Cosmic Close Call: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

A character experiences or ends up in proximity to a disaster that can seriously injure or even kill them - and it would have if they hadn't been in the right place at the right (wrong?) time. Such disastrous events can be considered '''Cosmic Close Calls''' - the victim could only survive these through what amounts to a bizarre coincidence, a stroke of luck, or the intervention of a third party (if not literal [[Divine Intervention]]). These tend to result in tons of [[Collateral Damage]] around them, however.

 

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' has {{spoiler|Homura}} try to create these to save close friends, only for [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|something far worse to take its place]], and ends up [[Break the Cutie|going mad in the process]].

 

==[[Film]]==

* The main premise of the ''[[Final Destination]]'' film franchise mixes this with [[Balancing Death's Books]] - one or more people among a group of friends manages to survive such an unfortunate event that was supposed to claim their lives, and Death is out to correct that mistake as the survivors try their best to fight fate.

 

==[[Live-Action TV]]==

** Happens to the brothers again when dealing with the goddess Atropos. Introduced in the sixth season episode "My Heart Will Go On", Atropos is one of the Fates in charge of arranging how mortals die, and can do so by freezing time and manipulating her surroundings. After Castiel interferes in and alters the past to save several thousand lives, Atropos [[Balancing Death's Books|begins hunting the survivors' descendants]]; when this draws the brothers' attention, she starts going after them as well, and they only manage Cosmic Close Calls with the help of Castiel.

* One episode of ''[[The X-Files]]'' has the luckiest man on Earth targeted by several mobsters, and his luck creates this by killing his would-be assassins in increasingly complicated ways. The man had been using his luck to collect enough money to pay for a new liver for his dying neighbor - and the last mobster to die was an organ donor who just happened to be a match.

 

== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==

* An [[Babylonian Mythology|ancient Babylonian myth]] recorded in the [[Talmud]] and transcribed by [[W. Somerset Maugham]] tells of a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to the marketplace for provisions, only for the servant to come home white and trembling. The servant was jostled by a woman whom he recognized as [[Death]], and fled to Samarra to hide from her after she makes a threatening gesture. The merchant later finds Death at the market place to inquire about the threatening gesture, and she replies:

{{quote|“That was not a threatening gesture, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”}}

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* ''[[Spinnerette]]'' has [[Benjamin Franklin]] [https://www.spinnyverse.com/comic/10-17-2011 sent through time] after lightning strikes his kite, and [https://www.spinnyverse.com/comic/10-24-2011 he accidentally stops a time traveler's assassination attempt], creating this for [[Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act|the "lucky" would-be victim]]. He ends up obtaining superpowers as a result - since one of his inventions was responsible for [[Time Travel]] existing to begin with, he becomes the luckiest man alive and cannot die.

 

* A short on the ''[[What a Cartoon Show]]'', "Awfully Lucky", has a sleazy guy trying to get a rare gem to a museum offering a huge reward for it. The gem was cursed to give whoever owns it alternating extremely good and extremely bad luck, with the thief suffering all sorts of increasingly ludicrous calamities and just barely living through them, even as he tried to return the gem to the museum.

* [[The Simpsons (animation)|''The Simpsons'']] ''Treehouse of Horror XI'' segment "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad" has Homer experience various Cosmic Close Calls before {{spoiler|choking on a piece of broccoli and dying}}.

 

 

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[[Category:Fate and Prophecy Tropes]]