History Main / FantasticNuke

** ''Apocalypse from the sky'' is a legal, non-epic spell in 3rd Edition that [[CastFromHitPoints severely drains the caster]] and deals heavy acid or [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic]] damage to a 170-mile radius, minimum, [[SuicideAttack caster included]]. Casting it in a densely populated area, such as Waterdeep on the Sword Coast, will also most likely cause enough death to call on [[OmnicidalManiac Atropus]], [[GeniusLoci The World]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Born Dead]].

** An unusual variant in the form of Ki Rata, the most dangerous martial art in the universe. Described as the martial arts equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction by comic author Abaddon, its basic tenet is [[SupernaturalMartialArts the use of breathing techniques to focus the internal energies of the body into infinitesimally tiny points]]. A one-point tap with a [[FingerPokeOfDoom pinky finger]] can shatter stone; a ten-point strike levels cities. Only one school of Ki Rata existed, and those monks practiced not simply to use it, but to recognize the signs of someone trying to learn it on their own and ''kill them'' before they become dangerous. By the present, there are only two masters of Ki Rata left: one of them is a mad hermit living on Throne, and the other killed the monks who trained him, killed a GodEmperor, and usurped his power, and joined the BigBadEnsemble.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'' takes this trope and runs with it. Every nation has the Dominants, [[PersonOfMassDestruction people who can transform into Eikons, such as Titan, Shiva, Bahamut, etc.]] These Dominants are treated as Fantastic Nukes. However, in spite of their awesome power, they are rarely used in battle, because if one nation were to use their dominant [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction the other nation would almost certainly respond in kind]]. As such, Dominants are only to be used as an [[GodzillaThreshold absolute last resort]].

** And unsurprisingly, the very thing that causes the GodEmperor of the game to decide that HumansAreBastards is [[spoiler: when ''the very empire he founded uses it on him''...'''WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND AS THE FANTASTIC WARHEAD'''.]] He goes LaughingMad and proceeds to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against humanity as a result.

** Another, smaller, example is the Death Curse, which is the ultimate TakingYouWithMe attack, in which a Wizard uses all their magic and all the energy keeping them going in one go. The effects can vary based on power and, more importantly, based on intent -- it can either be immediate and destructive, like turning a city block to glass (and probably more, in the case of the Senior Council), or, perhaps, more long term, like Harry's mother's, which [[spoiler:crippled Lord Raith by preventing him from feeding]].

** In the Bount arc, it is revealed that the Soul Society previously used Jokai Crests to produce Reishi. They stopped using them and sealed the rest away under giant concrete blocks after one exploded and destroyed a tenth of the Seiretei, but now the BigBad has absorbed one and plans to release its energy and detonate the others in a chain reaction.

** In the Bount arc, it is revealed that the Soul Society previously used Jokai Crests to produce Reishi. They stopped using them and sealed the rest away under giant concrete blocks after one exploded and destroyed a 1/10 of the Seiretei, but now the BigBad has absorbed one and plans to release its energy and detonate the others in a chain reaction. It's clear what the inspiration was.

** [[spoiler:The Lulusia Kingdom is obliterated by one such weapon, dubbed "the Mother Flame", by order of [[ShadowDictator Imu]]. The World Government covers up the incident by denying any mention of Lulusia, since "[[UnPerson such a country never existed]]", and a gigantic, bottomless hole is left in the patch of ocean where Lulusia once stood. And the reason Imu picked Lulusia specifically? Was it because [[HeKnowsTooMuch Sabo was hiding there after learning of Imu's existence and barely escaping Mary Geoise alive]]? Was it because [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified Lulusia had recently revolted and overthrown their tyrannical king]]? No: it's because it was close. As in, ''the closest target the Mother Flame could be tested on''.]]

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' started presented KiManipulation as this with the introduction of [[KnightOfCerebus King Piccolo]], who when restored to his youth, reduced a large city to a wasteland that extended beyond visible site during his fight with Goku (the anime filler takes it up a notch by shaking buildings, bursting windows, and lingering on the view of the mushroom cloud). After Raditz's introduction, they were taken to EarthShatteringKaboom levels.

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': Sukuna's "Malevolent Shrine"'s full power is an outright Fantastic Nuke. Because it doesn't require a barrier and thus providing a venue for those inside to escape, as part of the resulting Binding Vow, Sukuna can massively extend the range of his Domain's AlwaysAccurateAttack to a maximum of 200 meters; when he uses it against Mahagora, it effectively disintegrates most of Shibuya instantly.

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a variant in its "Arrival" DLC: [[spoiler:To stall the coming Reaper invasion, a plan is hatched to [[ColonyDrop ram an asteroid into a mass relay]]. This collision resulted in the relay's energy being unleashed, wiping out an entire star system and killing over 300,000 Batarian colonists.]]

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' started presented KiManipulation as this with the introduction of [[KnightOfCerebus Piccolo Daimou]], who when restored to his youth, reduced a large city to a wasteland that extended beyond visible site during his fight with Goku (the anime filler takes it up a notch by shaking buildings, bursting windows, and lingering on the view of the mushroom cloud). After Raditz's introduction, they were taken to EarthShatteringKaboom levels.

* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', the Angel Arms and (manga only) photon-ion cannon are often seen by fans as analogous to nuclear weapons in their effects and their power. As an exception, references to actual atomic bombs are made in the final chapters of the manga. [[spoiler:The special reload of this weapon in Doom the Roguelike is a nuclear blast.]]
** Also note that the [[spoiler: draining and long torture of the plants]] can be seen as an allegory of [[GreenAesop how 'humankind' causes possibly irreversible environmental damage]].

* The Carronade or Hex Cannon from ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' is one of the more blatant examples seen of the trope. It is powered from the pain and sorrow and despair of human sacrifices who are ''tortured to the point of '''insanity''' first'' and are explicitly selected based on their connection to the target (yes, you're reading this right; it's a FantasticNuke that ''literally'' runs on [[invoked]] NightmareFuel).

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', [[spoiler:Anders uses some combination of magic and gunpowder (!) to destroy the Kirkwall Chantry and kill [[NeutralityBacklash Grand Cleric Elthina]] in the final mission, kicking off the Mage/Templar War.]]
** This is essentially what the Breach is in the prologue of the third game, ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''.
* This is how the end of the Old Kingdom is depicted in a flashback during Fable II, when the old Archon wished away the old world in favor of a new, less corrupt one.

* ''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyI Etrian Odyssey Untold]]'' has Gungnir, a weapon designed to neutralize the [[EldritchAbomination Yggdrasil Cores]] before they awaken and wreak havoc upon the world. [[spoiler:The party decides against using it once they learn of the widespread destruction its impact would cause. Given the [[EarthAllAlong setting]], it could very well be an actual nuke]] .
* ''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard Etrian Odyssey Untold 2]]'': The Alchemist gains a powerful NonElemental skill called "Nuclear Formula", whose description outright states that it uses nuclear fusion to cause an explosion.

** Many summons in ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' arguably qualify. That is, if their damage actually lived up to [[CutscenePowerToTheMax the animation]].

*** ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2 Final Fantasy X-2]]'' had Vegnagun, which would supposedly inflict the same amount of damage as a nuclear weapon. It was a superweapon designed during the Bevelle-Zanarkand War but never deployed in fear of its destructive potential.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a variant in its "Arrival" DLC: [[spoiler:To stall the coming Reaper invasion, a plan is hatched to [[ColonyDrop ram an asteroid into a mass relay]]. This collision resulted in the relay's energy being unleashed, wiping out an entire star system and killing over 300,000 Batarian colonists.]]
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:'' The origins of the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie the Scourge]] turns out to be one of these. [[spoiler:An unidentified race opposed to the Jardaan cooked it up and dropped it on them. The Scourge warps the laws of physics of the ME universe and was designed specifically to target and screw up Jardaan tech. By the time of the game, it's already destroyed at least one star system, and killed off one species in the Heleus Cluster, and utterly ravaged the eco-systems of several planets. Squadmate Liam compares it to a landmine: Difficult-to-impossible to get rid of completely, and makes normal life impossible. Another squadmate even questions what exactly had been going on that made something like that seem a viable option.]]

* The Meteor Storm spell in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' is a localized version.

* Subspace bombs in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'''s story mode, ''The Subspace Emissary''. When they detonate, a large purple explosion sucks in everything in sight, including people (although whatever heroes are nearby usually have a mode of transportation handy). The explosion then remains there indefinitely, acting as a portal to the mysterious Subspace until [[spoiler:the defeat of Tabuu]], at which point all Subspace explosions are effectively undone, reverting the various ground zeros to their pre-exploded states [[spoiler:except for the Isle of the Ancients, which was subjected to too many Subspace Bomb explosions at once and thus was completely obliterated.]]
* The World of Light in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' begins with the BigBad unleashing a hail of light beams that vaporize and assimilate ''everyone'' except Kirby and appear to have done the same to the rest of the in-game muliverse overall.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' and ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' feature the Mana Cannon. It causes mass destruction (its destroyed all civilization twice, and came damn close to doing so two more times), and leaves vast swaths of areas barren after use, although for different reasons than actual atomic weaponry.

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* The fictional history behind ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' revolves around the effects of bombs that are distinctly equivalent to actual nukes and were seemingly created by civilizations very similar to those of the present day, but have had decidedly magical long-term effects on whatever was left following their destruction and its subsequent growth, therefore combining this trope with ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics.
** It's later revealed that [[spoiler: the nukes in question were infused with the saliva of Golb, an EldritchAbomination unspeakable power with the power to twist life]] which puts this squarely into this trope.

** [[spoiler:The Lulusia Kingdom is obliterated by one such weapon, dubbed "the Mother Flame", by order of [[ShadowDictator Imu]]. The World Government covers up the incident by denying any mention of Lulusia, since "[[UnPerson such a country never existed]]", and a gigantic, bottomless hole is left in the patch of ocean where Lulusia once stood. And the reason Imu picked Lulusia specifically? Was it because [[HeKnowsTooMuch Sabo was hding there after learning of Imu's existence and barely escaping Mary Geoise alive]]? Was it because [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified Lulusia had recently revolted and overthrown their tyrannical king]]? No: it's because it was close. As in, ''the closest target the Mother Flame could be tested on''.]]

** [[spoiler:The Lulusia Kingdom is obliterated by one such weapon, dubbed "the Mother Flame", by order of [[ShadowDictator Imu]]. The World Government covers up the incident by denying any mention of Lulusia, since "[[UnPerson such a country never existed]]", and a gigantic, bottomless hole is left in the patch of ocean where Lulusia once stood.]]

** Ethniu the Last Titan, BigBad of ''Literature/PeaceTalks'' [[MultipartEpisode and]] ''Literature/BattleGround'' is armed with the Eye of Balor, an artificial eye of great mystical power. How strong, you ask? As a show of force, Ethniu casts a hex from it which [[BigBlackout fries everything electrical in the Chicago area]], and that's it on a ''low'' power setting; according to Dresden, legends say when it's used at full power, it can destroy armies and devastate cities. When she wields it during the ensuing Battle of Chicago, it collapses skyscrapers in a single blast.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Pratchett was in fact formerly a scientific journalist specializing in nuclear physics, so his books are full of in-jokes about the subject.
** The civil war that breaks out between the wizards in ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'' (as well as the earlier Mage Wars) has clear allusions to a nuclear war, though we don't get to see the truly powerful spells close up. There are areas mentioned repeatedly throughout the series but never shown where fallout from spells like this in ancient wizard conflicts make them uninhabitable. Finally, modern wizards essentially see it as their job to learn how to do magic and then ''never to do it'', or at least not any of the seriously reality-warping stuff, aware of the MutuallyAssuredDestruction that Mage Wars had always ultimately caused.
** There's a reference to the Mage Wars in ''Literature/GoingPostal'' which makes this more explicit:
---> Any ignorant fool can fail to turn someone else into a frog. You have to be clever to refrain from doing it when you knew how easy it was. There were places in the world commemorating those times when wizards hadn't been quite as clever as that, and on many of them, the grass would never grow again.
** In ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', Sam Vimes makes explicit reference to the "first use of magic" in a war... a clear parallel with nuclear weapons.

A Fantastic Nuke may set off a WorldWreckingWave or precipitate TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. It's frequently also an UnholyNuke based on TheDarkArts. Furthermore, the use of such a weapon may result in FantasticFallout: long-lasting and often harmful effects on the land upon which it's used.

* In ''Literature/TheEminenceInShadow'', this is the signature move of Cid Kagenou (in his guise as Shadow), "I Am Atomic". As Shadow himself explains, even in spite of all his incredible abilities, he wanted to be absolutely sure he could beat things like nuclear weapons. His solution was thusly to ''become the nuke'', condensing his mana into a singularity that causes an explosion (it does, after all, run the principle of real life atomic bombs), the power of which he can calibrate from the level to a small-scale tactical bomb to a city-vaporizing blast, always preceded by Cid [[CallingYourAttacks dramatically calling out his attack]].

* In ''Literature/TheEminenceInShadow'', this is the signature move of Cid Kagenou (in his guise as Shadow), "I Am Atomic". As Shadow himself explains, even in spite of all his incredible abilities, he wanted to be absolutely sure he could beat things like nuclear weapons. His solution was thusly to ''become the nuke'', condensing his mana into a massive singularity that causes an explosion, the power of which he can calibrate from the level to a small-scale tactical bomb to a city-vaporizing blast, always preceded by Cid [[CallingYourAttacks dramatically calling out his attack]].

** The lore for Mage has ''all'' nuclear weapons be Fantastic Nukes: what is magic and what isn't is set by the Consensus - the collective opinions of humanity. The Technocracy explicitly promoted relativity and quantum mechanics to make them work consistently; effectively socially engineering the physics that make nuclear weapons possible into existence. Yes, this game is just that much of a MindScrew.

** And inverted in ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', where it's implied that Leonard of Quirm ''has'' designed a bonafide nuclear bomb (the materials it's made from "don't like being squeezed. So they go bang. With extreme alacrity.") This is one of the many reasons he's kept locked up.