History Main / WalkingTechbane

* ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} is a victim of this trope. He's had guns jam and blow up on him, and once had a jetpack blow its engines, causing him to drop hundreds of feet in freefall into a vampire castle. Lucky for him he's more or less indestructible.
* ComicBook/BlackCanary despises computers, and the feeling is mutual. In the first issue splash panel of ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' she is seen looking terrified and screaming "No! NO! Take it away! It's too horrible". Turn the page to learn that Oracle has just bought her a computer.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
** Kitty Pryde has this as a side effect of her intangibility powers: Phasing through any sort of electronic device will cause it to instantly short circuit. (Unusually for this trope, she is a skilled programmer as long as she stays tangible.)
** Bedlam, a member of the ''ComicBook/XForce'' for much of the late 1990s, can produce a bio-electric field around his body that disrupts machines and electronics. He joined X-Force when they were fugitives and by the time he left they were black ops, making him a ''very'' valuable member of the team.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': Clark Kent has to write his news articles on a typewriter because his powers sometimes cause computers to malfunction.

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'', Mr. Burns tries to learn how to use a computer, but each console he gets near short-circuits at his touch. Smithers then explains to Burns' computer tutor that after years of absorbing nuclear radiation, Mr. Burns can't even go near a calculator.
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'' brings us an Autobot named Damus, tellingly known as "Glitch" to his friends, who has this as a power. Luckily for him (and his comrades) his powers only affect non-sentient machines.[[spoiler:At least until his power evolves to the point where it can cause a cybertronian [[OurSoulsAreDifferent spark]] to explode, and the fact [[EvilOverlord Megatron]] [[CorruptTheCutie corrupts]] him into becoming the vicious leader of the [[TortureTechnician Deception]] [[LoonyFan Justice]] [[KnightTemplar Division]], He now goes by the name of Tarn.]]
* PlayedForDrama in ''ComicBook/DoctorWhoIDW'', where a man has lived his whole life as a living techbane, because [[TomatoSurprise he is actually a sentient EMP]], [[LivingMacGuffin which makes him a target for a pair of warring aliens]]. [[spoiler: Eventually undone when the Doctor drains enough of the energy to give him an average lifespan, which is [[IJustWantToBeNormal what he wanted]] to begin with.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'' brings us an Autobot named Damus, tellingly known as "Glitch" to his friends, who has this as a power. Luckily for him (and his comrades) his powers only affect non-sentient machines.[[spoiler:At least until his power evolves to the point where it can cause a cybertronian spark to explode, and the fact [[EvilOverlord Megatron]] [[CorruptTheCutie corrupts]] him into becoming the vicious leader of the [[TortureTechnician Deception]] [[LoonyFan Justice]] [[KnightTemplar Division]], He now goes by the name of Tarn.]]

* Nina Mercury from ''Anime/LostUniverse'' is infamous for breaking or ruining anything electronic she touches. It only works if she touches them, but she's capable of doing it to just about anything. ''[[BeyondTheImpossible She breaks Canal's CPU by hugging her holographic projection]]''. [[spoiler: In the final arc, Mille exploits this by using her "curse" to short out a LostTechnology-based DangerousForbiddenTechnique.]]

--> -- '''[[VideoGame/HalfLife Gordon Freeman]]''', ''WebVideo/FreemansMind'' Episode 4

* Bartlett Finchley from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E40AThingAboutMachines A Thing About Machines]]".

* Joseph Meeger, a character of the week on ''{{Series/Fringe}}'' was this, to a deadly degree, as a result of experimentation with human electrical fields. It gets worse the more upset he becomes. He actually causes an elevator to actively ''drive'' itself into the ground.

* For Chinami Ebihara from ''Manga/CodeE'', involuntarily frying electronics [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture twenty minutes in future]] must really suck.

* For Chinami Ebihara from ''Code-E'', involuntarily frying electronics [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture twenty minutes in future]] must really suck.

* Joseph Joestar in ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'' is this by necessity. Due to the way his Stand works, he ends up destroying whatever mechanical device - from a Polaroid camera to a television set - he happens to be funneling information through usually with explosive results, much to his bemusement. Other than that, he's shown using a Walkman without issue, but has a bad habit of getting into plane crashes. He does manage to keep his prosthetic arm working without incident most of the time, though that might just be because there is some legitimately insane German engineering in that arm.
* In [[Anime/SailorMoon the first anime adaptation]] of ''Sailor Moon'' Minako (Sailor Venus) is also shown to be lethal around Rei's (Sailor Mars) music player which she manages to somehow ''blow up'' whilst trying simply play a cassette. Fans of the show then [[CharacterExaggeration exaggerated this trait in fanfics]] to the point of Minako destroying any electronic device she touches in some instances.

** ComicBook/KittyPryde has this as a side effect of her intangibility powers: Phasing through any sort of electronic device will cause it to instantly short circuit. (Unusually for this trope, she is a skilled programmer as long as she stays tangible.)
** Bedlam, a member of the ''ComicBook/XForce'' for much of the late 90s, can produce a bio-electric field around his body that disrupts machines and electronics. He joined X-Force when they were fugitives and by the time he left they were black ops, making him a ''very'' valuable member of the team.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': Clark Kent has to write his news articles on a typewriter because his powers sometimes cause computers to malfunction.

* [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW IDW's Transformers comics]] bring us an Autobot named Damus, tellingly known as "Glitch" to his friends, who has this as a power. Luckily for him (and his comrades) his powers only affect non-sentient machines.[[spoiler: At least until his power evolves to the point where it can cause a cybertronian spark to explode, and the fact [[EvilOverlord Megatron]] [[CorruptTheCutie corrupts]] him into becoming the vicious leader of the [[TortureTechnician Deception]] [[LoonyFan Justice]] [[KnightTemplar Division]], He now goes by the name of Tarn.]]

* In the ''Film/JurassicPark'' film, characters joke that paleontologist Alan Grant is one when he seems to cause a computer monitor to burst into static whenever he points to it. Lampshaded later when the park shuts down for reasons unrelated to him, and he immediately asks what (presumably crucial component) he just touched.
* Film/MonsterVerse:

* Bartlett Finchley from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "A Thing About Machines".

* Just like in the book it's based on, Newton Pulsifer from ''Series/GoodOmens'' merely needs to attempt to use/fix/assemble anything technical for it (and everything else in a generous area around it) to break down in spectacular fashion. Thanks to the SettingUpdate from the early '90s to 2019, this makes his life much more difficult because it's nearly impossible to find a job that doesn't involve computers. One of his first scenes is getting fired when he blacks out the office upon logging in to his desktop.
** This becomes a key moment in the finale as [[spoiler: The Four Horsemen have set up nuclear launches via interconnected computer systems. When asked if he could "Speed it up," Newton, thinking nothing can be done anyway, types a few commands to set the launches off...and instead it ''completely undoes'' the system, restoring control to the proper authorities and averting Armageddon.]]

* Physicist Wolfgang Pauli, one of the fathers of modern chemistry, frequently saw experiments explode or fail whenever he came near them. On one occasion, an experiment in a university failed, and the scientists figured it couldn't be Pauli, he was nowhere around, he was on his way to Zurich. Except, as it turned out, he ''was'' in town... waiting for a train connection. Website/TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_effect elaborates]]. Someone humorously dubbed it the "Second Pauli Exclusion Principle": Wolfgang Pauli and a functioning device can't occupy the same room.

* Creator/EddieIzzard describes the results thus: "[[FailedASpotCheck I've wiped the file?]] ...I've wiped all the files? ....[[EpicFail I've wiped the]] ''[[EpicFail Internet]]''? Aww, no! [[SerialEscalation I don't even have a modem!]]"

* This is a big problem for the female lead, Da Da, at the outset of the kdrama ''Absolute Boyfriend (절대 그이)''--she tends to short-circuit any device she tries to use, to the point that even her fridge is used only for storing old junk and she has to wear gloves to use her smart phone. Fortunately, everything changes when a {{ridiculously human robot|s}} shipped to her by mistake falls in love with her.

* {{Exploited|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex''. [[ExtravertedNerd Fitzy Feakins]] constantly projects a field that temporarily shutdowns any [[{{Nanomachines}} Nanite]] around him. This makes him a top priority target of [[LawEnforcementInc Providence]] as his ability would help them [[spoiler:capture the eponymous character.]]

* In the LightNovel series ''Literature/{{Campione}}'' this is one of the Authorities of Salvatore Doni, though a rather unusual voluntary version. For about 12 hours he can shut down modern technology over quite a large area (such as most of the island of Sardinia). This didn't make it to the anime adaptation.

* ''Comicbook/XMen'':

--->'''Jason:''' Yee-ha! It accepted my order! I've got ''Franchise/StarWars'' tickets! ''(praying pose)'' ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' heaven, this angel is ready for entry. ''(pondering pose)'' I can't believe how long I had to wait online, though. The movie theater's website must've really been swamped.\\

* In the ''Literature/AlcatrazSeries'' all of the Free Lands technology can do this to the more mundane technology Hushlanders (we) use. Special notice goes to the titular character who has the [[BlessedwithSuck ability]] to break things, and can do this to anything and possibly anyone.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** And it has returned yet again where [[spoiler: a group of Dalek {{Expies}} have deemed Art a threat, as they are [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=711 "of technology."]] Though he claims to have lost it after the [=OzBasic=] incident.]]

* WesternAnimation/MaxSteel2013 The main character Max does this to technology that he touches after he got his powers. it got to the point that he was trying to drive a car with car floor mats.

* According to Creator/RogerMoore, the late Creator/DesmondLlewelyn ([[{{Film/JamesBond}} Q]] from ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' through ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'') was ironically one of these and couldn't get a ''[[{{EpicFail}} pocket calculator]]'' to work if his life depended on it.

* In the LightNovel series ''LightNovel/{{Campione}}'' this is one of the Authorities of Salvatore Doni, though a rather unusual voluntary version. For about 12 hours he can shut down modern technology over quite a large area (such as most of the island of Sardinia). This didn't make it to the anime adaptation.

* Fino from ''LightNovel/ICouldntBecomeAHeroSoIReluctantlyDecidedToGetAJob'' finds employment in an appliance store, where she is constantly frying devices. This is because her world uses {{Magitek}} instead of technology and as the Demon Lord's daughter, she's capable of blowing every fuse in an entire house. Fortunately, she learns to down her wattage after a few episodes.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', single wizards can't cause this, but the elaborate charms, wards, and protections in Hogwarts and most wizard dwellings that uphold TheMasquerade and protect against dark wizards do, which also conveniently [[AWizardDidIt explains]] why Harry never buys cell phones or walkie-talkies for his pals the few dozen times they would otherwise come in handy.

* While originally only suffering from MissingReflection, the Lasombra of [[TabletopGame/{{VampireTheMasqueradeFifthEdition}} V5]] have a variation of this trope. While they can use technology just fine, their reflection and recording (live or otherwise) is distorted, and just making a phone call requires them to pass a skill check. Oh, and despite these issues, [[Main/{{CursedWithAwesome}} their bane]] [[Main/{{SubvertedTrope}} won't reliably obscure their identity]], and anyone who knows what to look for (like the [[Main/{{HunterOfMonsters}} Second Inquisition]]) will recognize the effect on sight.

** And it has returned yet again where [[spoiler: a group of Dalek {{Expies}} have deemed Art a threat, as they are [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=711 "of technology."]]]]

* Erin from [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Dragon_City Dragon City]] is terrible with computers since she's always causing them to crash and needs help from her family to do basically anything. This is a contrast to her family since her parents and brother are VERY computer savvy to the point her dad is a computer technician for a power plant and her mom used to be one.

* WesternAnimation/MaxSteel (2013) The main character Max does this to technology that he touches after he got his powers. it got to the point that he was trying to drive a car with car floor mats. (ps This thing is linking to wrong max steel, it is linking to the 2000s one not 2013 cartoon, hopefully someone will get it to work correct because there is a page on here for the 2013 one.)

* [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2184 2184]] is a mammoth that causes the destruction of all objects created with post-Stone Age technology. It can even cause a fire to go out if it was lit with a match, and ignores the existence of a pit dug with shovels or explosives.

* WesternAnimation/MaxSteel (2013) The main character Max does this to technology that he touches after he got his powers. it got to the point that he was trying to drive a car with car floor mats.

* WesternAnimation/MaxSteel(2013) The main character Max does this to technology that he touches after he got his powers. it got to the point that he was trying to drive a car with car floor mats.