Black smoke (The War of the Worlds) Black smoke (The War of the Worlds) 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
Fighting machine (The War of the Worlds) gods (Hera, Hades, Zeus, Poseidon). In the 2005 movie "Chicken Little", alien tripods attack the Earth. The aliens themselves sit inside the tripods and they are similar to "The War of the Worlds" Martians. In the animated superhero film "Ultimate Avengers 2", a race of aliens called the Chitauri invade Earth. Machines resembling Wells' fighting machines are briefly seen attacking London, as a deliberate homage to "The War of the Worlds". In the 2010 TV movie "High Plains Invaders", a Western film about an alien invasion of the American Wild West in the 1890s, the alien antagonists were inspired by