With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:ZurTheEnchanter 1159.jpg|link=Magic: The Gathering|rightframe]]
 
{{quote|'''EPA Official''': Sir, I'm afraid you've gone mad with power.
'''Russ Cargill''': Of course I have! You ever tried going mad ''without'' power? It's boring! No one listens to you!|''[[The Simpsons]] [[The Movie|Movie]]''}}
|''[[The Simpsons]] [[The Movie|Movie]]''}}
 
It seems like any major military or corporate backed venture to give a [[Muggle|mundane person]] [[Stock Super Powers|super powers]] or just enhance their [[Badass Normal|normal abilities]] always results in the test subject going [[Psycho Prototype|uncontrollably berserk]] as a [[Gone Horribly Wrong|side-effect.]]
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{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* During an episode of ''[[Magical Project S]]'', Misao dreams about having magic powers and the "fun" she would have using them. When she actually ''got'' said powers, she becomes the arguably insane persona of Pixy Misa (who tortures the entire main cast).
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* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'': A common theme in the franchise, most notably ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam|Zeta Gundam]]'' and ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ|Gundam ZZ]]'' where all Newtypes are often mentally unstable in some fashion, may have forms of amnesia, be brainwashed, though in some other cases they're just plain stubborn.
** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED|Gundam SEED]]'' plays on this by giving [[Psycho Serum|performance-enhancing drugs]] and treatments to criminals who are doing it in exchange for a full pardon. Naturally, this drives them to insanity in combat... which is what was planned. As a result, they are given drugs in such doses that by the time combat is over, they are having withdrawal symptoms and are manageable again. Withdrawal will also kill them if they are deprived of the drugs for too long, thus ensuring their loyalty.
** In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', Blue Cosmos has been attempting to create "Artificial Coordinators" through depraved combinations of surgery, hypnosis, [[Training Fromfrom Hell|insane training]], drugs and other horrors. Of the dozens of children selected for the project, only a few survived, and those seen in the series are all, understandably, raving mad and almost incapable of functioning normally in life. Without routine "maintenance" their bodies break down and they die. The sad thing is that in comparison to ''SEED'''s pre-Extended (see above) they're all poster children for Mental Health Week: Stellar Louissier, i.e, is a sweet [[Psychopathic Manchild|if incredibly childish]] [[The Woobie|and still very sympathetic]] young woman who loves to dance, as long as you don't [[Berserk Button|tell her that either she or her friends will die]].
** In ''[[Gundam Wing]]'', the ZERO System gives the person who uses it incredible reaction times and tactical predictions bordering on prescience. If he can't focus on the battle, those violent predictions start afflicting whatever he starts thinking about (like say his girlfriend, or that nice peaceful space colony over there), and soon enough he's a psychopath slaughtering whatever the System says is his enemy.
* Similarly, ''[[Gasaraki]]'' has mecha pilots who were given a cocktail of boosting drugs in order to improve their battle performance (without their knowledge or consent, and said drugs was actually fluid extracted from the muscles of a 1000 year old demon), and the inevitably go berserk from the effects, before either lapsing into a coma or suffering cardiac arrest.
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**** Although, that wasn't the ''first'' time he'd gone a bit crazy...
** This was [[Lampshade]]d in the ''Assault on Weapon Plus'' story arc, where the Weapon Plus files stated that super soldier experiments on criminals and psychopaths yielded less than reliable results, prompting them to find a different method of creating anti-mutant super soldiers.
** Another X-related example has to do with Omega Red, the [[Soviet Russia, Ukraine, and So On|USSR]]'s attempt to engineer its own [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]-like super soldier. [[Idiot Ball|The brain trust in charge of the program chose a]] a [[Serial Killer]] who'd [[Idiot Ball|who'd been shot by his fellow soldiers for murdering children in his hometown.]] While initially a loyal operative, he eventually became too [[Ax Crazy]] even for the KGB and was put in suspended animation, at least until the Hand freed him. He now functions as a [[Psycho for Hire]] and one of the X-Men's deadliest foes.
* The evil and non-evil versions of insanity pop up in a ''lot'' of the [[Marvel Universe]]'s more powerful human characters, apparently as a way of [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum]]. Scarlet Witch, Phoenix, The Sentry, or anyone else like that being able to use their maximum power levels while fully themselves would remove all drama. [[Scarlet Witch]] is currently the most powerful and resultantly has it the worst. We haven't seen her mind in stable condition for quite some time now that her power's gone from "[[Winds of Destiny Change|I point and my opponent slips on a banana peel]]" to "[[Reality Warper|whatever I decide simply]] ''[[Reality Warper|is.]]'' She'll ''never'' get to have that kind of power and the ability to think "Wouldn't it be nice if the Skrulls (okay, except [[Runaways|Xavin]], [[Fantastic Four|Lyja]], and [[X-Men|Cadre K]], and the Super Skrull if [[Heel Face Turn|he keeps playing nice]]) turned into rice pudding?" at the same time.
* Apparently, getting hopped up on Chaos Emerald Energy in the [[Archie Comics]] ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series makes you do crazy things. Examples:
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== FanfictionFan Works ==
* In the ''[[Oneiroi Series]]'' (for ''[[The Order of the Stick]]''), this fits [[Split Personality Takeover|Deirdre]] to a T. (Though to be fair, she had a few screws loose before she got the Great Power...)
{{quote|'''Deirdre''': You want me. And you hate it. I suppose it's only natural. I look a lot like {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius,}} don't I?
{{spoiler|'''Redcloak [[Oedipus Complex|(her father)]]'''}}: {{spoiler|Tia}}, you've gone insane! Please lie down for a second. Take a deep breath. Calm down…
'''Deirdre''': Of course I've gone insane! I'm infused with the magic from a being of pure chaos! But just because I'm insane doesn't mean I'm ''wrong…'' }}
* Shinji Ikari in ''[[Points of Familiarity]]''.
 
== Film ==
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* At some point in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor's companion, Donna Noble, {{spoiler|somehow gains every bit of knowledge and power that the Doctor has.}} The Doctor, unfortunately, is forced to give Donna a complete mind wipe of her entire knowledge of the Doctor/the TARDIS/the entire time she was on the show because {{spoiler|being ''the Doctor Donna'', as the Ood called her,}} will slowly turn her so mad that it will kill her. This circumstance means that the Doctor can never see Donna again, as she will remember everything and go batshit insane with power and die.
** Not really. It's not going insane with power that would kill her, it's that humans are physically unequipped to handle a Time Lord mind. Donna was still physically human but with a Time Lord consciousness, and it was going to literally burn her brain out in very short order, certainly before she had time to go mad with power.
** A better example would be the Doctor himself. Despite having, essentially, the power of a god, he mostly averts this trope. Except [[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S4S30/E16 The Waters of Mars|that one time when he was pushed a bit too far]], lost it spectacularly, and became, briefly, an example of this trope.
* In the ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'', Steve Austin adapted to his bionic replacements very well, remaining well-integrated and with his reasonably decent moral sense intact. Not everyone else who was given/forced to take bionics did as well, Jaimee Summers was plagued with amnesia and mental troubles, another bionic man went the 'crazy with power' route as well. The implication was that power didn't necessarily go with madness...but it easily could.
* In the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] episode "Earshot," Buffy is contaminated by a telepathic demon. This has only happened to one other person, and it caused him to go insane and live as a hermit. Buffy is heading the same way when the Scoobies undo the effects.
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** There's an even more direct example in [[Elemental Embodiment|Elementals]]. When an Elemental reaches Essence 10, it becomes a [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|Greater Elemental Dragon]], an entity of ''immense'' destructive power (possibly greater even than the most powerful [[Our Demons Are Different|Demons]]). All Greater Elemental Dragons to date have been utterly insane, to the point where they've needed to be imprisoned behind some of the most powerful safeguards in Creation (the Gardullis, Greater Dragon of Fire, is imprisoned within the Sun itself). It's speculated that this is because Elementals were simply never designed to be capable of coping with that level of power.
** Also justified by [[Word of God]] for the Primordials themselves, most of whom are a) kind of crazy and b) have [[Crippling Overspecialisation]] written into their very beings. They have these traits because for most of their existences, they had been simply too powerful to face consequences to their actions, with even their weak points way outside the power level of anything not prohibited from fighting them. [[Wham! Episode|And then the Exalted came into play]].
* This phrase goes some way to defining ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]''. They've even got a [[Tagline]] for the game that goes: "Only the insane have the strength to prosper. Only those who prosper can judge what is truly sane." At least some of the Chaos forces admit it - "Sanity is for the ''weak.''"
** Even Chaos is very, very thankful that The Outsider is still self-trapped in his box on the outskirts of the galaxy. We only know he's there because the Tyranids [[Oh Crap|give it a hundred light-years of space to itself]].
* In the fluff backstory of ''Mage Knight'', it was stated that mastering the opposing magics of Necromancy and Elementalism would drive a mage insane. The [[Chosen One|one guy who did]] went on to found [[The Empire|the Atlantean Empire]], which practiced slavery and subjugation.
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** And in the first Shadow Hearts we find that with great insanity comes great power, {{spoiler|as the only way to unlock each Fusion's ultimate attack is to deliberately let your sanity points run out, [[Guide Dang It]]}}.
** {{spoiler|And Johnny Garland, who has a very, very powerful Awaker form as a manifestation of the Malice that brought him back from the dead, flips out very easily if he uses it, as he doesn't have the benefit of Shania, Yuri, or Kurando's mental discipline.}}
* Giygas, the [[Big Bad]] from ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'', becomes so powerful in the end of the game that he is unbeatable save for one specific trick. On the other hand, his mind is completely shattered, so he attacks randomly while [[Talkative Loon|babbling nonsense.]]
** In ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'''s sequel, ''[[Mother 3]]'', {{spoiler|Giygas's "protege" Porky, after gaining the power to travel through time and effective immortality--living for thousands of years--has gone from a mere rotten brat to an insane, murdering [[Psychopathic Manchild]] and [[Evil Overlord]] bent on destroying everyone in the world but himself.}}
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'', several of the bosses Link faces off with have become corrupted by their possession of darkly powerful artifacts. A number of these, such as Darbus the Goron and Yeta the Yeti, were otherwise mild-mannered, friendly characters; the artifacts in question would grant their bearers extreme power and strength, but rob them of their sense and personality.
** The Triforce itself isn't evil, but it does grant the wishes of those who touch it as a whole, or its parts, whether they are good or evil.
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** Not really an example, once we find out {{spoiler|he's not actually Alex Mercer. He's [[The Virus]] itself assuming Mercer's memories and appearance.}} "Insanity" here is really best classified as [[Loss of Identity]], but you can't really call it that when {{spoiler|you never even ''had'' an original identity ''to begin with.''}}
** Arguably it's completely ''inverted'' since absorbing all of those people and experiencing their thoughts and memories, including their pain and fear, ends up giving him a ''conscience''.
* In ''[[Blaz BlueBlazBlue]]'', we have Arakune, a scientist who sought knowledge from a place known as [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Boundary]], and got it. It had the unfortunate side effect destroying his sanity, turning him into, well, [[media:699190-arakune large.jpg|this]], and giving him the power to summon '''[[Memetic Mutation|BEES!]]'''
** Also, Blazblue characters that gained possession of [[Evil Weapon|Nox Nyxtoreses]] as children tend to be mentally unstable, at best, or outright insane, when sufficiently provoked. However, this is averted for characters that gained the said Nox Nyxtoreses after they turned adult - they tend to maintain their initial sanity/insanity.
* Arguably {{spoiler|all three of the Brothers Sun}} in [[Jade Empire]]. When you see the Emperor, he is quite clearly out of his mind, {{spoiler|being undead and powered only by leeching power from the Water Dragon}}. {{spoiler|"Master" Sun Li}} seems pretty sane, and has it together enough to pull one ''spectacular'' [[Xanatos Gambit]] on your character. However, he obtains the {{spoiler|Water Dragon's power}} upon his brother's death and drains it even faster than his brother did. By the time you meet up with him for the final [[Boss Battle]], he is ''very'' clearly out of his mind.
* [[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R's]] Alma is most certainly this. The more powerful her psychic abilities got, the crazier she got. [[Sealed Evil in a Can|And then they had to lock her away.]]
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', magic is addictive, and magic addiction makes you insane. And it's hereditary, so the entire High Elf and Blood Elf races are addicts, whether or not they use magic.
* In ''[[Portal 2]]'' {{spoiler|You switch [[G La DOSGLaDOS]] with Wheatley, and the little personality core is now fully in charge of all of Aperture Laboratories' operations...amd immediately goes mad with power. Then [[G La DOSGLaDOS]] points out that you did all the work while he did nothing, and he turns against you, sending both you and [[G La DOSGLaDOS]] hurtling down a pit into the underground ruins of Aperture Science. When the two of you finally get back to the main facility, it's much more dangerous and about to self-destruct thanks to Wheatley's influence. (Doesn't help that he was programmed to make bad decisions...)}}
* In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', {{spoiler|the lyrium idol that drives Bartrand insane from his possession of it also makes Knight-Commander Meredith insane with her zealotry as she has the idol refashioned into a sword and uses it to animate statues in Kirkwall in order to destroy Hawke and his companions}}.
* Malefor, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[The Legend of Spyro]]'' trilogy, was the first Purple Dragon and had all the power that Spyro can possess. The difference is he didn't know when to stop and let his power consume him, transforming him into a power hungry [[Complete Monster]]. His hunger for power was such that it forced his masters to banish him just to protect the dragons from him.
* In ''[[StarcraftStarCraft II]]'', the Dominion-loyalist Ghost Nova proclaims that this is what happens to Spectres, an experimental form of "super-Ghost" who have their powers boosted by, among other things, exposure to Terrazine Gas. If the player chooses to ignore Nova's warnings and remain loyal to Tosh, the only free Spectre, and his plans for freeing his captured buddies, they learn that this isn't the case; Spectres are more powerful than Ghosts, but they were scrapped as a Dominion project because the upgrade process automatically blows their [[Restraining Bolt]]. Tosh, in fact, not only chooses only volunteers to become new Spectres, but deliberately screens them to ensure they are as sane and stable as is possible for a human with [[Psychic Powers]] in the [[StarcraftStarCraft]] universe to be.
* In the ''[[Modern Warfare]]'' series, this is what happened to [[Big Bad|Vladimir Makarov]] as the series progressed. Makarov started out as just a soldier in Zakhaev's army, and was promoted to [[The Dragon|Dragon]] status, but once Zakhaev died Makarov no longer had anyone holding his leash, and started a campaign of terror thanks to his newfound power. He eventually reached a point where he had virtual control of the entire Russian military, and was attempting to acquire the launch codes for Russia's nuclear arsenal as he wanted Russia to rule all of Europe, "even if it is just ashes."
* Torque from ''[[The Suffering]]''. Through gameplay, he fills a gauge called the Insanity Meter to transform into a creature that obliterates anything in his path. {{spoiler|It's revealed at the end of the first game that the Creature is just Torque hallucinating, and he's actually tearing monsters apart with his bare hands.}}
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{{quote|'''Grif:''' "Simmons, I think you've gone mad with imaginary power."
'''Simmons:''' "Oh no, Grif. I've gone mad with very real power." }}
* ''[[Cwen's Quest]]'': This seems to be case with the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100430184121/http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=467213 Witch Queen]. She is easily the most magically inclined character in the series and while normally smart she seems incapable for mentioning the word magic without bursting into bouts of insane [[Maniacal Laugh]]ter that would scare most versions of the joker. It is even more clear she is brilliant but insane in her Twitterings.
* In Mark Shallow's current webcomic, ''[[Antihero for Hire]]'', Wizard is an example of this, despite being extremely intelligent. Waterfall, an adversary using the same technology, snaps with the same kind of insanity at the sight of her sisters being threatened, which invoked ''[[It's Personal]]''.
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', this is [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-06-30 revealed to be] the reason why Immortals "reset" every two hundred years. As time goes by, they become "more bored, more powerful, and less sane," which as Jerry notes is "kind of a bad combo." This could explain why {{spoiler|Pandora}} acts the way she does, since alleviating boredom through certifiably insane plots is her entire reason for doing things. She may have never "reset" in her life.
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': Raven must suppress her anger, otherwisewhich shecan takespossess onher aand fartake moreon evila side that has no mercymerciless and takesfar upmore amonstrous form that canborders borderon [[Eldritch Abomination]].
* ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'': Luthortech has two examples of experimentation causing insanity.
** [[Lex Luthor]] creates a super suit ostensibly to help the police fight crime. The officer testing it builds an unhealthy bond with it and becomes drunk with power, forcing the Man of Steel and John Henry Irons to take him down. Irons later worked out the flaws in the suit and created his iconic "Steel" armor.
** Luthor poisons unwitting gangster John Corben, a card-carrying psychopathic gangster, and then offers to save his life with the Metallo project. Corben,- advisedadvising onlyhim that there may be "some adjustments needed" to help him live a normal life after the process,. The hedonistic Corben accepts. Butthis, inonly histo newrealize robotthat body,he thewas hedonisticgiven Corbena robot body that can't feel, smell, touch or taste anything, and he becomes destructive in his rage at his human sensations being lost. Interestingly, the newly-christened Metallo is one of Steel's first opponents.
*** Irons later worked out the flaws in the suit that caused this behavior and created his iconic "Steel" armor. Interestingly, the first opponent he fights as Steel is Metallo, the below example.
* In ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', this is revealed to be the reason behind Kevin's villainy in the firstoriginal show''[[Ben 10]]''. Absorbing energy causes insanity in people with his powers: before he'd even met Ben he was hooked on electricity and was planning to do things like crash trains full of people together to make a buck. After accidentally absorbing energy from Ben's Omnitrix he ''really'' goes nuts, and turns into a full on [[Psycho for Hire]]. After the [[Time Skip]] in ''Alien Force'' and ''Ultimate Alien'', he is noticeably wary about doing it.
** Luthor poisons unwitting gangster John Corben, then offers to save his life with the Metallo project. Corben, advised only that there may be "some adjustments needed" to help him live a normal life after the process, accepts. But in his new robot body, the hedonistic Corben can't feel, smell, touch or taste anything, and becomes destructive in his rage at his human sensations being lost.
** {{spoiler|Aggregor doesn't believe this is the case during their fight, but Kevin ends up proving it by {{spoiler|absorbing Omnitrix energy to stop Aggregor, but looseslosing his sanity and takestaking the power Aggregor stole in the process. He then proceeds to try to drain energy from anyone with power, right after giving out [[Disproportionate Retribution]] to anyone he's had problems with. He is barely stopped long enough to cure him.}}.
*** To be fair, Corben was already a criminal and card carrying psychopath.
* Dark Danny of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' arguably. Though the whole thing about watchingWatching helplessly as yourhis family and friends get blown up and getting yourhis super-powered ghost half removed did givewas a good start... but he only started on a murderous rampage ''after'' gettingstealing his enemy's power. His [[Future Me Scares Me|past self]] is extremely horrified.
* In ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', this is revealed to be the reason behind Kevin's villainy in the first show. Absorbing energy causes insanity in people with his powers: before he'd even met Ben he was hooked on electricity and was planning to do things like crash trains full of people together to make a buck. After accidentally absorbing energy from Ben's Omnitrix he ''really'' goes nuts, and turns into a full on [[Psycho for Hire]]. After the [[Time Skip]] in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, he is noticeably wary about doing it.
*** WellVlad may also apply as he seemed to be largely content with his life before the accident... well, except that his one true love went and married their idotidiot friend, who Vlad thinks caused the accident anyhow.
** Aggregor claims that this is BS. However, since he is already an insane supervillain, he probably isn't the most reliable source.
** {{spoiler|Kevin ends up proving it by absorbing Omnitrix energy to stop Aggregor, but looses his sanity and takes the power Aggregor stole in the process. He then proceeds to try to drain energy from anyone with power, right after giving out [[Disproportionate Retribution]] to anyone he's had problems with. He is barely stopped long enough to cure him.}}
* Dark Danny of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' arguably. Though the whole thing about watching helplessly as your family and friends get blown up and getting your super-powered ghost half removed did give a good start... but he only started a murderous rampage ''after'' getting his enemy's power. His [[Future Me Scares Me|past self]] is extremely horrified.
** Vlad may also apply as he seemed to be largely content with his life before the accident.
*** Well, except that his one true love went and married their idot friend who Vlad thinks caused the accident anyhow.
* In ''[[The Batman]]'', when good cop [[Face Heel Turn|Ethan Bennet becomes Clayface]], he goes on a murderous vendetta against his former Captain. It's later asserted that the incident that turned into Clayface damaged his mind, and that, the more he keeps his form, the less unstable he will be. In fact, whenever he stays in his normal form, he's polite and rational, but the moment he uses his powers he tends to become violent and unhinged.
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Aang can enter the Avatar State, channeling the power of all his previous incarnations. You'd think channeling all those former Avatars would make him calm, wise and experienced, but no... Instead he gets all [[Glowing Eyes of Doom|incandescent]] and frags everything in sight. However, true mastery of the Avatar State includes being able to control it, {{spoiler|which he finally manages to achieve in the series finale}}.
** In the series finale, {{spoiler|after being made Fire Lord, Azula}} ''loses it''. {{spoiler|In an inversion, it's because she's ''losing'' power and she knows it - her friends had shown themselves insufficiently scared of her and even defied her, and her dad appointed her Fire Lord right before turning the position into "irrelevant figurehead". Paranoia of further betrayals if she didn't instill fear in everyone around her, and insecurity that no one (especially her [[Missing Mom|mother]]) truly loved her for who she was, caused her to finally snap.}}.
* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]],'' three [[Super Villain|Supervillains]]s become asexamples of suchthis when they get bonus mental instability with their powers. Electro and Doctor Octopus each suffer a [[Freak Lab Accident]]. - Electro gets [[Power Incontinence|volatile]] [[Psycho Electro|electricity]]-based powers, then [[Freak-Out|freaks out]] at his loss of humanity.; Doctor Octopus' [[Artificial Limbs|robotic arms]] are [[Hollywood Cyborg|fused]] [[Unusual User Interface|to his spine]] during a massive electromagnetic [[Lightning Can Do Anything|shock]], which causes an [[Not-So-Harmless Villain|extreme]] [[Mad Scientist|personality change]] due to stripping away his inhibitions. The Green Goblin ''claims'' that he suffered no blackouts and no change in personality from his [[Psycho Serum]], but he may be in denial considering that he actually keeps acting crazy and speaking in rhymes while he's hovering above the prison in season 2 while no one can hear him.
** More recently,{{when}} John Jameson was infected by alien spores, which made him super massive, super strong, and essentially a [[Flying Brick]] without the flying, but, over time, messed with his head, making him filled with rage and aggression. After Venom threw him into a rage (making him think the one messing with him was Spiderman), Spidey was able to purge the spores from his system, making his body return to normal, but he was severely addicted to the power, and had to be admitted to an insane asylum. The effect was made more evident due to John having a cell right next to the now completely insane Electro, who babbles on about how [[That Man Is Dead|he has no more human identity]].
** In the case of Doc Ock it wasn't so much a case of the new powers messing with his brain, but rather stripping away his inhibitions.
*** Eddie Brock would also qualify as an example. When he's stripped of the symbiote in a battle at Peter's high school, he is strapped to a stretcher and removed by two hospital orderlies, screaming at a crowd of spectators that "WE'RE VENOM!"
** More recently, John Jameson was infected by alien spores, which made him super massive, super strong, and essentially a [[Flying Brick]] without the flying, but, over time, messed with his head, making him filled with rage and aggression. After Venom threw him into a rage (making him think the one messing with him was Spiderman), Spidey was able to purge the spores from his system, making his body return to normal, but he was severely addicted to the power, and had to be admitted to an insane asylum. The effect was made more evident due to John having a cell right next to the now completely insane Electro, who babbles on about how [[That Man Is Dead|he has no more human identity]].
* ''[[Swat Kats]]'':
*** Eddie Brock would also qualify as an example. When he's stripped of the symbiote in a battle at Peter's high school, he is strapped to a stretcher and removed by two hospital orderlies, screaming at a crowd of spectators that "WE'RE VENOM!"
** [[Swat Kats|Dr. Viper]] was formallyformerly one of two biochemists who invented the Viper mutagen, which was intendedwhichintended to regenerate plants. Then he decided to try and steal it so he could sell it, directly leading to his transformation into thehis crazed, lizard-like Dr. Viperform.
** The otherwise peaceful Dr. Greenbox invented Zed, a robot that could repair any mechanical device. When said robot went on a rampage, he initially came along to help stop it...but was so delighted with how powerful his creation was that he tried to sabotage the mission and ended up merging himself with Zed.
* An episode of ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' centers around Jack defeating three shadowy warriors with amazing powers who attack anyone who comes near. After the battle, it turns out that the warriors were actually three men who used a magic well to wish for the power to be the greatest warriors in the land. While the well granted their wish, it also made them blind and took their free wills.
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** Optimus Primal had a couple of instances too. When he carried the spark of Optimus Prime, he not only got a new body out of the deal, but took on some of Prime's mannerisms. Prime was an incredibly ''good'' character, so Primal didn't get the nasty side effects Megatron got. In another episode, he gets injected with a serum that was [[Gone Horribly Wrong|supposed]] to turn him into a coward. However, it instead ''removed'' all fear, turning him into an unstoppable berserker. He didn't get stronger, just ''fully'' utilized his already considerable strength.
* Ratchet on ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' goes nuts when hopped up on synthetic Energon.
* <s>Professor Lapton</s> [[Insistent Terminology|Professor Von Madman]] in the ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' episode ''"Eye of the Tempest''" after he tested his revolutionary crystal/human hybrid technology on himself. But he has [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|a daughter]]...
* In ''[[Static Shock]]'', the Big Bang was occasionally thought to invoke this in earlier episodes. Notably, it's why [[Secret Keeper|Richie]] refused to trust Static when the metahuman Replay was framing him, believing that Static just took longer to go nuts then the others. However, since the Big Bang took place in the middle of a gang war, the guys who got the highest doses were generally not great people to begin with, and later episodes introduce other perfectly sane superpowered characters.
* Inverted and then played straight in ''[[Re BootReBoot]]''. Hexadecimal started out very powerful and insane. When she gets reformatted into a sprite and as a result is depowered she becomes very sane and cheerful. But then she needs to go viral again to fight Daemon and the powerup makes her insane again.
* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' has {{spoiler|the Ice King, or, rather, Simon Petrikov as an example of this}}. An antique merchant from [[Just Before the End]] who put on a magic crown that gave him immense magical power and immortality... but also slowly drove him so insane he doesn't remember being any other way anymore.
** Lemongrab. He's quite... "special," to put it nicely. Let's just say this "specialness" did NOT serve him, or anybody else, well when he inherited the throne to the Candy Kingdom. Being the result of a failed experiment, he has a lot of anger issues, and took out his anger on his subjects. To get him to leave the kingdom, the protagonists decide to play several pranks on him, which made his disposition even worse.
* ''[[Freakazoid!]]'' is the rare heroic example.
* Spider-Carnage of ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'' is an example of this happening to a [[Evil Twin|version]] of Spider-Man himself.
* The EVOs of ''[[Generator Rex]]'' can get hit with this, [[Body Horror]], or ''both''. The clearest example would probably be Breach, though she's at least ''coherent''. No-Face from the Bug Jar also demonstrates a seriously degraded mental state, though not in the same way as Breach. And some EVOS are so far gone, it's easy to forget they were [[Was Once a Man|ever human in the first place]].
* ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' arc "[[Happy Fun Ball|Doom Panties]]". Chloe always a shy nice girl, except when her friend shared a bottle and "her inhibitions just melted". When her [[Succubus]] powers got boosted, she began to "[[Power High|feel awesome]]" and put up quite a show, quickly rolling to the "scary" side. No malice at all, but Chloe won't let anything stand on the way of her fancy—and since she got an excess of power to begin with, for almost anyone else it's a cue to take cover.
* Nerissa of ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'' is a sad example of this. She was actually pretty well-adjusted until she gained control of the Heart of Candracar. The Oracle tried to cut her off at the pass, making her hand it over to her best friend, Cassidy. All it did was drive Nerissa farther into needing it, in which she killed her friend in cold blood. A good generation later, she comes back, pulling off a massive [[Xanatos Gambit]] to obtain more Hearts "for the greater good of the universe".
* ''[[Teen Titans Go! (animation)|Teen Titans Go!]]'':
 
** Beast Boy ends up falling [[The Hobbit|Gollum]]-style to the allure of Jessica Cruz's [[Green Lantern]] ring during the second part of the ''[[DC Super Hero Girls]]'' [[Crossover]] episode "Space House". Granted it's not a proper [[Artifact of Doom]] [[Artifact of Attraction|or Attraction]], [[Green-Eyed Monster|he just ''really'' really wanted it]] - though once he finally puts it on, the Power Ring interacts badly with his own superpowers and drives him feral.
 
== Web Original ==
* [[Rick Point Blank]]: The plot revolves around a serum that grants a [[Healing Factor]], makes you evil, and possibly makes you crave cookies and milk.
* ''[[Pay Me, Bug!]]'': [[Telepathy|Telepaths]] are in danger of going insane if they aren't trained to handle their power early enough.
* ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'': The Master of Darkness, one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world, is also utterly insane. It's implied that part of this is due to returning from death.
 
 
== Real Life ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Just for Pun{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
[[Category:Corruption Tropes]]
[[Category:Face Monster Turn]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:PowerJust for Pun]]
[[Category:Madness Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Radio]]
[[Category:Power]]
[[Category:Power At a Price]]
[[Category:Older Than Radio]]
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Face Monster Turn]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]
[[Category:Power]]
[[Category:Corruption Tropes]]