Blog #27 - Introduction

      Creating a super soldier is a dream for any military that has existed. A super soldier is a vague term that implies that someone has extraordinary abilities in areas that soldiers require. Superhuman endurance and tactical knowledge are important, but the ability to fight is the most desired. A super soldier is typically depicted as having tremendous skill with firearms, unmatchable hand-to-hand fighting abilities, and excellent stealth tactics. A popular example is Captain America, one of the more popular comic book heroes. Captain America gained his identity after a frail man took some experimental concoction; the serum gave him nearly all of the abilities mentioned above. Captain America, with his newly discovered powers, fought comic representations of America's enemies for years to come.

      The serum that the frail young man took in has some questionable implications that are of much importance in the actual development of super-soldiers. Notably, it was an experimental drug, which means that it was not at a final stage, and could have had disastrous results instead of superpowers. The man took the serum willingly, giving his consent and knowledge to the project. However, this is rarely the case with the actual development of super-soldiers, as tests are dangerous and often performed on unwilling or even unwitting subjects. Any “serum” that is tried often can have disastrous results, and even within America has led to the death of test subjects. To go further in depth on these issues, we'll first focus on another fictional setting, the Firefly movie, “Serenity.”