History Main / BrainInAJar

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Alpha mentions that individuals whose brains have the ability to interact with the Old World network are highly valuable to the government. As a result, Akira [[TheyWouldCutYouUp might get dissected]] and be reduced to a brain in a jar if anyone finds out about it.

Compare to LosingYourHead when the whole head is preserved and capable of independent movement. Compare BrainTransplant when the brain is given a new body. This may or may not lead to AndIMustScream. May also be a result of BrainTheft. See also BrainAlien for brains that don't ''need'' to be preserved to survive.

Compare to LosingYourHead when the whole head is preserved and capable of independent movement. Compare BrainTransplant when the brain is given a new body. This may or may not lead to AndIMustScream. May also be a result of BrainTheft. See also AlienBrain for brains that don't ''need'' to be preserved to survive.

Compare to LosingYourHead when the whole head is preserved and capable of independent movement. Compare BrainTransplant when the brain is given a new body. This may or may not lead to AndIMustScream. May also be a result of BrainTheft.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''

Occasionally with this trope, a virtual reality is put into the brain so that it thinks it's a regular person with a body, making it a sort of LotusEaterMachine. See Wiki/TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat "brain in a vat"]] article for further discussion of this idea.

* Hector Con Carne's Brain in ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne''. Variation in that his ''stomach'' also is in a jar... and developed its own sentience. And both are occupying the body of a Russian circus bear named Boskov who can still act on his own despite his brain being replaced with Hector's. It's a weird show.

** In the main series, as an android, Dr. Gero's brain is stored in a glass dome on his head. It's usually covered by his NiceHat, though.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'', while the Star Command employs the Little Green Men seen in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Zurg's minions are brains in jars (who frequently mention this situation when the boss complains).

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': In the ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi'' series, a Jedi Master by the name of Ooroo is a brain-like, methane-breathing alien who must stay in his fishbowl as oxygen is lethal to him. His species, the Celegians, was given a name and some background for RPG; authors never saw a great use for them.

* [[spoiler:Mr. Freeze]] in the Franchise/{{DCAU}} is eventually reduced to this after his condition worsens. He was able to slow it down with the aid of some kidnapped scientists, but by that point, he had already lost everything from the neck down. To make things worse, his condition has also made him TheAgeless. By the time of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', he's still alive... as a disembodied head stuck in a glorified meat locker. He's later given a healthy body, but snaps and returns to his villainous ways before dying in one final rampage.
* The Brain has appeared on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', voiced by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker, and ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', voiced by Creator/CoreyBurton (spouting GratuitousFrench in both incarnations).
-->'''Kid Flash:''' It's the Brain!
-->'''Artemis:''' Duh, I can ''see'' it's a brain.
-->'''Kid Flash:''' Not ''a'' brain; [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Brain!]]

* ''WesternAnimation/EekTheCat'' episode ''Eek's International Adventures'' is a spy film parody and features a villain named The Brain, made of a brain, eyes, teeth and an ear in different jars.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' MadeForTVMovie "WesternAnimation/EgoTrip" has Mandark turned into a brain in a jar following his defeat by 4 Dexters from different ages... [[SpannerInTheWorks and Dee Dee's intervention]].

* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'': Modulok tries to do this to Man-At-Arms in "Happy Birthday Roboto", though he's actually using the second head that came with his toy in the episode instead of a jar.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' had Jimmy and Beezy accidentally knocking the brain out of their favorite soccer player's head. By the end of the episode, Beezy still hasn't given it back, keeping it in a jar among his memorabilia.
* Spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/PlasticMan'' with villain The Clam, is a literal clam that commands an evil organization and needs help for everything.
* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', Rocko buys a vacuum cleaner. When he tries to shut it off, a brain under a glass or plastic dome with wires attached to it comes up out of the control panel, and won't allow him to shut it off.

* Another head in a pan (with exposed brain yet!) in ''The Frozen Dead''.
* ''Film/TheySavedHitlersBrain'': It's right there in the title: Nazis have preserved Hitler's brain in a jar, and are waiting for the right time to resurrect him and, along with him, the Third Reich.
%%* ''Film/InvadersFromMars''

%%* ''Film/TheAtomicBrain''
* ''Film/MarsAttacks!'': A large, human like brain in a container is seen on the mothership.
* ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'':
** Igor was sent to retrieve the brilliant Hans Delbruck's brain from the Brain Depository. Igor drops the jar containing the scientist's brain, and instead takes a different jar marked "ABNORMAL - DO NOT USE". After the monster reveals its true nature, Dr. Frankenstein asks Igor whose brain he put in the body. "Abby someone." "Abby who?" "Abby Normal."
** In the German-dubbed version, this became: "I took the brain of a cleric, an abbot (''Abt'')." -- "What abbot?" -- "''Abt Normal''." By the way, as he mentions on the DVD, Mel Brooks had Frederick Frankenstein send Igor to fetch Hans Delbruck's brain because that would rhyme with "Mel Brooks' brain". So it is not a reference to the German politician and historian Hans Delbrück (1848-1929), father of the Nobel Prize-winning German-American biophysicist Max Delbrück (1906-1981).

* Uncle Irvin in ''Film/TheCityOfLostChildren''. [[spoiler: A DeadpanSnarker BrainInAJar. With migraines.]]
%%* ''Film/TheXFilesIWantToBelieve''
%%* ''Film/CrankHighVoltage'': [[spoiler:Ricky Verona]].

* ''Film/BloodDiner'': The uncle of the two murderous cannibals masquerading as vegetarian chefs is reduced to one of these (complete with eyeballs). He still orders them around to put together a body for some evil goddess out of all the girls they've killed. We said this was a weird film.

%%* ''Film/TheManWithTwoBrains'': Creator/SteveMartin is a neurosurgeon who encounters and communicates with a lady's brain.%%Outside of her body, or...?

* ''Film/FiendWithoutAFace'': For the premiere, the producers had one of the brain creature puppets displayed in a glass case at the theater. It was even rigged to wiggle around, and they claimed it was a real surviving "fiend" from the movie that had been captured.

* In ''Film/FrankensteinIsland'', a human brain in a glass dome is essential part of Sheila and Van Helsing's aparatus. It provides the psychic link to Dr. Frankenstein on the other side of the veil, and allows him to provide the psychic energy that keeps Van Helsing alive and powers the army of guard zombies.
* In the 1960 Mexican science fiction comedy ''Film/ConquistadorDeLaLuna (Conqueror of the Moon)'', the "Great Brain of Mars" (don't ask) is literally a giant brain in a jar, with an abstract art depiction of a Martian underneath him, and a voice box and an eye on a stalk to communicate.
* ''Film/{{Sharkenstein}}'': The brain and heart of FrankensteinsMonster are both kept in jars full of liquid, with wires plugged into them[[spoiler:, until [[MadScientist Klaus]] has Coop, Madge, and Skip help him transplant them into Sharkenstein's body]].

* "Lost in the New Real" by Arjen Lucassen ends with this, from the first track to near the end it appears the main character has been brought back to life through mad science, only for the Brain in a Jar reveal during the final track.

* Appropriately enough, the EdutainmentGame ''Pinball/TheBrain'' has a replica of a human brain inside the cabinet.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'':
** The adventure module ''Wake of the Watchers'' features a "brain archive" containing several of these.
** Part of the ''Reign of Winter'' Adventure Path takes place on Earth circa 1918, where the party will encounter Mk. V tanks driven by implanted human brains.

* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'': Transhuman introduces the Brain Box enhancement, an organic human [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin brain in a box]] that contains a small life-support system, and which is usually mounted in a robot body. It's favored by characters who like the durability of a synthmorph, but are paranoid about brainhacking or want to use PsychicPowers.

** Moreover, that anyone injured badly enough would end up with their head in a jar and with a few punchlines at their expense (usually by Ennesby, embittered over not having a body in the first place) was a running theme, especially earlier in the comic's run. Full-body regeneration has also been used since as a plot device, as once you get started there's really no need to regenerate a body EXACTLY like your old one. If your vanity or your job demands require a physical upgrade, well, here's your chance! More muscle (Nick), more height (Elf), less fat (Thurl and [[spoiler: Xinchub]]), you can have a whole new you from the shoulders down. Why don't people do it all the time, then? It's expensive.
* ''Webcomic/{{Supertron}}'': Supertron ([[spoiler:actually named Simon]])'s [[spoiler:father is basically a brain in a jar, which also houses his eyes, intestines, and other organs.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', the BadFuture version of [[spoiler:Helen Narbon]] is one of these and resentful as heck about it. In the finale, as the events that caused this ''almost'' come to pass, we learn the reasons for both brain-in-a-jarness and bitterness.

* UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is a brain in a jar in the Franchise/{{LEGO}} photocomic ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'':
** At one point he builds a supercomputer out of a bunch of cloned Hitler jar-brains wired together.

-->'''Alien:''' You just ate the left side of our brain, the one that handles all logic. I'm the abstract right side! I think I'll go paint my emotions now! ''[[AttentionDeficitOohShiny Oooh! Something shiny!]]''
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Dave comes across the alchemy combination that makes Dave's Brain In A Jar during his experiments with ItemCrafting. It's too expensive for him to make because the organ is virtually inimitable, but he uses the code in alchemy to make the [[Webcomic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff SBAHJifier]] camera.
* In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0652.html this]] ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' strip, Xykon references Brain in a Jar transformations as a method to avoid death. [[EmergencyTransformation Though he makes it clear that he wouldn't become one unless he had to.]]
* In ''Webcomic/MinionComics'', Hitler's head is seen [[http://www.meetmyminion.com/?p=862 in a jar attached to a giant rampaging gorilla]].
* The super-villain Dr. Haynus from ''Webcomic/GreystoneInn'' and its sequel comic ''Webcomic/EvilInc'' is a disembodied brain in a jar. As he is on top of a living puppy with a mind of his own, Haynus unfortunately feels the humiliation of not having control over its actions: Anyone can get rid of Haynus by simply using a ball or cookies.
* The entire Baro race from ''Webcomic/{{Marooned}}'' is brains in jars, [[BrainUploading uploaded]] into the Mother Brain upon death.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Anevka Sturmvoraus is basically one of these, although her container is much larger than a typical jar, and is attached via cables to a robot "clank" through which she can interact with the world. And it is eventually revealed [[spoiler: that the brain died long ago and the robot is unknowingly operating itself via the deceased's imprinted personality.]] Later, the "whole head in a jar" variant is done to a particularly high-ranking {{Mook}} so that he can be kept safely alive and in custody while being pumped for information, and references have been made to doing the same to other characters (or inability to do so, owing to the [[BoomHeadshot lack of a head]]). In general, it seems to be a well-known, if maybe not exactly common, practice.

* [[http://www.scamorama.com/mallory-head2.html Thomas Mallory]], a disembodied head that remains alive in the basement of the Miskatonic University after a failed body transplant, and communicates via e-mail with the son of a wealthy farmer and politician from West Africa, but becomes aware of a conspiracy to sabotage his life support. Actually, the entire thing is just an internet-goer messing with a {{Four One Nine Scam}}mer.

* The Batteries in ''WebVideo/TheMercuryMen'' (beings who are in control of the Mercury Men) are brains in jars.
* As seen in this ironic Teach the Controversy [[http://controversy.wearscience.com/design/walt/ T-shirt]] featuring a chipper Walt Disney
* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', it's eventually revealed that Jamie's [[spoiler:PhotographicMemory is actually the result of being an interface for a huge collection of these.]]

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Not surprisingly, [[MadScientist Devisors]] have done this several times, to themselves or others.
** While not a Devisor himself, the student Psike, a [[PsychicPowers PDP]] and one of the senior [[OverlordJr Bad Seeds]] in the 2006 stories, was 'rescued' by other students in this manner after an accident destroyed his body. He claims to prefer this, being contemptuous of ordinary 'meat bags', but does decide he needs a human body he can control remotely in order to take care of things his mind control, telekinesis, and sterling personality can't.

** In the main series, as an android Dr. Gero's brain is stored in a glass dome on his head. It's usually covered by his NiceHat, though.

* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': In ''Anime/TheMysteryOfMamo'', at the end, it turns out the movie's [[spoiler:main villain was a gigantic version of this trope all along, and all the "clones" of him running around were all controlled with microchips in their brains that were wirelessly connected to him]].
* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':
** [[spoiler:Teitoku Kakine]] has been reduced to this after Accelerator horribly dismembers him. It's also forced to create a constant stream of [[spoiler:Dark Matter]] for the use of Academy City's soldiers. [[spoiler: He eventually manages to create a new body out of Dark Matter and escape.]]
** Rensa is a cyborg with forty different brains that can be inserted into her head to animate her. [[spoiler:After Touma destroys Rensa, he finds the brains and puts them into cold storage until something can be done about them.]]
** In ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'', [[spoiler:Exterior]] is revealed to be a giant brain in a tube, cultivated from part of [[spoiler: Misaki's]] cerebral cortex. It was intended to allow other people to use the ability [[spoiler: [[MindManipulation Mental Out]]]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Aaroniero Arrurerie's true form is that he has a glass jar where his head is supposed to be, filled with a blood-like substance and contains two Hollow-mask heads.
** Gremmy Thoumeaux is revealed to be a brain in a jar held in an artificial body made by his ImaginationBasedSuperpower.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'': The anime sequel has the BigBad steal Cid's corpse from his tomb and resurrect him as a HUGE brain. Seriously, it's several times the size of a human.
* ''Manga/MurasakiiroNoQualia'': One can be seen in chapter 11. [[spoiler: It's Yukari's brain.]] The real-life example of Einstein's brain is also mentioned.
%%* ''Anime/PsychoPass'': [[spoiler:The Sibyl System]].
%%* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': Celty's head, though it wasn't technically ''attached'' in the first place.
* ''Manga/Cyborg009'': In the 2001 version, the true leaders of [[spoiler:Black Ghost are three brains in jars, hiding inside a shuttle. The three can somehow speak: one talks with a man's voice, another with a woman's, and the third has a child's one.]]
* ''Manga/KnightsOfSidonia'': The traitorous Ochiai had his cybernetically-enhanced brain taken out and placed in storage after he destroyed most of Sidonia's libraries and data stores, leaving him the sole possessor of the knowledge they possessed. A clone of him, conditioned to be loyal to Sidonia, was created to act as a medium through which they can access his knowledge. [[spoiler:Ochiai's mind eventually escapes confinement when he takes over Norio Kunato's body.]]
* ''Series/KamenRider'': In Creator/ShotaroIshinomori's original manga version, [[spoiler:Takeshi Hongo, the Kamen Rider himself, is mortally wounded fighting the Shocker Riders. His brain is hooked into a computer and he becomes MissionControl for Hayato Ichimonji, who takes up the Kamen Rider mantle. In the final chapter, Hongo's brain is implanted into a fully mechanical body and he helps Ichimonji defeat Shocker once and for all.]]
* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': After being paralysed from the neck down, Alexandria, [[spoiler:[[AntiVillain Victor]]'s wife]], transferred her brain life preserving jar to preserve her life long enough to develop a way to [[spoiler:make him human again]]. Over the years Alexandria also repeatedly cloned her brain so that she could link their jars together in an attempt to boost her already genius level intellect.
* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Alpha mentions that individuals whose brains have the ability to interact with the Old World network are highly valuable to the government. As a result, Akira [[TheyWouldCutYouUp might get dissected]] and be reduced to a brain in a jar if anyone finds out about it.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Gloom}}'': Lord Slogar is a brain in a jar. Presumably his condition is the result of an experiment by his MadScientist wife, Helena.

* One Horde scheme in ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri'' was to use [[ManInTheMachine attack robots driven by decapitated (yet screaming) human heads]] as {{Mooks}} against human forces.
* ''ComicBook/AlbertEinsteinTimeMason'': In "Brain Game", Albert time travels to New Jersey in 2214 to battle a group of Pro-Oscalists who have stolen a brain in a jar. [[spoiler:Specifically, it's ''Albert's'' brain.]]

* The true nature of [[spoiler:[[MyFutureSelfAndMe Future Calvin]]]] in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries''.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8143094/14/The-Power-He-Knows-Not-Is The Power He Knows Not Is]]'' Voldemort stuck the brain of a mook who failed him in a glass globe attached to an eye and a large number of flytraps. The eye acted as a surveillance system while the plants supplied enough nutrients to keep the whole thing in operation.

* In ''Fanfic/OutOfTheCornerOfTheEye'', Ephraim Waite has been rendered as one of these, attached to a spider-like mech body, by the [[StarfishAliens Mi-Go]]. He's perfectly content with this.

* The Yolkians from ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', although they're technically egg yolks in glass egg-shaped capsules.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'': [[spoiler:Ruvik]] was reduced to this at the hands of [[spoiler:Mobius]]. It's explained that [[spoiler:he had rigged STEM to only activate when his brain was connected to it and destroyed the notes that would let them rebuild it otherwise, so he could keep his private fantasy world generator all to himself. Mobius instead went, "Hey, we just need your ''brain''" and ripped it out and attached it. Unfortunately, Ruvik's brain is more conscious and in control of the dream world than they thought it would be, so STEM is still nothing but a useless reality-warping nightmare-generator.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheDaedalusEncounter'': The protagonist is grievously wounded in the intro cutscene, and revived as a "brain in a box" remote-controling a flying probe with a manipulator arm.
* ''VideoGame/EdnaAndHarveyTheBreakout'': Bobo, who gets stored in a shelf in a psychiatric clinic.
* ''VideoGame/MechanizedAttack'': The TrueFinalBoss of the game, a terrorist mastermind, is revealed to be a brain in a stasis tank controlling the core of the terrorist base, where from its position it can summon mechanical tentacles and missile launchers on you.
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'':
** Mother Brain, a re-occurring final boss, is just a brain in a tank in ''VideoGame/Metroid1'', guarded by [[CoresAndTurretsBoss various gun turrets and organic barriers]]. It is supposedly a biological supercomputer.
** In ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', once it is defeated, [[spoiler:it rises up again attached to an insanely powerful T-rex-like robot body]].
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' features the Aurora Units, which are also brain-like organic supercomputers in large tanks. There's even been [[EpilepticTrees some theories]] on how they may be related to Mother Brain in some way, fueled by the ''very large'' number of Mother Brain references made both in-game and in supplementary material but never fully elaborated upon as far as direct connections go.
** The security robot B.O.X. in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' contains a brain in its cybermechanical spider-like body. This happens to open it up to [[TheAssimilator X Parasite]] infection.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'': The Central Units are biomechanical brains in glass containers that give Samus access to the Omega Cannon. Adam describes them as the "mother computers" managing their respective E.M.M.I. Zones. Their similarities to Mother Brain are noted when compared to "similar units in previous ''Metroid'' games" in the E3 2021 Treehouse footage. Central Units even defend themselves from Samus with turrets and Rinkas just like Mother Brain.
* ''VideoGame/TeenageZombiesInvasionOfTheAlienBrainThingys'': All the alien brain thingys are contained in jars that they use for mobility.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': The Clockwork King is a BrainInAJar mounted on a mechanical frame he operates telekinetically.
* ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'' has the villain "The Overbrain", which floats around in his jar with telekinesis, and attacks the player with psychic blasts. There are also clones of it made by another villain that serve as small mooks. The goal of the mission that pits the player against The Overbrain is to release yet another, larger brain that's being kept prisoner in a jar by the villain. Of note is that The Overbrain is an obvious parody of ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'''s villain "The Brain", complete with second-in-command talking ape.
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'': The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBVCi0PmW24 Clinical Immortality]] secret project. Though this technically included the spinal column, and ''eyes''. The movie gets its chills from the eyes just staring at you. The Bioenhancement Center facility, when constructed, gives you the page quote.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':
** Across all ''Fallout'' games is the Robobrain, a robot that has an organic brain as a CPU. This is notable in the fact that none of the brain's original thoughts are present (it is said that the brains used range from chimpanzees to humans).
** ''VideoGame/FalloutTacticsBrotherhoodOfSteel'': Vault 0 is run by the Calculator [[spoiler: combined with a series of brains in jars, supposedly from the best and brightest, though as a joke the brains seem rather shallow--the politician, for example, is clearly modeled on Bill Clinton, and there's a porn star brain.]] In order to win the game [[spoiler: you have to destroy all the brains and then confront the Calculator, who offers you the chance to join your own brain to it and thereby bring order to the chaos of the Calculator's damaged mind. General Barnaky, already a brain in a jar on top of a robot, also offers himself]]. Depending on what kind of game you played, or whether you take up one or other offer or refuse it and just let the counter run down, the game ending changes.
** ''VideoGame/Fallout2'': Although Skynet is technically an AI that wants to conquer the world, you bring him out into the world through a cybernetic brain inside a Brain Bot. You can also end up bringing a chimp or normal human brain instead, but that isn't quite as good. Or you can use an [[Film/YoungFrankenstein abnormal brain]], which will render him TheLoad, too stupid to do anything but carry items (including comprehending that it's been fired). The only way to get this version of Skynet out of your party (thus making room for someone actually ''useful'') is to kill it.
** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'':
*** ''Point Lookout'' features [[spoiler:Professor Calvert, who uses telepathy to [[GodGuise set himself up as the god of a group of Tribals]] and plans to turn all of the Point's residents into his slaves.]] The end of the DLC's main questline presents a literal example of this trope since you are able to [[spoiler: obtain a piece of your own brain in a jar which had been removed by the tribals during ritual lobotomy.]]
** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The FetchQuest "Nothin' but a Hound Dog" involves help [[ElvisImpersonator The King]] get medical help for his pet cyberdog, Rex. [[spoiler: You find out that the life support for his brain has been damaged, and while it can be repaired, his brain was permanently damaged and has to be replaced. Successfully completing the mission getting a new brain for Rex from one of three dog trainers.]]
** This trope is integral to the story and setting of the ''Old World Blues'' DLC in ''New Vegas'':
*** The Think Tank, who are a group of Pre-War {{Mad Scientist}}s who put their brains in floating robots with monitors for eyes and mouths.
*** This also happens to the Player Character in this DLC as well. When you first arrive at the Think Tank your brain is extracted and replaced with cybernetic parts intended to allow your body to continue to function for simple slave labor. Somehow, as a result of a combination of an old head wound and a freak scientific accident, you retain coherent thought, even though your brain is elsewhere, allowing your "mind" to be in two places at once, with your brain being treated as a separate entity. Yeah, Old World Blues is weird.\\
Your brain in Old World Blues can also be considered an entirely separate character, as it's floating in mentats, and therefore has gained separate thought from the player character, meaning you can have a conversation with it. Due to the mentat saturation, it's incredibly intelligent, usually more so than the PC. It finds your quest for vengeance against Benny ill-advised and constantly berates you, despite technically being you, especially with low INT. You can [[ScrewYourself flirt with it]] using certain perks, which it is disgusted by.
*** There's also the K9000, a minigun powered by the brain of a dog. It'll even bark, whine and growl and includes cybernetic ears and noses.
** ''Videogame/Fallout4'':
*** The ''Automatron'' DLC introduces Robobrains to the game, as well as a more in-depth look into their creation- [[spoiler:Robobrains were originally created by General Atomics for both military and civilian use, but many of the brains were taken from death row criminals. Those who survived went insane from complete sensory deprivation, whereas those who had all their memories and personality wiped became coldly logical, believing [[WellIntentionedExtremist the best way to "save" people was to kill them]].]]
*** The ''Nuka-World'' DLC has [[spoiler:[[MrAltDisney John-Caleb Bradberton]], the creator of Nuka Cola and the titular theme park, whose cryogenically-preserved head can be found in a secret chamber underneath the park. After 200+ years of being isolated, [[DeathSeeker he wishes only for someone to deactivate his life support so he can finally die]].]]
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' allows you to fight the Brainsweeper, a Brain In A Jar that is powering a set of brooms. (For Science!) It RandomlyDrops a Disembodied Brain in a jar, which you can use to Frankenstein together a chef, bartender, maid, or a few other things.
* ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'': [[BigBad Dr. Nero Neurosis]] is a disembodied MadScientist brain in a tube, which is one of the many cliches Lance mocks him for.
%%* ''VideoGame/XComUFODefense'': The alien mastermind.
* ''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep'': The Bio-Drones, [[DemonicSpiders only their jars can hover anywhere it wants, are hard to hit, can take quite a bit of damage, come equipped with highly accurate weapons, and explode with a huge radius upon death]]. Oh, and if you research them, you find out that some of them are human brains that have been butchered to obedience by the aliens.
* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'': Doctor Brackman made himself into a brain in a jar to stay alive after his nominal death. One thousand years of constant warfare later, and he's still going strong as the leader and father of the Cybran Nation.
* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', the #5 ranked Letz Shake controls what looks like a super collider powered by a brain in a jar.
* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', [[spoiler: when Dr. Letz Shake comes back for the 10th ranked battle, it is revealed that he is the brain-powered earthquake generator. It's hinted that this is the same Letz Shake from the first game after an EmergencyTransformation.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. Later in the game, [[spoiler: the campers and teachers of a summer camp for [[PsychicPowers psychics]] have their brains stolen by the BigBad, who puts them into jars and uses them to make an army of deadly psychic tanks. Collecting all these 19 or so brains is a sidequest (each brain you find adds to your maximum HP).]]
* In ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'', Otto Mentalis's Brainframe is filled with preserved brains in jars, many of which represent the backers of the game, [[spoiler: and one of which is entered as a level.]] There are also a couple of mobile brains in hamster balls that wander around the Motherlobe.
* ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'': Several enemies in the series, notably [[VideoGame/QuakeII the Parasites, the Flyers, and the Technicians]], the latter who is a literal brain-in-a-jar controlling a flying-saucer-like machine.
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'', Yuri keeps several brains in jars to research psychic technology. [[spoiler:In the Soviet campaign, he uses them to cheat death by uploading his mind into one of them.]] Then in the ExpansionPack there is a very literal think tank aptly called "Mastermind", which is a ''big'' BrainInAJar (or maybe [[BodyHorror multiple brains smashed together]]) and can [[MindManipulation mind control]] a theoretically unlimited number of enemy units, but after a certain amount it overloads and starts ripping itself apart.
* ''VideoGame/DeadHeadFred'': The protagonist is killed and reanimated in this form at the beginning of the game, though he is at least attached to his original body. His... predicament lets him switch his head with other things, each with their own gameplay uses.
* ''VideoGame/FZero'' has [[TheManBehindTheMan Deathborn.]] It's the only part of his body still remaining after being reconstructed 3 times.That includes his [[YourSoulIsMine Soul.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheSims: Busting Out'' had a brain in a jar as furniture. In fact, said furniture is involved in one of the challenges.
* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage 3'' has the recurring villain, Mr. X, show up as a brain in a tube. He still wishes to rule the city.
-->'''Zan:''' Face it, Mr. X. [[MadScientist Dr. Dahm]] is no longer with you. [[LampshadeHanging Do you expect to run the city from a glass vial?]]
-->'''Mr. X:''' Of course, traitor. Let me show you how! ''([[FinalBoss Robo-Y]] flies into the room)''
* The [=BioDerm=] (artificially cloned/grown human pilot) "Mentor" in ''[=MissionForce=]: VideoGame/{{Cyberstorm}}'' is one of these, an experiment meant to test the feasibility of direct neural link to a [[HumongousMecha HERC.]] It works -- Mentor is scarily competent -- but the tradeoff is a very short lifespan.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Contra}} III: The Alien Wars'', Red Falcon can be reduced to this. Of course, being a disembodied, floating brain only makes him ''deadlier'', as he can then use a variety of psychic weapons and (in Hard mode) a metallic, armored sheath with octopus-like [[CombatTentacles tentacles]].
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'''s interpretation of Omoikane, Shinto goddess of wisdom and intelligence, depicts "her" as a disembodied brain with eyes and several dozen feelers.
* A brain in a jar is the whole point of the game ''VideoGame/CortexCommand''. Sometimes, it's hanging in a bunker, and sometimes it's on a robotic exoskeleton and can move, though it's fragile and if it dies, you fail. In fact, the introduction video implies that most if not all space-dwelling humans have become brains in jars; the fact that they're brains is what allowed them to travel through space, not needing things like "beds" or "solid food". The only visibly human mercenaries (Ronin) are known to be clones, with botched clones becoming zombies.
* The second ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'' game has 'Eyes of the Reich', which are (you guessed it) Nazi Brains in Jars with [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]].
* Joe Musashi from the ''VideoGame/{{Shinobi}}'' games had to deal with B.I.A.Js quite a few times in his missions. In ''VideoGame/TheRevengeOfShinobi'' a stage taking place aboard a huge military transport ended with a BossBattle against a Brain in a Jar that actually controlled the transport. In ''Shinobi 3'' one of the missions takes place in a biowarfare lab where he would deal with Brains that broke out of their jars, Brains with Wings, and at the end, a Brain in a Dalek-esque battle machine.
* ''VideoGame/GhostMaster'' features a ghost of a brain in a jar.
* In ''VideoGame/TheHouseOfTheDeadOverkill'', this is the final fate of [[spoiler: FauxActionGirl Varla Guns]].
* Pun-based example: An ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' spin-off game for PC has this as a final boss: [[WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain The Brain]] mounted in a jar and controlling ''the Think Tank''. Notably, this wasn't his idea.
* In ''VideoGame/MissionImpossible1990'', The second-to-last room in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon has its walls lined with brains and hearts in life-support tanks. It's even scarier when you realize [[NintendoHard how much effort it took to get there]], and that nothing else in the game hints that the Sinister 7 were creating bio-weapons.
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/GotchaForce'', the Galactic Emperor. Not so much a "in a jar" as "in an energy field"... mounted on [[spoiler:a spaceship the size of a continent; the brain itself is about the size of a country.]]
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/SpaceStationSiliconValley'' turns out to be a BrainInAJar called... the Evil Brain. It taunts EVO while spraying the Earth with the Doomsday-O-Matic Shrinky Ray, but is [[AntiClimaxBoss easily destroyed with EVO's laser]]. However, [[spoiler: it turns out that the Evil Brain was driving the space station, which subsequently [[ColonyDrop crashes into the now-shrunken Earth]], and the [[TrickBoss REAL final battle]] is a search-and-destroy mission in which you must exterminate all of the robotic animals that escaped from the station before they destroy the miniaturized city, and then the world.]]
* In the first episode of ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxTheDevilsPlayhouse'', the titular duo encounter a disembodied alien brain named Gordon on General Skun-ka'pe's ship. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin As suggested by the title]] of episode three, "They Stole Max's Brain!", Max ends up spending some time as one of these.
* The Deadly Brain in ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}''.
* ''VideoGame/OperatorsSide'': Also known as ''Lifeline'': [[spoiler: Rio's father, whom she had thought dead]], has become this. His brain was recovered and was being used to [[spoiler:further research into the PhilosophersStone. Major, major tearjerker moment when Rio finds out and he asks to be shut down.]]
* The first ''VideoGame/PajamaSam'' game has one in the laboratory. Clicking it causes it to take out a sheet of paper and read a poem:
-->''"I float and I think''\\
''and I think and I think''\\
''About walking or driving a car''\\
''Or riding a bike''\\
''And I think and I float''\\
''Because I'm just a brain in a jar"''
* Tampo, the first boss of ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'', is first seen as a mechanized Brain in a Jar that was destroyed by Stinkoman prior to the game's first level. The level ends with Tampo's brain coming back to get Stinkoman for revenge.
* One of the bosses of ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 6'' is a humongous brain with eyeballs in a jar... on top of an equally huge alien mecha. It's one of the hardest boss fights in the game.
* These appear as enemies in ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings''.
* The MadScientist [[Film/DrNo Dr. No]][[PunnyName Body]] from ''VideoGame/SecretAgent'' is [[http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/secret-agent/screenshots/gameShotId,594604/ one of these]], on top of a robotic body.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', Desperado Enforcement takes kidnapped children and harvests their brains, with the eyes and spinal column attached, as a first step in their UnwillingRoboticisation.
* The Neural Network Computer in ''VideoGame/ElementalGearbolt'' is a group of interconnected brains in tall glass tubes. It [[DeathSeeker doesn't like brain-in-a-jar life]], and creates weapons as a means of self-destruction -- the titular Elementals.
* ''VideoGame/CelDamage'' has Brian, a brain and spinal cord stored inside a jar. He also wears glasses and has robotic arms.
* Voltar the Omniscient from ''VideoGame/{{Awesomenauts}}''.
* The first form of Supreme Overlord Jergingha from ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101''.
* One of the randomly generated rooms in ''VideoGame/SpookysHouseOfJumpScares'' has a brain floating in a jar. Initially, this was just an aesthetic until one of the later updates has the brain give you a code you can use on the out of order arcade cabinet that would play a small clip revealing [[CuteGhostGirl Spooky]]'s past.
* In ''VideoGame/CreatureCrunch'', Wesley's main ally is a floating brain in a jar named Brian.
* In the ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' franchise, the B2 Brawler and Scorpio are giant robots with giant organic brains inside them.
* ''VisualNovel/MuvLuv'': in ''Unlimited'', there is a human brain and spinal column kept in a tube in a secret lab in the military base. Almost nothing is revealed about it in that game however. In ''Alternative'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:it was recovered from a BETA Hive along with several others. Why the BETA were removing human brains and hooking them up to organic life support systems is unknown. However, what's more relevant to Takeru is that the brain in the lab is in fact all that remains of that world's Sumika. It's eventually placed in a robot body, allowing Sumika to live again... though she has extensive trauma to overcome first (turns out those people were ''conscious'' when their brains were removed and while sitting in the jars).]]
* ''VideoGame/CosmicStarHeroine'' has a UniqueEnemy that is a brain in a dome controlling a vehicle that shoots missiles. Interestingly, the brain is robotic too.
[[/folder]]

* BrainInAJar/Literature

[[folder:Literature]]
* "Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness" (1930) by Creator/HPLovecraft is the TropeCodifier, in which the alien Mi-Go plant living human brains in cylinders to transport them to other planets, which the human body apparently cannot withstand. Unlike later versions of the trope, the cylinders are not transparent.
* In ''Literature/LastAndFirstMen'' by Creator/OlafStapledon, future humans engineer giant superintelligent brains kept in huge towers to help run the planet. Naturally these brains take over and destroy the humans. Later they engineer their own version of the human race and are naturally destroyed by their creations.
* ''[[Literature/{{Boojumverse}} Boojum]]'' by Creator/ElizabethBear and Creator/SarahMonette. SpacePirates raid a freighter that turns out to be carrying a cargo of {{Brain in a Jar}}s in a black market trade with the above-mentioned Mi-Go. The PirateGirl captain decides to sell them to the Mi-Go herself, only for swarms of them to turn up with lots of additional empty jars...
* Creator/LarryNiven's short story ''Literature/BecalmedInHell'' has a ''sans corpus'' fellow running a probe to the surface of Venus and contains a ShoutOut to the above book by naming the bodiless chap Donovan.
* In Creator/KeithLaumer's [[Literature/{{Bolo}} Boloverse]] novel ''Bolo Rising'' (by William H. Keith, Jr.), the brain of the former commander of BOLO Mark XXXIII Mod HCT ("Hector") has been preserved by the alien !*!*! and connected to one of their battle fortresses. [[spoiler:During the final battle, he manages to provide Hector and his new commander with critical data, as well as helping to subvert the !*!*! attack.]]
* Simon Wright of the ''Literature/CaptainFuture'' universe almost is an archetypical brain in a jar. A distinguished but elderly scientist, he had his brain transplanted into an artificial case before his body gave out. At the beginning of the series, the case is immobile and has to be carried around by the RobotBuddy; later it gets an upgrade and is able to hover around under his direction.
* The brainiacs in ''Literature/CityOfDevils'' and ''Literature/WolfmanConfidential'' are one of the many many kinds of monsters in the novel.
* The Marquess of Watersford in ''Literature/TheCuriousCaseOfSpringHeeledJack'' ended up a brain in a jar, which was placed in the skull of an orangutan so that he can walk around. He gathers several morally ambiguous people [[spoiler: this timeline's versions of Darwin, Galton, Florence Nightengale, Isambard Kingdom Brunel... it's a weird book]] with the intent of capturing Jack's time-suit so that he can go back in time and prevent the accident that trapped him in this state.
* ''Literature/CyberJolyDrim'' has saint Francises - perfectly normal citizens who lead perfectly productive lives on the Internet, while just happening to be brains in jars.
* ''Literature/{{Deathstalker}}'':
** In this universe there exist psi-blockers, devices that espers using their powers in a given area. It is eventually revealed that Empress Lionstone had them created by extracting the brains from espers and sealing them in containers. The ''[[AndIMustScream psychic screams of agony]]'' were what prevented espers using their abilities.
** The later series replaced the original psi-blockers with genetically-cloned esper brains that could generate the same effects without the horror.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': An Igor in ''Literature/MakingMoney'' cites the invention of a "living brain extractor" as proof of a famous scientist's great achievements. Also as proof that the inventor was ''not'' mad, but what else can be expected of an Igor?
* The novel ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donovan%27s_Brain Donovan's Brain]]'' by Creator/CurtSiodmak, in which megalomaniac millionaire W.H. Donovan crashes his private plane in the desert near the home of Dr. Patrick Cory. Dr. Cory cannot save Donovan's life, but he manages to preserve the other man's brain, placing it in a glass tank full of an electrically charged, oxygenated saline solution. The brain not only survives, but Donovan's evil will begins psychically attempting to take control of the doctor's body, until Dr. Cory's assistant finally frees him by smashing the tank with an axe.
* The first novel based on the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' videogames had the LegionsOfHell actually HandWaved as genetically engineered scare-tactic bioweapons created by aliens who consist of huge brains in GiantSpider-like mobile carriers.
* In the ''Literature/DrakeMaijstral'' series by Creator/WalterJonWilliams, this is a fairly common solution for people on the verge of death. They generally have full access to the futuristic equivalent of the Internet but are usually still considered legally dead. Drake's father is one, and unfortunately, having his brain transferred to a jar didn't make him less curmudgeonly or less senile. Likewise, the current Emperor of the Khosali is a brain in a jar, because he didn't bear any heirs, but he does have frozen sperm on file. Unfortunately, the sperm was lost during the confusion of the human revolt, but the Khosali haven't given up hope of finding it.
* Creator/ECTubb's ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' series have the evil Cyclan led by an interconnected set of ancient brains in jars. [[spoiler: They need a secret process entrusted to Dumarest to stop the brains from going mad.]]
* The ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' prequels to the ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series have brainjar villains riding around in [[HumongousMecha giant war machines]] ([[RuleOfCool just because they can]]), who cause the [[RobotWar Butlerian Jihad]] through poor programming of their [[AIIsACrapshoot computerized inside "man"]] and wind up as minions/slaves themselves. Besides the Titans and the Cymeks ([[HumongousMecha giant war machines: the Titans are the first generation leaders, the Cymeks their MechaMooks]] ), are the Cogitors, humans who gave up their bodies to spend millennia contemplating the mysteries of the universe. As a group, they have declared themselves neutral in the war where humanity is being exterminated like rats. [[spoiler: In the end, those mysteries slap them in the face, karma is a bitch.]]
* ''Literature/EmperorMolluskVersusTheSinisterBrain'' by Creator/ALeeMartinez: The Brain turns out to be part of an AncientConspiracy of such brains called the Council of Egos who want to take over the universe. They consist of all the great minds of human history (except Hitler, who got flushed for being too argumentative). UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein also turned down the offer, claiming the process had turned them into delusional megalomaniacs. The Council think this idea is so ridiculous they spend a good deal of time laughing maniacally over it.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard once jokingly referred to this as a possible solution to Bean's condition in the ''Literature/EndersShadow'' series. He also expressed serious revulsion at the idea, so it is unlikely he will follow through with it.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Wyrms'' features talking disembodied heads kept alive by some kind of leech.
* Ypsilon/Duktig in Creator/PCJersilds' ''[[Literature/EnLevandeSjal En Levande Själ]]'', who had the rest of his body amputated and his memory wiped.
* ''Literature/FriendsComeInBoxes'' by Creator/MichaelGConey: At age 40, people routinely have their brains scooped out and put in a young clone body. If there is a shortage of bodies, your brain will be put into a Friend Box, which will then be given to someone to look after. Friends can hear and speak... and that's all.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', the gang runs into a room with several flying brains in jars while fighting their way through the Hall of Mysteries. Ron (who's [[IntoxicationEnsues punch drunk]] at the time) summons one of them and everyone, students and Death Eaters alike, [[ATruceWhileWeGawk stop fighting and turn to stare in horror]]. It promptly attacks him... with tentacles made of ''thoughts''. The Department of Mysteries is a very strange place.
* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Left Brain, who replaces Eddie the ''Heart of Gold'' computer in ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'', is actually [[spoiler:Zaphod's second head]], put in a jar and connected to the ship.
* In Creator/DanSimmon's ''Literature/HyperionCantos'', this is used by the Ousters on war prisoners on Bressia as [[AndIMustScream a way to torture and interrogate them]]. [[spoiler:Except that in ''The Fall of Hyperion'', it is revealed that the Ousters had no hand in the atrocities commited on Bressia and it was all [[AIIsACrapshoot a setup by the Technocore AIs]] to paint the highly ethical and usually peaceful Ousters as ruthless monsters.]]
%%* ''Mayflies'' by Creator/KevinODonnell
* Professor Corchoran from the ''[[Literature/TheStarDiaries Memoirs of a Space Traveller]]'' creates [=AI=]'s that have no connection to the real world - [[LotusEaterMachine all their sensory data comes from the tapes set by him]]. They don't know about it, except for one who suspects. Another, slightly more MadScientist creates an [=AI=] copy of Corchoran's mind, as well, but this copy is [[AndIMustScream aware of his situation]].
* ''{{Literature/Nightwings}}'' by Creator/RobertSilverberg: Brain jars effectively serve as information storage systems.
* ''Literature/OldMansWar'':
** The Colonial Union uses this as a punishment for treason, placing the brain in a life support case [[AndIMustScream indefinitely.]] It is one of the things that some of the alien races find rather barbaric about the humans.
** In ''Literature/TheHumanDivision'', it is revealed that someone is doing this to starship pilots, hooking their brains up directly to ships rigged for sneak attacks, [[spoiler: in an effort to discredit the Colonial Union further]].
** ''The End of All Things: The Life of the Mind'' shows what happens when someone does this to a pilot [[spoiler: [[LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard who is also an expert computer programmer]].]]
* Occasionally seen in the ''Literature/PerryRhodan'' universe, with both disembodied ''human'' brains (though usually those are given robot bodies at the very least) and alien ones -- the 'Central Plasma' that governs the mostly-robotic Posbi species is basically one giant protoplasmic brain in a jar. One arc of the series even dealt with the abduction of the titular protagonist's brain into a distant galaxy; an android brain was substituted and operated his body for nefarious purposes while he tried to find his way back. (Good thing the civilizations of said galaxy had their own brain transplant technology as part of their quest to extend life, even if it did contribute to their acute overpopulation issues; so, plenty of disembodied donor brains around there, too.)
* Creator/KeithLaumer's ''Literature/APlagueOfDemons'', in which human brains are installed in alien war machines.
%%* ''{{Literature/Plus}}'' by Creator/JosephMcElroy:
* ''Literature/ProfessorDowellsHead'' by Creator/AlexamderBeliaev: A scientist reanimated his dying genius colleague's head to request, trick, or beat (as needed) ideas out of him. Professor Dowell knows that his position is horrific, but is not as bitter as he himself would expect. He believes it's because he lost most of his endocrine system, so he can't get truly enraged.
* The Conjoiners in Creator/AlastairReynolds's ''[[Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries Revelation Space]]'' series tend to opt for a brain-in-jar form of treatment when they're very old. However, their "jars" are mobile, crab like devices. The Demarchists also use this for their outer system police; a pilot joins up, his brain and spinal cord is removed and inserted into a small spacecraft, with a remote controlled drone for them to use when inspecting ships. When they're done with their term, their brain is inserted back into their body. In ''Literature/ThePrefect'', a Demarchist space station where citizens live in 24/7 virtual reality opts to put brains with the endocrine system in jars, because they found that without the endocrine system's hormones, [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody people became very dull]].
* The VUXG in ''Literature/SectorGeneral'' are described as looking like prunes floating in bottles of liquid. To compensate for their lack of physical anatomy, they have ludicrously powerful telepathy and telekinesis.
* In ''Oblivion'', third book of the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' series, the Chairman of the Fantasia Corporation turns out to have put his body in cryogenic suspension but kept his brain alive and active, so that he can still run his company via a holographic avatar.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** ''Literature/TalesFromJabbasPalace'' reveals that the spiderlike droids seen in Jabba's palace in ''Return of the Jedi'' are mechanisms used for getting around by the B'omarr monks, who have chosen life as brains-in-jars. They regard this it as the ultimate in sensory deprivation, enabling themselves to focus all their mental energy to meditation. (You can see the jars on the undersides in the film if you know to look for them.)
** Bib Fortuna, when a fellow Twi'lek and associate of his was slated to be fed to the Rancor, had the man's brain removed and stuck in one of the spider droids first. Bib believed that, without a body, Nat was going insane. The epilogue reveals that [[spoiler:Bib Fortuna]] eventually joined him. The ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'' comics reveal that he's still able to plot and get messages out; eventually yet another Twi'lek came to carry [[spoiler: Bib]] off, heaping a lot of verbal abuse and using electric torture on the brain walker in the process. Later the other Twi'lek tries to ditch the walker, but he stows away and, after the other Twi'lek is stabbed, manages to drag him back to the palace and the monks. Cut to the Twi'lek rising out of a bacta tank, and the attendant droid remarking on the loyalty of the brain droid, how it had insisted on having a restraining bolt fitted to it, and that the scars on the Twi'lek's head seemed to indicate a brain transfer. Part of a Twi'lek's brain is in his or her headtails, so a Twi'lek brain in a jar looks rather odd.
** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: The Brain Spiders'' deals with this too. Jabba found a way to profit off brain spiders by transferring brains around, putting wanted criminal brains in monk or prisoner bodies, putting the displaced brains in jars or spiders, and turning the criminal bodies in for reward. Thanks to an intended monk escaping, one criminal [[spoiler: ends up in thirteen-year-old [[GenderBender Tash Arranda's body]]. He does not like being a girl, and she doesn't like being in a spider.]] Fortunately, that gets reversed.
** Once Jabba dies, the monks go batshit with brain spider-ing, doing it to anyone who stays in the palace. Most don't want to, but one criminal, as revealed in the epilogue for "Tales From Jabba's Palace", goes willingly because he was tired of living in the heat and he couldn't leave Tatooine.
* The ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs'' series by Creator/RichardKMorgan features another twist on the cyberbrain sub-variant of this trope, in the form of "cortical stacks" implanted in every person's brain that basically serve as a mirror backup of the brain in question. Stacks can be transferred to other bodies ("sleeves") at will, transmitted across networks, mounted within VR constructs or simply stored to disk.
* The space-faring slavers from Creator/VernorVinge's ''Literature/TatjaGrimmsWorld'' kidnap people, remove their brains and then fit them to a computer that suppresses their personality without totally trashing their intellect. The result has computer speed and power with some human intuition and intelligence, forming a useful WetwareCPU.
* ''Literature/ThatHideousStrength'' by Creator/CSLewis: A whole head this time, with an overgrown brain, plus air tubes to pass "breath" through the vocal cords and mouth allowing it to speak. And artificial drool. Though it's later revealed that the Head isn't really alive in its own right [[spoiler: rather, it was the tool malevolent EnergyBeings used to communicate with their pawns]].
* In ''Literature/TooManyCurses'', one of the many captives left behind when the evil wizard Margle dies accidentally is what's left of his brother Yazpib, whom Margle defeated years before. Yazpib is ''slightly'' better off than usual for this trope, as his brain shares its jar with his eyes, teeth, and tongue, which can still see and speak as they float freely in their preservative.
* Creator/DanielDennett's short story, "Literature/WhereAmI" (read it [[http://www.newbanner.com/SecHumSCM/WhereAmI.html here]]), about a man being separated from his brain, which explores relevant philosophical ideas.
* ''Literature/WilliamAndMary'' by Creator/RoaldDahl: Cold and dominating husband William is dying of cancer but has his brain and one of his eyes kept alive. It's presumed that his wife, Mary will torment him by doing all the things he forbade her in front of him, now that he's helpless. A TV version of this short story explicitly shows her doing just this.
* ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', by Creator/MadeleineLEngle, in which an oversized brain referred to as IT has gained complete telepathic control of an entire planet. IT runs the planet on a heartbeat which controls everyone's life. Despite being in a novel, so great is the influence of IT that the characters ''know'' [[LampshadeHanging how to capitalize the name]].
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "{{Literature/Escape}}": The Brain, US Robotics' [[ArtificialIntelligence supercomputer]], gets its name from the fact that it uses a positronic brain as memory and processor. This brain is stored in a globe containing a non-reactive helium atmosphere, and a number of peripherals are hooked up to the globe.
-->The Brain was a two-foot globe merely - one which contained within it a thoroughly conditioned helium atmosphere, a volume of space completely vibration-absent and radiation-free - and within that was that unheard-of complexity of positronic brain-paths that was The Brain. The rest of the room was crowded with the attachments that were the intermediaries between The Brain and the outside world - its voice, its arms, its sense organs.
* The temporary fate of Peter Thompson from ''Literature/MyTeacherIsAnAlien'', as recounted during his viewpoint novel "My Teacher Glows In The Dark." Played with in that the aliens did it with his permission so they could study how the human brain works and averted the whole AndIMustScream trope by inserting a recieving device in Peter's head so his brain could remotely control it (How else were they going to study it?). Peter does admit to both Susan and Duncan later as he recounts the tale that, while intellectually the whole idea was very fascinating, he couldn't get over the inherent {{Squick}} of seeing his brain outside his body enough to make his own observations.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' has The Egg, esentially the bird version of the trope, a supervillain that hates everyone alive as he was never able to hatch. Yes, is a literal egg connected to a machine.
* ''WesternAnimation/EekTheCat'' episode ''Eek's International Adventures'' is a spy film parody and features a villain named The Brain, made of a brain, eyes, teeth and an ear in different jars.

* In the "Morphic Trilogy" of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' it's revealed that Jonas Venture Sr. was ejected into space during the Gargantua-1 disaster, and the other members of Team Venture put him into a life-prolonging machine he built but were only able to preserve his head after they [[LiterallyShatteredLives dropped his frozen body]]. They thought it didn't work until he revealed himself to be alive by trying to communicate through the [=VenTech=] Tower's systems.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': After starting out as a human, Baxter Stockman's SerialProstheses eventually leaves his brain as his only organic part. The Shredder, of all villains, quips that "You should have quit while you were a head." Also, in the ''Fast Forward'' episode "The Journal", the turtles read about future events in their lives, including Donatello being reduced to a brain in a jar... with a mask on. [[spoiler:The journal is then revealed to be a hoax.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In "Future Lost", the evil brain that aspired to take over had a strange weakness - put juice pills in its tank, and it would get a BrainFreeze. They also dumped some ice into it, making a giant slushie. Also, every Yugopotamian has their brain clearly visible in a glass dome on their heads.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/TeamGalaxy'': "Brett's Brain"
* In ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'', while the Star Command employs the Little Green Men seen in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Zurg's minions are brains in jars (who frequently mention this situation when the boss complains).
* The [=GoBots=] in ''WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGobots'' are brains in cyborg bodies.

* The Brain from the ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' comics as listed above appears as the BigBad in the last season of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003''. Beast Boy was able to make a {{pun}} on The Brain's defeat:

* The Brain has also appeared on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', voiced by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker, and ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', voiced by Creator/CoreyBurton (spouting GratuitousFrench in both incarnations).
-->'''Kid Flash:''' It's the Brain!
-->'''Artemis:''' Duh, I can ''see'' it's a brain.
-->'''Kid Flash:''' Not ''a'' brain; [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Brain!]]
* Tactical Commander Owen Negata from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers''. A BETA research scientist and tactician, he was killed in the Supertrooper Riot (though we don't learn this until later). What was left of him can fit into a little jar attached to a 1.5 meter by one meter repulsorlift platform. Zozo is rather shocked by it.
-->'''Zozo:''' ''That's'' Commander Negata?!
-->'''Waldo:''' His brain unit. His body died years ago.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' had Jimmy and Beezy accidentally knocking the brain out of their favorite soccer player's head. By the end of the episode, Beezy still hasn't given it back, keeping it in a jar among his memorabilia.
* Modulok tries to do this to Man-At-Arms in "Happy Birthday Roboto", though he's actually using the second head that came with his toy in the episode instead of a jar.
* There are two on display at the Mystery Shack in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''.
* [[spoiler:Mr. Freeze]] in the Franchise/{{DCAU}} is eventually reduced to this after his condition worsens. He was able to slow it down with the aid of some kidnapped scientists, but by that point, he had already lost everything from the neck down. To make things worse, his condition has also made him TheAgeless. By the time of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', he's still alive... as a disembodied head stuck in a glorified meat locker. He's later given a healthy body, but snaps and returns to his villainous ways before dying in one final rampage.
* Spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/PlasticMan'' with villain The Clam, is a literal clam that commands an evil organization and needs help for everything.
* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', Rocko buys a vacuum cleaner. When he tries to shut it off, a brain under a glass or plastic dome with wires attached to it comes up out of the control panel, and won't allow him to shut it off.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2021'' episode "Return to Oblivion", a brain in a jar named J.J. is the head of the company that produces ''Sealab''. He has two other brains in jars to be his [[YesMan yes brains]].

%%* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'': The founders of the Time-Space Administration Bureau turn out to have been reduced to these.%%Reduced to what?
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': The [[BodyHorror Kedora]]. Creator/KenIshikawa one-shot "The Relic of Evil" revealed that [[spoiler: the Mykene controlled his {{Robeast}} by grafting the brain of a soldier taught to destroy all non-Mykene civilizations into a parasitic organism, and it fused with a robot, giving the Mykene soldier complete control.]] They would show up later in ''Anime/ShinMazinger''.

* ''Manga/ExArm'': In the beginning, Akira has been reduced to a brain in a titanium suitcase but can control hacked electronics, including an AnimatedArmor, like he would his own body.
%%* ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'': Part of Araya's "Spiral Paradox" relies on these.

* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'': This is the current state of [[spoiler:Akira, together with the rest of his nervous system... until he comes back, that is]].
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** ''Anime/DragonBallZTheWorldsStrongest'', the second movie, features Dr. Wheelo, who seems to be a brain in a jar. But then turns out to be a brain in a jar in a massive mecha. With guns. And lasers.
** In the main series, as an android Dr. Gero's brain is stored in a glass dome on his head. It's usually covered by his NiceHat, though.
* ''Anime/CaptainFuture'': Simon Wright is an archetypal brain in a (highly mobile) jar, with a tractor beam, other appendages, and an array of blinkenlights for a mouth.

->''"We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled. But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any particular time or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose meaning based on my reaction to such UsefulNotes/{{solipsism}}?"'' - '''Project PYRRHO, Specimen 46, Vat 7 [[HeKnowsTooMuch Subject termination advised]]'''

** ''ComicBook/BadCompany'' featured [[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/k/kano.htm Kano]], a [[FrankensteinsMonster patched-together]] half-mad soldier who believes he carries the human part of his brain in a box. [[spoiler: It's really just some random corpse's grey matter to keep him docile; he tends to [[BerserkButton go a little (more) crazy]] when he thinks he's lost it.]]

* ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'' has the crazy scientist who isn't just a brain in a jar. [[spoiler:He is several brains in several jars, apparently having cloned himself to immortality. Every time his currently active brain dies, a new one "wakes up"]].
* In ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'', Think Tank is a member of Montana's state superteam, Freedom Force. To all appearances, his head is a brain in a spherical glass case perched atop an otherwise completely normal human body. He's telekinetic and wears a headband and not much else is known about him.

** The Brain in ''Franchise/TheDCU''. In one continuity he finally does manage to get a body--only to die in an explosion a few minutes later, moments before kissing his right-hand man, Mallah, to whom he'd just confessed his love for. Who's a talking French gorilla. You had a ''brain in a jar in a robot being in love with a homosexual talking French gorilla''. Gotta love comics!
** The same title revealed Robotman as this, though his "jar" is a heavy-duty robotic body. A Morrison-era comic also reduced The Chief (who is either a VERY dark AntiHero or an outright villain) to this.

** ''Invaders'' and ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'' villain Brain Drain.

** Martha Johansson, AKA No-Girl, is a psychic mutant who ran away from home as a teen, only to be abducted by the U-Men. Their leader, John Sublime, had her brain removed and body destroyed, keeping her mind under his control with drugs and using her as a psychic weapon until No-Girl telepathically forced him to commit suicide. Afterwards she joins the Xavier Institute, and is given a hovering glass tank to keep her brain safe and mobile. She apparently adjusts well to her lack of a body, and in a future continuity becomes the new Cerebra.

** Doctor Sun, a [[YellowPeril Chinese enemy]] of Dracula in ''Comicbook/TheTombOfDracula'' (we know he's Chinese because we are told); he later went on to menace ComicBook/{{Nova}} and finally the ComicBook/FantasticFour, before getting blown up while controlling [[WesternAnimation/TheFantasticFour1978 HERBIE the robot]].
** Comicbook/IronMan in ''ComicBook/MarvelOneHundredthAnniversarySpecial''. Well, his Avengers incarnation, anyway - his Comicbook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy counterpart is a clone composed of nanites and Tony's brainwaves.
** Tony Stark has been reduced to this at least twice in alternate timelines due to the machinations of villains. In ''Captain America Corps'' the altered timeline has him reduced to a brain and eyeballs in a glass cylinder by Superia, his intellect used to devise her weapons, with him begging for death. During a Dark Avengers arc that dealt with a pocket timeline controlled by A.I.M. the Tony of said timeline has long since been reduced to a brain in a flying sphere. He apparently keeps this secret from all his allies, who just assume he never takes off his armor anymore.

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', after Dimitri is [[DePowered stripped of his Enerjak powers]], he's put on heavy life support. Later, after being experimented on by [[MadScientist Doctor Finitevus]], his head is removed and placed in a floating bubble.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':: In the ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi'' series, a Jedi Master by the name of Ooroo is a brain-like, methane-breathing alien who must stay in his fishbowl as oxygen is lethal to him. His species, the Celegians, was given a name and some background for RPG; authors never saw a great use for them.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** During an early '90s story, ComicBook/LexLuthor fakes his suicide and has his brain (along with spine and eyeballs) put in a vat from which it directs its very own transplant to a younger Luthor clone.
** Late '80s Superman villain Hfuhruhurr was an alien who removed brains from living people and placed them in machines which psychically linked them together, creating a HiveMind called "the Union" which possessed telepathic and telekinetic abilities.

** ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'': Teenager Lex Luthor kept a big alien brain in a glass cage to study the weird waves of psychic energy that radiated from its grey matter.

* In "Operation Friendship", in ''ComicBook/TalesFromTheCrypt'' #41, a genius who felt that he was losing his best friend to said friend's less-intellectual new wife removed about two-thirds of the guy's brain and kept it in a jar with a speaker attachment.
* In ''ComicBook/WackyRaceland'', it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler: the Announcer is Pat Pending's wife, who was reduced to this state after an accident in their lab. Unfortunately, this drove her insane in the process, and she decided to destroy the world [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]]].
* In the ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman77 Wonder Woman '77]]'' comics, based on the [[Series/WonderWoman TV series,]] Gault's disembodied brain makes a return appearance.

* ''ComicBook/AlbertEinsteinTimeMason'': In "Brain Game", Albert time travels to New Jersey in 2214 to battle a group of Pro-Oscalists who have stolen a brain in a jar. [[spoiler:Specificcally, it's [=ALBERT'S=] brain.]]

* "Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness" (1930) by Creator/HPLovecraft is the TropeCodifier, in which the alien Mi-Go plant living human brains in cylinders to transport them to other planets, which the human body apparently cannot withstand.

->''"We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled. But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any particular time or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose meaning based on my reaction to such UsefulNotes/{{solipsism}}?"'' - '''Project PYRRHO, Specimen 46, Vat 7 Subject termination advised'''

** Mind flayers, aka the illithid race, are eld by the Elder Brains, gigantic Brains in Jars with psionic powers. These are created from the brains of a few illithids, the first to die in a colony, and others are added to the pool later as members die, as a sort of immortality. They can also do this to mortal brains with particularily interesting thoughts (that aren't eaten). This whole trope is basically their [[PlanetOfHats hat]].
** Various undead supplements have provided more normal-sized brains in jars, like [[http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20041015b&page=2 here]] for example.

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
*** The FetchQuest "Nothin' but a Hound Dog" involves help [[ElvisImpersonator The King]] get medical help for his pet cyberdog, Rex. [[spoiler: You find out that the life support for his brain has been damaged, and while it can be repaired, his brain was permanently damaged and has to be replaced. Successfully completing the mission getting a new brain for Rex from one of three dog trainers.]]
*** This trope is integral to the story and setting of the ''Old World Blues'' DLC:

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The FetchQuest "Nothin' but a Hound Dog" involves help [[ElvisImpersonator The King]] get medical help for his pet cyberdog, Rex. [[spoiler: You find out that the life support for his brain has been damaged, and while it can be repaired, his brain was permanently damaged and has to be replaced. Successfully completing the mission getting a new brain for Rex from one of three dog trainers.]]
*** Also, most of the DLC ''Old World Blues'' involves this trope:
*** The Think Tank, who are a group of Pre-War {{Mad Scientist}}s who put their brains in floating robots with monitors for eyes and mouths.
*** This also happens to the Player Character in this DLC as well. When you first arrive at the Think Tank your brain is extracted and replaced with cybernetic parts intended to allow your body to continue to function for simple slave labor. Somehow, as a result of a combination of an old head wound and a freak scientific accident, you retain coherent thought, even though your brain is elsewhere, allowing your "mind" to be in two places at once, with your brain being treated as a separate entity. Yeah, Old World Blues is weird.
*** Your brain in Old World Blues can also be considered an entirely separate character, as it's floating in mentats, and therefore has gained separate thought from the player character, meaning you can have a conversation with it. Due to the mentat saturation, it's incredibly intelligent, usually more so than the PC. It finds your quest for vengeance against Benny ill-advised and constantly berates you, despite technically being you, especially with low INT. You can flirt with it using certain perks, which it is disgusted by.
*** There's also the K9000, a minigun powered by the brain of a dog. It'll even bark, whine and growl and includes cybernetic ears and noses.