History Main / WeaponOfMassDestruction

** Bonus points to the [[ZetaGundam Psyco Gundam]] and [[GundamSeedDestiny Destroy Gundam]] which are essentially mobile, 400 tonne tactical nukes, capable of killing entire cities and armies using only their raw fire power. Both of course, are also quite vulnerable to attack by single enemy craft.

* The ''Ohmu'' and the God-Warrior's [[WaveMotionGun mouth laser]] in ''NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind''.

** "Remembrance Of The Daleks" had ''The hand Of Omega'' which could rewire stars, and was used to vaporise an entire solar system.
** Lampooned in the episode "''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E5WorldWarThree World War Three]]''", in which alien gangsters in disguise manage to gain control of the Western nuclear arsenal [[spoiler:in order to reduce Earth to radioactive rubble]] simply by threatening Earth with a [[spoiler:(non-existent)]] alien battle fleet armed with 'Massive Weapons of Destruction'
** This trope is taken to its logical extreme by [[MadScientist Davros]] in "''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]''": [[spoiler: his planet-sized Dalek starship, The Crucible, is equipped with a "Reality Bomb", essentially a jumbo-sized, ''planet-powered'' disintegrator that can cancel out nuclear cohesion, reducing matter to nothing. One blast from it can propagate throughout the entire Universe, wiping out everything but the Crucible itself. And by setting it off next to [[OurWormholesAreDifferent The Medusa Cascade]] the blast would spread throughout TheMultiverse, wiping out ''everything'' that could possibly exist, ''ever'', leaving the [[OmnicidalManiac Daleks]] as the only [[AbsoluteXenophobe thigs left in existence]]]].
** In The Day of the Doctor, the weapon the Doctor used to end the Time War was one of these called the Moment, also known as the Galaxy Eater, developed by Gallifrey's Ancients. [[spoiler: It was so powerful that it became sentient and developed a consience so the Time Lords never dared use it because how do use a weapon of mass destruction that can pass judgement on you? It took the form of the Bad Wolf to try and persaude the Doctor '''not''' to use it, because it didn't want to kill the children still on Gallifrey during the War.]]
* A somewhat tongue in cheek example, Gaius Baltar of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' tends to cause a lot of destruction every time he gets laid. [[http://wiki.frakr.com/en/Baltar%27s_schlong WikiFrakr]] refers to this phenomenon as [[BiggusDickus "Baltar's Schlong."]]

** Finally, the nightmare that started it all is revealed to be [[spoiler:a flower]] in ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard3}}''. This little device prevents its wearer from dying, at the cost of their sanity and eventual mutation into a [[EldtrichAbomination Mother Grotesquerie]]. Which explains why the main psychopathess character is hell-bent on killing her sisters - [[spoiler:she's trying to prevent them from eventually causing the end of the world]].

For more on a type we can't discuss, see AtomicHate.

* And the trope is done to death in ''Franchise/StarWars''. First, both "[[ThatsNoMoon Death Stars]]" were capable of [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing up planets]]. The Marvel Star Wars comics, which began publishing shortly after the first movie, also featured the Empire coming up with new superweapons and predictably the rebellion discovering their existence and destroying them. Of particular note is the Tarkin, which was originally meant to be another Death Star, but Lucas forbade Marvel from using that since he was going to use the ''exact same thing'' in Return of the Jedi. And during the early '90s, many ''Star Wars'' ExpandedUniverse writers would use the "TheEmpire is building a new superweapon" plot gimmick so often that things quickly got out of hand (the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse was often referred to as the "Superweapon of the Month Club" during this time). The [[JediAcademyTrilogy Sun Crusher and the Prototype Death Star]], the Eye of Palpatine, the Darksaber, [[DarkEmpire World Devastators and the Galaxy Gun]]... Kevin J. Anderson was the worst with this; every single adult ''Star Wars'' novel he wrote used one. Since Lucasfilm switched publishers to Del Ray, these ''mostly'' vanished (it was hilariously lampshaded by Han Solo in one ''NewJediOrder'' novel). Whether the overall quality of EU works has improved or not is a matter of some debate, but you will be hard-pressed to find a fan reminiscing about books like ''Darksaber'' (which featured a superweapon that didn't even work to begin with), though some found it somewhat funny; Most hated that Wedge was commanding a capital ship (ok, a frigate) rather than flying a fighter, though, it almost read like a deconstruction of the premise, with the whole superweapon just a huge Shaggy Dog Story that costs the life of a movie character without accomplishing anything.

* [[MegaManX Final Weapon]] and [[MegaManZero Ragnarok]], although they also belong to [[KillSat another trope]].

* The Seeds of Resurrection in ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}''. The hierarch Verdelet seems to think they cause all of humanity, if worthy, to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. It's a pity he didn't consider that statement [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt metaphorically]].

* The planetoids from ''EmpireFromTheAshes'' by DavidWeber are armed with missiles that use warheads armed with everything from (super-powered) chemical explosives to gigaton-range antimatter devices. And they aren't even considered the real shipkillers, that honour falling to the gravitonic warhead, a micro-ish black hole generator. [[spoiler: Then, there is the gravitonic super-bomb, a weapon that kills everything within a light-second or so of its activation point and can cause a [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun supernova]] if activated close to a star. Oh yes, and one type of FTL drive can also nova a star if you're not careful.]]

*** ''Assault Horizon'', in keeping with it's more realistic setting, gives us a bit of a downgraded version in the "Trinity Warhead". It's basically a non-nuclear nuke: all the power with none of the fallout.

** In The Day of the Doctor, the weapon the Doctor used to end the Time War was one of these called the Moment, also known as the Galaxy Eater. [[spoiler: It was so powerful that it became sentient and developed a consience so the Time Lords never dared use it because how do use a weapon of mass destruction that can pass judgement on you. It took the form of the Bad Wolf to try and persaude the Doctor '''not''' to use it.]]

* There are alot of destructive weapons in the BloonsTowerDefense series(along with nearly all games made by NinjaKiwi), but currently none can compare to the Temple of the Monkey God. To put it in perspective, it has the ability to sacrifice any player-made towers in its former radious when upgrade & varies in power[[labelnote:*]]The traditional maxed sacrifice being 1 Arctic Wind, 1 Tempest Tornado Wizard, 3 Big Ones, 1 Bloon Liquifier & 1 High Energy Beacon or MIB: Call to Arms. Optionally, 1 Technological Terror can be added as well[[/labelnote]] Because of this, its popping power varies, from being weaker then a Sun God to being [[CurbStompBattle more then capable of destroying entire armies of bloons]].

* There are alot of destructive weapons in the BloonsTowerDefense series, but currently none could compare to the Temple of the Monkey God. To put it in perspective, it has the ability to sacrifice any player-made towers in its former radious when upgrade & varies in power[[labelnote:*]]The traditional maxed sacrifice being 1 Arctic Wind, 1 Tempest Tornado Wizard, 3 Big Ones, 1 Bloon Liquifier & 1 High Energy Beacon or MIB: Call to Arms. Optionally, 1 Technological Terror can be added as well[[/labelnote]] Because of this, its popping power varies, from being weaker then a Sun God to being [[CurbStompBattle more then capable of destroying entire armies of bloons]].

*** According to expanded universe sources, standard starships could already devastate an entire planet that way (not destroy it physically but render the surface uninhabitable for life forms). The tactic is called Base Delta Zero and one Imperial-class Star Destroyer is enough to do it to one planet.

*** What you said... also according to expanded universe sources, standard starships could already devastate an entire planet that way (not destroy it physically but render the surface uninhabitable for life forms). The tactic is called Base Delta Zero and one Imperial-class Star Destroyer is enough to do it to one planet.
** Don't forget Centerpoint Station, a gravitational weapon that could basically do anything including blowing up stars (while remaining stationary itself; its gravity bursts could work through hyperspace). Used once in the Yuuzhan Vong War to [[spoiler::destroy a Vong fleet, along with half the Hapan fleet engaging them which gets wiped out as collateral damage]].

* The galactic federation of ''MassEffect'' has an interesting definition for "weapon of mass destruction" -- a WMD is defined as a weapon that causes "environmental alteration" if used on a planetary surface. So a bomb that simply blew an enormous crater in the landscape would not be a WMD, but one that kicked up enough dust or water vapor to cause nuclear winter would be. So would things like asteroid impacts, self-replicating nanite plagues, etc.

**** Put in perspective, when the Council ''authorizes'' an extinction, they must believe that race's existence will have consequences as bad or worse than upper tier [=WMD=]'s.

* There are alot of destructive weapons in the Bloons Tower Defense series, but currently none could compare to the Temple of the Monkey God. To put it in perspective, it has the ability to sacrifice any player-made towers in its former radious when upgrade & varies in power[[labelnote:*]]The traditional maxed sacrifice being 1 Arctic Wind, 1 Tempest Tornado Wizard, 3 Big Ones, 1 Bloon Liquifier & 1 High Energy Beacon or MIB: Call to Arms. Optionally, 1 Technological Terror can be added as well[[/labelnote]] Because of this, its popping power varies, from being weaker then a Sun God to being [[CurbStompBattle more then capable of destroying entire armies of bloons]].

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': [[MoreThanInfinite Bakusaiga]], Sesshoumaru's true sword. When it's revealed that Bakusaiga not only destroys what it's directly cut, but the blow then [[TheVirus automatically]] [[ChainReactionDestruction transfers]] to anything that comes into contact with the original victim, [[MasterOfIllusion Byakuya]] sets up a trap designed to kill Sesshoumaru. When Sesshoumaru points out a couple of {{youkai}} won't stop him, Byakuya reveals he [[GenreSavvy knows]] and that's why he's enlisted an army of [[CrazyPrepared several thousand]]. Bakusaiga destroys the entire army ''with a single swing''.

->'''Dr. Sign''': Lynn, what is the one and only way to prevent being killed by the explosion of a nuclear weapon?\\

-->-- '''Dr. Hugo Sign''', in Creator/PaulRobinson's ''The Gatekeeper: The Gate Contracts''

* And the trope is done to death in ''StarWars''. First, both "[[ThatsNoMoon Death Stars]]" were capable of [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing up planets]]. The Marvel Star Wars comics, which began publishing shortly after the first movie, also featured the Empire coming up with new superweapons and predictably the rebellion discovering their existence and destroying them. Of particular note is the Tarkin, which was originally meant to be another Death Star, but Lucas forbade Marvel from using that since he was going to use the ''exact same thing'' in Return of the Jedi. And during the early '90s, many ''Star Wars'' ExpandedUniverse writers would use the "TheEmpire is building a new superweapon" plot gimmick so often that things quickly got out of hand (the [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse EU]] -- no, not ''[[EuropeanUnion that]]'' one -- was often referred to as the "Superweapon of the Month Club" during this time). The [[JediAcademyTrilogy Sun Crusher and the Prototype Death Star]], the Eye of Palpatine, the Darksaber, [[DarkEmpire World Devastators and the Galaxy Gun]]... Kevin J. Anderson was the worst with this; every single adult ''Star Wars'' novel he wrote used one. Since Lucasfilm switched publishers to Del Ray, these ''mostly'' vanished (it was hilariously lampshaded by Han Solo in one ''NewJediOrder'' novel). Whether the overall quality of EU works has improved or not is a matter of some debate, but you will be hard-pressed to find a fan reminiscing about books like ''Darksaber'' (which featured a superweapon that didn't even work to begin with), though some found it somewhat funny; Most hated that Wedge was commanding a capital ship (ok, a frigate) rather than flying a fighter, though, it almost read like a deconstruction of the premise, with the whole superweapon just a huge Shaggy Dog Story that costs the life of a movie character without accomplishing anything.