History Main / DoomsDayDevice

* ''DwarfFortress''. Build your own doomsday machine. Envelop the world in fire and water and then mix them both and bury the world under a bed of obsidian. The type of doomsday device you make is limited only by your imagination and how many manic depressive alcoholics you kill trying to build it. The most famous example would be Project 'Fuck the World' of Boatmurdered. Seriously, go look it up.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* TruthInTelevision to an extent. Nobody has actually built one, but we have the capabilities to create a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_bomb cobalt bomb]] that would kill every living organism on the planet Earth that was not sufficiently sheltered. It has been said that it would be impractical, but if you got the right combination of rich and crazy it could happen.
** Of course, you'd essentially have to have the wealth of [[{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]], insanity of {{the Joker}}, and technical skills of [[IronMan Tony Stark]], all at once.
*** Just because it's theoretically possible doesn't mean it's in any way feasible. The sheer amount of cobalt (at the very least several hundred tons, in practice a lot more due to uneven distribution) and the size and multiple stages of the bomb would make it quite an expensive and difficult project even for a super power. And even then, it wouldn't destroy all life on the planet, just cause a bit of radiation sickness, which some creatures are very resistant to. In addition, what motivation could anyone have to build this sort of device? Mutually assured destruction works better with cheaper and more feasible [=ICBMs=].
* Apparently, the [[RedsWithRockets Soviet Union]] had a semi-autonomous system set up during the Reagan years called [[http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/17-10/mf_deadhand?currentPage=all# Perimeter]], or [[FanNickname Dead Hand]]. The purpose of this system was so that, in the event of nuclear war, the country's nuclear arsenal could be deployed quasi-automatically in response to a nuclear attack on Soviet soil, regardless of whether or not the Soviet leadership was even still alive - thus allowing the Soviet nuclear arsenal to function as a doomsday device. [[DoctorStrangelove Sound familiar?]]
** Interestingly, though this was conceived as an ANTI-Doomsday device, the premise being that if the hotheads in the USSR's military could be assured that Russia would have guaranteed second-strike capabilities in the event of a NATO first strike, they would be less likely to punch the button at anything that even remotely looked like a launch (The Soviets were apparently paranoid that the US and NATO were going to launch a surprise attack at any moment. (Are you saying that the U.S. wasn't?) Yes.
** While it's sinister and Russian, the Perimeter system is not that different from the contingency plans of every Cold War era nuclear state - preserving a second strike capability was seen as essential to discourage opponents from making a surprise first strike. This is why ICBM-carrying submarines were developed and refined by all five major nuclear powers. The most charming contingency plan is certainly the UK's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort Letters of Last Resort]].
*** Though it should be noted that even a nuclear war at the height of the cold war isn't exactly a doomsday machine. The participating countries would likely have their entire social order collapse and technology thrown back hundreds of years due to EMP, but still no where near the destruction of all life on the planet.
* At one point, the scientists at Los Alamos entertained the possibility that a single atomic bomb could turn out to be one. Before the detonation of the first nuclear bomb, Trinity, bets were taken about the yield of the explosion. Predictions ranged from a [[WheresTheKaboom dud]] to the ignition of the atmosphere itself and the total destruction of the planet. Although calculated to be almost impossible, the ''[[MillionToOneChance almost]]'' was enough to cause some anxiety among some of the physicists all the way up to the moment of the detonation.
** There was also some concern that a thermonuclear device detonated in the ocean would cause chain reaction of nuclear fusion, which proved even less founded.
*** Heres one for you, my fellow tropers. There was a candid idea kicked around once that, "We could always set up a daisy chain of 15 MT devices around the Yellowstone caldera..."

* In the {{Nasuverse}}, the alchemist of Atlas are said to possess a rather large stockpile of {{doomsday device}}s, built to fight back against whatever they predict will [[EndOfTheWorld end the world]]. And, later, against their previous {{doomsday device}}s which are now part of how the [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed world will end]].

* The premise of the board game ''{{Mwahahaha}}'' is to collect the items needed to activate your DoomsdayDevice on a global scale and use it to take over the world.

** Interestingly, though this was conceived as an ANTI-Doomsday device, the premise being that if the hotheads in the USSR's military could be assured that Russia would have guaranteed second-strike capabilities in the event of a NATO first strike, they would be less likely to punch the button at anything that even remotely looked like a launch (The Soviets were apparently paranoid that the US and NATO were going to launch a surprise attack at any moment. (Are you saying that the U.S. wasn't?)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/x_1923.jpg
->'''Professor Farnsworth''': Doomsday device? Ah, now the ball's in '''Farnsworth's''' court!\\
[Presses a button, revealing his arsenal of doomsday weapons.]\\
'''Professor Farnsworth:''' I suppose I could part with ''one'' and still be feared...
-->-- ''{{Futurama}}'', "Time Keeps on Slippin'"

*** Heres one for you, my fellow tropers. There was a candid idea kicked around once that, "We could always set up a daisy chain of 15 MT around the Yellowstone caldera..."

* Dr. Soren's trilithium probe in ''StarTrek Generations''. It stops all fusion within a star, causing it to collapse and generate a shockwave that destroys all planets in the solar system.

* TruthInTelevision to an extent. Nobody has actually built one, but we have the capabilities to create a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_bomb Cobalt bomb]] that would kill every living organism on the planet Earth that was not sufficiently sheltered. It has been said that it would be impractical, but if you got the right combination of rich and crazy it could happen.

*** Just because its theoretically possible doesn't mean its in any way feasible. The sheer amount of cobalt (at the very least several hundred tons, in practice a lot more due to uneven distribution) and the size and multiple stages of the bomb would make it quite an expensive and difficult project even for a super power. And even then, it wouldn't destroy all life on the planet, just cause a bit of radiation sickness, which some creatures are very resistant to. In addition, what motivation could anyone have to build this sort of device? Mutually assured destruction works better with cheaper and more feasible ICBMs.

** Interestingly, though this was conceived as an ANTI-Doomsday device, the premise being that if the hotheads in the USSR's military could be assured that Russia would have guaranteed second-strike capabilities in the event of a NATO first strike, they would be less likely to punch the button at anything that even remotely looked like a launch (The Soviets were apparently paranoid that the US and NATO were going to launch a surprise attack at any moment. (Are you saying that the U.S. wasn't?) In '83, with the Able Archer nuclear wargame exercises in the West and a serious radar malfunction in a key Soviet Army nuclear control bunker that spoofed three warheads incoming to Moscow, it's thought that the US and USSR had come the closest we've ever been to nuclear war. Thankfully, the OnlySaneMan was on duty in the malfunctioning bunker, realized it for what it was and did not order a launch. Dead Hand was apparently brought on line to avoid any more potential mishaps like that.)

*** Okay, we're joking about that last one. It was the name Han gave to a ''hypothetical'' superweapon, as part of a [[CrowningMomentOfFunny great speech]] [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] the incredible number of useless superweapons the Empire tended to build. (And also a giant TakeThat to the Del Rey novels, aka The Superweapon Of The Month Club, who brought you the majority of the above.)

->'''Professor Farnsworth''': Doomsday device? Ah, now the ball's in ''Farnsworth's'' court!\\

->'''Professor Farnsworth''': Doomsday device? Ah, now the ball's in ''Farnsworth's''' court!\\

->'''Professor Farnsworth''': Doomsday device? Ah, now the ball's in Farnsworth's court!\\

* From FrickinLaserBeams in space powered by diamonds to stolen nuclear submarines to life ending biological weapons, JamesBond villains have made this trope their raison d'etre.

* A short story by Edmund Cooper has teams of American, Russian and British scientists all building incredibly elaborate Doomsday Devices that will destroy the world completely if anyone tries to use nuclear weapons or invade their countries at all. This ends up causing world peace, in a subversion [[spoiler: the scientists reveal to each other at the end that none of the machines actually work, but are just impressive collections of cables, strange chrome things and flashing lights, with the exception of the Russian doomsday device, which will blow up anyone who tries to use it.]].

** The Nostril of Palapatine...
*** Okay, we're joking about that last one. It was the name Han gave to a hypothetical [[NewJediOrder Vong]]-killing superweapon, as part of a [[CrowningMomentOfFunny great speech]] [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] the incredible number of useless superweapons the Empire tended to build. (And also a giant TakeThat to the Del Rey novels, aka The Superweapon Of The Month Club, who brought you the majority of the above.)

* The [[{{Unobtainium}} Uthenium]]/cobalt bomb in ''TheBionicWoman'' (1970's) episode "Doomsday is Tomorrow".

** Sometimes even the good guys, as witnessed by UNIT's Earth-Destroying Osterhagen key in the season 4/30 finale

* Notoriously common trope found in the ''entire'' ''MegaMan'' franchise.
** One of the songs in ''MegaManZX'' is even called ''Doomsday Device''. It's a pretty awesome track. Have a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UWkxTmGcyw listen]].

'''Professor Farnsworth:''' I suppose I could part with '''one''' and still be feared?

** Interestingly, though this was conceived as an ANTI-Doomsday device, the premise being that if the hotheads in the USSR's military could be assured that Russia would have guaranteed second-strike capabilities in the event of a NATO first strike, they would be less likely to punch the button at anything that even remotely looked like a launch (The Soviets were apparently paranoid that the US and NATO were going to launch a surprise attack at any moment. In '83, with the Able Archer nuclear wargame exercises in the West and a serious radar malfunction in a key Soviet Army nuclear control bunker that spoofed three warheads incoming to Moscow, it's thought that the US and USSR had come the closest we've ever been to nuclear war. Thankfully, the OnlySaneMan was on duty in the malfunctioning bunker, realized it for what it was and did not order a launch. Dead Hand was apparently brought on line to avoid any more potential mishaps like that.)