History Main / RadiationInducedSuperpowers

* ''Literature/SuperFilete'': Filete and Tocino got their powers by eating radioactive [[StevenUlyssesPerhero steak and bacon]],respectively.

* Possibility of radiation causing superpowers in traditional sense is outright impossibility. However there is a possibility of a beneficial mutation. A very, very, very^100 small possibility. In order for beneficial mutation to occur a very specific set of genes must be altered otherwise you get cancer or nothing at all. Because of that using radiation to alter human genes is not very effective (or humane) that however doesn't apply to plants or simpler organisms. For example Dr. Tomoko Abe is using synchrotron to introduce random mutations in plant cells resulting in new strains with desirable traits [[http://www.riken.jp/en/research/inventions/zao/]] including salt resistant rice, which is understandably beneficial to food production. Of course instead of alpha, beta or gamma radiation they use heavy atomic ions but it's still a mutation generator.

** This is actually a partial misconception: most nuclear waste is still usable, and in fact there are nuclear reactor designs that will produce practically zero waste since all of the usable energy is used up and thus there is nothing left capable of being appreciably radioactive. Also, if all fissile materials on Earth were to be "properly" used, nuclear fission fuels are estimated to last MILLIONS of years before humanity depletes all sources on Earth. But the issue against it is threefold: first and foremost of course being public backlash against ALL nuclear technologies. Secondly, such a reactor requires more potent material than just Uranium or Thorium to squeeze those atoms dry - it requires plutonium, which is also a vital component in nuclear bombs, thus presenting issues with military interests.
And thirdly, our current culture just isn't geared towards such a thing. Regular nuclear reactors are already too expensive for any profit motivated organization to build - and building one big reactor that takes plutonium and outputs energy and non-radioactive dirt isn't very profitable in terms of making money.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series started off as a deconstruction of the 1950s "atom craze". The nuclear war gave rise to giant insects and rats, and a few (un)lucky humans exposed to it without dying became ghouls, who live for centuries but many of them have lost their humanity. (Though [[FlipFlopOfGod the creators themselves can't decide]] how much is due to radiation or to a [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke mutant bioweapon]].) Meanwhile the player character being exposed to radiation will only result in radiation sickness (though it is easy to treat). The straightest example of this trope in the first two games is Nuka-Cola, one of the franchise's most iconic items, a soda that was bottled full of radioactive materials ''before'' the war, which is taken UpToEleven in later games with Nuka-Cola Quantum, a soda with experimental isotopes that glows a bright blue.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS4E3TheCrew The Crew]]", Gumball and Darwin are convinced that in order to join a gang of senior citizens they need to look old, so they try to get wrinkles by wallowing in nuclear waste. They don't get wrinkles, but Gumball gets telepathy and Darwin gets magnetism.

* Alpha One of ''ComicBook/TheMighty'' was once a normal sailor who had ended up floating in irritated waters for hours after testing an atom bomb. It took place in 1952.

* ''Literature/OurDumbCentury'': Parodied in ''Website/TheOnion'''s book, where a headline from 1963 declares "[[Franchise/SpiderMan Boy Bitten by Radioactive Spider Dies of Leukemia]]". The body of the article mentions Peter Parker as being the sixth atomic accident fatality in the last month, referring to [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Dr. Bruce Banner]] and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards and friends]].

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'', the animals believe that the Farmer is planning to sell the farm, and one of their attempts to scare off a family that they think are potential buyers is to disguise Freddy as a mutant antelope and have him shoot [[EyeBeams lasers out of his eyes]], which he explains that he achieved from drinking nuclear waste. Pig attempts to debunk this trope by drinking some himself, which turns him into a pastiche of Franchise/TheIncredibleHulk, then the narrator tries to do the same and [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrinks]].

* [[Film/TheNakedGun The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear]] has this theme as a ''television commercial'' put forth by a CorruptCorporateExecutive of the nuclear lobby. It features a family barbecue with a dad supporting nuclear over solar, an electric grill powered by the nuclear plant looming in the background, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick a dog with two tails]].

* Something similar in ''Film/DarkStorm'': Exposure to dark matter causes anything to disintegrate. Except if it's a human. Then he gets dark matter-controlling super powers. [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Somehow.]]

* ''{{Series/Elementary}}'' references the comic-book usage of this trope while investigating a crime adjacent to a superhero comics publisher. Sherlock pours scorn on it, naturally - "in what universe are these characters not all dead from cancer?" and when asked how he got so good at his job he deadpans:
--> '''Sherlock:''' I was bitten by a radioactive detective.
* ''Series/PennAndTellerBullshit!'' did an episode praising nuclear power, declaring it much safer, cheaper, and more reliable than other forms of energy such as oil and coal.
* Averted in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' where Crichton builds a wormhole-controlling device with a nuclear power source. [[spoiler: His ally turned enemy steals it and in the ensuing chase, the radiation shield protecting the power source is knocked open, meaning Crichton has to make a split-second jump towards the device to render it safe. He fails, absorbs a lethal dose of radiation and succumbs to his illness by the end of the episode.]]
* Discussed in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' episode "The Alien Parasite Hypothesis":

* Scorch from ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' is theorized to have received his powers from a nuclear accident that occurred at a Chinese power plant. However, at the same time it's mentioned that no one else involved got any powers, so in the end the source remains ambiguous.

** ComicBook/SheHulk: Apparently deadly radiation can turn you into a 6'7" green supermodel who can bench a train. However, She-Hulk didn't get her powers from direct exposure to radiation, but rather a [[SuperhumanTransfusion transfusion of radioactive blood]] from Bruce Banner, her cousin...
** And they're only the most famous. The Hulk comics have seen a whole horde of people mutated by gamma radiation over the years.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** Spidey himself famously acquired his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. Just about ''every'' adaptation since has veered away from this, making it a genetically-modified test subject instead.

** Turns out that irradiating the beehive you were studying will mutate the insects and cause them to [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath eat you alive]]! Don't worry, though, you'll live on in their new-formed HiveMind, your new body [[TheWormThatWalks composed of bones and bees]]! Now you have to use [[BeeBeeGun this new power]] to go into supervillainy, fighting Spider-Man as the sinister Swarm! At least, if you happen to be a Nazi scientist in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse.
* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', the exact cause of mutant powers are rarely discussed. In the 60s however, Professor X explained his powers as the result of his parents working on the first atom bomb. The Beast's powers have been explained as the result of his father being exposed to radiation, while Sunfire was born in Hiroshima on the day when they dropped the atom bomb. (Even the comic book series as a whole, back in the 1960s, used to bear the subtitle "children of the atom".) All of these explanations have later been either {{Retcon}}ned or completely ignored.
** A more recent explanation is that the detonation of the atomic bombs merely triggered an explosion in mutant birth rates.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}:

** Played straight by Superman villain Neutron, and ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' villain Reactron, both of whom have the ability to control and project nuclear radiation.
** Deconstructed in the origin of the Cyborg Superman. In a pastiche of the ComicBook/FantasticFour, a space shuttle crew is exposed to cosmic radiation but suffer vastly detrimental effects. Two are killed immediately and resurrected in painful or dangerous forms, eventually leading them to suicide, and one is nearly drawn into an alternate dimension. The fourth member of the crew, Hank Henshaw, suffers an accelerated radiation poisoning which rots away his body. However, Henshaw's mind quickly returns to life with {{technopath}}ic abilities (and rampaging sociopathy).
* The Creator/MarvelComics {{Elseworld}} MiniSeries ''ComicBook/{{Ruins}}'' subverts this repeatedly. In its vision of a [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, bleaker Marvel universe]], it imagines the "[[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism realistic]]" effects that the numerous radiation-fueled {{Freak Lab Accident}}s that gave many of their comic book superheroes their powers (gamma radiation bursts, "cosmic" rays, irradiated spider-bites, etc.) could have -- specifically, painful disfigurements and horrible deaths. However, the series often leaves in the other unrealistic elements; for instance, the Hulk becomes a mass of tumors, but still violates Conservation of Mass in doing so.

* Many of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse origins are given a kind-of explanation in the ''ComicBook/EarthX'' miniseries, in that certain people have the ability to gain superpowers. What those powers are is determined by how they get them, but because of this [[MetaOrigin innate "spark"]], they do indeed gain abilities from things that would kill people without it.

** In the mainstream continuity, radiation-based origins have been explained as [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic experiments]] by the [[PhysicalGod Celestials]] that were triggered by radiation.

* Franchise/TheFlash has a minor recurring adversary named [[http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/fallout.html Fallout]], a former blue-collar worker who was hired to do work on a nuclear power plant, fell into the reactor, and emerged with translucent green skin and radioactive powers that caused him to inadvertently kill his wife and son. After Flash apprehended him he agreed to act as a living power source for the prison in which he was incarcerated as penance.
** In fact, Jay Garrick, the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Flash, gained his powers when he accidentally inhaled fumes of ''heavy water'', a rare non-radiation based version of I Love Nuclear Power.

* Johnny Alpha in ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'' gained the ability to [[{{Telepathy}} read minds]], [[XRayVision see through solid objects]], and emit alpha rays from his eyes following strontium-90 fallout during a nuclear war. However, most other mutants in the series are merely disfigured.

** The ComicBook/New52 reboot embraces this, turning "the Firestorm Protocols" into an extended nuclear arms race metaphor.

* Genocide Jones in ''Comicbook/SleeperWildStorm'' had a job at a "weird government research plant" that features a pair of iconic nuclear cooling towers. Being a loner, he took his lunch in an isolated area of the plant, prominently marked with radiation warnings. He somehow doesn't notice he's getting bigger and stronger.
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': Reoccurring enemy Radiation Roy has this marked in his name. His ability to emit paralyzing radiation was paid for with an inheritance he gained so he could specifically join the Legion. Roy was rejected because his uncontrolled powers could harm the other Legionnaires, though a later retcon states he was also rejected because Saturn Girl's mental profile revealed he had a number of psychotic tendencies. Saturn Girl was supposedly so disturbed by what she saw in Roy's mind she couldn't sleep for two nights. As he got older, it became clear Roy's powers were having an effect on his body when he came back bald. When Creator/GeoffJohns brought the original Legion's continuity back, Roy had to wear a full-body containment suit because his powers were causing him to grow giant tumors and his teeth were falling out. Though for some reason he had hair again.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Atomia uses nuclear radiation as part of her process of creating super-strong but essentially mindless mooks out of kidnapped humans.

** In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' the player can choose a dialogue option joking that they'll run through a heavily irradiated area in their underwear in the hopes of gaining superpowers. Doctor Amari feels the need to remind the [[PlayerCharacter Sole Survivor]] that this would only kill them, though there may be a few players out there that did so anyway.

* The "Frei" line of spells in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 1}}'', ''VideoGame/Persona2'' and ''VideoGame/Persona5''. In the early titles, they're described as "Nuclear Fire" and used in tandem with [[PlayingWithFire Fire skills]]. Yukino Mayuzumi, Tatsuya Suou and Katsuya Suou specialize in them. In ''5'', they cause extra damage to enemies who are weak to debilitating physical status effects, and the game's specialist is Makoto Nijima.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'', the animals believe that the Farmer is planning to sell the farm, and one of their attempts to scare off a family that they think are potential buyers is to have Freddy disguise as a deer and shoot lasers out of his eyes after he drank nuclear waste. Pig attempts to debunk this trope by drinking some himself, which turns him into a pastiche of Franchise/TheIncredibleHulk, then the narrator tries to do the same and [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrinks]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' has The Atomic Flounder, a retired villain originally for a one-off gag. He later appeared in a ShowWithinAShow episode during his prime. His first appearance followed the more common use of the trope, with atomic breath, however the second also brought some BodyHorror into the mix.

Unsurprisingly, this trope seems to have been at its peak in the atom-crazed [[TheFifties 1950s]] when anything "atomic" was seen as cutting-edge, but is now falling out of favor as the common person's changed perception of the negative effects of radiation make it increasingly less believable as a source for superhero [[{{Mutant}} mutation]]. A few superhero characters whose backstory involved gaining powers though irradiation have since been [[{{RetCon}} re-written]] into [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic engineering]] being responsible to capitalize on a new area of [[ScienceMarchesOn scientific ignorance]] for viewers.

* Genocide Jones in ''ComicBook/{{Sleeper}}'' had a job at a "weird government research plant" that features a pair of iconic nuclear cooling towers. Being a loner, he took his lunch in an isolated area of the plant, prominently marked with radiation warnings. He somehow doesn't notice he's getting bigger and stronger.

''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' movies aside, this is not a particularly common trope in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} as, due to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the Japanese are much better acquainted with the effects that atomic radiation has on human physiology than most. In fact, the Japanese {{Kaiju}} genre (which includes ''Godzilla'') was known for highlighting the negative effects of radiation, rather than the positive effects we often saw in American fiction of that era.

* Creator/DCComics' other nuclear man, ComicBook/{{Firestorm}}, also counts, since his origin involves terrorists leaving Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein to die when they blow up the latter's nuclear plant. The explosion ends up fusing them into a superpowered being instead. Later averted when Stein is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor as a result of being one half of the nuclear man midway through the second series.

** Referred to by the school nurse; "The kids who get bit by radioactive insects or fall into a vat of toxic waste, their powers usually show up the next day. Or - they die."
** Also by Layla and Magenta
--> "I forget. Did Tigerman get bit by a radioactive tiger, or was he bit by a regular tiger and then exposed to radiation?"

* Discussed in Series/TheBigBangTheory episode "The Alien Parasite Hypothesis":
-->'''Howard''': They were injecting rats with radioactive isotopes and one of the techs got bit.\\
'''Raj''': Did he get superpowers?\\
'''Howard''': No, he got five stitches and a tetanus shot.

[[quoteright:296:[[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/banner_gamma_rays_7.png]]]]

* In the late 1960s ComicBook/BlackCanary gained her iconic supersonic scream due to radiation. This was later deconstructed when it was revealed several (both in-series and meta) years later that she was terminally ill due to the lingering effects of the radiation.
* The ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' recurring antagonist The Puppet Master had dolls made out of 'radioactive clay' which allowed him to control the person the doll resembled. This was clearly inspired by HollywoodVoodoo, making it arguably the most blatant example of "radiation = magic" in comics.
* ''The Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'', as well as his foes the Leader and Abomination.
** ComicBook/SheHulk: Apparently deadly radiation can turn you into a 6'7" green supermodel who can bench a train. She-Hulk didn't directly get her powers from radiation but rather a blood transfusion from Bruce Banner, her cousin...

** Most of the Leader's schemes revolve around trying to mutate humanity with gamma radiation, most recently in ComicBook/FallOfTheHulks.
** There's also ComicBook/RedHulk, who even absorbs radiation. Combining gamma radiation and cosmic power will let you do that, apparently.
** As [[ScienceMarchesOn Science Marched On]] and it became increasingly difficult for readers to accept this trope straight, Bruce and other Gamma mutates were [[RetCon retconned]] to have inherited a special genetic trigger. Bruce, his relatives, and a few others are all descendants of the original carrier. The guy who discovered said trigger found a way to copy it and used it to become a Gamma mutate too.

* Franchise/SpiderMan:

** Many of Spidey's classic foes gained their powers from some type of radiation accident as well, but special mention goes to ComicBook/DoctorOctopus. Not only was the good doctor an actual atomic scientist who would later use this knowledge in several of his evil schemes, but in one retelling of his origin, ''Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One'', he considers himself and Spider-Man to be twins of their "mother", nuclear power. Ock generally seems to take this trope's title literally.
* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', the exact cause of mutant powers are rarely discussed. In the 60's however, Professor X explained his powers as the result of his parents working on the first atom bomb. The Beast's powers have been explained as the result of his father being exposed to radiation, while Sunfire was born in Hiroshima on the day when they dropped the atom bomb. (Even the comic book series as a whole, back in the 1960s, used to bear the subtitle "children of the atom".) All of these explanations have later been either RetConned or completely ignored.

** Averted ComicBook/PostCrisis in Franchise/{{Superman}} (albeit played straight elsewhere in Franchise/TheDCU.) The chronic health problems that plague ComicBook/LexLuthor in both his comic book and cartoon series appearances are a result of exposure to the KryptoniteRing he wore for quite some time. While it certainly hurts Superman very quickly, having it around you for ''years'' will have the same effect any kind of radiation will.
** In ''Comicbook/KryptonNoMore'', Superman villain's Radion's powers were caused by a nuclear accident at an atomic power plant. He possesses radioactive powers and the ability to cause atomic decay.

* Also lampshaded in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, when Rick Jones exposed himself to gamma rays to try to develop Hulk-like powers and got cancer instead. He got better, though.
* The Creator/MarvelComics {{Elseworld}} MiniSeries ''Ruins'' subverts this repeatedly. In its vision of a [[DarkerAndEdgier darker, bleaker Marvel universe]], it imagines the "[[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism realistic]]" effects that the numerous radiation-fueled {{Freak Lab Accident}}s that gave many of their comic book superheroes their powers (gamma radiation bursts, "cosmic" rays, irradiated spider-bites, etc) could have -- specifically, painful disfigurements and horrible deaths. However, the series often leaves in the other unrealistic elements; for instance, the Hulk becomes a mass of tumors, but still violates Conservation of Mass in doing so.
* When [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} Matt Murdock]] got toxic waste spilled on him, he gained superpowers but also got blinded.
** Lampshaded in one of the comics; when the empowering accident is discussed, a character points out, "You know what would happen to me if I got hit in the face with a radioactive isotope? I would get leukemia and die."
** This and many other Marvel origins are given a kind-of explanation in the ''ComicBook/EarthX'' miniseries, in that certain people have the ability to gain superpowers. What those powers are is determined by how they get them, but because of this [[MetaOrigin innate "spark"]], they do indeed gain abilities from things that would kill people without it.
*** This is roughly the same rationalization behind the "metagene" in Franchise/TheDCU.
*** In the mainstream continuity, radiation-based origins have been explained as [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic experiments]] by the [[PhysicalGod Celestials]] that were triggered by radiation.
* Averted in the ''Comicbook/{{Doom}}'' comic. The Doomguy is very displeased with the fact that radioactive waste is carelessly left lying around. [[MemeticMutation Because now he's radioactive.]] [[AndThatsTerrible And that can't be good.]]

* Turns out that irradiating the beehive you were studying will mutate the insects and cause them to [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath eat you alive]]! Don't worry, though, you'll live on in their new-formed HiveMind, your new body [[BodyHorror composed of bones and bees]]! Now you have to go into supervillainy with [[BeeBeeGun this new power]]! At least, if you happen to be a Nazi scientist in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse.
* Chen Lu was turned into the Radioactive Man in a Chinese attempt to create a human weapon. Pity they didn't check if he had plans for world domination first...
* Parodied in a ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strip sequence, in which Dilbert decides to make himself a superhero costume and stand outside the local nuclear plant, in the hope that an accident will occur and give him superpowers. When he gets there, he finds a dozen other guys, all in various designs of spandex, who apparently all had the same idea.

* Taken to its uttermost extreme in ''ComicBook/CaptainAtom'' - the titular character, rather than merely being irradiated, was actually vaporized by being at ground zero of a thermonuclear explosion. His mind or soul was somehow able to form a new body for itself, one with superpowers. In the ComicBook/PostCrisis remake of the character, the writers explained this as an effect of the [[AppliedPhlebotinum extra-dimensional substance]] in which he was encased at the time of the blast.

** The ComicBook/{{New 52}} reboot embraces this, turning "the Firestorm Protocols" into an extended nuclear arms race metaphor.
* Alpha One of ComicBook/TheMighty was once a normal sailor who had ended up floating in irritated waters for hours after testing an atom bomb. It took place in 1952.

* Genocide Jones in [[{{Comicbook/Sleeper}} Sleeper]] had a job at a "weird government research plant" that features a pair of iconic nuclear cooling towers. Being a loner, he took his lunch in an isolated area of the plant, prominently marked with radiation warnings. He somehow doesn't notice he's getting bigger and stronger.

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' reverts many of the AtomPunk elements, but you can make you character stronger from absorbing radiation (though you still get sick from it).

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'': Reoccurring enemy Radiation Roy has this marked in his name. His ability to emit paralyzing radiation was paid for with an inheritance he gained so he could specifically join the Legion. Roy was rejected because his uncontrolled powers could harm the other Legionnaires, though a later retcon states he was also rejected because Saturn Girl's mental profile revealed he had a number of psychotic tendencies. Saturn Girl was supposedly so disturbed by what she saw in Roy's mind she couldn't sleep for two nights. As he got older, it became clear Roy's powers were having an effect on his body when he came back bald. When Creator/GeoffJohns brought the original Legion's continuity back, Roy had to wear a full-body containment suit because his powers were causing him to grow giant tumors and his teeth were falling out. Though for some reason he had hair again.

* ''Series/Elementary'' references the comic-book usage of this trope while investigating a crime adjacent to a superhero comics publisher. Sherlock pours scorn on it, naturally - "in what universe are these characters not all dead from cancer?" and when asked how he got so good at his job he deadpans: