History Main / NuclearMutant

* Being inspired in part by 1950s sci-fi and taking place after a nuclear war, the ''{{Fallout}}'' series has a bunch of these. Mutated animals include roaches, mantises, scorpions, flies, ants, geckos, rats, bears, cows and [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Tarantula Hawk Wasps]].

* ''{{Them}}!'' is probably one of the most well known movies featuring this trope.
* {{Godzilla}} may well be the mascot for this trope.

* ''TheIncredibleMeltingMan'', with an incredibly disgusting appearance done by RickBaker himself, who gets stronger as he melts ([[FridgeLogic How that works I have no idea]]).
** The movie started off as a parody, but the distributors wanted it to be a serious horror film and excorcised all of the comedy from the final cut.

* Don't forget Tromie, the giant, mutant radioactive squirrel from the not-quite-serious ''ClassOfNukeEmHigh'' series by {{Troma}}.

* {{CHUD}} had homeless people in New York's sewers turned into mutant cannibals by illegally dumped radioactive waste.

* All over the place in GammaWorld, though modern versions use {{Nanomachines}} and MagicalParticleAccelerator as an explanation. Some of these include giant insects, the many-legged [[HorseOfADifferentColor Centisteed]], the multi-armed SnakePeople called the Menarls, the ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin cactus horse, the humanoid metal-to-rubber-making bunny rabbits called Hoops and [[OurMonstersAreWeird The Yexil]].

* Being inspired in part by 1950s sci-fi and taking place after a nuclear war, the {{Fallout}} series has a bunch of these. Mutated animals include roaches, mantises, scorpions, flies, ants, geckos, rats, bears, cows and [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Tarantula Hawk Wasps]].

* Bert I. Gordon loved this, whether it's the giant grasshoppers from ''TheBeginningOfTheEnd, TheAmazingColossalMan'', the horrible cyclopic giant from ''TheCyclops'', or the giant ants who mind control people by farting pheromones on them from ''EmpireOfTheAnts''.

* ''PrometheanTheCreated'' has the Zeka, nuclear Prometheans who have the ultimate in BlessedWithSuck. Not only do they suffer [[HatePlague Disquiet]], they spread ''fallout'' wherever they go, meaning they can rarely interact with humans and undertake [[BecomeARealBoy the Pilgrimage]]. As a result, most of them go [[TheDarkSide Centimanus]], and hoo ''boy'', do they go Centimanus. Two NPC examples are Oleg Wormwood (an Eastern European arms dealer who longs to get his hands on a suitcase nuke and start some ''real'' fun) and Tsar Bomba (a hulking brute who seems content to just barge into nuclear power plants, subject the staff to a slow death, and bask in the radiation as the place starts to go critical). And that's not even starting on the [[CameBackWrong Carcinomas]]...

* The mutated algae in ''TheHorrorOfPartyBeach'' possess human corpses, which, for some reason, tended to look in practice like a muppet of the CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon with a mouth full of hot dogs.

* Don't forget Tromie, the giant, mutant radioactive squirrel from the not-quite-serious ClassOfNukeEmHigh series by {{Troma}}.

* There has been investigation into whether nuclear accidents like the Chernobyl disaster have mutated animals over generations. [[AvertedTrope It didn't.]]

* ''{{Paranoia}}'' had at least one mutated monster: giant intelligent cockroaches in the adventure "Into the Outdoors with Gun and Camera".

* The mutated algae in ''TheHorrorOfPartyBeach'' possess human corpses, which, for some reason, tended to look in practice like a muppet of TheCreatureFromTheBlackLagoon with a mouth full of hot dogs.

* The B-movie ''FromHellItCame'' featured a tree-man named Tabonga.[[http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article57.htm Head Injury Theater article here]].
* Don't forget Tromie, the giant, mutant radioactive squirrel from the not-quite-serious ClassOfNukeEmHigh series by Troma

* All over the place in GammaWorld, though modern versions use {{Nanomachines}} and MagicalParticleAccelerator as an explanation. Some of these include giant insects, the many-legged [[AHorseOfADifferentColor Centisteed]], the multi-armed SnakePeople called the Menarls, the ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin cactus horse, the humanoid metal-to-rubber-making bunny rabbits called Hoops and [[OurMonstersAreWeird The Yexil]].

* {{Them}}! is probably one of the most well known movies featuring this trope.

* The mutated algae in TheHorrorOfPartyBeach possess human corpses, which, for some reason, tended to look in practice like a muppet of TheCreatureFromTheBlackLagoon with a mouth full of hot dogs.
* Bert I. Gordon loved this, whether it's the giant grasshoppers from TheBeginningOfTheEnd, TheAmazingColossalMan, the horrible cyclopic giant from TheCyclops, or the giant ants who mind control people by farting pheromones on them from EmpireOfTheAnts.
* RogerCorman also had quite a few of them, like The Beast who Brings Death With Its Touch from TeenageCaveman, the three-eyed; horned; big-nosed mutant from TheDayTheWorldEnded, the giant leeches from AttackOfTheGiantLeeches, and the titular creatures from ''AttackOfTheCrabMonsters''.
* The IncredibleMeltingMan, with an incredibly disgusting appearance done by RickBaker himself, who gets stronger as he melts (How that works I have no idea).

* TheXFiles: Fluke man!

* {{Monsterpocalypse}} has those cosy radioactive giant insects that eat you, instead of making you a super hero.

* The SoBadItsHorrible movie FromHellItCame featured a tree-man named Tabonga.[[http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article57.htm Head Injury Theater article here]].

* {{Godzilla}} in the [[AdaptationDecay Adaptation Decayed]] 1998 remake.
** And the original.

[[AC:{{LiveActionTV}}]]

* {{Them}} is probably one of the most well known movies featuring this trope.

* {{Godzilla} in the [[AdaptationDecay Adaptation Decayed]] 1998 remake.

A sub-trope of ILoveNuclearPower, NuclearNasty is a sort of monster (usually the MonsterOfTheWeek) is created when science fiction writers think that radioactive mutation equals horrible monster instead of cancer. Very common in 1950s monster movies, as well as works tryign to be throwbacks to that era for [[PhlebotinumDuJour obvious reasons]]

There are usually two types of NuclearNasty. One is the monster created by radioactive mutation, as a result of the writers [[YouFailBiologyForever failing biology forever]] when it comes to how mutation works. The second category involves creatures merely awakened by bomb tests, as a side effect.

* There were quite a few radiation created monsters for Marvels early monster comic, including a [[http://monsterblog.oneroom.org/meet_the_monsters/the_weed.html fairly adorable weed with mind-control powers]] and a [[CriticalResearchFailure ''scarecrow'']] of all things [[http://monsterblog.oneroom.org/meet_the_monsters/the_scarecrow.html made giant and mobile by nuclear radiation.]]

* One of the most famous examples are the giant ants from {{Them}}
* There is the nuclear-mutated algae possessing corpses in TheHorrorOfPartyBeach, which tended to look in practice like a muppet of TheCreatureFromTheBlackLagoon with a mouth fulla hot dogs.
* Bert I. Gordon loved this, whether it's the giant grasshoppers from TheBeginningOfTheEnd, TheAmazingColossalMan, the horrible cyclopic giant from TheCyclops, and the giant ants who mind control people by farting pheromones on them from EmpireOfTheAnts
* RogerCorman also had quite a few of them, like The Beast who Brings Death With Its Touch from TeenageCaveman, the three-eyed; horned; big-nosed mutant from TheDayTheWorldEnded, the giant leeches from AttackOfTheGiantLeeches, the titular creatures from ''AttackOfTheCrabMonsters''.
* There is the IncredibleMeltingMan, with an incredibly disgusting appearance done by RickBaker himself, who gets stronger as he melts (How that works I have no idea)
** Fun fact, the movie started off as a parody, but the distributors wanted it to be a serious horror film and excorcised all of the comedy from the final cut.
* Several examples of type two can be found in several creature features including the Rhedosaurus from the BeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms, the Octopus from ItCameFromBeneathTheSea, both brought to life by the great RayHarryhausen
** There is also the GiantBehemoth, a sauropod with Godzilla-like radiation breath by the late, great Willis O'Brien.
* There is also the tree-man Tabonga from FromHellItCame, a truly terrible movie. [[http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article57.htm Head Injury Theater article here]]

* And we can't forget the classic nuclear nasty {{Godzilla}}! It actually took the radiation angle farther than most of the others in the original film, using Godzilla as a metaphor for the devastation the bomb could wreak.
** A lot of {{Kaiju}} act as Nuclear nasties in popular imagination, but only a few really fit the bill. Aside from Godzilla, there's ''{{Gamera}}'', the Kamakuras and Mothra (who is also a goddess, but lives on an island full of nuclear fall out and giant atomic mutants). That's pretty much it.
* ''Last Days of Planet Earth'' a.k.a. ''Prophecies of Nostradamus'' features a few creatures mutated by radiation in New Guinea. Carnivorous Trees, poisonous leeches, flesh eating flying foxes (big ol' bats), and cancer-ridden human cannibles. That last one got it [[BannedInChina banned in Japan]]--where it was made.

* All over the place in GammaWorld, though modern versions use {{Nanomachines}} and MagicalParticleAccelerator as an explaination. Some of these include giant insects, the many-legged [[AHorseOfADifferentColor Centisteed]], the multi-armed SnakePeople called the Menarls, the self-explanitory cactus horse, the humanoid metal-to-rubber-making bunny rabbits called Hoops and [[OurMonstersAreWeird The Yexil]].

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A sub-trope of ILoveNuclearPower, NuclearNasty is a sort of monster (usually the MonsterOfTheWeek) is created when science fiction writers think that radioactive mutation equals horrible monster instead of cancer. Very common in 1950s monster movies, as well as works tryign to be throwbacks to that era for [[PhlebotniumDuJour obvious reasons]]

A sub-trope of ILoveNuclearPower, NuclearNasty is a sort of monster (usually the MonsterOfTheWeek) is created when science fiction writers think that radioactive mutation equals horrible monster instead of cancer. Very common in 1950s monster movies, as well as works tryign to be throwbacks to that era for [[PlebotniumDuJour obvious reasons]]

* RogerCorman also had quite a few of them, like The Beast who Brings Death With Its Touch from TeenageCaveman, the three-eyed; horned; big-nosed mutant from TheDayTheWorldEnded, the giant leeches from AttackOfTheGiantLeeches