Line #93 Main/FreakLabAccident


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7	[[quoteright:342:[[ComicBook/TheFlash https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Barry_Flash_Origin_Recap_1287.jpg]]]]
8	[[caption-width-right:342:[[DarthWiki/WarpThatAesop Remember, kids: if you douse yourself in chemicals in a lightning storm enough times, you too may become a superhero!]]]]
9
10	->''"Bitten by radioactive beebles in a freak algebra accident, young Ricky Robertson discovered he'd gained the ability to harness the awesome power of fractions!"''
11	-->-- ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' Flavor Text for ''[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?printed=true&multiverseid=74301 Fraction Jackson]]''
12
13	An opportune, unplanned and unrepeatable (hence "Accident") event that gives a character their [[SuperHero superpowers]]. Similar to NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup, only for people instead of machines and technologies. Opinions on this are extremely subjective, and this origin isn't used as much nowadays.
14
15	Common subtypes include:
16	* [[PlayingWithSyringes Lab Accidents]], especially involving chemicals
17	* [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers Being blasted by radiation, especially from weapon fallout]] (this is usually a UsefulNotes/ColdWar thing)
18	* [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum Aliens leaving their Phlebotinum around]]
19	* {{Genetic Engineering\|IsTheNewNuke}}
20	* [[ToxicWasteCanDoAnything Falling into a vat of toxic waste]]
21
22	Given the relatively tiny probability of [[LightningCanDoAnything being struck by lightning]], it also ties in with that.
23
24	[[GrandfatherClause More tolerated in superheroes created decades ago]]. Remakes tend to either avoid these random-chance [[SuperHeroOrigin origins]] or [[MetaOrigin eventually tie them into a grander mythos]] (or at least a StoryArc of some kind).
25
26	It is still used frequently, despite having very nearly become cliché, making it an UndeadHorseTrope. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality This is probably due to the fact]] that superheroes don't exist in real life, and it is simply difficult to find other ways to make superheroes.
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28	Can also be used to create a MonsterOfTheWeek, with the same caveats. This can be used to create a ScienceIsBad plot if wanted when things have GoneHorriblyWrong. See also DisposableSuperheroMaker, MiraculousMalfunction, TestingRangeMishap. Contrast MassSuperEmpoweringEvent.
29	----
30	!!Examples
31
32	[[foldercontrol]]
33
34	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
35	* It is during one of her father's lab-experiments that Kurau in ''Anime/KurauPhantomMemory'' gets merged with an {{energy being\|s}} called "Rynax".
36	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' ''might'' count, what with the contact experiments infusing the test pilot's soul into the Eva's core. This happened twice with different circumstances: first, Yui was completely swallowed by Unit 01 and gained [[EmpathicWeapon limited control]] in the form of [[UnstoppableRage going berserk]]; second, Kyoko's transition was incomplete, and a clinically insane body was left behind that eventually killed herself, making Unit 02 the most stable one. {{Subverted\|Trope}} in that Yui '''[[ThePlan knew]]''' what was going to happen but did it anyway; unfortunately, it just made things even worse as she hadn't bothered to tell anyone and when her peers tried to extract her, she resisted and made it look like the operation failed (when the same happened to her son, everyone believed the same because Yui was holding them back until Shinji left on his own). Considering the fans' habit of deifying Yui-sama, it's a definite subversion.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Comic Books]]
40	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
41	** This somewhat applies to the Joker, who gained not superpowers but his clownish appearance and SlasherSmile from falling into a vat of chemicals. Even the "no-superpowers-gained" thing is debatable, as some speculate that the Joker's insanity is actually a form of [[MediumAwareness fourth wall-breaking "super-sanity"]] gained at the same time.
42	** In a 1989 storyline, a mad Joker-wannabe hurls himself into a chemical vat in an attempt to replicate the transformation. However, as Batman unsuccessfully warns him, the industrial acids therein are much stronger than the ones that disfigured the Joker years ago, and the wannabe simply disintegrates.
43	** Mr. Freeze is a more conventional playing of his trope. In the current past of the character, the attempts of his heartless bosses to get rid of him and his work to save his cryogenically frozen wife caused his equipment to go haywire, drastically altering him. Of course, this isn't so much a superpower as it is a handicap, and his resulting powers come in the form of technology he invents himself.
44	* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': One of the versions of Donald Duck's superhero identity Paperinik (though not the one in ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'') faces a parody of the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' villain Sandman called Sand''ham'' (as he's a pig, natch). Sandham was a janitor in an oatmeal porridge factory who gained his powers when he was accidentally exposed to a procedure to "remove those nasty lumps from oatmeal porridge". Donald ends up having to dissolve him with it, and finally tosses his head, the only thing left of him, into a vat of porridge.
45	* ''ComicBook/FirestormDCComics'': The original Firestorm was created by sabotage (a bomb) in an experimental nuclear reactor, fusing the teenage Ronnie Raymond and the designer of the reactor, Professor Martin Stein into a single super-powered hero. Also affected by the explosion was Stein's evil assistant, who became the villain Multiplex. A later attempt by Multiplex to recreate the "accident" produced the heroine Firehawk.
46	* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'':
47	** The classic SuperheroOrigin of the Flash involves {{lightning\|CanDoAnything}} and a shelf full of [[ChemistryCanDoAnything chemicals]] in a police lab. The origin was so good, DC recycled it exactly for Kid Flash. However, as mentioned above, this was eventually tied into [[MetaOrigin the "Speed Force"]].
48	** The origin of UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age\|OfComicBooks}} Flash involves Jay Garrick being exposed to ''hard water vapors''. Apparently, there was a rumor at the time the comic was written that the chemicals typically found in hard water could increase the metabolic speed of animals who ingested or inhaled them. This too was {{retcon}}ned to being part of the Speed Force, though during the period of time when the Speed Force disappeared, he still retained a weakened version of his powers thanks to his metagene.
49	** In ''ComicBook/FlashpointDCComics'', Barry recreates the accident in an attempt to regain his powers. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, and Barry instead suffers [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the real-life consequences]] of being struck by a bolt of lightning while being doused with dangerous chemicals. He has to fry himself ''two more times'' before it works.]]
50	** Before that, Wally West (the third Flash) tried recreating the accident after losing his powers. It ''almost'' worked right... [[spoiler:he got the SuperSpeed, [[RequiredSecondarypowers but not]] [[SuperReflexes the necessary reflexes to maneuver]], blasting a trail of destruction across the country in the split-second before he could stop running]].
51	** Professor Zoom, Barry's EvilCounterpart and ArchEnemy, had this retconned into his origin story, only in his case he deliberately recreated the accident that gave the Flash his powers (he was an obsessive Flash fan from the far future who even went as far as to surgically reconstruct his own face to resemble Barry). Prior to this retcon, his ''original'' backstory outlined that he only had his speed whenever he wore his costume, which was a Flash costume he'd found in a time capsule and scientifically increased its residual speed energy (from Barry's constant use of it) before then dyeing it in reverse-colors.
52	* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'':
53	** Although it actually took place on a testing range, the original origin of the Hulk is for all practical purposes a Freak Lab Accident. Later versions (most notably [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 the TV series]] and [[Film/{{Hulk}} the first motion-picture adaptation]]) make it a more literal lab accident.
54	** A number of the classic Hulk's foes had Freak Lab Accident origins involving nuclear power and nuclear radiation (originally, anyway). One of them, the Leader, was a janitor exposed to nuclear waste.
55	* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'':
56	** Comet Queen had heard that Star Boy got his powers by flying through a comet, so she intentionally flew through one despite everyone telling her how stupid it was, especially since Star Boy did it ''in a spaceship''. It worked anyway.
57	** The post-''ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'' comics hang a lampshade on the trope when Spark, in an effort to regain her super-power, attempts to recreate the circumstances of her freak origin -- and gets herself killed as a result. (However, the rest of the Legion [[OnlyMostlyDead manages to revive her]], and afterwards she does indeed have her powers back.)
58	* The monstrous ''ComicBook/MetalMen'' villain Chemo was created this way. Originally, it was a plastic vessel used by scientist Ramsey Norton to dispose of the chemical by-products from his failed experiments, built in the shape of a man to remind him of his failures. One day (ironically, the day he planned to empty it) he dumped the remnants of a failed growth formula in the vessel, accidentally causing it to double in size and coming to life. After killing Norton and destroying the lab, it lumbered forth with no purpose but to destroy.
59	* In ''ComicBook/SheHulk'', Daniel Jermain became "Danger Man" when a workplace accident at Roxxon Industries transformed him into an atomic superhuman. The interesting part is that he has no desire to be a superhero or villain. Daniel just wants Jennifer to help him sue Roxxon because of all of the hassle his new powers have brought into his life.
60	* ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'': {{Parodied\|Trope}} in the Bongo Comics crossover "When Bongos Collide!", in which a nuclear plant meltdown (caused by Itchy and Scratchy) [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent grants superpowers to nearly everyone in Springfield]] (and somehow automatically gives most of them costumes), whereupon everyone starts pummeling each other.
61	* ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' was the only spinoff that followed the original American canon of the [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog franchise]] closely, while adding its own twists. In this continuity, Doctor Ivo Robotnik was originally a kind veterinarian called Ovi Kintobor who attempted to eliminate all evil from Mobius with a machine called the Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor (ROCC) by absorbing all the negative energy on the planet. The experiment failed and he was transformed into a megalomaniac MadScientist bent on conquering the world. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:this is an example of ''both'' SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight. The Brotherhood of Metallix traveled to the past and prevented the accident from happening so Kintobor never became Robotnik. As the doctor played an integral role helping Sonic and the Freedom Fighters in stopping the faction, this created a BadFuture where the Metallix conquered Mobius and renamed it "Planet Metallix". Sonic went and set things up so the accident took place, leaving us with the disturbing knowledge that it was him who was responsible for unleashing a great evil on Mobius, even if it was to prevent a greater evil from happening]].
62	* The ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'' villain Mr. Abnormal is both an {{expy}} of ComicBook/PlasticMan and a {{parod\|iedTrope}}y of this. His origin is that "he had an improbable accident with a chemical at a toy factory that had a unique effect with his body chemistry", as quoted from [[ComicBook/NewWarriors Speedball]].
63	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
64	** Spider-Man was given powers by a radioactive spider bite, the spider itself being a result of the lab accident. ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManJMichaelStraczynski'' attempted to {{retool}} this by saying that the spider which bit him transferred some form of [[DoingInTheScientist mystical totemistic power]] on him, which in turn explained his many animal-themed enemies. Cue FanDiscontinuity.
65	** Creator/MarvelComics in general (due to copious amounts of "Creator/StanLee Science") and Spider-Man in particular loves this trope. Many of Spidey's big foes (Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Lizard, Molten Man, etc.) were created by some sort of lab accident or experiment gone wrong.
66	** Retooled again and made (somewhat) more plausible in the modern re-imagining, ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan''. It's a genetically altered spider high on [[AppliedPhlebotinum OZ]] instead of radiation. The Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus get their own ones in a second lab accident that attempts to repeat the circumstances of Parker's accident but [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]].
67	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
68	** In "ComicBook/HowLuthorMetSuperboy", it's shown that Lex Luthor turned villainous after ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'s "interference" in a Freak Lab Accident resulted in his life being saved, his experiments being destroyed, and [[PrematurelyBald his hair loss]]. Furthermore, when Luthor tried to retaliate with grandiose tech projects to show up Superboy, they went wrong disastrously enough to force the superhero to intervene, embarrassing Luthor enough to hate him even more.
69	** {{Inverted\|Trope}} with ComicBook/{{Superboy\|1994}} (Kon-El). He was being grown and programmed in a lab to be a replacement for Superman, but a freak lab accident interrupted his maturity, leaving him as Superboy.
70	* The initial origin-story for ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' followed this trope with sabotage rather than an accident. {{Subverted\|Trope}} when Creator/AlanMoore got ahold of the character and [[{{Retcon}} revised him]] from a formula-altered scientist to a plant elemental who ''thought'' he was a formula-altered scientist.
71	* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', the apparatus that created Dr. Manhattan by "removing his intrinsic field", i.e., disintegrating his body, is for some unspecified reason impossible to use to repeat the process. It's not so much the effect of the device that gave Dr. Manhattan his powers, but the force of his will and mind maintaining their integrity afterwards and subsequently learning how to reassemble himself. That's an individual, possibly unique, factor that renders the result possibly irreproducible. And who ''wants'' to try to create a new Manhattan? One alone messes up the geopolitical situation seriously. What if the new guy would be even less stable and more detached from the human condition? The risks are way too great, even for the USSR to try to replicate. They did try at first, but stopped when they realized that forcefully disintegrating people in the hopes of turning them into gods [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge might backfire]].
72	-->'''Ozymandias:''' You get to be a superhero by believing in the hero within you and summoning him or her forth by an act of will. Believing in yourself and your own potential is the first step to realizing that potential. Alternately, you could do as Jon did: [[SarcasmMode fall into a nuclear reactor and hope for the best]].
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Fan Works]]
76	* Not a lab accident as such, but an unpredicted side effect of a new and highly experimental procedure. In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fiction ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8774066/2/There-s-nothing-like-a-fresh-pair-of-eyes-is-there There's nothing like a fresh pair of eyes, is there?]]'', the Igors of Ankh-Morpork replace the shattered eyes of a wounded student Assassin. (One of ''those'' regrettable little accidents that happen at the Assassins' School). The donor, of corneal cells that Igor carefully nurtures into bio-artificed new eyeballs, is Quirmian Assassin Emmanuelle les Deux-Epées. Over the following few months, the pupil becomes ''very'' like Emmanuelle. In all ways.
77	* ''Fanfic/EbottsWake'': [[spoiler:Joe Stanton]] tries to make a proof of concept for using crystals to read human Soul [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience colors]]. It literally blows up in his face (and destroys the room he's working in, too), but hey, he gets magic powers from it. It's actually {{Subverted\|Trope}} later; it becomes clear that the explosion was caused by [[YinYangBomb Wave/Force Collapse]], an effect already known in-universe, and he manages to build a new version of the machine that doesn't create this reaction. It still came entirely out of left field, though, since he had ''no'' intention of making it do any of that.
78	* In ''Fanfic/{{Empathy}}'', there's a full-on accident, in the sense that nobody involved really saw what would be coming due to a genetic issue. In this case, Riley puts on the Neurotransmitter, but since [[spoiler:Oh]] finished it according to [[spoiler:Boov]] brainwaves rather than human brainwaves, the transmitter bounced Riley's brainwaves back on themselves. This scientifically sent her into a kind of REM, but it also transported her consciousness into Headquarters. And when she came out, [[spoiler:she became TheEmpath]] as a side effect.
79	* A popular ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic cliché is for a transformation plot to be launched by a potions accident in Snape's class. Usually, they [[FountainOfYouth make you younger]] or [[GenderBender change your gender]].
80	* In ''Fanfic/MovieMagic'', [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]] makes the mistake of looking at a rogue rainbow-powered rocket through a {{magitek}} camera when the rocket explodes, searing her right eye with magical energy and giving it [[MagicalEye superpowers]].
81	* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14199641/1/Spider-Ninja Spider-Ninja]]'' might take place in a distant part of the [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderverse Spiderverse]], but this trope is still how Petra Parker gets the spider powers and becomes her dimension's version of Spider-Man.
82	* ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'': This is the origin of both Tsurara (who was doused with a mixture of chemicals as a result of [[spoiler: Gojira's attack]]) and Ultraman (whose neighbour was a biophysics professor performing unauthorised experiments).
83	* ''Fanfic/TarkinsFist'': One of these is the cause of the Tarkin's Fist armada being hurtled to the Milky Way. Kuantus Kuat engages in an experiment with a Gravitic Polarization Beam that tears open a wormhole in space and time just as the slaverigged computer systems sends the armada into hyperspace. Said wormhole sends them to the Sol System.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
87	* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'' uses this for every villain except Rhino, who's just a crook in a mech suit: Lizard was created by a botched formula designed for limb regrowth, Electro fell into a vat of genetically modified eels, and Green Goblin was created by another botched formula intended to cure his terminal disease.
88	* This is the origin of BigBad Ava Starr/Ghost in ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp''. Her father, Elhias Starr, created an unstable Quantum energy machine that exploded, killing Ava's parents and turning her into a ghost. Ava seeks to cure her condition and believes that killing Janet is the key.
89	* Both ''Film/TheFly1958'' and ''Film/TheFly1986'' involve a TeleporterAccident which merges a fly with the scientist who used himself as a guinea pig. In the 1958 version, the scientist changes heads and one hand with the fly. In the 1986 version, he slowly mutates into a sickened man-fly hybrid.
90	* ''Film/HowardTheDuck'' pulls this one twice: the first Freak Lab Accident drags Howard to Earth, the second pulls down the alien demon that possesses Dr. Jenning.
91	* This is the origin of Spider-Man in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', along with all the villains save Venom, who is the result of an alien symbiote.
92	* In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze'', it is learned that one of these resulted in the formation of the MutagenicGoo that resulted in the Turtles coming into being -- namely, an unknown mixture of discarded chemicals being accidentally exposed to radiative waves.
93	* Happens in ''Film/{{Watchmen}}''; for details, see under Comic Books.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Literature]]
97	* In ''Literature/TheAccidentalSuperheroine'', Orlov claims to have engineered their empowering event at the LHC, but he also seems completely ignorant of how it works.
98	* Played with in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. This was how the Ellimist became a godlike being. Having his consciousness spread across multiple advanced bodies, some remaining in space and some in Z-space while the rest was sucked into a black hole, allowed his consciousness to integrate with the fabric of the universe. However, his EvilCounterpart Crayak was unfortunately watching when this happened (being the guy who pushed the Ellimist into said black hole), and was thus able to replicate the feat and become god-like himself.
99	-->'''Ellimist:''' The odds of it happening once were astronomical. The odds of it happening twice were inevitable.
100	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Not a superhero, but Cheery Littlebottom's career change from alchemist to forensics officer with the Ankh-Morpork City Watch took place after she left her previous workplace through the roof. Explosions at the Alchemists' Guild are hardly freakish; blowing up the entire Guild council, however, causes comment.
101	* In ''Literature/DreamPark'', a small girl who'd accidentally wandered into the theme park's R&D division managed to combine an anatomical model with pieces of model roller coaster, and the result so intrigued the staff that it spawned a "Mr. Digestion" themed attraction. The kid got a spanking and a college scholarship.
102	* Carl Castanaveras, in ''Emerald Eyes'' by Creator/DanielKeysMoran, was the first in a series of telepaths created by Project Superman by gene manipulation. Played straight because at the time he was created, the scientists admitted that the technology to create him didn't work yet, and only the inexplicable (at least to the scientists working on him) radiation at the moment of his conception, made the fetus viable. Averted because the source of the radiation was the time traveler Named Storyteller deliberately showing up at that moment to perform the gene manipulation that the scientists were incapable of performing, in order to make sure that Carl (his distant ancestor) existed at all.
103	* A variation appears in "Literature/{{Lenny}}". A small child (lost on a guided tour) plays around on an unlocked keyboard in a robot factory. This results in a robot which has no superpowers -- indeed, it has roughly the intelligence of a human infant -- but is a scientific gold-mine, [[ThreeLawsCompliant programmed with the Three Laws]] but lacking the knowledge to act upon them properly, and having the ability to learn rather than simply be programmed.
104	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} in ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything''. At the beginning, we are introduced briefly to Wowbagger the Infinitely-Prolonged, an alien who was granted immortality in a freak ''office'' accident with "[[NoodleImplements an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch, and a pair of rubber bands]]". All attempts to recreate it "have left people looking very silly, dead, or both". Wowbagger deals with [[WhoWantsToLiveForever the growing tedium of immortality]] by seeking to insult everyone in the universe -- individually, personally, and in alphabetical order.
105	* Kilowatt from ''Literature/SeekersOfTruth'' got her start this way. Her end would have closely followed her start if not for the intervention of the Wizard.
106	* ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'':
107	** [=CoreFire=] and Dr. Impossible got their respective superpowers in separate lab accidents, though both accidents involved Dr. Impossible's research.
108	--->I saw the misadjusted dials and the whirling gauges and the bubbling green fluid and the electricity arcing around, and a story laid out for me... I was going to declare war on the world, and I was going to lose.
109	** So did [[spoiler:Erica Lowenstein, the Lois Lane to [[SupermanSubstitute CoreFire's Superman]] and Dr. Impossible's Lex Luthor, who followed a lead]] on some villains and ended up falling into a vat of chemicals and becoming virtually indestructible and transparent.
110	* Done rather subtly in ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde''. [[spoiler:Dr. Jekyll's elixir only worked because of an unidentified impurity, something he only discovered after running out of the contaminated batch. At which point Hyde had become his "default form" and he needed the elixir to be Jekyll.]]
111	* In ''Literature/{{Virals}}'', Tory is a teenage girl who, along with her friends, accidentally contracts a genetically engineered parvovirus (a virus that normally only affects dogs) and is turned into a sort of hairless [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]].
112	* ''Literature/WarsOfTheRealm'': Drew Carter and his friend Ben are trying to replicate an experiment that let Ben's professor see into another dimension. Then everything goes horribly wrong...and Drew gains the ability to see into the dimension ''without'' the machine.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
116	* ''Series/BestFriendsWhenever'' starts with the titular best friends -- Shelby Marcus and Cyd Ripley -- accidentally getting blasted by a laser in Barry's lab, which gives them the power to time-travel through physical contact. This gets a CallBack in season 1 finale.
117	* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
118	** Referenced jokingly to warn one character away from [[CycleOfRevenge escalating vengeance]] against an InsufferableGenius:
119	--->'''Leonard:''' Penny, you don't want to get into it with Sheldon. The guy is one lab accident away from becoming a {{supervillain}}.
120	** In another episode, a rat injected with radioactive isotopes bit a lab tech. Raj became incredibly disappointed to find that the lab tech didn't get superpowers.
121	* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', a particle accelerator malfunction at S.T.A.R. Labs results in the release of dark energy into the city which [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent creates a number of "meta-humans"]], including the Flash. [[spoiler:{{Subverted\|Trope}} when it's revealed that the "accident" was nothing of the sort. He would have gotten his powers this way eventually, but a time-travelling Eobard Thawne deliberately engineered it to turn Barry into the Flash "ahead of schedule" due to losing his speed after doing what he came there to do.]]
122	* Peter Brady (no, not [[Series/TheBradyBunch that]] one), ''The Invisible Man'' from the 1958 TV series, fits this trope ''and'' subverts it: While ''he'' became {{invisib\|ility}}le in a lab accident, he is perfectly able to reproduce it and make anyone invisible (of course, reversing the process is another story). At one point, he was even able to detect when a rabbit had been invisible for a short period of time.
123	* In ''Series/TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'', the title character gets her powers after being doused by chemicals that fell off a truck in the first episode.
124	* Referenced humorously in an episode of ''Series/ShakeItUp''. ChildProdigy Henry Dylan shows up at Flynn's house after being beat up by a bully. Flynn, however, assumes Henry's battered and bruised appearance was the result of this trope.
125	-->'''Flynn:''' ''[excitedly]'' Was there an explosion in your lab? Did you get superpowers? Jump on the wall, let's see if you stick!
126	* ''Series/StrangerThings'': It's implied that Eleven's psychic powers were caused by drug experiments done on her mother during her pregnancy.
127	* Appears in the French GenderBender series ''Series/ViceVersa''.
128	* In ''Series/ZoeysExtraordinaryPlaylist'', the title character gains the ability to hear people's feelings in the form of [[SpontaneousChoreography song and dance routines that only she can see]] after a freak accident involving being inside an MRI machine when an earthquake strikes.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Music]]
132	* ''Music/DaftPunk'' claims that their [[KayfabeMusic onstage robot personae]] were created in "an accident in our studio. We were working on our sampler, [[Manga/QueenMillennia and at exactly 9:09 a.m. on September 9, 1999, it exploded]]."
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
136	* ''TabletopGame/DeviantTheRenegades'': Pathologicals are Deviants who received their powers in accidents. Many were once researchers, scientists or lab techs who were working one some delicate project -- a high-energy physics experiment, incautious bioengineering, an attempt to contact noncorporeal entities -- that went horribly wrong. When the dust clears and the hazmat crews arrive, the survivors find that this exposure permanently and traumatically altered them, turning them into something inhuman.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Video Games]]
140	* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': Every other [[WeirdScience Science origin]] NPC or PlayerCharacter gains their powers this way (the rest are [[PlayingWithSyringes unwilling test subjects]]). This game [[{{Troperiffic}} loves its tropes and knows it]]. For Professor Backfire, gaining superpowers was an inevitability.
141	* ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga 2'': Late in the game, it's revealed that the first carriers of the Demon Virus were infected after an experiment where [[spoiler:a psychic child (Sera) communicated with God]] [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]]. However, one subject was killed ([[spoiler:Serph Sheffield as Varuna]]), and the other was imprisoned ([[spoiler:an unknown individual as Meganada]]). While the virus was reproducible, the incident itself was not.
142	* ''VideoGame/MegaMan2ThePowerFighters'': During Bass' ending, Dr. Wily yells to Bass that he regrets making him, and Bass retorts that if Wily created Bass, it must have been a mistake. Dr. Wily reveals that it is actually true, revealing that before the events of ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'', Wily was making a robot to be similar to Mega Man, accidentally developing Bassnium, which then led to the creation of Bass. Dr. Wily then reveals that he plans to make a robot stronger than Bass and Mega Man combined.
143	* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Two of the playable characters owe their superhuman abilities to accidents.
144	** Lena Oxton, call sign "Tracer", was a test pilot flying an experimental fighter jet capable of teleportation. The teleportation matrix malfunctioned, [[UnstuckInTime dislocating Tracer from time]]. She would appear and disappear at random, unable to interact with the world like a ghost until Winston invented the Chronal Accelerator. The device not only stabilized Lena but granted her [[TimeMaster a limited control over her place in time]], letting her travel forward and back in time for a few seconds.
145	** Dr. Siebren de Kuiper was an astrophysicist studying gravity. After decades of research, he conducted an experiment to harness the power of a black hole. A containment breach exposed Kuiper to a singularity, [[DrivenToMadness driving him insane]] and [[GravityMaster giving him power over gravity]], turning him into "Sigma".
146	* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': In the original American canon, BigBad Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik was a kind veterinarian called Ovi Kintobor whose attempt to purge Mobius from evil using the Chaos Emeralds to power up a machine ended in an accident that transformed him into a cruel, megalomaniac EvilGenius. Of all the spinoffs in the franchise, ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' was the only one that followed this backstory closely (see the Comic Book folder above).
147	* Played with in ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'' -- emails in the game indicate Lora Baines-Bradley suffered one with her Shiva laser misfiring. [[spoiler:It apparently killed her, but there was enough of her [[BrainUploading mind left behind in]] {{Cyberspace}} to compile her into the BenevolentAI [=Ma3a=].]]
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Webcomics]]
151	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} in ''Webcomic/AntiheroForHire'', where one character got super-powers in a freak ''skateboard'' accident.
152	* A lab technician in ''Webcomic/BiterComics'' tries to recreate the accident that gave his coworker superpowers, with less that satisfactory [[http://www.bitercomics.com/comic/superpowers/ results]].
153	* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', this is what the Goo originally was before a CerebusRetcon turned it into an attempt by Lord Tedd to kill this universe's Tedd.
154	* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
155	** The world of ''Girl Genius'' is populated by {{Mad Scientist}}s. If your lab work doesn't involve freak accidents of some kind (most likely deadly instead of empowering, but still), you're probably doing it wrong.
156	** It's {{implied\|Trope}} that ''some'' sort of lab accident caused Othar to come to his "Great Truth" that all Sparks have to die (or to become suicidally insane, as anyone else who knows about this "Truth" would consider it). The exact details are left as a NoodleIncident for the readers, but it may have involved the Great Wall of Oslo. (It's also all but stated by WordOfGod in the first adventure on Othar's Twitter that [[spoiler: Othar was always just one freak accident away from becoming a suicidal maniac ''anyways'' -- every single version of himself had realized this "truth" through various accidents. One involved waffles]]. It's unknown right now, however, how canon the Twitter is.) The man is also surprisingly resilient, even for a Spark; this may be a side-effect of the accident.
157	* ''Webcomic/HeroByNight'' has these as origin stories of Saul Simian and (sort of) Steel Phantom. Alchemy is not a toy, people.
158	* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'', Molly the Peanut Butter Monster is described as a fuzzy pink lab accident.
159	* In ''Webcomic/JennyAndTheMultiverse'', Jenny gets her powers when she suffers a [[ShockAndAwe blast of energy]] from Laura's experimental Dimensional Bisector after it was damaged by Grallyx coming through it. Laura is shocked that she's even alive.
160	* {{Subverted\|Trope}} in ''Webcomic/M9Girls'': The Freak Lab Accident makes the eponymous M9 Girls terminally ill by radiation exposure. Their mentor then proceeds to cure them with LegoGenetics.
161	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} by [[http://www.man-man.org/?comic=&date=20030710 Man-Man]], who was bitten by a radioactive man, and so gains the powers of... a man. Apart from a mutant head on top of his own, these "powers" merely make him invisible to women.
162	* ''Webcomic/PeterParkerForeignExchangeStudent'':
163	** Peter got his Quirk from the radioactive spider bite, a secret he keeps under wraps out of fear of being treated like a freak of nature.
164	** The Fantastic Four's powers, which they received after being bombarded with cosmic radiation, are also classified as Quirks.
165	* ''Webcomic/RubysWorld'' heroine Ruby gains her enhanced size, strength, and power from a freak lab accident [[spoiler:that was actually engineered post-mortem by her late mother, as a means to give her the capabilities to fight the BigBad]].
166	* In ''Webcomic/SecondLeague'', a rat gains superpowers from being bitten by a mutant superhero.
167	* Heather Brown in ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'' gains spider-powers in a freak genetic engineering accident in a more or less AffectionateParody of [[SpiderManSendUp Spider-Man]]. The reader is even led to believe that she'd obtained her powers from a spider-bite, just like Spider-Man. However, she only developed her [[MultiArmedAndDangerous extra limbs]] after falling into a vat of chemicals.
168	%%Please do not wick the following work as its page was removed for violating The Content Policy. Thank you.
169	* In ''Tales of Schlock'', Roux uses her powers to become the super heroine "Queen 'B'" while Fukumi gets brain damage and becomes the diabolical "Double D".
170	* [[http://www.terrorisland.net/strips/319.html Parodied]] in ''Webcomic/TerrorIsland''; Ned Sorcerer, DDS got his superpower (which is causing everyone around him to know he's a dentist) from a freak ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology epistemological]]'' lab accident.
171	* Parodied in a FourthWallMailSlot from ''Webcomic/VGCats''. [[CrazyHomelessPeople Dr. Hobo]] is asked how he became a hobo, and recounts his origin:
172	-->'''Dr. Hobo:''' A bright young docshtor wash working in hish lab... ''when shuddenly!'' I did '''''crack!'''''
173	[[/folder]]
174
175	[[folder:Web Original]]
176	* Frances "Pythos" Graye of ''Roleplay/{{AJCO}}'' participated in an experiment involving the magical, regenerating blood of a Hydra and ended up with rather more than she bargained for. She didn't end up with the regenerating abilities of the original creature, but she ''did'' get freakish teeth and a forked tongue that she likes to freak people out with.
177	* ''Literature/LightningDust'''s Klaus Melfton becomes the eponymous character via a strange invention of his father. [[spoiler:After getting his powers stolen, he successfully repeats the accident to regain them.]]
178	* Most of the supers in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' are {{mutants}}, but Sam Everheart got his powers this way. It wouldn't have been a Freak Lab Accident if bad guys weren't trying to steal the {{nanomachines}} that Sam was guarding. The resulting explosion ended up with Sam getting a body reconstructed by the nanites.
179	* This was how LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}}'s [[LetsPlay/DuncanJones Duncan]] caused [[LetsPlay/KimRichards Kim]] to become "fluxed" in their ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' series, although she didn't get superpowers, she just turned kinda purple.
180	[[/folder]]
181
182	[[folder:Western Animation]]
183	* {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d in the ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' episode "[[Recap/AquaTeenHungerForceS2E2SuperHero Super Hero]]" when Shake tries to gain superpowers using barrels of {{toxic waste\|CanDoAnything}}. First, he tries to get some worms to eat the waste before [[ComicBook/SpiderMan biting him]]. This doesn't work, so he dumps a spoonful of the waste over his head, shouting, "Oh, no! A horrible accident!". This doesn't work, either.
184	* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS1E8Heroes Heroes]]" presents a dark {{Deconstruction}} of the concept. Three scientists are accidentally irradiated and become "The Terrific Trio" (with [[TheFantasticFaux obvious parallels]] to the ComicBook/FantasticFour). Then it turns out that their transformations are [[spoiler:slowly killing them and driving them insane, and were caused by a colleague's scheme to MurderTheHypotenuse]].
185	* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE23BewareTheCreeper Beware the Creeper]]", Jack Ryder is a talk show host doing a set piece on the Joker's origin. Joker barges in and decides to have some fun by dosing Ryder with Joker Venom and throwing him into a vat of chemicals similar to the one that transformed the Joker. This backfires on the Joker when the combination of the Joker Venom and the chemicals gives Ryder a SuperpoweredEvilSide that calls himself Creeper. The Creeper then proceeds to ''scare the crap out of the Joker''. By the end of the episode, the Joker is begging Batman to save him from the lunatic.
186	* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''
187	** Danny got his powers from an ectoplasmic form of [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers nuclear blast]] when he accidentally activated his parents' experimental Ghost Portal while standing inside it. [[LegoGenetics The resulting blast altered his DNA, thus making him half-ghost]].
188	** Likewise, [[BigBad Vlad Plasmius]] got his powers from a college accident involving an early version of the Ghost Portal, by being ''blasted in the face''.
189	* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
190	** Darkwing tries to give himself superpowers in one episode by deliberately standing in front of a TransformationRay, claiming that [[LampshadeHanging it works in the movies]] all the time. His {{sidekick}} Launchpad doubts the plan, specifically pointing out that you can only gain superpowers from a lab ''accident'', and not on purpose. Darkwing brushes off the advice, fires the ray, and is reduced to cartoon ashes.
191	** Incidentally, many members of Darkwing's RoguesGallery had their origins in a Freak Lab Accident; Megavolt, Bushroot, and the Liquidator are the most notable instances.
192	* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''
193	** Dexter spends an episode trying to gain superpowers through experimentation, and runs into the same it-doesn't-work-if-you-do-it-on-purpose problem. In the end, he gives up in frustration. Then Dee Dee waltzes into the lab, spills chemicals on herself, and gains super powers.
194	** {{Subverted\|Trope}} by Monkey; Dexter deliberately experimented on him, which gave Monkey his superpowers. The subversion comes from Dexter never figuring out that he succeeded.
195	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' with the origin of The Crimson Chin (voiced by Jay Leno). Before he was a crime fighter, the Chin was a talk show host, much like the guy who voiced him. He got bit on the chin by a radioactive handsome actor, and that is how he became The Crimson Chin! At least it was, until the comic story "Untold Tales from the Big Superhero Wish!" reveals that this origin story caused a lawsuit, and as a result, The Chin was given a new origin [[SupermanSubstitute all too similar to Superman]].
196	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS3E21FamilyGuyViewerMailOne Family Guy Viewer Mail #1]]", in the segment "Super Griffins". After the entire Griffin family gain superpowers and start causing trouble, Mayor Creator/AdamWest tries to give himself superpowers by rolling around in toxic waste. The result? [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome He gives himself lymphoma]]. His doctor [[LampshadeHanging berates him for the stupidity of such an action]]. He does at least stop the Griffins' rampage, since they feel guilty about his cancer.
197	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'', a computer chip with a computer bug is somehow able to suck a person into {{cyberspace}}, instantly granting them all of the information on the Internet, but also turning them into a Freakazoid, if the person hits a specific sequence of keys ("@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg") followed by Delete. Dexter gained his powers when his cat pawed across his keyboard chasing a butterfly (inadvertently typing said sequence) and he tried to delete the resulting gibberish.
198	* Stinkor, one of Skeletor's henchmen in ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002'', gains the power of stench after ruining one of Triclops' experiments.
199	* Tom of T.H.U.M.B., a segment of the 1966 ''King Kong'' cartoon on ABC, was a janitor in a secret agent office lab who took a spill while cleaning. His friend, Smilin' Jack, helped him up, only to trigger [[ShrinkRay a ray that reduced both to thumb size]]. Together, Tom and Smilin' Jack tackle assignments that the regular agents couldn't take conspicuously.
200	* ''WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks'' is a mild example. It's pointed out several times throughout the show that the alphabet soup gave only Martha the ability to speak, and that she ate it by accident. This is most likely put into place to dissuade kids from giving their pets alphabet soup in the hopes of having a talking pet. (Of course, the show is also aware that it's a cartoon...)
201	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'', a couple comic book fans try to replicate the accident that created their favorite superhero Insector the Bugman by breaking into a nuclear power plant and getting bitten by a bug after they become radioactive. Unfortunately, they forget to bring a bug with them to the power plant and succumb to radiation poisoning. Then their ambulance crashes en route to the hospital. One guy crashes into a putty shop and is mutated into the [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Clayface]] {{expy}} Putty Thing. The other guy crashes into an aquarium and becomes Fish Guy, who has the awesome power of being a fish... but still can't swim.
202	* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': One of Brain's plans hinges on this concept. He poses as a human and gets a job at a big corporation, which [[FrivolousLawSuit he plans to sue]] for the money to fund his latest [[TakeOverTheWorld world-domination scheme]] by staging a freak accident involving a microwave and non-dairy creamer, reasoning that no one understands either well enough to argue against the claim.
203	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'':
204	** The whole premise revolves around a freak accident that occurred while the girls were being ''created'': Professor Utonium's pet chimp Jojo accidentally shoved the Professor while he was trying to create the perfect little girl, effectively causing the Chemical X spill that created the Powerpuff Girls (the blast from the spill also gave Jojo super-intelligence, and his jealousy of the girls eventually drove him to become their arch-enemy Mojo Jojo). Why the Professor had that Chemical X [[NoOSHACompliance located where someone could break it]] and cause it to spill inside the pot is anyone's guess.
205	** Hilariously {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d when, in an attempt to create a fourth Powerpuff Girl, the sisters recreate the circumstances of their origin by ''elaborately pretending'' that they're adding the Chemical X to the pot by sheer accident. [[spoiler:Takes a tragic turn since the new Powerpuff Girl has problems, physical and mental, [[ImperfectRitual because of the substitutes the girls used for "sugar, spice, and everything nice" in the concoction]].]]
206	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
207	** The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E21ThreeMenAndAComicBook Three Men and a Comic Book]]" [[AffectionateParody affectionately parodies]] ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' with Radioactive Man's origin: he gains his powers when trapped at the site of a nuclear detonation.
208	--->'''Martin:''' I would've thought that being hit by an atomic bomb would've killed him.\
209	'''Bart:''' Now you know better.
210	** In the [[ComicBook/TheSimpsons Bongo comic series]], a pre-nuclear [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] version of Radioactive Man ('Radio Man') is hinted at, who looks a bit like the Golden Age [[Franchise/TheFlash Flash]]. God knows what his origin is.
211	* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Jack Brolin a.k.a. Captain Hindsight was a former news reporter who gained the power of extraordinary hindsight through a freak accident involving a retroactive spider.
212	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' is stuffed with these. There's Peter Parker's radioactive spider-bite, but {{supervillain}}s have them too:
213	** While doing repair work at a genetics lab, electrician Max Dillon is first [[LightningCanDoAnything electrocuted]] by machinery, then by bioelectric shock from [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetically modified]] eels swimming in extra-conductive AppliedPhlebotinum. He becomes Electro, a {{Power Incontinen\|ce}}t human generator of [[PsychoElectro bioelectricity]], and subsequently [[FreakOut freaks out]] and goes [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity on a rampage]].
214	** Thief and low-level [[TheBrute thug]] Flint Marko is recruited as an [[SuperSoldier experimental subject]] for a procedure designed to give him subdermal silicon armor, but the machinery overloads and bombards him with silicon particles until he [[BodyHorror explodes]]. He then rematerializes as the Sandman, a being of [[SentientSands living sand]], and is unusually happy with the results.
215	** When reluctant PunchClockVillain Doctor Otto Octavius is [[HeKnowsTooMuch deliberately trapped]] in the chamber where his experiment is running, he suffers from radiation that fuses his [[ArtificialLimbs harness]] to his spine, triggers a FreakOut and an accompanying extreme [[MadScientist personality change]], creating Doctor Octopus.
216	* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'':
217	** Spidey, of course, has his classic backstory. In this case, the spider that bit him was mutated by passing through the energy beam of a prototype "neogenic recombinator", part of an experimental new science that uses specific radiation wavelengths to selectively manipulate DNA. The process is more or less replicated to recreate his iconic foes the Lizard and the Scorpion.
218	** Tombstone has the very [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Joker]]-esque origin of falling into a vat of chemicals during a bungled factory robbery. Spider-Man even lampshades it later.
219	--->'''Spider-Man:''' You better stay still, another swim in that chemical soup and your hair might turn green!
220	** Morbius gets his powers when he is bitten by a vampire bat that was exposed to a neogenic recombinator's beam whilst he was trying to use it to break down the genetic code of a sample of Spider-Man's blood -- it got zapped feeding on the blood sample, and when Morbius tried to shoo it away, it bit him on the hand, which mutated him into a "living vampire". He then gets zapped with the same recombinator beam in a TakingTheBullet fashion, transforming him into a humanoid bat-creature.
221	** The Green Goblin gains SuperStrength and a villainous split personality after being exposed to toxic chemicals in an explosive leak at his factory. The costume is a spare Hobgoblin suit he has on hand whose colors change as a result of exposure to the chemicals.
222	** The Spot is a scientist who became a living portal network after being accidentally sucked into the interstitial dimension by a malfunctioning portal generator.
223	* Meltdown in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' gets his powers by angrily knocking over the beakers of chemicals he was working on, after his funding gets cut.
224	* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' {{lampshade\|Hanging}}s this. When Phantom Limb is creating the Secret Society, one of the people taking up the offer explains he got his powers from a freak lab accident, to which they immediately say they understand, as they themselves have had a freak lab accident that changed them into what they were.
225	* Ogrest from ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' was created when a piece of candy accidentally fell into the alchemist Otomai's Ogrine mixture. Otomai instantly takes a liking to the baby and adopts him as his son.
226	* The origin of Dr. Two Brains in ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl''. Obviously, you don't get a rat brain stuck to your head playing golf.
227	[[/folder]]

Context Main / FreakLabAccident