History Main / Superweapon

* A good case can be made for ''satellites'' being an early-21st century superweapon of their own alongside nuclear weapons. While the world has yet to develop {{Kill Sat}}s, that's almost a footnote compared to their usefulness in terms of rendering [[SpySatellites battlefields incredibly transparent and facilitating communication]], because while the technology exists to shoot down satellites ''no one'' wants to be the first to do so. This is because the nature of their operation in orbit around Earth means that shooting one down [[DisasterDominoes would go a long way towards]] triggering [[DangerousOrbitalDebris Kessler Syndrome]] which would render ''any'' kind of satellite unfeasible [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction regardless of owner]], even those used for civilian day-to-day life. Given that even combatants without satellites of their own can simply purchase access to private satellites from the numerous companies who are willing to sell such access, this means that battlefield intelligence is incredibly affordable, and as such the battlefields of the early 21st century are so transparent that if you do not operate on the assumption that SinisterSurveillance is in full effect your life expectancy is ''[[DeadlyEuphemism severely]]'' decreased.

* A good case can be made for ''satellites'' being an early-21st century superweapon of their own alongside nuclear weapons. While the world has yet to develop {{Kill Sat}}s, that's almost a footnote compared to their usefulness in terms of rendering [[SpySatellites battlefields incredibly transparent and facilitating communication]], because while the technology exists to shoot down satellites, ''no one'' wants to be the first to do so as the nature of their operation in orbit around Earth means that shooting one down would go a long way towards triggering [[DangerousOrbitalDebris Kessler Syndrome]] which would render ''any'' kind of satellite unfeasible [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction regardless of owner]], even those used for civilian day-to-day life. Given that even combatants without satellites of their own can simply purchase access to private satellites from the numerous companies who are willing to sell such access, this means that battlefield intelligence is incredibly affordable, and as such the battlefields of the early 21st century are so transparent that if you do not operate on the assumption that SinisterSurveillance is in full effect your life expectancy is ''[[DeadlyEuphemism severely]]'' decreased.

* The ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'' has celestial weapons or 'Brahmastra', which may be the UrExample. These are magical weapons provided by the gods and requiring years of training and austerities to acquire, and are used as a weapon of last resort in combat. They [[AlwaysAccurateAttack always hit their target]] and completely annihilate their enemies, and are described as a weapon channeling the power of the entire universe. The Brahmashirsha Astra is an even more OP version wielded by [[ArcherArchetype Arjuna]] that has the power to kill gods and annihilate the world.

** ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'' provides the World Devastators, automated factory ships that strip-mine planets for resources to build other ships, notably clouds of TIE Droid fighters, becoming one-ship ZergRush factories. Also ''Sovereign'', Palpatine's ''Eclipse''-class Super Star Destroyer, which contains a scaled-down version of the Death Star's superlaser. It can't destroy planets, but can sterilize them in a single shot.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'' sees the [[HigherTechSpecies Protoss]] on the run from their {{Abusive Precursor|s}}, Amon. To stand a chance, they activate TheArk made by their ancestors -- [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture sealed away]] until the DarkestHour was upon their descendants. This Arkship, known as ''The Spear of Adun'' is slow to reenergize over the course of the campaign, but as it slowly powers up, it becomes clear that this is much more than a mere Arkship: The weaponry it sports can glass planets, and even fleets of capital ships cannot withstand that kind of firepower, it's got the production capabilities to rival entire planets as well, which means it can construct and launch capital ships itself, holds a legion of Protoss warriors who willingly entered stasis to fight in the DarkestHour, is an {{Arcology}} thanks to its miniature DysonSphere powercore which not only provides it with power for all its functions, but also allows it to feed its Protoss occupants as they [[BizarreAlienBiology photosynthesize]], is extremely maneuverable for its size, and is nigh-MadeOfIndestructium -- the only thing that did any significant damage were entire fleets of ships weaponizing RammingAlwaysWorks, and it still survived that in a repairable state, while the attackers did not survive at all. This is a ship that, once fully powered, is completely unrivalled by anything InUniverse -- to the point where even the CustomBuiltHost Amon built for himself couldn't stand up to it. The caveat is that it [[GatheringSteam takes a long while to get to this stage]], and while this process can be sped up by feeding the powercore a mineral known as Solarite, because the Spear of Adun is LostTechnology, [[{{Unobtanium}} Solarite is a lot more limited now than it was back when it was created]], leaving an instant-energizing beyond the capabilities of current-day Protoss; The Spear of Adun used to be one amongst three sister Arkships, but the other two were activated in the defense of Protoss homeworld during an AlienInvasion by the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Zerg Swarm]] -- these Arkships did not have the time to energize at all, and were taken out by the Zerg through copius amounts of [[TropeNamers literal]] ZergRush: The Spear of Adun only survived this fate because it was left inactive, and the Zerg settled for infesting it, rather than destroying it.

->''"Tony Stark has created the ultimate weapon: A masterpiece of death. A man with a dozen of these could rule all of Asia."''

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' has the Infinity Gauntlet, an armored gauntlet designed to harness the energies of the six [[CosmicKeystone Infinity Stones]]. While the individual infinity Stones that power it are powerful, none of them are insurmountable in a {{Superhero}} setting -- but the gauntlet can harness all six ''at once'' for ''universe''-spanning effects with absolutely no means of defending against it - the wielder, in essence, becomes TheOmnipotent. Once the gauntlet enters play, the goals of everyone else become "Keep the Infinity Stones far away from it", and once it [[spoiler:is [[Film/AvergersInfinityWar used to wipe out fully half of all sentient life]], the goal [[Film/AvengersEndgame immediately shifts to using it to undo the devastation]]]].

-->--'''Raza''' on the ComicBook/IronMan suit, ''Film/IronMan1''

* The Death Stars of ''Franchise/StarWars'', two moon-sized battlestations capable of destroying planets, are perhaps the most famous cinematic superweapons, if not ''the'' most iconic superweapons of all time. They have become so ingrained into the consciousness that many ''Star Wars'' games culminate in the Battles of Yavin or Endor, and not only did they influence years of [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Expanded Universe]] material, (see Literature below) but it also inspired Starkiller Base in ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens'', a planet-sized battlestation capable of destroying entire planetary ''systems''.

!Examples

* ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'': In ''Recap/TheSecretOfTheSwordfish'', during WorldWarIII, Blake and Mortimer work their damnedest to respectively build and pilot the [[CoolPlane SX-1 "Swordfish"]] rocket plane, which can take off from underwater and is virtually impossible to intercept by AntiAir weapons. It is the only chance of LaResistance to defeat the [[TheEmpire Empire of Tibet]] (an unnamed empire in the [[WesternAnimation/BlakeAndMortimer animated series]]) that took over much of the world, and once it's completed, a single one of them annihilates the empire's fleet, and a handful of them end the empire with [[NuclearOption nuclear strikes]].

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' has the Infinity Gauntlet, an armored gauntlet designed to harness the energies of the six [[CosmicKeystone Infinity Stones]]. While the individual infinity Stones that power it are powerful, none of them are insurmountable in a {{Superhero}} setting -- but the gauntlet can harness all six ''at once'' for ''universe''-spanning effects with absolutely no means of defending against it - the wielder, in essence, becomes TheOmnipotent. Once the gauntlet enters play, the goals of everyone else become "Keep the Infinity Stones far away from it", and once it [[spoiler: is [[Film/AvergersInfinityWar used to wipe out fully half of all sentient life]], the goal [[Film/AvengersEndgame immediately shifts to using it to undo the devastation]].]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* ''The Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'' has celestial weapons or 'Brahmastra', which may be the UrExample. These are magical weapons provided by the gods and requiring years of training and austerities to acquire, and are used as a weapon of last resort in combat. They [[AlwaysAccurateAttack always hit their target]] and completely annihilate their enemies, and are described as a weapon channeling the power of the entire universe. The Brahmashirsha Astra is an even more OP version wielded by [[ArcherArchetype Arjuna]] that has the power to kill gods and annihilate the world.

** ''Videogame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'' is the only one of the three main series to use anything beyond range and deadliness of its superweapons; while they certainly have that, they also feature the [[{{Teleportation}} Chronosphere]], the [[MadeOfIndestructium Iron Curtain]], and the [[BeehiveBarrier Nanoswarm Barrier]], the former providing instant relocation of a sizeable group of vehicles, while the latter two makes anything within their targetting area ''completely'' indestructible - while the Iron Curtain targets a smaller area than the Nanoswarm Barrier, the nanoswarm barrier marks the targetted area in which nothing can be damaged, while the iron curtain makes the targetted ''units'' indestructible, leaving them free to run rampant against a helpless opposition.

* ''Videogame/MassEffect3'' features the 'Crucible', the culmination of millennia worth of [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture flinging an ever more complete light into the future]], when connected to the citadel, it is capable of wiping out every ''single'' synthetic being in the galaxy, including the synthetic [[AbusivePrecursors Reapers]], and when it becomes apparent that the Reapers cannot be defeated through conventional combat, the attention of everyone in the galaxy turns towards ensuring its completion and defence. [[spoiler: It is later discovered that it can also perform an {{inverted|trope}} VillainOverride, or subject the entire galaxy to {{Transhumanism}}, which renders the AbusivePrecursors objective moot, which sets up PhilosophicalChoiceEndings]].

* ''Videogame/StarcraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'' sees the [[HigherTechSpecies Protoss]] on the run from their {{Abusive Precursor|s}}, Amon. To stand a chance, they activate TheArk made by their ancestors - [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture sealed away]] until the DarkestHour was upon their descendants. This Arkship, known as ''The Spear of Adun'' is slow to reenergize over the course of the campaign, but as it slowly powers up, it becomes clear that this is much more than a mere Arkship: The weaponry it sports can glass planets, and even fleets of capital ships cannot withstand that kind of firepower, it's got the production capabilities to rival entire planets as well, which means it can construct and launch capital ships itself, holds a legion of Protoss warriors who willingly entered stasis to fight in the DarkestHour, is an {{Arcology}} InSpace thanks to its miniature DysonSphere powercore which not only provides it with power for all its functions, but also allows it to feed its Protoss occupants as they [[BizarreAlienBiology photosynthesize]], is extremely maneuverable for its size, and is nigh-MadeOfIndestructium - the only thing that did any significant damage were entire fleets of ships weaponizing RammingAlwaysWorks, and it still survived that in a repairable state, while the attackers did not survive at all. This is a ship that, once fully powered, is completely unrivalled by anything InUniverse - to the point where even the CustomBuiltHost Amon built for himself couldn't stand up to it. The caveat is that it [[GatheringSteam takes a long while to get to this stage]], and while this process can be sped up by feeding the powercore a mineral known as Solarite, because the Spear of Adun is LostTechnology, [[{{Unobtanium}} Solarite is a lot more limited now than it was back when it was created]], leaving an instant-energizing beyond the capabilities of current-day Protoss; The Spear of Adun used to be one amongst three sister Arkships, but the other two were activated in the defense of Protoss homeworld during an AlienInvasion by the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Zerg Swarm]] - these Arkships did not have the time to energize at all, and were taken out by the Zerg through copius amounts of [[TropeNamers literal]] ZergRush: The Spear of Adun only survived this fate because it was left inactive, and the Zerg settled for infesting it, rather than destroying it.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has Numidium, a [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwemer]]-built HumongousMecha designed to be powered by the [[CosmicKeystone Heart]] and possibly soul of [[GodIsDead quasi-dead]] [[TheMaker Lorkhan]]. Unfortunately the Dwemer were a race of NayTheist {{Straw Vulcan}}s, and Numidium may have followed their tendencies upon its first activation by turning all of its creators into a PuffOfLogic. It is such a powerful RealityWarper that it invariably ends up ''[[TimeCrash refuting time]]'' around itself before eventually disproving its own existence and vanishing. Long after the Dwemer disappeared, it was refurbished by [[TheConqueror Tiber Septim]], equipped with a jury-rigged power source consisting of the soul of one [[MergerOfSouls or several]] of Lorkhan's incarnates, and used to finish his conquest of Tamriel by handing the [[ScrewYouElves Altmer]] a CurbStompBattle. Several centuries later it would suddenly reappear in a province fraught with unrest and rebellion and again break time so badly upon activation that every warring faction gained control of it simultaneously, wiping each other out and leaving TheEmpire to pick up the pieces. Finally, former lore writer Creator/MichaelKirkbride[='s=] LooseCanon web comic script ''Script/{{C0DA}}'' sees Numidium's return by [[MindScrew disproving its own non-existence]], intent on refuting the entire world out of existence.

* FantasticNuke: Nuclear weapons are the RealLife superweapon of the 20th and 21st century, as such their destructive potential is ''immediately'' relatable to any audience, and invoking the destruction of nuclear bombs, regardless of what makes them, instantly gets across that this is a weapon above the setting's norm.

* NeutronBomb: A thermonuclear weapon specifically designed to use radiation to kill people while leaving building relatively unharmed.

* Hypersonic ballistic missiles gained notoriety in TheNewTwenties. Due to their speed, they form a cone of atmospheric plasma in front of them that eats radar pulses, rendering them undetectable by radar. As nearly every kind of AntiAir defense uses radar for detecting incoming threats and guiding their own missiles to intercept, and the missiles' hypersonic speed makes them nearly impossible to hit with unguided AntiAir, this makes them a form of UnblockableAttack, and there's nothing stopping them from being fitted with nuclear warheads. Several of them (with conventional warheads) have been used against UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}'s invasion since early 2022.

* ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'': In ''Recap/TheSecretOfTheSwordfish'', during WorldWarIII, Blake and Mortimer work their damnedest to respectively build and pilot the [[CoolPlane SX-1 "Swordfish"]] rocket plane, which can take off from underwater and is virtually impossible to intercept. It is the only chance of LaResistance to defeat the [[TheEmpire Empire of Tibet]] (an unnamed empire in the [[WesternAnimation/BlakeAndMortimer animated series]]) that took over much of the world, and once it's completed, a single one of them annihilates the empire's fleet, and a handful of them end the empire with [[NuclearOption nuclear strikes]].

* ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'': In ''Recap/TheSecretOfTheSwordfish'', during WorldWarIII, Blake and Mortimer work their damnedest to respectively build and pilot the [[CoolPlane SX-1 "Swordfish"]] rocket plane, which is virtually impossible to intercept and the only chance of LaResistance to defeat the [[TheEmpire Empire of Tibet]] (an unnamed empire in the [[WesternAnimation/BlakeAndMortimer animated series]]) that took over much of the world. Once it's completed, one single of them annihilates the empire's fleet and a handful of them end the empire with [[NuclearOption nuclear strikes]].

* Hypersonic ballistic missiles gained notoriety in TheNewTwenties. Due to their speed, they form a cone of atmospheric plasma in front of them that eats radar pulses, rendering them undetectable by radar. As nearly every kind of AntiAir defense uses radar for detecting incoming threats and guiding their own missiles to intercept, and the missiles' hypersonic speed makes them nearly impossible to hit with unguided AntiAir, this makes them a form of UnblockableAttack, and there's nothing stopping them from being fitted with nuclear warheads as seen above. Several of them (with conventional warheads) have been used against UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}'s invasion since early 2022.

* UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}'s [=Kh-47M2=] Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles. No AntiAir defense can stop them, and they can be fitted with nuclear warheads. Several of them (with conventional warheads) have been used against UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in the country's invasion by Russia since early 2022.

[[/folder]]

* Nuclear weapons are the superweapons of the late 20th and early 21st century; weapons of such [[WeaponOfMassDestruction destructive potential]] with no viable defence, leaving no one wanting to be the first to use them out of fear of [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction inviting retaliation in kind]].
* UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}'s [=Kh-47M2=] Kinzhal hypersonic ballistic missiles. No AntiAir defense can stop them. Several of them (with conventional warheads) have been used against UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} in the country's invasion by Russia since early 2022.

* ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'': In ''Recap/TheSecretOfTheSwordfish'', during WorldWarIII, Blake and Mortimer work their damnedest to respectively build and pilot the SX-1 "Swordfish" jet plane, which is virtually impossible to intercept and the only chance of LaResistance to defeat the [[TheEmpire Empire of Tibet]] (an unnamed empire in the [[WesternAnimation/BlakeAndMortimer animated series]]) that took over much of the world. Once it's completed, one single of them annihilates the empire's fleet and a handful of them end the empire with [[NuclearOption nuclear strikes]].

[[folder:Fan Works]]

* ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'': The StoryArc of Season 1 is built around the search for a LostSuperweapon called Project Domination, an ultimate weapon created by a rogue Meekrob MadScientist, which was then cast out into the stars by the rest of his disgusted species to be lost forever. When finally found, it turns out to be a WaveMotionGun so powerful that at minimum power it unleashes streams of energy the size of planes, and at maximum power is projected to be capable of punching holes into a planet the size of ''Lithuania''.

* WeaponOfMassDestruction: For the superweapons who dial the destructive power up, then keep on going, and don't care one iota for FriendlyFireproof.

* WeaponOfMassDestruction: For the superweapons who dial the destructive power UpToEleven, then keep on going, and don't care one iota for FriendlyFireproof.

* The Death Stars of ''Franchise/StarWars'', two moon-sized battlestations capable of destroying planets, are perhaps the most famous cinematic superweapons, if not ''the'' most iconic superweapons of all time. They have become so ingrained into the consciousness that many ''Star Wars'' games culminate in the Battles of Yavin or Endor, and not only did they influence years of [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Expanded Universe]] material, (see Literature below) but it also inspired Starkiller Base in ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens'', an UpToEleven example that's a planet-sized battlestation capable of destroying entire planetary ''systems''.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The dial on the setting has been turned [[UpToEleven so far past eleven]] that what would be superweapons in any other setting are just weapons, but there are still a few examples:

* TacticalSuperweaponUnit: These units are overpowered, expensive and hard to deploy.

* ''Videogame/StarcraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'' sees the [[HigherTechSpecies Protoss]] on the run from their {{Abusive Precursor|s}}, Amon. To stand a chance, they activate TheArk made by their ancestors - [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture sealed away]] until the DarkestHour was upon their descendants. This Arkship, known as ''The Spear of Adun'' is slow to reenergize over the course of the campaign, but as it slowly powers up, it becomes clear that this is much more than a mere Arkship: The weaponry it sports can glass planets, and even fleets of capital ships cannot withstand that kind of firepower, it's got the production capabilities to rival entire planets as well, which means it can construct and launch capital ships itself, holds a legion of Protoss warriors who willingly entered stasis to fight in the DarkestHour, is an {{Arcology}} InSpace thanks to its miniature DysonSphere powercore which not only provides it with power for all its functions, but also allows it to feed its Protoss occupants as they [[BizarreAlienBiology photosynthesize]], is extremely maneuverable for its size, and is nigh-MadeOfIndestructium - the only thing that did any significant damage were entire fleets of ships weaponizing RammingAlwaysWorks, and it still survived that in a repairable state, while the attackers did not survive at all. This is a ship that, once fully powered, is completely unrivalled by anything InUniverse - to the point where even the CustomBuiltHost Amon built for himself couldn't stand up to it. The caveat is that because it is LostTechnology, it [[GatheringSteam takes a long while to get to this stage]], and while this process can be sped up by feeding the powercore a mineral known as Solarite, [[{{Unobtanium}} Solarite is a lot more limited now than it was back when the Spear of Adun was created]], leaving an instant-energizing beyond the capabilities of current-day Protoss; The Spear of Adun used to be one amongst three sister Arkships, but the other two were activated in the defense of Protoss homeworld during an AlienInvasion by the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Zerg Swarm]] - these Arkships did not have the time to energize at all, and were taken out by the Zerg through copius amounts of [[TropeNamers literal]] ZergRush: The Spear of Adun only survived this fate because it was left inactive, and the Zerg settled for infesting it, rather than destroying it.

* ''Videogame/StarcraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'' sees the [[HigherTechSpecies Protoss]] on the run from their {{Abusive Precursor|s}}, Amon. To stand a chance, they activate TheArk made by their ancestors - [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture sealed away]] until the DarkestHour was upon their descendants. This Arkship, known as ''The Spear of Adun'' is slow to reenergize over the course of the campaign, but as it slowly powers up, it becomes clear that this is much more than a mere Arkship: The weaponry it sports can glass planets, and even fleets of capital ships cannot withstand that kind of firepower, it's got the production capabilities to rival entire planets as well, which means it can construct and launch capital ships itself, holds a legion of Protoss warriors who willingly entered stasis to fight in the DarkestHour, is an {{Arcology}} InSpace thanks to its miniature Dysonsphere powercore which not only provides it with power for all its functions, but also allows it to feed its Protoss occupants as they [[BizarreAlienBiology photosynthesize]], is extremely maneuverable for its size, and is nigh-MadeOfIndestructium - the only thing that did any significant damage were entire fleets of ships weaponizing RammingAlwaysWorks, and it still survived that in a repairable state, while the attackers did not survive at all. This is a ship that, once fully powered, is completely unrivalled by anything InUniverse - to the point where even the CustomBuiltHost Amon built for himself couldn't stand up to it. The caveat is that because it is LostTechnology, it [[GatheringSteam takes a long while to get to this stage]], and while this process can be sped up by feeding the powercore a mineral known as Solarite, [[{{Unobtanium}} Solarite is a lot more limited now than it was back when the Spear of Adun was created]], leaving an instant-energizing beyond the capabilities of current-day Protoss; The Spear of Adun used to be one amongst three sister Arkships, but the other two were activated in the defense of Protoss homeworld during an AlienInvasion by the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Zerg Swarm]] - these Arkships did not have the time to energize at all, and were taken out by the Zerg through copius amounts of [[TropeNamers literal]] ZergRush: The Spear of Adun only survived this fate because it was left inactive, and the Zerg settled for infesting it, rather than destroying it.