Pheromones in fiction

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Pheromones are a popular device in fiction, including the novel Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. They were also mentioned in an episode of Wolfgang Petersen's television series The Agency. In the Star Trek universe, female Orions are said to have powerful pheromones which men find hard to resist. In the film "Snakes on a Plane," the snakes are influenced by the pheromones released in the plane's air system. In the Ultimates comic book series under Marvel's Ultimate line, Hank Pym aka Giant Man uses pheromones from his helmet to communicate with and control ants, and in Uncanny X-Men there was a short lived character named Stacy X who could emit and control sexual pheromones.

In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series written by Douglas Adams, Ford Prefect is shown to have the ability to use pheromones to control the behaviors of wild animals as well as people around him, therefore influencing their decisions and actions.

In Patrick Suskind's novel Perfume the main character had no scent (and thus no pheromones), and was able to walk amongst crowds unnoticed.

The existence of a Pheromone Extract was also mentioned in the movie Batman & Robin (1997) in which Uma Thurman's character, Poison Ivy, uses a Pheromone Extract to manipulate men into a false sense of love, including Batman and his sidekick Robin, to get what she wants.

In the television series Torchwood, episode "Day One (Torchwood)", an alien uses a cloud of pheromones to turn into a walking aphrodisiac. In Ocean's Thirteen Matt Damon's character used pheromones to attract the female head of the casino and gain entrance to the diamond room of the Bank's Casino/Hotel. Also, in the movie Transformers (2007), Ratchet exclaims that Sam's pheromone levels are elevated, suggesting that he "wants to mate with the female". [1]

Madeleine L'Engle's book Dragons in the Waters also mentions pheromones.

In the 1990 science fiction horror film Predator 2, with Danny Glover and Gary Busey, a team of scientists are attempting to capture an alien from another planet. This alien camouflages itself by shifting its mass into a part of the spectrum that humans cannot see (“Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs” (2005) goes into detail on this subject). The scientists chasing this alien use a technology that captures the alien’s, so called, “Pheromone signature.”

In Charmed in the episode 6.12, "Prince Charmed", Paige and Phoebe use pheromones in a spell to create "Mr. Right" for Piper once she swears off men. Later, Chris adds more pheromones to the potion to get the sisters to do what he wants.

In the video game Half Life 2, the player's character, Dr. Gordon Freeman, uses a pheromone pod to control ant lions, which are large dog sized insects in the game.