History Main / TheTopicOfCancer

* ''ComicBook/CaptainMarvelMarvelComics'': Possibly '''the''' classic Creator/MarvelComics example is ''The Death of Captain Marvel''. It starts in an earlier story when Mar-Vell stops the villain Nitro from stealing a container of DeadlyGas, which leaks during the fight. Mar-Vell manages to reseal it and eventually is given an antidote in time while unconscious, but the gas' carcinogenic effects later give him fatal cancer, albeit suppressed for years by his Nega-bands until it mutates past their resistance and making it impossible to treat without assistance from the Kree medical community -- which, needless to say, is a non-starter for a traitor like himself. There are also alternate universes where Mar-Vell's cancer is actually cured [[NiceJobBreakingItHero with disastrous results]]. One universe turned his cancer into a contagious plague that took the life of the Thing and numerous Kree and Skrull. Another had the EldritchAbomination group known as the Many-Angled Ones turn Mar-Vell's cancer into a way to transform Earth's heroes into their soldiers, creating the Cancerverse.

** A polyp in Fern's leg acts as an obstacle during the Inert Biovessel arc.

* ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'': Series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu has been diagnosed with cancer that has caused his hair to turn gray and [[BloodFromTheMouth cough up blood]], and knows that his aid of Ichiban Kasuga will be TheLastDance for him.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Brock interrogates one of Baron Ünderbheit's henchmen [[GroinAttack by grabbing his testicles and squeezing them]]. He quickly stops after feeling a lump and is rather hesitant to admit it to the Henchman. The henchman is [[DespairEventHorizon devastated]], and despite earlier resistance to the interrogation gives up the info as he admits [[StoppedCaring he doesn't care anymore about the job]] and just wants to tell his wife.

The causes of cancer are numerous, and can include anything from old age to exposure to certain chemicals (such as the ones found in [[SmokingIsNotCool cigarette smoke]]), to exposure to great amounts of radiation (this association with the evils of nuclear power or weapons may be part of the reason for the fear of cancer underlying modern society's perception) to sheer bad luck. The truth is, that in the end, nobody can say for sure who will have cancer and when. Right now, your father may be developing cancer, or your girlfriend, or your dog. Even if they've never even been near [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki Hiroshima]] or UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}}, even if they don't smoke or drink, even if they live in a sterile bubble, even if they run 6 miles a day and eat nothing but kale, '''they may still develop cancer'''. There is no way to tell for sure without checking, and even if they turn out not to have cancer right now, nothing can assure that they won't develop one tomorrow, or in three minutes.

* ''Creator/ECComics'': In "Strictly from Hunger!" from ''The Vault of Horror'' #27, a small-town man is diagnosed with a tumor. After his doctor's rather unprofessional comment that "The malignant one keeps growing till it kills you! 'Tain't no use removin' it!", he goes to a witch who promises to hex him so that he'd never die. However, she says nothing about ''curing the tumor'', which eventually takes over his entire body, turning him into a [[BlobMonster giant, shapeless lump of flesh]] which knows only hunger.

But in the world of fiction (and according to popular belief, [[TruthInTelevision in real life as well]]), one disease stands tall and terrible above the rest- a disease so deadly, so silent, so inevitable, so ''evil'', that its very name has become synonymous with death. A disease whose mere mention provokes feelings of foreboding terror, disgust and paranoia in modern humans: the dreaded Malignant Neoplasm, or in layman's terms, '''cancer'''.

The causes of cancer are numerous, and can include anything from old age to exposure to certain chemicals (such as the ones found in [[DrugsAreBad cigarette smoke]]), to exposure to great amounts of radiation (this association with the evils of nuclear power or weapons may be part of the reason for the fear of cancer underlying modern society's perception) to sheer bad luck. The truth is, that in the end, nobody can say for sure who will have cancer and when. Right now, your father may be developing cancer, or your girlfriend, or your dog. Even if they've never even been near Hiroshima or Chernobyl, even if they don't smoke or drink, even if they live in a sterile bubble, even if they run 6 miles a day and eat nothing but kale, '''they may still develop cancer'''. There is no way to tell for sure without checking, and even if they turn out not to have cancer right now, nothing can assure that they won't develop one tomorrow, or in three minutes.

* ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'': [[ComicBook/TheQuestion Vic Sage]]'s battle with cancer forms one of the main storylines. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome And then he dies of it]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}'': ''The Death of Captain Marvel'' is possibly '''the''' classic Creator/MarvelComics example. It starts in an earlier story when Mar-Vell stops the villain Nitro from stealing a container of DeadlyGas, which leaks during the fight. Mar-Vell manages to reseal it and eventually is given an antidote in time while unconscious, but the gas' carcinogenic effects later give him fatal cancer, albeit suppressed for years by his Nega-bands until it mutates past their resistance and making it impossible to treat without assistance from the Kree medical community -- which, needless to say, is a non-starter for a traitor like himself. There are also alternate universes where Mar-Vell's cancer is actually cured [[NiceJobBreakingItHero with disastrous results]]. One universe turned his cancer into a contagious plague that took the life of the Thing and numerous Kree and Skrull. Another had the EldritchAbomination group known as the Many-Angled Ones turn Mar-Vell's cancer into a way to transform Earth's heroes into their soldiers, creating the Cancerverse.

* ''Creator/ECComics'': In "Strictly from Hunger!" from ''The Vault of Horror'' #27, a small-town man is diagnosed with a tumor. After his doctor's rather unprofessional comment that "The malignant one keeps growing till it kills you! 'Tain't no use removin' it!" he goes to a witch who promises to hex him so that he'd never die. However, she says nothing about ''curing the tumor'', which eventually takes over his entire body, turning him into a [[BlobMonster giant, shapeless lump of flesh]] which knows only hunger.
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': In ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968'' #150-151, Morton Clegstead, a wealthy cancer patient, came up with a convoluted plan to get the Hulk's [[SuperhumanTransfusion gamma-irradiated blood]] in the hopes that this would make his normal cells superpowered and able to overcome the cancer. Instead, the cancer cells were the ones that became super-powered, with nightmarish results, turning him into a massive mass of cancer cells. There was a callback to this years later when Hulk learned that one of his old friends was dying of AIDS and refused to donate his blood for fear something similar would happen.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': ComicBook/PostCrisis, Lex Luthor is stricken with cancer due to his hand wearing a signet ring with a Kryptonite stone in it (a major departure from the previous depiction of Kryptonite as harmless to humans). They initially lop off his hand and replace it with a robotic prosthetic, but it is discovered that it has actually spread to the rest of his body, forcing Luthor to fake his death and come back in a clone body.

* In ''{{Fanfic/Luminosity}}'', Gianna's brother Ilario is dying of cancer; her main reason for wanting to become a vampire is so that she can save him by turning him.

* This is Creator/LurleneMcDaniel's bread and butter. Not only is cancer a major theme of her books, but the stories go into great detail about the diseases, treatments, surgeries, and side effects. These are the kinds of cancer books that ''The Fault in Our Stars'' mocks.
* The story "Metastasis" by Creator/DanSimmons is built heavily around this trope. Apparently cancer [[spoiler:is caused by a parasitic race that uses humans as breeding grounds. In effect, each tumor is actually a larva that devours humans from the inside as it reproduces wildly until there is nothing left. The parents then come back and devour their offspring for nourishment occasionally leaving one or two to germinate into an adult]].
* [[StationsOfTheCanon the third storyline in each]] ''Literature/{{Rocheworld}}'' [[StationsOfTheCanon book]] involves the HeroucSacrifice of one of the exploration ships crew, who is taken off of a life-extending drug to bring him back up to adult intelligence to deal with an outbreak of Hodgkin's Lymphoma (a virus that causes cancer of the lymph nodes). He eventually dies of it because [[HealThyself he can't operate on himself]].
* ''Literature/SecretVampire'': A major plot point is Poppy learning she's dying of pancreatic cancer, leading to James attempting to turn her into a vampire to save her.

* In the sixth season of ''Series/KinpachiSensei'' the titular teacher's teenage son is put in a hospital for leukemia treatment. He is at first incredibly stressed over the thought he's dying but eventually loses the attitude [[{{Determinator}} and refuses to give in]]. He gets better and makes a friend with a girl who has bone cancer.

* ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber Amber]] Diceless Role Playing'': If characters with Shape Shifting push themselves beyond their limits while suffering from exhaustion or starvation, they can suffer from Primal Chaos Cancer. Some of their cells run wild, consuming normal cells and multiplying quickly. The rogue cells will eventually attack vital organs, appear on the skin and eat the character alive, turning him into an amorphous blob.
* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' supplement ''The Asylum and Other Tales'', adventure "The Asylum". One of the drugs Dr. Freygan uses to create proto-shoggoths is called Cellular Accelerator. It can heal wounds quickly, but there's a chance it will cause cancer throughout the recipient's body. The victim will be reduced to a mass of suppurating flesh within 2-12 days and die 1-3 days later.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'''s Book of Vile Darkness -- a {{Plaguemaster}} PrestigeClass "cancer mage" gets a sentient tumor as a familiar: the entire idea of the Cancer Mage is that cancer is something disgusting, creepy, and in this case actually, cosmically evil.
* ''TabletopGame/HunchbackTheLurching'', a fan gameline for the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'': As a drinking game, take a shot when the lump is described as "Cancerous", "Malignant" or "Tumorous". Just don't blame us when you lose your liver.
* In ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'', the mysterious sixth Lineage are the "Zeka", Prometheans animated and fueled by radiation that have a lot of disturbing, creepy abilities. Among them are the ability to give other people regular, boring old cancer, but if you want to get freaky, you can give them a tumor with a mouth that can speak to them, or a mind control brain tumor, that is implied to cause endless excruciating pain and leave the victim a helpless puppet with full consciousness but no control over their actions. When Zeka use their powers, their "Disfigurement" usually involves huge cancerous masses growing from within them, boiling, bloating, and pulsating as their skin falls off and their eyes melt. Even when not showing their powers, most of them have signs of radiation poisoning or cancer, such as visible tumors on their faces. Then there are the Carcinoma, which is what you get when Zeka tries to make more of themselves and [[GoneHorriblyWrong fail horribly]]: hideous monstrosities made completely out of cancer, with an alien, incomprehensible, malignant intelligence.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'', the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Titan of the Blighted Earth]], [[Myth/CelticMythology Crom Cruach, nemesis of the Tuatha De Danaan]], is associated with stillbirth, madness, fungi, vermin, rot, ''mutation and cancer'', and has a very strong theme of the "perversion of life". His minions, the giant fomorians, are generally horribly disfigured, and their ugliness is said to often include tumors all over their body.
** 2E allows you to weaponize this with the Fertility purview. One of the powers involves uncontrolled malignant growths. Like tumors. Indeed, the sample text has a Scion use it to give a Minotaur lung cancer.

* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' has a cancerous tumor as a Trinket (passive accessory) that increases your rate of fire. It's actually so beneficial that your character cheers "[[BlackComedy Yay, cancer!]]"

* Once you've reached the final chapters of ''VideoGame/JimmyAndThePulsatingMass'', you can easily infer that [[spoiler:the game is the dreams of Jimmy, a kid who's dying of cancer, which is represented by the Pulsating Mass. The ending story beats revolve around how his family, and especially Jimmy, are dealing with his inevitable death.]]

* In ''VideoGame/PerfectVermin'', it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Harold is dying of some form of cancer, likely as a result of his smoking habits. It's easy to recontextualize the player's smashing of vermin to chemotherapy.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Sacrifice}}'', the {{Mutants}} are a tribe of humanoids that are afflicted with a genetically inherited cancerous disease. The goddess Persephone has taken pity on them, and while they aren't cured of it, they have been given resistance to the pain it causes. In return, the Mutants act as Persephone's artillery by ripping out tumors from their bodies and throw them at enemies from long range.

* Claudia Jerusalem from ''VisualNovel/DiesIraeInterviewWithKazikluBey'' is revealed pretty early on that she is dying from terminal skin cancer and is given about a month to live. And despite the fact the the cast is riddled by incredibly powerful magical individuals, it is stated that only [[ManipulativeBastard Mercurius]] or [[AxCrazy Rusalka]] might have the magical know-how to cure something so serious, neither of which are people the main character Wilhelm would ever want to be indebted towards.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Karkat (who uses the trolltag carcinoGeneticist and the [[WesternZodiac astrological symbol]] of cancer) admits to John he may have given John's universe cancer. And it turns out the cancer is [[spoiler:[[DiskOneFinalBoss Jack Noir]]. The fact that he is an AnthropomorphicPersonification of a ''cancer'' sums up [[OmnicidalManiac his personality]]]].
* ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'': The Commander isn't worried about getting lung cancer from his cigar-smoking habit because in the future where he comes from, ''everyone'' apparently has cancer, but by this point, it's become such an integral part of the human experience that the cancers have formed a symbiotic relationship with humans.

* A {{Creepypasta}} entitled simply "Cancer" details cancer treatment [[TheDungAges in 500 AD]]. It involves cutting off the infected organ with a blunt hacksaw, drinking poison, and being lit on fire. However, it's got a happy ending, as the main character survives the whole thing.
* Another {{Creepypasta}}, "A Cure for Cancer", has a genius scientist obsessed with [[CureForCancer curing cancer]] infect his ex-girlfriend with a bioweapon that causes pancreatic cancer, which he thinks will be easy to cure since he engineered it (under contract by the CIA). The plan [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]], as the cancer metastasizes into every single one of her organs. He remembers one of his proposed cures, which uses stem cells to remap the circulatory system, starving the tumors. This is a bust, however, since he can't get enough stem cells or funding (nobody wants to deal with the ethical ramifications of rendering down feti for them, so he makes a test-tube baby and grows it inside some kind of animal). The disease and cure react strangely, turning her into a zombie-like creature made entirely from cancer.

** The monsters Tyrannitoma and Tumorman weaponize cancer in two separate ways: Tyrannitomas are polyp-like creatures who convert any creature they're attached to into a huge, sapient humanoid tumor with fantastic strength, and Tumormen weaponize an aggressive form of skin cancer.

** {{Discussed|Trope}} in the episode "Tonsil Trouble". Of course, they have activists claim that just having AIDS is way better than having cancer.
** There's the episode "Breast Cancer Show Ever".

** The villain of "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E17Pusher Pusher]]", Robert Modell, is a man whose inoperable brain tumor came with incredible mind control abilities. With nothing else to live for and excruciating headaches, Modell hired himself out as a mercenary/hitman, using his powers to kill for huge profits. Funnily enough, it was written by the same man who went on to do ''Series/BreakingBad''.

* [[ComicBook/TheQuestion Vic Sage]]'s battle with cancer forms one of the main storylines of ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo''. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome And then he dies of it]].

* ''ComicBook/CaptainMarvelMarvelComics'': ''The Death of Captain Marvel'' is possibly '''the''' classic Creator/MarvelComics example. In this case, it starts in an earlier story when Mar-Vell stops the villain Nitro from stealing a container of DeadlyGas, which leaks during the fight. Mar-Vell manages to reseal it and eventually is given an antidote in time while unconscious, but the gas' carcinogenic effects later give him fatal cancer, albeit suppressed for years by his Nega-bands until it mutates past their resistance and making it impossible to treat without assistance from the Kree medical community -- which, needless to say, is a non-starter for a traitor like himself. There are also alternate universes where Mar-Vell's cancer is actually cured [[NiceJobBreakingItHero with disastrous results]]. One universe turned his cancer into a contagious plague that took the life of the Thing and numerous Kree and Skrull. Another had the EldritchAbomination group known as the Many-Angled Ones turn Mar-Vell's cancer into a way to transform Earth's heroes into their soldiers, creating the Cancerverse.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Concrete}}'' story "A Remarkable Life", Concrete sprouts antlers that grow uncontrollably and apparently without bound. Chadwick mentions in [[http://concrete.blogs.com/paul_chadwicks_weblog/2012/03/jean-giraud-has-left-us.html his blog]] that the antlers are "a metaphor for cancer".
* In the second half of ''ComicBook/DaredevilMarkWaid'', Matt discovers that his best friend Foggy Nelson has cancer. Complicating matters is right around this time Matt has gone public with his identity, so people know he's a friend of Daredevil, which means that if he checks into a hospital to try and have it treated, any villain who wants to settle the score with Daredevil could target him. This forces Matt to [[DeathFakedForYou fake Foggy's death]] while he undergoes treatment in secret.

* The [[PsychoSerum drug "Mayfly"]] from ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' gives the user super-intelligence but will kill them within 24 hours from brain cancer (that is, assuming that it doesn't just do that without giving you anything in return), ''unless'' they manage to use their newfound genius in order to survive... as a horrible, grotesque mass of cancerous flesh.

* One ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' story (Vol. 2, #151) has a wealthy cancer patient come up with a convoluted plan to get the Hulk's [[SuperhumanTransfusion gamma-irradiated blood]] in the hopes that this will make his normal cells superpowered and able to overcome the cancer. Instead, the cancer cells are the ones that become super-powered, turning him into a BlobMonster. There is a CallBack to this years later when Hulk learns that one of his old friends is [[TragicAIDSStory dying of AIDS]] and refuses to donate his blood for fear that something similar might happen.

** Used as a FateWorseThanDeath in one version of ComicBook/{{Venom}}'s origin. It turns out that Eddie Brock has cancer which, through hormonal imbalance, causes fits of rage, ruining his life. The symptoms also attract [[TheSymbiote the Venom symbiote]] to him. The symbiote wants to take over Peter but ends up attached to Brock and unable to switch hosts again. It has the power to stop the cancer from spreading but can't afford to cure it as it relies on it for food. This leaves Brock superpowered, angry and in constant pain -- for the rest of his life. It ended up being cured sometime later thanks to Mr. Negative soon after Eddie surrendered the symbiote to be bidden off. In ''ComicBook/VenomDonnyCates'', it is suggested that [[spoiler:Eddie's cancer wasn't actually cancer, but the symbiote manipulating his mind and body to make him think he did, thus they could stay together]].

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comics ComicBook/PostCrisis, Lex Luthor is stricken with cancer due to his hand wearing a signet ring with a Kryptonite stone in it (a major departure from the previous depiction of Kryptonite as harmless to humans). They initially lop off his hand and replace it with a robotic prosthetic, but it is discovered that it has actually spread to the rest of his body, forcing Luthor to fake his death and come back in a clone body.
* Doctor Manhattan from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is extremely distraught to discover that the radiation emitted by his physical avatar gave terminal cancer to people who spent too much time around him. [[spoiler:This was actually a ploy by Ozymandias, [[MoralEventHorizon who gave them cancer himself]] so that Doctor Manhattan would seclude himself on Mars, where he wouldn't interfere with Ozymandias's conspiracy.]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Brock interrogates one of Baron Ünderbheit's henchmen [[GroinAttack by grabbing his testicles and squeezing them]]. He quickly stops after feeling a lump.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'':

* A bit of an oddball example is in ''Film/TheRoom'', wherein Claudette flat-out states that she is dying from breast cancer during one scene. This is promptly forgotten and never mentioned again.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' has a sketch where Franchise/ScoobyDoo ends up sniffing out a lump in Velma's breast, but after some consideration, the tumor ends up removed just in time, leading to ''it'' [[YouMeddlingKids saying the line]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' has a sketch where Franchise/ScoobyDoo ends up sniffing out a lump in Velma's breast, but after some consideration, the tumor ends up being removed just in time, leading to ''it'' [[YouMeddlingKids saying the line]].