History ApocalypseHow / Class5

* WordOfGod has confirmed that this would have been ultimate result of Nightmare Moon's actions in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' (as during TheNightThatNeverEnds the entire planet will inevitably freeze over), had she not been defeated. (The ''Pony Psychology'' fan work series has an entire chapter devoted to Celestia [[WhatTheHellHero lecturing Luna on the true consequences]] of the environmental and ecological effects of an endless night - with frighteningly accurate scientific references and detail - mostly in an attempt to quell the notion that Nightmare Moon might have been doing them a favor.)

* The Season Six finale of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' deals with [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Dark Willow]] attempting to burn the Earth to a cinder. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Xander talks her down with the]] PowerOfLove.

* The Slitheen family from ''Series/DoctorWho'' wish to enact this on Earth to make a profit. By inciting a world-wide nuclear armageddon, they would be able to sell off the radioactive "molten slag" left over as cheap fuel.

* In ''Webcomic/WhiteNoise'', the invading aliens temporarily halted the Earth's rotation, which caused everything not directly attached to bedrock to be thrown into the atmosphere and the air itself to ignite due to the massive friction. They then tried to [[HostileTerraforming 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.

* In ''Webcomic/WhiteNoise'', 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.

* ''VideoGame/UltimaVI'' and ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'' has the Armageddon spell, which annihilates all life in the ''universe'' except the caster and people with natural immortality. (The Xorinian wisps don't think it's very powerful since it can't affect parallel universes, and like to hand it out as a SecretTestOfCharacter. This is also why life in Britannia suffered a drastic setback 700,000 years ago...)

* What happens to planets in VideoGame/{{Spore}} if you don't kill infected creatures in time in some some Space Stage missions. Everything, except your colonies, dies.

* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse featured a prototype Death Star and the ''[[ComicBook/DarkEmpire Eclipse]]''[[ComicBook/DarkEmpire -class Star Destroyer]], both of which mounted a powered-down version of the Death Star's famous WaveMotionGun from ''Film/ANewHope'', which could "only" "crack the planetary crust" and would likely result in something like this.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

[[folder:Videogames]]

[[folder:Web Originals]]

[[folder:Films]]

* In one ''[[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]]'' story, the Guardians traveled to a world in which the criminal MadScientist Doctor XX had succeeded in eradicating all male life on the planet through a tailored virus. By the time the heroes arrived, the virus had died off... and the remaining human population (all female) had descended into Film/MadMax-style post-Apocalyptic barbarism due to the sure knowledge that the human race was doomed to utter extinction.

* The [[PlanetLooters Precursors]] plan to trigger one on Earth in ''Film/PacificRimUprising'' by [[spoiler:blowing up the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire Ring of Fire]] through a violent reaction between Kaiju blood and rare earth metals prevalent in lava. The PPDC puts a stop to it [[NearVillainVictory with literally seconds to spare]].]]

* This is the effect of the Doomsday Machine from ''DrStrangelove''. [-[[SoundtrackDissonance We'll...meet again...]]-]

* Accidentally triggering this early is what lands War in the mess he finds himself at the beginning of the game in ''{{Darksiders}}''. Oops?

* In one ''[[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]]'' story, the Guardians traveled to a world in which the criminal MadScientist Doctor XX had succeeded in eradicating all male life on the planet through a tailored virus. By the time the heroes arrived, the virus had died off... and the remaining human population (all female) had descended into MadMax-style post-Apocalyptic barbarism due to the sure knowledge that the human race was doomed to utter extinction.

* Wilbur Whateley's journal, in Creator/HPLovecraft's ''The Dunwich Horror'', contains several references to the Earth's life being "cleared off", presumably to make way for {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. Averted... but possibly still on the agenda of any surviving ''half''-siblings of Wilbur's.

* ''Literature/TheKillingStar'' begins with an interstellar bombardment of relativistic bombs pointed directly at Earth. The energy of the collisions causes so much devastation that almost all multi-cellular life is immediately annihilated.

* This is one of the endings in {{VideoGame/One Chance}}.
* SuperMarioBrosZ: The antagonist Turbo Mecha Sonic/Metallix causes this to befall [[spoiler:[[DeathWorld Mobius]] after {{colony drop}}ping the Death Egg onto it]] He more or less intends to do this to the Mushroom Kingdom as well.

* Clarke and [[StephenBaxter 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]].

* [[TheSlenderManMythos In the Slender Man fic]] ''Fanfic/ByTheFiresLight'' the story ends with the Slender Man calling in other [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] to take Earth as their own and boot off anything already on the planet.

* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse featured a prototype Death Star and the ''[[ComicBook/DarkEmpire Eclipse]]''[[ComicBook/DarkEmpire -class Star Destroyer]], both of which mounted a powered-down version of the Death Star's famous WaveMotionGun from ''ANewHope'', which could "only" "crack the planetary crust" and would likely result in something like this.

** Special mention to the IronWarriors short story "The Heraclitus Effect", in which Honsou uses an experimental ''agricultural aid'' to hyper-accelerate the growth of remnant Tyranid growths on [[spoiler:Tarsis Ultra]] - out of ''spite''.

* The eventual fate of Earth in Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Robots-Empire-{{Foundation}}'' novels, due to gradually increasing background radiation, which starts as a Class 0 event and gradually rises up to this level. It takes long enough that everyone eventually moves out into space.

* When the Death Star uses its laser (at minimum power setting!) in ''Film/RogueOne'' on [[spoiler: the Holy City of Jedha]], the resulting blast sends a shockwave through the mantle that sends the ground ''peeling off the moon's surface''. The entire surface of the moon was probably ravaged as a result and won't be habitable for probably thousands of years without major terraforming efforts.

* The FinalBattle of JohnCWright's ''Literature/WarOfTheDreaming'' is expected to result either in this or Class 4 event. For obvious reasons, not many people want it to happen.

* Frank Herbert's Franchise/{{Dune}} series, as well as the sequels by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson include the Obliterator weapon. This weapon was stolen from the Machine Empire by the Honored Matres and used in a SaltTheEarth retreat across the galaxy. They later use an Obliterator against Arrakis in an attempt to destroy the natural source of Spice and a number of their enemies (including Darwi Odrade, Sheanna, and Duncan Idaho). In the Dune sequels, the Guild Navigators use an Obliterator against Richesse at the behest of the Honored Matre rebels to cripple the Bene Gesserit. Although the use of the Obliterator destroys all life on the planet, it's later revealed that a number of the worms of Dune knew that the attack would come (being possessed with prescience thanks to Leto II) and survived the attack by burrowing deep into the planet's crust.

* The "Destinations" setting in [[HeroSystem "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.

* ''TechInfantry'' has a the moon severely structurally weakened by having miniature black holes repeatedly fired ''through'' it, then a large starship crashed into the crater at a large fraction of the speed of light, shattering the moon into a billion pieces. The fragments of moon rock shower down onto the surface of the Earth, creating enough kinetic heating from the impacts to ''melt'' most of the surface of the Earth and boil the oceans.