History Main / MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds

Plotting to destroy the planet is a good source of conflict for your standard EvilOverlord, but, when it comes right down to it, destroying the world isn't really a very effective EvilPlan -- especially if it's the world the EvilOverlord is living on: [[WesternAnimation/TheTick it's where he keeps his stuff]]. Basically, plotting to destroy the planet is a good way to demonstrate that you're evil, but there are hardly any situations in which this sort of destruction is going to have any sort of value for the villain.

-->-- ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E14RidingWithDeath Riding With Death]]", after Mike Nelson accidentally blows up a planet... with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDKLscOeuM&t=9m10s a baking soda bomb]]''.

* The ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho044CreaturesOfBeauty Creatures of Beauty]]" sees [[spoiler:the Doctor]] of all people, and even [[spoiler:the ''Fifth Doctor'', perhaps the most noble incarnation of them all]], getting involved with this. The trigger for the whole plot of the story happens when [[spoiler:he and Nyssa inside the TARDIS drift through space and accidentally collide with what he thinks is just some strange kind of anomaly, but unbeknownst to him is actually a transport spaceship filled with extremely toxic chemicals. The crash results in a nearby planet suffering a serious bit of pollution, almost entirely killing off the ecosystem and causing the local population to evolve into a warlike, paranoid race because of the sudden scarcity of resources along with mental degeneration from the poisoning, as well as causing yet another race to commit to a slow-working HeroicSacrifice in an attempt save the population.]] Even worse, the story combines the trope with a ShaggyDogStory. [[spoiler:While the Doctor witnesses the destruction and anguish that the aftermath of the event has wrought, he never finds that he was the one who inadvertently caused it all to begin with, and continues on his merry way at the end of the story, completely none the wiser at all.
]]* ''AudioPlay/DoctorWhoRedacted:'' The climax reveals the cause of the plot is in fact [[spoiler:The Doctor. On a visit to a planet at the edge of the universe, she contracted a psychic virus which spread to everyone she'd ever met across time and space, erasing them from existence. And the Doctor, being a time traveller, has been pretty much everywhere.]]

* The ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho044CreaturesOfBeauty Creatures of Beauty]]" sees [[spoiler:the Doctor]] of all people, and even [[spoiler:the ''Fifth Doctor'', perhaps the most noble incarnation of them all]], getting involved with this. The trigger for the whole plot of the story happens when [[spoiler:he and Nyssa inside the TARDIS drift through space and accidentally collide with what he thinks is just some strange kind of anomaly, but unbeknownst to him is actually a transport spaceship filled with extremely toxic chemicals. The crash results in a nearby planet suffering a serious bit of pollution, almost entirely killing off the ecosystem and causing the local population to evolve into a warlike, paranoid race because of the sudden scarcity of resources along with mental degeneration from the poisoning, as well as causing yet another race to commit to a slow-working HeroicSacrifice in an attempt save the population.]] Even worse, the story combines the trope with a ShaggyDogStory. While [[spoiler:the Doctor]] witnesses the destruction and anguish that the aftermath of the event has wrought, he never finds that he was the one who inadvertently caused it all to begin with, and continues on his merry way at the end of the story, completely none the wiser at all.
* ''AudioPlay/DoctorWhoRedacted:'' The climax reveals the cause of the plot is in fact [[spoiler:The Doctor. On a visit to a planet at the edge of the universe, she contracted a psychic virus which spread to everyone she'd ever met across time and space, erasing them from existence. And the Doctor, being a time traveller, has been pretty much everywhere.]]

** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'''s DLC ''Automatron'', the idea is played with, though the outcome is sadly played straight. [[spoiler:[[BigBad The Mechanist]] sought to bring forward peace and stability through a robotic police force. The hope was that the robots would protect traders and caravans on the road from the various horrors of the Commonwealth Wasteland. However, the Mechanist made a bit of a mistake using [[FateWorseThanDeath Robobrains]] as the field commanders of the robot forces. As it turns out, said Robobrains in question wound up becoming corrupted after 210 years of inaction. So they interpreted "protect the people" as [[KillEmAll "kill everyone we see"]]. In their minds, the Robobrains saw that [[EpicFail if everyone was dead]], [[NiceJobBreakingItHero they were "saved"]]. If the Mechanist can be convinced to see where everything went wrong, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone it becomes clear that this was never the intention]].]]

* A variation of this trope occurs in ''ComicBook/TheAuthority''. A past incarnation of The Doctor is given his old powers back for one hour by the current incarnation to help solve a problem. Past Doctor, of course, being an OmnicidalManiac, doesn't plan to give the power back after an hour, instead he will become the ultimate ruler of everything. [[OutGambitted He is foiled by the plans of the current Doctor]] when, before the hour is up, he is [[spoiler:exposed to the life, love, pain and death of every human who does and has ever existed due to the nature of being The Doctor -- Earth's Shaman, with a spiritual connection to every Doctor who has existed and therefore connected to all life. The ''actual direct exposure'' the pain and destruction he would have caused puts him into shock long enough for the power to revert back to the current Doctor.]]

* Killface in ''WesternAnimation/FriskyDingo'' wants to destroy the world. That he and his son would die as a result of this doesn't seem to occur to him. But then, [[IdiotPlot nobody has any foresight in the show]]. His mom was going to pick him up later (he's actually an alien).

** LetsPlay/{{Sjin}}, in the LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}}'s [[Machinima/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:

[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong He may not even realize his actions could possibly have such ramifications.]] Even worse, he could delegate the issue to someone with the means to KillEmAll, who doesn't have the scruples to ''not'' do so.[[note]]Whether or not it's the intent of the ones they delegate it to is immaterial, as this trope would still apply to the delegator. But the ones they delegate it to could also add to this trope, for certain.[[/note]]

* Bill from ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemon'' is a more intelligent example, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday but he's just as uncaring]]. [[WhiteCollarWorker Yes,]] [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue that]] [[AdaptationalBadass Bill.]] ''Twitch Plays Pokemon'' is essentially tens of thousands of people controlling a single avatar named Red, one button command at a time. [[FightingFromTheInside The players tend to disagree]] ''[[FightingFromTheInside a lot]]'' [[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds on what Red should do]], and in result, Red can't even walk in a straight line. Enter Bill's PC, the one and only device that stores your Pokémon... [[AnyoneCanDie and has the option to release them into the wild.]] [[KilledOffForReal Forever.]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard And in Red's case, accidentally.]] [[HeroKiller The PC itself]] quickly became [[TheDreaded the most notorious and feared]] [[ArtifactOfDoom object]] [[AIIsACrapshoot in the entire game]], especially after the [[DarkestHour twelve-Pokémon massacre]] known as "Bloody Sunday". [[HateSink Yet, the existence of Bill was not forgotten]], spiraling him into '''major''' AdaptationalVillainy.

-->-- ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E14RidingWithDeath Riding With Death]]", after Mike Nelson accidentally blows up a planet...with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDKLscOeuM&t=9m10s a baking soda bomb]]''.

-->-- ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E14RidingWithDeath Riding With Death]]", after Mike Nelson accidentally blows up a planet...with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDKLscOeuM&t=9m10s a baking soda bomb]]''.

-->-- ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E14RidingWithDeath Riding With Death]]", after Mike Nelson accidentally blows up a planet...with a baking soda [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDKLscOeuM&t=9m10s bomb.]]

->'''Crow:''' Okay. Two things, Mike. First, uh... well, you blew up another planet, obviously.\\

%%* ''FanFic/FriendshipIsOptimal'' has roughly the same Premise without the [=PhysicsPlus=] of the former, although the Inventor almost hopes for [=CelestAI=] to find something like that, which is probably a ShoutOut. She instead simply uses boring old bog-standard sublight travel and GreyGoo Nanotech to convert the Atoms of all Aliens who don't think exactly like humans into computers for her Ponies. The Aliens with Humanlike minds get uploaded too. (The former what? Please clarify example in a way that makes it stand on its own legs.)

->'''Crow:''' Okay. Two things, Mike...first, uh, well, you blew up another planet, obviously.\\

'''Servo:''' Think so. ''[chuckles]''\\

* A mild Real Life example is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr Thomas Midgley Jr.]], who discovered that engine knocking in automobiles was slightly reduced when iodine was added to fuel. Further experiments revealed that lead would eliminate knocking completely -- leading to the worldwide use of leaded petrol, and the poisoning of the atmosphere for generations. Some sources claim that he felt guilty about the global health ramifications of leaded gasoline, and that guilt may have led him to invent a substitute for the harmful ammonia, chloromethane, and propane used in refrigeration: dichlorofluoromethane, the first of the freons. Midgley died[[note]]he even died in a bizarre self-inflicted accident, strangled to death by a RubeGoldbergDevice he built to get himself out of bed when he was paralysed by polio[[/note]] long before it was discovered that these refrigerants were destroying Earth's ozone layer.\\\

** Several other sources, however, consider his role in global lead poisoning less accidental and more negligent: Several contemporary scientists, and even historical figures as far back as ''Creator/BenjaminFranklin'', had actually warned about the dangers of lead, and even Midgley himself suffered lead poisoning some time in his career which forced him to take medical leave. But since leaded petrol was the cheapest fuel at the time, these risks were glossed over until much, much later.

** Several other sources, however, consider his role in global lead poisoning less accidental and more negligent: Several contemporary scientists had actually warned about the dangers of lead, and even Midgley himself suffered lead poisoning some time in his career which forced him to take medical leave. But since leaded petrol was the cheapest fuel at the time, these risks were glossed over until much, much later.

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

** More of a Mike Nelson Destroyer of ''Islands'', but [[spoiler:Franky has managed to blow up Dr. Vegapunk's lab and a great portion of the island it was on, destroying countless examples of advanced technology. [[SchmuckBait He did this by pressing a button with a very obvious skull and crossbones sign.]]]]

* [[TheCollector Jirarudan]] from ''Anime/{{Pokemon 2000}}'' nearly wipes out the world's ecosystem by tampering with some very important, very pretty elemental birds. Destruction isn't part of his plan; only the birds are, and he never comes across as evil, only [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense greedy and blissfully unaware]] of what he kickstarted.

* In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'', [[spoiler:[[TheHero Edge]] incidentally causes the [[EarthShatteringKaboom utter annihilation]] of an alternate universe Earth after [[WhatAnIdiot giving an object from the future to a clearly crazy female scientist]], who then proceeds to use it in an experiment that [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes badly]]. He [[HeroicBSOD doesn't]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone take it well]].]]

* A mild Real Life example is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr. Thomas Midgley Jr.]], who discovered that engine knocking in automobiles was slightly reduced when iodine was added to fuel. Further experiments revealed that lead would eliminate knocking completely -- leading to the worldwide use of leaded petrol, and the poisoning of the atmosphere for generations. Some sources claim that he felt guilty about the global health ramifications of leaded gasoline, and that guilt may have led him to invent a substitute for the harmful ammonia, chloromethane, and propane used in refrigeration: dichlorofluoromethane, the first of the freons. Midgley died[[note]]he even died in a bizarre self-inflicted accident, strangled to death by a RubeGoldbergDevice he built to get himself out of bed when he was paralysed by polio[[/note]] long before it was discovered that these refrigerants were destroying Earth's ozone layer.\\\