Project Cadmus

From DC Animated Universe Wiki, the DCAU Database

"Maybe the angels need a sharp sword, too." [1] — Amanda Waller

Project Cadmus was a secret division of the United States government dedicated to countering the power of metahumans in the world, particularly the members of the Justice League.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 The Cadmus Agenda 1.3 Operatives 1.4 Exposure 1.5 The Cadmus Crisis 1.6 Cadmus Today 2 Members 3 Cadmus Agents 4 Cadmus Studies 5 Background Information 6 Footnotes 7 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

Cadmus's precise origins are unclear. According to General Hardcastle, the U.S. military and several major corporations had been collaborating for decades, experimenting on metahumans, extraterrestrials, and mutants, and hoarding advanced technology (human and alien), for both profit and defense. Their early efforts included Volcana, and the teenagers whom The Joker remade into the Royal Flush Gang.^[2] It has also been hinted that the "Big Bang" which occurred in the City of Dakota, which exponentially increased the metahuman population, was sanctioned, and possibly orchestrated, by the government and Edwin Alva.^[3]

This agenda was presumably boosted when Superman went rogue, invading the Earth after being brainwashed by Darkseid.^[4] His actions forced the government to the belated realization that it had no adequate defenses to counter a being with his abilities. (Ironically, no similar realization is associated with the earlier rampage of rogue Kryptonians Jax-Ur and Mala, who were completely unstoppable until Superman was released from the Phantom Zone).^[5] A cornerstone of the Cadmus agenda was to aim their countermeasures at all the seemingly "good" metahumans, based on the cynical belief that they cannot be trusted no matter how well-intentioned they seem.

According to Amanda Waller, the latest incarnation of Cadmus was created in direct response to the Justice Lords incident^[6] (However, Doomsday had already been created at the time of that incident, indicating that the Cadmus agenda was already well underway). In order to secure a presidential pardon for Lex Luthor so he could help the Justice League defeat the Lords, the League had to share with the government the full details of what the Lords had done in their alternate dimension: killed the President and conquered the world.^[7] Waller and others realized that if the Justice League decided to do the same thing, the government had absolutely no means of stopping it.

Waller, a veteran intelligence operative, was appointed director of Project Cadmus, charged with creating effective counter-measures against a rogue League. Luthor was the secret source of Cadmus's funding, which allowed it to remain off the books.

Later, after Cadmus was disbanded, Waller mentioned that the disband order had come from "Langley," (Langley, Virginia, where the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency is located), suggesting that Cadmus was officially a division of the C.I.A..^[8] However, Waller also had a direct line to the President's office.

[edit] The Cadmus Agenda

Cadmus research branched out in several different directions to develop weapons that would be effective against the League. Emil Hamilton, in charge of its genetics division created cloned metahumans conditioned to be loyal to the government: Doomsday,^[6] Galatea,^[2] and the Ultimen.^[9]

Tala, in charge of researching magic and mysticism, proposed the theft of the Annihilator for use by Cadmus,^[6][10] but the plan went awry when the armor was stolen by Felix Faust and Tala was trapped in a mirror.^[11]

General Wade Eiling advised on military tactics and the development of more conventional weapons, including a ballistic missile with a Kryptonite warhead.^[6]

Dr. Milo experimented with splicing, drawing on the notes of Kirk Langstrom (the first Man-Bat), but his work was judged by Waller to have failed, and Milo was fired.

Cadmus also collected various pieces of technology in an attempt to use it, including the remains of the Dark Heart,^[12] and the "Captain Nazi" serum captured from the Germans during World War II.

Another agenda was conspiring to undermine public confidence in the Justice League, promoting the popularity of "their" superheroes,^[9] to cause discord among its members, and, if necessary, provoke the League into making the first move in the war which Waller and Eiling believed to be inevitable.^[13]

[edit] Operatives

In addition to Waller and the above-mentioned senior staff, Cadmus was allocated a small contingent of soldiers from the U.S. military. For specialized missions, Cadmus utilized Task Force X, a special ops team composed largely of criminals and mercenaries, but led by Colonel Rick Flagg. It also employed the services of Dr. Moon, a torture expert, and Dr. Hugo Strange, an expert in psychological counseling.

[edit] Exposure

The Justice League first began to learn of Cadmus's activities when Supergirl experienced an unexpected telepathic link with Galatea, who was engaged in assassinating certain indiscreet employees of Cadmus. The Question took the opportunity to air several of his theories about government conspiracies, which were partially confirmed by an interview with General Hardcastle.^[2]

However, the League did not get a concrete look at Cadmus until the Ultimen incident, when the first generation of failed Ultimen were rounded up by Cadmus after being defeated by the League. Waller faced off with Batman, who was forced to back down when he saw Cadmus had the government's authority behind it.^[9]

A short time later, Batman confronted Waller in her own home, who frankly explained Cadmus's agenda. At the same time, a disgruntled Dr. Milo released Doomsday from his bonds, hoping to get revenge on Waller. Unexpectedly, Doomsday turned on Milo, then returned to his ingrained mission: killing Superman. Waller ordered Eiling to contain the fiasco, which Eiling took as an excuse to fire a nuclear missile at a remote island where Superman and Doomsday were fighting, a disaster that Batman narrowly averted.^[6]

[edit] The Cadmus Crisis

Matters came to a head when the The Question, who had stolen top secret Cadmus files, was captured by its operatives and tortured for information.^[14] Superman and Huntress broke into Cadmus headquarters in New Mexico to rescue him. Captain Atom, bound by his duty to prevent this friendly extraction, attempted to subdue the raiders, but was defeated by Superman and brought to the Watchtower with the Question as well. Afterward, the Justice League debated on their next move in response to Cadmus with the idea of a forceful approach gaining some interest. However, Green Arrow, who was recruited as the team's political conscience for precisely this kind of situation, calmed the waters with a sophisticated assessment concerning their apparent enemy's reason for existing: self defense in the event that the Justice League descended into the villainous excesses of the Justice Lords. Although the team accepted the argument, events went immediately out of control with Watchtower's orbital laser cannon suddenly going into its firing sequence apparently on its own. Despite the League's best efforts to stop it, the weapon fired down on the Cadmus facility, destroying it and causing massive devastation in the surrounding area. However, Waller had already evacuated Cadmus's personnel and equipment to another facility, because of the security breach caused by Question's rescue.^[15]

Though the Justice League swore to the President that they had not fired the cannon, six of the seven founding members handed themselves over to government custody as a sign of cooperation. Waller, seeing the strike as clear retaliation for taking Question, disobeyed the President's order to wait, and ordered Galatea to lead an army of Ultimen in a full-scale attack on the Watchtower.^[16]

In the midst of the attack, however, Batman confronted Waller again and revealed that she had been set up by Luthor. It became clear that in providing funding to Cadmus, Luthor had been interested only in his own agendas: destroying Superman and making himself both superhuman and immortal. He had stolen Cadmus technology allowing him to fire the cannon remotely, and to build a second version of AMAZO to transfer his consciousness into. Had it worked, it would have been a masterstroke: not only would he eliminate his unwitting partners and create a perfect body for himself, he would turn public opinion against the Justice League so as to make killing Superman an act of heroism.

Realizing this, Waller ordered Galatea to stand down. It was then that that Project Cadmus' single operational flaw was revealed: no counter for the countermeasures. The unstable Galatea ignored the order in an effort to murder Supergirl, and was only stopped due to the efforts of Supergirl and Steel. Hoping to at least stop Luthor, Waller released the founding members, who confronted Luthor and destroyed his prototype android...only for Brainiac to emerge from within Luthor, revealing that he had been manipulating Luthor and Waller for years. Using the Dark Heart stoeln from Cadmus, Lex Luthor and Brainiac merged into a single being bent on absorbing the knowledge of the universe, starting with Earth. Fortunately, the Justice League managed to stop the Luthor/Brainiac hybrid. It also taught Waller herself that the Justice League still had the peoples' best interests at heart.^[17] Cadmus was disbanded, its personnel re-assigned, and its research was classified. Waller later remarked that they were lucky not have been charged with criminal offenses.^[8]

[edit] Cadmus Today

In subsequent years, Cadmus seemed to exist under another name as a research bureau on metahumans, acting as an ally of the League. Waller was later made official liaison between the League and the U.S. government.^[1]

However, General Eiling was, when reassigned to a desk job, furious with his superiors’ acceptance of the Justice League and still believed that they were a threat. Breaking into Cadmus's former headquarters, Eiling stole the Captain Nazi serum and transformed himself into a super-strong brute. He claimed that, if Superman and the Justice League ever get out of control, he would be waiting to take them on.^[8]

Waller briefly revived her old Cadmus contacts for Project Batman Beyond, to create a non-powered human who would be Bruce Wayne's natural successor as Batman.^[1]

Using genetics technology stolen from Cadmus, The Joker managed to cheat death by implanting his consciousness into Tim Drake.^[18]

[edit] Members

• Amanda Waller
• General Eiling
• General Hardcastle
• Dr. Hugo Strange
• Dr. Milo (deceased)
• Dr. Emil Hamilton
• Tala (deceased)
• Maxwell Lord
• Lex Luthor
• Dr. Moon
• Special Agent James Carver

[edit] Cadmus Agents

• Doomsday (imprisoned the Phantom Zone)
• Galatea (possibly deceased)
• Captain Atom (Turned aganist Cadmus during attack on Watchtower)
• Task Force X
  • Captain Boomerang (resigned)
  • Clock King
  • Deadshot
  • Rick Flagg
  • Plastique (possibly deceased)
• The Ultimen (deceased, cloned into army)
  • Wind Dragon
  • Shifter
  • Downpour
  • Long Shadow (left to join the Justice League, deceased)
  • Juice

[edit] Cadmus Studies

• Doomsday
• Galatea
• Royal Flush Gang
• Ultimen
• Volcana
• Terry McGinnis (see Project Batman Beyond)
• Joker may have used Cadmus technology on Tim Drake in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

[edit] Background Information

The organization that would later be called Cadmus has its origins in the early 1970's as the D.N.A. Project (and sometimes simply as "the Project") in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133, one quarter of Jack Kirby's "Fourth World" titles. The group's ethically questionable, though well-intentioned, experiments would frequently cause Olsen and his comrades (many of them products of The Project) no small amount of grief. This was due, in part, to the machinations of the Fear Factory, essentially an evil counterpart to the D.N.A Project, backed by none other than Darkseid, master of Apokolips. It existed, in part, to provide some superhuman muscle for Darkseid's other Earth-based project, Intergang.

The D.N.A. Project made a return to comics in the Superman family of titles (Superman Annual #1, 1988), where it was re-named "Project Cadmus" after the hero of Greek mythology who "grew" warriors from the teeth of a dragon. Among other things, it was responsible by the creation of the Post-Crisis version of Superboy, from gene samples extracted from both Superman and Lex Luthor.

By the time Cadmus made its appearance in Justice League Unlimited, all connection to Kirby's "Fourth World" and New Gods had been replaced with that of the Suicide Squad/Task Force X and elements of DC Comics Checkmate, taking on a much more sinister role than its comic book counterpart.

On the special feature Cadmus: Exposed, the producers of Justice League Unlimited explained that their version of Cadmus was much more politicized than the comics version, which was more a loose collection of mad scientists with no concrete agenda.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Project Cadmus at the DC Database Project