Glossary:S
From Marvel Database
Samurai
Samurai are ancient Japanese Warriors, known for their extremely intense senses of duty and honor.
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Secret Identity
Super Heroes often choose to have a secret identity (as do Super Villains who often adopt aliases) when becoming a hero to protect themselves, their friends, and their loved ones. The consequences of an enemy finding out their real-life identity can be dire, often leading to the destruction of the hero's alter ego and/or the villain using a hero's loved one as bait.
Sentient
Having intelligence near or above the human level. The definition of intelligence is slippery but often includes self-awareness, problem solving, and tool use.
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Sidekick
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In Comic Books, the term sidekick most commonly refers to assistants of Superheroes, usually in a crimefighting capacity. The sidekick has the literary function of playing against the hero, often contrasting in skill, asking the questions the reader would ask, or performing functions not suited to the hero. |
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Singularity
A point in space where the normal rules of physics do not apply. Normally found only in a black hole, a concentration of matter so dense that even light cannot escape its gravity well.
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Skyfather
The lead deity of a particular pantheon or religion. The term refers to the tendency for worshippers to associate supreme power with the sun, the sky, and/or "heaven." Also known as Godhead.
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Sorcerer Supreme
A practitioner of the mystic or magic arts who has greater skills than all others or commands a greater portion of the ambient magical energies than any other organism on a given world or dimension. Thus, there can be only one sorcerer supreme per world at a time.
Soul
A living or once-living being's life essence, consciousness, or spirit.
Space Warp
A natural or artificially created nexus leading from one point in space through hyperspace into another point in space. Also called a stargate.
(See Also: Hyperspace and Nexus)
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Spears
Poles, (wooden or otherwise), sharpened to a point or with sharp rocks on the ends.
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Spoiler
A spoiler is any piece of information that reveals plot elements which some people may wish to remain unrevealed so that they may enjoy the source material to its fullest extent, without having any previous knowledge of the outcome. Some examples of spoilers would be the death of a major character or an unexpected plot twist.
For information on how spoilers are treated on the Marvel Universe, see Marvel Universe:Spoilers.
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Star Comics
Star Comics was an imprint of Marvel Comics that began in 1984 and continued to publish comic books into the mid-1990s. Titles published by the imprint were aimed at younger readers and were often adaptations of children's television animated series or toys.
Before the existence of the Star imprint, Marvel had previously released several mini-series based on licensed toy and cartoon properties, such as the Smurfs and the Starriors. The already existing ongoing series for licensed toy lines, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and Transformers remained Marvel titles. Marvel eventually dissolved the Star line but continued to publish licensed properties, such as The Pirates of Dark Water, under the main Marvel banner.
Fabian Nicieza was briefly the line's editor in the early-1990s.
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(See Also: Crown Combo — Review of the first Hugga Bunch Comic; Chuck Norris - Karate Kommandos Review)
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Stretching
Stretching - The ability to stretch your body far above the length you normally could.
People with this super power: Mister Fantastic Flatman Super Skrull
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Sub-Space
Hyperspace. Originally a term mistakenly applied to the Negative Zone.
(See Also: Hyperspace, Negative Zone)
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Subterranean
Any of the various sub-species of humanity who dwell beneath the Earth's surface.
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Succubus
A female demonic creature who feeds upon the life essences of living beings.
(See Also: Succubus and Incubus.)
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Superhero
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A superhero is a character who is noted for feats of courage and nobility and who usually has a colorful name and costume which serve to conceal their true identity, and abilities beyond those of normal human beings. A female superhero is sometimes called a superheroine, although this term has fallen out of favor in the modern era. The word superhero originated with Superman, who debuted in 1938, and the stories of superheroes - ranging from episodic adventures to decades-long sagas - have become an entire genre of fiction that has dominated American comic books and crossed over into several other media. |
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Super Soldier Serum
A formula capable of enhancing human beings into "super soldiers." The exact formula given to Steve Rogers is unknown; there have been many attempts to duplicate it.
The Super-Soldier Serum, also called the Super-Soldier Formula, is the name for a process to increase the physical attributes of its recipient to the peak of human potential as in almost superhuman. Peak Humans are superior to any Olympic level athletes who have ever competed. Top athletes normally have one or two aspects close to, or a bit under, peak level. While peak human enhancements have all their capabilities like mind, strength, speed, durability, healing, eye sight, immune system, aging etc.. at the maximum level of human potential. Dr. Reinstein established that this potential is the next step in human evolution for regular man(non-mutant), a man from the coming decades. Meaning one day humanity will reach this level on there own, in the far future.
"Serum" is somewhat of a misnomer, as the "serum" actually consists of various processes. Characters that are considered by a enhancement true "Peak-Potential" are noted to be Captain America, Isaiah Bradley, Josiah X, Protocide, Union Jack (different SSS variant), and Black Panther (Wakanda-herb). Variations of the serum have been developed over the years which induced greater-mutations then Peak human, one which even created the powerful Sentry.
But the more powerful variants come with strange side-effects to mental deficiencies.
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Operation: Rebirth The first known Super-Soldier Serum was developed as part of a top secret US Government experiment called Operation: Rebirth. The creator of the Super-Soldier formula was The first, and arguable the most successful, recipient of the serum was Steve Rogers. Selected by General Chester Phillips of the U.S. Army to undergo testing, Rogers was at last administered the Super-Soldier serum. Given part of the compound intravenously and another part orally, Rogers was then bombarded by "vita-rays," a special combination of exotic (in 1941) wavelengths of radiation designed to accelerate and stabilize the serum's effect on his body. Steve Rogers emerged from the vita-ray chamber with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. A Nazi spy who observed the experiment murdered Dr. Erskine mere minutes after its conclusion. Erskine died without fully committing the Super-Soldier formula to paper, leaving Steve Rogers the sole beneficiary of his genius. Attempt to Reproduce RebirthIsaiah Bradley is a surviving victim of U.S. WWII experiments to reproduce Erskine's process, is also sometimes referred to as Captain America. Nazi AttemptsSee Master Man (Wilhelm Lohmer) Grand DirectorIn 1953 the man who would become the Grand Director flew to Germany, and examined the files of Major Kerfoot, a Nazi espionage officer in the SS. He discovered that the papers contained the original Super-Soldier formula. He revealed his discovery to certain high officials in the US government, and made a deal whereby he would become the new Captain America, and act as a symbol during the Korean War. How the original Super-Soldier formula came to be in the possession of the Nazis is unknown, especially as Erskine died without fully committing the Super-Soldier formula to paper. Power ManLater, research scientist Dr. Noah Burstein recruited Luke Cage as a volunteer for experimental cell regeneration based on a variant of the Super-Soldier process he had previously used to empower Warhawk. Burstein immersed Lucas in an electrical field conducted by an organic chemical compound; when he left Lucas unattended, someone misused the experiment's controls, hoping to maim or kill Lucas. Lucas's treatment was accelerated past its intent, inducing body-wide enhancement that gave him superhuman strength and durability. Anti-CapThe Navy was attempting to make its own version of Captain America using the 'AVX' patch. Loosely based off of the Power Man Process Luke Cage underwent, it was hoped that continued applications of the patch would be a more controllable dosage and keep the subject from going rogue. Unfortunately, the process seemed to aggravate Anti-Cap's mental problems. Some ingredients may be:
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(See Also: Super-Soldiers - for a complete list, Weapon Plus, Operation Rebirth, Captain America (Steve Rogers), Destroyer, Union Jack, Master Man, Grand Director, Sentry, Luke Cage, Anti-Cap)
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Supersoldier
Supersoldier is a term often used to describe a soldier that operates beyond normal physical human limits. Supersoldiers are common in comic books.
Supersoldiers are usually heavily augmented, either through genetic engineering, cybernetic implants, drugs, brainwashing, an extreme training regimen (usually with high casualty rates, and starting from birth), or other scientific means or a combination of any of those. Occasionally, some instances also use paranormal methods, such as black magic. The creators of such programs are viewed often as mad scientists or stern military men, depending on the emphasis, as their programs will typically go past ethical boundaries in the pursuit of science or military might.
- Captain America was to be the first of a line of super-soldiers, a plan that was ruined when the creator of the Super-Soldier serum was killed. Other characters in the Marvel Universe, such as Wolverine (Weapon X) and X-23 are continuations of those experiments.
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Superhuman
In Marvel Comics the term superhuman is part of a "power classification system" and applies to aptitude (usually physical) far beyond the range attainable by normal human beings. An athlete is a normal human in extraordinary physical condition, such as a weight lifter or boxer. Peak human is applied to physical abilities that are nearly, but not quite, beyond the limits of the best of humans. Enhanced human refers to superhuman abilities some distance beyond the limits of humans, such as being able to lift a small car but not a tank, and is a kind of term for "light" superhuman abilities. Then comes the term superhuman. Characters with a superhuman attribute are far beyond normal human abilities. There is also a range beyond superhuman and this is metahuman. As the enhanced human level is really just a term for a low superhuman ability, metahuman is a term for a high superhuman ability.
(See Also: [Superhuman Strength]], Metahuman, Mutant, Supersoldier, Superhero, Supervillain)
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Marvel A-Z OHOTMU Stat refernece sheet distinguishes between the different categories of superhuman attributes and powers:
Superhumanoid
Referring to a skill, ability, or power that is outside the parameters of achievement by ordinary humanoid beings. It is also a term used for any humanoid being who possessing such a skill, ability, or power.
Supervillain
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A supervillain is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books. Supervillains concoct complex and ambitious schemes to accumulate power and suppress adversaries. They often have colorful names and costumes and/or other eccentricities. Female supervillains are sometimes known as supervillainesses. Supervillains are often used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes. Their extraordinary brainpower and/or superhuman abilities make them viable antagonists for the most gifted heroes. |
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Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold is used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions
Examples
- Captain America, who survived the end of World War II and was revived by The Avengers in the 1960's (2006 in the updated movie)
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Synthezoid
A special type of android empowered by synthesizing energy. The only known synthezoid at present is the Vision (Android).
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