Weapon Plus

Weapon Plus is an organization that features in Marvel Comics.

History
The program could date itself as far back as operating in World War II. (New X-Men v1 #129) Its purpose was the creation of supermen to fight in future wars. (New X-Men v1 #130) Horace Littleton warned of the dangers of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the overreaching expansion of Weapon Plus leading him to create a counter-program called Weapon Minus. (Captain America v7 #17)

During the Cold War, Weapon Plus UK was responsible for attempting to replicate the success of the Jim Hammond by creating an army of androids. The code name of the operation was Descendant led by scientists known as Father, Mother and Brother. Their attempts would fail in instilling true life in their creation but Brother would seek a solution in magic by getting the Orb of Necromancy from Otherworld. The result would make twenty High-Breed sentient machines but Brother would refuse to use the Orb to create more and depart with the relic whilst Mother would release the robotic species into the world to make a life of their own. (Secret Avengers v1 #25) The individual known as Father was later part of this weapon-building program who recruited the Mutant Skinless Man as Weapon III and enhanced his abilities to serve as an intelligence gathering operative on the Soviets in the Cold War. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #22)

After World War II, one scientist that was part of Weapon Plus was Professor Thorton who had been part of a number of programs but never given advancement. This changed when he was given charge of his own program known as Weapon X where he began his experiments on Mutants. (Weapon X v2 #23) At some point, Dr. John Sublime was responsible for construction of the Weapon Plus facility known as The World. (X-Men: Phoenix—Warsong v1 #3) This would lead to Weapon Plus deciding to terminate Weapon X's continued research though Professor Thorton would oppose them leading to a separate his part of the program in an act of open rebellion. (Weapon X v2 #23)

Following a Sentinel attack, Emma Frost was left in a comatose state where John Sublime with a single syringe harvested thousands of her eggs. These were used to breed clones of her at The World that became Weapon XIV but were also known as the Stepford Cuckoos. Only five were fully developed and Sublime had these placed among the X-Men so that they could develop their telepathic abilities whilst being unaware of their origins (X-Men: Phoenix — Warsong v1 #3)

Wolverine took Cyclops and met with Fantomex to raid the Weapon Plus facility known as the World in order to find the Weapon X files after the two programs diverged in order for Logan to learn more about his past. (New X-Men v1 #142) Before they arrived, the site was attacked by members of Advanced Idea Mechanics who had unintentionally awakened Weapon XV. (New X-Men v1 #143)

The recreated Weapon X program would once more go rogue and declare war against its parent organization. (Weapon X v2 #25) As part of their offensive, they used the guise of Megacorp to recruit the services of Sabretooth who had acquired a number of Mutant files for them from Weapon X. They also tasked him with the capture of Mister Sinister who was operating as a doctor at the Centre for Homo Superior Research where Creed managed to defeat Essex's genetically engineered Children. After leaving Sinister with Megacorp, its head revealed himself as being a disguise Doctor John Sublime who wanted Essex's help in deciphering the information from the Mutant files they had gained from Weapon X. In addition, they had acquired his Children who he now considered failed experiments and these were added into Weapon Plus's arm alongside the U-Men for the war with the Weapon X program. (Weapon X v2 #28)

During the Dark Reign, Norman Osborn sought to acquire the World for his use and dispatched a team to acquire it. This led to the World releasing Weapon VI where the Allgod mind controlled the intruders and even the creations of the Weapon Plus in the facility to defend it. At the time, Noh-Varr recruited Wolverine to stop the acquisition of the World though Logan fell under the sway of the Allgod. Noh-Varr would later be assisted by Fantomex with the two managing to stop the Allgod. (Dark Reign: The List: Wolverine v1 #1)

Overview
There were thousands of illegal experiments done on animals, humans and Mutants. (New X-Men v1 #129) Criminals, psychopaths and violent mutations were used in the super-soldier trials that created some experimental advances but these were not reliable repeatable procedures. Attempts were made to control the aggressive response of these subjects through medication but this proved to be a failure. By the tenth incarnation of the program, a new radical behavior modification technique was devised that made use of false memory implants. The goal of Weapon Plus was ultimately the creation of the perfect soldier that would be equipped to win the evolutionary war. (New X-Men v1 #145)

Among the different experiments created by Weapon Plus included:
 * Weapon 0 : a classified experiment. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon I : consisted of volunteers such as Steve Rogers. (New X-Men v1 #130) It was considered the most successful application of the technology. (New X-Men v1 #145)
 * Weapon II : experiments done on animals. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon III : experiments done on animals (New X-Men v1 #130) The Skinless Man was created during this experiment by Father and designated Weapon III. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #22)
 * Weapon IV : testing done on various ethnic minorities. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon V : testing done on various ethnic minorities. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon VI : testing done on various ethnic minorities. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon VII : leading to the discovery of the perfect test subjects in Mutants. (New X-Men v1 130)
 * Weapon VIII : experimentation on Mutants. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon IX : experimentation on Mutants. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon X : experimentation on Mutants such as James Howlett. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon XI :
 * Weapon XII :
 * Weapon XIII : Zona-Cluster 6 also designated as Huntsman that was a contagious bacterial consciousness that infected other minds and bringing them under his control becoming an extension of him. (New X-Men v1 #130)
 * Weapon IV : clones of Emma Frost that were called the Stepford Cuckoos. (New X-Men v1 #154) These were bred from her embryos that contained her memories and were laced with nanotech whilst holding telepathic abilities. (X-Men: Phoenix - Warsong v1 #3)
 * Weapon V :
 * Weapon VI : a viral weapon known as the Allgod that was a living religion that attached faith reserves putting them under its control though those that did not believe in a higher power were immune to its effect. (Dark Reign: The List: Wolverine v1 #1)
 * Weapon Infinity :

Within the World, it was possible to fine-tune the population levels with the splicing of human genetic material with that of Sentinel microtechnology. This allowed them to sculpt the resultant strains through high speed real time scenarios using artificial evolution technology. Regular gamma bombardment was used to induce new mutations in the population and eugenic culls were used to maintain the herd at manageable levels. Artificial evolution allowed for the acceleration of nature's own processes in order to create highly evolved specialized super-soldiers through man/machine fusion techniques. Another key component of the World was the Alteration Chamber that allowed the users to manipulate synthetic time within it that could be used to speed it up, slow it down or even freeze it. As a result, the World was an experimental micro-reality with its own culture, history and religion that were all experiments for Weapon Plus. (New X-Men v1 #143) At some point, the World would develop sentience and create a newly formed brain to manage its operations. (Dark Reign: The List: Wolverine v1 #1)

Members

 * John Sublime :
 * Thorton : a male scientist who became part of the project around the post-World War II where he gained the Journal of Nathan Essex that made his aware of Mutants. After being passed for advancement a number of times, he was eventually given charge of his own program that was Weapon X. (Weapon X v2 #23)
 * Fantomex :

Films

 * In The Incredible Hulk 2008 film, the organization had a small cameo role when General Ross was seeking to extract an experimental super-soldier serum created by Dr. Reinstein from a cold storage laboratory with the containers being marked "Weapon Plus."

Novels

 * In the non-canon Wolverine: Violent Tendencies novel, there was the Weapon Null Program with its ultimate goal being to engineer human beings as self-contained advanced weapon systems. These proved to be expensive and complex procedures that were required to maintain these subjects. It was sidelined prior to real progress being made in order to make way for more promising projects.

Appearances

 * New X-Men v1: