With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Difference between revisions

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'''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]]''}}

 

== Fanfiction ==

* In the [[Oneiroi Series]] (for [[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...)

'''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]].

* ''[[Universal Soldier]]''. In the sequel, one of them even gets an artificially intelligent, ''Self-Evolving Thought Helix'' military supercomputer downloaded into them.

* ''[[Hollow Man]]'', starring Kevin Bacon. He goes nuts after gaining his abillity because he realizes he can get away with a lot of crimes while invisible. It goes from disgustingly creepy (opening a sleeping co-worker's top) to badness and murder real soon. There's some talk about the invisibility [[Psycho Serum]] causing insanity, but it's never made clear how much of an effect it's supposed to be having on him.

** As expected, the failure with Bacon's character doesn't stop the government. In the sequel, they use the serum on several more people, including a decorated soldier ([[Christian Slater]]), who also goes insane and starts killing people. Unfortunately, his soldier training makes him doubly difficult to kill. Unlike the scientist, who already had quite an ego, the soldier goes insane from an side effect of turning cells transparent. Since the skin no longer protects the brain from solar radiation, this causes unavoidable mutations and, as a result, insanity.

* In ''[[Serenity]]'', [[The Woobie|River Tam]] is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffers from hallucinations, delusions, post-traumatic stress, identity and memory disorders, and unfiltered emotional responses. All of this is due to government experimentation on her brain that gave her uncontrolled [[The Empath|empathic]] [[Psychic Powers]] that tie in with [[Waif Fu|implanted combat abilities]] that make her the single most devastating weapon in the setting.

* ''[[Scanners]]''.

** In ''Scanners 2'', this is Peter Drak's rebuttal to David Kellum when he tries to reason with him [[You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good|to use his powers for good]].

* Subverted in ''[[Amazon Women on the Moon]],'' when Ed Begley, Jr. plays the son of the original invisible man. He creates a potion that he believes will turn him invisible but not insane. Unfortunately, he becomes insane but visible.

* ''[[The Mask (film)|The Mask]]'': Happens to Stanley Ipkiss whenever he wears the Mask (and when Milo puts it on as well). Dorian Tyrell, not so much. As explained above, the Mask unlocks the suppressed part of a person's psyche. Tyrell, a unrepentant criminal, already had all his nastiness full on the surface, so the Mask just made him invincible and monstrous.

* [[Heart of Darkness]] critiques Britain's "liberal imperialism" in the form of Kurtz who went insane because he has absolute power with no one to stop him.

* In Kelley Armstrong's [[Women of the Otherworld]] series, this happens to [[Blessed with Suck|necromancers and clairvoyants]] over time, and the more powerful they are, the faster their mental state degrades. Interestingly, necromancers can stave off the madness longer by ''using'' their powers rather than suppressing them.

 

 

* Somewhat subverted in ''[[Xenosaga]]'' - Albedo started going mad when he found out not that he was unable to die, but when he found out that other people ''did die''. He began to fear his brothers' deaths and subsequently his being alone for eternity, becoming really morbidly obsessed with death {{spoiler|to the point where his greater motivation throughout the course of the series is to find a way to kill himself.}}

* ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'': If it doesn't kill them, [[Psycho Serum|Dark Eco]] can instill people with great power, for example [[Big Bad|Gol and Maia]] in [[Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy|the first game]] and Jak himself from [[Jak II Renegade|the second game]] on. However, it also has a habit of driving people insane.

* In ''[[Suikoden V]]'', the Sun Rune is known to be one of the most powerful runes in existence. Even among the 27 True Runes, it's power is extreme, granting both the power to destroy a kingdom overnight, as well as being able to revive a country. However, it also causes mental instability, as the bearer believes themself to be equal to a God, completely infallible, and believing that anyone that disagrees with them should die a very painful death. The King of the ancient Armes Kingdom fell victim to this, destroying his entire kingdom in his insanity, {{spoiler|and Queen Arshtat also felt its effects on occasion, and very nearly did the same thing, attempting to destroy her own queendom in a fit of rage and grief after she accidentally killed her husband Ferid due to, again, the effects of the Sun Rune. Falena was only spared this fate because she was slain by Georg Prime, who had promised Ferid he would stop her from doing so if Ferid himself could not}}.

* Grand Maestro Mohs from ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' is a textbook example. He gets glyphs inscribed on him that flood him with [[Mana|Seventh Fonons]] to obtain the power of a [[Authority Equals Asskicking|Fon Master]], but his body can't handle much of the Seventh Fonon. He immediately turns into a monster, then quickly goes insane. Subverted in that [[Mad Scientist|Dist]], who applied the glyphs, knew exactly what would happen.

* In ''[[Psychonauts]]'' those born with psychic potential can develop incredible powers and enter the minds of others. They also tend to range from seriously maladjusted to insane and few are actually all that eager to develop their abilities anyway.

* In ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' the [[I'm a Humanitarian|main character]] is focused and driven, giving little outward sign of anything but rage and determination as he kills and eats his way through thousands upon thousands of soldiers, civilians, and zombies. Normally. But give him a moment to reflect on his situation and what he's doing and...well...

** 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''.

* ''[[The B-Movie Comic|B-Movie Comic]]'': In the invisible killer arc, the process that makes a person invisible can also make them quite frightfully deranged, but only if the person has a basic character flaw to serve as basis. The scientist then also use the treatment on Snuka so they can fight the invisible killer, on the assumption that anyone working closely with the professor must be a person of impeccable character. Not quite...

* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'': The Meta has the abilities and A.I. of every Freelancer it has killed so far. That many A.I. in one body, however, have caused it to be more than slightly snarling mad. To the point where it doesn't seem able speak itself, only growl. ([[Deadpan Snarker|Church]] was naturally ''thrilled'' when he heard this.)

** Also in RVB, when Simmons takes power after sarge's "death" (he wasn't)

'''Simmons:''' "Oh no, Grif. I've gone mad with very real power." }}

* ''[[Cwen's Quest]]'': This seems to be case with the [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|Maniacal Laughter]] that would scare most versions of the joker. It is even more clear she is brilliant but insane in her Twitterings.