Luc Deveraux

Luc Deveraux
Universal Soldier (series) character
Jean-Claude Van Damme as Luc Deveraux in the original Universal Soldier (1992)
First appearance	Universal Soldier
Last appearance	Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
Created by	Richard Rothstein Christopher Leitch Dean Devlin
Portrayed by	Jean-Claude Van Damme Matt Battaglia

Luc Deveraux is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Universal Soldier film series. He is most famously portrayed by Belgian actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme portrays Luc in the 1992 film Universal Soldier and its sequels Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) and Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012); he is portrayed by Matt Battaglia in the direct-to-video sequels Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms (1998) and Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1999).

He first appears in Universal Soldier as GR44, a deceased Vietnam War soldier. Luc becomes a Universal Soldier, or UniSol, after being reanimated in a secret government project, along with other previously dead soldiers. He serves as a remotely-controlled super soldier, sent into the most dangerous situations and facing odds too great for the average soldier.

A recurring theme in the series is that he is the only UniSol strong enough to actively resist his conditioning and become more human, though a return to normal functioning seems almost impossible.

In a twist to the usual format of the series, Deveraux serves as the main antagonist in the latest entry, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.

Early life

Devereaux was born to Cajun parents and raised in a farm in Louisiana. Most of the details of his childhood are left unexplained, though it is reasonable to surmise that he was born around or before 1948, making him at least 21 when he is deployed to Vietnam.

Universal Soldier (1992)

In 1969 in Vietnam, Luc Deveraux is nearing the end of his tour of duty in the Vietnam war, Luc's friend Sergeant Andrew Scott, went insane and began killing Vietnamese civilians and his own soldiers indiscriminately. After attempting to reason with Scott, Luc attempts to stop him from killing two villagers, resulting in the two soldiers shooting each other to death. Their bodies are recovered from the field and put on ice, and they are falsely listed as "missing in action."

Twenty Three years later in 1992, The U.S. Government has the Black Tower or 'Universal Soldier' program commissioned Luc and Andrews bodies are chosen to be reanimated as UniSols. Luc rebelled when he met Veronica Roberts, a TV journalist who manages to break his conditioning. Having been essentially brain dead for over twenty years, Luc cannot properly function in civilization. The two attempt to find the source of the Black Tower program and help Luc regain his identity, while Scott and other UniSols are sent to kill them. In the end, he learns about the origin of the program and regains his memories. When he returns to Louisiana his aged parents are overjoyed to see him, reunion is cut short when Scott appears, taking Roberts and Luc's parents hostage. Luc and Andrew fight to the death, which ends as Luc impales Scott on the spikes of a hay harvester and eviscerates him with it.

Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

Ten years after the events of Universal Soldier, The US Government has replaced the Black Tower program with the White Tower program and Luc Deveraux has now become a decommissioned UniSol and was originally part of a group that consisted of five UniSols and was by far the best of the group the US Government decided to put Deveraux into statis. In 2007 Dr. Sandra Fleming had Deveraux awakened so he could undergo rehabilitation therapy and rejoin society, and they both relocate to Switzerland. At the same time, the US Government shut down the White Tower program.

In 2009, Deveraux is forcibly taken back by the US military to participate in a mission to rescue the Ukrainian prime minister's children, held hostage by renegade Commander Topov in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which is rigged with a time bomb. To combat the terrorist's secret weapon, a New Generation UniSol (NGU), Deveraux is reconditioned, geared up and sent to the plant, where he slaughters most of the terrorist forces. He searches the buildings further and sees the children cornered by a clone of his nemesis Andrew Scott. Scott starts to have recollections of Deveraux telling him, "We have been through all this before." Scott charges towards the children with his knife, Deveraux attacks him, and a grueling fight ensues. In the end, Deveraux impales a lead pipe through Scott's head and fires a shotgun through it.

Deveraux then finds the children but they are attacked by the NGU. Deveraux and the NGU take the fight to the site of the bomb, Devereaux jams the detonator in the back of the NGU's uniform as they both jump out the reactor chamber. NGU pulls the detonator off his back just as it explodes, killing him. As the US military moves in, Deveraux leaves the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to start his campaign of freeing UniSols from the programming.

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012)

Three years after the events of Universal Soldier: Regeneration, The US Government has replaced the White Tower program with the Third Program, Luc Deveraux has been on the run from the military ever sense the day he left the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and has shaved his hair off, Luc has returned to the United States and is now living in an underground bunker with his former nemesis another clone of Andrew Scott and the two have finally teamed up and are leaders of a violent cult of UniSols because Deveraux's existence is a political threat, he is targeted for termination by the US government and the head of the Third program puts the cloned soldier "John" on Deveraux's trail, by implanting false memories in John's mind of a happy family life, which ended when Deveraux murdered John's family and left him for dead. The US Government also send the UniSol Magnus who is a clone of the NGU to kill Scott but Scott injects Magnus with a serum and Magnus sees a vision of Deveraux who frees him from the programming Magnus is effectually brainwashed and tasked to kill John.

As Magnus encounters John he injects him with the same serum that Scott injected him with John sees a vision of Deveraux who tries to free him from the programming but John manages to resist. Soon John fights Magnus and beats him and John grabs a baseball bat and whacks him in the face with it killing Magnus. John then goes to an old cabin in the woods and meets his predecessor who he is cloned from the original John tells him that he was also brainwashed by Deveraux and tells John that he has to wait by a lake to get picked up. The original John then attacks his clone but John grabs a shotgun killing the original John.

John then goes by the lake and some UniSols pick him up and guide him to the underground bunker where John meets his creator who tells him he was created in a government factory where he worked and was programmed to kill his creator tells John that he will free John from the implanted memories but this drives John insane who kills every UniSol in the bunker, John then confronts Scott and impales a machete through his throat and John then confronts Deveraux the two have a fist fight with Deveraux gaining the upper hand but Deveraux gives into John as Deveraux sees him as a worthy successor John then puts the machete through Deveraux's stomach which finally kills him.

Personality

In Universal Soldier, Devereaux begins as a Vietnam veteran tired of the war and wanting to go home. As code name GR44, he is a mindless, coldly efficient UniSol. After breaking free from Army control, he displays considerable confusion and curiosity about the world, lacking basic social graces and showing almost childlike interest in many things. As the film progresses, he begins to regain his sense of humanity and shows a range of emotions.

Universal Soldier: Regeneration portrays Devereaux as an essentially broken man, part human, part UniSol. He is weary and confused, much like the original portrayal from the original 1992 film. His psychological testing portrays him as a man both desiring escape from, and haunted by, a past he barely remembers. Once recaptured by the military and conditioned for action, however, he becomes a killing machine once again.

Little of Devereaux is seen in Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning; he is shown to be a weary, fatalistic UniSol who has accepted his lack of humanity.

Powers and abilities

Like most UniSols, Devereaux displays considerable skill in hand-to-hand combat and proficiency with weapons. The most significant attribute of the UniSols is their resilience; they are capable of physical feats far beyond the capability of the strongest human and can withstand considerable physical punishment (whether from gunfire, stabbing, beatings, etc.). Serious injuries such as bone fractures and organ injury do not induce pain and only slightly affect flexibility. However, they are not invincible; explosives, bombs or corrosive agents, while still not especially dangerous, are the most effective weapons against them. Introduced later in the series is the transplanting of limbs, such as arms or legs, to replaced damaged ones, with no ill effects.

What sets Devereaux apart from other UniSols (with the possible exception of Andrew Scott) is his latent human qualities. The average UniSol has no real intelligence or self-sufficiency, and only acts when ordered to do so. Once the government's control of him is interrupted, Devereaux is shown to be capable of thinking for himself and even remembers bits and pieces of his past. He also regains basic human senses such as smell, touch, taste, and hearing. Regeneration implies that full rehabilitation is extremely difficult, if not impossible; though Devereaux makes considerable progress in the area of emotion, it is almost too easy for him to fall back into the relentless UniSol mentality.

See also

• Universal Soldier
• Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms
• Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business
• Universal Soldier: The Return
• Universal Soldier: Regeneration
• Jean-Claude Van Damme
• Matt Battaglia
• Dolph Lundgren

References