History Main / PersonOfMassDestruction

* The Comicbook/IncredibleHulk is one of the earliest examples. Like Godzilla, he was created by a bomb, and some adaptations literally compare him to the atomic weapon that spawned him; for example, the shockwaves he creates from smashing things are compared to the blast wave of a nuke.
* As is his [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent DC Comics pastiche]] Goraiko, who is of Japanese origin and even has an attack shaped like a mushroom cloud.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''. While ''exactly'' how powerful he is varies DependingOnTheWriter, he fits this trope in every incarnation since [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the original]].
** The Silver Age version of Superman took this to the extreme, being capable of destroying entire solar systems by sneezing (no, that is NotHyperbole).
** Even the ''less'' powerful Post-Crisis Superman has been shown to be capable of imparting an ''infinite'' amount of damage to an opponent and causing nuclear winter by falling from a sufficient height - ''and surviving''.
** In ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', "Ronnie" tells the American people not to worry about rising tensions with the Soviet Union because God is on their side, or (wink) the next best thing anyhow.
** At the end of ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', [[spoiler:Superman is one of the few survivors of an atomic bomb that takes out a good chunk of the DCU's superhero population. He then sets off towards the UN, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge fully aware that they're the ones who called in the strike on him]]. The UN's collective reaction: [[OhCrap "Oh,]] ''[[PrecisionFStrike fuck]]''."]]
** In ''Comicbook/WarWorld'', Superman and Supergirl face up to a star-sized satellite armed with weapons capable of blowing up entire solar systems. Kara breaks it down by colliding with it at incalculable speed, and Kal detonates it.
** ''Comicbook/KryptoniteNevermore'': In the last issue Superman sees a vision in where he and the Sandman Superman destroy the Earth during a fight. It freaks him out to the point he no longer wants to get his full power back.

* The original 1940s ''All-Star Comics'' had a story where the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica started fighting in the war, logical issues aside. This was {{retcon}}ned to be [[AllJustADream a hallucination]] to which they were subjected when captured by psychic supervillain Brain Wave. GreenLantern was shown horrified at the destruction he had caused in order to defeat the Japanese, uttering the line "I have become death, destroyer of worlds," a quote known for its use by Robert Oppenheimer (originally quoted[[hottip:*: It's often said "incorrectly" since it doesn't appear exactly that way in any English translation; but it's a perfectly legitimate translation modulo a bit of poetic license. It doesn't appear in any published translation because he had been reading it in the original Sanskrit, and translated that passage on the fly.]] from the Bhagavad Gita) after the first deployment of the atom bomb.
** This was taken further in the {{Elseworld}} story ''ComicBook/TheGoldenAge'', in which Franchise/GreenLantern witnesses the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and, realizing that his power is on par with the atom bomb, puts his ring away and retires in the belief that no human deserves to wield such power. His reluctant return at the end of the story to combat the archvillain is his [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome shining moment]], and one of the few times in or out of continuity we truly see how much Alan Scott means to Franchise/TheDCU.
* ''ComicBook/{{Flare}}'' stories, online since the fourth quarter of 2007, feature Marian Press, a literal "Blonde Bombshell".

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bolt Black Bolt]] of ComicBook/TheInhumans, whose voice is so powerful that a small whisper can kill. A shout could awaken volcanoes and cause earthquakes on the ''other'' side of the planet. His birth cries devastated a city. He fears his own powers so much that he's taken a lifelong vow of silence...but when he declares war, he ''really declares "War."''
** In the ''ComicBook/WarOfKings'' storyline he and the Inhumans do go to war against the Shi'ar and their emperor Vulcan (aka Gabriel Summers), who is also a Person Of Mass Destruction and AxCrazy to boot. What happens when two of these forces collide? [[spoiler:Both are apparently dead by the end of the story.]]
** As of recent issues, [[spoiler:Black Bolt has come back while Vulcan is still MIA.]]
* In the ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' storyline in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Scarlet Witch ends up becoming one of these, and is somewhat obedient, at first.
** The Avengers are worried that her son, [[ComicBook/YoungAvengers Wiccan]], might follow in her footsteps. The worst he's done is put a few baddies into temporary comas, but that was enough to make them uneasy. Of course, part of the reason they're uneasy about it is because he ''didn't mean to do it''. He took out twenty guys, all armed with guns and nukes, as a ''knee-jerk reaction'' to his boyfriend being in danger. He wasn't even aware of what he'd done until afterwards. And then it turns out that he's [[spoiler:the [[PhysicalGod Demiurge]], who, at his peak, is capable of stepping outside of the multiverse and rearranging it to his liking]]. On top of ''that''...
-->'''Loki:''' You're a [[spoiler:singular multidimensional messiah]]. You're going to [[spoiler:rewrite the rules of magic and all the implications of that decision are going to echo forward and backward across all realities]]. [[BlatantLies It's no biggie]].
--->[[[{{Beat}} beat]]]
-->'''Billy:''' '''''[[BigWhat WHAT?]]'''''
* The term is used in reference to ComicBook/TheUltimates in the first issue of ''Ultimates 2'', after ComicBook/CaptainAmerica single-handedly frees hostages in the Middle East; the world is worried that the US government might start using the Ultimates in politically-motivated conflicts. Gee, ya think?

** ComicBook/JeanGrey, in any incarnation when she takes on the codename Phoenix. In ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', Jean destroyed a star, snuffing out the billions of lives on an orbiting planet. In the end of that story, she realized [[WhatHaveIBecome what she would become]] and chose the more tragic option of committing suicide.

* That goes even more for Franklin Richards. The son of Reed and Sue of the ComicBook/FantasticFour is, at his full potential, one of the most powerful beings in the universe, able to warp reality on a wider scale than even ''any'' Phoenix host. A psychic PowerLimiter was placed on him to keep him from, well, rewriting reality in his sleep, so at any given point he has PsychicPowers that vary in scope depending on the era (or alternate future version.) Without it, he's created entire realities. ''Every'' other Marvel character on this list takes this kid ''very'' seriously.
* ComicBook/TheSpectre. The Wrath of God, Old Testament-style. Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Annihilated an entire country. And sank modern-day Atlantis.
** But arguably, not a person but a force... he traditionally becomes ''less'' dangerous when he inhabits a human host. If you manage to push that human to the breaking point, however, the Spectre starts getting Biblical again.
* ComicBook/BlackAdam, when pissed off, is quite literally a one-man war. He managed to get a good portion of the DCU united against him just to stop him. In the process of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge, he annihilated ''an entire fucking country''. He also managed to hold off the JLA, the JSA, the Teen Titans, and the Great Ten all at once, not to mention single-handedly killing off the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that were sent to kill him in the first place.
* ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' has ComicBook/CaptainAtom's protective armour torn off, releasing enough radioactive fallout to sterilize several Midwestern states.
** Monarch is effectively Captain Atom's SuperpoweredEvilSide, amped up by a factor of 50. When Superman-Prime ripped open his armour, it annihilated a ''universe''.
* In ''ComicBook/SupremePower'', Marvel's AlternateCompanyEquivalent and {{Deconstruction}} of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, when Mark Milton aka Hyperion (SupermanSubstitute) learns that his whole life has been controlled by the United States government, the head of the project discusses what an angry high-powered FlyingBrick could do. To adequately describe the casualty rate that Mark can inflict from THE ATTACK ALONE (not factoring in all the deaths from various infrastructure failures that result from the attack and cut-off supply lines making aid impossible) one researcher uses the term "Mega-deaths". At one point, he is traced by the Richter Scale vibrations he causes with his attacks! They are very graphic in the images as well.
* Depending on the author, Jack of Hearts from the Marvel Universe has been considered this. His powers came from every cell of his body being infused with an experimental power substance called "Zero fluid." Without his suit, designed to channel and control the energy he generates, he would effectively turn into a small sun (he has been {{retcon}}ned enough that this is probably no longer canon).
* Max, from ''ComicBook/SamAndMax'', has been called the most violent force in the universe by the Season 1 BigBad.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'' 90's favorite ComicBook/{{Gambit}} actually turns out to be this. It's implied at from the beginning -- his mutant power is having a version of TheMagicTouch that lets him convert anything he touches into an explosive. Something the size of a playing card becomes a handy grenade, and the bigger it is, the more bang it provides. It turns out he actually had brain surgery from Mister Sinister to ''tone his powers down'', and if he hadn't, he'd be an [[PhysicalGod Omega level mutant]]. We meet an alternate version of Gambit who never had the surgery. He calls himself New Sun. Because he lost control of his powers and ended up turning into an EnergyBeing, and, as an unintentional side effect, ''vaporizing the entire planet Earth in an instant''.
* The alien robot ComicBook/{{Neutro}}.
* Marvel's ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' was kicked off when Nitro, previously a C-List villain whose power was to "explode", detonated with the force of a low yield nuke. This levelled a small town and brought the attention and ire of the general public down on the heads of superheroes everywhere. (Amazingly enough, at no point in the ''Civil War'' storyline did anyone ever utter the line "It's all Nitro's fault".)
** Unless you count the Wolverine Civil War tie in dedicated to him trying to hunt down Nitro. Which revealed that the reason Nitro was able to cause so much damage is that he was using "[[FantasticDrug Mutant Growth Hormone]]", the superpower equivalent to steroids. But the actual main comic itself, yup.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse also has Robert Reynolds, aka ComicBook/TheSentry, who has the power of "[[UpToEleven a million exploding suns]]". Easily the strongest individual on Earth (matched only by ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk or ComicBook/TheMightyThor, and following his resurrection as the Horseman of Death, he's a step beyond even them), capable of [[FlyingBrick flight, super speed, super strength]]; and those are just the powers he uses most often. The SuperpowerLottery made him [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentry_(Robert_Reynolds)#Powers_and_abilities quite rich]]... but also ''seriously'' unhinged, with a (very chatty) SuperpoweredEvilSide. Not to mention that at one point he was taking directions from [[ManipulativeBastard Norman Osborn]].
** As Death, he becomes powerful enough to singlehandedly stop the descent of Exitar the Exterminator, one of the Celestials. You know, one the beings that easily handle an Odin powered Destroyer and take all of Thor's strength to even crack.
* ComicBook/SolarManOfTheAtom in both the Creator/ValiantComics and Creator/DarkHorseComics versions.
* ''ComicBook/ADistantSoil'' has Seren, Liana, and Jason.
* ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'': Viltrumites are an army of conquering {{Flying Brick}}s.
* In the 2006 ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'' series, the scarab grafted onto Jaime Reyes's spine has an arsenal that includes everything from nukes to a BFG that has "potential theological implications." It's likely only by the virtue of Jaime being IncorruptiblePurePureness that the world isn't already a burnt cinder.
** Unfortunately, the scarab is one of many, seeded throughout the universe to aid their masters, the Reach, in conquering or destroying planets - and on most of those worlds, they easily managed to overwhelm their hosts. Jaime managed to escape that fate because his scarab was malfunctioning, but it's still dangerous, even so.
* Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} and ComicBook/MartianManhunter villain Despero has become a walking engine of psychokinetic destruction following his various rebirths and power-ups. It regularly takes multiple teams to even ''slow'' him. Sending a single team after him is downright suicidal.
** According to a dossier Lobo was given on him, he has personally killed approximately 5.6 billion individuals on various planets.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}'s foe Doomsday. All there in the name really. It's basically on a mission to wipe out literally every other living thing in universe with his bare hands and just about capable of pulling it off.
** And sometimes his hands aren't even required. "Adult" Doomsday possesses [[InstantDeathRadius a deadly aura]]; he once killed over a million animals and made wildebeests an endangered species in the span of twenty minutes simply by walking past them.
* The Plutonian in ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}''. Max Damage compared Tony's city-wrecking rampage to the wrath of God; he annihilates Singapore and burns a path of destruction across the entire North American continent. Later in the series, as the Plutonian "evolves" to become even more powerful, he gains the ability to cause nuclear explosions with a snap of his fingers.
* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, the most recent definition of "Omega" Mutant is any mutant that could potentially be a Person of Mass Destruction. ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, a mutant who could move entire cities with his mind, is considered one under this definition. The most commonly brought up example of this is Jean in Phoenix mode, so we're talking off the charts. Expect widespread control of matter or natural forces down to the sub-atomic levels, full on RealityWarper status, a [[ComboPlatterPowers grab bag of powers that]] would make ComicBook/Superman jealous, or god help you, ''all of the above.'' However, [[HoldingBackThePhlebotinum for one reason or another]] few can use this power to its fullest whenever they want and with no drawbacks.
* Most of the superhumans from ComicBook/{{Supergod}} count as this. Krishna was able to kill over a billion people in a few short days using his nanotechnology, and easily reversed a massive nuclear attack from Pakistan (destroying Pakistan in the process). Jerry Craven is a "walking atomic bulldozer" that is dropped from a plane like a bomb; the impacts of his punches cause shockwaves that are lethal to any human within a mile. Maitreya was able to [[spoiler:gruesomely convert a large part of the population of China and India into a giant Cthulhu monster]]. Malak is able to project a field around himself that disintegrates all it touches. This last one is illustrated quite poignantly when Krishna [[spoiler:launches him into the Moon and he cuts a hole clean through and out the other side.]]
** The supergod Dajjal's only attack seems to be suicidally detonating himself – but the blast is sufficient to destroy most of Asia.
* Starfire from ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'', some people are even worried that she may be a radioactive hazard.[[spoiler: Made scarier when something designed to drain her powers fails to do so!]]
** She destroyed a group of tanks without even appearing to be winded and then casually asked Jason if there was anything else she could do for him.
* [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} The Decepticons]] in ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW continuity have specialized soldiers called "Phase-Sixers", tasked with razing entire planets to the ground ''by themselves.'' Their ranks consist of Sixshot, Black Shadow, and Overlord. [[spoiler: At least until Overlord decided to go rogue.]]
** For a little perspective, Overlord only considered calling for support when faced with the combined forces of ''an entire stellar empire''.
* One Post Crisis Franchise/{{Batman}} comic had a one shot TragicMonster appropriately named "Bomb" who had the power to create small explosions at will from an unknown distance and was unstable, thus if jarred would involuntarily explode with the force of 3 or 4 thermonuclear warheads. The "tragic" part comes from Bomb just being an gentle young woman who has powers she can't control.
* The "battleship"-class superhumans from ''ComicBook/{{Uber}}'' are basically walking, reusable nukes. Battleship Siegfried wipes out an entire Soviet army by ''looking'' at it, while Battleship Sieglinde casually reduces central Paris to smoking rubble.
* Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/{{OMAC}}'' ([[FunWithAcronyms literally]] [[OneManArmy One Man Army Corps]]) hits this when boosted by the power of Brother Eye. Without it, he can casually defeat armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands; with it, he gains [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe the power necessary to deal with the situation]], which can often be a pretty big one.
--> '''OMAC:''' I'm OMAC! Evacuate this section! I'M GOING TO DESTROY IT!
* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', Super Sonic is known to be able to create blasts with the power of the sun. He is also mentioned to be able to destroy planets and also takes little physical damage.
* Another surprising example from the X-Men comes in the form of ComicBook/{{Jubilee}}, back when she still had her original powers. On the surface, her fireworks seem [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway kind of useless]], but then you remember she's generating ''plasma''. Emma Frost once stated that should Jubilee exercise her powers to their fullest potential, she could detonate matter at the ''sub-atomic'' level, making Jubilee a ''walking fusion bomb''. It was only Jubilee's own fear of hurting someone that lead her to hold back and not utilize them to their full extent.
* There was a notable story where ComicBook/BatMite and Mxyzptlk fought, which destroyed the entire Multiverse. There was even a scene where Darkseid "found" a paper with the Anti-Life Equation on it that simply said: "Bat-Mite + Mr. Mxyzptlk = Anti-Life". Darkseid promptly laughed himself to death.
* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' examples:
** Xadhoom can, and has, destroyed entire planets and wiped out immense warfleets. Thankfully, she's only after the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Evronians]] for destroying her homeworld...
** Moldrock never destroys anything large on page, but has demonstrated he has more than enough power when he turned his homeworld Corona from a desert to a garden world.
** The Rettificators appear to be in Xadhoom's league, as shown when three of them [[spoiler:took on an Evronian PlanetSpaceship, its escorts and an opposing fleet that was matching them]] and ''won with ease'', the only survivors being [[spoiler:the few dozen Evronians that survived their initial assault on the worldship and ''ran'' and a group of En'tomek that had boarded it before the Rettificators showed up]].
Marvel's Thor is routinely depicted as the company's answer to DC's Superman, a godlike being with an immense array of physical powers. Add to that the fact that Thor actually IS a god, with his birthright being control of weather conditions on a planetary scale, nearly unlimited physical strength enabling him to lift skyscapers, level mountains and cause earthquakes, and vast energy projection and manipulation abilities afforded him by his hammer Mjolnir, you understand why criminals, super-criminals, other gods and even cosmic entities like Galactus afford him varying degrees of fear and respect. And this is WITHOUT Thor claiming his father's "Odinpower",

* The titular character from ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' has the ability to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift]] into different alien species. That might not seem like much at first... except for the fact several aliens in this setting possess super-powers, some of them already [[OneManArmy strong enough to take on entire groups of enemies]] (noteworthy mentions include several aliens with SuperStrength, at least two with SuperSpeed, various ElementalPowers, a [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant]] and a ''[[RealityWarping Reality Warper]]''), and he can switch at will between more than ''One million'' of them, effectively giving him the universe's most powerful MultiformBalance. This ends up a plotpoint in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', where one of the villains, Proctor Servantis, wishes to [[spoiler:kill Ben because he feels like it's too dangerous to have so much power in the hand of an immature child.]]

* The Watterson family in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' frequently cause massive property damage, some good examples being "The Skull" (when Gumball and Darwin cause $20,000 of damage to the boy's shower room) and "Christmas" (when Gumball, Darwin, and Anais similarly cause thousands of dollars of damage at the local mall). In one episode, Mr. Watterson got a job, this was apparently so against the natural order that just driving around making deliveries unwound the fabric of the universe.

* TyphoidMary was a Person of Mass Destruction. She was told, but she never believed she was responsible for those typhoid outbreaks, since she'd never shown symptoms of typhoid herself. After the wave of typhoid fever was traced back to her, she was specifically forbidden from having anything to do with food preparation. So she escaped, changed identity, and went back to making food... [[WhatAnIdiot and triggered another wave of typhoid.]]
* Likewise, the spread of HIV in the first decade or so of the AIDS epidemic has been traced back to a specific handful of infectees. Many of the first wave of North American AIDS cases originated with an individual male flight attendant who'd contracted HIV overseas, then scored in dozens of U.S. and Canadian cities where his flights had stopped overnight.
** Actually, the "Patient Zero" myth referred to here has been debunked. Researchers have determined that the strain of HIV Gaetan Dugas carried was already present in New York, for example, nearly a decade before Dugas started having sex with men there.
** It's rare, but a few HIV-positive individuals have been brought up on criminal charges for ''deliberately'' passing their condition on to others without their knowledge (which, [[RippedFromTheHeadlines naturally]], is featured in an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder''). Those who did so with numerous partners may qualify as PMD.

** ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' ups the ante. Consider that planet-destruction was a normal occurrence by the Saiyan Saga (Piccolo with the moon -- a second time; Vegeta with Planet Arlia), and that every heroic character becomes exponentially stronger after that... Even [[TheWoobie Krillin]] could probably destroy a planet with a click of his fingers by the end of the Namek Saga, despite not even being a threat to Frieza-- which speaks volumes about just how powerful ''he'' is. Perfect Cell claimed to be able to destroy the entire solar system in a single blast with his energy, before Gohan stopped him.
** Then we get to the Buu Saga, by which time not only has every heroic character become so much stronger, Goku almost shakes the planet in two merely by TRANSFORMING into a Super Saiyan 3, and Buu begins to tear holes in the fabric of reality merely by screaming. Buu could also produce an energy ball capable of destroying the Earth ten times over within ''seconds''.

* Hajun from [[VisualNovel/DiesIrae Kajiri Kamui Kagura]] is this trope taken to probably highest possible extreme. In this setting attaining godhood allows one's inner desire to [[RealityWarper warp]] [[MultiversalConqueror countless universes]] on conceptual level as their fundamental law. Hajun's inner desire is destruction of everything that isn't him. This gives him such power that his presence alone is enough to annihilate everything in the setting.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': ComicBook/JeanGrey, in any incarnation when she takes on the codename Phoenix. In the original [[ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga Dark Phoenix Saga]], Jean destroyed a star, snuffing out the billions of lives on an orbiting planet. In the end of that story, she realized [[WhatHaveIBecome what she would become]] and chose the more tragic option of committing suicide.
** Don't forget "Here Comes Tomorrow", which ends with Jean being able to alter the Universe according to her desire, noting that this is "Phoenix Work", meaning it's something she'll be doing more than once.

*** Jean's children by Scott, [[ComicBook/RachelSummers Rachel]], [[ComicBook/XMan Nate]] and ComicBook/{{Cable}}, all qualify. Rachel is, at base line, nearly omnipotent, with psychic powers on a cosmic scale, and the Phoenix is specifically noted as liking her. Nate is arguably even stronger, having been created by Sinister as a LivingWeapon to kill Apocalypse and was estimated as being as powerful as Jean was as the Dark Phoenix at the age of seventeen, later being stated as capable of going toe to toe with the Sentry by Norman Osborn. At his peak, his telekinesis was so strong that it was described as [[RealityWarper 'reality warping']], he lived in mortal fear of accidentally rewriting reality in his sleep (and once, flattened Quito, Ecuador, from most of three thousand miles away, in his sleep) and he wandered in and out of the time stream and up and down the multiverse at will. Cable, meanwhile, is usually inhibited by the Techno-Organic virus. When he's not, he proved capable of holding up an island with his telekinesis while fighting the Silver Surfer. He lost, but only after giving a very good account of himself.

** It's also a requirement/side effect for being one of the Four Emperors, the four most powerful pirates at any given moment who control whole swathes of the Grand Line. Whitebeard's already documented above, Kaido destroyed several {{Tailor Made Prison}}s and the fleets that guarded them (even one of his subordinates is called "the Drought" because any nation that has him rampaging around will look like an actual drought ground them down to nothing), Big Mom can and will personally devour an entire island in a hunger rampage and controls the weather for entire nations using pieces of her own soul, and Shanks, while not directly seen, has been said to have such cataclysmic clashes with other Emperors ''everyone'' in the Grand Line knew it was him. The level of power needed to even be able to call yourself an Emperor ''must'' be so high that the very idea of anyone else below then facing you one-on-one is laughable (and woe betide you [[SlaveToPR if it starts to look otherwise]]).

* Id from ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. Destroying a village by a momentary outbreak, wiping out an entire army, fighting [[HumongousMecha Gears]] bare handed...
** In the game's backstory, he wiped an entire ''continent'' off the map.

** And especially [[spoiler:Scion, as he demonstrates when he obliterates Great Britain pretty much effortlessly. Not just the people on it- the actual ''island''.]]

* Lina Inverse from ''The LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' has a spell that works like a tactical nuke, AND a spell that can undo reality itself. Every now and then someone, from a bandit chieftain to a demon lord, tries to command, manipulate or coerce a person with such powers to work for them; Xellos appears to be the most successful with that, because he does not try to coerce, blackmail or threaten Lina: he is in no way sincerely nice to her, but he IS nice.

** [[spoiler:Rose "whoops, I absorbed the core of the TARDIS" Tyler]] in "The Parting of the Ways", who [[spoiler:vaporizes an entire fleet of Daleks without even thinking very hard.]]
*** [[spoiler: WordOfGod says this was inspired by Dark Phoenix in ''X-Men''.]]
** It's important to consider that the Doctor not only has the technological knowledge of the Time Lords, but also constant access to the same kind of omnipotence as mentioned above, which he probably could use even more effectively, thanks to his advanced understanding of physics. And using it would only cost him a regeneration, not result in any kind of permanent damage. The only reason he doesn't is that he doesn't trust his own morals.

** Pelinal Whitestrake, the legendary Aedric hero who helped Alessia found the First Empire, was also [[TheBerserker an insane berserker]] who would wipe out entire Alyeid kingdoms when he fell into his rages, to the point that he very nearly drove the same gods who sent him to Nirn to quit the planet in disgust at his actions. It's implied that Pelinal is [[GodzillaThreshold one of the examples of why the Divines don't directly intervene in mortal affairs on Nirn unless the situation is incredibly dire.]]

* Gildarts from ''Manga/FairyTail'' wields the "Crash" magic, allowing him to destroy pretty much anything he touches. Unfortunately for the people of Magnolia town, he often lets his mind wander while walking, and fails to pay attention to things like walls, houses and buildings, thus leaving a trail of destruction behind him as he benignly plows through them. When the townspeople catch wind of his return, they hastily activate a mechanism that essentially ''changes the town's layout to give him a straight path to the guild.'' He also counts as a HandicappedBadass, due to having lost some of his limbs and a few internal organs to a black dragon that even '''''he''''' couldn't defeat.
** Zeref is an even better example; he's TheDreaded for a reason. Not only is he capable of [[WalkingWasteland Death Magic]] on a scale that turns an entire forest into desiccated, shriveled husks, but ''his'' Living Magic, which is used by other characters to basically create {{mooks}}, creates colossal, nigh-unstoppable {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that carve a path of destruction through entire continents. [[spoiler:And he wishes he could take it all back, preferably [[DeathSeeker by dying]].]] At least until his disgust with the world becomes so great that [[spoiler:he wants to [[KillAllHumans wipe out humanity]]]], that is.

** [[BigBad Father]] takes the trope up to the next level; he is so powerful that he is able to [[spoiler: ABSORB GOD, and create a sun in the palm of his hand.]]

* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': Percy Jackson. Not only is he capable of destroying entire armies by himself, he also once caused a volcanic eruption that resulted in one million people being evacuated and the literal father of all monsters being released from his prison beneath the volcano. He's so powerful that the BigBad singles him out in the sequel series, TheHeroesOfOlympus, as the key for a blood sacrifice to bring on the gods' downfall.

* Fanfic/TheGodSquad itself, when they truly apply themselves, are almost all pretty much this. Special mention to Lord Tydal, who not only managed to take out 4 different armies but also faced off with Person Of Mass Destruction himself Tirek when he was at full strength; Tirek admits that had Tydal been willing to use his full power he could have easily defeated him... but doing so would have destroyed the planet, if not the solar system, due to just how much magic Tydal is forced to keep locked away.

* Thor, Loki and the Hulk all qualify as this in ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', while Tony is speculated to simply require the right armour to reach this level. Others mentioned include Magneto, the Juggernaut, the Abomination and Count Nefaria. Harry, as Thor's son, is hinted to one day be capable of reaching this level.

*** The fic also deconstructs this trope, noting that being able to cause mass destruction is great if you're in the middle of nowhere and facing an equally-powerful opponent who's coming at you head-on. If you're surrounded by civilians, faced with an enemy who has no problem holding hostages, and your usual MO is basically [[StuffBlowingUp "blow up everything in sight,"]] then it's much more of a problem.

* ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' 90's favorite ComicBook/{{Gambit}} actually turns out to be this. It's implied at from the beginning -- his mutant power is having a version of TheMagicTouch that lets him convert anything he touches into an explosive. Something the size of a playing card becomes a handy grenade, and the bigger it is, the more bang it provides. It turns out he actually had brain surgery from Mister Sinister to ''tone his powers down'', and if he hadn't, he'd be an [[PhysicalGod Omega level mutant]]. We meet an alternate version of Gambit who never had the surgery. He calls himself New Sun. Because he lost control of his powers and ended up turning into an EnergyBeing, and, as an unintentional side effect, ''vaporizing the entire planet Earth in an instant''.

** Luke Skywalker, always, but especially in the ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy''. At one point he takes out an entire base of bad guys almost by himself. On a planet where he cannot use the force. And while greviously injured and ill.

** On the television side, ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' introduces Daisy Johnson, also known as Quake. She can produce violent tremors, which can be used as a sort of telekinetic push, or shatter someone's spine, or bring down a building. A Kree who has studied the Inhuman project theorizes that she might be able to affect entire ''continents''.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''. While ''exactly'' how powerful he is varies DependingOnTheWriter, he fits this trope in every incarnation since [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the original]].

* Ted's power on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' was nuclear-based. Despite the fears that he'd use those powers to detonate New York, turns out it wasn't Ted they had to worry about...
** Maya's power was even worse: she can emit a poisonous plague through her tears. She hates it so much and gets extremely emotional when she's reminded of it.

* The titular character of ''Series/{{Merlin}}''. He is the most powerful sorcerer on Earth. He can easily take out towns and cities with the wave of his hand. He can also kill groups of people and take out armies all at once, [[spoiler: like what was seen in the SeriesFinale when Merlin took out the entire Saxon army, plus Morgana, with the wave of his hand.]]