Recently a tied bundle of files appeared on my doorstep. The tag attached to
the bundle gave no clue to the sender’s identity as it merely read “you might
find these interesting.”
The files detail various attempts and projects of the United States government
to create “super-soldiers”. This article attempts to combine this information
with the already known on these Projects. This article is by nature
incomplete, as there are gaps in the files and conflicting reports in the
public record.
In May of 1937 Dr Abraham Erskine, who was also known as Dr Reinstein, was
brought on board Project: Rebirth by Dr Clark Savage Jnr. Erskine had been
working on his serum for human growth before the Second World War in Germany.
He and his assistant Paul Veidt were forced to work for the Nazis. In 1936,
the pair escaped Germany and fled to America. Neither man was able to work in
the open and spent nearly a year in secrecy and poverty.
Veidt who has grown tired of the poverty used the imperfect growth serum on
derelicts. The formula turned the men into hulking monsters but only for 24
hours. After this period their bodies waste away and their skeletal remains
are unstoppable until the collapse of their metabolism.
The strange case of the shrieking skeletons was investigated by both The
Shadow and Doc Savage. Both men stopped Veidt’s crime spree as well as
capturing a Nazi spy.
(THE SHADOW AND DOC SAVAGE: THE CASE OF THE SHRIEKING SKELETONS)
It appears that Erskine had another assistant whom for whatever reason could
not escape and who was imprisoned. This assistant was able to perfect the
serum that it did not need Vita Rays. But he did not turn the serum over to
the Nazis and told that he could not perfect the serum. By 1941, the
assistant was thrown into jail where one of his fellow prisoners was Keen
Marlow [1] Marlow took the dose of the serum that the apparently dying
assistant had hidden from the Nazis and adopted the codename of The
Destroyer. However the serum was weaker that that given to Rogers and had
worn off by 1946. (MYSTIC 6)
It now also appears that after the escape of Dr Erskine, the Nazis assigned
the task of creating a super soldier to the insanely brilliant Doktor Kharnov
von Kripplor but more on him later.
As stated earlier Savage then recommended Erskine for PROJECT REBIRTH, which
was also known as Project Gladiator (see THE STING OF THE GREEN HORNET). The
files reveal that Dr Clark Savage Snr and his son established this project in
1920 after Savage Snr expedition in the Yucatan under the name of Dr Daniel
Hardin. On that trip Savage Snr met Hugo Danner, who related his life story
to older man. Savage returned home and used that information in two ways he
started the Centre to examine the mutations of the Wold Newton Family (see
PRETENDERS AMONGST US) and he started researching the formula that
Abegdano Danner used on Danner’s son. According to Professor Dennis Power,
Danner got information from a Cappellan scientist by the name of Marra who he
had been corresponding with. The serum had the ability to make humans nearly
the equal of Kryptonians. (
ALIENS
AMONG US)
Savage researched this with his son, Doc Savage. Doc was at a medical
conference to listen to Dr Erskine at some point in the 20’s. Doc was there to
confer with his colleagues on some of the points that were puzzling him and
his father. He talked to Erskine after the lecture and the pair began
corresponding.
Savage eventually located Erskine, who was using the name Reinstein, and had
him put in charge of Project Rebirth and was granted access to Doc’s notes on
the “Gladiator” serum. Even with that information it took Erskine four years
to fully perfect the Serum. According to the files Erskine’s breakthrough
came after he was able to examine Superman and saw the Kryptonian physiology
in the flesh. (Based on a suggestion in Professor Al Schroeder's
THE SUPER-SOLDIER PROJECT)
Erskine was finally ready and he needed human test subjects, so he contacted
Savage and asked if he could recommend anyone. Luckily, Doc’s aide, Professor
William Harper Littlejohn (Johnny), was able to nominate the ideal candidate,
his nephew Steve Rogers. (For more information about the family connection of
Johnny see
THE PORTERS by Professor Chuck Loridans. For the connection between Johnny
and Steve Rogers see Professor Al Schroeder’s
THE ROGERS ROLE CALL OR A FLAG WAVING FAMILY TREE. For more information
on the other side of Steve’s family see Professor Mark Brown’s
THE MAGNIFICENT GORDONS.)
The process started with some very primitive bionics with the insertion of
steel tubes into the marrow of his bones. This was aided by a calcium rich
diet, which strengthened the bones ready for muscle build up. Roger’s diet
then was high in protein and this combined with top secret chemical
preparations and rigorous exercise built up his muscles and a rigorous
exercise regime, based on the Clark Savage Jrs which built and toned his
muscles to their zenith. The chemicals altered Roger’s DNA to the height of
human achievement. But that was only half of the process, the final stage of
the process was that of a drug that altered the consciousness. Rogers
apparently either had a transcendental experience or went temporarily mad. He
was able to fine-tune his body and mind to a point where he had total body
control. (For more details see CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE GREAT GOLD STEAL by Ted
White). This temporary madness was only stopped by the use of Top Secret Vita
Rays.
The experiment was a success Rogers was destined to be the first of many super
soldiers to fight the axis, but tragedy struck, a Nazi traitor killed Erskine
and the Vita ray machine was destroyed. Lee Powell who was to have been the
second Super Soldier was never given the final injection, as they had no way
of stopping the madness.
With the death of Erskine, the super soldier formula and the secret of the
Vita Rays is lost. A number of scientists attempt to recreate the formula
(some of these will be dealt with later) The Allies (and the Axis) try other
methods of creating super agents.
Dr Peter Drury, who was a scientist working with Erskine [2], investigated
the possibility of invisible agents, [3] as well as creating werewolf agents.
[4]. Drury also attempted to work on the super soldier serum [5] Jess Nevins
has also discovered that a number of British agents used Professor Alfred
Gibberne’s new accelerator (see Jess Nevins'
ALL ACES SQUAD).
But these processes were unreliable or the effect upon the subjects was not
acceptable. So these processes were abandoned after the end of the Second
World War. Unfortunately, the end of the war also saw the disappearance of
Steve Rogers, the only link to the full researches of Dr Erskine. Erskine’s
research was years ahead of its time and it was lost totally. Scientists
searched fruitlessly to recreate both the serum and the Vita Rays.
Realising the propaganda value of both men the United States Government gave
both men patriotic costumes and codenames, Rogers became Captain America and
Powell became the Yankee Commando. Both men served with distinction in World
War Two until Steve Roger's disappearance during a battle with the Red Skull.
After the disappearance of Steve Rogers, which was naturally kept Top Secret,
President Truman asked Lee Powell to become the next Captain America. Powell
continued to work with James Buchanan Barnes, better known as Bucky. Powell
was Captain America until 1950 when Bucky was seriously injured and Powell
temporarily worked with a new sidekick Golden Girl who was also Powell‘s
girlfriend Betsy Ross (named after the seamstress who made the American Flag)
(Speculation based on The Official Marvel history of Captain America)
Bucky was seriously injured and could never return to crime fighting. After
discovering this Powell retired as Captain America. It was then leaked to the
world at large that Captain America had died at the end of World War Two. In
order to prevent any old enemies from hunting down the injured Bucky it was
leaked that he had in fact died in the same incident that was responsible for
the for the disappearance of Steve Rogers. According to my fellow scholar
Professor Greg Gick, Barnes is alive and well living in Shelbyville Indiana.
After the retirement and disappearance of Powell, the final connection to the
researches of Dr Erskine was lost and Project Gladiator and Rebirth were
discontinued. Just as the CIA replaced the OSS, a new government office was
formed. To replace the diverse projects of Projects Rebirth, Gladiator,
Project M. and X Projects a new office to consolidate and direct existing and
future super soldier projects. This office was innocuously called the Office
of Scientific Investigation (OSI) and had two primary objectives firstly to
look into the possibility of mechanical enhancements to create a super
soldier, called Project Cyborg, and to investigate unusual events, the latter
section was called the Office of Special Operations. (OSO) [6].
After the retirement of Powell and Barnes, it was discovered that someone was
aware that Steve Rogers was the original Captain America. This individual had
legally changed his name to Steve Rogers and had plastic surgery to resemble
his hero. Lamentably his true identity has been lost forever so he shall be
referred to as “Rogers”. “Rogers” became a teacher and discovered that one
of his students Jack Monroe was also a big fan of Captain America.
In 1953, the second individual calling himself the Red Skull attacked the
United Nations and held the delegates as hostages. “Rogers” revealed that he
recreated and improved the Super soldier serum removing the need for Vita
Rays. Both men injected themselves with this serum and defeated the Skull.
But within two years the psychosis had developed in both subjects and the OSI
had both men cryogenically suspended until a cure is found.
After this incident all new attempts to recreate the serum were suspended
until new information, such as the recreation of the Serum and the discovery
of Roger's identity could be explained. There was a concern that there was
either a double agent or a major information leak.
Thanks to the work of my fellow researchers, Professors John Small and Dennis
Power; it can now be revealed that this fear was in fact legitimate. It
appears that Dr Peter Drury was not only working for the American Government
and the Nazis but he was an agent for the Nine. "Rogers" it now appears was a
guinea pig for one of Drury's serums to see if it would work. The trial
appears to have been a success the serum was injected into hundreds of babies
on the orders of the Nine. It appears that the plan was to create a race of
warriors to protect the Nine. However, the effect of the serum on the psyche
of many of these children created megalomania and they turned against their
masters and attempted to rule the world. (See Professor John Small's
THE EUGENICS WAR: DECLASSIFIED for more information) [7]
it is also around this time that the US government created the Lichfield
project attempting to create super soldiers. It appears that this may be an
offical offshoot of the Eugenics that created Khan. There were 16 children
from this project, eight boys called Adam and eight girls called Eve. By the
age of 16 psychosis had set in and by age 20 they were homocidal. All but
three of the Eves had died by 1993 (THE X FILES "Eve")
Dr Christopher Gregor started a different type of experiment, under the
supervision of a young CIA Agent Gerald Risco. Gregor had been a member of
the team that re-animated Private Elliot "Lucky" Taylor for the Creature
Commandos (see Footnote 4 for more information) and he attempted to create an
army of Universal Soldiers or "unisols". Later that year he was successful in
reanimating Captain William Stryker (GR1), the first of twelve to be
reanimated using large doses of electricity but Gregor was unable to enhance
these soldiers. Other Soldiers included Lt Mark Thomson (GR2) (died 1953
resurrected 1954) and Eric Devereux (GR5) (died 1959, resurrected 1960)
(UNIVERSAL SOLDIER II: BROTHERS IN ARMS)
The OSI at this time was conducting various scientific investigations and in
1953 uncovered a new element Serranium and in 1954 investigated the sabotage
of a pair of robots to be used for space exploration. (See THE MAGNETIC
MONSTER (1953) and GOG (1954); for different takes on these cases see
Professor Michael Winkle’s
MEGAFAUNA OF THE 1950s.)
In 1965, the second Batman and Robin team uncovered Steve Rogers in the
Arctic. With the return of Rogers to aid in research, a new attempt to
recreate the super soldier serum was launched. (BATMAN CAPTAIN AMERICA)
In 1971, animal trials for bionics started and Max, a German Shepard, had all
four legs and his jaw replaced. Whilst the bionics were successful, Max was
uncontrollable and was kennelled for six years, when Jaime Sommers saved him
from being put down.
(“The Bionic Dog parts 1 and 2” THE BIONIC WOMAN)
In 1972, the new serum was ready for human trails and to eliminate the
likelihood of an adverse reaction the trial was conducted on the Jean Rogers,
the daughter of Steve Rogers. It appears that Jean was conceived just before
the fateful mission where Rogers disappeared. After Jean’s birth her mother
was killed and relatives raised Jean.
(QUESTAR 4 -10)
Jean was injected with the serum but rather than granting her super strength
and abilities it merely put her into a coma. [8] This attempt was considered a
failure and all attempts at new version of the formula were cancelled unless
it could be proven completely safe for human use. [9] The files also reveal
that Dr Drury was called into examine her to see what caused the coma.
Drury's report was inconclusive, as it appears that both the serum and Jean's
genetic make up contributed to the coma. (However one wonders what Drury put
into his secret report to the Nine.)
Later that year after some modifications, Project Cyborg of the OSI was ready
to go and waiting for a human test subject when Col. Steve Austin, astronaut
and test pilot, crashed the M3F5. The accident destroyed legs, an arm and an
eye as well as many internal injuries. At a cost of six million dollars
Austin was rebuilt. The medical team consisted of Dr Ashburn, Dr Michael
Killian, Dr Rudy Wells and Dr Nick Maggio. [10] (CYBORG by Martin Caidin)
The new limbs were nuclear powered and gave Austin a strength level near that
of Superman. The new eye was basically a camera connected to the brain
allowing for a wider range of vision for Col Austin. These enhancements cost
six million dollars.
Two years later, race car driver Barney Hiller [11] was involved in a serious
crash and at a cost of seven million had all four limbs replaced. These limbs
were an advancement upon those of Col. Austin and Hiller was intended a
secondary bionic agent. Hiller, however, was unstable and attempted to kill
Col Austin. His bionics were “de-powered” and he was placed into a security
facility. (“The Seven Million Dollar Man” THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN)
Four months after the failed attempt to create a backup bionic man, Steve
rekindled a relationship with an old flame Jaime Sommers. (For Jaime’s family
connections see Professor Chuck Loridans
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT.) Jaime was a rising professional tennis player and
the couple was happy. Jaime then had a skydiving accident, which injured her
legs, an arm and an ear. Austin begged Goldman and the OSI to save her life
and so for a classified sum she was made bionic. Unfortunately, Jaime was
declared dead after several malfunctions show that she had a blood clot caused
by a rejection of her bionics. (“The Bionic Woman parts 1 and 2” THE SIX
MILLION DOLLAR MAN)
However six months later Austin was in hospital recuperating from his most
recent mission, when he sees Jaime alive. It appears that a new scientist on
the cybernetics program, Dr Michael Marchetti was able to cryogenically freeze
Jaime to allow the operation to save her life. Due to the surgery Jaime is in
great pain when she remembers the past and after one mission Jaime loses most
of her memory of her relationship with Steve and goes on to become a solo
operative of the OSI. (‘The Return of the Bionic Woman parts 1 and 2” THE SIX
MILLION DOLLAR MAN)
After the success of the Bionic Woman it was decided to reactivate Hiller who
had received treatment. Hiller was still unstable and turned to crime.
Austin again stopped him and this time Hiller was permanently returned to the
security facility [12] (’The Bionic Criminal” THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN)
In 1977, it was shown that there was a new drug developed by the OSI called
adrenalizine, which is able to give normal humans strength equal to that of a
bionics enhanced individual. Lisa Galloway, a criminal who had been
surgically altered to look like Jaime, used it to duplicate the abilities of
Jaime. Like most attempts at a new Super soldier serum this one was a failure
as it was poisonous and eventually killed the user. Jaime was able to save
Lisa in time. (‘Deadly Ringer parts 1 and 2” THE BIONIC WOMAN)
Later that year John Steed and his assistants Mike Gambit and Purdey
encountered three Soviet Gladiators. These men were able to deflect bullets
using their enhanced reflexes as well as punch through solid steel.
(“Gladiator” THE NEW AVENGERS)
After this encounter, the US government was very interested in the source of
these men. A complete investigation, according to the files, was conducted by
the OSI and it was discovered that the unnamed assistant, who was captured by
the Nazis and gave Keen Marlow his serum, did not die as first thought.
Instead he survived and was eventually liberated by the Soviets at the end of
the Second World War. At the time of his liberation the assistant was quite
ill and it was a number of years before he was well enough to tell the Soviets
who he was and what he possessed. But his illness and treatment at the hands
of the Nazis had affected his memory and it took him nearly thirty years to
recreate the serum. He was only able to make three doses of a stronger than
usual serum before he died. So another source of the serum was lost forever.
By 1978, both bionic agents are starting to wind down. Jaime wished to retire
from the OSI and become a normal citizen but is threatened with being sent to
one of the security facilities mentioned elsewhere in this article. After
being on the run is able to work out a deal to be to remain with the OSI and
free. (“On the Run” THE BIONIC WOMAN) Austin was also taking fewer missions
and both went into a semi retirement.
In 1985 the Unisol Project received a boost when Dr Walker joined the project
and began hyperaccelating the bodies of the corpse that had been on storage
since 1969. This process allowed the creation of "zombie" super soldiers that
followed orders exactly and through the use of cold were able to rapidly heal
from wounds that would kill normal soldiers. Thirty-two of these soldiers
were created in rapid succession; strangely, the first and last soldiers Sgt
Andrew Scott (GR13) and Private Luc Devreux (GR44) both killed each other in
Vietnam in 1969. (Luc is the younger brother of Eric GR5 Devreux) After
reanimating Luc, Dr Gregor left the project disgusted with the process.
(Speculation based on UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (1992), UNIVERSAL SOLDIER II: BROTHERS
IN ARMS (1998) and UNIVERSAL SOLDIER III: UNFINISHED BUSINESS (1998)) The
process costs forty million dollars per soldier and was jointly funded by the
US Army, the CIA and Stafford Industries (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER novelisation)
In 1987 Steve and Jaime return to active duty as an old enemy tries to kill
them. Steve’s son, Michael, from a short lived pre-bionic marriage, is
injured in a plane crash and given the latest in bionics by Dr Rudy Wells and
the trio defeats this enemy (THE RETURN OF THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND THE
BIONIC WOMAN).
Two years later Rudy Wells and his team have developed primitive
nanotechnology that will allow bionic enhancements to existing limbs rather
than through prosthesis as had previously happened. The first test subject is
a paraplegic girl named Katie Mason. [13] The operation is a complete success
but a bionic saboteur is out to stop the World Unity Games. Katie as well as
Steve and Jaime come under suspicion. Oscar Goldman fakes an accident for his
nephew Jimmy Goldman in order for Jimmy to get these new bionic implants. [14]
But Jimmy does not get the implants and Katie is reluctantly used as an
agent. Katie teams with Steve and Jaime to defeat a bionic agent for a
foreign power. [15] (BIONIC SHOWDOWN)
Also in 1989, after four years of testing, twelve Unisols are used in the
field for the first time, the test is a failure as Andrew Scott and Luc
Devreux regain their memories and begin their battle anew and Devreux goes on
the run. A reporter, Veronica Roberts, attempts to help Devreux and expose
the Unisol project. In order to stop Roberts, she is falsely accused of
killing her camera man who was murdered in the rescue of Luc (UNIVERSAL
SOLDIER) After Devreux defeats Scott, he is recalled by a chip in his head to
Unisol HQ. Roberts follows him and uncovers information on the Unisols and
discovers Eric Devreux and rescues both brothers. Eric is unfortunately
killed in an attack by other Unisols and Luc vows to stop the man behind the
Unisol project. (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER II: BROTHERS IN ARMS) With the disastrous
trial of the Unisols all funding is withdrawn from the project and Gerald
Risco, now Deputy Director of the CIA, decides to use the Unisols to hijack a
gold shipment. Roberts and Devreux use this opportunity to expose the Unisol
project's use of corpses and clear Roberts’s name. (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER III:
UNFINISHED BUSINESS) Luc and Veronica later married and had a daughter Hilary,
Luc was aided in his return to being a normal human by Dr Dylan Cotner.
In 1990, nanotechnology became the focus of Project Magic Mirror, which has
the goal of rebuilding soldiers injured in the Gulf War. The first test
subject PFC Timothy Foster is a complete success. But in 1992 he escaped and
was not found until 2000. (“I am the Greatest” NOW AND AGAIN)
After Foster’s escape it was decided to allow new researchers to take over.
Dr Theodore Morris was set the task of creating a synthetic human with
“strength of Superman, the grace of Fred Astaire and the speed of Michael
Jordan”. (This was found in a memo to Dr Morris) (For a detailed look at the
strength of Superman see Professor Matthew Baugh’s
SUPER-POWERS IN THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE...EXPLAINED! and Professor Al
Schroeder’s "
More
Powerful than a Locomotive") [16]
In 1993 FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate a series of cloned
girls code named "Eve" who were the second generation of super soldiers from
the Cold War project known as the Litchfield experiment. The "twin" girls
were created by one of the earlier Eves, using the name Dr Sally Kindrick, who
was a worker at a fertility clinic. Both girls murdered their fathers and are
in custody along with another of the earlier Eves. (THE X FILES "Eve")
It is also during this time that the top secret Eugenics Wars take place and
by 1997 all but a handful are stopped. The surviving 84 "supermen" use their
influence to take an experimental sleeper ship. The Serum in their bodies
allows them to enter and survive the hibernation required for such a journey
(STAR TREK: The Space Seed)
Dr Kharnov von Kripplor, whom I mentioned earlier, reappeared in 1998 in the
intervening years he had continued to try and develop a zombie super soldier.
His only success was known as Major Maxim. von Kripplor and Maxim joined the
neo Nazi group known as the Hammer. The Hammer's operations were stopped by
the group known as Danger Girl which consists of Deuce, a former 00 agent,
Natalia Kassle, a Soviet agent, Sydney Savage, an Australian agent [17],
"Silicon" Valerie, a British computer whiz, and Abbey Chase, an archaeologist
and adventurer. This group is aided by American agent Johnny Barracuda. The
files reveal that Barracuda and Savage were captured by the Hammer and taken
to the Doktor. The doctor then tested his serum on one of Barracuda's fellow
American Agents code named "Falcon". The reaction of the serum was initially
very similar to that of Erskine's early formula and the subject gains great
muscle mass and goes mad, but within six seconds bio-cellular liquidisation
occurs and the subject dies. Whilst Doktor von Kripplor died in the final
showdown between Danger Girl and the Hammer, it appears that Maxim may have
survived and will one day seek revenge on the Danger Girl operatives. (DANGER
GIRL 1 - 7)
Under Dr Dylan Cotner the Unisol program was reinstated with full military
funding and Luc Devreux was brought in as a consultant. In order to prevent
the Unisols going rogue again all unisols were controlled by an Artificial
intelligence, S.E.T.H. (Self Evolving Thought Helix)
Dr Morris was given total access to works of Dr Peyton Westlake [18] and Dr
Maurice Xavier [19] on synthetic skin. Morris was able to examine the works of
Dr Francis Flegg, Professor Damien Harmon, Dr David Harrison and Dr Tyler
Westron on synthetic blood [20] and the DNA records of John Loengard [21].
After several years Morris had replicated and improved on every part of the
body except for the brain. By 1998 Morris was ready to admit defeat and his
backers decided to allow another scientist the chance to recreate the Super
Soldier Serum.
Dr Maggie Walsh was assigned to create super soldiers from the work of Drs
Erskine and Drury. (See Chuck Loridans
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT) Instead of relying on one large dose Walsh decided
to give her test subjects small daily doses of her version of the serum. The
tests were successful and Walsh’s super soldiers were put into the field in
1999 as monster hunters in the town of Sunnydale CA. and codenamed the
Initiative. (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)
Meanwhile, Dr Morris was given permission to harvest the brain of an accident
victim to use in his body. At that time by lucky co-incidence 45-year-old
insurance salesman Michael Wiseman was “accidentally” pushed under a train.
Wiseman’s brain was harvested and through the miracles of modern technology
was given the option of being made a new man. [22] The catch was that he could
have no more contact with his family [23] (“Origins” NOW AND AGAIN)
Michael Newman, as he became known, investigated several cases. In one case,
Newman had attempted to capture Timothy Foster, who has adopted the identity
of Macao T. Jones and become a contender for the world heavyweight
championship. In a transcript of Newman’s briefing session the following
exchange is seen:
“MICHAEL: Look, it's not my area, but just between us for a fabulously
rich, somewhat spoiled media darling he seems like a pretty decent, grounded
guy. I mean, do you really have to do anything?
DR. MORRIS: Tell me you're joking, Mr. Wiseman.
MICHAEL: No, I'm serious. I mean, why can't he just be champ?
Somebody's got to do it.
DR. MORRIS: Okay, fine. Let's have it your way. But suppose PFC. Foster
slips up and someone, anyone discovers the secret of his success is more than
just a sweet left jab. What if he's hurt in the ring? Hell, forget the ring.
He's hurt in a car accident. The attending physician cuts him open only to
discover that the knee bone ain't connected to the shinbone. Hell, forget the
knee bone. There are bits and pieces in this fellow that aren't even
illustrated in Gray's Anatomy.
MICHAEL: Okay, I get it. So what's going to happen to him?
DR. MORRIS: Suffice to say that his strength and appearance will be
dynamically altered. We'll obviously have to do something with his memory,
some sort of surgical procedure involving the brain.
MICHAEL: Lobotomy?
DR. MORRIS: As I said, some sort of surgical procedure involving the
brain. And after all that's accomplished I will make it my business to see to
it that he lives out his days comfortably in a government facility.
MICHAEL: Right. After all that's accomplished.
DR. MORRIS: Need I remind you, Mr. Wiseman that he was offered the same
proposition you were given? He entered into an agreement he accepted the
conditions of that agreement fully aware of the consequences involved in
violating it. He then chose to violate that agreement. And under the
circumstances I think he's lived an unusually... comfortable life. I'll leave
the map here. Let's skip our workout for today. Leave you some time to...
yourself.” (“I am the Greatest” NOW AND AGAIN)
Clearly, Dr Morris is planning on sending Foster to a village-like facility as
has been discussed earlier, indeed these are the same arguments used when
Jaime Sommers wanted to leave the OSI.
In his next case a month later Newman had to break open a bank vault from the
inside to save a life, after a robbery at a bank. During the insurance
investigation by Newman’s friend, Roger Bender, compared Newman to Captain
America. (“Film at Eleven” NOW AND AGAIN)
In another case three months later Newman met a mentally retarded young man
who believes in superheroes, Jimmy Ferguson. In this case Newman called Dr
Morris, Commissioner Gordon and called his apartment the Batcave. A lady
seeing Mr Newman called out to him that she has some Wonder Woman for him.
Jimmy assisted Newman in the capture of some terrorists and was injured.
Newman visited Jimmy in hospital to ensure that his secret was safe and Jimmy
made a reference to Lois Lane’s relationship with Superman. (“Wonder Boy”
NOW AND AGAIN)
Throughout this Dr Morris clearly states that there is no such thing as
superheroes. But if we recall that Dr Morris is an agent of the government
then it is apparent that he is clearly working to convince people that
superheroes are fictional. As Professor John Small points out in his article
A CASE OF A CASE OF SECRET IDENTITY RECASED that all of these heroes were
real and most had ceased operations shortly after the Second World War. That
combined with the fictional adventures that the comic book companies produced
had convinced most ordinary people that superheroes were not real and that
people like Jimmy who believed superheroes were real were mentally
handicapped.
A few months after this a lawyer began an investigation into the death of
Michael Wiseman as part of a lawsuit against a respirator manufacturing
company. Michael’s wife Lisa had come too close to the truth that her husband
was not dead, Dr Morris felt that she was a liability and was going to
eliminate her and her daughter Heather. Michael on discovering this was
horrified and escaped from Dr Morris to rescue his former family. Lamentably,
this is the last case covered in the files it is not clear if Michael is still
on the run, imprisoned in a “government facility”, his brain replaced or if he
was able to make a deal with Dr Morris to return to duty. The latter option
seems especially likely given that the first menace he faced, a terrorist
known only as the Egg Man, had just escaped from prison. (“The Eggman Cometh”
NOW AND AGAIN)
Over in Sunnydale, Dr Walsh was having problems of her own with the
Initiative. It appears that Dr Walsh had a side project, the creation of a
demon-human-robot hybrid named Adam. This eventually caused the death of
Walsh and the loss of her serum. It appears that this serum was addictive and
the soldiers of the Initiative had to go through withdrawal. The accumulated
serum maintained their heightened abilities but damaged their hearts and
surgery was required. One of these Initiative super soldiers, Riley Finn, left
the military to aid the current member of the Order of Slayers. Through the
effects of a spell, one of the slayer’s sidekicks, Xander Harris, was aware of
Finn’s status and at one point referred to him as Captain America. (BUFFY THE
VAMPIRE SLAYER)
Also in 1999 with the success of the "Newman" prototype all funding to the
Unisol project was cut. Upon this discovery S.E.T.H. went rogue to prevent the
government shutting him down. He rallied the Unisols who battled against the
army. S.E.T.H. then contacted "Squid" a hacker who formerly for the project
but was fired for his radical idea of miniaturising S.E.T.H. and placing him
in a "Newman" body. Unknown to everyone else at the project Squid had made
the body and S.E.T.H. implanted his brain into the body. The now normal Luc
Devereux battled and stopped the improved S.E.T.H. and the other Unisols.[24]
(UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: THE RETURN)
So another type of super soldier was unstable and the Walsh serum could not
replicate Captain America. The only truly effective recreation of the serum’s
effects is the nanotechnology. In 2000, Mack Bolan uncovered a Cthulhu
sponsored Nazi infiltration of the U.S. Government. This group was known as
COMCON (the Committee to Suspend the American Constitution) and it appears
that they were able pirate the nanotechnology and create their own super-agent
Michael Talbot, codename Splatterpunk. Finally, Bolan killed Talbot. [25]
(EXECUTIONER 264: Iron Fist) It appears that a general, who had become a
senator and a major sponsor of Dr Morris was the leak to COMCON. According to
the files, Michael Newman stopped this leak. (“Everybody Who’s Anybody” NOW
AND AGAIN)
The files also mention that another project was started sometime in the Cold
War by the group known as the Consortium to create super soldiers through the
intergration of human and alien DNA. These soldiers were unstoppable and were
discoverd by FBI agents Dana Scully, John Doggett and former agent Fox Mulder.
It appears that Agent Scully's pregnancy was to have been the first of these
hybrids from the infant stage but it appears that the was an unenhanced human
child. (THE X FILES "
The search to create an army of Super-Soldiers continues on. Nanotechnology
seems to be the most likely option at the moment but it is currently very
expensive at 2 billion dollars for one agent. But there continues to be
research to recreate Dr Erskine’s serum. The files also make reference to a
Project Manticore which appears to involve genetic splicing of animal DNA into
human DNA, the first test subject are due to be born either later this year
(2001) or early next year (2002).[26]
NOTES
[1] Research is underway to see if Keen Marlow is any relation to Philip
Marlowe and his father Charlie Marlow.
[2] Thanks to the researches of Dennis Power, it appears that Dr Drury
recruited and briefed the Nazi traitor.
[3] See Dennis Power’s
THE INVISIBLES for more information. In RETURN OF THE WOLFMAN by Jeff
Rovin, Larry Talbot asserts that there were squads of invisible agents this
however appears to be in error. My fellow researchers Dennis Power and Win
Eckert have identified several invisible secret agents: Frank Raymond (aka
Frank Griffin THE INVISIBLE AGENT 1942), the six Japanese Soldiers of the film
TOMEI NINGEN 1954 (English titles INVISIBLE AVENGER, INVISIBLE MAN and
TRANSPARENT HUMAN), Dr Daniel Westin (THE INVISIBLE MAN 1975) and Darien
Fawkes (THE INVISIBLE MAN 2000). Further research shows that Dr Peter Brady
also operated as an invisible agent for Great Britain (THE INVISIBLE MAN 1956)
as well as Ben Murphy replacing Dr Westin after the disappearance of Westin
and his wife. (GEMINI MAN 1976) It appears that the US military was still
attempting to gain a stable antidote to the invisibility formula for Darian
Fawkes through a team lead by Dr Sebastian Caine (HOLLOW MAN 2000)
[3a] Some further research has shown that an uncle of John Steed was an agent
for the Allies in WW1 where he met Fenton Hardy (Assault on the Tower THE
HARDY BOYS MYSTERIES). (All the cases seen in that show was in fact updated
versions of cases of the boys from the 1920’s). “S” offered his services in
the Second World War and was a trial subject the improved invisibility serum.
He was active for most of the war behind the lines. When the war ended it was
discovered that he could not be restored to visibility. He was given the code
name of “Invisible Jones” (this is fairly consistent with his story of
learning this in camouflage until the accident) and given a position in the
archives of the Ministry of Defence. He was last “seen” helping his nephew
discover the location of Sir August DeWynter’s hideout in 1965. (THE AVENGERS
FILM) Steed was unaware of his relationship to Colonel Jones and his existence
was top secret, which explains Mrs Peel’s statement in 1967 that invisibility
is impossible. (The See Through Man THE AVENGERS)
[3b] Professor Jess Nevins has also pointed out that Dr Terrance O'Neil was
also working on the problem from a different perspective through the use of an
Invisibility Ray but the same accident that rendered his daughter invisible
also destroyed the ray machine. (see "Invisible Scarlet O'Neil:")
[4] Larry Talbot reported that Drury attempted to get a blood sample from him
but he refused. It appears that Dr Lorenzo Cameron was more successful in
attaining a werewolf blood sample and using it as the basis of his serum to
create a werewolf (see the film THE MAD MONSTER 1942). Cameron’s research
after his death was forwarded to “Project M” this project attempted to create
Monsters to fight the Axis. Cameron’s work was used on Warren Griffith so he
became a werewolf. Private Elliot “Lucky” Taylor’s live was saved by the use
of the Frankenstein Process after he stepped on a mine. Just where the US
government got hold of the process is currently unknown. Similarly, Sergeant
Vincent Velcro was made into a vampire. This group became known as the
Creature Commandoes. They were later joined by Dr Myrna Rhodes aka Dr Medusa,
due to the fact that her hair had been transformed into snakes.
[4a] It appears that in 1974 there was another attempt at creating a werewolf
agent, however the agent was uncontrollable and was shot with a silver
bullet. Twenty years the later the cryogenically stored corpse is used to
test a new metal based synthetic skin and after the silver bullets are removed
the now metal-skinned wolfman goes on a rampage before he can be stopped.
(PROJECT: METALBEAST 1995)
[5] My fellow researcher Professor Dennis Power informs me that "The Unknown
Soldier was a badly burned, severely wounded soldier in the South Pacific, a
Japanese grenade put him in that condition. His identity was unknown and he
was amnesiac. He was I believe burned over most of his body, hence the
bandages. The Japanese captured the hospital he was in. Since he was mortally
wounded and had no identity, the army gave him to a research doctor who was
working on a cellular regeneration formula. The Japanese Doctor was originally
from the States but had been living in Japan at the break of the war and had
been forced to work for the Army. The Unknown Soldier had a "one-in-a-million"
body chemistry that allowed the formula to work on him, it killed everyone
else. He healed about twenty times faster than anyone else, he can bulk up
much denser muscle tissue allowing him to "bench press a Volkswagens" His
senses are as sharp as a humans can be, as is his sense of balance and
agility. Every few years his cells completely regenerate making him
perpetually 19 years old. No one knows what he looks like so his face is
reconstructed to look average. Because of his regenerative abilities he can
undergo many instances of plastic surgery and made to look like anyone with
very little risk to his health“ Prof Powers adds that the Japanese Doctor was
an assistant of Dr Peter Drury in his researches into the Super soldier serum.
This version of the serum due to its limited potential was dropped in favour
of more productive lines of research such as the above mentioned Werewolf and
invisibility serums" (private email).
[6] Later investigations into unusual phenomenon by the OSI (called the OSIR
Office of Scientific Investigation and Research) were fictionalised in the TV
Program PSI FACTOR (1996 - 2000)
[7] Professor John Small has identified several of these "supermen" such as
Emile Vautrain (The Choice MISSION IMPOSSIBLE), Ali Sharif (A-TEAM 6:
Operation Desert Sun original novel by Charles Heath (Louis Chunovic) and
several THRUSH agents in THE RETURN OF THE MAN FROM UNCLE. (See Professor
John Small's
THE EUGENICS WAR: DECLASSIFIED for more information) It also seems likely
that Tom Moore and his twin brother Loki are also products of this project
(See the FEARLESS series by Francine Pascal) There is ongoing research into
the identities of other Eugenics supermen.
[8] It appears that one side effect of the serum is the ability for the body
to go into suspended animation which is why Captain America and his daughter
where able to do so, as well as “Rogers” and Jack Monroe. Current studies
suggest that Jean may awaken in another seventy years from now. Forrest J.
Ackerman in QUESTAR magazine told Jean’s story.
[8a] It has been thought that the Rogers family may be in possession of a gene
that allows for suspended animation as rumours suggest about Steve’s uncle
Anthony “Buck” Rogers (see
THE MAGNIFICENT GORDONS by Mark Brown and
ROGERS ROLE CALL by Al Schroeder)
[9] There are rumours that Steve had a son who was also given another trail
serum and took up the mantle of Captain America. (CAPTAIN AMERICA 1979 and
CAPTAIN AMERICA II: DEATH TOO SOON 1979) It appears that this version was
also a failure and Steve Junior was put out of commission after a few months.
[10] Maggio would later provide the synthetic skin for Dr Westin, the 1975
Invisible man. The research of Dennis Power has shown that Maggio was on loan
to the OSI from the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). (See THE INVISIBLES)
[11] The files suggest that the authorities tried to disguise his identity by
calling him Barney Miller, However it came to their attention that there was a
noted police officer by this name and so they reverted to his real name of
Barney Hiller.
[11a] Research indicates that Hiller was a first cousin to Perry Mason, His
mother was Randolph Mason’s sister.
[12] This and similar facilities are referred to several times in this article
and may in fact deserve it’s own article. It appears that there are
facilities throughout the world, that house the men and women who know too
much or who have received enhancements from the government. The most famous of
these is the Village as seen in THE PRISONER. Previously, I have touched on
this subject in my article
KEEPING SECRETS: A SPECULATIVE HISTORY OF THE MODERN BRITISH SECRET SERVICE
and discussed the role of the ISD and its successor agency in controlling
these prisons. It appears that the OSI, amongst other agencies, is a “feeder”
agency.
[12a] My colleague Jean-Marc Lofficier has pointed out that the agency that
controls David Callan (as seen in the series CALLAN) is most likely the same
agency that controlled the Village (as seen in THE PRISONER). He points out
“it's quite clear that the process of selection of Hunters [Callan’s bosses]
and No. 2 [no 6’s tormentors] is the same.” (From a private Email) Jean Marc
also points out that Callan later adopted the name Robert McCall and became
known as the EQUALISER.
[12b] John Steed and the agency that he works for also have connections to
these Security facilities. In 1969 Steed’s boss “Mother” was seen using
technology similar to that seen in the village. Later that year, with his
partner Tara King, Steed is sent to capture two escapees from one of the
facilities known as The Monastery.
[14] This incident is enlightening and makes one wonder just how many of the
other “convenient” accidents we have seen so far and will see later in this
article are deliberate.
[15] During the course of the investigation into the bionic traitor it was
discovered that the plans for an early prototype arm had been downloaded by a
hacker. All attempts by the OSI to locate this hacker were unsuccessful. But
there were reports in 1990 of a mysterious "Dark Avenger" who was terrorising
the Underworld. Captain David Strauss and Commissioner Peter Kinghorn after
their arrests for corruption claimed that the Dark Avenger was Judge Paul Kane
whom they had murdered a year earlier. Both men as well as a number of other
criminals claimed that the Dark Avenger had a "robot arm". Records indicate
that Kane worked with an informant, , who had been convicted previously on
hacking charges. (see DARK AVENGER 1990) Research continues to see if there is
any truth to these rumours and if Judge Kane was descended from Solomon Kane.
[16] Al points out that Superman can break open a fully locked bank vault a
feat replicated by Jaime Sommers and later Michael Wiseman showing that Morris
and his predecessors could replicate up to a point the strength of Superman
[18] For the efforts of Dr Westlake see DARKMAN (1990)
[18a] After his apparent death in a tragic explosion in his lab it appears
that he survived and underwent the experimental Rangeveritz procedure, which
in effect disconnects the nervous system stopping pain and other tactile
sensations. One of the side effects of this procedure is increased strength.
Westlake escaped and according to detailed reports in the file, Westlake
escapes the hospital breaking his restraints. Westlake then proceeded to use
his flawed skin, which only lasts 90 minutes in the light, to create masks to
gain revenge on the men who caused the explosion in his lab. After that he
fought other criminals as Darkman.
[18b] The U.S. military examined the possibility of using the Rangeveritz
process in its soldiers but the Chinese Military created a unit of soldiers
who had undergone the process. All the soldiers of the 701 squadron escaped
the military and all but one turned to crime. The soldier Tsui who remained
honest adopted the identity of the Black Mask to battle his former comrades
who were killing Hong Kong drug lords. It appears that Tsui may have links to
the Kato family. See HAP HAK (THE BLACK MASK) (1996)
[19] For the efforts of Dr Xavier see DR X (1932)
[20] For the efforts of Dr Flegg see THE RETURN OF DR X (1939), for Professor
Harmon see Robert Lory's DRACULA RETURNS (1973), Dr Harrison see SUNDOWN THE
VAMPIRE IN RETREAT (1989) and Dr Westron see Ron Goulart's VAMPIRELLA1:
BLOODSTALK (1969)
[20a] Flegg was not only attempted to create synthetic blood but he
independently recreated the Frankenstein Process for the reanimation of dead
tissue. However, Flegg’s process was flawed and the reanimated required large
regular transfusions of AB blood. It appears that Flegg brought back to life
Dr Xavier who had been executed because he had starved a baby to death as part
of his scientific study. Xavier instead of aiding Flegg in perfecting his
synthetic blood was consumed in prolonging his second life and finding AB
donors to drain and stay alive.
[21] John Loengard was an agent for Majestic 12 during the 1960’s as seen in
DARK SKIES (TV Series) See also Professor Dennis Power's
ALIENS AMONG US)
[22] This seem to have been standard operating procedure for the making a
covert operative for various agencies. In the 1970’s Remo Williams was a cop
who was framed and given a fake execution and was given a new face and offered
Sinanju and the chance to become CURE‘s enforcement arm. In the 1980’s
Michael Long was a policeman left for dead given plastic surgery and offered
KITT and the chance to become an agent for FLAG (The Foundation for Law and
Government).
[23] The files do answer the one big question I had about the selection of
Michael Wiseman. Why a tall, overweight, unfit, insurance salesman with
strong family ties was selected? If we look at the previous recipients we see
an astronaut, a professional race car driver, a professional tennis player, a
test pilot, a paraplegic and a soldier. If we ignore the paraplegic, Katie
Mason, as the OSI could not get bionics for the agent they wanted, we see
people with the training and/or fitness to handle the enhancements. On the two
occasion when it was considered to replace Wiseman’s brain, Dr Morris was
going to use a soldier’s and a policeman’s brains. So it does not appear that
Wiseman was the best candidate.
The answer as I said was in the file. On Wiseman’s birth certificate to be
precise. His father was listed as Scott Adler. As we know Scott Adler latter
changed his name to Marco Vukcic. It appears that Michael was the last child
conceived by Marco before his death in 1954. Consider, like his father
Michael had no interest in adventure or detection. He is tall and obese like
his uncle Nero Wolfe and gray eyed like his grandfather Sherlock Holmes. Many
of the reports indicate that Wiseman is more likely to use his brain rather
than his superhuman abilities to resolve the cases he undertakes. The files
indicate that Doc Savage suggested his distant cousin be watched for this
project.
[24] Curiously, the code to prevent S.E.T.H. from shutting down was NCC1701,
one is led to wonder what connection any of the Starship Enterprises may have
had with the creation of S.E.T.H. considering the trips into the past by the
crews of those ships.
[25] Research is being undertaken to see if there is a connection between
Splatterpunk and the family of Lycanthropes of the same name as seen in
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT by Chuck Loridans
[25a] Bolan and others compared Talbot to King Kong, Godzilla, The
Frankenstein’s monster, the Riddler, and the T1000 Terminator. Talbot reminds
Bolan of Doc Savage and Bolan notes that Talbot wears his knife like Crocodile
Dundee. The Nazi AeroDeth helicopters resemble the prototype helicopter Blue
Thunder, according to Bolan’s men. Bolan captures Splatterpunk and takes him
to Dr Donovan West for examination; it is currently being examined if he is
related to Dr Herbert West.
[26] Project Manticore can be seen in the series DARK ANGEL (2000 - current)
which is set in 2019. That series details the adventures of Max who was a
product of Manticore. Just how James Cameron came to be aware of Manticore
and the future of that project is unclear, though Cameron may have been told
by Sarah Conner in his research for TERMINATOR (1984) and TERMINATOR 2:
JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)..
Acknowledgements:
John Mengel (my Father): For suggesting the connection between the DESTROYER
and NOW AND AGAIN and setting on this train of thought.
John Small: For information about the SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN - INVISIBLE MAN
connection.
Chuck Loridans: For information about the SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN - INVISIBLE
MAN connection, PROJECT METALBEAST and FEARLESS information and for many
discussions about DARKMAN.
Matthew Baugh: For lending me THE GREAT GOLD STEAL
Teletoby: For the connection between Michael Newman and John Loengard
Dennis Power: For information on Peter Drury and Unknown Soldier and helpful
and appreciated advice and suggestions
Jean-Marc Lofficier for the PRISONER connections
Al Schroeder: For letting me freely use and adapt his theories and his
feedback and advice.
Jess Nevins: For suggesting the "Invisible Scarlet O'Neil" Connection
SOURCES USED
Baring-Gould, W. S., NERO WOLFE OF WEST 35th STREET
Caidin, Martin OPERATION NUKE
Montgomery, Gerald THE EXECUTIONER 264 IRON FIST
Rovin, Jeff ADVENTURE HEROES
Rovin, Jeff THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MONSTERS
Rovin, Jeff THE RETURN OF THE WOLFMAN
Steranko, James THE STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS Vol 1 and 2
Vance, Steve, Manoukin, Stan and Roucher, Vince THE SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE: THE
CASE OF THE SHRIEKING SKELETONS
White, Ted CAPTAIN AMERICA THE GREAT GOLD STEAL
“Zen and Lucy’s Now and Again Page”