Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,510
edits
I Love Nuclear Power: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
mNo edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| (10 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
[[File:nukehugger.jpg|frame]]
{{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]]...!''
'''Dentist:''' I'm ''sorry,'' Bill!
|''[[Show Within a Show|MANT!]]'' - from the movie ''[[Matinee]]''}}
{{quote|''[[Caffeine Bullet Time|Bonk!]] is fulla radiation, which as we all know is pretty great for givin' people superpowers.''
|''[[Team Fortress 2]], The Scout Update''}}
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.
Line 10 ⟶ 12:
[[Television Is Trying to Kill Us|Don't try to tell that to anybody on the inside of the fourth wall, though]].
Unsurprisingly, this trope seems to have been at its peak in the atom-craze [[The Fifties|1950's]] when anything "atomic" was seen as cutting-edge, but is now falling out of favor as the common person's increased understanding of the negative effects of radiation make it increasingly less believable as a source for superhero mutation. A few superhero characters whose backstory involved gaining powers though irradiation have since been [[Retcon|re-written]] into [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|genetic engineering]] being responsible to capitalize on a new area of [[Science Marches On|scientific ignorance]] for viewers.
See also [[Phlebotinum Du Jour]] (for more unlikely things that promote superpowers) and [[Deus Ex Nukina]] (for more things that nuclear power can arbitrarily solve).
A [[Super-Trope]] to [[Nuclear Nasty]], which specifically talks about ''monsters'' created by radiation. The predecessors to this trope are [[Lightning Can Do Anything]] and [[Chemistry Can Do Anything]]; before the discovery of nuclear power, electricity and chemicals were the go-to source for magical do-anything phlebotinum.
Line 21 ⟶ 23:
{{examples}}
== Anime
* ''[[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."
Line 27 ⟶ 29:
* 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 ==
Line 37 ⟶ 38:
** There's also [[Red Hulk]], who even absorbs radiation. Combining gamma radiation and cosmic power will let you do that, apparently.
* [[Spider-Man]] acquired his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider.
* In [[X-Men]], the exact cause of mutant powers are rarely discussed. In the 60's however, Professor X explained his powers as the result of his parents working on the first atom bomb. The Beast's powers have been explained as the result of his father being exposed to radiation, while Sunfire was born in Hiroshima on the day when they dropped the atom bomb. All of these explanations have either been either [[Ret Conned]] or completely ignored.
* Averted [[Post-Crisis]] in ''[[Superman]]'' (albeit played straight elsewhere in the [[DCU]].) The chronic health problems that plague [[Lex Luthor]] in both his comic book and cartoon series appearances are a result of exposure to the [[Kryptonite Ring]] he wore for quite some time. While it certainly hurts [[Superman]] very quickly, having it around you for ''years'' will have the same effect any kind of radiation will.
* Deconstructed in the origin of the Cyborg Superman. In a pastiche of the [[Fantastic Four]], a space shuttle crew is exposed to cosmic radiation but suffer vastly detrimental effects. Two are killed immediately and resurrected in painful or dangerous forms, eventually leading them to suicide, and one is nearly drawn into an alternate dimension. The fourth member of the crew, Hank Henshaw, suffers an accelerated radiation poisoning which rots away his body. However, Henshaw's mind quickly returns to life with [[
** And rampaging sociopathy.
* 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
* In ''[[Daredevil]]'', toxic waste is spilled on him; he gains superpowers but also gets blinded.
** 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.
Line 51 ⟶ 52:
* Knuckles the Echidna in the [[Archie Comics]] ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic books, had his egg irradiated with Chaos Energy from the Master Emerald by his father Locke (himself self-subjected to radiation and [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|genetic testing]]), granting him powers and abilities far beyond even his own lineage had as the crystal's guardian. Likewise, his ancestor Dimitri, aka Enerjak, became a near-god from excess radiation siphoned off of the Master Emerald. In fact, if a character doesn't have a natural affinity for powering up with the Chaos Emeralds (like Sonic or Shadow), any Chaos-imbued powers they gain are usually a result of this trope.
* [[The Flash]] has a minor recurring adversary named [http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/fallout.html Fallout], a former blue-collar worker who was hired to do work on a nuclear power plant, fell into the reactor, and emerged with translucent green skin and radioactive powers that caused him to inadvertently kill his wife and son. After Flash apprehended him he agreed to act as a living power source for the prison in which he was incarcerated as penance.
** In fact, Jay Garrick, the [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Flash, gained his powers when he accidentally inhaled fumes of ''heavy water'', a rare non-radiation based version of
* The [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Atom from the [[Justice Society of America]] was originally just a short guy who worked out a lot, but when he came out of retirement in [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] he had super-strength because the writer who brought him back [[Did Not Do the Research]]. It was later [[Retcon
* Turns out that irradiating the beehive you were studying will mutate the insects and cause them to [[Family-Unfriendly Death|eat you alive]]! Don't worry, though, you'll live on in their new-formed [[Hive Mind]], your new body [[Body Horror|composed of bones and bees]]! Now you pretty much have to go into supervillainy with [[Bee-Bee Gun|this new power]]! At least, if you happen to be a Nazi scientist in the [[Marvel Universe]].
** One would assume he [[Eddie Izzard|likes his women like he likes his coffee. Covered in bees!]]
Line 65 ⟶ 66:
* [[Quantum and Woody]] got their powers after they were accidentally bombarded with quantum energy.
== Fan Works ==
* [[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 ==
Line 81 ⟶ 80:
* 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 ==
* Parodied in [[The Onion]] book ''Our Dumb Century'', where a headline from 1963 declares "[[Spider-Man|Boy Bitten by Radioactive Spider Dies of Leukemia]]". The body of the article mentions that this is the sixth atomic accident fatality in the last month, referring to [[The Incredible Hulk|Dr. Bruce Banner]] and [[Fantastic Four|Reed Richards and friends]].
* In ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'', the first Mutant Corps consisted almost solely of individuals endowed with various [[Psychic Powers]] due to their parents' exposure to
* In ''[[Gone (novel)]]'', people can die from radioactivity (and some of them nearly do), but it's also a potential cause for the superpowers that some of the kids have. It's also what the local monster feeds on. Justified, because ''[[Gone (novel)]]'' takes place in an [[Alternate Universe]] where the laws of science have been rewritten.
* In the ''[[Wing Commander (novel)|Confederation Handbook]]'', mutations from cosmic radiation are said to be the cause of Pilgrim powers, though not in the short term as often depicted by this trope, taking multiple generations.
* In the [[Jakub Wedrowycz]] stories, the Chernobyl power plant incident released radiation since used as [[Applied Phlebotinum|a handy explanation]] or theory for the appearance of [[When Trees Attack|psychic trees]], [[Little Red Riding Hood|talking wolves]] or dinosaurs.
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s [[Foundation]], everything good is atomic. The kingdom of Anacreon is seen as horrifyingly barbaric for their burning of fossil fuels.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* 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]].
* ''[[Penn
* 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 ==
Line 111 ⟶ 106:
* 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 ==
Line 122 ⟶ 116:
*** Though this does make the non-feral Glowing One, Jason Bright, even stranger.
** FYI, the Deathclaw was a creature created by the US Government, who intended to tame them and use them on Special Operations against the Chinese. After the War, Deathclaw escaped into the wasteland and started breeding.
** Also, the games have Radaway, which can harmlessly<ref>
** It should be nated that the ''Fallout'' universe runs on the "Science!" of fifties science-fiction rather than hard science as even the laws of physics are subject to [[Rule of Cool]]. There are examples of realistic radiation exposure from a nuclear war in the occasional [[Apocalyptic Log]] that are as nightmarish as the radiation spawned monstrosities ''because'' they're done realistically.
** While radiation sickness will still eventually kill you in [[Fallout: New Vegas]] there are two perks that make you stronger the more radiation you absorb, [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Rad_Child Rad child] and [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Atomic! Atomic!]. You still get radiation sickness effect but gain a healing factor, speed boast and fast action point recovery.
Line 136 ⟶ 130:
* The UEF in ''[[Supreme Commander]]''. They have two types of nuclear reactor, and one of their experimental weapons fires mini-nukes. Their [[Hero Unit]] can be armed with a backpack missile silo which can build one each nuke and counter-missile.
* ''[[Touhou]]'' has Utsuho Reiuji, a [[Crows and Ravens|hell raven]] with the power of manipulation of nuclear fusion, a control rod that doubles as an [[Arm Cannon]] that would make [[Metroid|Samus Aran]] jealous, a concrete boot on one foot and "electrons" orbiting the other.
** She also plays this trope
** Also, the kappa and a couple of mountain goddesses seem to have a strange love for this new power.
*** It was those goddesses who allowed Utsuho to gain that power in the first place as part of their plan to gather faith by advancing the technology of Gensokyo.
* The "Frei" line of spells in the ''[[Persona]]'' series.
== Web Comics ==
* 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.
* Also parodied in one of the ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' stick-figure fillers where Torg is bitten by a radioactive animal and gains the superpower to lose his teeth and hair. Fortunately, aliens are nearby to cure him and give him real superpowers.
*
* 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 ==
Line 170 ⟶ 162:
* Two recurring villains of ''[[The Mask (animation)|The Mask]]: The Animated Series'' got powers this way. First, they were two stupid teenagers that decided to get superpowers. They go to the nuclear power plant, get radioactive - and realize they forgot to bring a bug to bite them just before passing out by poisoning. As the ambulance is taking them away, an accident causes one to crash into a putty shop (turning him into the shapeshifting Putty Thing) and another into an aquarium (turning him into the harmless Fish Guy). Fish Guy didn't get anything good out of the deal either; even as a fish he still ''couldn't swim''.
* Parodied in ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]''. The Crimson Chin's origin story has him bitten on the chin by a radioactive ''celebrity''.
{{quote|'''[[Steven Ulysses Perhero|Charles Hampton Indigo]]:''' So has the radioactivity affected your love life?
'''Celebrity:''' Grrarrr! }}
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' used this trope a little lightly. The hero was radiated by ecto energy that altered his genetic structure.
Line 177 ⟶ 169:
* ''[[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 ==
* Parodied by [https://web.archive.org/web/20140111123208/http://wearscience.com/design/cheers/ this shirt].
** And [https://web.archive.org/web/20131012050746/http://wearscience.com/design/hugger/ this one.]
* [[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.
Line 187 ⟶ 178:
* Not a case of Truth in Television. A 10 Sv (1,000 REM) dose of ionizing radiation has a lethality of 100% within seven days. Death caused by severe diarrhea and intestinal bleeding, by the way. One of the worst ways to die.
* The true story of [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4842268/Radioactive-sex-offender-on-the-run.html Thomas Leopold] a ''[[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|radioactive pedophile]]''.
* For a few decades after its discovery, radiation was marketed as some kind of cure-all drug. [http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-08/healthy-glow-drink-radiation For those too lazy to click,] consider the specific case of Eben Byers, who drank three bottles of radioactive water a day to stay healthy. The Wall Street Journal ran an article after his death titled "The Radium Water Worked Fine [[Squick|Until His Jaw Came Off]]".
** Many radioactive quack cures include:
*** [http://periodictable.com/Samples/090.8/s13.JPG Radithor], mineral water mixed with radium.
*** [http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/quackcures/toothpaste.htm Doramad Radioactive Toothpaste], which contained thorium, though its actual radiation level was rather low.
*** [[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-
* This is the theme of one 1959 DC PSA, [https://web.archive.org/web/20131207090933/http://www.politedissent.com/archives/4611 "The Atomic: Servant of Man"].
* [[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:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Elemental Powers]]
[[Category:Transformation Causes]]
Line 203 ⟶ 195:
[[Category:Make My Index Live]]
[[Category:The Fifties]]
[[Category:Power]]
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
| |||