Doomsday device
A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon or weapons system — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth. ...
s, when used in fiction, are capable of destroying anything from a civilization to an entire universe, and may be used for the purpose of
mutually assured destruction
Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would cause the ...
, or as weapons in their own right. Examples of such devices include the
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional space station and Weapon of mass destruction, superweapon featured in the ''Star Wars'' Space opera, space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire (Star Wars), Galactic Empire, the Death Star ...
from the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' film franchise, the "
Doomsday Machine" seen in the original ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' television series, or the atomic-powered
stone burner
Technology is a key aspect of the fictional setting of the ''Dune (franchise), Dune series'' of science fiction novels written by Frank Herbert, and derivative works. Herbert's concepts and inventions have been analyzed and deconstructed in at lea ...
s from Frank Herbert's ''
Dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
'' franchise.
Overview
Planet killers function in a variety of ways depending on the series. Weapons such as the Death Star and the titular ship in ''
Lexx
''Lexx'' (also known as ''LEXX: The Dark Zone Stories'' and ''Tales from a Parallel Universe'') is a science fiction television series created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul and Michael Donovan. It originally aired on April 18, 1997, on Cana ...
'' use a directed energy weapon capable of obliterating a planet in moments. In the game ''
Spore
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
'', the Planet Buster is an antimatter bomb that is inserted in the center of the planet, causing the planet's core to split into countless fragments. Other weapons, such as the Shadow Planet Killer in ''
Babylon 5
''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...
'' and Covenant warships in the
''Halo'' series, render a planet uninhabitable. The Shadow Planet Killer does so by firing missiles which burrow into the planet's core and detonate, causing planet-wide volcanic activity which renders the planet lifeless. Covenant warships use plasma weapons to superheat the surface of the planet; the crust is turned into a glass-like substance rendering it uninhabitable. In ''
Star Blazers
''Star Blazers'' is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series . ''Star Blazers'' was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. It was the first popular English-translated anime that had an overarching plo ...
'', missiles that can destroy a planet (and even a star) with a single hit exist.
Some devices can destroy entire star systems. Nova bombs in ''
Andromeda'', the Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station in the ''Star Wars'' novels, and Dr. Tolian Soran's trilithium torpedo in ''
Star Trek Generations
''Star Trek Generations'' is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the ''Star Trek'' film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show ''Star Trek'' and the 1987 sequel series ''The Next G ...
'', are all capable of causing a
supernova
A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
, obliterating every planet in the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
.
Planet killers in fiction
Film and television
''Andromeda''
* All Commonwealth warships were equipped with a limited stock of "Nova-bomb" warheads for their missiles, one of which is sufficient to cause a star to nova, thus destroying its planets.
''Babylon 5''
* ''
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales'' – Centauri Superweapons, hinted at by a dream sequence set 30 years in the future that Sheridan experiences. While only NYC is destroyed in the scene, it is implied that all of Earth gets wiped out.
* Shadow Planet Killer
*
Vorlon Planet Killer
''Beneath the Planet of the Apes''
*
Alpha Omega Bomb - an ICBM worshiped by the underground dwellers. The missile contains a thermonuclear bomb with a cobalt casing. When launched it would result in an explosion hot enough to ignite the atmosphere, thus destroying the surface of the Earth.
''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb''
* The end of the film (when Dr. Strangelove's Doomsday Device is released) shows Dr. Strangelove exclaiming, "Mein Führer, I can walk!" (to the American President) before cutting to footage of nuclear explosions, with Vera Lynn and her audience singing "We'll Meet Again". This footage comes from nuclear tests such as shot "Baker" of Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll, the Trinity test, a test from Operation Sandstone and the hydrogen bomb tests from Operation Redwing and Operation Ivy. In some shots, old warships (such as the German heavy cruiser ''Prinz Eugen''), which were used as targets, are plainly visible. In others, the smoke trails of rockets used to create a calibration backdrop can be seen. "The film is often considered one of the best comedies ever made, as well as one of the greatest films of all time." -
Wikipedia: ''Dr. Strangelove''
''Lexx''
*
The Lexx
''Lexx'' (also known as ''LEXX: The Dark Zone Stories'' and ''Tales from a Parallel Universe'') is a science fiction television series created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul Donovan (writer), Paul and Michael Donovan (producer), Michael Dono ...
– Capable of entirely destroying planets.
* The Foreshadow – predecessor of the Megashadow. Reduces the surface of Brunnis-2 into molten slag, using a large scale version of the "Black Pack" weapon often seen in the LEXX series.
* The Megashadow – Annihilates an Ostral-B asteroid base and the surrounding field in a single shot.
*
Mantrid
''Lexx'' (also known as ''LEXX: The Dark Zone Stories'' and ''Tales from a Parallel Universe'') is a science fiction television series created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul Donovan (writer), Paul and Michael Donovan (producer), Michael Dono ...
Drones – They consume all forms of matter (including planets) to
replicate themselves.
DC Comics
* In ''
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths'', the Quantum Eigenstate Device (QED) is a planet-killing or possibly universe-killing weapon.
*
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
has demonstrated the strength to move or destroy multiple planets and once infamously destroyed a solar system with a sneeze; his heat vision also has vaporized entire planets. While Superman's depictions vary from author to author, these feats have appeared in every era of the character: the Golden, Silver, Bronze and Modern Age of comics.
* In ''
Green Lantern: The Animated Series'', the
Red Lantern Corps
The Red Lantern Corps is a supervillain and sometimes anti-heroic organization appearing in DC Comics. Their power is derived from the emotional spectrum relating to rage.
Publication history
They debuted in ''Green Lantern'' (vol. 4) #25 (Dec ...
have a large number of cylindrical devices called 'Liberators' that can disintegrate a planet.
''
Stargate SG-1
''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrigh ...
''/''Stargate Atlantis''
* A tainted Zero Point Module can explode with enough energy to destroy an entire star system.
* Project Arcturus, an abandoned Ancient project capable of extracting energy from our own universe, unlike a normal Zero Point Module which draws energy from subspace, would create exotic particles with unpredictable properties, and would overload to actually destroy approximately of a solar system.
* The Stargates themselves are composed of Naqahdah, and, if caused to detonate, would cause considerable damage.
**
Anubis
Anubis (; grc, Ἄνουβις), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian () is the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depict ...
's
Ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...
weapon that charges a
Stargate
''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...
powerfully enough that it explodes. However, its yield is stated to be two gigatons of TNT, not enough to kill a planet.
** A wormhole passing through a star is capable of introducing super-heavy elements into it, thus destabilizing fusion processes and changing, possibly catastrophically, the climates of planets orbiting it.
** P3W-451 has fallen into a black hole; an inbound wormhole to its stargate propagates the gravitational influence back to the dialing gate. Initially this caused time distortion effects near the gate, but as P3W-451 got closer to the black hole objects were pulled into the gate, as of "
Exodus
Exodus or the Exodus may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible
* The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan
Historical events
* Ex ...
" a gate dialing from a star would exert such a pull that it could not only remove matter from the star, but do so fast enough to cause it to go supernova. The effect of dialing from a planet at this point was not described.
* The Dakara Superweapon in the Temple of Dakara can return all matter in its range to its component molecules. Its range is normally limited to Dakara and its surrounding space, however the wave will propagate through the wormhole of an active Stargate (unimpeded by either iris or Goa'uld shield technology) and expand on the far side to cover the planet's surface, but unlike Dakara itself, the wave will not propagate into orbit. Ba'al however modified the Dakara Stargate, using a 'hack' of the DHD's correlative update function to dial every Stargate in the galaxy simultaneously, turning the weapon from a strategic threat to a galactic scale superweapon against all planets within the Milky Way Stargate network.
* A Tauri Mark 9 Naqahdah-enhanced
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
has a "Multi Gigaton" yield.
* Anubis's mothership, powered with the
Eye of Ra
The Eye of Ra or Eye of Re is a being in ancient Egyptian mythology that functions as a feminine counterpart to the sun god Ra and a violent force that subdues his enemies. The eye is an extension of Ra's power, equated with the disk of the sun, ...
as well as four other "eyes", in "
Full Circle"
* The Asgard managed to destroy Halla by causing Halla's sun to become a black hole.
* The Asgard destroyed their home planet, to commit mass suicide, by unknown means.
* The Ori Priors can turn planets into Point Singularities (black holes) to power their supergates, and did so twice.
* The Tok'ra have been shown to possess thermonuclear induction explosives capable of burrowing to a planet's core and igniting a reaction to which the planet would explode; as shown when they used it to destroy Netu. "
The Devil You Know".
* Gadmeer terraforming ship – see Genesis device below.
''Star Trek''
General Order 24 (see below) indicates that ''all'' Federation starships of cruiser size or above were capable of being planet killers by sustained use of conventional weapons to thoroughly bombard a planet.
=''The Original Series''
=
*
The Doomsday Machine
*
General Order 24. Starfleet order for a starship to destroy all life on an entire planet, dialogue indicated conventional weapons were targeted to systematically destroy anything on the surface.
*
Nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
. A small spacecraft resulting from the combination of two unrelated craft that was able to "sterilize" entire planetary populations.
* "The Amoeba", a
giant space-dwelling single-cell life form capable of annihilating an entire star system
=''The Animated Series''
=
* A
space-dwelling life form that consumes planets for food
=''Star Trek: The Next Generation''
=
*
Tox Uthat, a weapon from the future that would stop all fusion reactions in a sun.
*
Dr. Timicin's torpedo, intended to rejuvenate a dying sun but causing it to go nova instead.
=''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''
=
* A bomb consisting of trilithium, tekasite and protomatter intended to be detonated in the
Bajoran
The Bajorans (variously pronounced , , ) are a fictional species in the science-fiction ''Star Trek'' franchise. They are a humanoid extraterrestrial species native to the planet Bajor, who have a long-standing enmity with the Cardassians, owi ...
sun by a
Changeling
A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found in folklore throughout Europe. A changeling was believed to be a fairy that had been left in place of a human (typically a child) stolen by other fairi ...
* A combined Romulan and Cardassian fleet performed a bombardment using conventional weapons and destroyed 30 percent of the planet's crust in the first barrage, essentially their version of General Order 24 ("
The Die Is Cast
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
").
=''Star Trek: Voyager''
=
*
Species 8472
Species 8472 is a fictional extraterrestrial species in the science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Species 8472 is a designation given to them by the Borg. The multiplayer game ''Star Trek Online'' gives their proper name a ...
bio-ships can focus their beam weapons onto a central bigger bio-ship and destroy a planet with a single sustained blast.
=''Star Trek: Enterprise''
=
* The
Xindi superweapon was a mobile directed energy weapon that could reduce a planet to molten rubble.
=''Star Trek'' (movies)
=
*
V'Ger, a highly advanced and powerful living machine evolved from the Earth space probe ''Voyager VI'', was capable of destroying the entire surface of a planet with plasma-based torpedo-like devices. It was also capable of using these devices to reduce ships and space stations into digital patterns, destroying the originals in the process.
*
Genesis Device: A terraforming experimental device; not intended as a weapon, but when it was used on an existing biosphere it destroyed it in the process of creating a new one. The process left the planet unstable and it eventually exploded due to a flaw in the terraforming.
* Trilithium torpedo. Used by Dr. Tolian Soran in ''
Star Trek Generations
''Star Trek Generations'' is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the ''Star Trek'' film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show ''Star Trek'' and the 1987 sequel series ''The Next G ...
'' to stop all the fusion reactions in a star, causing it to go nova, much like the Tox Uthat.
*
Red Matter
This is a list of notable fictional materials from the science fiction universe of ''Star Trek''. Like other aspects of stories in the franchise, some were recurring plot elements from one episode or series to another.
Metals for starship constru ...
. A material capable of creating
black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
s. It could be used as a planet-killer by being injected into a planet's core, creating a black hole that imploded the planet by consuming it from the core outward. Red Matter is also potentially strong enough to consume a star. An example of a ship that used this is
Spock
Spock is a Character (arts), fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), USS ''Enterprise ...
's ship, the ''Jellyfish''. The Romulan mining ship ''Narada'' also used the supply on Spock's ship when they captured it (''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' (2009)).
=''Star Trek'' novels
=
* Planetcracker weapons and sunkiller bombs (
Diane Duane
Diane Duane (born May 18, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author, long based in Ireland. Her works include the ''Young Wizards'' young adult fantasy series and the '' Rihannsu'' Star Trek novels.
Biography
Born in New York ...
's novels)
''Star Wars''
*
Imperial Star Destroyer
Star Destroyers are capital ships in the fictional ''Star Wars'' universe. Star Destroyers were produced by Kuat Drive Yards, later Kuat-Entralla Engineering, and serve as "the Ship of the line, signature vessel of the fleet" for the Galactic Repub ...
: All Imperial Star Destroyers, later re-envisioned as ''Imperial''-class Star Destroyers, were capable of glassing a planet's surface (melting the planet's surface so that later it was frozen as a glass-like rock) although this method took months and sometimes years. This command was known as Base-Delta-Zero.
*
Centerpoint station (
''Star Wars'' expanded universe): An ancient space station, capable of moving planets with its tractor beams.
*
Galaxy Gun (EU): A gigantic space cannon, firing warheads in hyperspace that reverted to normal speed near the target. The special chemicals in the warhead reacted in the planet's core, destabilizing the planet.
*
Mass Shadow Generator (EU): Used the gravity of a planet to create a
quantum singularity The term quantum singularity is used to refer to many different phenomena in fiction. They often only approximate a gravitational singularity in the scientific sense in that they are massive, localized distortions of space and time. The name invokes ...
, de-stabilizing the planet.
*
''Eclipse''-class dreadnought (EU): A Super Star Destroyer armed with a less-powerful version of the Death Star superlaser.
*
Naga Sadow
This is an incomplete list of characters from the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe, now rebranded ''Star Wars Legends''. The accompanying works were declared non-canon to the ''Star Wars'' franchise by Lucasfilm in 2014.
This list applies ''on ...
: The Sith Lord Naga Sadow was capable of using ancient Sith sorcery to manipulate solar flares. His immense power with this ability was used to turn the Denarii Nova into a supernova, effectively destroying the entire system.
*
''Sovereign''-class Super Star Destroyer (EU): A less-powerful version of the ''Eclipse''.
*
Sun Crusher (EU): A starfighter-sized ship, armed with a torpedo capable of making a star go supernova.
*
World Devastator (EU): Ships which consumed the material of a planet, using the material to create new war machines (utilizes
tractor beam
A tractor-beam is a device with the ability to attract one object to another from a distance. The concept originates in fiction: The term was coined by E. E. Smith (an update of his earlier "attractor-beam") in his novel ''Spacehounds of IPC'' (19 ...
s).
*
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional space station and Weapon of mass destruction, superweapon featured in the ''Star Wars'' Space opera, space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire (Star Wars), Galactic Empire, the Death Star ...
: A moon-sized battle station, armed with a superlaser capable of destroying an entire planet.
*
Darth Nihilus
The video games ''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (video game), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'' (2003) and ''Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords'' (2004) features a large cast of characters noted for its div ...
(EU): Fed off entire planets, destroying all life on them.
* The
Old Republic/Imperial order
Base Delta Zero, also known as BDZ (EU): Consisted of a sustained orbital bombardment of all biological and technological assets of a planet, resulting in the total "glassing" of a planet's surface.
*
Starkiller Base
The Death Star is a fictional space station and superweapon featured in the ''Star Wars'' space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire, the Death Star is capable of annihilating entire planets into rubble, and serves to e ...
: A First Order planet-converted superweapon capable of destroying an entire star system.
*
Yo'gand's Core (EU): A Yuuzhan Vong tactic to destroy a planet, using a 'dovin basal' (an
organism
In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...
capable of manipulating a planet's gravity) deployed in the planet's surface to disrupt a
moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
's orbit, causing it to crash into the planet.
*
''Mandator IV''–class Siege Dreadnought: A First Order siege dreadnought, inspired by the Imperial dreadnoughts, the ''Eclipse'', ''Executor'' and ''Sovereign'' Star Dreadnoughts. It possessed the firepower of a dozen ''Resurgent''-class Star Destroyers, and had two orbital autocannons used for large-scale bombardments. The project by Kuat-Entralla Engineering was used as a test project to inform the ''Xyston''-class Star Destroyers, revealed to be constructed by the Sith Eternal in secret on Exegol.
*
Sith Star Destroyer: A model of Star Destroyer used by the
Sith Eternal, that in place of the hangar, possesses an axial superlaser, capable of destroying entire planets. It is revealed in ''
The Rise of Skywalker
''Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker'') is a 2019 American epic space opera film produced, , and directed by J. J. Abrams. Produced by Lucasfilm and Abrams' production ...
''.
Darth Sidious
Sheev Palpatine, also known by his Sith name Darth Sidious, is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Initially credited as the Emperor in the original trilogy films, ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) ...
reveals the Sith Eternal's fleet of ''Xyston''-class Star Destroyers, the Final Order, intending to stage attacks on all free worlds.
''Doctor Who''
* In ''
The Dominators
''The Dominators'' is the first serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in five weekly parts from 10 August to 7 September 1968.
In the serial, the Second Doctor (Patric ...
'' the villains of the title try to destroy the peaceful planet Dulkis, as a fuel source for their fleet, by sending a seed device into the planet's core.
*
The Pirate Planet
''The Pirate Planet'' is the second serial of the Doctor Who (season 16), 16th season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC One, BBC1 from 30 September to 21 October ...
materializes around other planets, destroying them.
* Additionally, the
Dalek
The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who'' ...
s and
Time Lords
The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor, is a memb ...
have both been shown to be capable of moving planets, and would thus be capable of relocating a planet into a star, nova, black hole, or other inhospitable location that would destroy it. ''
Image of the Fendahl
''Image of the Fendahl'' is the third serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 29 October to 19 November 1977.
The serial was Chris Bo ...
'' reveals the Time Lords trapped the world of the Fendahl, fifth planet of the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
, in a
time loop
The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. The term "time loop" is sometimes us ...
. In ''
The Trial of a Time Lord
The twenty-third season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', known collectively as ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986. It contained four adventures: ''The Mysterious ...
'' it is revealed the Time Lords devastated Earth with a fireball and moved it two light-years around 2,000,000 AD. Daleks have also been stated to have been responsible for the destruction of
The Doctor's home planet of
Gallifrey
Gallifrey () is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It is the original home world of the Time Lords, the civilisation to which the protagonist, The Doct ...
, planet of the Time Lords, though at other points in the series the impression is given that the world has, rather, been removed from reality. It is later claimed the Doctor destroyed his world to end the
Time War using 'The Moment', thinking it would destroy the Daleks. The Daleks have shown themselves to be capable of destroying planets; in "
Asylum of the Daleks
"Asylum of the Daleks" is the first episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', broadcast on BBC One on 1 September 2012. It was written by executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by N ...
" they destroy the Dalek Asylum with an attack from space. In ''
The Daleks' Master Plan
''The Daleks' Master Plan'' is the Doctor Who missing episodes, mostly missing third serial of the Doctor Who (season 3), third season in the British Science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which orig ...
'' the
First Doctor
The First Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor William Hartnell.
Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time L ...
uses their weapon, the Time Destructor, against them, turning the jungle planet of Kembel into a desert. In "
Journey's End
''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry comp ...
"
Davros
Davros () is a character from the long-running British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He was created by screenwriter Terry Nation, originally for the 1975 serial ''Genesis of the Daleks''. Dav ...
and the Daleks attempt to destroy all universes with the Reality Bomb, which breaks down matter and is transmitted using stolen planets that include Earth.
* In "
The End of the World", technology is shown holding the Earth together and preventing the sun from exploding, and thus the Earth is destroyed simply by deactivating this technology.
* In "
The Big Bang
The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the Expansion of the universe, universe expanded from an initial state of high Energy density, density and temperature. Various Physical cosmology, cosmological models of the Big Ba ...
" the TARDIS nearly destroys the Universe when it explodes by unexplained means in "
The Pandorica Opens
"The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who'', first broadcast on 19 June 2010 on BBC One. It is the first in a two-part finale; the second part, "The Big Bang" ...
".
* The
Hand of Omega
''Remembrance of the Daleks'' is the first serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. The serial was first broadcast in four weekly episodes from 5 to 26 October 1988. It was written by Ben Aaronov ...
can be used to destroy planets by manipulating stars, as demonstrated on the Dalek homeworld Skaro.
* The Osterhagen Key detonates 25 nuclear weapons in strategic points under the Earth's crust, causing it to rip apart. Only be used if "Humanity were suffering unbearably, with no hope or help ever coming..." in "
The Stolen Earth
"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on . The episode was written by show runner and head ...
" and "
Journey's End
''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry comp ...
".
* ''
The Tenth Planet
''The Tenth Planet'' is the partly missing second serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 8 to 29 October 1966. It was William Hartnell ...
'', set in 1986, features the Z-Bomb, a weapon that could destroy the Earth, at a South Pole base. There are apparently others at strategic positions around the world. The General commanding the base tries to use it to destroy the planet
Mondas
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. The Cybermen are a species of space-faring cyborgs who often forcefully and painfully convert human beings ...
, while its inhabitants the
Cybermen
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. The Cybermen are a species of space-faring cyborgs who often forcefully and painfully convert human beings ...
try to use it to destroy Earth as Mondas is absorbing too much energy from Earth, which eventually destroys it.
* In "
Remembrance of the Daleks
''Remembrance of the Daleks'' is the first serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. The serial was first broadcast in four weekly episodes from 5 to 26 October 1988. It was written by Ben Aaronovi ...
" The Doctor explains that the Dalek mothership "has weapons that could crack this planet like an egg."
Other film and television
* In ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
'' franchise, the
Vogon
The Vogons are a fictional alien race from the planet Vogsphere in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''—initially a BBC Radio series by Douglas Adams—who are responsible for the destruction of the Earth, in order to facilitate an interga ...
Constructor Fleet "demolishes" Earth as a contractor would demolish buildings to make way for a new construct.
* In
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
's
sci-fi
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...
film ''
Dark Star'', intelligent and philosophically capable "Exponential Thermostellar Bombs" are used to destroy "unstable planets" which might threaten future colonization.
* In the
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...
feature film spoof ''
Spaceballs
''Spaceballs'' is a 1987 American space opera parody film co-written, produced and directed by Mel Brooks. It is primarily a parody of the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, but also parodies other sci-fi films and popular franchises including ...
'', the Spaceballs' starship, ''Spaceball One'', is capable of transforming into "Mega Maid", a robot maid in the shape of the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
holding a giant vacuum cleaner, which can suck the air from an entire planet and thus make it uninhabitable.
* In the film ''
The Chronicles of Riddick
''The Chronicles of Riddick'' is a 2004 American science fiction action film written and directed by David Twohy. It follows the adventures of Richard B. Riddick as he attempts to elude capture after the events depicted in the 2000 film '' Pitch ...
'', the Necromongers cull potential recruits from planets and kill all those who remain on the surface by executing their "Final Protocol", a series of gravity-based weapons that flatten everything on the surface of the planet, save for the series of monuments that produce them.
*
Hugo Drax
Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the 1955 James Bond novel '' Moonraker''. For the later film and its novelization, Drax was greatly altered from the novel by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, D ...
's
space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
in ''
Moonraker'', which launches globes filled with poisonous gas that would have wiped out mankind.
* "Q Bomb" from ''
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder''
*
Unicron
Unicron is a fictional villain from the ''Transformers'' media franchise. Designed by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film ''The Transformers: The Movie'' and has since reappeared in ''Transformers: Armada'', ''Transformers: ...
, a robotic, predatory planet from the animated feature film ''
The Transformers: The Movie''. Unicron is a rarity among the planet killers on this list in that he is one of the few which is sentient and can act and think for himself.
*
"Blue Harvest", a ''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'' episode
spoofing the original ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' movie, contains a version of the
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional space station and Weapon of mass destruction, superweapon featured in the ''Star Wars'' Space opera, space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire (Star Wars), Galactic Empire, the Death Star ...
which is armed with a "planet blower-upper gun".
* In the ''
Futurama
''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...
'' episode "
I Dated a Robot
"I Dated a Robot" is the fifteenth episode in the third season of the American animated television series '' Futurama'', and the 47th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 13, 2001.
Plot ...
", Fry blows up a planet with a planet blowing-up machine. Also in ''
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs'', a weapon is used in a duel between Bender and another robot, Calculon, called a "Planetary Annihilator". Throughout there are also numerous references to Professor Farnsworth's doomsday devices which are hinted at being powerful enough to destroy planets or more.
* In the British sci-fi series ''
The Tomorrow People
''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran from 30 April 1973 to 19 February 1979.
The theme music was c ...
'', an alien race known as the Thargons have a weapon known as a "Ripper Ray" which is allegedly capable of destroying a planet.
* In the Kurt Russell film ''
Soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
'', one portable explosive device nicknamed a Planet Killer is used, devastating the planet.
* In the Roger Corman film ''
Battle Beyond the Stars
''Battle Beyond the Stars'' is a 1980 American space opera film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, and starring Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn, George Peppard, John Saxon, Sybil Danning and Darlanne Fluegel. Intended as a ...
'', the evil Sador's mothership has a planet killing superweapon called the Stellar Converter, which seems to have the effect of superheating the core of the planet, causing a delayed explosion where it incinerates from the inside/out.
* In the TV series ''
Earth: Final Conflict'', the Jaridians have a planet killer and have destroyed thousands of Taelon-occupied planets including their homeworld. The video archive of all the planets destroyed one after another is seen by William Boone but at the time he doesn't understand what it is until the circumstances are explained to him later by Da'an.
* In the science fiction feature film ''
The Core
''The Core'' is a 2003 American science fiction disaster film directed by Jon Amiel and starring Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Tucci, D. J. Qualls, Richard Jenkins, Tcheky Karyo, Bruce Greenwood, and Alfre Woodard. The fi ...
'', Project DESTINI was designed as a tactical weapon, but had the unforeseen effect of ceasing the rotation of the Earth's magnetic core, causing catastrophe, and threatening to end all life on Earth, unless the rotation could be restarted.
* In the science fiction feature film ''
Men in Black II
''Men in Black II'' (stylized as ''MIIB'') is a 2002 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld from a screenplay by Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro. It is the second film in the original trilogy and a sequel to ''M ...
'', Serlena's ship is seen making vengeful blasts on searched planets, causing an icy one to shatter and another to implode.
* The
Displacement Engine in the TV series ''
Farscape
''Farscape'' is an Australian-American science fiction television series, produced originally for the Nine Network. It premiered in the US on Sci-Fi Channel's SciFi Friday, 19 March 1999, at 8:00 pm EST as their anchor series. The series was c ...
'' is a device which employs a
wormhole
A wormhole (Einstein-Rosen bridge) is a hypothetical structure connecting disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special Solutions of the Einstein field equations, solution of the Einstein field equations.
A wormhole can be visualize ...
to draw a large mass of fusing plasma from the core of a star, and then deploys it against a target. The device is described as being able to destroy a solar system. A major plot of the series is that the knowledge of wormholes contained in the head of
John Crichton John Crichton may refer to:
* John Crichton (designer) (1917–1993), New Zealand furniture and interior designer
* John Crichton (Farscape), a character on the TV series ''Farscape''
* John Crichton, 3rd Earl Erne (1802–1885), Anglo-Irish peer ...
can be used to create a planet-killing weapon; in ''
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars'' Crichton finally builds and activates such a weapon to show that it is much worse; it is in fact a ''galaxy''-killer. Under threat of everyone being consumed by the weapon, he convinces the Peacekeepers and Scarrans to pursue peace negotiations in return for him turning it off.
* In the German TV series ''
Raumpatrouille'', a weapon called Overkill was used to destroy an object the size of a planetoid. The explosion seems to be strong enough to destroy a planet as well.
* Blue-colored bomb with small red spheres floating around inside. Consisting of a three-dimensional matter shell and a ninth-
dimensional
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coordi ...
matter inside. Featured in ''
Supernova (2000)''.
* The Drej
Mothership
A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft.
Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental airc ...
in the animated feature film ''
Titan A.E.
''Titan A.E.'' is a 2000 American animated science fiction film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, and starring Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo and Drew Barrymore. Its title refers to the spacecraft cen ...
'' destroyed Earth.
* The
Megas XLR
''Megas XLR'' is an American animated television series created by Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic for Cartoon Network. The series revolves around two teenage slackers: mechanic Coop and his best friend Jamie, who find a mecha robot from the fut ...
episode "Breakout" features a gigantic alien known as "Grrkek the Planet Killer".
* In the episode "Doomsday Is Tomorrow" of the series, ''
The Bionic Woman
''The Bionic Woman'' is an American science fiction action-adventure television series created by Kenneth Johnson based on the 1972 novel ''Cyborg'' by Martin Caidin, starring Lindsay Wagner that aired from January 14, 1976, to May 13, 1978. ' ...
'', Jaime Sommers attempts to stop a doomsday device set up by a scientist who wants an end to nuclear weapons testing; while she and a Soviet agent race to get the job done, a Middle Eastern leader, skeptical of the claim of such a device, proceeds with his nation's first nuclear weapon test as an atmospheric explosion.
* In ''
Ben 10: Alien Force'', the Incursean race has a super weapon called the "Incursean Conquest Ray", which Emperor Milleous uses to destroy Pluto and threaten to use against Earth should Princess Attea not be returned. When Princess Attea overthrows her father, however, she plans to use it to destroy Earth, though Ben and his team are ultimately able to stop her.
* In ''
Ben 10: Omniverse'', the Contumelia used a device known as the Annihilargh to eliminate their enemies. Legends said that activating the Annihilargh will cause an entire universe to be wiped out.
* In the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
TV series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
''
Once Upon a Time... Space'', the
androids
An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids were completely within the domain of science fiction and frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot techno ...
of the planet Yama use ships that connect themselves to form a much larger one, that fires a laser with enough firepower to destroy a planet.
* In ''
Spaced Invaders
''Spaced Invaders'' is a 1990 American science fiction comedy directed by Patrick Read Johnson and starring Douglas Barr, Royal Dano, and Ariana Richards.
The film’s title is a pun on the classic video game ''Space Invaders''.
Plot
The space ...
'' the D.O.D. (Doughnut Of Destruction) is a ring-shaped device which the aliens claim would destroy Earth but leave them unharmed as they would be in the center of the blast. Upon activation the device fails to detonate, but instead falls apart, having been improperly assembled.
* The Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator in the classic
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...
short ''Haredevil Hare'' in 1948.
Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian is an extraterrestrial character from Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons. He frequently appears as a villain in cartoons and video games, and wears a helmet and skirt. The character has been voice ...
wanted to use it to blow up Earth because, as he said, "It obstructs my view of
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
". The explosive was in the form of a small red stick that resembled
dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
that was screwed into a large telescope-like machine.
* The Sun Harvester in ''
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen''. This is hidden inside one of the pyramids in Egypt and uses the Matrix to power up, destroying the sun to turn it into energon.
* In the tokusatsu kaiju film ''
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
is a 1964 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd., it is the fifth film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and was the second ''Godzilla'' film produced ...
'',
King Ghidorah
is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', which first appeared in Ishirō Honda's 1964 film ''Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster''. Although the name of the character is officially trademarked by Toho as "King Ghidorah", the character was originall ...
attacked Venus (Mars in the English dub), leaving the planet uninhabitable. A variant version of King Ghidorah from the ''Rebirth of Mothra'' film trilogy sees the creature wiping out all dinosaurs on Earth, effectively acting as a planet killer in this respect, though life returns to the planet, and is eventually dominated by humanity. In the ''Monsterverse'' film ''
Godzilla: King of the Monsters'', the creature is capable of creating massive superstorms which, had the creature not been killed by Godzilla, would have rendered Earth effectively uninhabitable by anyone save itself, as it is stated the creature intended to reshape to the planet to suit its own needs. King Ghidorah, like Unicron (listed above), stands out from others on this list for being a living creature, something few other planet killers on this list have in common with it.
* In the British science fiction series ''
Space: 1999'' season 2 opening episode, "
THE METAMORPH
"The Metamorph" is the first episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the twenty-fifth overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Charles Crichton. Previous titles were "The Bio ...
", Commander Koening orders
General Order Four, which
Tony Verdeschi
''Space: 1999'' is a British science-fiction television programme that ran for two series from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, set in the year 1999, nuclear waste stored on the Moon's far side explodes, knocking the Moon out of orbit an ...
reveals is "
a coded signal to destroy the place it originated from", and subsequently launches an Eagle, what the villain of the episode
Mentor
Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...
reveals as "
A Robot Device, designed to destroy Psychon". One can assume that the Eagle was heavily equipped with nuclear charges, sufficient enough to at least destroy life on the planet.
* In ''
Green Lantern: The Animated Series'', the
Red Lantern Corps
The Red Lantern Corps is a supervillain and sometimes anti-heroic organization appearing in DC Comics. Their power is derived from the emotional spectrum relating to rage.
Publication history
They debuted in ''Green Lantern'' (vol. 4) #25 (Dec ...
ship, dubbed Shard, carried giant monolith-shaped devices called "Planet Killers" that were bombs capable of destroying entire planets.
* The Dark Heart from
Justice League Unlimited
''Justice League Unlimited'' (''JLU'') is a 2004–2006 American superhero animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and ...
. A
WMD from an unknown civilization, this robotic entity is sent to an enemy world, where it will consume any materials around it, until it consumes the entire planet. This war machine was never deactivated, so it continued to consume planets until it was stopped on Earth by the Justice League.
* In ''
The Day the Earth Stood Still
''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (a.k.a. ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'') is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Renn ...
'', the robot
Gort
Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, wh ...
is capable of destroying the Earth, according to
Klaatuu.
* ''
Plan 9 from Outer Space
''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' is a 1957 American independent science fiction-horror film produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in black-and-white in November 1956 and had a theatrical preview screening on March 15 ...
'' mentions the Solaronite, a weapon so devastating that if detonated it could "explode the atoms of sunlight" and destroy the universe. It is implied that humanity will inevitably discover how to make the Solaronite unless prevented by aliens.
* "The Ball", an episode of the
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
animated series ''
Wander Over Yonder
''Wander Over Yonder'' is an American animated television series that aired on Disney Channel and Disney XD. Created by Craig McCracken, it follows the adventures of the optimistic Wander, who rides across the galaxy to help the inhabitants of va ...
'', introduces The Worldbuster, abbreviated as Buster - a playful, space-dwelling puppy who is bigger than a planet and does not realize that the balls he likes to play with are inhabited worlds. The only solution for the inhabitants of these worlds is to colonize the surface of Buster himself, which turns out to be congenial for life.
* In ''
The Tick
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', there was the
Galactus
Galactus () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, Galactus is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of ...
parody Omnipotus.
* In the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
,
Thanos
Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, and first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 ( cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Deviant w ...
acquires the
Infinity Gauntlet
''The Infinity Gauntlet'' is an American comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics. In addition to an eponymous, six-issue limited series written by Jim Starlin and pencilled by George Pérez and Ron Lim, crossover chapters appeared ...
, which has the power to
eradicate half of all sentient life in the universe once he acquires all six
Infinity Stones
The Infinity Stones are fictional items in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). They play a significant role in the first three phases (also called the "Infinity Saga") of the MCU, including being the MacGuffins of the films '' Avengers: Infini ...
, adds them to the Gauntlet and snaps his fingers with it, as demonstrated in the 2018 film ''
Avengers: Infinity War''.
* In the episode of ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'', "
You Only Move Twice
"You Only Move Twice" is the second episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 3, 1996. The episode, based on a story idea by Greg D ...
", Hank Scorpio threatens the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
with his doomsday device, testing it out on the 59th Street Bridge.
Literature
*The
Deplorable Word The Deplorable Word, as used by author C. S. Lewis in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', is a fictional magical curse which ends all life on a world except that of the one who speaks it.
Background
In ''The Magician's Nephew'', the children who are th ...
, as used in ''
The Magician's Nephew
''The Magician's Nephew'' is a fantasy children's novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1955 by The Bodley Head. It is the sixth published of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). In recent editions, which sequence the books ...
'', by author
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
, is a
magical curse
A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...
which ends all life in the fictional world of
Charn
Charn is a fictional city appearing in the 1955 book ''The Magician's Nephew'', the sixth book published in C. S. Lewis's ''Chronicles of Narnia'', written as a prequel to ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe''. Charn, and the world of which ...
except that of the one who speaks it (see
Omnicide).
*
Obliterators used by
Honored Matres
The Honored Matres are a fictional matriarchal organization in Frank Herbert's science fiction ''Dune'' universe. They are described as an aggressive cult obsessed with power, violence, and sexual domination. For this reason they are often desc ...
in
Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel '' Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked a ...
's ''
Chapterhouse: Dune'' (1985) and later
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
s by other authors are capable of combusting the entire atmosphere of a planet, and ultimately its full surface.
*
Stone burner
Technology is a key aspect of the fictional setting of the ''Dune (franchise), Dune series'' of science fiction novels written by Frank Herbert, and derivative works. Herbert's concepts and inventions have been analyzed and deconstructed in at lea ...
s, a type of nuclear weapon which could potentially destroy a planet by burning into and destroying a planet's core in the Dune universe.
* Vogon Constructor Fleets in ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
''. Vogon civil services are not only able to demolish entire planets, but have means and cause to do so regularly (to create and maintain hyperspace by-passes). The Earth falls victim to one such fleet in the beginning of the story to make way for a hyperspace expressway. The radio, book, and the
1981 TV series versions of the story refer to ''demolition beams'', though the mechanism is not shown distinctly in the 2005 film. There is also the ultimate weapon designed by Hactar (a giant space-borne computer). It is a very small bomb that when activated will join the heart of every major sun with the heart of every other major sun, turning the universe into one gigantic hyperspatial supernova. The weapon was designed for a race of extinct aliens but was taken up again by the inhabitants of the planet Krikkit so as to wipe out all other life in the universe and permit them to be the only remaining inhabitants. Also, the Krikkit Battleclubs can destroy major suns with their hypernuclear grenades. Lastly, although not typically considered part of the main five-book trilogy, the short story "
Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" mentions Zaphod passing by the doors of rooms filled with chemical and other agents that could sterilize, irradiate, explode, et cetera a planet; he then remarks that he is therefore glad he is not a planet.
* The
Inhibitor
Inhibitor or inhibition may refer to:
In biology
* Enzyme inhibitor, a substance that binds to an enzyme and decreases the enzyme's activity
* Reuptake inhibitor, a substance that increases neurotransmission by blocking the reuptake of a neurotra ...
machines from
Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Preston Reynolds (born 13 March 1966) is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle University, where he s ...
' ''Revelation Space'' series of novels, were capable of consuming worlds over time to convert to copies of themselves, or to create weapons capable of utilizing stars to destroy planets, e.g. venting stellar core material in a collimated beam to burn away planetary crusts. In the same series, the "Greenfly" machines, developed by humans as terraformers, instead go rogue and start eating planets by reducing them to their atoms and rebuilding them into more such machines, as well as numerous domes filled with vegetation.
* The Spacer nuclear reaction intensifier in
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
's ''
Robots and Empire
''Robots and Empire'' is a science fiction novel by the American author Isaac Asimov, published by Doubleday Books in 1985. It is part of Asimov's ''Robot'' series, which consists of many short stories (collected in ''I, Robot'', ''The Rest of ...
'' (1985)
*
Stephen Baxter's ''
Moonseed'': a virus-like microscopic object (or substance made from it) that transforms substances into more copies of itself – and thus consumes Venus and then the Earth by doing so. (Baxter has also employed
geomagnetic storm
A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field.
The disturbance that d ...
s (see ''
Sunstorm'') and larger
universal constructors (see ''
Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
'') as planet killers.)
* In
Stephen Baxter's ''Xeelee Sequence'', the Xeelee have a handgun-sized weapon capable of destroying stars and neutron stars. Also, during their final war with humanity from 700,000 AD, the Xeelee built giant Dyson shells around every star in the Milky Way, which forces the human inhabitants of the worlds to flee as the planets freeze.
* The glass clock built in Terry Pratchett's
Discworld
''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat pla ...
novel ''
Thief of Time
''Thief of Time'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 26th book in his ''Discworld'' series. It was the last Discworld novel with a cover by Josh Kirby.
Plot summary
The Auditors hire young clockmaker Jeremy Clockson to bu ...
'' was effectively a doomsday device, although its intended effect was to permanently freeze time on an entire world, rather than outright destroying it.
*
The Neutronium Alchemist
''The Neutronium Alchemist'' is a science fiction novel by British writer Peter F. Hamilton, the second book in ''The Night's Dawn Trilogy''. It follows on from '' The Reality Dysfunction'' and precedes ''The Naked God''. It was published in t ...
(
Peter F. Hamilton
Peter F. Hamilton (born 1960) is a British author. He is known for writing science fiction space opera.
Biography
Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland in 1960. He did not attend university. He said in an interview, "I did science at school ...
's ''
The Night's Dawn Trilogy
British author Peter F. Hamilton's ''The Night's Dawn Trilogy'' consists of three science fiction novels: '' The Reality Dysfunction'' (1996), ''The Neutronium Alchemist'' (1997), and ''The Naked God'' (1999). A collection of short stories, ' ...
'')
* Quantumbusters in Peter F. Hamilton's ''
Commonwealth Saga
The ''Commonwealth Saga'' is a series of science fiction novels by British science fiction writer Peter F. Hamilton. This saga consists of the novels ''Pandora's Star'' (2004) and ''Judas Unchained'' (2005). Hamilton has also written several ...
''
* At least six methods in
E. E. "Doc" Smith's
''Lensman'' saga:
*# "super-atomic bombs"
*# rendering a planet "loose" (inertialess) and directing it into a star
*# a "nutcracker", maneuvering two loose planets to crush a third
*# a "negasphere," an
antimatter
In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radioac ...
planet
*# "Nth space planets" from other dimensions which travel at
superluminal
Faster-than-light (also FTL, superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light (). The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero ...
speeds and can be used to ram planets or stars (creating supernovas) – there was even the worrying possibility that these could cause the
Big Crunch
The Big Crunch is a hypothetical scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the expansion of the universe eventually reverses and the universe recollapses, ultimately causing the cosmic scale factor to reach zero, an event potential ...
in zero time
*# a "sunbeam", a way of concentrating most of a sun's energy output into a narrow beam—this one a defensive-only weapon against nutcrackers and negaspheres
** Of these, the Nth-space planet is considered the most lethal as its speed and inter-dimensional nature leaves no means to defend against it; this knowledge precipitates the final battle in ''
Children of the Lens
''Children of the Lens'' is a science fiction novel by American author E. E. Smith. It was originally serialized in the magazine ''Astounding'' beginning in 1947, and was first published in book form in 1954 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 4,87 ...
''.
* Device Ultimate in ''The Xenocide Mission''
* In
Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin James Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is an American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for ''Star Wars'', ''StarCraft'', ''Titan A.E.'' and ''The X-Files literature#Novels, The X-Files'', and with Brian Herbert is the ...
's ''
Saga of Seven Suns
is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the ...
'', the ongoing war between the Faeros and Hydrogues see entire suns having their cores frozen.
* In
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...
's ''
Ender's Game
''Ender's Game'' is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set at an unspecified date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two conflicts with an insectoid alien species they dub ...
'', the MD (Molecular Disruption) Device, or "Little Doctor", generates a field inside in which it is impossible for atoms to coexist in a molecule. The field propagates in a chain reaction, and essentially destroys all matter until it reaches pure space. This was intended for ship to ship combat, but was eventually used to destroy an entire planet.
* In Daniel Edward's Division, planet-eaters focus gravity onto a planet, ripping it apart. This technology is used on Earth, destroying it utterly. Several other planet killers are mentioned
* In E. E. Smith's ''
The Skylark of Space
''The Skylark of Space'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Edward E. "Doc" Smith, written between 1915 and 1921 while Smith was working on his doctorate. Though the original idea for the novel was Smith's, he co-wrote the first part o ...
'' series various planet-killers are used or discussed. Throwing planets and moons out of orbit, incredibly high-yield atomic or copper bombs, near-instantaneous dematerialization of physical objects and the teleporting of close to fifty billion stars in order to wipe out a Galaxy-wide alien civilization are all used.
* In Greg Bear's ''
The Forge of God
''The Forge of God'' is a 1987 science fiction novel by American writer Greg Bear. Earth faces destruction when an inscrutable and overwhelming alien form of life attacks.
Plot
The novel features scenes and events, including the discovery of ...
'', alien aggressors inject two high-mass weapons made of neutronium and antineutronium into the Earth which orbit the Earth's core until they meet and annihilate, destroying the planet.
*
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianetic ...
's ''
Battlefield Earth'' (1982) planet-buster tactical nuclear weapons are teleported to a distant planet, where they are contained in a protective force-field that directs the blast into the mined-out and somewhat hollow planet. It first causes apocalyptic volcanic activity as half of the bombs' force breaks the crust and reaches the core, and the rest creates such temperature and pressure that it undergoes nuclear fusion and becomes a star. ''Battlefield Earth'' also features a device known as the "Psychlo ultimate bomb", which, when activated, causes all matter it touches to break down into hydrogen atoms (technically fission, although there is no mention of release or absorption of energy). The device featured at its core a sphere of extremely dense metal with an atomic number considerably larger than any listed on any periodic table of elements. This device was used on a moon, which was consumed faster than ships based on that Moon could launch. The resulting cloud of hydrogen later compressed under its own gravity, analogous to a gas giant planet. It is implied that it developed electron degeneracy, as it was described as having an electric field of "uncountable quintillions of megavolts" and would vaporize anything that approached it with an electric arc.
* In the ''
Gor
Gor () is the fictional setting for a series of sword and planet novels written by philosophy professor John Lange, writing as John Norman. The setting was first described in the 1966 novel ''Tarnsman of Gor''. The series is inspired by science f ...
'' novel series by
John Norman
John Frederick Lange Jr. (born June 3, 1931) is an American writer who, as John Norman, has authored the '' Gor'' series of science fantasy novels. Norman is also a philosophy professor.
Early life and education
Lange was born in Chicago, I ...
, specifically ''Tribesmen of Gor'', the alien Kurii deploy a weapon, apparently housed in a small space craft, to the eponymous planet. If it had been put to use, it would have to have rendered the planet uninhabitable not only to humans, but also to the Priest-Kings, who were sheltered deep inside a mountain range.
* Nova Bombs (''
Starship Troopers
''Starship Troopers'' is a military science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Written in a few weeks in reaction to the US suspending nuclear tests, the story was first published as a two-part serial in ''The Magazine of F ...
'')(
Andromeda TV Series)
* Relativistic projectiles (
Charles Pellegrino
Charles R. Pellegrino (born 1953) is an American writer, the author of several books related to science and archaeology, including ''Return to Sodom and Gomorrah'', ''Ghosts of the Titanic'', ''Unearthing Atlantis'', and ''Ghosts of Vesuvius.'' ...
and
George Zebrowski
George Zebrowski (born December 28, 1945) is an American science fiction writer and editor who has written and edited a number of books, and is a former editor of The Bulletin of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He lives with author Pamela ...
's ''The Killing Star'')
* The
Electron
The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family,
and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...
Pump (
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
's ''
The Gods Themselves
''The Gods Themselves'' is a 1972 science fiction novel written by Isaac Asimov, and his first original work in the science fiction genre in fifteen years (not counting his 1966 novelization of '' Fantastic Voyage''). It won the Nebula Award for ...
''). Not precisely a weapon per se; the destruction it produces is a side effect (albeit one the creators are aware of and consider acceptable, since it will also produce a great deal of usable energy).
* The ''Dahak''-class Planetoid-of-the-Line (
David Weber
David Mark Weber (born October 24, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He has written several science-fiction and fantasy books series, the best known of which is the Honorverse, Honor Harrington science-fiction series. His ...
's ''
Heirs of Empire'' trilogy)
* Two of
David Weber
David Mark Weber (born October 24, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He has written several science-fiction and fantasy books series, the best known of which is the Honorverse, Honor Harrington science-fiction series. His ...
's books
—''
The Armageddon Inheritance
''The Armageddon Inheritance'' is a science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, formed by two books containing a total of 27 chapters. It is the second book in his ''Dahak'' trilogy (after ''Mutineers' Moon'', and before ''Heirs of Emp ...
'' and ''
The Shiva Option
''The Shiva Option'', published by Baen Books, is the sequel to David Weber and Steve White's military science fiction novel '' In Death Ground''.
Plot summary
The Grand Alliance of Terrans, Orions, Gorm and Ophiuchi has suffered a catastrophic ...
''
—feature inhabited planets' biospheres destroyed by the impact of asteroids or moons on deliberately modified intersecting orbits.
* Throughout David Weber's
Honorverse
The Honorverse is a military science fiction book series, its two subseries, two prequel series, and anthologies created by David Weber and published by Baen Books. They are centered on the space navy career of the principal protagonist Honor ...
series just about any warship has the potential to wipe out all higher life on a planet by kinetic bombardment and this has happened in the past.
* S.T.A.R Platforms (The Blank Horizon), originally used for faster than light communication by artificially generating a molecule-sized wormhole, are capable of focusing over 1000 km square of a star's surface output into a beam a little over 2 cm wide, reaching temperatures in excess of 4.2 billion degrees, which could theoretically cut a planet apart and combust its atmosphere. This is never put into practice however, as the platforms are self-destructed to prevent them from being captured and used against their creators.
* In the ''
Looking Glass
A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...
'' series by
John Ringo
John Ringo (born March 22, 1963) is an American science fiction and military fiction author. He has had several ''New York Times'' best sellers. His books range from straightforward science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers ...
and
Travis S. Taylor, the alien Dreen possess an explosive powerful enough to destroy planets, and the alien black box starship drive will generate a field capable of destroying entire star systems if exposed to high voltage electricity.
* The Demolio is a bomb which can shatter planets in
Brian Herbert
Brian Patrick Herbert (born June 29, 1947) is an American author who lives in Washington (state), Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Herbert (who died in 1986).
Brian Herbert's novels include ''Sidney's Comet' ...
's ''Timeweb Chronicles''.
* The Supernova (
Matthew Reilly
Matthew John Reilly (born 2 July 1974) is an internationally bestselling Australian action thriller writer.
". Retrieved 10 ...
's ''
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
''): A weapon based on a fictional radioactive element. The weapon was described to be able to destroy a third of the mass of the planet. The element used as the core of the device is only found, rarely, in meteorites
—only one active sample has ever been found and is being pursued by the American military and several terrorist organizations.
*
Ice-nine
Cat's cradle is a game involving the creation of various string figures between the fingers, either individually or by passing a loop of string back and forth between two or more players. The true origin of the name is debated, though the fir ...
in the novel ''
Cat's Cradle
Cat's cradle is a game involving the creation of various string figures between the fingers, either individually or by passing a loop of string back and forth between two or more players. The true origin of the name is debated, though the fi ...
'' by
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...
is a solid form of water at ambient temperature. It causes the end of the Earth when some of it falls into the ocean, causing a chain reaction that transforms all the water on Earth into ice-nine.
* Quark bombs in the novel ''
Lord from the Planet Earth'' by
Sergey Lukyanenko
Sergei Vasilyevich Lukyanenko (russian: Серге́й Васи́льевич Лукья́ненко, ; born 11 April 1968) is a Russian science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, ...
. A group of radical cultists from another planet wanted to destroy Earth with a quark bomb, but are foiled by the protagonists.
* The Q-bomb, a prototype doomsday device that could destroy the world if triggered in ''
The Mouse That Roared
''The Mouse That Roared'' is a 1955 satirical novel by Irish-American writer Leonard Wibberley, which launched a series of satirical books about an imaginary country in Europe called the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. Wibberley used the premise to mak ...
'', a 1955 novel by Irish American writer Leonard Wibberley.
* In
Chris Walley's ''
Lamb Among the Stars'' novels, a polyvalent fusion bomb is capable of rendering a planet inhospitable due to radiation if detonated in a solar system. Project Daybreak was intended to inject one into the core of a star, with an estimated blast radius of several dozen light-years.
* In M. Andrew Sprong's book ''Haley Cork and the Blue Door'' two forms of planet killers are employed. In one case the ''Enemy'' uses an anti-mercury bomb to destroy half of the planet's population in order to blind the sensors of its guardian moon. In another, Haley, as a personified biomechanical weapon, teleports billions of copies of herself using quantum foam technology to the same exact location in order to convert herself into a blackhole and destroy the ''Enemy's'' planetary armada.
* The Berserker series is a series of space opera science fiction short stories and novels by Fred Saberhagen, in which robotic self-replicating machines intend to destroy all life. These Berserkers, named after the human berserker warriors of Norse legend, are doomsday weapons left over from an interstellar war between two races of extraterrestrials.
* In the German science fiction series ''
Perry Rhodan
''Perry Rhodan'' is a West Germany, West German/Germany, German space opera franchise, named after its hero. It commenced in 1961 and has been ongoing for decades, written by an ever-changing team of authors. Having sold approximately two billi ...
'', the humanoid Arkoniden (English: Arconides) had the Arkon Bomb, which could destroy an Earth-sized planet within hours, or the Lemurians, the ancestors of the Arconides and the Terrans, had the Armageddon Bomb which was similar to the Arkon Bomb. The tyrannical rulers of the Andromeda Galaxy had planet killers, which could devour whole planets and were referred to as "Mobies" by the fictional characters within the series. In this series, weapons with the power to eliminate whole galaxies were mentioned as well.
* In ''A Hole in Space'' by
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' ...
, Monk ships carry a stern-facing device called the ''hachiroph shisp'' which causes stars to go
supernova
A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
. The Monks use these devices to propel their ships from star to star, unless the star they are visiting has a civilization that can build a
launching laser for them to use instead.
* Hypernet gates in ''
The Lost Fleet
The Lost Fleet is a military science fiction series written by John G. Hemry under the pen name Jack Campbell. The series is set one-hundred-plus years into an interstellar war between two different human cultures, the Alliance and the Syndics ...
'' explode when disrupted, with a yield ranging from insignificant to supernova-level depending on the order in which the gate's many "tethers" are destroyed. The alien Enigmas provided the technology to humans during a large war, hoping that humanity would destroy itself when the warring factions (the Alliance and the Syndicate) discovered the gate-collapse technique and began using it on each other.
* In ''
The Shiva Option
''The Shiva Option'', published by Baen Books, is the sequel to David Weber and Steve White's military science fiction novel '' In Death Ground''.
Plot summary
The Grand Alliance of Terrans, Orions, Gorm and Ophiuchi has suffered a catastrophic ...
'', the Bug "home hive" systems are neutralized by
carpet bombing
Carpet bombing, also known as saturation bombing, is a large area bombardment done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land. The phrase evokes the image of explosions completely covering an area, in th ...
their inhabited planets with
antimatter
In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radioac ...
munitions.
* In ''
The Mortal Engines Quartet'' by author
Philip Reeve
Philip Reeve (born 28 February 1966) is a British author and illustrator of children's books, primarily known for the 2001 book ''Mortal Engines'' and its sequels (the 2001 to 2006 ''Mortal Engines Quartet''). His 2007 novel, ''Here Lies Arthur ...
, set in a post-apocalyptic world, the ODIN device is an ancient orbital energy weapon capable of destroying whole cities in a single blast. Stalker Fang, a main character in the series, plans to use ODIN to target volcanoes to plunge the Earth into a
volcanic winter
A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water obscuring the Sun and raising Earth's albedo (increasing the reflection of solar radiation) after a large, particularly explosiv ...
to extinguish humanity, which she sees as responsible for all of Earth's problems.
The E.C.Tubb story 'Little Girl Lost' (also, a filmed adaptation was done for USA TV Series NIGHT GALLERY) presents a scenario where a researcher, working on atomic weapons (in the TV adaptation, he is working for the US, in the original, for the British government) suffers a nervous breakdown when his daughter is killed in a car accident. In order to keep him working at his project, a psychologist is brought in to keep him in a delusional state, thinking that she is still alive ... it seems that he is completely fooled by this ruse until the end, where it is discovered that his weapon can (and does) destroy the planet, or at least that is implied ...
▪ Stephan Ames Berry Kronarian book series has two versions of planet busters one produced by the old imperium burrows into a planets cores and explodes destroying the planet from the inside out. The other was produced by the Trel called a worm maker creates a wormhole to consume a planet or in some cases whole solar systems. this one was copied by the antagonist AI's and was used against them destroying their fleet.
Games
''Halo'' series
* UNSC NOVA Bomb (a group of nuclear warheads clustered around a core that forces the fissionable material together, magnifying the explosion)
* Covenant Warships are typically equipped with plasma weapons used to vitrify (commonly called "glassing") the surface of a planet through en masse bombardment
The titular Halo installations themselves only kill sentient life, leaving planets and their biospheres-as well as any creature without sufficient biomass to support
The Flood-otherwise intact. However,
Forerunner
Forerunner may refer to:
Religion
* A holy person announcing the approaching appearance of a prophet, see precursor (religion).
** As a title, used in particular for John the Baptist within Christianity, and especially within the Eastern Orthodox ...
and
ancient Human fleets are known to possess less selective weapons capable of inducing stellar collapses at will.
''StarCraft (series)''
* Protoss:
** Most larger warcraft (carriers, motherships), and sometimes void rays have purification beams, which instantly vitrify (AKA glassing) the surface of a planet.
** Cybros, the Purifier vault/battlestation is equipped with a beam that "purifies" a planet of all life via glassing with one shot, hence the name Purifiers. This weapon was fired upon Endion after Cybros was cleansed of Zerg infestation.
*Terrans:
** Bombardment with apocalypse class nukes, FTL-capable nukes meant to be launched en-masse. 1000 is extreme overkill for wiping out all life on a fortified planet, with explosions easily visible from orbit. This appears to leave little lingering radiation, as the planet Korhal which was victim to such an attack was cleansed of it and has a population in the billions within a few decades.
** The Mercer-class doomsday device, which turns a planet's core against it, causing it to explode, covering the planet's surface in magma.
**Psi-emitter- a device that attracts innumerable Zerg to its location. One such device was deployed on Tarsonis, which resulted in massive casualties.
*Zerg:
**Although not shown in-game, it is referenced in the lore that the Zerg can spread creep across the surface of a planet within days. They have massive reproduction and regeneration capabilities, so they can clear a planet and assimilate any genetic code that benefits the Swarm.
*Void Entities:
**Amon is shown to be powerful enough to extinguish worlds with but a thought.
''Sins of a Solar Empire''
*The TEC's Novalith Cannon is a giant, nuke launching, railgun capable of wiping out the entire population of a planet in just one shot, with better fortified planets only requiring two. The intense radiation of the nukes also makes the planet uninhabitable for a long time.
*In ''Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion'' the loyalist faction of the alien Vasari can strip-mine an entire planet, leaving only a dead asteroid. This nets the player ordering the strip-mining a large amount of resources.
*All titans, all capitals, and some specialized frigates can bomb a planet to destroy a colony and wipe out its population. the technology used varies between the different races, with the human TEC (or Trader Emergency Coalition) using nukes, the psychic Advent using Kinetic bombardment, and the alien Vasari using a beam weapon.
''Warhammer 40,000''
*
Abaddon the Despoiler's ship, ''Planet Killer'' destroys planets through a concentrated beam that bores through a planet's crust causing a catastrophic eruption of planetary material.
* C'tan (the Necron's Gods). In their original "energy-like" form they can feed off any source of energy (heat, radiation, life, etc.)
* The
Necron Necron may refer to:
* ''Necron'' (comics), a 1981-1985 adult comic series
* Necron (''Warhammer 40,000''), a fictional undead alien race
* Necron (''Final Fantasy''), a villain from ''Final Fantasy IX''
* Nekron, a DC Comics supervillain
* Nekr ...
''World Engine'' has large Gauss weapons that can scour a world of all life.
*
Tyranid
In the fictional universe of ''Warhammer 40,000'', the Tyranids are a race and a playable army in the tabletop miniatures wargame.
The Tyranids are described as a nomadic society of aliens which originated from beyond the Milky Way Galaxy and ...
Hive Fleets devour all biomass of a planet they conquer.
* The
Imperium
In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from ''auctoritas'' and ''potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic an ...
's means of carrying out an order of ''
Exterminatus'', including:
**
Virus
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.
Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...
Bombs. These contain a mutating virus, called the Life Eater virus, which causes basic chemical bonds in organic and some non-organic materials to break, causing these materials to "liquefy". As the planetary biosphere undergoes accelerated decomposition the massive amount of methane gas can be ignited from orbit creating a planet wide firestorm that will often kill anyone who survived the virus attack.
** Cyclonic Torpedoes. One was used by the Inquisition to destroy Typhon Primaris during
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution.
** Orbital Bombardment. The favored method of the Imperial Navy due to its lack of authorization to use the more advanced means. The result of an orbital bombardment can range from continents being atomized and oceans being vaporized to the complete mass scatter of the planet.
* Two Blackstone Fortresses, a type of space station used by
Chaos
Chaos or CHAOS may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional elements
* Chaos (''Kinnikuman'')
* Chaos (''Sailor Moon'')
* Chaos (''Sesame Park'')
* Chaos (''Warhammer'')
* Chaos, in ''Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy''
* Cha ...
, can destroy a planet. If used together, Three Blackstone Fortresses or more can destroy a star. They were originally weapons wielded by the Eldar against the Necrons and the C'tan in a cataclysmic war but were lost and forgotten until millennia later. Initially used as Imperial Space Fortresses, the Chaos Warmaster Abaddon managed to secure two artifacts to control two Fortresses while destroying the rest.
''Stellaris''
* The Apocalypse
DLC allows players to build a Colossus, a massive spaceship that can destroy planets or do other things based on what the player equips it with.
* The Nemesis
DLC's Star-Eaters,massive ships constructed out of dark matter which destroy stars by causing them to go supernova, destroying all planets in the system and causing the star to become a black hole in order to harvest dark matter.
* The Aetherophasic Engine, also introduced in the Nemesis
DLC, is a megastructure constructed through dark matter. Upon activation, its creators ascend to the "Shroud", a higher dimension of pure energy, while simultaneously destroying all stars in the galaxy along with their planets.
Other games
* The System Killer as well as the Von Neumann Construct random menaces from the ''
Sword of the Stars
''Sword of the Stars'' is a space 4X game developed by Kerberos Productions. In the game the player chooses one of four unique races to form an interstellar empire and conquer the galaxy. In order to win, the player must expand territory by colo ...
'' series.
* The Annihilaser fro
Planetary Annihilation It is used by building 5 massive Catalysts on the north pole of a metal planet, allowing the player to fire a weapon from the planet. After a short charging up sequence, the planet will rotate to its target and fire an extremely powerful beam of energy that goes straight though the planet, and the crust will turn bright blue and expand outward, before exploding. The Annihilaser can destroy any rocky planet (Regardless of size), and can even destroy small planets that are being fired at another planet. It cannot destroy gas giants or stars.
* Ragnarok
Planetary Annihilation A doomsday structure that once built deploys and drills a hole to the mantle of a planet for one minute before dropping an unnamed device into the core, exploding the planet in a fashion similar to the Annihilaser.
* The Planet Buster in E.A.'s 2008 space simulation game, ''
Spore
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
'' (Space stage), a superweapon feared by all, capable of destroying an entire planet with a single blast. Using it is against the Galactic Code and nearby empires will consider it to be an act of war, except the Grox, who become friendlier. When used 10 parsecs away from other empires, it will not alter the relationship with them and can be tested 'safely'.
*Another planet-killer in Spore are the terraforming tools. While unable to completely shatter a planet, they can destroy the ecosystem and either freeze or melt the planet, while making the atmosphere too thin or thick for life to live.
*Also in Spore, using the Fanatical Frenzy ability (Only available to Zealots) instantly wipes out a race and replaces its residents with yours. Again, it doesn't destroy the planet, but instantly conquers it. (Like the Planet Buster, it also breaks Galactic Code)
*The Gravitation Wave, from Spore, (Only available to Scientists ) is a wave of very tightly packed gravity, that instantly kills all sapient beings on the planet and destroys their buildings. it does not alright destroy a planet, but kills all of its citizens. (It also breaks Galactic Code)
* Hammer of Dawn in the
Gears of war
''Gears of War'' is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The franchise is best known for its third-person shooter vide ...
Series could wipe out the entire civilization with a few shots.
* Xenon Mothership (''
X: Beyond the Frontier'')
* Khaak Mothership (''
X²: The Threat'')
*
Heartless (''
Kingdom Hearts series''), a race of creatures that devour, not only the hearts of people, but also of worlds, thus destroying them.
* Mycon Deep children, the Utwig Bomb, and the Sa-Matra from ''
Star Control 2
''Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters'' is a 1992 video game, the sequel to '' Star Control''. It was developed by Toys for Bob ( Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III) and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for MS-DOS. This game features exoplan ...
''
*
The ''Omega System'' (''
Xenosaga
''Xenosaga'' is a role-playing video game series developed by Monolith Soft and primarily published by Namco. Forming part of the wider '' Xeno'' metaseries, ''Xenosaga'' is set in a science fiction universe and follows a group of characters as th ...
'')
*Tiberium in the
Command & Conquer
''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise, first developed by Westwood Studios. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself based on Westwood Studios' influential strategy game ''Dune I ...
franchise slowly eats the Earth turning it into tiberium.
* Atmospheric deprivation missiles in ''
Homeworld
''Homeworld'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Studios on September 28, 1999, for Microsoft Windows. Set in space, the science fiction game follows the Kushan exil ...
'' are used by the Taiidan (or Kushan, depending on the player's choice of race), while (unknown to them) the Mothership was held up by raiders on the outskirts of the system. Afterwards, the northern hemisphere was blackened and fires were visible from high orbit. In ''
Homeworld 2
''Homeworld 2'' is a real-time strategy video game sequel to ''Homeworld'', developed by Relic Entertainment and released in 2003 by now defunct publisher Sierra Entertainment. Its story concerns Hiigara's response to a new enemy called the Vaygr. ...
'', the main antagonists (the Vaygr) attempt to use similar technology in the final mission – one of the mission's objectives is to intercept the missiles before they reach their target. However, the planet is not 'killed' after one missile strike; each missile kills approximately half of the current surviving population, and the mission is failed if too many slip by (it takes approximately 5 to fully depopulate the planet). The T-MAT Motherships and the Progenitor ship, the Sajuuk, and the Ancient Planetary Bombardment Platforms are also considered as Planet Killers.
* Black Sun (''
Supreme Commander''), an extremely powerful laser weapon that utilizes a gate network to target and burn multiple planets in a single firing. Fired from the Black Sun facility located on the island of
Niihau
Niihau ( Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Niihau ( ), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii. It is southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is . Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland hab ...
in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
.
* Mechanoid motherships (''
Rifts'')
*
Jenova Jenova may refer to:
*Jenova (Final Fantasy), Jenova (''Final Fantasy''), a character in the video game ''Final Fantasy VII''
*Jenova Chen (born Xinghan Chen), video game developer and the founder of thatgamecompany
*Jenova (film), ''Jenova'' (fi ...
in ''
Final Fantasy VII
is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertai ...
'', a
parasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...
being which drains life from any planet that it lands on. Described by
Vincent Valentine
is a player character in Square's (now Square Enix) 1997 role-playing video game ''Final Fantasy VII''. Designed by Tetsuya Nomura, he also appears in various titles from the ''Compilation of Final Fantasy VII'', a metaseries set in the ''Final ...
as being "Heaven's Dark Arbiter."
* Meteor (''
Final Fantasy VII
is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertai ...
''); the intention of its caller in the game required the Planet to ''survive''.
* Shivan Juggernaut ''
Sathanas
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. ...
'' could, as a group, create a gigantic ripple in the subspace field surrounding a star, causing the star to become unstable and go nova, ostensibly destroying all planets in the system. (''
FreeSpace 2
''FreeSpace 2'' is a 1999 space combat simulation computer game developed by Volition as the sequel to '' Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War''. It was completed ahead of schedule in less than a year, and released to very positive reviews, but ...
'')
* Shivan Super Destroyer ''
Lucifer
Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ...
'' used three "flux cannons", which are more popularly known as "beams", to obliterate the surface of an entire planet, rendering it invulnerable. However, in the cutscene, the Lucifer used only one, which could release an expansive blast which could burn away a small fraction of a planet. (''Descent: FreeSpace — The Great War'')
* Star Generator (''
Space Quest 1'')
* Stellar Converters (''
Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares''), plasma cannons of immense size and power that are capable of tearing straight through virtually anything in the line of fire.
* The Kilrathi Dreadnought ''Sivar'' (''
Wing Commander: The Secret Missions'') - This warship designed by the Kilrathi carried with it the Graviton Weapon, which could destroy a planet and all life on its surface by increasing its gravitational field 137 times the normal force.
* TCS ''Behemoth'' and the Temblor Bomb (''
Wing Commander III
''Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger'' is the third main game in Chris Roberts' ''Wing Commander'' science fiction space combat simulation video game series, developed and released by Origin Systems in December 1994. It was a departure from ...
'') - The TCS ''Behemoth'' was a super-heavy dreadnought which carried a superlaser capable of obliterating any target ranging from a starship to a planet. The latter weapon, the Temblor Bomb was designed to exploit the instability of a planet's fault line to trigger a super earthquake that would subsequently destabilize a world's entire tectonic makeup, literally shaking it apart to the point of implosion. The Temblor Bomb could only be launched via starfighter, and the player must destroy the Kilrathi homeworld of Kilrah by this means.
* Terror Star, a parody of the Death Star (although a fully functional star killer) from ''
Galactic Civilizations
''Galactic Civilizations'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Stardock and released in March 2003. The game is a remake of an OS/2 series of the same name. An expansion pack entitled ''Altarian Prophecy'' was released in 2004. A se ...
''
* The "''
Iron Helix
''Iron Helix'' is a FMV adventure video game made for Windows, Macintosh, and the Sega CD. It was an early example of a CD-based game, including video elements integrated with conventional 2D maps and controls. The game was designed by Drew Pictu ...
''" (used to destroy Calliope if you fail the mission)
* The "Nova Bomb" in ''
X-COM: Interceptor'' – this was a missile carried on fighters which, rather than being used against a planet directly, was fired at the star inside the system. According to in-game details, the Nova Bomb slowly accelerates to light speed and burrows itself into the core, causing the star to go supernova, completely destroying the whole system. After the Doomsday Weapon built by the aliens is located (on the other side of a black hole), the player is told that it can only be destroyed with a Nova Bomb. The technology was considered so dangerous the scientific community asked for all knowledge of the bomb to be stricken from records so it would not fall into the wrong hands.
* The "Weak nuclear force decoupler" from ''
Perfect Dark
''Perfect Dark'' is a first-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console in 2000. The first game of the ''Perfect Dark'' series, it follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research c ...
'' (
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...
)
* The
Space Colony ''ARK'''s ''Eclipse Cannon'' from ''
Sonic Adventure 2
is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team USA and published by Sega. It was the final ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game for the Dreamcast after Sega left the home console market. It features two Conflict between good and evil, good-vs-evil stor ...
'' and ''
Shadow the Hedgehog
is a fictional character appearing in Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Shadow was created by Takashi Iizuka and Shiro Maekawa, and first made his debut in ''Sonic Adventure 2'' (2001). Although this was intended to be his only appearan ...
''
* The Alphacore (''
Omega Boost
is a three dimensional shoot 'em up developed by Polyphony Digital and Cyberhead for the PlayStation. It was released in 1999 throughout Japan, North America, and Europe by Sony Computer Entertainment.
The game features mecha designs by Shoji ...
'')
* The Biologic Space Labs research station in ''
Metroid Fusion
is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance in 2002. It was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, which had developed the previous game in the series, ''Super Metroid'' (1994). Players contr ...
'' (
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...
) is equipped with a self-destruct system capable of destroying a planet within its blast radius. In addition, the planet Zebes was equipped with a planetary self-destruct mechanism in ''
Super Metroid
is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. It is the third installment in the ''Metroid'' series, following the events of the Game Boy ...
'' (
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eur ...
)
* The Black Egg and Mulligan artifacts (''
Starflight
''Starflight'' is a space exploration, combat, and trading role-playing video game created by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. Originally developed for IBM PC compatibles, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, ...
'')
* The Crest of Annihilation (''
Star Ocean: The Second Story'') (this device completely obliterates a planet, but it is allegedly powerful enough to wipe out the entire known universe)
* The Death Egg from ''
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Eggman from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space stationnamed T ...
'' and ''
Sonic & Knuckles
is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna in their quests to save Angel Island; Sonic tries to prevent Doctor Robotnik from relaunching his orbital weapon, the Death Egg, ...
'', a parody of the Death Star and a caricature of
Dr. Robotnik
Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the main antagonist of Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Eggman was created and designed by Naoto Ohshima as part of many design choices for Sega's new mascot. After the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, Oh ...
. Armed with two ion cannons (supposedly) forming the "eyes" on the "face", it is damaged and repaired throughout the early Sonic the Hedgehog series.
* The Galactic Implosion Device (''
Total Annihilation
''Total Annihilation'' is a real-time strategy video game created by Cavedog Entertainment, a sub-division of Humongous Entertainment, and was released on September 26, 1997 by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Two expansion packs ...
'')
* The 'PlanetBuster Maximus' in the video game ''
Ratchet & Clank
''Ratchet & Clank'' is a series of action platformer and third-person shooter video games. The franchise was created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation consoles, such as PlayStation 2 ...
'', a skyscraper-sized bomb "capable of reducing an entire planet to subatomic particles". There was another device named 'The DePlanetizer', referred to as "The most powerful laser ever invented". It consisted of a giant football field-sized platform with a large rotating laser cannon on the bottom and a giant red button on the top. It served as an arena during the final fight with
Chairman Drek. The De-Planetizer's purpose was to break planets apart so that Chairman Drek could harvest choice fragments to assemble into his own new planet.
* The ''Ragnarok'' space station is capable of destroying anything off of the face of the Earth. (''
Mega Man Zero
is a series in Capcom's '' Mega Man'' video game franchise. It was developed by Inti Creates, with Co-Producer Keiji Inafune and Director Yoshinori Kawano. The series consists of four games that were first released on the Game Boy Advance and l ...
'')
* The
Monitor Kernel Access / Monika.chr computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer program ...
, who destroys the virtual world of ''Doki Doki Literature Club!'' to protect the world at large from her fellow programs once they too begin to gain sentience. (''
Doki Doki Literature Club!
''Doki Doki Literature Club!'' (''DDLC'') is a 2017 freeware visual novel developed by American independent game studio Team Salvato for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux. The game was initially distributed through itch.io, and later became a ...
'')
* The ''Moon Dagger'' from
Terminal Velocity
Terminal velocity is the maximum velocity (speed) attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid (air is the most common example). It occurs when the sum of the drag force (''Fd'') and the buoyancy is equal to the downward force of gravit ...
. This largue warship is a huge missile that cycles on the target a Fussion Transference Wave, whose effects are described as similar to what a
sawed-off shotgun
A sawed-off shotgun (also called a sawn-off shotgun, short-barreled shotgun, shorty or a boom stick) is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel—typically under —and often a shortened or absent stock. Despite the colloquial term, ...
causes to a human.
* The ''trih xeem'' in the ''
Marathon Trilogy
The ''Marathon Trilogy'' is a science fiction first-person shooter video game series from Bungie, primarily released for the Mac OS. The name of the series is derived from the giant interstellar colony ship that provides the main setting for th ...
''. Name literally means, "early nova."
* The Void (''
Super Paper Mario
is a 2007 action role-playing game (RPG) developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It is the third installment in the ''Paper Mario'' series and the first Mario (franchise), Mario game to be released on the Wii. T ...
'') (this consumes worlds completely, leaving bleak, endless white plains in their place)
* Vegnagun in (''
Final Fantasy X-2
is a 2003 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation 2. Unlike most ''Final Fantasy'' games, which use self-contained stories and characters, ''X-2'' continues the story of ''Fin ...
'') can be seen instigating the destruction of Spira in a "bad ending".
* ''
Smoke's'' Destroy-The-Earth ''
fatality'' and ''
Grey-Goo ending'' (''
Mortal Kombat
''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...
'')
* Planet Busters of (''
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
''Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri'' is a 4X video game, considered a spiritual sequel to the ''Civilization'' series. Set in a science fiction depiction of the 22nd century, the game begins as seven competing ideological factions land on the planet ...
'') destructive power ranges from destroying a city to a continent depending on their power source. When used, these weapons increased the chance of the planet's
native life seeking to annihilate humanity. In the
novelizations
A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative work, derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, Play (theatre), stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particula ...
, four
gravitational singularity
A gravitational singularity, spacetime singularity or simply singularity is a condition in which gravitational field, gravity is so intense that spacetime itself breaks down catastrophically. As such, a singularity is by definition no longer p ...
–powered Planet Busters used by the Believer's trigger such an event.
* Cannon Seed (''
Galaxian 3
is a 3D rail shooter video game developed and published by Namco. It was originally a theme park attraction designed for the Expo '90, International Garden and Greenery Exposition (Expo '90) in Japan, and was later released as an arcade game in 1 ...
'')
* Sorcery Globe (Star Ocean: The Second Story) disrupts a planets 'Expel's' orbit and causes it to crash into Energy Nede.
* The USG ''Ishimura'' in ''
Dead Space
''Dead Space'' is a science fiction/horror fiction, horror media franchise created by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, developed by Visceral Games, and published and owned by Electronic Arts. The franchise's chronology is not presented in a lin ...
'', a deep space mining vessel that extracts minerals from a planet by ripping away large chunks of the crust, and the other planet cracker vessels built after it. The Ishimura herself is said to have cracked 34 planets during her 62-year service. Also, the pre-Ishimura space stations used to "harvest"
Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
.
*In ''
Dead Space 3
''Dead Space 3'' is a 2013 survival horror Action game, action video game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the third and final main entry in the ''Dead Space (f ...
'' it is found out that if the alien
Necromorph
Necromorph is the term for a collective of fictional undead creatures in the science fiction horror multimedia franchise ''Dead Space'' by Electronic Arts, introduced in the 2008 comic book series of the same name. Within the series, the Necromo ...
markers convert all the planet's life into more Necromorph mass, the planet becomes a Brethren moon, a sentient planet size Necromorph that has the ability of interstellar travel and the telepathic powers of the markers who consumes all life on other planets.
*The Parasite Machine that sucks energy from the Earth's core in ''
Urban Assault
''Urban Assault'' is a 3D combined first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer game developed by the German company TerraTools and published by Microsoft in the year 1998.
It was the third strategy title that was directly published by ...
''
*In ''
Mass Effect
''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known univers ...
'', mass accelerators are the primary weapon design, ranging from small arms to multi-kilometer capital ship cannons. One weapon's projectile was powerful enough for a glancing blow to result in a large rift on a planet's surface, comparable to
Valles Marineris
Valles Marineris (; Latin for ''Mariner program, Mariner Valleys'', named after the ''Mariner 9'' Mars orbiter of 1971–72 which discovered it) is a system of canyons that runs along the Mars, Martian surface east of the Tharsis region. At more ...
. Also, various planet-grade WMDs are listed: nuclear weapons of varying yield, asteroids and space stations, and invasive species. Mass Effect: Bring Down the Sky DLC has a state sponsored terrorist group attempt to navigate an asteroid into a Human colony. ''Mass Effect 2: Arrival'' DLC offers an unusual form of kinetic weaponry: an asteroid equipped with a propulsion drive with enough power to destroy
mass relay
The ''Mass Effect'' media franchise, developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, is set in the distant future where various extraterrestrial species coexist with humanity. The developers created extensive background lore for the univer ...
.
Mass Effect 3
''Mass Effect 3'' is an action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The third major entry in the ''Mass Effect'' series and the final installment of the original trilogy, it was released in March 2012 fo ...
involves disarming an old Turian bomb that was placed on the Krogan home world in case of a rebellion.
*The Giant of Bab-il in ''
Final Fantasy IV
known as ''Final Fantasy II'' for its initial North American release, is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in 1991, it is the fourth main instal ...
'' is teleported to the Blue Planet/Earth for the express purpose of annihilating all life on the planet.
*In ''
Final Fantasy V
is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1992. It is the fifth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The game first appeared only in Japan on Nintendo's Super Famicom (known internationally as the Su ...
'',
Exdeath
is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square in 1992. It is the fifth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The game first appeared only in Japan on Nintendo's Super Nintendo En ...
unleashes the power of the Void on the world; Neo-Exdeath (an amalgamation of Exdeath and all the creatures trapped in the Rift) clearly implies that the Void could destroy all life in the universe.
*In ''
Final Fantasy IX
is a 2000 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It is the ninth game in the main ''Final Fantasy'' series. The plot focuses on a wa ...
'',
Kuja
''Kuja'' is a genus of African moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approxima ...
destroys everything within his home planet with a Ultima spell.
*In the original release of ''
Final Fantasy XIV
''Final Fantasy XIV'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix. Directed and produced by Naoki Yoshida, it was released worldwide for Windows and PlayStation 3 in August 2013, as a rep ...
'', the main antagonist Nael van Darnus pulls the lesser moon Dalamud from orbit in an attempt to destroy the beast tribes and the primals they worship. In reality, Dalamud is an artificial satellite used as a prison for the elder primal Bahamut, who destroys the world in a rage upon his release. The
relaunched version and tts expansions expand upon this; Dalamud's fall and Bahamut's rampage were amplified by a phenomenon known as the Rejoining, in which the global story arc's antagonists, the Ascians, "rejoin" an alternate dimension split from the world, causing mass destruction and strengthening their god, Zodiark.
*Capital Vessels in ''
R-Type
is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful a ...
'' have Wave-Cannons stated to be a hundred million times the power of the standard mass-production fighter's, and capable of destroying planets. The in-game description therefore indicates that each of the dozens or hundreds of fighters fielded in every fleet has a re-usable weapon with an output in the low Teratons.
* Izanami from the Blazblue series with the True Blazblue can turn most things on the planet to seither and render it a husk.
* Dinosaur Planet, which would later be called Sauria in ''
Star Fox Adventures
''Star Fox Adventures'' is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. The game had a long development cycle starting in 1997. Originally developed as ''Dinosaur Planet'' with Rare-created characters as the prota ...
'' had a force so powerful to blow the planet apart and kill the entire Lylat System.
* The Destroyer is a massive golem in ''
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon''. It had the ability to form a wall of fire called the "Ring of Annihilation." Once completed the belt of fire would spread reducing the world into fire and ash.
* ''
Ogame
''OGame'' is a browser-based, money-management and space-war themed massively multiplayer online browser game with over two million accounts. OGame was created in 2002 and is produced and maintained by Gameforge. OGame is available in multiple la ...
'' features the Death Star, by far the largest ship available, that can destroy moons depending on the size of each, as the chance that it will occur varies greatly (''not'' planets).
* ''
GURPS
The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems w ...
Spaceships'' presents the
Relativistic kill vehicle Azrael, described as a large
AI-controlled missile that impacts its target with a force of 42 million
megaton
Megaton may refer to:
* A million tons
* Megaton TNT equivalent, explosive energy equal to 4.184 petajoules
* megatonne, a million tonnes, SI unit of mass
Other uses
* Olivier Megaton (born 1965), French film director, writer and editor
* ''Me ...
s -enough to trigger an
extinction event
An extinction event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp change in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms. I ...
-.
*In
''Kirby Super Star Ultra'', a warrior known as
Galacta Knight makes his debut. He is referred to as the greatest warrior in the galaxy and a warrior who was sealed away because his power was too great, as mentioned by the Galactic Nova. He later appears in ''
Kirby: Planet Robobot'', in which he is summoned by
Star Dream, who says: He may end up destroying a nearby planet or two, but such is life.''
'. This indicates that Galacta Knight could quite easily destroy up to two planetary bodies at a time.
*Void Termina (''
Kirby Star Allies
''Kirby Star Allies'' is a 2018 platform video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. The twelfth mainline installment in the ''Kirby'' series, the player controls Kirby in his quest to prevent a pri ...
'') is mentioned to be the Destroyer of Worlds on his splash screen. This can be shown to be a valid description when his death causes a
supernova
A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
.
*In the ''Traveller'' roleplaying game there is a highly advanced weapon called a planet buster. It is believed to have been used by the ancients during the war that resulted in their extinction. It is very difficult if not impossible to gain one of these in a normal game.
* The Ruin in ''Starbound
''Starbound'' is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Chucklefish. ''Starbound'' takes place in a two-dimensional, procedurally generated universe which the player is able to explore in order to obtain new weapons, armor, ...
'' is an ancient and giant biological being capable of destroying planets,it loathes all life and tries to kill it all and it was controlled by Arsa Nox and is the final boss of the game
*In ''Outer Wilds'', the alien race known as the Nomai constructed a space station capable of prompting its parent star to go supernova, destroying all planets within the blast. The Nomai would use the energy released to power the Ash Twin Project, sending a user's memories back in time 22 minutes. The Ash Twin Project was also linked to a probe cannon looking for a distant body known as the Eye. Sending the memories of the users and the data from the probe back in time allowed the probe to be fired an indefinite number of times, and for the loop to stop in the case of an emergency. Once the Ash Twin Project succeeded, it could tell the sun station to stop firing allowing the Nomai to find a way to travel to the Eye. However, the Sun Station did not output enough power to cause a supernova, and the Ash Twin Project would have to wait until the end of the Sun's natural life cycle to begin a time loop. At the end of Outer Wilds, the player does not find a way to stop the supernova, and must travel to the Eye, having deactivated the Ash Twin Project, using an ancient crashed ship whom the Nomai originated from. After a while, the Universe dies from heat death as all stars reach their deaths and go supernova, destroying all solar systems in the Universe, except for the Eye situated far enough from the blast of the Sun.
*Also in Outer Wilds, interrupting a warp when there's still a duplicate of an object from the future will cause spacetime to break, presumably causing everything to cease existence.
*In Fortnite Battle Royale
''Fortnite Battle Royale'' is a free-to-play battle royale video game developed and published by Epic Games. It is a companion game to '' Fortnite: Save the World'', a cooperative survival game with construction elements. It was initially re ...
, during the Chapter 2 Season 2 live event, the character of Midas builds a Doomsday Device in order to push back the storm from the loop, attempting to allow the loopers (players) to escape. The device fails, and the storm is turned into a gigantic tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
.
*Also in Fortnite Battle Royale
''Fortnite Battle Royale'' is a free-to-play battle royale video game developed and published by Epic Games. It is a companion game to '' Fortnite: Save the World'', a cooperative survival game with construction elements. It was initially re ...
, during the Chapter 3 Season 2 live event, the Imagined Order create a Doomsday Device in order to put an end to The Seven and restart the loop. They are stopped by The Paradigm controlling the rebuilt Mecha Team Leader while players control the guns of the mech.
Anime and manga
''Dragon Ball''
Many characters in the series can destroy planets.
*Both Master Roshi
Master Roshi, known in Japan as as well as , is a fictional character from the ''Dragon Ball'' series created by Akira Toriyama.
Within the series, he is an elderly martial arts master, born on March 20th, who is the innovator of the technique ...
and Piccolo
The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...
destroyed the Moon in seconds. The former during the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, and the latter in the Sayian Saga.
* Vegeta
( ), also referred as is a fictional character in the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta first appears in chapter #204 "Sayonara, Son Goku", published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine on November 7, 1988, seeking ...
destroyed Planet Arlia in ''Dragon Ball Z
''Dragon Ball Z'' is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 '' Dragon Ball'' anime series and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the original ...
'' filler.
* Frieza
, also known and spelled as Freeza in Funimation's English subtitles and Viz Media's release of the manga, is a fictional character in the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He makes his debut in Chapter #247: "Dark Clouds ...
has destroyed Planet Vegeta, Planet Namek, and Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
.
* Kid Buu destroyed Earth during the climax of ''Dragon Ball Z'' and then destroys multiple other planets while trying to find Goku and Vegeta.
* In '' Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods'' and the ''Dragon Ball Super
is a Japanese manga series written by Akira Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou. A sequel to Toriyama's original ''Dragon Ball'' manga, it follows the adventures of Goku and friends during the ten-year timeskip after the defeat of Maj ...
'' anime, Beerus
is a fictional character in the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Beerus made his first appearance in the 2013 feature film '' Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods'' as the main antagonist and returned as a supporting character in '' ...
, the God of Destruction of 7th Universe, destroys planets as a way to prevent overpopulation.
* Champa
Champa (Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; km, ចាម្ប៉ា; vi, Chiêm Thành or ) were a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is contemporary central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd cen ...
, the God of Destruction of 6th Universe, destroyed several planets with just kicks and punches while chasing his twin brother Beerus. The two are forbidden to engage in physical combat as prolonged combat will destroy both Universes 6 and 7.
* Vados destroyed a planet by tapping her sceptre
A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty.
Antiquity
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
The ''Was'' and other ...
in space, in the ''Dragon Ball Super'' anime.
* Zamasu destroyed all seven planet-sized Super Dragon Ball
is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...
s in the I anime.
* The original Broly
is a fictional character in the '' Dragon Ball'' media franchise. Two different versions of the character exist: the original Broly, a major villain created by anime screenwriter Takao Koyama who appeared in a trilogy of 1990s '' Dragon Ball Z'' ...
was shown to destroy a planet with ease and destroyed a galaxy in beginning of '' Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan''.
* As a child, Son Gohan
is a fictional character in the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series, created by Akira Toriyama. Gohan is introduced as the first son of the protagonist Goku, and his wife Chi-Chi, in chapter #196 "Kakarrot", published in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magaz ...
destroys the Makyo Star, (a star or planet that gives Garlic Jr. extra power) in anime filler.
''Kiddy Grade''
* Geo-Sort technology has the ability to reconfigure large amounts of matter at the molecular level; thus it can not only destroy entire planets, but make hostile planets habitable through terraforming.
* The ''Deucalion'' presumably has this capability as well, since it is outfitted with Geo-Sort technology (but this is never demonstrated in the series).
''Sailor Moon''
* One of the Outer Senshi, Sailor Saturn
is a fictional character in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi. Her spirit resides deep within , a twelve-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who is her lookalike reincarnation, which makes Sailor Saturn her alter ego; entirely a ...
, can destroy an entire planet by just dropping her weapon (the Silence Glaive) with the intent to destroy, no attack calling necessary.
* Sailor Galaxia
are a group of fictional characters in the '' Sailor Moon'' manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi. They are the villains of the series' fifth and final story arc, called ''Stars'' in the manga, ''Sailor Moon Sailor Stars'' in the first anime ...
is also able to point at a planet and, if she possesses the will to, completely destroy it.
* The main protagonist, Sailor Moon
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...
(as Neo Queen Serenity), possesses the power to destroy an entire solar system
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
, including its star.
''Gall Force''
In the first 3 Gall Force movies both sides the Solnoid and Paranoid Axis forces have had both their home worlds destroyed in a war of mutual assured destruction
Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would cause the ...
. They plan on using the last of their planet destroyers and include the new system destroyers in their final battle plans.
''Gurren Lagann''
The main antagonist, the Anti-Spiral, is shown to have destroyed many planets, stars, and galaxies. In the second film adaptation, an entire universe is destroyed in the Anti-Spiral's clash with the similarly powerful Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
''Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love''
In the final battle with Kain, who is apparently powerful enough to destroy a planet on his own. Washu decides to have Kiyone make use of a "Dimensional Cannon". In spite of Kiyone's protests that you shouldn't even use it on a city because it is made for taking out small galaxies.
''Space Battleship Yamato'' (Star Blazers)
Throughout the series and movies, including Rebirth and the recent live action film, the Yamato (Argo) and similar battleships in the Earth Defense Force are armed with a Wave Motion Gun. This weapon of last resort is capable of obliterating entire fleets in one shot, as well as most moon and planetary sized objects. The downside of using this weapon is that it leaves the ship defenseless before and after firing due to the massive amount of energy needed to fire it (except in Rebirth, where the ship could fire six shots without recharging.) Also included would be the Desler (Desslok) cannon, built on the same principle (Tachyon
A tachyon () or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always travels faster than light. Physicists believe that faster-than-light particles cannot exist because they are not consistent with the known laws of physics. If such partic ...
Compression), and the main cannon in Zordar's dreadnaught, which was deployed at the end of season 2.
In the remake '' Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202'' the White Comet of the Gatlantis Empire is a planet killing weapon, that captures and destroy a planet's biosphere.
''Eureka seveN''
At the end of the series, it is established that the Coralians have the ability to engulf a planet and form their own version of a planetary crust, although they did not exercise it with the purpose of making a planet uninhabitable.
''The End of Evangelion''
At the end of the movie, the Human Instrumentality Project is carried out and the Human race is combined into one shared consciousness.
Comics
''DC Comics''
* Superboy Prime
Superboy-Prime (Clark Kent, born Kal-El), also known as Superman-Prime or simply Prime, is a DC Comics superhero turned supervillain and an Alternative versions of Superman, alternate version of Superman. The character first appeared in ''DC Comi ...
destroyed Earth-15 in Countdown to Final Crisis
''Countdown'', also known as ''Countdown to Final Crisis'' for its last 24 issues based on the cover, was a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series published by DC Comics. It debuted on May 9, 2007, directly following the conclusion of ...
, Issue #24
* Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
destroyed several replica planets in Shadows Linger Part Two: The Long Road, Volume 1 Issue #675. In the alternate universe Injustice storyline, during the final battle against the Green Lantern Corps at the end of Year Two, Superman killed Mogo, the living planet, by throwing it into the Sun.
Other media
* Buster Machine III, aka the Black Hole Bomb in ''Gunbuster
''Gunbuster'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese OVA anime series produced by Bandai, Victor, and Gainax and released from 1988 to 1989. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, best known as the creator and director of ''Neon Genesis ...
'' uses the mass of a gas giant planet (specifically, Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
) to create a black hole which ultimately destroys the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
* Galactus
Galactus () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, Galactus is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of ...
, a being from the Marvel Comics Universe
The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of th ...
, specifically the ''Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...
'' books, consumes planets for their energy in order to sustain himself. He is often aided in this process by one of his heralds, the most famous among them being the Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...
. His name is given to Galactus Syndrome. His daughter Galacta is capable of doing the same. Also, there exists a great number of characters capable of planet busting.
* In DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
, the Warworld is a planet killer. As in Marvel, there is a great number of characters who can destroy planets.
* In the Marvel Comics Universe
The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of th ...
there exists the Godkiller, which destroys planets by flying through them without slowing down - presumably as an incidental side-effect of performing its main function - ''killing Celestials
The Celestials are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Depicted as cosmic beings, the characters debuted in the Bronze Age of Comic Books and have reappeared on numerous occasions.
The Celestials ...
.''
* Big Venus (''The Big O
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'').
* Serpentera from Power Rangers
''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entert ...
.
Erdammeru
the Void-Hound (DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
)
* In Getter Robo Armageddon
''Getter Robo Armageddon'', known in Japan as , is an OVA released between August 25, 1998 to May 25, 1999 by Bandai Visual and was animated by Brain's Base and Studio OX. The OVA is based on the manga and anime series ''Getter Robo'', created ...
, the protagonists manage to create a massive Getter Beam Tomahawk powerful enough to slice through planets. Likewise, in some Getter Robo manga, an entire fleet of impossibly enormous Getter Emperors exist. These super-mecha are so large, they create their own gravity field that can actually shatter planets as they pass.
* In Vandread
is a Japanese anime series directed by Takeshi Mori (director), Takeshi Mori and created by the List of animation studios, animation studios Gonzo (company), Gonzo and Media Factory.
The series is composed of two seasons (''Vandread'', ...
, A special variant of harvest ship can destroy planets that are not needed by Earth anymore.
* In the Eek! The Cat episode ''Eek vs. The Flying Saucers'', aliens called Zoltarians threaten to blow up the Earth using a death ray powered by Eek's 300-pound girlfriend, Annabelle, and want to do so because Earth "obstructs our view of Uranus."
* In the Exosquad
''Exosquad'' is an animated television series created by Universal Animation Studios, Universal Cartoon Studios for MCA TV's Universal Family Network broadcast syndication, syndicated programming block. The show is set in the beginning of the 22n ...
episode ''A Night Before Doomsday'' an antimatter bomb capable of destroying all life on Earth is revealed and its activation by the Neosapien leader Phaeton dying of Automutation Syndrome is prevented in the episode ''Abandon Hope''.
* In '' Chodenji Machine Voltes V'', a Magmite bomb was planted by general Oslack to destroy the Earth.
* In the cartoon ''Invader Zim
''Invader Zim'' is an American animated science fiction dark comedy television series created by comic book writer and cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez for Nickelodeon. The series centers on an extraterrestrial named Zim (voiced by Richard Steven Ho ...
'', the Planet Jackers tried to feed the Earth to their sun to keep it from going out.
* In ''Gunbuster
''Gunbuster'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese OVA anime series produced by Bandai, Victor, and Gainax and released from 1988 to 1989. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, best known as the creator and director of ''Neon Genesis ...
'', Buster Machine #7 and #19 work in tandem to destroy an Earth-sized life form and a black hole which it carries in tow.
* In Gunbuster's sequel series: ''Diebuster
''Diebuster'', also known as and ''Gunbuster 2'', is a six-episode original video animation series directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, written by Yōji Enokido and animated by Gainax. It was created to commemorate the studio's 20th anniversary in ...
'', the android Buster Machine #7 splits the moon Titan in half.
* The Super Robot
Mecha anime and manga, known in Japan as and , are anime and manga that feature robots (mecha) in battle. The genre is broken down into two subcategories; "super robot", featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and "real robot", where robots are ...
Mazinkaiser
is a Japanese anime OVA produced by Brain's Base and Dynamic Productions, based on the Mazinkaiser design that debuted in ''Super Robot Wars'' games and the original ''Mazinger Z'' manga by Go Nagai. The OVA follows Kouji Kabuto, Tetsuya Tsu ...
is said to be capable of blasting a hole right down to a planet's core with a full-powered Fire Blaster.
* The Vok second Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
('' Beast Wars: Transformers'') (could only destroy energon-rich worlds)
* The Annihilatrix from ''Frisky Dingo
''Frisky Dingo'' is an American adult animated cartoon series created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson for Adult Swim. The series revolves around the conflict between a supervillain named Killface and a superhero named Awesome X, alias billionair ...
'' is designed to launch Earth into the Sun. ''Designed'' being the operative word. In the end it manages to push Earth out of its orbit - into an orbit that is further from the sun. ''One foot'' further.
* The Beast Planet in ''Shadow Raiders
''Shadow Raiders'' is a Canadian animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment and syndicated by The Summit Media Group, that aired from September 16, 1998, to June 23, 1999. The show was loosely based on the Trendmasters toy line ...
''.
* The Desiccator in '' Dark Reign''.
* The Ideon Sword (capable of slicing a planet in half) and the Ideon Gun (capable of cutting large swaths of destruction encompassing thousands of ships and celestial bodies) from ''Space Runaway Ideon
is a 1980 anime television series produced by Sunrise, created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, produced immediately following his most famous work, ''Mobile Suit Gundam''. It first premiered on TV Tokyo from 1980 to 1981, followed by two f ...
''. In addition, when ultimately destroyed, the resulting force caused by the detonation of its power source could potentially destroy the universe.
* The Planet and System Killers in ''Gall Force
is a metaseries of science fiction anime OVAs by the studios Artmic and AIC, with production by Youmex. The original character designs were by Kenichi Sonoda, though these were dropped for the ''Gall Force: The Revolution'' remake. Cent ...
''.
* The Dark Heart in ''Justice League Unlimited
''Justice League Unlimited'' (''JLU'') is a 2004–2006 American superhero animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and ...
''.
* In the Macross
is a Japanese science fiction mecha anime media franchise/media mix, created by Studio Nue (most prominently mecha designer, writer and producer Shōji Kawamori) and Artland in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth and the ...
Saga segment of ''Robotech
''Robotech'' is a science fiction franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production and first released in the United States in 1985.
The show was adapted from t ...
'', when the entire Zentradi
The are a fictional, militaristic race of alien, humanoid giants and often the main antagonist in ''Macross'' media mix and its ''Robotech'' (1985) cartoon adaptation.
It is transliterated as Zentradi, Zjentohlauedy, Zentrady, and Zentraedi fo ...
main fleet was brought together it could destroy the entire surface of a planet through large bombardments of its energy weapons. In Robotech continuity, the Neutron-S missile is thought to be an extremely powerful bomb, but it turns out to be a planet killer since it creates artificial singularities and hence turns any target into a black hole.
* ''Rave Master
''Rave Master'', titled just ''Rave'' and, alternatively, ''The Groove Adventure Rave'' in Japan, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. The series follows Haru Glory, a teenager on a quest to find the five frag ...
'' describes two powers capable of wiping out all life: the power of Etherion contained in the body of Elie
Elie and Earlsferry is a coastal town and former royal burgh in Fife, and parish, Scotland, situated within the East Neuk beside Chapel Ness on the north coast of the Firth of Forth, eight miles east of Leven. The burgh comprised the linked vi ...
and the being called Endless.
* The largely undescribed cascade missile in ''Sluggy Freelance
''Sluggy Freelance'' is a long-running webcomic written and drawn by Pete Abrams. Starting in 1997, it is one of the oldest successful webcomics, and as of 2012 had hundreds of thousands of readers. Abrams was one of the first comic artists succe ...
'' (in the science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
in chapter 24, "GOFOTRON Champion of the Cosmos"). It is designed to destroy a single planet, but it is theorized that firing it into a star could initiate a chain reaction capable of destroying all life in the entire universe.
* In the Manga Keroro Gunsou, there is a character who is related to Keroro who can destroy planets.
* The Colonization Industrial Companies' wormhole in Universal War One, able to split a planet in half
* The Stöah in the Kobaïan
Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. In the cou ...
mythos of French zeuhl
Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. In the cou ...
concept band Magma
Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...
.
* The Planet Smasher in the Devin Townsend
Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also ...
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
s ''Ziltoid the Omniscient
''Ziltoid the Omniscient'' is the tenth studio album by Canadian metal musician Devin Townsend, released on his own label HevyDevy Records in May 2007, and distributed in America and Europe by InsideOut Music.
The album is a concept album about a ...
'' and '' Dark Matters''.
*''Orion's Arm
Orion's Arm (also called the Orion's Arm Universe Project, OAUP, or simply OA and formerly known as the Orion's Arm Worldbuilding Group) is a multi-authored online science fiction world-building project, first established in 2000 by M. Alan Kaz ...
'' features many weapons capable of destroying planets, including Nicoll-Dyson beams which use the entire surface of a Dyson sphere
A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its solar power output. The concept is a thought experiment that attempts to explain how a spacefaring civilization would meet ...
as a laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
emitter, relativistic impactors of many kinds, archailect-built "metric weapons" which disrupt space itself, and construction fleets capable of disassembling planet-sized objects for raw materials.
Secondary literature
In his discussion of the tradition of apocalyptic cinema Mitchell exemplifies what the film ''Doomsday Machine'' or ''Escape from Planet Earth'' characterizes as a "planet-buster"
as belonging to the class of "Doomsday device". Secondary literature can also use terms like "planet-cracker" or "planet-busting superweapon".
Science journalism
In the field of science journalism
Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public.
Origins
Modern science journalism dates back to ''Digdarshan'' (means showing the di ...
, a 1962 article examined various means "to put an end to the world", concentrating on "Doomsday Bombs".
As astronomer Phil Plait
Philip Cary Plait (born September 30, 1964), also known as The Bad Astronomer, is an American astronomer, skeptic, and popular science blogger. Plait has worked as part of the Hubble Space Telescope team, images and spectra of astronomical objec ...
has pointed out, the amount of energy necessary to shatter an Earth-sized planet is extremely large: "about 2 x 1032 Joules.... about as much energy as the sun puts out in a week."Plait, Phil. "Astronomer: 3 reasons we can't blow up a planet sci-fi style" ''blastr.com'' September 12, 2011
Blastr.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-06.
See also
* Apocalyptic science fiction
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astr ...
* Doomsday device
A doomsday device is a hypothetical construction — usually a weapon or weapons system — which could destroy all life on a planet, particularly Earth, or destroy the planet itself, bringing "doomsday", a term used for the end of planet Earth. ...
References
External links
* "Qntm" (3 April 2003).
"How to Destroy the Earth"
qntm.org. Viewed July 8, 2020.
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Planet Killers
Fictional spacecraft by type
Fiction about space warfare
Lists of fictional weapons
Science fiction weapons