History Main / PhlebotinumBomb

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* In the ''{{Eclipso}}'' comic book series from Franchise/TheDCU, there was the sun bomb, as 'Eclipso zombies' were vulnerable to the sun. Handwaved by a previous crossover having the DC super geniuses working long hours on sun weapons, the device simply covered every inch of the local area with the sun's rays. Someone needs to send this stuff to Superman.

* ''Film/XMen'':

* In ''{{Freelancer}}'', when the Hyper Gate is finally activated, all the [[spoiler:Nomads]] get sucked through to [[PutOnABus some faraway sector]], but the good-guy ships stay right where they are.

* In ''Literature/{{Shatnerquake}}'' a bomb is planted at [=ShatnerCon=] with the purpose of retroactively eliminating all WilliamShatner-related media ever created.

* In {{Uglies}}, society was nearly destroyed many years in the past by a bacteria that caused petroleum and it's assorted byproducts to become unstable and burst into flame on contact with air.

A SubTrope of TrickBomb. May also be a WaveMotionGun. Not to be confused with a FantasticNuke, which is a full-on WeaponOfMassDestruction, but often runs on phlebotinum. Giving this attribute to one's own weapons is a possible way to justify FriendlyFireproof.

A SubTrope of TrickBomb. May also be a WaveMotionGun. Not to be confused with a FantasticNuke, which is a full-on WeaponOfMassDestruction, but often runs on phlebotinum.

* ''DarkAngel'' had a massive EMP destroy the world's computer systems, creating enough record loss and confusion that Max and her fellow {{Half Human Hybrid}}s could escape into normal society without immediately being tracked down.

** He tried that in the {{DCAU}} ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cartoon as well, but the effect was only temporary. What was worse for Grodd was that finding out THAT was his master plan finally got Lex Luthor annoyed enough to shoot him and take over the Injustice League.

* The likely inspiration for many fictional versions is the NeutronBomb, a special kind of nuclear warhead developed during the height of the Cold War. Although it's not entirely blastless, its purpose was to wipe out armored divisions with neutron radiation, which would leave the vehicles intact while lethally poisoning the soldiers within. Sort of a WhatTheHellHero moment for the United States, the idea was always extremely controversial, and the last American neutron bomb was dismantled in 2003.

* The Halos in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, which are designed to starve out the Flood by killing all sentient life in the galaxy (including any Flood form more advanced than an infection form). Low-level lifeforms will survive the effect, but the Flood can't sustain itself on them. The Forerunners resorted to firing the Halos 100,000 years ago because there was no way to directly kill off ''all'' Flood forms without also killing off ''all'' life, period.

* The Halos in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, which kill all sentient life in the galaxy, but leave lower life (i.e. incapable of sustaining the Flood) untouched. For them to directly kill the Flood (rather than starving them out), they would have to wipe out all life period.
** Recent changes made by 343 Industries state that the rings do indeed directly kill the flood, along with other lifeforms. And by 'kill' they mean 'vapourise.'

* In the ''{{Eclipso}}'' comic book series from TheDCU, there was the sun bomb, as 'Eclipso zombies' were vulnerable to the sun. Handwaved by a previous crossover having the DC super geniuses working long hours on sun weapons, the device simply covered every inch of the local area with the sun's rays. Someone needs to send this stuff to Superman.

* In [[ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie Comics' version]] of SonicTheHedgehog, in the 21st century (which was ten thousand years before Sonic's plot started), an alien race known as the Xordas didn't take kindly to human scientists murdering and dissecting their peace-bringing emissary. They responded by detonating "gene-bombs" across the Earth, which specifically targets all of its organisms' DNA; if they're human, they were to die (a tiny fraction survived and devolved over 10,000 years into the Overlanders, like Robotnik and such), but as for non-human animals, they ''evolved'' into the Mobians during said period (ex: Sonic and pals), and were meant to be the new dominant species of the planet.

* In the {{Trigun}} anime, [[spoiler:Vash can manifest an energy weapon powerful enough that it leveled an entire city in one massive explosion, but miraculously did not directly kill any of it's inhabitants. It is even implied that nobody died from, say, getting crushed by debris during the explosion. However there is mention of many people starving to death or dying from violence after the destruction.]]

** In ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Cerebro is [[spoiler:redesigned to kill only mutants..and then redesigned to kill only non-mutants]].
** Arclight's shockwave in ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''. She was able to target only the soldiers' guns. (In the comic books, she doesn't appear to be able to fine-tune it like that... and [[AxCrazy wouldn't have bothered]] sparing the soldiers, anyway.)

* The film version of ''Film/VForVendetta'' had Biological weapons that wiped out humans in a region while keeping the resources and atmosphere intact. [[spoiler:The corrupt UK government used it on one of their own regions to control their subjects with fear]]. In a chilling case of TruthInTelevision, such weapons really are likely being developed and may be perfected in the future.

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', the Goa'Uld planet of Dakara turned out to be home to [[spoiler:a device that could create or destroy anything, including specific lifeforms or objects. Ironically, the device was originally used to recreate life in the Milly Way Galaxy after a plague swept through it.]] While its range normally only extended to the planet it was on and the surrounding space, SG-1 managed to [[spoiler:use it in conjunction with the gate system to destroy all the Replicator nano-bots in the galaxy.]]

* One {{Series/Fringe}} episode featured a former Nazi whose gas weapon could be altered to only target particular races, family lines or individuals, based on genetics.

* The Halos in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, which kill all sentient life in the galaxy, but leave lower life (ie incapable of sustaining the Flood) untouched. For them to directly kill the Flood (rather than starving them out), they would have to wipe out all life period.

** He tried that in the {{DCAU}} ''JusticeLeague'' cartoon as well, but the effect was only temporary. What was worse for Grodd was that finding out THAT was his master plan finally got Lex Luthor annoyed enough to shoot him and take over the Injustice League.

** The justification for this was that tanks are actually very good at withstanding a nuclear blast as long as they're not right at ground zero - and the Soviet Union had a bajillion tanks they could use in a European ground war. Leaving the enemy vehicles intact wasn't the goal (or even desirable, as it presented possibility that they could decontaminated and put back into service), just a necessary side effect of increasing the radioactive output of a nuclear bomb by sacrificing explosive yield.

* Not a bomb, really, but a terrorist organization in CowboyBebop developed a virus known as "Monkey Business" which targets only the two percent of human DNA that makes us different from other apes. As for [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin what it does...]] [[AndIMustScream I hope you like bananas.]]

** The justification for this was that tanks are actually very good at withstanding a nuclear blast as long as they're not right at ground zero - and the Soviet Union had a bajillion tanks they could use in a European ground war.

[[folder:RealLife]]
* Sort-of TruthInTelevision: An EMP (electro magnetic pulse) will disable electronics without affecting humans (at least directly). However, seeing that large scale tests were never conducted (mostly due to a potential side effect of knocking out all the electronics in too large a radius to make a test feasibly safe), its true effects in any realistic scenario are not precisely determined, and may range from doing near nothing at all to total destruction of all electronic circuits on the continent. Also, seeing that the only feasible way to produce an EMP powerful enough to be of use in warfare with current technology is a high altitude nuclear explosion, we likely won't be seeing it used in anything short of a nuclear exchange.
* A real-life example, and the likely inspiration for many fictional versions, is the NeutronBomb, a special kind of nuclear warhead developed during the height of the Cold War. Although it's not entirely blastless, its purpose was to wipe out armored divisions with neutron radiation, which would leave the vehicles intact while lethally poisoning the soldiers within. Sort of a WhatTheHellHero moment for the United States, the idea was always extremely controversial, and the last American neutron bomb was dismantled in 2003.
** The justification for this was that tanks are actually very good at withstanding a nuclear blast as long as they're not right at ground zero - and the Soviet Union had a bajillion tanks they could use in a European ground war.
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** At the end of ''FilmXMen1'', [[spoiler:Magneto tries to use a weapon that is supposed to turn normal humans into Mutants, but will actually kill them.]]

* Arclight's shockwave in ''Film/XMenTheLastStand''. She was able to target only the soldiers' guns. (In the comic books, she doesn't appear to be able to fine-tune it like that... and [[AxCrazy wouldn't have bothered]] sparing the soldiers, anyway.) At the end of the first movie, [[spoiler:Magneto tries to use a weapon that is supposed to turn normal humans into Mutants, but will actually kill them.]]

* In the ''Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'' comics, at least the MarvelAdventures version, the gamma bomb is apparently supposed to be the anti-NeutronBomb - destroy inanimate material, leave living things aside. [[ForegoneConclusion That's not quite what happens]], but you ''can'' say this about the end product - he doesn't specifically go after civilians, and can be persuaded to try and save them. Indeed, a recent story claimed that the Hulk's rampages have ''never'' killed an innocent person. Yes, even when he knocks over entire buildings.

* The Necrotic Mutox (or Rust Gas) of the second {{Thief}} game can function this way. The reaction it causes will spread until it runs out of organic matter to fuel it, with no inherent size or range limit other than constantly needing fresh material to spread to. It could (and was likely intended to) consume all organic life on the planet of the games, and was explicitly expected to destroy all human life.