Black Out Event of 2022
The night the replicant records were wiped.
The Blackout of 2022 is the attack shown in the anime short Blade Runner Black Out 2022. Rogue Nexus-8 replicants set off a nuclear weapon above the western United States, and its electromagnetic pulse blacks out Los Angeles and destroys most records about replicants.
Lore & Background
Three years after the events of Blade Runner, the Tyrell Corporation's Nexus-8 line, with its open-ended lifespan, has brought unrest. Iggy, a replicant ex-soldier who deserted when he learned that his enemies were replicants too, recruits Trixie into an underground movement that wants the Tyrell database gone so that replicants can no longer be hunted so easily. Ren, a human technician in charge of launching nuclear missiles, redirects a test missile to explode over Los Angeles while Iggy and Trixie attack the Tyrell archives; Trixie is shot dead, and Iggy blows up the magnetic backups with a stolen truck.
Reader's Guide
The consequences shape the next decades. Replicant production is banned and the Tyrell Corporation goes bankrupt; mass purges follow, though many Nexus-8s manage to hide. About a decade later Niander Wallace, who has bought what was left of Tyrell, wins approval to make replicants again.
More in Story & Timeline
Elsewhere in Blade Runner
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