Restraining Bolt / Comic Books

Restraining Bolts in Comic Books.

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• Avengers: The Initiative: Ragnarok, the cyborg clone of Thor, was designed with a shut-down code in case he went nuts and tried to kill everyone. The Skrull replacing Hank Pym, who co-created the clone, designed a failsafe so that if he died, Ragnarok would automatically reactivate, with the shut-down code disabled.
• In Eternals (2006), said Eternals are hardwired by their creators the Celestials so that they can't bring themselves to physically harm a Celestial or else they completely psychologically shut down. This works even if they're not aware that the thing which they're about to attack is a Celestial.
• In Fantastic Four, Mr. Fantastic has to put mental blocks on his son Franklin at one point to stop his mutant powers from going out of control. However, the first time he does it, he accidentally puts his son into a coma.
• Ghost Rider: Each Ghost Rider has a restraint bolt — themselves. The human part of the Riders limits the amount of power that the Spirits can exert, which has been said to be essentially god-like and limitless. However, while the Riders can choose to fight whoever they want, the Spirits only ever fight against the guilty, as seen in Ghost Rider's crossover with World War Hulk.
• In Hackmasters of Everknight, "You are all now bound by Luvia to return the Key of Grawdyng to the Temple of Nudor at all cost... and you must be nice to me."
• The Incredible Hulk: In the Planet Hulk storyline, Hulk and other gladiators are implanted with restraining discs which force them to follow orders. In World War Hulk, those he feels have wronged him get to wear one as well.
• In PS238, Zodon is a Big Bad Wannabe who curses like a sailor. As a result, the school staff installed a "Barry Ween chip" which causes him to replace any intended cuss word with something random. A particularly long string of attempted profanity will make him break out in show tunes (or, later, Disney songs).
  Zodon: What the FLUORIDE did I just say? What the GUMBALL did you do to me, you WINDSHIELD?!
• Runaways:
  • It's been hinted that Molly's evil parents used their Psychic Powers to control her behavior and that her notoriously low stamina is a side effect of that conditioning.
  • Victor Mancha's programming includes a series of Logic Bomb questions designed to cause his brain to do a literal Heroic BSoD in the event that he deviates from his original mission (killing every other superhero on Earth). Chase uses one of these questions ("Could God create a sandwich so big that even He couldn't eat it?") to shut Victor down during his Face–Heel Turn.
  • At the end of the second series, Nico Minoru places a spell on Dale and Stacey Yorkes which makes them fully aware of everything that will happen to them in the future, but unable to change their fates, in order to prevent them from doing further damage to history after they inadvertently learn that they're going to die.
  • In the very last arc, it's left up to debate whether the "Settle Down" spell that Nico casts on Klara to restrain her qualifies as a restraining bolt. While Nico herself insists that it was only intended to stop Klara from hurting herself or others with her powers, Molly explicitly compares it to the kind of Mind Rape which her parents used to do to her.
• A logic-based version occurs in the Squadron Supreme limited series. The members of the Institute of Evil are brainwashed to be loyal and obedient to the Squadron. Subsequently, several occasions arise wherein Institute members are unable to alert the Squadron about suspicious events because it would conflict with their orders.
• In Suicide Squad, new or unruly operatives get explosive bracers which blow up if the bearer runs away from the team leader too far during a mission (Captain Boomerang manipulates Slipknot into testing them, with rather messy consequences for Slipknot). Later iterations do away with the bracers in favor of explosive implants or nanobombs carried in the bloodstream.
• Superman:
  • In Superman: Up, Up and Away!, Lex Luthor devises a way to deactivate Metallo's cyborg parts, effectively turning him into a statue.
  • In Who is Superwoman?, the titular villain wears a special costume that gives her super-powers thanks to a combination of magic and technology. A series of metallic flat discs keep the magical energies which the suit is infused with in check. If the discs are removed or ripped off, the unleashed power will tear Superwoman's body apart.
• Warren Ellis' run of Thunderbolts is a Boxed Crook scenario — faced with the task of keeping people like Bullseye and Venom in line, team leader Norman Osborn has the team injected with nanomachines which will fry their nervous systems if they disobey orders. Brought back for Jeff Parker's run, with modifications: this time, the nanites can incapacitate painlessly or painfully. Most of the time, the 'painless' option is used, but one rogue member gets hold of a nanite controller and activates the painful version. It eventually gets turned on him.
• Transformers:
  • In The Transformers (IDW), Megatron has a small group of Decepticons called "Phase Sixers", each one stronger than Megatron and charged with annihilating all life left on a planet after the Decepticons are through with it. Megatron has some kind of Restraining Bolt on each one—Sixshot had a Trigger Phrase to immobilize him, and Overlord was given a computer virus that prevented him from formulating strategies against Megatron. Megatron explains the concept rather well when Starscream (then acting as Megatron's bodyguard) questioned the sanity of keeping Sixshot around:
    Starscream: If Sixshot were to turn his considerable arsenal against you, I—may not be able to protect you.
    Megatron: Starscream, Starscream. You are so achingly naïve. Firstly, your presence at my side is largely for show. I can protect myself. And secondly, do you seriously think I would set in motion a living weapon if I did not have the off switch?
  • In The Transformers (Marvel), a device called a mode lock prevents a Transformer from transforming out of vehicle mode or moving on his own. It was first used to restrain Blaster when he went AWOL from Grimlock's rather unheroic leadership style but later to allow the Autobots to temporarily use Blast Off for transport.
• Wonder Woman:
  • Wonder Woman (1942):
    • In the Golden Age, the Amazons's bracelets aren't just for deflecting bullets. It isn't just that if they're bound together, they lose their powers — if they takw them off, they go crazy.
    • During the Silver Age, Hephaestus creates a bunch of golden androids — when they don't want to aid him in burning humanity for Ares, he fits them with devices which make them subservient. When Wondy removes the device from one of them, she becomes the Amazon's steadfast ally.
  • Wonder Woman (1987): After Zeus restores the powers which he sealed from Cassie before her birth, he also gives her mother the means to block Cassie's powers from working in any situation when she doesn't want Cassie using them. She is definitely not the impulsive hothead her daughter is, which ensures that Cassie often cannot act as her own feelings dictate.
• X-Men: When Jean Grey was a young girl, Professor Xavier placed mental blocks in Jean's mind to keep her telepathy from growing out of control. Xavier would later remove these so her telepathy could grow naturally. However, in certain continuities, these mental blocks cause Jean to develop a dark alter ego in The Dark Phoenix Saga, rather than the Phoenix Force being a cosmic entity.
• Zombo:
  • Zombo wears a pair of Speedos through which, should he prove troublesome, Miss Handler can deliver an electric shock to his testicles.
  • Obmoz instead has nanobots in his blood which force him to obey all orders, though it hurts him to do so. They're damaged later on, so Obmoz immediately kills his controllers.

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