SOVIET SUPER-SOLDIERS
PURPOSE: Meta-human Team of Russian Heroes working independant of the state.
AFFILIATIONS: Avengers, Defenders, Soviet Government, KGB, GRU, etc
ENEMIES: Supreme Soviet, etc
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Undisclosed Facilities in the Former Soviet Union
FIRST APPEARENCE: Captain America #352
EARLY HISTORY : Recruited by dictator Josef Stalin himself, World War II's
Red Guardian was one of the earliest known costumed heroes of Russia, then the USSR,
but little else about its early heroes is known. While the USSR launched an orbiting
facility in 1942 for advanced research, American forces manipulated the Soviets into
destroying it at war's end, costing them technology it would take years to redevelop.
In 1948, Trofim Lysenko's bizarre theories dominated the USSR, coloring perception of
natural sciences, and the Soviets developed the atomic bomb a year later; these
developments may have led Stalin to launch a genocidal campaign against Russia's
mutants, killing many in infancy. With scientific research questionable, mystic
resources were explored under the supervision of Gregor Smirnoff, although his
results remain sketchy.
In the 1950s, Natalia Romanova began her lengthy KGB career as the Black Widow,
while the so-called Ivan the Terrible dominated counterespionage unit SMERSH;
Soviet espionage in the USA was overseen by an operative known only as the Man.
However, many Soviet endeavors were foiled by American soldiers, spies, and
adventurers; moreover, the USSR was infiltrated by Eternals and Deviants in their
millennia-long feud, and the Communist Bloc witnessed many superhuman forays
against the USSR, ranging from mystic attacks to alien incursions. Stalin himself
was impersonated by a demon in 1953 and died shortly afterward. His successor,
Georgy Malenkov, recruited a new Red Skull as an operative, but this Skull and
others, including the electric-powered Electro and the armored Oleg, met defeat
from American super heroes. Attempts to form alliances with Atlantean and
extraterrestrial renegades failed, and biological automata called Meatspore
Stormtroopers proved uncontrollable and were incarcerated at research facility
Science City 53. In 1955, Nikita Khrushchev usurped power, and two years later
the USSR launched Sputnik I, widely believed to be the first manmade satellite.
By 1961, the USSR, having weathered attacks by the alien-controlled It, The Living
Colossus and the dragonlike Grogg, had made remarkable advances, including the
manned spacecraft Vostok I; research at Science City 53 was redirected, and vague
reports existed of a Soviet unit called the Red Front, enemies of the American
First Line. Khrushchev was impersonated by the alien Pretender in 1962 and deposed
by Leonid Brezhnev two years later, and an end to Lysenko's dominance that same
year presumably contributed to developments later in the decade, including extensive
parapsychology studies at numerous facilities such as the Pavlov Institute. The
Soviet space program was enhanced by superhuman astronaut Epsilon Red, succeeded
in later decades by Doctor Volkh and Mikhail Rasputin. However, such operatives
as the flying Katyusha and the deadly Omega Red either defected or proved
uncontrollable, and the USSR placed Omega Red and other super-agents, including
Cold Warrior and Chernobyl, in suspended animation for future deployment.
It may have been during this period that the mutant genocide program fell under
the directorship of East German scientist Wolfgang Heinrich, a.k.a. Doppelganger,
who launched horrific experiments upon surviving mutants in an effort to duplicate
their powers. The USSR employed such specialized assassins as the Confessor and
Deadmaker, while the elite soldiers of the Pravda Patrol represented Soviet
interests abroad. Dr. Constantin Racal developed Warborgs, technologically
reanimated corpses, as super-soldiers in select circumstances; superhuman
Sleeper agents were dispatched to the USA, with the intention of, like Chernobyl
and others, being activated if necessary.
Over twenty years ago, Professor Piotr Phobos convinced the Soviet government that
Russian mutants could, if trained from childhood, become reliable operatives; the
mutant genocide program, known to few since Stalin's death, was curbed or shut down,
although a number of far less sinister mutant "Province" camps remained, and
Heinrich covertly continued his work. Select mutants were placed under Phobos's
care in the Siberian Project, while others remained with their families under
covert observation by the Flagwatch program. Phobos's work was supplemented by
Professor Anatoly Vonya, eventually mutating the operatives who later rebelled as
Peristrike Force. Following an upsurge of mutant births in a nuclear accident's wake,
government factions developed giant robots called Strazhi (or "Sentinels") for
potential use against mutant threats. The USSR's non-mutant operatives included the
armored Iron Maiden, the cyborgs Black Brigade and Geo, the athletic assassin
Ghost-Maker, the costumed Cossack, and several others. Among the USSR's top
scientists were biochemical specialist Doctor Yes and geneticist Emil Kovax,
while some its more exotic endeavors were overseen by Colonel Alexi Vazhin,
later Head of Mutant Affairs. Many of the USSR's scientific advances were created
by the mutated genius called the Gargoyle (Yuri Topolov), allegedly supported by
the similarly mutated Ant Queen.
Soviet technology was apparently acquired by outside communist factions and nations;
unconfirmed reports of strange phenomena swept the USSR, possibly indicative of
escapes from or faulty shutdowns of superhuman programs. As the Soviet governments
changed, many of Russia's programs, left from earlier regimes, were occasionally
designated "Soviet super-programs" even after the Soviet government itself was
no more. The USSR's breakup heralded an upsurge in Russian organized crime, led
by the former KGB mastermind called the General and employing such operatives as
the armored Vindiktor and the shapeshifting Skull-Jacket.
In recent years, the Fantastic Four's debut heralded widespread superhuman activity,
and several alleged Soviet and/or communist operatives, their true allegiances
unclear, were active early in this period. Some, including the Chameleon (Dmitri
Smerdyakov), the Red Ghost, and the Purple Man, embarked upon prolonged rivalries
with American heroes; others, such as Mongu (Boris Monguski), the Rabble Rouser,
and the Wrecker (Karl Kort), soon vanished from the scene. A few, like Comrade X
and the Beasts of Berlin, subsequently joined the communist unit called the
People's Defense Force. Russia's most prominent super-operatives were the Titanium
Man and agents using the armor of the Crimson Dynamo; the Red Guardian identity
was reassigned to Alexei Shostakov, husband of the now legendary Black Widow,
who had defected to the USA. Following Shostakov's seeming death in battle with
the Avengers, his codename was coopted by the vigilante later called Starlight,
who also defected to the USA; an android duplicate of the Shostakov Red Guardian
was used years later as an operative of hardline communists. However, not all
Russian operatives were hostile toward American forces, as seen by Yuri Brevlov's
leadership of a S.H.I.E.L.D. faction. Other Russian superhumans included the mutated
Metazoid, the costumed assassins collectively called Agent Syn, and the rebellious
Elements Of Doom.
SOVIET SUPER-TROOPERS :
Russia's first known modern super-team was the Soviet Super-Troopers, armored
soldiers outfitted by the Gargoyle's mutant son Gremlin and led by Devastator.
However, two of Phobos' now-adult students, Vanguard and Darkstar, were also
recruited as government operatives, occasionally working with a Crimson Dynamo.
Following a clash on the Moon with the alien Rigellians, the three were joined by
Ursa Major, another Phobos alumnus, as the Soviet Super-Soldiers, named after the
decades-old programs from which the team was extrapolated. An early assignment of
the Soldiers exposed Phobos's efforts to expand the radioactive Forbidden Zone,
created by the renegade Presence, across Russia; the incident left the Siberian
Project a shambles, with such trainees as the Snow Leopard forced to fend for
themselves. After months of activity, the three mutant Super-Soldiers grew
dissatisfied with government supervision and, following the exposure of government
infiltration by Dire Wraiths, they became free operatives, dismissing the Dynamo
and allying with the Gremlin, now using the Titanium Man's armor.
SUPREME SOVIETS : Following the Gremlin's apparent death in battle with Iron Man, his teammates
fled Russia, planning defection to the USA. However, the Russian government had
created a new team, the Supreme Soviets, led by Josef Petkus, the latest Red Guardian;
sent to retrieve the three mutants, the Soviets captured them but were eventually
defeated. Nevertheless, the threesome was later imprisoned, but freed by underground
mutants called the Exiles, some survivors of Wolfgang Heinrich's work. General
Valentin Shatalov dispatched the cyborg Firefox, who decimated the Exiles' ranks
before being defeated. Vanguard, Darkstar, and Ursa Major joined the remaining
Exiles, later renamed Siberforce, which continued outlaw activities against
anti-mutant prejudice. Shatalov formed a new super-team under communist guidelines,
Remont-4, but this endeavor was brief; a similarly motivated team, the Bogatyri,
was organized by ex-astronaut Doctor Volkh in hope of rebuilding the USSR but was
also short-lived.
The Supreme Soviets are a Soviet team of costumed champions who operate under the
supervision of the Special Powers Committee of the government of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics. The team's membership consists of the fifth Crimson
Dynamo; Fantasia; Perun the storm god of Russian mythology; the third Red Guardian;
and the android Sputnik.
SOVIET SUPER-SOLDIERS :
Presumably the Soviet government organized the Supreme Soviets after its original
team of superhuman operatives, the Soviet Super-Soldier, refused as a matter of
conscience to take further orders from the government. (The Super-Soldiers, however,
did make some subsequent exceptions to this rule.) The fifth Crimson Dynamo served
with the Soviet Super-Soldiers as a spy of the Soviet government until the Soviet
Super-Soldiers discovered his true loyalties and expelled him from their team.
The Soviet Super-Soldiers' fifth member, the Gremlin, died in action. Finally,
when the Soviet government tried to force the three remaining Soviet Super-Soldiers,
Darkstar, Ursa Major, and Vanguard, to enlist in the new Supreme Soviet team, the
three decided to defect to the United States.
The three Super-Soldiers went to
Avenger Island, then the headquarters of the American team of champions known as the
Avengers, seeking political asylum. The Avenger Captain America allowed them to stay
at the island while he contacted the United States State Department on their behalf.
In their first documented mission, the Supreme Soviets went to Avenger Island to
punish the Soviet Super-Soldiers for their attempted defection, Fantasia used her
ability to cast illusions to disguise the Red Guardian, Perun, the Crimson Dynamo,
and Sputnik as the Avengers Captain America, Thor Iron Man and the Vision,
respectively. Fantasia used her power to render herself as an invisible onlooker
to the ensuing battle. Thus, disguised, the Red Guardian challenged the Super-Soldiers
to combat against himself and his fellow Avengers to test the Super-Soldiers'
superhuman abilities. Battling ruthlessly agains their unsuspecting opponents,
the Supreme Soviets defeated the Super-Soldiers, leaving all three in critical
condition. The Supreme Soviets then departed, believing the Avengers would be blamed
for what had happened to the Super-Soldiers.
The Super-Soldiers were hospitalized at the Avengers' infirmary, but soon all three
seemed to die, Meanwhile, Captain America traveled to the Soviet Union to discover
if the attack on the Soviet Super-Soldiers was sanctioned by the Soviet government
itself. While he was there, an enormous bear-like monster, apparently composed of
the Darkforce, the strange substance commanded by Darkstar, rampaged through Moscow.
Captain America fought the monster on three separate occasions. On the second, the
Red Guardian, who was sucked into the monster when he tried to rescue a young boy
from being trampled by it, joined Captain America. On the third occasion Captain
America and the other Supreme Soviets battled the creature as it attacked the
Kremlin. The creature absorbed the four Supreme Soviets. Captain America himself
entered the creature to discover the spirits of the three Soviet Super-Soldiers
inside it, animating the behemoth. The spirits explained they were draining the
superhuman energies and life forces of the Supreme Soviets in order to restore
their own bodies to life. The spirits acknowledged that this process would kill
the Supreme Soviets. Captain America persuaded the spirits that it was wrong to
kill the Supreme Soviets. The spirits and the behemoth then vanished, leaving the
Supreme Soviets, still alive but unconscious, and Captain America on the ground.
Captain America returned to Avenger Island to discover that the three Soviet
Super-Soldiers were making a rapid recovery. The three recalled having a dream,
which their spirits left their bodies, joined together as a great beast, and took
revenge on the Supreme Soviets for attacking them. Darkstar, Ursa Major, and Vanguard
did not realize their "dream" actually happened. Captain America has still not
determined whether or not the Soviet government was behind the Supreme Soviets'
attack on the Super-Soldiers.
Darkstar, Vanguard and Ursa Major continue to operate independently of the
Russian Government but have proved willing to assist The State when called upon.
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