Science fiction media prides itself on its innovative ideas, and nowhere is this more evident than in the creative weapons many favorite characters wield. From the iconic lightsabers from Star Wars to Thor: Love and Thunder's new and improved Mjölnir hammer, there have been no shortage of unusual armaments in sci-fi history.
Across video games, movies, TV shows, and books, sci-fi weapons have gotten bigger, badder, and more bizarre over the years. With Stray now finding a way to weaponize cats, the world is looking forward to seeing what other creative ideas will come to pass and if they will prove to be just as memorable as these.
Gravity Gun, Half-Life
Some sci-fi media tends to dance around general physics, but occasionally, as is the case with the landmark Half-Life video games, physics can become the greatest weapon of all. The centerpiece of the series is the famous Gravity Gun, which allows players to turn practically anything into a deadly projectile.
The gravity gun works by picking up various objects, such as boxes, explosive barrels, or spare saw blades, and holds them weightlessly. They can then be blasted out at lightning speed to clear any obstacles or enemies that happen to be in the way. The gravity gun is simple, but ingeniously high-concept all at the same time.
Time Manipulation Device, Singularity
Singularity is one of many games who weaponized time itself, but one of few that did it in such a violent manner. Early in the game, players acquire the Time Manipulation Device, which, as the name suggests, allows them to manipulate time.
The TMD can be used on objects to age or de-age them into usefulness, but it can also be used on enemies to do the same. If used on an enemy, the TMD will rapidly age them into dust in the blink of an eye, or it can devolve them into some kind of hideous monster. It is not as straightforward as a gun, but as a weapon the TMD is quite a force to be reckoned with.
Dimensional Decimator, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
The Transformers series is full of huge and unique weapons for its robotic leads to use against each other, but one of the most absurd and devastating is found in the absolutely phenomenal Fall of Cybertron. The Dimensional Decimator works like a grenade, but is so much more.
Instead of simply exploding, the dimensional decimator does the complete opposite. It implodes with enough force to rip a hole in the fabric of the universe, opening up a miniature black hole that swallows up any enemies or objects unfortunate enough to be anywhere near it. Even for a universe with robot dinosaurs, the dimensional decimator is pretty awe-inspiring.
Power Loader, Aliens
The most famous weapon from the classic Alien franchise is unconventional because it was never meant to be a weapon at all. In the finale of Aliens, Ellen Ripley takes on the hulking Xenomorph queen in a power loader mech suit.
Taking the loader far beyond its intended purpose, Ripley beats the Alien queen into submission before launching it out of an airlock. It is almost a stretch to call the loader a weapon, but since Ripley manages to beat down a xenomorph in the future equivalent of a forklift, it more than counts.
The Pacifier, Sky High
Disney's 2005 superhero high school comedy Sky High is likely not the first thing that comes to many people's minds when they think of science fiction, but it does contain a hilariously unique bit of technology in The Pacifier.
Touted as the ultimate weapon by the film's villain, capable of bringing down even the mightiest of superheroes, the Pacifier's true function is only revealed at the end of the film. It is not a death ray, or even a shrink ray. Instead, it turns the target back into a harmless baby. It may not be nearly as threatening as a death star, but the Pacifier did de-age and de-power many of the world's most powerful superheroes.
Fat Man, Fallout
Of all of the devastating weapons in the Fallout series, none are as feared or as ridiculously impractical as the Fat Man. At its core, the Fat Man is simply a typical rocket launcher, just with some very atypical ammunition. Not content with the usual, wimpy rockets, the Fat Man fires mini nuclear bombs.
As expected, a personal nuclear missile launcher is an incredibly effective weapon, and will make short work of pretty much anything in the game. Unfortunately, it is almost just as dangerous to the wielder, as nuclear bombs have a devastatingly large blast radius. To take things one step further, a variant can be found that fires eight nukes at once, likely reducing everyone in front of and behind the gun to ash.
POV Gun, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is absolutely full of outlandish and hilarious technology, like cows that cook themselves, or the ingeniously unique Point of View gun. Appearing only in the 2005 Hitchhiker's Guide film instead of the books, the POV gun makes whoever is shot by it see things from the perspective of the wielder.
Hilariously, the gun was originally designed in the film to make men finally understand how their wives felt about things. Throughout the movie, the gun is used as a plot device to help the leads understand each other. However, at the end, it is comically weaponized by the famously nihilistic android Marvin to incapacitate a group of Vogons by making them see his worldview.
Identity Disc, TRON
The primary weapon in the futuristic TRON series is not a gun or a laser sword, but instead a bladed, circular object called an identity disc. Although frequently used as one, the identity disc is not primarily a weapon, and is actually a physical copy of a program (or person's) digital code and memories.
In the identity disc's much more famous and arguably more fun use though, it is also used a throwing weapon, with the ability to boomerang back to its wielder and instantly "de-rez" any opponent. Though TRON: Legacy and its criminally underrated tie-in game's version of the ID disc is similar to an ancient Chakram, the original incarnation was more like a Frisbee. As cool as the disc is, throwing a compilation of digital records at someone is a rather unconventional weapon.
Land Shark Gun, Armed and Dangerous
Armed and Dangerous is a criminally underrated video game for the original Xbox. Known for its wicked sense of humor and quick wit, the game also features some incredibly unconventional weaponry. Most notably, the Land Shark Gun.
The Land Shark Gun does pretty much as advertised. When fired, the gun releases a shark that swims through the ground towards its target, and then messily devours them. It is a weapon both hilarious in concept and terrifying in execution. Even as outlandish as video game weapons can be, they don't get much better than a gun that fires literal sharks.
Lazy Gun, Against A Dark Background
Movies and video games are usually responsible for most of science fiction's strangest weapons, but one of the best comes from Iain M. Banks' novel Against A Dark Background. The plot centers around the lead characters trying to track down the Lazy Gun, a weapon that completely scoffs at natural law.
Not only does the Lazy Gun apparently defy physics and have a sense of humor, when used, it turns into a weapon of mass destruction. The Lazy Gun does not fire bullets or lasers, it scans whatever it is aimed at, and then decides how to end its existence. This could mean dropping an anvil or siccing a wild animal on a human target, or obliterating a larger target with a tsunami or even a comet. The Lazy Gun is possibly the only weapon that is free to use its own imagination.