When Gamora decided the time had come for her to one-up her dad, Thanos, she opted to become Requiem and reshape the Marvel Universe in the Infinity Wars crossover. She got her hands on the Infinity Stones after toppling many of Marvel's heroes, and folded reality in half, creating Warp World along the way.
By folding the universe in half, Requiem created amalgamations of multiple Marvel heroes, including the powerhouse Soldier Supreme, who merged Captain America and Doctor Strange and had solo adventures written by Gerry Duggan and illustrated by Adam Kubert and Matthew Wilson. Now, CBR is taking a look back at his two-issue miniseries and how it ended up linking to the main Infinity Wars event and offered aid in undoing Requiem's madness.
HOW WAS THE SOLDIER SUPREME CREATED?
To help the Allies in World War II, a version of Dr. Erskine, who was influenced by Tilda Swinton's Ancient One from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, blended mysticism and science to create this super-soldier. Using a magical injection, the serum derived from the occult was pumped into the veins of Stephen Rogers who became a muscular sorcerer.
As per Cap's history in the Marvel Universe, assassins tried to take him out, killing Erskine in the process, which inspired him to become a symbol of hope in the war. He'd don a costume mashing up both Cap and Strange, and partner with Dum Dum Fury (merging Dum Dum Dugan and Nick Fury) and Bucky Wong (merging Bucky Barnes and Strange's assistant, Wong) as the Howling Commandos of Hoggoth on covert missions across Europe to destabilize Nazi strongholds and possibly get a shot at killing Hitler.
HOW STRONG WAS THE SOLDIER SUPREME?
Initially, he could generate a mystical shield that was red, white and blue, ironically. It was a defense mechanism, and while it couldn't be thrown, he could block grenades and missiles with it. He could also generate telekinetic spells, Spirit Walk (so his spirit could literally attack opponents) and, as seen when Bucky died in an explosion, Stephen was even able to resurrect his ghost to fight alongside him as the Winter Soldier.
Rogers even restored Fury's eye and got even more powerful after defeating the Priest of Hell, Dormammu Red (a mash-up of Dormammu and the Red Skull), only to get marooned in the Darkforce Dimension. While there, he perfected his spells and astral projection against demonic forces over decades, and luckily found a doorway back to reality when M.O.D.O.C. (M.O.D.O.K. merged with Baron Mordo) accidentally brought him back, thinking he was summoning a demon.
WHAT EVENTUALLY HAPPENED TO THE SOLDIER SUPREME?
This Sentinel of Sorcery ended up beating M.O.D.O.C. and his disciples after they tried to banish him back into the darkness, which culminated with Stephen getting his hands on the Eye of Agamodin. When he went back to New York to form his Sanctum and study, Stephen unlocked the secrets of this relic, and there, he actually realized his world was created by Requiem's illicit actions.
Shocked, but with heroism in his blood, Stephen contacted Emma Frost, Loki and their warped version of the Infinity Watch, to help them in Infinity Wars stop Requiem's twisted scheme to remake things. It pained him to do so but he understood that order had to be restored, even if it meant sacrificing his fabricated way of life as he knew it was nothing more than an artificial creation.
DID HIS WARP WORLD EVENTUALLY SURVIVE?
These Infinity Warps went on to survive in their own pocket universe, with the Soldier Supreme realizing that he liked living, after all. In Infinity Wars #5, the Soldier Supreme revealed he no longer had any intention of being unmade, seeing as how he had lived a full life in the reality Gamora had created. In Infinity Wars #6, the Solider Supreme urged Adam Warlock to save not just one universe, but both -- the regular Marvel Universe, and the Infinity Warps reality.
The Infinity Watch did just that by creating a blank world inside the Soul Stone, where these Infinity Warps characters remained alive for further adventures. Written by Al Ewing and Mark Said, Secret Warps: Soldier Supreme detailed this journey, with battles against Madame Hel (Hera and Madame Masque), the girlfriend of Iron Hammer (Iron Man and Thor), and the U.S. Archmage (a supernatural version of U.S. Agent). We end up seeing Stephen with his own Avengers such as Arachknight (Moon Knight and Spider-Man) and the tragedy-laden Weapon Hex herself. Stephen comes to realize just like the Marvel Universe, he needs help in preserving his world, especially with Dormammu Red secretly manipulating it.