Cadmus project

The Cadmus (or simply Cadmus ) project is a fictional government project from the DC universe that deals with genetic projects.

Origins

Project Cadmus was first installed by Jack Kirby in October 1970 in the Superman branch of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen (original English title). At that time, the project still had its original name The DNA Project . Only after the Crisis on Infinite Earths was the project reintroduced as the Cadmus project . The first post-crisis mention of Project Cadmus is in Superman Annual # 2 (original English title) from 1988. Cadmus' purpose is the creation of various super-beings with the help of clone technology. The name Projekt Cadmus is based on Cadmus from Greek mythology, who created warriors from the teeth of dragons. Just as the mythological Cadmus created new powerful warriors from a part of a powerful being (dragon teeth), the Cadmus project also creates new powerful fighters from parts of powerful beings (superhero DNA). This parallel between the mythological Cadmus and the purpose of the project is probably the reason for the name Project Cadmus .

Cadmus, for example, is responsible for creating the new (i.e., the post-crisis) Superboy from genetic material from Superman and Lex Luthor .

development

Cadmus was directed in its original version by Dabney Donovan . Dabney Donovan was a mad scientist who believed that there should be no limit to the potential of genetics . So under his leadership - in the original - creatures called DNAliens were created. DNAlien is a suitcase word made of DNA , and Alien (in German: "Fremdling", "foreign / kind"; mostly translated as: "Aliens", "extraterrestrial"). DNAliens are clones of human beings who have acquired superhuman abilities through genetic modification and given an alien appearance. The most famous DNAlien is probably Dubbilex .

Because of these experiments, Dabney Donovan was later replaced.

It seemed like Cadmus had been destroyed in the Superman story The Fall of Metropolis (original English title). In truth, Cadmus only used the opportunity to dive underground.

Cadmus reappeared in Superboy # 57 under the new leadership of Mickey Cannon. This revealed Cadmus more to the public. The new head of the genetics department under Mickey Cannon became Dr. Sterling Roquette, a teenage genius. Dabney Donovan was later also brought back, but from then on he was always under armed supervision.

TV variant

In the cartoon series The Justice League (in the English original: Justice League ; later: Justice League Unlimited ) the Cadmus project is under the direction of Amanda Waller . Here Cadmus is responsible for the creation of the Ultimate , the Supergirl clone Galatea and Doomsday , who is responsible for Superman's death with a different background story in the comics.

In the series, Cadmus was founded by the military and some government officials who were dissatisfied that Superman and Co had developed into an independent superpower that could seize power over the world at any time. This fear began when Superman was once kidnapped and brainwashed by Darkseid, which led to his attack on Earth. This fear was heightened when the news of a parallel world in which the Justice League ( called Justice Lords in that world ) had usurped power after Flash was assassinated and subsequently by Lex Luthor , the President of the United States had been killed by Superman. The attempt was therefore made to use genetic manipulation to develop their own heroes who would fully support the USA and its government; including the Ultimen and Galatea, a genetic copy of Supergirl. However, these attempts failed in the long term because these breeds developed their own will and in some cases began to rebel against Cadmus.

Cadmus received financial support from Maxwell Lord and Luthor; Luthor, however, had the plan to destroy the reputation of the League and the Supermans. But in the end it turned out that Brainiac had lodged in Lex 'body. Luthor formed an alliance with Brainiac and augmented its technical might with human imagination, and it was only thanks to the League of the Just that Brainiac and Luthor could be defeated. Project Cadmus was almost completely discontinued as a result of this manipulation.

In the epilogue epilogue we learn that Cadmus temporarily overwritten the DNA of Waren McGinnis with that of Bruce Wayne in the course of the Batman Beyond project and so Waren's son Terry McGinnis is in truth the genetic son of Bruce Wayne.