American Supes Corps
The American Supes Corps, commonly abbreviated as the ASC, is the United States government’s primary superhuman military branch and one of the most influential organizations in modern history. Founded officially in 1940 during the buildup to World War II, the ASC was never designed to create traditional “heroes” in the public sense. It was built for war. From its inception, the organization viewed superhumans not as celebrities or symbols of justice, but as strategic military assets capable of changing the outcome of battles, destabilizing enemy nations, and maintaining American dominance on the global stage.
The roots of the ASC stretch back to the mysterious phenomenon that began in 1920, when children around the world started being born with abilities no human should naturally possess. At first, these births were treated as medical anomalies or religious signs. Some children displayed enhanced strength, others unnatural intelligence, accelerated healing, or stranger powers that defied scientific explanation entirely.
When the United States entered World War II, the military merged these naturally born superhumans with its rapidly expanding super-serum programs. The result was the formation of the American Supes Corps in 1940: a centralized organization responsible for recruiting, training, weaponizing, and deploying enhanced humans in military operations across the globe.
During World War II, the ASC expanded at an unprecedented rate. Thousands of naturally born superhumans and serum-enhanced soldiers were integrated into specialized divisions, often separated by power classification. Entire battalions were built around individuals capable of surviving artillery fire, flying reconnaissance missions without aircraft, destroying tanks with raw strength, or intercepting enemy communications through extrasensory abilities. At the height of the war, ASC deployments were occurring on nearly every major front, from Europe to the Pacific.
Despite propaganda portraying them as patriotic superheroes, ASC operatives were essentially super soldiers trained for combat efficiency above all else. Their missions ranged from direct battlefield engagements and sabotage operations to assassinations, black-site raids, and containment of hostile enhanced individuals. Many operations remained classified for decades, especially those involving failed serum subjects or uncontrolled abilities.
The organization became infamous for its brutal training standards. Recruits, especially during the 1940s through the Cold War, were conditioned to suppress individuality in favor of obedience and operational effectiveness. The ASC believed powers were weapons first and personal traits second. Recruits were psychologically profiled, physically broken down, and rebuilt into disciplined military assets. Casualties during training were historically high, particularly among unstable serum recipients whose bodies deteriorated under the strain of enhancement.
The Cold War transformed the ASC from a wartime necessity into a permanent institution. As the Soviet Union expanded its own enhanced soldier programs through Serum-S, the United States heavily increased funding into the Corps. Throughout the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, ASC operatives participated in covert operations worldwide, many of which were never publicly acknowledged.
Public perception of the ASC has always been complicated. While many Americans viewed its operatives as protectors, critics argued the organization represented the militarization of humanity itself. Numerous scandals emerged over the decades involving forced recruitment attempts, unethical serum experimentation, cover-ups surrounding recruit deaths, and the psychological destruction of young operatives pushed into combat before adulthood.
The biggest turning point in ASC history came in 2000 with the International Superhuman Regulation Accords, which outlawed the creation of new super-serums worldwide following decades of catastrophic side effects, human rights violations, the Oblivion incident, and mass casualties linked to artificial enhancement programs. The serum era officially ended, forcing the ASC to fundamentally restructure itself.
From that point onward, the American Supes Corps accepted only naturally born superhumans — individuals descended from the post-1920 phenomenon. This dramatically altered the Corps’ culture. Earlier generations of ASC soldiers had often been ordinary humans transformed into weapons through science. The modern ASC instead recruits people born with powers as an inherent part of their biology.
Joining the ASC in the modern era is technically voluntary, though economic incentives and social pressure heavily influence recruitment. Any American citizen with measurable abilities can apply by signing federal enlistment forms. Once processed, the government conducts a full ability classification evaluation, analyzing the recruit’s powers, physical limitations, psychological stability, destructive capability, and potential battlefield applications.
The ASC classification system is notoriously exhaustive. Powers are categorized not by how flashy they appear, but by military usefulness. A recruit capable of generating heat might be classified under Thermal Assault Operations, while someone with enhanced reflexes may be assigned to Recon and Rapid Response divisions. Even seemingly minor abilities can earn military value under ASC doctrine.
After classification, recruits undergo five months of mandatory military conditioning and power training. This period is designed to transform civilians into deployable assets as quickly as possible. Training includes firearms instruction, combat drills, survival exercises, tactical coordination, urban warfare, psychological endurance tests, and rigorous control exercises focused on the recruit’s abilities.
The Corps teaches recruits one central philosophy above all else:
“Your power is government property while in service.”
Many recruits struggle with the transition. Unlike independent heroes or vigilantes, ASC personnel operate entirely under military command structure. Refusing deployment, abandoning missions, or using abilities outside regulations can result in imprisonment under federal military law.
Following training, recruits are assigned to one of dozens of ASC bases across the United States or overseas territories. Some spend years stationed in reserve divisions waiting for deployment orders, while others are immediately sent into combat zones, anti-terror operations, enhanced criminal containment missions, or classified international incidents involving rogue superhumans.
ASC missions vary drastically in scale. Some operatives may spend months handling low-level domestic incidents involving dangerous powered individuals, while elite units are deployed into active warzones where conventional soldiers would be ineffective. Specialized teams exist for anti-superhuman combat, urban destruction containment, intelligence gathering, nuclear disaster response, and extraterrestrial threat interception.
The organization itself operates with overwhelming secrecy. Although the ASC is publicly acknowledged, much of its true operational history remains classified. Entire divisions are rumored to exist beyond congressional oversight, including black-budget strike teams composed of operatives with reality-altering or mass-casualty level abilities.
Modern ASC operatives are generally divided into four broad categories:
Assault Units — frontline combat operatives specializing in overwhelming force.
Tactical Units — reconnaissance, infiltration, and specialized missions.
Containment Units — trained specifically to neutralize rogue superhumans.
Strategic Assets — extremely rare individuals with catastrophic-level abilities kept under constant government supervision.
The ASC’s relationship with independent superheroes is often tense. True “heroes” motivated by morality or public service frequently clash with the Corps’ militaristic philosophy. The ASC considers unsanctioned superhuman activity a national security concern regardless of intent, leading to numerous conflicts between government operatives and freelance vigilantes.
By 2025, the American Supes Corps remains one of the most powerful military organizations on Earth. Though far smaller than the enormous superhuman armies seen during World War II, its operatives are generally more stable, better trained, and naturally adapted to their powers compared to the serum soldiers of the past.
To some Americans, the ASC represents safety and national strength.
To others, it is proof that humanity never stopped turning people into weapons — it simply found a more natural way to do it.