History NoOntologicalInertia / Film

** The post-Endor ExpandedUniverse storyline is now officially non-canon, but ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' 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.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'', [[spoiler:Elsa dies turning into an ice statue. Olaf, a sentient {{Snowlem}} created by her, dies soon after her. [[DisneyDeath They both get better]], although Olaf's rebirth is not automatic and requires Elsa to rebuild him.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989''. After Ursula was killed, all of the merpeople she had changed into pathetic little creatures returned to their true form. Justified, though, as it was heavily implied that each merperson was held in said state under contract to Ursula. Upon her death, all contracts were made null and void.

* ''Film/TwicetoldTales'': In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", the effects of the [[FountainOfYouth youth-giving water]] wear off after Alex kills Carl. Sylvia is reduced to a desiccated skeleton, Carl's body returns to its original age, and Alex reverts to his true age. Alex returns to the crypt to find more of the water, but it no longer flows.

* Vampirism works this way in ''Suck''-- killing a vampire turns everyone he sired and everyone they sired back into humans.

* Selectively applied (or so it would seem) at the end of ''WeirdScience''. When "Lisa" vanishes, everything that she has directly or indirectly altered in this level of reality returns to the way it was before - except for Wyatt's grandparents, who are never shown awakening from their suspended animation and so [[OffscreenInertia still must be lifeless statues in Wyatt's family's closet]]. Then again, Lisa ''does'' reappear at the end of the movie without explanation, so either this is a ZigZaggingTrope.

* This is attempted in Film/RebirthOfMothra3, in which Mothra Leo goes back to the Cretaceous to kill King Ghidorah’s Cretaceous form so his stronger Modern-Type form in the present is vanquished. While it seems as if Leo trounces the King, albeit suffering horrible injuries that would have killed him had he not been cocooned by the Primitive Mithras until the present day, OntologicalInertia ensues when a piece of Cretaceous King Ghidorah’s tail burrows into the ground to spend the ensuing 65 million years regenerating, meaning that KG is alive and well in the present... until Mothra Leo awakens in his new Armor form, and finally puts KG down for good.

* This is attempted in Film/RebirthOfMothraIII, in which Mothra Leo goes back to the Cretaceous to kill King Ghidorah’s Cretaceous form so his stronger Modern-Type form in the present is vanquished. While it seems as if Leo trounces the King, albeit suffering horrible injuries that would have killed him had he not been cocooned by the Primitive Mithras until the present day, OntologicalInertia ensues when a piece of Cretaceous King Ghidorah’s tail burrows into the ground to spend the ensuing 65 million years regenerating, meaning that KG is alive and well in the present... until Mothra Leo awakens in his new Armor form, and finally puts KG down for good.

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings:

* [[WideEyedIdealist Diana's]] reasoning in ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' assumes this trope to be in effect: [[BigBad Ares]] is responsible for corrupting humanity and making them go to war; therefore, once she kills Ares, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne the Great War]] will end and peace will return. [[spoiler:She's [[BreakTheCutie heartbroken]] when she finally realizes that warfare is humanity's initiative, not Ares'. Ares ''does'' exist, but he merely inspires people, rather than controls them.]]

* 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.
* 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 ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', Scar's death immediately brings rain back to the Pridelands and repairs a completely devastated ecosystem in what appears to be a few months. (This may be an instance of the FisherKing, where the beauty of a kingdom is tied to the health of its sovereign.)
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989''. After Ursula was killed, all of the merpeople she had changed into pathetic little creatures returned to their true form. Justified, though, as it was heavily implied that each merperson was held in said state under contract to Ursula. Upon her death, all contracts were made null and void.

* ''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.
* ''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.

* In ''Magma: Volcanic Disaster'', once the hero removes the underlying problem causing the eruptions (by setting off more eruptions underwater with [[DeusExNukina nuclear weapons]], despite nuclear weapon testing being the cause of the problem), all the volcanoes stop erupting, the lava recedes, and all fires are put out.
* 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.

* 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.
* A rare biological "science" form of this trope occurs in ''Film/VanHelsing''. When he removes Mr Hyde's arm, it shrivels back to the arm of Doctor Jekyll as soon as it hits the ground. In the same film, [[spoiler:killing Dracula kills all of the baby vampire things he made as well.]] As shown in the opening scene, [[spoiler:any supernatural creature that is killed returns to its previously mortal form upon death, including Dracula's wives]].
* ''Film/TheMummyReturns'': Subversion. It ''appears'' that the Scorpion King dying causes the Army of Anubis to turn to dust, but it's actually that they've been banished to the underworld by [[spoiler:O'Connell]], who gained control of them when he killed the Scorpion King.
* ''Film/TheLeagueOfGentlemenApocalypse'' is a meta-example of this trope. The League of Gentlemen characters invade the real world when their world starts to collapse as their creators have moved on to a new project.

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', as soon as Koopa is defeated the King turns back into a humanoid without needing to be re-evolved.
* ''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 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/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.
** The post-Endor ExpandedUniverse storyline is now officially non-canon, but ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' 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.
* The climax of 1995's ''[[Film/TheNet1995 The Net]]'' would seem to indicate that since an evil computer program that has erased all of Sandra Bullock's identity records, deleting that program will automagically ''restore'' all her records. (This is comparable to deleting your copy of [=OpenOffice=] to restore all your documents to their original condition, or un-Photoshopping your pictures by removing Photoshop.)
* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings:
** In ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers The Two Towers]]'', once Saruman's magic hold on King Theoden is released, the King is instantly rejuvenated from his withered form. This not only includes his hair and beard spontaneously changing color, but actually growing shorter again. AWizardDidIt. Literally. The magic doesn't just end, Gandalf actively throws Saruman out, so one can assume he did some fixing in the process (or even completely negated the magic, as this is also when he reveals publicly that [[spoiler: he is now a White Wizard like Saruman]]).
** In ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'' the destruction of the Ring causes everything Sauron built to fall apart or explode.
* 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.]]
* Vampirism works this way in ''Suck''-- killing a vampire turns everyone he sired and everyone they sired back into humans.
* Disney's ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks''. When Miss Price loses her concentration after an explosion, all of the animated suits of armor and uniforms collapse to the ground.
* ''Film/FrightNight1985''. The vampire Jerry Dandrige changes Amy into a vampire by biting her. When Jerry is destroyed, Amy becomes human again.

* In ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'', the moon was only a few seconds away from crashing into the Earth when Ming was killed, instantly restoring everything to normal. Ontological inertia wasn't even necessary at this point - normal physical inertia, or even the Earth's gravity, should have allowed the moon to keep moving for at least a few more seconds. Not to mention that Ming was using a machine to move the moon, so even without ontological inertia someone must have turned it off before Ming even hit the ground. However, it's possible that the countdown was to the point where the moon was too far gone to stop, rather than the actual collision.
** WordOfGod says the countdown was for the point of no return, where nothing would prevent the Moon from colliding.
* Justified in ''Film/TheFaculty''. After Zeke examines one of the parasites, he notices that it doesn't have all the necessary organs to sustain itself independently, and concludes (correctly) that there must be an alien queen with a telepathic link to all of its "offspring." Killing it would kill all the parasites, returning everyone to their normal selves.
* Selectively applied (or so it would seem) at the end of ''WeirdScience''. When "Lisa" vanishes, everything that she has directly or indirectly altered in this level of reality returns to the way it was before - except for Wyatt's grandparents, who are never shown awakening from their suspended animation and so [[OffscreenInertia still must be lifeless statues in Wyatt's family's closet]]. Then again, Lisa ''does'' reappear at the end of the movie without explanation, so either this is a ZigZaggingTrope.
* ''Film/HocusPocus'': After the witches are disintegrated, the curses they had laid on various characters end.
* Combined with NoFourthWall in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', where the Black Beast of Arrrrrgh ceases to exist after [[Creator/TerryGilliam the animator]] suffers a fatal heart attack.
* ''Film/LordOfIllusions''. After Nix is destroyed for good, his late follower Philip Swann who died minutes before him is stripped to the bone as Nix was the source of Swann's magic, and the hole in the Earth he created also closes back up.
* Toyed with in ''Film/{{Transcendence}}''. The changes Will's nanomachines did to people seem to revert at the end [[spoiler:(i.e., the Hybrids appear to revert to their pre-treatment selves)]], but their efforts to clean up the environment [[spoiler:(air and water cleaned to pre-industrial levels)]] are implied to have remained.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''
** In ''Film/XMen1'', when Wolverine's powers of healing are drained by Rogue, he ends up regaining every injury he's suffered over the course of the last two days.
** In ''Film/TheWolverine'', despite [[spoiler:Ichirō]] having absorbed enough of Logan's healing factor to return to his 20s, he reverts immediately upon his connection with Logan being broken.

* In ''Film/TheForsaken'', vampirism as a virus transmitted by the titular eight master vampires, each with their own unique strain. The protagonists of the film were infected by the virus and are seeking to destroy one of the Forsaken, so they can be cured. [[spoiler: At the end they succeed, but one of the heroes remains infected as it turns out that was not the original vampire who infected him, so his search still continues.]]
* 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.
* [[WideEyedIdealist Diana's]] reasoning in ''Film/WonderWoman2017'' assumes this trope to be in effect: [[BigBad Ares]] is responsible for corrupting humanity and making them go to war; therefore, once she kills Ares, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne the Great War]] will end and peace will return. [[spoiler:She's [[BreakTheCutie heartbroken]] when she finally realizes that warfare is humanity's initiative, not Ares'. Ares ''does'' exist, but he merely inspires people, rather than controls them.]]
* In ''Film/{{Geostorm}}'', when the weather machine is rebooted, all of the adverse weather it caused instantly subsides. Most comically, the flood in Dubai is portrayed as literally going down a giant drain.

* In ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', E.T. revives a pot of wilting flowers early in the film. After E.T. gets sick, Michael notices the flowers wilting again, and realizes that E.T. died. Later on, Elliot sees the flowers reviving again, meaning that E.T. came back to life.

** In ''Return of the Jedi'', 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.

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Two Towers'', once Saruman's magic hold on King Theoden is released, the King is instantly rejuvenated from his withered form. This not only includes his hair and beard spontaneously changing color, but actually growing shorter again. AWizardDidIt. Literally. The magic doesn't just end, Gandalf actively throws Saruman out, so one can assume he did some fixing in the process (or even completely negated the magic, as this is also when he reveals publicly that [[spoiler: he is now a White Wizard like Saruman]]).
** In "The Return of the King" the destruction of the Ring causes everything Sauron built to fall apart or explode.

* Disney's ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}''

** ''Disney/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'': After Jafar's death at the end, all the destruction he caused as a Genie is reversed, with the lava pit closing back up, the palace getting restored, and Carpet reintegrated after getting shattered.

* Near the climax of the Creator/{{Disney}} version of ''Disney/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 ''Disney/TheLionKing'', Scar's death immediately brings rain back to the Pridelands and repairs a completely devastated ecosystem in what appears to be a few months. (This may be an instance of the FisherKing, where the beauty of a kingdom is tied to the health of its sovereign.)
* ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''. After Ursula was killed, all of the merpeople she had changed into pathetic little creatures returned to their true form. Justified, though, as it was heavily implied that each merperson was held in said state under contract to Ursula. Upon her death, all contracts were made null and void.

* ''Disney/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.
* ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'''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.
* In ''Disney/FrozenII'', [[spoiler:Elsa dies turning into an ice statue. Olaf, a sentient {{Snowlem}} created by her, dies soon after her. [[DisneyDeath They both get better]], although Olaf's rebirth is not automatic and requires Elsa to rebuild him.]]

* In Film/TheMask, Loki-Ipkiss gets a piece of his tie shot off, which instantly reverts to a piece of his pyjamas.

* In Film/TheMask, Loki-Ipkiss gets a piece of his tie shot off, which instantly reverts to a piece of his pyjamas.

* In ''Disney/Frozen2'', [[spoiler:Elsa dies turning into an ice statue. Olaf, a sentient {{Snowlem}} created by her, dies soon after her. [[DisneyDeath They both get better]], although Olaf's rebirth is not automatic and requires Elsa to rebuild him.]]

* In ''Disney/Frozen2'', [[spoiler:Elsa dies turning into an ice statue. Olaf, a sentient {{Slowlem}} created by her, dies soon after her. [[DisneyDeath They both get better]], although Elsa needs to recreate Olaf.]]

* ''Film/FrightNight1985''. When the vampire Dandrige is destroyed, his converted victim Amy is turned back to human.

* In ''Film/{{Geostorm}}'', when the weather machine is rebooted, all of the adverse weather it caused instantly subsides. Most comically, the flood in Dubai is portrayed as literally going down a giant drain.

* ''Disney/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.

* ''Disney/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.

* ''Disney/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.