# Fiction where "the good guys" use chemical/biological weapons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268 "2016-09-30T03:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/21 "2016-10-04T15:22:15Z")
There was a character published by Dell Comics in 1940 called _Doctor Hormone_, a scientist who had developed an assortment of biological chemicals that could, among other things, turn people into human/animal hybrids. When a foreign dictator stole some of his formulas to create an army of super-soldiers, the Doctor joined the war effort against him, using his synthetic hormones to transform both friends and foes. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/22 "2016-10-04T17:46:18Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/23 "2016-10-04T17:56:46Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > And in the book Protector, the Brennan-monster uses a chemical agent (water) on the Martians … That same chemical agent was used twice in the MGM version of _The Wizard of Oz_: in frozen form, by Glinda, against the Witch of the West’s poppies, and in liquid form, by Dorothy, against the Witch herself. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/24 "2016-10-04T18:54:19Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > That same chemical agent was used twice in the MGM version of _The Wizard of Oz_: in frozen form, by Glinda, against the Witch of the West’s poppies, and in liquid form, by Dorothy, against the Witch herself. I don’t think that Dorothy knew what was going to happen when she tried to put out the fire. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/25 "2016-10-04T18:59:18Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > That same chemical agent was used twice in the MGM version of _The Wizard of Oz_: in frozen form, by Glinda, against the Witch of the West’s poppies, and in liquid form, by Dorothy, against the Witch herself. ETA: And assuming the witch knew what water would do to her, having a bucket of water around is as stupid as the aliens from Signs coming to Earth when they knew that water was toxic. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/26 "2016-10-04T19:30:04Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > you literally see Hitler get gassed. Cool! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/27 "2016-10-04T20:14:01Z")
Well, there’s [this character.](http://losh.wikia.com/wiki/Infectious_Lass) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/28 "2016-10-04T20:35:54Z")
On _Stargate SG-1_, the Tok’ra develop a chemical weapon that was basically nerve gas to Goa’uld symbiotes. It was later refined by the Tau’ri (read: us). It think it was only deployed on a large scale by the Trust. The good guys decided not to use it, but their concerns were more strategic than moral. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/29 "2016-10-04T21:28:38Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > In Heinlein’s _The Puppet Masters,_ the protagonists use a plague to kill the mind-controlling Slugs. And in the much earlier short story “Solution Unsatisfactory,” the “good guys” bring an unspecified (but obviously a version of the then-coming WWII) to an end by using radioactive dust on the bad guys’ capital city. The scientist responsible for development of the dust (a woman - in 1939!) commits suicide by entering the production facility without a protective suit. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/30 "2016-10-04T21:52:21Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I don’t think that Dorothy knew what was going to happen when she tried to put out the fire. > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > ETA: And assuming the witch knew what water would do to her, having a bucket of water around is as stupid as the aliens from Signs coming to Earth when they knew that water was toxic. Agreed (to both). Anyway: is the OP’s purpose to determine whether or not use of chemical/biological weapons is considered to be morally wrong in the culture from which these fictions emerge? Or what? (I guess I’m surprised that the topic doesn’t seem to have emerged into the open, after so many posts.) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/31 "2016-10-05T04:28:03Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Anyway: is the OP’s purpose to determine whether or not use of chemical/biological weapons is considered to be morally wrong in the culture from which these fictions emerge? Or what? (I guess I’m surprised that the topic doesn’t seem to have emerged into the open, after so many posts.) Oh, nothing that heavy—it’s just a matter of curiosity, really. It was something that I happened to notice, just as a consumer of fiction, especially as studying such weapons is a little academic hobby of mine. Although I admit I do also find it interesting (heh, or “curious”) how these kinds of taboos do or don’t manifest themselves culturally, how it changes over time, or what the exceptions are like when the pop up. A “a question of fashion changing as she does,” to quote Churchill. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/32 "2016-10-05T20:42:47Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > … Although I admit I do also find it interesting (heh, or “curious”) how these kinds of taboos do or don’t manifest themselves culturally, how it changes over time, or what the exceptions are like when the pop up. I agree–the changes are interesting. (A similar topic might be _'implicit judgments in depictions of “who shot first” in fictional works of different eras_.') ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268/33 "2016-10-05T22:03:03Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, there’s [this character.](http://losh.wikia.com/wiki/Infectious_Lass) I think she’s more than just the cook. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-where-the-good-guys-use-chemical-biological-weapons/767268.md?page=1)