History Main / DeadlyGas

*** The [[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Animated Series]] and all other {{DCAU}} series where the Joker features also have his signature toxin, though there it isn't so much "Deadly Gas" as it is "[[LaughingMad Insanity-Inducing Gas]]". Which is [[YourMileageMayVary arguably]] [[NightmareFuel a]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel lot]] [[ItGotWorse worse]].

* ''{{Worms}}'' features the worlds least deadly deadly gas, as it doesn't actually kill affected worms, just slowly reducing their life points to 1.

* The Martians in ''TheWarOfTheWorlds'' use a black smoke, a heavy, ink-like vapour that kills instantly on being breathed.

* ''{{Game/Goldeneye}}'' has a room full of gas tanks in the Facility level, but if the tanks are destroyed the gas will slowly kill you and you will fail the level.

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Lethal gas is found in many forms and in many environments. It is naturally found in many underground settings (in RealLife as well as in games, particularly near volcanoes) and is abundant in the atmosphere of many planets. Humans have used it as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_warfare weapon of war]] and in a certain historical mass DeathTrap.

This gas often has a greenish colour, which is more a case of TechnicolorScience than of TruthInTelevision -- while chlorine gas ''is'' green, ever since World War 2, nerve gases have been the preferred choice -- these are colourless and odourless, and can penetrate the skin (a common mistake is to depict a gas mask as the full extent of the protective gear needed against nerve gas -- in reality, you would also have to prevent any of the gas coming into contact with skin).

** Shows up fairly frequently in the Classic Series as well; [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E5Underworld "Underworld"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani "The Caves of Androzani"]] are two examples. The Fifth Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E5PlanetOfFire "Planet of Fire"]] inverts the trope by focusing on a gas with particularly healthful properties.
* ''{{Torchwood}}'': "Children of Earth". The 456 live in a semi-opaque, poisonous gas. It does kill anyone though, merely adds to the sense of mystery/horror.

*** Not necessarily a mistake. With the exception of VX, most nerve agents are non-persistent and are primarily an inhalation hazard because they either dissipate quickly or break down rapidly in the environment. Not only that, but according to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_warfare#Classes The Other Wiki]], as long as you do not ''inhale'' the gas, you have at least an hour (and up to 18 hours) to seek treatment, which is often as simple as an injection of atropine or biperiden.

* The JamesBond film ''{{Moonraker}}'' centers around a villain's plan to build himself a space station, then drop satellites filled with enough nerve gas to kill everything on Earth. One scene involves James infiltrating the lab where the nerve gas is being synthesized, taking out a nerve gas canister and looking at it in puzzlement, then sloppily putting it down and hiding in the next room (which conveniently has glass windows and an airlock separating it from where he was) when the scientists come back. The scientists fail to notice the moved canister until one of them knocks it off the table, shattering it-giving Bond a demonstration of the canister's contents and purpose, as the scientists immediately die horribly.

* In ''StarWars: ThePhantomMenace'', the Jedi are trapped by the Trade Federation in a room being filled with Deadly Gas. Fortunately one the Jedi's powers are to hold their breath for a very long time.

** Why use them until absolutely necessary?
*** If I recall correctly, it is [[AllThereInTheManual mentioned in background materials]] that those breathing aparatuses work by extracting oxygen from water, so they wouldn't really work against the poison gas.

* ''Game/Goldeneye'' has a room full of gas tanks in the Facility level, but if the tanks are destroyed the gas will slowly kill you and you will fail the level.

*** As a definition of 'dangerous' above; at university we were told that putting your hand into Hydrofluoric Acid would be painless as it dissolves the flesh faster than the nerves can transmit the pain signals. Stopping putting your hand in is going to sting a bit though.

** Uh, sorry? Fentanyl (and a ''[[BeyondTheImpossible five to ten times more powerful variant]]'' called Sufentanil) are extremely commonly used IV analgesics for surgical anesthesia. Sure, you wouldn't use it for extended periods, but that's mainly because it's powerful enough to easily cause respiratory suppression. (As the Moscow police learned, I might note.) Terminal, drug addicted cancer patients are hardly its core demographic.

* According to experts hydrogen sulphide (the rotten eggs smell gas) is odourless in lethal concentrations (I have no idea how they discovered this). So it you STOP smelling it then you are either perfectly safe, because it has gone, or going to die, because it hasn't.
** Not exactly. It's primarily an issue of time, not concentration - your nose adapts to it after you've smelled it for a while. So if you're exposed to a slowly increasing concentration, yes, you'll stop smelling it before you die; but at a high enough concentration you'll drop dead before you stop smelling it, and at a low steady concentration you can stop smelling it and not be harmed. Sub-lethal concentrations of hydrogen sulfide occur commonly enough that it was easy for people to learn about this property.

* In ''[[{{ptitle1d5irnza}} 9]]'', gas bombs were the main method used by the machines to [[KillAllHumans kill all the humans]].

* Greenish poison gas -- and it's always ''greenish'' poison gas -- is quite common in ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. It's available in movable/puncturable barrels, for a little variety from the [[ExplodingBarrels usual kind]]. At one point you, can play with some in the ventilation system and [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential gas a whole facility of people]].

* Greenish poison gas -- and it's always ''greenish'' poison gas -- is quite common in ''DeusEx''. It's available in movable/puncturable barrels, for a little variety from the [[ExplodingBarrels usual kind]]. At one point you, can play with some in the ventilation system and [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential gas a whole facility of people]].

* In a ''HomestarRunner'' cartoon where Strong Sad imagines all the rest of the cast meeting horrible fates:

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* As mentioned before, chlorine is distinctly green, and rather nasty to breathe. Chlorine, however, will generally not try to eat its way out of its container, unlike its sibling one row up. Fluorine is a yellowish-amber color, but if you ever see enough of it to see the color, you'd best hope it's [[http://theodoregray.com/periodicTable/Elements/009/index.s7.html#sample5 properly secured]] or you're already dead. The heavier halogens are easier to handle since they don't evaporate at room temperature, but if you do heat them up the vapours are almost as nasty.
** Even fluorine pales in comparison to [[http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2008/02/26/sand_wont_save_you_this_time.php chlorine trifluoride]], which will happily set things like water, bricks, sand, and ''asbestos'' on fire. Said reactions will inevitably produce dangerous by-products like hydrofluoric acid.
*** As a definition of 'dangerous' above; at university we were told that putting your hand into Hydrofluoric Acid would be painless as it dissolves the flesh faster than the nerves can transmit the pain signals. Stopping putting your hand in is going to sting a bit though.
*** Although the above is false. HF will pass through skin, leaving a mild burn...and painfully dissolve your bones, spreading along your skeleton.
* A good number of toxic gases were used as weapons in WorldWarOne along with chlorine -- phosgene, lewisite, mustard gas, among others.
* The Russian authorities in the 2002 Moscow theatre siege used (tragically ineptly) a knockout gas called Kolokol-1, believed to be a highly potent derivative of fentanyl, an opioid so much more powerful than morphine already that it can only be given to cancer patients who have become morphine-tolerant.
** Uh, sorry? Fentanyl (and a ''[[BeyondTheImpossible five to ten times more powerful variant]]'' called Sufentanil) are extremely commonly used IV analgesics for surgical anesthesia. Sure, you wouldn't use it for extended periods, but that's mainly because it's powerful enough to easily cause respiratory suppression. (As the Moscow police learned, I might note.) Terminal, drug addicted cancer patients are hardly its core demographic.
* The 1998 Tailwind scandal, based around a (possibly but not definitely discredited) CNN story of Vietnam-era war crimes supposedly committed by US troops in Laos, revolved around a dispute over whether chemical weapons were used, including nerve gas and/or tear gas. At least one account of the story included a chemical code-named "Glink", which was supposed to paralyze everyone on the ground where it was spread; the idea was that medics were supposed to show up on rescue helicopters and give the antidote only to friendlies. (Disputes over the accuracy of the report led to a round of firings at CNN, but the original producers of the report stand by their content.)
* According to experts hydrogen sulphide (the rotten eggs smell gas) is odourless in lethal concentrations (I have no idea how they discovered this). So it you STOP smelling it then you are either perfectly safe, because it has gone, or going to die, because it hasn't.
** Not exactly. It's primarily an issue of time, not concentration - your nose adapts to it after you've smelled it for a while. So if you're exposed to a slowly increasing concentration, yes, you'll stop smelling it before you die; but at a high enough concentration you'll drop dead before you stop smelling it, and at a low steady concentration you can stop smelling it and not be harmed. Sub-lethal concentrations of hydrogen sulfide occur commonly enough that it was easy for people to learn about this property.
* Oh, and don't mix ammonia and bleach together. You'd ''think'' it would make your cleaning job go faster by combining two cleaners. In reality, it's more likely to create a nasty gas called chloramine, which can knock you unconscious and/or kill you. (This is especially true if your mixture is very concentrated, and/or the room poorly ventilated.)
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* In a second season episode of {{Fringe}}, we have a [[ThoseWackyNazis creepy Nazi]] who's genetically tailoring a design toxin that will cause fatal asphyxiation to anyone who isn't blond and blue-eyed. In a [[CrowningMomentofAwesome crowning moment of badassery]], Walter displays his hatred of Nazis by [[TranquilFury coldly re-designing the same toxic gas to only kill the creepy Nazi guy]]. At a ''crowded peace summit'' no less. [[{{Understatement}} Holy shit]].

* In ''{{Portal}}'', in the final level, after you [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero destroy [=GLaDOS=]'s morality core]]]], she starts releasing a deadly neurotoxin into the room; you have only six minutes to finish the job before the gas kills you. How did she get the ''deadly'' neurotoxin? It appears that the researchers gave it to her. And then [[TooDumbToLive she killed them with it]].

* Instead of deadly gas, the Scarrans in [[{{Farscape}} ''The Peacekeeper Wars'']] use a paralyzing gas. Scorpius notes that they use this on subjects they wish to dissect...while they're still alive.

* Magellan of ''OnePiece'', Head Chief of [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down.]] Thanks to his Doki-Doki Fruit, his body is made up of poison, and chlorine gas is his most-used type of deadly gas.