History ApocalypseHow / ClassZ

** ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'': In Creator/GrantMorrison's run, this is what will happen if the Decreator, let free by the Cult of the Unwritten Book, is able to proceed with unmaking the universe. "Nothing. Forever and ever."

FridgeLogic[=/=]FridgeBrilliance[=/=] shows that Fanon can potentially claim that this is occurring offscreen when an author [[DiedDuringProduction dies suddenly before finishing the series]].

FridgeLogic[=/=]FridgeBrilliance[=/=]Fridge-whatever shows that Fanon can potentially claim that this is occurring offscreen when an author [[DiedDuringProduction dies suddenly before finishing the series]], although it most likely should fall under the Z-3 class.

* '''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou Real World Ontological Destruction.]]''' (Class Z-4): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. It's far more severe because the Omniversal-scale Annihilation happens beyond the fourth wall, not just in a specific piece of fiction like the ones in the other classes. The PowersThatBe (above), [[RageAgainstTheAuthor the author]], or even the aforementioned [[{{God}} One]] [[TopGod True]] [[AboveTheGods God]] of the setting, TheMultiverse, even TheVerse, who are the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, even a ''boundless'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_sof Ein Sof]] that has absolute control over everything and anything in the setting, even the '''[[ExecutiveMeddling executive and companies behind all those and its fictions (especially the authors and co.)]]'''? They don't just fail to survive (as in Class Z-3), they all '''''[[CessationOfExistence cease to exist]]'''''. In this case, not only the {{fiction}} and {{Metafiction}} itself are DeaderThanDead, but so is RealLife.

** Like Class Z-3, there would be no going back from this form of apocalypse. That being said, a true Class Z-4 in fiction would also require an ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 to happen concomitantly in RealLife. This form also {{deconstruct|ion}}s the {{fiction}}, even more so than a Class Z-3 (see above) do. While the mere possibility that a work by its own self could create a real Z-4 event is more speculative than anecdotal, there's [[ParanoiaFuel no concrete proof that it's impossible either.]]

** Like Class Z-3, there's would be no going back from this form of apocalypse. That being said, a true Class Z-4 in fiction would also require an ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 to happen concomitantly in RealLife. This form also {{deconstruct|ion}}s the {{fiction}}, even more so than a Class Z-3 (see above) do. While the mere possibility that a work by its own self could create a real Z-4 event is more speculative than anecdotal, there's [[ParanoiaFuel no concrete proof that it's impossible either.]]

** Like Class Z-3, there's ''no'' going back on this one. That being said, a true Class Z-4 in fiction would register as at least a ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 in RealLife. This form also {{deconstruct|ion}}s the {{fiction}}, even more so than a Class Z-3 (see above) do. While the mere possibility that a work by its own self could create a real Z-4 event is more speculative than anecdotal, there's [[ParanoiaFuel no concrete proof that it's impossible either.]]
** If it would somewhat happen, there would be nobody around to document it on this website. [[LogicBomb Nor would there be a website, or any documenting at all, not even the concept of registry, representation, symbol and meaning, would exist".]] Therefore, there isn't any concrete examples of this trope,

FridgeLogic[=/=]FridgeBrilliance[=/=]Fridge-whatever shows that Fanon can potentially claim that this is occurring offscreen when an author [[DiedDuringProduction dies suddenly before finishing the series]], although it most likely falls under the Z-3 class.

* '''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou Real World Ontological Destruction.]]''' (Class Z-4): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. It's far more severe because the Omniversal-scale Annihilation happens beyond the fourth wall, not just in a specific piece of fiction like the ones in the other classes. The PowersThatBe (above), [[RageAgainstTheAuthor the author]], or even the aforementioned [[{{God}} One]] [[TopGod True]] [[AboveTheGods God]] of the setting, TheMultiverse, even TheVerse, who are the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, even a ''boundless'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_sof Ein Sof]] that has absolute control over everything and anything in the setting, even the '''[[ExecutiveMeddling executive and companies behind all those and its fictions (especially the authors and co.)]]'''? They don't just fail to survive (as in Class Z-3), they all '''''[[CessationOfExistence cease to exist,]] [[KilledOffForReal.]]''''' In this case, not only the {{fiction}} and {{Metafiction}} itself are DeaderThanDead, but so is RealLife.

* '''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou Wholesale Fourth Wall Failure.]]''' (Class Z-4): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, only pushed to [[ExaggeratedTrope logical conclusion]]. It's far more severe -- in fact, infinitely so -- because the Omniversal-scale Annihilation extends beyond the fourth wall, not just the entire fiction that describes Class Z-3 above. The PowersThatBe (above), [[RageAgainstTheAuthor the author]], or even the aforementioned [[{{God}} One]] [[TopGod True]] [[AboveTheGods God]] of the setting, TheMultiverse, even TheVerse, who are the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, even a ''boundless'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_sof Ein Sof]] that has absolute control over everything and anything in the setting, heck, even the '''[[ExecutiveMeddling executive and companies behind all those and its fictions (especially the authors and co.)]]'''? They don't just fail to survive (as in Class Z-3), they all '''''[[CessationOfExistence cease to exist,]] [[KilledOffForReal FOREVER.]]''''' In this case, not only the {{fiction}} and {{Metafiction}} itself are DeaderThanDead, but so is the RealLife.
** Like Class Z-3, there's ''no'' going back on this one. That being said, a successful Class Z-4 in fiction would register as at least a ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 in RealLife. This form also {{deconstruct|ion}}s the {{fiction}}, even more so than a Class Z-3 (see above) do. While the possibility that a work by its own self could create a true Z-4 event is more speculative than anecdotal, it’s [[ParanoiaFuel technically not impossible to do.]]
** Though, if it ''were'' to happen... well it would be nonsensical to describe, but ''presumably'' there would be nobody around to document it on this website. [[LogicBomb Nor would there be a website, or a concept of documenting, or a concept of "nobody".]] Therefore, there logically cannot be any true examples of this trope, and if it is presented as a possibility in a work of fiction it ''must'' be prevented from occurring.

FridgeLogic[=/=]FridgeBrilliance[=/=]Fridge-whatever shows that Fanon can potentially claim that this is occurring offscreen when an author [[DiedDuringProduction dies suddenly before finishing the series]].

** Though, if it ''were'' to happen... well it would be nonsensical to describe, but ''presumably'' there would be nobody around to document it on this website. [[LogicBomb Nor would there be a website, or a concept of documenting, or a concept of "nobody".]] Therefore, there logically cannot be any true examples of this trope.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

-->-- '''[[Series/DoctorWho Rassilon]]''', ''Fanfic/TheLastGreatTimeWar''

* ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', the sixth CrisisCrossover of the Series/{{Arrowverse}} is definitely this, much like the comic event it's based on. It not only threatens TheMultiverse created by the franchise but also settings of other unrelated DC-based media like ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' (which has its own multiverse), ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}'', and the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse. When the multiverse is rebooted at the end, everything that is core to the Arrowverse is merged into a single reality (called Earth-Prime), while the aforementioned unrelated media are still kept separate, and it's implied that universe-breaching has been made impossible.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]] it threatens to reach Class Z-2 to Z-3 -- as if: All realities never existed. Creation never existed. Nothing ever existed. The above statements ignore Earth and the Moon, for now, but in a couple of hours they will no longer have existed either. The Sun was destroyed too, [[spoiler:since the big ball of fire that rises and sets every day was the TARDIS exploding.]] Note it's easy to miss that it's a Z and not an X(-5), since its status is only confirmed in a single, blink and you miss it line of dialogue from a [[spoiler:Cyberman]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens the previous episode]]. "All universes will be [[CatchPhrase deleted]]."

* ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'': [[TheHero Tsukasa]], AKA the eponymous Decade, is supposedly fated to [[CrisisCrossover destroy all the other Kamen Riders]], which in turn will destroy all the Rider worlds. Much of the tension in the series is the question of whether Tsukasa is [[VillainProtagonist actually evil]], or [[AntiAntiChrist just]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold kind of a dick]]. [[spoiler:This comes up again at the end of ''[[Series/KamenRiderZiO Zi-O]] as Tsukasa decided to destroy the world over {{Reality Breaking Paradox}}es.]]

* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'': This is the ultimate "goal" of the [[BigBad Old One]]. The Old One is literally nothingness, and it slowly annihilates entire lands and eventually the world if not stopped.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', Kuja comes within a hairsbreadth of pulling one of these off. [[spoiler:He almost manages to destroy the crystal that holds the fabric of reality together. After he manages to beat the party to death, forcing them to fight and defeat Necron, the embodiment of death who was awakened by the attempt to destroy that crystal and decided that since Kuja wanted to destroy everything, it was time to end the universe. in the end however, Kuja has a last-minute HeelFaceTurn, resurrects the party, and dies offscreen after Zidane has found him inside the now death-throwing Iifa Tree.]]

* '''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou Fourth-Wall Demolition]]''' (Class Z-4): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, only pushed to [[ExaggeratedTrope logical conclusion]]. It's far more severe -- in fact, infinitely so -- because the Omniversal-scale Annihilation extends beyond the fourth wall, not just the entire fiction that describes Class Z-3 above. The PowersThatBe (above), [[RageAgainstTheAuthor the author]], or even the aforementioned [[{{God}} One]] [[TopGod True]] [[AboveTheGods God]] of the setting, TheMultiverse, even TheVerse, who are the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, even a ''boundless'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_sof Ein Sof]] that has absolute control over everything and anything in the setting, heck, even the '''[[ExecutiveMeddling executive and companies behind all those and its fictions (especially the authors and co.)]]'''? They don't just fail to survive (as in Class Z-3), they all '''''[[CessationOfExistence cease to exist,]] [[KilledOffForReal FOREVER.]]''''' In this case, not only the {{fiction}} and {{Metafiction}} itself are DeaderThanDead, but so is the RealLife.
** Like Class Z-3, there's ''no'' going back on this one. That being said, a successful Class Z-4 in fiction would register as at least a ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 in RealLife. This form also {{deconstruct|ion}}s the {{fiction}}, even more so than a Class Z-3 (see above) do.

'''Omniversal FUBAR''' (Class Z-1): The Physical Destruction of everything, including all universes and anything that exists in the same manner as part of a universe. Examples of this might be the entire universe getting crushed into a singularity, and for [[{{Handwaving}} whatever]] [[{{Technobabble}} reason]] this destabilizes the larger neighborhood of universes or parallel realities, causing them to similarly end up crushed out of existence. Alternately, something might simply travel from universe to universe and devastate them one-at-a-time until all are destroyed with no remaining loose ends. Maybe some inevitable physical process simply leads all physically real things towards a final end state of chaos or void.

The "least" severe form: if some truly godlike thing was around (maybe a supernatural being, or just a SufficientlyAdvanced PhysicalGod[[note]]Possibly built into the omniverse's fundamental workings, like a physics BIOS.[[/note]]), it could possibly DeusExMachina everything back -- perhaps by reversing entropy, or reformatting the structure of the multiverse to at least allow some manner of interesting story to take place once again. Alternatively, if absolute entropy is the fate of everything, then perhaps one day in [[TimeAbyss a googolplex years]], simple physical processes might eventually lead to something interesting happening purely at random.

'''Omniversal 404''' (Class Z-2): The Metaphysical Annihilation of everything. It is not merely "the end of all things", [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble because if this happens]], nothing's there to start with. All cosmic data is irretrievably lost, and no viable backup or recoverable state exists for anything in the setting. The omniverse hasn't just been rendered into some unrecognizable state -- there simply ''isn't'' a state of the physical omniverse now, and something that simply isn't there can't have a history. Examples might include the laws of physics themselves changing or being tweaked such that they do not allow the existence of things as we understand it, or perhaps it's already possible given the metaphysics of the setting for things to get so metaphysically deranged that they cease to be real in any cognizable sense. In any case, the point is that the multiverse and everything associated with it haven't merely been destroyed -- they don't exist in any meaningful state and never did.

This is less fixable, and would require, essentially, the intervention of an actual {{god}} or some other thing with control over the setting's metaphysics -- a physics-based [[DeusExMachina cosmic backup system]] built into the laws of the universe wouldn't cut it, as that might be affected as well. There would be nothing to recover at any rate, but perhaps a new reality could still be created from scratch: Omniverse ''v.n+1'', if you like.

'''Original Negation''' (Class Z-3): The Ontological and Complete Annihilation of everything. There's ''no'' coming back from this one. Even the PowersThatBe or the [[{{God}} One True God]] of the setting, the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_sof Ein Sof]] that has absolute control over everything and anything in the setting -- even these things don't survive. Bluntly, all universes, every physical thing, the laws of physics themselves, whatever metaphysical realities there might be, and [[{{TheMaker}} whoever or whatever is ultimately behind it all]] -- all of it simply doesn't exist once this happens. Not only is it categorically impossible for anything in the setting to have ''ever'' existed, but it's also modally impossible that anything about the setting could ever exist "again".

This form of the trope is necessarily {{metafiction}}al, as it {{deconstruct|ion}}s the {{fiction}}al nature of the setting. Basically, if the story itself pronounces that everything related to its setting or described in its content is absolutely null and utterly void, ipso facto this draws your attention to the story ''as a story'' because there's ''nothing left to suspend disbelief in''. The creator may be declaring their intention to [[GrandFinale never revisit]] [[TorchTheFranchiseAndRun the setting]], or they may be taking {{Refuge in|Audacity}} [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Extreme Audacity]] in order to [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou attack the reader's trust in narrative reliability]]. Any of these issues can be {{justified|Trope}} or {{lampshade|Hanging}}d as needed. For example, Creator/DavidFosterWallace's first novel, ''Literature/TheBroomOfTheSystem'', in which the main character [[{{Postmodernism}} suffers from existential dread that she may be a character in a work of fiction]], plays this by cutting off in mid-sentence on the last page.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]] it threatens to reach Class Z-2 to Z-3 -- all realities never existed. Creation never existed. Nothing ever existed. The above statements ignore Earth and the Moon, for now, but in a couple of hours they will have never existed either. The Sun was destroyed too, [[spoiler:since the big ball of fire that rises and sets every day was the TARDIS exploding.]] Note it's easy to miss that it's a Z and not an X, since its status is only confirmed in a single, blink and you miss it line of dialogue from a [[spoiler:Cyberman]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens the previous episode]]. "All universes will be [[CatchPhrase deleted]]."

* ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'': [[TheHero Tsukasa]], AKA the eponymous Decade, is supposedly fated to [[CrisisCrossover destroy all the other Kamen Riders]], which in turn will destroy all the Rider worlds. Much of the tension in the series is the question of whether Tsukasa is [[VillainProtagonist actually evil]], or [[AntiAntiChrist just]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold kind of a dick]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', [[BreakingTheFourthWall messing around with the fourth wall]] is supposed to be ''even worse'' than Class Z, according to Karkat:

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]] it threatens to reach Class Z3 -- all realities never existed. Creation never existed. Nothing ever existed. The above statements ignore Earth and the Moon, for now, but in a couple of hours they will have never existed either. The Sun was destroyed too, [[spoiler:since the big ball of fire that rises and sets every day was the TARDIS exploding.]] Note it's easy to miss that it's a Z and not an X, since its status is only confirmed in a single, blink and you miss it line of dialogue from a [[spoiler:Cyberman]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens the previous episode]]. "All universes will be [[CatchPhrase deleted]]."

* In ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', this is Unicron's ultimate goal. Given that his overall method is to [[PlanetEater eat the entire multiverse one planet at a time]], it's taking him quite a while, but, impressively, he's already devoured about 22.5% of known universes that way.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]], [[OmnicidalManiac Davros]] comes within a hair's breadth of using a device that cancels out all matter in [[TheMultiverse the entire multiverse]], save for himself and his group of Daleks.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], [[spoiler:the Time Lords planned to win the [[GreatOffscreenWar Great Time War]] by creating a [[RealityBreakingParadox Reality-Breaking]] TemporalParadox so severe that it would destroy all creation, past, present, and future, while they became beings of pure thought.]]

* ''WebVideo/InSpaceWithMarkiplier'' revolves around a TimeCrash that is slowly tearing the multiverse apart, with [[FeaturelessProtagonist the Captain]] and LetsPlay/{{Mark|iplier}} hopping between dimensions to find the RealityBreakingParadox that is fueling it. [[spoiler:Part 1 ends with a ApocalypseHow/ClassX5 event that destroys much of the multiverse (with a handful of universes managing to reboot in a [[RealityIsOutToLunch glitched]] state) and Part 2 depicts a Class Z in progress, which comes very close to completion before the Captain manages to resolve the paradox, reversing the damage.]]

This form of the trope is necessarily {{metafiction}}al, as it {{deconstruct|ion}}s the {{fiction}}al nature of the setting. Basically, if the story itself pronounces that everything related to its setting or described in its content is absolutely null and utterly void, ipso facto this draws your attention to the story ''as a story'' because there's ''nothing left to suspend disbelief in''. The creator may be declaring their intention to [[GrandFinale never revisit the setting]], or they may be taking {{Refuge in|Audacity}} [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Extreme Audacity]] in order to [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou attack the reader's trust in narrative reliability]]. Any of these issues can be {{justified|Trope}} or {{lampshade|Hanging}}d as needed. For example, Creator/DavidFosterWallace's first novel, ''Literature/TheBroomOfTheSystem'', in which the main character [[{{Postmodernism}} suffers from existential dread that she may be a character in a work of fiction]], plays this by cutting off in mid-sentence on the last page.

* ''City at the End of Time'', by Creator/GregBear, has the end of ALL universes come about (semi?-)naturally, around about the year 100 trillion, at the hands of the strange, physics-warping Typhon. Even better, the destruction travels [[OurTimeTravelIsDifferent backwards in time]] and screws around with modern-day Seattle. [[spoiler:The main cast still manage to escape the collapse of all worlds using GreenRocks! Better yet, putting all the rocks together reboots everything from the start, which it is implied they did. Eventually]].

* ''Odakint Sötétebb'' ("It's Darker Outside"): A Z3 is [[spoiler:in progress, and all the weirdness in the world is caused by it. The cellofoids are attempting to save our universe by separating it from the multiverse, but ultimately fail. In the end it's softened to a "mere" Z2.]]

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', TheOmnipotent has the power to do this, and that's why the SOS Brigade is so desperate to keep her own powers secret from herself.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': [[spoiler:When you complete the No Mercy/Genocide Route, Chara the Fallen Human potentially brings forth an Original Negation when they absolutely, completely erase all of existence itself.]]

** In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', [[spoiler:this is Count Bleck's true plan. [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery Convinced life is meaningless without his love, he aims to destroy existence.]] He's later backstabbed and replaced by Dimentio, who settles for a Class X-5 with the intent of reconstructing it in his own image. However, after Dimentio is defeated by the heroes, he resets it back to Class Z, since if he can't remake the world with his death, he might as well destroy all of existence with him]].

* One of the most powerful entities in the ''Literature/CthulhuMythos'' is Azathoth, a being that will end the universe when he wakes up. He won't have to actually do anything, ''waking up will be enough to destroy the entire omniverse''. This is because existence itself is nothing more than Azathoth's dream. When he wakes up, the dream ends.