In the Marvel Universe, Captain America is the best known example of a peak human character. That is, a character who has no other powers aside from peak human strength, speed, agility, and durability. What differentiates peak human characters from other heroes is that their powers, while still impressive, are not outside the realm of human possibility. This can be juxtaposed with a supernaturally-powered character, like Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), who can run at speeds well beyond even the fastest person. While peak human heroes may seem humdrum on the surface, the story of how they achieved their extraordinary abilities reveals the fascinatingly political dimension to how superpowers exist in Marvel Comics.
Captain America (Steve Rogers) famously transformed from a scrawny, ninety-eight pound man to a six-foot-two, two hundred-forty pound super soldier with a serum developed by Dr. Abraham Erskine during World War II. Dr. Erskine’s formula, aptly known as the Super-Soldier Serum, was unfortunately destroyed by Nazi spies, sending scientists scrambling to recreate it in the decades after with varying results. Since then, Cap has performed numerous feats of physical prowess, from punching Hitler in the face on the cover of his first issue, to lifting a car, to catching a falling tree.
Captain America’s Super-Soldier Serum had a ripple effect in the Marvel Universe that led to the creation of other heroes and villains. Super soldiers no longer needed to be born, but could be made in a lab. The majority of peak humans gained their abilities in this fashion, speaking to the emphasis on science’s role in developing superheroes in Marvel. Aside from being figures to admire, superheroes could be scientific achievements to be studied and possibly replicated for governmental use.
Heroes Can Be Made
This manifested in a unique way for Patriot (Eli Bradley). The grandson of Isaiah Bradley – the sole survivor of experiments performed on Black American men during World War II in a horrifying attempt to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum – the teenage Eli lied to Iron Lad about being a super-soldier so he could join the Young Avengers team. To become a super soldier, Eli took illegal doses of Mutant Growth Hormone, which granted him super strength for short periods of time. Harvested from mutants, the Mutant Growth Hormone allows regular people to have powers temporarily. Ultimately, Eli was given a blood transfusion by Isaiah Bradley, manifesting peak human attributes on a permanent basis.
Mockingbird (Bobbi Morse) is also hero born out of the Super-Soldier Serum. Originally a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Bobbi was injured in the field before she was injected with a mix of the Super-Soldier Serum and Nick Fury’s Infinity Formula. As such, Bobbi’s strength and healing were greatly enhanced, and the effects of the Infinity Formula slowed any signs of aging for her. The true extent of her powers is still unknown, and she has since become a mainstay on various Avengers teams.
Conversely, Captain America’s serum inspired a number of villainous imitators, including Vlad the Impaler (Vladimir Dinu). An enemy of Black Panther, Vlad the Impaler first became a peak human when he was subjected to a governmental operation to create super-soldiers. Romanian president, Nicolae Ceausescu, ordered the development of his own Super-Soldier Serum that was tested on orphans. A young Vladimir survived the experiments, and later fled to America as an adult, where he clashed with Black Panther. Vlad the Impaler’s abilities demonstrate the international implications that the Super-Soldier Serum had, and the dangers of a comparable formula falling into the wrong hands.
Not Every Peak Human Is A Super-Soldier
While most peak human characters have achieved their abilities through the injection of serums like Steve Rogers, one notable exception is Daredevil (Matt Murdock). Ordinarily, Daredevil might not be considered a peak human due to his blindness. However, the chemicals that blinded him as a child heightened his senses of touch, smell, hearing, and taste to peak human levels. Matt’s training developed his acrobatic sense of agility and speed that is on par with Spider-Man. Daredevil once even used Spider-Man’s comparable agility to his benefit in Daredevil #20-25, where he enlisted Peter Parker to help stand-in for him as Daredevil in a court case where he had to appear as Matt Murdock, attorney at law. Dressed in Daredevil’s suit, Spider-Man performed a series of backflips on the courtroom floor that had the judge and jury convinced that he was the real Man Without Fear.
Black Panther is another peak human with abilities sans the use of a serum. Instead, T’Challa gets his skills from the Wakandan Heart-Shaped Herb. By taking the herb, T’Challa is put on the same level as a super soldier like Captain America, while also giving him a superior sense of night vision. The Heart-Shaped Herb is unique to the Marvel universe in that it is a substance found in nature, contrasting with the lab-made serums that power other peak humans.
The only known Marvel hero who has achieved peak human skills without any type of intervention is Shang-Chi. The Master of Martial Arts, through years of rigorous training, has attained an unprecedented level of control over his body, allowing him to hold his own against powered combatants. He has fought Iron Fist (Danny Rand) to a stalemate, which is no small feat considering that Danny Rand is powered by the heart of an actual dragon.
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The origins for the majority of peak human characters in Marvel Comics lie in government-sponsored scientific research, which makes sense considering the nature of peak human powers. Instead of creating potentially chaotic and dangerous heroes with real superpowers, governments in the United States and beyond have focused their efforts on enhancing what can already be controlled: ordinary people. Therefore, peak human abilities occupy a unique corner in the Marvel Universe, with governments demonstrating a strong preference for them over other types of superheroes. Still, as readers have seen with numerous Captain America comics, his origins as a wartime project have never stopped Steve Rogers from going against his own country when it’s in the wrong.
