Ever since I was a kid, one thought has come to mind whenever I hear about a fictional character who’s supposedly immortal, invulnerable, otherwise similarly invincible: “Oh yeah? What happens if he’s standing right next to an atom bomb when it goes off?”
So, I thought I’d finally start a list on the subject—who can I kill with a nuke?
The setup—we’re using the 100 Megaton version of the Tsar Bomba, just sitting on the ground. Range to target: six inches. According to my calculations, the energy absorbed by the target would be 1.43e+20 joules.
First off, I’d figure that anyone who can be killed by simple decapitation wouldn’t survive a nuke (they are losing their head…every atom of their head is being seperated from every atom of the neck and head at almost the speed of light!). So that’d cover the “Highlander” immortals, and some vampires (including some versions of Dracula).
After that, probably a number of the “rapid healer”-types, like Wolverine (Even if his indestructible skeleton survived, it’d surely be blasted clean of anything organic, and scattered across a couple of counties.); and maybe a few “Kaiju” monsters (as long as they aren’t explicitly nuclear or pollution fueled). I even think some early versions of Superman might be vulnerable, for that matter.
Anyone else want to join in? It’s always good to have as definitive a list as possible on hand, in case of emergencies. (Fun, too.)
Kage Baker covered this in her Company series of books. The operatives are cyborgs, and immortal. One of them, suicidal, decides to stand at ground zero of Hiroshima (they have knowledge of future events).
At the last possible second, his programming kicks in, and he goes into cybernetically enhanced motion. He wanders around, flesh clinging onto ferroceramic skeleton, much of his memory gone. It takes him, IIRC, years to heal.
The Operatives are programmed to be paranoid, to have insane reflexes, and to preserve themselves at all costs. They would survive a nuclear blast by getting out at the last possible second. One would assume that, should the programming fail, it would simply vaporize them. . .but it’s so complete as to be virtually impossible to do.
Yeah, but it was so incredibly over-the-top, in contradiction of previous stories, and so roundly criticized by the fans that I think it can be ignored.
In the Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, Clark is close to (but not at) ground zero for a big fat Soviet nuke. The blast smacks him down monumentally hard and depletes him of energy to the point he is nearly a shrivelled husk, but what makes it worse is the dust cloud that hides the Sun and prevents him from recharging. He gets a lucky break, though.
Normally, Supes has no problem functioning close to an actual star, so obviously the light is fixing him faster than the environment can hurt.
The Spectre (the most powerful superhero in comics) and Deadman can’t be killed by a nuke because they’re already dead. Both are incorporeal, so there’s nothing for the nuke to affect them.
Deadman could be in trouble if he gets caught by surprise while inhabiting someone else’s body, but I suspect he’d still be OK.
Considering Banner survived the gamma bomb blast to become the Hulk in the first place, and Hulk is pretty much the most resilient character in the entire MU, I expect a nuclear blast wouldn’t really do much to him.
Not sure about various immortals that swap (steal) bodies. For example, Octavia Butler’s Doro. I think some of them have to be in physical proximity to transfer. So…probably SOL in the middle of a nuke.
There’s direct evidence that the Skinwalker from the Dresden files mythology can be destroyed by a nuke. And just about nothing else will do it.
Indiana Jones – nope, protected by plot.
Actually yes; the Leader killed off most of the population of a town with one.
The normally near-unkillable skinwalkers of the Harry Dresden novels can be killed by a nuke; Morgan mentioned that he killed one by luring it into a nuclear test.
In Psyclone, souls/ghosts can apparently be killed by two nukes; the first just mutilates them and drives them mad.
EDIT : * shakes fist at Finagle * Beaten by a minute
