History Main / MunDanger

* In the ''{{Hellblazer}}'' arc "The Family Man", something that's gruesomely killing families turns out to just be an old man with a big knife. And the mysterious beastie that's eating people outside the town of Doglick in "Good Intentions" turns out to just be a giant boar.

* KimNewman's story "Where The Bodies Are Buried 3: Black And White And Red All Over". The other WTBAB stories were about a supernatural SerialKiller emerging from a SlasherMovie; this is a RippedFromTheHeadlines tale of tabloid hysteria and hypocricy over such movies. (Yes, ''ultimately'' it's all down to [[BigBad Derek Leech]], but he doesn't do anything supernatural to make it happen.)

* The most [[MoodWhiplash vicious]], [[CompleteMonster evil]], and overall [[VillainBall nasty]] [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Week]] in ''HellTeacherNube'' are all ''human''. Such as the [[SinisterScythe masked serial killer]] who nearly murdered Kyoko and Hiroshi ([[spoiler:and [[OrIsIt got away]]]],) the con artists that did the same, the bank robbers who Nube humiliated with his supernatural skills until they shot at him with an Uzi, the kidnapper who took Nube's kids to a warehouse to kill them, the MadScientist who called down the {{Orochi}} upon the city...

[[folder: Films]]
* In TheDarkKnight, TheJoker mocks how people are inured to this:
--> TheJoker: You know... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!
[[/folder]]

** ''{{Supernatural}}'' also subverts this generally, in that a large number of their adversaries are demons, which in the show are creatures who were once human.
*** In fact, it's possible that the ''majority'' of monsters on ''Supernatural'' were once human: you've got ghosts, demons, werewolves, vampires, witches, wendigos...

* Unsurpisingly, given its long run on TV, ''{{The X-Files}}'' featured a bunch of these. In "War Of The Coprophages", a cockroach infestation creates mass hysteria about an alien invasion, though the trope is subverted in that there really ''are'' robotic alien cockroaches[[hottip:*:And even then, it's still unclear if there is actually more than ''one'' alien robotic cockroach and the others are not just the common kind]], but they have nothing to do with the deaths in the episode. In "Grotesque", a serial killer believes his is possessed by a demon, though it is implied that this is more down to madness and obsession than genuine supernatural drama. "Home" sees Mulder and Scully tackling a trio of [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel murderous inbred hicks]]. In both "Irresistible" and "Orison", a serial killer named Donnie Pfaster becomes obsessed with Scully; he is seen on a couple of occasions with a demonic visage, but this could just be his victims' fear warping their perception. In "Hell Money", an incinerated man turns out to be part of a grim organ-dealing gambling game. And in "Our Town", an entire town turns out to be a CannibalClan; although there is a slight supernatural edge to the piece -- eating human flesh, it turns out, provides you with extended life and youthfulness -- it's secondary to the actual threat.

** "Quagmire", on the other hand, provides a DoubleSubversion: The prehistoric monster said to inhabit a lake where people have gone missing recently turns out to be a common crocodile. Mulder is... [[UnderStatement disappointed]], but just as he leaves the scene the audience gets to see that there ''is'' an actual plesiosaur in the lake. Wether the entire episode is just one big {{Deconstruction}} or a vindication of Cryptozoology is anyone's guess.

* Although several of the earliest ''DoctorWho'' episodes had nothing science-fictional beyond The Doctor and his time machine, the only post-'60s story to feature nothing fantastical at all (apart from the presence of the main characters) was the two-part murder mystery "Black Orchid".

[[folder:Literature]]
* StephenKing wrote ''{{Cujo}}'' with the declared goal of creating an entirely mundane horror story where the supernatural was absent.[[hottip:*:Because of several [[ContinuityNod continuity nods]], there is a general consensus that all of King's novels ''do'' take place in the same universe, making ''Cujo'' a straight example of this trope.]]

* One rare literary example is ''{{Cujo}}'', a novel StephenKing wrote with the declared goal of creating an entirely mundane horror story where the supernatural is absent.[[hottip:*:Because of several [[ContinuityNod continuity nods]], there is a general consensus that all of King's novels ''do'' take place in the same universe, which would make ''Cujo'' a straight example of this trope.]]

** "Quagmire", on the other hand, provides a DoubleSubversion: The prehistoric monster said to inhabit a lake where people have gone missing recently turns out to be a common crocodile. Mulder is... [[UnderStatement disappointed]], but just as he leaves the scene the audience gets to see that there ''is'' an actual plesiosaur in the lake. Wether the entire episode is just one big {{Deconstruction}} or a vindication of Cryptozoology is everyone's guess.

If your heroes spend every week battling vampires, aliens, ghosts and fairies, one easy way to mix things up a little is to scrap the supernatural element altogether and have the heroes fight something relatively mundane, be it a serial killer, a robber or even just a murderously grumpy animal.

The Mundanger may be part of a ScoobyDooHoax -- though with deadlier consequences than ScoobyDoo would ordinarily encounter.

* Unsurpisingly, given its long run on TV, ''{{The X-Files}}'' featured a bunch of these. In "War Of The Coprophages", a cockroach infestation creates mass hysteria about an alien invasion, though the trope is subverted in that there really ''are'' robotic alien cockroaches, but they have nothing to do with the deaths in the episode. In "Grotesque", a serial killer believes his is possessed by a demon, though it is implied that this is more down to madness and obsession than genuine supernatural drama. "Home" sees Mulder and Scully tackling a trio of [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel murderous inbred hicks]]. In both "Irresistible" and "Orison", a serial killer named Donnie Pfaster becomes obsessed with Scully; he is seen on a couple of occasions with a demonic visage, but this could just be his victims' fear warping their perception. In "Hell Money", an incinerated man turns out to be part of a grim organ-dealing gambling game. And in "Our Town", an entire town turns out to be a CannibalClan; although there is a slight supernatural edge to the piece -- eating human flesh, it turns out, provides you with extended life and youthfulness -- it's secondary to the actual threat.

* Unsurpisingly, given its long run on TV, ''{{The X-Files}}'' featured a bunch of these. In "War Of The Coprophages", a cockroach infestation creates mass hysteria about an alien invasion. In "Grotesque", a serial killer believes his is possessed by a demon, though it is implied that this is more down to madness and obsession than genuine supernatural drama. "Home" sees Mulder and Scully tackling a trio of [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel murderous inbred hicks]]. In both "Irresistible" and "Orison", a serial killer named Donnie Pfaster becomes obsessed with Scully; he is seen on a couple of occasions with a demonic visage, but this could just be his victims' fear warping their perception. In "Hell Money", an incinerated man turns out to be part of a grim organ-dealing gambling game. And in "Our Town", an entire town turns out to be a CannibalClan; although there is a slight supernatural edge to the piece -- eating human flesh, it turns out, provides you with extended life and youthfulness -- it's secondary to the actual threat.

* Although several of the earliest ''DoctorWho'' episodes had nothing science-fictional beyond The Doctor and his time machine, the only post-'60s story to feature nothing fantastical at all was the two-part murder mystery "Black Orchid".
** What, so a TARDIS, a Time Lord, a Trakenite, and an Alzarian are suddenly not fantastical?
*** [[HumanAliens No, they're not]].

* One episode of ''ThisAmericanLife'' included a story of a soldier, returned from [[TheWarOnTerror Iraq]], trying to catch up with his mortgage payments after the housing bubble collapsed and his interest rates went through the roof. He reported that the financial situation ended up being even more stressful than the anti-insurgency.

** Played across the entire sixth season of the show with Buffy being ineffectually challenged by the Trio, a group of human 'villains' (in the loosest sense of the word) with almost no actual powers between them. Inverted initially as, rather than being more challenging or horrifying than normal monsters, they actually spend most of the season being pretty useless nemeses, [[spoiler: until one of them goes off the deep end, murders his ex-girlfriend and shoots Buffy and Tara, killing the latter - an especially noteworthy feat since it was the first time a character from the opening credits had been killed by one of the show's villains.]] {{So yeah}}, "Who's the real monster?" and all that...