History Main / GodzillaThreshold

* [=Jrose11=] has made his [=YouTube=] career in doing [[SelfImposedChallenge the most ridiculous challenges]] in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, including {{Solo Character Run}}s with [[JokeCharacter exceedingly weak Pokemon]], beating the games with [[LowLevelRun the absolute minimum number of battles]], and even [[NoDamageRun a run where he took no damage at all]][[note]]though SaveScumming was allowed with that run, unlike with other people who did the same[[/note]] so when he discovered a video asking [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07yzTiND30U if it was even possible to beat the notoriously glitchy Generation I without ever encountering a single glitch]], he preemptively ''refused'', because if he didn't, people would demand it of him, which just shows how ''difficult'', nay, impossible, such a challenge would be.

!!Examples

* In ''Fanfic/IcedFairysANewWorld'', when faced with the imminent Lunarian invasion and everyone who could stop them burying their heads in the sand, Kanako arranges for Suwako [[spoiler:to release the ''[[AnimalisticAbomination Mishaguji]]''.]]

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'':
** The Toa's [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Nova]] [[FantasticNuke blasts]]. It's been attempted two times in the known story for such purposes -- when Toa Jaller and the Toa Mahri faced all six of the Barraki and their army of sea beasts and tried to stop them from reaching Matoro (who was at the time busy resurrecting the entire fricken' universe); and when Toa Helryx tried to create a flood inside the resurrected but [[BigBad Makuta]]-[[GrandTheftMe possessed]] Great Spirit's brain, thereby causing the robot and the universe inside it to shut off, effectively killing every being in it -- both attempts were hindered, thankfully.
** When the [[EliteMooks Bohrok-Kal]] were about to free their masters the Bahrag and re-unleash the [[TheSwarm Bohrok swarms]] upon Mata Nui, Tahu broke out his secret weapon that he was never supposed to use: The Kanohi Vahi, AKA the Mask of Time. Using it buys the Toa a few more critical seconds but also nearly destroys the universe.
** In the prequel novel "Time Trap", Vakama has the Mask of Time, but is stuck in a fight between the BigBad and the leader of a league of assassins. What does he do? [[spoiler:He threatens to destroy the Mask, and with it all of reality.]]
** When Botar teleported the [[{{Kaiju}} Tahtorak]] onto the industrious island of Xia [[ItAmusedMe out of fun]], it started wrecking the place, so they released the similarly giant Kanohi Dragon to fight it, which in turn lead to even more destruction.
** The [[GiantSpiders Visorak]] [[TheSwarm horde]] are mentioned as having a villainous example: [[{{Kaiju}} the Zivon]]. In the event that a battle is going particularly poorly for the Visorak, a special breed of Visorak known as the Kahgarak are capable of opening a portal to [[PhantomZone the Zone of Darkness]] to [[SummonBiggerFish release a gigantic Rahi beast]] known as the Zivon. The Zivon is one of [[TheDreaded the most deadly creatures in the entire lore]], capable of shaking off pretty much any attack without so much as a scratch; the only possible way to stop it is for the Visorak to send it back to the Zone of Shadows. The reason this is such a double-edged sword for the Visorak horde? It turns out the Zivon is a ''natural predator'' of the Visorak, and it's only fighting to protect its food source; in fact, it's often known to celebrate victories by ''eating'' most of a horde. As such, the Visorak only bring it out when they're already suffering such heavy losses that a few more couldn't possibly make a difference.

[[folder:Religion]]
* In UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}}, the principle of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikuach_nefesh pikuach nefesh]]'' states that almost any religious consideration or law may be broken in order to save a specific human life from an immediate danger. For example, although it is forbidden to do work on the shabbat, including driving a car, you ''can'' use a car to drive someone to the hospital if they need immediate treatment. Similarly, if a pregnant woman has a craving for a non-kosher food, she is allowed to eat it, as it is assumed that ''not'' eating it will have negative consequences for the fetus. There are only a very small number of laws that ''cannot'' be broken, including killing another human being, and even that is permitted in cases of self-defense (or the defense of others).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* WebVideo/HeroHouse has an exceptional example, with the Villains summoning Godzilla to help them battle the Heroes. Then the Heroes proceed to match them, summoning Gamera himself to even the odds. Awesome ensues.

* The Director of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' ''creates'' Godzillas just so he can be ready for this:
--> '''Director''': When faced with extinction, ''every'' alternative is preferable!
* WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}:
** Yang Xiao Long used to use her Semblance to win just about every battle, until this ended very poorly in her encounter with Adam Taurus in Volume 3. Since then, with the help of her dad, she changed her fighting style so that her Semblance becomes this for her, and only uses it when it is the only way to defeat her opponent, such as against Adam Taurus when she encounters him again in Volume 6, and against [[spoiler:former ally Elm Erdene]] in Volume 7.
** Team CFVY has one in Velvet Scarlatina, who Team Leader Coco Adel had been keeping in reserve as her team's secret weapon. Velvet's true capabilities were revealed in the Battle of Beacon, where she does battle with two mechs that only one of which gave the entire Team RWBY a hard time, as nothing else that anyone else could throw at them did any damage. Her true capabilities? She is able to copy the weapons and movements of any character that she has taken a picture of with her camera, making her a completely adaptable weapons master.
** While even the thought of a Maiden using her powers in battle is usually this, any use of the four Relics (Choice, Knowledge, Creation, and Destruction) is much more so of this, due to their reality-warping powers and limitations built into them to ensure that they were not used freely. [[TheHero Ruby Rose]] is the only person other than [[BigGood Ozma]] to use one.
** In Volume 5, [[spoiler:Raven Branwen]] has been hiding her identity as the Spring Maiden for years. It's only when, during the Battle of Haven, that her 'ally' Cinder Fall, the Fall Maiden, betrays her and attacks [[spoiler:Raven's decoy, Vernal,]] in order to steal the powers for herself that [[spoiler:Raven]] crosses this threshold, reveals her true abilities, and fights Cinder for the fate of Haven. [[spoiler:Thankfully, Raven wins, due to a last minute diversion from Vernal.]]
** Volume 6:
*** When Salem realizes that Ozpin has already reincarnated, found Qrow, and is on his way with the last Silver Eyed Warrior and her allies in tow to get the Relic of Knowledge to a safe place in Atlas and reunite with General Ironwood to devise a new plan to reunite humanity against her, Salem decides to step out from the shadows after all these years, raise a Grimm army, and storm Atlas to ensure that this doesn't happen.
*** When Cinder fights [[spoiler:Neo]], she avoids using her Maiden powers so that she would not be recognized, as she was still a wanted terrorist after her attacks on Beacon and Haven. It's only when Cinder recognizes that she cannot defeat [[spoiler:Neo]] without them that she displays them to force her to stand down.
*** Deconstructed when Caroline Cordovin decides to use a giant mech, designed for fighting giant Grimm, [[DisproportionateRetribution against six kids, a Huntsman, and an old lady]] with the full intent of killing them to get a message across to the city of Argus, which did nothing wrong against her, all because they tried to sneak to Atlas behind her back. Plus, it backfires so horribly that said kids, Huntsman, and old lady are forced to incapacitate the mech, rendering it useless against a giant Grimm that does show up, attracted to the negativity from the city of Argus generated by the people in response to Cordovin's extreme methods.
*** Played straight twice soon after, when Ruby is forced to use her Silver Eyes against the Leviathan, as nothing else will work on it. When the she realizes she can't activate her eyes in time, Ruby actually uses the Relic of Knowledge to freeze time so that she can activate her Silver Eyes in time.
** Volume 7:
*** When a massive Grimm invasion storms Mantle due to the machinations of Tyrian and Watts, Ironwood decides to reveal the existence of the top-secret Amity Communications Tower prematurely, despite the fact that this risks Salem discovering it and destroying it, as to reunite the people against the Grimm and to lure Tyrian and Watts into a trap.
*** Ironwood crosses several more in Episode 11, Gravity. When he realizes that [[spoiler:Cinder]] has infiltrated Atlas Academy, and that Salem as been able to silently sneak up on Atlas with a large army of Grimm, Ironwood crosses the ultimate threshold and decides to lock the Relics of Creation and Knowledge in the Atlas Vault, and use the former to lift Atlas into the atmosphere instead of the Amity Communications Tower in order to keep the Relics safe from the her reach, despite the fact that this would leave the many people that haven't been evacuated from Mantle to die, not to mention that he decides to send Winter to claim the Winter Maiden powers from Fria, knowing that this will end the elderly woman's life early, in order to hasten the transition. To top it off, when [[spoiler:Team RWBY]] won't go along with this, he crosses another threshold and orders his men to arrest them and their allies. This ends up being Deconstructed and Exploited when it backfires horribly, as it weakens his forces even further, costs him the allegiance of [[spoiler:Robyn, Pietro, and Penny, who became the Winter Maiden as a result of Cinder's attack]], only arrested one of the nine people he wanted to arrest in the first place, and proved only to play right into Salem's hands anyway.
*** When [[spoiler:Cinder]] is able to hold off Winter and Penny long enough to create an opening for her to steal the Winter Maiden Powers, the current Winter Maiden, Fria, activates her powers once more to fend off [[spoiler:Cinder]], despite being old, frail, and on the verge of death even without [[spoiler:Ironwood's or Cinder's]] attempts to end her life prematurely.
* What the Wiki/SCPFoundation are prepared to do to contain some items. Then again, an awful lot of the things they deal with ''really are that dangerous''. Most foundation sites must have a several megaton strong nuke armed at all times for exactly this kind of situation. Meanwhile, their opposite-number the Global Occult Coalition has [[http://goc.wikidot.com/emergencyprocedurepizzicato Emergency Procedure "Pizzicato"]] for massive emergence of Threat Entities (and also covers the Foundation itself massively losing control of its own contained objects, and the literal end of the world). Force authorisation states that "All restrictions re: [[WeaponsOfMassDestruction NBC weaponry]], [[BrownNote Memetic]] [[TheVirus Cascade Sequences]], and Nanotech GreyGoo items withdrawn" and "Acceptable Collateral Damage: 90% of worldwide human population".
** "SCP" semi-officially, by way of motto, stands for "Secure, Contain, Protect". The former two words refer to securing and containing anomalous entities, and "protect" refers to protecting the ''general populace''. Since securing and containing [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-682 SCP-682]], a powerful and hard-to-destroy reptile hellbent on destroying everything and everyone it sees, has proven to be a total crapshoot, the Foundation wants to ''destroy it'' instead of keeping it in containment, as its existence is a mortal threat to anyone it sees.
** One of their plans involves the release of all prisoners regardless of ''why'' they were imprisoned in the first place (so the worst of the worst: serial killers, sociopaths, etc.), the idea being that it's better to have what remains of mankind be AlwaysChaoticEvil than having no mankind at all.
** On a meta-level, most articles featuring subjects more powerful or mary sue-ish than SCP-076-2 or SCP-682 are almost universally downvoted. The reason those articles are allowed to remain is explicitly to serve as a reference point for what ''not'' to do, since a reptile that cannot be killed and an immortal warrior are fundamentally not very interesting. More powerful entities do exist, but those articles are mostly about other, more interesting elements than the creatures themselves.
* In ''{{Literature/Touch 2017}}'', we are presented with a monster so far left nameless, which was so powerful that it convinced every global government to work together with one another in order to try and kill it. [[spoiler: they still fail.]]
* Every plan to deal with [[PersonOfMassDestruction Tennyo]] in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. One we saw in a holographic simulation ''destroyed the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. and plunged the planet into nuclear winter'', which was still considered a reasonable alternative to an [[TheUnfettered uncontrolled Star Stalker]] possibly destroying the planet. Tennyo's best friends have Plans A-Z, and Tennyo approves.
* The LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}} encountered one (by the standards of a group of Let's Players that [[Machinima/YogscastMinecraftSeries play games like Minecraft]] most of the time) when LetsPlay/DuncanJones forgot to prepare for a trip back from the moon to the Overworld. LetsPlay/LewisBrindley ''rushes to Duncan's office in real life'' to help him, since they didn't want to have someone trapped on the moon all over again.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': [[spoiler: The Rabbit Miraculous can be used to travel through time. However, ForWantOfANail is very much in effect, and time-travel can have highly unpredictable results. This is why the Rabbit is the "hero of last resort", only used when things have gone spectacularly wrong.]]

* In the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'',

** ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' reveals that an alliance between the Amazons, Atlanteans, humans, the Olympian Gods, and aliens was forged to stop Steppenwolf from taking over the planet millennia ago. [[spoiler:When Steppenwolf proves to be more powerful than the League combined, it's also why Batman decided to use the Genesis Chamber and a Mother Box to resurrect Superman.]]

* In ice hockey, a team that is down a goal or two near the end of the game or so may elect to pull their goalie to put another attacker on the ice. It gives the possibility of tying the game, at the risk of the leading team having a much easier chance of scoring again. On average, the leading team scores an empty net goal about 1/3 of the time while the trailing team scores a goal about 1/9 of the time -- in the long run this strategy is detrimental to the team that pulled its goalie. However, in most cases, what matters is that you've lost the game and not what the margin of defeat was. In addition, [[{{Metagame}} recent developments in professional-level play]] have indicated that it may actually be more beneficial to pull the goalie earlier than was considered normal. In an example of this turned UpToEleven, in a 2015 NCAA playoff game, the Miami [=RedHawks=] played ''12 minutes and 48 seconds'' with an empty net down 4 goals. The [=RedHawks=] managed not to give up a single goal with the empty net and managed 3 goals, losing 6-5.

* ''Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil'': It's made clear that the Demon Sorcerers view using the Book of Ages as this due to the potential risks of [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 reality being destroyed]], but they don't have any other choice if they want to escape the Netherworld.
* The Nurglite incursion in ''Fanfic/AgeOfStrife'', which included no less than three Great Unclean Ones, almost drove Mirande to daemon summoning herself in her attempt to stop it.
* [[spoiler:Daemon]] from the ''Fanfic/TamersForeverSeries'' is considered to be such an unbeatable opponent that the Tamers' only hope is for [[spoiler:Takato to die before Daemon can absorb the power of a god]].
* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''/''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/TheVampireOfSteel'', the Scooby Gang is facing a Kryptonian vampire. Since it's mightier than Supergirl — and we're talking about the Pre-Crisis version who was known to ''kick moons out of and back in orbit'' here — the Girl of Steel gets tools capable of killing or banishing a Kryptonian and tells the Gang to use them if things go South, no matter what. Note that she's usually against killing, but she's willing to make an exception for Zol-Am.
-->'''Buffy:''' And this is...what?\\
'''Giles:''' I do believe I know. I’m not quite sure I’m comfortable with it. At all.\\
'''Supergirl:''' (nodding) These are our two last lines of defense. This is a Phantom Zone ray. Just worry about the white button. If you touch that, whatever you point this at will be instantly banished to the Zone. This one I’ve set to burn out its power element just two minutes after activation. That should prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. If all else fails, use this on Zol-Am. I don’t want him back in the Zone. I don’t know if he can infect other inmates there with vampirism, and I don’t want to find out. If I don’t have to.\\
'''Buffy:''' Yeah. One vamp with powers to change the course of mighty graveyards is all we need for now. And what’s in this little box?\\
'''Supergirl:''' (grasping her wrist) Don’t.\\
'''Giles:''' I know what is in there. Kryptonite.\\
'''Buffy:''' Kryptonite? You’re serious?\\
'''Supergirl:''' What do you think? If even the Zone projector fails, you have to use this against Zol-Am. It must be in close proximity to him for several minutes to kill him. If it gets knocked too far away, or he manages to fly off, or lead gets between it and him... he can recover. Also, don’t expect him to be too pleased.\\
'''Buffy:''' We can’t use that against him while you’re around.\\
'''Supergirl:''' Buffy. You’ll only use this as a last resort. But if that happens, you will use it whatever the circumstances.\\
'''Buffy:''' But...\\
'''Supergirl:''' Whatever the circumstances. Am I clear?
* ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureauTheOtherSideOfTheSpectrum'' has two instances of this — first is when Princess Celestia decides to consult [[spoiler:Discord about [[ArtifactOfDoom The Bag of Tirek]], which has corrupted the MirrorUniverse Equestria into carrying out a genocidal campaign against Earth and humanity]], which he agrees to because [[EvenEvilHasStandards even he is disgusted with what Queen Celestia is doing to the humans]]; second is that [[spoiler:humanity has rigged the Yellowstone Supervolcano with several [[NukeEm nukes to detonate]] and likely destroy the world as part of a TakingYouWithMe plan, if only to [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled avoid living as brainwashed slaves]] to a xenocidal tyrant]].
** ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/253045/i-am-going-to-save-and-or-destroy-equestria I Am Going To Save And/Or Destroy Equestria]]'': In this alternate universe, Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon fought each other to a MutualKill. Without them, the sun and moon get out of wack and Equestria is overrun by the fiends of Tartarus and other villains. A group of pony survivors decide their only option is to resurrect King Sombra and hope he'll hate the villains for taking over "his" kingdom more than he'll hate them (the resurrection spell requires the subject's remains, so it couldn't be used on Celestia or Luna). Fortunately, the spell brings back Sombra's body with a human named Ambrose's soul in control, and he's willing to help them after getting over the initial shock and confusion.
** In ''FanFic/ADreamOfDawn'', Nightmare Moon's reign over Equestria is so disruptive that summoning Discord actually makes life better.
** ''FanFic/TheImmortalGame'': The Mane Six become so desperate to defeat [[BigBad Titan]] that Twilight comes up with one final contingency in case the Elements of Harmony fail, or they die before being able to use them. That contingency? [[spoiler:[[EnemyMine Releasing Discord to fight him.]]]]
** ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'':
*** Celestia comments that [[TopGod The Elders]] would only directly intervene (rather than through Their children or Avatars) in something happening in mortal reality if it was a threat to ''all'' of existence, because that is the only situation where the damage would be greater than that caused by [[EldritchAbomination Them]] entering reality. To put this in perspective, [[spoiler:Nightmare Paradox's GroundhogDayLoop plan]] completely screwed up the [[BadFuture Dark World]] timeline and cost countless ''trillions'' of lives, and even ''that'' wasn't enough for Them to intervene. Such a threshold is finally crossed in the Finale Arc, when [[spoiler:Discord's [[RewritingReality endgame]]]] proves terrible enough that Havoc and Entropy, at least, step in to lend aid.
*** It turns out that the Equestrian military has specific protocols in place for situations like this, including {{Kaiju}} attacks, that require direct interference from the Princesses. Fittingly, it's called [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Article 1954]].
*** During the Wedding Arc, things get so desperate that Twilight and Cadence seriously consider the possibility of releasing Discord to [[EvilVersusEvil fight Chrysalis]], but only as an absolute last resort. [[spoiler:Of course, [[DramaticIrony they don't realize]] that he's ''already'' free...]]
*** As the heroes prepare for one final battle with Discord, [[spoiler:Celestia persuades Mother Deer/Harmony to upgrade the Elements of Harmony to their full potential]]. She comments that normally, she would not have done this for several years, until the Mane Six had fully mastered them, but considering they're about to face Discord, they need all the help they can get.
** ''FanFic/ThePowersOfHarmony'': The use of forbidden Lifeforce magic is considered to be an absolute last resort, due to the fact that it leaves the user an addict who grows more uncontrollable over time. [[spoiler:During the War of the Sun and Moon, Libra had to use it to immobilize Nightmare Moon's undying army; his Echo Blair is still carrying that burden a thousand years later.]]
** In ''FanFic/TheStarsAscendant'', Celestia notes that had she realized just how powerful Tirek had become, she would have ordered Twilight to rip the Elements of Harmony out of the Tree of Harmony. Given that the tree had been withering without the Elements of Harmony, it might kill the tree, but Celestia felt it would have been justified in order to defeat Tirek. Fortunately, it wasn't necessary.
** ''FanFic/TheStarsWillAidTheirEscape'': The last time [[EldritchAbomination Nyarlathotep]] emerged in Equestria, Celestia was only able to stop him by calling down the power of the sun and incinerating everything for miles, sacrificing the lives of every pony in the affected area (most of whom were rendered hopelessly insane by Nyarlathotep anyway) in order to stop him from spreading. And all that succeeded in doing was temporarily banishing Nyarlathotep back where he came from — he describes it as having been inconvenient.
** [[spoiler:Literally]] crossed in ''Fanfic/PersonaEG''. Flash Sentry and several of his friends are backed into a corner when [[spoiler:Sunset Shimmer uses [[EvilKnockOff shadow versions of every persona Flash has ever used]]]]. Exhausted and about to be killed, Flash summons the only persona in his collection that he has not used yet, [[spoiler:[[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Gojira]]]]. Complete with GiantFootOfStomping entrance and a giant [[KillItWithFire Atomic Breath attack]] that nearly roasts [[spoiler:Sunset]] alive.
** During her battle with Discord in ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/362591/knights-of-the-realm Knights of the Realm]]'', Twilight Sparkle resorts to [[spoiler:removing all her restraints]]. Considering the last time that had happened (during ''training'') and that in this fic she's a master of [[spoiler:''Chaos magic'']], it's obvious why, even facing Discord, it took her a while to resort to that.
** ''Fanfic/TheAudience'': In chapter 41, Art [[LampshadeHanging mentions this trope by name]] in reference to the Mane Six and the use of the Elements. He must then give a brief, summarized description to Fluttershy.
* ''FanFic/ImperfectMetamorphosis'' is what happens when crossing the Threshold is ''exactly'' the wrong thing to do, as the different characters implementing their own contingency plans just escalates the situation, going from "bad, but manageable" to almost CosmicHorrorStory levels. Fittingly, [[TheDitz Cirno]] gets to perform the stupidest one, reckoning that her friend Rumia is in such desperate peril that getting [[HumanoidAbomination Yuuka]] involved is a reasonable idea.
* In ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]], the [[AlienInvasion Reaper invasion]] causes the normally-benign-if-ineffective Citadel Council to be replaced by the [[TyrantTakesTheHelm United Defense Command]], a huge believer in StrawCivilian among other things, which are all shown to be negative InUniverse. Nobody really argues because the Reaper threat is just that big, even though afterward people realize what a mess it made.
** In the sequel, ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', problems with FasterThanLightTravel cause a [[spoiler:Force-sensitive Siren]] to believe the line has been crossed because [[NegativeSpaceWedgie trans-dimensional gateways]] will let in an AlienInvasion so terrible that [[WellIntentionedExtremist killing everyone]] is justified to stop the use of these dangerous drives. When the invasion is revealed to be [[spoiler:the Flood]], who proceeds to conquer ''two-and-a-half galaxies'', some of the heroes wonder if [[TheExtremistWasRight the crazy killer might have a point]] once [[spoiler:Cortana]] insists the only way to stop the invasion is to [[spoiler:starve it to death by eliminating all sapient life]].
* In ''[[Fanfic/AMidsummerNightsDreamKillbles A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' chapter 8, [[spoiler:with Midsummer Night rendered inoperable after the fight with Rasputin, the previously reluctant brothers decide that they should share Jaeger schematics with the Equestrians]].
* In ''FanFic/AshesOfThePast'', Blast Burn is treated like this, as its nature as a Fire Type equivalent of Hyper Beam means the only thing more destructive is ''the local equivalent of a nuclear strike''. Exactly because of its power, any Pokémon that learns it has an artificial mental block created to prevent it from using it on their own volition, and '''must''' be ordered to do that.

* ''FanFic/WorldwarWarOfEquals'': The threat of pending invasion by the Race is enough for Switzerland to abandon its long-standing neutrality and join the European Coalition, and for [[EnemyMine Israel to join forces with its Arab neighbors]] (primarily Egypt). After the war begins and grows desperate for some, we see more examples — when Ukraine is nearly completely overrun, its military starts using nerve gas, while President Viktor Yanukovych asks for [[HarsherInHindsight Russian aid]]; Syria breaks out its chemical weapons program in light of neighboring Iraq being overrun; and China, desperately trying to HoldTheLine against the Race, [[spoiler:is the first nation to use nukes against the invading forces]].
* In the ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11904468/1/An-Interdimensional-Meet An Interdimensional Meet]]'', when the Flash, Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter are forced to fight Doomsday (here the mutated and brainwashed Jeremiah Danvers), the Flash initially tries to stop Doomsday by [[spoiler:vibrating and trapping him inside a hill, and when that fails, Supergirl takes Doomsday into orbit and throws him into deep space, hoping that his inability to fly will ensure that Doomsday can't come back]].

* In ''Fanfic/TheOdysseyResurgence'', SG-1 comes to appreciate how stretched the ESD’s resources must be when General Landry (''Series/StargateSG1'') tells General Adams (''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'') about the Replicators and Adams considers the possibility of turning the Replicators on the Harvesters to stop them, although Adams accepts Carter and Landry’s argument that the Replicators are too dangerous to seriously consider that as an option.
* In the ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' fic ''Fanfic/TwistOfFate'', Moses uses his TimeMaster powers to defeat Teitoku Kakine by making him suffer RapidAging. Moses explains that he would normally not do something this horrible, but the situation they were trying to stop is extremely desperate, Kakine wouldn't get out of their way, and he was strong enough to shrug off Moses' attempts to [[TimeStandsStill freeze him]].
* In the first story of the ''FanFic/FacingTheFutureSeries'', Dark Danny's return results in [[spoiler:Clockwork bringing in Danny and Sam's future selves]] and Sam getting ghost powers of her own in order to stop him.
* In ''FanFic/{{Eugenesis}}'', Prowl and Perceptor are perfectly willing to meddle with TimeTravel, knowing what time travel can unleash (in Prowl's case, from first-hand experience), simply because they feel the current situation is that bad. This earns them a serious WhatTheHellHero from Nightbeat, although he still ends up agreeing with them. Later on, [[spoiler:a revived Optimus Prime]] agrees to take part in the fight against the Quintessons, knowingly risking his life, not to mention using time-travel himself, for the same reasons.
* ''FanFic/MLPNextGenerationKnowFear'': The war against the griffons is going badly enough (even with the aid of Starburst's [[Franchise/GreenLantern new powers]]) that Celestia decides to have one of Equestria's godly rulers (herself, the other alicorns and Discord) unlock their full power and join the battlefield as a show of force. Everyone else is horrified by the potential consequences of this, but they go through with it anyway, with Twilight being the one whose power is unlocked, and she proceeds to take on an entire griffon army by herself [[spoiler:— only for it to turn out that the griffons [[CrazyPrepared already had plans prepared to neutralize her]]]].
* In ''FanFic/WhiteDevilOfTheMoon'', when a {{combination attack}} of Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate's strongest attacks don't work on Queen Metalla, Nanoha is forced to load up the Silver Crystal into Rising Heart, despite the fact that Nanoha could die going all-out.
* In the ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''/''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' crossover ''[[https://danbooru.donmai.us/pools/4789 Walpurgisnaught]]'', when Touma learns of the abominable system the Incubators do with Magical Girls and Witches, he breaks his [[ThouShaltNotKill no-killing code]] with sentient beings and obliterates Kyubey.
* In ''FanFic/TheBridge'', 200-something Gyaos flying straight towards Canterlot with nothing else to stop them? Time to revert the ponified Godzilla back into his true form. Princess Luna was ''not'' happy about it. [[spoiler:Thankfully, it's a heroic version of the character.]]
* ''FanFic/ShadowsAwakening'': During the penultimate battle in the Forge of Shadows, Daolon Wong is empowered to the point of nearly defeating the J-Team singlehandedly. This forces Jade to remove the Tiger Talisman, which has been keeping her growing corruption by [[SuperPoweredEvilSide the Queen]] in check — this allows her greater control of her powers, enough to fight Wong evenly, but risks her being fully corrupted by the Queen. [[spoiler:In fact, the Queen grows strong enough to [[EnemyWithout separate from Jade entirely]], thus becoming the new BigBad.]]
* ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'' crosses the threshold a few times.
** Episode 63 has a villainous example. Sonic, Shadow, and Eric turn into their Super forms and are on the verge of defeating Tsali once and for all. So what does Tsali do? He ''summons [[{{Satan}} Lord Maledict]] himself'' for backup. Cue [[SummonBiggerFish Maledict showing up]], rescuing Tsali, and [[CurbStompBattle utterly curbstomping Sonic and friends]].
** When Dark Tails nearly annihilates the fleets of both sides, both the Demons and Angels separately devote all their attention to taking him down, to the point where the Demons reactivate a galaxy-destroying superweapon just in case. And then Dark Tails achieves godhood in Episode 75 and nearly decimates the entire galaxy, they both decide to take it on together — the threshold is taken to the the point where ''Jesus Christ and Satan'' pull an EnemyMine and decide to (temporarily) help each other.
* In ''FanFic/{{Symbiosis}}'', the act of calling the Elite Four from the Pokémon League is a sign that everything has gone to hell. Team Rocket successfully {{mind rape}}s and mind controls [[PsychicPowers Sabrina]] and forces her to kill everyone in her gym and destroy Saffron City. It gets so bad that [[SoulPower Agatha]] and her massive Ghost Pokémon entourage have to be called in.
* ''FanFic/LifeAfterHayate'' mentions the [[Franchise/LyricalNanoha Time-Space Administrative Bureau's]] General Order #27: "The capture of or possession of dimensional flexure equipment by any non-Bureau person or group is unacceptable. Any normal rules of engagement may be suspended at the discretion of the guard force as necessary to prevent it falling into the hands of others." Leti Lowran stresses to the Wolkenritter that this is the one circumstance where they can do ''anything'' if they think they have to.
** Later on the story mentions the Carneades Protocol, which amends the normal rules of engagement to include the statement "any level of collateral damage necessary to complete the mission is acceptable." It is essentially the Godzilla Threshold given form: no matter how much damage you might be able to do if you put your mind to it, your failure is considered worse.

* In ''FanFic/IcedFairysANewWorld'', when faced with the imminent Lunarian invasion and everyone who could stop them burying their heads in the sand, Kanako arranges for Suwako [[spoiler:to release the ''[[AnimalisticAbomination Mishaguji]]''.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops''
** One example where viruses got into the [[Fanfic/TheMLPLoops Equestrian Loop]], creating a loop so horrifying that Sleipnir, the admin for the Equestrian Loop, personally entered the loop, rescued Twilight, fought their way into the lower levels of Hell, locked Hell from the inside, and then ''crashed the loop by causing the apocalypse''. How horrifying is something when creating further multiversal instability is better than letting it continue to exist? Also note the Sleipnir is portrayed as one of the most responsible and levelheaded of the admins.
** There was also an example of Twilight and Pinkie Pie ending up in a 1984esque version of Equestria, Twilight's response?
--->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' Pinkamena Diane Pie?\\
'''Pinkie Pie:''' Yes Twilight?\\
'''Twilight Sparkle:''' You know all those things I normally ask you not to do? '''Do them'''.
* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': When [[spoiler:the race of killer robots known as ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Necrons]]'' were taking over the galaxy and killing ''literally everything'', the Emperor of Mankind]] was desperate enough to [[spoiler:agree to a truce with the Ruinous Powers]] and let [[spoiler:Earth fall to Chaos.]] Usually he'd never, ever, consider such a scenario.
* ''FanFic/WithThisRing'':
** When Earth is falling to an alien invasion, with the Justice League and several members of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' dead, Orange Lantern gets desperate. So desperate that he wants power more than he wants to remain himself. So he summons the [[PhysicalGod Ophidian]], the Embodiment of Avarice, which [[FusionDance semi-possesses his body]] and gives him full access to its power, but makes him obsessively focused and blocks his ability to feel any emotion except avarice.
** OL later tells Martian Manhunter that that actually wasn't his last resort: he has the Grimorium Verum, a guide book for extremely powerful demons, which he would have used to summon an actual demon if the Ophidian had fallen through.
* In ''FanFic/TouhouIbunshu'', the events of ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'' and ''Imperishable Night'' are construed at this: both times, it merely served as a delaying tactic that ultimately only helped make enough time for the heroines to step in as unexpected reinforcements. In the first, [[spoiler:Flandre had begun to gather enormous amounts of energy in an effort to cast a massive spell to annihilate Gensokyo; Remilia delayed her by taking the energy and dispersing it as the scarlet mist]]. In the second, [[spoiler:Mokou attempted to use the moon as a catalyst to energize a vast undead fairy army, and Eirin used a powerful spell to hide the moon and stop time in a desperate gambit to block her]].
* ''FanFic/ThisBites'':
** For most of the story after Alabasta, Vivi fiddles with the [[SecretWeapon Sirocco-charm container]] that her father gave her whenever she is faced with a particularly terrifying enemy, as if contemplating crossing a threshold there is no going back from. [[spoiler:It contains the seed of an active Logia Devil Fruit.]]
** Cross contemplates appealing to B.R.O.B. to [[spoiler:save Merry]], but given their JerkassGod status...
*** He finally caves and makes a bargain shortly before Enies Lobby, and as it turns out, it does agree to give Cross a chance if he puts on a good enough show. And if he doesn't, it will still consent to [[spoiler:saving Merry]]... if Cross considers [[GenderBender the Ivankov treatment]]. [[BrainBleach No one objects when Cross refuses,]] although when it comes to the very last minute, Cross shows that he would be willing to go that far if there were no other choice.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11715396/16/Mater-Familias Mater Familias]]'' [[Franchise/DragonBall Bulma]], trapped in the Capsule Corporation by a hacked Android 16 with Imperfect Cell and Gero coming there, decides to do something she admits was insane or truly desperate: [[spoiler:add cell samples from Android 17 and 18 to the still coccoonized Present Cell]], hoping that, having been recovered before Gero's machine could properly brainwash him, he'll help. It works, partly [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe because he's actually grateful for that]] and partly because Cell manages to disgust him.
* ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'': After the NearVillainVictory of Operation Steel Lighting, Captain Black organizes an emergency Plan B to be used in case Jade is ever on the verge of utterly defeating the heroes again. When this happens during [[FinalBattle Operation Endgame]], the plan is triggered, revealed to be [[spoiler: reanimating the statue of Lo Pei and unleashing him]]. [[LampshadeHanging Tellingly]], one of the codes needed to put this plan into action actually is "Godzilla".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6911792/1/The-Science-is-Not-Impossible The Science is Not Impossible]]", when Megamind accidentally travels to an alternate timeline where he and Metroman basically had each other's childhoods, he reveals that he actually did have a plan that could have legitimately killed Metroman that he never bothered to use back home because he freely conceds that he never ''seriously'' wanted his foe dead; [[spoiler:lure Metroman into space and then trap him in a black hole]].
* In ''[[https://trekfanfiction.net/kennethalowenberg/star-trek-the-five-enterprises/ The Five Enterprises]]'', Q of all people is pushed to this point after some initially-unknown force attacks the Q Continuum, neutralises every other Q, and then erases Earth from history. With only a microsecond to act as the other Q transfer all their power to him, Q focused all of his thoughts on 'Enterprise', which results in him preserving Deep Space 9 (the last place he visited in the corporeal world before the attack) and all five of the existing Federation ships named ''Enterprise'', from Captain Christopher Pike in the original to Captain Picard's ''Enterprise''-D, as the only hope to restore the timeline.
* ''FanFic/TriptychContinuum: A Mark Of Appeal'': The Princesses' worst-case contingency scenario: In the event they are both infected with red-tinge, and it manifests in a way that will cause them to destroy themselves or the world, they plan to ''deliberately release'' Discord and plunge the world back into chaos... [[EvilVersusOblivion because even chaos is better than total death]].
* ''Fanfic/{{Persephone}}'': Hiccup tells Stoick that his mother's alive out of desperation that Stoick will at least spare Astrid and the dragons and hopefully change his mind about the Red Death.
* ''Fanfic/TheInstituteSaga'' has the Omega Protocols, by which the different superhero teams request the support of every supervillain, to fight off a threat to the entire world. ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'s arrival to Earth's orbit prompts Franchise/{{Superman}} to make the call.

** In ''Counterpart Conferences'', it is revealed that the Batman of Earth-1992 has been searching the multiverse to find the missing Joker and Ra’s al Ghul, having correctly deduced that they have travelled to a different Earth. While he and Alfred each agreed that Batman can’t interfere in the other Earths he witnesses, they make an exception when they witness the Batman of Earth-99, who has not only killed his enemies but gone so far as to kill Superman because he was concerned about what the Man of Steel might do, Batman and Alfred agreeing that version of Bruce Wayne has to be stopped.
* ''Fanfic/BequeathedFromPaleEstates'': After seeing Joffrey's madness firsthand, Lyarra is so distressed at the idea of her father still going through the ArrangedMarriage between him and her younger sister Sansa (he actually wasn't planning to, but she didn't know that) that she writes a letter to ''Catelyn Stark'', begging her not to let it happen. Catelyn, after verifying the story, writes back, vehemently agreeing with her and with Ned when he tells her he's not accepting the betrothal.

* ''Fanfic/{{SAPR}}'': With no time or possibility of reinforcements, Pyrrha and Jaune [[spoiler:release the supposedly-repentant Cinder from stasis to help them stop the corrupted Amber from taking the Relic of Choice]].
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11265467/1/Petrification-Proliferation Petrification Proliferation]]'': upon learning that [[Franchise/HarryPotter Slytherin's monster]] was a basilisk, Dumbledore ''shuts down Hogwarts'' for the remainder of the term, evaquates the students and informs the DMLE, who promptly recalls every Auror and Hit Wizard aside the bare minimum patrol from Azkaban to inspect the school for nests and eggs. This is because, for the quite small population of the Wizarding World, a single basilisk is effectively the equivalent of a ''nuke'', and had the beast managed to kill the students before being slain the effect would have been worse for them than the nuking of London would be for the Muggle United Kingdom-hence it being illegal to ''not'' report a basilisk sighting and the British Ministry mobilizing everything they had to make sure there weren't any more at Hogwarts.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Spellbound}}'', when the Unseelie Court [[spoiler: kidnaps Marinette]], Adrien asks Plagg to activate "Plan Z": pouring enough magic into Adrien to let him fight a Court chief, but at the cost of permanently changing his body and making him too inhuman to ever wield a Miraculous again.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/HereThereBeMonsters'', two old, giant-sized enemies of Captain Marvel, Mister Atom and Red Crusher, are rampaging through America after crushing the combined power of Canadian and USA land forces. The President sends the Air Force out, but he is painfully aware that if an aerial bombardment does not work, and the Marvel Family fails to appear, he might have to drop a nuke.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13642067/1/Justice-League-Rebellion Justice League Rebellion]]'', with the Seven Deadly Sins running rampant throughout Tokyo (with one of them taking Kallen's mother as a host and another taking Lelouch) and learning that the Wizard had passed on, Kallen/Queen Shazam and Doctor Fate are forced to summon the one person that knows the most about the Sins: the previous wielder of the Power of Shazam, Black Adam, who was banished by the wizard for using his power to slaughter his previous opppressors.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'', once Anna realises that [[spoiler:the dam]] is the cause of all their problems, she goes to [[spoiler:wake up the stone giants to trick them into destroying it]].

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Riddick in ''Film/PitchBlack'' when the survivers of the crashed spaceship managed to capture him, but then releases him due to the alien fauna.

** In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Comicbook/{{Batman}} justifies stealing Comicbook/LexLuthor's Kryptonite by pointng out Superman "has the power to wipe out the entire human race," making his existence too great a risk.

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' the alien Nemesites' Godzilla Threshhold is any threat big enough to warrant creating a "Butterfly of Iron," a sort of artificial EnergyBeing that they can just barely control, with the power to destroy entire star systems. Galatea [[DontTouchItYouIdiot goes ahead and creates one]] as soon as she hears about it, thinking it will jumpstart TheSingularity. [[HilarityEnsues It doesn't.]]

** Team CFVY has one in Velvet Scarlatina, who Team Leader Coco Adel had been keeping in reserve as her team’s secret weapon. Velvet’s true capabilities were revealed in the Battle of Beacon, where she does battle with two mechs that only one of which gave the entire Team RWBY a hard time, as nothing else that anyone else could throw at them did any damage. Her true capabilities? She is able to copy the weapons and movements of any character that she has taken a picture of with her camera, making her a completely adaptable weapons master.

** In Volume 5, [[spoiler:Raven Branwen]] has been hiding her identity as the Spring Maiden for years. It’s only when, during the Battle of Haven, that her ‘ally’ Cinder Fall, the Fall Maiden, betrays her and attacks [[spoiler:Raven’s decoy, Vernal,]] in order to steal the powers for herself that [[spoiler:Raven]] crosses this threshold, reveals her true abilities, and fights Cinder for the fate of Haven. [[spoiler:Thankfully, Raven wins, due to a last minute diversion from Vernal.]]

*** When Salem realizes that Ozpin has already reincarnated, found Qrow, and is on his way with the last Silver Eyed Warrior and her allies in tow to get the Relic of Knowledge to a safe place in Atlas and reunite with General Ironwood to devise a new plan to reunite humanity against her, Salem decides to step out from the shadows after all these years, raise a Grimm army, and storm Atlas to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
*** When Cinder fights [[spoiler:Neo]], she avoids using her Maiden powers so that she would not be recognized, as she was still a wanted terrorist after her attacks on Beacon and Haven. It’s only when Cinder recognizes that she cannot defeat [[spoiler:Neo]] without them that she displays them to force her to stand down.
*** Deconstructed when Caroline Cordovin decides to use a giant mech, designed for fighting giant Grimm, [[DisproportionateRetribution against six kids, a Huntsman, and an old lady]] with the full intent of killing them to get a message across to the city of Argus, which did nothing wrong against her, all because they tried to sneak to Atlas behind her back. Plus, it backfires so horribly that said kids, Huntsman, and old lady are forced to incapacitate the mech, rendering it useless against a giant Grimm that does show up, attracted to the negativity from the city of Argus generated by the people in response to Cordovin’s extreme methods.
*** Played straight twice soon after, when Ruby is forced to use her Silver Eyes against the Leviathan, as nothing else will work on it. When the she realizes she can’t activate her eyes in time, Ruby actually uses the Relic of Knowledge to freeze time so that she can activate her Silver Eyes in time.

*** Ironwood crosses several more in Episode 11, Gravity. When he realizes that [[spoiler:Cinder]] has infiltrated Atlas Academy, and that Salem as been able to silently sneak up on Atlas with a large army of Grimm, Ironwood crosses the ultimate threshold and decides to lock the Relics of Creation and Knowledge in the Atlas Vault, and use the former to lift Atlas into the atmosphere instead of the Amity Communications Tower in order to keep the Relics safe from the her reach, despite the fact that this would leave the many people that haven’t been evacuated from Mantle to die, not to mention that he decides to send Winter to claim the Winter Maiden powers from Fria, knowing that this will end the elderly woman’s life early, in order to hasten the transition. To top it off, when [[spoiler:Team RWBY]] won’t go along with this, he crosses another threshold and orders his men to arrest them and their allies. This ends up being Deconstructed and Exploited when it backfires horribly, as it weakens his forces even further, costs him the allegiance of [[spoiler:Robyn, Pietro, and Penny, who became the Winter Maiden as a result of Cinder’s attack]], only arrested one of the nine people he wanted to arrest in the first place, and proved only to play right into Salem’s hands anyway.
*** When [[spoiler:Cinder]] is able to hold off Winter and Penny long enough to create an opening for her to steal the Winter Maiden Powers, the current Winter Maiden, Fria, activates her powers once more to fend off [[spoiler:Cinder]], despite being old, frail, and on the verge of death even without [[spoiler:Ironwood’s or Cinder’s]] attempts to end her life prematurely.

** "SCP" semi-officially, by way of motto, stands for "Secure, Contain, Protect". The former two words refer to securing and containing anomalous entities, and "protect" refers to protecting the ''general populace''. Since securing and containing [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-682 SCP-682]], a powerful and hard-to-destroy reptile hellbent on destroying everything and everyone it sees, has proven to be a total crapshoot, the Foundation wants to ''destroy it'' instead of keeping it in containtment, as its existence is a mortal threat to anyone it sees.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': Episode 13; early in the episode, a Nisse warns Hilda against trying to enter the [[PocketDimension nowhere space]] of the outside world, since it’s so big one could easily get lost in it forever or end up anywhere in the world at random. In the climax, Tontu and Jellybean’s owner see no other option than to let the car they’re in (and [[CanisMajor Jellybean]] is on) enter this nowhere space, since it’s out of control so the only alternative is crashing into the town wall and either die or get caught. While Hilda, Johanna and Tontu are lucky and emerge seconds later on the other side of the wall, Jellybean and his owner disappear into the void. At the end of the episode, we see they’re fine and ended up in the wilderness near Hilda’s old house. But the protagonists don’t find out, at least not this season.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HotWheelsBattleForce5'', [[BigGood Sage]] was forced to freeze the entire Red Sentient race to stop her EvilTwin brother Krytus from leading them on a multiversal conquest. When Krytus and her have their final confrontation, she tells him she did it because he was a threat to not only her entire race but the multiverse and she had to. Krytus' response? "You were right!" It says a lot when the guy she used it on is well aware that she was justifed for doing so and doesn't care.

There is wisdom in facing a threat with a proportionate response. Sure, ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill, but it will likely cause a lot of [[DestructiveSaviour avoidable collateral damage]], ''and'' it'll guarantee that tomorrow [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil the next threat is stronger]]. But every so often, the time comes when [[OutsideContextProblem the threat is so great]], the situation has [[GoneHorriblyWrong gone so horribly wrong]], that there is ''no'' proportionate response. When circumstances are so dire as to justify the use of any and every thing that might solve it, no matter how reckless, nonsensical, or horrific, regardless of cost. When even the [[SummonBiggerFish summoning]] of Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, king of the monsters and patron saint of collateral damage, could not possibly make the crisis any worse. Every so often, the situation crosses the Godzilla Threshold.

There is wisdom in facing a threat with a proportionate response. Sure, ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill, but it'll likely cause a lot of [[DestructiveSaviour avoidable collateral damage]], ''and'' it'll guarantee that tomorrow [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil the next threat is stronger]]. But every so often, the time comes when [[OutsideContextProblem the threat is so great]], the situation has [[GoneHorriblyWrong gone so horribly wrong]], that there is ''no'' proportionate response. When circumstances are so dire as to justify the use of any and every thing that might solve it, no matter how reckless, nonsensical, or horrific, regardless of cost. When even the [[SummonBiggerFish summoning]] of Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, king of the monsters and patron saint of collateral damage, could not possibly make the crisis any worse. Every so often, the situation crosses the Godzilla Threshold.

Named for the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films of the late 1980s and 1990s, in which Godzilla was again the distructive side of nature personified, if not outright evil (in contrast to his heroic characterizations during the '60s and '70s), but people were still ''happy'' to see him because he was usually fighting something ''far worse'' and he was the only thing that stood a hope in hell of defeating it.

* [=Jrose11=] has made his [=YouTube=] career in doing [[SelfImposedChallenges the most ridiculous challenges]] in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, including {{Solo Character Run}}s with [[JokeCharacter exceedingly weak Pokemon]], beating the games with [[LowLevelRun the absolute minimum number of battles]], and even [[NoDamageRun a run where he took no damage at all]][[note]]though SaveScumming was allowed with that run, unlike with other people who did the same[[/note]] so when he discovered a video asking [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07yzTiND30U if it was even possible to beat the notoriously glitchy Generation I without ever encountering a single glitch]], he preemptively ''refused'', because if he didn't, people would demand it of him, which just shows how ''difficult'', nay, impossible, such a challenge would be.

* {{Discussed}} in ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown''. The Sapphire Dragon is the most dangerous of all Shen Gong Wu because it cannot be controlled; after use, it will transform the user's enemies into a sapphire statue... and then turn the user's friends into statues, and then the user, and will keep going until it has [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt done the same to everyone on Earth]]. Dojo says that it "is only to be used as an absolute last resort."

* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', the main characters' plan is to erase themselves and everyone else from existence, because in the new future they would be different people with different experiences and no memory of the originals. Everybody understands it, yet they go through with it without question anyway.

* In ''{{Literature/Touch}}'', we are presented with a monster so far left nameless, which was so powerful that it convinced every global government to work together with one another in order to try and kill it. [[spoiler: they still fail.]]

** In [[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins the sequel]], problems with FasterThanLightTravel cause a [[spoiler:Force-sensitive Siren]] to believe the line has been crossed because [[NegativeSpaceWedgie trans-dimensional gateways]] will let in an AlienInvasion so terrible that [[WellIntentionedExtremist killing everyone]] is justified to stop the use of these dangerous drives. When the invasion is revealed to be [[spoiler:the Flood]], who proceeds to conquer ''two-and-a-half galaxies'', some of the heroes wonder if [[TheExtremistWasRight the crazy killer might have a point]] once [[spoiler:Cortana]] insists the only way to stop the invasion is to [[spoiler:starve it to death by eliminating all sapient life]].

*** Ironwood crosses several more in Episode 11, Gravity. When he realizes that [[spoiler:Cinder]] has infiltrated Atlas Academy, and that Salem as been able to silently sneak up on Atlas with a large army of Grimm, Ironwood crosses the ultimate threshold and decides to lock the Relics of Creation and Knowledge in the Atlas Vault, and use the former to lift Atlas into the atmosphere instead of the Amity Communications Tower in order to keep the Relics safe from the her reach, despite the fact that this would leave the many people that haven’t been evacuated from Mantle to die, not to mention that he decides to send Winter to claim [[the Winter Maiden powers]] from Fria, knowing that this will end the elderly woman’s life early, in order to hasten the transition. To top it off, when [[spoiler:Team RWBY]] won’t go along with this, he crosses another threshold and orders his men to arrest them and their allies. This ends up being Deconstructed and Exploited when it backfires horribly, as it weakens his forces even further, costs him the allegiance of [[spoiler:Robyn, Pietro, and Penny, who became the Winter Maiden as a result of Cinder’s attack]], only arrested one of the nine people he wanted to arrest in the first place, and proved only to play right into Salem’s hands anyway.
*** When [[spoiler:Cinder]] is able to hold off Winter and Penny long enough to create an opening for her to steal the Winter Maiden Powers, the current Winter Maiden, Fria, activates her powers once more to fend off [[spoiler:Cinder]], despite being old, frail, and on the verge of death even without [[spoiler:Ironwood’s or Cinder’s]] attempts to end it prematurely.

* In the ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11904468/1/An-Interdimensional-Meet An Interdimensional Meet]]'', when the Flash, Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter are forced to fight Doomsday (here the mutated body of Jeremiah Danvers), the Flash initially tries to stop Doomsday by [[spoiler:vibrating and trapping him inside a hill, and when that fails, Supergirl takes Doomsday into orbit and throws him into deep space, hoping that his inability to fly will ensure that Doomsday can't come back]].

Situations of this nature include the WillfullyWeak character giving the WorldOfCardboardSpeech and turning the PowerLimiter off, using the ForbiddenChekhovsGun, [[LethalHarmlessPowers using lethal powers]], turning to the NuclearOption, or casting SummonBiggerFish. After all, ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure. When begged, the AllPowerfulBystander may even be willing to lend a hand. In video games, this is the time to use items that are TooAwesomeToUse.

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* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' plays this for laughs: the giant alien machine is unstoppable, so they release their monsters - a RagTagBunchOfMisfits.

* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'', the {{Trope Namer|s}}:
** Perhaps the best example comes from the original ''Film/{{Gojira}}'' itself, where the Japanese government decides to deploy Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer in Tokyo Bay to kill the monster. The Oxygen Destroyer also kills all other marine life in the bay, but the government considers this an acceptable loss in exchange for killing a monster that's just devastated the city. [[TheProfessor Serizawa]] himself is reluctant to even let anyone know about the Oxygen Destroyer's existence, even while Godzilla's rampaging, because he's afraid of how horrible a weapon it might be. He crosses his own threshold after a montage of the destruction the monster caused shows him what's at stake -- and even then he [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup takes steps to ensure his creation can't be misused]]. The [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956 1956 English dub]] has a memorable summary of his dilemma:
--->'''Dr. Serizawa:''' And what will become of us if a weapon such as that I now have, falls into the wrong hands?\\
'''Ogata:''' Then you have a responsibility no man has ever faced. You have your fear, which might become reality, and then you have Godzilla, which is reality.
** 1966's ''[[Film/EbirahHorrorOfTheDeep Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster]]'' provides a rare Showa example for the trope namer. The main characters, stuck on an island with their exit barred by a secret terrorist cell, opt to awaken a sleeping Godzilla when their escape attempts fail. Predictably, with the big guy awake and angry, [[CurbStompBattle the terrorists don't last much longer.]]
** ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' reaches the literal Godzilla Threshold about halfway through. Civilization is in ruins and the alien monsters are running rampant, so how could one more make things worse? [[SummonBiggerFish Godzilla turns out to be fiercely territorial when near other monsters...]]
** In ''Film/GodzillaVsKingGhidorah'', King Ghidorah causes Japan to reach this Threshold. They bring back Godzilla [[spoiler:(or so they thought)]] and juice him with radiation. Of course, [[spoiler:after King G is defeated, he starts rampaging too]], but if you think about it, the situation didn't really get any worse. At which point they [[spoiler:bring King Ghidorah back to fight Godzilla]], which oddly enough actually works.
** ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'':
*** Invoked. Serizawa suggests that the only thing that can stop the [=MUTO=]s is the legendary Godzilla, and that the US military should just get out of his way.
*** Admiral Stenz believes that utilizing nuclear weapons is the least costly way of dealing with the [=MUTO=]. He's aware that they feed off of radiation, but believes the sheer strength of the explosion will be enough to kill them, noting that, while the H-Bomb didn't kill Godzilla in 1954, it's a firecracker in comparison to what is at their disposal six decades later.
** In ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', the UN decides to try and drop [[spoiler:a thermonuclear bomb on Godzilla to try and kill him after he decimates several cities and kills most of Japan's higher government (including the Prime Minister), and attempts to eliminate him through conventional means have just made the situation worse, despite the fact he is currently standing in the heart of Tokyo]].
** In ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'' the US Navy, terrified by Mothra, King Ghidorah and Rodan being woken up in quick succession and Ghidorah being a match for Godzilla, decides to [[spoiler:drop the Oxygen Destroyer on the fight between Godzilla and Ghidorah]]. And when that backfires horribly and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero leaves Ghidorah in control of all kaiju except Mothra and Kong]], Monarch sends a submarine to [[spoiler:deploy a nuclear weapon near Godzilla to help him healing]], as while Godzilla may cause damage he won't try and bring TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt as Ghidorah is doing right now.

* The teenagers in ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' wanted Jason, the guy that killed 20 of their friends, to win the fight against Freddy-- if only because Jason would go back home, since he has no other reason to be in Elm Street. These kids also save Jason from drowning in a dream. [[UngratefulBastard He kills the black girl later]].
* In ''Film/SadakoVsKayako'', the two main characters are cursed by their respective ghosts. Yuri is cursed by Sadako and Suzuka is cursed by Kayako. Keizo, a psychic they know, decides the best way to permanently get rid of both curses is to pit them against each other by double cursing both with the other's curse.
* In the first ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' film, when the Deceptions are closing in on the Allspark, the preferred military solution is to hide the Allspark in the middle of a city - where the Decepticons will have trouble getting to it until large-scale military assistance could be attained and keep them busy while the Allspark was moved to another location.
* ''Film/IndependenceDay'':
** The revelation that the aliens' only interest is the complete and total destruction of Earth serves as the Godzilla Threshold moment that convinces the president to [[NuclearOption authorize use of nuclear weapons]] against the invaders. [[spoiler:Naturally, it doesn't work on the intended target, though it completely destroys the (admittedly already doomed) city of Houston below.]]
** Played for laughs when Jeff Goldblum drunkenly decides to trash the lab saying if we screw up this planet enough they won't want it anymore as they are there for its resources.
* Early on in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'', Egon goes into some detail as to how important it is to never [[ForbiddenChekhovsGun cross the streams]] fired by their weapons. There is apparently a very good chance of "total protonic reversal," which would result in an EarthShatteringKaboom. Once [[EldritchAbomination Gozer]] manifests (as a 100 foot marshmallow man) and tramples downtown New York as a warm-up to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, the team decides to do it anyway. The protonic reversal goes off, alright... but inside Gozer's little pocket of ''its'' universe.
** Crossing the streams is used a few more times in the [[VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame video game]] and [[ComicBook/{{Ghostbusters}} comic book]] continuities, although each time it was used successfully, there were usually extenuating circumstances involved, such as being inside of (or at least firing into) another dimension where the laws of physics work differently. In the IDW comic book series, ''NINE'' streams were crossed when fighting Tiamat in her home dimension. Later on however, the idea was rejected when fighting the Megaspook, since they were still in New York City and this time they didn't have an extradimensional portal to skew the odds.
* ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'': The Hammerdown protocol. Though not explained in the movie, it appears to involve either nuking Manhattan or "merely" dropping multiple superheavy conventional bombs on it. To quote the radio operator, "If you can hear the [air raid] sirens, you're inside the blast zone."
* The climax of ''Film/GalaxyQuest''--The BigBad has killed or fatally wounded everyone on the ship and the ship is hurtling towards Earth and will probably cause a mass extinction on impact[[note]]Traveling at the better part of lightspeed, the ship would carry the energy of a whole bunch of nuclear wars.[[/note]]. Jason gives the order to activate the secret superweapon, the Omega 13. The problem is, nobody knows what the Omega 13 actually does, since the ''Galaxy Quest'' TV show was cancelled before it properly appeared. The two common EpilepticTrees are that it either [[spoiler:destroyed all matter in the universe in 13 seconds, or created a 13 second time-warp to the past]]. Fortunately for everyone involved, it's the latter.
* In ''Film/TheCore'', the heroes reach the outer core of the Earth and discover that the nuclear weapons they've brought along won't be enough to restart it. In response, the general decides to fire up Project DESTINI to restart the core -- which was the very thing that had stopped the core in the first place. The predicted devastation to the Earth's surface would be almost as bad as the lack of a geomagnetic field they were trying to fix.

* The science facility in ''Film/TheAndromedaStrain'' is set up to nuke itself if anything gets past the containment seals. [[spoiler: The scientists later learn that the energy would only fuel the strain's reproduction, wiping out life on Earth in short order.]]
* ''Film/Tremors2Aftershocks'': Earl is completely surrounded by Shriekers and is standing in the back of Burt's truck. His response: Set a timed explosive to go off and toss it down in the truck. That's 2.5 tons of Burt Gummer approved high explosives, parked in an oil refinery.
-->'''Burt''': ''(panics)'' That's two and half tons of high explosives Earl!\\
'''Earl''': ''(worried)'' Are you saying that's not enough?! God, Burt! Don't tell me that's not enough!\\
'''Burt''': Not enough?! It's... Never mind! Just run... FASTER!!!
* ''Film/Tremors3BackToPerfection'' has this when Burt blows up his entire bunker to kill a single Ass Blaster after it gets too close to his [=MRE=]s (as he thinks, like the Shriekers, it will vastly multiply when it eats enough food), [[RuleOfFunny only to learn that they go into a coma when they eat too much]], meaning it [[AllForNothing would have incapacitated itself]] from eating his [=MRE=]s anyway.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', General Ross's failure to capture the Hulk forces him to give Emil Blonsky a performance-enhancing serum. Once Blonsky becomes the similarly powerful Abomination and ends up terrorizing Harlem, Ross is forced to free the Hulk so the soldier will be stopped.
** ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' reveals that Nick Fury's idea to assemble a DysfunctionJunction of {{super|hero}}powered loose cannons is SHIELD's ''backup plan'', behind using AppliedPhlebotinum to build a WeaponOfMassDestruction and later nuking New York. The weapons in particular are called out as a bad idea, since they ''could'' potentially defeat Loki and his army...but they would also signal to the rest of the universe that humanity is ready for a higher level of warfare (which they absolutely ''are not''). This trope is also directly referenced at the start of the final battle:
--->'''Banner:''' So, this all seems... horrible.\\
'''Natasha:''' I've seen worse. ''[referring to Bruce's last HulkOut]''\\
'''Banner:''' Sorry.\\
'''Natasha:''' No, we could... use a little worse.
** Judging by JARVIS' tone (the DeadpanSnarker AI), the "House Party protocol" in ''Film/IronMan3'' is too dangerous to use. [[spoiler:Tony uses it at the climax to summon thirty suits to imprecisely fire on the villains.]]
** In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', the Threshold is the Dark Elves threatening the entire universe, and Godzilla is Loki himself. He is ''fully'' aware of the irony.
** Echoing the first film, ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has the Hulk being brought out in battle a general crossing of the threshold; referred to as "Code Green." Ultron is then able to exploit this by forcing his hand in the battles of South Africa and the final battle in Sokovia. The former even has Iron Man's own threshold, the Hulkbuster armor - [[KryptoniteRing which Banner himself helped develop]].
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', [[spoiler:Ant-Man becomes Giant-Man, knowing that the power could kill him]], in order to allow Cap and Bucky to escape and find out who was responsible for framing Bucky. [[spoiler:''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' has this again, only UpToEleven: Ant-Man becomes absolutely huge to prevent the bad guy from running away with Dr. Pym's shrunk laboratory, a size so big it eventually makes him pass out.]]
** Discussed in ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', time magic is forbidden for being too destructive. [[spoiler:Strange ends up resorting to time magic when he fails to stop Dormammu from being let into their universe and forces Dormammu to leave Earth with time magic. As the dust settles, Mordo ''quits'' over these actions, believing that the sorcerers are doing the wrong thing.]]
** ''Film/ThorRagnarok'': Asgard is prophesied to be destroyed by Surtur the fire giant, when his crown unites with the Eternal Flame and initiates Ragnarok. The opening scene of the movie has Thor making sure this won't happen by defeating Surtur and storing away his crown in Asgard's vaults. [[spoiler:When Hela the Goddess of Death conquers Asgard, and intends to use it to conquer all the rest of the galaxy, Thor and company's efforts to defeat her conventionally fail because she draws her power from Asgard itself. The only solution? Summoning Surtur to bring about Ragnarok and so destroy Asgard and Hela with it.]]
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Averted. While the Avengers know that Thanos is a great enough threat that they all have to band together to have a chance at even stopping him, the Government (especially Ross) doesn't care. As soon as the fugitive Avengers show up to help, Ross immediately orders their arrest. [[spoiler:Played straight when it turns out Fury has ''another'' threshold. There's some kind of global threat even the Avengers can't stop which causes random people to vanish into thin air? Time to page Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}. (a tie-in comic to her movie shows Fury begun carrying the pager once the Threshold he helped build [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar broke up due in-fighting]], which made crossing another emergency line more feasible)]]
** ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'': At first, Yon-Rogg tries to keep the Accusers and their [[NukeEm sledgehammer approach]] away from Earth. After [[spoiler:realizing that Carol is recovering her memories of her life on Earth and is going to figure out the truth, he calls for Ronan]].
** ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' is all about this trope.
*** [[spoiler:The Avengers are willing to use TimeTravel in order to find and retrieve the Infinity Stones despite possible damage to the timestream, Tony creates a backup plan in case they had to deal with someone else trying to get the Stones, etc.]]
*** [[spoiler: The revived Spider-Man, who hates the idea of trying to even kill people, activates the Iron Spider's "Instant Kill" mode.]]
*** [[spoiler: '''Thanos''' gets forced into this twice during the final battle; the first being when Scarlet Witch beats him down. His response is to call down a massive aerial bombardment from his ship overhead, (which HE and his troops will also get caught up in). The second is when he realizes cannot overpower Captain Marvel in a straight up fight, whereupon he uses the unconfined Power Stone, (likely the most volatile stone, that has vaporized the user when not handled carefully) with his bare hand to knock her away.]]
*** [[spoiler: Actually, it's more like three times for Thanos. After he calls for a salvo from his flagship, the heroes struggle to find shelter, until they realize that the guns have suddenly stopped. Cut to every single one of the guns turning away from the battle, and beginning to fire into the sky, as something enters the atmosphere at high speeds. Since said something is [[StoryBreakerPower CAPTAIN FREAKING MARVEL]], this is very much justified.]]
* In ''Dirty War'', DS Drummer, an otherwise good man who genuinely desires to understand the people he is investigating, [[spoiler:[[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique tortures]] a suspect after a dirty bomb is detonated in London. The movie also underlines the uselessness of this strategy as it is documents found in the house, not [[TortureAlwaysWorks torture]], which leads to the clues that prevent further attacks.]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' films:
** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'': The ''Enterprise'' crew finds out through [[spoiler:Lt. Valeris]] that there's a conspiracy between members of the Federation and the Klingon Empire to disrupt peace talks between their leaders. When [[spoiler:Valeris]] refuses to share the names of all the co-conspirators, [[MindRape Spock forcibly mind-melds to get them]]. It's clear from [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Spock's reaction]] that he didn't want to do this.
** Future Spock from ''Film/StarTrek2009'' reveals information about the future to Kirk and a transwarp formula from a century later because he considered stopping Nero's genocidal campaign to be more important than keeping the time-space continuum stable (and Nero's actions had already irreparably damaged the timeline anyway).
** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'':
*** Spock Prime has a vow to never reveal anything of his timeline. He considers Khan enough of a threat to break his vow in order to warn the ''Enterprise''.
*** The ''Vengeance'' so outclasses the ''Enterprise'' that unleashing the superhuman ex-EvilOverlord on it is actually the best option Kirk and co. can come up with.

* ''Film/PacificRim'':
** Most of the [[HumongousMecha Jaeger]] battles take place in the water, well away from the city that is currently being targeted by a {{Kaiju}}. The 10 miles out line is referred to as the "miracle mile" and mostly they try to intercept the kaiju before it crosses the line. Fighting in the city is usually only a last resort because of the massive collateral damage, but considering the alternative it's unlikely that people will complain.
** If you pay attention during Mutavore's attack on Sydney and happen to have a map handy, you'll notice that a big chunk of the city would be on the ''Kaiju'' side of the wall. The tie-in comics reveal that that's because [[NukeEm they had to nuke the heck out of that area]] to fend off the first Kaiju attack on Sydney. Not all of the civilians were able to evacuate beforehand.
* In ''Film/BattleLosAngeles'', the military decides to deal with the aliens by evacuating the civilians then bombing the coastal cities being invaded. The aliens thwart this.
* Defied in ''Film/MenInBlack''. The bug impersonating Edgar is getting close to stealing the Arquillian galaxy, so when Agent J sees him, he tries to shoot in broad view of dozens of New Yorkers with his fancy ray gun, earning K's fury.
-->'''Agent J:''' Hey, we ain't got time for this cover-up bullshit! Maybe you've forgotten, but there's an Arquillian battle cruiser-\\
'''Agent K:''' There's ''[[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed always]]'' an Arquillian battle cruiser, or a Corillian DeathRay, or an intergalactic plague that's about to wipe out life on this miserable little planet. The only way these people get on with their happy lives is they [[PunctuatedForEmphasis do. Not. Know about it]]!
** The real threshold is with the Arquillians, who think a Bug in control of a Galaxy is enough of a threat to destroy the planet both are on, even if most of the inhabitants of said planet have no clue they're about to die.
* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', the main characters' plan is to erase themselves and everyone else from existence, because in the new future they would be different people with different experiences and no memory of the originals. Everybody understands it, yet they go through with it without question anyway.
* In ''Film/{{Evolution}}'', the military plans to destroy the alien lifeforms with "tons and tons of napalm". One of the general's subordinates hints that a nuke may be a better option. It's specifically mentioned that, if the alien lifeforms aren't stopped, they will take over the planet in a matter of months, driving Terrestrial lifeforms to extinction. Of course, [[spoiler:as the heroes find out by accident, fire ''speeds up'' the HollywoodEvolution process.]]

* In ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', [[spoiler:after Marty and Dana find the research facility, they get cornered by the armed security in a control room. The only answer they find is to open the cages and release all the monsters in them, which quickly start slaughtering every person on sight.]] The entire movie is clear about being built around this trope, almost from the beginning. As an exploration of how horror/slasher tropes make sense, the BIGGER threat is the Cthulhoid apocalypse that the trope invocations are attempting to avert. Even if that means utilizing the placeholder-villains of the genre to do so.

* In ''Film/Deadpool2'', [[spoiler:Russell]] gets angry enough about being trapped in the Icebox ExtranormalPrison that he unleashes [[spoiler:The Juggernaut]], which immediately prompts Cable to join forces with Deadpool in an EnemyMine team-up.
* In ''Film/Hellboy2019'', Daimio is repeatedly shown fighting off his transformation into his were-jaguar form by jamming a syringe into his leg. When he sees an empowered Gruagach beating the living shit out of Hellboy, he's visibly torn but eventually tosses the syringe and embraces his inner beast to save Hellboy's life.

* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''
** None of the others taking the tests on the 20th floor with Jue Viole Grace wanted to deal with him. To them, he was a villain, the most dangerous enemy. [[spoiler: But when Lurker brutally murders Wangnan's friend Nia, Wangnan goes and practically begs Viole on his hands and knees to stop Lurker.]]
** The beginning of the Hell Train arc was all about preventing Hoaqin from gaining his full powers, because he was extremely evil and dangerous and out to kill the protagonist, and his fully powered form would be completely overwhelmingly powerful compared to the heroes. By the time Hwaryun finds out what's waiting for the characters at the final station, though [[spoiler: (specifically, the king's army, complete with many warships and superpowered individuals, out to kill everyone on the train)]], she makes a deal with him to give him the missing piece of his powers in return for his help at the station.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
** By Act 5, ''all'' the kids' plans to deal with how screwed up their Sburb session are potentially suicidal. By the end of the Act, the plan they go with is [[spoiler:all of them]].
** Much later, some characters feel that sending dozens, perhaps hundreds of other ghosts to certain [[DeaderThanDead doom]] is an acceptable price to pay for access to a means to kill the [[OmnicidalManiac universe destroying Lord English]].

* ''WebComic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja''
** The version of the White House in Dr. [=McNinja's=] world has a defensive system that sends intruders into the [[DarkWorld Negazone]]. When Dr. [=McNinja=] has to infiltrate the White House in "Bad Enough Dude", and is faced with a lot of guns pointed at him and about to fire, he activates the system so that it affects himself.
** In "The End: Part 1", when King Radical is minutes away from accomplishing his goal of [[spoiler: wiping out most of the Earth's population in order to save the Radical Lands from destruction]], Dr. [=McNinja=] crosses two thresholds in quick succession.
*** First, he summons [[spoiler: [[FluffyTheTerrible Sparklelord]], a powerful, near omnicidal unicorn who's so twisted and evil that [=McNinja=] previously decided to [[SealedEvilInACan trap him in a time vortex]] rather than teaming up with him against Radical.]]
*** [[spoiler: Then, in order to secure Sparklelord's aid, he tells him his first name (which had been erased from reality to form a pact), releasing an evil ghost wizard who proceeds to lay a curse on him. This does work, but at the cost of making Dr. [=McNinja=] Public Enemy #1, and convincing all of his greatest enemies to unite against him in one last, spiteful stand.]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' the alien Nemesites' Godzilla Threshhold is any threat big enough to warrant creating a "Butterfly of Iron," a sort of artificial EnergyBeing that they can just barely control, with the power to destroy entire star systems. Galatea [[DontTouchItYouIdiot goes ahead and creates one]] as soon as she hears about it, thinking it will jumpstart TheSingularity. [[HilarityEnsues It doesn't.]]

* This is how ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' regards [[EvilIsNotAToy convincing]] [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] to become [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan Dr.]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Insano]].
* The Director of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' ''creates'' Godzillas just so he can be ready for this:
--> '''Director''': When faced with extinction, ''every'' alternative is preferable!

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':
** With most of the team imprisoned by the powerful Black Beetle, Roy Harper releases the GalacticConqueror Mongul from his cell first, allowing Roy to free the rest of the team while Mongul and Black Beetle fight.
** Anyone who puts on the helmet of Dr. Fate gains incredible magic power, but runs the risk of having their body stolen permanently by the Lord of Order, Nabu, who is tired of being stuck helplessly in the helmet while the forces of chaos have their way with the world. Wearing the helmet is considered an absolute last resort, but even so it's worn by three different members of the team, each time because it was clearly the only viable option.
** In ''Outsiders'', it's revealed that The Light has the "Nuclear Option", which is to target and murder every last member of the Justice League's families. However, they know that doing so would lead to MutuallyAssuredDestruction as the Justice League would go to great lengths to obliterate The Light, so they don't treat that option lightly, going so far as to actually ''murder'' Ocean-Master when he attempts it for shits and giggles.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E57TheUncrashableHindentanic The Uncrashable Hindentanic]]" revolves around [[ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck Uncle Scrooge]] and his new airship. His sidekick and [[CaptainCrash perennial crasher of aircraft]] Launchpad desperately wants to fly it but is told that Scrooge actually wants to keep the airship in one piece. When the events of the episode conspire against this Scrooge eventually relents and tells Launchpad to take the wheel. They crash, but Launchpad accidentally takes out the opposition while saving the passengers.
-->"If we are going to crash anyway, we may as well crash with style."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode "The Ultimate Enemy" Clockwork actually alters time--consider that he is in charge of maintaining the proper flow of time--to stop Dark Danny from coming into existence.

* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'':
** Earth is being invaded by the almost unkillable metal-devouring robot R.E.G.I.S. Mk 5, which had been scheduled to be thrown into a black hole until [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Coop accidentally rammed the ship transporting it]]. Coop discovered that the R.E.G.I.S. Mk 5 was solar powered and would forever stay active so long as there was light to power it. Coop's solution was to block out all sunlight so it couldn't operate. He does this by creating a nuclear winter scenario by belching enough smog out of his engine to [[TheNightThatNeverEnds block out the whole damn sky.]]
** In the second S-Force episode, Targon believes that enlisting Coop's help qualifies as the trope.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' Megatron tries to destroy Optimus Prime. He muses that he was hesitant to make such a drastic change to the timeline but realizes that he now had no choice but to make the ultimate gamble.
* The "[=TransWarped=]" episode of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' sees the Autobots' human friend upgrade herself into a more powerful form, but the upgrade goes wrong, nearly destroying her best friend and the city. Her powers are eventually bypassed, but when Megatron shows up in control of the Autobots' [[WeaponOfMassDestruction tide-turning, war-winning weapon]], Optimus Prime is forced to consider the option of removing the bypass and unleashing the girl, in an uncontrollable state.
** Unicron is often treated this way across ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''. He's often the only thing that can push Autobots and Decepticons to [[EnemyMine work together]].
* In the second season of ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', a web creature evades capture and deletion to open a massive invasion portal from the web. This jolts the entire Mainframe system into survival at all costs protocols, Phong uniting with both [[BigBad Megabyte and Hexadecimal]] to build a portal closing supercannon and building a massive common army to hold the invaders at bay long enough to use it.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', "It's a Jersey Thing": When over half of America is taken over by [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], the nation eventually turns to Al Qaeda for help.

* In the final episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', the Guardians are forced to use the Zenith forms, basically becoming their trademark elements, to battle a massively powered up Cedric. It nearly goes sour as the girls lose themselves in this form.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' episode "Revenge of Murray the Mantis", a giant supernatural praying mantis goes on a rampage through New York, and to stop it the boys release ''The Big Guy.'' Who is "the big guy"? ''[[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Everyone's favorite 100-ft. Marshmallow man, Mr. Stay-Puft himself]]''! Don't worry, "[[HeelFaceTurn he's all better now]]", and the fight between him and the mantis is one of the series highlights.
* In season 1 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', Sadlygrove has to be careful not to let the Shushu Rubilax imprisoned inside his sword from possessing him. Otherwise, he becomes a hulking gray monster that attacks everyone around him. After some further training with his master in the desert and defeating Rubilax in a duel, Sadlygrove can only be possessed if he lets Rubilax possess him. In episode 25, Nox unleashes his most powerful creation, a clockwork monster called Razortime. Razortime proves to be so dangerous that Sadlygrove willingly lets Rubilax possess him when the Shushu practically ''begs'' Sadlygrove to let him help. Unfortunately, Razortime is too much even for Sadlygrove's demon form.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E25TwilightsKingdomPart1 Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1]]", since Lord Tirek has the power to drain ponies of their magic (and in effect take away their cutie marks), local MadGod Discord is tasked with catching him. Discord's ability to sense magical disruptions makes him the only one capable of finding Tirek before his power grows too great, in addition to being so powerful that Tirek does not yet have the strength to drain him as he does ponies. [[FromBadToWorse It]] [[FaceHeelTurn fails]]. ''[[NearVillainVictory Miserably]]''.
** Releasing Discord in the first place to try and "reform" him could be seen as one of these; although Princess Celestia did not know of any immediate threats to Equestria, the ''possibility'' of one so great that they would need Discord's help was her reasoning for freeing such a dangerous being. Basically they released "Godzilla" early so they'd have time to convince him to help them before the threshold-level threat actually showed up.
** From the same arc, the other princesses [[spoiler: giving Twilight all of their powers so that Tirek couldn't steal it]] could be this as well.
* On two occasions in the 90s ''Westernanimation/FantasticFour'' cartoon, once when Doctor Doom manages to steal the powers of the Silver Surfer and again when Earth was menaced by [[GeniusLoci Ego the Living Planet]], the Four (and ComicBook/TheMightyThor) are forced to lure out the PlanetEater Galactus to set things right.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', when [[GravityMaster Graviton]] wakes up after the security of all four supervillain prisons fails and starts going on a rampage in New York, ComicBook/NickFury declares an "Omega-level" emergency, meaning all SHIELD personnel, the Hulkbusters, and the US armed forces are now under his direct command. It ultimately takes the newly-formed Avengers to bring Graviton down.

* Deploying the universe portal from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' risks tearing the universe apart, [[spoiler:but Grunkle Stan risks it anyway so he can be reunited with his long-lost brother]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'' episode "The Edge of Yesterday", it is revealed Dr. Benton Quest developed a method of time travel in hopes of going back in time and stopping the death of his wife Rachel. Before he could go through with it, he decided changing history was too dangerous and using it for his own gain unethical, so he sealed the unused program to await a more justifiable use. When Ezekiel Rage sets a huge nuclear bomb to go off deep in the Earth's crust, likely to wipe out humanity and the world, Benton realizes that time had come so sends Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji a message to unlock the program so that they can go back and stop Rage before he plants the bomb. [[spoiler:They are unable to stop the bomb going off, but they use the system to send Rage and the bomb back to the age of dinosaurs before it does. That far back, and on the surface, the explosion doesn't have enough of an effect on history to alter the present.]]
* {{Discussed}} in ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown''. The Sapphire Dragon is the most dangerous of all Shen Gong Wu because it cannot be controlled; after use, it will transform the user's enemies into a sapphire statue... and then turn the user's friends into statues, and then the user, and will keep going until it has [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt done the same to everyone on Earth]]. Dojo says that it "is only to be used as an absolute last resort."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': Episode 13; early in the episode, a Nisse warns Hilda against trying to enter the [[PocketDimension nowhere space]] of the outside world, since it’s so big one could easily get lost in it forever or end up anywhere in the world at random. In the climax, Tontu and Jellybean’s owner see no other option than to let the car they’re in (and [[CanisMajor Jellybean]] is on) enter this nowhere space, since it’s out of control so the only alternative is crashing into the town wall and either die or get caught. While Hilda, Johanna and Tontu are lucky and emerge seconds later on the other side of the wall, Jellybean and his owner disappear into the void. At the end of the episode, we see they’re fine and ended up in the wilderness near Hilda’s old house. But the protagonists don’t find out, at least not this season.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'': In episode 14, it's implied, and later confirmed by WordOfGod, that this is what [[spoiler:Steven's pink mode]] is, as it gives him any abilities he might need to escape a dire, life or death situation. The problem is, it's been triggering when it isn't needed because, in his current state of mind, every bad thing that happens to him feels like a life or death situation.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin'' episode "A Race to the Finish", Sludge, Drudge, and Trudge are terrorizing the Jungle Grunges' village. In order to fight them off, Arin and Aruzia willingly use Vitamin Z to tap into their SuperpoweredEvilSide, turning into the Iron Warrior and Aluminum Amazon, powerful armor-clad monsters who mindlessly attack anything in sight. Though Teddy and the Grunges manage to splash them with water, causing the transformation to wear off, the village still suffers significant collateral damage.

* The Nurglite incursion in ''FanFic/AgeOfStrife'', which included no less than three Great Unclean Ones, almost drove Mirande to daemon summoning herself in her attempt to stop it.
* [[spoiler:Daemon]] from the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'' is considered to be such an unbeatable opponent that the Tamers’ only hope is for [[spoiler:Takato to die before Daemon can absorb the power of a god]].

* In ''{{Fanfic/Spellbound}}'', when the Unseelie Court [[spoiler: kidnaps Marinette]], Adrien asks Plagg to activate "Plan Z": pouring enough magic into Adrien to let him fight a Court chief, but at the cost of permanently changing his body and making him too inhuman to ever wield a Miraculous again.

Named for the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films of the late 1980s and 1990s, in which Godzilla was again nature personified, if not outright evil (in contrast to his heroic characterizations during the '60s and '70s), but people were still ''happy'' to see him because he was usually fighting something ''far worse'' and he was the only thing that stood a hope in hell of defeating it.

* In ''Fanfic/TheMoonsFlashPrincess'', before Asuna arrived with the Silver Crystal and the other SAO survivors the war against the Dark Kingdom had brought the Sailor Senshi to their physical and psychological limits, pushing Minako to call upon [[DestructiveSavior Uranus and Neptune]] more often than she'd usually do and come ''this'' close to call upon even potentially more destructive reinforcements.