History Main / DoingInTheScientist

This is where a story element that was originally explained by 'science' is {{retcon}}ned into being [[FunctionalMagic due to magic]] or supernatural forces. This tends to be poorly received ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools though not always]]) because it throws the established "rules of TheVerse" out of the window, but it is often the response to the problem of UnscientificScience.

** Dan Garrett himself was a case of this, since Dan [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Garret]]'s stories had him gain power from a special vitamin, and anything else was from gadgets he would invent. The scarab he was later associated with came around when he was retooled as Dan Garrett, and his powers ([[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands many and varied as they were]]) were ascribed to it. It seems Blue Beetle flips from being a ScienceHero to a magic-based one every generation.

* The fan novelization ''Fanfic/BreathOfTheWild'', which adapts the game of the same name, changes the nature of {{multishot}} bows that Link uses. Instead of them being a sign of incredible skill on the part of the archer, it's instead the result of magic imbued into the bow that divides the arrow. It takes ''far'' more skill than the game implied to do a {{multishot}} without magic, something that Link can't even do.

* ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'': Sasquatch originally had the same origin as the [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner Hulk]] (with a bit of babble about the aurora borealis to explain why he wasn't green). Then it turned out he actually gained his power from one of the Arctic demons Snowbird was born to fight, and that he wasn't shapeshifting as much as switching bodies. He later gained the ability to change under his own power, but this too was magical and explicitly so.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1'' leaves it ambiguous why the animatronics at the titular SuckECheeses want to kill you; Phone Guy says that it's a programming malfunction, but several {{Easter Egg}}s imply that the robots are actually haunted by the spirits of murdered children. ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'' makes it clear that the supernatural explanation is ''definitely'' correct, as the death minigames show the story of ''how'' the animatronics came to be haunted. Fast forward to today, the Scientist has been ripped out of his grave and forced to make a memory clone before being shot in the back of the head once more.

* ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'': Sasquatch originally had the same origin as the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] (with a bit of babble about the aurora borealis to explain why he wasn't green). Then it turned out he actually gained his power from one of the Arctic demons Snowbird was born to fight, and that he wasn't shapeshifting as much as switching bodies. He later gained the ability to change under his own power, but this too was magical and explicitly so.
* ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'' once gained his power from being experimented on by aliens. This was later revealed to be a plot made by the Totems of 'the Red', counterpart of 'the Green' from ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' below.
* ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'' was originally a case of DoingInTheWizard; in the Dan Garrett stories, {{t|ransformationTrinket}}he [[EmpathicWeapon Scarab]] was magic, and [[LegacyCharacter his successor]] Jaime Reyes ''assumes'' that it's magic for a while, only to learn that it's actually alien technology tampered with by magic (or something). As of ComicBook/DCRebirth, however, [[FlipFlopOfGod they've flip-flopped again]], and now it's an ''alien'' magical artifact. After all, there's magic in space, too.

* ComicBook/ImmortalHulk introduces the One Below All and reveals all gamma rays are emanations of him, explaining why gamma mutations are based on the person's psyche. [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in that Puck notes gamma is both magic ''and'' science -- it can be measured and understood scientifically, but when it makes "Metaphor people" it is behaving magically. It's all a matter of perspective.
* The AU miniseries ''ComicBook/Marvel1602'', which takes place in an Elizabethan version of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, does this for practically all of the Marvel superheroes' origins. The ComicBook/FantasticFour, for example, get their powers after wandering into a magical sea storm that turns them into [[ElementalEmbodiment physical avatars of the four elements]]; this universe's Bruce Banner becomes the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] after being hit by a blast of mystical energy from a tear in the fabric of space; and this universe's Peter Parker gets his spider-based abilities after being bitten by a spider that's hit with the same blast of energy. Played with in the finale, which reveals this anomaly only exists in the first place due to a malfunctioning time machine, but the parallels are also due to the presence a time displaced [[spoiler: Steve Rogers]] shifting the universe to emulate his present by recreating the origins of his contemporaries.

** Peter Parker's superpower origin used to be a radioactive spider that bit Peter Parker and mutated him. Then Creator/JMichaelStraczynski went back and said, "The radiation gave a mystical spider-totem spirit a chance to infuse Peter Parker with its power." In this case, it was because fans and writers had gradually become more aware that [[HowUnscientific radiation doesn't work that way]], although that said the Scientist is NotQuiteDead -- Spidey didn't entirely buy the magic angle, and has shown enough scientific understanding of his power to poison a magical enemy who assumed he was just like any other totemic hero. ComicBook/{{S|carletSpider}}torylines [[ComicBook/SpiderVerse involving the mysticism angle]] still come up from time to time.

* ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' started off as a man who had turned into a plant-monster after getting splashed with chemicals, but under Creator/AlanMoore's stint as writer he was {{retcon}}ned to be a mass of walking plant matter that ''thought'' it was a man. Eventually, he discovered his connection to the mental dimension 'the Green', and found that he was only the most recent in a long line of plant elementals. That second part was inspired by a series of experiments involving the memories of planarian flatworms [[ScienceMarchesOn which has since been discredited]].

* ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIDW'' plays with this trope. Splinter and the turtles are still animals mutated by Ooze, but they turn out to be reincarnations of a Samurai Lord, Hamato Yoshi, and his four sons, respectively.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1'' leaves it ambiguous why the animatronics at the titular SuckECheeses want to kill you; Phone Guy says that it's a programming malfunction, but several {{Easter Egg}}s imply that the robots are actually haunted by the spirits of murdered children. ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'' makes it clear that the supernatural explanation is ''definitely'' correct, as the death minigames show the story of ''how'' the animatronics came to be haunted.

* In the comics, ComicBook/{{Rahan}} often exposed alleged magic as fraud or misunderstood natural phenomena. However the 2009 cartoon series is a full on sword and sorcery work that gives Rahan a [[SidekickCreatureNuisance goblin-like sidekick]] and a legit witch as a nemesis.
* A weird case from ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', in which the Hysperians (essentially RenaissanceFair geeks who colonized a planet with dragons on it) rename the usual ''Trek'' TechnoBabble to [[CallARabbitASmeerp make it sound like it's actually magic]] (much to Rutherford's confusion).

This is often seen in "updated" superhero origins. Once upon a time [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers being on the range during a Gamma-bomb test]], or being [[MagicGenetics bitten by]] and/or [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke spliced with]] a [[Franchise/SpiderMan radioactive spider]], sounded semi-plausible. Nobody thought it could work (hopefully...) but it sounded vaguely ''like'' something that could happen. However, ScienceMarchesOn and now there are some things that ''no'' scientific origin can plausibly excuse. Magic, on the other hand, can (by definition) do anything the author wants it to. Sure, it loses a lot of realism but sometimes that's what you're after -- maintaining WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief through a simple handwave that doesn't try to be scientific is often less taxing than trying to swallow nonsense about something that really exists.

* The Savage Land is a portion of Antarctica that still has a tropical climate and dinosaurs. In the mainstream universe this is because of aliens that used machines to keep things that way. In the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, those dinosaurs are there because of the Scarlet Witch's reality-warping powers.

** Around the end of the ''Other'' arc, Peter discusses this with a South American shaman who says that the answers aren't mutually exclusive. He says that a scientist would say that the sun rises in the morning because the Earth spins, while a mystic would say the sun rises because it is meant to, and they're ''both'' right, it's just different perspectives. In this sense, the Wizard and Scientist are different sides of the same coin.

* In ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'', a {{prequel}} to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', Oz is a real place. Dorothy just saw all the parallels between people she met in Oz and people she knew earlier and ''assumed'' it was AllJustADream (Note that this [[AdaptationDisplacement only applies to the movies]]; in the books it's always clear that Oz is a real, magical place.)

* ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'' was originally a case of DoingInTheWizard; in the Dan Garrett stories, {{t|ransformationTrinket}}he [[EmpathicWeapon Scarab]] was magic, and [[LegacyCharacter his successor]] Jaime Reyes ''assumes'' that it's magic for a while, only to learn that it's actually alien technology tampered with by magic (or something). As of ComicBook/DCRebirth, however, [[FlipFlopOfGod they've flip-flopped again]], and now it's a magical artifact that ''tricked'' Jaime into thinking that it's alien technology.

* It is very obvious that the writer of ''Fanfic/DoorsToTheUnknown'' is very well versed in the lore of TabletopGame/Dungeons&Dragons as well as Literature/{{Worm}}. They also show a remarkable degree of insight into nuclear and subatomic physics. Up to the point of having an actual real-life scientist show up, and discuss some of his work with Valigan. Also, whenever a real-world location appears, everything is perfectly mapped out to the real layout of the location ([[spoiler:as can be seen during the battle with Leviathan]]).

* Both ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' and ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'' started as fairly mundane WildWest stories before being turned into cartoons about [[FunnyAnimal Funny Animals]] interacting with people.

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' takes place in the same world of ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'', but purges all elements of ScienceFantasy into a pure fantasy world. While magic in ''Might And Magic'' does exist; many parts of the world are the result of different [[LostColony crashed spaceships]], multiple seemingly spiritual forces like demons are revealed to be SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, and many magical artifacts are [[ClarkesThirdLaw advanced technology.]] In ''Heroes Of Might And Magic'' there are no more crashed spaceships, demons are now actual evil spirits from Hell rather than aliens from another planet, and all those futuristic gadgets are instead proper enchanted artifacts. The creators had plans to [[DoingInTheWizard invert this]] in the third game by bringing in an alien faction, however extreme fan backlash made them see everyone preferred the wizard's version of the world and it has remained so since.

* The first episode of ''VideoGame/FaithTheUnholyTrinity'' leaves its [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane supernatural happenings ambiguous,]] with some hints that the girl the hero is trying to exorcise a demon from is just mentally ill [[spoiler: and one possible ending implying the main character himself is insane.]] The second episode completely discards any non-supernatural explanations, with the existence of demons and demonic possession being confirmed. The third episode proceeds to bury the scientist by having a sorcerous cult, numerous [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils high-ranking demons]], [[spoiler: and God Himself]] getting involved in the plot.

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' takes place in the same world of ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'', but purges all elements of ScienceFantasy into a pure fantasy world. While magic in ''Might And Magic'' does exist; many parts of the world are the result of different [[LostColony crashed spaceships]], multiple seemingly spiritual forces like demons are revealed to be SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, and many magical artifacts are [[ClarkesThirdLaw truly advanced technology.]] In ''Heroes Of Might And Magic'' there are no more spaceship backgrounds for the world, demons are now actual evil spirits from Hell rather than aliens from another planet, and all those futuristic gadgets are proper enchanted artifacts.

* ''Videogame/{{Tekken}} 4'' took a sudden and drastic turn towards DoingInTheWizard compared to the supernatural and soft sci-fi themes in the first game. Most notably, the Devil possessing Jin and Kazuya was first referred to as "the Devil Gene" in this game and described as a mutation. Ogre, similarly, was called a "bioweapon" instead of an ancient warrior god. The only robot was Combot, a ClockworkCreature rather than the {{Ridiculously Human Robot|s}} JACK series, and there's only one "fighting animal"--Kuma, who is pretty much an ordinary bear. Following games in the series brought the supernatural elements right back, but also folded most of the scientific elements right on top of them. The Devil Gene, for instance, is revealed to be a genetically-inherited curse.