History Main / NukeEm

** In ''Generals'' the Chinese have nukes. And you can build as many silos as you want. Each with a separate nuclear silo. You don't need line of sight to fire them either. DeathFromAbove indeed.

* In ''GundamSEED'' and ''GundamSEEDDestiny'' 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 [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin 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/{{Class 5}} 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 is GenreSavvy enough to 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.

** Weapons on the same or greater scale as nuclear weapons include: plasma torpedoes (200 meter inter-ship ordinance), engineered viruses (including the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Worldkiller Virus]],) [[SphereOfDestruction Vortex weapons]], and Cyclonic torpedoes (which burrow into a planet's crust and detonate in the mantle, causing widespread surface devastation.)

* ''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 ([[SlapOnTheWristNuke without destroying most of the landscape]]) when used. These can be used in dire situations and against particularly tough bosses to soften them up.

See also: FiveRoundsRapid, ImmuneToBullets, TheEvilArmy.

* The first major arc of ''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.]]

* Same as {{Independence Day}}, {{http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/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 dies with the alien ship.

** Depicted most tragically in Fou-lu's storyline[[hottip:*: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 [[KillEmAll goes completely bugfuck nuts]] when he realises ''who'' was used as the ammo. Suffice it to say that it does ''not'' end well for the EvilEmpire.

* The iconic Black Mesa Research Facility is destroyed by a nuclear blast at the end of the ''HalfLife'' expansion, ''Opposing Force''. Curiously you spend a large chunk of the game trying to avert this, but a few minutes after succeeding you see the G-Man reactivating the bomb from afar. Obviously you survive, as do a number of other characters who go on to appear in ''Half-Life 2''.

* ''TheAbyss''. While suffering from paranoia, Coffey decides to destroy the aliens by sending down an armed nuclear warhead.
* From ''RoboCop'': 'Get them before they get you... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSSVt7Mfkk Nukem]]!'

* In ''GundamSEED'' and ''GundamSEEDDestiny'' 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 [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin 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 is GenreSavvy enough to 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.

* In ''GundamSEED'' and ''GundamSEEDDestiny'' nuking ZAFT is Blue Cosmos leaders Muruta Azrael and Lord Djibril's ''first'' response. ZAFT creates devices like the Neutron Jammer and Neutron Stampeder to make sure that it can't happen again.

* ''TabletopGame/Toon'' supplement ''Tooniversal Tour Guide''. In ''Atomic Monster Theater'', Colonel Rock Daring's policy towards giant monsters is literally "Nuke 'em!''

* In the TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness, this was the [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Technocracy's]] answer to the Ravnos Antediluvian rising. Well, OK, it was repeated applications of Prime-enhanced spirit-shredding nuclear warheads, mixed in with the three most powerful Kuei Jin alive throwing down on Ravnos for several days while underneath a hurricane created by their powers to block out the sunlight, and then when the Kuei finally went down that cleared the way for the Technocracy to focus the power of the sun on Ravnos ''five times over'' by using multiple redundant orbital solar mirrors, at which point -- already completely exhausted of blood by his three-day kung fu vampire throwdown and having been repeatedly nuked in both his immaterial and his material body -- Ravnos finally turned to ash and died.

* In ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' many nations resorted to nukes, orbital kinetic strikes, and antimatter bombs to try and halt the TITANS during the Fall. The end result was the death of 90% of humanity and a mass exodus from earth. Not an uncommon modus operandi for [[WellIntentionedExtremist Firewall]] either.

* Subverted in ''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.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': This show gives us John Sheridan, who uses nuclear weapons no less than four times against seemingly unbeatable opponents [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome and winning all four times]]. In the commentary track for 'Thirdspace', Bruce Boxleitner even calls him "John '[[FanNickname Nuke 'Em]]' Sheridan", all but making it official.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': [[spoiler: After allying with Randall and gaining a permanent source of power, Monroe manages to build a nuclear bomb and attempts to use it to destroy Atlanta and cripple the Georgia Federation. Fortunately, the protagonists stop this just in time]].

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': This show will sometimes resort to this, with early seasons favoring the FiveRoundsRapid treatment of nukes (namely epic failure) to give the title object and title team justification for existence. There is one early case where a nuke is actually used to prevent them all from being sucked into a black hole.

* The Big Time from ThumbWrestlingFederation can cause nuclear explosions simply by winding up & slamming his opponent to the mat. [[SuperStrength Yes, he's that strong]].

* In the Sci-Fi channel movie ''Baal Lord of Storms'', 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.

* In ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', [[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, {{Superman}} and San Baquero. Since Eiling planned to get to Superman eventually and had long wanted to stop drug smggling from San Baquero, he considered it killing three birds with one stone.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'': The new series gleefully hurls nukes around with wild abandon. [[spoiler:In the mini-series alone the Twelve Colonies are hit by thousands of nukes: Helo reports seeing six mushroom clouds just from the one area his Raptor has landed in on Caprica in the space of about an hour. ''Galactica'' itself withstands a direct hit from a nuclear missile, although it sustains heavy damage and more than 80 casualties. ''Pegasus'' was also nuked a couple of times while in dock during this time. Nukes are also later used to destroy a Cylon basestar and Gaius Baltar appropriates one, allegedly for his research but this is later used to blow up at least three of the refugee ships and kill more than 3,000 civilians. The high-point for the use of nukes is when ''Pegasus'' withstands no less than three nuclear hits at pointblank range and shrugs them off to inflict grievous damage on the attacking Cylon basestars with its railguns. Nukes are later used to destroy the Cylon Resurrection Hub and in the stand-off between ''Galactica'' and the rebel basestar. In a moment of possible high irony, the ''Galactica'' finally reaches Earth (the first one) to find the planet irradiated by a nuclear war, which has left the planet uninhabitable. Finally, the Colonial Fleet uses all of its remaining nukes to destroy the [[VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Cylon Colony Ship]] (and most all of the Cylons) in the GrandFinale.]]

When faced with a MonsterOfTheWeek, military commanders show an unhealthy urge to move right up to the (current) [[NuclearOption Final Option]] ([[FantasticNuke or the local equivalent]]) when the monster [[ImmuneToBullets can't be killed with bullets]]. They never stop to consider using something else in their arsenal that's a bit more powerful than a rifle, but won't cause as much collateral damage as a low-yield (or, [[GeneralRipper depending on who is in charge]], a ''high-yield'') nuclear bomb . It's all or nothing. If [[FiveRoundsRapid hand-held guns didn't do the trick]], forget artillery, bunker-busters, fuel-air explosives, chemical or biological agents, just ''get the nukes''.

As such, note that NukeEm is only when using nukes is a bad idea, either because it's overkill or it's likely to backfire; using them even then is an option for a protagonist only after the threat has crossed the GodzillaThreshold. If it's a well-considered and reasonable choice, then it's the NuclearOption. Sometimes which trope a nuking falls under may be debated InUniverse. If a nuke is used to do something that a nuke really shouldn't be able to do, see DeusExNukina. If you happen to be playing a video game, and you're directly responsible for launching it, it's a YouNukeEm situation.

See also: FiveRoundsRapid, ImmuneToBullets, TheEvilArmy. 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 IdiotBall, depending on the size of the strike.

When faced with a MonsterOfTheWeek, military commanders show an unhealthy urge to move right up to the (current) [[NuclearOption Final Option]] when the monster [[ImmuneToBullets can't be killed with bullets]]. They never stop to consider using something else in their arsenal that's a bit more powerful than a rifle, but won't cause as much collateral damage as a low-yield (or, [[GeneralRipper depending on who is in charge]], a ''high-yield'') nuclear bomb ([[FantasticNuke or the local equivalent]]). It's all or nothing. If [[FiveRoundsRapid hand-held guns didn't do the trick]], forget artillery, bunker-busters, fuel-air explosives, chemical or biological agents, just ''get the nukes''.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' does this ''twice'', once in the first season in order to destroy Scorpius' Gammack Base (Though it isn't ''technically'' a nuke per se, the yield is similar), and again in the last season, where [[TheHero John]] creates a makeshift nuke to use as leverage in his {{plan}}.
* ''SaturdayNightLive'' parodied this in the (are you ready?) "[[RefugeInAudacity Attack of the Masturbating Zombies]]" sketch: a professor suggests dropping an atomic bomb on the town square, only to be told, "Professor, that's your solution for everything."
* In the pilot of ''Series/MacGyver'', the army plans to use a nuclear warhead to stop a chemical leak. In the end, Mac fixes it with chocolate.
* The new ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' gleefully hurls nukes around with wild abandon. [[spoiler:In the mini-series alone the Twelve Colonies are hit by thousands of nukes: Helo reports seeing six mushroom clouds just from the one area his Raptor has landed in on Caprica in the space of about an hour. ''Galactica'' itself withstands a direct hit from a nuclear missile, although it sustains heavy damage and more than 80 casualties. ''Pegasus'' was also nuked a couple of times while in dock during this time. Nukes are also later used to destroy a Cylon basestar and Gaius Baltar appropriates one, allegedly for his research but this is later used to blow up at least three of the refugee ships and kill more than 3,000 civilians. The high-point for the use of nukes is when ''Pegasus'' withstands no less than three nuclear hits at pointblank range and shrugs them off to inflict grievous damage on the attacking Cylon basestars with its railguns. Nukes are later used to destroy the Cylon Resurrection Hub and in the stand-off between ''Galactica'' and the rebel basestar. In a moment of possible high irony, the ''Galactica'' finally reaches Earth (the first one) to find the planet irradiated by a nuclear war, which has left the planet uninhabitable. Finally, the Colonial Fleet uses all of its remaining nukes to destroy the [[VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Cylon Colony Ship]] (and most all of the Cylons) in the GrandFinale.]]
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits'' (new version) likes to nuke them. In "The Light Brigade" the titular human warship is hit by two nukes. In "Trial by Fire" the US president tries to nuke the aliens who have splashed down in Earth's oceans.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' will sometimes resort to this, with early seasons favoring the FiveRoundsRapid treatment of nukes (namely epic failure) to give the title object and title team justification for existence. There is one early case where a nuke is actually used to prevent them all from being sucked into a black hole.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' gives us John Sheridan, who uses nuclear weapons no less than four times against seemingly unbeatable opponents [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome and winning all four times]]. In the commentary track for 'Thirdspace', Bruce Boxleitner even calls him "John '[[FanNickname Nuke 'Em]]' Sheridan", all but making it official.