History Main / BoltOfDivineRetribution

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS23E21NedNEdnasBlend Ned 'N' Edna's Blend Agenda]]": After getting the part of Jesus in a Passion play, Homer starts going around in costume to openings of a local loan sharks' businesses, proclaiming them to be honest or his name isn't Jesus H... needless to say, he gets hit, then proceeds to shout at the sky to find out if that's going to happen every time (he's on his fiftieth opening at this point).

* ''ComicStrip/{{BC}}'' often features these, accompanied by the word "ZOT".
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin laments the ''absence'' of this trope in "RealLife":
--> It's hard to be religious when [[TheBully certain people]] are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.

* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', Jason once sculpted a nativity scene out of snow where his "savior of Christmas" in the crib isn't the baby Jesus, but a baby credit card instead. As he's showing it to Peter, he looks up in time to see storm clouds suddenly forming out of nowhere.

-->'''Paige:''' It's a rough economy; I'm sure the Big Guy understands.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'': Subverted. Garfield does the lying variant, but as soon as he says "may lightning strike", he notices storm clouds rumbling overhead. He quickly changes the end of his sentence to "...the dog next door". Cue the sound effect of an off-panel "Kerpow!" followed by a "[[OhCrap Yip]]!"

* ''Blog/BetterBonesAU'': [=StarClan=] (the cumulative entity of the Clan cats' [[AncestorVeneration ancestors]] in 'Literature/WarriorCats'') explicitly has the power to do that here, leading to Ripplestar and Mudclaw's deaths, rather than it being MaybeMagicMaybeMundane as in canon (though they do so by striking a tree with lightning and crushing them with it rather than striking the cats directly). Darkstar gets hit by one too but survives and works after that to make it up to [=StarClan=].

'''Oni Lee:''' I think...That it has been noticed.\\

* In ''Film/TheBadSeed1956'', [[EnfanteTerrible Rhonda]] (who literally gets away with murder in [[AdaptationalKarma all other versions of the story]]) stands out in the open with a fishing rod during a storm as she is celebrating her victory and is struck by lightning in the last scene of the film. It is widely believed that this ending was added because the film was done during the time of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode.
* The GeneralRipper main villain in ''Film/BuryMeHigh'' was killed by a stray bolt of lightning from the heavens in the peak of fighting the heroes. Apparently it's retribution for his attempts to convert the Feng Shui of the local hills to ensure his permanent power as a dictator and, some Feng Shui mumbo-jumbo. ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext, for real.
* In ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}'', Bishop Pickering is winning a BizarreAndImprobableGolfGame during a heavy rainstorm, at one point declaring, "[[TemptingFate The Good Lord would never disrupt the best game of my life]]." When he misses his final putt on the 18th hole, he [[SmiteMeOMightySmiter shakes his fist at the sky]] yelling, "[[UnusualEuphemism Oh, rat farts]]!" Cue lightning bolt.

* In ''Film/RatRace'', when a mechanic threatens two contestants in a race out of money for car repair. One of the contestants calls him out on how un-Christian it is, to which he laughs and calls out to God to give him a sign of his displeasure. Seconds later, a rocket shoots past (ironically manned by two other contestants), creating a sonic boom that collapses the mechanic's garage.

* In ''Film/TheTerror'', when the protagonist forces the witch to enter the hallowed ground (the graveyard), she is struck by lightning.

* At the start of the Italian SwordAndSandal movie ''Film/SamsonAndHisMightyChallenge'', Zeus sends down a bolt of lightning just to get the attention of his son Hercules, and another one when he insists on [[TwoRoadsBeforeYou riding the wrong way.]] Rebellious demigod that he is, Hercules ignores Dad and decides to ride off and do his own thing.

* The ''Literature/CretanChronicles'' series of gamebooks have this as a NonStandardGameOver you can suffer. If your HONOUR score drops too low, then you will be deemed unworthy of your quest, at which point Zeus will fry you with a thunderbolt.

* An old Jewish joke: an observant Jew ventures into a non-kosher deli for the first time and asks timidly: "Erm... how much for the ham?", only to be struck by lightning/ This prompts him to look up to the skies and cry: "Calm down, I was only ''asking''!"

* In ''[[http://www.roma1.infn.it/~anzel/answer.html Answer]]'' by Creator/FredricBrown, the newly created DeusEstMachina fries its creator with a lightning bolt (the sky is cloudless!) when he tries to pull the plug.

** In the page quote, it's probably worth noting that Offler responded to this accusation by trying to [[IResembleThatRemark hit the speaker with a lightning bolt]]. Fortunately it bent at right angles a few feet above his head and hit the floor instead. Being high priest of Io, [[TopGod chief of the gods]] has perks.
** In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', when the God of Evolution is getting "testy", small lightning bolts start arcing near the wizards, while the god apologizes for this autonomous reflex he has very little control over.

* In ''Literature/{{Imajica}}'', this trope ''backfires''. On GOD. [[spoiler:He becomes aware of some other deities in nearby parallel universes and, being [[GodIsEvil a villain]] in this book, tries to destroy these rivals with a god-killing-caliber version of this trope. As He isn't omniscient about things in other universes, He doesn't know that the chain of universes loops around back to its starting point; the other deities dodge the Bolt, it loops around back to God's heaven, and ''kills Him''.]]

* From the ''Literature/{{Kadingir}}'' series: Being fried by lightning of probably divine origin was [[TheCaligula Mad King Kanota]]'s ultimate fate, right after he blew up his own castle while proclaiming that [[TalkativeLoon no penguin]] [[LaughingMad would sit on his throne]]. His reign is widely regarded as an embarrassment to the Zitis, who would happily forget about his whole existence.

* [[http://www.onthepremises.com/issue_11/story_11_h1.html "Same-Day Delivery"]]: Though it qualifies as "wizardly" rather than "divine" retribution, mention is made of the "blue bolts from the heavens" from first edition ''Advanced TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. According to the author, this is a deliberate ShoutOut.

* In ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'', Lewis thinks he had been touched by God to become a prophet. Then, after he gives a lot of sanctimonious pronouncements, he gets hit by lightning. ''Repeatedly'' hit, each time offering an ever more feeble excuse for the most recent lightning strike. He keeps tempting fate until the third or fourth one, finally being helped inside by his friends, scorched and exclaiming:

** In "[[Recap/StargateSG1S3E8Demons Demons]]", [[SinisterMinister the Canon]] incapacitated SG-1 with a piece of AppliedPhlebotinum that invokes this trope (the planet's population had apparently been kidnapped from western Europe during the Middle Ages). Carter later described it as feeling like being hit by a [[TheParalyzer zat blast]].
** In "[[Recap/StargateSG1S3E20MaternalInstinct Maternal Instinct]]", a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien blasts attacking Goa'uld forces with lighting. If her version comes with a stun setting, she's not bothering to use it: the Goa'uld ground troops are incinerated, as are a few Death Gliders.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E2WhoMournsForAdonais Who Mourns for Adonais?]]", Apollo uses this a few times. Since there were no RedShirts around, he decided to pick on Scotty for wearing red.
** "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E5TheApple The Apple]]". Being a DeusEstMachina Vaal also likes to throw lightning bolts around. A RedShirt is incinerated by one bolt, while Spock [[PlotArmor gets second-degree burns]] from a {{near miss|es}}.

* Invoked in ''Series/WarriorNun'' when Adriel uses his AppliedPhlebotinum to kill [[spoiler:Pope Francesco Duretti]] with a massive lightning strike after the latter fails to hack into his plague generator and publicly expose him as a fraud.

* Parodied in ''Manhua/OldMasterQ'': the titular character flees from a thunderstorm and once he's within his apartment, mocks the weather from his window. Cue a stray thunderbolt giving him an AshFace.

* On "Cold Wind Blows", the first track on Music/{{Eminem}}'s 2010 album ''Recovery'', Slim Shady gets zapped twice by God and whines in pain, claiming he'll give up - and begs God "forgive me for what my pen do". God warns him that if he doesn't stay on his best behaviour, he'll get sent to Hell. In his ''The Eminem Show'' AlbumClosure in 2002, "My Dad's Gone Crazy", Shady had said he'd get struck by lightning twice at once before he toned his lyrics down, so this serves to signal a change of heart. Sure enough, Shady is PutOnABus for most of ''Recovery''.

* Mamaragan, the [[Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths Gunwinggu]] GodOfThunder, usually lives peacefully in a puddle. Should you be wicked, however, its a blast of searing light to your face.

* Myth/NorseMythology:
** Thor's thunderbolt hammer, Mjölnir.
** Odin's spear Gungnir, which is sometimes compared to a thunderbolt and said to never miss.

* In Myth/SlavicMythology, Perun, the local sky, lightning, and fire god (and one of the higher-ranked ones in the whole pantheon) was well-known for flinging these at ''another god of equal rank'' -- his arch-rival, Veles, god of magic, water, and earth. Usually, this was done in retribution for Veles stealing Perun's belongings or [[{{Troll}} doing something else to tick Perun off]]. Also, while the bolts were directed at Veles, Perun didn't particularly care for whatever Veles [[TakeCover used as cover]] from the barrage -- like, say, trees and houses.

** In 5th Edition, clerics with the Tempest Domain gain the ability to strike enemies with retalatory bolts of lightning after being struck with a melee attack.

* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'': If you worship Zeus, you get one of these as your one-off God Power. [[BoringButPractical Not as spectacular]] as some of the others (Hera gets a whole lightning ''storm''), but it handily {{One Hit Kill}}s anything except creatures summoned by other God Powers, and Titans. It will still damage Titans for a significant chunk [[OneManArmy considering what Titans are]]. In the ExpansionPack, it gets upgraded to a three-use power.

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', the Crusader's Fist of the Heavens ability calls down a bolt of lightning, intended to invoke this. A similar spell is in ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' for Paladins as well, but while it deals lightning damage, its aesthetic is closer to HolyHandGrenade or LightEmUp than it is to ShockAndAwe, unlike ''III'''s version, which is quite clearly and visibly ShockAndAwe.
* In ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'', a disillusioned cultist decides to declare his complete renouncement of all gods from the top of his own temple. He is immediately struck by a dozen lightning bolts simultaneously.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'', the Treasure Art for completing the Search and Resurrection request implies that [[spoiler:Saint March Rosa]] died due to this [[spoiler:having been felled by a lightning bolt after he started bringing people back from the dead using Medusa's blood that he allegedly got from a goddess]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'' [[spoiler: BigBadWannabe Ulwine Neisbeck claims that not even the gods can't stop her plan. Sadly, the Gods of Aventuria disagree with her.]]

* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', the cult leader Carpainter seemingly invokes this trope by trying to obliterate Ness with a lightning bolt. However, the Franklin Badge will [[AttackReflector reflect the lightning back at Carpainter]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Video Game!'', one of Peter's fighting levels has God as an NPC. Punching God results in Him calling down a lightning bolt to kill you.
* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', when Lostbelt Zeus sees that Chaldea has come to Olympus with the intent of destroying both it and him, he responds by unleashing a storm of lightning. While Captain and Da Vinci's preparations enable them to survive, Holmes suspects that this was merely a warning shot. Later, [[spoiler:Peperoncino]] tells [[spoiler:Kadoc]] that if Zeus were to overhear them plotting against him, he would strike them dead with lightning at once for their betrayal.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', this is Azama's personal skill. If you attack him while he is unarmed, "Divine Retribution" activates and returns half of the damage done to the attacker.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' has Zeus doing this to ''you'' in two games during the battle with him.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'': Implemented by the dev team as a way to emphasize the fact that being banned does in fact mean you're banned. On logging in, a banned player is treated to the spectacle of the Death God Dhuum rising from the ground and slicing them in half with a giant scythe.
* In ''VideoGame/KingOfDragonPass'', the rites of kingship exist to give the gods veto power over the candidate clan leaders have chosen to rule the tribe. If the gods approve, the candidate lives and rules; if they don't, this trope happens. Most notably, this happens to TheChosenWannabe [[spoiler: Saraska Bright-Eyes]], if she convinces the player clan or others that she deserves to rule.
* In the ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series, the Guardian battle chip places a statue of a deity on the battlefield. When the statue is attacked, be it by the player or enemy, the offending party is struck by lightning that deals heavy damage and [[ArmorPiercingAttack bypasses guard effects]].

* A strange variation of this happens in ''[[VideoGame/{{Pico}} Nene's Interactive Suicide]]''. Should you choose to have Nene pray at her windowsill instead of try to kill herself, her prayers will be answered with God blowing her off the face of the Earth.

* In ''VideoGame/YggdraUnion'', [[spoiler:Marietta]] will use lightning to smite your forces. [[spoiler: She's just doing her job as an angel, defending heaven, which you are about to invade.]]

* In ''Literature/FineStructure'', some scientists discover a wide variety of superscience-based technologies. As they apply them, they discover through trial and error that using them is a fast track to being killed in various lightning-related ways, such as reprogramming your teleportation machine to bury you alive. The entity responsible for this is eventually dubbed the "Imprisoning God".
* In ''WebVideo/MarikPlaysBloodlines'' episode 6, [[TransparentCloset Marik]], [[spoiler:freaked out by a ''very'' angry [[ItMakesSenseInContext Mel Gibson]], admits that he's gay.]] Immediately after, he denies that he's gay, asking god to strike him down if he's lying. Immediately after, an elevator falls from the sky directly towards him, and Marik just barely manages to jump out of the way in time. When he realises it missed him, [[InsaneTrollLogic he claims this is proof that he is straight]].

* Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG: One item says that it's a bad idea to taunt Greek heroes with "Who's your daddy?".
* This trope is used as the punchline for the Website/CollegeHumor video "If Football Players Were Atheists", where the end of the video has the atheist football player get obliterated by a lightning bolt after stating that God does not exist.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon Friendship is Magic, part 1]]", Nightmare Moon calls down a lightning bolt on the trio of Royal Guards attempting to rush and arrest her.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'': One episode has this happen to Oscar who refuses to pay what he promised to the church he attends. After refusing he is immediately struck by lightning and burned very badly. He promptly says "Trudy, Write the man a check."

* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': In "Zanzibar", when Ed Bighead is confronted by a big unruly mob about how he's now forced to make sure his company's factories stop dumping waste into the water, he tries to sing a song to counter them. [[LaserGuidedKarma Then a hole in the ozone layer opens right over his house and gives him a terrible sunburn]].

** One episode tells the story of the Mayflower. During a harsh storm, Reverend Lovejoy is praising God when he gets struck by lightning. He concludes that clearly kissing God's ass is getting him nowhere.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E10PrayAnything Pray Anything]]", Homer starts praying for all sorts of things but when he commands God to turn the rain into wine, he gets struck by lightning.
** After getting the part of Jesus in a Passion play, Homer starts going around in costume to openings of a local loan sharks' businesses, proclaiming them to be honest or his name isn't Jesus H... needless to say, he gets hit, then proceeds to shout at the sky to find out if that's going to happen every time (he's on his fiftieth opening at this point).
** When Little Miss Springfield Amber Dempsey gets struck by lightning at a store opening, runner-up Lisa is sworn in as the new LMS. [[TemptingFate Krusty teases Lisa with the scepter a couple of times]], before being [[LaserGuidedKarma struck by lightning himself.]]

** A subversion appears in "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E1TheAlgaesAlwaysGreenerSpongeGuardOnDuty Spongeguard on Duty]]", where Spongebob repeatedly rewords an oath to avoid this -- first to [[LastSecondWordSwap specify "ice cream truck" instead of "lightning"]] as the thing to hit him with, and then to add "and live" when an ice cream truck falls on him.
** In the episode "A Friendly Game", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick's plan to play a game of golf together is ruined by a thunderstorm. Patrick commands the storm to stop (with his putter raised in the air) and is promptly struck by lightning.

** Big Mom, one of the Four Emperors, has Zeus, a living storm cloud created from her Soul-Soul Fruit powers, who can bring down lightning whenever he or Big Mom wants. During the escape from Totland, Zeus ages so many of Nami's "Whether Eggs" that he becomes huge, and Nami brings down a massive pillar of lightning down on Big Mom!

** One mod kills guards with lightning if they dare mention the words "arrow" and "knee" in the same sentence. The mod maker says that "Even the Divines have grown tired."

** "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E5TheApple The Apple]]". Being a DeusEstMachina Vaal also likes to throw lightning bolts around. A RedShirt is incinerated by one bolt, while Spock [[PlotArmor gets second-degree burns]] from a near miss.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': One quest requires you to pose as a cleric of Talos. (For the uninitiated, Talos is not just a powerful evil deity, but in fact the god ''of'' lightning.) You're ordered to swear that you worship him, with failure to do so being proof you're an impostor. Actually do it, and you're struck by lightning -- ''indoors''. However, if you're wearing the cloak that reflects lightning, the bolt bounces off and fries the cleric instead. This stops the cutscene dead, allowing you to just take the item you need off his corpse instead of fighting his mooks first. On the other hand, if you actually ''are'' a cleric of Talos, [[DevelopersForesight you can swear your loyalty without harm, and get the item without a fight that way.]]

%%* ''Film/TheBadSeed1956'': Apparently, it was thrown in at the last second because [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins was in violation of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode]].

* ''VideoGame/Diablo3'': The Crusader's Fist of the Heavens ability calls down a bolt of lightning, intended to invoke this. A similar spell was in VideoGame/Diablo2 for Paladins as well, but while it dealt lightning damage, its aesthetic was closer to HolyHandGrenade or LightEmUp than it was to ShockAndAwe, unlike 3's version, which is quite clearly and visibly ShockAndAwe.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Kelvin the Labradoodle implies that this will happen to Mittens in “The Seer” via Bolt as payback for how the cat has treated Kelvin’s pigeon friends, and lampshaded as such.

* In ''LetsPlay/MarikPlaysBloodlines'' episode 6, [[TransparentCloset Marik]], [[spoiler:freaked out by a ''very'' angry [[ItMakesSenseInContext Mel Gibson]], admits that he's gay.]] Immediately after, he denies that he's gay, asking god to strike him down if he's lying. Immediately after, an elevator falls from the sky directly towards him, and Marik just barely manages to jump out of the way in time. When he realises it missed him, [[InsaneTrollLogic he claims this is proof that he is straight]].

* At the start of the Italian SwordAndSandal movie ''Samson and His Mighty Challenge'', Zeus sends down a bolt of lightning just to get the attention of his son Hercules, and another one when he insists on [[TwoRoadsBeforeYou riding the wrong way.]] Rebellious demigod that he is, Hercules ignores Dad and decides to ride off and do his own thing.