Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / ApocalypticMontage

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%%
4%%
5%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
6%%
7%%
8%%
9%%
10%%
11[[quoteright:350:[[Series/LifeAfterPeople https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/postapocalypse_6.jpg]]]]
12
13A montage of various locations ([[EiffelTowerEffect and their]] [[MonumentalDamage major landmarks]]), with or without their inhabitants, which are being catastrophically obliterated or soon to be, or in some cases already have been. Usually depicts TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. A hallmark of [[DisasterMovie Disaster Movies]].
14
15This is what happens when a villain StoryboardingTheApocalypse [[VillainWorld succeeds.]] Contrast SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic, which likewise illustrates a catastrophe's scope, but at a resolution that's too large-scale to show individual landmarks. Likely involves lots of SceneryGorn.
16
17'''This trope is inherently spoileriffic, be wary!'''
18
19----
20!!Examples:
21
22[[foldercontrol]]
23
24[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25* We get one of these in ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden'' [[spoiler:done by Chikane as the last Orochi]].[[spoiler:[[ResetButtonEnding They got better]]]].
26* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheSteelTroops'' deals with a RobotWar that gradually reaches earth, but thanks to one of his gadgets, Doraemon managed to trick the robot army to enter a mirror universe (via a PortalPool) into a world that looks exactly like ours, but completely uninhabited. In a series of massive invasion scenes (more prominent in the anime than the manga) we get to see the robots obliterate Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and London... and questioning why are the cities devoid of life.
27* In '''Manga/DrStone'', after the [[TakenForGranite mass petrification]], we see the collapse of human-built structures as plants cover them, including a shot of the Tokyo Skytree.
28* ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion The End of Evangelion]]'' features a montage of the Third Impact, in which [[MemeticMutation everybody gets hugged and turned into Tang]], combining apocalyptic destruction and SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.
29* In the last few episodes of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist: Brotherhood'', the various citizens of Amestris are shown dying in obvious pain and reawakening after Father has been destroyed.
30[[/folder]]
31
32[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
33* Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'', where an announcer says that "the storm seems to follow a strange pattern, where it is attacking the world's most famous landmarks first, and then moving onto the surrounding area."
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
37* The entire second half of ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve''.
38* The opening credits of ''Film/DawnOfTheDead2004'' shows society collapsing in the face of the ZombieApocalypse set to "The Man Comes Around" by Music/JohnnyCash.
39* The degree of destruction in ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'' is so extreme that it feels more like GaiasVengeance.
40%%* ''Film/DeepImpact''.
41* ''Film/DrStrangelove'' ends with a montage of nuclear explosions, famously [[SoundtrackDissonance set to]] Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again".
42* The end of ''Film/FailSafe''. Shots of landmarks and street scenes in New York just before it gets hit by a nuke dropped from a US plane, dropped on orders from the President to "make up" for a US plane nuking Moscow.
43* ''Film/{{Five}}'' opens with an atomic explosion followed montage of intact world landmarks with fallout drifting across them.
44* Occurs in the film ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', in which several giant monsters (IE: King Seesar, Rodan, Zilla, etc.) are shown destroying various cities (IE: Okinawa, New York, Sydney) while under the control of the Xillians.
45* In ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'', this trope occurs when the Vogons are about to destroy the Earth.
46* ''Film/IndependenceDay'': A catastrophic showcase of destruction is seen when the aliens use their {{Kill Sat}}s on the major cities.
47* In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', we see the [[spoiler:effects of the hate plague]] unfold in three different cities. Something of a subversion for the whole gentleman spy genre in and of itself as it actually shows the beginning of what is actually a terrifying way for the world to end, rather than it being stopped with seconds left on the countdown.
48* ''Film/MarsAttacks'' has one with the aliens attacking London, Mt. Rushmore, the Taj Mahal and Easter Island.
49* The TwistEnding of ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'', surely. Moreso in the [[Film/P;anetOtheApes1968 classic version]].
50* ''Film/VeryNiceVeryNice'', the Arthur Lipsett film that influenced the editing for the ''Dr. Strangelove'' trailer.
51* Implied in ''Film/WarGames'', when the computer runs the various scenarios of a [[WorldWarIII nuclear holocaust]] that always results in total nuclear destruction.
52* ''Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' (1953) has one of these, showing the Martians attacking various armies, locations and populations. Watch it here, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkTpxJNoCUQ starting at 5:10]].
53[[/folder]]
54
55[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
56* The ''[[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Battlestar Galactica]]'' movie ''The Plan'' has this while depicting the destruction of the Colonies.
57* ''Series/LifeAfterPeople'' has such montages for the fates of the many, many things we leave behind should we go extinct as a species.
58[[/folder]]
59
60[[folder:Video Games]]
61* The normal ending of ''VideoGame/CaveStory''.
62* Lavos' various appearances in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' always leads to one of these: it more or less causes the extinction of the dinosaurs when it strikes the earth in 65 Million BC, it destroys the FloatingContinent in 12000 BC, and it destroys human civilization entirely in the Day of Lavos (and witnessing the ApocalypticLog of this is what spurs our heroes to do something about it). And then there's the DownerEnding you get if you lose to Lavos...
63* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'''s ending has one of these depicting the outcome of the player's actions if they have negative Karma, for example; Megaton being nuked, Harold the WiseTree being burned, the citizens of Rivet City being slaughtered, and Underworld and other settlements being wiped out by the [[DepopulationBomb Modified FEV]].
64* The [[ColonyDrop destruction]] of the [[DiscOneFinalDungeon Floating Continent]] and the ensuing post-apocalyptic flythrough of the World of Ruin in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''.
65* The Ending of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' if you run out of time in the last boss battle.
66* The glassing of Taris at the end of the first segment of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''.
67* The ending of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening]]''.
68* The "Armageddon" ending of ''VideoGame/LiveALive''.
69* The [[spoiler:ending sequence]] in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''.
70* In ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'' [[spoiler:the entire last act counts as this and will end with the death of the world in every version. The best possible outcome is nature growing back with Oswald and Gwendolyn surviving to restart mankind and Velvet and Cornelius as Pooka helping the animal population.]]
71* In ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', after Cyrus starts to create a new universe, there are cutscenes of various places in the region as the sky changes color to reflect how the universe is being swallowed up.
72* The ''intro'' of ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope''. The titular 'Last Hope' are the brave explorers who are heading out into space to find us a new planet...
73* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq4Y7ztznKc intro cinematic]] for ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Cataclysm'' depicts the destruction of several classic areas from the game such as the Barrens, Darkshore, and Loch Modan's iconic Dwarven dam.
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Webcomics]]
77* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has a few of these, but with the main characters' homes instead of monuments.
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Western Animation]]
81* [[{{Parody}} Parodied]] in at least one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', when an alien invasion just happens to begin with "Monument Beach", a beach in New New York where a former {{Supervillain}} [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent President]] gathered all the world's famous monuments (which the invading aliens promptly destroy with their "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Monument Destroying Ray]]").
82[[/folder]]

Top