History Main / WorldWreckingWave

* In Franchise/TheDCU, the God-Wave created the ''[[Comicbook/NewGods gods]]'' out of a lifeless universe, and [[MetaOrigin its echoes]] created {{superhero}}es (Franchise/{{Superman}}, Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/TheFlash...) and {{supervillain}}s (Comicbook/{{Brainiac}}, Cheetah...).

Expect a SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic to hammer home the scope of the threat. Compare FantasticNuke, which may set off a World-Wrecking Wave. Contrast a EarthShatteringKaboom - for the world ''doesn't'' survive the experience.

Natural disasters are scary enough, but what about ''super''natural or [[HumansAreBastards man-made]] disasters? One way to kick-start a story or motivate characters to pick up TheCall is to threaten the setting with a World-Wrecking Wave. The Wave can have any of a number of triggers; it may happen when the SealedEvilInACan is released, some [[GodOfEvil overwhelming evil force]] unleashes a powerful {{Curse}}, the CosmicKeystone is stolen or corrupted, or a scientific/technological device meant to better things [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]] - or a MadScientist has figured out how to weaponize AppliedPhlebotinum. The wave can have any or all of the following effects: natural disasters will be triggered, [[{{Mutants}} mutations]] will affect animal, plant, and even human life, areas will enter the DarkWorld or become haunted and toxic, and millions of {{Mooks}} (monsters, undead or other things) will roam the land and [[EverythingTryingToKillYou attack all humans]]. Maybe all of the humans in radius of the wave are turned into something else, or the planet might be scoured of life.

* 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 rescues the Wizzard Rincewind, who has fallen over the side of the Disc. It pulls him out of a plummet into 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.
** In ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', a similar world-changing wave occurs in reverse as two different mutually exclusive timelines exist together. The larger, dominant, consensus timeline wraps the rogue timeline in a wave of visible energy which ''shrinks'', trapping those inside it as it contracts.

* The Firebird from ''Disney/{{Fantasia 2000}}''. As soon as the Spring Sprite wakes it up, it begins burning everything in sight.
* Disney's ''Mickey and the Beanstalk''. After the golden harp is stolen, Happy Valley quickly turns into Grimy Gulch. Problems include drought and starvation.

* When the Drej mothership fires on Earth in ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'', it causes one of these... [[FromBadToWorse just before]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom the earth blows up]].

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* A fiery wave of destruction passes through the Earth in 1945 when the Spectre reveals to Dr. Fate what Adolf Hitler has done with the Ancient Spear of Destiny in ''ComicBook/LastDaysOfTheJusticeSociety''. So powerful that even the likes of Superman was consumed by it.

* The Firebird from ''Disney/{{Fantasia 2000}}''. It's the God of this trope in our Pantheon.

Expect a SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic to hammer home the scope of the threat. Compare FantasticNuke, which may set off a World-Wrecking Wave. Contrast a WorldShatteringKaboom - for the world ''doesn't'' survive the experience.

Natural disasters are scary enough, but what about ''super''natural disasters? One way to kick-start a story or motivate characters to pick up TheCall is to threaten the setting with a World-Wrecking Wave. The Wave can have any of a number of triggers; it may happen when the SealedEvilInACan is released, some [[GodOfEvil overwhelming evil force]] unleashes a powerful {{Curse}}, the CosmicKeystone is stolen or corrupted, or a scientific/technological device meant to better things [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]]. The wave can have any or all of the following effects: natural disasters will be triggered, [[{{Mutants}} mutations]] will affect animal, plant, and even human life, areas will enter the DarkWorld or become haunted and toxic, and millions of {{Mooks}} (monsters, undead or other things) will roam the land and [[EverythingTryingToKillYou attack all humans]]. Maybe all of the humans in radius of the wave are turned into something else.

Once the wave stops rippling, the heroes will be faced with a world gone topsy-turvy. The effects can range from a CosyCatastrophe to AfterTheEnd, and affect anywhere [[CivilizationDestroyer from a town to a universe]]. It's worth noting that the World-Wrecking Wave '''won't''' [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy the whole world]] nor kill all humans, though it probably represents a big step towards [[ApocalypseHow some form of apocalypse]] or VillainWorld. The Wave is merely an event that whacks the entire setting closer to CrapsackWorld (or ''further down'' the same). Narratively, it isn't supposed to destroy the world either, it's an amped up [[StoryboardingTheApocalypse way to show]] heroes that things can get much, '''much''' worse if [[EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce the bad guys get their way]].

On the plus side, heroes can often SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, by a piecemeal process involving healing the land one acre at a time, or all at once by healing the FisherKing, going back in time to prevent the event, or using an opposing WorldHealingWave. Also, a World-Wrecking Wave may end up helping the heroes by serving as a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent... though some of those may be {{Lovecraftian Superpower}}s.

Expect a SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic to hammer home the scope of the threat. Compare FantasticNuke, which may set off a World-Wrecking Wave.

* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTalesTheGoldenGoose The Golden Goose]]" has the Golden Goose, an ArtifactOfDoom that can turn things to gold. If left outside its protective fountain too long, it comes to life and starts randomly turning things to gold. It then sheds its golden coating, which spreads through the ground and threatens to turn the entire world to gold. Only returning the goose to the fountain [[WorldHealingWave reverses the effect]].

Natural disasters are scary enough, but what about ''super''natural disasters? One way to kick-start a story or motivate characters to pick up TheCall is to threaten the setting with a World-Wrecking Wave. The Wave can have any of a number of triggers; it may happen when the SealedEvilInACan is released, some [[GodOfEvil overwhelming evil force]] unleashes a powerful {{Curse}}, the CosmicKeystone is stolen or corrupted, or a scientific/technological device meant to better things [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]]. The wave can have any or all of the following effects: natural disasters will be triggered, [[{{Mutants}} mutations]] will affect animal, plant, and even human life, areas will enter the DarkWorld or become haunted and toxic, and millions of {{Mooks}} (monsters, undead or other things) will roam the land and [[EverythingTryingToKillYou attack all humans]].

** That was the ''second'' WorldWreckingWave to hit Azeroth, with the first being the Great Sundering which ''broke'' the continent into the 4 we know today. There's also whatever happened to Outland, which turned a planet into a series of floating asteroids. A '''''Third''''' WorldWreckingWave hits Azeroth if you don't stop [[BigBad Deathwing]] from using it when you fight him.
*** No, [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant not a wave that wrecked the third world]].

Once the wave stops rippling, the heroes will be faced with a world gone topsy-turvy. The effects can range from a CosyCatastrophe to AfterTheEnd, and affect anywhere from a town to a universe. It's worth noting that the World-Wrecking Wave '''won't''' [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy the whole world]] nor kill all humans, though it probably represents a big step towards [[ApocalypseHow some form of apocalypse]] or VillainWorld. The Wave is merely an event that whacks the entire setting closer to CrapsackWorld (or ''further down'' the same). Narratively, it isn't supposed to destroy the world either, it's an amped up [[StoryboardingTheApocalypse way to show]] heroes that things can get much, '''much''' worse if [[EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce the bad guys get their way]].

* ''Literature/ThePoisonBelt'' has this as its entire premise, the poison being reported from Sumatra long before it reaches Britain. It may seem atypical because the poison belt is something the Earth passes through, but perhaps that's [[ScienceMarchesOn because]] it was written in 1913.

*** No, [[IThoughtItMeant not a wave that wrecked the third world]].

* The medical device hacked by the Master in "The End of Time" (Doctor Who).

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* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'': The Great Cataclysm. A nuclear war, during [[WhenThePlanetsAlign a planetary alignment]], on the Winter Solstice, equaled a massive burst of magical energy akin to millions of human sacrifices. Every LeyLine activated at once, creating a catastrophic surge of natural disasters... which meant more people died, which meant ''more'' power flooded into the ley lines, which meant ''more'' disasters. In the end, humanity was left standing in the ruins of civilization, with aliens, other-dimensional beings, and demons all dragged onto Earth by the newly-opened portals, wondering what the hell just happened.

* ''[[ANime/MegaManNTWarrior Rockman.EXE Beast]]'' has the alternate universe world Beyondard. Prior to the start of the series a Dimensional Area experiment went out of control and permanently covered the entire planet in a Dimensional Area making it a CrapsackWorld where deadly computer viruses and rogue AIs exist in the real world.

* ''RockmanEXEBeast'' has the alternate universe world Beyondard. Prior to the start of the series a Dimensional Area experiment went out of control and permanently covered the entire planet in a Dimensional Area making it a CrapsackWorld where deadly computer viruses and rogue AIs exist in the real world.