The black smoke, or black powder, is a fictitious
poisonous gas in H. G. Wells' 1898 science
fiction novel The War of the Worlds, used
by the Martians to eliminate groups of humans,
especially artillery crews, and conveyed by
shells fired from a gun-like "black tube"
carried by the Tripods' whip-like tentacles.
Any animal inhaling this deadly smoke is killed
almost instantly, but the smoke becomes harmless
on contact with water. The Martians would
dispel it after each use with jets of steam,
leaving only a residual, "cindery" black powder,
which reminds the narrator of what he "read
of the destruction of Pompeii". The smoke
is very dense, and can be avoided by climbing
to higher places. Although Wells never explains
the smoke's mechanism in the novel, he mentions
that it may bind with argon to become toxic.
In reality, argon cannot combine with other
elements, with the marginal exception of fluorine,
but chemical weapons were widely used in human
warfare after Wells' novel was written, especially
in World War I.
== In other adaptations ==
Orson Welles' radio adaptation dramatizes
the effects of the black smoke: The poison
is depicted as being potent enough to render
gas masks useless, as do modern nerve gases.
The only accurate screen appearance of the
black smoke is in Pendragon Pictures' film
adaptation, wherein the Martians only use
the smoke twice, and it is not described in
any detail.
The black smoke is briefly mentioned in the
1978 musical version, where a tripod releases
it while engaging the Thunder Child and later
when the narrator is trapped. Its effects
are not mentioned, however. This is likely
the result of an earlier usage being removed
at the script editing stage. This musical
version featured musicians known as the Black
Smoke Band.
In the 1998 PC game, the black smoke can be
launched from cannons by three Martian Machine
units: the Fighting Machine, the Bombarding
Machine, and the Tempest. The smoke deals
fatal damage to any human vehicles that come
close to it, but its effect varies according
to the type of canister.
The Asylum film H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds
features a deadly gas, but it is green rather
than black in color. The "green smoke" does
appear to have the same deadly effect as the
black smoke, and the same density. Whereas
the novel's smoke is launched from "black
tubes" attached to the fighting-machines on
an arm, this smoke leaks from a small object
ejected from the same slot from which the
Heat Ray is fired. The smoke in the novel
was described as an ink-like vapour, but the
film's smoke is believed to be a kind of toxic
gas. It is not described in detail.
In the Asylum's 2008 sequel, War of the Worlds
2: The Next Wave, the black smoke is absent,
though chemical warfare is briefly mentioned.
A fleet of jets, upgraded with the Martian
technology left from the first film, are equipped
with a kind of Heat-Ray and missiles containing
mustard gas, a weapon only used in warfare
once before, in World War I.
The black smoke is not used in Steven Spielberg's
2005 adaptation, but was a considered addition
as early as a first draft until it was dropped
due to paucity of time. It is also absent
from the TV series, though the aliens do make
attempts at chemical warfare.
The black smoke appears, along with most technology
of the Martians, as described by Wells in
Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comic book
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume
II.
In Stephen Baxter's sequel, The Massacre of
Mankind, areas sprayed with the black smoke
and infested with the red weed are still barren
thirteen years after the 1907 invasion, due
to the lingering toxicity
