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Dieselpunk fiction can encompass the supernatural as well. In [[Diesel Punk]] adventure, occult practices are [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]], and
maybe [[Magicians Are Wizards]]. The works of [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]], tales of Nazi occult research, contemporary expeditions to 'mystical' places such as Egypt, and early research into relativity and quantum physics have greatly contributed to the occult mystique that informs Dieselpunk. This tends to contrast with the 19th-century [[Gothic Horror|Gothic]] themes and spiritualism that show up in [[Steampunk]].
 
As Dieselpunk is a post-modern look at the past, it is not limited to the tropes and stereotypes that characterized fiction of the day -- instead, it can use these tropes to comment upon the past and reinvent it. Dieselpunk (along with steampunk) can encompass a range of authorial voices and themes. Female characters in Dieselpunk tend to be strong, encompassing flappers to pin-up girls and much more, and can include [[Wrench Wench|Rosie the Riveter]]-type [[Action Girl|action heroines]], glamourous [[Femme Fatale|femme fatales]], [[Superhero Tropes|costumed crusaders]], [[Adventurer Archaeologist|archaeologist badasses]], [[Dragon Lady|dragon ladies]], [[Intrepid Reporter|tough-talking reporters]] and other types common to pulp fiction of the era. Both male and female characters are typically [[Badass Normal|Badass Normals]] with [[Universal Driver's License|universal drivers' licenses]].
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producing increasingly effective weaponry. The occult basically amounts to
[[Black Magic]] (including [[Religion Is Magic|exotic religions]]),
[[Sealed Evil in Aa Can]] might turn up in an archeological dig and subsequently
have to be stopped to avoid [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]].
 
==== Diesel Weird War ====
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==== Diesel Dystopia ====
 
Also called "Piecraftian" Diesel Punk, again named for some guy on the Internet. [[World War II]] did start and may still be in progress; if it isn't, either some kind of [[Cold War]] is being waged, or a [[One World Order]] has been established. Either way, [[The Government]] is [[Big Brother Is Watching|intrusive]] and [[Police State|ruthless]], ostensibly to protect the citizens. The political ideology might be any kind of totalitarianism, either one of the many real life examples of the period, a [[Commie Nazis|mashup]] of those, or a completely fictional [[A Nazi Byby Any Other Name|analogue]].
 
==== Diesel Desolation ====
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Dieselpunk is a modern genre, but some of the films and books of the period fit well, in the same fashion that [[Jules Verne]]'s books can be posed as [[Steampunk]].
 
* ''[[Metropolis (Film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927), also a novel
* ''[[The Shape of Things to Come]]'' (1933) by [[HGH. G. Wells]] and its 1936 film adaptation ''Things To Come''
* Pretty much any [[Film Noir]] or crime film of the period
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' by [[George Orwell (Creator)|George Orwell]]
* James Whale's ''[[Frankenstein (Filmfilm)|Frankenstein]]'' films of the 1930s
* The surreal dystopian writing of [[Franz Kafka]]
* ''[[RUR (Theatre)R.U.R.|RUR]]'' and ''[[War With the Newts (Literature)|War Withwith the Newts]]'' by Karel Čapek
* [[H.P. Lovecraft (Creator)|HP Lovecraft]] and his ''[[Cthulhu Mythos]]'' crop up frequently in dieselpunk.
* The ''[[Biggles]]'' books
* The earlier ''[[Tintin (Comic Book)]]'' graphic novels
* ''[[The Phantom (Comiccomic Stripstrip)|The Phantom]]'' comic.
* ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' comic.
* The [[Mandrake the Magician]] comic.
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==== {{smallcaps|[[Film]]}} ====
* The ''[[Indiana Jones (Franchise)|Indiana Jones]]'' films
* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' (2004)
* ''[[Hellboy (Filmfilm)|Hellboy]]''
* ''[[The Rocketeer (Filmfilm)|The Rocketeer]]'' (1991)
* ''[[The Shadow (Filmfilm)|The Shadow]]'' (1994)
* ''[[The Phantom (Filmfilm)|The Phantom]]'' (1996)
* ''The Call of Cthulhu'' (2005)
* ''[[The Mummy Trilogy]]''
* ''[[Dark City]]''
* ''[[Batman (Filmfilm)|Batman]]'' (1989)
* ''[[Cast a Deadly Spell (Film)|Cast a Deadly Spell]]''
* ''[[The Abominable Dr. Phibes]]'' (1971) is either very early Diesel Punk or very late Pulp Horror.
* ''[[Brazil (Filmfilm)|Brazil]]''
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6_j3sgfaGg The 1995 film adaptation] of Shakespeare's ''[[Richard III]]'', [[Setting Update|set in 1930s Britain]] (coupling [[Day of the Jackboot|Diesel Dystopia]] with [[Putting Onon the Reich]] and numerous [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]'')
* Similarly to the above, 1999's ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120866/ Titus]'' adapts Shakespeare's play to a surreal version of [[Fascist Italy]], that seems trapped between dieselpunk and ancient Rome.
* ''[[The Element of Crime]]'' combines Diesel Noir and Diesel Desolation, for very grim results.
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* The film ''[[Sucker Punch]]'' is '''heavy''' on the dieselpunk.
* The titular city in ''[[City of Ember]]'' (at least in the film) is hinted to have significant dieselpunk influences in its heyday. Of course, it's all decaying now...
* ''[[Captain America: theThe First Avenger]]'' arguably qualifies under the Diesel Weird War heading, as it is set during the 1940's and plays the original comic (Cap versus Nazis) straight. It plays straight the trope in regards to technology used - creations of the 1940s blown [[Up to Eleven]].
* The Polish film ''Hardkor 44'', currently in development, is heavily dieselpunk. Set in Warsaw in the summer of 1944, as the Soviet army bears down on Warsaw, it recounts the Warsaw Uprising by the Polish Resistance, to liberate the city before the Russians get there. Then things get weird. As in "[[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|The Nazis have cyborgs and mecha]]" weird.
* The Firesign Theater's ''J-Men Forver'' parodies this.
* ''[[The Hudsucker Proxy]]''.
* In ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'', parts of the O.Z. (especially Central City) have a strongly dieselpunk aesthetic.
* ''Mutant Chronicles''
* ''[[Watchmen (Filmfilm)|Watchmen]]'' - the parts set in the 1930s and 1940s.
* ''[[The City of Lost Children]]'' is heavily dieselpunkish in design, in a dark and ominous way. The same goes for the Playstation game based on it.
* An upcoming Hungarian film starring Mark Hamill, ''Thelomeris'', is a mix of dieselpunk and [[Clock Punk]].
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* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]''
* ''[[Sin City]]'' - Doesn't actually include dieselpunk tech elements (although an incredibly high-tech medical science is at least hinted at), but as a revisionist neo-noir, it's definitely got a dieselpunk attitude.
* ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]'' - Does to the interbellum/Depression period what other dieselpunk films do to the deco and war periods.
* Elements of ''[[Up]]'', especially the younger days of Carl and his hero, explorer Charles F. Muntz.
 
==== {{smallcaps|[[Anime]]}} ====
* Some of the [[Studio Ghibli]] films take place in a mythical Diesel Deco-style Europe: ''[[Kiki's Delivery Service]]'' and ''[[Film/Howls Moving Castle|Howls Moving Castle]]'', for example. ''[[Porco Rosso]]'' takes place in a fictionalized Mediterranean setting between WWI and WWII. Besides (possibly) fictional use of air pirates and the magical realist-style presentation of Porco's being a pig, ''[[Porco Rosso]]'' incorporates historically accurate cues that indicate Italy is about to come under [[Benito Mussolini]]'s leadership.
* ''[[Metropolis (Animeanime)|Metropolis]]'' (2001), also the manga by [[Osamu Tezuka]].
* ''[[Baccano (Light Novel)|Baccano]]!'', also the book.
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Franchise)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', a rare combination of [[Diesel Punk]] and [[Magitek]].
* ''[[Last Exile (Anime)|Last Exile]]'' combines [[Diesel Punk]] with [[Steampunk]].
* ''[[The Sky Crawlers]]''
* ''[[Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Anime)|Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade]]''
* ''[[Wings of Honneamise Royal Space Force (Anime)|Wings of Honneamise Royal Space Force]]'' shows a post-[[World War II]]-flavoured version of this trope.
* ''[[The Big O (Anime)|The Big O]]''
* ''[[XamdXam'd: Lost Memories (Anime)|Xamd Lost Memories]]''
* ''[[Black Cat (Mangamanga)|Black Cat]]'' has modern technology pop up, but the setting overall has a very Diesel Punk aesthetic and feel to it.
* [[RedlineRed Line]] is a mix of [[Space Opera]] and a load of [[Diesel Punk]] elements.
 
==== {{smallcaps|[[Comic Books]]}} ====
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==== {{smallcaps|[[Literature]]}} ====
* The planet Saraksh in ''[[Prisoners of Power (Literature)|Prisoners of Power]]'', one of the [[Noon Universe]] novels of the [[Strugatsky Brothers (Creator)|Strugatsky Brothers]]. There are several [[Diesel Punk]] [[Human Aliens]] civilizations in the series. Practically all of them are [[Fantastic Aesop]] attempts at [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] about the state of Soviet society and the military during the [[Cold War]] era. One particularly disturbing case was the ironically-codenamed planet "Hope", which suffered from a severely polluted environment for years and was struck one day by a mysterious [[Depopulation Bomb]]. It's been a [[Ruins of the Modern Age]] [[Scavenger World]] ever since.
* ''[[The Iron Dream (Literature)|The Iron Dream]]'' by Norman Spinrad
* Ian MacDonald's ''Desolation Road'' and ''Ares Express'' are a mix of this, [[Desert Punk]] and Cyberpunk with the non-city areas being Desert Punk and the cities being a mix of Diesel and Cyber.
* Arguably, ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'' - which seems to be taking place in an [[Alternate Universe]] Forties where WWII never happened, most of the world went Communist, and ''someone'' invented, then destroyed, a futuristic power generator that converts atmospheric static electricity into direct current. The setting qualifies, but the theme is D'Punk inside out, with typical protagonist/antagonist roles reversed.
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* Though ''[[Leviathan]]'' by Scott Westerfeld is definitely in the [[Steampunk]] genre by how it's presented and what kind of story it is, the Clanker technology is more [[Diesel Punk]], as they frequently use gas, oil, kerosene, and diesel, not just steam. Also, the Darwist's "beasties" are a good example of [[Bio Punk]].
* ''[[Dreadnought]]'' by Cherie Priest. Thanks to the Republic of Texas discovering oil fifty years early, the Confederates are quite proud of their '[[Humongous Mecha|walker]]' which runs on diesel as opposed to the steam-driven Union mecha. Coal-diesel engines are also used by paddlesteamers and the eponymous [[Cool Train]].
* Jonathan L. Howard's ''Johannes Cabal'' series straddles this and Steam Punk. The first book, ''[[Johannes CabaltheCabal the Necromancer]]'' is more Steam, the second, ''[[Johannes Cabal the Detective]]'' more Deco Diesel.
* Swedish SF author Anders Blixt's ''Iskriget (The Ice War)'' is an "antarctic" spy adventure taking place in an alternate 1940, in which German and Czech republicans rebel against the heavy-handed rule of the Habsburg emperor. It includes, among other genre attributes, diesel-electric Miyazaki-style cloudships and ice juggernauts.
* ''[[Doc Sidhe]]''
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==== {{smallcaps|[[Video Games]]}} ====
* ''[[Bio ShockBioshock]]'' and ''Bioshock II'' take place in a very distinctly dieselpunk world, complete with analogue vacuum-tube computers/robots and a jaw-dropping Art Deco setting. It does not entirely fit any of the types above, as it is set in an abandoned (well, by anything we could reasonably call inhabitants) underwater Gulch (a la Galt) and we do not know how different the surface is. However, the setting does apply.
** ''Bioshock : Infinite'': is set on an Flying City. In 1912. It is more of a straight-up steampunk vision, though Americanized as opposed to Victorian.
* ''[[Crimson Skies]]'' all the way, to the point of being the [[Trope Codifier]] of this style in [[Video Games]]. Emphasis on dieselpunk [[Sky Pirate|Sky Pirates]], [[Cool Plane|Cool Planes]] and [[Cool Airship|Cool Airships]].
* The various ''[[Wolfenstein (Video2009 Gamevideo game)|Wolfenstein]]'' games.
* ''Airfix Dogfighter''
* ''[[Fallout]]'' - Usually classified as Atompunk, but takes place in a retrograde enough world to qualify (a world with atomic power but without the transistor).
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* Outerlight Ltd.'s ''[[The Ship]]'', a very warped tale set in an art deco cruise liner.
* ''Nocturne'' revolved around 1930s pulp heroes fighting off mad science and Lovecraftian monsters in a very dieselpunk mode.
* ''Dino D-Day'': World War 2 meets ''[[Everything's Better Withwith Dinosaurs|Jurassic Park]]''.
* ''[[Progear]]'' has technology somewhere between [[World War One]] and [[World War Two]]
* ''[[Akai Katana]]'' takes place before or during [[World War Two]]
* ''Power Strike II'', a [[Sega Master System]] [[Vertical Scrolling Shooter]] by [[Compile]], released only in Europe and Australia (not to be confused with the [[Game Gear]] title of the same name, also by Compile, which is a completely different, more conventional space shooter). The main character is a bounty hunter, whose job is to shoot down [[Sky Pirates]] in an alternate 1930s setting.
* ''[[Skullgirls (Video Game)|Skullgirls]]'' definitely draws on the [[Diesel Punk]] aesthetic, although the makers prefer to call it Dark Deco.
 
==== {{smallcaps| [[Western Animation]]}} ====
* ''[[The Legend of Korra (Animation)|The Legend of Korra]]'', a sequel series to [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]], takes place in Republic City, a [[Culture Chop Suey]] of various depression-era metropolises and Asian aesthetics. The music has been described as "1920s New Orleans jazz but if it were invented in China".
* ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]''.
* ''[[George Shrinks]]'' nails the look, and is about as punk as a kids show gets.
* The Disney cartoon ''[[Tale Spin (Animation)|Tale Spin]]'' and its 1930s pulp adventure style was a high-flying, lighthearted brand of diesel.
* ''[[My Life Asas a Teenage Robot]]''
 
==== {{smallcaps| [[Web Comics]]}} ====
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* ''[http://www.captainspectre.com/ Captain Spectre and the Lightning Legion]'' A Rocketeer-style hero done in a retro serial style.
* ''[http://www.femme-noir.com/ Femme Noir]'' - A sexy P.I. solves mysteries in a shady neo-noir fashion.
* ''[http://strangeaeons.comicdish.com/ Strange Aeons]'' - Nazis, Lovecraft, noir and pulpy intrigue set in a crazy-ass Art Deco [[Mega City|mega city]].
* ''[http://www.bombshelterzine.com/wordpress/ Warbirds of Mars]'' - Diesel-fied America at war with Nazis, alien invaders and (maybe?) Nazi aliens.
* Anathema, hosted on [[Slipshine]].
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