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Hollywood Acid: Difference between revisions
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== Film ==
* In Tomie:Replay, Tomie pushes Yumi, the protagonist, out of the wheelchair she was in onto a floor covered in acid.
* ''[[Superman III]]'' featured "beltric acid," which became super-corrosive if it heated up far enough. It ends up as a [[Chekhov's Gun]] in the final fight against the rogue computer.
* The blood of the xenomorphs in ''[[Alien]]'' and its sequels is made of a "concentrated molecular acid" (sic) that can eat through a starship's hull but not through the body of the xenomorph itself, due to being [[Silicon-Based Life]]. It seems to have less effect on human flesh when convenient. In ''[[Aliens]]'', Private Hudson gets some splashed on his arm when Corporal Hicks shoots a Xenomorph in the head at point-blank range, causing little more than painful burns.
** Notable in that its potency freaks ''everyone'' out; one character makes noises about "[[Techno Babble|molecular acid]]" in the first film, and an executive speaks of "concentrated acid" in a patronizing manner in he second - they're basically saying, "Umm... Acid '''isn't''' supposed to '''''do''''' that!"
* ''[[Aliens vs. Predator]]'' is inconsistent with the lethality of Alien blood. A hunter's arm is seared off by a splash of facehugger blood, and another unfortunate human has his skull melted by a blast of Xenomorph blood to the face. However, the first film also presents it as mild enough to use for body scarification.
** This is actually a nod to the previous AVP fluff, where the Predators are said to have antacid blood that neutralizes the Aliens' acid blood. It will damages their skin but stops once it reaches their blood.
* ''[[Richie Rich]]'', where Richie uses the acid (disguised as a tube of toothpaste) to help break Cadbury, his [[Battle Butler|butler]] out of jail.
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* In ''[[Childs Play|Seed of Chucky]]'', John Waters' character dies when Glen accidentally scares him, causing him to back up into a shelf in his red room, sending photo developing chemicals crashing down on him and melting his face.
* The Tall Man is killed in ''[[Phantasm II]]'' when the fluid he uses to reanimate corpses is tainted with hydrochloric acid and then injected into him, melting him from the inside-out. If that wasn't improbable enough to bother all of you chemists, this somehow causes his [[Eye Scream|eyeballs to explode.]] Of course, this may be justified as the Tall Man's physiology is alien.
* In ''[[The Rock (film)|The Rock]]'', VX nerve gas is shown to be a corrosive acid. Crosses over with [[Poison Is Corrosive]].
* In the first ''[[RoboCop]]'' movie, Boddicker's henchman Emil attempts to crush Murphy with his car, only to miss Murphy and drive straight into a tank full of corrosive toxic waste. He survives... [[Body Horror|kind of.]]
* ''Stomach acid'' serves as this trope in the final battle of [[Innerspace]], {{spoiler|when Tuck Pendleton drops his pod into Jack Putter's stomach with [[The Dragon|Mr. Igoe]] clinging to the side. The pod survives; [[Stripped to the Bone|Mr. Igoe doesn't.]]}}
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* In ''[[Uninvited]]'', the servant ghost kills you by engulfing you into his "misty form", which covers you in a thick, sticky goo that turns out to be acid that not only hurts like hell, but turns you into a "lifeless lump of flesh".
* In [[Starcraft]] and ''[[Starcraft II]]'', several zerg units use "acid" attacks.
* In the Flash game ''Crush the Castle 2'', acid projectiles play the trope 100% straight. They are green and hissing, will completely dissolve almost any substance it touches, and will leak down, dissolving any objects beneath that the target point directly contacts. This can create a chain reaction which can bring down entire structures by itself. Oddly, though it can disintegrate solid iron, it will not eat through the much softer earth once it reaches down that far, and a few kinds of rock walls are impervious to it. Human targets are naturally dissolved.
* Several ''[[Gauntlet (1985 video game)|Gauntlet]]'' games have puddles of green acid as enemies.
== Webcomics ==
* Subverted in ''[[8-Bit Theater
** "[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/03/15/episode-128-the-acid-would-be-healthier/ The Acid Would Be Healthier]"
* In a ''[[Wonderella]]'' strip, [[Captain Ersatz|Jokerella]] threatens her with ''citric'' acid (which ''can'' be harmful in its pure form, but it's not exactly [[The Joker|Joker]]-level evil).
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== Real Life ==
* Real acids actually do some of the things commonly attributed to Hollywood acids. Most notably, common acids do dissolve ordinary metals, producing flammable hydrogen gas in the process(though plastic, glass, concrete, and most other common materials are basically unaffected). The stronger ones can also burn flesh, and produce some very nasty fumes, like smelling vinegar but far stronger. Most acids won't dissolve flesh, though, that's actually what bases are for. However, most of the common acids are clear liquids that look just like water, and they certainly don't bubble continuously for the sake of it.
* Hydrofluoric acid is probably the most dangerous acid someone not working in a lab could get a hold of and reasonably store. It rapidly penetrates the skin and proceeds to destroy the human body from the inside out by reacting readily with calcium. To make matters worse because calcium is used in the propagation of action potentials (those thingamajigs that let you feel pain) many people don’t realize they’re dying until it’s too late.
** Also, it's poisonous, when it reaches the blood stream and it doesn't become less corrosive nearly as fast as other acids when diluted.
* The term [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Super Acid]] is used for any material that is more acidic than 100% pure sulphuric acid. Some particularly corrosive chemicals can protonate and dissolve hydrocarbons, something that does not occur in a normal acid environment for example.
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