In the Marvel Universe, Captain America is one of the greatest heroes in history, having accomplished countless feats during his long career. However, a well-kept secret proves that Steve Rogers isn’t actually that special, as anyone could become Captain America with the right combination of food and exercise.
Steve Rogers was a normal young man who wanted nothing more than to serve his country in a time of great need. Discarded by the U.S. Army during World War II due to poor health, Steve’s life would change forever when he was selected as a test subject for Project Rebirth, where he received the final dose of the serum. of super-soldier developed by Dr. Abraham. Erskine. The substance fused with Rogers’ metabolism and permanently enhanced all of his bodily functions to the peak of human efficiency, making him the most perfect human ever. Before he was murdered, Erskine described Rogers as “the next stage of human evolution”, and Captain America is indeed the result of unique circumstances and unrepeatable scientific achievements. What if none of this was really necessary to become a super soldier?
Avengers : l’initiative #1, written by Dan Slott with art by Stefano Caselli and Daniele Rudoni, introduced a new character, Michael Van Patrick, who took on the codename MVP. Michael has a pretty unique origin story, even for the world of superheroes. During his research into what would become the Super-Soldier Serum, Erskine hypothesized that a special Brazilian diet and isometric exercise program would create a Super-Soldier. However, this method required a lifetime to produce the desired results, so it was rejected by the US government who immediately needed super-soldiers. When Erskine was murdered, his research notes prior to the discovery of the serum were deemed irrelevant and passed on to his family, ending up in the hands of his grandson, Brian van Patrick, who used the research to develop a successful organic food company. When his son Michael was born, Brian decided to test diet and exercise on him to see if his grandfather’s theories were right, and they were. Within twenty years, Michael’s physiology naturally improved, achieving the desired effect of the Super Soldier Serum without the actual serum or exposure to Vita-Rays.
Michael wasn’t just a very healthy human, he actually gained superhuman abilities like Captain America’s without the need for special drugs, radiation, or genetic engineering. His body was modified by the biochemicals contained in the special foods down to the genetic level. According to Dr. Von Blitzschlag, Camp Hammond’s lead scientist, MVP’s entire body was made up of perfect, healthy cells, which even gave him a regenerative healing factor. It is true that it took him twenty years of discipline to reach this level, but it is also undeniable that, if Erskine’s diet and training regime were made public, the next generations of human beings on Earth would possess all the same powers as Captain America. This could dramatically improve the quality of life on the planet, but also have potentially dangerous results (an entire population of super-soldiers could make wars, planetary and interplanetary, more likely and disastrous).
However, what makes Captain America a hero isn’t just his powers, but his combat experience and indomitable will. In fact, poor MVP was killed in a training incident shortly after joining the Initiative (but his genetic material was deemed so valuable that it was cloned). Yet the idea that anyone could become Captain America with the right diet, as ridiculous as it sounds, is potentially so revolutionary that it could change the role of planet Earth in the Marvel Universe forever.
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