Whether you’ve played Fallout or not, you will more than likely recognize Bethesda’s future-oriented, post-apocalyptic game, and if you recognize Fallout, you recognize super mutants. Super mutants are the green, muscular behemoths you slaughter by the hundreds—if not thousands—in the wasteland.
In Fallout they are extremely common and are pivotal parts of a few of the award-winning series’ storylines for the series. Seeing as how important they are, very little information is given about them unless you do some digging. So here are 10 things you didn’t know about super mutants in the Fallout universe that will add to your experience.
10 The FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus) Mutates Them
First thing on the list explains why the heck there are giant green mutants wandering the wasteland in the first place. The Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) was created in ‘The Great War” between the USA and China in a desperate attempt for one side to get a leg up on the other.
After humanity was all but wiped out, “The Master” found the hidden virus and began spawning a wide range of creatures, including super mutants. The FEV gives humans massive upgrades in strength and regeneration but, as shown below, can come with some radical side effects.
9 They Are Mutated Humans
With their big, hulking structure, it’s easy to look over the fact that super mutants used to be just like regular humans. Some of them were infected against their will, and others by accident. But, like many humans, some craved power above all else and tried to use the enhancements for personal gain in the new world (it usually doesn’t work out).
While you’re tasked with killing many humans in Fallout, it can make you think twice about why you’re blindly slaughtering random super mutants when you realize humans are only a virus away from becoming these bulky giants.
8 They Are Immune To Disease And Radiation
One of the reasons super mutants have survived and thrived in this nuclear world is their bodies ability to resist radiation. The cells in their bodies are so supercharged that they regenerate faster than any pesky disease, like radiation sickness, and won't even garner a cough.
This also explains why, in areas that players need to wear power armor—or just chug rad-away like mad—super mutants roam free and healthy. Well, as healthy as a mutated freak running around a barren world getting soaked in radiation can be at least.
7 They Are Completely Sterile
Super mutants are completely sterile and asexual... in case you were interested. The FEV identifies the various sexual cells in humans as incomplete, as they need another cell to help them create life, and “fixes” the problem for the infected persons.
This results in a complete inability to create life or children and renders any sexual organ on a super mutant useless. This is why you don’t see any happy super mutant families with children running around the picket fence. Also, super mutants definitely don’t have the temperament for parenting.
6 They Would Live Forever (If You Gave Them The Chance)
Anyone who plays Fallout has lost count of how many super mutants they have killed even to the point of asking; how are there so many of these things? Well, the answer is simple.; they do not die unless you, or someone else, forcibly kill them, which is no easy task. They will go on living their super mutant lives until someone comes along and ends it for them.
The FEV gets rid of any sickness or disease and therefore renders super mutants immortal. Whether you’re releasing them from a life of misery or cutting short their immortality is really a matter of perspective, though.
5 They Can Live With Humans
Super mutants and humans—especially vault dwellers—rarely get along. Something about a giant green thing that looks like an alien on steroids just puts the population of the new world on edge. It seems like a human population cohabiting with super mutants is a fantasy.
There is however an exception in the town of ‘Broken Hills,’ a settlement in Fallout 2 that harbors that very thing. However, shortly after running out of uranium, a plan is hatched by the humans to destroy the super mutant population. But hey, it was a start.
4 They Are Feral And Crazy Because The Mutation Is So Painful
Super mutants have never been known for their even-keeled nature, and finding one peaceful enough to talk to is a rarity. The reason they’re so aggressive has its origins in the transformation they undergo when given the FEV.
It is such a painful and difficult process that the victim’s brain goes haywire and leaves them an angry mess. The reasons they direct this anger at humans range from jealousy to hatred. One thing the great powers of the world didn’t account for is their weapon turning soldiers bloodthirsty and feral.
3 They Can Be Cured
Dr. Brian Virgil is a super mutant you can stumble upon in Fallout 4. He has the unique distinction of being the only known cured super mutant. To be clear, the player has to find the serum and bring it to Virgil in a series of side quests but it goes to show that super mutants are, in fact, curable.
One curious outcome of this quest is the fact that a fellow super mutant resents Dr. Virgil for curing himself, as the disgruntled mutant sees being enhanced by the FEV to be a blessing, rather than a curse.
2 They Originate From Two Different Places
Super mutants hail from either the west coast or the east coast. Both of these mutants are slightly different in physical stature and have different origins and lore, depending on where they come from.
“The Master,” Richard Grey, created the West Coast mutants shortly after the end of the war. “West Tek” created the East Coast mutants when they released the FEV into the drinking supply of Appalachia shortly before the “Great War” began in an attempt to test their powerful weapon. There are few differences between the two, but the main one that sticks out is the East Coast mutants’ intelligence.
1 They Are Smart
In most people’s eyes, super mutants are seen as wandering brutes that are not capable of any critical thought past “kill the humans.” Evidence shows, however, they are capable of assembling armies of tremendous numbers, providing weapons to said armies, and then conducting tactical raids on human settlements.
While intelligent super mutants are certainly an exception to the rule, it is a disservice to dismiss the entire population as stupid and has lead to many human cities being taken by underestimating their brainpower. Some of the more intelligent super mutants have tried changing their name to “meta-human.”