History Main / Deathray

* The sweet, sweet (if power-ravenous) [[http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Gluon_Gun Gluon Gun]] in ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', called the [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} Egon]] in the game files.

A [[ApocalypseHow planetary]] Death Ray will be more akin to the DoomsdayDevice, clock and all, and will only work twice: Once when test fired, to prove it works to the UN member countries; and another to annihilate the RedShirtArmy, before being destroyed/stopped by the heroes.

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Ultratech'' has a slew of them from a half dozen weapons that disintegrate the enemy to Mind Disruptors that make the target's body want to die.

* For sake of reverence and posterity, the Martian Heat Ray in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'', and all of [[Franchise/TheWarOfTheWorlds its subsequent adaptions]]. Notably, it's a ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Heat Ray]]'', and victims catch fire and burn to ashes, rather than just dropping to the ground. It's incidentally one of the best descriptions of a directed energy weapon in fiction: a completely invisible and narrow beam that just dumps its energy on what it hits with no unnecessary flashiness.

* In a case of [[ScienceMarchesOn real-world science eventually outpacing fiction]], just about any beam of energy or particles could kill an individual if it delivered enough energy. Some kinds of energy are better at killing things than others, for example X-rays or gamma rays, but if somebody had the power materials and built a laser pointer (usually built to deliver energy a single digit of milliwatts) capable of delivering a Megawatt of energy, it would be capable of either powering a thousand homes or creating a pretty spot on rendition of this trope. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you're not a murderous mad scientist), the high energy requirements for this sort of weapon currently render it AwesomeButImpractical.

** It's hard to say which is truer to Wells' original idea. The original novel's heat ray was described as being invisible and a straight, thin line of heat. The former got the "heat" part right, but the latter got the "straight, thin" part right.
* Quite possibly the most iconic Death Ray (and [[EnergyWeapon frickin' laser]] ''and'' WaveMotionGun while we're at it) capable of an EarthShatteringKaboom, not just the size of an entire ship but ''[[BigDumbObject a small moon]]'' and in the hands of [[TheDragon the ultimate baddie]] is the ''Death Star'' from ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ANewHope''.
** A small moon? ThatsNoMoon...
* The film ''Film/DangerDeathRay'' had a death ray, briefly. But it was mostly just vaguely European guys, some guy named Bart Fargo, and a catchy theme song.
** Remember, it's a ''peace loving'' '''death ray'''.
*** In the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode featuring the movie, Tom Servo builds one, proclaims it's for peace... then proceeds to blast Crow with it because he was ''right there''.

** In "Future's End", Braxton's got a sweet DisintegratorRay. Straight out of TOS, anything hit by it just sizzles and is no more, without even the slightest damage to the surroundings. Again, though, Federation phasers are capable of this on max setting.

* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}} II: The Chosen'' features a secret weapon with this exact name. It looks a lot like a rifle carried by LittleGreenMen in 50's ScienceFiction stories, and it fires hitscan green [[ReflectingLaser laser beams that reflect off most surfaces]]. Its SecondaryFire is nothing to write home about, but the very efficient primary fire makes this a substitute for the [[LightningGun Tesla Cannon]] (whose primary consumes 2 chemical battery units for a slower projectile that deals ''less'' damage than a Death Ray beam, which costs one) all the same. [[GuideDangIt You just have to explore very carefully to find it]].

* The mod ''[=Unreal4Ever=]'' for ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' has a comparatively small laser pistol that shoots a continuous, hitscan stream of energy. Killing an enemy with it will cause their flesh to boil instantly, leaving behind only a charred skeleton. It can do this near instantly even at its weakest power if it [[BoomHeadshot hits the head]]. Can be upgraded by picking up more of the same gun; at its most powerful it really embodies this trope, as casually moving the beam across an enemy will kill them almost instantly.
** Future installments of the series would provide the link gun, whose alternate fire does pretty much the same thing as the above weapon.

* In ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'', the creature [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/golgotha.htm Golgotha]] has a literal version of this, with its stare being able to kill other creatures, albeit somewhat slowly.

* In a ''Literature/StarTrekExpandedUniverse'' novel, ''The Last Stand'', Riker and Troi infiltrate a Kreen [[GenerationShips generation ship]] in order to find out their plans. A Kreen engineer takes a liking to Troi and shows her a "secret project" designed to help them defeat anyone (presumably, even the ''Enterprise''). It looks vaguely like a weapon. Troi, in an attempt to get more information, asks if it's some sort of "death ray". However, it turns out that the Kreen leaders have known about Riker and Troi and have deliberately set up the "weapon" (which is nothing more than a telescope with added junk to make it look like a weapon) to convince them and get them to return to the ''Enterprise''. The real weapon is a virus that was meant to infect the ''Enterprise'' crew. What the Kreen didn't count on was the transporter bio-filters detecting and removing the virus during the beam-out.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon|1}}'' gives us the [[{{Pun}} Killer Wail]], a sonic-based weapon that [[OneHitKO just annihilates]] any hostile foolish enough to be where it's pointing when it's done charging with the scream of a wailing guitar. In single player, [[spoiler:the FinalBoss gets one among his many other toys]].

* {{VideoGame/Scribblenauts}}, being a game series that lets the player [[ThePowerOfCreation create almost anything they write down]], naturally gives them the option to create a working death ray.

* ''Videogame/{{MOTHER}}:''
** In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', Jeff (one of the heroes) gets a Death Ray as a weapon.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin's imaginary alter ego Spaceman Spiff wields one of these. However, it's utterly useless against everything because in reality it's something harmless and mundane like a squirt pistol or a rubber band.

* The Killing Curse, ''Avada Kedavra'' from ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is a proper Death Ray, which kills a living being without even leaving a burn scar (at one point, a {{Muggle}} doctor examing the victims of this curse describes them as appearing to be in perfect physical health, with no visible cause of death whatsoever, as if they just suddenly dropped dead for no reason), but breaks statues. Note that side effects such as this seem to be pretty common in the Potter 'verse, at least in the movie versions -- every single aggressive spell [[BlownAcrossTheRoom throws its target through the air]], no matter its actual use. Harry is known as the "Boy Who Lived" because he is the only person in the wizarding world to survive this spell.

Visually, it's probably going to emit a [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience red]] [[EnergyWeapon beam]] and [[SpikesOfVillainy look scary]] compared to a hero's [[RaygunGothic clean chrome]] RayGun (which, [[ThouShaltNotKill of course]], [[TheParalyzer just makes you sleep]]). It can vary from your garden variety DisintegratorRay because the Death Ray usually causes inanimate things to explode but humans to keel over dead. Why don't humans explode? Probably because it would raise the flick into R or NC-17 status (plus, [[LudicrousGibs it costs a]] ''[[LudicrousGibs ton]]'' [[LudicrousGibs more]] in SpecialEffects compared to a cheap ray effect). In effect, it is the most evil of retro SciFi weapons, much worse than its "little brother" the AgonyBeam.

-->-- ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''

* The [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] on top of the alien spaceships in 1953's ''Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds''. They actually ''are'' referred to in the movie as {{Death Ray}}s. Not to mention the horrifying CG versions in the [[Film/WarOfTheWorlds 2005 Steven Spielberg remake]]. True, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that the rays turn flesh into ash without any effect on clothing, but it [[ArtisticLicensePhysics does allow for some spectacularly grisly visuals]] without having to use any blood or gore.
-->''"What's that in your hair daddy?"''

* For sake of reverence and posterity, the Martian Heat Ray in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' (1898) by Creator/HGWells, and all of its subsequent adaptions. Notably, it's a ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Heat Ray]]'', and victims catch fire and burn to ashes, rather than just dropping to the ground. It's incidentally one of the best descriptions of a directed energy weapon in fiction: a completely invisible and narrow beam that just dumps its energy on what it hits with no unnecessary flashiness.

* Magical Daisy from ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject Restart'' can shoot a death beam as her ability, which she calls her [[CallingYourAttack Daisy Beam]]. She can either focus the beam on her finger, or create a wider beam by using the palm of her hand. The beam itself disintegrates things on a molecular level. Due to its lethality, she doesn't normally use it on people.

* The Neutron Daisy Cutter weapon from ''Webcomic/DriveDaveKellet'' requires the crew that fires it to be on a specially shielded deck (Up until the Empire stared using drones instead). It instantly desintegrates the Vinn PuppeteerParasite while leaving the host alive (in theory, at least. In practice, the host usually dies as well from neural shock).

** The [[FinalBoss Secret Weapon]] boss also have these curvy deathrays. They randomly change patters, and touching them is also a [[OneHitKill one hit kill]]. Good luck trying to fight the boss without dying, because you ''lose'' your [[SmartBomb smart bombs]] on death!

* The Romanov Attack Satellites from ''VideoGame/{{Heavy Weapon}}'' has these. It will try to keep near your tank's horizontal position before firing their laser weapon downwards that ''instantly'' vaporizes your tank regardless of shields. You must shoot at them to push them away, so they won't fire their lasers over you.

** Additionally, Andorian phasers have no stun setting.

* The Killing Curse, ''Avada Kedavra'' from ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is a proper Death Ray, which kills a living being without even leaving a burn scar, but breaks statues. Note that side effects such as this seem to be pretty common in the Potter 'verse, at least in the movie versions -- every single aggressive spell throws its target through the air, no matter its actual use. Harry is known as the "Boy Who Lived" because he is the only person in the wizarding world to survive this spell.

* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', [[spoiler: LOTA]] gains control of one of these (which was formerly known as [[spoiler: Credomar]]). It shoots a laser ''through space-time'', unblockable (well, unless you have extremely overpowered shields), impossible to run away from, and very deadly. It's also [[NoSell immune to Teraport-Area-Denial]]. [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight Pi is the first one to figure it out]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' gives us the [[{{Pun}} Killer Wail]], a sonic-based weapon that [[OneHitKO just annihilates]] any hostile foolish enough to be where it's pointing when it's done charging with the scream of a wailing guitar. In single player, [[spoiler:the FinalBoss gets one among his many other toys]].

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceTyrant,'' the Death Ray is a [[SupportPowers Support Power]] usable on the galaxy map. It is a psychic weapon powered by the galaxy's hate and fear of you, and costs Tyranny to fire. While it sounds impressive on paper, in practice it only destroys a few ships in a single enemy fleet.