that successfully deflects bullets fired from a gun. Reporters are impressed, but the device overheats during the demonstration, causing a fire that destroys Tesla’s Long Island laboratory. Tesla fails to find financial backing for his invention.

1939 – Captain Philip Strange, aka “the Brain Devil”, disappears while on a covert mission in Europe.

1939 – Dr. Van Thorp, working from the WWI era robot called Boilerplate, invents a fully articulated suit of self propelled powered armor for use by the German military. British Agent Hugh Hazard steals the prototype and kills Van Thorpe. Hazard uses the armor, code named the Iron Man, to perform acts of sabotage behind German lines.

1940 – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie engage in their first inter-dimensional adventure.

1940 – The British choose to share technology gathered and developed by their Extraordinary operatives with the US military. Information on the Hyde, Griffin, and Gibberne formulas is passed on to US Military Intelligence.

1941 – Dr. Reinstein uses a serum developed in part using blood samples from Hugo Danner and the Prometheus Formula to transform Private Steve Rogers into a near-perfect physical specimen, with strength, vigor and reflexes near the far limits of human potential. Unfortunately, without more of Danner’s blood, the serum proves impossible to duplicate.

1942 – Hugh Hazard dies in action. The Germans capture the damaged Iron Man armor. The armor is partially repaired, and is sent to Japan as part of a technology exchange. The Japanese military, considering the armor to be a worthless

[OddHat]

I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this project turns out. :)

[Lord Liaden]

Susano, I suggest that rather than having Bruce Banner attempting to recreate Herakleophorbia, he was instead trying to reproduce the meta-gene bomb. That would bring his origin much more closely in line with the original comics version. In fact, offshoots of attempts to activate the human meta-gene with radiation could have led to the accidents that created a number of Marvel superhumans of the 1960's, such as Spider-Man, Daredevil or the Sandman.

I do agree with McCoy's suggestion of Hourman's "Miraclo" pills as another result of research into a super-soldier serum. Another possibility would be "Venom," the drug used by Bane to physically enhance himself.

[Predatorpt]

Here are some ideas that I found and that may be of some use to you:



...So, Operation Rebirth led not only to the developement of Captain America, but of the first Flash, the Shield, and the first Human Torch. Also, the secrecy concerning Operation: Rebirth explains the clampdown which the authorities did on any news of these byproducts of Erskine's research, so that the truth could only be told in exagerrated and fantastic fashion, in the medium of comic books. No one but some of the artists and writers knew the kernel of truth behind their fantastic stories.

Yet none of these would have happened...if Abraham Erskine hadn't had the chance to examine first the infant Kal-El, and later the grown man...and to derive clues as to superhuman abilities from them...
Source (http://hometown.aol.com/kickaha23/supsol.html)

And don't forget about the Universal Soldier (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105698/) program, that turned dead soldiers into Super-Soldiers :sneaky:

[McCoy]

Kryptonite.
Shold have mentioned that in the Golden Age kryptonite was sometimes shown able to endow Earth people with powers, and this continued into the Silver Age with Streaky's powers being due to a piece of Kryptonite-X.

[OddHat]

Here are some ideas that I found and that may be of some use to you:



Source (http://hometown.aol.com/kickaha23/supsol.html)

And don't forget about the Universal Soldier (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105698/) program, that turned dead soldiers into Super-Soldiers :sneaky:

I've been lucky enough to email back and forth a bit with Al Schroeder. His stuff is gold for this kind of setting.

[freakboy6117]

not to mention smallville

[Susano]

Fantastic stuff! I use something similar. Some quick thoughts:

Moreau would have started his work before Jekyll; they may have colaborated (since they were active in the same period).

Hawley Griffin's Invisibility formula gives us a line of invisible characters, and can still be linked to Frankenstein & Jekyll's work. Griffin's work also gives us potentially some links to energy projection, as he manages to achieve Invisibility without blindiness, implying some sort of energy manipulation.

Gibberne's New Accelerator gives us Super Speedsters, and can be linked back to earlier researchers.

Here are some suggested dates from my timeline, with a few ideas obviously incompatable with your world removed (and most of the Superhero stuff):

Heh... allow me to quote from my initial post to the ML on which this was being discussed.



Ross has made noise about Shadows Angelus wrapping up in 8-12 months (or
something like that). Once that happens (or if/when), I have been mulling
over a supers game. It will ahve to be after the SA game, as John Iveck
(Proditor on the HERO Boards) has also made noises about finally getting
his War of the Worlds superhero game up and running come September and
there's no way I/we could squeeze all of this in.

Anyway, the game will be set in the modern era, and will be an off-shoot
of my old "Justice Alliance" game, which mixed ideas from Wild Cards
and GURPS IST. It will also contain ideas and material from Robert
Dorf's "Wold-Newton" universe. Other sources will be Astro City, Ultimate
Spider-Man, The Incredibles, and maybe Planetary. The tone will probably
be "post-modern," in which people may wear costumes and fight crime, but
at the same time, villains do more than simply knock over banks and
immobolize the police with freeze rays -- they hurt and kill people. I
don't want to be as dark as the Marvel Ultimate universe (or Watchmen),
but I am not interested in some goofy Silver-Age setting where heroes can
win with a pile of Hostess Fruit pies.

I have done some mental planning on the setting, and have some fairly
solid ideas of what sort of PCs I'll allow and how super-powers tend to
work. If people are interested, I'll start working up material, but
understand, this will be long term development, and won't see play until
the SA campaign is drawn to a close.

[OddHat]

Heh... allow me to quote from my initial post to the ML on which this was being discussed.

:o
Thanks. :)

As I said, sounds very interesting.

[loraxxx]

an important thing to consider about "the super-soldier program," at least as it's portrayed in the ULTIMATE universe is that a very broad ranging and sweeping program, using various, methods, some related, some not, some based on previous work, some newly develped...

the idea is to apply science towards making the ultimate soldier--while there was substantial effort to re-create the process that created CAPT. AMERICA, recovery of erkine's "super-soldier process" wasn't it's only goal...

with that in mind, it may not be necessary to link all forms of "crypto-science" to the work of one scientist, Frankenstien, or whomever--it may be less work to simply recognize these characters, as "founding fathers," or "leading lights" in their respective fields--FRANKENSTIEN, MOREAU for biology, and genetics, TESLA, NEMO, AND TOM SWIFT, etc. for mechanics and engineering, and so forth...

[OddHat]

with that in mind, it may not be necessary to link all forms of "crypto-science" to the work of one scientist, Frankenstien, or whomever--it may be less work to simply recognize these characters, as "founding fathers," or "leading lights" in their respective fields--FRANKENSTIEN, MOREAU for biology, and genetics, TESLA, NEMO, AND TOM SWIFT, etc. for mechanics and engineering, and so forth...

The work of these great men, together with information derived from captured alien technology (most notably the technology obtained from the "Martion" incursion of 1898, the Rogue Planet Crisis of 1933, and the so-called Giant Robot incident of 1966) has lead to the establishment of the wildly controversial field known, even to its most successful practitoners, as Mad Science.

(I will eventually get around to doing a full article on the history of Mad Science for my web site.)

[freakboy6117]

I was working on something similar for my Uk hero project

Time line went something like this

Approx 1894 the Agents of the crown a group of extraordinarily talented people who serve and protect the British Empire are sent to investigate a mysterious island.

They recover notes and equipment that is packed up and sent to England where analysis, these files and equipment are code named Avalon after the legendary island from Arthurian legend. Later that year the bare bones of the island story is passed to writer used by the British government to make light and cloud the truth of inexplicable events who on 1896 he publishes a novel on about the island.

1937 advances in the science of genetics finally reveal some of the techniques of the process used by the islands master animal tests are promising but without human test subjects nothing is possible.

1939 war begins the scientist behind the research into the so-called Avalon data push for human test to create super soldiers to help Britain win the war.

As Poland and other nations start to fall the government moves the Avalon data scientists to a country house and starts to recruit various specialists (including a number of 1920s and thirties mystery men now retired). This becomes the Avalon project; the manor is referred to as the orchard

1940 with the fall of Norway and Denmark, the British government is frantically searching for an edge the Avalon project has recruited the world’s greatest chemist professor Dante who devises a number of experimental drugs to improve soldiers genetic and biological grafts from animals are also tested. But more subjects are depsratly needed for headway.

May 1940 Dunkirk a huge number of dead and dying soldiers from the evacuation at Dunkirk are sent to the orchard. The men volunteered are exposed to extreme experiments in the knowledge they would die anyway.

Over the following months only a hand full of the patients used to test the processes survive but the scientist believe they have developed a technique that I’ll improve basic genetic traits

August 1940 the army covertly recruits dozens of people with minor unusual mental physical and sensory abilities. These volunteers are all tested and attempts to create improved serums from those shown to have above human abilities are made.

Most subjects show now improvement but a tiny few go on to form an elite commando unit. the remainder of those who survive though disfigured or deemed lacking in strategic importance go on to form a infantry group dispatched on seeming suicide missions they are known as Ryan’s rejects after there commander sergeant major Daniel Ryan

1941 the final stage of the Avalon project is underway using the various serums and drugs created by so far the scientist believe they can create a perfect soldier a number of test subjects are selected and trained by the mystery men attached to the project. The first subject to under go the process was selected and the serum and drug cocktail administered.

Unfortunately fate intervened and in the end only one subject would receive the full treatment before a nazi spy who has infiltrated the project makes him self-known.

Seeing the project nearing completion. The infiltrating agent (disguised as a Dutch biologist) destroyed the main labs, shooting professor Dante in the head (and leaving him for dead) in the process. He fled with a satchel filled with the experimental drugs but the alarm was raised and he was caught by the project chaplain and lady June markeith (daughter of the former ambassador to Japan and martial arts trainer) in the ensuing fight the vials of chemicals are broken a unstable mixture of experimental drugs ignites and explodes showering all three with a unknown cocktail of the project serums.

The Chaplin was driven insane by the changes wrought by the process, lady markeith became super strong durable and agile combined with her fighting [prowess and knowledge of the orient she becomes a formidable asset for the war effort with the international brigade.

The nazi spy closest to the blast his right arm is blacked by the explosion the chemicals coating his hand make it incredibly strong and tough like iron he escapes into the night with fragments of the research and becomes a deadly threat to the nation as Eisen Faust.

With professor Dante in a coma and much of the research destroyed by the fire that consumed the orchard only the single test subject is given the full treatment he becomes lion heart but samples of the unfinished formula plus lionhearts blood samples are sent to the united states where a gifted chemist and former student of dates is hoped to be able to resurrect the project.

He succeeded but dies at the hands of another nazi agent alerted to the transfer of the serum shortly after creating his first super soldier and taking the secret to perfecting eth formula with him.

The various Avalon project survivors go on to serve with distinction through out the war but many of this generation of heroes are killed in a final grand conflict with the nazi elite somewhere in Norway

Later attempts to resurrect the project have some successes and crude experiments are conducted the Russians using the Avalon project data stolen by various traitorous moles within the British establishment many contemnor Russian superheroes owe there powers to attempts to recreate Avalon project techniques.

still needs some work

[Superskrull]

Here are some ideas that I found and that may be of some use to you:



Source (http://hometown.aol.com/kickaha23/supsol.html)

And don't forget about the Universal Soldier (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105698/) program, that turned dead soldiers into Super-Soldiers :sneaky:

Amusingly enough, while I don't like Rob Leifield's stuff, he did introduce a government program entitled Project:Rebirth. Said project reanimated dead soldiers into supersoldiers. Obviously you tie this in by using Dr West's reanimation research applied to otherwise unsuitable subjects. An early subject of this was Supreme, who would have been brought back to life due to the introduction of both the reanimation treatment and a further application of either Hugo Danner's or Clark Kent's blood. Considering the results, is it any wonder the US gov would be hesitant to fire up the chem-vats and bring any more uncontrollable super-psychos into the world. Especially considering later subjects such as Battlestone & Bloodstrike.

[OddHat]

Amusingly enough, while I don't like Rob Leifield's stuff, he did introduce a government program entitled Project:Rebirth. Said project reanimated dead soldiers into supersoldiers. Obviously you tie this in by using Dr West's reanimation research applied to otherwise unsuitable subjects. An early subject of this was Supreme, who would have been brought back to life due to the introduction of both the reanimation treatment and a further application of either Hugo Danner's or Clark Kent's blood. Considering the results, is it any wonder the US gov would be hesitant to fire up the chem-vats and bring any more uncontrollable super-psychos into the world. Especially considering later subjects such as Battlestone & Bloodstrike.

Of course, some Paranormal Researchers argue that Hugo Danner was Clark Kent (http://bobtokyo.robertdorf.com/Characters/Hugo%20Danner.htm). ;)

Even if Susano wants to drop the idea of Krypton, the idea of Hugo going to Kent Allard and Clark Savage to learn how to fit into society and use his powers in a positive way appeals to me; it provides a nice link between all sorts of characters with similar abilities.

[OzMike]

How about a failed attempt to recreate the metagene bomb which led to the infamous 'Night of the Living Dead' event in 1968? An event which has been duplicated at least twice more...

As far as an antoagonist for the release of the bomb... how about one Dr Albert Zerstoiten (spelling?). Or Fu Manchu?

And why not have the history of the serum stretch back to Paracelus?

Other experimenters could include (from Wikipedia search for Mad Scientists)
Francis Galton
Dr Ishii Shiro
Trofim Lysenko
Sidney Gottlieb

[Susano]

How about a failed attempt to recreate the metagene bomb which led to the infamous 'Night of the Living Dead' event in 1968? An event which has been duplicated at least twice more...

As far as an antoagonist for the release of the bomb... how about one Dr Albert Zerstoiten (spelling?). Or Fu Manchu?

No... I have a name for that guy, I just don't recall it right now. It is, of course, my steal from Wild Cards. Dr. Death? Was that it?

Hmm.... hold on.

1947 - Dr. Thanatos' attack on New York, May 27. Death of Mr. America. This date is later made into a national holiday. (Called Memorial Day, Memorial Day is known as Veterans Day.)

Okay, so I had a cooler name than just "Dr. Death."

[OzMike]

Oh I don't know - Dr Death is a pretty cool name. And it works better with those ownership apostrophes....

[daeudi_454]

call me a dork...

But what about Professor Julius Kelp in 1963 :D

[Susano]

call me a dork...

But what about Professor Julius Kelp in 1963 :D

Who?

[OddHat]

Who?

THe Nutty Professor, Jerry Lewis version. Another researcher trying to refine Jekyll's work who goes astray. ;)

[Susano]

THe Nutty Professor, Jerry Lewis version. Another researcher trying to refine Jekyll's work who goes astray. ;)

*bangs head on desk*

[daeudi_454]

*bangs head on desk*
:(

Aww..

Slightly increased physical attributes, heavily increased PRE and COM, (possibly some sort of mind control, ala Purple Man- but weaker?), personality shift...
Kelp intended to forward his research to the government.
And at the end, Julius's father unscrupulously sells the formula at the college.

The universe doesn't have to be THAT serious in tone, does it?
========================================
<If you indulge me just a little further....>:o
One could also consider the Disney classics: {all taking place in Midvale}
The Computer wore Tennis Shoes: college science, 'cyber'skilled
The Strongest Man in the World: Super strength formula
Flubber: great material substance for a supers universe
========================================


Okay- I'll go away now... :weep:

[OddHat]

:(

Aww..

Slightly increased physical attributes, heavily increased PRE and COM, (possibly some sort of mind control, ala Purple Man- but weaker?), personality shift...
Kelp intended to forward his research to the government.
And at the end, Julius's father unscrupulously sells the formula at the college.

The universe doesn't have to be THAT serious in tone, does it?
========================================
<If you indulge me just a little further....>:o
One could also consider the Disney classics: {all taking place in Midvale}
The Computer wore Tennis Shoes: college science, 'cyber'skilled
The Strongest Man in the World: Super strength formula
Flubber: great material substance for a supers universe
========================================


Okay- I'll go away now... :weep:

Actually, the Disneyverse makes a great Supers setting. Maybe all of those scientific advances lead to the world we saw in Sky High. :)

[Highwayman]

For the most part, the West reanimation formula sat on the shelf after the doctor's 1922 disappearance. There were rumors that both the Nazis and the Soviets managed to steal or derive the formula, but any experiments they made along those lines evidently left fewer living witnesses than West's own.

When an enterprising government researcher did start looking at the formula in the early '60s, he was smart enough to decide it was too dangerous to use as originally intended. He was dumb enough to instead conceive of a weaponized, aerosol version of the formula, intended to raise legions of the angry dead behind enemy lines. How this version came to be released near Pittsburgh in 1968 has never been completely explained, as was exactly why the animated dead behaved differently than in West's experiments. The zombies created when improperly-stored waste from the Pittsburgh outbreak was released in Louisville in 1985 behaved differently still, although this was attributed to chemical breakdown in the stored formula. A substantial amount of this waste is still unaccounted for.

The 1968 outbreak did inspire new Pentagon interest in the original West formula. They actually achieved some success using an altered version of the formula to resurrect dead soldiers for combat use, but a rouge subject blew the project's cover in 1992. Since then, the U.S. government has officially renounced any interest in reanimating the dead.

[OddHat]

For the most part, the West reanimation formula sat on the shelf after the doctor's 1922 disappearance. There were rumors that both the Nazis and the Soviets managed to steal or derive the formula, but any experiments they made along those lines evidently left fewer living witnesses than West's own.

When an enterprising government researcher did start looking at the formula in the early '60s, he was smart enough to decide it was too dangerous to use as originally intended. He was dumb enough to instead conceive of a weaponized, aerosol version of the formula, intended to raise legions of the angry dead behind enemy lines. How this version came to be released near Pittsburgh in 1968 has never been completely explained, as was exactly why the animated dead behaved differently than in West's experiments. The zombies created when improperly-stored waste from the Pittsburgh outbreak was released in Louisville in 1985 behaved differently still, although this was attributed to chemical breakdown in the stored formula. A substantial amount of this waste is still unaccounted for.

The 1968 outbreak did inspire new Pentagon interest in the original West formula. They actually achieved some success using an altered version of the formula to resurrect dead soldiers for combat use, but a rouge subject blew the project's cover in 1992. Since then, the U.S. government has officially renounced any interest in reanimating the dead.

Repped.

[Superskrull]

Of course, some Paranormal Researchers argue that Hugo Danner was Clark Kent (http://bobtokyo.robertdorf.com/Characters/Hugo%20Danner.htm). ;)

Even if Susano wants to drop the idea of Krypton, the idea of Hugo going to Kent Allard and Clark Savage to learn how to fit into society and use his powers in a positive way appeals to me; it provides a nice link between all sorts of characters with similar abilities.


Sure, but it all depends on whether you want to use both simultaneously or not ala Young All-Stars & Iron Munro, post-Crisis.

[Southern Cross]

This is true,but remember that the version of Hugo Danner that appeared in the series was almost identical to Phillip Wylie's original version,save for the fact that he was still alive in the '40s-as a supervillian!
Creator of the Sons of the Dawn (Indians with his powers) he apparently committed suicide when it was revealed that they had little or no resistance to the germs outside Maple White Land.

[Superskrull]

This is true,but remember that the version of Hugo Danner that appeared in the series was almost identical to Phillip Wylie's original version,save for the fact that he was still alive in the '40s-as a supervillian!
Creator of the Sons of the Dawn (Indians with his powers) he apparently committed suicide when it was revealed that they had little or no resistance to the germs outside Maple White Land.

Sure, and then there was that not-explored-at-all subplot with Ubermensch, who claimed to have a connection to Danner and Munro. 'Course, that whole Children of the Dawn story was the last in the series before the cancellation blues claimed another comic. Now that I think of it, they'd also established a connection between Flying Fox and Arak. The next time we saw Arn was in Damage's comic, just before Zero Hour. Amusingly, he'd apparently gone to work for the OSI using the codename Gladiator.

Oh, and does anyone else think Danner's later suicide attempt was any more convincing than his first one? Ooh, I'm even tougher than Iron Munro and diving down this chimney and having the factory it's attached to explode is gonna finish me off. Right...
Made as much sense as when Spidey dumped his clone's body into that chimney in Marvel only to have him turn up alive and well and heralding the Maximum Clonage storyline.

[OddHat]

This is true,but remember that the version of Hugo Danner that appeared in the series was almost identical to Phillip Wylie's original version,save for the fact that he was still alive in the '40s-as a supervillian!
Creator of the Sons of the Dawn (Indians with his powers) he apparently committed suicide when it was revealed that they had little or no resistance to the germs outside Maple White Land.

I re-read Wylie's book a few months ago when I was putting together the Danner-Kent sheet. One caveat to the above: the original Danner would never have become a villain, though he did have a few brief fantasies in that direction. He was a frustrated, angry teen and 20 something, but in key moments in his life when going the villainous route would have been a much more comfortable choice (letting the guy in the bank vault die, just walking out of the office and going on the run, just walking out of the police station, smacking around the assembly line foreman, etc) he generally took the high road and suffered for it. I can see how his final "I will create a race of Supermen" rant can be seen as Evil from a post-WWII perspective, but at the time I'd say Wylie intended it as just one more ambitious goal that Danner would never achieve.

[Southern Cross]

True enough.In fact,from my memory of the novel,I'd say that Danner would never have done what Roy Thomas had him do in Young All-Stars,as he was too afraid of what would happen if his new race fell out and began to fight amongst themselves.
My objection to the Hugo Danner/Clark Kent connection is that Abnego's serum didn't provide any protection against poison or disease.The Golden Age Superman was as resistant toward disease & poison as he was to everything else.

[OddHat]

True enough.In fact,from my memory of the novel,I'd say that Danner would never have done what Roy Thomas had him do in Young All-Stars,as he was too afraid of what would happen if his new race fell out and began to fight amongst themselves.
My objection to the Hugo Danner/Clark Kent connection is that Abnego's serum didn't provide any protection against poison or disease.The Golden Age Superman was as resistant toward disease & poison as he was to everything else.

We only saw Danner's first few decades of life before his (possible) return as Superman. Maybe the serum continued to more slowly change his body over time. Thus, the addition of the vision powers, the progression towards true flight, immunity to poison, etc.

Also, I could have sworn I remembered a GOlden Age story where Superman was taken down by gas. More evidence that his full power took time to emerge. ;)

[FenrisUlf]

[This snippet is meant to be part of the supers universe I am developing. Borrowing an idea of Ultimate Spider-Man, I like the idea of linking various characters together through a common thread/theme, in this case the super-soldier serum and efforts to create/replicate it. I stop in the early 60s, with the Hulk, and would love to add more examples -- like Solomon Grundy, who could be a failed experiment (I'm not sticking with Marvel, even though Captain American and the Hulk are mentioned). Anyways, any comments? Thoughts? Feedback? Suggestions?]

Snipped for space



This is some great stuff here, Susano.

[zornwil]

Well, It's been a busy day and I'm tired, so no real great comments to add but to say this is cool stuff, Michael, very bump-worthy, will rep when can.

[Predatorpt]

One idea that I'm using in my "universe" is taken from City of Heroes - a street drug (based in an old super-soldier serum) that gives its users power. In my case, the drug was based on a Nazi formula, found in a old bunker in Argentina by some drug dealers. :sneaky: