History Main / MassHypnosis

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': King Sombra's way of gathering minions is to simply MindControl whoever he comes across with a glare. Combined with his heavy magical power, he can build an army in mere minutes.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' had one of the ''scariest'' stand-offs ever using this. When Lyta Alexander (a telepath who has her powers increased by being TouchedByVorlons) is confronted by B5's new CO Lochley to move to smaller quarters or be evicted, she begins drumming her fingers on a tabletop while she talks to Lochley. Slowly, all conversation begins to die down ''and everyone in the place begins to drum their fingers in exactly the same pattern as Lyta''. Lochley's forces have an OhCrap moment until IA President Sheridan shows us why we love him by putting a loaded gun next to Lyta's head, as his own being TouchedByVorlons made him immune to Lyta's control. Lyta, basically good at heart but pushed beyond her limits, backs down and everyone wakes up.

* Creator/MarvelComics had the Ringmaster, whose hat contains a spiral thing that people have to look at for it to work. He brainwashes his audiences all at once. Of course, if you happen to be a [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} blind superhero]]...

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-252 SCP-252 ("Humboldt Squid")]]. SCP-252 is a squid up to 1 meter long. It can rapidly change the colors of its skin, hypnotizing anyone looking at it and causing them to think it's a giant monster up to 75 meters long.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oFczADqrGU The commercial]] for the first ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' takes the hypnosis track again, having Wario try to hypnotize the audience into being greedy and stealing pirate treasure.

* During the last arc of ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'', [[spoiler:this is revealed to be one part of Bias's ultimate goal, along with immortality/eternal youth once he has enough brains with 1000 points from his students. And he succeeds once he gets Kemp's putting all of Earth under his control, with even the Liveman becoming his thralls, and only Colon being left due to her status as a robot. At least until Yusuke is revealed to have snuck aboard, which he follows by destroying Bias' machine, thwarting his plot]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'' Plankton finally takes over Bikini Bottom by giving away Chum Bucket Helmets that are actually mind control devices. There's a disturbingly intense scene when an army of zombies capture Squidward, the one citizen who doesn't wear them.

* ''WesternAnimation/QuackPack'': In "Heavy Dental", an evil scientist working for the big bad accidently puts the bioremote mind control device in Huey's braces during his dentist appointment, giving him near-infinite mind control powers. He then uses them to become the emperor of the world, but becomes miserable after realizing he can't be happy if people are forced to love him.

* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'''s third season has the Trix and Valtar resorting to mind control to get the students from Cloud Tower on their side; it's partly because trying to bully them hasn't worked well in the past, and partly because they simply won't team up with the Trix willingly at this point.

* An episode of ''Series/PainkillerJane'' has a [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual neuro]] mind-control an entire small town to be a perfect place to live using a [[spoiler:local TV show]].

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'', [[CourtMage Evil Wizard]] Agahnim [[EvilChancellor kills]] TheGoodKing, and brainwashes the soldiers, guards, and Knights of Hyrule into doing his bidding. As such, Hyrule's soldiers are out to get Link in the game. Early in the game, you can talk to one of the guards who mentions all of his fellow guards have gone mad, and now its starting to happen to him too. The guard is later replaced by an enemy. [[spoiler:This seems to have been undone by the WorldHealingWave at the end as regular friendly guards are shown around the revived King of Hyrule.]]

Compare DoNotAdjustYourSet. Often used to get rid of TheEvilsOfFreeWill. See also {{Glamour}}, which may be paired with this trope. Anyone who is WeakWilled will likely ''remain'' hypnotized even after the emitter's destruction.

Why use your amazing powers of hypnotism merely to HypnotizeThePrincess or make your hero's friend [[BrainwashedAndCrazy psychotic]]? Just steal some broadcasting equipment, [[HypnoticHead record your message]], and [[IControlMyMinionsThrough hypnotize the masses to do your bidding]], [[StockEvilOverlordTactics build your weapons, and wipe out the hero.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* During the last arc of ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'', [[spoiler:this is revealed to be one part of Bias's ultimate goal, along with immortality/eternal youth. ''And he succeeds.'']]

** ''Like Father, Like Daughter?: Ming uses the Mind Neutralizer to turn the inhabitants of Grand Junction into mindless zombies programmed to stop the Defenders. Rick, LJ and Kshin, captured by Ming's troops, are also affected, but Mandrake uses his own hypnotic powers to knock them out and later tricks the human scientist helping Ming into handing over the plans for the Mind Neutralizer, enabling the Defenders to reverse the boys' conditioning. When Ming tries to use the Mind Neutralizer on a global scale, the Defenders ReverseThePolarity so that Ming only succeeds in curing the people who have already been exposed to the Neutralizer.

* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': Wanda Maximoff uses it to evacuate civilians from Novi Grad en masse.

* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': [[CompellingVoice Kilgrave]] ''loves'' doing things like make an entire room of police officers point their guns at each other or their own heads to intimidate Jessica (which in season 2, Detective Costa recounts as having given him nightmares for weeks) or make an entire hospital full of people attack Jessica while he makes an escape.

* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': Wanda uses it to evacuate civilians en masse.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums "The Sound of Drums"]]: The Master becomes Prime Minister by hypnotizing people through a satellite network and their mobile phones.

* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': This trope is something that [[CompellingVoice Kilgrave]] ''loves'' doing. In one episode, he makes an entire room of police officers point their guns at each other or their own heads to intimidate Jessica (which in season 2, Detective Costa recounts as having given him nightmares for weeks). In the season 1 finale, he makes an entire hospital full of people attack Jessica while he makes an escape.

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->'''Nova:''' With Project Muse, Sumeragi can finally administrate all the world's Adepts at once.
->'''Gunvolt:''' "Administrate"? If that's just a fancy word for what I think it is--

[[caption-width-right:350:MindControl got a whole lot darker!]]

* Used humorously (are we surprised?) in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries''. The first time young Marik leaves the tomb, he sees Yami Marik on the TV repeating "kill your family, kill your family." You'd think it was just Marik seeing that, but then a street vendor voiced by [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] says "What's the matter, kid? Haven't you ever seen the 'Kill Your Family' show before?"

* A similar premise is found in ''Film/BabyGeniuses 2: Superbabies''.
* ''Film/{{Gamer}}'': [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Ken Castle]] reveals at the end to Kable that he plans to disseminate the mind control nanobots he designed for his games ''Society'' and ''Slayers'' that uses real people as avatars throughout the rest of the world. He injected himself with a different type that allows him to control others, demonstrating it by forcing one of his puppets-an AxCrazy convict-to dance in front of him.

* Both Film/TheShadow and Shiwan Khan can do so, [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower having been trained]] by the same Far East master. Lamont uses it to hide himself from the others' eyes, thus becoming the titular hero. Shiwan Khan does one better and hides and entire building from prying eyes. Of course, nobody wonders why there is a seemingly empty lot in the middle of Downtown.

* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': Wanda uses it to evacuate civilians en masse.

* Creator/DeanKoontz novel ''Night Chills''. A MadScientist develops a drug that lowers subconscious resistance to subliminal messages. He uses TV broadcasts to beam hidden control instructions into the minds of viewers that cause them to mindlessly obey anyone who says the correct code phrase.

** In ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', Joruus C'baoth could do this using the Force, controlling swaths of the Imperial fleet to improve their efficiency and make their timing impossibly precise. At first he just used it at Grand Admiral Thrawn's orders, but eventually he decided to make a power grab and took control of every member of the Imperial fleet except for those handful in a [[PowerNullifier ysalamiri bubble]]. Thrawn talked C'baoth down by reminding him that ''none'' of the people he was controlling knew what was planned, and C'baoth couldn't piece it together from a dozen or a hundred minds that had some inkling - it was [[AllUpToYou all up to Thrawn]] - and how long could C'baoth hold the meld, anyway, before people started to collapse?

* ''Literature/TheTripods'': The aliens (known as the Masters) take over humanity by hypnotizing them with television signals. Though while not universally effective, the Masters made sure the process was permanent by placing mind-controlled caps on the victims' heads - and the heads of everyone else, once the victims provide a sufficient foothold.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' had one of the ''scariest'' stand-offs ever using this. When Lyta Alexander (a telepath who has her powers increased by being TouchedByVorlons) is confronted by B5's new CO Lochley to move to smaller quarters or be evicted, she begins drumming her fingers on a tabletop while she talks to Lochley. Slowly, all conversation begins to die down ''and everyone in the place begins to drum there fingers in exactly the same pattern as Lyta''. Lochley's forces have an OhCrap moment until IA President Sheridan shows us why we love him by putting a loaded gun next to Lyta's head, as his own being TouchedByVorlons made him immune to Lyta's control. Lyta, basically good at heart but pushed beyond her limits, backs down and everyone wakes up.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E8TheLieOfTheLand "The Lie of the Land"]]: The alien Monks, calling themselves the Prophets of Truth, use their powers to hold the entire Earth under the sway of a mass delusion -- namely, that they have always been present for humanity's entire history. Only a few people are unaffected, most notably Bill and Nardole[[spoiler:, not to mention the Doctor, who's been [[PretendToBeBrainwashed faking being under the Monks' control]] in an attempt to undermine them from the inside.]]

* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': This trope is something that [[Creator/DavidTennant Kilgrave]] ''loves'' doing. In one episode, he makes an entire room of police officers point their guns at each other or their own heads to intimidate Jessica (which in season 2, Detective Costa recounts as having given him nightmares for weeks). In the season 1 finale, he makes an entire hospital full of people attack Jessica while he makes an escape.
* Tempus (nearly?) becomes President by hypnotizing people through their telephones in an episode of ''Series/LoisAndClark'', which aired about [[FollowTheLeader ten or so years before]] the ''Doctor Who'' arc described above.
** Interestingly, he is able to give orders immediately after the election, something a RealLife President-Elect can't do.

* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' story "Secrets of the Stars", Martin Trueman hijacks a TV station and makes it broadcast on every channel so as to hypnotise the masses under one star sign at a time (though the victims don't actually need to be watching TV to be affected, that's just for relaying instructions).

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': In a fake commercial for "The Amazing Alexander", a stage hypnotist with a show on Broadway, various audiance members give glowing reviews in a CreepyMonotone, all using the exact same words. The commerial ends with a quote from a critic, also containing the same words.
* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', [[spoiler:Chloe/]]Brainiac hacks into the computers of Metropolis, putting his symbol on all the screens and hypnotizes any human who looks at them as he downloads all information from their brains.

* ''Radio/JourneyIntoSpace'': In ''The World in Peril'', the Martians plan to conquer Earth by having the conditioned Professor Brewer hypnotise the vast majority of humanity over the television. Those who are already conditioned will be immune to its effects while those who do not watch the broadcast will be either conditioned or killed. In 1966, Professor Brewer attempted to hypnotise all of the viewers in the Commonwealth as a sort of trial run.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' has one mission each in the Soviet/Allied campaigns where you try to do this / stop it. In the expansion, Yuri attempts this to the entire world.

** In "Candy Catastrophe", the two workers at the candy mine are hypnotised into poisoning the candy.

* In ''Webcomic/DrowTales'', [[spoiler:Kharla'ggen gains PowersViaPossession by absorbing a demon god, suffers a PhlebotinumOverload, and ends up puppeteering the entire city minus the demons, non-elves, and the people she was told to kill]].
* ''Webcomic/AngelMoxie'': The N'Tune Boys concert.

** There ''are'' a handful of stories where a MadScientist unleashes a mass wave of mind takeovers that quickly devolve into hypno-orgies, but those stories still focus on only a small group - at most a family - being affected at a time.

-->'''Ice Cream Truck:''' "You like ice cream. You like ice cream. You love it. You cannot resist ice cream. To resist is hopeless. Your existence is meaningless without ice cream."//

* Every plan by ''WesternAnimation/{{Wordgirl}}'''s villain "Mr Big" is some variety of this.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In the two-part episode, "The Brave and The Bold", Gorilla Grodd controls the populace of Central City with his mind-control helmet so he launch a nuclear assault on Gorilla City.

** ''Like Father, Like Daughter?: Ming uses the Mind Neutraliser to turn the inhabitants of Grand Junction into mindless zombies programmed to stop the Defenders. Rick, LJ and Kshin, captured by Ming's troops, are also affected, but Mandrake uses his own hypnotic powers to knock them out and later tricks the human scientist helping Ming into handing over the plans for the Mind Neutraliser, enabling the Defenders to reverse the boys' conditioning. When Ming tries to use the Mind Neutraliser on a global scale, the Defenders reverse the polarity so that Ming only succeeds in curing the people who have already been exposed to the Neutraliser.
** ''Ming's Household Helpers'': Ming manufactures seemingly benign robots which are programmed to do household work. However, they're also programmed to hypnotise their owners into doing Ming's bidding when they receive a particular signal from one of Ming's satellites. The Defenders find out about Ming's scheme after Rick buys one of the robots and, after Flash is captured while trying to knock out the satellite, Mandrake, the Phantom and Lothar head to Ice Station Earth to rescue him and shut down Ming's robot factory; in the meantime, the younger Defenders work on jamming the signal from the satellite.

* Happened to a mall in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10''.

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' Fate's group, Cosmo Entelachia, plan this by [[spoiler:nullifying the magic keeping the Magic World intact and placing everyone into a [[LotusEaterMachine weird pocket dimension where the people can individually live in their own personal dreams and hopes where everything is sunshine and gumdrops.]] All under the excuse that it's to [[WellIntentionedExtremist save the populace of the Magic World from dying]] when it collapses from a lack of mana keeping the world stabilized on Mars.]]

* Creator/MarvelComics had the Ringmaster, whose hat contains a spiral thing that people have to look at for it to work. He brainwashes his audiences all at once. Of course, if you happen to be a [[Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} blind superhero]]...
* Comicbook/{{Gen13}} had a villain named Cull who brainwashed to... well, not much. While he did get Our Heroes to live lives remarkably different than was normal.

* In ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}'', this is the true goal behind the creation of the imprinting technology. The BigBad intends to use it to "imprint" the ''entire world''.

* ''[[VideoGame/TearsToTiara2 Tears to Tiara 2]]'': The villagers of the unnamed village are under one by [[KnightTemplar the priest]] who's actually a GiantSpider.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'', Miss Amron, the {{Legend6}}, uses a TV signal to hypnotize a town.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Invader Zim}}'' jokes with this sometimes:

* Happened to a mall in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Garfield and Friends}}'', "The Beast From Beyond", a Tyrannosaurus Rex gets his own TV show that hypnotizes people.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]