History Main / NoManShouldHaveThisPower

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'': Thousands of years before the game, Lord Nerevar led the Chimer people to war against the Dwemer on account of the Dwemer's "blasphemous" research of the Heart of Lorkhan. How Nerevar died is recounted differently based on who is telling the tale. Some versions of it hold that his generals, after defeating the Dwemer, wished to use the Heart to tap into Lorkhan's divinity and become gods themselves. When Nerevar asserted that no mortal should have such power, his generals betrayed and murdered him, and went on to become [[DeityOfHumanOrigin The Tribunal]] and [[MadGod Dagoth Ur]]. In the game's present, it falls to the PlayerCharacter, who may or not be Nerevar reincarnated, to finally destroy the heart and depower the Tribunal and Dagoth Ur.

See also: TheWorldIsNotReady, StatusQuoIsGod, ReluctantMadScientist, and TechnologicalPacifist. If the power simply isn't used, for no specific reason, that's HoldingBackThePhlebotinum. If the protagonists aim for this trope but don't succeed, see DangerousDeviceDisposalDebacle.

* This trope runs the 1998 film, ''Film/{{Sphere}}''. The titular object is speculated to be of alien origin and its function seems to be to [[spoiler:make real anything a person can think of]] but the catch is that it also [[spoiler:makes real even the subconscious expectations and fears of a person's heart]]. Not surprisingly, the people who discovered it, upon realising its true nature, decide not only to get rid of it but also that they need to forget that it ever existed so that nobody will ever try to retrieve it.

[[folder:Films - Animated]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', after the city was sunk due to the misuse of their Crystal, the King believed it was for the best that it be hidden away from everyone...including his own people.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'', Scrooge eventually comes to think this way of the Genie's power. After everything that's happened, he realizes that it's just too dangerous for anyone to have access to the lamp. He claims that he has to find a way to prevent the Genie's power from being abused, even if it means wishing the lamp was buried in the center of the earth. The rest of the cast beg him not to do this since it would mean Genie would be trapped there forever. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Scrooge has already figured out a solution: he uses his last wish to make Genie [[BecomingARealBoy into a mortal boy]], [[IJustWantToBeNormal which is what Genie has wanted all along too]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Sorcery}}'', the Analander can decide this should they retrieve the Crown of Kings, observe its [[spoiler: mind-controlling powers]] and decide to destroy it. Flanker and Jann seem to agree with it also.

** It has a villainous and justified version. The World Government would probably prefer to destroy the Poneglyphs that have the only known record of the Void Century inscribed on them, with the possible exception of the one describing the location of [[LostSuperweapon Pluton]]. Said Poneglyphs are frustratingly impervious to harm, so the Government resorts to killing anyone who can read them. At the same time though, Tom the shipwright had the blueprints to Pluton, which was passed down by each main shipwright of Water 7. Spandam knows this and tries everything he can to get the plans before getting Nico Robin, who is the only person left who can read the Poneglyphs. Iceberg and later Franky end up with the plans; here it's discovered the plans exist that in case someone discovered the weapons and resurrected it for misuse (including the World Government), the plans were made to counteract them [[TakesOneToKillOne since the only thing that could destroy a Pluton is another Pluton]]. Franky destroys the plans, saying that once the plans were known; they would have to be destroyed anyways.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'' and ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': The conclusion their respective main characters ultimately come to, regarding the [[UnholyHolySword corrupted Holy Grail]].

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Sword of Kahless", the heroes embark on a quest to find the eponymous sword, a very important religious artifact to the Klingons. So important, in fact, that whoever finds it and brings it back to the homeworld would gain the cultural/religious/political power to take over the Klingon Empire. As it turns out, it seems to corrupt its wielder faster than [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The One Ring]], and after seeing her cohorts plotting to take over the empire and fighting amongst themselves over who gets to do it, Jadzia beams the sword into space. WordOfGod said that the sword was just a sword, with no unnatural powers; the lure of power and glory was what caused people to fight over it.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': When Q appeared in "Hide and Q" he endowed Riker with the power of the Continuum in an attempt to uncover how humanity might someday surpass his species. Picard immediately pressured Riker into resisting the urge to use this power, ostensibly to prevent Will from abusing it, and also to win a wager against Q in the hopes of making the God-like being sod off forever. Even though he is corrupted by the power, Riker ultimately decides to remain human and has the power taken away, with the moral being that humanity will take its own path without needing to be uplifted by Q. This doesn't stop Q from continuing to harass Picard once a season for the rest of Next Gen's run, of course.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' introduces the "Omega Directive," which is this trope applied to the Omega molecule--a super-powerful substance which, if mishandled, can not only blow up anything around, but also turn entire sectors of space into a NoWarpingZone. If Omega is detected, [[GodzillaThreshold Starfleet must do anything necessary to destroy it, with all other directives - even the Prime Directive itself - rescinded]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho''
** When the Doctor alters a fixed point in time in "The Waters of Mars" and thinks of himself as [[AGodAmI "the Time Lord Victorious"]], with the ability to dictate the laws of time and manipulate the course of history to whatever he wants, Captain Brook tries to convince him that nobody should be able to do that. [[spoiler: He replies "Tough", and says it's for him to decide the morality of his actions. It takes Brook's suicide to shock him back to reality.]]
** TheMaster has, at least twice, offered the Doctor joint or even ''total'' control of their superweapon of the week, daring the Doctor to rule the universe benevolently. Both times, the Doctor refused for this reason (plus, they'd find ruling over anything soul-crushingly dull).
** The Doctor comes to this conclusion about the Key to Time at the end of "The Armageddon Factor" and helps Romana reach the conclusion by hamming it up and pretending he went mad with power.

* At the end of a series 2 episode of Series/{{Spooks}} the team catches a hacker who has a program which enables him to hack any computer connected to the internet (he worked with the people who designed the internet in the early days, and has a back-door essentially). After recovering the computer with the hacking program on it, and considering what the government and politicians will do with it the team chuck it in the Thames.

* PiratesoftheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides: The reason why [[spoiler: the Spaniards destroy the Fountain of Youth at the climax, stating that only God can grant eternal life.]]

*** This comes up in the [[{{Defictionalization}} defictionalized]] edition of ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard''. Dumbledore's commentary on "The Tale of the Three Brothers" (aka "TheOneWith The Deathly Hallows") downplays or outright denies the existence of the Hallows, but the introduction to the tome suggests that he's keeping the truth to himself to prevent others from making the same mistakes that he did.

* ''Fanfic/TheMetropolitanMan'': Motivated almost entirely by this trope. Lex Luthor actually takes little issue with Superman's crime-stopping proclivities, but reasons that since Superman could potentially end all life on the planet, then no matter how unlikely that outcome might be, Lex needs to dedicate himself completely to ending that threat.

'''The Machine:''' ''[via [[spoiler:Root]]]'' No. I don't belong to anyone anymore. You, however, are mine. I protect you. The only thing you love lives at 254 Wendell Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. I guard it, same as I guard you. Do not question my judgment. Do not pursue me or my agents. Trust in me. I am always watching.
** For most of season 3, the team is [[spoiler:trying to prevent the creation of Samaritan, an AI like the Machine but with none of the safeguards or moral programming, which can be controlled and set against anyone the designers don't like. This turns out to not be the case, as Decima is actually creating Samaritan so that it can rule the world, not them. So which is worse--evil people controlling an evil god, or the other way around?]]

* Episode Two of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' has Eli Vance snaps over the discovery of the Borealis research vessel still being around. Considering the ship belongs to Aperture, the rival to Black Mesa that infamously does dangerous experiments deliberately ForScience, it makes that the research done on the ship is just as bad. Eli is plagued more emotional trauma from the first game, in addition to [[MyGreatestFailure his mistake of not preventing the whine thing when he had the chance]], and what happened after that, he is near the point of insanity where the destruction of the ship and all of its research is the only thing he thinks about it.

* In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', Adam can invoke this trope with the [[spoiler: [[KillEmAll "Destroy Panchaea"]] ending. He says that humanity has the option of determining the future of augmentation, and that no one should have the ability to influence that decision. Not even himself. So he destroys Panchea and kills (seemingly) everyone with the power to do so.]]

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', this is an awed Simmons' response when [[TheSlacker Grif]] discusses his plan to grab a [[InvisibilityCloak cloaking device]], [[MundaneUtility thus allowing him to nap whenever and wherever he wanted]].

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' involving an invisible man, Castle and Beckett learn that the VictimOfTheWeek stole research data from a government facility trying to develop an invisibility suit, so that he may perfect it as part of a revenge scheme cooked up with his friend. After nearly crossing the line, he realizes that invisibility is too much power for humanity to have and wiped out the facility's research and planned to destroy the suit, only for it to stolen by the killer. In the end, Beckett and Castle arrest the killer and the head researcher takes custody of the suit. Realizing that the victim was right about the suit being a DealWithTheDevil, Castle warned the researcher not to lose her soul.

* Dr. Gerald Robotnik in ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' managed to both invoke this trope ''and'' become the recipient of it. He was initially a ReluctantMadScientist contracted by the former president of the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture United Federation]] to help with their ImmortalitySeeker research and only agreed to help his IllGirl granddaughter Maria after first refusing on these grounds. After he created the UltimateLifeForm VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog, a later administration turned on him believing Shadow to be too dangerous to be left alone and invaded Gerald's space station, killing his granddaughter and turning him into an OmnicidalManiac.

In any case, the choice will usually be clear. The source of power must be discarded, destroyed, or sealed back in its tin. This may be a final resolution, a return to [[StatusQuoIsGod the status quo]], or even the beginning of a quest to get rid of the power. If the proper choice isn't made, this may mark the StartOfDarkness.

WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility, but Power Corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Some powers -- and responsibilities -- are too great for ''anyone'' to be trusted with.

* ''Fanfic/TheMetropolitanMan'': Motivated almost entirely by this trope. Lex Luthor actually takes little issue with Superman's crime-stopping proclivities, but reasons that since he could potentially end all life on the planet, then no matter how unlikely that outcome might be, he needs to dedicate himself completely to ending that threat.

* In ''Series/TheBoys2019'', [[EvilInc Vought]] develops a variant of their SuperSerum Compound V that [[EmpoweredBadassNormal gives non-Supes powers]] temporarily, with the intent of selling it to the military. [[WonderWomanWannabe Queen Maeve]] smuggles some to The Boys to [[CapeBusters give them a fighting chance against]] [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent Payback]] and eventually [[BigBad Homelander]]. However, [[TheLeader Butcher]] and [[NaiveNewcomer Hughie]] are the only ones willing to use it as this trope is fully in effect and they butt heads with the others over it, especially Mother's Milk who lost his family to [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Supes]] and says the trope name word-for-word as he argues that they need to draw the line somewhere.