History Main / NukeEm

* At the end of LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tylNqtyj0gs "3 Hunters Grand Finale" video]], [[spoiler:the hunters set up a trap near the End spawn point that they plan to use to kill Dream with the instant he enters the End. Knowing he stands no chance of surviving it normally, Dream opts for the [[SarcasmMode perfectly predictable route]] of just dropping a quarter-stack of TNT through the stronghold portal. What results is basically an interdimensional bomb, leading to the trap's destruction and all three hunters dying]].

* The German technocracy nukes Verona (core Italy) and about a dozen Russian cities in the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII of the Literature/ChaosTimeline.
* In ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'' noted several times where Nukes might have been useful, and WordOfGod said that if the legions of Hell were NOT in a place where quick military action was able to take place they would have Nuked them. It wasn't needed in the first book just because [[MugglesdoitBetter of the effectiveness of modern military hardware]]. [[spoiler:The second book however has three Nukes, and one of them plays this trope straight in a sideways way. One was launched by a Nuclear sub being controlled by an angel, and another was used to wipe out an angel army. The third almost killed Michel, who sensed the cart he was puling was a bit too heavy, and kicked it back through a portal.]]
* ''Literature/RejectionAndRevenge'': The premise is Osama Bin Laden getting his hands on nuclear materials during the breakup of the Soviet Union. New York, Century City, Las Vegas, and ''[[WhereIWasBornAndRazed Riyadh]]'' are hit on [[spoiler:February 11, 1993. Tel Aviv was also a target, but a terrorist was apprehended by Israeli before anything could happen]]. Iran, due to the terrorist fingering Hezbollah is blamed. [[spoiler:Bill Clinton decides to drops nukes on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard]].
* ''Literature/AGiantSuckingSound'': [[spoiler:The Aum Shinrikyo apocalypse cult, best known for its sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway OTL, obtains a nuclear bomb and '''nukes Nagoya, killing 2 million people''']].
* ''Roleplay/RockPaperAnything'' has nukes of various kinds used every now and then.
* ''Literature/ForAllTime'' has nuke gets getting tossed around by snowballs. They're first used to destroy three cities in Germany and three in Japan to end World War II, then to quell communist uprisings in the Philippines. After the Soviets drop a hydrogen bomb on Zagreb, it just goes downhill from there. Hands down the most impressive developmental example goes to [[spoiler:Korea's Great People's Revolutionary Hammer, a ''250,000 Megaton'' DoomsdayDevice - which ends up bringing an end to Korea after it's bombed to hell by a coalition of world powers.]] However, the achievement for most destruction goes to [[spoiler:the Soviet Union under Andrei Chikatilo. They wipe out China in a nuclear exchange in 1973, unleash an unprovoked attack on the Middle East in 1975, and finally turns its arsenal ''on itself'' in a nuclear civil war in the 1980's.]]
* Part of the dystopian nature of ''Literature/NoW'' is that nukes are used with reckless abandon by both nations and terrorist groups alike. As of this writing, the list of cities nuked includes [[spoiler:Colombo, Moscow, Tbilisi, Cairo, and ''most of Pakistan and northern India'']].
* In ''[[Literature/PayMeBug A Rake by Starlight]]'', Baron Minerva Tyrelos' enemies aren't above using [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill nukes]] in their assassinations.
* The Website/SCPFoundation has several references to "onsite nukes" being ready on certain sites in case of any notable containment breach, and some stories feature them actually being detonated (such as in the alternate universe featured in SCP-2935, O, Death).
* In ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars'', [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 the Guardian Units of Nations]] resorts to this after [[spoiler: the flood of villains in S3 E7 becomes too out of control for them to shoot down normally, forcing them to drop a hydrogen bomb on the city the monsters were invading]]. Tragically, it not only obliterates the whole city’s infrastructure, [[spoiler: but it results in all of the heroes at the scene being mass-trophified, only being revived when [[VideoGame/GearsOfWar Marcus Fenix]] arrives shortly after the events of the nuking]].

** Wilbur decided to do this during the Manburg Festival due to his SanitySlippage, wanting to destroy Manburg because he believed the beliefs that his country stood for no longer existed, and also so that Schlatt would lose power. [[spoiler:He eventually ''does'' carry out this plan during the Manburg-Pogtopia War, detonating ''11 and a half stacks'' of TNT with his BigRedButton, and leaving a massive crater where his country once stood. Technoblade quickly helps "clean up" the mess Wilbur left behind... by spawning two [[WeaponOfMassDestruction withers]] during the battle, generating even ''more'' rampant destruction for Tubbo's administration to deal with.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', when Finland decides to confess to the space police they are harboring stolen space money. Randy, along with every country in the world agree to get rid of Finland. Immediately, nuclear missiles wipes Finland off the planet in a matter of seconds.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'', [[GeneralRipper General Wade Eiling's]] ''first thought'' after he is told to fix the Doomsday situation is to drop a nuclear warhead (with a little kryptonite mixed in) on Doomsday and, by extension, Franchise/{{Superman}} and San Baquero. Since Eiling planned to get to Superman eventually and had long wanted to stop drug smuggling from San Baquero, he considered it killing three birds with one stone. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Amanda Waller is disgusted by this attitude]].
* Coiffio orders Model Robot in ''WesternAnimation/PerfectHairForever'' to "[[ElmuhFuddSyndwome Twansfohm into an A-bomb and bwoh yohself up.]]" for no real reason than he hates Model Robot. Model Robot complies, instantly (as opposed to the excessively long transformation sequence he displayed earlier in the show) and takes Coiffio's entire ship with him when he explodes (though Coiffio himself miraculously survives.)
* Creator/{{Toonami}}'s ''WesternAnimation/TheIntruderII'' sees this combined with HoistByHisOwnPetard [[spoiler:as WesternAnimation/TheIntruder is killed by TOM using the very ship he used to lure the ''Absolution'' there, overloaded the engines and destroying the ''Absolution'' and the Intruder with it.]]

'''Nelson:''' (''shrugs'') Gotta nuke ''something''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Check", Gumball's fantasy sequence of what he'd do with $5,000 depicts him running for president of the world and providing citizens with soda, pizza, and robot servants. When [[AIIsACrapshoot the robots rebel against their masters]], Gumball announces that he's skipping to the end and presses a button to nuke the country.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

[[caption-width-right:275:"Soon your base will [[{{Understatement}} glow like the sun]]!" [[labelnote:Explanation...]]See "The Flash" section on the UsefulNotes/NuclearWeapons page. [[{{Spoiler}} It's not pretty.]][[/labelnote]]]]

** In ''Film/Godzilla2014'', Serizawa explains that at least some Pacific nuclear tests were not tests, but attempts to nuke the monster. [[spoiler:Stenz intends to try and eliminate all three monsters with warheads, but this ends up backfiring when the female steals two from a train, and the Male steals the third one ''after it has been armed'', and takes it to the centre of San Francisco.]]

'''Mansley:''' You mean... we're all going to...\\
'''Rogard:''' To ''die'', Mansley. For our country.
'''Mansley:''' [[DirtyCoward SCREW OUR COUNTRY!]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere I WANNA ''LIVE''!!!]]\\

'''Rogard:''' [[DirtyCoward SCREW OUR COUNTRY!]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere I WANNA ''LIVE''!!!]]

* This is one of the most powerful weapons for the Terran race in ''Franchise/StarCraft'', dealing damage in a wide area which can wipe-out an entire army and heavily damage any base, destroying lesser buildings in one blast. The Ghosts who have to paint the target for the nuke can be rather eager to use them.

* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'' reveals that [[MadScientist Kokonoe]] keeps a fully loaded silo in range of her lab just in case she needs a quick solution to [[ArchEnemy Yuuki Terumi]] or whatever he may be cooking up this week. [[HeroAntagonist Hakumen]] (who saw a nuke strike against the Black Beast do jack-shit to it) is understandably horrified when he finds out.

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' reveals that [[MadScientist Kokonoe]] keeps a fully loaded silo in range of her lab just in case she needs a quick solution to [[ArchEnemy Yuuki Terumi]] or whatever he may be cooking up this week. [[HeroAntagonist Hakumen]] (who saw a nuke strike against the Black Beast do jack-shit to it) is understandably horrified when he finds out.

Very common in ScienceIsBad stories and usually involves a GeneralRipper (in fact, the TropeNamer for GeneralRipper made this his signature). A popular way of ruining someone's day with DeathFromAbove. Related to the IdiotBall, depending on the size of the strike.

* In ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'', this is the ''hero's'' response to [[spoiler:a giant moving pyramid headed toward Luxor]].
-->'''Robo:''' I didn't found this crazy organization to '''not''' nuke things.
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'':
** In the ''Future Imperfect'' miniseries, Hulk is able to send his [[FutureMeScaresMe evil future counterpart]], the Maestro, back to Ground Zero of the very gamma bomb test that spawned the Hulk in the first place -- and even getting vaporized by a gamma bomb at point blank range doesn't kill the Maestro completely.
** In ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', someone suggests nuking the Hulk and his Warbound. Maria Hill points out that this would just make him ''stronger'' and even more pissed than he already is.
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' has always had a thing about nukes, but two prime examples that stand out are Dredd infiltrating a Sov nuclear bunker during "The Apocalypse War" to use East Meg One's own nukes to destroy them to end the war and during "Judgment Day" to destroy every city that has been lost to the ZombieApocalypse in order to leave Sabbat with fewer zombies.
* In ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', [[spoiler:this is the government's response to the superhero war that threatens to engulf the world]].

* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': In a lengthy story arc in which Thor has gained the powers of Odin and become a WellIntentionedExtremist, the government lures him to a deserted island and nukes him. It's debatable whether this would have worked on [[NighInvulnerability normal]] Thor, but all it does to [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Odin-powered]] Thor is anger him to the point of crossing a MoralEventHorizon.

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}''. When the Saint of Killers obviously isn't falling to the forces of Starr's soldiers, Starr declares the battle lost and drops a nuke, wiping out the rest of his troops. Then the Saint emerges from the blast site. His only words? [[ImplacableMan "Not enough gun."]]
* In ''ComicBook/TheSecretHistory'', the nuke dropped on Nagasaki was really just to kill [[spoiler:William de Lecce. It's a matter of speculation whether he's really dead or not]].

* When asked how to deal with the Xenomorph threat in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Ellen Ripley responds with the famous line "I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure." In hope of a different answer the CorruptCorporateExecutive asks Corporal Hicks for ''his'' advice and he repeats the same thing. Of course, Ripley turns out to have been ''right'' in this case, and anyway there was only one uninfected person left alive in the colony. The line is frequently acknowledged in other mediums.
** The above quote is referenced in one of the ''{{Webcomic/Narbonic}}'' strips linked [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=9860 here]].
** And by [[http://nukeitfromorbit.com/ this webpage. Literally.]]
** And in the pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries''.

* After being made aware of the aliens' plan to exterminate the human race and strip Earth of all its resources by means of a telepathic vision, a furiously badass President Whitmore in ''Film/IndependenceDay'' gives the order to "Nuke 'em. Let's nuke the bastards." Subsequently, a U.S. stealth bomber attacks the alien spaceship over Houston, Texas with a nuclear weapon, which [[spoiler:predictably, has no effect on the spacecraft whatsoever]]. See also: HopeSpot
** As explained in more detail in the novelization, [[spoiler: none of nuclear-armed states were trigger-happy enough to nuke the aliens as their first option, and only considered it after their initial counter-attacks with conventional weapons proved useless against the aliens' energy-shields. Thankfully, even then they didn't panic and fire off every nuclear weapon in their arsenals: after Whitmore decided later that same night to authorize use of nuclear weapons, the remaining governments of all the nuclear-armed states still had the wherewithal to ''coordinate'' their response. Whitmore announced that he would start with ''one'' nuclear attack, just as a test strike to see if it would even work, and all the other powers like Russia or China agreed to wait and see what would happen rather than launch their own attacks.]]
** Later in the film, [[spoiler:the alien craft from [[RoswellThatEndsWell the Roswell crash]] is refitted for human pilots and used to smuggle a nuke up to the aliens' orbital mothership. Since the nuke detonates from ''inside'' the mothership's DeflectorShields, this time it's very thoroughly effective.]]
* In ''Film/{{Epoch}}'', the military wants to do this to the torus, and they eventually get a nuke inside the thing, but it absorbs the explosion, only shaking a bit.

* Subverted in ''Film/MarsAttacks'': Nothing Earth has done thus far can so much as scratch the Martians. The GeneralRipper has spent the movie insisting on using nuclear weapons, and the President, depressed at how nothing is working, finally gives the go-ahead. The Martian response to a nuke headed their way is... a small flying nozzle which intercepts the missile and sucks up the explosion. The Martian leader inhales the explosive gas and speaks with a squeaky voice, as though the gas were helium. It's possible that this was a subtle joke: when you fuse hydrogen (as in a hydrogen/fusion bomb), you get helium.
* Subverted too in the 1953 version of ''Film/{{The War Of The Worlds|1953}}''. The military throws everything against the Martians before reluctantly turning to a nuke as a last resort. Notably the civilian scientist hero does ''not'', unlike his counterpart in ''Film/IndependenceDay'', object to the use of nukes. The nuke fails to do anything to the Martians. Unlike the original H.G. Wells novel, in which the Martians ''are'' vulnerable to Earthly weapons, but theirs are so much more powerful that resistance is futile once the element of surprise is lost.

** In ''Film/KingKongVsGodzilla'' the military actually seriously considers nuking Kong. Luckily the heroes manage to find an alternative. Although, this proposal only appears in the English version.
** In ''Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla'', not only did nuking him not work, it made him stronger. Nukes against Godzilla. Smart thinking, guys. That's like [[ShootingSuperman using a flamethrower against the Human Torch]].
** Variation-In the 1991 film ''Film/GodzillaVsKingGhidorah'', present-day Japan decides to nuke the Godzillasaurus that would've become Godzilla (who is now at the bottom of the Bering Sea) so that he can fight King Ghidorah. Subverted in that, he's already been nuked/mutated...in a sense (by absorbing the radiation from all the sunken nuclear subs already present in the area) and nuking him...again...only makes him bigger and far more powerful than before.
** It should be noted that Godzilla ''can'' die from too much radiation (as seen in the film ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah''). The only problem is that doing so causes him to go into a nuclear meltdown which would result in destroying all life on earth and reducing the earth to a wasteland. [[spoiler:Unless you have an adolescent Godzilla (IE: Junior) around to absorb the radiation and reach his adult form.]]

** In ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', Serizawa explains that at least some Pacific nuclear tests were not tests, but attempts to nuke the monster. [[spoiler:Stenz intends to try and eliminate all three monsters with warheads, but this ends up backfiring when the female steals two from a train, and the Male steals the third one ''after it has been armed'', and takes it to the centre of San Francisco.]]
* ''Film/AliensVsPredatorRequiem.'' is a weird case :[[spoiler:The "Predalien" has already managed to overrun the entire town with its more classically-styled offspring. The military solution, after the recon unit sent in is quickly butchered? Nuke the town and tell those still alive to congregate in the center of the town for an airlift, so as to keep the aliens from spreading out.]] While this decision is completely justified [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure given the circumstances]], it's strange that they settle for that option so fast, given how little information they have on the threat.
* ''Film/TheAbyss''. While suffering from paranoia, Coffey decides to destroy the aliens by sending down an armed nuclear warhead.
* From ''Film/RoboCop1987'': 'Get them before they get you... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSSVt7Mfkk Nukem]]!' More seriously, the white government of the South African city-state of Pretoria threatens to use a 3-megaton neutron bomb as its last line of defense.
* ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead''. They nuke the zombies (and all the main characters in the process), but, of course, [[spoiler:that just causes the zombification juice to re-enter the atmosphere and create ''more'' zombies]]. Good going, dumbasses.
* In ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes'', the remaining human faction [[spoiler:worships a fully functional cobalt bomb.]]
* ''Film/TheAndromedaStrain'' has this subverted, in that the scientists order the nuking but the message doesn't get through due to ForWantOfANail.
* In the Sci-Fi channel movie ''Film/BaalLordOfStorms'', the military considers nuking ''a storm front''. While it's clearly the wrong option, there's a techno-babble reason given (something to do with disrupting electro-magnetic waves) to make it merely a bad idea and not simply a completely cracked out of their mind idea. Ironically [[spoiler:it actually ''helps'' by weakening Baal enough for [[SummonBiggerFish El, the God the heroes have summoned]] to defeat him.]]
* In the original ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' movie, Colonel O'Neil secretly brings a nuke through the Stargate with the team on its very first exploration mission. His orders? Nuke the place if there's any sign of hostiles. [[spoiler:They end up using the nuke to kill Ra.]]
* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the World]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist Security]] [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Council]] decides that the Avengers are going to lose the final battle and decide to just nuke Manhattan Island (along with all its inhabitants) to disrupt the wormhole through which the Chitauri army is invading. [[spoiler:Tony winds up nearly sacrificing himself to guide the nuke into space and chuck it at the alien ship instead. And their decision [[RewatchBonus makes more sense]] after the reveal in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' that the Council is controlled by Hydra.]] Needless to say, neither Nick Fury nor any of the Avengers were particularly impressed by their stellar display of competence.
-->'''Fury:''' I realize that the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.
* How the first few {{Kaiju}} were defeated in ''Film/PacificRim''. [[HumongousMecha Jaegers]] were developed specifically because no-one liked the idea of having to do this ''repeatedly''. [[spoiler:In the end, it's their creators' turn.]]
* Same as ''Film/IndependenceDay'', ''[[Film/{{Oblivion2013}} Oblivion]]'' has the protagonist Jack Harper smuggled a nuke to the alien ship Tet and detonate it to save humanity. Only difference is that the hero [[HeroicSacrifice dies with the alien ship]].
* In ''Film/QuantumApocalypse'', the Russian government nukes the Poles in order to knock Earth off its orbit in the hopes of getting it away from the strangelet threatening to destroy it. Not only does the plan not work, the explosions cause tsunamis that destroy UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.

* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', when air-to-air missiles fail to harm Doomsday, the military immediately suggests that they nuke it once Supes has moved the fight into the upper atmosphere. The President agrees over the objections of the [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure secretary of defense]]. Well that escalated quickly. [[spoiler:Goes about as well as you'd expect.]]
* ''Film/MegaSharkVsGiantOctopus''. The EvilArmy suggests nuking the eponymous sea monsters, to the horror of the scientists. Think of the damaged ecosystem! The risk to the population! The tsunamis! (Much of which could have been avoided by not luring these monsters into shallow water near populated areas like the scientists propose). No mention is made of using weapons ''designed to destroy underwater targets'' like depth charges or anti-submarine missiles.

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}''. When the Saint of Killers obviously isn't falling to the forces of Starr's soldiers, Starr declares the battle lost and drops a nuke, wiping out the rest of his troops. Then the Saint emerges from the blast site. His only words? [[ImplacableMan "Not enough gun."]]
* In ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'' this is the ''hero's'' response to [[spoiler:a giant moving pyramid headed toward Luxor]].

* In a lengthy story arc where ComicBook/TheMightyThor had gained the powers of Odin and became a WellIntentionedExtremist, the government lured him to a deserted island and nuked him. It's debatable whether this would have worked on [[NighInvulnerable normal]] Thor, but all it did to [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Odin-powered]] Thor was anger him to the point of crossing a MoralEventHorizon.
* In ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', [[spoiler:this is the government's response to the super hero war that threatens to engulf the world.]]
* In ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'', someone suggested Nuking the Hulk and his Warbound. Maria Hill pointed out that this would just make him ''stronger'' and even more pissed than he already was.
** In the ''Future Imperfect'' miniseries, Hulk is able to send his [[EvilMeScaresMe evil]] [[FutureMeScaresMe future]] counterpart, the Maestro, back to Ground Zero of the very gamma bomb test that spawned the Hulk in the first place. And even getting vaporized by a gamma bomb at point blank range didn't kill the Maestro completely.
* In the ''ComicBook/ArmorWars'' storyline in ''ComicBook/IronMan'', CorruptCorporateExecutive Edwin Cord constructed the [[PoweredArmor Firepower suit]] for a military contract. Among its [[MoreDakka many armaments]] was a low-yield nuclear missile named the Terminax, which was ultimately used to destroy the Silver Centurion armor. Cord later blackmailed the military into keeping Firepower for himself by threatening to tell the press that this nuclear-armed battlesuit was intended for [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill riot control]]. The "new" Iron Man was able to [[CurbStompBattle tear Firepower apart]], though, and shut down another Terminax before it could destroy the Stark Enterprises campus.
* The default strategy of ''Webcomic/BioApocalypse'' is to saturate the monster with nukes. [[SerialEscalation When it only hurts the monster but fails to stop it, they launch even more. When that doesn't work they unleash]] a [[spoiler:device [[MoreDakka that fires 50 nukes per second!]] And while it royally fucks up the monster, even THAT doesn't work.]] Beyond just using nukes as a go-to weapon of choice, Nuke Em seems to be the default strategy for everything, but [[CrapsackWorld considering the setting]] [[EldritchAbomination of the story]], [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu it makes sense]] in context.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSecretHistory'', the nuke dropped on Nagasaki was really just to kill [[spoiler:William de Lecce. It's a matter of speculation whether he's really dead or not.]]
* ''Franchise/TheDCU'' villain Cheshire once destroyed {{Qurac}} with a nuclear explosive to prove that she wasn't bluffing about having nukes or being willing to use them. It gets brought up from time to time, but [[ThrowawayCountry nobody really cares about the country itself being gone]]. And this was the reason ''why'' she chose Qurac, because she knew if most people tried to call her a monster because of it they would be reminded that she destroyed a country considered to be the terrorist capital of the world, and that secretly, they may have been glad she did it.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/ThePhantomZone'', General Zod's band carry out a FlaseFlagOperation by destroying all of Earth's communications and espionage satellites. Rather than verifying if they are indeed under attack when their satellites are shut down, both Americans and Russians opt for launching their warheads immediately.
* ''ComicBook/MarvelBoy'': The short original run depicted its titular superhero (despite his prodigious combat-oriented abilities) as wiping out a group of enemy agents by simply flying over their base and dropping a nuclear weapon on them.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: The Green Geni are not as negativity effected by nuclear radiation as humans, and are a group of xenophobic homicidal interstellar criminals who like to find worlds bearing life and nuke them from orbit as entertainment.

* ''Fanfic/FrozenHeartsRedWitch'': Reaching the peak of his VillainousBreakdown, Barton eventually decides to fire a nuclear missile right onto Candy Kingdom out of spite. Fortunately, Simon and Betty managed to stop the nuke before that can happen.
* In ''Fanfic/AvengerOfSteel'', Natasha observes that this has been the World Security Council's recommended response to the last four major disasters- Loki's invasion, Zod's attempted terraforming, the Dark Elves' assault and the attack of Ao Shun the dragon- and each time it's been more practical to let the Avengers handle things.
* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': [[spoiler:Jinnai]]’s reaction to the taking of his fleet is trying to turn Buenos Aires and a chunk of Argentina into a smoking crater by launching dozens of nukes.

* In ''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'', when Gendo asks Kaji how many UN warheads, dirty (nuclear) bombs or otherwise, are pointed at Tokyo-3 in case Misato and Risuko's plan against Iruel fails, Kaji's reply...namely, ''[[MoreDakka all of them]]'', meets with his satisfaction.
* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': Nukes are used all over the place to finish an enemy [[spoiler:or Nerv itself.]]

* Shown in ''Fanfic/LeviathanThuktunFlishithy'', the remake of ''Fanfic/HailToTheKingThuktunFlishithy''. Nuclear weapons were used against Godzilla in the past, and Israfel is hit with an N2 mine.
* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5378267/1/bConquest_b_of_the_bEmperor_b_The_World_of_Naruto The Grand Empire]] somewhat does this to Madara and his Zetsu's. But it is implied that they first had someone check to see what the impact of the fallout would be. Their {{plan}} for the effects of the fallout makes it this trope.
* In [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4236712/1/Project_Tatterdemalion Project Tatterdemalion]], the top authorities involved initially wanted to nuke the facility after the Hollows began rampaging. Bad idea. As Juushirou explains, heat and radiation kill a lot of things, but only if they're contained long enough. If the Hollow virus was sporific, all nuking the facility would've done is pop open the box the Hollows were kept in, and spread still-infectious Hollow bits up into the jetstream, dooming the world...and infecting the spaceports. And as Juushirou said, all they knew for certain was 'Alien,' and 'Dangerous,' so it could've indeed been sporific, or close enough for an apocalypse.
* In the Fanfic/DevaSeries [[spoiler:the Americans use a pair of [=SLBMs=] to obliterate a massive swarm of [[ImplacableMan Seeds]] that were heading for either New York or London. Even though nothing else significant was harmed -- middle of the ocean, and all -- Hayate was not happy, since she feels that it wouldn't be too much of a stretch now for someone to think to launch a barrage of nukes at Al Hanthis... which would obliterate Cairo in the process. Also, the Al Hantheans are utterly horrified once they learn exactly how nuclear weapons work. It is probably worth noting that there is InUniverse debate as to whether this was Nuke Em or NuclearOption; it did work, and [[WarriorPrince Yussef]] and [[SergeantRock Maunders]] don't consider it an overreaction. Yussef notes that point defences now make anything short of a nuclear MacrossMissileMassacre worthless against Al Hanthis and would rather not use another if possible, but is mentally prepared to do so [[GodzillaThreshold if all the chips are down]], unlike Hayate who absolutely refuses to consider it.]]
* In [[http://www.fanfiction.net/~mrevil Mr. Evil's]] WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}} fanfiction [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4267279/1/Hero_High_Sphinx_Academy Hero High: Sphinx Academy]], the Head of the Tempus Family questions why they can't just Nuke the city school they know the BigBad to be in. Her assistants reveal that from the structural design he already re-enforced the school to protected it against such an attack.
* ''FanFic/FalloutEquestria'': [[spoiler:Need to get rid of the [[HiveQueen queen]] of a [[UtopiaJustifiestheMeans brutally pragmatic]] HiveMind AND the Zebra [[TomeofEldritchLore Necronomicon]] at the same time? Blow both of them to atoms with the same [[FantasticNuke balefire bomb!]] [[SubvertedTrope It works.]]]]
* ''FanFic/AnEndToAllThings'': ''Someone'' nukes the town in the opening act, according to Okazaki's memories. Or will nuke the town, the story has a measure of AnachronicOrder with regards to that event.
* Discord's plan to destroy humanity in ''FanFic/DiariesOfAMadman'' involved this. It worked, but not quite well enough for his goals...
* ''FanFic/{{Eugenesis}}'' notes that a lot of Cybertron's surface has been nuked over the course of the war. Since its inhabitants are robots, it's not as dangerous for them as it would be for most lifeforms, but most of the nuked cities are long abandoned anyway.
* ''FanFic/Zero2ARevision'': When [[OriginalCharacter Shaun]] attempts to head to Little Edo to gather up reinforcements in hopes of gathering a resistance against the Digimon Emperor, the entire population of Little Edo ends up getting brainwashed along with a "surprise" should he manage to survive for two hours: a ''freakin'' nuclear warhead that the Emperor chucks towards Little Edo to prevent TheAce from interfering with his plans. Had Davis and (Agumon) not arrived in time, Shaun would have being outright obliterated by it.
* ''Franchise/{{Tron}}'' In the fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/9436712/chapters/21352286 The Contingency]]'', Alan Bradley solves the ''entire'' situation by walking right up to Clu, [[spoiler: delivering a very firmly worded KirkSummation, and then pointing out that if he and Flynn do not get off the Grid alive, Lora is standing by, prepared to reformat the entire hard drive, wiping out every Program and Iso on it. Clu, realizing that Tron's User is even ''less'' inclined to bluff than Tron was, [[OhCrap lets them all go]]. ]]
* In the prologue of ''Fanfic/AYoungGirlsDelinquencyRecord'', Tanya uses the dangerously unstable Elenium Type 95 as a nuclear hand grenade, and levels the city of Brest with it.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. The SpaceMarines have [[NoKillLikeOverkill no problem hurling micratomic grenades about]] when they're supposed to be on a rescue mission, but B'Elanna Torres has to talk them out of detonating an A-rocket too near ''Voyager'', as the radiation would be trapped by the electromagnetic field the ship uses to ward off cosmic radiation.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'', when the army's biggest guns do not faze the titular Giant, Agent Mansley reminds General Rogard that they have something else: [[TheFifties The Bomb]]. The general is frightened by the suggestion, but orders an offshore submarine to arm a missile. In this case, the FourStarBadass Rogard is more reasonable than the hotheaded civilian Mansley: Rogard is the one who commands the army to stand down and stop the attack. Mansley snatches the radio and shrieks the order to launch the missile anyway, a move that is unnecessary and stupid.
** It is not necessary because Hogarth has pacified The Giant and stopped its rampage. It is not a threat.

** Mansley, who exemplifies the idiotic side of TheFifties UsefulNotes/ColdWar paranoia, does not seem to appreciate how destructive The Bomb is: he suggests they can survive if they Film/DuckAndCover. When Rogard tells him he is TooDumbToLive, he looks ready to cry.
---> '''Rogard:''' That missile is targeted to the giant's ''current position!'' ''[furious]'' Where's the giant, Mansley?! \\
'''Mansley:''' Wh-- ''[looks over his shoulder at The Giant standing nearby]'' Oh. ''[[[OhCrap winces]]]'' we... we can duck and cover! There's a fallout shelter right there-- \\
'''Rogard:''' There's no way to survive this, [[LethallyStupid you idiot!]] \\
'''Mansley:''' You mean... we're all going to... \\
'''Rogard:''' To DIE, Mansley. For our country.
** In a final irony, [[spoiler: the warhead could not kill The Giant anyway.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'', the robot probe is found to be indestructible and the President wants to simply launch all the nuclear missiles on him when General Monger stops him.

*** The game also provides miniature nukes for the player to use in very, very small supply, launched by either the Fat Man or the [[NoKillLikeOverkill ridiculously overpowered]] nuclear shotgun that is the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Experimental MIRV]].

* Parodied during the "That Which Redeems" arc of ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', where the nuke dropped on the [[DemonicInvaders demon army]] turns out to be an acronym for "'Notification of Unified Kindness' Envelopes." Instead of vaporizing everything for miles around, the "nuke" blankets the area with thousands of polite yet stern letters asking the demons to please stop their invasion. This is still considered an abominable act by most Dimension of Lame residents due to the collateral damange:
-->'''Alt-Gwynn:''' Terrible thunder. Paper cuts impending. Litter unimaginable.

* In ''Webcomic/AmongTheChosen'', nukes are listed as ''conventional weapons'' by a space-faring MegaCorp, which use them almost offhand like any other ordinance. PsychicPowers on the other hand...

* From ''Film/RoboCop1987'': 'Get them before they get you... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSSVt7Mfkk Nukem]]!'
** More seriously, the white government of the South African city-state of Pretoria threatens to use a 3-megaton neutron bomb as its last line of defense.

* Extended in ''Film/{{Evolution}}'', but it uses napalm. The army gets [[KillItWithFire napalm to destroy a lifeform]], just after the protagonist discovers a smaller sample expands by many times after being touched by fire. They tell the army, [[TooDumbToLive they attack anyway]] and the monster becomes about a million times bigger.
** [[spoiler:[[LethalJokeWeapon And then the scientists kill it with shampoo.]]]]
** An officer does suggest using nukes, only for the governor to firmly state that no one is going to drop an H-bomb on his state.

{{Manga}} and {{anime}} is mostly immune to this, due to the NuclearWeaponsTaboo. In fact, [[InvertedTrope expect the opposite to be true]]: that even if it's proven that [[NuclearOption nothing]] ''[[NuclearOption but]]'' [[NuclearOption a nuke would work]], there will be extreme resistance to the idea. DarkerAndEdgier such stories may even play this straight, of those responsible for finally pressing the button considering everything up to [[{{Seppuku}} ritual suicide]], as a [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone result of guilt]].
* In ''Manga/SevenSeeds'', the Fuji Ship during the Minor Heat arc is basically an armoury stacked to the roof with guns, rifles, revolvers, anything that shoots bullets. Like the other Fuji shelters, it was built to sustain over time and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the meteor impact]], housing a big number of people to keep them safe. The ship did have another purpose, though, which was this Trope! [[spoiler:If the people on the ship thought that things were absolutely hopeless and there was no chance of recovery, they were to activate the rockets on the ship. These rockets, which included one nuclear warhead, were to be shot out and rain all over Japan, [[LeaveNoSurvivors killing everyone]]. This sequence would also start the self-destruct sequence of the ship, sealing all exits and exploding after the rockets were launched with a 24 Hour span of time after the activation of this sequence.]] Needless to say, the plot of the Minor Heat arc is to prevent this from happening.
* Amusing case in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': The army do try almost everything in their arsenal before resorting to [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo N2 mines]], and when they fail decide [[HumongousMecha giant human shaped robots are the best bet]].
** "Believing a giant human shaped robot is the best bet" only occurred after the first two episodes at least: based on the conversation with [[SmugSnake Gendo Ikari]] after expending their [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo N2 mines]], their thought process was more towards "we've used all of our strongest options. Let's see your inferior robot do better". And Nerv showed them, yes, they can do better... and since, the army asked for Evangelion intervention with haste every other time an Angel appeared. ... "Eva 'em"?
** Another reason the N2 mines weren't used was because they'd incapacitate the Angel... [[DestructiveSavior and drastically alter the ground around it]] (the characters remark on redrawing the map more than once). Contrast the Eva's, who at most will level a part of the (already submerged) city.
* The ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' series are an exception to the NuclearWeaponsTaboo, although its reaction weaponry isn't nuclear ''per se'' — it's an ''annihilation'' weapon, that is, an ''antimatter'' charge (and is itself eventually ''surpassed'' in power by dimension/fold weapons, which warp ''spacetime itself''):
** ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'': the invading Zentraedi are stunned that humanity has nuclear weapons because "Reaction Weapons" are LostTechnology to them. However, mankind doesn't actually use them until the final battle against the 117th Main Fleet, which, considering said fleet had just [[spoiler:annihilated most of the Earth's surface through a massive orbital bombardment]], probably qualifies as having crossed the GodzillaThreshold. It's notably the only time in the franchise the use of nukes is done ''without'' any kind of debate as to whether it's appropriate.

** ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}'': Lampshade hung in that, for all that it's implied that nuclear weapons are a weapon of last resort (Earth Command authorizing their use is seen as a big thing), ''every ship in the fleet'' seems to have unlimited stores of them (probably because the Protodeviln ship commanding their enemies is ''just that tough''). At one point, Basara even exclaims "Reaction weapons! Reaction Weapons! Any time something goes wrong, is that the only solution you have?!"

* In ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'', because of the "Thirteen Day War" that occurred centuries before the canon timeline, which nearly exterminated the human race, nuclear weapons on planets were considered a taboo. [[spoiler:Still doesn't mean none are willing nuke their ''own'' planets just because.]]
* Happens in ''Manga/GetterRobo Go'', after [[spoiler:Shin Getter Robo goes berserk]] they various governments make several attempts to try and stop it, eventually resorting to a nuclear strike. [[spoiler:The machine ends up ''grabbing the missile and [[CombiningMecha combining with it]]'' ]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' had [[spoiler:''Soi Fon,'' [[{{Ninja}} of all people]]]] pulling this as Bankai. Naturally, [[spoiler:she didn't like its nature.]]
** There's also the [[spoiler:Kidou Cannon]] from the first movie.
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', [[spoiler:Britannia decides to go with nuking things as soon as they get them. They decide to give the first one to Suzaku, who really doesn't want to do it, but he ends up doing it anyway. Schneizel takes this to the logical conclusion of nuking every major city in the world to achieve world peace.]]
** ''Manga/DogSoldier'': [[AfricanTerrorists Zardoz]] is willing to nuke Tokyo, while UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi plans to use a massively powerful nuke on the West.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' nuking ZAFT is Blue Cosmos leaders Muruta Azrael and Lord Djibril's ''first'' response. ZAFT creates devices like the [[AppliedPhlebotinum Neutron Jammer and Neutron Stampeder]] to make sure that it can't happen again. The Neutron Jammer inhibits nuclear reactions from taking place, and is ZAFT's primary defense during ''SEED''. Since the Blue Cosmos gets its hands on Neutron Jammer Canceller technology late in the war[[note]]Technology ZAFT had invented, because Neutron Jammers don't have an "off" switch and their own DoomsdayDevice (GENESIS, designed to [[ApocalypseHow/Class5 wipe out all life on Earth]]) needed nuclear fission to function.[[/note]], nukes become a viable weapon again. In the aftermath of the war, ZAFT know that mere illegality won't keep N-Jammer Cancellers from being used again someday. So they develop a much nastier defense in the form of the Neutron Stampeder, which ''forces'' any nuclear warhead within its area of effect to detonate. Thus, when Blue Cosmos attempts a preemptive nuclear strike early in ''SEED Destiny'', the Stampeder is activated and the nuclear-armed fleet is forced to nuke itself.
* Nukes were also the first weapons deployed in the One Year War of the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', by both Zeon and the Earth Federation. The Antarctic Treaty banning nukes (and biological/chemical weapons too) came about because before either side knew it, nearly half the human population had been wiped out in the space of a few weeks.
** In ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Gundam 0083]]'', the Earth Federation develops the Gundam [=GP02A=] "Physalis", designed for the express purpose of tactical strikes; it's armed with a bazooka that launches nuclear warheads and a massive shield packed with radiators to help it weather the shockwaves and heat generated by the nuke. Zeon remnants steal the Physalis and use it to attack the Federation's naval review as part of their master plan: a ColonyDrop on North America.
** Nukes show up again in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'' as Londo Bell is forced to take up a bunch of nuclear missiles to stop Axis from falling. However, Neo Zeon steals most of them to shove into Axis, forcing Londo Bell to use what's left.
** Nukes pop up again in full force in ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam'', when the Jupiter Empire invades the Earth Sphere. [[BigBad Crux Dogatie]] dismisses claims of violating the Antarctic Treaty by saying that [[LoopholeAbuse Jupiter never signed it]]. Dogatie is also using nukes because he's explicitly trying to inflict ''as much environmental damage as possible'' to Earth; he wanted the planet to be a dead rock. The Crossbone Vanguard uses their own tactical nuclear weapons against the Jovian forces, due mostly to the GodzillaThreshold having been crossed in their opinion.
* ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' expressly defies the NuclearWeaponsTaboo, with Militia forces uncovering a stockpile of warheads left over from the Dark History. The Moonrace tries to warn them about how dangerous the warheads are, but the Militia doesn't heed the warning until ''after'' they accidentally detonated one. Afterwards, Loran carries the remaining nukes in the Turn A's chest silos for several episodes, eventually using them to destroy a runaway space station [[ColonyDrop before it can fall on Earth]].
* In the ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' movie ''Our War Game!'', the film's BigBad Diablomon/Diaboromon ''hacks into the Pentagon and fires a nuclear-equipped LGM-118A Peacekeeper ICBM at Tokyo''. [[spoiler:The only reason why the protagonists aren't nuked into oblivion is that Omnimon manages to take out the BigBad with about a second left until the nuke would have been set off.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'', [[spoiler:[[TropeNamers Duke Nukem]] himself was once nuked by the U.S. government along with the Cycloid Emperor. But, being the Duke, he survived of course, as revealed in The Doctor Who Cloned Me DLC Chapter.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', [[spoiler:after pulling off the island, the Navy decides to nuke the aliens, deflecting Dr. Rosenthal warnings that they absorb energy with comments along the lines of "There's no time to study them." To nobody's surprise, the aliens absorb the blast and get stronger. Just as predictably, [[AllUpToYou it's all your problem from there]]. And then played straight by having the player use a ''nuclear grenade launcher'' on the alien space ship.]]
** In the sequel, [[spoiler:the military decides to do this to the Ceph Lithoship floating above Central Park. Even though it didn't work last time, to the same aliens that are attacking this time. And even though the blast would destroy much of the New York City area, rendering it uninhabitable for years even if it ''did'' work. Fortunately, Col. Barclay stalls them long enough for you to shut the ship down yourself.]]
* In ''VideoGame/WorldInConflict,'' this happens twice in the campaign. First a tactical nuke is called in to take out an overwhelming Soviet force headed for a "hold at all costs" level objective. Then, at the end of the campaign, you are racing against time to push the Russians out of Seattle before their Chinese reinforcements arrive and the president is forced to obliterate the city. And you can call in as many as you want in multiplayer.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'': Kane sure likes his nukes.
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer3TiberiumWars'', Kane's discovery of Killian Qatar's [[spoiler:apparent]] betrayal and alliance with GDI results in a [[VillainousBreakdown slightly angry response]]. His subsequent orders are to, well...
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'', Kane decides to nuke a small town just to eliminate the protagonist and his squad. Justified in that he just killed his way through a mansion filled with Nod's elite.
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'', Kane, dissatisfied with General Vega (an [[DrugsAreBad Eye Candy addict]]), decides to reprimand him. With a tactical nuke. Sadly, he misses [[ColonelBadass Commander McNeil]] by a few minutes.
** In ancient history, in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn'', you get nuked by Kane during the final mission.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'':
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'', Stalin launches nukes against capital cities of the Allies to ensure victory. Of course, the good guys disarm them in flight -- which they only knew how to do because one of Stalin's top commanders had defected out of ethical concerns over the nuclear weapons programme and how it was going to be used (in addition to Stalin's intent to nuke Allied cities, he was also planning to use Soviet armies as sacrificial bait to put Allied armies in a position to be nuked)[[note]]in that timeline, the Soviets were the ''first'' to develop nukes[[/note]].
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'', Chicago is destroyed by a nuclear bomb after the player destroys the psychic amplifier and the USSR has no further use for the city. A technical FissionMailed too.
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2: Yuri's Revenge'', the mission Power Play basically revolves around you trying to stop Yuri from nuking the city every ten minutes. It doesn't help that Yuri tends to use his first nuke to destroy your War Factory and you don't have a Construction Yard in this mission.
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', Soviet General Krukov and Premier Cherdenko go back in time and kill Einstein to prevent him from granting the Allies technological superiority. On their return, they find that Japan has become the Empire of the Rising Sun and is invading Leningrad. Krukov orders the entire Soviet nuclear arsenal to be used in defense of Leningrad. Nuclear what now? [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops.]]
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'', the Chinese have nukes. And you can build as many silos as you want. Each with a separate nuclear missile. You don't need line of sight to fire them either. DeathFromAbove indeed. General Tsing Shi Tao is noted to be ''obsessed'' with nuclear weapons, and is eager to use them in every combat situation [[WeHaveReserves without regard to the safety of his own men]].
* The Black Mesa Research Facility is destroyed by a nuclear warhead in ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce''. Shephard discovers and disarms the warhead during the chapter "The Package", only for the G-Man to rearm it a few minutes later. It detonates while he addresses Shephard on board an outbound helicopter at the game's conclusion, and at this he considers the Black Mesa incident finally taken care of.
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'':
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'': The [[TheCorruption Leviathan Seed]] on Skytown is protected by an [[DeflectorShields energy shield]], and unlike the last level the generators are out of reach. So what solution does the local supercomputer come up with? Assemble some parts they happen to have lying around the place, and ''drop a nuke on it''. It's called a 'Theronian Bomb', but is also referred to as a nuclear weapon, so presumably [[CallARabbitASmeerp it's pretty much the same thing with slightly different ingredients]].
** The Omega Cannon in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' is practically a portable nuclear bomb. It's the only weapon that can kill the final boss and in multiplayer, it kills anyone, including the shooter, instantly if they are caught in the blast.
* In ''VideoGame/{{DEFCON}}'' your job is to pretty much nuke the entire world (with the exception of your own continent). While several other weapons beside nukes exist, they are mostly used to shoot down nuclear missiles. Or shoot down airplanes carrying nuclear missiles. Or sink submarines that can sneak up on you and fire nuclear missiles. And all is shown in the style of the final scene from ''Film/WarGames''.
* ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint'' and its successor Armed Assault and VideoGame/ArmA 2 all feature nukes to some extent - though in keeping with the ultra-realistic tone of the games they are only used as a last resort by madmen. And their detonation, should you fail to stop them, is shown to kick off global thermonuclear armageddon. Particularly true in VideoGame/ArmA 2 bonus mission 'Eagle Wing', which starts off with your AH-64D moving ahead of a naval taskforce to engage Russian forces, but goes all to hell... A panicked "Pull Back!" message from command is cut short by a nuclear detonation, and your helicopter is smashed out of the air. You then have to escape and evade in a silent, devastated world (and this is well outside the blast radius, which covers most of the 100km^2 map!) with your character clearly panicking as an enormous mushroom cloud towers over the horizon and black ash falls from the sky. Incredibly well done.

* In ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}'': The [[GameBreaker A-Bomb]]. It nukes your characters and completely vaporises anything that isn't as overpowered.
* ''Global Effect'' (an early 90's PC game) would let you nuke enemy cities at will. Made the whole screen fade into white for a few moments. It was a guaranteed way to punch an ozone hole in the sky.
* The Carronade or Hex Cannon in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' is depicted as a particularly (and ''literally'') nightmare-inducing magical thermonuclear weapon equivalent. The really scary thing is in the power source and in the ammo; the power source is a princess who is converted into an artificial Endless so that she can be perpetually tortured, whilst the ammo consists of people with a close connection to the target being literally tortured to the point of a mental breakdown and then subjected to human sacrifice. It's the pain, rage, and suffering that ends up being the "warhead".
** Depicted originally as a plot-point in a town that was Hex Nuked, including literal Hex Decontamination Teams. [[spoiler:Even with this, it is stated will take many years for the hexed city to recover--which has had to be evacuated of residents.]]
** Depicted most tragically in Fou-lu's storyline.[[note]]Peasant girl meets dragon-god. Peasant girl falls in love with dragon-god. Peasant girl is taken prisoner by empire dragon-god founded 600 years ago, tortured horribly, and ultimately used as Tactical Thermonuclear Peasant in attempt to kill dragon-god. Dragon-god survives (barely) and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge goes completely bugfuck nuts]] when he realises ''who'' was used as the ammo.[[/note]] Suffice it to say that it does ''not'' end well for the EvilEmpire.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Postal 2}}'', [[spoiler: the Postal Dude Uses a nuclear warhead as a means to quote "Help with marketing." He uses it to also destroy RWS's ex-publishers, Bullfish interactive.]]

* The first major arc of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' ends with [[spoiler:the Americans dropping nuclear missiles on Tokyo. You later TimeSkip 30 years into the future, and not surprisingly, the rest of the world has been reduced to nuclear ruin.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', the Schwarzwelt Joint Project's method of erasing that world is through a shower of nukes. [[spoiler:As evidenced by a vision that happens in the midpoint of the game, it doesn't work. It takes the Cosmic Eggs to amass the firepower to destroy the Schwarzwelt.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', [[spoiler:the Four Archangels continued with the example set in ''I''. Any world they visit and judge unclean, they arrange a nuclear war in and open a gate to the Expanse so the resident demons finish off the remains of Humanity.]]
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' reveals that [[MadScientist Kokonoe]] keeps a fully-loaded silo in range of her lab just in case she needs a quick solution to [[ArchEnemy Yuuki Terumi]] or whatever he may be cooking up this week. [[HeroAntagonist Hakumen]] (who saw a nuke strike against the Black Beast do jack-shit to it) is understandably horrified when he finds out.
* ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'': Your tank's {{Smart Bomb}}s, which are easy to obtain, destroy all regular enemies on the screen, and hurt bosses for a lot of damage (without destroying most of the landscape) when used. These can be used in dire situations and against particularly tough bosses to soften them up.
** The enemy Red Star forces have the [[DemonicSpiders Havanski Atomic Bomber]] presumably sent after you once they find out that you're a credible threat. These guys drops A-bombs which instantly destroy you (and [[TotalPartyKill your party]] in Survival mode) [[OneHitKill regardless of shielding]] if one of them even ''touches'' [[AlwaysAccurateAttack anywhere]] on the ground!
* One of Axton's skills in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' lets him set off a mini-nuke when deploying his SABRE turret(with its own cooldown).
** The Nukem rocket launcher from the same game is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Don't fire at anything ''too'' close to yourself.
* In the ''[[Videogame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series, Hammerhead Missiles are nuclear-tipped [[PlanetTerra Terran]] missiles. A single Hammerhead is more than capable of wiping out an entire fighter wing or destroying a corvette [[OneHitKill with one shot]]. Pirates love to fire these things off [[MacrossMissileMassacre in mass]]. In ''X3: Reunion'', the missiles are simply labeled as "Unknown Object" until the [[LostColony Terrans]] show up.
* Near the end of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'', the United States government concludes that Raccoon City cannot be saved. In order to avert wide-scale pandemics of the zombie plague, they fire a nuclear missile. As the news report at the end puts it, "Raccoon City has been literally wiped off the map."
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' has Tall Oaks nuked to prevent the spread of the C-Virus, though the protagonists note that [[spoiler:Derek Simmons]] is more interested in destroying the evidence than preventing the spread.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': nukes are one of the most potent weapons humanity has against the far more advanced Covenant Empire, functioning as a BoringButPractical alternative to the Covenant's more exotic plasma-based plasma torpedoes and plasma bombs. Most UNSC warships carry a few of them, and they're used both for killing Covenant warships with proximity detonations and taking out bases, space stations, or armies via insertion by aircraft or [[SuperSoldier Spartans]].
** While effective, nukes have a few big drawbacks. One, they're not cheap; ''Ghosts of Onyx'' specifies that they're a rare and precious resource, and it's a major plot point in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' that the titular planet (humanity's military capital) just flat-out ran out of nukes a few days into the Covenant attack. Two, due to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law inverse square law]] they tend to really suffer against hardened targets at a range, which is a big factor in space combat scenarios.[[note]]For context, a 30 megaton nuke detonated at 100 meters would be the equivalent of a 3 kiloton nuke detonated at 1 meter.[[/note]] Three, tying into the latter, the need for a missile bearing a nuke to get really close to effectively hurt a Covenant ship gives said ship plenty of chances to either get out of the way or shoot the missile down with its point-defense lasers. Four, the battles of the Human-Covenant War are more often than not being fought on human worlds, and the UNSC would very much prefer ''not'' to nuke their own economic base if they can help it (they often can't, though).
** Of note is the UNSC's use of "vacuum-enhanced" loads which, via unknown means, somehow give their space nukes the ability to detonate with nearly the same effectiveness as they would in the atmosphere ([[https://history.nasa.gov/conghand/nuclear.htm see here for why that's notable]]). The drawback seems to be that the filler necessary to make a nuke like this takes up an absurd amount of mass and thus detracts from the volume that could have been used for fissile material - the [[https://www.halopedia.org/M441_Hornet_Remote_Explosive_System Hornet mines]] for example are easily [[https://i.imgur.com/8Wuy2pi.png bigger]] than the [[https://www.flickr.com/photos/75802166@N07/8372421999 Tsar Bomba]] despite having about half the given yield. The [[https://www.halopedia.org/M4093_Hyperion_nuclear_delivery_system Hyperion]]'s warhead is nearing B41 size yet, going by the fact that Master Chief wasn't vaporized through the window after being within a few hundred meters of one's detonation at the beginning of ''Halo 4'', its yield is far lower.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': nukes have generally fallen out of favor in the ''Mass Effect'' galaxy, due to the same issues that render them somewhat impractical in ''Halo'' (inverse square law, vacuum blast effects, enemy point-defense) being both present and magnified by the fact that every warship is both super maneuverable and equipped with GARDIAN laser systems that can shoot down ''hundreds'' of missiles before failing. The fact that they have far superior {{antimatter}} warheads, which are so common that even small private corporations can deploy them in backwaters like Noveria, adds to the general uselessness of nukes. Despite that, nukes being cheap in a universe where deuterium - helium-3 fusion is considered quaint civilian-grade tech does give them some niche uses:
** The Systems Alliance attaches small nuclear bombs ("small" in this context being [[HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure two Hiroshimas]]) to their recon probes in case they end up captured by the enemy. A pirate in the first game captures one and tries to use it to assassinate Shepard, though he conveniently [[BondVillainStupidity gives you enough time to disarm it]].
** Captain Kirrahe improvises a nuclear bomb from his small ship's fusion reactor to take out Saren's base. [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale He gives the probable yield as 25 kilotons]], but the resulting fireball is more like 25 ''giga''tons.
** Jack's loyalty mission has you placing a bomb in an abandoned Cerberus base to metaphorically purge her DarkAndTroubledPast. When the apparently man-portable bomb is set off, it turns out to be a multi-megaton detonation that causes a fireball that takes eight seconds to dissipate, as well as a shockwave powerful enough to rock large aircraft tens of kilometers distant (the shuttle had been accelerating away for well over twenty seconds by the time the bomb went off). Apparently a single cell of a single fringe terrorist group thinks nothing of disposing of such a weapon just to make one of their mercenaries feel better, suggesting that they're dime a dozen in the setting.
** In the third game, the minor Terminus planet of Illium is stated to have stockpiled a ''huge'' number of nukes in preparation for the Reaper invasion. While said nukes are explicitly stated to be useless against Reaper warships,[[note]]Likely because of a combination of their point-defense and the inverse square law rendering nukes ineffective past at most a few kilometers against such hardened targets - Reaper ships are routinely seen pulling dozens of gees within Earth-like atmospheres since the first game, so they'd need less than a minute of warning to get completely clear of the danger zone of even large nukes.[[/note]] their [[NightOfTheLivingMooks husks]], transports, and bases are a different story.
** Also in the third game, the turians end up mass distributing man-portable nukes to suicide bombers and deploying them in an attempt to slow the advance of Reaper ground forces. One particularly successful operation happens when said suicide bombers manage to get ''inside'' Reaper capital ships for processing, and then set off their payloads.
** The turians seem to use larger nukes in ground warfare as well - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv1OJ-vrgvo&t=0m48s you can witness several fireballs suddenly forming on the fortress moon of Palaven]] which are easily visible from space and seemingly dozens of kilometers in diameter, meaning they're either big nukes or {{antimatter}} bombs.[[note]]For context, a ~24 kilometer diameter fireball comes out to about [[https://nuclearweaponsedproj.mit.edu/fireball-size-effects 2.5 gigatons]].[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'':
** One of the first sidequests has the option to detonate the nuke in the center of Megaton, which can be done as soon as you leave the Vault. This is one of two acts in the main game that [[MoralEventHorizon automatically]] drop your KarmaMeter all the way down to Very Evil (the other is [[spoiler:infecting Project Purity with the modified FEV in the end quest]]).
** The game also provides miniature nukes for the player to use in very, very small supply, launched by either the Fat Man or the [[NoKillLikeOverkill ridiculously overpowered]] nuclear shotgun that is the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Experimental MIRV]].
** Since the game is set in and around Washington, D.C., a player may wonder what happened to the White House. If you go to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, you find... a massive, hideously-irradiated crater. Three guesses what happened ''there.''
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas: Lonesome Road'': Ulysses plans to use the remaining nukes in the Divide to wipe out both the NCR and the Legion, in revenge for the Courier inadvertently turning the Divide into a [[DeathWorld Death City]].
* In ''Videogame/Fallout4'' DLC Far Harbor, one of the ways you can deal with the radiation-worshipping [[{{Cult}} Children of Atom]] is to convince their leader to initiate "Division", AKA mass ritual suicide via a nuke in their base.
** From the base game, [[spoiler: you [[ButThouMust have to]] destroy the Institute if you didn't side with them. This barring the fact that the Brotherhood of Steel confiscates and studies technology, and the Railroad and Minutemen will gain everything from utilizing the advanced technologies for rescuing synths (in the case of the Railroad) and making Commonwealth life better in general (for both factions).]]
* ''VideoGame/Fallout76'' has a handful of nuclear launch sites scattered around the Appalachian region. Resourceful and determined players can seek them out, along with the launch codes necessary to use the nukes, to bomb any part of the region into Kingdom Come.
* In ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber'', this happens to [[spoiler:San Francisco]] in 1987. [[spoiler:There's also a full scale nuclear war annihilating ''at least'' Miami and Hawaii in the ending.]]
* ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' gives us Utsuho Reiuji (aka Okuu), who gained the power of manipulating nuclear fusion after eating a sun god (although her attacks don't use the traditional mushroom cloud, since she tosses miniature stars at people). She uses this power to ensure the fires of Hell keep burning. She's not very bright in canon, which fans like to interpret as her cheerfully throwing out vast spheres of starstuff at the slightest provocation.
* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/StarControl'' ''2'' it's mentioned that, after a nuclear exchange between Middle East countries that took place during 2015 -if memory serves right- that claimed several million lives, all nuclear weapons were stored in the so-called "Peace Vaults" so they'd never been used again... until the Chenjesu came asking mankind to join the war and they were re-opened much to their delight.
* This is one of the most powerful weapons for the Terran race in ''Franchise/{{Starcraft}}'', dealing damage in a wide area which can wipe-out an entire army and heavily damage any base, destroying lesser buildings in one blast. The Ghosts who have to paint the target for the nuke can be rather eager to use them.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Octogeddon}}'', the defensive parties against Octogeddon are rather trigger-happy with their nuclear weapons, several sending a dozen of them at once in the so-called "Nuclear Waves". However, they do not do any more damage to Octogeddon than any other thing in the game, and even when exploding in cities they do not cause much destruction.
* In ''VideoGame/PeoplePlayground'', one of the bombs that you can use is the Atom Bomb. It generates a huge fiery explosion with a mushroom cloud, and the explosion will kill everything and turn them into charred skeletons.
** A later update added the Fusion Bomb, which is ''even stronger'' than the atom bomb, with its explosion radius usually reaching across the entire map.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' [[spoiler:canonically ends with Hope County being nuked. It is later revealed in ''VideoGame/FarCry6'' and its ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' DLC pack that these nukes had been purchased by Pagan Min and that, as a result, whomever fired them was the person who had gained control of Kyrat.]]
* How the Zeboim civilization ends in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. [[spoiler: Miang Hawwa is displeased with how the humans she wants to play a role in [[GrayGoo her greater scheme]] are developing, and successfully agitates for a planet-wide nuclear war for the purposes of eugenics.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'', [[spoiler:[[TropeNamer Duke Nukem]] himself was once nuked by the U.S. government along with the Cycloid Emperor. But, being the Duke, he survived of course, as revealed in The Doctor Who Cloned Me DLC Chapter.]]

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'':
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer3TiberiumWars'' Kane's discovery of Killian Qatar's [[spoiler:apparent]] betrayal and alliance with GDI results in a [[VillainousBreakdown slightly angry response]]. His subsequent orders are to, well....
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' he decides to nuke a small town just to eliminate the protagonist and his squad. Justified in that he just killed his way through a mansion filled with Nod's elite.
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'' Kane, dissatisfied with General Vega (an [[DrugsAreBad Eye Candy addict]]), decides to reprimand him. With a tactical nuke. Sadly, he misses [[ColonelBadass Commander McNeil]] by a few minutes.
** In ancient history, in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn'' you get nuked by Kane during the final mission. He sure likes his nukes.

** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2: Yuri's Revenge'' the mission Power Play basically revolves around you trying to stop Yuri from nuking the city every ten minutes. It doesn't help that Yuri tends to use his first nuke to destroy your War Factory and you don't have a Construction Yard in this mission.
** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3,'' Soviet General Krukov and Premier Cherdenko go back in time and kill Einstein to prevent him from granting the Allies technological superiority. On their return, they find that Japan has become the Empire of the Rising Sun and is invading Leningrad. Krukov orders the entire Soviet nuclear arsenal to be used in defense of Leningrad. Nuclear what now? [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops.]]
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' the Chinese have nukes. And you can build as many silos as you want. Each with a separate nuclear missile. You don't need line of sight to fire them either. DeathFromAbove indeed. General Tsing Shi Tao is noted to be ''obsessed'' with nuclear weapons, and is eager to use them in every combat situation [[WeHaveReserves without regard to the safety of his own men]].

** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' Kane's discovery of Killian Qatar's [[spoiler:apparent]] betrayal and alliance with GDI results in a [[VillainousBreakdown slightly angry response]]. His subsequent orders are to, well....