History Main / LostSuperweapon

** The novels have [[spoiler:the entire solar system of Corellia, made of giant spaceships disguised as planets with the tiny station of Centerpoint being the control center. Said spaceships can attack with their giant repulsors/engines, and Centerpoint is able to warp gravity across the galaxy to decimate an entire alien fleet. Oh, and Centerpoint can also make stars go nova and cut off the Corellian system from access to hyperspace. It's indicated (though never attempted) that by using the planetary repulsors to boost Centerpoint's output, the station could cut the ''entire galaxy'' off from hyperspace, making it all but impossible to travel between star systems. Given how essential interstellar travel is in the ''Star Wars'' universe, this would be roughly equivalent to reverting Earth to the stone age at the press of a button.]] Subverted, in this instance, as there's reason to believe that ThePrecursors didn't originally build this particular LostTechnology to be used as weapons of war. [[spoiler:In part, it was designed to make sure a SealedEvilInACan stayed in its can.]]

* In ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', protagonists [[TheHero Jim Raynor]] and [[TheLancer Tychus Findlay]] are hired to recover several seemingly benign-well, relatively benign-[[ThePrecursors precursor]] artifacts for an interested party. As it turns out, the five artifacts are actually the [[spoiler: [[DismantledMacGuffin parts]] of device capable of killing all the zerg an entire region of the planet Char, and curing [[TheVirus zerg infestation]]]].

* Before the events of ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'', the [[OutsideContextProblem Irregular]] Enruy visited the 43rd floor of the Tower and left behind a "Thorn" (which looked something like a giant red pointy rock) that meant as a weapon to kill [[GodEmperor Jahad, the King of the Tower]], who has CompleteImmortality otherwise. Later, a lot of people put a lot of effort into finding the pieces of that Thorn so they can be put together again. It's been shown that possessing just one of those pieces gives the possessor the ability to enter SuperMode.

Almost no matter what your level of military tech- javelin, arquebus, [[Film/TheTerminator phased plasma rifle in the 40 Watt range]], quantum black hole, whatever - it's nowhere near as good as it was in your [[TheyDontMakeThemLikeTheyUsedTo great-great-granddad's day]]. In those days, men were real men, women were real women, and hideously powerful destructive forces were... better than this modern muck, with [[PowerGlows glowing]] [[InstantRunes runes]] and everything. This could be despite the [[SuperweaponSurprise apparent primitive nature]] of the society at the time. More rationally, it could also be [[AndManGrewProud the cause]] of the primitive nature of the society immediately following...

In any event, unlike its cousin the AncestralWeapon, the LostSuperweapon is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin lost]], not just possessed by someone in secret. (For the latter, see SuperweaponSurprise.)

* Before the events of ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'', the [[OutsideContextProblem Irregular]] Enruy visited the 43rd floor of the Tower and left behind a "Thorn" (which looked something like a giant red pointy rock) that meant as a weapon to kill [[GodEmperor Jahad, the Kind of the Tower]], who for most purposes has CompleteImmortality. Later, a lot of people put a lot of effort into finding the pieces of that Thorn so they can be put together again. It's been shown that possessing just one of those pieces gives the possessor the ability to enter SuperMode.

In any event, unlike its cousins the AncestralWeapon and ForgottenSuperweapon, the LostSuperweapon is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin lost]], not just possessed by someone in secret. (For the latter, see SuperweaponSurprise.)

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* Hidden among the [[FloatingContinent Floating Isles]] in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror'' is a colossal sunforge which can do things impossible with conventional [[FunctionalMagic sunforging]], such as creating [[MagicalAccessory sunucles]] of seemingly unlimited size or [[YinYangBomb sunforging darkstone]]. Only Daylen found the mastered the forge, and he speculates that the Floating Isles were created when someone used the colossal sunforge to accidentally make a FantasticNuke that shattered them.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfMassmouth'', where the mythical magical superweapon (the "Eye of Mahan"), once found, turns out to not do anything at all.

** The title device in ''The Tar-Aiym Krang'', which uses an entire planet as its power source and creates [[{{Technobabble}} Swartzchild discontinuities]]... ahem, miniature black holes that utterly annihilate anything they touch.

* In ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', there was the Supernova Bomb. Invented by the supercomputer Hactar at the behest of the Silastic Armorfiends of Striterax, it was a junction box which would make every sun in the universe go supernova simultaneously. Hactar purposefully made it faulty because he calculated that there wasn't a conceivable consequence resulting from not setting it off which could be worse than the known consequences of setting it off, so... The Armorfiends disagreed, before destroying him and then, fortunately for everybody else, themselves. [[spoiler: Hactar managed to survive in a reduced form, and many millenia later had the Omnicidal people of Krikkit rebuild the bomb before planting it on Arthur Dent, who very narrowly avoided setting it off.]]

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has [[spoiler:the millions of colossal Titans entombed inside the Three Walls]] their original purpose was to deter any attack from outside forces (especially from [[spoiler:The Kingdom of Marley]]), as it's stated that if they're unbound they would lay waste to the entire Earth. It's also revealed that [[spoiler: only someone with Royal blood and the Foundation/Coordinate Titan power would be able to control them]].

* Heaven's Fury in ''VideoGame/AncientEmpires''. The BigBad gains access to it in the final mission and uses it to bombard your forces. It appears as a ball of light that falls from the sky and does high damage, thankfully only to a single unit at a time.

** The Another Chance, an Alderaanian warship loaded with ''[[MoreDakka every weapon on the planet]]'' when Alderaan decided to disarm itself, and sent off into deep space where it would be virtually impossible to find.

* Iain M. Banks's ''Against A Dark Background'' features a Lazy Gun as a MacGuffin.

* The [[{{precursors}} Iormunean]] [[PraetorianGuard Imperial Templar's]] blessed weapons from ''Roleplay/OpenBlue'' are [[SmiteEvil divine armaments]] enchanted with various elements and powers. Compared to the weapons of the present timeline, they're definitely superweapons.

* Surprisingly (And hilariously) subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' when Enoch searched for an ancient Mayan sword. Grandpa Max had been so distracted by getting it first and keeping it from the wrong hands, it almost killed his grandchildren. With the final opportunity, he gave up the sword in exchange for saving Ben and Gwen's lives. Of course that means Enoch now has the sword... which turns to dust soon after he picks it up.

* The Sword of Ascanlon in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' fares better [[spoiler: probably because it was made by alien technology]] and was used to cut out and contain the heart of an EldritchAbomination a thousand years before the series. Unfortunately, it (and the heart of said abomination) didn't stay lost.

* In the early days of World War 2, Britain was in dire need of large caliber heavy artillery to defend against a cross channel invasion. However, because the production lines to make such weapons had been dismantled after World War 1, new weapons of the same type could take ''years'' to produce from scratch. Records indicated that a number of large railway guns had in fact returned home from UsefulNotes/WW1, but, despite their size, had been "lost" in the intervening years. In November 1939, a Lt Colonel was sent on a quest to locate the guns and after months of fruitless searching he noticed a large disused railway shed at a Royal Ordinance depot. Forcing the doors open he discovered no fewer than 20 9.2" railway guns and 12" railway howitzers along with three additional 14" [[NamedWeapons named railway guns]] (Boche-Buster, Scene-Shifter and Gladiator). These were all promptly reconditioned and [[http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/features/index6.shtml put back into service]].

* The [[{{precursors}} Iormunean]] [[PraetorianGuard Imperial Templar's]] blessed weapons from ''OpenBlue'' are [[SmiteEvil divine armaments]] enchanted with various elements and powers. Compared to the weapons of the present timeline, they're definitely superweapons.

** ''Comicbook/KryptoniteNevermore'': A mysterious instrument called the Harp's Devil that can steal someone else's powers and skills and transfer them to its owner was found hidden in an ancient buried city.