History Main / DePopulationBomb

* In an episode of ''{{Sliders}}'', the eponymous characters slide into a world where a Middle-Eastern country detonated a bioweapon that specifically targets the Y-chromosome, killing most of men in the world. This gave rise to a new ColdWar, this time between US and Australia, the two countries least touched by the virus. Instead of nukes, each tries to "out-breed" the other. The surviving men are rounded up and placed in breeding centers, where they are forced to impregnate multiple women each day. Also, only the most "fit" women are allowed to take part in the breeding program. It seems artificial insemination does not exist in that world.

* Strategic nuclear weapons were designed to destroy large areas of the enemy's infrastructure, such as cities. During the ColdWar the United States, Soviet Union and their allies were all pointing nukes at their enemies' cities, and over 70% of those countries' populations are urbanized.

* KurtVonnegut uses this trope a few times, noticeably in ''Galapagos'' and "Slapstick". In ''Galapagos'' a nuclear war and ThePlague wipe out everyone except a few castaways stranded on the Galapagos Islands. In ''Slapstick'', a highly contagious virus [[spoiler:made of miniaturized Chinese Communists]] kills almost the entire population of Manhattan. Various disasters take care of the rest of the world.

** Evidence suggests (and this troper is [[MistakenForRacist not trying to be racist]]) that it was actually a black slave that came in the expedition of Pánfilo de Narvarez, who tried to arrest Cortés. The epidemic was so bad even the tlatoani (emperor), Cuitláhuac, died of smallpox. It didn't help either that when Tenochtitlan was seiged, the Spaniards and natives (more that 90% of Cortés's men were allied tribes) dropped corpses on Lake Texcoco to infect the water supply.

And I think this world, is gonna wash up in Hell"''

* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}'', [[spoiler:humanity was wiped out by White Chlorination Syndrome, which was the result of Caim, Angelus and the Mother Grotesquerie entering the real world in the E Ending of {{Drakengard}} and introducing magical particles to the world. The result is a ZombieApocalypse that wipes out almost all of humanity, the survivors being converted into Gestalts (what you know of as Shades). The "humans" we see in the game are actually {{Empty Shell}}s meant only as bodies for humanity's restoration, but thanks to the effort of Nier, that plan's not going anywhere and humanity will be extinct within a generation.]]

->''"Chemical bomb, Chemical bomb.\\
Eyes melt, Skin explodes, Everybody's dead.\\
It won't be long, It won't be long.\\
People gonna run around, losing their heads.\\
A river of blood, Who's gonna live? The earth is tired of human kind.\\
And I think this world, Is gonna wash up in Hell"''
--> -- '''TheAquabats''', "Chemical Bomb"

* In the backstory of ''{{Nier}}'', [[spoiler:humanity was wiped out by White Chlorination Syndrome, which was the result of Caim, Angelus and the Mother Grotesquerie entering the real world in the E Ending of {{Drakengard}} and introducing magical particles to the world. The result is a ZombieApocalypse that wipes out almost all of humanity, the survivors being converted into Gestalts (what you know of as Shades). The "humans" we see in the game are actually {{Empty Shell}}s meant only as bodies for humanity's restoration, but thanks to the effort of Nier, that plan's not going anywhere and humanity will be extinct within a generation.]]

* The ''Film/JamesBond'' film ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'' had the villain attempting to use a chemical weapon which would kill all humans on earth (only humans; other animals will be fine), to be repopulated with humans from his space station. With him as their leader, of course.

* The JamesBond film ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'' had the villain attempting to use a chemical weapon which would kill all humans on earth (only humans; other animals will be fine), to be repopulated with humans from his space station. With him as their leader, of course.
* The eponymous menace in ''NightOfTheComet'' literally erases animal (and human) life on Earth, except for a few people who were indoors/underground -- and a few who were "partially protected" who became [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]].

* Polish comedy[[note]]Yes, this trope in a comedy, although a rather dark one[[/note]] SexMission introduces us to a bomb which was supposed to temporarily suppress Y chromosome in humans, but instead killed all male men and left some deadly radiation on the surface of Earth, forcing women to populate caves, use parthenogenesis to reproduce, utilise chemical food and so on. The male protagonists survived because they already were underground during their HumanPopsicle experiment. [[spoiler:The bomb effects turn out later to be rather blown up, if you forgive the pun, by history revisionism.]]

--> -- '''TheAquabats''', ''Chemical Bomb''

* The entire goal of the flash game {{Pandemic}} and its sequel is to make one of these in the form of ThePlague.

* In ''TroyRising'', the Horvath drop a series of viruses (and one parasite) on Earth. The parasite is designed to weed out the stupid, being incredibly easy to treat, but fatal otherwise. Four of the viruses target various defects - colorblindness, increased risk of cancer, etc. The last will kill everyone who isn't blond, thus eliminating 90% of the human population. Thankfully, we manage to stop it in time.

* The NeutonBomb has its own entry, but basically the concept is to maximize the amount of radiation damage short term, but avoid "poisoning" the area with long-lived fallout ... in other words, it's nearly the exact opposite of the cobalt bomb. They both do share the trait that blast damage is not the main point.

* In ''TheCyantianChronicles'' it's stated AllThereInTheManual that between ''Akaelae'' and ''Campus Safari'' a super-rabies/zombie type virus wiped out over 90% of the fox population. Which is why fewer of them are villainous in the latter, their tyrannical government is gone and the sole remaining member of the royal family put a death warrant out on Exotica Genoworks for designing the virus.

* The main terrorist group in the first ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' is plotting to wipe out most of the human race with a SyntheticPlague.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Sound of Drums", the Master sends the Toclafane from the end of the universe to blast a tenth of the Earth's population.

** In 'VideoGame/'MassEffect2'', [[spoiler:If Wrex survived the events of the first game, he'll show up in the sequel, having united the krogan of his home planet under him in an attempt to counter the genophage.]]

* The [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy krogan]] of ''MassEffect'' were hit by a DepopulationBomb referred to as the "Genophage", designed by the salarians during the Krogan Rebellions. The krogan evolved on Tuchanka, an [[DeathWorld extremely lethal planet]] where only massive fertility and hardy physiology made it possible for them to survive, and once they moved off Tuchanka, their numbers, lifespan, and birthrates were so explosive that they needed countless colony worlds to handle their expanding population -- including worlds controlled by other sapient species. The genophage reduced krogan birthrates to less than one successful live birth per thousand pregnancies -- which, to put things in perspective, would have ideally given them a growth rate still equivalent to a post-industrial society.

** In ''MassEffect2'', [[spoiler:If Wrex survived the events of the first game, he'll show up in the sequel, having united the krogan of his home planet under him in an attempt to counter the genophage.]]

*** It's worth noting that even with [[spoiler:both versions of]] the genophage, the krogans would have enough young to keep up a steady population. Problem is that they came from a DeathWorld where only the strongest and meanest survive. Thus they're all genetically and culturally inclined towards hyper-aggression. They kept on killing each other as much as ever, but no longer have the super-fertility to compensate.
*** The aforementioned party member Wrex does tend to focus more on this aspect of Krogan decline than the genophage. He had previously attempted to combat the genophage and gave up, not because it seemed insurmountable, but because other Krogan were seemingly disinterested with the idea of focusing on breeding, or pretty much anything else not related to killing.
*** Wrex gave up when his own ''father'' tries to kill him for daring to suggest that the krogan work together.

* In the MargaretAtwood novel OryxAndCrake, and its sequal The Year of the Flood, a genetic engineering genius creates a supervirus to wipe out the world's decadent human population, which he plans to replace with a race of genetically engineered new humans. His virus is only mostly successful, leaving (by [[SarcasmMode shear coincidence]] a [[PlotImmunity number of people]] [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether he personally knew]] alive.

* In the MargaretAtwood novel OryxAndCrake, and its sequal The Year of the Flood, a genetic engineering genius creates a supervirus to wipe out the world's decadent human population, which he plans to replace with a race of genetically engineered new humans. His virus is only mostly successful, leaving (by [[SarcasmMode shear coincidence]] a [[PlotImmunity number of people he personally knew]] alive.

* PhilipPullman's ''[[HisDarkMaterials The Subtle Knife]]'', seems like this at first, as the Spectres in Cittàgazze target adults and leave them as mindless zombies, so that a city is found completely empty except for a few scavenging children. However there are still a fair number of adults around, but as they're hugely vulnerable and often have to go into hiding, society can barely function.

* In ''TroyRising'', the Horvath drop a series of viruses (and one parasite) on Earth. The parasite is designed to weed out the stupid, being incredibly easy to treat, but fatal otherwise. Four of the viruses target various defects - colorblindness, increased risk of cancer, etc. The last will kill everyone who isn't blond, thus eliminating 90% of the human population.

* The main terrorist group in the first ''RainbowSix'' is plotting to wipe out most of the human race with a SyntheticPlague.

* CormacMcCarthy's ''TheRoad'' has some unspecified disaster leading to this.