In "The Stand," the lethal flu virus that wipes out most of humanity is nicknamed Captain Trips.
The virus is a highly contagious, weaponized strain of influenza developed inside a secret U.S. Department of Defense facility in the Mojave Desert. A security guard named Charles Campion escapes after the accidental release, unknowingly carrying the infection with him. His journey spreads the disease far beyond the laboratory.
Within the novel, journalists give the outbreak several names, including "superflu" and "tubeneck," but Captain Trips becomes the most familiar nickname. The name evokes the Grateful Dead’s touring culture and the counterculture associations of the 1960s, giving the otherwise clinical disaster a distinctly American popular-culture label.
A common mix-up is Project Blue, which identifies the military operation or project connected with the virus in adaptations and related descriptions, not the virus’s best-known nickname. The pandemic kills almost everyone, while a small number of people survive because they possess natural immunity. The survivors then divide between communities led by Mother Abagail and Randall Flagg.