In the realm of fiction—including, but not actually limited to, science-fiction—there’s been one traditional way of getting rid of something for good: shooting it into the sun.
In light of this, I’m compiling a list of such objects, and the works they’re from. The only rules are that they have to have been shot into Earth’s sun (method isn’t so important), and if it wasn’t done intentionally, it has to be specially noted.
So far, I’ve got (SPOILERS AHEAD!):
•South Park, Tom’s Rhinoplasty
Schoolteacher Miss Ellen, carried by a small Iraqi rocket.
•Superman IV
All of Earth’s nuclear weapons, circa 1987, protoplasm derived from Superman’s DNA, and a small costume-weaving computer.
•New Avengers, issue…20-ish, I think.
“Xorn,” an evil energy being deriving it’s power from drained mutant powers. Or something.
M.K. Wren’s science fiction trilogy, The Phoenix Legacy, had an extensive back-history of events between the 20th century and the 33rd century when the series was set. One major event was Mankeen’s Revolt when an idealistic aristocrat tried to lead a revolution to overthrow the Imperial government that ruled Earth. Lord Mankeen failed in his attempt and his final act was to fly a spaceship with his family and closest followers into the sun to prevent their capture and execution.
Does the object have to go into the Sun against its will? Because if not, from X-Men, the original round of Sentinels were tricked into flying into the Sun by Cyclops.
Dan Quayle, Tonya Harding, Al Sharpton, Courtney Love, Spike Lee, Tom Arnold, Pauly Shore, Rosie O’Donnell and Dr. Laura (The Simpsons, Treehouse Of Horror X)
In the comic “Justice” Superman discovers that he’s infected with mind-controlling parasites, and has Captain Marvel hurl him into the sun to buirn them out. That was pretty cool
In “Infinite Crisis” Superman and an alternate universe version of Superman fly a third, psychotic, alternate Superman (boy, actually) throughthe red sun of Krypton in a last-ditch to take away his powers. That was really cool
In “DC One Million” Superman retires, flies to the center of the sun, and lives there for ten thousand years. When he emerges, he’s pretty much a god. That was extraordinarily cool.
Basically, I’m a sucker for any story where Superman flies through the sun.
I came in here speciifically to mention Mrs. Lois Lane. Pre-crisis he used to fly through the sun all time time–sometimes because he needed a really good bath, sometimes because he was in a hurry to get back home from a space mission, the sun was in the way, and he was omnipotent.
In Harry Harrison’s Bill the Galactic Hero, the sun was close to going supernova due to all the plastic cafeteria trays that had been shot into the sun on rockets. It’s, like, a comedy sci-fi novel. And it wasn’t Earth or our Sun. But it was funny when I was 13. And I haven’t seen a copy of it since.
Are you looking only for things that completed the trip into the sun, or would you also consider things that were aimed at the sun, but rescued at the last second?
The spaceship belonging to Disaster Area, the group in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy of which Hotblack Desiato* was a member. Crashing the spacecraft into the sun was was the finalé of their gigs.
*The character was taken from the name of a genuine realtor in London - they have their signs up on buildings for sale all over the place.
On Captain Planet, several nuclear reactors got dumped into the sun to get rid of them. (Of course, it just so happened that geothermal energy facilities could be built on all those same sites, and they apparently produced an equivalent amount of energy :rolleyes: )
And if he changes his mind about near-misses, Starplex itself was nearly thrown into the star too. And nearly cooked by the same star when it first appeared. And a baby Darmat was nearly cooked by an alternate star. There was a lot of star-cooking going on.
