I Love Nuclear Power: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Scientist:''' ''[[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|Young man]]... I'm afraid you've suffered some of [[Baleful Polymorph|the worst]] of what our... '''mighty little friend, the atom''' has to offer! It can power a city... or level it. Human-insect mutation is far from an exact science. But there are some things we do know... You'll grow. ''(tsk tsk)'' [[Department of Redundancy Department|Become bigger]]...!''

 

 

This is the tendency in fiction for exposure to nuclear radiation or other hazards (including [[Green Rocks]]) to result in a character gaining super-powers when a quick death by acute radiation poisoning or a slow and agonizing demise by cancer or leukemia would be a more likely outcome.

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Godzilla]]'' movies aside, this is not a particularly common trope in Japan as, for reasons that should be abundantly clear to anyone with even the barest knowledge of history, the Japanese are much better acquainted with the effects that atomic radiation has on human physiology than most. There are however, a few examples. Many of [[Osamu Tezuka]]'s early sci-fi manga had radiation doing strange things. ''[[Metropolis (anime)|Metropolis]]'' featured a radioactive metal called Omotanium that could cause animals to grow to giant sizes, create artificial sunspots and even helped create a superpowered [[Artificial Human]]. ''Nextworld'' features various bizarre mutants created by nuclear testing including the superintelligent Fumoon who may or may not have been created from humans. Oddly enough, nobody ever got cancer or radiation sickness. Tezuka's later ''[[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]]'' series handled this a bit better. The hero still got his powers from atomic energy, but that's because he was a nuclear powered robot. One Astroboy story, "The Coral Reef Adventure", involves nuclear testing in the Pacific & features animals & people who are hideously deformed & dying due to radiation.

** Also, in one episode of ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'', there's a grasshopper mutated by radiation. Guess what happens? Well, here's a hint: The episode is called "The Gigantic Grasshopper."

* In ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' it is eventually revealed that the apparently mystical Stands were somehow created by an ancient artifact created from a radioactive meteorite.

* In ''[[Patalliro]]'', Patalliro tries to hatch a "super duck" by irradiating a duck egg, but what hatches is just a rather large duck.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Also lampshaded in the [[Marvel Universe]], when Rick Jones exposed himself to gamma rays to try to develop Hulk-like powers and got cancer instead. He got better, though.

* The [[Marvel Comics]] [[Elseworld]] [[Miniseries]] ''Ruins'' subverts this repeatedly. In its vision of a [[Darker and Edgier|darker, bleaker Marvel universe]], it imagines the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|"realistic"]] effects that the numerous radiation-fueled [[Freak Lab Accident]]s that gave many of their comic book superheroes their powers (gamma radiation bursts, "cosmic" rays, irradiated spider-bites, etc) could have—specifically, painful disfigurements and horrible deaths. However, the series often leaves in the other unrealistic elements; for instance, the Hulk becomes a mass of tumors, but still violates Conservation of Mass in doing so.

** Lampshaded in one of the comics; when the empowering accident is discussed, a character points out, "You know what would happen to me if I got hit in the face with a radioactive isotope? I would get leukemia and die."

** This and many other Marvel origins are given a kind-of explanation in the ''[[Earth X]]'' miniseries, in that certain people have the ability to gain superpowers. What those powers are is determined by how they get them, but because of this [[Meta Origin|innate "spark"]], they do indeed gain abilities from things that would kill people without it.

* [[Quantum and Woody]] got their powers after they were accidentally bombarded with quantum energy.

 

* [[Bleach|Hinamori]] attempts to invoke this trope in ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5982232/17/Please_Stop_Eating_The_Hell_Butterflies Please Stop Eating The Hell Butterflies]''. Why? Well, [[Ax Crazy|she's crazy]], so there's that.

{{quote|Stop playing in the runoff from the twelfth division. That is not the way to go about gaining superpowers. You are a [[Shinigami]]. You already ''have'' superpowers.}}

 

== Film ==

* As seen in the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode, ''[[Beginning of the End]]'' has radiation not only increasing the size of crops, but the size of the grasshoppers who eat the crops! The army then suggests [[Nuke'Em|dropping a nuclear bomb]] on the insects, to which Crow quips, "[[Sarcasm Mode|Oh great]], maybe they'll get ''larger''!"

* In [[X-Men (film)|X-Men: First Class]], [[Big Bad]] Sebastian Shaw believes that mutants are the "Children of the Atom" and believes all mutants are immune to radiation because of this. This is why he plans to {{spoiler|turn the [[Cold War]] nuclear, beliving that the radiation will wipe humanity out but spare mutants}}.

 

== Literature ==

* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s [[Foundation]], everything good is atomic. The kingdom of Anacreon is seen as horrifyingly barbaric for their burning of fossil fuels.

 

* Subverted in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' season three, where a couple characters die from a machine that exposes them to radioactivity that causes exploding tumors. Yeah, we thought it was rather improbable too.

* Spoofed on ''[[The Daily Show]]'', with a [[Public Service Announcement]] stating that exposure to radioactive mist and substances will, in fact, not give you superpowers. [[Spider-Man|Radioactive animal bites, on the other hand, assure them]].

* Brutally averted in ''[[Farscape]]'' where Crichton builds a wormhole-controlling device with a nuclear power source. {{spoiler|His ally turned enemy steals it and in the ensuing chase, the radiation shield protecting the power source is knocked open, meaning Crichton has to make a split-second jump towards the device to render it safe. He fails, absorbs a lethal dose of radiation and succumbs to his illness by the end of the episode.}}

 

== Music ==

* "Nuclear Babies" by [[Oingo Boingo]].

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* This may or may not be the cause of the mutation of every last citizen of Alpha Complex in ''[[Paranoia]]''.

* One possible Origin in ''Super [[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]'' involves stubbing one's toe on a "super ultra radioactive block of stuff".

 

== Video Games ==

* The "Frei" line of spells in the ''[[Persona]]'' series.

 

* Parodied in ''[[The Non-Adventures of Wonderella]]'', where Wonderella uses radiation to accelerate ''fermentation'' of some beer that she's brewing...radiation ''from her cell phone''. This naturally creates a beer monster, and then things get weird.

** As if they weren't already weird.

* In ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', "crazy space radiation" seems to do a lot of, well, [[Captain Obvious|crazy]] things, like grant superintelligence to dinosaurs and create "NASAGHASTS", malevolent astronaut ghosts. It's not surprising, considering how the comic is influenced by ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' and other '80s nostalgia full of this trope.

* Parodied in ''[[Shortpacked!]]'' - [http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=404 Mr. Terrific] was bitten by a radioactive "T".

 

== Web Original ==

* Antimatter particles and radioactive rays are legitimate powers in [[Chaos Fighters]]. They are considered [[Non-Elemental]] in its magic system, though.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' has The Atomic Flounder, a retired villain originally for a one-off gag. He later appeared in a [[Show Within a Show]] episode during his prime. His first appearance followed the more common use of the trope, with atomic breath, however the second also brought some [[Body Horror]] into the mix.

* On ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold]],'' [[Mix-and-Match Critters|B'wana Beast]] gets his powers from drinking water contaminated with nuclear waste. (In this comics it comes from a special elixir and helmet.)

 

== Real Life ==

* [[Gaia's Vengeance|Gaia]] loves to subvert that trope: Chernobyl has become [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4923342.stm a wildlife haven]

** On the other hand, the (perception of the) level of radiation released in the mind of the public is very different than the reality and the animals aren't necessarily going to worry about the level of radiation anyway.

*** [[wikipedia:Radium Ore Revigator|The Revigator]], a ceramic crock for irradiating water. Though it too had rather low radiation levels, the water would often be contaminated by lead.

* [[Shoe-fitting fluoroscope The Pedoscope]], a gimmicky device once found in shoe stores that would x-ray your feet to find the perfect fit. Featured once on the show ''[[Pawn Stars]]'', disassembling it found that the x-ray tube inside gave off ''ten times'' more radiation then conventional x-ray machines.

* [[wikipedia:Deinococcus radiodurans|These]] [[wikipedia:Thermococcus gammatolerans|bacteria]] are [[Made of Iron|immune to radiation]]. And [[wikipedia:Radiotrophic fungus|certain species of fungi]] actually ''eat'' radiation via the same chemical that gives you a tan! [[Reality Is Unrealistic|Nature is]] ''[[Reality Is Unrealistic|weird]]''.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Elemental Powers]]

[[Category:Transformation Causes]]

[[Category:Make My Index Live]]

[[Category:The Fifties]]

[[Category:Power]]