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Super Serum: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:serum.jpg|link=Captain America (comics)|frame|And be sure to drink it all, because sometimes the good stuff is on the bottom.]]
{{quote|'''Victor Mancha''': ''Wait, Back up. Your secret origin is drugs? Doesn't that kinda set a bad example for little kids?''
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Heroes nowadays may get such treatments only once, often involuntarily (due to [[Playing with Syringes|evil experimentation]]) or as formal medical treatments. You're most likely to see this being done by villains, with an [[Anvilicious]] [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|addiction metaphor]] in effect.
[[Power-Up Food]] is the case when the abilities come from common foodstuffs. Applied to enough people at once, and it becomes a [[Mass Super-Empowering Event]]. If (as in the case of [[Captain America (comics)]], pictured left) only one person gets it, it's a [[Disposable Superhero Maker]]. A [[Superhuman Transfusion]] (especially if it's from someone who drank Super Serum) usually has the same effects.
Compare [[Psycho Serum]] and [[Bottled Heroic Resolve]]. See also [[Power Source]] and [[Spice of Life]]. For a similar trope in commercials, see [[Cereal-Induced Superpowers]].
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* {{spoiler|Ako's artefact}} as revealed in chapter 304 of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''.
* The drugs used by the Extended in ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' and ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', which also double as a [[Psycho Serum]]. It has profoundly negative effects on the user, including fatal withdrawal symptoms.
* In ''[[Kurozuka]]'', the blood of the immortal vampire Kuromitsu can give both immortality and [[Super Strength]] to those who take it--''if'' they survive, which most don't.
== Comic Books ==
* In the [[Marvel Universe]]:
** [[Captain America (comics)]] got his powers this way, and [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup|failed attempts to recreate the Super-Soldier serum]] are common plot points in both the regular and [[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate]] universes.
*** For instance, the 1950s impostor Captain America used a Nazi German variant of the formula to enhance his body. However, he learned the hard way that is not enough; the subject taking the serum then has to have it activated and stabilized in his body by a radiological treatment using "Vita-Rays" in order to take it into his system safely.
*** Omega Red was a failed Soviet attempt at making the serum as well as giving Red tendrils in his arms made of carbonadium (an alloy of adamantium). While Omega Red did gain most of Caps powers, he is basically constantly dying and has to drain the life-force of others in order to live (fortunately for him his mutant powers along with his tendrils can do just that). Apparently something called the "C-Synthesizer" will cure him of his condition.
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* [[Bamse]] gets his super-[[Funny Animal|ursine]] strength from "dunderhonung", thunderhoney, which is disqualified from being [[Power-Up Food]] because it is not just regular honey, but has to be mixed correctly with various herbs and spices (the working ingredient is appearently a rare flower that only grows on a single island in the Aegean, guarded by a seven-headed monster). However, something like Ralph Dibney's metagene above must also be involved, since most people just gets three days of stomach cramps from eating dunderhonung, and it seems to run in the family.
* One of the ongoing plot threads in ''[[Empire]]'' centers around discovering the secret of the production of Eucharist, a highly addictive substance that supercharges the abilities of those who take it. People under its influence can dodge bullets, and the high is described as being "[[Better Than Sex]]."
* [[Daniel Clowes]] [[Captain America (comics)]] parody "The Battlin' American" has horrible addiction problems requiring him to take regular doses of the super serum. {{spoiler|The street thugs who steal it from him find this out the hard way.}}
* In the comic prequel to ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'', [[Mad Scientist|Doctor Horrible]] makes a super-serum using [[Jerk Jock|Captain Hammer]]'s DNA. However, while he does gain Hammer's [[Super Strength]] and endurance, his intelligence is reduced to his level as well, resulting in a mindless series of [[Megaton Punch|Megaton Punches]], until Horrible takes the antidote, becoming smart again but also scrawny and weak.
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* [[Inazuma Eleven]] has Aquas of the Gods (Ambrosia) is the [[Super Serum]] drink final bosses use to [[A God Am I|power themselves up to ''god'' level]] by making them able to uses skills without costing TP. This cranks up even more in the anime as they were almost invicible themselves without that drink.
* ''[[Deus Ex]]'' has "physiopharmaceutical" augmentation for the Men in Black, which among others makes them seriously [[Made of Iron]].
* In ''[[Freedom Force]]'', the Domain's secret weapon is Energy X, which they have used to conquer all dimensions except this one. In order to have some fun, Lord Dominion decides to give Energy X canisters to Earth's worst criminals and watch them tear apart the planet. An alien named Mentor steals the ship containing the canisters and takes it to Earth, hoping to give it to good people to defend themselves and the others. The ship is shot down in orbit, and the canisters fall all over Patriot City and other parts of the world (Bullet is exposed all the way in Vietnam). Both good and bad people get hit with Energy X and transformed into superheroes and supervillains, respectively. Apparently, a super's blood can also act as super-serum, as Liberty Lad gets his powers from a transfusion of Minuteman's blood.
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* Most of the heroes from [[Heroes Inc]], a popular webcomic that makes use of public domain Golden Age characters, have taken serums that give them various powers and slow down their aging process.
* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', the [[Super Soldier|Jägermonsters]] are the result of humans drinking a concoction first created by the Heterodyne family, created from the waters of a strange river that they built their castle over. The resulting "Jägerdraught" killed a significant number of the humans who drank it, but those who survived became nearly unkillable, immortal soldiers.
** The water of the river itself can also grant superhuman strength and stamina, but it's even more likely to kill anyone who bathes in it, let alone drinks it.
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