Super Soldier Serum

"The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great; bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because the strong man who has known power all his life, may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows... compassion."

- Abraham Erskine to Steve Rogers

The Super Soldier Serum is a chemical solution developed by German scientist Abraham Erskine. The serum was formulated to enhance the human body and mind, and was utilized by the US military in World War Two to create the world's most advanced soldiers. Over the decades, it has been semi-reproduced by several parties, but none of the attempts have been completely successful. Ever since it's creation, new pathways into the world of genetic research were unveiled for talented minds to explore. This lead to a rise in wondrous scientific achievements in recent years, which also has resulted in a significant increase in enhanced individuals. It is notably responsible for the superhuman abilities of Johann Schmidt, Steve Rogers, Winter Soldier, Bruce Banner and Emil Blonsky.

World War II
"You picked a most inopportune time to become a faliure, Herr Erskine. But I knew you would fail. All I would have to do is bide my time. And an opportunity for me to provide a technological solution to the übermensch soldier program would present itself." "My serum did not fail. It did...exactly what I designed it to do. It enhances...what is already within. It is Herr Schmidt...who has failed...at being human."

- Arnim Zola and Abraham Erskine

Erskine began developing his serum in 1930 while still in Germany. In 1940, the formula was tested on the SS general Johann Schmidt, turning him into Red Skull in the process. Erskine would later describe to Steve Rogers on how the formula wasn't ready for use at the time, and how the serum's personality-amplifying effects made Schmidt into the evil man he became.

After Erskine escaped to America, he joined the Strategic Scientific Reserve (predecessor to the modern organization: S.H.I.E.L.D.). There he took part in Project Rebirth, a project to create a Super Soldier for the Allied forces. Using Vita Radiation to unlock the serum's potential, Erskine successfully used the serum on Steve Rogers, who became the hero Captain America. Unfortunately, the scientist was killed and the last vial of the original serum was destroyed by HYDRA spy Heinz Kruger, with the last remnants of the serum remaining in Rogers' DNA.

In October 1943, Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes of the U.S. Army was captured by HYDRA and sent to work at the top secret weapons facility in the Austrian Alps. When he was too weak to work, Dr. Zola used him as a subject for his experiments with his own version of the Super Soldier Serum. Barnes was injected with the serum shortly before the prisoners were liberated by Captain America a month later.

During the first icy months of 1945, Captain America and Sergeant Barnes led an attack on the HYDRA train that was transporting Dr. Zola to another base. During the fight, Bucky fell from the train, falling into an icy river below, whose cold waters no ordinary man could survive. However, thanks to the serum's effect on his body, Barnes was able to survive, though at the cost of his left arm.

21st Century
"Let me emphasise that what I'm about to share with you is tremendously sensitive, both to me personally and the Army. You're aware that we've got an Infantry Weapons Development programme. Well, in WWII, they initiated a subprogram for Bio-Tech Force Enhancement." "Yes, Super-Soldier."

- Thaddeus Ross and Emil Blonsky

In 2001, General Thaddeus Ross of the United States Armed Forces revived the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, a secret project set-up after the relative failure of Project Rebirth. A failed attempt to reproduce the serum with added bouts of Gamma Radiation led to the accident that turned Bruce Banner into Hulk. Banner was later forced to flee from Ross, who employed the British soldier Emil Blonsky to track him down. General Ross, eager to sustain Blonsky's will to fight, gave him an injection of a similar serum, which gave him abilities similar to those of Captain America. Later combination with the altered serum in Banner's blood turned Blonsky into the Abomination.

As of 2013, scientists recreated a very similar version of the serum as one of the components of the Centipede Serum, designed to give a person superhuman abilities. This serum was mixed with the Extremis virus, Gamma Radiation and technology from the Chitauri for injection.

Capabilities
"You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers; everything special about you came out of a bottle."

- Tony Stark

The raw serum's general properties seemed to be enhanced strength and senses, as well as emphasizing the user's key personality traits. Johann Schmidt's evil meant that the serum ripped the flesh from his skull, while Steve Rogers' bravery enhanced his body beyond the peak of human potential. Emil Blonsky's advanced strength and rapid healing factor were part of his love of fighting. Other factors of this are due to the dosage of the serum given to individuals other than Rogers and Bucky were either imperfect and incomplete. The version of the serum given to Bucky, however, did not seem to enhance any of his personality traits and only made him physically super-human.

When saturated with Vita Radiation, the serum worked more successfully by stimulating growth in the body. Gamma Radiation was believed by Bruce Banner to work similarly, but instead corrupted the serum's effects, making it unstable, and turned him into the raging monster known as Hulk. However, newer versions of the serum, such as the one used on Blonsky, did not need the radiation for changes to happen, although they happened more gradually.

The normal effects of the serum is an increase the molecular density of cellular fibers (skin and muscle) through synthetic proteins. This means that the serum can naturally enhance the proteins inside the subject, as well as their effects, effectively granting the subject enhanced physical abilities.

It also naturally enhances the metabolism and chemical processes in the body, which can enhance recovery and healing abilities, as well as building up greater resistance to fatigue and exhaustion. These can also allow a subject to fully recover without drugs or medicines. In addition, the serum may also affect the subjects dopamine, testosterone, adrenaline, various other endorphins and hormones, enhancing the effects of such chemicals to further amplify the subjects physical and even mental performance.

However, Blonsky's healing and recovery capabilities took slightly less time compared to other super soldiers, as he could completely heal and recover overnight, or at least in hours, from every bone in his body being destroyed and being left crippled. Captain America on the other hand, at least a day or more to heal from extensive physical traumas. Blonsky's recovery having a different version of the serum infused into him.

Another example would be that the Winter Soldier's variant makes him much more durable than most of the other Super-Soldiers, enough to survive a fall from the Swiss Alps.


 * Johann Schmidt/Red Skull took the prototype serum, an as a result, affected Schmidt's physical appearance. Schmidt had desired to become the superior man, something only the serum could offer, but was denied the right to do so by Erskine. This is what brought him in personal conflict with Rogers, as Rogers is the superior man while Schmidt is not.


 * Steve Rogers/Captain America was the only successful attempt. Erskine's insistence to find a "good man" is an understatement. In Steve Rogers he found someone with unquestionable moral value, someone who could not only handle the responsibility of being the world's first super soldier, but someone who could become the soldier the world desperately needed.


 * James Buchanan Barnes/Winter Soldier was a second successful attempt at a super soldier, injected with serum similar to Rogers', while he was a prisoner of HYDRA in 1943. The serum enabled him to survive the fall from the HYDRA train in 1945 and the loss of his left arm. Afterward, he developed super-human physical abilities, seemingly due to his near death experience, which rivaled Captain America's.
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk was given a similar serum, but was exposed to Gamma Radiation instead of Vita Radiation. The combination turned him into an aggressive, giant, green, muscular beast. Banner reverted to his original state, but would transform again in the future whenever his heart rate became too high or he became extremely angry and lost emotional control.
 * Emil Blonsky/Abomination had the serum injected into his spine's bone marrow and deep muscle systems. After taking longer to materialize, Blonsky's had formed extra physical manifestations, such as a protruding skeletal structure. He took more doses of it, which caused him to go from arrogant to sociopathic, as it caused his mind to deteriorate. Due to the replacement of the Vita Radiation with the Gamma Radiation in Banner's blood, the serum kicked into overdrive, transforming Blonsky into a Hulk-sized version of himself with a green tinge, with the external bone structure being a reflection of the tough monstrous fighter that he shows himself to be.
 * Michael Peterson/Deathlok was one of the people who used the Centipede Device, which had a combination of a serum similar to the Super Soldier Serum and Extremis, which was made by Aldrich Killian and Maya Hansen. The Centipede serum also contained a large amount of Gamma Radiation. Like Winter Soldier, the serum had seemingly no effect on his mind and personality.
 * Chan Ho Yin/Scorch was also injected with the Centipede Serum. This serum increased his previous pyrokinetic powers. Before this, Chan was ordered by S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep his powers secret, but he had always wanted to be remembered by his gift. After being administered with the serum and betrayed by draining his fire-resistant blood platelets, Chan become mentally unstable and killed at least two people before being neutralized himself.

Trivia

 * Stark Industries created the injection tube that administered the super soldier serum into Steve Rogers.
 * The version of the formula given to Blonsky is labelled as having been created by a "Dr Reinstein". In the comics, "Reinstein" was an alias used by two doctors: Erskine and his successor who attempted to recreate the formula after Erskine's assassination. The latter's efforts used African-American soldiers as expendable guinea pigs and none survived, except Isaiah Bradley in the main 616 comics  and Nick Fury in the Ultimate comics.