History Main / PowerIncontinence

* Nuclear power plants basically have two settings: ''On'' and ''Low''. After a scram, they still produce [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay_heat#Power_reactors_in_shutdown significant amounts of heat]], and there are many systems to remove this heat. When you are unsure about the state of these systems, you get [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident Three Mile Island]]. When they are smashed to bits by [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom forces beyond your control]], you get [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster Fukushima Daiichi]]. And, when you disregard safety and disrespect what you're playing with, you get ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster Chernobyl]]''.

* ''Film/{{Scanners}}'': Starts with the hero Cameron Vale [[MindRape Mind Raping]] somebody ''by accident''. So there you go. It's no fun being a scanner. And hearing the thoughts of everyone around you does weird things to your childhood: Vale has no personality, Benjamin Pierce tried to [[SelfMadeOrphan murder his entire family]], and Darryl Revok went nuts, [[BrainBleach drilled a hole in his forehead]], and has since [[FromBadToWorse gone from self-destructive to simply destructive]].

* Toys/{{Bionicle}}:

** Lorelai Blyndeff from ''[[Literature/EpithetErasedPrisonOfPlastic Prison of Plastic]]'' usually has control over her powers from her epithet Augment. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, she only has control over this powerful epithet while conscious, while asleep, her epithet can craft even more from her mind while dreaming. This leads her to be [[AfraidOfHisOwnStrength scared of her own power]], as there is the very real possibility that she could have, completely by accident, killed her own mother in a house fire.]]

* ''Film/Firestarter2Rekindled'': Shows the now-adult Charlie having a hard time controlling her [[KillItWithFire pyrokinesis]], especially when she's excited. After she meets Vincent (who, unbeknownst to her, has been hired to locate her by the BigBad), they have sex. However, when Charlie notices that a piece of paper is turning brown from the heat, she stops and runs away. Vincent turns on the light and looks up, noticing the blackened ceiling. He immediately calls his client and informs him that he found the girl.

[[folder:Web Original]]

** The rewritten version of [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-166 SCP-166]] is a humanoid who causes the decay of artificial objects around her and accelerates plant growth, neither of which she can turn off.
** The original version was a [[HumanoidAbomination succubus]] like humanoid who causes any man who sees her to want to have sex with her so strongly that they will try to rape her, and the effect doesn't always fade way when separated from her. This really sucks for her because she is a devout Catholic and she also has extremely fragile skin.

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'' (1998 Terry Gilliam version):

** ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'': El Diablo is a man with fire powers, who, at the start when he's joined the Squad, is unwilling to use them. At the end, we find out his backstory: [[spoiler:he started to lose control over his power whenever he got emotionally upset, and during an argument with wife, where she threatened to leave him, he erupted so badly that he burned down his entire house, [[AccidentalMurder killing his wife and children with it -- unintentionally]], because he loved them dearly.]]

* In the [[Film/TheFantasticFour unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four film]] Ben can change back to his original form, unlike in the comics, but isn't able to control it and switches forms based on his emotions, only changing back for a short time.
* In ''[[Film/FantasticFour2005 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer]]'', Johnny gains the ability to temporarily switch powers with rest of the Fantastic Four by touch, even if he doesn't want to. This causes a problem when he touches Reed at an inconvenient time. [[spoiler:During the climax of the film, he touches all of the Fantastic Four at the same time and gets all of their powers, and after this, he goes back to normal and loses the power-switching ability.]]

* ''Film/TheInvisibleMan1933'': Dr. Griffin's formula made him invisible, but it was irreversible, causing him no end of trouble. (And also drove him insane, a recognized side effect of the drug in the [[Film/TheInvisibleManReturns second film]].)
* In the laughable ''Film/ThePumaman'', Kobras is able to catch our inept hero in the throes of his mind-controlling mask. The first thing he does is screw with his powers, temporarily de-powering him.
* ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': At the ending for, Darth Vader's telekinesis goes berserk after [[BigBad Palpatine]] tells Vader that he killed his own beloved wife, Padme, by accident, pushing him past the DespairEventHorizon. The entire surgical lab shakes, with the walls buckling and the equipment -- up to and including the droid surgeons -- ''imploding''.

* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'': The SherlockScan is, at times, presented like this and best demonstrated in the [[Film/SherlockHolmes2009 2009 film]] when Holmes is doing dinner with Watson and his fiancee Mary Morsten. He is constantly bombarded by voices and unremarkable details of his surroundings filling his mind and can do nothing to silence it besides focus on Mary and attempt to scan her (once he [[spoiler:offends her and drives away both of his guests]] the bedlam of voices returns).

Can be one of the ways a character is BlessedWithSuck. Compare RestrainingBolt or PowerLimiter (common methods of averting this) and DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength (a common result of this). If combined with {{Shapeshifting}}, this may result in becoming an InvoluntaryShapeshifter, depending on what triggers it and how. Frequently results in TragicIntangibility when applied to characters who normally have control over their {{Intangibility}}. A character with this may also have a case of IJustWantToBeNormal or AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength. Sometimes terrifyingly applied with RealityWarpingIsNotAToy. Severe cases may develop into a WalkingWasteland.

** Young Clark has some difficulty controlling his SuperSenses initially, resulting in SensoryOverload. His EyeBeams pose a similar problem.
** The Kryptonians need their PoweredArmor to isolate them from Earth's atmosphere. [[spoiler:Zod eventually compensates for the SensoryOverload, and gets a hang of his EyeBeams fairly quickly after he accidentally demolishes a building.]]

* ''Film/ManOfSteel'':
** Young Clark has some difficulty controlling his SuperSenses initially, resulting in SensoryOverload. His EyeBeams pose a similar problem.
** The Kryptonians need their PoweredArmor to isolate them from Earth's atmosphere. [[spoiler:Zod eventually compensates for the SensoryOverload, and gets a hang of his EyeBeams fairly quickly after he accidentally demolishes a building.]]

* ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'': El Diablo is a man with fire powers, who, at the start when he's joined the Squad, is unwilling to use them. At the end, we find out his backstory: [[spoiler:he started to lose control over his power whenever he got emotionally upset, and during an argument with wife, where she threatened to leave him, he erupted so badly that he burned down his entire house, [[AccidentalMurder killing his wife and children with it -- unintentionally]], because he loved them dearly.]]
--> '''El Diablo:''' See, when I get mad, I lose control, you know, I just... I don't know what I do.

* ComicBook/MilesMorales spends much of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' learning to control his powers. Initially he can't touch anything without sticking to it. This seems to be a common problem with Spider-People, as both Gwen and Peter B. offer the same advice when it happens. Miles has a similar problem with the unique-to-him powers of invisibility and his venom blast.

* The plot of "WebOriginal/NothingLikeTheSun" is the main character's journey to find a way to turn her GlowingEyes off.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Mr. Incredible frequently breaks things by accident with his SuperStrength when he is upset.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': Queen Elsa can't always control her snow powers, and the results can be disastrous, such as suddenly changing the seasons from summer to winter. As a child she was confined to her room after accidentally harming her sister with a burst of ice, and wears gloves all the time to contain her magic. However, an argument at Elsa's coronation causes her to bring a blizzard down on the kingdom, and getting emotionally overwhelmed only makes it worse.

* This is a very common problem for anomalous humanoids in ''Website/SCPFoundation''.

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2662 SCP-2662]] is an EldritchAbomination who suffers from this problem. He unconsciously mind controls humans into forming cults that worship him, and [[StopWorshippingMe he hates this because he grossed out by his worshipers']] [[ReligionOfEvil behavior.]] This is because he is going through his species' version of puberty and as he matures he will have more control.

* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'': The SherlockScan is, at times, presented like this and best demonstrated in the [[Film/SherlockHolmes2009 2009 film]] when Holmes is doing dinner with Watson and his fiancee Mary Morsten. He is constantly bombarded by voices and unremarkable details of his surroundings filling his mind and can do nothing to silence it besides focus on Mary and attempt to scan her (once he [[spoiler:offends her and drives away both of his guests]] the bedlam of voices returns). Could be interpreted as an AmbiguousDisorder.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': Queen Elsa can't always control her powers, and the results can be disastrous, such as suddenly changing the seasons from summer to winter.

* ComicBook/MilesMorales spends much of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' learning to control his powers, initially being unable to touch anything without sticking to it. It seems to be a common problem with Spider-People, as both Gwen and Peter B. offer the same advice when it happens. Before Miles knows exactly what's happening, he chalks it up to puberty.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', the Red Panda Spirits all women in Mei's family eventually get flare up whenever the host experiences any strong emotion. Finding a calming HappyPlace helps a bit, but most women eventually just seal their Red Panda Spirit away so as not to deal with the hassle. [[spoiler: Mei eventually discovers that fully, unconditionally embracing it as part of you grants 100% voluntary control over it.]]