History Main / MobySchtick

* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Zuko is a scarred, weathered {{Determinator}} sailing the seas in endless pursuit of one powerful foe -- namely, Avatar Aang, the Moby Dick to Zuko's Ahab. Zuko's CharacterArc, though, diverges from the typical Moby Schtick in several important ways. First, Aang is an innocent twelve-year-old boy, not an AnimalNemesis. Second, unlike Moby Dick (whom only Ahab views as a god to be defeated), Aang actually ''is'' a GodInHumanForm. Third, Zuko doesn't have a personal grudge against Aang -- he was sent on this chase to "restore his honor," and if he'd been told to hunt down the leader of the Northern Water Tribe or the Kyoshi Warriors or something, he'd be hell-bent on doing that instead. And finally, the Moby Schtick kind of ends by the second season, when Zuko moves his hunt to dry land. Eventually, during the third season, Zuko even [[spoiler:abandons the chase to make amends with Aang]].

* From the pages of Marvel's Epic Illustrated Magazine comes "Abraxas and the Earthman" which is Moby Dick [[RecycledInSpace in space]] with added MindScrew.
* ''ComicBook/BlackLightning'''s archenemy, Tobias Whale, is a four-hundred-pound albino who wears a Moby Dick-inspired ring, favours a harpoon as his [[WeaponSpecialization weapon of choice]], and is nicknamed "The Great White Whale" by his enemies and allies alike.
* ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': Main character Fone Bone's favorite book is Moby-Dick, and his first dream in the Valley casts him as Ishmael, Phoney Bone as Captain Ahab, and Smiley Bone as Moby. [[spoiler:It happens again when they pass through the hallucination-inducing Rat Temple.]]
* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': The Italian Disney comics did [[https://www.cinquecosebelle.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/topolino3003.jpg their own version of Moby Dick]] with Scrooge [=McDuck=] as Captain Ahab.

* ''Fanfic/TarkinsFist'': While not explicitly mentioned, parrallels exist between Loi Cas's obsessive desire to "take the head of a dragon" (ie, destroy an AT-AT walker) and Ahab's obsession with the white whale. The AT-AT, like the white whale, comes to personify everything that Loi Cas hates. [[spoiler: Like Ahab, Loi Cas is killed in his pursuit of vengeance. Unlike Ahab, he takes his target with him.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSeaBeast'': Captain Crow starts out as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but over the course of the movie he becomes more and more obsessed with getting revenge against the Red Bluster who took his eye, to the point of threatening his crew, his ship, [[spoiler: and even attempting to kill Maisie when she cuts it loose to prevent the ship from sinking. Eventually he gets better and gives up on his revenge]].

** Played with in Azog, a giant albino orc who lost his hand in battle with Thorin. He ''looks'' like Moby Dick in his size and albinism, yet shares Ahab's obsessive grudge for the dwarf who maimed him, effectively fusing both facets of this trope in a single character. Borne out by events of the third film, in which [[spoiler: Thorin and Azog battle on a frozen lake, each mortally wounding the other. Azog even falls through the ice, lurking under the surface to arise like Moby Dick, and their final clash embodies Ahab's parting "from Hell's heart, I stab at thee" lines magnificently]].

* Though the main plot is more based on ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' has this trope as the character arc of Colonel Packard, who develops an Ahab-like obsession with vanquishing Kong [[spoiler: after the giant ape kills seven men in Packard's platoon during their initial foray into the island]].
* ''Film/TheLastDinosaur'': a grizzled, hard-living, hard-loving oil tycoon hunts the last UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex.

** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' wears the influence on its sleeve, to the point of having Khan directly quote Captain Ahab: "from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!" The ''Enterprise'' itself is pale in color compared to vengeance-obsessed Khan's ''Reliant'', and the scene of starships stalking one another through a nebula is reminiscent of the novel's scenes of Moby Dick lurking beneath the ''Pequod'' to ambush its longboats and wreck it.

** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', is largely a AlternateHistory revision of ''Wrath of Khan's'' plot, but in a reversal of the original film's plot, this time it is ''Khan'' who is the whale, with revenge-blinded Kirk putting ''Enterprise'' and the Federation in danger as he seeks to find Khan and punish him for [[spoiler: Christopher Pike's death]]. In the film's climax, he also becomes ''Spock's'' whale, after his actions result in [[spoiler: James Kirk's death.]]

* ''Film/WhiteSpace'' is blatantly ''Moby Dick'' [-IN SPACE-]. Plot: a space captain hunts down a giant not-a-whale that killed his father. There is a small plaque of a white sperm whale above his desk. ''Moby-Dick'' was inspired by a real life ship called the ''Essex''. Our man's ship is the ''Essex''. One of Captain Ahab's crew is called Stubb, one of the ''Essex''[='s=] crew is called Stubbs. You can probably guess how many people survive.

* In ''The Bedford Incident'' an American captain becomes obsessed with confronting a Soviet sub in American waters [[spoiler: leading to mutual destruction]]. In the novel the sub is nicknamed "Moby Dick". When it was [[Film/TheBedfordIncident made into a movie]] the name was changed.

* ''Radio/BleakExpectations'' parodies it with Captain Ahab Grimpunch, who has sworn vengeance on Moby ''Delicious'', a sea bass he blames for the loss of his arm. As it turns out, Moby isn't even responsible - he and crew-mates were once sunk (in a parody of Quinn from ''Film/{{Jaws}}''), and while they were stuck in the water, one of his crew mistook Ahab's arm for a sea bass and ate it. Eventually, Ahab's obsession with revenge (and lunch) gets him killed.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'' did a WholePlotReference to ''Literature/MobyDick'' at one point. The Transformer in question, a fellow named Longtooth, was on a quest for the missing Matrix which had taken him and his team to an ocean planet, where a large cybernetic whale, the last of its kind, bit his leg off, and then he went kind of mad and tried hunting it down. [[spoiler:He finally incapacitated the beast but was talked out of finishing it off by his teammate.]]
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'':
** In a couple of story arcs, the Hulk encounters a space-faring ship with an Ahab-like character, Captain Cybor, hunting a beast named Klaatu with electro-harpoons. At some point in the past, an encounter with Klaatu burned away the entirety of Cybor's right side, which was replaced with [[StevenUlyssesPerhero cyborg parts]]. In his first seen encounter, Cybor is dragged into a sun by Klaatu, burning away his human half. When we see him again, he has had himself welded to the prow of the ship, acting as a LivingFigurehead (if you can call that living). During both appearances, they shanghai the Hulk to pull the "oars" on the ship.
** This is the relationship between Hulk and General Ross in a nutshell.

* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': Early on, Lightning Lad had his arm destroyed by an ill-timed attack on a SpaceWhale, and became obsessed with revenge upon it. He got better.
* In one issue of the ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' comic, one ingredient for the Brain's world-domination formula can only be found on the teeth of whales. Brain hears about a tiny white whale called Moby Dinky and decides to study it to build a ship based on it, thinking that other whales won't mind a smaller one approaching them. [[spoiler:It turns out that Dinky is actually a submarine built by Brain's rival Snowball, for exactly the same reasons.]]
* ''ComicBook/GodzillaTheHalfCenturyWar'' revolves around the story of a soldier's 50-year grudge with the King of the Monsters.

* ''ComicBook/BlackLightning'''s archenemy, Tobias Whale, is a four-hundred-pound albino who wears a Moby Dick-inspired ring, favours a harpoon as his [[WeaponSpecialization weapon of choice]], and is nicknamed "The Great White Whale" by his enemies and allies alike.
* One French comic updates the story to space, replacing whaling with AsteroidMiners, the GiantSquid with a white star, Fedallah with genetically modified superhumans, and the final harpoon with a ten-megaton nuclear warhead. The whale itself is a possibly sentient comet.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel:'' An issue of The Matrix Quest has the Autobot Longtooth get his leg bitten off by a Klud, an alien whale. He naturally becomes obsessed with hunting it down for vengeance.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', Fergus has an intense grudge against bears, hunting them relentlessly, because he lost a leg to Mor'du: an enormous bear covered in broken-off AnnoyingArrows and battle scars.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' wears the influence on its sleeve, to the point of having Khan directly quote Captain Ahab: "from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!" The ''Enterprise'' itself is pale in color compared to vengeance-obsessed Khan's ''Reliant'', and the scene of starships stalking one another through a nebula is reminiscent of the novel's scenes of Moby Dick lurking beneath the ''Pequod'' to ambush its longboats and wreck it.
** ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' was also partly inspired by ''Moby-Dick'', with Picard as the obsessive Ahab-esque captain and the Borg as the white whale. It's even lampshaded by Lily, who then admits she'd never read the book herself, which suggests she learned about it from either a [[PopculturalOsmosis movie adaptation or this trope]].
--->'''Lily:''' I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your little quest. [[RevengeBeforeReason Captain Ahab has to go hunt his whale!]][[note]]Made HilariousInHindsight by Creator/PatrickStewart's subsequent turn as Ahab in a TV-movie.[[/note]]
** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', is largely a AlternateHistory revision of ''Wrath of Khan's'' plot, but in a reversal of the original film's plot, this time it is ''Khan'' who is the whale, with revenge-blinded Kirk putting ''Enterprise'' and the Federation in danger as he seeks to find Khan and punish him for [[spoiler: Christopher Pike's death]]. In the film's climax, he also becomes ''Spock's'' whale, after his actions result in [[spoiler: James Kirk's death.]]
* The influence of ''Moby-Dick'' on ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' is evident, particularly in the character of Quint, whose dogged, fanatical pursuit of the great white shark has many similarities with Captain Ahab's hunt of the great white whale.
* El Blanco, the albino Graboid from the third ''Film/{{Tremors}}'' film and TV series, is something of a Moby Dick Expy, with Burt Gummer as a hunter-nemesis turned WorthyOpponent.

* Manon, the groundskeeper from ''Film/TheAlligatorPeople'', lost his left hand to an alligator attack, and bears a festering grudge against ''all'' such reptiles, not just the one that bit him.
* ''Film/TheLastDinosaur'': a grizzled, hard-living, hard-loving oil tycoon hunts the last UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex.
* ''Film/WhiteTiger'' is about a WWII Soviet tank driver who becomes obsessed with destroying a mysterious white Tiger tank after he is severely burned in a battle against it.
* In the 2011 horror film ''Creature'', the account of "Lockjaw"'s origin features a bayou-born man seeking revenge upon the huge white alligator that killed his pregnant bride and dragged her away into the swamp.

* ''Film/WhiteSpace'' is blatantly ''Moby Dick'' [-IN SPACE-]. Plot: a space captain hunts down a giant not-a-whale that killed his father. There is a small plaque of a white sperm whale above his desk. ''Moby-Dick'' was inspired by a real life ship called the ''Essex''. Our man's ship is the ''Essex''. One of Captain Ahab's crew is called Stubb, one of the ''Essex''[='s=] crew is called Stubbs. You can probably guess how many people survive.

* Creator/ChinaMieville's ''Literature/{{Railsea}}'' deliberately incorporates elements of ''Moby-Dick'', but ON LAND... WITH TRAINS... IN THE FAR FUTURE... WITH MOLE MONSTERS! Specifically, about one-third of the plot concerns Captain [[SignificantAnagram Abacat Naphi]]’s hunt for the gigantic white (pale yellow) mole, Mocker-Jack, that bit off her arm at the elbow (since replaced with a cybernetic limb). Exaggerated by the setting, though: where Naphi comes from, every respectable moler captain is expected to have an animal nemesis that’s maimed them once and which they consider a symbol of something greater. In Naphi’s case, Mocker-Jack literally means everything to her, [[spoiler:and her arm is unharmed — the “prosthetic” is just a high-tech gauntlet. She only pretends to have lost it so that others will respect her obsession.]]
* ''Literature/{{Jaws}}'': Okay it's a great white ''shark'', not whale, but the weird old captain gets more and more crazy about killing it, even at the cost of his own life. He even dies the same way as Ahab, by getting snared on a rope attached to a harpoon that the shark had been stuck with and drowning, in contrast to the movie where he got eaten by it.
* In ''The Bedford Incident'' an American captain becomes obsessed with confronting a Soviet sub in American waters [[spoiler: leading to mutual destruction]]. In the novel the sub is nicknamed "Moby Dick". When it was [[Film/TheBedfordIncident made into a movie]] the name was changed.
* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' plays almost like a sequel to ''Moby-Dick'' in its opening chapters, with narrator Professor Aronnax making reference to Melville's novel and theorizing that the devastating sea attacks are being committed by a giant narwhal. Verne subverts this, of course, when what looks like a narwhal is revealed to be the ''Nautilus'', not hunted by an obsessive seaman but piloted by one.

* On ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', [=DiNozzo=] makes the ''Moby-Dick'' reference when Gibbs starts obsessing over his hunt for Ari Haswari.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Eridan's proper introduction begins with him harpooning down a giant flying white whale lusus. Additionally, he uses his signature weapon, which is a harpoon-gun-shaped beam rifle called Ahab's Crosshairs.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'' used this trope for the episode "Ramlak Rising". Ahab-{{Homage}} Captain Koinelius Tunar, a [[{{Fishmen}} Fishman]] who sails the [[SandIsWater sand sea]], has sworn vengeance on the creature who destroyed his home and took his [[AnArmAndALeg eye and leg]]. His nemesis the Ramlak is a giant {{Planimal}}, a ManEatingPlant that's [[HybridMonster hybridized]] with the ambulatory capabilities of a GiantSquid. Like Captain Ahab, Tunar has degenerated into prizing RevengeBeforeReason and shares Ahab's fate almost exactly, while quoting his dialogue.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'' has the main characters help a [[SkyPirates sky pirate]] hunt down a giant flying whale for eating his ship. At the end of the episode, they successfully capture the whale, and it turns out that the ship said whale ate was a toy ship.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'' short "Dopey Dick the Pink Whale", Woody is press-ganged into helping a cowardly captain hunt down the whale that repeatedly tore his trousers.

* There is a character in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' who is obsessed with hunting down some sort of [[LandShark desert whale/shark]]. His quest is actually quite practical, as the belly of the sand shark is covered in precious jewels, but when he does catch it, he has no idea what he will do now, so he decides to cut the shark free and hunt it again.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'' episode "Leviathan", Stork turns into a Captain Ahab expy and becomes obsessed with hunting down the eponymous Leviathan after it swallows the ''Condor'' and Radarr.
* There's a ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short called "Dicky Moe" where Tom is on a ship trying to catch Jerry while the captain is trying to catch his white whale.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' has them doing a PlayedForLaughs reenactment of ''Moby-Dick'', with B.J. himself in the role of Ahab, eventually nearly being taken over by the character (in a quite literal sense). Notable as it contains many references to the actual book and some of the jokes only make sense if you've actually read it.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' episode "Moby Jerk" had Johnny win a cruise, only to board the wrong boat and get shanghaied into helping the mad Captain Spleen in his Ahab-like pursuit of a heckling mer-man.
* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Ocean Commotion" with an actual (though friendly) white whale as well as a captain named Ahab. But this Ahab is prone to change the subject of his obsession when something new comes along...
-->'''Cap'n Ahab:''' Arh, the great big... [[BuffySpeak crab-like thing]]... [[RunningGag I been searchin' all my life for...]]\\
'''[[OnlySaneMan Sailor]]:''' Excuse me? Cap'n, no you haven't.\\
'''Cap'n Ahab:''' ''[glares]'' Harpoon it anyway!
* The ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' episode "Space Moby" had a grizzled space captain who had dedicated his life to hunting the titular SpaceWhale... and a Greenpeace-like organisation dedicated to stopping him.
* ''WesternAnimation/BountyHamster''. In "Gone Fishin", a white SandWorm is pursued by mad cyborg Captain Rehab. It not only bit off his leg, [[CranialProcessingUnit but his head as well!]]
* There's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' where Binky takes up collecting butterflies (live ones he keeps in a tent) and ends up obsessed with a particular blue one that he can't catch. Several of the characters describe this as being "like Captain Ahab and Moby Dick!" When confronted, Binky responds that it can't be because [[ComicallyMissingthePoint "Moby Dick was a fish."]]
* In "Shelf Life" from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy has to start and finish his summer book report the day before school starts. He decides to animate ''Tom Sawyer'' to summarize his story, but Tom instead decides to steal a wand and escape into other books all the while vandalizing the books' stories. Eventually they wander into ''Moby-Dick'', but the title is changed to ''Moby-Duck''. The result is Captain Ahab [[CurbStompBattle effortlessly defeating his greatest enemy]], a giant, yellow, and floating rubber duckie.
* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Zuko is a scarred, weathered {{Determinator}} sailing the seas in endless pursuit of one powerful foe -- namely, Avatar Aang, the Moby Dick to Zuko's Ahab. Zuko's CharacterArc, though, diverges from the typical Moby Schtick in several important ways. First, Aang is an innocent twelve-year-old boy, not an AnimalNemesis. Second, unlike Moby Dick (whom only Ahab views as a god to be defeated), Aang actually ''is'' a GodInHumanForm. Third, Zuko doesn't have a personal grudge against Aang -- he was sent on this chase to "restore his honor," and if he'd been told to hunt down the leader of the Northern Water Tribe or the Kyoshi Warriors or something, he'd be hell-bent on doing that instead. And finally, the Moby Schtick kind of ends by the second season, when Zuko moves his hunt to dry land. Eventually, during the third season, Zuko even [[spoiler:abandons the chase to make amends with Aang]].
* An Al Brodax ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' has the Sea Hag getting Popeye to help destroy a white whale named Moby Hick that's anything but dangerous (the Sea Hag's motives are ulterior).
* Buttercup goes on an obsessive search for the legendary crawdad One Claw [=McCraw=] in the ''WesternAnimation/{{The Powerpuff Girls|2016}}'' episode "Clawdad".
* Creator/HannaBarbera had a peculiar take on ''WesternAnimation/MobyDickHannaBarbera'' in 1967, turning the beast into the heroic protector of two boys who were lost at sea in a raft.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts'' episode "Last Largest Lobster", the titular lobster wanders onto the reverse-set Miniaturizer and grows to the size of a house. Gourmand, driven into a lobster-craving lunacy by the sight, tries to tie up the huge lobster, but he only succeeds in lashing ''himself'' to it, death-of-Ahab-style. He has to be rescued, still ranting, by Chris before it can haul him away to drown.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Droners}}'' has character Wyatt Whale, whose character design (and PunnyName) evokes a white whale, and flies a white whale-shaped drone called Moby.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': One of the DLC trials involves hunting down a unique Molduga -- a species of giant, desert-dwelling sand whales -- known as the Molduking, which attacks by aggressively swimming towards anything in its territory and breaching (like all moldugas do), and which is distinguished by its extreme resilience, a number of lances and weapons stuck in its hide from previous attempts to kill it, and a white coloration as opposed to the usual dark brown.
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' features an old fisherman named Drachma who chases the [[AirWhale giant flying whale]] Rhaknam for [[spoiler:killing his son decades ago. He eventually forgives the whale after it saves his life and suffers a fatal injury in the process, caring for it in its last days.]]
* In ''VideoGame/Portal2'', there's one test chamber where [=GLaDOS=] says she needs to leave, then stops herself and admits that this test requires some explanation. She says something fast and jumbled and tells Chell to remember it in slow motion. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S5jQikU3cI When you slow it down to listen]], you'll find that it's a quote from ''Moby-Dick'', possibly as a reference to how [=GLaDOS=] finds Chell so hard to kill.
* ''VideoGame/DoctorWhoWorldsInTime'': In the section set on [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow Starship UK]], there's a plot line involving an alien captain learning of the Star Whale and coming to hunt it; an early attempt causes him to lose a leg, which only makes him more determined.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' contains numerous ''Moby-Dick'' references as part of its larger theme of Big Boss' descent into RevengeBeforeReason. In particular, Big Boss uses the codename Ahab and is seeking vengeance over his missing arm, he's helped out after awakening from his coma by a man named Ishmael, and his two main support helicopters use the callsigns Pequod and Queequeg. Furthermore, one of the more surreal sequences of the game involves a flaming whale falling from the sky and swallowing an attack helicopter.

* ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'' has Torvald. Like Ahab, he lost his crew, his (space)ship, and part of his body to one particular member of a species of massive predators. Also like Ahab he had the missing parts replaced and sought out others who hunted the creatures in hopes of one day reuniting with his foe and slaying it. Unlike Ahab, he has not yet found his enemy. Someday perhaps.

-->'''Narrator:''' For many years, all the men who go down to the sea in ships—sailors, fishermen, garbage scout captains—have heard and repeated the story of the Legendary Wailing Whale, Maybe Dick. Maybe Dick was supposed to be big enough to swallow a whole ship—maybe. He could swim faster than any vessel in the sea—maybe. And he had been seen by sailors whose reputations for sobriety were beyond reproach—maybe.

-->''For many years all the men who go down to the sea in ships -- sailors, fishermen, garbage scow captains - have heard and repeated the story of the Legendary Wailing Whale, Maybe Dick. Maybe Dick was supposed to be big enough to swallow a whole ship -- maybe. He could swim faster than any vessel in the sea -- maybe. And he had been seen by sailors whose reputations for sobriety were beyond reproach -- maybe.''

* This was done in three episodes of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':

* InSpace with ''Ishmael'' by Australian theatre company Dead Puppet Society. Captain Ahab chases [[AsteroidMiner asteroids]] instead of {{Space Whale}}s, but one turns out to be a case of ThatsNoMoon

* There is a character in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' who is obsessed with hunting down some sort of desert whale/shark. His quest is actually quite practical, as the belly of the sand shark is covered in precious jewels, but when he does catch it, he has no idea what he will do now, so he decides to cut the shark free and hunt it again.

** "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E15MobiusDick Möbius Dick]]" gave this trope a SpaceWhale [[IncrediblyLamePun twist]]. It lampshades this trope, as the SpaceWhale Leela becomes obsessed with hunting [[spoiler:feeds on obsession, so it naturally [[GenreSavvy antagonizes ship captains]]. Leela eventually overwhelms the whale's will with a bigger obsession than revenge: finishing her delivery!]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' contains numerous ''Moby-Dick'' references as part of its larger theme of Big Boss' descent into RevengeBeforeReason.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': One of the DLC trials involves hunting down a unique molduga -- a species of giant, desert-dwelling sand whales -- known as the Molduking, which attacks by aggressively swimming towards anything in its territory and breaching (like all moldugas do), and which is distinguished by its extreme resilience, a number of lances and weapons stuck in its hide from previous attempts to kill it, and a white coloration as opposed to the usual dark brown.

--->'''Lily:''' I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your little quest. [[RevengeBeforeReason Captain Ahab has to go hunt his whale!]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Eridan's proper introduction begins with him harpooning down a giant flying white whale lusus. Additionally, he uses his signature weapon, which is a harpoon gun rifle called Ahab's Crosshairs.

* ''ComicBook/BlackLightning'''s archenemy, Tobias Whale, is a four-hundred-pound albino who wears a Moby Dick-inspired ring, favours a harpoon as his WeaponOfChoice, and is nicknamed "The Great White Whale" by his enemies and allies alike.

* ''Literature/{{Jaws}}'': Okay it's a great white ''shark'', not whale, but the weird old captain gets more and more crazy about killing it, even at the cost of his own life.

* InSpace with ''Ishmael'' by Australian theatre company Dead Puppet Society. Captain Ahab chases [[AsteroidMiner asteroids]] instead of {{Space Whale}}s, but one turns out to be a case of ThatsNoMoon.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSeaBeast'': Captain Crow starts out as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but over the course of the movie he becomes more and more obsessed with getting revenge against the Red Bluster to the point of threatening his crew, his ship, [[spoiler: and even attempting to kill Maisie when she cuts it loose to prevent the ship from sinking. Eventually he gets better and gives up on his revenge]].

As [[AtlantisIsBoring not many works utilize a maritime setting]], this trope is often RecycledInSpace.[[note]]In which case, they may be hunting a SpaceWhale.[[/note]] Or [[SandIsWater deserts]].[[note]]Where they'll be hunting a LandShark or possibly a SandWorm.[[/note]] Or [[TheCatfish freshwater]]. Or [[FlyingSeafoodSpecial the sky]]. Subverting the original ending so that both antagonists survive, with the pursuer [[WorthyOpponent coming to respect the pursued]], is likewise common.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'': The comic did a WholePlotReference to ''Literature/MobyDick'' at one point. The Transformer in question, a fellow named Longtooth, was on a quest for the missing Matrix which had taken him and his team to an ocean planet, where a large cybernetic whale, the last of its kind, bit his leg off, and then he went kind of mad and tried hunting it down. [[spoiler:He finally incapacitated the beast but was talked out of finishing it off by his teammate.]]
* ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'':
** In a couple of story arcs, the Hulk encounters a space-faring ship with an Ahab-like character, Captain Cybor, hunting a beast called Klaatu with electro-harpoons. At some point in the past, an encounter with Klaatu burned away the entirety of Cybor's right side, which was replaced with [[StevenUlyssesPerhero cyborg parts]]. In his first seen encounter, Cybor is dragged into a sun by Klaatu, burning away his human half. When we see him again he has had himself welded to the prow of the ship, acting as a living figurehead (if you can call that living). During both appearances they shanghai the Hulk to pull the "oars" on the ship.

* In one issue of the ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' comic, one ingredient for the Brain's world-domination formula can only be found on the teeth of whales. Brain hears about a tiny white whale called Moby Dinky and decides to study it to build a ship based on it, thinking that other whales won't mind a smaller one approaching them. [[spoiler: It turns out Dinky is actually a submarine built by Brain's rival Snowball, for exactly the same reasons.]]
* The Creator/IDWPublishing ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' mini-series ''ComicBook/GodzillaTheHalfCenturyWar'' revolves around the story of a soldier's 50-year grudge with the King of the Monsters.
* ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': Main character Fone Bone's favorite book is Moby-Dick, and his first dream in the Valley casts him as Ishmael, Phoney Bone as Captain Ahab, and Smiley Bone as Moby. [[spoiler: It happens again when they past through the hallucination-inducing Rat Temple.]]

* ''ComicBook/BlackLightning'''s archenemy, Tobias Whale, is a four hundred pound albino who wears a Moby Dick inspired ring, favours a harpoon as his WeaponOfChoice, and is nicknamed "The Great White Whale" by his enemies and allies alike.
* One French comic updates the story to space, replacing whaling with AsteroidMiners, the GiantSquid with a white star, Fedallah with genetically-modified superhumans, and the final harpoon with a ten-megaton nuclear warhead. The whale itself is a possibly sentient comet.

* The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E14Bliss Bliss]]" has an alien humanoid with a SeadogBeard in constant battle with a MasterOfIllusion bioelectric lifeform, that even when he and ''Voyager'' escape from it goes back for one more try to destroy it. The Doctor even likens the alien to being Captain Ahab.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSeaBeast'': Captain Crow starts out as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but over the course of the movie he becomes more and more obsessed with getting revenge against the Red Bluster to the point of threatening his crew, his ship, [[spoiler: and even attempting to kill Maisie when she cuts it loose to prevent the ship from sinking]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSeaBeast'': Captain Crow starts out as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but over the course of the movie he becomes more and more obsessed with getting revenge against the Red Grumble to the point of threatening his crew, his ship, [[spoiler: and even attempting to kill Mazie when she cuts it loose to prevent the ship from sinking]].