The Same Weapon X Program Created Wolverine, Captain America, Luke Cage, And More

Project Rebirth was a secret WWII program. It aimed to build an army of Super Soldiers to win the war. Dr. Abraham Erskine, the project's lead scientist, was taken by a Third Reich spy moments after.Steve Rogers became Captain America.Captain America became the sole Super Soldier in the United States. This left the nation with only one Super Soldier, several experimental loose ends, and a strong desire to build new living weapons.

Professor Truett Hudson guided the Weapon Plus Program. Captain America was called "Weapon I." The program lost the secrets to his transformation. He was frozen in ice by that time, so the program sought new ways to make government-sponsored superhumans.

Before Weapon Plus experimented on humans again, they shifted focus to animals. Collaborating with a cybernetics corporation, Weapon II created animal super soldiers, each with unique high-tech upgrades.

The creature that officially took the role ofWeapon IIwas a squirrel with Wolverine-like claws. The program's more famous graduates formed a team calledBrute ForceBrute Force was made of a bear, a lion, a dolphin, a kangaroo, and an eagle. Each member of Brute Force gained the power to speak and boosted strength and intelligence through cybernetic enhancements. These members still exist in the Marvel Universe today.

For the third phase of the Weapon Plus Program, Professor Hudson and his team returned to testing people—specifically those who already possessed built-in superpowers.Harry Pizer, a British mutant with elastic and multi-sensory skin, joined the program. Experimentation gave him even more control over his skin.

Pizer became a government-sponsored superpower. He acted as a spy during the Cold War. He used his enhanced abilities for espionage and stealing documents. Pizer also showed a sadistic side. Another Weapon Plus graduate, Fantomex, shot and skinned him, giving him the nickname - the Skinless Man.

The fourth Weapon Plus Program iteration took a very different path than earlier attempts. WithDr. Ted Sallisat the head, "Project Sulfur" made the SO-2 Serum. This serum was meant to make soldiers immune to all biochemical attacks. It worked, but it also turned them into horrible, leafy monsters.

The first result from Weapon IV wasJackson Strode, who became Man-Slaughter and took dangerous missions for the United States. Later, Sallis encountered the serum and became Man-Thing—a heroic but ugly beast. Man-Thing burns anyone who feels fear and now guards the Nexus of Realities.

The Weapon Plus Program was active during the Vietnam War. Nick Fury headed an initiative called the Sym-Soldier Program.The Sym-Soldier Program involved bonding Klyntar symbiotes onto soldiers and sending them to fight. Venom was not the first alien goo to reach Earth.Project Venom tried to bond Klyntar symbiotes onto soldiers for battle. Venom was not the first alien goo to hit Earth.

After the Vietnam War, Weapon Plus recruited Dr. Noah Burstein. He was a brilliant scientist who showed he could cause superpowers using his electro-biochemical system. They made him head of Weapon VI, also called Project Power, giving him subjects from Seagate Prison.

After the Vietnam War, the Weapon Plus Program recruited Dr. Noah Burstein. He was a brilliant scientist who proved he could cause superpowers with his “electro-biochemical system.” They made him head of Weapon VI, also called “Project Power,” and gave him subjects from Seagate Prison.

Carl Lucas was one inmate.Carl Lucas was imprisoned.Lucas was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. When a racist guard used the electro-biochemical chamber on Lucas, Lucas received indestructible skin and super-strength.Lucas escaped prison using his new powers. He became a hero-for-hire, adopting the mantle Power Man and the civilian name Luke Cage.Lucas did this for a crime he didn't commit. A racist prison guard increased the drug dosage on Lucas in the electro-biochemical chamber, trying to end him. Instead, Lucas gained indestructible skin and super-strength. Lucas used these powers to escape prison and become a hero-for-hire, taking the name Power Man and the civilian identity Luke Cage.

Weapon VII's origins go back far. Weapon Plus agents abducted subjects as children, including Wolverine, who later became a victim of the program. Years of conditioning selected these subjects for the program's next step.

Dubbed “Project Homegrown,” Weapon VII used armored implants under the skin, mental conditioning, and drugs to control and change moods. Most subjects died. One subject survived.Sargent Frank Simpson survived.Nuke survived and served his country in Vietnam. The drugs and torture caused severe instability. Nuke became a supervillain, causing chaos in Hell’s Kitchen until Daredevil took him down.

A heavily adapted version of the character appeared inNetflix’s Jessica Jones.

The least-discussed stage of the Weapon Plus Program isWeapon VIIIWeapon VIII uses drugs and hypnosis to create and implant sleeper agents globally. The agents' identities and final goals remain unknown. This is kept secret, or maybe it's just boring.

Little information exists about Weapon IX beyond its codename, “Project Psyche,” and the subjects of its tests: patients in psychiatric hospitals who might or might not have possessed psychic powers.

One figure linked to Weapon IX isMary Walker.Mary Walker, better known as supervillain Typhoid Mary, suffered from dissociative identity disorder. She was institutionalized young. We do not know when the Weapon Plus Program got her, or how much of her telepathic and pyrokinetic skills came from testing. Mary recalls having these powers as a child, but her condition makes her memory untrustworthy.

A version of her character appeared onNetflix’s Iron Fist.

Wolverine is the most famous graduate of Weapon Plus. His story reveals the program’s full history. Born in the late 19th century, he has mutant healing and bone claws.James HowlettJames Howlett became known as “Logan.” After his military service ended, he joined government work, eventually ending up with Weapon Plus.

Wolverine served as an agent and enforcer for the program for years. He then faced Weapon X experiments. There, Professor Hudson and his allies bonded liquid adamantium to Logan’s bones and subjected him to intense mental conditioning. Eventually, Wolverine broke free. He became an X-Men and an Avenger, but the program’s ghosts still haunt him.

Weapon XI followed Weapon X completely. Romulus, a figure who had haunted Wolverine for generations, convinced the Weapon Plus Program to repeat the Weapon X experiment onDaken, a son Logan never knew he had, and to use a rarer metal for the process.

Daken received claws custom-built to kill his father using Muramasa metal. This metal is a magical substance that stops healing and usually appears in legendary Japanese swords. However, the situation turned out the other way around.

After Weapon XI, the Weapon Plus Program shut down. Another group took over.John Sublime, a bacterium with a strong hatred for mutants. Sublime used a device calledThe World - this device creates a pocket dimension where time can speed up significantly. Sublime shifted the project’s goal from super soldiers to Super-Sentinels, or mutant-killing machines.

Weapon XII was the first subject of this new direction, known as theHuntsmanHuntsman cloned himself in The World. Nano-sentinels and forced evolution gave him a viral hive-mind consciousness. This made him convert anyone he touched to his anti-mutant goal. Fantomex ended his time in the regular world permanently.

Fantomex frequently allies with the X-Men. He also stars in his own comic book.FantomexFantomex is the most notable being born in The World. Like other Weapon Plus Program members, Weapon XIII was cloned and augmented there. However, Fantomex received three brains: one from a Sentinel, one giving him a roguish charm and a fake French accent, and his own, which let him develop a conscience and later rebel against the program.

Fantomex has an external nervous system called E.V.A. This system transforms into a spaceship and grants him offensive powers. Fantomex teamed up with Wolverine and Cyclops to find the Weapon Plus Program secrets and stop it. They achieved this, at least, by their accounts.

Fantomex now controls The World. He used it to raise a good clone of Apocalypse.

The five identical psychic quintuplets are known as theStepford CuckoosThe Stepford Cuckoos were once thought to be normal mutants. They also came from the Weapon Plus Program. John Sublime created five thousand clones in The World using Emma Frost’s stolen ovaries. The goal was to capture the Phoenix Force and use it to kill mutants on Earth.

Only five Cuckoos survived the process. They infiltrated Charles Xavier’s school and became Frost’s protégés. They did not know she was their mother. Even after the truth emerged, the sisters stayed loyal to Emma and remain valued X-Men members today.

UltimatonUltimaton was meant to power the revamped Weapon Plus Program, which aimed to destroy all mutant life on Earth. Fantomex, Wolverine, and Cyclops stopped it permanently.

After Fantomex took control of The World, he secretly brought Ultimaton back. Fantomex kept him inside to guard his experiments, including a benevolent clone of Apocalypse and the software that Fantomex called his 'mother.' Later, people learned Fantomex and Ultimaton were the only two Weapon Plus Program clones with the same genetic sequence, making them like identical twin brothers.

Weapon XVI, the final creation of the Weapon Plus Program, hid in the World for a long time, unseen by Fantomex, waiting for release. It was known as AllgodWeapon XVI, called “living religion,” attacked a person’s brain faith centers, instantly turning them to its cause with fanatic fervor.

Wolverine fell under Allgod's influence during a trip in The World. Thankfully, Fantomex and Noh-Varr, a Kree warrior he recruited, remained atheists and avoided Allgod's power. Destroying it seemed to end the Weapon Plus Program after nearly seven decades; discovering Weapon XVII later would not surprise anyone.

Plenty of precedent exists.