History Main / DisintegratorRay

* Many {{death ray}}s in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' work like this. At one point, Agatha builds one (seen in [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090306 here]]) that can zap huge holes in walls (and mountains), much to the distress of [[GeniusLoci the castle she's in at the time]].

* In ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes'', Dr. Unpleasant has invented the [[http://eheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/2133437/ch12-23/ Hyperframmiton™ Ray.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', [[spoiler:Lord English]] has a shoop-da-whoop beam attack that can disintegrate even [[spoiler: the souls of the dead]] wandering [[spoiler: the dream bubbles of the outer ring]] which was a terrible shock to the fans, who until that point believed [[spoiler: the dead would stick around and so nobody would "really" be killed]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Endtown}}'' handheld disintegration rays are commonplace, and D-bombs were one of the most common weapons of the apocalypse resulting in the surface being a vast wasteland. D-rays can also be dialed back to stun instead of kill.
* In ''Webcomic/CaptainUfo'', Ufo has Number One use a disintegration gun on some uncooperative aliens.

** Missy replaces previous Masters' [[ShrinkRay Tissue Compression Eliminator]] as her WeaponOfChoice with a customised smartphone/PDA that includes a disintegrator beam.

** Some [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] tech books describe these. Apparently they work like blasters do except turned UpToEleven, causing the heat to melt the whole person rather than sear holes through people.

The cleanest variety of DeathRay. Whatever it strikes, be it commoner or king, is [[ReducedToDust reduced to little more than sand and ozone]] (or simply vanishes in a flash of light). A great way to save money on special effects and not have to [[NoBodyLeftBehind litter the place with corpses]] or blood. Only a few stories will bother to [[HandWave elaborate]] on where all that matter actually goes, or how the ray gun "knows" to stop disintegrating things once the original target is vaporized (rather than [[GreyGoo disintegrating everything in the area]] up to and including the [[EarthShatteringKaboom very planet]] everyone is standing on). And it's even rarer for there to be any acknowledgement that the complete disintegration of an object the size of a human body should in and of itself result in a large release of energy. In other words, it should effectively turn the target's body [[MadeOfExplodium into a bomb]].

* In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'', the Plasma beam would disintegrate a target completely if charged, while the uncharged shot set things on fire. The Light beam did the same in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes''. ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' the plasma beam returned, and when combined with the nova beam would turn a target to dust, even when uncharged if they were on fire long enough.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "X", [[MadScientist Dr. Chang]] builds a xenotium-powered disintegrator ''cannon'' capable of destroying the whole city.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' had Cable's gun as a somewhat more bombastic version of this: anything hit by it would fizzle with energy for a few seconds and then violently blow to bits. (Needless to say, this was never successfully deployed against a living target.)

** In ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry The Undiscovered Country]]'' Star Fleet subversives were [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves disposed of]] via a [[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange point-blank]] [[StunGuns phaser on stun]]. Rumor has it there's an episode in The Original Series where this phenomenon was mentioned. Then the topic was tabled until ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'' era and beyond, during which phasers had ten settings and up.

* ''SpaceChimps2ZartogStrikesBack'': Zartog uses a de-particle-izer to zap the scientists out of existence. [[spoiler: [[DisneyDeath They come back]] at the end.]]

Be warned, however. If you should [[DeaderThanDead fall foul of a Disintegrator Ray]], it may take much more than a stay at the TraumaInn to cure ''that'' [[StandardStatusEffects Status Effect]]. Even people whose HealingFactor can reconstitute their bodies FromASingleCell may have trouble doing so from a single ''atom'' (or less), which makes this a very effective weapon against them. If the shot is somehow shrugged off as not instantly lethal but still hurtful, expect it to hit for massive damage. Usually the more disintegrator rays there are, [[ConservationOfNinjitsu the less effective each one is]]. If there are countless {{Mook}}s with it, it is likely only moderately powerful. While if there are very few, they will be {{Instakill Mook}}s.

* Shiba Tatsuya's Decomposition magics, Mist Dispersion and Trident from ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool''.

* In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'', Kryptonian mad scientist Kru-El built one disintegrator gun capable of reducing anything to atoms, including Kryptonians. Since its prototype appears damaged, he tests it on Lesla-Lar, one of his own allies, who gets vaporized right away.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Dust Release attacks leave nothing of their target behind, neatly cutting the edge of their area of effect.

* The ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse (yes, ''Disney'') provides two examples:
** The first comes from the 'classic' Paperinik (ComicBook/DonaldDuck's superhero/antihero alter ego), where our hero switched from a M1911 handgun to a multiuse pistol that included, among other functions, a disintegrator ray. Considering it was wielded by the infamously irascible Donald Duck, it's a miracle he never used it on people before switching to a paralyzer-only gun.
** ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' has Everett Ducklair's sonic weapons, that fire a "ray" of sonic waves in such frequencies that break down the target. The only thing seen resisting those is an energy shield projected from Paperinik's Extransformer shield, another of Ducklair's inventions... And even that was crumbling disturbingly fast. Good thing Ducklair sells those only to the military (and makes sure anyone who gets their hands on them receives their visit)...

** The [[CosmicKeystone Tesseract]]-powered EnergyWeapons used by HYDRA in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' fire blue bolts that violently explode when hitting an inanimate object and disintegrate any person hit with it. They only object immune to it (but not the knockback effect of the heavier versions) is Cap's own Stark-designed [[{{Unobtanium}} vibranium]] shield. The weapons are later [[spoiler:collected and stored by [[Film/TheAvengers2012 SHIELD]] in order to build weapons with which to defend Earth]].
** In ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' Toomes disintegrates his lieutenant who was attempting to blackmail him with an alien-tech weapon. Then it turns out he thought it was the anti-gravity rifle.
** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', this is what Thanos' BadassFingersnap amounts to, except on a universe-wide scale. An untold number of the denizens on every planet are turned to ashes along with their belongings, and then scattered around, barely leaving any traces.

** Destroyed remnants also require more serious magic to bring one BackFromTheDead, so it makes sort of DeaderThanDead.

The cleanest variety of DeathRay. Whatever it strikes, be it commoner or king, is [[ReducedToDust reduced to little more than sand and ozone]] (or simply vanishes in a flash of light). A great way to save money on special effects and not have to [[NoBodyLeftBehind litter the place with corpses]] or blood. Only a few stories will bother to [[HandWave elaborate]] on where all that matter actually goes, or how the ray gun "knows" to stop disintegrating things once the original target is vaporized (rather than [[GreyGoo disintegrating everything in the area]] up to and including the [[EarthShatteringKaboom very planet]] everyone is standing on).

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': While the purple healing ray usually has the rather opposite effect of helping tissue regenerate and repair itself when Diana turns it on the shadowy undead hordes of Tartarus which are attacking Paradise Island it blows a hole in them, and then [[ReviveKillsZombie swiftly causes them to disintigrate]].

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', this is what the explosions created by Yoshikage Kira's [[HavingABlast Killer Queen]] look like to non-Stand users: a puff of smoke, and suddenly a person is gone, with only a hand left behind. Stand users, of course, see it for what it is: a massive explosion.

-->-- '''[[FrickinLaserBeams Manmelter]] description''', ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''

** There was one ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' episode where a Disintegrator Ray used by [[ThoseTwoBadGuys a couple of snarky murderers]] ''did'' burn the carpet after unmaking their unfortunate target. "Oh? Now look what you did to the rug." They covered the stains with a chair, which was not enough to fool Odo.

* During the UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} disaster, the breached reactor put out enough particle radiation to do this to a helicopter attempting to dump a sand/boron mixture into it. Rather than instantly turning it into dust, however, it instead wore it away at an atomic level. When it crashed (pilot error caused the rotors to strike a nearby chain), the weakened metal snapped rather than bent, and the aircraft dropped, splattering when it hit rather than smashing.

A SubTrope of RayGun and also of DisintegrationChamber.