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* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Willow Rosenberg's power as a witch increases over the seasons, and her arc in the last two seasons is chiefly devoted to this. She becomes increasingly reckless and arrogant in her use of magic in the early part of the sixth season and briefly becomes involved with a form of black magic that acts directly as an addictive drug. As a result, she impulsively swears off magic completely, but when her lover is murdered she "falls off the wagon", kills the man responsible and tries to kill his associates, attacks her friends when they try to take her down, and ends up trying to destroy the entire planet out of [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds depression]]. The final season has her continuing to struggle to get on an even keel, constantly worrying that using magic to any powerful degree will drive her insane again.

* Deconstructed in ''Literature/IronWidow'' with Wu Zetian. She's the most powerful Chrysalis pilot currently alive, but her country's virulently misogynistic ideals (and the fact that she killed her co-pilot in self-defense) has her immediately painted as this. They try to kill her before realizing that she's [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou too powerful to waste]], then abuse and control her through various means. [[spoiler:Once she's killed the two Emperor-class Hunduns for them, the government decides to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill her anyway]], and mortally wound her beloved Shimin in the attempt. Zetian's RoaringRampageOfRevenge sees the entire Empire toppled rather than let women continue to suffer.]]

* Prue Halliwell of ''{{Series/Charmed 1998}}'' is otherwise level-headed, but her final episode "All Hell Breaks Loose" sees her and her sisters being exposed as witches to the world, and their lives invaded by the media and {{Loony Fan}}s. When her sister Piper is shot fatally by a crazed stalker and her driveway is blocked by the crowds as she tries to drive to the hospital, she snaps completely and uses her telekinesis to get them out of the way. It's implied several people were killed, and she even duels with a SWAT Team sent to bring her in later. While time is reset so the exposure never happens, she's killed by the demon who'd attacked at the start of the episode.

** Jean Grey starts to lose control of her psychic powers in the season 2 episode "Power Surge". Notably, unlike the previously-mentioned examples in the "Comic Books" and "Films - Live Action" folders, the Phoenix Force is not involved at all in this situation. When she loses all control, Rogue needed to drain her power to get them back under control, and she resumes training with Professor X in order to keep them that way.

* GenderFlipped in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}''. While all Claymores are vulnerable to TheCorruption, female Claymores can restrain themselves long enough to be useful before faltering, while male Claymores [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie Awaken]] uncontrollably. After the first generation of men was entirely corrupted, the Claymores became an AmazonBrigade, with most of their members unaware that male Claymores even existed.

Maybe she [[PowerIncontinence cannot control this new power]] and winds up causing [[PersonOfMassDestruction great damage]]. Maybe she was [[RepressionNeverEndsWell repressed and isolated from a young age, providing the foundation for her ensuing instability]]. Maybe the event that gave or awakened her superpowers [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening was very traumatic]]. Maybe PowerCorrupts or she becomes DrunkWithPower, making her mental health [[SanitySlippage take a dramatic nosedive]]. Maybe the power amplified "feminine" weaknesses that were already there. Either way, she eventually becomes a danger to herself and others. The story mines great drama from contrasting this pretty young thing with her ensuing corruption and the mess that she inevitably causes.

* Franchise/MarvelComics:

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[BewareTheSuperman Beware the Scarlet Witch]] when her emotions overwhelm her. Her pain will [[RealityWarper change the world.]]'']]

->''"She's grown too gigantic and unstable! Women, am I right fellas?"''

* Exploited in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. Kyubey's species makes contracts with teenage girls and turns them into powerful witchhunting {{Magical Girl}}s, knowing that [[spoiler:teenage girls will eventually fall into despair and become powerful witches themselves. He says that pubertal girls have the most intense emotions of ''any'' humans, and it's a better energy source than his species has found on any other planet. All this to prevent the inevitable heat death of the universe!]]

* Exploited in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. Kyubey's species makes contracts with teenage girls and turns them into powerful witchhunting {{Magical Girl}}s, knowing that [[spoiler:teenage girls will eventually dramatically fall into despair and become powerful witches themselves. He says that girls entering puberty have the most intense emotions of ''any'' humans, and it's a better energy source than his species has found on any other planet. All this to prevent the inevitable heat death of the universe!]]

** ComicBook/{{Storm}} was once tasked with [[GoSeduceMyArchnemesis seducing]] ComicBook/DoctorDoom as a distraction while the rest of the ComicBook/XMen launched a rescue mission. Unfortunately for them, Doom was already onto their game and captures most of the team in sadistic deathtraps. For Storm herself, he encases her entire body in chrome, which has the effect of [[TraumaButton triggering]] her intense {{claustrophobia}}. As she panics, she unconsciously triggers a massive tropical storm that threatens to destroy the east coast. When the X-Men finally force Doom to release her, Storm has regressed into a savage, uncontrolled state that is called "Rogue Storm" -- a character that both [[https://comicvine1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_large/8/84205/3676155-%24_57.jpg the cover]] and the story parallels to Dark Phoenix. In fact, ComicBook/{{Colossus}} [[CallBack uses their past experience with Dark Phoenix]] to calm Storm down enough that she turns back to normal and dismisses the storm.

* Vanya (later 'Viktor') Hargreeves of ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'' deconstructs this. She starts off as TheTeamNormal in a SuperFamilyTeam and resentful of her adopted siblings. However, she turns out to be the most powerful of them after all and [[spoiler:eventually causes the apocalypse the siblings were trying to prevent after Luther locks her up.]] However, this happens because her father figure had treated her as a ticking time bomb from the beginning by [[spoiler:repressing her personality and powers (supernaturally and through drugs) and isolating her]] when she was young and had not allowed her to grow into them organically. [[spoiler:In season two, with a clean slate and the love and support of people around her, she remasters her powers fairly quickly and becomes a force for good.]]

* Viktor Hargreeves of ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'' deconstructs this. He starts off as TheTeamNormal in a SuperFamilyTeam and resentful of his adopted siblings. However, he turns out to be the most powerful of them after all and [[spoiler:eventually causes the apocalypse the siblings were trying to prevent after Luther locks him up.]] However, this happens because his father figure had treated him as a ticking time bomb from the beginning by [[spoiler:repressing his personality and powers (supernaturally and through drugs) and isolating him]] when he was young and had not allowed him to grow into them organically. [[spoiler:In season two, with a clean slate and the love and support of people around him, he remasters his powers fairly quickly and becomes a force for good.]]

* Vanya Hargreeves of ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'' deconstructs this. She starts off TheTeamNormal in a SuperFamilyTeam and resentful of her adopted siblings. However, she turns out to be the most powerful of them after all and [[spoiler:eventually causes the apocalypse the siblings were trying to prevent after Luther locks her up.]] However, this happens because her father figure had treated her as a ticking time bomb from the beginning by [[spoiler:repressing her personality and powers (supernaturally and through drugs) and isolating her]] when she was young and had not allowed her to grow into them organically. [[spoiler:In season two, with a clean slate and the love and support of people around her, she remasters her powers fairly quickly and becomes a force for good.]]

* Carrie White in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' and all of its adaptations. The trope is more muted in the original novel, where Carrie already struggles with her emotions as a result of her mother's abuse. However, after her psychic powers fully awaken, she becomes homicidal, vengeful, and eventually goes completely insane and murders over four hundred people in a single night while [[WhereIWasBornAndRazed burning down half her hometown]]. As noted in [[https://cortex.comicidal.net/the-carrie-complex-5e59b2c7ab20 this article]], ''Carrie'' may well be the TropeCodifier for this archetype, and popularized a very specific variation of it: that of a young woman who is isolated from society, goes violently insane as a result of a deceitful man (the admittedly [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom well-meaning]] Tommy Ross, who asked her to prom as a favor to his [[TheAtoner guilt-ridden]] girlfriend and which Carrie thought signaled genuine romantic interest), and must be controlled or killed before she destroys everything.

GodSaveUsFromTheQueen and GoodPrincessEvilQueen are related -- a young, less powerful woman can be good and heroic, but a ''queen'' is probably nuts. See also EmotionalPowers, WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity, AngstNuke.

** The ComicBook/DoomPatrol villainess Madame Rouge, who had RubberMan powers, also had an evil split persoanlity after an automobile accident. She grew increasingly unstable as the run went on to the point of almost literally tearing herself in two as her good and evil sides fought for control. Eventually she recovered, only for Captain Zahl to reawaken her dormant evil as a lead-in to the final story, which had her kill her old Brotherhood allies and join him in killing the heroes.

* [[BigBad Maligula]] in ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'' has started out as amiable if very powerful [[MakingASplash hydrokinetic]]. However, she causes a country-wide disaster by accident. When faced with the tragic consequences of said disaster, she snaps and revels in the carnage. She even gleefully accepts the moniker people gave her.

* [[BigBad Maligula]] in ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'' has started out as amiable if very powerful [[MakingASplash hydrokinetic]]. However, once she loses control of her emotions, she accidentally causes a country-wide disaster. When faced with the tragic consequences of said disaster, she snaps and revels in the carnage. She even gleefully accepts the moniker people gave her.

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease'''

** Like her comics counterpart, [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda Maximoff]] is not exactly the most stable person. The death of her parents caused her and her brother [[ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} Pietro]] to join HYDRA, and even after her HeelFaceTurn, she is still one of the most dangerous and unstable members of the Avengers. Her botching a mission in Lagos sets off the events of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. Come ''Series/WandaVision'', her lifetime of grief, loss, and sorrow has caused her to finally snap, retreating into a fantasy world of her own creation and sucking countless innocent bystanders in with her. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Fortunately]], she eventually regains her bearings and control over her powers... only for her to snap all over again under the influence of dark magic in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness''.]]

GodSaveUsFromTheQueen and GoodPrincessEvilQueen are related -- a young, less powerful woman can be good and heroic, but a ''queen'' is probably nuts. See also EmotionalPowers, WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity.

** Like her comics counterpart, [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda Maximoff]] is not exactly the most stable person. The death of her parents caused her and her brother [[ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} Pietro]] to join HYDRA, and even after her HeelFaceTurn, she is still one of the most dangerous and unstable members of the Avengers. Her botching a mission in Lagos sets off the events of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. Come ''Series/WandaVision'', her lifetime of grief, loss, and sorrow has caused her to finally snap, retreating into a fantasy world of her own creation and sucking countless innocent bystanders in with her. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Fortunately]], she eventually regains her bearings and control over her powers. Though if TheStinger is any indication...]]