The World Is Always Doomed: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

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

* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', almost every villain at least tries to take over the world, which probably counts as doomed. Oh, and {{spoiler|it really [[Earthshattering Kaboom|IS destroyed]] once, though it got better}}. In fact one of the reasons Goku decides to stay dead midway through ''Dragonball Z'' is that he's [[Genre Savvy|noticed this]], and furthermore, that he's usually [[Weirdness Magnet|what the villains are seeking]]. Later, he tries to get Gohan, Goten and Trunks, and later Uub to be the heroes because the villains ''still'' come. Ironically, the one who [[Jumped At the Call]], his granddaughter Pan, didn't have the muscle necessary to take over the hero job.

** The manga is worse. {{spoiler|Chise is the apocalypse, and is completely unstoppable long before people realize how devastating she's become. She's not futilely protecting people from some foreign and out-of-control weapon, she IS the out-of-control weapon. She kills everyone. Personally. ''Except Shuuji.''}}

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', the Earth is threatened by [[Eldritch Abomination]]s that threaten to destroy all life, five times, 6 counting the side story. Justified, since the foes are actually {{spoiler|fragments of the same abomination, Chaos.}}

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* As [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] puts it: "It's the DC Universe, the end of the world isn't even an excuse for getting off work any more."

* In one ''[[Astro City]]'' story, most residents of an apartment building gather on the roof to watch a potentially cataclysmic battle - except for one kid who stays inside to finish his homework. As his mother explains, "if the world doesn't end, he's still got school tomorrow." .

 

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[The Dark Crystal]]''. It's '''the end of the world'''... or the beginning. Same thing.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' movies. Apparently, every other day there's a situation where the world just barely avoids being blown up by disgruntled aliens.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* A major plot point in the later ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' books is how the series of [[Masquerade]]-breaking disasters and near-apocalypses strung together can't be coincidence. It leads to [[Foreshadowing]] of a [[Bigger Bad]] to be revealed in the second half of the series.

* Par for the course in the ''[[Secret Histories]]'' series, as defending humanity from epic-scale threats is the Droods' job.

 

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and ''[[Angel]]'' have ''at least'' one planet-ending apocalypse per year (the Hellmouth alone was almost opened on three separate occasions), as well as one ''reality-ending'' apocalypse, along with endless armies of vampires, demons and the forces of darkness maiming and slaughtering and generally being not very nice. [[Lampshade]]d in numerous episodes, to the point where characters were going "AGAIN?!" whenever anybody mentioned it. One episode of ''[[Angel]]'' even has Spike and Angel arguing over who ''saved the world more'':

{{quote|'''Angel:''' I helped save the world, you know.

'''Lt. Col Mitchell:''' Teal'c, actually. He mentions it quite often. }}

* This trope was basically the entire premise of ''[[Seven Days]]''. It's about the agent the NSA sends back in time to avert all the catastrophes that would befall us every week without his intervention—things like a weapons test wiping out all life on Earth, or [[Taiwan|China and Taiwan]] getting into a war, or the President's nuclear launch computer falling into the hands of an irate ape. This raises the question of how the world survived before the Backstep project went online.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* There is a set of [[Cosmic Keystone|four seals]] in the world of ''[[Drakengard]]'': the Forest Seal, the Desert Seal, the Island Seal, and "the Goddess", a human woman who is a living seal. If all of the seals are broken, [[The End of the World as We Know It|untold calamity and catastrophe befalls the world.]] It is only in the sequel that it is revealed that The World Is Always Doomed; the seals at first seem to hold back a typical [[Sealed Evil in a Can]], but {{spoiler|it holds back [[No Ontological Inertia|the true form of the world]] where [[Eldritch Abomination]]s render humanity into absurd playthings}}. [[Fridge Logic|How these seals were ever created in the first place is a bit of a mystery.]]

* In any given ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' game, the earth is usually dealing with world-wide threats of a dozen or so different series more or less all at the same time.

** Though, a small difference is that the catastrophe tends to have happened ''before'' each installment, and apparently the people before weren't able to prevent it (or caused it).

* Almost every major patch of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' introduces a new threat to the world. The Lich King expansion started with a zombie plague, set up 3 separate world-ending threats, ''and'' tossed in a world war on top of that. The fact the Horde & Alliance are still kicking after all that is pushing [[Suspension of Disbelief]].

* The Bydo of [[R-Type]] are a similar case. While they were ''apparently'' beaten for good in [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Final]], it's hard to say for sure when your enemy aren't just [[The Virus]], but also exist [[Eldritch Abomination|outside of time]].

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Somewhat lampshaded in "It's About Time", with Twilight ''immediately'' assuming that Future Twilight contacted her to warn her of some terrible catastrophe, every other pony easily believing her (at least before she started another [[Sanity Slippage]]), and in the course of attempting to prevent the disaster {{spoiler|that doesn't exist}} they encounter ''another'' potential disaster completely by accident.

** The same episode also revealed that Ponyville is located at a walking distance from ''the gates of Hell'', where an imense number of monsters and demons are kept imprisioned. And then we have the dreadful Everfree Forest, which is literally next to Applejack's farm and it's full to the brim with all kind of deadly creatures.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* This may also apply to the hotter parts of the [[Cold War]]. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, it's been argued that ''over a dozen incidents'' came close to ending it all.

* Any number of events could result in the complete extinction of a huge chunk of life on Earth. Some are predictable, others are not. Massive volcanic events, asteroid impact and cosmic rays are just three examples.

* Several economists predict that the real socioeconomic/financial Armageddon (2008 was just the beginning) will happen as early as 2012.

* See [[Exit Mundi]] for many examples, some of which could happen any day now.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Doomed Tropes]]

[[Category:Apocalyptic Index]]