Electromagnetic pulse: Difference between revisions

* In the second issue of ''[[Global Frequency]]'', one of the characters carries non-lethal weaponry, such as EMP grenades, when they are going against a full-body enhancile. {{spoiler|They are... not exactly non-leathal.}}

* In [[The Dark Knight Returns]] the Soviets launch a single nuclear missile at the contested island of Corto Maltese. Superman knocks it off course, but, as Batman points out, this is not a [[Nuke'Em]] weapon - the 'Coldbringer' is designed to knock out the enemies' ability to fight, without damaging infrastructure. The weapon detonates, Superman gets [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now|almost dead]], and the electrics fizzle out in most of the Americas.

* ''[[Iron Man]]'' has one built into his armor. It disables his own gear as well, which then takes about six minutes to fix itself. The exact same thing is in the ''[[War Machine (Comic Book)|War Machine]]'' armor.

 

** Also, in a possible case of [[Did Not Do the Research]], in the Animatrix's ''The Second Renaissance'', it is said that the machines had little to fear from nuclear explosions as they were not affected by the heat and fallout, completely forgetting about the effects described in the page's intro.

* In the 2005 film ''[[War of the Worlds]]'' the Martians subject urban areas to a terrifying EMP weapon disguised as a lightning storm. It is designed to wreck our technological society before the tripod assault: a instrument of ''total'' war.

** Blaster uses an EMP gun. It blows up normal electronics but Transformers, being more resilient, only suffer from seriously impaired movement coordination (still very painful if you happen to be in jet form at the time).

* In ''[[Small Soldiers]]'', the kid blows up a power transformer in the back yard. This generates an EMP that fries the circuitry of all the evil toys. The good toys are shielded by a downed satellite dish, somehow.

** Assuming that such a device could be built, the rapid restoration of power is a [[Artistic License Physics]]/[[Artistic License Engineering]] double-header. Not to mention the additional affects that would certainly kill people given the loss of power would also affect anything with an engine and anyone on any kind of life support.

*** Circuit breakers, surge protectors?

* In ''The Return Of [[Godzilla]]'' a mild EMP effect was the side effect of prematurely detonating a nuclear weapon launched to kill Godzilla.

* The nuclear bomb in the [[Made for TV Movie]] ''[[Medusas Child]]''.

* The "Ion Cannon" in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'' was a cannon that disabled an entire Star Destroyer without destroying it. "Ion" weapons in future installments of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]] (particularly video games) specialize in disrupting machinery.

** But without permanently shredding the electronics as [[EM Ps]] do.

*** It's implied in one of the stories (IG-88's section in ''Tales of the Bounty Hunters'') that it ''does'' permanently destroy circuity and such, but there are usually ways to auto-repair the damaged paths. Hence the temporary shutdown period, between "destroyed" and "repaired enough to function".

* In [[Cars|''Cars 2'']], Allinol is actually {{spoiler|a deadly chemical invented by [[Big Bad|Miles Axlerod]] that was designed to catch fire and explode inside a car's engine after being blasted by a deadly electromagnetic cannon built by his [[The Dragon|Dragon,]] Professor Z that resembles a video camera.}}

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* In William Gibson's ''[[Neuromancer]]'', the US military flight unit "Operation Screaming Fist", led by Colonel Willis Corto (Armitage), is taken down by Russian EMP weapons.

** In the ''Neuromancer'' universe, many companies use Artificial Intelligences to run their computing needs, especially security. Notably, there is a regulatory agency (the Turings) that is aware that [[AI Is a Crapshoot]]: as such, all AI-equipped supercomputers must be built with an EMP destruct device, triggerable by any Turing agent. As one AI-savvy character puts it, "Every AI ever built has an electromagnetic shotgun wired to its forehead." This is important, as the story revolves around two [[A Is]] (Wintermute and Neuromancer) that wish to merge into one superentity-an act that would certainly trigger the EMP bombs.

* In ''All Frequency Jamming/Full Band Interception'' by Chinese Sci-Fi writer Cixin Liu, the future Russian (or Chinese, as it's changed in the Taiwanese version) army saved themselves from the conquer of NATO by using EMP in the most [[Badass]] way -- first by deploying stationary EMP emitters, then by {{spoiler|ramming a giant space station into the sun}}!

* In ''[[Moon Over Soho]]'' the cover story for the [[Masquerade]] is that a suspect premises had a miniature EMP bomb in it and [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|not a magical demon trap]].

* In Max Barry's ''Machine Man'', love interest Lola's {{spoiler|[[Heart Trauma]]}} is mended with a model that discharges an EMP when she gets excited. It does considerable damage and ends up as a {{spoiler|[[Chekhov's Gun]]}}.

* In William R. Fortschen's ''One Second After'', an EMP is generated when several nukes are detonated in the atmosphere over the US.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** Also used in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' to remotely knock out an alien device through the Stargate (it didn't work).

*** And [[MacGyvering|another]] was used to disable an enemy command bunker (it worked).

* [[Jericho]]

* An EMP is used to disable the robot angels in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Voyage of the Damned".

* In ''[[Dark Angel]]'' the United States is a third world country because of a terrorist EMP attack.

* In ''24'' Day 4, a defense contractor deploys an EMP taking out several square blocks of downtown [[Los Angeles]]. During Day 8, Samir's terrorists sneak an EMP bomb into {{spoiler|CTU New York}} with an "escaped" hostage to {{spoiler|disable the Manhattan radiation sensors.}}

** ''[[Fallout]]''

*** ''New Vegas'' also adds a "Pulse Gun," an energy weapon implied to be an ''electromagnetic'' pulse gun, as it has the same damage bonus vs robots and [[Powered Armor]] as EMP grenades.

** ''[[Halo]] 3''

** ''[[Project Snowblind]]'' [[Spiritual Successor|naturally]] includes them and forms the main plot line.

** In ''[[James Bond]]: Everything or Nothing'', EMP grenades are a part of his arsenal.

* ''[[Outpost]] 2''

* In ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'', Mumbo can use an EMP spell in Grunty Industries to shut down factory machinery.

** It even works on zerg casters, even though their "energy" is their internal supply of symbiotes and biotoxins. [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|But at least it's consistent]].

** [[Star Craft 2]] features the ability on the Ghost. But on a lower scale, only stripping a certain amount of energy off units.

* In ''[[System Shock]]'' the Magpulser is available. It looks strange, but yes, it harms robots a lot (200% damage). It also lives up to its name by barely affecting cyborgs (50% damage) and not affecting mutants at all (0% damage).

** There are also a couple of other EMP weapons, specifically the EMP grenade, which, when detonated, can screw up your (computer-assisted) interface if you're too close to the blast. It also drains your battery for some reason. There's a more powerful land mind version as well.

** [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]--who would use the EMP if it affected their own team as well? Nobody. Who would use the EMP if it lasted until the end of the round? '''[[Game Breaker|Everybody.]]'''

* The Space Pirates of ''[[Metroid]]'' occasionally use EMP grenades. Steam Lords of Elysia can also generate one as an attack. Presumably, Samus' suit is well protected as neither of these actually does anything to her suit beyond standard shield drain. Some special electricity based attacks, however, cause [[Interface Screw|static to appear on the HUD]].

* In [[Command and Conquer]] ''Generals'', the Superweapon General's base-defense missiles and one of the special powers of high-ranking Chinese generals are EMP-based. These disable vehicles and buildings (albeit, temporarily).

* ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Conviction'' has a plot focused on detonating several EMP bombs in [[Washington DC]]. Sam actually gets a backpack that has a built-in EMP generator fairly early in the game. It can only be used three times per level (no recharging it like other gadgets) and the effect is purely temporary, lasting ten seconds at most. He also has access to EMP grenades, which are even less effective, but ranged.

* In [[Need for Speed]]: Hot Pursuit 2k10, both the police and the racers use EMP devices on each other. In the "Porsche Patrol" cop event, you gain an achievement/trophy by using the EMP weapon to take out the computer-controlled gas/electric 918 Spyder Hybrid concept.

* ''[[Bubble Tanks]] Tower Defense 1.5'' introduces the EMP creep, which explodes into an electromagnetic pulse upon defeat. This disables all the towers around it, and as such makes it an annoying foe to fight.

* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' has EMP mines which have to be placed on the computer terminals to disable the security system in the first level. Unfortunately, they don't appear in other levels with security cameras.

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'': Ratchet has a wrist-mounted "EMP generator" that can focus an electromagnetic pulse into a ''beam''. It can temporarily knock out most Cybertronians, but Ratchet prefers to use it as a surgical tool, and then only rarely. At full power, it can {{spoiler|wipe an Autobot's entire memory, which accidentally happened to Arcee during the Great War}}, hence his reluctance to use it. He and Bumblebee can temporarily knock a flying Decepticon out of the air by combining their normal weapons (electric stingers + magnets).

** Team Chaar's Blackout, like the movie 'bot who inspired him, can create an electromagnetic shockwave that knocks out nearby machinery...and then bring them back online [[Percussive Maintenance|by doing it again]].

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** Or worse, erasing Bun-Bun's ''[[Baywatch]]'' video tapes!

* An EMP effect was used by the protagonists of ''[[Molten Blade]]'' to aid their escape from a research facility, generated from a device referred to as an "e-bomb" by one of the characters.

* {{spoiler|Doctor Mittelmind}} in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100917 has] an implanted "pulse cannon" which disabled most hardware in the room, and they're lucky [[Explosive Leash|their collars]] didn't go off.

{{quote| '''Prof. Mezzasalma''': It ''killed'' him , of course, but her gun ''did'' blow up.}}

** Not to mention The Lion's “roar,” an <s>electromagnet</s>ætheric pulse-

 

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