Why Phase 4’s Super Soldier Serum Twist Was Secretly Revealed Years Ago

The Super Soldier Serum plot twist in Agents of SHIELD. The Super Soldier Serum has been a hot topic for discussion throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially within Phase 4. This was exemplified by the big plot twist in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which revealed Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), and the fact that the Super Soldier Serum was far more common than originally suggested by Steve Roger's origin story.

Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Season 1, Episode 2, "Star Spangled Man". The Serum was fiercely covered up by the US Government, and in the MCU there seems to have been very few clues to the continuation of work on the Super Soldier Serum, making Bradley's reveal a huge twist. Eventually, Bradley escaped, and in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he's found living out his days in Baltimore with his grandson, Eli Bradley.

There's a lot to unpack with this backstory, not least of all that the search for the Super Soldier Serum never stopped since Abraham Erskine's original work. This was a major plot twist for the MCU, and of course, brought The Flag-Smashers - with Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman) at the helm - to the forefront of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. John Walker (Wyatt Russell) was the next, but surely not the last to take the Super Soldier Serum with dire consequences. This seemingly new plot twist, however, was revealed years ago in the TV show Agents of SHIELD. First airing in 2013, at the beginning of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agents of SHIELD provided viewers clues as to how many people have worked to recreate the Super Soldier Serum after the success with Steve Rogers. The Centipede Device, first shown in the pilot, was a hybrid of the Super Soldier Serum, Gamma Radiation, and some Extremis and Chitauri technology thrown in for good measure. Despite Agents of SHIELD not being considered strictly MCU canon, the show still served to emphasize how unlikely it was that the world and those vying for power over it had totally given up on Serums entirely, setting up for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's big reveal.

Deathlok in his full gear in Agents of Shield

the success of Steve Rogers. With the continuation of wars and the need for soldiers, there will always be a want for the upper hand, and having Super Soldiers is most certainly that, as dangerous as they and the Serum that creates them can be.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier shed light on a lot of important information, but it seems that although it was a big reveal, the Super Soldier Serum twist was indeed divulged years ago in Agents of SHIELD with Deathlok's journey and the Centipede Device. There are far more Super Soldiers than first thought, and surely more still to come.

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