Apocalypse How/Class 4: Difference between revisions

* Second Impact in ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' and [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] melted the Antarctic icecap and generated tidal waves that inundated coastal regions, wiping out cities and large tracts of arable land. Simultaneously, the oceans were poisoned and left barren and the axis of the Earth shifted. What species survived only endured due to humanity's intervention to maintain the terrestrial ecosystems. Third Impact is expected to escalate the situation to Class 5.

 

* In a three-part story arc at the beginning of John Byrne's post-Crisis [[Superman]], (issues #20-22, 1988) three renegade Kryptonians from an [[Alternate Universe]] do this to their dimension's Earth. The enormity of their crime drove Supes to break his non-killing oath and give them a Kryptonite shower. Much controversy ensued.

 

 

 

* In ''[[The Mote in God's Eye]]'' by [[Larry Niven]] and Jerry Pournelle, the Earth is a radioactive wasteland kept as a military training preserve by the Empire of Man, as a lesson to all young officers in the Imperial Fleet "to show them what the Empire exists to prevent." The only places on Earth that can support life are the high mountaintops (ironically, some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee plants have survived the Apocalypse, and they've all been declared the private property of the Emperor for his exclusive use. Smart Emperor...)

* Clarke and [[Stephen Baxter|Baxter's]] book ''The Light of Other Days'' describes an enormous asteroid that's going to collide with the Earth; large enough that the heat released will more or less sterilize the face of the Earth, such that only the most basic bacteria can survive. It eventually transpires that {{spoiler|this had already happened once, billions of years ago, and the civilization that existed then hid away the life that would eventually evolve into us}}.

 

 

* ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' ''starts'' with at least a 1.5, but by the end of Ziggy's first scene, it's clear that it's really a 4. Yes, this takes place on Earth. ''[[Darker and Edgier|In PowerRangers]]''. Its strongly implied that the means by which the Venjix Virus razed the planet was nuclear carpet-bombing.

* On ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', the opening of the Hellmouth is a 4.5. This would release demon hordes onto the Earth, resulting in the extinction of not only the human race, but every other native critter. The natural biosphere would be replaced with a demonic one. This is averted four times, in the episodes "The Harvest", "Prophecy Girl", "The Zeppo", and "Doomed". The release of the First's army of Turok-Han, as averted in the series finale, would apparently have a similar effect.

 

 

* The Exterminatus operation in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' is an attempt to destroy a planet as an economic or military asset. Depending on how thoroughly it's carried out, it usually ranges from Class 4 to Class 5, but can go all the way to X if they ''really'' try. If the bombardees have particularly deep bunkers or the bombardiers get sloppy, this can be as low as class 2, as in the case of Tallarn ([[Single Biome Planet]] turned from lush vegetation to desert [[Death World]], but still inhabited).

* The "Destinations" setting in [[Hero System|"Post-Apocalypse Hero"]] takes place after a solar flare sterilized the Earth. PCs are among the few people who were far enough below ground to not be vaporized. Oh, yes, the total absence of plant life not only cuts down on food options but could thoroughly hose oxygen levels if you can't find a way to fix matters.

** Worst case scenario for the Ragnora would make the world ''better'' suited to support life in general, but the corrupted positive energy caused by the abomination would be "too much of a good thing", causing most species who didn't die from it outright to mutate into horrid, mindless, pseudonatural beings.

 

* The plot of the entire ''[[Halo]]'' series is a fight to prevent this from happening on a galactic scale.

* What happens to planets in "[[Spore]]" if you don't kill infected creatures in time in some some space stage missions. Biosphere Collapse. Everything, except your colonies, dies.

 

 

* In ''[[White Noise]]'', the invading aliens temporarily halted the Earth's rotation, which caused everything to be thrown into the atmosphere and immolated. They then tried to [[Terraform]] the planet to suit their needs, but this didn't take. Life was only able to return to the planet because humans had three orbital space colonies to repopulate from. The Earth is presently habitable, but only by a very generous application of the word habitable.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'': Every planet that starts a session of Sburb ends up with asteroids killing everyone who didn't escape.

 

 

* In the fourth season of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', [[Satan|Trigon]] arrives and turns every organism on the planet into stone. {{spoiler|Until the heroes hit the [[Reset Button]].}}

* The [[After the End|pre-series]] apocalypse in ''[[Adventure Time]]'' seems to have been partially this, and partially version 3A: "Mushroom War" (name of the war that destroyed all humans [[The Hero|but]] [[Last of His Kind|one]]...maybe) suggests that humans [[Nuke'Em|blew each other to bits]], but there is also a distinct lack of normal wildlife in Ooo (about the only exception is Jake's family (dogs); everything else is anthropomorphic candy, [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|part-rainbow]], etc.) which sends it up to this class.

 

 

* The great Cretaceous extinction event, which caused the end of dinosaur dominance on Earth's surface, falls here. Practically all large land animals went extinct, leaving small birds and mammals to take their place.

* The Permian extinction, 250 million years ago (and 185 million years before the Cretaceous extinction), killed off 95% of all species on Earth, putting it close to a Class 5. Thankfully for life on Earth, it didn't cross that line. Even jaded paleontologists not given to sensationalist names have nicknamed it "The Great Dying". In contrast, all the other mass extinctions, including the one that killed the dinosaurs, are only named after their geologic period.