History Main / SuperPowerMeltdown

This depends on the [[StockSuperPowers power in question]] and its source. [[ILoveNuclearPower Nuclear and radiation]] based heroes have a distressing tendency to [[NukeEm go nuclear]] under duress, but any super with enough [[PureEnergy raw power]] can have a meltdown, no matter the source: [[PsychicPowers psychic]], mystic, or [[ArtificialLimbs technological]]. Normal people using a GreenLanternRing or ArtifactOfDoom can inadvertently cause it (or their body) to self-destruct. This can also happen to heroes abusing ExplosiveOverclocking, who may enter HeroicRROD and start showing VolcanicVeins. Villains who are DrunkOnTheDarkSide might take OneWingedAngel a level too far and [[ClippedWingAngel peter out humiliatingly]]. A [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetically empowered]] hero may discover the hard way [[CastFromLifespan pure humans have a longer lifespan]]. Shapeshifters will usually go lose control of their ShapeShifterMashup and go into a ShapeShifterSwanSong. Common sideeffect of GoingToGiveItMoreEnergy.

* Rion Steiner in ''Galerians'' if he uses the drugs that fuel his power too much can suffer from shorting which is instant death to all nonbosses within the radius but does damage to him overtime. It can be stopped by using a specific drug. Notably there's another drug which can trigger this instantly.
* Inverted in ''MegaManZero 4''. The BigBad Dr. Weil tries to crash his KillSat into Earth, destroying the only naturally habitable place left on the planet. When Zero tries to stop him, he merges with the KillSat's computer core for the final boss fight. [[spoiler: This trope forms the ''premise'' of the last stage of the fight (the boss's second form); if Zero destroys him, the resulting SuperPowerMeltdown will destroy the KillSat, averting the crisis.]] The fact that [[spoiler: Zero would (and does) also get blown to smithereens in the process]] is a mere trifling technicality.
* A plot point in ''MetroidPrime 3: Corruption''. After getting infected with Phazon, Samus has the ability to go into Hyper Mode and use Phazon powered attacks, which is powerful, but causes the Corruption to spread, and if the PED Suit malfunctions, the process can be irreversible, leading to devastating consequences to those around them, [[spoiler: as seen with other hunters like Ghor, whose own corruption devastated Elysia]].

** ALMOST every human. [[spoiler:''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'''s Jiminez fuses directly with Bugaboo successfully, though he did go crazy afterwards.]]

* A major plot point in the Justice League/Naruto crossover [[FanFic/ConnectingTheDots "Connecting the Dots"]]. Ino, having [[spoiler: accidentally gained telepathic powers from J'onn J'onnz]] slowly begins to go insane as she struggles to control her new abilities. [[spoiler: She almost drives everyone else insane too.]]

* When Sollux from ''Webcomic/Homestuck'' gets all BrainwashedAndCrazy as a result of Vriska's MindManipulation, he's forced to [[spoiler:brutally murder Aradia, his girlfriend, and raze her home to the ground]] by causing a major, explosive SuperpowerMeltdown with a drug that changes his regular EyeBeams into WaveMotionGun-EyeBeams. What happens when he [[spoiler: wakes up from his... uh, misadventure,]] is never explicitly shown, but he struggles with major depressing and self-loathing, as well as never really smiling for almost the rest of the series.

* In Dave Duncan's series "A Man of His Word" and its sequel series "A Handful of Men", learning "words of power" gives you magical abilities. The more words you know, the more power you have; knowing four words makes you a sorcerer with full-blown RealityWarper powers. Learning a ''fifth'' word, however, gives you so much power that it will quickly cause you to burst into flames and die.

* ''CthulhuTech'' 's parapsychics have a non-zero chance of going into "Burn" every time they use their powers.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', a magical girl's soul gem becomes somewhat dark and tainted after they use magic. This can be undone with grief seeds, but if they neglect to do this and their gem turns completely black, they lose control and [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination turn into witches]]]]. This happens to [[spoiler:Sayaka, and Madoka in previous timelines. Every other witch in the series was created by an unnamed magical girl's power meltdown]].

Compare SpontaneousHumanCombustion, LoadBearingBoss, PhlebonitumOverload, UnstoppableRage, SuperPoweredEvilSide, ActionBomb, PowerIncontinence, and TakingYouWithMe. Contrast HeroicRROD, where the meltdown is mostly contained within the hero.

This depends on the [[StockSuperPowers power in question]] and its source. [[ILoveNuclearPower Nuclear and radiation]] based heroes have a distressing tendency to [[NukeEm go nuclear]] under duress, but any super with enough [[PureEnergy raw power]] can have a meltdown, no matter the source: [[PsychicPowers psychic]], mystic, or [[ArtificialLimbs technological]]. Normal people using a GreenLanternRing or ArtifactOfDoom can inadvertently cause it (or their body) to self-destruct. This can also happen to heroes abusing ExplosiveOverclocking, who may enter HeroicRROD and start showing VolcanicVeins. Villains who are DrunkOnTheDarkSide might take OneWingedAngel a level too far and [[ClippedWingAngel peter out humiliatingly]]. A [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetically empowered]] hero may discover the hard way [[CastFromLifespan pure humans have a longer lifespan]]. Shape Shifters will usually go lose control of their ShapeShifterMashup and go into a ShapeShifterSwanSong.

Compare SpontaneousHumanCombustion, LoadBearingBoss, UnstoppableRage, SuperPoweredEvilSide, ActionBomb, PowerIncontinence, and TakingYouWithMe. Contrast HeroicRROD, where the meltdown is mostly contained within the hero.

* Things work differently in the ''[[CrossGen Negation]]'' universe (as opposed to our "bright" universe), so superpowered individuals from the "bright" universe tend to go meltdown. [[spoiler: Atlanteans turn out to be immune to this, and other empowered individuals can eventually acclimate themselves.]]

* Every human who has tried a direct human/demon [[FusionDance fusion]] in ''ShinMegamiTensei'' has ended up like this. EvilIsNotAToy, after all.
** ALMOST every human. [[spoiler:[[StrangeJourney Strange Journey]]'s Jiminez fuses directly with Bugaboo successfully, though he did go crazy afterwards.]]

* ''{{Tsukihime}}'''s Tohno Shiki has the [[EvilEye Mystic Eyes of Death Perception]], which perceive the nature of death in the form of lines and dots on virtually ''everything''. He potentially risks this trope every time he takes off his ability-sealing glasses, and (later on) when his eyes become too strong to be suppressed. It has been stated that it wouldn't be strange for everything to fall apart around him, just from his being nearby.

* ''MageTheAwakening'' has the phenomenon known as The False Awakening, wherein a [[BadassNormal Sleepwalker]] who's studied under a mage believes that not only have they Awakened, they've discovered a magical path that no one else has before. In reality, they've become infected with a strange form of magical energy that pretty much allows them to go from initiate to godhood in the space of a week... before they pretty much explode from all the power and take out a city block.

*** One wonders why Goku [[spoiler: didn't teleport himself and Kaio back, without Cell...]]
*** [[EngagingChevrons He should have easily been able to do it]], [[spoiler: had he not spent thirty minutes saying goodbye to everyone]].
**** Thirty minutes? He had a few seconds at most.
**** Which by DBZ standards of speed and strength could easily span an entire episode or even two, and '''that''' was reached by Frieza saga itself. Since then...[[spoiler: Goku's mastered Super Saiyan, has instant teleportation and even in base form could have wiped the floor with Frieza.]]

* In ''Anime/{{Witchblade}}'' anime bionical [[EvilKnockoff Cloneblades]] works nice (though not as good as real thing) and does not causes problems (unlike self-willed Witchblade) until some minor damage happens to trigger deterioration. Shortly afterwards, transforming power's failure ensues and user ends up crystallized (and usually [[LiterallyShatteredLives shattered]]). And ''of course'' it's [[ClingyMacGuffin irremovable]]. Witchblade itself is more perfect, but quickly overloads a human body.

* Flinx, of AlanDeanFoster's ''HumanxCommonwealth'' series, is a powerful [[TheEmpath Empath]] with a slight [[PowerIncontinence control problem]]. One of the more notable symptoms is his tendency to emit blasts of near-absolute telekinetic destruction when stressed to extreme levels. When this first happens, it's a complete surprise to him, but later in the series, Flinx learns to (more or less) [[ActionBomb intentionally trigger it]].

* In ''H20JustAddWater'', the girls who are mermaids lose complete control of their powers ''every time'' it's a full moon, and in one such instance, Cleo ''became a siren''.

->''"Remember, with great power comes great current squared times resistance."''
-->-- '''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}''' [[http://xkcd.com/643/ #643]]