History Main / LovecraftianSuperpower

* In ''ComicBook/AnimalMan2011'' series, Buddy Baker becomes infused with more power from The Red (the metaphysical manifestation of the Animal Kingdom, and the animal equivalent to ''ComicBook/SwampThing'''s The Green), and his power to use animal abilities is morphed into actually physically manifesting animal characteristics. These transformations are [[BodyHorror visceral and not pleasant to look at]].
* [[ComicBook/XForce The Spike's]] mutant ability allows him to fire bone spikes out of his body. The film version has him shooting huge spikes out of his wrists. His teammate Phat can fill himself up with extradimensional gunk, growing to grotesque proportions but increasing his strength and durability exponentially.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' series, the character who inspired him, Spyke[[note]][[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Because poor literacy is kewl]][[/note]], [[spoiler:eventually becomes completely covered in armadillo like plates which he [[IJustWantToBeNormal can't get rid of]]. Although on the upshot, he gains the ability to launch spikes that are ''[[IncendiaryExponent on]] [[KillItWithFire fire]]'']].
** And of course, there are Wolverine's claws. Which are bone knives that slice through his forearms and hands every time they extend. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Good Thing He Can Heal]] indeed.
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vQ2RVqJCNM This]] video parodies the problems that result from having the claws [[RequiredSecondaryPowers without the healing factor]].
*** [[RedundantParody And a parody video isn't actually needed]]. The comics and adaptations [[{{Pun}} make no bones about]] the fact that having metal bonded to your skeleton and blades made of the stuff stuck into your arms is in fact not actually a good thing. Logan's healing factor is all that allowed him to survive having it done to him, and when deprived of it by power-dampening characters or tech, the adamantium in his body starts to poison him; he'd ''die'' without his powers. And at least before the bone-claw {{Retcon}}, driving those claws through his forearms and out of the back of his hands without his healing factor is ''insanely'' agonizing - surgery-without-any-anesthesia agonizing because that's ''kinda what's happening'' - to the point of being in real danger of having a heart attack on the spot. You're expected to kindly ignore all this when he loses his adamantium and writers who don't want to deprive him of his signature weapon say "Oh, he always had 'em, they were just covered with metal." We also learn just how damaging the presence of the adamantium was during this period, though: his healing and animal-based powers were in ''overdrive'' compared to how he normally is; apparently, the overwhelming majority of his mutant might is usually not available to him because it's busy keeping the deleterious effects of the adamantium in him at bay.
*** Even after the bone-claw retcon, it's shown that popping the claws is still very painful. The first time he popped them in ''Origins'', he screams in agony a moment later. By the present day, he's used to the pain. Also, when the bone-claw retcon was first introduced, Wolverine popped his bone claws a few days after Magneto had ripped the adamantium out of his skeleton, which in the process had overloaded his healing factor. Meaning that in addition to the extreme pain, he started ''bleeding profusely'' out of the holes his claws had just created in his hands. When his healing factor is functioning, the wounds from popping his claws just instantly close as soon as he retracted them. With it on the fritz for a while, he treated claws like giant piercings in his hands, and kept them extended for while every day until his body adapted to having six new holes on a permanent basis.
** Predating the Spike is the even more Lovecraftian Marrow, whose bone growths were originally uncontrollable, random, and disfiguring. She would tear them out periodically to use as melee weapons, healing the wounds left behind with her HealingFactor.
** As well as the rest of TheMorlocks living in the sewers. Their powers come with varying degrees of deformity built in, often quite hideous in nature. Hence their living in the sewers; they're so obviously mutated that they can't blend in with normal humans.
** And then there's Tusk, who predated Marrow but was fairly similar... except he also had pods on his back from which he could spawn Mini-Me versions of himself.
** A one-shot Morlock was named [[BodyOfBodies MeMe]]. He absorbs people into himself physically to get bigger and stronger; at any given point, screaming humans melted into him and each other will be wriggling around on his body, with the limbs and faces of his less-intact victims jutting out every which way. As they shift and more are added, he never looks exactly the same in any two panels.
** A former X-Man with the charming name of [[XtremeKoolLetterz Maggott]] had two parasitic slugs that ''crawled out of his belly'' and could eat anything. He spent most of his childhood nearly starving to death until his primary digestive system (the slugs) emerged.
** Johnny Dee of the 198 isn't a mutant, but his internalized parasitic twin is. It extends poison tentacles from his gut, and makes mind-controlling zombie dolls of anyone whose DNA it eats.
* One short-lived member of ''ComicBook/XForce'', Sluk, (and when we say "short lived", we mean "he was already dead when his team was introduced") had ''creepy [[ShapedLikeItself tentacle]] [[BuffySpeak things]]'' growing from his face and tentacular feet and hands. His teammates secretly hated him for a few reasons. One was that he was only handy in close combat situations and it was difficult to get him into the right spots a lot of the time. Another was that he wasn't exactly Mr. Personality. But mostly they didn't like him because he just looked really, really weird.
* ComicBook/GenerationX foe Emplate had mouths on his hands that let him cannibalize mutant bone marrow. In the BadFuture that Bishop came from, Emplate's powers had become contagious and vampiric "emplates" were a constant danger even though the original had apparently been killed.
* ComicBook/NewMutants has the Project Purgatory arc which introduces the Inferno Babies, the latent mutant infants used during ''Comicbook/Inferno1988'' to open a portal to Limbo over Manhattan. Some of them have monstrous mutations fitting the hostile environment they were raised in; Scab's blood becomes body armor, Maw is covered in fanged mouths and Alex is a BlobMonster.
* Franchise/SpiderMan has on at least one occasion [[OneWingedAngel turned into a literal multi-limbed arachnid-humanoid creature]]. Even normal Spider-Man, in those incarnations where the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything sticky white silk]] he shoots from his hands is organic, arguably counts.
** Or the time when he fights Miss Arrow. Or, really, just her entire being. Bonus points for being a Lovecraftian horror in the FIRST place, madam.
** Minor Spidey villain the Squid can grow multiple tentacles and spew black ink from his skin.
** Spidey villain the Sandman can sometimes appear like this, as some adaptations have him using his ability to reform himself to make an arm come out of his head or other limbs where they just don't belong.
* The Bride of Nine Spiders from ''ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist'' can summon hordes of spiders from her chest. [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/Grey420/link34.jpg This looks even worse than it sounds.]]
* Milder example in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': The Thing looks like a giant rock hulk. This produces plenty of angst for Ben Grimm, and the fact that other people in the Marvel Universe have been mutated in much worse ways isn't exactly a great consolation.
* The various symbiotes in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse may as well be parasitic shoggoths, capable of forming tentacles, spines, extra mouths, and other grotesque metamorphoses.
** Most noticeable is [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarnage Carnage]], a psychopathic serial killer whose symbiote tends to turn into a cloud of barbed tentacles whenever it feels like it. Also, the reason his suit is red is that it's made up of the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote mixed with Cletus Kasady's blood.
*** This is taken to its logical conclusion in ''ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage'', where Carnage connects to a [[GodOfEvil primordial god of the abyss]]. His powers upgrade to brainwashing unwitting followers by having symbiotic maggots ''burrow into their skin'' and mutate them into multi-limbed symbiote creatures. Going from his old, already-creepy look to an eight-foot-tall skeleton wrapped in a symbiote doesn't help.
** Of course, in ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'', Spider-Man's old "Black Suit" symbiote also has the potential to turn into this, if you buy all its upgrades. Waves of writhing, black tentacles covering half a city block is just the beginning...
* Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk is one of the most prominent examples of this trope. And perhaps one of the tamest. At least Bruce maintains a totally humanoid form. There are a number of gamma mutates who aren't ''nearly'' so lucky...
** ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' amps up the Lovecraft, revealing gamma radiation has supernatural aspects, playing up opportunities for BodyHorror, and giving Bruce ResurrectiveImmortality that sends him to [[{{Hell}} the "below-place"]] while he's dead.
* Top Cow seems to be fond of this, with two parts of their Triarchy, ''Comicbook/{{Witchblade}}'' and ''ComicBook/TheDarkness'' fitting the description. CombatTentacles being just the start for both powers. The third of them, [[LightIsNotGood the Angelus]], is more of a HolyHandGrenade.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': It's possible that Guy Gardner's [[ShapeshifterWeapon Warrior powers]] weren't supposed to invoke this trope, but the terrible '90s art on his [[NinetiesAntiHero solo series]] made his transformations deeply squicky.
* Most of the characters from Creator/GrantMorrison's run on the Comicbook/DoomPatrol. Perhaps most emblematically, Freak. A parasitic tentacle beast lives in her body. While she has total control over its tendrils... ''ick''.
* [[spoiler:The evil Green Martian D'kay D'razz]], introduced in ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'', uses her shapeshifting powers to frightening and effective use via CombatTentacles and ''turning her head into a Venus Flytrap''. Assuming a monstrous form comes naturally to her, since she's a murderous lunatic.
* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, the Celestial experiments on proto-humans that created the Eternals and mutants also created the Deviants. While the Eternals are superhumans with the ability to manipulate energy, the Deviants look like horrible monsters straight out of Lovecraft's works. Fortunately, [[DarkIsNotEvil most of them aren't that bad]] and just want to live in peace.
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} was an attempt to replicate Wolverine's healing factor that went wrong by having Wolverine's DNA injected into him. He had cancer that was killing him already, and they thought the healing factor would cure that. Unfortunately, the healing factor applied to his body AND the cancer cells, so while his superhuman immune system is perfectly capable of killing the cancer, the cancer can recover and mutate just as quickly.
* The first three issues of ''ComicBook/GenerationHope'' dealt with the manifestation of the powers of Kenji Uedo, the fifth new mutant since M-Day. His power is a sort of "techno-organic" shapeshifting, but that doesn't quite convey [[http://marvel.wikia.com/Kenji_Uedo_(Earth-616)/Gallery how very Lovecraftian they can be]] (the first image through the link even looks like an obvious ShoutOut to Tetsuo's transformation in ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' above).
* The miniseries ''ComicBook/{{North 40}}'' deals with what happens when some kid reads the TomeOfEldritchLore in a small town's library, triggering a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent of this type. The lucky ones get superpowers like invulnerability, super-strength, and [[AnimalEyeSpy the ability to see through an animal's eyes]]. The ''other'' ones, however, get the ability to make [[HumanResources man-powered]] killing machines, see through any photograph of themselves with their "new eyes" (which [[EyeScream look like fanged maws]]), or just plain all purpose BodyHorror of various and sundry varieties.
* In ''ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'', the Horror is pretty much the embodiment of this. He's said to have several monsters hidden under his skin. Whether or not they're from space or another dimension or something else has yet to be stated. However, according to some people in universe, they're horrible and disgusting.
* Comicbook/TheInhumans are a subspecies of humanity that the Kree genetically modified long ago. Those of Inhuman lineage manifest superpowers when exposed to the Terrigen Mist. The lucky ones retain their human forms after Terrigenesis, or at least something fairly close to human. The unlucky ones [[BodyHorror don't]].
* ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDoomThatCameToGotham'' is a Cthulhu/Batman mashup that presents Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and ultimately [[spoiler:Batman himself]] as this. In particular, Harvey's scarred side becomes a flesh-portal to Lovecraftian dimensions, while his normal side is still capable of carrying on a conversation.
* "The Reaching Hand" (in ''Elseworlds 80 Page Giant'') is another DC Elseworld, which reinvents DC's RubberMan characters as Barely-{{Humanoid Abomination}}s.
* The Creator/DCComics character [[ComicBook/SandmanMysteryTheatre Wesley Dodds]] was the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Sandman. When [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 Dream of the Endless]] was captured, it wreaked havoc on the dream-scape and messed with people's ability to dream or sleep. As the narrator says in ''Sandman'' #1: "The universe knows something's missing and slowly tries to replace it". Dodds became a vessel for a fraction of Dream's essence. What ability did a piece of the lord of dreams grant Dodds? Every night he dreamed of crimes and saw murders and horror with the nightmares continuing until the perpetrator was caught. After that he had no dreams for a few nights, and then the whole thing started all over again. While prophetic dreams don't seem too lovecraftian, keep in mind that Dodds was just a man and shouldn't have had a piece of the Dream-lord's soul inside of him. (The one time they met, in ''Sandman Midnight Theatre'', the notoriously distant Dream showed pity for Dodds and his situation... [[BlueAndOrangeMorality but he's not known to have reclaimed the part of himself Dodds held]], even after being freed; in some continuities, the dreams passed to Dodds' heirs when he died.)
* The primary antagonists of ''ComicBook/DeathVigil'' are necromancers, who shapeshift into and summon {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that have freaky {{eyes|DoNotBelongThere}}, [[CombatTentacles tentacles]], and [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily teeth]]. One of the characters on the protagonists' side is Mia, a girl who was bound to a Primordial, an elder Eldritch Abomination. She can assume [[http://nebezial.deviantart.com/art/death-vigil-we-are-beautiful-on-the-ins-oh-454231404 her true, monstrous form]] to better battle necromancers and eat the horrors they summon.
* Long-running ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' strip ''ComicBook/{{Slaine}}'' (being a fusion of Celtic mythology, Creator/RobertEHoward novels and the good old-fashioned, classic 2000 AD, punk aesthetic) has its eponymous hero (an appropriate fusion of Cuchulainn and Conan, with a punk aesthetic) "warp-spasm", causing him to mutate into grotesquely ugly forms while gaining incredible strength, resilience and bloodlust.

* ''Comicbook/{{PS238}}'' has a minor character named [[http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/2016-06-24/ Necronomik]] on [[MuggleBornOfMages Tyler]]'s parents' SuperTeam. We don't really know his origin or power source, but it clearly has some Lovecraftian angle.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim stumbles across a strange thing in the Appalachian mountains that can retain human form by linking itself to a human who in turn is granted immortality through regeneration while near them but loses their ability to speak and has their memories and sense of self altered. If their linked human is killed they revert into a mass of fleshy tentacles interspersed with giant mouths and eyes and kill everyone around them until they form a new link and make a new human form for themselves.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures The Many]] (a semi-manmade UndeadAbomination which acts like TheVirus) stands apart from Godzilla, the other Earthborn Titans, and even their genetic source [[DraconicAbomination Ghidorah]] for their abilities to radically reshape and rearrange their own biomass at will, forming natural weapons out of their own bodies a la Film/TheThing.

* The Terror Mask in ''VideoGame/{{Splatterhouse}}'' gives its wearer this along with a HealingFactor in addition to making them a hulking giant in the remake. Rick is able to protrude bones from his body and sharpen them into blades, or open his chest to siphon blood from his enemies.

* ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'':

-->[[spoiler:'''Kenny's dad:''' God, this must be the fiftieth time this has happened.]]\\

*** Similarly, first edition's [[ILoveNuclearPower Zeky]] get a ''whole'' bunch of unwholesome Transmutations based around atomic energy and its side effects. Three words: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Mind. Control. Tumor.]]

** Unlike most eldritch beings seen in the Codexverse, Moon Ray Vaughoof/Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya is unique in that his very nature became connected to certain astral/cosmic/planetary planes following his [[EldritchTransformation re-Ascension]], making him go through three cycles of death, reincarnation, and life in an endless loop while giving him three portfolios associated with each 'cycle'. His domain of Cycles in particular gives him the ability to sense, create, and manipulate cycles, as well as other powers similar to those of [[ControlFreak High King Ragnarøkkr]]. However, he is vastly inexperienced in comparison and generally uses them for benevolent purposes.

[[caption-width-right:298:Meet the [[ReligionOfEvil wizard]] of [[EldritchAbomination Yog-Sothoth.]]]]

Usually, when you gain some special ability, it will manifest in some fairly conventional forms. [[PureEnergy Energy blasts]], PsychicPowers, [[NighInvulnerability steel skin]], [[ElementalPowers control over different forms of matter]] and varieties of {{magic}} are all relatively common. Despite how fantastic some of these abilities may be, there is usually an underlying science or logic and at the least it seems normal or standard in the story's setting.

# The power in question is used by the bad guys. If the power is used by one of the good guys, the power is shown to be bad or harmful in some way, be it to themselves, others, or the universe in general.
# The ability or power must be unique and/or abnormal. It is usually a power that is either not possessed by more than one person, rare, or functions in a fashion that separates it from other standard yet similar abilities. An example would be if the ability to phase through matter by slipping their molecules through an object as a common ability versus someone who can phase partially out of sync with reality to move through obstacles. Both have the same result but one is rarer and functions in a different way.

# The powers themselves may or may not produce strange side effects on the user. It usually varies and depends on how the user gains his powers, the user himself or the very nature of the powers themselves. Side effects may range from small to gigantic. For example, the user could develop a [[SuperPoweredEvilSide dark side if the source of his powers is malevolent in nature]] (like [[BlackMagic black magic]], for example).

# The powers may or may not be hard to control (at first, at least). This makes sense. After all, the user's powers are eldritch and alien in nature, so not only are they hard to understand, but also, nobody's really sure how they work, including the user, which will obviously make it hard for him to use them correctly. Maybe he'll destroy something he doesn't want to destroy by accident? Maybe his powers will have unexpected side-effects on whoever or whatever he uses them on? Maybe his powers will change and become different as time goes on?
# The last but most important rule is that the ability must clearly be unnatural or deviant in some way. Generally speaking, this means that the ability must in some way go against the internal logic of the story and what should or should not be possible. Emphasis on the word ''should'' because, since the ability exists, it's not impossible just...''wrong'' somehow.

For the less lucky, however, such new talents will have a [[{{Squick}} disturbing]] biological component. They find themselves able to sprout [[CombatTentacles thrashing razor-tipped tentacles]], drool highly corrosive acid saliva, or extrude venomous thorns from their flesh. Alas, for these people have been BlessedWithSuck [[note]]or CursedWithAwesome[[/note]] and granted a {{squick}}[[CrunchTastic tastic]] Lovecraftian Superpower.

The important thing to remember is that it doesn't matter whether the abilities have a body horror element to them. While this is the most common and obvious version of a Lovecraftian super power, keep in mind the definition of the word "Eldritch" (a word Lovecraft seemed to love so much he almost uses it as a form of punctuation). Any superpower or ability fitting the definition of eldritch -- uncanny, unearthly, weird; not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws, is a Lovecraftian super power. In a setting where magic is unnatural (you can only get it by screwing with stuff you really shouldn't), magic would be Lovecraftian. If magic is normal to the setting, then BlackMagic would count as Lovecraftian. Anything supernatural in the setting that would make even the wisest and most sagacious guru say "Holy S#@&! That ain't right!" would count.

Lovecraftian powers generally come in 3 seperate flavors:

'''Non-Physically Affecting, Horrible Perverting of Nature''': This version is when the power or ability has no physical component but what it does and how it works is horrifying {{Squick}} and in defiance of nature. BrainFood would be a good example for when [[PowerParasite someone gains the abilities of others]] by [[PsychicPowers metaphorically]] or [[BrainFood literally]] eating their brains. The same ability could function in the same way by [[SoulEating eating souls]] in place of brains. Another example could be a being that can warp, twist, and shape living organic matter like a perverse sculpter with the resulting monstrosity still alive and begging for death.

'''Both of the Above''': For the last one, God help your enemies, allies or even the universe. This is a combination of the two where the user can twist the laws of nature around them along with their own shape. Very common among those who are an EvilSorcerer or WickedWitch. Not only can they use BlackMagic, which itself is wrong and in defiance of the natural order, they can also become a monstrosity as from the bowels of hell itself.

The name originates from classic scifi/horror writer Creator/HPLovecraft, whose characteristic creations often seemed equal parts NightmareFuel and biology textbook.

A subtrope of BadPowersBadPeople (usually), possibly because MagicIsEvil. Alternatively, this can overlap with BadPowersGoodPeople, though less frequently. May be a useful side-effect of TheVirus or TheCorruption. Often manifests as CombatTentacles, [[YouAreWhoYouEat cannibalistic]] and [[BodyHorror horrific]] ShapeShifting (sometimes [[PartialTransformation partial shapeshifting]]), BloodyMurder, or a BeeBeeGun, and is likely [[PowerIncontinence not quite controllable]]. Can overlap with OneWingedAngel, PowerUpgradingDeformation and ShapeshifterMashup, and usually counts as a {{supertrope}} of SpiderLimbs and, on a sillier note, {{Fartillery}}. Related to EldritchTransformation, which is often one-and-done and involuntary by comparison.

* The Dark Triad in ''Manga/BlackClover'' have this theme. Each of them has an unsettling magic related to the body. Dante uses Body Magic to grotesquely regenerate his flesh to heal himself, Zenon uses Bone Magic that grows sharpened bones out of his body, and Vanica uses Blood Magic to congeal into different forms.

* The Big Bang from the ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' animated was a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent that gave all nearby characters varying superpowers. The Metabreed was a gang of these characters who banded together specifically because they were the unfortunate characters stuck with Lovecraftian Superpowers.
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': [[BigBad Aku]] inherited it from [[EldritchAbomination the Black Mass]]. Any kind of body horror, physical manipulation, shapeshifting, and dark magic is at his disposal as he is the [[GodOfEvil embodiment of evil]]. [[spoiler:The bit of himself he gave to the Cult of Aku, when drunk by the High Priestess, caused her to become pregnant and give birth to seven daughters, all of which carried Aku's essence inside him. Aku is able to take direct control of them and, by adding some more of his power, turn them into {{Humanoid Abomination}}s.]]
* This is pretty much standard issue for [=EVOs=] in ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex''. The level of freakiness ranges from "cactus guy with vine whips" to [[EldritchAbomination "If there are words to describe that thing, I don't want to know what they are"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' give us bloodbending, a sub-type of waterbending which can turn victims into PeoplePuppets [[spoiler:or remove their bending abilities]] by bending their body fluids. Whereas most types of bending looks like standard martial arts, bloodbending looks very much like a puppeteer at work. A body under control of a bloodbender tends to shake and make ''really'' disturbing sounds.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', [[spoiler:Rushu in his true form]] weaponizes BodyHorror, being able to sprout tentacles and fanged maws anywhere on his body. During his fight with Goultard, Goultard tried gut-punching him. This backfired when [[spoiler:Rushu's]] torso simply grew a mouth and bit down hard on Goultard's hand.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': "Hunting Palismen" reveals that Belos suffers from a curse-like affliction that warps his body into a monstrous shape made of OminousObsidianOoze, supposedly caused by wild magic and which he treats by absorbing Palisman essence. The end of said episode reveals he has a limited amount of control over this form to create horrific appendages, such as the one he used to intimidate Hunter into silence. [[spoiler:"Hollow Mind" reveals that this affliction is either caused or exacerbated by his consumption of Palismen, which he himself refers to as their "souls". These souls have over time bound together as a lean, horrific, horned entity in his mindscape that is constantly plaguing him with their outcries. Even after destroying the manifestation of their souls in his mindscape, he seems to retain the shifting power, hinting there's even more to it. The Collector even implies that his cursed form is his ''real'' form now, and that his human shape is just a facsimile that he puts on.]]

*** And a parody video isn't actually needed. The comics and adaptations [[{{Pun}} make no bones about]] the fact that having metal bonded to your skeleton and blades made of the stuff stuck into your arms is in fact not actually a good thing. Logan's healing factor is all that allowed him to survive having it done to him, and when deprived of it by power-dampening characters or tech, the adamantium in his body starts to poison him; he'd ''die'' without his powers. And at least before the bone-claw {{Retcon}}, driving those claws through his forearms and out of the back of his hands without his healing factor is ''insanely'' agonizing - surgery-without-any-anesthesia agonizing because that's ''kinda what's happening'' - to the point of being in real danger of having a heart attack on the spot. You're expected to kindly ignore all this when he loses his adamantium and writers who don't want to deprive him of his signature weapon say "Oh, he always had 'em, they were just covered with metal." We also learn just how damaging the presence of the adamantium was during this period, though: his healing and animal-based powers were in ''overdrive'' compared to how he normally is; apparently, the overwhelming majority of his mutant might is usually not available to him because it's busy keeping the deleterious effects of the adamantium in him at bay.

* After [[spoiler:losing her arm to Ruby's Silver Eyes]] in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' [[spoiler:Cinder]] had it replaced with a Shadow Hand, a Grimm appendage resembling a black, skeletal that can stretch to physically impossible lengths, impale people with it's claws, regenerate and [[spoiler:steal Maiden powers]]. However, it is incredibly disturbing, since it's regeneration looks nowhere near natural and is excruciatingly painful, it's soulless and thus can't be protected by aura, is steadily consuming more and more of [[spoiler:Cinder]]'s body, and appears to have it's ''own consciousness''.

* ComicBook/GenerationX foe Emplate had mouths on his hands that let him cannibalize mutant bone marrow. In the BadFuture that [[Characters/XMen90sMembers Bishop]] came from, Emplate's powers had become contagious and vampiric "emplates" were a constant danger even though the original had apparently been killed.

* Creator/ShinyaTsukamoto's films often use this; most obviously his ''Tetsuo'' films, where the main protagonists ([[MindScrew well, as far as they can be identified as such]]) invariably end up sprouting/fusing with various pieces of metal and machine, becoming hideous Creator/HRGiger-esque [[MechanicalAbomination biomechanical monstrosities]].

** Seth Brundle in ''Film/TheFly1986'' gains the ability to wallcrawl, super strength, and even vomit a corrosive enzyme to dissolve food (or enemies). Unfortunately, he gained these abilities when he accidentally fused his genes with a fly, and slowly mutates into a grotesque giant insect/human hybrid. BlessedWithSuck indeed.
** ''Film/TheBrood''. While Psychoplasmics isn't ''necessarily'' a superpower, the ability to birth homunculi from your traumatic memories who end up subconsciously doing your bidding might be considered useful, if fucked up.
** ''Film/{{Videodrome}}'', where Max ([[UnreliableNarrator probably]]) gets mutable flesh and a giant mouth in his stomach, which can apparently create hand grenades.
* In ''Film/{{District 9}}'', [[spoiler:Wikus]] is exposed to alien fluid which slowly transforms him (starting with his arm) into one of the aliens. This gives him both an alien's strength and the ability to operate their weapons.

* Perverse MadScientist Dr Pretorius in ''Film/FromBeyond'', after [[OffWithHisHead getting his head torn off]] by fishlike ...'''things''' from AnotherDimension, [[CameBackWrong comes]] [[WasOnceAMan back]] as a HumanoidAbomination who takes entirely too much pleasure in abusing his newfound powers to manifest some of the squishiest, most disturbing forms ever put to film.

* ''Film/{{Society}}'': The members of Society can distort and mutate their bodies to use as a weapon; growing elongated arms is one of the more mundane uses.

** Of all the Devil Fruit powers that exist, Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit (Yami Yami no Mi) is so far the closest to fit the criteria of Lovecraftian horror. It allows the user to become and manipulate [[CastingAShadow darkness]], but in a way that simulates [[PowerOfTheVoid black holes]], sucking in and crushing everything that comes near it with powerful gravitational force. This essentially makes Blackbeard a walking, '''human black hole'''. Worthy of note is that the ability itself is an abnormality thanks to it having its own peculiar perks that break the usual Devil Fruit rules, such as the lack of NighInvulnerability common for the Logia class it belongs to and the capacity to absorb other Devil Fruit powers.

* ''Frachise/TransformersTimelines'': Ramjet was once the most powerful herald of [[SatanicArchetype Unicron]] who employed the reality warping powers bestowed upon him by his master to punish his victims. After Unicron imploded into a grand black hole, Ramjet was trapped in the VoidBetweenTheWorlds where the resident EldritchAbomination tortured him by destroying and recreating his existence for quick laughs until they got bored and dumped him back into his dimension. This horrible experience gave Ramjet powers far greater than the ones he had, to the point that his mere existence can corrupt and twist the reality around him. Unfortunately, this also left him in a perpetual state of being and unbeing, holding himself together through sheer force of will, and pretty much shattered his mind.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'': Ramjet was once the most powerful herald of [[SatanicArchetype Unicron]] who employed the reality warping powers bestowed upon him by his master to punish his victims. After Unicron imploded into a grand black hole, Ramjet was trapped in the VoidBetweenTheWorlds where the resident EldritchAbomination tortured him by destroying and recreating his existence for quick laughs until they got bored and dumped him back into his dimension. This horrible experience gave Ramjet powers far greater than the ones he had, to the point that his mere existence can corrupt and twist the reality around him. Unfortunately, this also left him in a perpetual state of being and unbeing, holding himself together through sheer force of will, and pretty much shattered his mind.

** Snake Witch [[BigBad Medusa]] has her entire body completely stuffed full with writhing magical snakes. She can put these snakes into others' bodies as well through their mouths, where they will serve as a parasitic case of AnimalEyeSpy and [[LudicrousGibs messily tear them apart from the inside out at her command.]] [[spoiler:After she was killed by Dr. Stein during the Kishin's awakening, she managed to pull off a risky magic, turned into a snake and came back [[AdultFear in the body of a little girl]] whose body she [[BodyHorror invaded]] through the mouth in her snake form.]] Yeah, it's not pretty.

* The DC character [[ComicBook/SandmanMysteryTheatre Wesley Dodds]] was the Golden Age Sandman. When [[ComicBook/TheSandman Dream of the Endless]] was captured, it wreaked havoc on the dream-scape and messed with people's ability to dream or sleep. As the narrator says in ''Sandman'' #1: "The universe knows something's missing and slowly tries to replace it". Dodds became a vessel for a fraction of Dream's essence. What ability did a piece of the lord of dreams grant Dodds? Every night he dreamed of crimes and saw murders and horror with the nightmares continuing until the perpetrator was caught. After that he had no dreams for a few nights, and then the whole thing started all over again. While prophetic dreams don't seem too lovecraftian, keep in mind that Dodds was just a man and shouldn't have had a piece of the Dream-lord's soul inside of him. (The one time they met, in ''Sandman Midnight Theatre'', the notoriously distant Dream showed pity for Dodds and his situation... [[BlueAndOrangeMorality but he's not known to have reclaimed the part of himself Dodds held]], even after being freed; in some continuities, the dreams passed to Dodds' heirs when he died.)

* The Creator/DCComics {{Elseworld}} ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: The Doom that Came to Gotham'' is a Cthulhu/Batman mashup that presents Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and ultimately [[spoiler:Batman himself]] as this. In particular, Harvey's scarred side becomes a flesh-portal to Lovecraftian dimensions, while his normal side is still capable of carrying on a conversation.

* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': The Titans. The more we learn, the more horrible it gets, ''starting'' with misshapen giants who mindlessly attack and eat humans and regenerate from everything except damage to a specific spot. [[spoiler: Titans are actually ''humans'' who manifested the ability to form giant fleshy bodies around themselves from a serum formulated from spinal fluid. The normal titans seen are an intermediary step between humans and Titan Shifters, with the next step being ''eating a previous Shifter alive'' to inherit their power. Full Titan Shifters can also regenerate their human selves, partially transform, and have an ability unique to their Titan Power.]]

* In the New 52 ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'' series, Buddy Baker becomes infused with more power from The Red (the metaphysical manifestation of the Animal Kingdom, and the animal equivalent to ''ComicBook/SwampThing'''s The Green), and his power to use animal abilities is morphed into actually physically manifesting animal characteristics. These transformations are [[BodyHorror visceral and not pleasant to look at]].

** [[spoiler:[[HumanoidAbomination Kyril]]]] is a [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example. Why else would [[spoiler:he be able to sprout out [[TouchTelepathy mind-probing]], [[{{Brainwashing}} mind-controlling]] tendrils [[PartialTransformation out of his arm]]? And that's not getting to the [[YouCantGraspTheTrueForm full extent]] of what he can do.]] As for the origin? Well... [[spoiler:he [[EldritchTransformation turned into]] a [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext squid]] (to be precise, an [[EldritchAbomination infant great one]]) after [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punching out the]] [[VideoGame/BloodBorne Moon Presence]] before the series began.]] Fortunately, [[spoiler:he is able to [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith keep a human form]] and [[VoluntaryTransformation switch to]] his great one form with ease, except that would do [[GoMadFromTheRevelation terrible things]] to anyone and anything around him, so he's not going to do that.]]

'''Non-Physically Affecting, Horrible Perverting of Nature''': This version is when the power or ability has no physical component but what it does and how it works is horrifying {{Squick}} and in defiance of nature. BrainFood would be a good example for when [[PowerParasite someone gains the abilities of others]] by [[PsychicPowers metaphorically]] or [[BrainFood literally]] eating their brains. The same ability could function in the same way by [[SoulEater eating souls]] in place of brains. Another example could be a being that can warp, twist, and shape living organic matter like a perverse sculpter with the resulting monstrosity still alive and begging for death.

* Generally the {{Big Bad}}s from the movies of ''Film/ResidentEvil'' gain this through [[TheVirus the T virus]].