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{{trope}}
[[File:Earth_Exploding.jpg|link=Mortal Kombat|frame|[[Looney Tunes (Animation)|bdee, bdee, bdee, that's]] [[That's All Folks|all]] [[Earthshattering Kaboom|folks!]]]]
 
{{quote|''"[[Trope Namer|It's the end of the world as we know it]]<br />
''It's the end of the world as we know it<br />
''[[Rule of Three|It's the end of the world as we know it]]<br />
''[[Cosy Catastrophe|And I feel fine]]"''|'''[[REM (Music)|REM]],''' [[Title-Only Chorus|"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"]]}}
 
This is what will happen if the heroes don't stop the [[Big Bad]] or the [[Omnicidal Maniac]] from doing its nasty work. It can be either supernatural or superscience, depending on the villain, but in either case the bad guy must be beaten down and his toys broken in order to save the planet, or the universe, depending on the focus of the story.
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Inevitably draws the suitably heroic into a [[Saving the World]] plot. See [[Apocalypse How]] for various types of End Of the World. For when [[Take Our Word for It]] simply won't do, [[Apocalypse Wow]] is this trope given dramatic form. When asked just ''why'' they want to destroy the world as we know it, villains usually say something from the "[[Why You Should Destroy the Planet Earth]]" list. That is, if they even have one. May be preceded by [[Signs of the End Times]].
 
It is a common source of [[Enemy Mine]] if another villain wants to [[Take Over the World]], because after [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]], [[Evil Versus Oblivion|there's nothing left to take over]].
 
{{examples}}
 
== Advertising ==
* In many political ads, this is the implied consequence of voting for anyone other than the person who paid for the commercial. The most famous example, and perhaps the trend setter, is the 1964 presidential election "Daisy" commercial, which essentially said that not voting for Lyndon Johnson would cause [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]]. See it for yourself [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtYpnGZr6TA here].
 
 
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* ''[[Mai-HiME]]'' threatens the end of the world with the approaching of the HiME Star precipitating natural disasters and {{spoiler|1=the last surviving HiME gaining the power to remake the world as she sees fit}}.
* Is what threatens to happen in ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]''.
* Johan Liebert of ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'' tries to become last standing at the end of the world by having insane supporters cause destruction until he has them kill each other.
* While ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' starts as a story about two cousins hiding an abused and escaped mutant from an evil covernment agency, it is later revealed that said mutants may very well destroy all human life on earth and it becomes a very close call near the end. [[Gecko Ending|It is absent in the Anime.]]
* Michio Yuki of ''[[MW]]'' tries to [[Taking You Withwith Me|take the world with him]] by using the titular chemical warfare.
* The first two seasons of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' involved unstable [[Lost Technology|Lost Logia]] and [[The Hero|the heroes]] trying to prevent the destruction of a few worlds, including the one they call home. The third season, however, had a [[Big Bad]] who ''knew'' how to handle Lost Logia, and thus would have only ended with [[The Federation]] obliterated and the entire multiverse effectively taken hostage should the heroes fail. Jail's an [[Evilutionary Biologist]], not an [[Omnicidal Maniac]], after all.
* All of the ''[[Slayers (Anime)|Slayers]]'' continuities, especially the anime, dealt with this trope in some way.
* The final [[Story Arc]] in ''[[Pretty Sammy|Magical Project S]]'' revolves around saving Earth.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' seems to be about preventing [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]] at first, but apparently this outcome had been clear [[It Was His Sled|from the very beginning]]. {{spoiler|The attempts to stop the Angels from reaching Terminal Dogma under Tokyo-3 are only meant to buy more time to arrange that the event happens in a way most favorable to the various factions. That the 18th Angel (humanity itself) will succeed in ending the world had always been a foregone conclusion.}}
* While the main cast of ''[[Prétear]]'' eventually succeeds in preventing [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]] (the standard [[Big Bad]]'s goal), the manga gives a nice description of the world drained of [[Life Energy]] -- not only without living beings, but without wind, sounds, temperature, light. The anime version further illustrates the possible outcome by having the [[Big Bad]] destroy the local [[Magical Land]].
* Anyone living in the world of any ''[[Pretty Cure (Anime)|Pretty Cure]]'' series should try not to get ''too'' attached to the universe. It was ''already'' one lost fight away from total destruction in the very first episode, with multiple near-misses along the way; in particular, almost all life was wiped out near the end of ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star]]'', though the heroines managed to [[No Ontological Inertia|reverse it by defeating the bad guy]].
* The main goal of the [[Ancient Conspiracy]] from ''[[Rah XephonRahXephon]]'' is to {{spoiler|both cause and reverse this.}} Unusual in that {{spoiler|the world already ended once and is slowly decaying away into nothing, and this world has to be purged and rebuilt again to stop it. The conflict is over who gets to be in charge of the rebuilding: the humans or the Mu.}}
* ''[[Sailor Moon (Manga)|Sailor Moon]]'' comes close to this here and there. The Moon Kingdom was completely destroyed in the past; [[The World Is Always Doomed|the Earth is constantly in danger]], as one villainous group invades it after another. In the manga, the world (along with the [[Big Bad]]) ''is'' destroyed at the end of the third story arc by [[Person of Mass Destruction|Sailor Saturn]]... only to be immediately restored by [[The Messiah|Princess Serenity]]. The last season's [[Big Bad]] has already rendered ''most of the Galaxy'' dead before attacking the Earth.
** The Earth too, during the [[Grand Finale]], at least in the anime. In fact, {{spoiler|only five beings in the entire Milky Way are still alive by the time the [[Big Bad]] is stopped. Don't worry, [[It Got Better|the galaxy got better]].}}
** In ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'', in addition to the destruction of the Moon Kingdom in the past, {{spoiler|Princess Serenity does the same with the Earth at the end of the series}}.
* The ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya (Literature)|Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' franchise has a rather unusual condition for The End Of The World as We Know It to happen: {{spoiler|if the title character becomes ''too'' bored with her life, she could inadvertently destroy the universe in a subconscious attempt to create one more to her liking}}. Not only that, the rest of the SOS-dan suspects that {{spoiler|she has already done it}} at least once before -- but obviously no-one can tell.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is set [[After the End]], when most of humanity was wiped out {{spoiler|by the machinations of the Anti-Spiral}}. When they start making a comeback thanks to the protagonists, {{spoiler|a failsafe kicks in to [[Colony Drop|drop the moon]] on the planet and finish humanity off}}. And on top of that, {{spoiler|Spiral Energy's ability to [[Hammerspace|generate energy and matter from nothing but HeroicResolve]] risks destroying the entire universe if overused, and the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Anti-Spirals]] are trying to ''prevent'' that from happening.}}
* In ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'', the aliens want to cause this by accelerating humans' destruction of the environment, just so the [[Muggles]] can see what they've done to the Earth and actually care about it.
* In the anime ''[[X 1999|X/1999]]'', both sides actually believe they are fighting to prevent the end of the world. The Dragons of Earth are attempting to destroy all humans to prevent humans from destroying the Earth, while the Dragons of Heaven are trying to save humanity from the Dragons of Earth. It was revealed near the end that {{spoiler|Kanoe main supporter of the Dragons of the Earth knew that the Dragons of the Earth would lead to the complete ruination of the world (humans, plants everything), she just didn't tell anyone.}}
* The second and third season of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' ([[Macekre|dub version only]]), emphasized with a mantra frequently repeated by Yugi to the point of exasperation: "The fate of the world depends on it!"
** Season 4 plays this completely straight. Dartz believes that {{spoiler|killing everybody and feeding their souls to The Great Leviathan would save the world}}.
** This is also the goal of the [[Big Bad]] in [[The Movie]]. This motive is questioned (and [[Lampshade|lampshaded]]) by Yami in ''Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Movie,'' where he asks the [[Big Bad]] what he hopes to gain from the destruction of the world. Receiving an unsatisfactory answer, he dismisses the [[Big Bad]] as "the most disappointing movie villain since General Grievous."
* Carried over in the second season of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' but with the pressure upped even more, when Jaden is told, "The fate of the ''universe'' now rests with you."
* The ''[[Pokémon (Animeanime)|Pokémon]]'' films typically leave preventing [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]] to Ash Ketchum and his friends.
* Standard thing the heroes of ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' are trying to prevent, although the ante was upped in the Buu saga, where the [[Big Bad]] could easily have wiped out the entire universe had he not been stopped.
* ''[[Bokurano]]'' takes this trope to a whole new level of cruelty by adding a twist: {{spoiler|to save the world from ending the kids must cause the destruction of other worlds. The pilots die regardless of the outcome of the battle.}}
* In the end of ''[[Saikano]]'' {{spoiler|the world does come to an end. Chise loses her body in a climactic final battle and becomes a ball of light and Shuuiji is the sole survivor in the entire planet.[[Tear Jerker|Few things could be sadder.]]}}
* Parodied in the ''[[Clannad (Visual Novel)|Clannad]]'' game with this quote:
{{quote| '''Misae''': For Sunohara to have such a cute sister, and for Okazaki to have such a cute girlfriend... If it were the end of the world, it'd be bad for the sister and Furukawa-san, but... I'll say it. It's the end of the world.}}
* In ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'', the SDF-1, after a year of fighting, returns to Earth only to {{spoiler|witness the nuclear bombardment of the planet by Boddolza's main Zentradi fleet of over 4,000,000 warships (killing "most" of the population and destroying 95% of the environment)}}, however, {{spoiler|with a little help from a wave motion cannon back on Earth, and Lynn Minmei, the Macross nukes Boddolza's remaining flagship}}. The remnants of humanity and the Zentradi are then shown to be co-existing on what remains of the planet, but because of some of the bored Zentradi, their alliance quickly turns to crap.
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* It is feared that this is what will happen if there should ever be a "[[Super Happy Fun Trope of Doom|Second Summer Of Love]]" in ''[[Eureka Seven]]''.
* In ''[[The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer]]'' this is the goal of the [[Big Bad]], ''and also'' the main characters, Sami and Yuuhi. (The aim is to smash the planet to rubble, too.)
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Mangamanga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', {{spoiler|Father opens the gate sacrificing the Earth itself so he can defeat God, and rips the souls of nearly every living thing in the country of Amestris with only a select few remaining humans and homunculi remaining. A true [[Wham! Episode]]}}.
** In the Manga, {{spoiler|Father does not try to defeat god, but rather tries to become one with god and makes a transmutation circle out of Amestris to do so, thus following the "Equivalent exchange" rule. Many people the brothers have met are seen passing out. Ed proceeds to beat Father to a pulp, and so Father enters the gates and the humanoid shape shown in earlier chapters to be 'wearing' Ed's arm and leg is hinted to be god, due to their similar colouring and grin. Father dies and they all live happily ever after.}}
* The intent of [[Like Father, Like Son|King and Lucia]] in ''[[Rave Master]]''
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* In ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'', {{spoiler|this is Deus' reason for holding the survival game. He is dying, which is bringing about the end of the world.}}
* At the end of the ''[[Tokko]]'' manga's main storyline, Ranmaru has a monologue where he reveals that {{spoiler|the world ends}} two years after the end of the story.
* ''[[OkusamaOku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo (Anime)|Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo]]'' has the majority of the plot focusing on how Cruje will erase Wonderland and recreate it when she inherits the Manager position from Ureshiko. {{spoiler|When she finally does inherit the position and recreates the world, she recreates it almost exactly as it was before, with the only difference being that the school didn't burn down, even if the baseball victory flag still has burn marks}}.
 
 
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* This happens in the DCU every other week. It's amazing they even send journalists to cover it any more. "Oh look, it's Darkseid again. Wanna get some coffee while we wait for the superheroes to turn up?"
* The ''[[Lucifer (Comic Book)|Lucifer]]'' comic books, somewhat ironically, involved the Devil's efforts to ''prevent'' this. He was leaving the Creation before the world was starting to end. When the ending did start it threatened his second Creation as well as Yahweh's, so he pretty much had to help, or be destroyed. Though his principles kept him from saving the world the easiest way, by taking God's place, instead going through a [[Xanatos Roulette]] to put someone else in the role.
* Many a comic book [[Crisis Crossover]] has this as its premise, the archetype being ''[[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths]]'' (see below).
* Parodied in a Gahan Wilson comic showing a prophet of doom, his sign about the imminent end of the world under one arm, about to push down a dynamite plunger with its attached wires running off-panel. Apparently, the end of ''somebody's'' world is imminent!
* Is a favorite ending to many What-If? stories from Marvel.
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* In [[Kevin Smith]]'s ''[[Dogma]]'', the continued correct functioning of the laws that govern the universe are all dependent on/derived from one truth: that God is infallible. The heroes have to stop the "villains," angels cast out of Heaven, from exploiting a loophole in some obscure Catholic canon to get themselves re-admitted to Heaven, thereby contradicting God and unmaking the whole of Creation.
* ''[[Fallen]]'' (1998), with Denzel Washington. The demons of the film are said to desire the destruction of human civilization, which they call "the fall of Babylon" and pursue this by possessing people. Though not said, this would presumably account for much of the evil in the world. Also not said but speculated is that true believer Christians will be immune to demonic possession.
* The film (and book) of Douglas Adams' ''[[The HitchhikersHitchhiker's Guide to Thethe Galaxy]]'' puts a comedic twist on this -- the world is destroyed to make way for an interstellar bypass. The joke is that the protagonist was trying to stop his house from being demolished for much the same reason... This becomes even more of a [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]] moment when it is revealed that the destruction of Earth took place mere ''moments'' before the unveiling of the Heart of Gold and Infinite Improbability Drive, which render hyperspace bypasses completely obsolete. ''And'' that five minutes later the job the Earth was created for would have been done and (presumably) everyone could've left.
* Playfully subverted in ''[[Men in Black (Filmfilm)|Men in Black]]'' -- the universe is inches away from Armageddon due to alien interference all the time. The Men in Black casually erase the memories of anyone who catches wind of these impending disasters to prevent a general panic. Very similar to [[The World Is Always Doomed]].
* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' (2004). The distant-planet-colonizing rocket seems benign, until it's revealed that the rocket's afterburners will ignite the Earth's atmosphere.
* The sun is dying in the sci-fi movie ''[[Sunshine (Filmfilm)|Sunshine]]'' and has to be reignited with a nuclear bomb the size of Manhattan Island.
** The B-movie ''Solar Crisis'' features a similar premise, but the earth is directly threatened by a massive solar flare that Our Heroes must trigger prematurely.
* ''[[Godzilla]] Final Wars'' not only has the titular monster saving the world from an asteroid, but also dozens of other monsters as well.
* The British film ''[[Threads]]'' and its American counterpart ''[[The Day After]]'' both deal with this trope in a very grim and realistic way. In both, nuclear war breaks out between [[Cold War|The U.S. and the Soviet Union]], resulting in a dark [[Scavenger World]] inhabited by the hapless victims of the catastrophe. Both were [[Anvilicious]] in the sense that they resorted to scare tactics to show people what the world would be like if they allowed political tensions to get the better of them, but at a time when some people thought nuclear war was survivable and a handful even cried out for war, this [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|may have been a good thing.]]
* ''[[Cthulhu (Filmfilm)|Cthulhu]]'' (2007). Although loosely based on "A Shadow Over Innsmouth" by [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]], the movie also works in elements of "The Call of Cthulhu" in that humanity is beginning to descend into chaos as a prelude to the return of the Old Ones from the sea, with scenes of rioting, madness and murder.
* Remember how in the ''Transformers'' cartoons and the first movie the Decepticons were merely after energy sources and planned to use them to power their armies? Well, ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen]]'' tops it all. In that film, they plan to use a [[Weaponized Landmark]] to blow up the sun, thus [[Earthshattering Kaboom|blowing up the Earth]] and harvesting the raw energy output created by it. Thankfully Optimus Prime blew up the machine, so it's all good.
* An independent movie called ''[[Last Night]]'' deals with this. It takes place on the very last day before the end of existence and it focuses on how different people are dealing with their impending demise. What's strange is that everyone knows that the world is ending at midnight, but what it is that's causing the world to end is never explained or mentioned.
* In ''[[Independence Day]]'', the world is about to be blown up, settlement by settlement, by aliens in giant spaceships. But, as always, America saves the day. Which was pretty much predictable from the moment you found out the film was about hostile alien attack. Funnily enough, the [[Trope Namer]] song by R.E.M was playing in the background of one of the first scenes, where the UFO on the moon is detected by the radar.
** [[Roland Emmerich]] ''is'' this trope. Just look at ''[[The Day After Tomorrow]]'' and ''[[Twenty Twelve|2012]]''.
* Lori Petty's opening narration for ''[[Tank Girl]]'' uses the trope name exactly -- hear it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI9-VfuOoI4 here], at about 2:48 -- to describe the cause of the film's [[After the End]] setting.
* In ''[[The Golden Child]]'', the titular child is a [[Cosmic Keystone]] keeping the forces of evil at bay by his very existence. Should he be killed, which is only possible if he [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|succumbs to evil]], [[The Legions of Hell]] would be free to conquer Earth. The heroes' mission is to rescue him before that happens.
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== Literature ==
* Spider Robinson's novel ''[[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (Literature)|Callahan's Key]]'' is based on the notion that if the heroes do not accomplish the save-the-day task, the entire universe not only will cease to exist, but will retroactively cease ''ever to have'' existed.
* Every couple of books, the ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' is threatened with [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]]. In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Light Fantastic|The Light Fantastic]]'', it nearly collided with a red star; in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Sourcery|Sourcery]]'', the birth of a sourcerer nearly brings about a second Mage War and the Apocralypse [sic]; in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Last Hero|The Last Hero]]'', Cohen the Barbarian's scheme to get revenge on the gods threatens to destroy the magic that holds the Discworld together; and in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'', the Auditors trick a human with unusual abilities into building a clock that will leave the [[Discworld]], and possibly the universe, frozen in time forever.
* [[Double Subversion]] in Weis and Hickman's novel series ''[[The Darksword Trilogy|The Sword of Joram]]'', in which {{spoiler|Joram succeeds in stopping the destruction of Thimhallan by the attackers from the Earth, only to end up destroying the magic that made it habitable}}
* Weiss' and Hickman's ''[[Dragonlance]]'' series has had quite a few of these. There's the main Cataclysm, in which a "mountain of fire" ([[Word of God]] says it was a meteor) which annihilated the Kingdom of Istar and killed millions outside of it with fire, earthquakes, etc. On the same day, Taladas, the continent to the northeast of Ansalon, suffered the "Great Destruction," in which an earthquake wiped out the mighty Aurim empire and filled the interior of the continent with molten lava. In Adlatum, the third continent the Cataclysm came in the form of the Great Drowning in which massive tidal waves flooded large parts of the land and never receded. And then, in more recent times Chaos showed up...
* An angel and a demon team up to prevent the scheduled Biblical Apocalypse in ''[[Good Omens (Literature)|Good Omens]]''. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* Subverted in an old [[Ray Bradbury]] short story titled ''The End of the Beginning''. The narrator describes people all over the world staring at the sky waiting for the world to end because they know the exact date, time and place that it will begin. Eventually a searing white light appears in the sky and ends the world. The twist is... I'll give you a second to guess... {{spoiler|The bright light is a spaceship that has visited the first intelligent life humanity discovered. Naturally this marks the "end" of the world and the "beginning" of the universe.}}
* Victorian-set fantasy [[Darkness Visible]] is all about the [[Heterosexual Life Partners|protagonists']] attempts to prevent the End Of The World, though this does not become clear until quite a long way through (because Lewis, the [[First-Person Smartass|narrator,]] hasn't realised how serious things are). At first, we think it's only London which is at risk. [[Oh Crap|It]] [[It Got Worse|isn't]].
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* [[S.M. Stirling]]'s ''[[Emberverse|Dies the Fire]]'' and its various sequels are set in a world where every kind of "energy-dense" technology stops working, plunging the human race back in [[The Dung Ages]]... forever. Not the end of the ''world,'' but certainly the end of the world ''we'' know. (And, for the overwhelming majority of people, the end of ''them'': try feeding seven billion people with twelfth-century technology.)
* In ''[[Fragment]]'', scientists and the military must act fast to eradicate the hyper-lethal, hyper-invasive wildlife of Henders Island, before it can spread to other landmasses and spell The End Of The Biosphere As We Know It.
* A recurrent theme in [[China Mieville]]'s ''[[Kraken (Literaturenovel)|Kraken]]''. London's supernatural community runs betting pools and ''street parties'' in honour of various cults' prophesied apocalypses.
* Early in ''[[The HitchhikersHitchhiker's Guide to Thethe Galaxy]]'', the Earth gets destroyed by the Vogons to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
* The ''[[Nightside]]'' novels feature one possible end of the world in a Timeslip {{spoiler|that the main character supposedly brings about.}}
* Most of the ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant (Literature)|Skulduggery Pleasant]]'' novels have this theme. For the first three books, Skulduggery and Valkyrie must prevent religious fanatics from releasing a race of [[Eldritch Abominations]] called the [[Evil In A Sealed Can|Faceless Ones]] who used to rule the world until they were banished into another dimension. If they return, they will inhabit human bodies, tear down man's cities, destroy the countryside, destroy half the human race, enslave the rest and work them until they die before moving onto another world. In the fourth book, a madman named Dreylan Scarab tries to provoke a war between the "mortal" and magical communities that will almost certainly result in the end of civilisation. In the fifth, a race of evil spirits are released who are looking for an evil sorceress named Darquesse who will raze the world.
* This ironic and somewhat disturbing poem by Archibald [[Mac Leish]], titled -- appropriately enough -- "The End of the World" (which, come to think of it, might also work as an example of the [[Nothing Is Scarier]] trope):
 
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== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'', a Steampunk adaptation of the Wizard of Oz, the evil queen of the OZ Azkadellia seeks the Emerald of the Eclipse so that she can use it to power a device called the Anti-Sun Seeder that will fix the two moons of the OZ in a permanent eclipse, plunging the land into eternal darkness which removing photo-synthesis will result in as the Mystic Man aptly predicts, the complete destruction of the OZ. It's not entirely clear what Azkadellia hopes to achieve by this but she is after all [[The Sociopath|insane]] as a result of being possessed by the [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|Evil Witch of the Dark]]. It's implied that this is the Wicked Witch from the original story, coming back to take revenge on Dorothy's descendants.
* [[Twenty Four24|Jack Bauer]] and his allies have ''[[Twenty Four24]]'' hours to stop the End of the World As We Know It.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' built each season around a [[Big Bad]] whose plans usually threatened the End of Everything if he wasn't stopped by late Spring. At one point, when Giles proclaimed the [[Big Bad]] was about to cause the end of the world, everyone present groaned, "Again?" One of Buffy's [[Badass Normal|boyfriends]] once lamented that hanging around her had caused him to need to know "the plural of ''apocalypse''." In one episode, averting the apocalypse was the ''[[Two Lines, No Waiting|B-plot]]''.
** When ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' spun-off, the world was often facing two ends at once, one L.A.-based in the form of Wolfram & Hart's ongoing plans for Armageddon, the other Sunnydale-based with a different villain threatening the world each season. It even reached the point where, in the Buffy [[Grand Finale]], {{spoiler|Wolfram & Hart helped ''stop'' Sunnydale's apocalypse, partly because it interfered with their own apocalyptic plans}}. With the alarmingly frequent amounts of Apocalypses going on, it's pretty safe to assume there are several happening all at the same time. Wolfram and Hart has an archive specifically devoted to upcoming Apocalypses for Christ's sake!
** There's no secret made of the fact that [[The World Is Always Doomed|the world is always doomed]], in the Buffyverse.
* The aliens in the 1980s miniseries ''[[V]]'' intended to harvest the human race for use as snack food and were turning the planet into a thinly disguised version of Nazi Germany to make it easier.
* The destruction of all life on Earth happened, then un-happened, at least once a season on ''[[Seven Days]]''.
* The series ''[[The Dead Zone]]'' has a recurring [[Arc]] about Greg Stillson somehow being responsible for [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]] in the near future, and Johnny Smith has to find a way to stop him. {{spoiler|He screws up in the series finale and ends up causing it instead. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]}}
* ''[[Star Trek]]'', repeatedly and in many different ways. Most notably, the third season of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' features the ship in a race against time to save not only the World, but the Universe As We Know It. If a group of genocidal aliens succeed in destroying the Earth, it will alter history and the Federation will never exist. An episode called ''Twilight'' showed what might happen if they succeeded.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' has a demon apocalypse progress through [[Signs of the End Times]] to a truncated Apocalypse.
* Subverted in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode 'The End of the World'. The Doctor takes Rose to see planet Earth finally bite the dust billions of years in the future, but it's a natural event that's supposed to happen. When asked if he's going to swoop in at the last moment and save the planet, he replies that there's no point because everyone has moved to greener pastures already.
** Played straight several other times, though. Menaces such as the Slitheen, the Daleks, the Cybermen, or the Master are all the time trying to cause [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]].
*** The Master actually succeeds towards the end of "The Sound of Drums," but then {{spoiler|the Doctor reverses time, saving the day, er, year, and only a select few people remember 'the year that never was'.}}
*** And then, of course, we can't skip over a mention of {{spoiler|Davros}} and {{spoiler|the Daleks}} attempting to {{spoiler|destroy the entire universe across all possible realities in the season 4}}
*** Or, in "The End of Time", the {{spoiler|Time Lords}} trying to achieve the eponymous "end of time", which would {{spoiler|allow the Time Lords to [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence]] while the rest of the universe rips apart.}}
*** And then there's "The Big Bang", where {{spoiler|something (possibly being revealed in the next season) causes the T.A.R.D.I.S. to blow up, causing every atom of the universe to explode at every instant. The Doctor manages to reverse it only because of a rather complex, self-fulfilling [[Time Paradox]].}}
* The premise of ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' is that this has already happened, and now the Colonials are on the run in search of a new home. When they get there {{spoiler|it had already been obliterated in a nuclear attack 2000 years in the past. They find another one though}}.
* In the sci-fi series ''[[Lexx]]'', the main characters go through much of the second season unaware that an enemy they defeated earlier is still alive. The villain, Mantrid, rebuilds himself, takes an army of simple-minded floating robot drones, and destroys much of the "Light Zone," one of two parallel universes. The heroes eventually stop him, but soon afterwards, the entire universe collapses in on itself. The main characters (and their ship, the Lexx) are spit out as interstellar debris into the "Dark Zone," the second universe.
* One episode of ''[[Big Wolf Onon Campus]]'' has hero Tommy Dawkins prevent the end of the world by winning a wrestling match against a demon.
* Occurs during the [[Time Skip]] between seasons 16 and 17 of ''[[Power Rangers]]''. [[Darker and Edgier|The entire biosphere has been destroyed globally]], except for a single city fighting for survival.
* The History Channel ran the "documentary," ''[[Life After People]],'' which speculates on what would happen to the Earth if humans suddenly disappeared...
* A series of sketches in ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'' featured "The Quiz Broadcast" (Remain Indoors!), filmed by and starring the last huddling remnants of humanity after "the Event" destroyed civilization. The Event was apparently so horrible that it seems to have imposed a near-universal amnesia about life before it, and anyone who tries to think about it is reduced to hysterics. There's also the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP-rkzJ6yZw live broadcast] of the ''Invasion of the Earth by an unknown but vastly powerful extraterrestrial aggressor''.
* ''[[Odyssey 5]]'' ''begins'' with the destruction of Earth; our heroes are then sent back in time to try and stop it.
* In ''[[Stargate SG 1|Stargate: SG-1]]'', [[The World Is Always Doomed]]. A few notable examples follow.
** If the Goa'uld had ever attacked Earth with ships in orbit, at least before Season Five or so, they could have used orbital bombardment to conquer or destroy Earth civilization with impunity. The SGC prevented that with guerrilla tactics, alliances with other enemies of the Goa'uld, and sheer luck.
** The Replicators, a [[Grey Goo]] made up of Lego-sized pieces that acted like a [[Horde of Alien Locusts]], could have consumed and overrun Earth if they ever got a foothold on it, but they never did.
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* The [[Trope Namer]]: "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by [[REM]].
** [[Word Salad Lyrics|They don't accurately]] [[Something Something Leonard Bernstein|reflect ANY title]], let alone this one. To the point that even Michael Stipe [[Flip-Flop of God|isn't entirely sure of the official lyrics]], ''and he wrote them.''
* Happens in [[Food for Thethe Gods]]. Twice.
* The 1982 hardcore punk wave was also called "no future" punk, as the fear of an imminent nuclear holocaust, or environmental destruction was a common theme.
* From the [[Tom Waits]] album ''[[Darker and Edgier|Bone Machine]]'', we have [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|aptly named]] ''And the Earth Died Screaming''. The primitive-sounding percussion([[Fridge Horror|implying it's being sung]] [[After the End]]), [[Mind Screw|weird lyrics]] and [[Guttural Growler|Tom Waits's voice]] make for one [[Nightmare Fuel|very creepy song]].
{{quote| There was thunder<br />
There was lightning<br />
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And the earth died screaming }}
* The Ayreon [[Rock Opera]] depicts the world ending around 2084-2085 despite [[Cassandra Truth|warnings from the prophet who foresaw it's end]] the end comes thanks to [[Ludd Was Right|technology]] and the like.
* This happens twice in Fireaxe's ''[[Food for Thethe Gods]]'' album. Once with the earth itself being destroyed by warring ideologies and their prophets. The second comes when Satan faces down God himself and enrages him to the point of destroying all creation. This leaves only him and the darkness in what the song describes as "cold and dark infinity"
* [[wikipedia:99 Luftballons|"It's all over, and I'm standing pretty / In this dust that was a city..."]]
* The [[Insane Clown Posse (Music)|Insane Clown Posse]] song "It's All Over" posits everything ending in one massive, chaotic rush. However, it presents the end of the world as a ''positive'' thing -- you have no worry of [[Dying Alone]], for all others will die with you... and isn't it glorious, to know that you're witnessing the very end of the world itself?
* The [[Genesis (Musicband)|Genesis]] song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o02v0hkq3IA The Day The Light Went Out]" is about ''something'' that arrives here and puts out the light... and then, it prepares ''[[Nightmare Fuel|to feed]]''...
{{quote| ''When they went to bed that night no one would have believed''<br />
''That in the morning, light would not be there''<br />
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''Then panic took control of minds and fear hit everyone''<br />
''The day the light went out of the daytime sky.'' }}
* Front Line Assembly's "[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Armageddon]]":
{{quote| Giant projectiles surging through the air<br />
Clouds of radiation, no time to spare<br />
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== Mythology and Religion ==
* The [[Book of Revelation (Literature)|Book of Revelation]] from [[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]], which serves as the inspiration for the ''[[Left Behind]]'' books and pretty much any Christian end-times related fiction.
* The Ragnarök from [[Norse Mythology]].
* The infamous 2012 phenomenon (which inspired the film of the same name), in which according to some, the world will actually end on December 21, 2012, as that's when the Mayan calendar's supposed to end, even though the [[Mayincatec|Mayans]] themselves actually [[Did Not Do the Research|didn't]].
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== Tabletop Games ==
* From ''[[Bliss Stage]]:'' "The effects of [[Lotus Eater Machine|the Bliss]] were sinister and immediate: every human above the age of 18 were struck with a sudden weariness, and when they fell asleep, they did not awaken... ...Society, particularly industrialized society, begins to collapse one month later, as food production and utilities break down."
* Dominaria, the central world of ''[[Magic: theThe Gathering]]'', has suffered no less than ''several'' apocalypses:
** The Brothers' War (the entire face of the planet shattered, two thousand years of ice and snow).
** The Phyrexian Invasion (the greater part of the world's population slaughtered by demonic invaders).
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** In artificial planes, the lack of someone to focus on keeping the plane stable causes the plane to collapse. This happened to Serra's Realm, when coupled with [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|the presence of a Phyrexian in a white-mana realm]].
** There are actually cards that let you "destroy all X". These cards tend to have names like Armageddon, Wrath of God, Global Ruin, Catastrophe, Planar Collapse...
* Quite a few ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' game-settings have a World-Shattering Kaboom in their backstory, such as Krynn's Cataclysm or Mystara's Great Rain of Fire. When you get to a high enough level, you can kill gods and wipe out entire planes of existence....
* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'s'' universe is entering the eleventh millennium of the ongoing end of the ''Universe''. The only reason its lasted this long is because most of the bringers of the end are as happy to fight each other as humanity. The End of a ''World'' As We Know It happens ''all the time''. But what's the loss of one planet when there are billions more out there?
* This what mostly likely will happen if the Titans win in ''[[Scion (Tabletop Game)|Scion]]''
* The [[Crapsack World]] of ''[[Battle TechBattleTech]]'' ends and restarts (just to meet another horrible end) several times, including the fall of the [[The Federation|Terran Alliance]], the fall of the Star League (the closest thing to a golden age ''Battletech'' has ever had), the Word of Blake Jihad, and the destruction of the HPG communications network and subsequent "Dark Age." [[Crapsack World|This is because the universe of]] ''[[Crapsack World|Battletech]]'' [[Crapsack World|is a horrible place populated by horrible people that do horrible things on a daily basis]].
* Which [[Endofthe World As We Know It]] are we talking about when we talk about the ''[[Old World of Darkness (Tabletop Game)|Old World of Darkness]]''?
** Well, there's Gehenna from ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade (Tabletop Game)|Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', when the [[Eldritch Abomination|Antediluvians]] rise from their slumber, run roughshod over the earth and devour their vampiric children.
** And then there's the Ba'ali, who believe a different set of [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] will rise, the so-called 'Children' who existed before God created light and who will surely destroy all of mankind should they ever wake up. To prevent this, the Ba'ali commit as many utterly depraved acts as possible in the name of the Children, in an attempt to ensure they don't realise how relatively nice the World of Darkness is and come to remake things in their image.
** And then there's the Apocalypse from (duh) ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse (Tabletop Game)|Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'', the final battle against [[Big Bad|the Wyrm]] and his corruptive forces.
** ''[[Mage: The Ascension (Tabletop Game)|Mage: The Ascension]]'' featured a somewhat optimistic end of the world in its endgame, {{spoiler|where all of mankind Awakens at once and the constraints on reality are lifted as everyone becomes a god unto themselves}}.
*** Unless the fourth apocalyptic scenario is used, where the Nephandi win and bring hell on earth.
** ''[[Changeling: The Dreaming (Tabletop Game)|Changeling: The Dreaming]]'' has the overhanging threat of Endless Winter, a time when imagination, belief and hope are all but gone and the world of the fae slowly withers and dies.
** ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion (Tabletop Game)|Wraith: The Oblivion]]'' ended the line with the Sixth Great Maelstrom, where a harrowing wind tore through the Shadowlands as Oblivion ran roughshod and [[The Necrocracy|Stygia]] fell. ''[[Orpheus]]'' let the players explore the aftermath... while, incidentally, {{spoiler|dealing with Grandmother, the thing that spawned ''Wraith'''s big horrors and threatens to devour the worlds of both the living and dead}}.
* ''[[Exalted (Tabletop Game)|Exalted]]'' has several factions planning their own, most notably [[The Fair Folk]] (who don't like order very much) and the Neverborn (who don't like anything very much).
** The "Return Of The Scarlett Empress" book details the actual bringing about of [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]] at the hands of the Yozi, (who actually like lots of things, but prefer them crushed under their rule), particularly [[Big Bad|the Ebon Dragon]] (who deeply hates absolutely everything on a personal basis).
* ''[[Unknown Armies (Tabletop Game)|Unknown Armies]]'' has an interesting take on this. The world will end when {{spoiler|the number of the Invisible Clergy hits 333}}; once it ends, {{spoiler|the 333 Clergy members and the Archetypes they embody get to have their say in how the next world is shaped, the Clergy is emptied, and the whole process starts again. In other words, the current incarnation of the world shapes the next, for good or ill.}} It's insinuated that this has happened several times before; {{spoiler|the Comte de Saint-Germain is always present because he embodies The First and Last Man -- the first human born in the new world and the final person to ascend to the Clergy.}}
* The ''[[Shadowrun]]'' setting may or may not be wiped out by the Horrors, depending on how soon they break through into reality and whether technology gives more of an advantage to them or us. Oh, and whether or not your game master acknowledges that Earthdawn ever happened.
* In the backstory of the ''[[Towers of Hanoi]]'' puzzle a legend is told of a temple with 64 golden disks; when the priests manage to relocate the tower in accordance with the rules of the puzzle, the world will cease to exist. (Even if it took a single second to make one move, this will take 2^64-1 moves, or about 585 billion years.)
** As for the authenticity of the legend, [[The Other Wiki]] cautiously states that "it is not clear whether Lucas invented this legend or was inspired by it."
* The angels and demons of ''[[In Nomine (Tabletop Game)|In Nomine]]'' face this possibility in ''The Final Trumpet,'' when it appears that the prophesied signs of Armageddon are beginning to arrive. {{spoiler|What's not known until later is that it's actually a practical joke by the Demon Prince of Dark Humor, who's hoping to get Heaven and Hell to devastate the Earth over a [[Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor|FAKE Armageddon.]] }}
 
 
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* ''[[City of Heroes]]''... if there were a time when the world ''isn't'' imperilled by callous [[Super Villain|villains]], [[Humongous Mecha|giant robots]], aliens from [[Another Dimension]], Experiments [[Gone Horribly Wrong]] and so forth, it was probably removed in beta. Even the villains get a few cracks at saving the world in a bit of Destiny subversion {{spoiler|a certain arc shows you what would happen if you fulfill your potential as a Destined One and take over the world -- there'll be no world left to take over. You then have to thwart [[Big Bad]] Lord Recluse in the future to convince the present Recluse not to go through with the plan... which really does mess with the whole ball of [[Timey-Wimey Ball|Timey Wimey Stuff]], and player's heads.}}
* ''[[Treasure of the Rudra|Treasure of the Rudras]]'' pretty much followed this pattern of extinction of races about 5 times before the game actually begins; Every 4,000 years, a being called Rudra kills off the current race and creates a new one. {{spoiler|This turns out to be a plan established by Mitra: Creator of the world in order to create a race that can defeat invaders from destroying the world in the first place when she is defeated or unable to do her duty.}}
* In ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story (Video Game)|Star Ocean the Second Story]]'' the main antagonist plans on erasing the universe by causing the Big Crunch. {{spoiler|His plan goes through anyway even after you defeat him.}}
** And in ''[[Star Ocean Till the End of Time]]'', the [[Big Bad]] intends to ''delete'' the Universe.
* In ''Novalogic'''s F-22 Lightning II, the last campaign has a collection of military and political extremist groups contesting the last Ukrainian election, with the intended result of re-creating the USSR. In the second to last mission US, Russian, Israeli, British and such intelligence have assured that even if they take a nuclear silo, they cannot reconfigure a new launch code. Now, not only have they taken one, but they have reconfigured the launch codes. Russian attempts to initiate self-destruct have failed. Their KGB sources no longer answer their phones. The world is only minutes from a nuclear holocaust.
* The Halos in the ''[[Halo]]'' video game series are weapons designed to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy, i.e. The End Of The Galaxy As We Know It, to prevent [[The Virus|the Flood]] from spreading; naturally enough, when such an outbreak occurs in the first game, the [[Player Character]] has to stop the weapon from firing.
* ''[[Commander Keen (Video Game)|Commander Keen]]'' had to prevent this a couple of times in the classic platform-game series by Apogee. His first game-series was titled ''The Earth Explodes'', and he had to prevent the [[Mind Control|mind controlled]] Vorticons -- who were being manipulated by his [[Evil Counterpart]] -- from doing just that. The sequel, 'Goodbye Galaxy', upped the ante as suggested. The next series was supposed to be about him preventing the end of the entire ''universe'', but at that point, Apogee was running out of money, and he only got enough funding to save his babysitter.
** In the second game {{spoiler|it is in fact possible to blow up the earth by 'accident' by flipping the switch on one of the [[Death Ray|Death Rays]] before disabling it, leading to a [[Nonstandard Game Over]]}}.
* This is the main goal of the [[Big Bad]] in the ''Chains of Promathia'' expansion in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]''. It really doesn't help that the avatar Bahamut {{spoiler|thinks that the best way to prevent this is to wipe out all sentient life on Vana'diel}}.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]] Majora's Mask'', a falling moon threatens to wipe out the world of Termina. In most other games in the series, the villain's only trying to ''rule'' the world.
* A Similar event occurs in ''[[Dark Cloud (Video Game)|Dark Cloud]] 2'': {{spoiler|The being who is the true identity of the assumed [[Big Bad]] is the one who has invoked and is responsible for stopping the Star of Oblivion from falling}}.
* Would have been the fate of the world in three of ''[[Drakengard]]'s'' [[Multiple Endings]] if not for the intervention of the protagonists.
* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]],'' The Darkness is attempting to extinguish [[The Lifestream|the Heart of reality itself]]. The protagonists get a glimpse what will happen to the multiverse if they fail when they visit [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon|a place literally called "The End of the World."]] It's the center of all Darkness -- a bleak, mostly formless mess made up of the stuff of worlds devoured by [[The Heartless]], who themselves are made up of the stuff of ''people'' devoured by [[The Heartless]] or devolved by their own [[This Is Your Brain Onon Evil|descent into evil]].
* In ''[[Super Paper Mario (Video Game)|Super Paper Mario]]'', Count Bleck {{spoiler|and Dimentio}} wish to destroy ALL worlds via the Dark Prognosticus. {{spoiler|They actually succeed in destroying the Sammer Guys' Kingdom -- ''almost'' while the heroes are ''still in it''.}}
* In ''[[Live a Live]]'' {{spoiler|You are actually given the option to end all of existence by your own hands just by selecting the Armageddon option!}}
* Every ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' game (including the spinoffs) deals with this in some fashion or another.
** In one of those spinoffs, ''[[Persona 3]]'', the Main Character is explicitly told pretty much from the start that "the End" is coming soon. {{spoiler|If he chooses, he can delay it a couple of months and have it come without knowing it's coming. Or, he can go out fighting, but it's ultimately portrayed as futile. [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|And then you win.]]}} {{spoiler|[[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu|Kind of.]]}}
** In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne (Video Game)|Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne]]'' (or {{spoiler|''Lucifer's Call''), the world ends after the first hour of gameplay and you spend the rest of the game rebuilding it while not getting ganked by the Demons who roam freely now.}} And the "true" ending {{spoiler|involves ending ''everything'' in order to destroy Heaven.}}
** In ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'', another spinoff, not only does {{spoiler|the world of the Junkyard end at the end of the game}}, but {{spoiler|the real world that you end up in was half destroyed five years ago, and starts disintegrating into the sun halfway through the game. Your goal is to stop it.}}
** In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey (Video Game)|Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey]]'' the Schwarzwelt swallows Earth in a few seconds if you die.
* There's a free online flash game ''[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/360724 Pandemic]'' in which the player assumes control over a virus by spending evolution points on symptoms like fever or making the virus transmitted by air. The goal is to kill every single human on earth.
* This is at least part of the villain's plan in almost every ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' game.
** Subverted in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]],'' wherein the [[Big Bad]], Kefka, ''actually succeeds in destroying the world'', despite your best efforts otherwise. You watch as countless NPCs are killed as their land is ripped apart, and the world map is left permanently scarred. The rest of the game is spent trying to get revenge because you failed the first time around and trying to break his tyrannical grip on what'¨s left of society.
** In ''[[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X]]'' {{spoiler|this is subverted towards the end, as the protagonists try to end the "eternal spiral of death" that had the entire world in it's grip for a thousand years, bringing [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]].}} In ''[[Final Fantasy X 2]]'', {{spoiler|the world is recovering from the confusion left after the removal of the [[Corrupt Church]]. It's played straight with the original creation of Sin, which turned a futuristic cyber world into a society of villages outlawing the use of machines and advances technology.}}
** Serah and Noel attempt to avert this trope in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII-2]]'' by changing the future. They ultimately do change the future...{{spoiler|but the results are [[Apocalypse Wow|much]], [[The Bad Guy Wins|much]] [[Downer Ending|worse]].}}
* In ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'', the driving point of the game is to prevent Lavos from destroying the world in 1999 AD. (The 'present' year in the game is 1000.) And that one of the [[Time Travel|time periods you eventually find yourself]] is 2300 AD, thus providing the player a playable [[Story-Boarding the Apocalypse|Post-Apocalypse]].
** Also, after a boss battle, {{spoiler|the magical kingdom of Zeal}} does a [[Colony Drop]] where the entire floating continent falls from the sky. The resulting destruction (including a huge tidal wave) destroys just about everything, leaving a small handful of survivors in the world. This apocalypse is also {{spoiler|indirectly}} caused by Lavos.
* In ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]'', Shepard's mission is to prevent the End of the Galaxy As We Know it at the hands of Saren, whose {{spoiler|ship is in reality an AI known as Sovereign, a representative of an ancient race of sentient machines ([[A Is]]) who are responsible for bringing about the destruction of all sentient organic life in the galaxy every 50,000 years or so.}}
** In Mass Effect 3, this happens in the first TEN MINUTES of the game.
*** At the end of [[Mass Effect 3]] {{spoiler|this happens no matter what you do as the mass relay network, which galactic civilization is built around, is destroyed. In the worst ending, the Earth is completely scorched from your poorly thought out actions.}}
* ''[[Terranigma]]'' kinda reversed it. The world has already ended from the start of the game and it's then the job of the Hero to starts the world again.
* All four games in the ''[[Guild Wars]]'' series involve a looming threat that will destroy the world if the player characters don't stop it. The first game (''Prophecies'') twists the trope by having you discover at the end (just in time to be able to do something about it) that {{spoiler|you've been duped by the [[Big Bad]], and all your actions have been ''helping'' to bring the end of the world, instead of averting it.}} The next two (''Factions'' and ''Nightfall'') play the trope straight. The fourth (''Eye of the North'') subverts it at the end, when a cutscene seen by the players (but not the characters) hints that {{spoiler|you didn't actually kill the [[Big Bad]], and something end-of-the-world-ish is still going to happen anyway.}} [[Word of God]] has confirmed this interpretation in pre-release information about ''Guild Wars 2''.
* In ''[[World of Goo (Video Game)|World of Goo]]'' -- and this meets the original definition of sheer -- the world {{spoiler|becomes incompatible with its inhabitants, like ''software'', when it's ''upgraded'' into three dimensions}}.
* ''[[Super Mario Galaxy (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy]]'' has one, but purely by accident and is not a part of Bowser's plan, but ignoring the programming of the game, it would have happened anyway whether he defeats Mario or not, because he unwittingly puts his plan above his own safety. After beating Bowser for the final time, {{spoiler|his star reactor sinks into the sun, causing a huge chain reaction that creates a massive super black hole that begins to suck up everything in the universe. This is the end of the ''universe'' as they know it! All the Lumas throw themselves into the black hole to stop the destruction in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}.
* ''[[Avalon Code]]'' has this as its premise. The world is going to get destroyed, and your job is to collect (well, scan them by hitting them with the book...) anything worth being recreated into the next world. {{spoiler|It turns out that this particular end is happening too soon, due to Werner and Olly's meddling.}}
* ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'''s [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|Dark Dragon]] would easily destroy the world if {{spoiler|Porky's}} minions managed to pull at least four of the [[Cosmic Keystone|Seven Needles]].
** {{spoiler|He does anyway when Lucas pulls the final needle, but in the finale you find that most if not all of the good characters survived, presumably to be reborn into the next world.}}
* Several of these in the ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]]'' series.
** In ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]] III'', one of the missions is to shoot down missiles carrying biowarfare warheads that would render a planet uninhabitable by humans for centuries. Also the fate of Earth in the losing scenarios of the game, though just hinted at with a ''[[Terminator]]''-esque scene of a [[Mega Neko|Kilrathi]] boot crushing a human skull. From the same game there's also the [[Earthshattering Kaboom|more literal world-enders]] of the ''Behemoth'' and the Temblor Bomb.
** Believed to be the fate of humanity by [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Tolwyn]] in ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]] IV'', without his plan to shape humanity into a race focused on killing, as enacted by the [[A Nazi Byby Any Other Name|Black Lance]].
** The novel [[Wing Commander (Literaturenovel)|''Fleet Action'']], by William Forstchen, not only has the Earth threatened with orbital bombardment by "dirty" nukes (averted by a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment), but actually kills off two colonies in orbit around Sirius by that manner, on the way to Earth.
* In ''[[Armored Core (Video Game)|Armored Core for Answer]]'', it's implied that the ''[[Villain Protagonist|main]] [[Complete Monster|character]]'' wiped out the rest of humanity on ending C. Other paths to humankind's extinction exist in the game as well...
* The ''[[Resistance]]'' series on the [[PSPlay Station 3]] features [[The Virus]] systematically conquering and assimilating humanity in an alternate history setting.
* This is the goal of pretty much everyone in ''[[Ar Tonelico|Ar Tonelico 2]]''. {{spoiler|There are two different [[Instrumentality]] plans: Ascension halfway through the game and Sublimation at the end. You yourself almost destroy the known world when you [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|screw up singing Metafalica]] early in the game, and at the end you have to destroy half of it in order to reveal the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon]].}}
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion]]'', the demonic lord Mehrunes Dagon seeks to destroy the mortal world, so the [[Player Character]] & Friends have to stop him. In the expansion pack, the player must save ''another'' world...from its own creator, who is insane and has an irresistible urge to destroy his creations every once in a while.
* In the sequel, ''[[The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim]]'', the [[Chosen One|Drago]][[Player Character|nborn]] must prevent the evil [[Big Bad|Alduin the World-Eater]] from resurrecting the long-extinct [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|dragons]] and then [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|eating the world and everyone in it]].
* ''[[Touhou]]'', in its eleventh game, finally featured a [[Big Bad]] who was actually willing to pull one of these off. She just happened to be a crow who was ''[[I Love Nuclear Power|powered by nuclear fusion, and turning the underworld into a new Sun]]''.
* Skarin from ''[[Viking: Battle for Asgard]]'' brings this about. Granted it's more the extremely uncomfortable variety but it still counts {{spoiler|since he unleashes Fenrir who kills the Gods thus bringing about the Norse version of the Apocalypse}}.
* In [[Fallout]], The World As We Know It Ends on October 23, 2077.
* In ''[[Fahrenheit (2005 video game)]]'', if you {{spoiler|give Jade to the Purple Clan}}, the world ends in eternal winter. {{spoiler|Giving her to the Orange Clan or learning her secret yourself saves the world, though in the former case that may only be for a short time.}}
* In ''[[Pokémon]] Diamond and Pearl'', The [[Big Bad]] of the game wants to get rid of the world and create a new "[[Dystopia|perfect]]" one using [[God|Palkia and Dialga]].
** In ''[[Pokémon]] Platinum'', it gets worse. After being defeated, and after the player defeats/captures Giratina in the Distortion World, Cyrus says: {{spoiler|We will never see eye to eye. This, I promise you. I will break the secrets of the world. With that knowledge, I will create my own complete and perfect world. One day, you will awaken to a world of my creation. A world without spirit.}}
* The End of the World level in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]''.
* ''Magic Planet Snack'' has this a couple of times:
** There is a wizard in the middle of every planet. You have to tunnel through the planets.
** More obvious in the good ending:
{{quote| "And then they ate the entire universe. THE END."}}
* This is the theme of [[World of Warcraft]]'s next expansion pack, appropriately titled ''[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Cataclysm]]''.
* In the first two ''[[Space Quest]]'' games, [[Big Bad]] Vohaul plots to destroy Xenon. Roger must save Xenon from an [[Earthshattering Kaboom]] in the first game, and from insurance salesmen in the second.
* ''[[Missile Command]]''. Only you can prevent the nuclear destruction of Earth's last remaining cities. And [[Failure Is the Only Option|you will lose]].
* In ''[[Champions Online (Video Game)|Champions Online]]'', the fallen angel Therakiel is destined to bring about the Apocalypse in the city of Vibora Bay. Two mortals, Robert Caliburn and Valerian Scarlet, shall be the key players of this final conflict, though no one knows which side they shall take. {{spoiler|[[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Well, actually Valerian is working for Therakiel and you just handed the apocalypse starting artifacts to her. Oh, and you stole the gem that gives Robert his powers.]] Better fire up the [[Time Travel|time machine]]!}}
* [[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'s climax (of Chapter 4, at least) dealt with trying to stop Peace Walker from both launching a nuke to Cuba ''and'' transmitting false trajectory data to NORAD after Coldman, in his dying breaths, activated Peace Walker.
* All of the ''[[Star Fox (Video Gameseries)|Star Fox]]'' games deal with this trope on a more galactic scale; however, [[Star Fox Adventures (Video Game)|Star Fox Adventures]] plays this straighter with the potential end of only Dinosaur Planet (renamed Sauria in later games).
* Since ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' is based on the Norse legend of Ragnarök, the world ends no matter what path you take. The fate of the world, however (whether it stays destroyed or reborn), depends on whether or not the player correctly chooses who faces the final bosses.
* In the fourth installment of the ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' series, the world that the previous games take place in is destroyed when two incredibly powerful magical swords that were featured in expansions of the previous game clash. Fortunately, portals start appearing all over the place that take the lucky survivors to the new world of Axoth.
* The planet of ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' and ''[[Tales of Phantasia (Video Game)|Tales of Phantasia]]'' suffers from this like a recurring rash. It happened for sure 4000 years before Symphonia at the conclusion of a devastating war, when the planet was split in two and taken over by a malicious racial supremacist theocracy, and then again between Symphonia and Phantasia when another devastating war set the planet up to be nuked back to the dark ages by a meteor strike. Also, there were several during the 4000 years of theocratic rule due to a resource conservation scheme <ref> only one of the two halves would get the resources it needed at any given time, and it would periodically switch- and when that happened, societies in the previously thriving half would crumble</ref>, but we only know of one for certain<ref> the fall of the dynasty ruling Sylvarant</ref>. It comes close to happening again in Phantasia<ref> the Big Bad needs humanity to use as few resources as possible, and decided the best and easiest way to do that would be to [[Kill'Em All]], or at least nuke 'em to the stone age</ref> but the heroes stop it that time.
* In ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|In Famous]]'', [[Big Bad|Kessler]] and the [[Ancient Conspiracy|First Sons]] have, in the name of human advancement, developed a device that can activate superpowers in the user... and it kills everyone else in a six-block radius in the process. It turns out that only some people with a specific genetic trait can even use it, and others who meet this criteria in the blast radius will also receive powers. It doesn't take long for most of the cast to come to the obvious conclusion: whoever can get their hands on this device will be able to make their own super-powered soldiers with plenty of collateral damage they can blame on terrorists, ushering in a new era of warfare that will irrevocably change the world for the worse. {{spoiler|And all of that's just a [[Red Herring]], because Kessler is actually a time traveler from a [[Bad Future]] and his real goal is to awaken his past-self's powers ahead of schedule so he'll be ready to face down a genocidal monster called [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Beast]] before it can rise, at which point it will ravage the entire world and end all life.}}
** In ''inFamous 2'' we learn that {{spoiler|[[Prophetic Fallacy|Kessler was missing a vital piece of information]] and the Beast's actual goal is to save as many people as he can from an incurable plague that's spreading across the world, but his process kills others. The evil ending is agreeing that this is the best course of action and helping him do it.}}
* In ''[[Rift]]'', Defiant player characters are sent back in time from a [[Bad Future]] in order to avert the [[Apocalypse How|Class 5 or 6 apocalypse]] that's the result of [[Big Bad|Regulos]] [[The Bad Guy Wins|winning]].
* In ''[[Arc the Lad (Video Game)|Arc the Lad]]'' the final boss's first sentient act after being released from imprisonment is to rip the world a new one. He seems to learn to prioritize better in the sequel, since when he is released that time he then decides to have fun ''after'' he kills those pesky heroes.
* In ''[[Xenosaga (Video Game)|Xenosaga]]'' {{spoiler|1=humanity has unconsciously been causing a chain reaction to undo all existence over many myriad iterations of the universe, all because of the existential horror of uniting with the Collective Unconscious. The [[Big Bad]] is trying to ''stop'' this from happening. Sort of. God tries to figure out what our deal is.}}
* ''[[Assassin's Creed II (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed II]]'' reveals that the main plot, [[The Hashshashin|Assassins]] versus [[The Knights Templar|Templars]] fighting over ancient artifacts that can control the fate of mankind, is actually part of a larger plot by [[Precursors|Those Who Came Before]]. ''[[Assassin's Creed Revelations (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed Revelations]]'' details how their First Civilization, countless millennia ago, was [[Story-Boarding the Apocalypse|destroyed by a solar flare]], [[Cosy Catastrophe|nearly wiping mankind]] off the face of the Earth. The Pieces of Eden and the [[Genetic Memory|genetic legacy]] they left in certain human bloodlines were all designed to converge in 2012 and communicate the information necessary so that the modern-day Assassins can avert a repetition of this catastrophe.
* This is what Galactus plans to do in [[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]. Should you lose to him in the final battle, [[Earthshattering Kaboom|he succeeds]].
 
 
== Visual Novels ==
* ''[[Shikkoku no Sharnoth (Visual Novel)|Shikkoku no Sharnoth]]'' nearly has an end of the world situation when {{spoiler|Sharnoth overwrites the real world for a brief time.}}
* In ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]'', {{spoiler|it is revealed that the Holy Grail has been turned into an [[Artifact of Doom]] that will [[Jackass Genie|grant all wishes as destruction]], and continuously spew out evil on a scale that threatens the entire human race.}}
 
 
== Webcomics ==
* ''[[College Roomies Fromfrom Hell]]''. Don't be fooled by the early years; the "from Hell" part is quite literal.
* In ''[[The Wotch]]'', Anne actually [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2007-05-21 laughs at Xaos] when he reveals that he wants to use her to [http://www.thewotch.com/?epDate=2007-05-18 destroy all worlds], claiming she is "not sure [he] thought this diabolical plan all the way through."
* This is the threat K'Z'K poses in ''[[Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic)|Sluggy Freelance]]''. [[Another Dimension|Other dimensions]] shown in the series have visited have faced similar threats. On a couple occasions the main characters have helped save these other worlds; on a couple other occasions, they're actually the ones responsible (directly or indirectly) for the destruction of the human race. Oops.
* Tom Siddell described ''City Face'' (a ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' interim comic) as "a story of how love can save the world." It turns out to be literal: a fairy informs City Face that if he doesn't win the heart of his dream girl, the world could be destroyed, prompting the quote at the top of the page.
* Averting this trope is the main reason ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' have been struggling to foil Xykon and Redcloak. {{spoiler|May turn out to be a subversion, as recent revelations suggest there's more to the Snarl's prison than both good and bad guys have been led to believe.}}
* In ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' the various [[Temporal Paradox|temporal paradoxes]] eventually destroyed the whole universe. It got better.
* ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' features a [[The Game Plays You|benign-looking computer game]] that turns out to summon the end of the world. In a unique variation, this is how the story begins, and rather than being the result of a villain's meddling, {{spoiler|it is a natural part in a multi-universal circle of life.}} Not that that makes it any less disconcerting to see messages from the people [[Just Before the End|left behind on Earth]].
* ''The Earth Explodes'' is the name of a web comic where after each strip the world explodes, well, the final comic in the collection is always a picture of the planet exploding. [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]], can be read [http://www.earthexplodes.com/about.html here.]
* ''[[Far Out There]]'' opens with Trigger being trained from birth to [http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1027072/page-5-dun-dun-duuuun/ prevent this]. (It turns out to be [http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1027076/page-9-when-exposition-attacks/ completely unnecessary])
** Avatar was also created [http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1027280/page-32-the-strange-story-of-avatar-part-1/ with this in mind].
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* In the animated [[Urban Fantasy]] ''[[Broken Saints]]'', the [[Evil Plan]] of [[The Omniscient Council of Vagueness]] involves {{spoiler|the death of almost every major politician and military leader on the planet, which, combined with the psychic trauma to surrounding populations and visions of "the eye of God" watching from the sky, will result in a collapse of modern societies, allowing for the [[Big Bad]] to rebuild civilization anew, [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|more in keeping with his enlightened, philanthropic, and humanitarian views]].}}
* In the ''[[Videogame/Order Of The Stick|Giant in the Playground]]'' [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=32 Freeform Roleplaying section], this has apparently been threatened three times, and a fourth is planned. Although this one's going to be a conquer, not destroy, the world.
* ''[[SCP Foundation (Wiki)|SCP Foundation]]'' catalogs these as "XK-class end-of-the-world scenarios," and has many [[Artifact of Doom|Artifacts Of Doom]] capable of triggering them.
* [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end This video]. You've probably seen it, it's the one with the nuclear holocaust and the fucking kangaroos.
* In the ''[[Orions Arm|Orion's Arm]]'' universe, the [[Grey Goo]] plague of the "Nanoswarm Era" destroys the original Terran civilization (although many humans, robots, and [[A Is]] sruvive to create new civilizations from the ashes). [[AI Is a Crapshoot|The Amalgamation]] is threatening to do it again, and more completely.
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* ''[[The Demented Cartoon Movie]]'' ends the world many times in a thirty minute stretch of time. Sometimes a series of worldwide nuclear explosions demolishes the planet itself. Sometimes the planet falls into the sun. Once, somebody just has to say a word that triggers the explosion of the planet.
* Each story of a [[Global Guardians PBEM Universe|Global Guardians]] campaign was set up like a season of a television series. Specifically, the finale of each season was an end of the world scenario. Notable examples were the [[Alien Invasion|Xorn invasion]], the near-miss of an asteroid, the release of a horde of [[Eldritch Abomination|elder gods]] on the planet, impending nuclear holocaust, drastic historical revision by way of a time-traveling bad guy, an invasion by [[Mirror Universe]] versions of the various superheroes, and quite a few other threats to the entire planet.
* At the end of the [[Chaos Timeline (Literature)|Chaos Timeline]], [[World War III]] between the superpowers Germany and China breaks out, and although it doesn't last long (less than one day, in fact), the world will never be again as it was before. {{spoiler|1=Because the <s>hackers</s> Logos and their allied AIs take over the world and the military and tell the war off.}}
* ''[[SkippysSkippy's List (Literature)|Skippys List]]'' has examples:
{{quote| 39. Not allowed to ask for the day off due to religious purposes, on the basis that the world is going to end, more than once.}}
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', in the first episode of the four-part series finale Aang learns that if he doesn't stop the Firelord before Sozin's Comet, that {{spoiler|Ozai will go on an Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe genocide, obliterating every race in the world except the firebenders}}. And the worst part is that he's more than capable of doing that.
* This sort of thing happens a lot, to any number of planets, at various points in the assorted ''[[Transformers]]'' cartoons, comics, etc. Some planets make it, some don't.
* The end of the world was threatened so many times by so many different villains of ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|Xiaolin Showdown]]'' that it was eventually [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]].
* Used in ''[[Futurama]]'', when the Professor and his crew must prevent a giant ball of 20th century New York garbage from returning to Earth and destroying the planet.
** Then there was the What If episode where Fry destroyed the universe by never coming to the future, causing a [[Temporal Paradox]].
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** Then there's the time Mandy grabbed a genie's lamp and wished everyone in the world would just go away. [[Villain Protagonist|For her, that was a happy ending.]]
* The [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' does this with {{spoiler|an asteroid}}.
* The Season 4 3-part finale on ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' to conclude the big Raven arc. {{spoiler|The world ended, but was restored after the [[Big Bad]] was destroyed in Raven's big moment of [[Calling the Old Man Out]].}}
* ''[[Justice League]]'' faced these several times.
** [[The Pilot]] had the formation of the League to stop an invasion by the aliens that destroyed all life on Mars.
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** ''The Once and Future Thing'' culminated with the unraveling of reality due to the [[Time Paradox|injudicious use of time travel]].
** ''Divided We Fall'', the second season finale of ''Justice League Unlimited'', brought back {{spoiler|Brainiac, and his standard procedure of absorbing all information on a planet and then destroying the original}}.
** And finally, in the two-part [[Grand Finale]] ''Destroyer'' and ''Alive!'', {{spoiler|[[Darkseid]] comes [[Back From the Dead]] and decides he's going to bring this about, [[Revenge Byby Proxy|purely to get back as Superman for killing him the first time]]. He nearly succeeds, and actually defeats the Man of Steel in battle, but [[Lex Luthor]] (seemingly) destroys him and himself with the Anti-Life Equation. [[Pyrrhic Victory|That or they are both coming back in the future to enslave the universe.]]}}
* Parodied in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Make Love, not [[World of Warcraft|Warcraft]]." A player in the game has become so powerful that even the admins can't stop him from killing other players, and the fear is that everyone will become frustrated and stop playing:
{{quote| Gentlemen, this could very well lead to the end of the World... of Warcraft.}}
** [[The Movie]] had this happen when Satan rises at the climax and starts two thousand years of darkness.. [[Sarcasm Mode|Thank you, Sheila]].
* In ''[[Turtles Forever]]'', the [[TMNTTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|2003 Shredder]] plans to set out on a conquest of the [[The Multiverse|Turtles Multiverse]], until he learns that there ''will'' be a team of Ninja Turtles that would be waiting to stop him in ''each'' and ''every'' dimension. He decides to destroy all of them at once by going after the source, [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage (Comic Book)|Turtle "Prime"]], blind to the fact that destroying the multiverse would mean the end for ''him'', as well. And he almost ''won'', too.
* Princess Luna's [[Super-Powered Evil Side]], Nightmare Moon, in ''[[My Little Pony]]'' trying to bring [[The Night That Never Ends]], which, as [[Word of God]] says, would have turned all of Equestria into an icy hell.
*** [[Comically Missing the Point|Anyone else up for]] [[Human Popsicle|Pony Popsicles?]]
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