History Main / OminousObsidianOoze

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil Skin of Evil]]", an away team beaming down to a planet to rescue a crashed shuttle finds their path blocked by a pool of tar-like black liquid, which moves to bar their passage them when they try and maneuver around it. It turns out to be a living entity called Armus, who is literally MadeOfEvil: he's the cast-off imperfection of a race that [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence transcended]] a long time ago, and while he can take on a roughly humanoid form, he always retains his tarry complexion. [[spoiler:On top of screwing around with Riker, Geordi, Troi and Data, he also murders Tasha Yar.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has the black blood, a freezing cold, pitch black liquid that seems from the walls and runs in rivers through a vast cavern in the deepest level of the Darklands. Not only is it cold enough to cause harm, it's unholy and mutagenic, causing creatures to become amphibious monstrosities with additional abilities even as it slowly kills all but the strongest hosts. Drinking it also provides a power boost to necromantic spells, assuming it doesn't kill you. Naturally the stuff is a prized commodity among liches, exiled fiends, derro, driders, and nearly every nasty under the earth with either sanity or morals in short supply.

* One of the monsters featured in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is the Black Pudding, a living puddle of corrosive black slime that engulfs anything and everything it can.[[note]]No relation (presumably) to ''actual'' black pudding, which is one of Britain's many proud entrants in the field of ForeignQueasine, being a sausage made with pig's blood that is culinarily somewhat divisive.[[/note]]

* In ''Series/{{AmericanGods2017}}'', [[LoveGoddess Bilquis]] hosts an orgy where several worshippers dance naked. A king tries to overthrow her, and instead has sex with her. When he climaxes, he melts into a black liquid, and the worshippers also melt into another large body of the same liquid that slides into her vagina.

* In ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'', [[spoiler:the Hunger, an evil sentient plane of existence, is described as tar-like with the coloring of black opal]].
* In ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'', this often pops up in association with [[ReligionOfEvil the People's Church of the Divine Host]], most notably when [[spoiler:Trevor Herbert rescues Julia Montauk from a whole room full of it]]. [[spoiler:This is because the People's Church worships [[GodOfDarkness the Dark]], and the "dark water" is a physical manifestation of the Dark itself.]]

** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-106 SCP-106]] ("The Old Man") is dripping with a caustic black slime which eats through anything, even the 40 layers of lead-lined steel that lines its cell. The fluid is apparently meant to aid "digestion".

** SCP-106 ("The Old Man") is dripping with a caustic black slime which eats through anything, even the 40 layers of lead-lined steel that lines its cell. The fluid is apparently meant to aid "digestion".

Also, consider HazardousWater and the PrimalFear it evokes. Water can be dark and inhospitable, it can engulf and drown you, and it may conceal nasty creatures. Ominous Obsidian Ooze shares these scary qualities and {{exaggerate|dTrope}}sthem.

Also, consider HazardousWater and the PrimalFear it evokes. Water can be dark and inhospitable, it can engulf and drown you, and it may conceal nasty creatures. Ominous Obsidian Ooze shares these scary qualities and [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerates]] them.

* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho:''
** In "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho133CityOfSpires City Of Spires]]", a visit to 18th-century Scotland reveals that the place is littered with anachronistic pumpjacks owned by the Hirudin Corporation. The Doctor soon discovers that what they're extracting isn't oil, though it looks the part: called "Black Water," it's often seen [[BodyHorror being pumped into unwilling victims]] [[ReforgedIntoAMinion to create]] [[TheBrute Red Caps]], the corporation's SuperpoweredMooks.
** The next episode in line, "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho134TheWreckOfTheTitan The Wreck Of The Titan]]", sends the Doctor and Jamie on a complicated voyage that somehow ends with them aboard Captain Nemo's ''Nautilus'', hunting giant squid for their ink. As it turns out, when refined, the ink is identical to the Black Water. Also, harvesting it is a good way of enraging even bigger squid...
** The conclusion of the trilogy, "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho135LegendOfTheCybermen Legend Of The Cybermen]]" reveals the truth: [[spoiler:all three stories are set in the Land of Fiction, and the Black Water is actually ink, a precious resource used to recreate fictional characters killed in battle with the Cybermen. Though more beneficial than the last two instances, it's still played for tension when it turns out that fictional characters ''bleed'' ink -- revealing that the Jamie who's been travelling with the Doctor for the past few episodes isn't real]].

* In all of the ComicBook/{{Venom}} Symbiote's incarnations, it is a [[BlobMonster shapeshifting blob of black gunk]] that can bond with a host and give them superhuman powers ([[TheCorruption usually at]] [[HorrorHunger great cost]]). However, as a species the Symbiotes vary in color. ComicBook/{{Carnage}} is blood-red.

* In the ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6115555/1/The-Way-Is-Shut The Way Is Shut,]]'' a recon team investigates the ruins of North Korea in the wake of the ZombieApocalypse, eventually finding the entrance to the UndergroundCity the population retreated to. However, one of the doors is leaking a black ooze that "smelled of death", the result of rotten flesh decomposing to the point of liquefaction and mixing with floodwater. Either because the pumps have failed or because there's no-one left alive to operate them, a huge lake full of corpses has built up behind the doors -- and at least some of them are zombies. And if that black slime is leaking out ''now'', [[spoiler:it won't be long until the hastily-built shelter bursts open and releases all those millions of zombies back into the world]].
* In ''Fanfic/PokemonMysteryDungeonLostTracksOfTime'', [[spoiler: Giratina]] bleeds an "impossible black" substance that eats away at any matter it contacts - [[TorsoWithAView including other pokemon]]. [[spoiler: Ingo and Emmet also bleed a similar black substance, though it does not appear to have the same destructive capabilities as Giratina's.]]

* In ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', when Agent Smith gains the ability to [[MesACrowd clone himself]], this covers the victim’s body before they [[CloneByConversion transform into a Smith clone.]] Seen again in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions''

* In ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'', everything in the once-beautiful, now-accursed city of Elantris is covered in a grimy blackish substance, and anyone who lives there rapidly gets covered in it too. Unusually for this trope, it’s turns out that it’s not fundamentally harmful, can be cleaned off with sustained effort, and has a mundane explanation: it’s a type of phosphorescent microbe that made the buildings shine during the city’s glory days and that died when the city, in effect, lost its power source.
* Most representations of Creator/HPLovecraft's shoggoths ({{Blob Monster}}s that are arguably some of the most fearsome non-godlike entities of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos) usually has them as gigantic masses of black or very dark metamorphic sludge, from which they constantly extrude and retract limbs, maws and sensory organs.
* ''Literature/ThePrismPentad'': when Rikus's sword, the magical R'Kard's Bane is snapped, an ominous, tar-like substance ooze from the blade, which is implicitly connected to the Shadow people. A handful of this substance sprayed out of the broken tip spells the end of one of the Sorcerer Kings, while [[spoiler:the Dragon itself is slain when Rikus willingfully snaps the sword into his body, dousing him in a growing shower of black slime that kills him from good and forces him into his true form as he dies.]]
* "Literature/Slime1953" by Creator/JosephPayneBrennan: The title creature is a black amorphous {{blob|Monster}} from the bottom of the sea.

* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', Luxans have an unusual biological quirk that [[BizarreAlienBiology causes their blood to become dangerously toxic upon exposure to air]]; when this happens, the blood turns a shade of red so dark it appears ''black''. The only cure for this is for the wound to be repeatedly pummeled to stimulate the blood flow and cleanse the poison -- whereupon the black blood turns transparent and runs clear until the wound heals.

* In ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'', this often pops up in association with [[ApocalypseCult the People’s Church of ]][[ReligionOfEvil the Divine Host]], most notably when [[spoiler:Trevor Herbert rescues Julia Montauk from a whole room full of it]]. [[spoiler:This is because the People’s Church worships the [[GodOfDarkness Dark]], and the “dark water” is a physical manifestation of the Dark itself]].

* Oozium 238 from ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Dual Strike]]'' is a slow-moving, black blob-like bioweapon developed by the Black Hole army, and is capable of [[OneHitKill instantly dissolving anything it touches]].

* A recurring element in ''VideoGame/CallOfTheSea''. The island produces a mysterious black ooze that either drives people murderously insane or [[spoiler:morphs them into a [[FishPeople Fish Person]]]].

* ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' shows black goo flying around whenever [[spoiler:an X-parasite alters or mimicks an host]]. Previous games used some kind of distortion/pixelation effect.

* In ''VideoGame/Prey2017'', Typhon lifeforms all appear to be composed of moulded threads of glistening black oil, from the tiny shapeshifting Mimics to the gigantic Nightmares, and are uniformly incapable of empathy for anything other than themselves - hence ongoing threat of AlienInvasion. [[spoiler: Subverted in the finale, in which a Typhon life-form can gain the ability to empathize, potentially saving the day.]]
* The FesteringFungus in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'' covers many locations in thick sheets of black, oozing mold, and also creates [[MushroomMan Mushroom Men]] comprised of tangled ropes of fungal matter. Worse still, it's also capable of infesting people like the [[HillbillyHorrors Baker family]], enhancing their strength, driving them insane, and [[spoiler:rendering them subservient to [[BigBad Eveline]], who emits this stuff by nature]].
* Thick, [[EvilSmellsBad foul-smelling]] black slime is secreted by hosts of the Ourobouros virus in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5''.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''

* ''VideoGame/SongOfHorror'': One of the calling cards of [[EldritchAbomination the Presence]] is a tarry black ooze. Revenants are slathered with it, the Darkness survival setpiece is always kicked off by the walls and ceiling being taken over by it, and a few times throughout the game it shows up as an obstacle that can only be [[WeakenedByTheLight burned off by particularly intense light]].

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', the Creatures of Grimm are born from pools of black ooze that litter the landscape of [[BigBad Salem's]] domain. Periodically, a new Grimm will drag itself out of the ooze and continue with their single-minded mission of killing all of humanity. Volume 6 reveals these pools to be the Pools of Annihilation, [[spoiler:the liquified essence of [[DestroyerDeity the God of Darkness]] and carry his terrible power.]]

* The Treasure Monster in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' is a jeweled mask that can create and control seemingly limitless quantities of creepy black goop, ususally molding it into a creepy four-legged body for itself.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': Aku spends most of his time on Earth as a pool of pitch black goop resembling a tar pit, though later on a tree-like spire rises out of its middle. Any living thing that touches this goop is slowly pulled in with tremendous force, and their matter is converted into more of the goop, enlarging the pool. It's only when Jack's father fires an enchanted arrow at the substance does it convert Aku into his present-day (and future) form.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'': Brushogun used to be a normal artist until he turned to dark magic to make one of his creations alive. The price was his own transformation into an ink-filled, paper-skinned entity with the ability to create inky minions. Both Brushogun and the minions can look normal, but their true form is pure ink.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog''

* In ''Film/{{Overlord}},'' the substance the Nazis are experimenting with is literally petroleum tar. However, it contains a chemical found nowhere else except a little town in France that is the active ingredient in their SuperSerum, which is bright red when distilled. However, it's distilled by injecting people with the raw tar and extracting it from their blood.

* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': In [[NotSoSafeHarbor Rusty Bucket Bay]], the HMS Gruntilda floats in a pool of oily water. If Banjo and Kazooie swim in it, it drains their OxygenMeter twice as fast as regular water.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Mr. Incredible is subdued in Syndrome's SupervillainLair by dozens of unremovable "balloons" of black goo that expand and completely engulf him.

* One of the monsters featured in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is the Black Pudding, a living puddle of corrosive black slime that engulfs anything and everything it can.

In fiction, not all harmful substances take the form of a [[SicklyGreenGlow sickly green]] poison that [[PoisonIsCorrosive eats through anything it touches]]: indeed, there's a growing tendency for harmful, deadly or just plain evil substances to be depicted as glistening black slime, often reminiscent of oil, tar or even ink.

An offshoot of DarkIsEvil, it's not uncommon for such substances to be associated with much more unpleasant effects than other {{Technicolor Toxin}}s from across fiction, including agonizing pain, [[MutagenicGoo mutations]], mind control, a CruelAndUnusualDeath, or even a FateWorseThanDeath. In some depictions, this substance can even be ''alive,'' resulting in many a horrific BlobMonster.

The exact reasoning behind depictions such as these remains unknown, though it's possible that they were inspired by the threat posed by oil spills or tar pits, both of which are well known for being serious hazards - not to mention environmental blights. With this in mind, it may lend itself to depictions of the MuckMonster.

* The titular Corruption of ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkinCorruption'' coats whatever it touches in a strange, black substance, including [[TheProtagonist Boyfriend]], who promptly becomes a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] PlagueZombie and spreads it across the entire Friday Night Funkin' cast. [[spoiler: As of Week 8, the Corruption turns out to be ''[[ItCanThink sentient]]'', threatening him when he tries to resist it [[FightingFromTheInside from inside his own head]].]]
* In the ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6115555/1/The-Way-Is-Shut The Way Is Shut]]'', a recon team investigates the ruins of North Korea in the wake of the ZombieApocalypse, eventually finding the entrance to the UndergroundCity the population retreated to. However, one of the doors is leaking a black ooze that "smelled of death", the result of rotten flesh decomposing to the point of liquefaction and mixing with floodwater. Either because the pumps have failed or because there's no-one left alive to operate them, a huge lake full of corpses has built up behind the doors -- and at least some of them are zombies. And if that black slime is leaking out ''now'', [[spoiler:it won't be long until the hastily-built shelter bursts open and releases all those millions of zombies back into the world]].

* ''Literature/ThePrismPentad'': when Rikus's sword, the magical R'Kard's Bane is snapped, an ominous, tar-like substance ooze from the blade, which is implicitly connected to the Shadow people. A handful of this substance sprayed out of the broken tip spells the end of one of the Sorcerer Kings, while [[spoiler: the Dragon itself is slain when Rikus willingfully snaps the sword into his body, dousing him in a growing shower of black slime that kills him from good and forces him into his true form as he dies.]]

* During season 2 of ''Series/LockeAndKey2020'', Eden's odd behaviour prompts Kinsey to take a look inside her MentalWorld using the [[CoolKey Head Key]]; her mind takes the form of a glamorous fashion shop, with the perfume counters displaying her memories... except one counter has been almost completely overtaken by a spreading puddle of tarry-black gunk. [[spoiler: It's because Eden was possessed by one of the demons behind the Black Door in the previous season finale.]]

* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'': The game's main antagonist, the Shadow Blot, is an enormous monster made from an oozing black mixture of paint and thinner [[spoiler: by ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse himself'' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero messing around too much]] in Yen Sid's laboratory]]. Its corrupting slime has dripped and spread all over Wasteland, creating [[{{Mooks}} smaller enemy blobs]] called Blotlings and causing all sorts of destruction. [[spoiler: Once it's finally destroyed (or [[DefeatMeansFriendship redeemed]]) atop [[DeathMountain Mickeyjunk Mountain]], it turns out to be nothing more than [[FightingAShadow an oversized piece]] of the ''actual'' Shadow Blot, which [[WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit Oswald]] inadvertently unleashes during a ThirdActMisunderstanding. The real Blot is best described as a [[EldritchAbomination sentient hurricane made of ink]], swirling around [[WhereItAllBegan Dark Beauty Castle]] as it spawns enormous tentacles to suck up all the paint in the Cartoon Wasteland.]]

* The Black Oil of ''Series/TheXFiles''; a sapient parasitic mind-controlling goo used by the alien colonists to reproduce and take over the universe, it can often be found invading potential hosts through their eyes, mouth, nose or ears. Ironically, the slime itself isn't the danger: "Purity" -- as the aliens call it -- is actually a virus that thrives in oil deposits deep underground, hence its oily appearance. However, that doesn't stop the show from playing its petroleum-like aspect for horror, with hosts sporting BlackEyesOfEvil and BadBlackBarf.

* In ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', when Agent Smith gains the ability to [[MesACrowd clone himself]], this covers the victim’s body before they [[CloneByConversion transform into a Smith clone.]] Seen again in 'Film/TheMatrixRevolutions''