History Main / BestOfAllPossibleWorlds

* Pick a DC {{Elseworld}}. Any DC Elseworld.

** In ''All-New X-Men'', a sojourn into the Ultimate Universe leaves Laura Kinney suffering a FreakOut because, as the status of mutants is objectively worse (i.e. all mutants are the product of Weapon X), every alternate reality they is worse for them (given all the apocalyptic realities for mutants) and theirs is this trope.
** This is subverted in an issue that gives the "What If?" treatmen to ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006''. Tony, at Cap's funeral, meets a mysterious being who tells him the story of a universe where he died some years before ''Civil War'' occurred--and in that universe, without his presence, Cap was able to bring together all the heroes into a united front against the government. However, this meant that without Tony on the inside, the government was commandeered by the corrupt Henry Gyrich, who escalated the conflict from law enforcement to an out-and-out massacre. Tony is somewhat pleased at this, as it suggests his presence was ultimately a good thing... and then the stranger continues, and tells him about a ''different'' what-if scenario, where the negotiation between him and Cap didn't break down thanks to him entering it with a genuine attempt to work things out. In this version, though the negotiation still goes south due to the presence of Thor clone Ragnarok, the two of them [[FireForgedFriends reforge their bond]] by fighting together against Ragnarok, and decide in the aftermath to actually talk rather than going for MightMakesRight. Cap agrees to personally manage the registration act, leveraging his LovedByAll status in ensuring it goes smoothly and the heroes aren't co-opted by a corrupt government--and guided by his leadership skills, a new golden age of heroes dawns. Tony is, of course, horrified at hearing this, as he realizes that the conflict ''could'' have ended peacefully, and it was his aggressiveness that caused it to escalate, making the whole thing his fault.
* [=DV8=]'s Freestyle has this as her ''superpower''. She can see what will happen if she takes a certain course of action, choosing the best outcome from dozens of parallel universes and making it a reality. It puts a lot of strain on her; a task with a lot of variables, like bypassing a security door with a combination lock, will cause her to age rapidly, though she will revert back to normal after a while.

-->-- ''The Silver Stallion'' (1926) by Creator/JamesBranchCabell

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The alternate universe created when Donna [[ForWantOfANail turns right]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft "Turn Left"]], which causes the Doctor to die at the Thames Barrier when he defeats the Racnoss, and several contemporary attacks on Earth to cause mass casualties, and/or wipes out several of the Doctor's allies (including Martha, who he never met here). Naturally, Donna sets her timeline back on its proper course at the end of the episode.

** This is subverted in an issue that gives the "What If?" treatmen to ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. Tony, at Cap's funeral, meets a mysterious being who tells him the story of a universe where he died some years before ''Civil War'' occurred--and in that universe, without his presence, Cap was able to bring together all the heroes into a united front against the government. However, this meant that without Tony on the inside, the government was commandeered by the corrupt Henry Gyrich, who escalated the conflict from law enforcement to an out-and-out massacre. Tony is somewhat pleased at this, as it suggests his presence was ultimately a good thing... and then the stranger continues, and tells him about a ''different'' what-if scenario, where the negotiation between him and Cap didn't break down thanks to him entering it with a genuine attempt to work things out. In this version, though the negotiation still goes south due to the presence of Thor clone Ragnarok, the two of them [[FireForgedFriends reforge their bond]] by fighting together against Ragnarok, and decide in the aftermath to actually talk rather than going for MightMakesRight. Cap agrees to personally manage the registration act, leveraging his LovedByAll status in ensuring it goes smoothly and the heroes aren't co-opted by a corrupt government--and guided by his leadership skills, a new golden age of heroes dawns. Tony is, of course, horrified at hearing this, as he realizes that the conflict ''could'' have ended peacefully, and it was his aggressiveness that caused it to escalate, making the whole thing his fault.

* This is one of the answers to the argument of the Problem of Suffering, particularly suffering created by nature: Designing creation any other way would lead to other, more destructive consequences. No one actually supports this as a theological theory anymore due to two serious problems with it. One was soundly mocked by Voltaire in ''Literature/Candide'' with the character of Pangloss: one could call the universe in which we live the best possible no matter ''how'' hellish it is, because we are naturally incapable of knowing what other universes could be like. The other is that, granting that this ''is'' the best possible world, since it apparently requires so much evil why should God have made it in the first place?

* This is one of the answers to the argument of the Problem of Suffering, particularly suffering created by nature: Designing creation any other way would lead to other, more destructive consequences. No one actually supports this as a theological theory anymore due to two serious problems with it. One was soundly mocked by Voltaire in Candide with the character of Pangloss: one could call the universe in which we live the best possible no matter ''how'' hellish it is, because we are naturally incapable of knowing what other universes could be like. The other is that, granting that this ''is'' the best possible world, since it apparently requires so much evil why should God have made it in the first place?

Oh noes! This other universe is [[CrapsackWorld a terrible place]]! Tropeman's enemies have discovered his secret identity by [[HollywoodHacking hacking]] [[ItsASmallNetAfterAll the internet]], and now they've [[StuffedIntoTheFridge horribly murdered his wife]]. Since the BigBad is in jail, the [[EvilPowerVacuum power-vacuum caused by his absence]] has resulted in [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil an even worse villain stepping up to the plate]], and now Cthulhu is running for president. Also, TheScrappy was somehow responsible for preventing World War III.

* Pick a DC Elseworld. Any DC Elseworld.

** In ''All-New X-Men'', a sojourn into the Ultimate Universe leaves Laura Kinney suffering a FreakOut because, as the status of mutants is objectively worse (i.e. all mutants are the product of Weapon X), every alternate reality they is worse for them (given all the apocalyptic realities for mutants) and theirs is the this trope.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s non-canon episodes, such as "Anthology of Interest", result in a lot of the cast getting wiped out. In the original "Anthology", Bender being 500 feet tall ends in him dying and taking most of New New York with him, Leela being more impulsive causes her to become a full-on serial killer and wipe out the cast, and Fry not going to the future results in the entire universe being destroyed in a TimeParadox.

* Most of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s "Anthology of Interest" episodes are like this.

** Averted in the Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk. There's a scene where Cap and Tony are seen playing table tennis, one of the characters states they had an awful dream in which Civil War took place. Both of them laugh and assure everyone that it would never happen.

** In All-New X-Men, a sojourn into the Ultimate Universe leaves Laura Kinney suffering a FreakOut because, as the status of mutants is objectively worse (i.e. all mutants are the product of Weapon X), every alternate reality they is worse for them (given all the apocalyptic realities for mutants) and theirs is the this trope.

In other words, the canon is treated like the Best of All Possible Worlds for the characters, and an AlternateUniverse / {{Elseworld}} / WhatIf has two options: have a DownerEnding, or revert to match the original canon. HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct often runs on this.

** And throw in the old "Imaginary Tales" for good measure. Superman and Lois Lane get married and have kids? Something goes horribly wrong. And the moral of the story, dear children, is that Superman should stay single forever for the safety of himself and others.

** [[spoiler: Played Straight in Rebuild 3.0. Its arguably worse than the original series, what with Shinji having caused 3rd Impact and killing most of humanity, making him the most hated person on Earth. Also Eva pilots are CursedWithAwesome or BlessedWithSuck as the Evas make them immortal so they have to keep piloting and fighting {{Eldritch Abomination}}s forever. And 4th Impact is on the way. In one movie Rebuild went from LighterAndSofter to DarkerAndEdgier]]

[[folder:Comics]]

* The Framework in ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' was originally designed to resolve the biggest regret of every inhabitant. Daisy and Jemma are surprised to find a CrapsackWorld [[spoiler: run by HYDRA]] caused by undoing Melinda's regret over [[spoiler: killing an Inhuman child in Bahrain]].
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' we have the alternate universe created when Donna [[ForWantOfANail turns right]] in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft "Turn Left"]], which causes the Doctor to die at the Thames Barrier when he defeats the Racnoss, and several contemporary attacks on Earth to cause mass casualties, and/or wipes out several of the Doctor's allies (including Martha, who he never met here). Naturally, Donna set her timeline back on its proper course at the end of the episode.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

See also: BecauseDestinySaysSo (which generally runs on this trope); RubberBandHistory (the general tendency for alternate histories to end up more like the "real" history); ItsAWonderfulPlot (a specific history change that almost always makes things worse). Contrast ScrewDestiny.

* The Framework in ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' was originally designed to resolve the biggest regret of every inhabitant. [[spoiler: Daisy and Jemma]] are surprised to find a CrapsackWorld with especially the undoing Mirandas regret [[spoiler: (killing the mutant child in Barain)]] having horrible consequences.