History Main / RealityBreakingParadox

* The ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' between Creator/ChuckNorris and Advertising/SegataSanshiro. On one side, we have a man who [[TheGrimReaper Death]] fears and has a [[Website/ChuckNorrisFacts long list of impossible facts]]. On the other side, we have a man whose commercials and [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics cameos]] show him flat out ignoring the laws of [[RealityWarper physics]] and [[CompleteImmortality mortality]] to do impossible feats. What happens when you take these two forces and make them fight to the death? [[spoiler:[[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 The Universe they're in will break down without a winner being decided]]]].
* ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}:'' During [[Characters/HololiveOuroKroniiCh Kronii]]'s debut stream, the [[TimeMaster Warden of Time]] becomes jealous that she debuted after [[Characters/HololiveEnglishGenerationTwoCouncil the personifications of Space and Nature]], so she uses her powers to rewind time so that she would debut first. This results in a TimeCrash where's she's stuck in a white void, and ends the stream trying to figure out how to undo everything. The concept of Time can't exist without ''something'' for it to affect to exist first.

* ''WebAnimation/LittleRunmo:'' Runmo accidentally fractures time and space while looking for extra lives, by way of finding the corpse of a predecessor and tearing his head off to use as a 1-up, causing a massive glitch in his Extra Life count. [[spoiler:The God of the Concept of Life has to show up to (mildly) chastise him and take him for a ride across the collapsing cosmos... only to impale himself on the exact same obstacle that killed Runmo at the very start. This event messes things up even ''more'', restarting time for the very first chunk of the level (complete with rewinding lost lives for Runmo) yet leaving it isolated in a void where everyone else's corpses are adrift]].

* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' Season 16, the Reds and Blues get their hands on TimeTravel guns and proceed to run amok across history. Luckily, YouAlreadyChangedThePast and StableTimeLoop are prevalent. Near the end, they get the idea of preventing Agent Washington's GameBreakingInjury, but said injury is crucial to how the Reds and Blues got their Time Guns. The paradox traps the Reds and Blues [[TimeCrash in an endless loop of "soft time" where they are forced to relive their memories over and over again.]] Perhaps unsurprisingly, the summary of Season 17's first episode is "The Reds and Blues break the universe."

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' provides multiple examples of this, however the most prominent appears in the movie, where Okabe Rintarou [[spoiler: due to his own refusal to invent the D-mail in the timeline, the timeline attempts to remove his existence.]]
* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', this is what the Anti-Spirals feared: with the Spiral beings' endless quest for the will to power, they will transmute so much mass that the universe collapses in a black hole called the Spiral Nemesis. There's also another example from TheMovie, Lagann-hen. [[spoiler:If collapsing a pocket universe with a [[BeamOWar drill power struggle]] isn't a reality-breaking paradox, nothing is.]]

** Happens for real when [[spoiler: Fused Zamasu is killed, due to him being simultaneously mortal and immortal. The result is a [[ParadoxPerson living metaphysical paradox]] [[EldritchAbomination part of reality on a conceptual level]], who's very existence starts breaking down the whole future timeline.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'': This can be invoked by the player starting in Afterbirth by attempting to use the ? Card (A card that activates the effect your current active item) and the Blank Card (an active item that activates the effect of your currently held card) in tandem. This results in the player being teleported into the I AM ERROR room, and erasing both the Blank Card and ? Card due to the infinite loop they would cause.

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': implied to be what happens if two Gods of Destruction fight each other. Their respective powers of ultimate destruction begin to unravel reality around them, regardless of whether they actually want to or not, thus they are forbidden by divine law from ever battling. The one exception we've seen is when a few of them fought in the World of Void... where nothing exists anyway, so there's no reality for them to break.

* What spawned the Chaos Heart and the resulting black hole that threatens to consume the entire [[TheMultiverse Multiverse]] in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''? [[BigBad Bowser]] and [[DamselInDistress Princess Peach]] getting "married". Granted, Peach was being mind controlled and everyone (other than Bowser [[MisaimedFandom and some of the fans]]) agrees it didn't count, but apparently reality thought it was close enough and it was enough to make everything come crashing down.

** Bonus points, the Puyo-popping spell is called “Owanimo”; according to the ''Nazo Puyo'' series, this spell was made by The Sage. How the spell works? You pop 4 same-colored Puyos by enchanting certain words you want to say, then they vanish as a sacrifice for the Time Goddess, granting a magical power for both magic and non-magic users to summon Nuisance Puyos.

* What created the Chaos Heart black hole that threatens to consume the entire [[TheMultiverse Multiverse]] in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''? [[BigBad Bowser]] and [[DamselInDistress Princess Peach]] getting "married". Granted, Peach was being mind controlled and everyone (other than Bowser [[MisaimedFandom and some of the fans]]) agrees it didn't count, but apparently reality thought it was close enough and it was enough to start everything come crashing down.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In the story "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E12HerPilgrimSoulIOfNewton I of Newton]]", mathematician Sam is told by an omnipotent demon that he can save his soul by asking him a question he can't answer or telling him to perform a task he can't do. After the demon brags he can go to anyplace in any alternate dimension in any time period and return, Sam defeats him with two words: "Get lost."

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLOm33am7Hc&ab_channel=L9M2 this "Wario Dies" video]], [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Wario]] plays one of his own games and when the Wario in the game dies, a paradox ensues that causes the universe to ([[SensoryAbuse very loudly]]) fall apart.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' episode "My Fair Mandy" reveals that this is essentially what happens if Mandy ever smiles in a joyful (rather than sinister) manner. The ultimate outcome? Billy, Mandy, and the GrimReaper wind up [[CrossoverPunchline becoming the]] ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 Powerpuff Girls]]''. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And Irwin becomes Mojo Jojo]].

* In ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFilesNirvanaInitiative'', the followers of Naixatloz believe that [[InsideAComputerSystem the world is a simulation]], which they can escape if they can sufficiently break the program's logic by doing things. [[spoiler: Their leader Tokiko Shigure [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight proves they were correct]] by manipulating a situation in which the Frayer, a concept representing the actual person playing the game, causes Ryuki to give her information that was only narratively given to Mizuki and Bibi six years in the future. This causes reality to collapse into a mess of distorted models and no collision data as she proceeds to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, though resultant changes to the timeline aside it soon returns to normal.]]

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII''. Doc Brown says that the paradox of Jennifer meeting her future self could cause a paradox that destroys the universe. "Granted, that's a worst-case scenario. The effects might be limited to our own galaxy."
** The novelization gives a little more detail: it's less them possibly meeting and more the possible consequences of the meeting, like say, if the younger Jennifer panicked and ended up causing her past self an injury that her future self never had. Or say, if she tripped and fell down and cracked her head open, making her alive and dead at the same time. [[spoiler:In the end, all that happens is that she simply passes out from the shock, which Doc had also admitted was a possibility.]]

-->'''Spock:''' How did you persuade him to keep your secret?
'''Spock Prime:''' He inferred that universe-ending paradoxes would ensue should he break his promise.
'''Spock:''' You lied.
'''SpockPrime:''' Oh, I... I ''implied''.

See also [[ApocalypseHow/ClassZ Class Z Apocalypse]], LogicBomb, TemporalSuicide, and TimeCrash, which can overlap with this. Often the LogicalExtreme of an EpicFail. Not to be confused with TheSingularity. Contrast BeyondTheImpossible, which is breaking internal logic. If only ''one character'' ceases to exist because their existence is incompatible with reality, that's PuffOfLogic.

See also BreakingTheFourthWall, which is when a character violates ''fictional'' reality, and UpsettingTheBalance, which is when a character destroys the universe by breaking some balance that isn't necessarily tied to reality.

See also [[ApocalypseHow/ClassZ Class Z Apocalypse]], LogicBomb, TemporalSuicide, and TimeCrash, which can overlap with this. Often the LogicalExtreme of an EpicFail. Not to be confused with TheSingularity. Contrast BeyondTheImpossible, whic is breaking internal logic. See also BreakingTheFourthWall, which is when a character violates ''fictional'' reality, and UpsettingTheBalance, which is when a character destroys the universe by breaking some balance that isn't necessarily tied to reality.

* In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', Gilgamesh's [[SwordBeam Enuma Elish]] is strong enough to cause these every time it's used, provided he goes all out rather than using about five percent of its total capability. Fortunately, Gilgamesh has no desire to ever use Enuma Elish at its full power.

* The Espers are afraid that ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' will do this if she learns [[RealityWarper the truth about herself]].

* The climax of the first season of ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'' had the villains exploiting a loophole with the ClingyMacGuffin inside TheProtagonist that fueled his existence; by [[{{Synchronization}} synchronizing]] with a character with an (implied) infinite capacity for Existence, the MacGuffin would generate infinite existence. It was implied that reality itself would blow up/collapse (yes, simultaneously) if this had been allowed to continue.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'':

* ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' has an episode where Comicbook/DoctorStrange loses his girlfriend Christine in a car accident, and given that repeated attempts only using his magic isn't enough to prevent that from happening, he goes through a very dark path trying to become powerful enough to be able to save her life. And the end result of undoing something that was meant to be (the accident has what made him become Sorcerer Supreme - Christine's death here, Strange injuring his hands in [[Film/DoctorStrange the original story]], where she was only his {{Amicable Ex|es}}), as he realizes much too late, is the dissolution of all of reality.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' episode "A Very Special Mandy" reveals that this is essentially what happens if Mandy ever smiles in a joyful (rather than sinister) manner. The ultimate outcome? Billy, Mandy, and the GrimReaper wind up [[CrossoverPunchline becoming the]] ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 Powerpuff Girls]]''. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And Irwin becomes Mojo Jojo]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In the story "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E12HerPilgrimSoulIOfNewton I Of Newton]]", mathematician Sam is told by an omnipotent demon that he can save his soul by asking him a question he can't answer or telling him to perform a task he can't do. After the demon brags he can go to anyplace in any alternate dimension in any time period and return, Sam defeats him with two words: "Get lost."

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Using an [[NeglectfulPrecursors Ancient Project]] to create a super-energy source, [[InsufferableGenius Dr. Rodney McKay]] accidentally makes particles that defy the laws of physics, break through the shields because of it and then annihilates [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten the entire solar system]]!

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In the story "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E12HerPilgrimSoulIOfNewton I Of Newton]]", mathematician Sam is told by an omnipotent demon that he can save his soul by asking him a question he can't answer or perform a task he can't do. After the demon brags he can go to anyplace in any alternate dimension in any time period and return, Sam defeats him with two words: "Get lost."

** Theepisode "The Job" reveals that the universe warps and eventually unravels if [[LazyBum Richard]] [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness gets a job]]. [[StatusQuoIsGod Naturally, the cast has to get him fired]] or else the universe would cease to exist.

** One episode reveals that the universe warps and eventually unravels if [[LazyBum Richard]] [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness gets a job]]. [[StatusQuoIsGod Naturally, the cast has to get him fired]] or else the universe would cease to exist.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' revealed that this is essentially what happens if Mandy ever smiles in a joyful (rather than sinister) manner. The ultimate outcome? Billy, Mandy, and the GrimReaper wind up [[CrossoverPunchline becoming the]] ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 Powerpuff Girls]]''. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And Irwin becomes Mojo Jojo]].

** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3088 SCP-3088]] is a town where every law the mayor made [[RealityWarper became objective law of reality for the town]] (for example, a law banning litter deleted all litter within the town's borders and no one was able to even to try to litter). One of the first laws made upon realizing his power is that no one could leave the town. However, [[spoiler: tired of the Mobile Task Force Unit, the mayor made a law said that all military personnel must leave immediately, conflicting with the prior law saying no one could leave. [[RetGone So the entire town vanished from existence]].]]