Weapon Plus

Weapon Plus creations in Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1.

Weapon Plus is an organization that features in Marvel Comics.

History

The program could date itself as far back as operating in World War II. (New X-Men v1 #129) Its purpose was the creation of supermen to fight in future wars. (New X-Men v1 #130) One of the initiatives that sprung from Weapon Plus was Project: Rebirth that created Captain America. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) Horace Littleton warned of the dangers of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the overreaching expansion of Weapon Plus leading him to create a counter-program called Weapon Minus. (Captain America v7 #17) After the loss of Captain America, billions of dollars were taken from black budgets for the development of human enhancile programs in an effort to recreate the success of Weapon I thus giving rise to Weapon Plus. (Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus v1 #1) After Nazi Germany’s defeat, the U.S. military was preparing for the next war with the Soviet Union. They then sought to acquire much of the technological achievements of the Germans. This included an artificially created werewolf soldier that was sent to be part of the new Weapon Plus program for study with this deemed important in the wake of the loss of Captain America along with the Super-Soldier Serum. (Wolverine v2 #1000)

It was known that the Cold War drove the disparate programs of Weapon Plus into furthering their efforts with it being defined by its Soviet counterpart which was Department X. (Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus v1 #1) During the Cold War, Weapon Plus UK was responsible for attempting to replicate the success of the Jim Hammond by creating an army of androids. The code name of the operation was Descendant led by scientists known as Father, Mother and Brother. Their attempts would fail in instilling true life in their creation but Brother would seek a solution in magic by getting the Orb of Necromancy from Otherworld. The result would make twenty High-Breed sentient machines but Brother would refuse to use the Orb to create more and depart with the relic whilst Mother would release the robotic species into the world to make a life of their own. (Secret Avengers v1 #25) The individual known as Father was later part of this weapon-building program who recruited the Mutant Skinless Man as Weapon III and enhanced his abilities to serve as an intelligence gathering operative on the Soviets in the Cold War. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #22)

Meanwhile, in 1965, a new discovery was made that highlighted a more dangerous threat to the world after scientists found the Grendel. The extraterrestrial being was one of the Symbiotes and served as a dark god that threatened to destroy the Earth. Weapon Plus was driven insane by this discovery and desperately redoubled their efforts at combating this new threat. In 1966, they used samples of the Grendel to bond with living hosts that S.H.I.E.L.D. deployed as part of its Sym-Soldier Program and tested in the Vietnam conflict. This was ultimately a failure and was shut down but Weapon Plus took its resources and personnel to create Weapon V that looked towards weaponizing the offspring of the Symbiotes. (Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus v1 #1) Elsewhere, Professor Thorton of Weapon Plus had come upon some findings recovered From World War II which he used as part of a number of programs though he himself was never given advancement. This changed when he was given charge of his own program known as Weapon X where he began his experiments on Mutants. (Weapon X v2 #23) At some point, Dr. John Sublime was responsible for construction of the Weapon Plus facility known as The World. (X-Men: Phoenix—Warsong v1 #3) This would lead to Weapon Plus deciding to terminate Weapon X's continued research though Professor Thorton would oppose them leading to a separate his part of the program in an act of open rebellion. (Weapon X v2 #23)

Following a Sentinel attack, Emma Frost was left in a comatose state where John Sublime with a single syringe harvested thousands of her eggs. These were used to breed clones of her at The World that became Weapon XIV but were also known as the Stepford Cuckoos. Only five were fully developed and Sublime had these placed among the X-Men so that they could develop their telepathic abilities whilst being unaware of their origins (X-Men: Phoenix — Warsong v1 #3)

Wolverine took Cyclops and met with Fantomex to raid the Weapon Plus facility known as the World in order to find the Weapon X files after the two programs diverged in order for Logan to learn more about his past. (New X-Men v1 #142) Before they arrived, the site was attacked by members of Advanced Idea Mechanics who had unintentionally awakened Weapon XV. (New X-Men v1 #143)

The recreated Weapon X program would once more go rogue and declare war against its parent organization. (Weapon X v2 #25) As part of their offensive, they used the guise of Megacorp to recruit the services of Sabretooth who had acquired a number of Mutant files for them from Weapon X. They also tasked him with the capture of Mister Sinister who was operating as a doctor at the Centre for Homo Superior Research where Creed managed to defeat Essex's genetically engineered Children. After leaving Sinister with Megacorp, its head revealed himself as being a disguise Doctor John Sublime who wanted Essex's help in deciphering the information from the Mutant files they had gained from Weapon X. In addition, they had acquired his Children who he now considered failed experiments and these were added into Weapon Plus's arm alongside the U-Men for the war with the Weapon X program. (Weapon X v2 #28)

During the Dark Reign, Norman Osborn sought to acquire the World for his use and dispatched a team to acquire it. This led to the World releasing Weapon VI where the Allgod mind controlled the intruders and even the creations of the Weapon Plus in the facility to defend it. At the time, Noh-Varr recruited Wolverine to stop the acquisition of the World though Logan fell under the sway of the Allgod. Noh-Varr would later be assisted by Fantomex with the two managing to stop the Allgod. (Dark Reign: The List: Wolverine v1 #1)

Sometime afterwards, the serial killer Cletus Kasady embarked on an effort to free the dark god Knull from his imprisonment. Thus, he sought out hosts of Symbiotes in order to collect their genetic codices in order to free his master. As a result, Carnage targeted and massacred a Weapon V facility causing a number of its soldiers to set up an ambush. To give them advantage, these soldiers forcibly recruited Weapon H and attempted to use him to eliminate Carnage. Ultimately, Clayton decided to leave his blackmailers to their fate and he recovered his mother-in-law as they fled whilst Kasady massacred the Weapon V operatives. (Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus v1 #1) Weapon Plus also deployed Weapon II that was Project: Brute Force to target an Orchis ship in the Pacific Ocean that was then pillaged of valuable resources. (Weapon Plus: World War IV v1 #1)

Overview

Its influence not only encompassed military applications but every other sector including the prison-industrial complex and mass-market psychotherapy. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) Under Weapon Plus Series II protocols, all environmental threats were to be treated as to be killed on sight. (Weapon Plus: World War IV v1 #1)

There were thousands of illegal experiments done on animals, humans and Mutants. (New X-Men v1 #129) Criminals, psychopaths and violent mutations were used in the super-soldier trials that created some experimental advances but these were not reliable repeatable procedures. Attempts were made to control the aggressive response of these subjects through medication but this proved to be a failure. By the tenth incarnation of the program, a new radical behavior modification technique was devised that made use of false memory implants. The goal of Weapon Plus was ultimately the creation of the perfect soldier that would be equipped to win the evolutionary war. (New X-Men v1 #145) The program were not contiguous but concurrent where they continuously escalated their plans whilst eliminating anyone that would uncover the truth. It was considered the longest and most successful conspiracy in the history of the planet. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1)

Weapon XIV.

Among the different experiments created by Weapon Plus included:

• Weapon 0 : a classified experiment. (New X-Men v1 #130)
• Weapon I : consisted of volunteers such as Steve Rogers. (New X-Men v1 #130) It was considered the most successful application of the technology. (New X-Men v1 #145)
• Weapon II : designated as Project: Brute Force. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) It consisted of experiments done on animals. (New X-Men v1 #130) Weapon X had tested the Adamantium bonding process on a squirrel that was given human level intelligence and enhanced healing with this specimen designated Weapon II. (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl v2 #6)
• Weapon III : experiments done on animals (New X-Men v1 #130) The Skinless Man was created during this experiment by Father and designated Weapon III. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #22)
• Weapon IV : designated as Project: Sulfur. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) Testing was noted to had been done on various ethnic minorities. (New X-Men v1 #130) It used data stolen from Ted Sallis where it looked to engine human/plant hybrids with superhuman abilities. (Weapon Plus: World War IV v1 #1)
• Weapon V : designated as Project: Venom. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) Testing was done on various ethnic minorities. (New X-Men v1 #130) Initially, the Sym-Soldiers were bonded to samples of the Grendel but were deemed mentally unstable as they were tied to the hive mind of the organisms. Thus, the project began to use cloned samples of the organism that were made psychically stable through viral surgery. (Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus v1 #1)
• Weapon VI : designated as Project: Power. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) Testing was done on various ethnic minorities. (New X-Men v1 #130)
• Weapon VII : designated as Project: Homegrown. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) This led to the discovery of the perfect test subjects in Mutants. (New X-Men v1 #130)
• Weapon VIII : experimentation on Mutants. (New X-Men v1 #130)
• Weapon IX : designated as Project: Psyche. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1) It led to the experimentation on Mutants. (New X-Men v1 #130)
• Weapon X : experimentation on Mutants such as James Howlett. (New X-Men v1 #130)
• Weapon XI :
• Weapon XII :
• Weapon XIII : Zona-Cluster 6 also designated as Huntsman that was a contagious bacterial consciousness that infected other minds and bringing them under his control becoming an extension of him. (New X-Men v1 #130)
• Weapon XIV : clones of Emma Frost that were called the Stepford Cuckoos. (New X-Men v1 #154) These were bred from her embryos that contained her memories and were laced with nanotech whilst holding telepathic abilities. (X-Men: Phoenix - Warsong v1 #3) A thousand psionic Mutants were raised from the eggs of Emma Frost that were collectively processing information at an exponentially greater power than any living telepath with it being unleashed through a focal point which could be used to shatter a mind allowing it to be used to kill Mutants. (X-Men Phoenix Warsong #4)
• Weapon XV : Ultimaton was a part man and part machine that was one of the genetic superman artificially evolved into a Super-Sentinel to join a team of such Super-sapien soldiers tasked with killing Mutants. (New X-Men v1 #145)
• Weapon XVI : a viral weapon known as the Allgod that was a living religion that attached faith reserves putting them under its control though those that did not believe in a higher power were immune to its effect. (Dark Reign: The List: Wolverine v1 #1)
• Weapon XXX : (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1)
• Weapon Infinity : a sentient time displaced Deathlok troopers with a collective consciousness that were seeded throughout timelines in order to bring about a future where all super-beings were converted into cyborgs thus bringing them under control. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #7)

Weapon Plus aimed to create a team of Super-Sentinels that were to be genetic supermen custom grown in the World and marketed as a comic book superhero team. In reality, they were to serve as Mutant killing machines tasked with eliminating the nests of Mutants whilst hiding these activities in order to not draw controversy from the public. (New X-Men v1 #145)

Within the World, it was possible to fine-tune the population levels with the splicing of human genetic material with that of Sentinel microtechnology. This allowed them to sculpt the resultant strains through high speed real time scenarios using artificial evolution technology. Regular gamma bombardment was used to induce new mutations in the population and eugenic culls were used to maintain the herd at manageable levels. Artificial evolution allowed for the acceleration of nature's own processes in order to create highly evolved specialized super-soldiers through man/machine fusion techniques. Another key component of the World was the Alteration Chamber that allowed the users to manipulate synthetic time within it that could be used to speed it up, slow it down or even freeze it. As a result, the World was an experimental micro-reality with its own culture, history and religion that were all experiments for Weapon Plus. (New X-Men v1 #143) At some point, the World would develop sentience and create a newly formed brain to manage its operations. (Dark Reign: The List: Wolverine v1 #1)

Another facility maintained by the organization was an orbital space station that was to be a base of operations for their manufactured superhero team. (New X-Men v1 #144)

Members

• John Sublime :
• Thorton : a male scientist who became part of the project around the post-World War II where he gained the Journal of Nathan Essex that made his aware of Mutants. After being passed for advancement a number of times, he was eventually given charge of his own program that was Weapon X. (Weapon X v2 #23)
• Billy Junger : a male American who admired Captain America and after hearing of his death became a scientist with the intention of being given the serum to replace him as the new symbol of America. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1)
• Ted Sallis : lead scientist on Project IV designated as Sulfur. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1)
• Nick Fury : lead scientist on Project V designated as Venom. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1)
• Noah Burstein : lead scientist on project VI designated as Power. (Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1 #1)
• Dr. Breen :
• Andrew Plimpton : male scientist who was a former D.O.D. official who rose to the position of General where he was in charge of Weapon IV with him being the handler of Jackson Strode. (Weapon Plus: World War IV v1 #1)
• Randall Pierce :
• Jackson Strode : male journalist exposed to a variant of the Super-Soldier Serum being studied on by Ted Sallis thus transforming him into a plant hybrid that reluctantly worked for the Weapon Plus program. (Weapon Plus: World War IV v1 #1)
• Fantomex :
• Huntsman :
• Ultimaton :

Notes

• Weapon Plus was created by Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey where it made its first appearance in New X-Men v1 #128 (August, 2002).
• In an interview on Newsarama, writer Rick Remender commented that, "-I’ll be introducing the Weapon Minus program – a program created by S.H.I.E.L.D. as a countermeasure against the test subjects the Weapon Plus program was creating."
• On CBR, writer Remender commented in an interview that, "Dr. Mindbubble was going to be up against Fantomex, because Dr. Mindbubble was created by the Weapon Minus program, and the Weapon Minus program was created to deal with the rogue agents from the Weapon Plus program. When I didn’t get to do that, I thought, “Well, he’s shelved” — until I realized that Captain America is also a creation of the Weapon Plus program."

In other media

Films

• In The Incredible Hulk, the organization had a small cameo role in the 2008 live-action film when General Ross was seeking to extract an experimental super-soldier serum created by Dr. Reinstein from a cold storage laboratory with the containers being marked "Weapon Plus."

Novels

• In Wolverine: Violent Tendencies, there was the Weapon Null Program in the non-canon novel with its ultimate goal being to engineer human beings as self-contained advanced weapon systems. These proved to be expensive and complex procedures that were required to maintain these subjects. It was side-lined prior to real progress being made in order to make way for more promising projects.

Appearances

• New X-Men v1: (2002)
• X-Men Phoenix Warsong v1:
• Uncanny X-Force v1:
• Wolverine & Captain America: Weapon Plus v1: (2019)
• Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus v1: (2019)
• Weapon Plus: World War IV v1: (2020)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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