History Main / ItsAWonderfulPlot

* In a very downplayed version, ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' has the Green Goblin from [[Creator/SamRaimi Sam Raimi's]] ''Film/SpiderMan1'' get sent to the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] and finds that Oscorp dose not exist and somebody else is living in his home. This places him in a [[VillainousBSoD Villainous BSoD]] from how out of place he has become.

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** Creator/DonRosa did a story about Donald Duck, ''ComicBook/TheDuckWhoNeverWas'', based on this trope to celebrate his 60th birthday. Donald, who's been feeling down on his luck [[TheChewToy even for him]], spends his birthday trying to get a job at a museum; he's immediately laid off for exceeding the retirement age due to a nearsighted curator misreading his application. As he leaves, he bumps into an urn and releases the "birthday genie," a powerful spirit that [[CripplingOverspecialization grants one wish to a person if that person releases him on their birthday]]. Donald gets upset and wishes that he'd never been born, and the birthday genie grants his request--and Duckburg instantly transforms into [[CrapsackWorld a miserable, graffiti-riddled hellhole.]] Nearly everyone Donald knows is worse off. Because Donald didn't get [[ItMakesSenseInContext kidnapped by a talking wolf]], Gyro Gearloose accidentally blasted himself with his own intelligence-reducing ray, robbing him of his inventing skills and forcing him to become a miserable farmer. He bought said farm from Grandma Duck, who had to give up the property because Gus never came to work for her. Instead, Grandma works as Daisy's secretary; Daisy herself has become a successful romance novelist, but she only writes her books to make up for her horrible loveless life and spends all of her time shut away in Scrooge's (former) Money Bin, which she's turned into her printing plant, hating the world and drinking heavily (the latter is implied through some empty bottles she throws at Donald). Gus, meanwhile, is a skinny, broke loser living on the streets--without Donald to become Scrooge's heir, the billionaire was forced to hire Gus, who lost the legendary Number One Dime to Magica [=DeSpell=] ''on his first day on the job.'' This broke Scrooge's spirit and led him to lose everything to Flintheart Glomgold, who's slowly draining Duckburg of its resources through a combination of naturally large taxes (which the Duck family once paid) and outsourcing to Africa. The only person who's still rich and successful (much to Donald's chagrin) is the [[BornLucky impossibly lucky]] Gladstone Gander, who continues to win sweepstakes and prizes on an hourly basis--the trouble is that Huey, Dewey, and Louie had to go to live with him without Donald to care for them. As a result of Gladstone's lazy attitudes, overindulgence, and philosophy of HardWorkHardlyWorks, the boys have become massively obese couch potatoes who think that any sort of movement besides eating takes too much effort. Finally, the Beagle Boys, who lost their motivation for robbery when Scrooge went broke, have become [[DirtyCop dirty cops]] in the extreme, and one brother is even the ''mayor.'' Donald rushes back to the museum and begs for the birthday genie to reverse the spell; he does so, and the now-enlightened duck returns home to find a surprise party waiting for him.

** Creator/DonRosa did a story about Donald Duck, "The Duck Who Never Was", based on this trope to celebrate his 60th birthday. Donald, who's been feeling down on his luck [[TheChewToy even for him]], spends his birthday trying to get a job at a museum; he's immediately laid off for exceeding the retirement age due to a nearsighted curator misreading his application. As he leaves, he bumps into an urn and releases the "birthday genie," a powerful spirit that [[CripplingOverspecialization grants one wish to a person if that person releases him on their birthday]]. Donald gets upset and wishes that he'd never been born, and the birthday genie grants his request--and Duckburg instantly transforms into [[CrapsackWorld a miserable, graffiti-riddled hellhole.]] Nearly everyone Donald knows is worse off. Because Donald didn't get [[ItMakesSenseInContext kidnapped by a talking wolf]], Gyro Gearloose accidentally blasted himself with his own intelligence-reducing ray, robbing him of his inventing skills and forcing him to become a miserable farmer. He bought said farm from Grandma Duck, who had to give up the property because Gus never came to work for her. Instead, Grandma works as Daisy's secretary; Daisy herself has become a successful romance novelist, but she only writes her books to make up for her horrible loveless life and spends all of her time shut away in Scrooge's (former) Money Bin, which she's turned into her printing plant, hating the world and drinking heavily (the latter is implied through some empty bottles she throws at Donald). Gus, meanwhile, is a skinny, broke loser living on the streets--without Donald to become Scrooge's heir, the billionaire was forced to hire Gus, who lost the legendary Number One Dime to Magica [=DeSpell=] ''on his first day on the job.'' This broke Scrooge's spirit and led him to lose everything to Flintheart Glomgold, who's slowly draining Duckburg of its resources through a combination of naturally large taxes (which the Duck family once paid) and outsourcing to Africa. The only person who's still rich and successful (much to Donald's chagrin) is the [[BornLucky impossibly lucky]] Gladstone Gander, who continues to win sweepstakes and prizes on an hourly basis--the trouble is that Huey, Dewey, and Louie had to go to live with him without Donald to care for them. As a result of Gladstone's lazy attitudes, overindulgence, and philosophy of HardWorkHardlyWorks, the boys have become massively obese couch potatoes who think that any sort of movement besides eating takes too much effort. Finally, the Beagle Boys, who lost their motivation for robbery when Scrooge went broke, have become [[DirtyCop dirty cops]] in the extreme, and one brother is even the ''mayor.'' Donald rushes back to the museum and begs for the birthday genie to reverse the spell; he does so, and the now-enlightened duck returns home to find a surprise party waiting for him.

Compare WhatIf. Sister trope to YetAnotherChristmasCarol, GiftOfTheMagiPlot, ChristmasEveryDay, and HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas. Also compare JudgementOfTheDead, which may involve a similar accounting of the character's deeds, but going back to change things isn't on the table. May be related to TheFutureIsShocking, when a time traveler discovers how society has changed. Contrast SuicideForOthersHappiness. If it turns out to be AllJustADream, it's overlapping with OpinionChangingDream, and sometimes GuiltInducedNightmare.

** ''Sweet Valley Twins'' plays this entirely straight in a Christmas special book, in which Elizabeth wishes she'd never been born and promptly receives a visitation from a quirky guardian angel who shows her a vision of what life would be like. It's heavy on ForWantOfANail scenarios based on Elizabeth's actions in previous books, but also contains a couple of more nonsensical changes: the club of shallow, popular rich girls is transformed into a vicious girl gang, and Elizabeth's sister Jessica goes from bubbly, stylish, and popular to shy, geeky, and pathetic.

* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', of course, is the TropeNamer and TropeCodifier. The main character, George Bailey, finds out that his absence from the world has kicked off many ForWantOfANail situations. Without him, no one was around to save his younger brother Harry from drowning in his childhood, and because Harry wasn't there to perform a heroic act on the battlefield in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, several soldiers he would have saved are now also dead. Furthermore, as George was not there to oppose Mr. Potter's predatory loan schemes and development plans, the quiet and idyllic Bedford Falls has turned into a ViceCity named [[{{Egopolis}} Pottersville]], and as he was never there to meet his wife Mary, she has ended up alone and unhappy.

* ''Film/TheSantaClause 3'' uses this plot for the second half of the movie. Jack Frost tricks Scott into wishing he never became Santa and they are both transported back in time, allowing Jack to put on the original Santa's coat so he can become the new Santa. In the new timeline, Scott's family has become a bunch of miserable cynics who resent him for being a workaholic at his office job, which has led Laura and Neil to divorce; Jack Frost has turned the North Pole into a Vegas-like resort that completely commercializes Christmas; and parents have to pay to put their children on the nice list, making them (including Lucy) into greedy brats.

* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27931336/ It's a Wonderful Life]]" has Jane's guardian angel being George Bailey from the original ''Wonderful Life'', now a second-class angel himself after he died in 1997. With Jane and Maura distant after Jane shot Paddy Doyle, George shows Jane what life would be like if she was never born; her parents are in an unhappy marriage because they have nobody else after Frankie moved away with a woman who ''claimed'' he was the father of her child and Tommy was sent to prison without Jane and Maura to help him, Frost died in the siege of the station without Jane to help end the stand-off, and Korsak has no real friends at the precinct (to be clear, he's ''liked'', but nobody spends time with him socially). As for Maura's fate, she is on the verge of resigning after her relationship with Paddy Doyle was exposed and compromised everyone's faith in her- while she had nothing to do with his criminal activities, nobody knows her well enough to say that for a fact- and George mentions that when she leaves Boston Maura will be forced to relocate to Africa and do her best to offer medical care in third world countries even after being stripped of her medical license.

After the short story "The Greatest Gift", later eclipsed by its more famous [[{{Film}} movie]] adaptation ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', a device whereby an external force (usually supernatural) intervenes in a time of crisis to show the character facing said crisis a FlashSideways of how things would have been had one key part of the past gone down differently. Most often, the change is that [[RetGone the character in question had never been born]]. May occur as part of a NearDeathExperience, or [[MakeAWish following]] SmiteMeOhMightySmiter. Episodes with this plot usually take place around Christmas time, because ''It's a Wonderful Life'' takes place around Christmas. If a show hasn't done a YetAnotherChristmasCarol episode yet (or if they have already done so), they'll be doing this one.

After the novella ''The Greatest Gift'', later eclipsed by its more famous [[{{Film}} movie]] adaptation ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', a device whereby an external force (usually supernatural) intervenes in a time of crisis to show the character facing said crisis a FlashSideways of how things would have been had one key part of the past gone down differently. Most often, the change is that [[RetGone the character in question had never been born]]. May occur as part of a NearDeathExperience, or [[MakeAWish following]] SmiteMeOhMightySmiter. Episodes with this plot usually take place around Christmas time, because ''It's a Wonderful Life'' takes place around Christmas. If a show hasn't done a YetAnotherChristmasCarol episode yet (or if they have already done so), they'll be doing this one.

* ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'' is one of the most famous (and ''cruelest'') subversions/deconstructions of this trope. The protagonist's life has been really depressing, and all his friends are worse off than before he met them. He uses his MentalTimeTravel abilities to correct his past mistakes, but they each end up making things worse for his friends and/or himself. [[spoiler:Accepting that they really are better off without him, he eventually decides that the only way to make them all happy is to remove his presence from their lives entirely. The director's cut was even worse; in that version, he travels back ''so he dies in his mother's womb'', just so his loved ones can live their lives without his damaging influence. There's a line from the doctor indicating she's had half a dozen miscarriages like that one...]]

* The ''Series/{{Castle}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11600833/1/Beauty-of-Our-Reality Beauty of Our Reality]]" has a take on this where an alternate visits the canon universe; in a world where she never started digging into Senator Bracken, Joanna Beckett wonders what would have changed if she’d taken the case while holding the same Mayan artefact that showed Castle another universe in the past, which leads to her appearing in the office of Castle’s private investigator business. Her time in this world is brief, mainly consisting of Castle explaining how things turned out here as he drives Joanna back to his apartment, but it leads to a genuinely moving moment when Joanna meets her alternate daughter, and the usually tough Kate Beckett is reduced to just saying ‘Mommy?’ before the two exchange a tearful hug.

* Issues 127 to 130 of ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' have a darker take on this sort of story. After becoming [[AGodAmI powered by the Chaos Emeralds]], [[BigBad Robotnik]] decides to demonstrate his new god-like powers by zapping Sonic into a new dimension, one where Sonic was never born. In this alternate Mobius, Emerald Hill has become a toxic wasteland, Amy and Johnny are now frightened citizens living in fear of Robotnik's omnipotent tyranny, Porker Lewis (or rather Oscar the Pig) is working for Robotnik's Death Squad as a mobster but still a coward underneath, Lord Sidewinder now rules the Special Zone with plans to [[BigBadWannabe usurp Robotnik]], the Chaotix are left as Sidewinder's janitors, and worst of all Tails is dead. The closest analogue to the GuardianAngel in this storyline is Knuckles, who Sonic requests as an ally against the god-like Robotnik, playing upon his nemesis' ego. As Knuckles was living an isolated life, he would be unaffected by Robotnik's dominance, only seeing Sonic as a stranger, but still making use of the Grey Emerald to drain Robotnik of his powers.

* In the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2159471/1/It-s-A-Mondler-Life It's a Mondler Life]]'', Monica, feeling depressed and unappreciated, is visited by a spirit who shows her a world where she was never born. As a result, Ross is still his excessively geeky self and living with his parents without Monica to inspire his personal development so that he could marry Carol in the first place, as well as Rachel and Chandler never learning to appreciate his better qualities; Rachel is on the verge of divorcing Barry after an unhappy marriage as she had nowhere to go when she had doubts about the wedding; Chandler is stuck in a miserable marriage to Janice and his friendship with Joey the only reason he hasn't killed himself; and Phoebe fell into a career as a prostitute and drug-addicted porn star without Monica's help, which culminates in Phoebe committing suicide.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4198122/1/A-Reversal-of-Fortune A Reversal of Fortune]]'', it is all-but-explicitly stated that the fic depicts Ned Flanders witnessing a vision of a world where Maude never died; due to a moment of carelessness on Ned's part, the Flanders and the Simpsons never visit the race track where Maude died, but Marge dies in a car accident. As a result, Lisa quits most of her extracurricular activities because she is caught up in her grief, Bart is shown losing his temper and lashing out at the bullies who caused Marge's accident, and Homer is contemplating suicide as he cannot live without Marge. The fic concludes with Ned returning to the world in canon, reflecting that, as much as he misses Maude, it is clear that he is better suited to coping with life without Maude than Homer and the Simpsons would be able to cope without Marge.
** [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14224986/1/A-World-Without-Bart A World Without Bart]] has a variation, in which after a bad day, Bart wishes he never existed. A spirit shows him a world where he never was born. In it, Homer and Marge only had Lisa, divorced and Homer became a bachelor who still misses Marge. Marge focused on her career, married Lenny and neglected Lisa who acted like a jerk. As Bart never was here for Milhouse, Milhouse committed suicide and Krusty the Clown never was on the show again. Skinner eventually left his job, leading Chalmers to replace him. Oh, and not to mention that without Bart, Carl never reconciled with his parents, Barney, Moe and Abe were dead and Flanders joined a cult.

* The ''[[Literature/TheWorstWitch Worst Witch]]'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12873600/6/The-Worst-Witch-2017-Actions-have-Consequences Actions have Consequences]]'' has a variation of this for Ethel; feeling that Mildred is replacing her in Esmerelda's affections, she wishes that Mildred had never come to Cackle's, and finds herself in a world where she, Sybil, and Maud are attending a different school, but Esmerelda and the teachers at Cackle's are dead, Enid only attended Cackle's briefly, and nobody has heard of Mildred. After spending a few weeks in this world, Ethel learns from the spirit that granted her wish that, in this timeline, [[spoiler:she was briefly Head of Year upon arrival only to be 'demoted' when her actions led to Enid's expulsion a few weeks into her time at Cackle's, and Esmerelda, Miss Cackle, the Great Wizard, and most of the teachers died when the academy was destroyed by Agatha when Ethel helped Agatha to attack the school. Ethel is [[EvenEvilHasStandards horrified when she learns that the divergent moment is when Julie Hubble was struck by a car while pregnant with Mildred]], killing Julie and her unborn daughter to erase Mildred's impact on Ethel's life]].

* In a vary down played version is in Film/SpiderManNoWayHome has the Green Goblin from [[Creator/SamRaimi Sam Raimi's]] Film/SpiderMan1 gets sent to the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] and finds that Oscorp dose not exist and somebody else is living in his home. This places him in a [[VillainousBSoD Villainous BSoD]] from how out of place he has become.

* [[https://www.deviantart.com/rvbomally/art/You-Call-This-Archaeology-367872718 You Call This Archaeology?]] is an AlternateHistory variant, showing what the world of ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' would look like if Indy was [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom killed in Shanghai: The Thuggees start an insurgency in India]] [[EnemyMine forcing the British to give India independence in exchange for its help in defeating the insurgency]], [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk while in Egypt, the Nazis capture the Ark of the Covenant]] and reveal it at the 1936 Olympics, [[DeusExMachina only for the wrath of God to kill the Nazi high command]], ultimately ending with the world locked in a supernatural SpaceColdWar between the [[{{Eagleland}} United States]], UsefulNotes/FascistItaly, and the [[CommieLand Soviet Union]].

* [[https://www.deviantart.com/rvbomally/art/You-Call-This-Archaeology-367872718 You Call This Archaeology?]] is an AlternateHistory variant, showing what the world of ''Franchise|IndianaJones'' would look like if Indy was [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom killed in Shanghai: The Thuggees start an insurgency in India]] [[EnemyMine forcing the British to give India independence in exchange for its help in defeating the insurgency]], [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk while in Egypt, the Nazis capture the Ark of the Covenant]] and reveal it at the 1936 Olympics, [[DeusExMachina only for the wrath of God to kill the Nazi high command]], ultimately ending with the world locked in a supernatural SpaceColdWar between the [[{{Eagleland}} United States]], UsefulNotes/FascistItaly, and the [[CommieLand Soviet Union]].

* It's the plot of ''WebAnimation/{{Eddworld}}'''s 2005 Christmas special. For the most part, Edd's influence has been positive; without Edd, Matt would have wandered off and become a hobo, Tord would have become a communist megalomaniac (or, as "The End (Part 2)" shows, [[spoiler:he would have become a communist megalomaniac eleven years early]]), and Coca-Cola would have gone out of business, but Tom is unambiguously better off (having become a wealthy artist).

Compare ForWantOfANail. Sister trope to YetAnotherChristmasCarol, GiftOfTheMagiPlot, ChristmasEveryDay, and HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas. Also compare JudgementOfTheDead, which may involve a similar accounting of the character's deeds, but going back to change things isn't on the table. May be related to TheFutureIsShocking, when a time traveler discovers how society has changed. Contrast SuicideForOthersHappiness. If it turns out to be AllJustADream, it's overlapping with OpinionChangingDream, and sometimes GuiltInducedNightmare.

* The Twitter WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss FanWebcomics ''[[https://twitter.com/wholetthemonst1/status/1660706624518889486 Without Blitzo]]'' centers around an unknown entity showing Blitzo what the world and his loved ones' lives would've been like if he had never been born. The results aren't pretty. Without his best friend to help him in his act, young Fizzarolli ends up on a horrible accident during a performance, costing him his limbs, with Cash Buckzo using him as a freak show attraction, for profit. Verosika never managed to reach the heights of her popularity, selling herself to Valentino in a desperate attempt for fame, which did little to boost her standing leaving her to perform until the overlord tired of her. Stolas would've had no friend in his life and little to hope for in his abusive marriage to Stella, and in a desperate and misguided attempt to help his daughter, he decided to send her on the same path Paimon gave him. The pain of which was too much for the prince causing him to isolate himself from the world, neglecting his duties, giving them too much cruler Ars Goetia, leading to a bloody aftermath. Loona would've gone completely feral when she turned 18, her mind snapping from being unwanted, forcing the Foundation to put her down. Moxxie, would've become a coldhearted mafioso, much like his own father, taking revenge on all those who wronged him. This included Chaz who was at the time happily pursuing Millie. In retribution, Millie went to confront Moxxie resulting both imps killings each other.

* The 2010 ''[[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Nostalgia Critic]]'' ChristmasEpisode "You're a Rotten Dirty Bastard" parodies this plot. The Critic quits his job due to being angry about there being nothing to review for Christmas. Roger, his guardian angel, comes in to show how other people on the Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Team live without his existence, only for everyone to be much better off without him. WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob is a giant porn star, [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] owns both Marvel and DC Comics, WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick is married and is a major director of films such as ''[[TakeThat Twilight: The Good Version]]'', [[WebVideo/TheAngryJoeShow Angry Joe]] is the President of the United States who blows up the evil Canada ([[RunningGag naturally]], killing WebVideo/{{Phelous}}) [[spoiler:and has publicly executed Tom Green]], and [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] has taken the Critic's job, gives positive reviews to ''Film/LastActionHero'' and ''Film/{{Junior}}'', and is loved even by the trolls. When Roger discovers [[spoiler:he could have been God's greatest angel and successor without the Critic, he tries to kill him, only to learn that God lied about angels being ImmuneToBullets]]. The Critic realizes [[{{Jerkass}} he improved his own life]] and goes back to his old self. All narrated by Santa Christ. Doug Walker said in commentary that he was disappointed to find out this trope had been subverted [[ItsBeenDone numerous times before]], but still hopes that this is the only rendition where they [[spoiler:look at the Angel's life without him]].

And [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RH8y0Ck1YQ here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBv3_8sehXU here]] is a re-creation of ''It's a Wonderful Life'' using clips from TV episodes that referenced ''It's a Wonderful Life''.

* WebVideo/TheNecroCritic's review of ''[[Film/TheSantaClause The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause]]'' both discusses and parodies this this trope. In his previous video, he wished that he had never become The Necro Critic at all, resulting in him appearing as a ghost in a world where he never existed. However, in a fairly unique subversion, his "angelic guide" tells him that his life had practically no impact on the world whatsoever, good or bad. With Necro out of the picture, the only thing that's changed is the fact that his brother/sidekick, Devil Critic, has taken over his role as an internet reviewer. [[spoiler:However, Devil later reveals that he only reviewed the movie as a favor to Necro, who presumably disappeared on him because it was THAT terrible. It turns out that Necro's guide was an assassin who lied to him in order to make him miserable and have him accept Devil as his replacement before killing him.]]