History NoOntologicalInertia / Film

* The virus pandemic in ''Film/{{Outbreak}}''. Once the protagonist has found and isolated the antibody from the monkey's blood serum, by the next scene there's enough antiserum for all infected (how?). Once injected into the dying people, it instantly cures them and everything shortly thereafter has returned to normal, with no lasting ill effects. This was a ''flesh-eating'' virus. So, once the antidote is delivered, all damage is instantly healed; including skin lesions and internal organ damage.

* Lampshaded/brought up as a plot point in ''Film/TheLostBoys''. The lead vampire David is killed so that half-turned vampires Michael, Star and Laddie will revert to fully human, but Michael specifically points out that he doesn't feel any different and that nothing has changed. [[spoiler:Turns out to be played straight in the end, with the death of the ''real'' head vampire Max. As soon as he gets killed, Michael and the others immediately change back]].

* Lampshaded/brought up as a plot-point in ''Film/TheLostBoys''. The head vampire is killed, but Michael specifically points out that he doesn't feel any different and that nothing has changed. [[spoiler:Turns out to be played straight in the end, with the death of the ''real'' head vampire Max. As soon as he get killed, Michael immediately reverts back to human.]]

* At the end of ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'', once Bastian has given the Childlike Empress a new name, Fantasia goes right back to its old state.
-->'''Bastian:''' Falkor, it's like the Nothing never was.

** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler: As Tony Stark dies from injuries due to using the Infinity Stones, the lights on his IronMan suit last exactly as long as he does, [[EyeLightsOut shutting down when he dies.]]]]

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', as soon as Koopa is defeated, the King turns back into a humanoid without needing to be re-evolved.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp''. [[FreeingTheGenie When the genie is made]] [[BecomeARealBoy a real boy]] and thus de-powered, Dijon (who had been transformed into a pig from a wish by the BigBad) is restored to normal.

* In Creator/DarioArgento's ''Film/Inferno1980'', the central apartment building collapses after its designer is strangled. (In ''Film/{{Suspiria|1977}}'', the building bursts into flame after Helena Markos is stabbed, but that's more of a LoadBearingBoss.) [[spoiler:The Nurse, aka the Mother of Darkness,]] is, like [[spoiler:her sister, Helena Markos (aka the Mother of Sighs)]] a LoadBearingBoss. In both cases, the house is an extension of the [[spoiler:Mother]] who lives there. The same happened to [[spoiler:the third and final sister, The Film/MotherOfTears]],hence there is an in-universe logic to it.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** ''Episode IV: Film/ANewHope'', as a standalone, would have you believe that the Empire was utterly destroyed after the Death Star was. ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' is even worse, as lampshaded in the second ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' special: "The Rebels are right there! Get them!" "We... can't." "Why not? We still have this fleet, and they're almost destroyed." "No, you see, we lost." "We ''what''?" "Yes, afraid so. They blew up the Death Star and killed the Emperor. We lost."
** As far as Star Wars the standalone film is concerned, that is somewhat justifiable. The Senate has been newly abolished, causing even the bad guys to wonder how the Emperor will retain control of the Galaxy. Tarkin's answer is fear of the Death Star...which is then blown up. Add then the bad guys worry about Rebel sympathy just from something small like holding Leia, and imagine what the destruction of Alderaan will have done to incite the population. So while it would take some more effort to complete things, the doom of the Empire is basically spelled in the first movie.
** Somewhat retconned in the books, in that the Empire became much weaker after Endor, but held out for a couple years, and even afterwards held on to an "Imperial Remnant" for years. In fact, the current government of the galaxy, the Galactic Federation Triumvirate, is made up of the Rebel Alliance, the Jedi Order and...the Empire.
** Hand-waved in the EU by Timothy Zahn with the invention of what became, in the games, Battle Meditation. The Emperor made the Imperial forces awesomer because of the Force. When he died, that awesomeness went away and, in the confusion that followed, the Rebels kicked major buttocks.
*** May be justified even without the hand wave. Many times in history a superior force has been totally routed by an inferior force after a suitably spectacular event saps their morale. With the dramatic destruction of the Death Star, the Executor, the Emperor, and several of his top officers (including TheDragon), the fleet admirals may well have ordered a general retreat in order to prevent any more dramatic losses and re-assess their position. At that point, ChronicBackstabbingDisorder kicked in, and the rest is the EU.
*** The Empire retreating is likely. Admiral Piett dies with the ''Executor'', taking down their command ship, their commanding officer, and one of the fleet's ranking admirals. This would create enough confusion among the ships, plus be a big minus to morale. When the ships move in on the Death Star, this confirms that the ground force is defeated, another major morale loss. Then the Death Star blows up. There went their major installation, superweapon, and base. And who were on that base? First their major leader, his second-in-command, a Grand Admiral, and Moff Jerjerrod, the leader of the area. Their objectives have failed, morale is probably down in the ground and not only major military, but their main leadership is dead. Retreat seems likely, plus the rebels shouldn't have too hard to get away, as being chased is highly unlikely. Again, after this, even remnants creates an issue, because of lack of major leadership.
** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the Rebel commander, at almost the last minute, orders "Move the fleet away from the Death Star". It's possible that in the confusion the Imperial fleet never got a similar order.
** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' in the reboot goes in more or less the same direction that the books did and shows that the Empire was dealt a heavy blow at Endor but continued fighting for some time, and the last major battle (which we see the wreckage of) was on the planet Jakku. Since then TheRemnant has persisted (except here it's called the First Order instead of the Imperial Remnant) and has been in a SpaceColdWar with [[TheRepublic the New Republic]], and its military which is called the Resistance.

* ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Zigzagged with Maleficent. Her death causes the thorns she summoned earlier to disappear, but does not undo the curse put on Aurora. Phillip still has to kiss her for that to happen. Maybe justified in that conditional curses tend to have a self-sustaining equilibrium, while the thorns were an artificial contract that had to be maintained. Supported by the live-action ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' where Maleficent herself couldn't remove the curse when she had regrets.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Home}}'', Oh's invite will take roughly 40 hours to reach the Gorg, yet cancelling the invite immediately stops the signal even though it was mere seconds from reaching them.

* In ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Slughirn mentions he had a pet fish that Harry's mother created with magic. When he got up one morning and found it had turned back into a flower petal, he knew she was dead.

*** May be justified even without the hand wave. Many times in history a superior force has been totally routed by an inferior force after a suitably spectacular event saps their morale. With the dramatic destruction of the Death Star, the Executor, the Emperor, and several of his top officers (including TheDragon) the fleet admirals may well have ordered a general retreat in order to prevent any more dramatic losses and re-assess their position. At that point ChronicBackstabbingDisorder kicked in and the rest is the EU.
*** The Empire retreating is likely. Admiral Piett dies with the ''Executor'', taking down their command ship, their commanding officer and one of the fleets ranking admirals. This would create enough confusion among the ships, plus be a big minus to morale. When the ships move in on the Death Star, this confirms that the ground force is defeated, another major morale loss. Then the Death Star blows up. There went their major installation, superweapon and base. And who were on that base? First their major leader, his second in command, a Grand Admiral, and Moff Jerjerrod, the leader of the area. Their objectives have failed, morale is probably down in the ground and not only major military, but their main leadership is dead. Retreat seems likely, plus the rebels shouldn't have too hard to get away, as being chased is highly unlikely. Again, after this, even remnants creates an issue, because of lack of major leadership.

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', as soon as Koopa is defeated the King turns back into a humanoid without needing to be re-evolved.

* A major plot point in ''Film/UnderworldEvolution'', As the first vampire, Markus managed to convince the other vampires that killing him would destroy all of them, and killing his brother William (the first lycan) would destroy all lycans--thus depriving them of their slaves. When Selene hears about this a thousand years or so later, she immediately sees it for the [[SubvertedTrope lie it is]], but the one telling it to her notes that Victor believed it enough to not risk it.

* In ''Film/HowardTheDuck'', the Dark Overlord shoots rays at Phil and Beverly that start slowly desintegrating them. When Howard blasts the Dark Overlord away two minutes later, the energy of his rays disappears and Phil and Beverly's desintegration process stops, reverting them to normal.

* Near the climax of the Creator/{{Disney}} version of ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Quasimodo pours ridiculous amounts of molten copper from a [[BagOfHolding cauldron]] onto the soldiers in the square below. A little later, [[spoiler:Frollo [[DisneyVillainDeath dies by falling into it.]]]] Then, when the protagonists come out of the cathedral at the end of the movie, the boiling metal is gone and the square is full of people.

* In Creator/DarioArgento's ''Film/{{Inferno}}'', the central apartment building collapses after its designer is strangled. (In ''Film/{{Suspiria|1977}}'', the building bursts into flame after Helena Markos is stabbed, but that's more of a LoadBearingBoss.) [[spoiler:The Nurse, aka the Mother of Darkness,]] is, like [[spoiler:her sister, Helena Markos (aka the Mother of Sighs)]] a LoadBearingBoss. In both cases, the house is an extension of the [[spoiler:Mother]] who lives there. The same happened to [[spoiler:the third and final sister, The Film/MotherOfTears]],hence there is an in-universe logic to it.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'''s self-awareness about Disney tropes leads this one to be PlayedForDrama. The villain believes that killing Elsa will undo the EndlessWinter she created, and there's simply no way of knowing whether or not he's right.