History Main / DevolutionDevice

* The UsefulNotes/Commodore64 game ''VideoGame/DinoEggs'' had as a hazard the possibility of getting bit by a spider and suffering "devolution" into a spider due to genetic contamination. Seriously.

* An advertisement for Guinness titled "noitulove" (evolution backwards) featured a group of men leaving a pub and de-evolving through cavemen, apes, dinosaurs, amphibians and ending up as lungfish.

** ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': In ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'', one device invented by Kryptonian criminal Kru-El can de-evolve all living beings on Earth one million years.

** ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':

** ''ComicBook/{{Tigra}}'': One issue has a scientist of the Cat People develop a ray to turn the heroine back to her human form. A renegade Cat Person gets hold of it and uses it as a devolving ray. Cat People usually devolve into big cats. When turned on the bad guy, he devolved into a ''house cat''.
** ''Franchise/XMen'': The 1982 ''Marvel Fanfare'' #4 has the X-Men subjected to a treatment of this sort; in this case Nightcrawler is the one who becomes something different from the usual ape.

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* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', humans with Quirks are [[EvolutionaryLevels considered the next stage of evolution]]. Eri's Quirk is a SemanticSuperpower revolving around the term "rewind", which the villain Overhaul exploits to create bullets that DePower those with Quirks, turning them into normal humans either temporarily or permanently. There was also InUniverse speculation that it could be used for medical purposes if Eri could control it to avoid destroying the subject completely, which [[spoiler:lead to her practicing this on bugs and lizards so she could control Rewind just enough to restore Mirio's lost Quirk]]. However, [[spoiler:[[BigBad All For One]] also managed to get a copy of this through some confiscated Quirk-erasing bullets containing Eri's blood, which he [[GodzillaThreshold still considered a Hail Mary]] if he were to use it on himself to restore his pre-All Might damaged body, but went through it with it after Endeavor obliterated him since he still had Tomura Shigaraki [[DemonicPossession to take over if the plan went south]].]]

** In one comic, Gyro develops an "evolutionary ray". After a Beagle Boy gets accidentally hit in the head, he uses his newly heightened intelligence to develop a flawless bank robbery plan. Amazed with the results, the other Boys decide to give him a second and [[RuleOfThree third dose...]] only then to discover that he had reached the CrystalSpiresAndTogas level of intellectual development, gave all their money to charity, and went on to the UN to give a lecture on the elimination of crime and poverty. They manage to reverse the effect, [[FrazettaMan but the switch gets stuck]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' "The Eggman Cometh", Doctor Animo uses a ray to transform chicken eggs into dinosaur eggs. [[ReversePolarity Reversing the polarity of the ray]] turns the dinosaurs into chickens (and make the local sheriff intelligent enough to rapidly finish his crossword puzzle).

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's "The Hyborian Age", the BackStory to ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'', the fall of the {{Atlantis}} produced devolution:

** ''ComicBook/TheKreeSkrullWar'': Ronan the Accuser busts out the old monkey-making de-evolutionary ray as part of his plan against Earth.

* Gorilla Grodd constructs one of these in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' as part of his master plan he's been working on for the first half of the final season. While he does temporarily turn most everyone into apes (including Luthor, who is not amused in the slightest), the Justice League destroy the device anyway. Grodd is then deposed by Luthor, who takes control of the Secret Society and [[DisappointedByTheMotive berates Grodd on how he used him and the rest of the Society for such a ridiculous plan]].

* WesternAnimation/AtomicBetty sometimes deals with Shaka Booga, a prehistoric witch who sprays people with a potion that devolves them to a primitive state. A brief gag in one episode that when [[DumbJock Duncan]] gets sprayed with the potion, he comes out entirely unchanged.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' "The Eggman Cometh", Doctor Animo uses a ray to transform chicken eggs into dinosaur eggs. [[ReversePolarity Reversing the polarity of the ray]] turns the dinosaurs into chickens (and make the local sheriff intelligent enough to rapidly finish his crossword puzzle).
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' had a Prometheus and Bob short in which Prometheus attempts to teach Bob how to operate an evolution machine. Among other shenanigans, a puppy is de-evolved into a wolf and Prometheus himself is de-evolved into a purple version of Bob. Given that it also evolves a club into an aluminum bat, RuleOfFunny is clearly in play.
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
** Dr. Fossil, one VillainOfTheWeek from the episode "Jurassic Jumble" uses these to turn anthropomorphic ducks (including himself) into prehistoric animals - himself into a pterosaur, his minion Stegmutt into a Stegosaurus, and Darkwing into a Franchise/{{Godzilla}}-like giant theropod.
** In "[=UFoe=]" when Darkwing insults a highly advance alien race, they punish him by de-evolving him into a Neanderthal, then a fish and then a protozoa. Launchpad convinces them to change him back. This also settles the fate of the episode's villain as [[spoiler:he is turned into an alien fish at the end.]] The funniest part is how the ray affects a robot: it turns it into a toaster.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'' Bob the Killer Goldfish creates a device called the Darwinator that allows him to climb up the evolution ladder by stealing them from other targets, making them devolve. Jim and Peter become cavemen (or a cave worm and dog, anyway) while Princess Whats-Her-Name is reduced to a ladybug.

* Gorilla Grodd constructs one of these in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' as part of his master plan he's been working on for the first half of the final season. While he does temporarily turn most everyone into apes (including Luthor, who is not amused in the slightest), the Justice League destroy the device anyway. Grodd is then deposed by Luthor, who takes control of the Secret Society and [[DisappointedByTheMotive berates Grodd on how he used him and the rest of the Society for such a ridiculous plan]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'': One episode has a giant tree falling on Norbert and Daggett's house, and when they eat from its trunk, [[FountainOfYouth they're turned into kids]]. The tree has a magical acorn (or something like that) that they spend the entire episode trying to get, and after eating it, they transform into multiple forms from the past eras (including a Roman Gladiator and an Egyptian, of all things) until they end up as unicellullar organisms floating on a puddle.

* An inversion happens in ''Anime/SpaceDandy''. [[spoiler:The plant people were only given intelligence in the first place by a meteor that landed at the north pole. Once Dandy removed the device at the request of the plant people, only THEN did they learn that it is what kept them alive, and they devolved back to their original state along with the rest of the planet.]]

** ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': In ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'', one device invented by Kryptonian criminal Kru-El can de-evolve all living beings on Earth one million years.

** ''ComicBook/{{Tigra}}'': One issue has a scientist of the Cat People develop a ray to turn the heroine back to her human form. A renegade Cat Person gets hold of it and uses it as a devolving ray. Cat People usually devolve into big cats. When turned on the bad guy, he devolved into a ''house cat''.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': On this continuity, Earth was victim of a vicious attack by the Xorda, a warmongering race of octopus-like aliens after their emissary sent to the planet to establish an alliance was [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill captured and bisected]] by Dr Ivan Kintobor, an ancestor of Julian Kintobor, the comic's version of Doctor Robotnik. The Xorda retaliated by carpet bombing Earth with Gene Bombs. The mass bombardment was meant to de-envolve humanity to pre-sapience levels while leaving the rest of the planet intact. Instead, it caused mankind to mutate into the [[FourFingeredHands four-fingered]] Overlanders and [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted many animal species]] to the anthropomorphic Mobians.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'': King Koopa has one of these, he uses it to make the closest thing to a Goomba in the film. The most extreme use of it comes when it's used to [[spoiler:de-evolve Koopa, turning him first into a T-Rex and then eventually sludge]].

* In ''Film/WarForThePlanetOfTheApes'', the virus that wiped out humanity in ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' has mutated to (possibly) having devolutionary effect on the survivors. The mutated virus definitely causes humans to become mutes, but otherwise it’s not clear whether it has true devolutionary effects.
* In ''Film/TheNeanderthalMan'', a MadScientist invents a serum that can temporarily reverse a million years of evolution. He uses it to turn his cat into a saber-toothed tiger and himself into a murderous ape-man. It only partly works on the family's maid, which he attributes to "some incompatibility between my formula and the basic female constitution."

* "Wilding" a short science fiction story by Jane Yolen features teenagers going to Wilding parks, where radiation de-evolves them into primitive simian ancestral forms for the purpose of recreation. It's a DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything of recreational drug use, except it's perfectly legal.
* The serum version was used in a ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story. An old university professor has been taking extract of black-faced langur to make himself younger and more appealing to his twenty-year old crush, and this leads him to walk on his knuckles and swing from the University ivy. Enter Holmes. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Yup.]]
* The climax of Creator/HRiderHaggard's ''{{Literature/She}}'' has [[spoiler:the title character take another bath in the life-giving flame, which takes away her youth. Her dying form is described as being like a monkey]]. Darwin's theories had only recently entered the public consciousness when the book was written and the whole story is about the ''fear'' of "devolving" since people were scared that it ''might'' work backwards at the time.

* There is also a short story by Creator/PhilipKDick, called ''Strange Eden'', that successfully makes every mistake about evolution mentioned here. It's about an astronaut that finds an attractive and immortal female Goddess-like alien on a far-away world. Immediately he wants to sleep with her, but she warns him that in doing so he will magically begin to rapidly evolve. Thinking that this will lead him to become a superior being like her (and for the obvious reason), the astronaut accepts the offer. However, it turns out that humanity's set evolutionary path is that we will evolve into bestial cat-creatures — exactly why is never stated — and so the astronaut is stuck as the alien woman's pet forever.
* One of the story ideas by Creator/HPLovecraft, listed in his ''Commonplace Book'': "Individual, by some strange process, retraces the path of evolution and becomes amphibious."
* In the Creator/ManlyWadeWellman story "The Devil's Asteroid", the eponymous celestial object has a device hidden inside it that inflicts this trope on any humans who end up stranded on its surface, gradually reverting them back to dim-witted apemen and possibly further.
* Occultist UsefulNotes/HelenaBlavatsky claimed that contrary to evolutionary theory apes had devolved from humans, rather than the opposite (this was a result of "putting themselves on the animal level", whatever that means). Later far-right Italian occultist Julius Evola echoed her view, calling this "involution".

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': In "[[Recap/FarscapeS02E10MyThreeCrichtons My Three Crichtons]]", an alien probe produces both "de-evolved" and "super-evolved" versions of Crichton. [[spoiler:The crew also assumes that the "de-evolved" caveman is hostile and savage, while the "super-evolved" Crichton turns out to be the self-serving and dangerous one.]] It's [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] when the probe explains that the two extra Crichtons are just two of the millions of alternate versions of humanity that the probe was simulating and cataloging. They just happen to be a caveman and big-brained superhuman. And just to nail the point home, D'argo comforts a worried Crichton that the [[InsufferableGenius "super-evolved genius"]] form is just a ''possible'' evolution.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In the story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E2GhostLight Ghost Light]]", a clergyman is turned into a monkey by a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien; it is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], however, by suggesting that this is not "de-evolution" as such, because the alien could have turned him into anything and only chose the monkey form to mock the clergyman's anti-Darwinist beliefs. (Another character, for instance, is transformed into stone instead.)
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In the episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E5BeerBad Beer Bad]]", enchanted beer turns a bunch of college guys and Buffy into cave-people. In this case, pretty much literally, AWizardDidIt.
* Parodied in ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace'', where a mad scientist invents a serum that causes people to devolve back into apes. Half the hospital accidentally drinks it, despite the fact it turns water bright green, and is transferred in [[{{Squick}} urine]].
* In the ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' episode "What About Bob?", a serum prepared by his rival in a LoveTriangle causes the eponymous Bob to "devolve" into a snake. Dr. Stark claims that the serum is reactivating the introns in Bob's DNA. Nobody mentions the fact that humans are not actually descended from snakes.
* One of the more ludicrous episodes ("Lost Contact") of ''Series/RelicHunter'' involved the discovery of a prehistoric sacrificial bowl which contained ancient spores that, once exposed to sunlight, caused anyone who became infected by them (like through a cut) to turn into ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_heidelbergensis Homo heidelbergensis]]''.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': The episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXEntangled Entangled]]" has the crew come across a scientist who had created a device which would evolve humanity into the next stage. However, she had got it hopelessly wrong (having been picked because she had a thing for getting stuff wrong) and used the device to accidentally devolve herself into an ape instead.

* The nerd folk song "De-Evolving" by Jonathan Coulton. The protagonist describes "de-evolving" into a monkey. [[RuleOfFunny It's funny]], but inaccurate.

* ''ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean'' [[http://safr.kingfeatures.com/idn/ck3/content.php?file=aHR0cDovL3NhZnIua2luZ2ZlYXR1cmVzLmNvbS9GdW5reVdpbmtlcmJlYW4vMjAxNC8wNi9GdW5reV9XaW5rZXJiZWFuX3RzLjIwMTQwNjA4XzE0NDAuZ2lm for June 8th, 2014.]] The entire strip is the cover of issue #216 of the fictional comic book ''Starbuck Jones''. Starbuck Jones is on the cover, but he's in the shape of a chimpanzee after being affected by a Xaxian De-Volv ray.

* Many superhero RolePlayingGames — like ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' and the original ''[[Franchise/MarvelUniverse Marvel Superheroes Role-Playing Game]]'' — include, among the list of powers available to players, some sort of "Hyper-Evolution" power that lets a hero shift up and down along their "evolutionary path," generally affording them the ability to "devolve" into cave-man form (temporarily lower their intelligence to raise their strength). In Mayfair Games' ''TabletopGame/DCHeroes'' RPG this was covered by the Mutation power.
* ''Mutant Futrue''. The Ancestral Form mutation can reverse a creature to a previous stage in its evolution, such as changing a human being into a Homo Erectus.
* Midkemia Press' ''Heart of the Sunken Lands''. The Hairy Ones are human beings who were warped by the magical backlash from the Great Upheaval. It caused them to regress backwards along the evolutionary line and become more hairy and ape-like. Their minds were even more affected than their bodies, resulting in weird random behavior.

* The UsefulNotes/Commodore64 game ''Dino Eggs'' had as a hazard the possibility of getting bit by a spider and suffering "devolution" into a spider due to genetic contamination. Seriously.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'', Shamans get the ''Devolve'' card from ''Mean Streets of Gadgetzan''. Funnily enough, the artwork displays the BigBadEnsemble from the expansion pack, devolved into Murlocs.

* In the backstory of the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' franchise, AdvancedAncientHumans were stronger, smarter and longer-lived than modern humans. But after they lost an interstellar war with the [[{{Precursors}} Forerunners]], their empire was dismantled and the survivors were forcibly returned to Earth and genetically modified (something the Forerunners were very good at) into what we now know as Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Early Modern Humans. In the "modern day" (2552 AD at the start of the first game, with ExpandedUniverse works taking place as early as 2525), humans are ''still'' nowhere near as physically and mentally capable as their pre-devolution counterparts.
* VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon has the Devolver pistol and Devolver bullets, which downgrade ennemies into a less powerful one. Since all the ennemies are living, sentient bullets that wield guns, the "Final stage" of devolution a most basic ennemy can reach is being turned into a flint arrowhead with a bow.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' had a gas which did this (Buzz was turned into an apeman, Mira turned into a blue puddle of slime, Booster turns into a giant dinosaur-like creature and some highly intelligent aliens turn into red chimps).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Mad as a Mars Hare", Marvin the Martian plans to use his evolution ray to advance WesternAnimation/BugsBunny into a "harmless but useful slave to me". Only [[HadTheSillyThingInReverse he had it set to reverse]], turning Bugs into a huge Neanderthal rabbit who easily pummels Marvin.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'' had Team Quest discover alien technology which let whoever used it evolve or devolve species at will. Surd gets a hold of it and uses it on Race and Dr. Quest in Questworld. This causes them to mentally devolve and act in ape-like manners, even though their bodies stay the same.
* The two-part ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'' episode "Devolution", where Ghastly accidentally hits Skarr with a devolution ray, causing him to turn into an ape.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': On this continuity, Earth was victim of a vicious attack by the Xorda, a warmongering race of octopus-like aliens after their emissary sent to the planet to establish an alliance was captured and [[AlienAutopsy bisected]] by Dr Ivan Kintobor, an ancestor of Julian Kintobor, the comic's version of Doctor Robotnik. The Xorda retaliated by carpet bombing Earth with Gene Bombs. The mass bombardment was meant to de-envolve humanity to pre-sapience levels while leaving the rest of the planet intact. Instead, it caused mankind to mutate into the [[FourFingeredHands four-fingered]] Overlanders and [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted many animal species]] to the anthropomorphic Mobians.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': On this continuity, Earth was victim of a vicious attack by the Xorda, a warmongering race of octopus-like aliens after their emissary sent to the planet to establish an alliance was captured and bisected by Dr Ivan Kintobor, an ancestor of Julian Kintobor, the comic's version of Doctor Robotnik. The Xorda retaliated by carpet bombing Earth with Gene Bombs. The mass bombardment was meant to de-envolve humanity to pre-sapience levels while leaving the rest of the planet intact. Instead, it caused mankind to mutate into the four-fingered Overlanders and [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted many animal species]] to the anthropomorphic Mobians.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': One episode had the crew come across a scientist who had created a device which would evolve humanity into the next stage. However, she had got it hopelessly wrong (having been picked because she had a thing for getting stuff wrong) and used the device to accidentally devolve herself into an ape instead.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': In "My Three Crichtons", an alien probe produced both "de-evolved" and "super-evolved" versions of Crichton. [[spoiler:The crew also assumed the "de-evolved" caveman was hostile and savage, while the "super-evolved" Crichton turned out to be the self-serving and dangerous one.]] It's [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] when the probe explains that the two extra Crichtons are just two of the millions of alternate versions of humanity that the probe was simulating and cataloging. They just happen to be a caveman and big-brained superhuman. And just to nail the point home, D'argo comforts a worried Crichton that the [[InsufferableGenius "super-evolved genius"]] form is just a ''possible'' evolution.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In the story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E2GhostLight Ghost Light]]", a clergyman is turned into a monkey by a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien; it is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], however, by suggesting that this is not "de-evolution" as such, because the alien could have turned him into anything and only chose the monkey form to mock the clergyman's anti-Darwinist beliefs. (Another character, for instance, is transformed into stone instead.)
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': The episode "Beer Bad", where enchanted beer turned a bunch of college guys and Buffy into cave-people. In this case, pretty much literally, AWizardDidIt.

* An advertisement for Guinness titled "noitulove" (evolution backwards) featured a group of men leaving a pub and de-evolving through cavemen, apes, dinosaurs, amphibians and ending up as lungfish.

* ''ComicBook/{{Tigra}}'': One issue has a scientist of the Cat People develop a ray to turn the heroine back to her human form. A renegade CP gets ahold of it and uses it as a devolving ray. Cat People usually devolve into big cats. When turned on the bad guy, he devolved in a ''house cat''.