Electromagnetic pulse in popular culture

Lightning has long been used as a dramatic device in popular fiction. A non-nuclear EMP (NNEMP) device appeared as early as 1965, in the . By the early 1980s, a number of articles on nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP) in the popular press spread knowledge of the EMP phenomenon into the popular culture. EMP has been subsequently used in a wide variety of fiction and other aspects of popular culture.
Motion picture and electronic entertainment quite often depicts electromagnetic pulse effects incorrectly. This problem has become so bad that it was addressed in a report for Oak Ridge National Laboratory by Metatech Corporation.
In addition, the United States Air Force Space Command commissioned science educator Bill Nye to make a video for the Air Force called "Hollywood vs. EMP" so that people who must deal with real EMP would not be confused by motion picture fiction. That U.S. Air Force Space Command video is not available to the general public.
Films
In the 1983 made-for-television motion picture The Day After, the fictional Soviet nuclear attack on civilian targets begins with a nuclear EMP attack in order to disable as much of the United States' retaliatory capability as possible. This scenario accurately conforms to the Cold War nuclear attack scenarios as understood by military officials and nuclear weapons designers (although post-Cold War scenarios are generally much different). Such a scenario is also presented in the programme Threads, again dealing with a fictional Soviet nuclear attack on Britain.
In the 1984 film The Return of Godzilla and its 1985 American version Godzilla 1985, an EMP occurs over Tokyo when an American nuclear missile collides with a Soviet missile. This results in a storm that unintentionally awakens Godzilla.
The 1985 film A View to a Kill starts off with James Bond recovering a Soviet-made microchip, which is discovered to be a copy of an EMP-resistant design produced by Zorin Industries under a US government contract. Subsequent investigation reveals Max Zorin's connections to the KGB, and his plot to destroy American semiconductor production in Silicon Valley by triggering an earthquake.
The 1986 comedy/science-fiction film Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam features a titular "gloom beam" weapon with effects that mimic that of an electromagnetic pulse (indeed, the beam is powered by a large electromagnet) in that they scramble electronic media.
In 1995's James Bond film GoldenEye, the main plot involves the former Soviet Union developing a pair of satellites called Petya and Misha, carrying an EMP Goldeneye weapon, which are then stolen by the Janus crime syndicate and used against the satellites's original tracking station. Because of the EMP blast, 3 MiGs (which were called in to check a distress signal sent by one of the tracking station's workers) suffer severe damage to their electronic systems. One of them crashes into the station, severely damaging it, and igniting major fires inside. This also disabled British satellites surveillance of the tracking station.
In Broken Arrow (1996), the EMP generated by the blast of a nuclear munition deep in an abandoned copper mine knocks out an USAF helicopter which was sent to detect the missing weapons. John Travolta's character in the film accurately predicted the EMP and stopped the jeep in which he was traveling.
In John Carpenter's 1996 film Escape from L.A., Snake Plissken is sent to recover the remote control for an EMP weapon that can be targeted to shut down electrical systems in specific areas. He eventually triggers the weapon to knock out all power around the world.
In the 1999 movie The Matrix, one of the surviving humans' few effective weapons against the machines are non-nuclear EMP generators mounted on their hovercraft. In the process, the hovercraft's electronics are also temporarily disabled, as is any advanced machinery around, making it a hazardous last-resort weapon. The EMP is shown disabling machine sentinels near the end of the movie. In the 2003 second sequel The Matrix Revolutions, an EMP is discharged in the dock of the only remaining human city, Zion, disabling many machine sentinels, but also the entire defense system of the city.
In the 2001 version of ', an explosively pumped flux compression generator (non-nuclear EMP device) in a van is used to shut down the electrical power to Las Vegas. It is not explained how such a small non-nuclear device can shut down the power to an entire large city. It is also not explained how the power could be predictably brought back on line in only 30 seconds after such a disastrous event which should have permanently destroyed all electronics in the area.
In the 2003 film Battle Royale II: Requiem, an EMP was used to deactivate the collars on the students.
In the 2006 film Superman Returns, the use of stolen Kryptonian technology by Lex Luthor causes massive EMP pulses of short duration that cause havoc with the test flight of a shuttle and also damage Metropolis later in the film.
In the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Klaatu destroys the nano swarm by using a massive EMP which also destroys Earth's technology.
In Cars 2, an EMP causes the cars with alternative fuel called "Allinol" to explode when affected by the pulse.
In the film The Dark Knight Rises, Batman has a device similar to an EMP weapon. During the motorcycle chase, Batman uses it to disable the motorcycle that one of Bane's henchmen is riding.
The 2012 remake of Red Dawn concerns a North Korean invasion of the United States, enabled by an EMP weapon which disables much of the defensive infrastructure of the US.
In the 2013 film Pacific Rim, the kaiju Leatherback fires an EMP that disables the Jaeger Striker Eureka and the Hong Kong Shatterdome's electrical systems.
In the 2014 film Godzilla, the MUTOs have the ability to generate and release EMPs through striking the ground with their forelimbs.
In the 2016 film Independence Day: Resurgence, the aliens disable the pilots' jets and weapons systems with some type of EMP when they initially attack the alien mothership.
The 2016 film Captain America: Civil War featured an EMP device, delivered by Baron Zemo to the substation that provides power for the secret facility holding Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. the Winter Soldier.
In the 2017 film The Fate of the Furious, Dominic Toretto along with agent Luke Hobbs retrieves an EMP device from a military outpost in Berlin.
In the 2020 film , Sonic produces so much energy while running at super-high speeds that he "charges up" and releases an EMP that knocks out power throughout the entirety of the Pacific Northwest. He also demonstrates his EMP and his speed against his nemesis, Dr. Robotnik.
Literature
*A terrorist use of EMP prior to the events of the wiped out most of Wall Street's computer records, causing a major recession.
*The 2006 Restoration Series novel Last Light by Terri Blackstock tells about an EMP, possibly generated from the depths of space, that disables all electronic and electrical systems worldwide.
*Superman stops high-atmosphere detonation of a nuclear EMP device in The Dark Knight Returns, the 1986 comic book miniseries written by Frank Miller.
*Electromagnetic pulse is a very prominent concept in the novel Warday, published in 1984. Warday is about a limited, but nevertheless devastating, nuclear war that occurs on a single day in October 1988. Warday contains a fictional government report, several pages long, about the fictional Soviet nuclear EMP attack of 28 October 1988 against the United States. The fictional government EMP report is titled "Summary of Effects Induced by Electromagnetic Pulse in the October 1988 Attack by the Soviet Union, and their Implications for Recovery". The war begins with six high-altitude nuclear EMP detonations over the United States, each with energy yields of 8 to 10 megatons. The six nuclear EMP weapons are detonated in two triangular patterns in order to cover both the eastern and western halves of the continental United States with fairly evenly spaced EMP detonations.
*In the 1994 by Harry Turtledove, the reptilian race begin their invasion of Earth during World War II with a barrage of nuclear EMP detonations over industrialized nations, though the EMPs have little effect due to the vacuum tube level technology of early 20th century electronics.
*The 2009 novel One Second After and its sequel One Year Later by William R. Forstchen is about a nuclear EMP attack against the United States told from the perspective of a small community in North Carolina. The community is cut off from nearly all outside information by the EMP attack. Large numbers of people die from starvation, lack of medicines, and the lack of medical care. The EMP attacks in One Second After are launched from missiles in container ships. After the book was released, a Russian company started advertising missile launchers hidden inside shipping containers made for launching from such ships.
*Novels based on the video game Halo describe the use of nuclear EMPs to remove energy shielding on Covenant starships in extreme situations, as the EMP damages human vessels also. EMPs can also be produced by Covenant infantry overcharging plasma pistols.
* In The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy, an electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear detonation causes several commercial satellites to malfunction, when the EMP causes intense signal interference with nearby media communications equipment relaying with various satellites.
* In the 2013 novel The 5th Wave and its 2016 film adaptation, aliens use an EMP weapon (likely non-explosive) to permanently disable all electrical power on Earth, killing about half a million people worldwide.

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