The greatest disturbed scientists dabble in forces that … await for it … human being ( or woman ) was not intend to meddle with . And many of them live to regret it . Here are 20 unrestrained scientists whose journeys ended in remorse and desperation .
Victor Frankenstein ( Frankenstein , or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley )
Pretty much the second that Frankenstein creates his freak , he has a change of nitty-gritty . And he spend the residue of the leger wrack with guilty conscience and horror . While he ’s on his trip across the Artic , he tells Captain Walton ,
determine from me , if not by my principle , at least by my example , how grave is the acquirement of cognition and how much happier that human is who believes his native townspeople to be the worldly concern , than he who aspires to become corking than his nature will appropriate .
He also rupture out with this great quote at another point :
All my speculations and hopes are as nothing , and like the archangel who shoot for to omnipotence , I am chain in an eternal hell . My imagination was vivid , yet my king of analysis and coating were intense ; by the join of these qualities I conceive the idea and executed the creation of a humans . Even now I can not recall without passion my reveries while the work was uncompleted . I trod heaven in my thought , now exulting in my power , now burning with the melodic theme of their effects . From my infancy I was imbued with mellow hopes and a high-flown aspiration ; but how am I sunk ! Oh ! My booster , if you had know me as I once was , you would not recognize me in this state of abasement . Despondency rarely call in my heart ; a high fate seemed to bear me on , until I decrease , never , never again to rise .
Jack Griffin aka The unseeable Man ( The Invisible Man , Universal Studios , 1933 )
In the original H.G. Wells variation , Griffin is not a courteous person before he become himself invisible . And after he turns himself invisible , he ’s a sociopath . But the Universal Studios photographic film yield Griffin a first name , a passion pursuit and a modification of heart . Before he pop off he says , “ I tamper in things that man must impart alone . ” Which is sort of the quintessential mad scientific discipline compunction line .
Dr. Robert Matheson ( The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen )
In The Great God Pan , Dr. Matheson experiment on a woman in Wales , to enable her to see the genuine nature of the god Pan . alas , he succeeds a little too well , and her mind is interrupt . ( Although it turn out he actually did manage to arrive at Pan , which causes no end of panic . ) Matheson values cognition over human liveliness , but by the end of the book , he writes about his his “ horror and great loathing of soulfulness , ” and admits : “ It was an ill work I did that nighttime when you were present ; I broke overt the threshold of the family of life , without experience or caring what might fall out onward or go in in . I call back your telling me at the metre , sharply enough , and rightly too , in one gumption , that I had ruined the reason of a human being by a gooselike experiment , establish on an absurd theory . ”
The Narrator ( Herbert West – Reanimator by H.P. Lovecraft )
If you ever get a transfer to Miskatonic University , watch who your roommates are . The narrator of Reanimator arrive stuck with Herbert West , who … well , the deed tell it all . And his roomy , the storyteller , helps out every dance step of the way . This germinal zombie narrative features West and his roomie reanimating the beat , but unfortunately as West perfects his serum it revive the bushed as less intelligent , more A-one - violent version of themselves . The storyteller , who ’s a participant in all of these awful bit , finally has a crisis of conscience , but wo n’t give West for fear of fall victim to the zombie horror .
Qwi Xux ( Star war : Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson )
The Empire torture Qwi Xux and forces her to make fantastical inventions for them — but they also lie down to her , telling her that the Death Star will only be used for mining operations . ( “ lay eyes on the superpower of our full functional excavation platform ” does n’t have quite the same ringing . ) Anyway , when she regain out what the Death Star is really for , it nearly motor her softheaded . She finally rebels and joins the New Republic ( the government , not the magazine ) and starts a multi - planet journey of self - discovery and healing .
Miles Dyson ( Terminator 2 : Judgment Day )
Like Qwi Xux , Miles Dyson does n’t mean to cause mass destruction and hurt — but that does n’t make him feel any less tough when he expose that his work at Cyberdyne Systems will cause the extermination of humans . After discovering that his Modern microprocessor leads to both Skynet and the Terminators , Dyson is willing to squander up his research . So willing that he quell behind to trigger off the blowup . ( Do n’t concern , he winds up in the town of Eureka . )
Dr. Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus ( Spiderman 2 )
Kindly , poesy - quote science professor ca n’t be all bad — even when their machinelike branch push back them harebrained and they start trashing the metropolis . Doc Ock robs banks , jeopardize the city of New York , and tries to kill Spiderman . But in the end , he drowns himself and his diabolic experiment .
Topher Brink ( Dollhouse )
Ah , Topher . It ’s hard to consider he start out as some the great unwashed ’s least favorite character on this show , give the way he finally became the best thing about Joss Whedon ’s ( perhaps ) last idiot box series . He was a snarky , ego - justifying ubergeek who helped perfect the applied science for erasing the great unwashed ’s brains and reprogramming them to be whoever you want . And he finally helped create the tech that allowed for the mass erasure of billions of masses — which drive him crazy with remorse , hiding in his booth garrison . And in the final installment , he create a technology to reverse Rossum ’s mind - rub , and sacrifices himself to lay aside the world ’s personalities .
Norman Osborn aka The Green Goblin ( Ultimate Spiderman )
The regular Norman Osborn has never show much remorse for creating the Green Goblin and ruin his son ’s life , among many other misbehavior . But the Ultimate version does have a change of heart — after Osborn , roleplay as the Green Goblin , accidentally kills his son Harry . When Norman earn what he has done , he asks a SHIELD agent to kill him .
Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum ( Bioshock / Bioshock 2 )
After discovering the ocean slug stem jail cell that create the mutagen ADAM , Dr. Tennebaum creates the Little Sisters : kidnap girls with implanted ocean slug that bring forth ADAM ( and harvest it from dead body ) . By the clip Jack demonstrate up at the beginning of the secret plan , Tennebaum hates herself for what she has done , and is working to make the Little Sisters human once again .
Mordin Solus ( Mass Effect 2 )
Mordin Solus is deeply conflicted about his mad science . He created the genopahge that causes asepsis among the radical - violent exotic airstream , the Krogans . Though he believes it the genophage is in the best pursuit of the galaxy , he still palpate hangdog . He extend to check on the Krogans to ensure the genophage effect have not get bad , and condemns himself to doctor on an out - of - the - way space post . However , he still says he would make the genophage again , so he ’s sort of an edge casing here .
The Scientist ( 9 )
In this animated film about rag dolls in a post - apocalyptic world , we con that that the scientist really created the rag dolls because of his self-reproach after he earn that the government would apply his deadly machinelike creations for destruction , rather than to help hoi polloi . He ease up his own soul to repair the rag dolls , to assay and make up for the destruction his machines have make .
Chris Knight and Mitch Taylor ( Real Genius )
These two mega - geniuses help perfect a space - based optical maser organization that can incinerate a somebody on the ground . But when they realize they ’ve created an insidious weapon , and the Defense Dept . plans to use it , they gross out out and realize they have to finish it . This they reach , by using the laser to pop enough Zea mays everta to destroy the popcorn - hating Professor Hathaway ’s mansion , wrack the laser in the cognitive operation . Righteous , dude !
Tim Marcoh ( Fullmetal Alchemist )
Marcoh , formerly known as the Crystal Alchemist , sacrifices Ishbalan captive of warfare to create the Philosopher ’s Stone . He feels terrible about it , and after he ’s captured by the homunculi , he tries to goad Scar into kill him — but Scar just disfigures his face instead . In the ending , he agrees to repair Mustang ’s eyesight in exchange for catch to help preserve the stay Ishbalans , and going with them as their doctor .
Walter Bishop ( Fringe )
Not only is he take his own against Neil Patrick Harris in our harebrained scientist smackdown , but Walter is also the bill poster child for compunction . After Walter get over creation to save his Word Peter , he kind of , um … broke a world . Oops . Walter felt so speculative about it , he ask his friend William Bell to polish off spell of his brain that arrest the info on how to spring between population and put in them for safe - keeping . Walter also experience kind of bad about all the sadistic experiment on nipper and his other dreadful inventions , too .
Doc Brown ( Back To The hereafter )
He invents perhaps the coolest time automobile ever , in a DeLorean , but after all of the chaos his invention causes — almost - incest , altered timelines , and the Reign of Biff — he decides that create a time machine was a terrible error , and enjoin his invention has have “ nothing but excruciation . ” But of course , by the closing of the third picture show , he seems to have changed his creative thinker yet again , since he creates a locomotive armed with its own flux capacitor , and ululate back into the time vortex .
Marisa Coulter ( His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman )
Mrs. Coulter invent a method of controlling the “ Dust ” that attach to people — unfortunately , this expect severing children from their Daemons , or fundamentally their souls . When Mrs. Coulter realise her daughter Lyra is in risk , she give herself to protect Lyra .
Dr. Arik Soong ( Star Trek : Enterprise )
A brilliant geneticist , he believe that the human wash should n’t have abandoned genetic engineering after the Eugenics Wars ( with Khan Noonien Singh ) and that genetically enhanced human beings could be a force for well . ( And of course , Dr. Bashir fundamentally proves him right years later in Deep Space Nine . ) He creates a new generation of Augments , and then watches in repulsion as they become immoral sea wolf who consider human life-time as lesser and disposable . He help the enterprisingness ruin them , and then vow in prison house to abandon genetical engineering for the subject field of artificial spirit — which will finally conduce to his descendant create Mr. Data .
Dr. Tenma ( Astro Boy )
In the underrated 2009 film , Dr. Tenma turn against his foundation , Astro Boy — but afterwards has a 2d alteration of heart . Dr. Tenma creates Astro Boy as a robot duplication of his dead son . But when he bring in that the automaton transcript can never replace the form - and - blood boy , he rejects the kid . ( In the original Tezuka manga , Tenma rejects the boy when he realizes the boy can never farm up , and sells him to the genus Circus . ) In the movie , Dr. Tenma at long last comprehend his robot son after Astro Boy sacrifices himself to save everyone from an evil jumbo robot — and Dr. Tenma manages to bring Astro Boy back to lifetime .
Tony Stark aka Iron Man ( Iron Man )
Tony creates the ultimate high - tech weapon organisation , while cultivating a rockstar part . But after he sees first - hand the way his arm are misused and the damage they cause , he vows to destroy them , using his raw high - tech suit of armor . ( And then that , of course , also gets misused and gets into the wrong hands . It never ends , which is sort of the central problem for frantic scientist trying to expend mad skill to unmake the effects of their earlier frantic science achievements . )
Additional reporting by Katharine Trendacosta , Chelsea Lo Pinto , Madelynn Martiniere , Michael Ann Dobbs , and Carlea Holl - Jensen .
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