History Main / MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds

** In the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS35E5TreehouseOfHorrorXXXIV Treehouse of Horror XXXIV]]" segment "Lout Break", Homer disobeys the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's rules against eating on the job, despite Smithers explicity reminding him, and accidentally drops a donut into nuclear waste, but still eats it. This ends up making a mutagenic virus [[MesACrowd which turns all Springfielders]] ([[TheImmune except Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, who already have his DNA]]) [[MesACrowd into clones of himself]]. Professor Frink tries to stop the virus from spreading beyond Springfield, only to also be contaminated, which dooms humanity to succumb to Homerized destruction.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

** Played for maximum effect in the big WHAMEpisode of the first season: [[spoiler:Lelouch experiences PowerIncontinence at the worst possible moment during the Special Administrative Zone when conversing with Euphemia, causing her to interpret a geass command to "kill the Japanese", which incites a massacre of said Japanese that is only stopped when Lelouch [[MercyKill tearfully shoots his sister]]]].
** More of a major territory destroying incident: In Turn 18 of ''Code Geass R2'', Suzaku [[spoiler:accidentally nukes the Tokyo settlement with FLEIJA when his Geass command overrides his wish to die in battle. The explosion kills off 30 million people both directly and indirectly, destroys a large portion of the city and completely shatters the Japanese's trust in Britannia]].

* ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'': While the murder cases can indeed be blamed on the fact that there are characters who are willing to cross those lines [[ForTheEvulz just for the sake of it]], along with the countless presumed executions from the Peacekeepers, [[spoiler:everything that happens between the residents themselves in the game's story are actually the responsibility of the BigBad Makoto Kagutsuchi's refusal to tell the residents they aren't mortal and are in fact a population of immortal homunculi, making him responsible for manslaughter. After all, knowing they're immortal would make them realize they aren't mortal or even human, and therefore would stop them from murdering one another, but his negligence to tell them this leads them all to believe they're still mortal. The likely exception to this may be [[DirtyCop Yomi Hellsmile who commands the Peacekeepers]], since he's too apathetic to care for if the residents are mortal or not.]]

'''Servo:''' Think so. ''(chuckles)''\\
'''Crow:''' Second, uh -- ''[[SuddenlyShouting ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR STUPID ROTTED SKULL, YOU DUMB MAN?!]]''
-->-- ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E14RidingWithDeath Riding With Death]]", after Creator/MikeNelson accidentally blows up a planet... with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDKLscOeuM&t=9m10s a baking soda bomb]]''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

* ''ComicBook/AntMan2022:'' The final issue reveals Black Ant is partially responsible for causing the BadFuture of ''ComicBook/UltronForever'' (where Ultron has become a god, wiped out nearly all of mankind and taken over the universe), simply by accident. He was trying to free the modern day Ultron from the can he'd been stuck in, but inadvertently transporting him into the future and giving him a magic boost hadn't actually been part of either party's plan.
* In an ComicBook/ArchieComics story, Archie and Jughead find a wand discarded by a stage magician and walk around waving it while speculating out loud about the sorts of amusing mischief one could commit with the wand if it had actual, limitless power to do anything. In doing so, they unwittingly cause such mischief to happen. Then Jughead considers a wand that powerful could fall into the hands of an OmnicidalManiac. Waving it, he says, "He'd say, 'Goodbye, cruel world!', [[KilledMidSentence and]]--" The last panel of the story is a BlankWhiteVoid with no dialogue.
* In ''[[ComicBook/NewGods Cosmic Odyssey]]'', [[Franchise/GreenLantern John Stewart]] decides he can stop the planet-destroying bomb by himself, so he traps ComicBook/MartianManhunter, who is at Superman-level power, in a green energy bubble. It turns out the bomb is [[WeaksauceWeakness colored yellow]] and he can't stop it, so the planet is destroyed.
* ComicBook/{{Diabolik}} is this on a small scale: He may be a mass murderer, but he never meant to [[TheDreaded cause mass panic by just having his name mentioned]], or to indirectly cause the plane crash that gave him that fame, or to cause a terrorist attack that, had it been successful, would have started a civil war, or to cause a zombie scare...

* In ''[[ComicBook/DarkEmpire Empire's End]]'', [[spoiler:''[[CuteMachines R2-D2]]'' of all beings manages to blow up The Emperor's Throne World Byss. What makes it this trope is R2 was planning to just to destroy the [[WaveMotionGun Galaxy Gun]] by ramming it with Palatine's flagship. Byss being destroyed as well because The Galaxy Gun was about to fire when he rammed it was an added bonus.]]
* ComicBook/{{Galactus}}, the Franchise/MarvelUniverse eater of worlds, is often portrayed as not exactly evil per-se, but as something of a sentient force of nature (though the question of whether it is possible to be a sentient destructive force of nature without this conferring some degree of "evil" may be a form of CarnivoreConfusion). Additionally, he ''was'' just an average Joe astronaut from the previous universe before the Big Crunch forced him into his new job, so he not only never had any choice in the matter -- he's become desensitized to it over the eons, and acted the trope much more in the beginning.\\
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On the other hand, considering that the alternative to Galactus means [[spoiler:having [[EldritchAbomination Abraxas]] around]], it seems obvious that the universe will happily accept having to deal with Galactus if it means choosing between "systematic destroyer of worlds destroying one every couple of months (Galactus) or a monster that destroys ''everything'' in the same amount of time [[spoiler:(Abraxas)]]". Galactus may end up eating everything, but he keeps it around several billion years more than it would otherwise. That, and Galactus will also start the next Big Bang when the current universe ends, thus giving birth to the new one.\\
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In the past, it's also been implied that, while his hunger drives him to destroy planets (and all life on them), the shattered remains left behind are freed up to form new planets and new life, staving off entropy -- which means that he functions sort of like a cosmic recycler. This is one of the reasons why Reed Richards has come to the conclusion in the past that, ultimately, the universe ''needs'' Galactus. It's assumed that Galactus, being nearly omnipotent, [[ArtisticLicensePhysics can overcome the complications of that plan]].\\
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Depending on how hungry he is and what type of world his diet is this [[strike:[[DependingOnTheWriter writer]]]] week, he may even have the heralds direct him to planets either not inhabited or not inhabited by sapient life, so he definitely does all he can to minimize suffering when alternatives are available. If he has to eat an inhabited planet, at least he's nice enough to have his heralds give a planet advanced warning to evacuate before he comes over for dinner. True, it's usually a week or two before the end rather than the decades or centuries an evacuation of such scale would take, but it's the thought that counts.
* ComicBook/JeanGrey, impersonated by the Phoenix Force, caused a sun to go nova in order to feed off the energy. A planet of sentient broccoli-looking people was destroyed in the process. [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.]]
* The bounty hunter ComicBook/{{Lobo}}, of DC fame, has blown up several planets, at least one star system, countless species, and an entire universe. All by accident though (save his own planet; he destroyed it on purpose), owing to nothing but apathy and a habit of leaving high explosives lying around. Not that he wouldn't have blown them all up anyway given the chance...
* Valiant's rendition of ComicBook/DoctorSolar has this; a nuclear physicist is given power over atomic forces - he severely underestimates the inherent power of this and accidentally destroys the world in short order. He fixes it later.
* In an out-of-continuity, SuperheroEpisode issue of ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'', Freddie Femur is a bumbling villain who purchases a DoomsdayDevice, intending merely to [[TakeOverTheWorld hold the world hostage]] with it. When he trips while carrying it, however, he accidentally sets the device off, destroying the planet and pissing off [[CelestialBureaucracy Saint Peter]] by flooding the gates of {{Heaven}} with several billion souls at once.
* Bebop and Rocksteady become this in the aptly named ''Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything'' miniseries of ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIDW''. The two end of screwing around with a time scepter they stole from [[EvilSorcerer Savanti Romero]] and their shenanigans quickly start tearing apart the time stream, creating a TimeCrash that threatens to destroy all of reality.
* A parody of Galactus can be seen in Omnipotus from ''ComicBook/TheTick'' -- a rather dim-witted planet eater who is talked out of destroying the earth and into taking a bite out of the moon instead.
* Franchise/WonderWoman defeats Ares early in ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Volume 2]]'' by simply ensnaring him in her golden lariat, forcing him to see what would happen if he successfully destroyed the world: he'd have no one to worship him or serve him.
* In ''ComicBook/ZombiesChristmasCarol'', [[spoiler:by spreading the Hungry Death plague through his selfishness and callousness, Scrooge nearly single-handedly destroys the world and wipes out mankind]].

** In the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS35E5TreehouseOfHorrorXXXIV Treehouse of Horror XXXIV]]" segment "Loutbreak", Homer disobeys the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's rules against eating on the job, despite Smithers explicity reminding him, and accidentally drops a donut into nuclear waste, but still eats it. This ends up making a mutagenic virus [[MesACrowd which turns all Springfielders]] ([[TheImmune except Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, who already have his DNA]]) [[MesACrowd into clones of himself]]. Professor Frink tries to stop the virus from spreading beyond Springfield, only to also be contaminated, which dooms humanity to succumb to Homerized destruction.

* This trope is named for the human lead of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', a basically lovable buffoon who, over the course of one season, destroys three planets, always by accident. In "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E15AgentForHARM Agent for H.A.R.M.]]", Mike gets tried for destroying worlds, and is sentenced to death -- but his sentence is commuted because he's an amiable lug and instead is remitted to community service aboard the S.O.L.

* [[WebAnimation/NigelAndMarmalade Nigel the Tiny Wizard]] always tries his best to help everyone. However, he never thinks of the consequences of using his magic to help people (not that the wisher usually thinks about them, either), so while they get exactly what they wished for, it is most likely to get them maimed, stranded or killed.

->''(during a flashback of Zim wreaking havoc in a HumongousMecha)''\\
'''Attendant:''' But, sir! We're still on our home planet!\\
'''[[LethallyStupid Zim]]:''' SILENCE! Twist those knobs! Twist those knobs! You! Pull some levers! Pull some levers! ''(laughs maniacally)''\\
''(end flashback)''\\
'''Zim:''' I put the fires out.\\
'''Tallest Red:''' You made them ''worse''!\\
'''Zim:''' [[InsaneTrollLogic Worse? ...Or, better?]]
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim,'' "[[Recap/InvaderZimS1E1TheNightmareBegins The Nightmare Begins]]"

->'''Crow:''' Okay. Two things, Mike. First, uh... well, you blew up another planet, obviously.\\
'''Servo:''' Yep.\\
'''Crow:''' What's that, three for you now?\\
'''Servo:''' Think so. ''(chuckles)''\\
'''Crow:''' Second, uh -- ''[[SuddenlyShouting ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR STUPID ROTTED SKULL, YOU DUMB MAN?!]]''
-->-- ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E14RidingWithDeath Riding With Death]]", after Creator/MikeNelson accidentally blows up a planet... with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDKLscOeuM&t=9m10s a baking soda bomb]]''.

* In Creator/KurtVonnegut's ''Literature/CatsCradle'', Dr. Felix Hoenikker invents Ice-9 to help U.S. Marines turn mud into something they can walk on. The world-destroying potential seems never to have occurred to him. Simply, Ice-9 is virtually unmeltable, unbreakable ice thanks to its super-high melting point that lets it remains frozen even at tropical temperatures (although several scenes show folks cooking Ice-9 over a flame to melt it into drinkable water). And it turns all water it touches-into Ice-9. [[spoiler:And then it falls in the ocean.]] Scientists have created ''actual'' Ice IX -- which is to say a ninth possible arrangement of molecules within the ice crystal -- but it has no special properties, and in fact can't exist outside a narrow band of pressure and temperature (around -200 degrees F).

* The protagonist becomes this in the secret endings of both ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'' and [[VideoGame/Kindergarten2 its sequel]]. [[spoiler:The games both have a CollectionSidequest where you innocently collect [[FictionalCounterpart Monstermon cards]]. Once you've collected them all, you can bring them to Nugget. He'll perform some sort of ritual involving them, then take the protagonist to watch as [[RedSkyTakeWarning the sky turns red]] and the rest of the cast systematically get killed via BoltOfDivineRetribution (or in the sequel, half of them getting dusted ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'' style and the ''other'' half getting blasted), followed by a SequelHook.]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', Homer [[ItMakesSenseInContext being too lazy, too impatient, and too hungry for donuts to obey Marge's demand to properly dispose of a silo of "pig crap" causes Springfield to be quarantined from the rest of the world in a giant dome]].

'''Crow:''' Second, uh -- ''ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR STUPID ROTTED SKULL, YOU DUMB MAN!?''

** LetsPlay/{{Sjin}}, in the ''WebVideo/{{Voltz|Yogcast}}'' series, decided to test out some of the explosives in the mod pack, eventually working up to ''red matter''. The result was a VerySpecialEpisode dubbed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ohslGivm8 "The Bomb"]]. Thirty minutes of death and destruction later:

* LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}}:
** LetsPlay/{{Sjin}}, in the LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}}'s [[WebVideo/YogscastMinecraftSeries series]] of the ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' mod pack Voltz, decided to test out some of the explosives in the pack, eventually working up to ''red matter''. The result was a VerySpecialEpisode dubbed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ohslGivm8 "The Bomb"]]. Thirty minutes of death and destruction later:

** The Yogscast (specifically Lewis, Duncan and LetsPlay/SimonLane) do this again in "Hole Diggers", when their space station [[spoiler:eventually comes close to wrecking their factory headquarters with the mining laser, destroying one of the islands in the archipelago and nearly doing the same to their base. Only the destruction of the Dwarf Star stops it.]]

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': What was it that [[RageBreakingPoint enraged Majin Buu so much]] that [[EnemyWithout he expelled all of his inner evil until it took a physical form]], [[SuperpoweredEvilSide absorbed his good counterpart]], [[KillAllHumans wiped out all of humanity within a minute or two]] and eventually [[EarthShatteringKaboom blew up the Earth]] for [[ForTheEvulz shits and giggles]]? Oh, right: a nihilistic GunNut shooting Mr. Satan after the latter had befriended Majin Buu. [[NeverMyFault Because he had the audacity to beat up said Gun Nut]] in retaliation for ''[[KickTheDog shooting Majin Buu's dog]]''. Because with the world seemingly about to end, he apparently had nothing better to do than to go shooting everyone he could find and then [[BullyingADragon pick a fight]] with the greatest EldritchAbomination the Earth had ever seen.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': What was it that [[RageBreakingPoint enraged Majin Buu so much]] that [[EnemyWithout he expelled all of his inner evil until it took a physical form]], [[SuperpoweredEvilSide absorbed his good counterpart]], [[KillAllHumans wiped out all of humanity within a minute or two]] and eventually [[EarthShatteringKaboom blew up the Earth]] for [[ForTheEvulz shits and giggles]]? Oh, right: a GunNut shooting Mr. Satan after the latter had befriended Majin Buu. [[NeverMyFault Because he had the audacity to beat up said Gun Nut]] in retaliation for ''[[KickTheDog shooting Majin Buu's dog]]''.

* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' has Ted Faro. [[spoiler:The [[Fiction500 world's first trillionaire]] at the head of Faro Automated Solutions was first known as the "man who saved the world" as his company was at the forefront of the Great Clawback, an effort to undo the critical ecological collapse that nearly occurred, through mass use of automation and AI. And then he saw a more lucrative market in automated military hardware. His cutting-edge Horus line involved killer robots (or "[[InsistentTerminology Peacekeepers]]") that were unhackable in any humanly feasible timeframe, had a self-repair/manufacture functionality, had an apparatus to hack and override any other enemy automaton, and a means to harvest biomass (''any'' biomass) for fuel. Add in a software glitch that made them go rogue, and he effectively destroyed all life on Earth. '''''AND THEN'''''... when Dr. Elisabet Sobeck, a former disillusioned colleague of his who devised Project Zero Dawn to restart life after the end, sacrifices herself to fix a break that threatened the secrecy of the project from the Swarms, the verbal browbeating she regularly inflicted on him to keep him reined in is gone. After that, he becomes nihilistically unhinged (probably by the guilt of being this trope), remotely deletes Apollo, the component of the Project meant to teach the Second Humanity all the knowledge gathered by the First, and then remotely murders all the Alphas (the dream team of geniuses that were department heads) to ensure that they can't rebuild it.]]
** ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'': [[spoiler:(Far) Zenith manages to collectively out-stupid Ted by creating a ''galaxy-wide'' threat. [[TheElitesJumpShip They used their vast riches to build a generation ship to another planet]], then spent centuries as immortal vacationers. Which would be disgusting but okay - except they spent all that time ''torturing AI''. Their most powerful and insane creation, Nemesis, was locked away instead of deleted because they wanted to experiment on the effects of long-term isolation. It went completely insane - and realized all-too-late that it could simply use old passwords ''[[TooDumbToLive because Zenith never changed their passwords for centuries]]''. The entire planet was consumed in ''hours'', and it has spent the past two decades chasing the survivors and building a super-armada with the mad obsession of erasing all traces of its former creators, especially the present-day humans.]]

Not to be confused with WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, who wants to destroy everything because of past mistreatment. Can be considered a subtrope of NiceJobBreakingItHero.

** On that note,[[spoiler: [[AbsentMindedProfessor Dr Vegapunk himself also qualifies, as he has a bad habit of not really [[DidntThinkThisThrough thinking things through in his pursuit for knowledge]]. This is implied (and theorized in-universe) to be how and why Imu got their hands on the [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Mother Flame]], with was capable of annihilating Lulusia Kingdom, with the additional implication that that was NotTheIntendedUse.]]