History Main / GodzillaThreshold

** ''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)]]

*** [[spoiler: '''Thanos''' gets forced into this ''[[RuleOfThree three]] times'' 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, despite being warned HE and his troops will also get caught up in it. This leads directly into the second; when all of the guns on his flagship suddenly stop firing on the battlefield and start firing in the sky, now focused at something that has entered the atmosphere at high speeds. Despite the recent salvo being powerful enough to send the heroes on the ground struggling to find shelter; this change in target ends up being very much justified, as said something turns out to be [[StoryBreakerPower CAPTAIN FREAKING MARVEL]]. The third and final is when Thanos 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.]]

** ''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)]]

*** [[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 ''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.

---->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' Pinkamena Diane Pie?\\

* Alex Mercer in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12361169/1/Wolf-in-Sheep-s-Clothing Wolf in Sheep's Clothing]]'' is TheDreaded to anyone who knows of him, [[NotSoStoic even visibly scaring]] ''[[TheStoic Ozpin]]''. He is an immortal, invincible [=EX=]-Class Grimm (meaning he is more powerful and dangerous than any other Grimm on the planet) that not even ''a nuclear bomb'' could kill. You can tell how desperate Ozpin truly is when he ''asks'' Alex to protect Beacon after Salem makes her move. Thankfully, Alex accepts.

** "Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls": [[spoiler:Captain Celestia considers her Zanpakuto too dangerous to release in a populated area.]] Everytime she'd used it so far [[spoiler: WalkingWasteland forrests spontaneously catched fire, lakes evaporated in a second and mountains melted]] it's easy to ee why.
*** Also Lament, He's already unstable but in his [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Resurrection]] he loses the shreds of control and acts like a feral beast out to kill everything in sight. He knows about and if he really needs to use it he makes sure there's no dear to him around. He even has a bunker under his tower for his family to hide from him.

* In "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13301032/1/The-Third-Life-of-Steve-Rogers The Third Life of Steve Rogers]]", Steve and Peggy face a version of this when they learn that, as currently planned, Tony will be in the car with Howard and Maria on the night his parents are due to be killed by the Winter Soldier. With no other way to prevent Tony being in the car that wouldn't raise suspicions about the circumstances of his parents' deaths, they have to send in their granddaughter Natty (named after Black Widow) to basically act as a HoneyTrap and give Tony a reason not to want to go with his parents on that night, as they have no contacts in SHIELD of the appropriate age, gender and attractiveness necessary to draw Tony's attention.

** 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.

** ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' 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.]]
** ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': the Mother Boxes' Unity gets completed and [[spoiler: its explosion disintegrates the League and perhaps most of Earth, with only Flash surviving using his phasing powers. He then decides to break his own rule and runs beyond the speed of light to [[TimeTravel travel in time]] to prevent the explosion, not knowing what could happen to him as he does so.]]

** ''Fanfic/TheMLPLoops'':
*** 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?

** ''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]]]].
** ''Fanfic/AMoonAndWorldApart'': While Celestia and Luna have their differences, there is one thing that can keep them from fighting: the threat of Discord breaking loose if they do so too close to his statue.
** [[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.
** ''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.]]
** ''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]].
** 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.
** ''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]].

** 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.]]

* ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fics:

--->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' Pinkamena Diane Pie?\\

* ''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.

** ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'':

-->'''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!\\

* 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=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nyuGoxYzNQ played]] ''12 minutes and 48 seconds'' with an empty net down 4 goals. The [=RedHawks=] [[{{HopeSpot}} managed 3 unanswered goals]] before finally giving one up with only 6.3 seconds left, losing 7-5.

* WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}:

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''WebComic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja''

->''If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win.''

* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''

* 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.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'':

* ''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.

* "Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsFriendshipSouls": [[spoiler:Captain Celestia considers her Zanpakuto too dangerous to release in a populated area.]] Everytime she'd used it so far [[spoiler: WalkingWasteland forrests spontaneously catched fire, lakes evaporated in a second and mountains melted]] it's easy to ee why.

Sometimes, the threshold is engineered or handled poorly. This is can be the case when the [[NiceJobBreakingItHero heroes' actions]] or failures to act cause the situation to cross the threshold. GeneralRipper is also a likely candidate. For situations like this, there's an IdiotBall (or IdiotPlot) or PoorCommunicationKills to thank for the dire mess of things. Some plots center around ''avoiding'' the Godzilla Threshold and keeping the trigger-happy person in charge of the "{{failsafe|Failure}}" from pushing the button. Sometimes, they even ''succeed.''

* 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.]]