History Main / AdamAndEvePlot

While not necesarily a DiscreditedTrope yet, it is noted in modern times for having a {{Squick}} connotation to it not only due to the incestuous issues, but to the fact that many stories historically have had the Adam and Eve characters as not yet legal adults by modern standards[[note]]the biblical Adam and Eve were probably intended to be around the age of 13 or 14[[/note]], the general presumption being that [[LikeADuckTakesToWater they will figure certain biological things out for themselves very early and "just go with it"]].

While not necesarily a DiscreditedTrope yet, it is noted in modern times for having a {{Squick}} connotation to it not only due to the incestuous issues, but to the fact that many stories historically have had the Adam and Eve characters as not yet legal adults by modern standards, the general presumption being that [[LikeADuckTakesToWater they will figure certain biological things out for themselves very early and "just go with it"]].

* In ''Film/{{Bokeh}}'', an American couple on holiday in Iceland [[spoiler: wake up one morning to that everyone else on the island and the rest world has disappeared, leaving them as the last man and woman on Earth.]]

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge2TheMeltdown'': Manny and Ellie think they are the last mammoths on Earth, when in fact a whole colony still exists (later seen in the film). However, the pool is probably very small, seeing as mammoths eventually did go extinct.

* ''Film/{{Knowing}}'' [[spoiler:ends with aliens/angels removing a number of child pairings from the doomed Earth in order to allow humanity to survive on another planet. Slightly subverted in that the angels/aliens actually understand genetics and so have taken far more than one 'breeding pair' but the idea is still there.]]

In particularly [[AnvilOfTheStory heavy-handed scenarios]], the two survivors who rebirth their species will actually be [[AdamAndOrEve named "Adam" and "Eve"]], or some fairly obvious variations on those names. This is sometimes called a [[{{Pun}} Shaggy God Story]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In a ''Faans!'' story set AfterTheEnd, Tim and cloned copies of his buddies are all that are left to repopulate the Earth. Much attempt is made for genetic diversity but the kids are naive and eventually a brother falls in love with his half-sister. [[spoiler:Of course, Earth is just fine; "Tim" is as much a clone as the others, just with transferred memories.]]

* In a variation, on pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Krypton]] the planet was, according to legend, populated by two HumanAlien space travelers named Kryp and Tonn.
** Which may be why marriage between cousins was legal in Silver Age Krypton as Kal-El creepily mentions to Kara once in a discussion that very lightly hits on this topic (they would be Adam and Eve if they weren't content with letting the species die with them).
** In another Superman story "The Exile on the Edge of Eternity", taking place in the far future, Superman's descendant, the [[LastOfHisKind last human being]] (possibly the last sentient being) in the whole universe find himself alone on a tropical planet after saving the universe. A female emerges from a beam of light, [[ItMakesSenseInContext created from a device he used to restore the cosmos]], in the middle of a valley, seemingly answering his lonely prayers.

* Lampshaded on Post-IC Daxam. While the entire Daxamite race descends from Kryptonian explorers and the original, native Aboriginal Daxamite, the whole intermingling is summarized by a single, telltale meeting: a young, male Daxamite inviting a young, sexy Aboriginal Daxamite to join him in "their beutiful new home". Despite speaking nothing but the LanguageOfLove, the couple, and by proxy their two races, elope in the current, Daxamite race.

* When Vartox's people were hit with a SterilityPlague, he asked ComicBook/PowerGirl to [[OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace help him breed the next generation]]. Power Girl points out the flaws in this plan. Eventually, they cure his people's sterility instead.
-->'''Power Girl''': You didn't ''seriously'' think we could ''repopulate'' an entire planet, did you?
-->'''Vartox''': Given our stamina and power levels, I had assumed...
-->'''Power Girl''': I may have a lot of super-powered body parts, but even us super-heroines have ''limits''.

* A sinister twist on this plot is given in an Creator/ECComics story "The Last Man" (''Weird Science'' #12) about the aftermath of a nuclear war. The male protagonist spends the story searching for other life, wondering if there's anyone left, only to find a woman with whom he suspects he could repopulate the Earth. That is, until he learns that the woman is [[spoiler:his sister. What happens next is left to the imagination.]]

* A sinister twist on this plot is given in an Creator/ECComics story about the aftermath of a nuclear war. The male protagonist spends the story searching for other life, wondering if there's anyone left, only to find a woman with whom he suspects he could repopulate the Earth. That is, until he learns that the woman is [[spoiler:his sister. What happens next is left to the imagination.]]

* ''[[Literature/TheMabinogion Mabinogion Branwen verch Llyr]]'': The Britons invade Ireland and kill everybody except five pregnant women hiding in a cave. The five women bear five sons who repopulate the island. Hence the five provinces of Ireland.

--->'''''A'dam'mkent''' had found his '''Eve'''!''

** This was actually the initial plan in the original ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968''. It was scrapped when the only female crew member was killed in the crash landing.

[[folder:Literature]]
* An early example of an Adam and Eve Plot comes from [[JackWilliamson Jack Williamson's]] [[https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tales_v22n04_1933-10/page/n81/mode/2up "The Plutonian Terror"]] from 1933.
* The obscure (for good reason) Australian novel ''Literature/NewBeginning'' features the protagonists fleeing their doomed homeworld made up entirely of things named in English with one letter shifted to Earth on the Ark. Adam and Eve are two of the children on the Ark, and are sufficiently troublesome that the others leave them on Earth with the cavemen. Not the last of their species, but the other children go into stasis on the ship and wait. May be realistic if the adolescent couple are genetically compatible with the cave people, but if not...
[[/folder]]

* In an abandoned ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' storyline in the newest book, "Don't Split The Party", [[spoiler: Elan tries to set up Lien and Hinjo to breed a new generation of paladins. Lien and Hinjo are understandably annoyed with this because A) Elan obviously does not understand how paladins are created, B) Hinjo outranks Lien and sees it as a breach in behavior, and C) Lien already has a boyfriend, one that isn't a spoon-fed nobleman.]]
** [[spoiler:Plus, there were "many" paladins that were away from Azure City the day of the battle...but we don't hear about them much. And many paladins don't work for Azure City.]]

*** Assuming the "image of God" applied to their bodies as well as their souls, this would mean their genes would have been perfect and mutation free, at least in the beginning, and incest would not have been a problem until later down the line... like the time of Moses, when the first Biblical laws against incest were established. Not to mention, God's declaration of "very good" at the end of the sixth day translates more closely to "flawless", rather than "above average".

*** Assuming the "image of God" applied to their bodies as well as their souls, this would mean their genes would have been perfect and mutation free, at least in the beginning, and incest would not have been a problem until later down the line... like the time of Moses, when the first Biblical laws against incest were established.

*** Literature/TheBible is unclear how much time passed before Cain killed Abel, and it is clear that there were other children - both sons and daughters. Daughters are not tracked in the Bible unless they're very, very important. Sons are only tracked if they're relevant to the plot (Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to Jesus). Seth is not born till after Cain and mentioned as a replacement for Abel only because that's the bloodline to Noah. It's actually AllThereInTheManual, if you can read it in Hebrew. Anyway, the implication is that Cain married one of his sisters, which was considered acceptable because of the necessity to be fruitful and populate the Earth. Assuming the "image of God" applied to their bodies as well as their souls, this would mean their genes would have been perfect and mutation free, at least in the beginning, and incest would not have been a problem until later down the line... like the time of Moses, when the first Biblical laws against incest were established.

*** Literature/TheBible is unclear how much time passed before Cain killed Abel, and it is clear that there were other children - both sons and daughters. Daughters are not tracked in the Bible unless they're very, very important. Sons are only tracked if they're relevant to the plot (Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to Jesus). Seth is not born till after Cain and mentioned as a replacement for Abel only because that's the bloodline to Noah. It's actually AllThereInTheManual, if you can read it in Hebrew. Anyway, the implication is that Cain married one of his sisters, which was considered acceptable because of the necessity to be fruitful and populate the Earth.