History Main / Mutants

* Mutants born after a suitcase bomb goes off in New Jersey are the protagonists (and antagonists) of Tom [=DeHaven=]'s affecting novel ''Freaks' Amour''.

* ''Literature/LittleMushroom'': The disappearance of the Earth's geomagnetic field caused its inhabitants to become bombarded by cosmic radiation, which has led to ordinary animals mutating into far more powerful and deadly monsters who are capable of passing on the mutation to humans. Humans who become mutated are called "xenogenics" and they're killed on sight by the military officers guarding the human bases due to them almost always losing their human consciousness entirely and caring only about spreading their mutation to as many humans as possible. [[spoiler:It's revealed later on in the story that there's a hidden group of xenogenics who have managed to retain thier human consciousness and the ending has the mutations become stabilized enough that humans can become xenogenics without danger of losing their human will or morality which, coupled with the hidden group of xenogenics helping save the world in the climax, causes xenogenics to become much more accepted with many humans even voluntarily undergoing mutation to gain xenogenic abilities.]]

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* In ''Literature/SuperMinion'', there's the mutavus virus. For most people, it remains dormant their entire lives, but if someone suffers a mortal wound that doesn't kill them instantly, there's a chance it will activate and modify their body in order to save their life. The frightening and [[BodyHorror at times]] [[HorrorHunger gruesome results]], combined with some common misinformation about the nature of mutavus, lead to a lot of FantasticRacism, even though the majority of mutants are no more dangerous or criminally inclined than anyone else.
* Mutants in the ''ComicBook/XMen'' style are the basis of the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. Some tiny fraction of the people who have the 'meta-gene complex' manifest as mutants, [[PubertySuperpower typically around age 14]]. Most of them -- good, bad, or indifferent -- go to [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] to learn how to use their powers and not get murdered by lynch mobs of baselines.

* In ''Literature/FracturedStars'', Starseers are developed from Old Earth colonists on the now-destroyed planet Kir who developed mutations that allowed them to survive the planet's radiation levels, but also gave them psychic powers.
* ''Literature/{{Gladiator}}'' has Hugo Danner who gained SuperStrength and a measure of NighInvulnerability when his borderline MadScientist father injected SuperSerum into his then pregnant mother. Interestingly Hugo's mutations aren't hereditary and the only way any future children of his could gain his powers is through the serum.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[NotUsingTheZedWord Psionics]] in ''Literature/TheDescendants'' are a corner case. While they're born for the most part in the present, it's stated that these mutations were kicked off generations ago by WWII era [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke experiments]].
* ''Literature/EnterTheFarside'': Some Fargraced are born or emerge from the [[EldritchLocation Farside]] with physical deformities. Jolly's gang, the Manc Freakshow, are entirely made up of Mutants. Jolly is a 9-foot-tall hulk with green skin and mossy hair. [[ThirdEye Triclops has three large, black eyes that can operate independently]]. Ooze's body liquids are replaced by an inky substance. [[HalfHumanHybrid Squeeks looks like a man/rat hybrid]], and Aberrant is neckless with four arms that join at his elbows.
* ''Roleplay/FenQuest'' has the land of Erja Nokol, which in addition to having a mutant population is also home to [[MutagenicGoo highly mutagenic tar pools]] that cause even more drastic changes (turning "mutants" into "abominations", as per local terminology) if one ends up submerged in them. Yet some of the unluckiest mutants will willingly take a dip in tar, playing a second round of SuperpowerRussianRoulette on the off chance that the new mutations may improve their lot in life. That's what happened to Tomato: He became a quadruped (without gaining additional arms, which means he doesn't have hands) with a hide covered in poisonous barbs and can't talk without great pain, and as Cheese explains, that was a step ''up'' from what he used to be.

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' has the Case 53s, people used as [[PlayingWithSyringes test subjects]] for Cauldron who have large physical changes to go along with their powers.

* ''Literature/{{Deathlands}}'' has more mutants than you can shake a smoking gun barrel at. After the nuke, humanity and nature both mutated in unpredictable ways. They're shown as either victims of FantasticRacism or the standard sci-fi pulp AlwaysChaoticEvil opponents. The exception to that binary is Krysty Wroth, one of the main heroes, who's a beautiful redhead mutant that's completely human in appearance and her mutations are mostly beneficial such as minor telepathy and trance-induced SuperStrength, her only deleterious mutation is her hair is living and painful when attacked.

* The titular charactrs in ''Literature/TheEarTheEyeAndTheArm'' are from a village whose water source was tainted with radiation; their pregnant mothers drank the water, leading to their unique abilities.

* ''Literature/{{Deathlands}}'' has more mutants than you can shake a smoking gun barrel at. After the nuke, humanity and nature both mutated in unpredictable ways. They're shown as either victims of FantasticRacism or the standard sci-fi pulp AlwaysChaoticEvil opponents. The exception to that binary is Krysty Wroth, one of the main heroes, who's a beautiful redhead mutant that's completely human in appearance and her mutations are mostly beneficial such as minor telepathy and trance-induced SupeStrength, her only deleterious mutation is her hair is living and painful when attacked.

* ''Literature/OrphansOfTheSky'': The "Muties" who live in the lower-gravity parts of the ship seem to have gotten their name both from being descendants of the crewmembers whose [[TheMutiny mutiny]] helped propel the ship into barbarism, but very much also from the word "mutant". The "Muties" include the microcephalic dwarf Bobo; Joe-Jim, a two-headed man -- that is, a pair of conjoined twins, albeit ''very'' closely conjoined -- who is a leader of the "Muties"; and a four-armed woman who serves as a knifemaker for the Mutie community.

* In Creator/GamesWorkshop's ''TabletopGame/ChainsawWarrior'', the cyborg SuperSoldier has to banish [[MadeOfEvil the Darkness]] from New York. Unfortunately, the Darkness has a corrupting effect on its surroundings, leading to the inhabitants of that apartment block turning into zombies and mutants. Worse for the Chainsaw Warrior, the zombies exude venom which can turn humans like the Warrior himself into another zombie. Meanwhile the mutants are highly radioactive and if the Warrior gets too radioactive he'll turn into a mutant too.

* In Creator/GamesWorkshop's ''TabletopGame/ChainsawWarrior'', the cyborg SuperSoldier has to banish [[MadeOfEvil the Darkness]] from New York. Unfortunately, the Darkness has a corrupting effect on its surroundings, leading to the inhabitants of that apartment block turning into zombies and mutants. Worse for the Chainsaw Warrior, these creatures exude a venom on contact. The venom builds up in his system and if it overcomes his endurance, then he'll turn into a mutant himself.

* ''Literature/{{Deathlands}}'' has more mutants than you can shake a smoking gun barrel at. After the nuke, humanity and nature both mutated in unpredictable ways. They're shown as either victims of FantasticRacism or the standard sci-fi pulp AlwaysChaoticEvil opponents.

** There are also some humans with minor mutations amongst the human populace. The Slags in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' are a group of humans who took shelter in subterranean caves -- when they returned to the surface, they found out that their bodies couldn't handle living on the outside. Your own character can get a [[ExtraDigits sixth mutated toe]] by stepping in the [[MutagenicGoo toxic goo]] in the Toxic Caves without protective boots, but you can pay a doctor to amputate it. A man in Gecko was scorned in Vault City and eventually exiled himself because of the way he was mistreated for being very radiation resistant. In ''VideoGame/FalloutTacticsBrotherhoodOfSteel'', one of the enemy groups you fight against is the group of tribals called "The Beastlords", who were mutated by radiation near the caverns where they lived and gained the ability to mind-control most animals near them, except humans and Deathclaws.

** Towards the end of ''Fallout 3'', it is heavily implied that '''everyone''' in the District of Columbia, with the exception of Enclave personnel, has been mutated from radiation -- but most of the mutations are so minor as to be unnoticeable. This theme was already present in ''Fallout 2'', where it's outright stated that everybody in the world apart from the Enclave and the Vault dwellers has gotten various minor mutations due to the persistent background radiation. To the Enclave, who had just been terrified from discovering the ghouls and the super mutants, this was strong grounds for [[FinalSolution planet-wide genocide]].

* In the ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' setting, all creatures that are not artificial GeneticAbominations and weren't altered by some mutagen in life are hereditary mutants of some kind based on some species, from dog to fruit tree. Mutant animals tend to be larger, meaner and less furry versions of the original species.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' setting, all creatures that are not artificial GeneticAbominations are mutants of some kind based on some species, from human to fruit tree.

* In ''VideoGame/{{GU-L}}'', many of the scientists in the mansion are mutated in nightmarish ways, with flailing tentacles and missing limbs.

* In RPG Maker horror game ''VideoGame/{{GU-L}}'', many of the scientists in the mansion are mutated in nightmarish ways, with flailing tentacles and missing limbs.