Asuper soldier(orsupersoldier) is a conceptsoldiercapable of operating beyond normal human abilities through technological augmentation, ranging frompowered exoskeletonsto advanced training regimens or (in fictional depictions) genetic modification or cybernetic augmentation.
Fiction
editSuper soldiers are common inmilitary science fictionliterature, films, and video games. Examples includeStarship TroopersbyRobert A. HeinleinandThe Forever WarbyJoe Haldeman.Super soldiers are also prevalent in the science fiction universe ofWarhammer 40,000and its prequelThe Horus Heresy.Critic Mike Ryder has argued that the super soldiers depicted in these worlds serve as a mirror to present-day issues around sovereignty, military ethics and the law.[2]Marvel Comics,and by extension theMarvel Cinematic Universe,feature a wide array of heroes and villains whose powers are obtained through various competing attempts to create a super soldier, includingCaptain America,Hulk,the GermanRed Skull,and the RussianRed Guardian.[3]
Fictional super soldiers are usually heavilyaugmented,either throughsurgical means,eugenics,genetic engineering,cyberneticimplants,drugs,brainwashing,traumaticevents, an extreme training regimen or other scientific andpseudoscientificmeans. A few stories also useparanormalmethods or technology, and science ofextraterrestrialorigin. The fictional masterminds of such programs are depicted often asmad scientistsor sternmilitary personneldepending on the needs of the plot, in stories that typically explore theethicalboundaries of the pursuit of science and victory. Some depictions can be categorized ascyborgsor cybernetic organisms due to the cybernetic nature of their augmentations.[4]
China
editIn 2022, thePeople's Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciencesreported that a team of military scientists inserted a gene from thetardigradeinto human embryonic stem cells in an experiment with the stated possibility of creating soldiers resistant toacute radiation syndromewho could survivenuclear fallout.[5]
U.S. Army
editIn the bookThe Men Who Stare at Goats(2004), Welsh journalistJon Ronsondocumented how the U.S. military repeatedly tried and failed to train soldiers in the use of parascientific andpseudoscientificcombat techniques during theCold War,[6]experimenting withNew Agetactics andpsychicphenomena such asremote viewing,astral projection,"death touch"and mind reading against various Soviet targets. The book also inspired awar comedy of the same name(2009) directed byGrant Heslov,starringGeorge Clooney.[7]
Fictional examples
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The following are the known fictional super soldiers:
- Agent 47from theHitmanfranchise
- Agent SmithfromThe Matrixfranchise
- BloodshotfromValiant Comics
- Bane,Captain Atom,Deathstroke,KGBeast,Major Force,andRavagerfromDC Comics
- Captain America,Deadpool,Deathlok,Nuke,Sabretooth,U.S. Agent,Winter Soldier,andWolverinefromMarvel Comics
- TheClone troopersand theStormtroopersfrom theStar Warsfranchise
- Duke Nukem
- Hannahfrom the2011 live-action film of the same nameand the2019 TV series of the same name
- Jill ValentinefromResident Evil
- Lars Alexanderssonfrom theTekkenfranchise
- Master ChieffromHalo
- The Doomguy (Protagonist in the Doom Franchise)
- Universal SoldierFranchise
- Solid SnakeandBig BossfromMetal Gear
- TheSpace MarinesfromWarhammer 40,000
- Starship Troopers
- TheTerminator
See also
editReferences
edit- ^The future soldier.Archived2019-08-06 at theWayback MachineA Soldier Domain for Full Spectrum Warfare. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
- ^Ryder, Mike (2021)."Conscripts from birth: war and soldiery in the grim darkness of the far future"(PDF).Fantastika.5(1).Archived(PDF)from the original on 12 November 2022.Retrieved12 November2022.
- ^Hood, Cooper (June 3, 2020)."All 23 Super Soldiers Created In The MCU (Not Just Captain America)".ScreenRant.
- ^Krishnan, Armin (24 October 2013)."The Cyborgization of Human Soldiers".Footnote1.Archivedfrom the original on 24 May 2015.Retrieved1 May2015.
- ^Chen, Stephen (March 29, 2023)."Chinese team behind extreme animal gene experiment says it may lead to super soldiers who survive nuclear fallout".South China Morning Post.Archivedfrom the original on March 29, 2023.RetrievedMarch 30,2023.
- ^Adams, Tim (21 November 2004)."Acting the giddy goat".Book review.Guardian News.Archivedfrom the original on 10 September 2021.Retrieved5 August2013.
The Men Who Stare at Goatsby Jon Ronson, Picador, pp.240.
- ^Heussner, Ki Mae (Nov 9, 2009)."Psychic Spies: Any Truth in 'Men Who Stare at Goats?'".ABC News.Archivedfrom the original on 29 July 2013.Retrieved13 July2013.
Ronson, Jon(2009).The Men Who Stare at Goats.Simon & Schuster.ISBN978-1439181775.