This will have spoilers

So I noticed a lot of similarities between the vault 87 super mutants and the commonwealth ones, first off is the obvious color of their skin and the notable degradation of intelligence but some commonwealth super mutants will talk about "no green stuff here" and share the same violent tendencies as the Vault 87 ones.

Now, we've known the Institute has knowledge of D.C. since Fallout 3 with Zimmer, Doctor Li comes from D.C. and has lived in a mutant-heavy area for awhile and the Institute had a FEV division started by Father. My theory is that while the birth of the Commonwealth Super Mutants is different I think the method of how they were created and the origin of the FEV virus are the same. What if the Institute acquired the FEV from Vault 87?

The Institute has teleporters, they have synth technology to use as foot soldiers against the mutants and they have the scientists to use the research so it's not that far-fetched of a theory.

They did not. They're unrelated to Vault 87 mutants entirely beyond being FEV test subjects. The Commonwealth ones are from an unknown FEV source the Institute acquired and the Super Mutants in the Commonwealth are people kidnapped and turned into mutants and dumped out in the wastes as 'failed' subjects.

Which, given the similarities between Commonwealth and Vault 87 super mutants, could have been Vault 87.

Obviously the Institute modified the strain into something else, but the similar morphology, and the creation of Behemoths, which was previously only something the V87 strain caused, does suggest they share a common source.

Right but why can't the strain have been modified? The Institute has the knowledge of vault 87 from the exploits of the lone wanderer or through spying on the Brotherhood or could've tracked down the source on their own, they've made the trip to D.C. before, have the manpower and capability to go into Vault 87 to acquire the strain and of course they'd try to change it given how Vault 87 super mutants were.

While the strain may have been altered by the FEV division it's still entirely possible the original strain was recovered from 87.

Or it means that Vault 87's Pre-War source is the same as the Institute's source. You guys are grasping for straws here on what-ifs. The game stats very matter-of-fact that they are not derived from the same source as Vault 87. I can't state that any more simply. If anyone from this point on wants to go "But what if..." then I'm wasting my time. Hypotheticals in this situation don't matter. The game states their sources are not the same, flat and simple as that.

Not really, Vault 87's pre-war source was Vault 87, 87's FEV was made there just like Mariposa's FEV strain was made in Mariposa. The Institute wasn't around before the great war it was built after it as a safe haven. No one is grasping at straws, we're making valid comparisons between the two species of super mutants and theorizing the source may have been the same, that a group with a synth army and teleporters could've taken the strain.

> "The Institute wasn't around before."

Except for that giant place known as The Commonwealth Institute of Technology and the Institute was built by its survivors. Yeah okay. But I've been through enough of these straw throwing parties where people ignore blatantly explained canon to explore hypothetical nonsense defied by lore, so uhhh....All of the Commonwealths mutants are all Vault 87 mutants, the canon in the game is wrong, your theories are right and lore be damned. Your conspiracy is victorious and I'm not wasting my time on this nonsense. I explained very clearly your theories do not much but everytime a "But what if!" poster wanted their idea to be canon never backs down they're wrong and I'm not wasting my time trying to explain why you're wrong when you're not going to listen. So yes, you're 100% right and Bethesda's team are wrong.

Forget those silly lore articles that the game could easily answer all your questions to, your theories are all that matters, not that silly ol' in-game canon.

The game says nothing of the sort actually. All the game notes is that Institute super mutants have biological differences then those from D.C., which is explainable from The Institute self admitting, altering the FEV they had to try to perfect the strains.

That is a massive difference from "not the same source".

Sadly, the Commonwealth Supermutants are a handwave. It's as if Bethesda threw them in there because "It's not a Fallout game without Supermutants" and Bethesda just copy-pasted the same style. Dumb, depraved, mindless, cannibalistic brutes that just keep getting bigger as they get older. This is despite the fact that Fallout: New Vegas demonstrated there ARE intelligent Supermutants and ones with real personality. But why implement anything like that when we can just have hordes of respawning Future Orcs in this game of high tech fantasy?

Anyway... No, these Supermutants aren't the same biologically as the ones in the Capital Wasteland. They're a different color, for one thing (deep green instead of sickly yellow; they're Green Monsters, get it?). For another, there IS a sort of society running among them, one that is apparently communistic, or at the very least communal, as opposed to the Capital Wasteland Supermutants which apparently revere strength and shiny things above all else.

However, that doesn't excuse the fact that Bethesda carried over the modus operandi OR the motivation of the Capital Supermutants from FO3. Despite being yet another plague upon the Commonwealth from the Institute, the Green Monsters still kidnap people to either eat or convert. This is despite the fact that they don't have anymore "Green Stuff" and are scouring every medical facility for more FEV, so they can't convert anybody into more Supermutants. Yet, despite the fact that the Institute isn't seeding the wasteland with anymore of their brethren, their haunts keep getting replenished with the monstrous humanoids.