History Main / DeusExNukina

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Longshot Project Longshot]] was a later proposal based on the same basic principal; however, Longshot would use thermally-induced nuclear fusion in externally-detonated deuterium/tritium pellets instead of thermonuclear bombs.
* Several proposals are on the books today for plans to use hydrogen bombs to deflect an incoming asteroid or comet.
** These plans are now considered TooDumbToLive, at least for asteroids. They don't react predictably to being blasted; any attempt might leave the bulk of the material still coming at you for the EarthShatteringKaboom. The best idea currently available is the gravity tractor: hover a spacecraft next to the asteroid and let the spacecraft's gravity slowly pull it off course.
*** The gravity tractor requires a lot of lead time to work. If advance warning is less than 10 years or so, the best available current option is still some sort of nuclear explosion and hoping for the best.
*** There is also the very reasonable option of nuking the surface of an asteroid, not to annihilate it, but merely to deflect it slightly from its course (essentially the same effect as a gravity tractor, but with a bomb over a much shorter time span). While such an operation would still take years of preparation, it would non the less be quicker then the gravity tractor by far--you only have to build a space shuttle capable of carrying a nuclear warhead (or perhaps multiple warheads as a fail safe), rather then one capable of staying on course near the asteroid over a long period until the weak gravitational force finally deflects it far enough.

a.k.a Deus Ex Pyrobolum Atomicum by those who don't know their CanisLatinicus.

* In ''MassEffect'' a nuke has to be prepped by hand. Easy enough, However, the pick up ship only has time to [[spoiler:pick up one of your two human squadmates]].

a.k.a NukeExMachina by those who don't know their CanisLatinicus.

* Same goes for ''DeepImpact''. This time, however, the nuke is delivered by a spaceship that slams against the asteroid.

* ''LegionOfSuperheroes'' Season 1 finale ended with the legion trying to deliver a nuke to a suneater that was guarded by kill bots and a nearly-impenetrable shield. One team went off to beat up the mastermind, another team went off to temporarily disable the shield and everyone else had to buy the bomb squad time and a path to deliver it. [[HeroicSacrifice Ferro Lad had to set off the detonator manually.]]

*** Except that gravity is the weakest Nuclear Force. It takes a LOT of mass to generate any significant gravitational attraction. In order for this plan to be even remotely workable the spacecraft to be used would have to be the size of [[StarWars a small moon]], and therefore probably much larger than the asteroid.

** It's also a certain degree of Ax Crazy for the Russians to admit that they've detonated nuclear blasts to fix underwater oil spills at least five times...

This is a situation where nukes and only nukes will do. Something [[GoneHorriblyWrong Very Bad]] has happened, and only an uncontrolled release of nuclear energy can fix it. Occasionally, you get the curious situation where nukes are being used to fix a problem created by ''another'' nuke. Deus Ex Nukina is distinct from NukeEm, because the application of a nuclear bomb solves a problem. Such applications are [[HandWave sometimes contrived]] and occasionally approach the arbitrariness of GreenRocks.

The most interesting dramatic element of Deus Ex Nukina is the requirement that the nuclear device must be [[ItsTheOnlyWay delivered by hand]]. Robots and missiles can't be trusted; nukes are delivered by [[AlwaysMale men]]. The [[RidingTheBomb delivery method]] is half the fun and often involves [[ILoveNuclearPower physical contact]] with the device. The bomb should often have a [[FreudWasRight sleek, eroticized design]]. Frequently, the courier must also make the [[HeroicSacrifice ultimate sacrifice]] and stay with the bomb to trigger it manually.

AntiMatter sometimes substitutes for "futuristic" settings.

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* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'''s N2 weapons both use and subvert this. In the first episode, Sachiel is only disabled by one, and not for long at that. Israfel is actually damaged enough by one that it takes a week to completely recover. One plan to destroy Leliel involved dropping all 992 of the UN's remaining N2 weapons into it and containing the blast with an AT field; fortunately, this wasn't used. Sahaquiel is unfazed by the N2 weapons used against it. In episode 18, as a suicide tactic against Zeruel, Rei charges the Angel in Unit 00 and pushes an N2 weapon through its AT field, but it covers its core with a shield which protects it from the blast. The only time that N2 weapons actually work to their true potential is in ''End of Evangelion'', when one [[spoiler:completely annihilates what's left of Tokyo-3 and blows open the Geo Front in preparation for the JSSDF assault]].

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* In ''{{Armageddon}}'', an asteroid plummets toward Earth, and a spaceship is sent to deliver the nuke. [[spoiler:One of the characters must [[SomeoneHasToDie Stay Behind]] to trigger the nuke manually]].

* Doubly subverted in ''Fail-Safe'', when the only politically feasible solution to [[spoiler:the accidental nuclear destruction of Moscow]] is for the President to order [[spoiler:a US bomber to nuke New York City. The pilot, whose wife and children are in New York (the pilot resides there too) drops the bomb and [[DrivenToSuicide immediately commits suicide]] and one could hardly blame him]].

* Doubly subverted in ''DrStrangelove'', when the Soviet [[spoiler:doomsday machine is unintentionally triggered by Major Kong's [[RidingTheBomb famous ride on The Bomb]]]].
* Subverted in ''ReturnOfTheLivingDead'', when a nuclear artillery round is deployed to [[spoiler:sterilize the zombie outbreak, but instead only [[NiceJobBreakingItHero serves to spread]] TheVirus widely]].

* In ''IndependenceDay'', a nuclear missile fired by a B-2 bomber fails to NukeEm all, so Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith are sent to deliver a nuke (and an alien-compatible computer virus) into the alien mothership.

* Back in 1961, [[VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea Admiral Harriman Nelson]] used a nuke to defeat [[GlobalWarning Global Warming]].

* In the ''StarshipTroopers'' film, the mobile infantry use rocket-propelled mini-nukes to kill giant orbital defense bugs, and to clear out extensive subterranean bug colonies. Near the end, [[spoiler:Lt. Rico uses one in a MexicanStandoff between his fireteam and a group of bugs holding his [[AcePilot love interest]] hostage. After the BlastOut, one trooper is mortally wounded and [[HeroicSacrifice stays behind]] to keep the bugs at bay until the nuke detonates in his hand.]] Yet the idea of using those mini-nukes to, say, wipe out those charging swarms of bugs attacking them [[HollywoodTactics never crosses their minds]]. No, they prefer using automatic rifles against a sea of kamikaze Bugs.
** In point of fact, they likely only use the mini-nukes on "Bugholes" due to the fact that the confined space directs the blast. dropping one WITHOUT directionalization would likely result in frying both the BUgs AND yourself.

* In the film of HG Wells' ''TimeMachine'', a nuclear weapon was the device which catapulted the time traveller out of the 20th century and forward into the future. Given the film depicts a war during the 1960s, when it was made, it was evidently meant to be HighOctaneNightmareFuel, and for this 12-year-old (at the time I saw it in the early 1990s), it worked.
* Used in the 1991 film ''{{Godzilla}} VS King Ghidorah''. The main heroes decide to nuke a Godzillasaurus and turn it into Godzilla (Who was somehow wiped from history, [[Mst3kMantra don't ask]]) in order to save Japan from King Ghidorah. Turns out [[spoiler:Godzilla had already been mutated by the radiation from the nuclear subs in the Bering Sea. The heroes nuking him just made him bigger...a LOT bigger.]]

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*** [[MontyPython Shut up!]]

* In LarryNiven and Jerry Pournelle's novel ''Footfall'', an [[AlienInvasion alien invader]] is fought off using an Orion spaceship launched from near Tacoma, Washington. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion) Project Orion]] was a proposed late 50's, early 60's military program, to propel a spaceship by detonating nuclear weapons under a large metal plate to push it.

* In Lester del Rey's short story ''For I Am a Jealous People!'' aliens invade Earth. The news is all bad and human nuclear weapons don't seem to detonate. Later, [[spoiler:it is discovered that replacing the electronic detonators with human suicide volunteers does work. Of course, only the protagonist knows the reason why is that God himself has told the aliens to KillAllHumans and he is causing the detonators to fail (along with "natural" disasters)]].
** You'd think he'd be able to do the job himself.

* Played straight, more or less, in ''[[TheLaundrySeries The Atrocity Archives]]'' by CharlesStross. A warhead is carried through a portal by a special ops team into a parallel universe to take out an EldritchAbomination. [[spoiler: Turns out that this was the endgame of a big XanatosRoulette by said abomination to provide it with enough energy to open a big portal to Earth and come through to eat our universe. One man has to stay behind to cause a faulty detonation to stop an actual nuclear reaction, but being severely irradiated in the process by the subcritical plutonium assembly.]]
* The MD in Ender's Game, being delivered in a suicidal attack [[spoiler: against the buggers' homeworld to end it all]].
* Subverted in ''Forge of God'' by Greg Bear wherein [[spoiler: the earth is attacked by aliens wielding neutronium bombs]] and the alien ships that have landed on earth are destroyed by nukes. But it does absolutely nothing to hinder the aliens' overall plan. One character even comments something on the lines of 'we have nuclear weapons! Shouldn't the aliens be just a little bit concerned?'. No, they're not.

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* Useful even in the 23rd century, appearing at least three times in ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
** In the episode "The Doomsday Machine," Commodore Decker takes a shuttle and steers it [[spoiler:down the throat of the planet killer]] -- without an onboard nuke. But this gives Captain Kirk the idea to try Decker's plan with the ''USS Constellation'' [[spoiler:rigged to self-destruct in a big antimatter explosion]]. Kirk manually pilots the ''Constellation'' [[spoiler:into the maw]].
*** Actually it was just Nuclear Fusion. The Epynomous Doomsday Machine, neutralized the Constellations anti-matter. The impulse engines are fusion power, thus the trope is preserved.
** In "[[MyGreatestFailure Obsession]]," the vampire cloud, which has been freely munching on the crew, finally heads home to reproduce. Kirk beams down to the planet WhereItAllBegan to deliver a chunk of antimatter. [[spoiler:When it blows, it rips half the planet's atmosphere away]].
** In "The Immunity Syndrome," the ''Enterprise'' must deliver an anti-matter bomb [[spoiler:to the nucleus of the giant space amoeba]]. In a twist, Mr. Spock volunteers for [[spoiler:a separate suicide mission]], to deliver the probe that enables Kirk to target the nucleus.

* ''{{Hyperdrive}}''. After their disasterous FirstContact with the Queppu, the crew seek to avoid future problems by covertly nuking the planet behind the captain's back while he's giving a PatrickStewartSpeech.
* At the end of ''{{Lost}}'' season 5, several characters decide to prevent Oceanic 815 from ever crashing by nuking the electromagnetic anomaly that caused the crash (doing so 27 years before the crash thanks to TimeTravel.) The plan is simply to drop the bomb down a shaft. [[spoiler: It doesn't detonate. Juliet, after being pulled down the shaft and critically injured, must detonate it manually.]]

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** Not just in spirit, according to some versions of the fluff. Cyclonic torpedoes ''are'' crust-penetrating cluster nukes which basically liquefy the planet. Of course, [[DependingOnTheWriter according to other versions]] they're something else entirely...

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* In ''MassEffect'' a nuke has to be prepped by hand. Easy enough, However, the pick up ship [[spoiler:only has time to pick up one of your two human squadmates.]]

* ''{{Fallout}}''. In the first game, the BigBad can be nuked, or can be talked into nuking himself. Trying to kill him with guns results in the former. ''{{Fallout}} 3'' adds a hand-held nuclear catapult, and giant monsters. So, yeah.

* ''AceCombat 5'' and its prequel ''AceCombat Zero'' have the "Seven Pillars," [[spoiler:Belkans nuking seven of ''their own'' cities, in the face of an allied invasion]] on June 6, 1995 leading to a formal ceasefire later that year and a wave of anti-war sentiment that would last all the way through the Circum-Pacific War of 2010.
** After the 'Seven Pillars' incident mentioned above, [[spoiler:your buddy disappears for a while. Near the end of the game, you find out he's the leader of a terrorist group who believes that the only way to rid the world of all the misery caused by war is to start from scratch via nuclear weapons.]] This leads to a rather dramatic final confrontation.

* In ''[[UFOAfterBlank UFO Aftershock]]'', the only way to kill the Big Bad was by nuking it. Point-blank with a suitcase nuke. Most likely because it was that Big. Thankfully, timed detonation wasn't forgotten, and nobody had to stay behind. Showing these alien bastards the power of Earth technology was very satisfying.
* [[CallOfDuty ''Modern Warfare 2'']] features one of these where [[spoiler: Captain Price and TF141 attack a Russian Submarine Base to use their nukes to EMP the East Coast of the US. Though, only Price knows exactly what he is going to do.]] Surprisingly, no one officially punishes them for it right after, but there is kind of a [[ManipulativeBastard reason]] [[ShockingSwerve for that]].
* Happens to the Black Mesa Research Facility from the ''HalfLife'' series. After the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit fails to fight back the invasion from Xen, A Black Ops. team is send in to plant a nuke meant to destroy the facility. In the expansion pack, Opposing Force, PlayerCharacter Adrian Shephard comes across and disarms the nuke, but it is shortly after rearmed by the mysterious G-Man. Finally, in the outro of Opposing Force, a white flash indicates the detonation of the nuke and the destruction of Black Mesa.

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* Guardians in ReBoot seem to like this is the only option for dealing with web creatures in isolated systems. Sure it's not an actual "nuke", being inside a computer, but it makes a huge explosion that leaves a hole in Mainframes sky/ceiling which quickly turns into a massive tear.