| 1 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1309433875016500200 |
| 2 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 3 | [[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/MSSagaANewDawn https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/world_wrecking_wave.jpg]]]] |
| 4 | [[caption-width-right:300:[[ActionInsuranceGag Pretty sure the insurance company won't cover that]]. [[BlackComedy They were in the blast radius]].]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ->''"Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world."'' |
| 7 | -->-- '''Music/BobDylan''', "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" |
| 8 | |
| 9 | 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, a global [[UpsettingTheBalance balance is ruined]], 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, [[WorldSundering landscapes may be blasted apart or destructively reshaped]], 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. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Once the wave stops rippling, the heroes will be faced with a world where NothingIsTheSameAnymore. The effects can range from a CosyCatastrophe to AfterTheEnd, and affect anywhere [[CivilizationDestroyer from a town to a universe]]. While you can be fairly certain the ''world'' will still be there afterwards, the fate of the setting after the Wave is whacked closer to CrapsackWorld (or ''further down'' the same). Narratively, it isn't supposed to destroy the world either - unless the world is expendable, 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]]. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | On the plus side, heroes can sometimes SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, though the method by this varies - it can be 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. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Expect a SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic to hammer home the scope of the threat. Compare FantasticNuke, which may set off a World-Wrecking Wave and UnholyNuke, when the wave is explicitly made of evil. Contrast a EarthShatteringKaboom - for the world ''doesn't'' survive the experience. For when the World-Wrecking Wave is used with the express purpose of changing the planet to one's preference, see HostileTerraforming. |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | !!Examples |
| 18 | |
| 19 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 22 | * ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': At the conclusion of the Millennium Falcon Arc, [[spoiler:Griffith uses the Skull Knight's dimension-warping attack to fuse the planes of existence together]], which is perceived by everyone as a wall of light expanding from the epicenter in all directions and washing over the entire globe so that it's visible from outer space. TheMagicComesBack all over the world, stirring benign and evil magical creatures in equal measure. While nobody is directly harmed by the wave, the world is thrown into chaos and everyone who can begins migrating to the only place that is safe from monsters: [[spoiler:Falconia, Griffith's ShiningCity at the foot of the World Tree]]. |
| 23 | * ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Kid Buu destroys the Earth with a ball of energy that engulfs it. Goku and Vegeta [[OutrunTheFireball try to outrun it]] to reach Kibito Kai, who can teleport them to safety. They first intend to take Piccolo, Gohan, Goten and Trunks with them, but then Goku has a SadisticChoice to make and he decides to save Dende and Mr. Satan instead, since Dende can use Porunga's Dragon Balls to restore the Earth and everyone back to life. |
| 24 | * Third Impact in ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'' manifests using this trope. Wherever the wave passes, the oceans turn red, all people explode into LCL while their souls fly off into low orbit and the ground spontaneously sprouts billions of CreepyCrosses with the entire scene overlaid by '''humanity's collective DeathCryEcho'''. It's utterly [[ApocalypseWow awesome]] and horrifying at the same time. |
| 25 | * ''[[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. |
| 26 | * ''Manga/SoulEater'''s World-Wrecking Wave is [[EldritchAbomination The Kishin]] and his madness spreading through the world. His release divides the story between a previous and an after, and set up a world slowly being corrupted with the heroes desperate to find him and stop him before it's too late. |
| 27 | * The ''Manga/SilentMobius'' TV series has one in the first episode as a result of the failure of Project Gaia. It passes over a series of major landmarks and we later see some burning ruins. |
| 28 | * The lore of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' states that this would be what happened if Walpurgisnacht ever faced upright. |
| 29 | * In ''Anime/MiniMoniTheMovieOkashiNaDaiboken'', after Nakajalinu eats cake, power radiates from her and destroys her soldiers, then turns the castle back into cake--which immediately starts to melt and collapse. |
| 30 | [[/folder]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 33 | * 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}}, ComicBook/{{Cheetah}}...). |
| 34 | * In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Comicbook/LexLuthor's weaponized satellite created a massive tsunami which threatened the whole US East Coast with flooding. |
| 35 | -->'''Lex:''' The Atlantic Coast will still be smashed beneath a two hundred mile tidal wave! |
| 36 | * ''ComicBook/North40'' has a localized World-Wrecking Wave on the town. However, this was only because one of the two (accidental) instigators of the event focused on containing the negative effects with a barrier so they wouldn't be able to leave. |
| 37 | * The Ultimatum Wave, in the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel CrisisCrossover, ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}.'' (Guess what their favorite word is?) It was [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom an actual wave]] and it ended with half the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel cast dead. |
| 38 | * Both the Ultimate Annhilator and the Genesis Waves of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' were this. Subverted in that the results of all three incidents, 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 it's ''doubly'' subverted with the reversion of the last Genesis Wave. Only this time, it's ''Eggman'' who sabotages ''Sonic''.]] |
| 39 | * 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''. Even the likes of Superman were consumed by it, and then Earth was destroyed. |
| 40 | * In ''ComicBook/EightBillionGenies'', someone makes a wish for an energy wave that scours the Earth and kills most life forms. The only survivors are people who were in reinforced bunkers or those living in wish-proofed enclaves. |
| 41 | [[/folder]] |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 44 | * ''WesternAnimation/Ben10SecretOfTheOmnitrix'': It's not seen, but mentioned. If the Omnitrix self-destructs, the explosion will unleash an energy ripple that will, in Tetrax's words, "[[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 thoroughly rip apart the universe]]". |
| 45 | * Creator/{{Disney}}: |
| 46 | ** ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'': The Firebird. As soon as the Spring Sprite wakes it up, it begins burning everything in sight. |
| 47 | ** ''WesternAnimation/MickeyAndTheBeanstalk'': After the golden harp is stolen, Happy Valley quickly turns into Grimy Gulch. Problems include drought and starvation. |
| 48 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheCroods'' has [[NoAntagonist no direct antagonist]], so the only danger is the end-of-the-world quakes that are catching up to them. |
| 49 | * ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'': When the Drej mothership fires on Earth , it causes one of these... [[FromBadToWorse just before]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom the earth blows up]]. |
| 50 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', considering BigBad Unicron is a planet (and then a planet sized transformer), the Matrix's energy wave that cripples and ultimately destroys him qualifies as one of the few times this is a good thing. |
| 51 | [[/folder]] |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 54 | * ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'': The Infinity Stone has the effect of converting any organic matter it touches into energy, unless it is held by a being of incredible power. If used on a planet, the resulting chain reaction would rip through the microbes in soil and seawater, rendering the entire planet lifeless. |
| 55 | * The short film ''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. |
| 56 | * 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 super-heated ground literally rises up and travels outward from the blast site like a thousand-foot tsunami. [[spoiler: It's used twice.]] |
| 57 | --> '''K-2SO:''' We have a problem on the horizon. [{{beat}}] ''There is no horizon.'' |
| 58 | * ''Film/{{Rubikon}}''. The [[ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts protagonists watch]] as Earth is enveloped in a [[FogOfDoom cloud of fatal toxins.]] |
| 59 | * ''Film/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand''. The wave of corruption that spreads over Heartland after Mr. Mustard steals the title characters' musical instruments. |
| 60 | * Technically, the Genesis Device from ''Film/{{Star Trek II|The Wrath of Khan}}'' is this. Sure, it can create a completely new biosphere from a dead or lifeless planet... but when used on a world bustling with life, it utterly ''destroys'' the existing ecosystem to replace it with the new one. |
| 61 | * In the climax of ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'', a World-Wrecking Wave destroys Newton Haven after the Network leaves Earth for good...[[spoiler: And then it ''keeps going'', destroying all technology on Earth and sending humanity back to the Dark Ages, which makes for a somewhat BittersweetEnding. This is supposed to be a ''[[MoodWhiplash comedy film]]'' by the way.]] |
| 62 | * In ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', [[BigBad Darkseid]]'s EvilPlan is to hit the Earth with one of these, incinerating the planet's surface, converting all the surviving humans into Parademon slaves, and revealing the [[BrownNote Anti-Life Equation]] carved into the planet in order to [[OmnicidalManiac enslave the universe]]. [[spoiler: And for a brief moment [[TheBadGuyWins he succeeds]], until ComicBook/TheFlash manages to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.]] |
| 63 | [[/folder]] |
| 64 | |
| 65 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 66 | * The world of the ''Literature/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. |
| 67 | * In the {{backstory}} of the first ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'', High Lord Kevin Landwaster enacts the "Ritual of Desecration", releasing one of these in a [[DespairEventHorizon desperate attempt]] to defeat [[BigBad Lord Foul.]] His success is only temporary while seriously [[{{Nerf}} nerfing]] the powers of his successors and ruining the land to boot. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Well done.]] |
| 68 | * The Darke Domaine in ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' is a slow version of this. |
| 69 | * In ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' novel ''Literature/WolvesOfTheCalla'', Roland and the crew experience a "Beamquake" as one of the Beams holding up the Tower gives way. Roland says the land was destroyed for thousands of miles near where the beam snapped. |
| 70 | * Project Starscream in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''. Oh, it only affected the one planet, but nothing on that planet survived. Instead the people there became furious [[OurGhostsAreDifferent wraiths]], roaming the dead landscape and attacking some of the people who landed there. |
| 71 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 72 | ** A theme of ''Literature/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. |
| 73 | ** In ''Literature/{{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. |
| 74 | * ''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. Also atypical because [[spoiler:the protagonists didn't have to do anything to fix the problem. The story was merely about experiencing the horror.]] |
| 75 | * In ''Literature/DeathStar'', the first test of the Death Star's superlaser against a planet is only at one-third power, so this is the result instead of an EarthShatteringKaboom. It's described in brutal detail and results in all life on the [[PenalColony prison planet Despayre]] being obliterated. |
| 76 | * ''Literature/SchildsLadder'': A [[AndManGrewProud reckless science experiment]] sets off a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay false vacuum decay]] that expands outwards at half the speed of light, annihilating everything in its path as it rewrites the underlying laws of physics. Much of the novel takes place on a research SpaceStation keeping pace with the wave, searching for a way to stop it before more inhabited planets are destroyed. |
| 77 | [[/folder]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | [[folder:Live Action TV]] |
| 80 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 81 | ** {{Exaggerated}} in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]": Davros and the Daleks' Reality Bomb, if activated at full power, will unleash a wavelength that will gradually dismantle everything within range down to a subatomic level. And the wavelength will continue until it's wiped out everything within the obervable universe except for the Daleks, then it will break through a space-time rift into every parallel universe and alternate dimension until [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX5 the Daleks are all that's left in ANY reality]]. |
| 82 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]", the Immortality Gate unleashes such a wave over the whole Earth, which promptly turns every human on the planet except Wilfred and Donna into a clone of the Master. |
| 83 | * Maybe more a World-Changing Wave, or at least Town-Changing Wave, than a WorldWreckingWave. But, ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' has a Christmas episode where a [[TechnoBabble Super Photon Generator]] goes haywire and turns the entire town into a cartoon. Each wave pulse from the generator changes the style of animation present. Still, non-real cartoon elements like Sninjas (Snowman Ninjas) are able to be created by a child's toy in this altered world which pose a threat. |
| 84 | * The 6-part documentary ''Miracle Planet'' showed what would happen to the Earth if it got hit by a 300-mile-wide asteroid. A video clip is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4HL_-VT2Y here]]. Watch what happens as the wave of vaporized rock propagates around the world. <shudder> |
| 85 | * Attempted in ''Series/PowerRangersCosmicFury'', the [[MilestoneCelebration 30th anniversary season]] of ''Franchise/PowerRangers''. In a mirror to the famous WorldHealingWave from ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', the villains plan to release a pulse of pure evil energy that will sweep the cosmos and wipe out the forces of good forever. |
| 86 | * The Dakara superweapon in ''Series/StargateSG1'' can be this, a WorldHealingWave, or even both at the same time, depending on how it's programmed before activation. And when tied into the Stargate network, its range spans not merely a world but the entire galaxy. [[BigBad Anubis]], having a [[AGodAmI god complex]] that's massive even by Goa'uld standards, planned to use it in exactly that manner: wiping out all life in the Milky Way and simultaneously creating new life of his own design. |
| 87 | * The Apocalypse in ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' season one resembles this, [[spoiler: as once the energy lance from Vanya hits the moon and the moon rock hits the earth, we are treated to the sight of a wave of fire eating up everything, including Cha-Cha and several other characters]]. Fortunately, the Hargreeves escape to try to prevent it. |
| 88 | * Likewise, in ''Series/WandaVision'', [[spoiler:the latent reality-warping ability of Wanda Maximoff]] converts the entire town of Westview, New Jersey into a 1950s-era sitcom. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Manhwa]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | * ''Manhwa/TheDruidOfSeoulStation'' had dungeons pop up and monsters coming through various gates killing countless people. |
| 94 | [[/folder]] |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 97 | * Music/DanielAmos: In the short story from the ''Music/VoxHumana'' liner notes, the narrator gets caught in a freezing storm cloud that spreads like a massive wave. The full extent of the wave is never shown. |
| 98 | -->There, rolling down upon me, over what appeared to be a snowy plain, I saw a gigantic black wave. It was miles away, but visibly devouring the earth in its approach, its crest lost in murky clouds. |
| 99 | [[/folder]] |
| 100 | |
| 101 | [[folder:Mythology & Religion]] |
| 102 | * One of the possible interpretations of [[Literature/EpistlesOfPeter 2nd Peter 3:10]] from ''Literature/TheBible'', which states: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat. The earth also and the works that are in it will be burned up." (The last part is also rendered as "the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.") |
| 103 | [[/folder]] |
| 104 | |
| 105 | [[folder:Poetry]] |
| 106 | * [[Creator/RobertFrost Robert Frost's]] "Once by the Pacific" infers just such an eventual wave, an apocalyptic tsunami doubling as "God's last ''Put out the Light''." |
| 107 | [[/folder]] |
| 108 | |
| 109 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 110 | * ''TabletopGame/DarkConspiracy''. The release of extradimensional evil on one of Jupiter's moons leads to an invasion of modern day Earth, resulting in the creation of areas called Demongrounds. |
| 111 | * ''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 TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness. |
| 112 | ** How great was that blast? [[TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen It blew a hole in the gates of Hell.]] |
| 113 | ** Localized Maelstroms can also occur if, say, Mexico City gets hit by an earthquake; while they won’t wreck the world, they will likely mess up the local Necropolis. The 20th Anniversary version of Wraith rolls things back so the Sixth Great Maelstrom hasn’t happened, but mentions that Stygia is not looking forward to the possible side effects of climate change. |
| 114 | * ''TabletopGame/MonteCooksWorldOfDarkness'' kicks off with such an event after an EldritchAbomination tries to penetrate our dimension. The effects can be scaled to make things better... or ''worse.'' |
| 115 | * Several of these happened in the backstory of ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''. Two notable events include the imprisonment of She Who Lives In Her Name, who decided to erase two-thirds of the things in Creation from existence [[IfICantHaveYou out of jealousy]], and the Balorian Crusade, when TheFairFolk harrowed the borders of Creation and drew vast chunks of the border back into [[RealityIsOutToLunch the Wyld]]. |
| 116 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'': The Great Cataclysm which kick started the whole setting. A nuclear war, during a planetary alignment, on the Winter Solstice, equaled a massive burst of magical energy akin to millions of human sacrifices. Every LeyLine on Earth surged with more power than they'd had in tens of thousands of years, creating a catastrophic surge of natural disasters... which meant more people died, which meant more power flooded into the ley lines, [[ViciousCycle 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 Rifts, wondering what the hell just happened. |
| 117 | * 4th Edition ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'' was heralded in the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms by Cyric's murder of Mystra, the goddess of magic. All over the universe, magic burst its bonds. Entire planes of existence were shattered, and part of the planet Toril exchanged itself with a piece of its parallel world Abeir. Many regions of Toril were also infected with a reality-warping, mortal-mutating magical disease, a disease whose name came to describe the entire event: Spellplague. |
| 118 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has the card [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=Worldfire&v=card&s=cname Worldfire]], which exiles every permanent and every card in every player's hand and graveyard, and sets their life totals to 1. The picture on the card depicts a wave of fire blazing outward from the spell's center. |
| 119 | * This can happen to worlds in ''{{TabletopGame/Warhammer 40000}}'' for different reasons, most notably at the hands of ''humans''. When an imperial world is too far gone to alien invasion, Chaos infestation, or mere rebellion to be reclaimed by conventional forces, the [[Characters/Warhammer40000Imperium Imperium's]] Inquisitors order Exterminatus. This is a planetary bombardment that sometimes involves lethal, biosphere-melting virus bombs, but more often cyclone torpedoes and other munitions that cause instant, vast firestorms to scour the planet's surface down to the bedrock. |
| 120 | ** That said, Exterminatus can be just as much a mercy-killing as an horrific genocidal atrocity, compared to some of the reasons for it. Other world wrecking waves like the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts space-locust]] [[Characters/Warhammer40000Tyranids Tyranids]] will strip the planet to the bedrock anyway, and a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie warp-rift or warp storm]] caused by [[HearingVoices rogue]] [[HumansArePsychicInTheFuture psykers]] or agents of [[Characters/Warhammer40000ForcesOfChaos Chaos]] can be [[HellOnEarth a worse fate]]. |
| 121 | ** A world wrecking wave happened to the [[SpaceElves Eldar]], ten thousand years into the past of the setting. The sheer decadence and corruption of this highly psychic race conceived and fed a new ''god'' of pleasure and excess in [[HyperSpaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]]. When it was finally born, the resulting 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, despite the remnants becoming space-shaolins or scuttling into a pocket universe, and [[{{Hellgate}} the rip is still there]]. |
| 122 | * The Omega Blast changed the world of ''TabletopGame/DamnationDecade''. It caused severe ecological changes, made wild animals more aggressive toward humans, awakened long-dormant pockets of precursor civilizations, drew the attention of hostile aliens, and caused some people to express supernatural powers. National governments are doing their best to cover up the changes and keep the people uninformed. |
| 123 | [[/folder]] |
| 124 | |
| 125 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 126 | * ''VideoGame/BabaIsYou'': [[spoiler:"ALL IS DONE"]]. Everything in a level is normally done instantly, thus the destruction wave is done by cutscene. |
| 127 | * The effect of the world-altering missile in the ending of Nod campaign of VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun is this. We are treated to a scene of a massive greenish wave engulfing the entire planet and turning it into a Tiberium-ridded waste-hole. |
| 128 | * The ink spill in ''VideoGame/EpicMickey''. |
| 129 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX:'' When the Iifa tree is destroyed, the mist covering the continents is removed, then when the party returns from Terra, it has returned. Though this is an example of the World-Wrecking Wave having been active before the start of the story. |
| 130 | * ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' Nightfall's actual nightfall events work like this, with demons being released in the world, and some areas becoming like the realm of torment. |
| 131 | * The different Armageddon events if ''VideoGame/FallFromHeaven'''s Armageddon counter rises, though spread out more over time. |
| 132 | * This is what happens in ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' when Shao Kahn takes control of a realm. In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'', he takes control of Earth, resulting in the series going into post-apocalyptic mode. |
| 133 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', removing the sword sealing Orochi causes all of Nippon ("Nippon" is "Japan" in Japanese) to sink into darkness. Large swatches are filled with toxic smog that petrifies humans, plants and animals all over die, buildings are destroyed, and demons roam freely. Thankfully, Amaterasu's first celestial brush techniques, Bloom and Mend, allow you to repair a lot of this damage. |
| 134 | * Guess what the ''VideoGame/{{World of Warcraft}}'' expansion ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Cataclysm]]'' is named after. |
| 135 | ** That was the ''second'' World Wrecking Wave to hit Azeroth, with the first being the Great Sundering which ''broke'' the continent into the 4 we know today. There was also Ner'zhul's mass portal-opening on Draenor, which turned the planet into a series of floating asteroids. A '''''third''''' World Wrecking Wave hits Azeroth if you don't stop [[BigBad Deathwing]] from using it when you fight him. |
| 136 | * The plasma wall that surrounds the otherdimensional Schwarzwelt in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', capable of "disassembling any matter that it touches down to a molecular level." It started as a [[PillarOfLight 1m-wide cylinder that stretched upwards in the middle of Antartica]], but it has been expanding steadily ever since. Should the mission to investigate and destroy the Schwarzwelt fail (or should the Main Character die in combat), the wall will suddenly expand so rapidly as to engulf the entire world in ''seconds'', annihilating everything in its path and leaving behind a world of demons. (This is a World Wrecking Wave rather than an ApocalypseHow (though it counts as that too) because if the Schwarzwelt actually did what it was said to be capable of, the result would be more along the lines of "Earth ''vanishing from existence''".) |
| 137 | * The [[ScienceIsBad Scientist's]] special ability in ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' is the Gravitation Wave, which instantly wipes out all structures on a planet. Like the more dramatic [[EarthShatteringKaboom Planet Buster]], using it will instantly be a mark against you in the eyes of any nearby space empires. |
| 138 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroDawnOfTheDragon'': [[EldritchAbomination The Destroyer]] from will let loose one of these in the event it finishes its trek around the world, destroying it in a wave of fire and ash. [[spoiler:Spyro reverses this by emitting a WorldHealingWave.]] |
| 139 | * The heroes of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally unleash one of these after killing the final boss of the first game]] and the plot of ''Alpha Gaiden'' revolves around them trying to stop it from hitting Earth and getting trapped in a post-apocalyptic future where they apparently failed. |
| 140 | * In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[spoiler: if your War Assets are low and you choose to destroy the Reapers, the resulting wave tears up what's left of Earth's remaining infrastructure. If they're REALLY low, the wave also wipes out most of the remaining population, as well as most life in the galaxy.]] |
| 141 | * In ''Multiwinia'' (the online version of ''{{VideoGame/Darwinia}}''), the gamemode ''Assault'' ends when the DoomsdayDevice is disabled or goes off; sending a [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom wave of Doom]] and tremor upon the entire map; committing genocide upon the enemy team. |
| 142 | * The page image is the Great Fall from ''VideoGame/MSSagaANewDawn'', an event that wiped out 90% of humanity and destroyed almost all artificial structures. Sixty years later, the game world is mostly open wasteland or forest. |
| 143 | * In ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'', The Temporal Security Agency describes how time is changed due to an alteration in the past as a "Temporal Distortion Wave", which could vary at any speed to reach the present. Depending on what was changed and how, it varies as to how severe the changes turn out to be. In the first game, Gage Blackwood would never be born in the altered timeline, had he not jumped to 200,000,000 BC before the wave hit. |
| 144 | * In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', 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]]. |
| 145 | * The plot of ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV'' kicks off when the two [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Swords of Plot Advancement]] from the previous game clash, destroying all of Enroth with an explosion like this. The survivors flee through portals into another world. |
| 146 | * In ''VideoGame/UltimaIX'', the Armageddon spell is depicted as one of these. This can more clearly be seen in one of the trailers, which uses a piece of footage that did not make it into the final game. |
| 147 | * In the backstory of ''VideoGame/TalesOfMajEyal'' the Spellblaze was an attempt to tap into the power of a [[{{Precursors}} Sher'Tul]] relic to power a fire spell that would destroy a horde of orcs. [[GoneHorriblyRight It did destroy the orcs]], along with the allied army fighting them and most of the surrounding area. ''Then'' it propagated through the Sher'Tul PortalNetwork to devastate the rest of the continent. In addition to rearranging geography (raising up mountains, gouging out lakes, and causing the eastern coastlands to crumble into the ocean) it also rearranged Eyal's mana flows, leading to the creation of Chronomancy and Corruption magic. |
| 148 | * The moon crashing into the planet in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' creates one of these that obliterates all of Termina at least. After the moon hits you're treated to a scene of a horrified Link being obliterated by a wave of fire followed by a familiar chuckle: |
| 149 | --> "[[ArcWords You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?]]" |
| 150 | * Every successful deployment of a Colossus planet-cracker ship in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' results in such a wave, starting from the target planet's spatial north pole and racing around the world in a matter of days. What remains depends on the type of weapon installed on the Colossus. Three of the five options leave the planet visually unchanged since they only affect the population, leaving the target capable of supporting life and viable for (re)colonization. The fourth exiles the planet from the galactic stage by encasing it in an eternal, impenetrable energy shield. The fifth however, the aptly named [[EarthShatteringKaboom Planet Cracker]], burns away the atmosphere and turns the planet into a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Shattered World]] that's lost to the galaxy forever with absolutely no means to restore it (aside from mods, of course). |
| 151 | ** Oh, and you can take this one or two steps further thanks to some updates. [[spoiler: If you take the "become the Crisis" ascension perk, you can do this to entire star systems with special "star-eater" units (which do exactly what it says on the tin and send one of these out into the system, wiping out everything, planets included), and your end goal ends up becoming the enactment of this on the galaxy, with you surfing the shockwave to safety in the Shroud.]] |
| 152 | * Eggman unleashes one of these powered by the Chaos Emeralds in the beginning of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' to get at the resident EldritchAbomination [[SealedEvilInACan locked up in the Earth's core]]. Thankfully, the resulting explosion just separates the world into seven floating pieces of crust floating around the core, and aside from some worldwide earthquakes everyone's fine, [[AsteroidsMonster the monsters formed from Dark Gaia's power]] wrecking havoc at night notwithstanding. Regardless, it's up to Sonic to put the planet back together. |
| 153 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'': In the ''World of Light'', Killing either Galeem or Dharkon in the final map allows the other one to unleash one of these to obliterate the fighters (and their rival) and conquer everything. |
| 154 | * Happens in the finale of ''{{VideoGame/BulletStorm}}''. The protagonists get launched into space into an escape pod, just in time to watch the jungle DeathWorld behind them get wiped clean by a DNA Bomb. |
| 155 | * In the second ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege'' game, it's said that one of these was triggered when the Sword of Zaramoth shattered the Shield of Azunai 1,000 years before the game's "present", with the entire southern half of the continent Aranna being burnt to a vast desert known afterwards as "The Plane of Tears" and the [[EndOfAnAge First Age being ended]]. |
| 156 | * ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': The titular ring-shaped superweapons, when all 7 of them are used together, [[ExaggeratedTrope ramp this up]] to a ''Galaxy''-Wrecking Wave, though that's just their highest setting; they can be turned down to only target a single planet. They target nervous systems, killing any sufficiently complex life-form in the blast radius (which includes anything sapient). They were only used at their full power once, as a last desperate move to destroy [[HordeOfAlienLocusts the Flood]] before it consumed the galaxy, after all conventional means of fighting it had failed. The [[{{Precursors}} Forerunners]] felt so guilty about using it that they embraced their own extinction after taking measures to ensure the galaxy would be re-seeded with life that they had preserved at the Ark, which was located well outside the galaxy and beyond the Halo Array's blast radius. |
| 157 | [[/folder]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 160 | * ''WebAnimation/DinosaursTheTrueStory'': The meteor impact is depicted as a tremendous shockwave, followed by a great fiery wave, that sweeps across the world in seconds. |
| 161 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In the OriginsEpisode "[[Recap/RWBYV6E3TheLostFable The Lost Fable]]", the God of Darkness [[ApocalypseHow/Class3A wipes out the first version of humanity]] (except for an immortal Salem) by unleashing a wave of purple energy which turns every human in the world to soot whilst leaving everything else in the world untouched. |
| 162 | [[/folder]] |
| 163 | |
| 164 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 165 | * One of these was an important backstory event in ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare''. The rampaging chimera effectively destroyed civilization 10,000 years before the start of the comic. |
| 166 | * In ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000910c Dr. Wily sets out to destroy the comic world.]] [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000913c It wrecks the world.]] |
| 167 | * [[spoiler:[[RealityWarper Becquerel]]]] of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' sets one off when [[spoiler:diverting the massive meteor barreling at Jade as she undertook her entry into the game]]. The result is the blasted wastelands of Earth we see AfterTheEnd when the Exiles come around. |
| 168 | * In ''Webcomic/DeviantUniverse'', Omega is so powerful that [[spoiler: his release alone caused a wave of energy meteors to shoot out across the world.]] |
| 169 | [[/folder]] |
| 170 | |
| 171 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 172 | * ''WesternAnimation/AngelWars'': One of the demonic flagships of the demon Discord had this capability; when used, it had the effect of coating the angelic starships with lava that quickly hardened to obsidian, [[TakenForGranite encasing the crews and ships alike in stone]]. After this, Discord and his minions simply boarded the ships and commandeered them as his own. |
| 173 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender:'' Phoenix King Ozai attempts this manually with the arrival of Sozen's comet. Through amplified [[PlayingWithFire firebending]], he wanted to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground from a fleet of airships. |
| 174 | * ''Franchise/Ben10'': |
| 175 | ** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10SecretOfTheOmnitrix'': Tetrax states that if the Omnitrix's self-destruct isn't stopped (which is the heroes' goal throughout the movie), it'll "cause an energy ripple that will [[ApocalypseHow/Class4 thoroughly rip apart the universe]]". |
| 176 | ** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'': In the second-to-last episode, Diagon emits a World Wrecking Wave [[spoiler:that turns ''every human being on Earth'' into an Esoterica (except Julie who escapes thanks to Ship encasing her in its power armor form).]] |
| 177 | * ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'': The Great Disaster in the backstory was caused by [[spoiler: Lenore Shimamoto creating an artificial star]] that imploded and created a shockwave that destroyed San Francisco. [[spoiler: Obake]] wants to replicate the disaster ForScience So how does Big Hero 6 stop it? [[StartXToStopX By creating another shockwave to counter the first one]]. Because of [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn Globby's]]]] assistance, it works. |
| 178 | * ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': the Great Catacylsm. |
| 179 | * The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' 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]]. |
| 180 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{The Fairly OddParents}}'' does this in the ''WesternAnimation/AbraCatastrophe'' TV movie. When Mr. Crocker becomes the ruler of the world, a montage is shown of one of these turning the world into an {{Egopolis}} where several major monuments are replaced with Crocker statues. In the same special, the characters at one point end up in an AlternateHistory where apes are the dominant lifeform on Earth, which causes a similar wave montage turning the monuments into monkey-related versions. |
| 181 | * Invoked by Jackal/Anubis in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' episode "Grief", as beams of dark energy that age objects and living things into dust, rust, and bones. |
| 182 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls:'' Bill Cipher uses a giant pink "weirdness wave" to flood Gravity Falls with the chaos of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Weirdmageddon]]. |
| 183 | * Mainframe Entertainment was fond of the concept, using it in both ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' [[spoiler:to spread Daemon's infection]] and ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' [[spoiler:creating the Transmetals and Fuzors]]. |
| 184 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "[=SpongeBob's=] Last Stand", when the [=Shelly Superhighway=] is constructed through Jellyfish Fields, it sucks all the life right out of it as it advances. It also causes the sky to be polluted as well. |
| 185 | * Taken to its logical extreme in the Mortis-trilogy of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', where the healing and wrecking wave are following eachother in a constant circle, as part of the planet's [[BalanceOfGoodAndEvil Light and Dark in-balance]] symbolism: when night falls all plants die, and are reduced into ghastly glowing forms, and massive thunder storms start. When dawn approaches all plant life is renewed. |
| 186 | * The arrival of [[GodOfEvil Trigon]] in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' had this effect, turning the entire world into a volcanic wasteland and turning all life on Earth to stone. Raven destroying him (or rebanishing him, it's not exactly clear) triggers a WorldHealingWave. |
| 187 | * When Wuya is [[spoiler: returned to physical form]] at the end of ''WesternAnimation/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. |
| 188 | [[/folder]] |
| 189 | |
| 190 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 191 | * Most reconstructions of the K-T extinction involve a blast of fire and heat moving outwards from the impact site. |
| 192 | ** TheTunguskaEvent probably involved something like this. |
| 193 | * It is theorized that an impact with a sufficiently big asteroid (with a diameter of 500 kilometers, or 300 miles) would create several phenomena worthy of this trope. The first is the "crust tsunami", a titanic wave flinging the Earth's crust into outer space in the regions close to the impact. The second is a cloud of rock vapor expanding from the crater as the result of the disintegration of the impactor, which would proceed to engulf the Earth over the course of approximately a day, and hot enough to cause nature to spontaneously combust even while it is still below the horizon. |
| 194 | ** UsefulNotes/TheMoon shows the effects of a World Wrecking Wave caused by the huge impact that formed the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Imbrium Imbrium basin]] in the form of both radial grooves and secondary craters plus faults extending thousands of kilometers, caused respectively by projectiles, including the remains of the impactor, launched at different angles and the Moon's crust shattering under the impact's force[[note]]And other large whacks suffered by it as the one that formed the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Orientale Orientale basin]] have caused similar effects, albeit to a lesser scale and/or obscured by subsequent impact events[[/note]]. |
| 195 | * Pyroclastic flows are a small-scale version. |
| 196 | * An ''interstellar'' world-wrecking wave: when a star goes supernova, the explosion may destroy or irradiate nearby planets. |
| 197 | * On a cosmic level, there is a theory that the universe may be in a "false vacuum". To put it simply, the universe is like a ball that naturally rolls downhill in terms of energy state, but may be stopped by some kind of barrier. If that barrier is breached via quantum tunnelling, the universe would collapse rapidly into a lower energy state, manifesting as a World Wrecking Wave that shoots out from a point at nearly the speed of light, destroying all of existence as we know it. This is known as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay false vacuum decay]] scenario, and can best be described as a cataclysm that would completely destroy chemistry, life and possibly even astrophysics as we know it, blowing apart atoms into their base elemental particles and hurling them away into the void. |
| 198 | [[/folder]] |
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