Darkest Hour / Animated Films

Darkest Hours in animated movies.

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• In Aladdin, Jafar gets the genie, becomes the most powerful sorcerer in the world, takes over Agrabah, turns Aladdin back into a street rat and blasts him to a far away snowy place. Funny enough, there was supposed to be a Song with the same Trope name but was cut.
• An Angel for Christmas: Angela is on the verge of giving up entirely when she's forcibly removed from Ironville. It's Wilfred reminding her about the meaning of Christmas that snaps her out of it.
• The Bad Guys (2022): The Charity Gala ends with the gang being framed for a crime they didn't commit and shipped out to an inescapable prison island. Worse, Mr. Wolf failed to go through with the Golden Dolphin heist and is exposed to the gang as having kept a secret from them — his accidental good deed at the museum — which leads to him and Mr. Snake having a falling out.
• Barbie films:
  • Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus: Annika and Desmond have been captured by Wenlock, the ice gem on the Wand of Light is gone, and the Cloud Princesses can't stop the sunset any longer, meaning it's only seconds until the end of the third day and all of Wenlock's spells are about to become permanent.
  • Barbie: Mariposa: The antidote to heal Queen Marabella is destroyed by Henna just moments after the pink Flutterpixie got it back, the others have run out of Thistleburst, and the final lights go out, meaning Flutterfield is completely vulnerable to the Skeezites. It fortunately doesn't last long since the last lights come right back on meaning the queen breathed in just enough antidote to come back to life.
• In The Boxtrolls, Eggs and the last of the boxtrolls have all been rounded up, and it looks like all the boxtrolls have been killed, and Snatcher is about to kill off Eggs and get what he wants: a spot on the council and a hat. Then Winnie convinces Trout and Pickles to make a Heel–Face Turn, and the boxtrolls return for a Big Damn Heroes moment.
• A Bug's Life: The colony brought it upon themselves by having Flik and P.T. Flea's entire circus exiled when the truth about the "warriors" was revealed at the worst possible time. They're accepted again when they become Big Damn Heroes (P.T. Flea's circus by putting on an act for the grasshoppers and rescuing the Queen from being squished by Hopper by way of Manny's magic act, and Flik by unleashing the bird he, the circus, and the rest of the colony built to scare the grasshoppers).
• Cars 3: Lightning McQueen is devastated that he still isn't faster than Jackson Storm, Cruz Ramirez has revealed her tragic backstory and resigned as his trainer, and Lightning hears from Natalie Certain's predictions that his suspected retirement could be imminent.
• Frozen: Elsa has accidentally frozen Anna's heart and only an act of true love can save her. Kristoff takes her back to the castle to be kissed by Prince Hans, who turns out to have been playing Anna for a sucker so he can kill Elsa, who had been captured and imprisoned, and take over Arendelle, leaving Anna to freeze to death.
• Frozen II: Anna has been forcibly separated from both the love of her life, Kristoff, and her sister, Elsa; the former being "Lost in the Woods", the latter being frozen in the glacier of Ahtohallan; and Olaf has evaporated due to the loss of Elsa's magic, driving Anna past the Despair Event Horizon.
• In Hercules, Hades takes away Herc's power, breaks his spirit by revealing to him that Meg was working for him, unleashes the Titans, and takes over Olympus. In the meantime, Hercules tries to take on a Cyclops without his powers, the Cyclops proceeds to beat him half to death, and his mentor Phil has abandoned him after a bitter argument. Fortunately, Megara manages to get through to Phil, who gives Herc a pep talk that motivates him to fight back and eventually defeat Hades.
• How to Train Your Dragon (2010) has its time when Hiccup, disowned by his father after his forbidden friendship with Toothless the Dragon is discovered, watches the horizon helplessly after seeing his father's fleet proceed to the Dragon island with Toothless -and to certain doom when they are bound to arouse the Red Death Dragon.
• How to Train Your Dragon 2 one-ups the previous film. Not only is Valka's Bewilderbeast, the current Alpha, killed by Drago's own Bewilderbeast, Stoick is killed after taking a blast meant for Hiccup from a Brainwashed and Crazy Toothless! Afterwards, all of the dragons are taken by Drago, who is on his way to destroy Berk in his bid to rule the world, with the heroes at a complete loss at what to do.
• Pushing the envelope compared to the previous two films, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World goes above and beyond by giving us the biggest one yet. Just as Hiccup ponders upon how he and the Hooligan Tribe won't have to say goodbye to their dragons, Grimmel comes out of nowhere to kidnap all the dragons, driving Hiccup way over the edge and making him lose all hope, declaring his life to be meaningless without Toothless and being unable to move on. It only takes Astrid's speech to make him snap out of it before the two kiss.
• Played with in Incredibles 2. After their narrow escape, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack stop to take stock of their situation. The kids feel hope fading as they realize bad guys are after them and the DEVTECH Supers and Frozone are clearly under someone else's control and have to assume that their parents share that fate. Dash half-heartedly lists their assets consisting of their powers, the Incredibile and then Jack-Jack does a reality warp in the backseat. Realizing they have more leverage than originally thought, they smile, put on their masks and head off to DEVTECH effectively turning the darkest hour into more of a darkest minute.
• Kung Fu Panda: All the heroes have a soul crushingly heartrending night where Master Oogway, the only one who stopped Tai Lung before and the only one who has faith in Po as the Dragon Warrior, dies, leaving Master Shifu with a seemingly impossible promise to train the fat panda, while Po now fully realizes how hopeless he truly is, on top of his profound self-loathing that even Shifu cannot alleviate. Meanwhile, Tigress feels she has no other choice but to defy her master; and with of the Furious Five in tow, they set out to stop Tai Lung by themselves despite his prohibition.
• In Kung Fu Panda 2, when Po is seemingly dead (with his doubts about his real parents keeping him from fighting as well as he should be), Master Croc and Master Storming Ox have both given up, and the Furious Five are captured by Lord Shen, who plans to use his cannon to kill them for the whole world to see and bring an end to Kung Fu.
• The LEGO Movie: All the Master Builders are captured and are put in the Think Tanks, Vitruvius is dead, the prophecy turns out to be fake, and Lord Business escapes and unleashes Kragle everywhere with no one able to stop him.
  • In the sequel, Rex Dangervest tricks Emmet into triggering Armamageddon, causing both Apocalypseburg and the Systar System to get sent to the Bin of Storajj, and then he traps Emmet in Undar of the Dryar. The movie almost ends there, but Lucy doesn't think it should.
• In The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Lord Garmadon succeeds in his mission of conquering Ninjago City while Lloyd has summoned Meowthra to the city and destroyed the Ultimate Weapon, the only thing that can control it. Meowthra destroys the city, while having already destroyed the Secret Ninja Force's vehicles and the Destiny's Bounty, and Lloyd loses his friends' trust.
• In The Lion King, after Mufasa dies, Pride Rock falls under Scar's rule and Simba becomes too troubled over the guilt of his father's death.
  • In its sequel, Kovu gets banished from both Pride Rock and the outlanders. And just when Kiara goes out to look for him, the outlanders are about to start a war with Simba's entire pride.
• Little Angels: The Brightest Christmas: After a long journey, Daniel is finally on his way to town, but gets stopped when the only bridge for miles is swept up by the river. He collapses on the snow and announces his intention to give up, and only resumes his quest when the angels find a boat for him to use.
• Migration: Late in the movie, the chef manages to capture all of the ducks except Dax and Gwen using a helicopter, and they initially can't save them because Gwen is too small and Dax's wings have been damaged. They only manage to save the day when Dax gets the idea to replace his damaged feathers with new ones.
• Moana: Moana gets a little too full of herself as she and Maui approach the barrier islands of Te Fiti where they must return the Heart, and, despite Maui telling her that they need to double back, guns it for an opening in the islands, resulting in them winding up blasted far away from the islands and Maui's magic fish hook being damaged. In the aftermath, we see that Maui is bitterly disappointed in Moana for not listening and leaves. All alone, Moana loses all hope and gives the Heart back to the ocean, telling it to choose someone else to take the Heart back before breaking down into tears.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks: The Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer are Locked in a Room, Twilight is huddled in a Troubled Fetal Position, having failed to come up with a musical counterspell, and the other five are arguing amongst each other, fully restoring the Dazzlings' dark power.
• My Little Pony: The Movie (1986): Dream Valley is already buried, and the Smooze is advancing on Paradise Estate, the little ponies' last refuge. The adults don't know for sure if Megan and the others made it to Flutter Valley, and that this could be the end. They tell the children to close their eyes, so that if it is indeed the end they at least won't have to see it.
• My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): By the end of the film's second act, Canterlot had been invaded and taken over by the Storm King's forces; Celaeno's airship has been shot out of the sky and she, Capper, and the rest of the pirates are presumed dead; and at the worst possible moment, Twilight has a moment of weakness and tries to steal the Pearl of Transformation from Queen Novo, alienating Equestria's last remaining ally. After a nasty falling out with her friends, Twilight is completely alone and sobbing to herself, and is promptly captured.
• Pooh's Grand Adventure^*Yes, this has actually happened in a Winnie-The-Pooh movie, of all places: By the end of the second act of the film, Pooh and friends' journey to find Christopher Robin has taken some rather bad turns. The map given to them by Owl is useless, Rabbit admits they have been lost for hours and has a meltdown, they feel that they can't find Christopher Robin without Christopher Robin's help, and poor Pooh is teetering on the edge of the Despair Event Horizon.
• The Powerpuff Girls Movie: The city's being destroyed by mutated monkeys, the entire city of Townsville hates them, and Mojo Jojo is holding their father hostage.
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Surprisingly, this is done within the first act. When Puss is down to his last life, he finds himself being pursued by a bounty hunter wolf known as Death, by whom he's nearly killed and of whom he becomes afraid. With no friends or family to go back to, Puss is forced to say goodbye to his outlaw lifestyle and live at Mama Luna's cat shelter, where he's forced to behave like a normal cat.
• Sakura Wars: The Movie: Commander Yoneda is missing, Orihime Soletta has been ambushed and brainwashed by Patrick Hamilton, Maria is missing after attempting to investigate Douglas-Stewart, and the Imperial Flower Combat division has been placed on indefinite standby and isn't allowed back at the Imperial Theater.
• Both the first two Shrek films with both examples involving misunderstandings and Fiona hooking up with someone else.
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: SpongeBob and Patrick have been captured by the Cyclops and are dehydrating, and Plankton has all of Bikini Bottom under his control and Mr. Krabs close to execution, and our heroes dehydrate completely just minutes after seeing King Neptune's crown and they made it to Shell City — a tacky gift shop on land. They manage to come back to life thanks to their Swiss-Army Tears.
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie ends with Mario back in Brooklyn, having brought everyone there by accident after a fight with a Bomber Bill - including Bowser, who goes on a rampage and throws Mario into the window of Punch-Out Pizza. Mario hides behind a seating booth, looking very on the edge of defeat, realizing that Brooklyn is in danger and might not be savable... until he sees a broken television repeating the words "save Brooklyn" on Mario and Luigi's commericial, giving him the bump he needs to keep going.
• Tangled: After being convinced that Flynn/Eugene has betrayed her for the crown, Rapunzel willingly goes back to the tower to be with Gothel. It gets worse when Rapunzel realises the truth about Gothel, and herself, and Flynn/Eugene is stabbed by Gothel when he arrives to save her. Rapunzel then promises to stay with Gothel forever if she allows her to heal him. The earlier establishment that Rapunzel never ever breaks her promises makes the whole thing incredibly intense.
• The Tigger Movie: By the time the climax rolls around, Tigger has lost trust in his friends and ventures into a dangerous blizzard, hellbent on finding his family, Roo and the others are left distraught at his departure, and no one (except for Rabbit) has prepared themselves for the harsh weather.
• Toy Story: Woody's friends (including Slinky) have turned on him after they see him holding Buzz's arm, and Buzz is taped to a rocket that will be lit by Sid the same day Andy is moving.
• Toy Story 3 has Woody and his friends about to be incinerated after Lotso refuses to stop the conveyor belt. It would've totally been the end of them if it hadn't been for the three aliens operating that big claw.
• During the climax of Toy Story 4, Forky is captured by Gabby again, Woody leaves Bo's team after being scolded by Bo and finally gives his voicebox to Gabby, Buzz returns to Bonnie's RV with no Woody and Forky, and Gabby decides to make Harmony proud.
• During the animated The Transformers: The Movie. They even call it by name.
  Ultra Magnus: "But Prime, I'm just a soldier... I'm not worthy."
  Optimus Prime [mortally wounded]: "Nor was I. But one day... an Autobot shall rise from our ranks... and use the power of the Matrix... to light... our darkest hour."
  • Gets a Meaningful Echo towards the end of the movie, when all hope appears lost: Unicron is savaging Cybertron, the Decepticon attacks on him prove futile, and almost all the surviving Autobots have been trapped inside him. Hot Rod duels Galvatron, recaptures the Matrix, and fulfills Optimus Prime's prophecy, much to Unicron's chagrin.
    Rodimus Prime: Now... light our darkest hour...!
  • Other, non-film parts of the canon, such as Beast Wars, would make the phrase and concept a recurring, pseudo-religious motif.
• Trolls: Because of a betrayal by Creek, all the trolls in the village end up captured and thrown into a pot. Poppy decides that Branch was right, life isn't all cupcakes and rainbows, and falls into despair and turns completely gray, losing all her colors. The rest of the trolls also lose all their colors, and everything looks hopeless. But then Branch finally sings...
• Turning Red: Mei discovers the 4*Town concert is on the night of the ritual rendering most of her and her friends work pointless, Mei attacks Tyler and betrays her friends leaving her depressed and speechless on the ride home.
• Wreck-It Ralph has two:
  • The first has Ralph returning to his game after breaking Vanellope's cart and heart to save her, and he finds out his game is about to be unplugged due to Felix not returning.
  • The second one happens toward the end, when the Cy-bug horde has destroyed the entirety of Sugar Rush and are heading toward the tunnel to Game Central Station, Vanellope can't pass the gate due to her being a glitch, Calhoun runs out of ammo to fight the Cy-bugs, and Cy-bug!Turbo has captured Ralph when Ralph tries to activate Diet Cola Mountain.
• Your Name: Sayaka and Tessie have been caught for their parts in the plan, with the former's capture being heard live over the broadcast system, meaning the evacuation is off, while Mitsuha has tripped, fallen and rolled several times to a painful halt after seeing the comet split, still a ways from being able to try talking her father into forcing the evacuation. Itomori looks doomed.
• Zootopia: The missing mammals have been found, but the larger mystery of why they have gone savage is unresolved. Judy then makes everything worse by proposing that going "savage" is just inherent in predator biology. The result: she hurts Nick, who calls her out on this and angrily storms out of her life; anti-predator sentiments in the city skyrocket, and heated protests erupt; savage predator attacks occur with increasing frequency; the ZPD hides away its predator officers, like Clawhauser, and wants to use Judy as the face of the ZPD. The weight of this causes Judy to feel like she's broken the city, and turns in her badge to return to her parents' carrot farm depressed and broken.

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