History Main / PlayingWIthSyringes

* A rare voluntary example in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', this is eventually revealed to be Yubel's origin. When Jaden's preincarnation was deemed to require a guardian who could protect him until he could realise his destiny, his best friend Yubel willingly underwent horrific surgery to attain their monstrous current form. We don't see much, but it's heavily implied to have involved getting all their skin peeled off and replaced with a dragon's hide, ''[[SkipTheAnaesthetic unanaesthetised]].''

* A rare voluntary example in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', this is eventually revealed to be Yubel's origin. When Jaden's preincarnation was deemed to require a guardian who could protect him until he could realise his destiny, his best friend Yubel willingly underwent horrific surgery to attain their powerful current form. We don't see much, but it's heavily implied to have involved getting all their skin peeled off and replaced with a dragon's hide, ''[[SkipTheAnaesthetic unanaesthetised]].''

* In ''WebAnimation/DingoDoodles'' the [[AbusivePrecursors Foreclaimers]] were completely obsessed with achieving perfection and lacked any form of empathy to limit their experiments. A depiction of their history shows a long string of experiments conducted on their own people, including at least one vivisection. Their research eventually culminated in the creation of the [[UltimateLifeForm artificial god Xanu]], who they proceeded to thoroughly "test" for many years until he slaughtered them as revenge.

* What The Organisation does in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' Evolution to induce the superpowers in the students. The SuperSerum is a success, although the powers created have varying values of 'super'.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[NebulousEvilOrganization Cauldron]] abducts people against their will to test their {{Super Serum}}s, which have a high chance of turning the subject into a monster or killing them outright.

* A rare voluntary example in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', this is eventually revealed to be Yubel's origin. When Jaden's preincarnation was deemed to require a guardian who could protect him until he could realise his destiny, his best friend Yubel willingly underwent horrific surgery to attain their powerful current form. We don't see much, but it's heavily implied to have involved getting all their skin peeled off and replaced with a dragon's hide ''[[SkipTheAnaesthetic unanaesthetised]].''

* As a game set in a ''very'' militaristic-driven, {{dystopia}}n CrapsackWorld, ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'' has quite a bit of this. Mainly in regards to the [[MechaMooks Elektrosoldats]] army [[spoiler:made of clones of the local SmugSnake Adler]], but also regarding [[spoiler:[[CloningBlues clones]] of the BigBad Murakumo that he sent to dominate different groups like the Japanese Army and TheTriadsAndTheTongs]], the creation of [[spoiler:the Blitztanks, [[WasOnceAMan which were once human]]]], ''and'' [[spoiler:Akatsuki's past, in which he's all but stated to have gotten his ShockAndAwe powers and his capacity to survive being a HumanPopsicle for 50 years from experimentation related to the MacGuffin of the game, the Blitz Engine]].

A MadScientist, MadDoctor, or EvilutionaryBiologist, possibly supported by TheSyndicate and/or TheGovernment, will run a series of classified experiments to create something -- often [[ForScience without regard to the well-being]] of the [[TestedOnHumans often-living test subjects]], and the words "moral", "ethical", or "safe" [[ScaleOfScientificSins will not be in the head scientist's vocabulary]]. These experiments are often done to {{Disposable Vagrant}}s and {{Condemned Contestant}}s who are StrappedToAnOperatingTable, but occasionally you'll see a ProfessorGuineaPig who uses himself and/or [[GuineaPigFamily his family]] as the test subject(s).

{{Super Soldier}}s and {{Super Serum}}s are usually the goal of these experiments, but MixAndMatchCritters, {{Bioweapon Beast}}s, {{Custom Built Host}}s, {{Genetic Abomination}}s, {{Phlebotinum Rebel}}s, {{Psycho Serum}}s, and {{Secret Project Refugee Famil|y}}ies are often the result. They often become {{Disposable Superhero Maker}}s with NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup and have a great risk of WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity or PowerDegeneration. Expect a plot to spring up with one of these victims having EscapedFromTheLab.

* In ''Manga/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'', the Zaibach Empire kidnapped a sweet little girl named Celina and did various {{Magitek}} experiments on her, transforming her into [[spoiler:Dilandau]], a BloodKnight super-soldier. She is not the first or only person to be experimented on in this way. In the OVA, [[spoiler:Dilandau]] is not a kidnapped little girl, but still underwent horrific experiments, that caused [[spoiler:him]] to be AfraidOfDoctors.

* Prometheus Black from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' was initially using "biological" modifications on test subjects to compete with Sumdac System's robotics empire. After [[BodyHorror he starts secreting Cybertonian-dissolving acid]] and starts calling himself Meltdown, he becomes obsessed with creating "an organic transformer," which led him to turn [[AcceptableTargets his lawyer]] [[AllThereInTheManual and stock broker]] into misshapen beasts. [[SarcasmMode Rather pleasant fellow.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', this is revealed to be the origin of [[spoiler:the turtles themselves. [[BigBad Baron Draxum]] originally created them using a combination of MutagenicGoo and [[MixAndMatchMan Lou Jitsu's DNA]] to make them into SuperSoldier{{s}}. Lou Jitsu himself [[PapaWolf vehemently disagreed with that idea]], setting the lab on fire and [[EscapedFromTheLab fleeing with the turtles in tow]] (and later [[CanonCharacterAllAlong mutating into a rat]]). Draxum presumed the turtles dead for thirteen years; their crossing paths again kicks off the plot.]]

* The bad guys of ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' ''rocket'' past the MoralEventHorizon when they attempt to create new pilots for [[HumongousMecha Type TheEND]]. As in, young war-orphaned girls strapped to tables [[EyeScream with their eyes held open with small hooks]], convulsing as insanity-causing chemicals are injected into their necks before their hearts give out, while the head scientist apologizes for the delay. Additionally they've all been given cosmetic surgery to make them look exactly like [[spoiler:Eureka]], apparently for no reason other than they suspect [=TheEND=] might actually reject a successfully drugged pilot if she looks different. [[spoiler: The SoleSurvivor of said experiments was... [[DaddyslittleVillain A]][[CuteAndPsycho ne]][[TsunDere mone]]. It certainly explains a LOT about her.]]

* ''ComicBook/DesolationJones'' is about an ex spy who, after being fired for constant drunkenness, "volunteered" to have this done to him. He emerges from it a hallucinating, insomniac, sociopathic albino with a completely withered body.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Strader Pharmaceuticals was unable to get FDA approval for human tests in their attempt to create a super soldier serum, so they just started testing it on the downtrodden of Gotham whom they didn't expect anyone to miss. When their experiments started getting attention anyway they shut down the experiment by killing everyone who might implicate them.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': The Weapon-X project, run by ''Canada'' of all nations, in the quest to create the perfect biological weapon. We all know how warmongering those damn Canadians are. Horrible, inhumane experiments were performed on minority members ranging from African-Americans to mutants. It's most likely that the writers wanted an "evil {{government conspiracy}}" backstory for ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, but they already had Canada locked in as the country. Although the backstory originally had it as a joint U.S.-Canada project. Writers since then haven't done their research and/or slapped on their own patchwork of {{retcon}}s to fit whatever story they wanted to tell. Probably inspired by the RealLife atrocities committed against native peoples and the mentally ill in Alberta during the mid-20th century, but then, Alberta's always been kind of an odd duck compared with the other provinces. Another possible inspiration: the only semi-intelligent work done on project MK-ULTRA (as far as we know -- the CIA attempted to destroy the paper trail, but that didn't work very well) was done by a Canadian citizen in Canada with the tacit cooperation of the Canadian government. This in fact ''did'' involve strapping people to an operating table and playing with syringes (mostly filled with LSD), while a speaker under the bed spoke slogans in a loop. Possible truth in television? People confirmed to have been experimented on this way include Theodore Kaczynski the Unabomber, Henery Murray, James "Whitey" Bulger, and others. David Icke claimed to have been a part of this. Many conspiracy theories revolve around this program and some link Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles Manson to it as well.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731 Unit 731.]] One of the most horrific war crimes of the 20th century. Not only that, they added KarmaHoudini to the mix, with many members being pardoned in exchange for handing over their research data to the Americans…[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking who didn't share it with their allies]]. It wasn't until the 1970s that [[WhatTheHellHero the US even officially admitted that Unit 731's crimes had occurred at all]].
** On that particular note, there was former Unit 1644 (a sister unit to 731) member Misami Kitaoka, who [[MadScientist continued his experiments until after the war]], getting a job as a doctor with Japan's National Institute of Health and Sciences, where he injected unwilling patients with rickettsia and typhus.
* On a similar note, Dr. Josef Mengele's experiments on the prisoners of Auschwitz during the course of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Contrary to popular belief, he did not, in fact, make any notable contributions to 20th Century medical knowledge. He was merely a sadist given free rein to indulge his darkest impulses and as such mostly just chopped people up in horrific ways.

* After the Khmer Rouge took over UsefulNotes/{{Cambodia}}, all doctors and medical personnel were liquidated for adhering to "Western capitalist" ideas and beliefs surrounding medical practices. So, in order to replace all the medical personnel they had killed or jailed, they had cadres of untrained [[ChildSoldier teens and children]] perform [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide#Torture_and_medical_experiments gruesome medical experiments]] on political prisoners in order to re-learn medicine. [[MeatgrinderSurgery The results are about what one would expect]].
* Advocates of "alternative medicine" often try to cast science-based medicine as being nothing but this, overemphasizing past incidents of unethical experimentation which have since been condemned and repudiated by the medical community, and downplaying the benefits of medical treatments. Ironically, a fair amount of alternative medicine better qualifies, with attempts at "curing" autism by off-label uses of chemical castration, chelation, direct injections into the cerebrospinal fluid, and so on.
** Of course, some of those herbs aren't good for you either. One plant has leaves that have medicinal properties and inert stems. However, when the stems and leaves are combined, they create a toxic protein that just makes things worse.

* "Project Rainmaker" from ''ComicBook/PS238'', which performed experiments on a non-combative metahuman in order to find out what caused metahuman powers. [[spoiler:Said metahuman then got a power boost when they put a MadScientist in charge of the project, and escaped, destroying the lab in the process.]]
** The project is later resurrected InNameOnly. This time, it's about helping children whose powers fall on the [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway "heart"]] spectrum find a use for them in the private sector. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, no-one told the now grown-up metahuman, so he heads off to break them out.]]

* This was the origin of the Cat (better known as [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Tigra]]), although her origin involved a triple-cross. Dr. Joanne Tumolo developed a process "for any woman to totally fulfill her physical and mental potential -- despite the handicaps that society places upon her." Dr. Tumulo ran out of funds, but Malcolm Donalbain ("world famous sportsman, eccentric, and entrepreneur...") learned about the project and was "such a fanatic on physical conditioning that he agreed to subsidize further work." Donalbain insisted that his employee, Shirlee Bryant, be their test subject. Here's the double-cross: Shirlee stole the scientist's process so Donalbain could build duplicates of her equipment. Shirlee died in a test of her abilities, but Donalbain planned to open a nationwide chain of health clubs that would create an army of Amazons to carry out his commands. Here's the triple-cross: Dr. Tumolo had wanted her assistant, Greer Nelson, to be her first subject. Greer persuaded her mentor to test her secretly. Using her new powers as the Cat, Greer stopped Donalbain's plans.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': The Weapon-X project, run by ''Canada'' of all nations, in the quest to create the perfect biological weapon. We all know how warmongering those damn Canadians are. Horrible, inhumane experiments were performed on minority members ranging from African-Americans to mutants. It's most likely that the writers wanted an "evil {{government conspiracy}}" backstory for ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, but they already had Canada locked in as the country. Although the backstory originally had it as a joint U.S.-Canada project. Writers since then haven't done their research and/or slapped on their own patchwork of {{retcon}}s to fit whatever story they wanted to tell.
*** Probably inspired by the RealLife atrocities committed against native peoples and the mentally ill in Alberta during the mid-20th century, but then, Alberta's always been kind of an odd duck compared with the other provinces. Another possible inspiration: the only semi-intelligent work done on project MK-ULTRA (as far as we know -- the CIA attempted to destroy the paper trail, but that didn't work very well) was done by a Canadian citizen in Canada with the tacit cooperation of the Canadian government. This in fact ''did'' involve strapping people to an operating table and playing with syringes (mostly filled with LSD), while a speaker under the bed spoke slogans in a loop. Possible truth in television? People confirmed to have been experimented on this way include Theodore Kaczynski the Unabomber, Henery Murray, James "Whitey" Bulger, and others. David Icke claimed to have been a part of this. Many conspiracy theories revolve around this program and some link Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles Manson to it as well.

* In the Creator/BBVProductions film ''The [=AirZone=] Solution'', a company that claims to have the solution to the increasing problem of air pollution is found to be secretly abducting and experimenting on people. It turns out that their preferred solution to the problem is not to clean up the pollution but to genetically engineer people who aren't bothered by it.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16724205580.70730900
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/WeaponX1991 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/weaponxv.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "Now, what to do with the DNA from his bone matter? I guess there is that [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Wilson]] guy..."]]

* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
** ''ComicBook/ResurrectionMan'': "The Lab" is a secret private weapons contractor developing SuperSerum for the US government, going into war zones and using wounded American personnel as guinea pigs. Their concoctions created the [[NighInvulnerable Body Doubles]], [[{{Immortality}} Director Hooker]], and [[spoiler:[[ResurrectiveImmortality Mitch Shelley]], but not the way Shelley wanted]].
** ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Strader Pharmaceuticals was unable to get FDA approval for human tests in their attempt to create a super soldier serum, so they just started testing it on the downtrodden of Gotham whom they didn't expect anyone to miss. When their experiments started getting attention anyway they shut down the experiment by killing everyone who might implicate them.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanDeadEarth'': AfterTheEnd, Cheetah was captured and experimented on for no discernible end goal other than humans wanting to take out their anger on someone.

* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
** This was the origin of the Cat (better known as [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Tigra]]), although her origin involved a triple-cross. Dr. Joanne Tumolo developed a process "for any woman to totally fulfill her physical and mental potential -- despite the handicaps that society places upon her." Dr. Tumulo ran out of funds, but Malcolm Donalbain ("world famous sportsman, eccentric, and entrepreneur...") learned about the project and was "such a fanatic on physical conditioning that he agreed to subsidize further work." Donalbain insisted that his employee, Shirlee Bryant, be their test subject. Here's the double-cross: Shirlee stole the scientist's process so Donalbain could build duplicates of her equipment. Shirlee died in a test of her abilities, but Donalbain planned to open a nationwide chain of health clubs that would create an army of Amazons to carry out his commands. Here's the triple-cross: Dr. Tumolo had wanted her assistant, Greer Nelson, to be her first subject. Greer persuaded her mentor to test her secretly. Using her new powers as the Cat, Greer stopped Donalbain's plans.
** Scientists sponsored by the United States, Britain, and Germany experimented on hundreds of African Americans to reproduce the SuperSoldier serum that created ComicBook/CaptainAmerica after the original formula was lost, as documented in ''ComicBook/TruthRedWhiteAndBlack''.
** ''ComicBook/XMen'': The Weapon-X project, run by ''Canada'' of all nations, in the quest to create the perfect biological weapon. We all know how warmongering those damn Canadians are. Horrible, inhumane experiments were performed on minority members ranging from African-Americans to mutants. It's most likely that the writers wanted an "evil {{government conspiracy}}" backstory for ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, but they already had Canada locked in as the country. Although the backstory originally had it as a joint U.S.-Canada project. Writers since then haven't done their research and/or slapped on their own patchwork of {{retcon}}s to fit whatever story they wanted to tell.
*** Probably inspired by the RealLife atrocities committed against native peoples and the mentally ill in Alberta during the mid-20th century, but then, Alberta's always been kind of an odd duck compared with the other provinces. Another possible inspiration: the only semi-intelligent work done on project MK-ULTRA (as far as we know -- the CIA attempted to destroy the paper trail, but that didn't work very well) was done by a Canadian citizen in Canada with the tacit cooperation of the Canadian government. This in fact ''did'' involve strapping people to an operating table and playing with syringes (mostly filled with LSD), while a speaker under the bed spoke slogans in a loop. Possible truth in television? People confirmed to have been experimented on this way include Theodore Kaczynski the Unabomber, Henery Murray, James "Whitey" Bulger, and others. David Icke claimed to have been a part of this. Many conspiracy theories revolve around this program and some link Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles Manson to it as well.

* A recurring fear of [[http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/807271.html?thread=20395367#t20395367 Green Shield]] and Fauna in Roleplay/DCNation. Justified as Shield's ex-boss explicitly told her that's what he planned to do to her, and Fauna is an escapee from one of Luthor's clandestine projects.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'', Batty Koda was a victim of this. It left him unbalanced mentally (unless he was always like that) and with a malfunctioning sonar.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Felidae}}'' features a lab that is pure horror, as a scientist has SanitySlippage and begins doing experiments on stray cats, cutting them open (live) [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable on the examination table]] in order to test a HealingFactor-inducing serum and create the perfect species of feline. The BigBad turns out to be [[spoiler:Claudandus, a cat who survived the repeated vivisections -- because he was the only test subject on whom the serum even ''worked''.]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* The titular rats from ''Literature/MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH''. Having gained superintelligence and much longer lives, some rats developed a sense of ethics and dissatisfaction with a life of theft, but others used their abilities to thieve on a much higher level than before, [[spoiler:which ultimately got them killed]].
* Taura from Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' is the last survivor of a SuperSoldier project of this sort. Just to twist the knife, she's going to die young because her boosted metabolism burns too fast to sustain long-term.
* Max of ''Literature/MaximumRide'', her family, her clone, her nemesis, her half-brother, the {{mooks}} of the series, and a surprising amount of other people are the victims of genetic engineering.
* There's a degree of this in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', as might be expected when the BigBad of the first six books, Borborygmus Gog, is a MadScientist. TheEmpire funded a massive lab on Kiva for him and [[ReluctantMadScientist Mammon]] [[spoiler:[[TheAtoner Hoole]]]], who studied the nature of life there. Borborygmus sent the Emperor word that the latest experiment looked like it would backfire and create a WorldWreckingWave that would [[ApocalypseHow kill everything on Kiva]], and he wanted to go through with it anyway. The Emperor concurred, and after it was done hired Borborygmus to set up a slew of other projects. The very first book has a VillainOpeningScene where Borborygmus vivisects something on an operating table with a hooked blade.

* Creator/VernorVinge's ''Literature/ADeepnessInTheSky'' gleefully teeters on the fence between invoking this and playing it straight. In the {{Denouement}}, while negotiating over what to do with the human [=POWs=], the Spiders insist on keeping Ritser Brughel, ''unarguably'' the worst of the surviving war criminals, to themselves. When the humans concede that it would be fair to give him to the Spiders to be punished, the Spiders' response is something along the lines of, "Punish him? Oh, no. We just need a live experimental subject to help our studies of human physiology. [[BlatantLies Any 'punishment' would be strictly incidental]]."

* The scientific experiments conducted in ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' used to fuse children with powerful energy beings, and the general practice of using children to produce Ignition Weapons.

* Draconians in the webcomic [[http://fourfears.com/ Grayscale]] are subjected to this by Phoenix scientists, evidently not only for medical research and punishment but because of the fact that the Phoenixes view other races, especially Draconians, as little more than animals. Nine, being a recent capture, is still in fairly good health and spirit, while Pai, who has evidently been there a long time, is little more than a skeleton.

* ''Webcomic/LighterThanHeir'': It is readily apparent to the reader that Dr. Marilyn Villalobos is intentionally and with malice aforethought instigating a world war by experimenting on Volants (semi-supermen who apparently can't survive a spine-ripping) and genetically augmenting supersoldiers en-masse for a faction whose beliefs she does not even pretend to try to uphold. As a direct result of the war, she is given near-unlimited scientific resources to play with, regardless of the ethics or ideology of her faction. The protagonist is so disgusted by what happened to most of the prototypes that she murders as many people as she can in the laboratory, innocent or not.

* The ''Website/SCPFoundation'' routinely conducts experiments along these lines on the [=SCP=]s it contains. While this is intended to better understand and contain them, it [[NiceJobBreakingItHero sometimes makes things worse]].
* Not uncommon in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, but at SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy, the best example now is Jobe, who tried to invent a serum that would turn someone into a drow so he could have his perfect girlfriend. The first person who got injected was... [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Jobe.]] Then there's Jobe's serum that turns people into orc-like things: his father uses people transformed with that serum as miners in his kingdom.

* In ''WebAnimation/DingoDoodles'' the [[AbusivePrecursors Foreclaimers]] were completely obsessed with achieving perfection and lacked any form of empathy to limit their experiments. A depiction of their history shows a long string of experiments conducted on their own people, including at least one vivisection. Their research eventually culminated in the creation of the [[UltimateLifeForm artificial god Xanu]], who they proceeded to thoroughly "test" for many years until he slaughtered them as revenge.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StreetSharks'', this is how "gene slamming" works. The BigBad MadScientist, upon figuring out that the human-sea creature hybrid-making formula he stole would work fine for mutating humans, immediately locks in and mutates his colleague. He then calls up the colleague's sons, tricks them into stopping by, has them StrappedToAnOperatingTable, and turns them into the shark-human hybrids we have as protagonists for the rest of the series.
* [[spoiler:The gem fusion fragments]] from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': [[SiliconBasedLife gem shards]] (which are supposed to be ''dead'' gems) [[spoiler:physically fused together as an attempt at artificial, permanent [[FusionDance gem fusion]]]]. The results are monsters [[BodyHorror made of all sorts of random body parts]].

* A chimp gets strapped to a table at the beginning of ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'', after being infected with the HatePlague central to the plot.

* ''Film/{{District 9}}'' has experiments done on Wikus for the sake of weapons research.
* In ''Film/JacobsLadder'', Jacob and the rest of his platoon in Vietnam were unknowingly and illegally dosed with the BZ (3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate) hallucinogen, which drove most of them insane with bloodlust and might be the cause of Jacob's nightmares. [[spoiler:Although the apparent GovernmentConspiracy turns out to be a {{Mockspiracy}} and the events of the film are a DyingDream, the drug story may be true]] -- the final card informs that BZ had been used on American troops during the Vietnam War.

* ''Film/{{Soldier}}'': The Soldiers in the Soldier Program were mindless killing machines, and who were given drugs to help them stay that way.
* ''Film/Dune1984'': House Harkonnen's minions were all fitted with "heart plugs"--[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a plug which, when opened, would empty the blood from the heart itself]] resulting in the victim bleeding to death. There was also a creepy scene with other minions who had their eyes and ears sewn shut. The surgical procedures that resulted in these things were not seen, but one can imagine they were horrific and certainly not voluntary.
* ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': Weapon XI is exactly this -- the eleventh of a series of LivingWeapon experiments by Stryker, with Wolverine as Weapon X, intended to create the perfect mutant killer by way of PowerCopying mutant powers into one being.
* Apparently a pastime of Trask, given he does this to [[spoiler:all of the DroppedABridgeOnHim mutants from ''First Class'']] and intends to do the same to Mystique in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast''.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' shows us a rather heartbreaking shot of former cocky, confident ladies' man, Bucky Barnes, strapped to a table, bleeding and mumbling his name, rank, and serial number to himself (that is, what a soldier's supposed to do when he's being tortured for information), apparently unaware of his surroundings. We later find out that Zola was trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that made Captain America and the Red Skull who they are. Given that both those procedures involved multiple injections of unknown chemicals and made their subjects howl in pain, it seems safe to assume whatever Zola did to poor Bucky in that lab was ugly, painful, invasive, scarring, and just overall violating to him as a human being.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': That's not even getting into what was done to [[spoiler: Bucky]] during and before. Yes, that mind wipe scene is horrible, but do you really think they used anesthetic when they cut off the rest of his arm while he was still conscious? And god only knows what they did before they perfected that chair of theirs...
** In the [[LighterAndSofter far more lighthearted]] Marvel Cinematic Universe offering ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', we get the humorously misanthropic comic relief FunnyAnimal Rocket, [[spoiler: whose heartbreaking drunken rant about how he's a freak of nature who achieved sentience during being repeatedly vivisected comes [[MoodWhiplash the fuck out of nowhere in the middle of an otherwise funny scene]]]].
* A commercial that aired during the [[{{Mockumentary}} documentary]] ''Film/CSATheConfederateStatesOfAmerica'' promised that anyone who doesn't have the grades for medical school, or the patience for a nursing program, can enroll in the Cartwright Institute for the Study of Freedom Illness. The commercial promises that in several months, graduates will be qualified to diagnose and treat ''draeptomania'' [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill (freedom sickness)]], track and count slaves, become a [[BreedingSlave breeding specialist]], and treat any other "slave peculiarities."
* ''Film/Overlord2018'' centers around a squad of U.S. soldiers who are given the task of blowing up a Nazi radar jamming tower situated in a church, in the middle of an occupied French village. When they infiltrate the church they discover a secret lab that has been using German war dead, and unwilling French villagers in experiments meant to find an immortality serum, which [[BodyHorror so far has some gruesome side effects]].
* In the Creator/BBVProductions film ''The [=AirZone=] Solution'', a company that claims to have the solution to the increasing problem of air pollution is found to be secretly abducting and experimenting on people. It turns out that their preferred solution to the problem is not to clean up the pollution but to genetically engineer people who aren't bothered by it.
* In ''Film/FrankensteinIsland'', Sheila Frankenstein conducts a variety of blood-based experiments, such as transfusing Jason with a mixture of Amazon and animal blood.
* ''Film/{{Necronomicon}}'': In "The Cold", CreepyHousekeeper Lena wields syringes with sadistic glee as she assists MadScientist Dr. Madden in his experiments, which involve extracting spinal fluid from unwilling donors.
* In ''Film/TheTerrorOfTheTongs'', Dr. Fu Chao is a tong member who murders people mainly by giving them lethal injections. He is HoistByHisOwnPetard when Lee stabs him with the syringe he had attempted to use on Sale.

** Fabius Bile is basically this trope personified. For one thing, he has a syringe gun (getting hit by this basically condemns the victim to a rapid but extremely painful death-by-mutation) and has a backpack (which is actually an extension of his spine) covered in surgical tools...and a lab coat made of human skin. He basically mixes the primordial elements of Chaos into some vague facsimile of medical science and the results are ''horrifying'' (and he will happily practice them on you, whether you want him to or not). Bile is generally considered one of the most generally twisted and horrific villains of the setting; for a franchise that immortalised the phrase "GrimDark", that's saying quite a bit.

May overlap with EyeScream and ColdBloodedTorture. A SuperBreedingProgram tends to be this on a grander scale. A literal version may involve a GiantMedicalSyringe.

* In ''Film/TheAirZoneSolution'', a company that claims to have the solution to the increasing problem of air pollution is found to be secretly abducting and experimenting on people. It turns out that their preferred solution to the problem is not to clean up the pollution but to genetically engineer people who aren't bothered by it.

* NESTS, the primary villains of the second arc of ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'', were very prone to subjecting their lab rats to "testing" equivalent to torture in order to create an army of {{Super Soldier}}s. Among numerous others, [[PsychoElectro Sylvie]] would be regularly chained to the ceiling of a TortureCellar and whipped, whereas [[TragicVillain Nameless]] was frequently unable to control [[PlayingWithFire his pyrokinesis]] and nearly killed himself at least 180 times. It was no surprise that one of said lab rats, Isolde, outright ''died'' as a result of her abuse, and what did NESTS do? Why, stick her DNA into her boyfriend (the aforementioned Nameless)'s PowerLimiter!

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Academy City does quite a lot of this behind the scenes. Much of it by the family of psycho scientists, the Kiharas. It would probably be easier to list the powerful espers who ''haven't'' been involved in some Academy City secret project at some point or another.

* ''LightNovel/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'': PlayedForLaughs with the experiments of herbalism prodigy Toto on his RoyalBrat academy roommate who serves as TheChewToy, drugging his tea and making him pass out, which is implied to have continued off-page.

* The Old Arcadia Empire in ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'' had a habit of performing such experiments. The only one shown to the reader in any detail involved implanting young girls with seeds of the PuppeteerParasite Yggdrasil. In almost all cases their bodies couldn't withstand it, the results being described as though [[BodyHorror something devoured them from the inside]]. The sole survivor is [[spoiler:Philuffy, resulting in her SuperpoweredEvilSide. Though it's later revealed that even she didn't actually survive, the procedure was simply that lethal. She was instead brought back to life by a third party.]]

{{Super Soldier}}s and {{Super Serum}}s are usually the goal of these experiments, but MixAndMatchCritters, {{Bioweapon Beast}}s, {{Custom Built Host}}s, {{Genetic Abomination}}s, {{Phlebotinum Rebel}}s, {{Psycho Serum}}s, and {{Secret Project Refugee Famil|y}}ies are often the result. They often become {{Disposable Superhero Maker}}s with NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup, and have a great risk of WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity or PowerDegeneration. Expect a plot to spring up with one of these victims having EscapedFromTheLab.

** In the former, human girls under the age of 10 are grabbed right off the streets (and the police told to not intervene), have an alien slug forced into their necks which then take over as their brain, and spend the next ten years having their "magic" powers unlocked through experimentation. If their powers don't fit ThePlan, the slug gets "ejected" and the child dies a horrible death. The scientists involved don't know who to be more scared of, their superiors who often kill them at a whim, the heavily armed soldiers both guarding the lab, and keeping them trapped inside, or the now super-powered teen-age girls, many of whom rightfully want them dead.
** In the latter, children born of normal Homo-sapien parents turn out to have mutated into Homo-Diclonii and are immediately recognizable by their horn-like appendages on their head. The super-powers are inherent and awaken [[EnfanteTerrible at the age of 3.]] While segregating them so that they don't murder their parents during a tantrum is justified, what goes on during their captivity is not. Of the experiments we do see, one of these children gets shot with a cannon, repeatedly, just to gauge the growth of her powers. Other experiments are implied to be far worse. The scientific staff is then baffled as to why the Diclonii have an OmnicidalManiac psychosis fused to their survival instinct and try to infect and/or kill as many people as they can! It is also strongly implied that the infection transfers ''genetic memories.''

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has hidden governmental labs in which mad scientists do horrible things to people through alchemy, including taking convicts, ripping the souls out of their body and turning them into sapient armor, taking wounded soldiers and making them into human-animal hybrids, and more generally, just turning people into HumanResources.

** Agito was found barely alive by her unintentional saviors Zest and Lutecia after being experimented on for an untold amount of time. Considering her size, the needles in question where almost as big as her.
* ''Manga/MadeInAbyss'' features Bondrewd the Novel, a MadScientist who is apparently quite fond of this. Although most surface dwellers aren't aware of exactly how unethical his experiments are, it's common knowledge that he's a bit of a bastard who takes orphan children down into the Abyss to a level where the ill effects suffered from ascending would almost certainly kill them. [[spoiler:At his base in the old sacrificial site of Idofront, several thousand meters below the surface, the reason for this is revealed. Bondrewd has used them to figure out a way to overcome the Curse of the Abyss that results upon ascending from the aptly named Capital of the Unreturned, a few hundred meters lower still. He's accomplished this through forcing them to endure the Curse as guinea pigs for a device meant to shunt the Curse from one person to another, and later by using them to absorb the Curse for himself and his followers once his research has progressed far enough for that sort of device to be practical. Since ascension from that level is almost invariably fatal [[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]], the implications are absolutely monstrous.]]

* The eponymous project of ''AudioPlay/TheElysiumProject''. The project was designed to create a SuperSerum that grants people [[RealityWarper reality bending powers]]. As a means to that end, a bunch of teenage test subjects were held against their will, lied to, abused, and experimented on.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanDeadEarth'': AfterTheEnd, Cheetah was captured and experimented on for no discernible end goal other than humans wanting to take out their their anger on someone.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Ripples}}'' and its sequel ''Stirred'', Van gains a reputation for this after being appointed Grand Doctor of Phobos' regime. Though to be fair, she's very careful to only perform experiments on test-subjects who have freely given their full and educated consent, or [[PayEvilUntoEvil criminals who've crossed the]] MoralEventHorizon (Phobos even complains that she's ''too'' selective). Also, she's cured many diseases through her experiments.

* ''Film/{{Necronomicon}}'': In "The Cold", CreepyHousekeeper Lena wields syringes with a sadistic glee as she assists MadScientist Dr. Madden is in his experiments, which involve extracting spinal fluid from unwilling donors.

* Max of ''Literature/MaximumRide'', her family, her clone, her nemesis, her half-brother, the {{mooks}} of the series and a surprising amount of other people are the victims of genetic engineering.

* On ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'', Doctor Franklin gives his employees the impression that he's working for the US government, though he really isn't. For a long time he just spliced human traits into animal subjects, but he really wanted to move on to making transgenic creatures that started as humans -- and when a plane crashes off course and authorities can't find the few survivors, it does not matter at all to him that the new, perfect subjects are completely unwilling.

** [[spoiler:Nolien]] ''volunteers'' for this to atone for a major screw up relating to mana mutation. It involves transforming him into a monster first so they can demonstrate turning him back.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'': The villainous organizations of the 70' to 90' series made their henchmen by kidnapping ordinary people and turning them into brainwashed cyborg monsters. Most Kamen Riders at the time were victims rescued/escaped before their minds were altered. Not much is seen of the operation itself, but it involves replacing organs, bones and skin with artificial substitutes and the victims are not writhing in pain only if they have passed out already.

** Fabius Bile is basically this trope personified. For one thing he has a syringe gun (getting hit by this basically condemns the victim to a rapid but extremely painful death-by-mutation) and has a backpack (which is actually an extension of his spine) covered in surgical tools...and a labcoat made of human skin. He basically mixes the primordial elements of Chaos into some vague facsimile of medical science and the results are ''horrifying'' (and he will happily practice them on you, whether you want him to or not). Bile is generally considered one of the most generally twisted and horrific villains of the setting; for a franchise that immortalised the phrase "GrimDark", that's saying quite a bit.
** The medical augmentation of one or more subjects on a client's account -- often including the clients themselves -- is one of the most common services the Dark Eldar Haemonculi are contracted for. The Haemonculi take these jobs with relish, plying their grisly trade with absolutely no regard for morality, ethics or the safety of their patients as they experiment with agonizing surgical modifications, flesh and organ grafts, chemical injections and more bizarre procedures to grant their patients physical perfection or turn them into killing machines.

* In ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'' after being abandoned by his parents Zeno was captured, sold to scientists and vivisected alive. His dreams frequently [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170829153051/http://www.charbythevampirate.com/comic/67 revisit these memories.]]
* Draconians in the webcomic [[http://fourfears.com/ Grayscale]] are subjected to this by Phoenix scientists, evidently not only for medical research and punishment, but because of the fact that the Phoenixes view other races, especially Draconians, as little more than animals. Nine, being a recent capture, is still in fairly good health and spirit, while Pai, who has evidently been there a long time, is little more than a skeleton.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731 Unit 731.]] One of the most horrific war crimes of the 20th century. Not only that, they added KarmaHoudini to the mix, with many members being pardoned in exchange for handing over their research data to the Americans…[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking who didn't share it with their allies]]. It wasn't until the 1970s that [[WhatTheHellHero the US even officially admitted that Unit 731's crimes had occured at all]].

* On a similar note, Dr. Josef Mengele's experiments on the prisoners of Auschwitz during the course of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Contrary to popular belief, he did not, in fact, make any notable contributions to 20th Century medical knowledge. He was merely a sadist given free reign to indulge his darkest impulses and as such mostly just chopped people up in horrific ways.

* Advocates of "alternative medicine" often try to cast science-based medicine as being nothing but this, overemphasizing past incidents of unethical experimentation which have since been condemned and repudiated by the medical community and downplaying the benefits of medical treatments. Ironically, a fair amount of alternative medicine better qualifies, with attempts at "curing" autism by off-label uses of chemical castration, chelation, direct injections into the cerebrospinal fluid, and so on.

* ''Literature/TreeOfAeons'': Aeon is a diligent and just ruler, who fosters prosperity and keeps his people safe from the demons, but that justice is [[GoodIsNotNice not mixed with a great deal of mercy]]. When the highest penalty for crime in his realm is to be "subject to Aeon's mercy", it's a euphemism for capital punishment -- usually via destructive experimentation in his soul forge. (In fairness, he's not a sadist, just coldly pragmatic. He's letting criminals do something useful with the last few minutes of their lives, providing useful data that will improve his ability to heal people.)

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Gemini}},'' the military want to create super-soldiers that can fight at the Daleks' level, and they will kidnap as many innocent victims for as many horrifying genetic experiments as it takes to do so.
* [[Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles Kyle Reese]] of ''Fanfic/InTheHandsOfAnAngryMachine'' claimed that future [[RobotGirl Cameron]] did this.
* ''Fanfic/WinterWar'' has Aizen, Mayuri and Szayel all involved in this in varying ways. So far, we have Mayuri's [[spoiler: cloning of Nemu and destruction of her zanpakuto]], and Aizen's Hollowification experiments. The results are varied, and they are all deeply unsettling.

* ''Fanfic/AFlowersTouch'': [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aerith]] describes Hojo injecting her with [[spoiler:Jenova cells]] as well as a myriad of other things that run the full spectrum of reactions from her.
-->'''Aerith''': One time, it felt like my insides were liquefying. You have no idea how painful that was. Even after I was healed, even with my birth mother's magic, the pain stayed for days....I've been in all kinds of states from what he put into me. Feeling detached from my own body. Delirious out of my mind. Sicker than a dog. Hyperactive to the point of bouncing off a wall, literally. I think being hypersensitive to everything was the worst. My state of mind changed day to day, he put enough chemicals in me to make teenage moodswings seem pleasant in comparison.
* In ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'', this is pretty much Shamuhaza's M.O. as an EvilSorcerer -- the Neverborn experiments he conducts include: creating [[MixAndMatchCritters mix-and-match]] EliteMooks via subjecting InnocentBystanders to a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong; directly mutating {{mooks}} for them to be upgraded into more EliteMooks, and; delving into BlackMagic and [[spoiler:the [[ThingsManIsNotMeantToKnow Eldritch Truth]], which may or may not be research from the Healing Church or the School of Mensis]].