History Main / AllTheoriesAreTrue

* In the MarvelUniverse, a number of fringe theories are quite true, including the Counter-Earth idea and the underlying explanation of nearly all non-magical superpowers deriving from JackKirby's use of AncientAstronauts in the 1970s series ''Comicbook/TheEternals''. Similarly, from the 1980s to the NewTens, TimeTravel obeyed the rules of the many-worlds hypothesis as well.

* [[folder:WesternAnimation]]

It does not include plain bad or mistaken notions of the [[ArtisticLicense You Fail Science Forever]] sort, though it can be hard to tell sometimes. The criterion for inclusion on this list is that the concept involved is a real fringe or obsolete theory meant to explain an already-observed phenomenon that the work treats as true for reasons of premise or style. In other words, the explanations are speculative or obsolete; the phenomena explained are, however exaggerated, real.

The title of this trope is somewhat inaccurate. A Theory is actually something that has been proven and has been comprehensively explained. A Law is something that has been proven but has not been explained. This Trope refers to Hypotheses, predictions which are then tested to become Laws or be invalidated.

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** "Humbug" - [[spoiler: Sentient]] fetus in fetus.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series, human technological development noticeably diverged from our own around the [=1940s=], but the laws of physics, [[ILoveNuclearPower especially those concerning radiation]], were different right from the start.

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* GaslampFantasy ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is all about this, but then, at least one character states that a strong spark is actually a RealityWarper.
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* ''Other Songs'', a [[NoExportForYou not-yet-translated]] novel by Polish author Creator/JacekDukaj, is set on alternate Earth where Aristotle was right.[[hottip:*:Well, not ''fully'' right; let's say as much as Newton was right in our world.]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series.

* StationeryVoyagers was inspired in part by theories about a universal wall, that the universe is shaped like an inverted onion, that misplaced blue shifts in certain cosmos that conflict with universal expansion indicate a galaxy "bouncing off the wall," and theological hypotheses of Heaven and Hell as AnotherDimension. It runs ape wild with these ideas.
** But the concept of spaceships having pseudo-gravity generators still ''[[AvertedTrope eludes]]'' the premise, and FasterThanLightTravel is outright rejected for all non-supernatural beings.

It does not include plain bad or mistaken notions of the [[YouFailIndexesForever You Fail Science Forever]] sort, though it can be hard to tell sometimes. The criterion for inclusion on this list is that the concept involved is a real fringe or obsolete theory meant to explain an already-observed phenomenon that the work treats as true for reasons of premise or style. In other words, the explanations are speculative or obsolete; the phenomena explained are, however exaggerated, real.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue of AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TomStrong'', where the hero and villain reminisce about a 1930s adventure and are disturbed that phlogiston, invisible liquid heat, was real then... despite having since been disproven as a theory.

* ''Other Songs'', a [[NoExportForYou not-yet-translated]] novel by Polish author {{Jacek Dukaj}}, is set on alternate Earth where Aristotle was right.[[hottip:*:Well, not ''fully'' right; let's say as much as Newton was right in our world.]]

* In StargateSG1, Dr. Daniel Jackson became the laughingstock of the archeological community with his theories that aliens built the pyramids. The premise of the series is that he was, of course, right.

* "[[SteamPunk Gaslamp fantasy]]" ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is all about this, but then, at least one character states that a strong spark is actually a RealityWarper.

* The ''{{Spelljammer}}'' setting for second edition DungeonsAndDragons, while fantasy, used such ideas as worlds being surrounded by crystal spheres and floating in phlogiston.

* ''Other Songs'', a [[NoExportForYou not-yet-translated]] novel by Polish author Jacek Dukaj, is set on alternate Earth where Aristotle was right.[[hottip:*:Well, not ''fully'' right; let's say as much as Newton was right in our world.]]

* ''Series/{{The X-Files}}'' uses the premises of innumerable fringe and obsolete theories as the premises of episodes and the show's sprawling MythArc. A partial list:

* Ditto the short-lived series ''DarkSkies'', based on [=UFOlogy=] and other 1960s ConspiracyTheory lore.

* GrantMorrison loves treating fringe science claims as true in his comics, whether it's the "morphogenetic field" in ''AnimalMan'' or Masaru Emoto's theory that water has feelings coming true in a chapter of ''SevenSoldiers''.

* ''{{Discworld}}'' has a lot of fun with fringe science. Most notably the way the word "quantum" can be used to justify anything, and the morphogenic field. (''{{GURPS}} Discworld'' notes that all theories of morphic resonance are true on the Disc, ''including the ones that contradict each other'').

* ''{{The X-Files}}'' uses the premises of innumerable fringe and obsolete theories as the premises of episodes and the show's sprawling MythArc. A partial list:

* A notable SpiritualSuccessor, ''{{Fringe}}'' also uses this trope as its premise.

* In ''{{Sliders}}'', the existence of the Kromaggs (humanoid creatures that evolved instead of ''Homo sapiens'' in various parallel universes) is ascribed to "Killer Ape Theory," which was a theory held by many 19th century naturalists about early ''human'' evolution. Notable in that in the real world, Killer Ape Theory tried (very inadequately) to explain the divergence between humans and the other apes, in the show the theory was appropriated to explain the divergence between Homo sapiens and Kromaggs from a common stock. And guess where the name "Kromagg" comes from?

* This is the basis of the ''{{GURPS}}'' supplement "Fantasy Tech". Everything from the the popular belief that ancient armor was ridiculously heavy to the [[LittleKnownFacts scientific fact]] that the sun exerts a strong natural attraction on dew, so if you fill bottles with dew during the night you will rise upward during the day.

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* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue of AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TomStrong'', where the hero and villain reminisce about a 1930s adventure and are disturbed that phlogiston was real then... despite having since been disproven as a theory.

** Somewhat ironic in that this theory was debunked slightly less than 200 years before the 1930s.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue of AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TomStrong'', where the hero and villain reminisce about a 1930s adventure and are disturbed that phlogiston was real then...despite having since been disproven as a theory.

* ''Other Songs'', a [[NoExportForYou not-yet-translated]] novel by Polish author Jacek Dukaj, is set on alternate Earth where Aristotle was right.[[hottip:Well, not ''fully'' right; let's say as much as Newton was right in our world.]]

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' used this trope sometimes. In the case of Area 51...I mean, Zone 91...it was heavily {{Lampshaded}}. It was more moderately lampshaded when an Atlantis-type lost civilization turned out to be real. And there are also the Skrit Na, whose main purpose for being in the books was to be an alien race fitting the description of TheGreys. Subverted, though, when Erek is telling the story of how his Chee race arrived at the right time to be AncientAstronauts. When asked about the concept that they might have been the ones to design the pyramids, Erek clarifies that the Chee didn't interfere with human society in ways like that, just as they don't do things like that in the present day. Also, the series' treatment of [[PsychicDreamsForEveryone psychic phenomena]], and of the question of dolphin and whale intelligence, seems to be based on this trope.
* ''Other Songs'', a [[NoExportForYou not-yet-translated]] novel by Polish author Jacek Dukaj, is set on alternate Earth where Aristotle was right.[[hottip:_:Well, not ''fully'' right; let's say as much as Newton was right in our world.]]

* Several short works by Hugo-winner Ted Chiang follow this formula, including one in which the tower of babel does in fact reach the sky (Tower of Babylon), and another exploring the ultimate consequences in a world where the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preformationism preformationist]] hypothesis is accurate (Seventy-Two Letters).

** It's also how [[EldritchLocation Bardos]] work. A theory of the universe is proven to be untrue? Then it simply spins off into an alternate dimension where it is. Certain Bardos include a model of the universe where the planets are crystal spheres pushed through seas of phlogiston by gigantic archangels, a dystopia that demonstrates both the failures and successes of Soviet totalitarianism, a [[JohnCarterOfMars Barsoom]]-like vision of Mars that came into existence when the Viking rover pictures came back, and the Hollow Earth, which is populated by both every sort of prehistoric creatures and Nazis.

* The ''{{Fallout}}'' series.

The scientific counterpart of AllMythsAreTrue, this is when long-obsolete, fringe, or disproven scientific theories are considered true for the purposes of either RuleOfCool or [[ArtMajorPhysics Art Major Technology]]. Examples should be distinguished from ScienceMarchesOn, as in this trope's case the use of dodgy science is quite deliberate. This is sometimes a supertrope of AncientAstronauts, LamarckWasRight, GeneticMemory, PsychicDreamsForEveryone and many other tropes found right here on this wiki, and arguably underpins most modern uses of alchemy in SpeculativeFiction. It's also rampant in SteamPunk, which is often set in universes where, for example, the theory of the aether is true.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an issue of AlanMoore's ''TomStrong'', where the hero and villain reminisce about a 1930s adventure and are disturbed that phlogiston was real then...despite having since been disproven as a theory.