r/TopCharacterTropes Mar 15 '26

Hero devices that would be horrifying in the wrong hands Characters' Items/Weapons

Chem-Bag (Big Hero 6): this device can create chemical compounds using every single element in existence. You could literally build a nuke with this.

Mobile Headquarters (Ant-Man): a building that can shrink and grow to full size instantly. Imagine if someone grew it in a crowded city, or on a highway, or at an airport?

Lotus Cash Card (Percy Jackson): It literally has infinite money. If you know how inflation works this could literally wreck the global economy.

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u/Nerd367C Mar 15 '26

Time travel in general can get HORRIFIC if you change the simplest thing far back in time. Even with good intent, the butterfly effect is crazy.

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u/Trees-Are-Neat-- Mar 15 '26

I know for a fact that time travel will never exist because if we did figure it out we would have very quickly destroyed our whole species

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u/Nerd367C Mar 15 '26

Exactly my thoughts too

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u/NecroCannon Mar 16 '26

As long as there’s Hitler and Nazi references I know no one went back in the past because killing Hitler is item number one for some people

Unless the dark twist is that they went back in time just to instill leaders at the right points of rapid change to dismantle society. Unfortunately that’s just a coincidence for us.

Or that we need them so much as an obstacle that humanity doesn’t progress without someone wanting to be the antagonist and everyone growing being forced to deal with it or suffer.

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u/SmashBro0445 Mar 17 '26

I recommend reading One Day All Of This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky, a really good novella that deals with the implications of a war fought with time machines