The seven vanguard

What If...?

What If the First Super Soldiers Were Seven Women?

January 1944

After years of research, Dr. Abraham Erskine makes a shocking discovery. The Super Soldier Serum corrupts the minds of men, turning even the noblest soldiers into power-hungry monsters. Only women can withstand the serum without losing their humanity.

With time running out, the Allied High Command launches a top-secret initiative known as Project Vanguard.

Seven female officers are chosen from seven Allied nations:

• Captain Peggy Carter – United Kingdom
• Captain Wanda Grachev – Soviet Union
• Captain Sarah Smith – United States
• Captain Juliette Laurent – France
• Captain Femke de Witte – Netherlands
• Captain Diede Ducasse – Belgium
• Captain Julia Benigni – Italy

Before the experiment can be completed, HYDRA assassin Heinz Krueger infiltrates the laboratory.

Knowing there is no time left, Dr. Erskine orders the procedure to continue.

The Vita Rays are activated.

The serum is injected.

Moments later, the seven women emerge stronger, faster and more powerful than any human in history.

Krueger murders Erskine before escaping, but Captain Peggy Carter and Captain Sarah Smith pursue him. Cornered, Krueger swallows a cyanide capsule and dies with one final cry:

"Hail HYDRA!"

Erskine is gone...

But his legacy lives on.

The seven women become the Allies' greatest weapon.

They are given a single name:

The Vanguard Seven

Throughout the Second World War, wherever HYDRA appears, the Vanguard Seven follow.

They liberate occupied cities.

Destroy HYDRA strongholds.

Rescue prisoners.

Lead Allied offensives across Europe.

By 1945, the Axis powers are defeated.

The war is over.

The Cold War

Peace lasts only a few months.

The world is divided into East and West.

The United States and the Soviet Union begin a new conflict—not with armies, but with politics, espionage and nuclear weapons.

Soon, every government demands that its Captain return home.

Britain calls Peggy Carter.

The Soviet Union orders Wanda Grachev back to Moscow.

The United States recalls Sarah Smith.

France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy issue the same commands.

Each nation wants its own Super Soldier.

Each nation wants its own symbol of power.

For the first time since 1944...

The seven Captains refuse.

They secretly reunite in an abandoned Allied bunker hidden deep within the Swiss Alps.

No generals.

No politicians.

No cameras.

Only the seven women who fought side by side to save the world.

Peggy Carter breaks the silence.

«"We were created to end a world war...

not to begin another."»

Wanda looks around the room.

«"If we obey our governments...

one day we'll be ordered to fight each other."»

Sarah slowly removes the American insignia from her uniform and places it on the table.

One by one...

The others do the same.

That night, the seven Captains make a new oath.

«"We belong to no nation.

We serve no government.

We fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.

Wherever innocent people need us...

we will answer."»

The following morning, every intelligence agency in the world discovers the same thing.

The seven Super Soldiers have disappeared.