History Main / WorldWreckingWave

--> '''K-2SO:''' We have a problem on the horizon. [{{beat}}] There is no horizon.

* The Ultimatum Wave, in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel CrisisCrossover, ''{{Ultimatum}}.'' (Guess what their favorite word is?) It was [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom an actual wave]] and it ended with half the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel cast dead.

* The Ultimatum Wave, in the UltimateMarvel CrisisCrossover, ''{{Ultimatum}}.'' (Guess what their favorite word is?) It was [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom an actual wave]] and it ended with half the UltimateMarvel cast dead.

--> Bhodi: We have a problem on the horizon. [{{beat}}] There's no horizon.

* In ''Film/RogueOne'', the Death Star is revealed to have this as a lower setting. Instead of shattering a planet completely, as in ''Film/ANewHope'', it just creates a massive physical upheaval in a localized area. The ground itself literally rises up and travels outward from the blast site like a thousand-foot tsunami. [[spoiler: It's used twice.]]
--> Bhodi: We have a problem with the horizon. ({{beat}}) There's no horizon.

--> Bhodi: We have a problem with the horizon. [{Beat}] There's no horizon.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCroods'' has [[NoAntagonist no direct antagonist]], so the only danger is the end of the world quakes that are catching up to them.

* In Franchise/TheDCU, the God-Wave created the gods out of a lifeless universe, and [[MetaOrigin its echoes]] created {{superhero}}es and {{supervillain}}s.

[[caption-width-right:300:Pretty sure the insurance company won't cover that, [[BlackComedy they were in the blast radius]].]]

* One of these gets unleashed upon the ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' universe when [[spoiler:Griffith uses the Skull Knight's dimension-warping attack to fuse the planes of existence together]].

* The world of the ''HeraldsOfValdemar'' series by Creator/MercedesLackey is defined in large part by an ancient event known as the Cataclysm, which was a [[FantasticNuke humongous magical detonation]] that devastated vast portions of the landscape and left magical ruin behind. It took the form of a sequence of waves radiating around the planet, and was so powerful that it bent time itself, returning three thousand years later.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/MSSagaANewDawn http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GreatFall_2298.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Pretty sure the insurance company won't cover that, [[BlackComedy they were in the blast radius]].]]

->''Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world.''

* ''Dark Conspiracy''. The release of extradimensional evil on of Jupiter's moons leads to an invasion of modern day Earth, resulting in the creation of areas called Demongrounds.
* ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' had six such events, called Maelstroms, ruin the Shadowlands. The first five were triggered by huge disasters or wars in the world of the living that caused huge numbers of ghosts to be thrust into the world of the dead at once. The sixth, final, and most destructive of them was quite different: a series of events triggered a [[NukeEm relic nuclear bomb]] near the mouth of Oblivion. The Sixth Great Maelstrom was so catastrophic it not only took out most of the Shadowlands, but set into motion the events that destroyed the rest of the OldWorldOfDarkness.

* ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'': the Great Catacylsm.

* The Firebird from ''Disney/{{Fantasia 2000}}''.

* When Wuya is [[spoiler: returned to physical form]] at the end of ''XiaolinShowdown'''s first season, the region she's in...suffers. Plants die. Rivers dry up. Entire mountains become barren. When she's [[spoiler: sealed away again]], the damage is undone with a WorldHealingWave.

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* A theme of ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'' is the Great Spells conspiring together to create a world-changing wave which begins in the representation of Unseen University in a model of the Disc, then spreads out to cover first the whole of the model Disc, the model elephants and Turtle beneath it, and then visibly surges over the entire world> apparently it's a Change Spell. What it changes is that it rescuse the Wizzard Rincewind, who has fallen over the side of the Disc, and rescues him from deep space to drop him safely into the forest of Skund in the centre of the continental mass. As an unintended side-effect, it magically changes the species of the University librarian from human to orang-utan and calls a bowl of pineapple jelly into being. Apart from this the Disc is unchanged. Although it is seemingly on the catastrophe curve for a different reason - something only Rincewind can avert.

* ''Literature/WyvernDiary'' has the Blackmatter Event that sent worldwide ripples that destroyed every electrical power system in the world and unlocked several containers of military grade mutagens to be released into the atmosphere. This is all before the story begins.

* In ''VideoGame/TheOldRepublic'', the final arc of the ''Shadow of Revan'' story takes place on the Imperial homeworld of Ziost. The ([[InsistentTerminology former]]) Sith Emperor is -- [[OurGhostsAreDifferent "manifesting on" might be the term]] -- the planet, causing a HatePlague that is gradually driving the population to kill one another. Naturally, the player characters are called in to stop it. But just when they think they've succeeded and returned to space, the Emperor unleashes a World-Wrecking Wave that literally turns everyone on the planet to ash, kills off all life, and bleaches the ground and sky. The implication is that he could have done this ''at any time'', but waited until you'd left [[ForTheEvulz for his own sick amusement]].

* Both the Ultimate Annhilator and the Genesis Waves of [[ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Sonic the Hedgehog]] were this. Subverted in that the results of all three incidences, which were always meant to be destructive, didn't quite turn out how their architects had intended due to sabotage of some kind either before or after implementation. As a result, most of the intended changes didn't take or weren't permanent. [[spoiler: Then its ''doubly'' subverted with the reversion of the last Genesis Wave. Only this time, its ''Eggman'' who sabotages ''Sonic''.]]

* The short film ''Pixels'' shows parts of New York being disintegrated into tiny cubes by various creatures and objects from arcade games that escaped into our world from a thrown-out TV. Then a giant bomb finishes it off by pixellating everything in the blast, and eventually turning entire world into one giant black cube that drifts silently through space.

* ''TheCroods'' has [[NoAntagonist no direct antagonist]], so the only danger is the end of the world quakes that are catching up to them.
* When the Drej mothership fires on Earth in ''TitanAE'', it causes one of these... [[FromBadToWorse just before]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom the earth blows up]].

** A world wrecking wave happened to the [[SpaceElves Eldar]], ten thousand years into the past of the setting. The decadance and corruption of this highly psychic race spawned and fed a new ''god'' of pleasure and excess in [[HyperSpaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]]. When it was finally born, the rip in space-time obliterated the heart of their old empire and sent a psychic wave of destruction through the galaxy, killing most of them and their worlds. They haven't recovered since, and [[{{Hellgate}} the rip is still there]].