History ComicBook / Ruins

* AGodAmI: Donald Blake leads a cult while claiming to channel the thunder god Thor. [[ContinuitySnarl Strangely]], Thor is shown to exist in this universe as a member of the Avengers, as indicated by a soldier finding Mjolnir among the wreckage of the Quinjet.

* GodIsDead: Deep-space photos have discovered the corpse of Galactus in orbit around Jupiter, having presumably starved to death.

* SanitySlippage: The Kree theorize that the Silver Surfer's death was brought about by him finally snapping from SenseLossSadness and tearing apart his own chest in a vain attempt to experience breathing again.

* DeathByAdaptation: As mentioned under DarkerAndEdgier, a lot of Marvel characters in this reality were killed by the accidents that gave them super powers in the standard continuity. Many others are also shown being killed or as corpses, such as Hawkeye being shot and Philip Sheldon tripping over [[ComicBook/ThePunisher the Punisher's]] body.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The first issue's cover depicts Philip Sheldon surrounded by Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, and Jean Grey lying on the ground as they're dying, while the second issue's cover depicts an in-costume Magneto looking shocked as he uncontrollably attracts various metal objects to his body. Both covers are contradictory to the fact that most people in this version of the Marvel Universe never became costumed superhumans.

* MythologyGag: The Kree, including ComicBook/CaptainMarVell, have contracted cancer. Mar-Vell ended up succumbing to cancer in the regular continuity.

* PowerIncontinence: The vast majority of mutants seem to lack any sort of control over their powers, with disastrous consequnces. Cyclops and Quicksilver had to be crippled to bring them under control, Magneto is killed in an airport when the dampening device he's wearing is damaged, causing him to be crushed by tons of metal, and Mystique [[ShapeShifterSwanSong uncontrollably shapeshifts]] and has to be hauled away by police.

* ForWantOfANail: The entire story revolves around Phil Sheldon's investigation into this trope, as he feels something has gone terribly wrong in this world and wants to know what caused it. It's heavily implied that Ben Grimm's refusal to pilot Reed Richards' spaceship to study cosmic rays, the event that would've created the ComicBook/FantasticFour, was the catalyst.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Several characters who were unambiguously on the side of good are portrayed in a much more sinister light in this continuity. The most jarring examples include Professor X being [[PresidentEvil an unscrupulous President]] rather than the benevolent leader of the X-Men and Nomad being a Nazi sympathizer.

* EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion: The Kree's attempt to invade Earth fails due to [[spoiler: the corpse of the Silver Surfer screwing up their sensors with it's leaking energy]], allowing Earths military to unload their nuclear arsenal on their fleet, wiping out almost the entire population and reducing the few survivors to slowly rot away from cancer in an internment camp.

* ImAHumanitarian: Nick Fury claims to have been introduced to cannibalism by Captain America.

* TheUnreveal: The reason why the world has gone wrong is not entirely revealed. However, Sheldon's interview with Ben Grimm implies that his refusal to take part in the space trip that would create the Fantastic Four was the cause.

* PowerIncontinence: The vast majority of mutants seem to lack any sort of control over their powers, with disastrous consequnces. Cyclops and Quicksilver had to be crippled to bring them under control, Magneto is killed in an airport when the dampening device he's wearing is damaged, causing him to be crushed by tons of metal, and Mystique uncontrollably shapeshifts and has to be hauled away by police.

* Driven to Suicide: [[ComicBook/NickFury Nick Fury]] blows his brains out after telling Sheldon how fucked up the world is.

* CrapsackWorld: It's called Ruins for a reason.

* DeathWorld: Maybe death universe would be a more apt description. It honestly seems like the universe of Ruins is actively hostile to its inhabitants, with heroes and villains we knew and loved in the mainstream Marvel universe becoming horrifically sick and/or mutilated either because of the incidents that gave them their powers or because of the powers themselves.

* TheUnreveal: The reason why the world has gone wrong is not entirely revealed. However, Sheldon's interview with Ben Grimm implies that his refusal to take part in the space trip that would create the Fantastic Four was the cause.
* TheWarden: Wilson Fisk isnt a mob kingpin in this universe, he's the warden of President X's mutant prison.

* MythologyGag: The Kree, including ComicBook/CaptainMarVell, have contracted cancer.

* LukeIAmYourFather: One of President X's more bizarre habits is getting drunk and visiting the inmates of his prison, where he rubs his crotch and yells "you came from this". Wether he means that he's literally the source of mutants in this universe or not is anyones guess.

* RealityEnsues: A lot of the comic is about what happens to people in real life when they're exposed to radiation.

* TheUnreveal: The reason why the world has gone wrong is not entirely revealed. However, Sheldon's interview with Ben Grimm implies that his refusal to take part in the space trip that would create the Fantastic Four was the cause.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Sheldon pleads God to let him live long enough to finish his book, but he ends up dying as his photos and notes fly away in the wind.

A two-issue miniseries follow-up to ''ComicBook/{{Marvels}}'' written by Creator/WarrenEllis that shows a version of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse where everything has gone wrong.

* PresidentEvil: