Person of Mass Destruction: Difference between revisions

''I'm a walking disaster, I'm a demolition man''|'''[[The Police]]''', "Demolition Man"}}

A [[Speculative Fiction]] trope dating at least to [[World War II]] and the bombing of Hiroshima (possibly even earlier), the Person of Mass Destruction is almost always a metaphor for real-world weapons -- eitherweapons—either subtly, [[Anvilicious|not subtly]] or somewhere in between. Often the result of trying to create a [[Super Soldier]]. Almost always comes with an [[Aesop]] about the dangers of letting the metaphorical genie out of the bottle or to convey a [[Science Is Bad]] message. Especially if [[MacGuffin Girl|female]], the Person of Mass Destruction is very likely to turn into [[The Woobie]] or suffer a [[Superpower Meltdown]] at some point.

Likely overlaps with [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]] and [[Walking Wasteland]]. [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal Maniacs]]s themselves often have similar powers but tend to take a more... [[Earthshattering Kaboom|pro-active approach]] in using their abilities than normal examples of this trope. Compare and contrast [[One-Man Army]], where the character is usually not treated this way but nevertheless gains an impressive kill-count. One of these can also be a [[Tyke Bomb]], but a Person Of Mass Destruction can be made entirely by accident and still become a metaphor for dangerous weapons and bad science. For those that defy this trope, see [[I Am Not a Gun]].

== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ==

** During the Karakura Town Attack arc, Shinigami scientists had to find a way to teleport the whole town into another dimension, because otherwise it would be for sure destroyed by the power of captains and Espada fighting all over the place. And it almost failed, which would have been even worse, since Ichimaru Gin sliced the upper halves of buildings in a 13  km radius; not to mention what would have happened had Yamamoto's power {{spoiler|not been [[Power Nullifier|nullified]].}}

* Hayate of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]]'' demonstrates personal offensive magic on the scale of a small nuclear device, complete with evacuation warnings and authorisation requirements to release her [[Power Limiter|limiters]] for combat. Due to [[Upgrade Artifact|the way she received her magic]], "sub-nuclear explosion" is in fact the only way she can use it. Nanoha, Fate, Signum, and Vita qualify to a lesser extent, also requiring [[Power Limiter|Power Limiters]]s. They are all treated with enormous amounts of respect.

** Reinforce (in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha AsA's]]'') fits most, being literally a tool that fulfills its masters wish to destroy everything. Power-wise, Reinforce might just be the most powerful character in the franchise, easily fending off Fate's Plasma Smasher and Nanoha's Excelion Buster ''at the same time'', breaking through Nanoha's shield without much effort and casting a [[Wave Motion Gun|Starlight Breaker]] that leaves a ''city-sized explosion''.

* Mewtwo of the first ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' movie, despite not being human, is definitely a Person of Mass Destruction. This is made all the more apparent by the fact that in some translations his birthplace is listed as [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Mile Island]]. His power is so great the he was able to create an unnaturally huge hurricane that would've eventually wiped out all life on the planet, aside from those on his island in the eye of the storm ''just by thinking about it'', then dissipated the storm just as easily after his [[Heel Face Turn]]. Note that he was in no way focusing his full power on the storm at any time, and in fact kept expanding it even while controlling hundreds of individual pokeballs, taking on his ancestor Mew in a psychic battle (in which Mewtwo had the upper hand), completely dominating the mind of at least one human, ''and'' psychically suppressing the abilities of every other Pokemon on the island. Afterwards, he then telekinetically lifted every single person and pokemon on the island -- easilyisland—easily over a hundred individuals weighing several tons in total, and again without any noticeable strain -- erasedstrain—erased their memories of the entire thing, and teleported them -- againthem—again, en masse -- tomasse—to a port several miles away. It's a good thing he wanted to "prove himself" before his purge -- hadpurge—had he been more efficient, he probably could have easily wiped out humanity in an afternoon at most.

** To further put this in perspective, a similar storm was generated in the second movie, but only after the three legendary birds had been fighting all-out for some time. Each of these three combatants, by the way, are implied to be so powerful that they are able to change the climate of wherever they are ''just by existing'' -- and—and Mewtwo equaled their combined power without even trying!

* The Contractors from ''[[Darker Thanthan Black]]'' are also borderline versions of this. Few of them have powers that would make them a serious danger to an organized military force, but they're nonetheless extremely dangerous and also possess an emotional detachment, including a lack of compunction towards killing. While humans know better than to use them as unwilling lab rats, they're nonetheless shunned, feared and hated by most people [[Masquerade|aware of their existence]] and treated as little more than living weapons.

* Lina Inverse from ''[[Slayers]]'' routinely hurls spells that blow up cities. Her most powerful spell has the potential to unmake creation. In fact, In the first episode of the new series, ''Slayers Revolution'', {{spoiler|Lina is arrested "On suspicion of being Lina Inverse"}}. There is perhaps only one person in the world that she fears: her elder sister Luna, who is stated to have taken down a [[Our Dragons Are Different|Plasma Dragon]] with a mundane kitchen knife. And she possesses an [[Infinity+1 Sword]]. [[Word of God]] says Luna is equal in power to Xelloss, who is really freaking powerful.<ref>Now that Chaos Dragon and Hellmaster are dead, he's the fifth most powerful demon in the world.</ref>.

* Ranma's final opponent in ''[[Ranma ½|[[Ranma ½]]'' is the Phoenix Emperor Saffron. If his maturation ritual is completed successfully, he becomes a living "power plant" to Mt. Phoenix and all its people, constantly shedding light and heat without the slightest effort. If something goes awry, though, he loses control of his power, becoming psychotic, and releasing his energy as raw flame and beams capable of vaporizing mountains. As one character put it, he's like "a flamethrower without a safety valve."

** Then we get to the Buu Saga, by which time not only has every heroic character become so much stronger, Goku almost shakes the planet in two merely by TRANSFORMING''transforming'' into a Super Saiyan 3, and Buu begins to tear holes in the fabric of reality merely by screaming.

* Almost any and all State Alchemists in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. [[Colonel Badass|Roy Mustang]] [[Playing with Fire|burns down whole city blocks by snapping his fingers]]. [[Sociopathic Soldier|Solf J. Kimblee]] [[Having a Blast|blows up neighborhoods by clapping his hands]]. [[Large Ham|Alex Louis Armstrong]] [[Dishing Out Dirt|rearranges the earth's crust by punching it]]. [[Badass Moustache|Basque Grand]] [[Walking Armoury|transmutes entire buildings into weapons]]. [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|Isaac McDougal]] [[An Ice Person|nearly buried Central City in a glacial layer of ice]]. It's worth noting that the Ishvalan civil war--whichwar—which had been dragging on for seven years--endedyears—ended within months of Order #3066 going out. What was the order? To weaponize and send in the State Alchemists.

* The titular Index of ''[[ToA AruCertain Majutsu noMagical Index]]''. She has a library of 103,000 magical texts in her brain and a photographic memory. Combine this with the ability to ''use'' that knowledge, and she could destroy the world. Subverted that she doesn't know she can use magic, and [[Restraining Bolt|her superiors want to keep it that way]].

* The original 1940s ''All-Star Comics'' had a story where the [[Justice Society of America]] started fighting in the war, logical issues aside. This was [[Retcon|retconnedretcon]]ned to be [[All Just a Dream|a hallucination]] to which they were subjected when captured by psychic supervillain Brain Wave. [[Green Lantern]] was shown horrified at the destruction he had caused in order to defeat the Japanese, uttering the line "I have become death, destroyer of worlds," a quote known for its use by Robert Oppenheimer (originally quoted, [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|incorrectly]], from the Bhagavad Gita) after the first deployment of the atom bomb.

* The ''[[Wildstorm]]'' universe actually uses the trope name as one of several [[Differently-Powered Individual|generic terms for superhumans]] -- and—and with ''[[The Authority]]'' around, who can blame them?

* Depending on the author, Jack of Hearts from the Marvel Universe has been considered this. His powers came from every cell of his body being infused with an experimental power substance called "Zero fluid." Without his suit, designed to channel and control the energy he generates, he would effectively turn into a small sun (he has been [[Retcon|retconnedretcon]]ned enough that this is probably no longer canon).

* [[Invincible|Viltrumites]] are an army of conquering [[Flying Brick|Flying Bricks]]s.

** Unfortunately, the scarab is one of many, seeded throughout the universe to aid their masters, the Reach, in conquering or destroying planets -- andplanets—and on most of those worlds, they easily managed to overwhelm their hosts. Jaime managed to escape that fate because his scarab was malfunctioning, but it's still dangerous, even so.

* Shinji in ''[[Shinji and Warhammer40K|Shinji and Warhammer 40 K]]'', due in part to the [[Lensman Arms Race|ever-increasing scale of the battles with the Angels]], usually ends up destroying much of Tokyo-3 in his efforts to save it, to his considerable chagrin. After a leave of absence, the fact that surprise reinforcements cause so much devastation tips off the defenders that he's returned. There's also a time when whatever ability lets him sync with an Eva get flipped inside out, briefly giving him the power to "crack the planet in half," but he spends a whole story arc trying to fix it.

* [[Heroic Sociopath|Mark Westion]] in ''[[Yukari Is Free]] [http://http://www.shimauu.net/azu/board.html\]'' (an ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' [[Mega Crossover]]) possesses the power to fire giant lasers. At one point in the story, he fires one so big it accidentally destroys a planet. His girlfriend then hits him in the face with a baseball bat.

** Probably the others as well. John rejected many of the things the Kansael told him he can do and implied that he's unbeatable in the ocean; George at the very least could wreak havoc as a dragon; and Ringo apparently has a huge amount of power behind him that he's never tapped into. Luckily, they're [[Actual Pacifist|Actual Pacifists]]s, and besides, their experiences on Earth taught them what the ''really'' important things in life are, so it's easy for them to reject the seductive call of power. Which really isn't that seductive, given how much [[Blessed with Suck|Suck]] it came with.

* Aurora/Marie Zorn in ''[[Babylon A.D.]]'' is believed to be a viral weapon at first. In the book "[[Babylon Babies]]" another woman is used in this fashion -- whenfashion—when she comes into proximity with the pheromones of her target, her body rapidly creates a virus that kills several hundred people in minutes, wiping out the upper echelons of the Neolite sect.

* Paul Atreides, especially in the [[David Lynch]] version of ''[[Dune]]'', is capable of calling gigantic sandworms, using the voiceVoice and using sonic weapons without the weirding module. His name is a killing word.

* Some Adept-level mages in the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' books have power of this magnitude -- Vanyelmagnitude—Vanyel is said to be capable of destroying a fair-sized city, and indeed does go kaboom in a fairly spectacular manner in his final [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. Occasionally, even "ordinary" Heralds can get fairly destructive, especially Lavan Firestorm who essentially outdoes Vanyel's feat with [[Psychic Powers|mind-magic]] alone.

** In the ''Mage Wars'' prequels, the combined detonation of the accumulated magical power of two opposing Mage Lords set off the [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Cataclysm]] whose effects are still felt thousands of years later. (The large, almost perfectly circular inland sea on Valdemar's border? The equally circular, considerably larger grassland some kingdoms to the south? The two Lords' citadels were once located at their centers -- andcenters—and they're the ''least important'' effects of the conflict.)

* The canonical example from the early ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'' universe would be Ivan Ivanovich Gorachin -- aGorachin—a Russian-born mutant best remembered for having two heads (with separate personalities) and the ability to cause nuclear explosions at will so long as he had targets containing carbon or calcium to work on. (Like, say, humans. Fortunately for the good guys his [[Heel Face Turn]] followed shortly after his introduction.)

* In ''[[Shadow Ops]]'', anyone capable of using one of [[The Dark Arts|the rare prohibited forms of magic]] (Black magic, necromancy, gate magic, or sentient elemental creation) is automatically one of these - which is why they're illegal to begin with. Necromancy and sentient elemental creation allows for their user to essentially create an entire army instantly. Someone who can use gate magic can pretty much move anywhere they want instantly and has access to a weapon that [[Portal Cut|can effortlessly slice through any material]]. [[Black Magic]] is control of entropy, and the person who can use it can near-instantly decay ''anything'' -- living—living, dead, organic, mechanical, it doesn't matter. Scylla, the only user of this power, demonstrates it quite spectacularly when she uses it to literally destroy the entire defensive perimeter of a military base, killing hundreds of people, with about as much effort as crushing insects.

* The flexible, comic-book-based rules system of ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' and its [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration|parabolic power progression]] make it easy to create a starting character with the ability to take on an army or wipe out a city. Omega, the [[Big Bad]] of the Freedom City setting, is a threat on a cosmic level and could personally blow through a mountain in seconds.

* ''In Dark Ages: Mage'' (a historical setting for ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'')... to be honest, the time needed for this is exactly the amount of time one needs for standard character creation, if we count being able to be an orbital bomber enough for this.<ref>An Order of Hermes character investing in the elemental manipulation(/creation/anything) path of their magic can easily achieve the ability to 1) fly 2) manipulate air (meaning a personal pressurised air pocket around the mage) 3) manipulate forces like gravity (potentially meaning no g-forces) 4) ''burn'' (village/town wide if necessary), from great distances if necessary... and that's just level 3 of a very parabolic 1-5 scale. And by the default character creation rules level 3 is something you can just simply just pick for your character without gimping them in other aspects, or taking any flaws.</ref> So you can destroy towns with fire from the air needing only some simple item like a coin as a focus object (so not even clothes necessary) with a character out of creation. Oh, and the best part of this... that's all in medieval times. (Yes, orbital bombardment in a medieval setting.)<br /><br />Most ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' games can make madly powerful characters compared to sane things in their setting -- usually ones that are one-trick wonders -- but in ''Mage'' it won't even be a one-trick wonder. Sure you're human, but then again you can be a human foreseeing the future, living several thousand years, avoiding all situations where being a "fragile human" could be a problem, just by knowing about them in advance and manipulating things like change, destiny, minds, natural forces and so on, to just achieve what you wished.

* The whole point of ''[[Exalted]]'' is that you ''play as'' one of these. Exalted are very, ''very'' powerful -- butpowerful—but no more mentally stable than the average person. In fact, due to the Great Curse, they're quite prone to become unhinged and abuse their power. It's a game mechanic. When an experienced Exalt starts to look even a little bit angry, ''run''.

* On the subject of ''[[Tales (series)|Tales]]'' games, ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' gives us {{spoiler|Estelle}}, whose powers consume so much aer that they could indirectly lead to the destruction of the world. They're also ''lethal'' to the Entelexeia.

* Justice from the ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' series is certainly this. Converted into a magic-infused superbeing known as a Gear and intended as a weapon by "a certain major country," she grows to [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|resent and hate humankind]] (despite having been one herself before becoming a Gear), turning on them in a fit of spite and malice. As she also possessed the ability to mentally control every other Gear in the world, it was a very impressive fit. She begins in grand fashion by ''disintegrating the islands of Japan.'' The boss of the next game, {{spoiler|her daughter}} Dizzy, takes up the mantle in ''Guilty Gear X'', though is notably much more benevolent, and in fact fearful of her own powers.

* They [[Badass Normal|don't have any superpowers]] as such, and if you have them dead to rights are as easy to kill as any other human being -- butbeing—but the deliberate unleashing of a Silencer from the ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]'' games is viewed not unlike the use of a small tactical nuke. When ''one'' [[Turned Against Their Masters|goes rogue]], it doesn't take the bad guys long, once they figure out where he's gone, to imagine exactly how much trouble they're in.

* ''[[F.E.A.R.|]]'': Alma Wade]], an immensely powerful psychic child who [[Reality Warper|twists and bends reality to her will]] and is outright said to be "the mother of the apocalypse." A nuclear explosion didn't do much to slow her down, either....

* Ghost operatives in ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'', an otherwise fairly gritty and realistic sci-fi universe except for the part where human psychics can cloak and commit genocide with their minds. Especially Kerrigan, who had been captured by the Zerg to serve them, instead managed to overpower them and {{spoiler|at one point}} was queen of the ''entire Zerg swarm''. Which also provided her with some biological upgrades, allowing her to survive ''nukes''.

*** In Starcraft''StarCraft 2'', {{spoiler|it's revealed that he [[Unexplained Recovery|somehow]] [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|survived]]. We may be seeing more of this from him in the later campaigns...}}

* The playable characters in ''[[Alter AILA]]'' are treated like this. While their abilities (in most cases) are really more like [[One-Man Army|One Man Armies]], they're WMD analogues that both the Empire and Rebellion want to control or destroy, and victory in the war will go to whoever gets control of the most [[Super Soldier|Super Soldiers]]s. {{spoiler|Black}}, meanwhile, is the real deal, capable of [[Cutscene Power to the Max|one-shotting]] [[Humongous Mecha]]. {{spoiler|Jackals are the result of Imperial research into creating these, and the project led to the destruction of the city they were created in. And that's just the Alpha version; the [[Evil Genius]] has created a more powerful Jackal as his secret weapon.}} And finally, {{spoiler|Aila is an [[Artificial Human]] created from [[Lost Technology]], and is powerful beyond human comprehension. [[Not Hyperbole|This is not a metaphor]].}}

** Not actually demonstrated as yet, but mentioned: {{spoiler|God-Tier Dave}} apparently won the [[Superpower Lottery]] in terms of class, as he's a heavy-combat role with an eminently abusable element. {{spoiler|Aradia could freeze Jack in place with her powers over time. Combine that with Dave's [[Badass|badasserybadass]]ery, habit of [[Me's a Crowd|having more than one of himself in the same place at the same time]], and an [[Infinity+1 Sword]], and you have a recipe for ''absolute destruction''}}.

* Being a pilot in ''[[Pilots]]'' requires a mindset that is more or less directly antithetical to militarism or aggression, and you can't coerce them because that breaks the mental state required to [[Teleporters and Transporters|switch]]. However, the [[Teleporters and Transporters|mechanics of]] [[Stuff Blowing Up|the power]] can be quite destructive -- theredestructive—there are several cases of accidental pushback or too-small switch spheres that cause many deaths -- anddeaths—and it gets even worse with the ADPs. X is discovered when he creates pushback that is initially mistaken for a major earthquake, [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|by accident]].

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Aang]]'': Aang (and any Avatar actually) when in his [[Physical God]] mode. In season one final he single-handly wiped out the Fire Nation fleet sent to destroy '''a whole nation'''. There were attempts to use this power as a [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]] -- all—all of which, as you can guess, [[Curb Stomp Battle|didn’t end well.]]

== [[Real Life]] ==

[[Category:Person of Mass Destruction{{PAGENAME}}]]