History Main / ArbitrarySkepticism

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Trials and Tribulations'':

* ''Webcomic/MyImpossibleSoulmate'': Despite being a fantastical world filled with magic, the idea of "Unbounds" (travelers from another world) is seen by some as nothing more than myths. Most notably, by Nara. Part of this is because, in typical isekai fashion, most if not all of these people are unable to explain ''how'' they ended up in this new world.

* ''Webcomic/MyImpossibleSoulmate'': Despite being a fantastical world filled with magic, the idea of "Unbounds" (travelers from another world) is seen by some as nothing more than myths. Most notably, by Nara.

* Discussed in an episode of ''Rule of Three'', a podcast devoted to discussing and analysing comedy, in an episode featuring Paul King, the director of the ''Film/{{Paddington}}'' movies. King at one point discusses criticism that the film has received of the unlikely house that the main characters live in, which is too large and centrally located within the highly-expensive Notting Hill district for the characters to realistically afford. King notes in amusement that these people don't seem to have much trouble suspending their disbelief with regards to the ''talking bear'' that the films revolve around.

** In a ''[[ComicBook/TeenTitans New Teen Titans]]'' issue dealing with a girl who is possibly possessed, most of the Titans act like demonic possession is impossible. This is despite having encountered supernatural beings and gods before, and ComicBook/{{Raven}}, one of their own teammates, ''being the daughter of a demon''. To his credit, despite initial skepticism, ComicBook/{{Robin}} eventually says that he gave up wondering what's crazy the first time he met ComicBook/TheSpectre.
** In one ''DC Universe Holiday Bash'' story, "No, Bart, There Really Isn't a Santa Claus", Max Mercury doesn't believe in Santa, and is rather surprised that ComicBook/{{Impulse}} does. But Impulse correctly points out that a guy who can travel around the world in a single night, knows what everyone wants for Christmas, and can enter and leave your house without you noticing ''makes perfect sense'' in the DCU. Max is finally reduced to arguing that if someone ''did'' have all those amazing powers, they wouldn't be [[Franchise/{{Superman}} selfless enough to devote their lives to others, from their secret base in the Arctic...]]
** The ComicBook/GreenLantern known as Saarek has the power to communicate with the dead. Despite using it to great effect, the other Lanterns doubt his talent.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

** Subverted in an old story where Peter goes undercover to rescue a traumatized Betty Leeds from a cult. He thinks he'll be able to spot the cult leader as a fake due to his experience, but starts to believe he might have powers once he sees him "cure" someone's cancer. Fortunately, he is smart enough to consult Doctor Strange who explains the slight of hand parlor trick. Strange points out that it is actually easier to convince someone like Spider-Man since he'd seen far too much to disbelieve anything.
** In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', Ben Urich wants to run a story on recent vampire activity in New York and Jameson refuses to publish it. As Urich lampshades, mutants, Spider-Men, frozen people and supersuits are all plausible but Jameson chooses to draw the line at believing in vampires for some reason. (This is made even more amusing by the fact that in the main Marvel continuity, Jameson's son is a ''werewolf''.) This may actually be making fun of a moment in the ''Peter Parker'' comic series where main universe Spider-Man suddenly draws the line at believing in vampires... despite having fought a massive number of bizarre entities before. And living in the same universe as ComicBook/{{Blade}}. And actually having ''fought'' vampires before, like ComicBook/{{Morbius}} (who isn't technically a supernatural vampire), and Count {{Dracula}} (who, well, is). This is merely so Spider-Man can be proven "right" when the vampire in question proves to be a science-based rather than supernatural vampire, like Morbius. Despite the fact that Morbius, despite not being a supernatural monster, is ''still'' a vampire for almost any useful definition of the term.

* In most continuities, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] doesn't believe in magic. Not even when he's standing beside it. Once in a blue moon, he'll admit that he recognizes that it exists (kinda hard not to when one of your best friends is ComicBook/DoctorStrange) but just doesn't understand it, being unable to understand why it doesn't operate scientifically. At times, it seems that his denial of magic comes from annoyance that despite his genius, Reed ''hasn't'' yet figured out how to explain it scientifically.
* ''[[ComicBook/{{Asterix}} Asterix and the Magic Carpet]]'' boils this trope down to its fundamentals with the following quote.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has an example of this with the [[http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/humanoids/sasquatch Sasquatch]]. Its description [[LampshadeHanging highlights]] that even in a FantasyKitchenSink setting, scholars still doubt the existence of Sasquatches, citing a lack of remains or lairs. {{Justified|Trope}} in that Sasquatches are remarkably stealthy in their forest habitats, feel no need to build or modify potential lairs, carefully and solemnly bury their dead, and have a language that sounds like natural forest noises.

* A weird example exists in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', the severity of it [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on what source you're reading]]. The Empire refuses to believe in the existence of the Skaven, giant mutant rat people living just below the surface of the world. While this would normally be understandable, it must be pointed out that mutant Beastmen, Elves, Dragons and Magic are all just facts of life in this setting and the Dwarves exist in a constant state of war with the Skaven. Various sources have explained this as The Empire keeping it hushed up (to keep people from panicking), the Skaven themselves keeping their existence quiet or even some innate magic of the Skaven making they exist. Older sources said that people dismissed them as being a Beastmen variant, despite looking and acting nothing like Beastmen and being [[{{Magitek}} far more technologically advanced]].

** Every person possesses Aura and has the potential to unlock a Semblance, an [[OnePersonOnePower individual super-power]] unique to that person. The heroes [[MundaneFantastic know that]] Semblances can be as varied as gaining super-strength by absorbing electricity, gaining super-speed by bursting into rose petals, full-blown telekinesis, creating clones of oneself, and more. Despite that, when they learn that true magic can be used for [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting into birds]], the heroes struggle to believe it and are initially angry and horrified by the relevation. The creators [[DVDCommentary later admitted]] that they hadn't done a very good job of explaining why shapeshifting is considered [[MagicAIsMagicA so weird]] in this setting.

** Every individual has an Aura (although only some train it) and most have Semblances, essentially a personalized superpower that can be anything from bursting into rose petals to summoning glyphs to manipulating others' Auras. Despite this, they have no idea that actual magic exists, and are shocked when they see feats like people transforming into birds or wielding multiple types of elemental magic. The creators themselves lampshaded in an episode commentary that they probably should have been clearer on why Semblances are accepted but [[MagicAIsMagicA shapeshifting is dismissed out of hand]].

** Later, in "Altercation at the Auspicious Auction", Blake deduces that the party is trapped in a fairy tale world. Weiss dismisses this as impossible because fairy tales are not real, so there must be some kind of logical explanation. This is after they have already learned that magic and various myths are real. To her credit, Weiss eventually drops her skepticism when they see that real world logic doesn't get them anywhere and only by following story logic can they advance.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', every individual has an Aura (although only some train it) and most have Semblances, essentially a personalized superpower that can be anything from bursting into rose petals to summoning glyphs to manipulating others' Auras. Despite this, they have no idea that actual magic exists, and are shocked when they see feats like people transforming into birds or wielding multiple types of elemental magic. The creators themselves lampshaded in an episode commentary that they probably should have been clearer on why Semblances are accepted but [[MagicAIsMagicA shapeshifting is dismissed out of hand]].

--->'''Supergirl:''' ''"Doctor, could the tissue you've been unable to identify be partially human?"''\\
'''Dr. Light:''' ''"Human? That seems unlikely—-"''\\
'''Gangbuster:''' ''"Says the lady who watched alien insects erect a hive in the middle of the city in a matter of days."''

** Later while attending a [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151207 royal wedding between two secret civilizations]] Agatha is confused about why they are considered secret when loads of diplomats are turning up for the wedding. Wooster explains that a lot of people just refuse to beleive that it exists. Also for added fun one of the visiting diplomats is from a different secret civilization and refuses to believe in the existence of a "surface civilization".

* DependingOnTheWriter, the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' can fall into this at times via their extremely-strict dedication to scientific method. To take one random example, there's SCP-531, paired cat statues that [[TakenForGranite turn people into more statues]]. The experimental write-up suggests a reluctance to accept that they can communicate via telepathy and attempts to recreate their "unknown" communication method, despite victims' testimony and the fact that telepathy is one of the ''least'' strange things about a typical SCP.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'', Fido initially considers the idea that a squirrel is a {{Baleful Polymorph}}ed human ridiculous. Fox lampshades it:

** The Franchise/GreenLantern known as Saarek has the power to communicate with the dead. Despite using it to great effect, the other Lanterns doubt his talent.

* ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics:
** In an ''[[ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck Uncle Scrooge]]'' comic book, Scrooge and company are on a quest to track down the fabled Philosopher's Stone -- but when Huey, Dewey and Louie suggest visiting the Labyrinth in Crete, Scrooge and WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck laugh it off as a myth.

-->'''Huey, Dewey, Louie:''' It's said the crown will magically grant three wishes to those brave enough to find it! Interested?
-->'''Scrooge:''' No! Wishes are the stuff of children's bedtime stories! Don't waste my time!
-->'''Donald:''' Odd skepticism, coming from the duck who discovered lost Atlantis and the Philosopher's Stone--wouldn't you say?

* It gets especially bad in the ComicBook/TeenTitans comics especially precrisis. It seems like every single issue there would be some supernatural/psychic/alien/other fantastic threat that a civilian or single Titan would witness, only for most of the team to blow it off as imaginary or the viewer as crazy until they did a little bit of investigating and then stop said threat, then the same exact thing happens next issue.

* Ratchet in '' ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' rejects anything religious or spiritual: Primus, Spectralism, the afterlife, magic and so on. The IDW Hasbroverse includes plenty of magic, a Dead Universe that resurrects Transformers as zombies, and so on.

* In ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'', Oliver Wendell Jones lives around talking animals (one of which is a [[MixAndMatchCritter basselope]]), has witnessed more than one AlienInvasion, is friends with someone who has a [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight closet of living anxieties]], and is himself a ChildProdigy who has created clones out of a chemistry set and a teleporting machine. But astrology? He calls it "pseudo-science bibble-babble". (The strips where he doubted its authenticity were a TakeThat towards the Reagan White House after it was leaked that the First Lady was consulting an astrologer.)

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePolarExpress'' the protagonist is doubtful Santa Claus exists, even though ''he’s riding a magic train''. Even when he reaches the North Pole which is full of elves and an entire Christmas town he has a hard time believing Santa is in charge.
* At the start of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDark'', Batman expressed disbelief about magic causing people to commit random acts of violence (as they're seeing demons instead of normal people), despite One: being set in the same ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' WesternAnimation/DCUniverseAnimatedOriginalMovies universe that started with ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueWar'' and thus Shazam is a founding member of the League; Two: ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueVsTeenTitans'' (in the movie before this one in this continuity) featuring Trigon as the main villain; and three: in addition to Superman mentioning Shazam and Wonder Woman mentioning Trigon, the latter also mentioned {{Noodle Incident}}s involving Circe and Felix Faust--the last of whom even appears in the movie.

* One issue of Bruce Jones's controversial run on ''[[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk The Incredible Hulk]]'' involving ''[[Series/TheXFiles X-Files]]'' type shenanigans with [[TheGrays Gray-style aliens]] has the Hulk casually dismiss the idea, saying he doesn't believe in aliens. Needless to say, the Marvel Universe in general and the Hulk's life in particular are always up to their eyeballs in aliens, and he knows that perfectly well.

** Invoked after Khosheck, the cat found hovering in the men's bathroom, gave birth to a litter of kittens.

** In one three-comic story arc, ComicBook/{{Robin}} is contacted by what appears to be a version of Alfred from a BadFuture where someone in the Bat-Family has devastated Gotham. Robin is unable to convince Batman that it actually happened, because, quoth the Bat, "Time travel is scientifically impossible." Even though Batman himself works with time travelers in the Justice League and has traveled through time dozens of times himself. Then it turns out that [[SecretTestOfCharacter it was a test]] to see if Robin was prepared to accept the idea of Batman going rogue and be able to deal with it on his own, so Batman was just saying that to avoid helping Robin.

* ArbitrarySkepticism/LiveActionFilms

* ArbitrarySkepticism/MarvelCinematicUniverse

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', when Guts tells Collette's father in volume 1 that he's being chased by a legion of evil spirits, he laughs and says that Guts is safe with him because he's a priest and has God on his side. The appearance of a frightening incubus that night shocks him and he asks if Guts was [[CassandraTruth being serious before]], to which Guts says, "You're sayin' you believe in God, but not in evil spirits?"
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Ghosts? Fine, most of the cast can see them. [[TheHeartless Heartless monsters]] that eat ghosts? Again, fine, pick up the {{BFS}} and let's go kill something (though Ichigo was skeptical of Hollows and Shinigami despite being able to see ghosts until he actually sees a Hollow). Talking cats? ''That'' takes some getting used to. The only cast member who ''isn't'' wigged out by Yoruichi on first meeting is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Orihime]], and that's because she has an overactive imagination. When Ichigo finds out Yoruichi is a person, she even says "Cats don't talk. Use your head a little, Ichigo", implying that she also thinks it's supposed to be impossible and that she's merely an exception due to not being an actual cat.
* Mr. Satan/Hercule of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' was completely oblivious that the superpowered main characters were stronger than him, thinking it all to be a trick (he doesn't appear to have done the research on Roshi, Tien, and Goku, all of whom were champions of previous editions of the World Martial Arts Tournament that Mr. Satan rose to fame by winning) and later on a dream. Toward the end of the Cell saga, he seems to be trying to convince himself that it's not real. After the Cell saga, it becomes a {{Kayfabe}} put up by Goku and his fellows. Mr. Satan ends up bribing Android 18 to throw a fight against him so as to maintain the illusion that he's the strongest. By the end of the series, with, among other things, holding the leash of an ice cream-loving EldritchAbomination and his beloved daughter marrying the strongest man on the planet, he's fully in the know but helps maintain the {{Masquerade}} so as to keep the general population blissfully unaware of the constant danger they're usually in.
** WordOfGod states a lot of his initial dismissal comes from his master being murdered by Taopaipai/Mercenary Tao when he was still a young student. And given the skills of the Crane School like the Dodonpa and FLIGHT, can you blame him for thinking they’re cheap tricks?
* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' and ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'':
** Touma Kamijou sees esper powers on a regular basis (including being blasted by lightning the previous day) but initially dismisses the idea of magic as nonsense. To him, esper powers at least have a scientific basis.
** Kuroko Shirai dismisses anything she thinks is scientifically impossible or contradictory to the Power Curriculum, including Gemstone espers (people who were [[BornWinner born with esper powers]] instead of training to get them), Level Upper (a strange sound that gives normal people esper powers and enhances esper's existing powers when they listen to it), and Imagine Breaker (Touma's ability to negate other people's powers). She's wrong every time.
** When Mikoto Misaka learns of the existence of magic, she assumes it is an exotic form of esper power.
** It's implied that this is actually a WeirdnessCensor subconsciously made by all who go through the Power Curriculum as a way to protect Espers from using magic as the incompatible powers would cause tremendous damage to the user if not outright kill them.
* ''LightNovel/TheHeroWhoReturnedRemainsTheStrongestInTheModernWorld'': After eavesdropping on Kaguya and Lela and hearing about their clearly supernatural activities, Daiki initially tries to write this off as {{chuunibyou}} despite being sent to another world and gifted with tons of awesome powers himself ([[SelectiveObliviousness in no small part due to his desire to live a normal life)]]. It's not until he comes across an earth spider and Kaguya in action does he take their conversation seriously.
* Played with in ''Anime/MarginalNumber4'''s [[FormulaBreakingEpisode "Re: 24 Hours"]] (a [[ShowWithinAShow mystery drama]] the [[IdolSinger characters]] star in, presented as episode 8 of the anime). Yukito (Atom) is a cop whose partner/mentor was killed. He meets a young man (Rui) at the partner's grave who claims to be that partner, kept from the afterlife for 24 hours to help Yukito solve the case. Yukito gives arbitrary skepticism, but ends up believing him. [[spoiler: He shouldn't have - the young man isn't a ghost, he's the partner's nephew, pretending to be his uncle's ghost in order to catch the real killer - Yukito himself.]]
* In the two-part ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' episode "Coliseum", Hermes tries to tell Kino that a one-off character's dog can talk. Kino's response is "Stop being such a liar." Kino's a traveler. Just on screen, she's seen practically every crazy thing under the sun. Ignoring all that, she's talking to a ''talking motorcycle''. To make this a little bit weirder, everyone in Kino's world seems to think like this. No one is ever surprised when Hermes talks, but a talking dog? No way. And in an odd example of SchizoTech, there are plenty of countries with highly advanced technology, including hovercrafts, but apparently no body's ever built a working airplane.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': When Jotaro is told about Dio being a vampire, he thinks he's being BS'd, until Avdol helpfully points out to him that he just got PsychicPowers a few hours ago.
** Likewise, the protagonists dismiss the initial observations of Silver Chariot's [[SuperSpeed afterimages]] and The Hanged Man with the statements "No user can have more than one Stand" and "It's impossible for a Stand to exist inside of mirrors" respectively, which they announce as though they are ultimate authorities on Stand abilities, despite the fact that Stands keep having new and strange abilities. Ironically, while their dismissals prove true, both "rules" are broken later on - [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Man in the Mirror]] explicitly exists within a mirror dimension, [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Bad Company]] takes the form of a miniature army (with soldiers, tanks and helicopters), Echoes have multiple forms with distinct separate abilities, and Killer Queen has two sub-Stands (Sheer Heart Attack and Bites The Dust) that can operate independently.[[note]]Although Koichi is erroneously convinced that Sheer Heart Attack is its own stand, and is powerful enough that the user has to be nearby.[[/note]]
** The protagonists (with the exception of Kakyoin) also dismiss the idea of a baby having a Stand, despite the fact that not only can children develop Stands (as Polnareff can attest to) but a baby having a Stand is apparently more ludicrous than an ''orangutan'' having a Stand, which they'd already encountered at that point. Not to mention that the protagonists had already been established for a while as being ProperlyParanoid and immediately suspect any strange activity to be the work of an enemy Stand, but here they dismiss Kakyoin hysterically screaming that a baby they've been escorting is a Stand user as Kakyoin losing his mind.
** In ''Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable'': Rohan uses his Heaven's Door ability on Kawajiri Hayato in order to literally read his life as though it were a book. When Rohan starts reading things that haven't happened yet, he has the gall to claim that this is "too odd to be a Stand ability". [[spoiler: It is, but it isn't Hayato's.]]
* ''Anime/HellGirl'': A client accepts one of Ai's contracts -- you pull the red string, and the object of your scorn goes straight to Hell. When Ai explains the price for this service (the one pulling the string also goes to Hell when they die), the client scornfully dismisses the idea that Hell really exists. And Ai magically transported him to her crimson field before they started negotiating.
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
** Negi cannot convince the other Mages that [[spoiler:Chao]] is from the future, despite the fact that he ''has a working time machine''. They reject the idea on the basis that no-one's ever been able to do it, ignoring the fact that somebody could have figured it out, ''in the future''. You know, where [[spoiler:Chao claims she's from]]. It's like going to 1900 and saying that airplanes are impossible because no one's ever built one. While having a working airplane.
** Humorously, [[MetaGuy Meta Girl]] Chisame goes out of her way to deny the existence of magic -- even after she obtains magic powers herself. She doesn't accept it until she [[IJustWantToBeNormal finally frees herself from the madness]], only to realize that her life is now too boring. She then goes along with it, albeit grudgingly.
* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'': In the first [[FourthWallMailSlot Megami Sound Stage]], Nanoha attempts to see if Fate will believe in SantaClaus. It fails the moment Fate, [[IBelieveICanFly one of the many mages who can fly on her own]], reads his description.
-->'''Fate:''' Also, according to this picture he rides through the sky on a sleigh pulled by reindeer. I don't recall hearing of such an aviation method for small aerial vehicles.\\
'''Nanoha:''' Um... \\
'''Fate:''' This can't be magic, can it? How can this be?
** As a meta-example, the show's [[Headscratchers/HomePage Headscratchers]] page has someone question why Gil Graham, who is from England, speaks Japanese fluently enough to have a conversation with Nanoha, even though it makes far more sense for a fellow Earthling to know the language than the characters from the TSAB, who were all speaking it before. And of course, [[BellisariosMaxim that's not even getting into the whole magic thing]], which [[{{Hypocrite}} those same fans have no problem with]].
* Parodied in ''Anime/NurseWitchKomugi R''. Tsukasa bakes sweets for her co-star, whom she has a crush on, and he declares them to be delicious. Tsukasa promptly rushes out of the room and giddily wonders whether she's dreaming... while hugging her MentorMascot, a spherical, flying, shape-shifting talking cat. {{Magical Girl}}s and cursed, monster-summing cards are perfectly believable, but apparently her crush liking her food is ''entirely'' out of the realm of possibility.
* ''Manga/DeathNote'':
** L is willing to believe that Kira uses some sort of psychic power to kill over distance, but completely flips when he first hears about the Shinigamis' existence.
** Averted in the manga when Sidoh picks up the Death Note. Mello, who is unable to see Sidoh at the time, wonders why it's flying, and a member of his gang notes that if it can kill people, it wouldn't be a surprise if it were alive.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Luffy, whose crew consists of a talking reindeer, a perverted cyborg and a talking skeleton, is amazed that Trafalgar Law has a talking bear in his crew. Whether that's disbelief or just thinking a talking bear is [[RuleOfCool really freaking cool]] is unclear.
*** His doubt may have been because the bear in question was seemingly not a Devil Fruit user, just a bear who walks and talks like a person. The post-timeskip revealed he is part of a group of humanoid animal tribe known as the Minkmen (whose existence was hinted at when looking at the slave prices in Sabaody).
** The entire town of Mock Town. When you're on the Grand Line, which screws up physics and natural law so much that it is bluntly stated that ''anything'' is possible on this sea, the notion of an "island in the sky" should not be dismissed, especially when it's true. This is later explained as being a deconstruction as their disbelief in Jaya and the story of the island in the sky comes from their disdain, to put it mildly, in the romanticism of the Pirate Age; laughing at things like dreams and wishes and instead focus on the plunder and materialistic worth of things.
*** To be quite honest, Skypiea's existence was small potatoes compared to everything that happened in the series after that point. As if to drive the point further, this was in the ''first'' half of the Grand Line, later revealed to be utterly tame by comparison to its second half, the New World. If anything, that further enforces the sheer stupidity of the occupants of Mock Town.
** In the beginning of Thriller Bark, Usopp dismissed the ideas of an invisible man, ghosts and zombies. Each being the cause of his imagination, a weird looking bird and a "under grounders" type of human race respectively. He acknowledges having met a walking talking skeleton a few hours earlier, being the product of a devil fruit, but still dismisses the unusual phenomenon. They all end up being related to devil fruit users.
** When confronted with an undead swordsman who was once said to have slain a dragon in a single blow, Zoro retorts that he doesn't believe in dragons, in spite of all the other bizarre animals he's encountered during his travels. This becomes a straight-up PlotHole in the anime, as one of the filler arcs that preceded it involves the Straw Hats encountering an ''actual dragon''.
* ''Manga/NagasareteAirantou'':
** Ikuto has been on the island long enough to know that the standard rules don't apply to the island, and indeed has gotten to the point that he can talk to the animals of the island, his usual first reaction to a new oddity of the island is to reject any simple fantastic explanation from anyone else (even from the oddity itself) and instead comes up with his own explanation that's usually even more ridiculous (for example, he thinks that all the ghosts on the island are polar bears). Revealed in chapter 126 to be due to [[spoiler:a spell his own family placed on him to prevent him from discovering his sister's supernatural abilities. As of the same chapter, said spell is no longer in effect so his skepticism is gone.]]
** Ikuto finds himself on the other end of this trope in a later chapter when Ikuto sees an ''alien'' and is unable to convince anyone else that it's an alien -- they just think it's another talking animal or spirit.
* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':
** Shinra has it on good authority that werewolves and vampires do exist and is dating a [[HeadlessHorseman dullahan]]; nevertheless, he finds the idea of alien abductions, psychic powers or doomsday prophesies to be laughably absurd. He justifies this by claiming that the existence of one previously unknown seemingly supernatural being has no implications regarding unrelated phenomena. Shinra actually does acknowledge the possibility of such paranormal phenomena (he says as much [[http://anni-fiesta.livejournal.com/40061.html at the end of this]]), it's just that it's not exactly productive to respond to your girlfriend's fears that we'll all die in 2012 with, "Yep, we're probably doomed."
** The real arbitrary skeptic is probably Izaya, who refuses to believe in any afterlife he can't prove the existence of himself, even though he's on ''first-name basis with a {{psychopomp}}.'' Subverted later on when he acknowledges that the existence of said psychopomp should teach him to have an open mind.
* ''Manga/BlackButler'' Anime: Ciel Phantomhive has a demon for a butler, has seen a crazy transgender grim reaper with a chainsaw, met the actual grim reaper, met an angel, has a demon dog living at his house...but believes the old story of the white stag is simply a fairy tale.
** Averted in the manga, where Ciel's opinion on what is and isn't possible seems to be "if my demon butler who cannot lie to me tells me outright that X is real/a myth, I'll believe him." The closest he gets to this trope is when he says that "witches" were just innocent women who were accused of magic for various political reasons (like in real life), but he then follows up by admitting that this is just his opinion, and he pays close attention to Sebastian's input on the topic. Throughout the rest of the arc he remains skeptical of the [[ScoobyDooHoax story he's been told about witches and werewolves]], but mostly because Sebastian already told him that ''werewolves'' are mythical.
* In the [[TheAlcatraz Alice in Jails]] arc of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', Firo is extremely skeptical when Isaac insists that he met a fairy. This skepticism would be more reasonable if Firo wasn't immortal and [[InnocentCohabitation not-dating]] a [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent homunculus]]. For bonus points, fairies actually ''do'' exist in the ''Baccano'' universe (read: [[LightNovel/{{Durarara}} Celty]]).
* Allen and Lavi from ''Manga/DGrayMan'' are exorcists who fight akuma on a regular basis and have generally seen a lot of weird stuff, but they refuse to believe in ghosts or vampires.
* Used humorously by Lisianthus in ''[[VisualNovel/{{Shuffle}} SHUFFLE!]]'' when, worried over being able to pass a test in order to avoid summer school shouts "There is no God or Buddha!" when her father ''IS'' God!
* In ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', Sayoko Mishima starts picking up that [[PhysicalGod Belldandy]] has supernatural powers, but when Belldandy tells Sayoko that she's a goddess, she doesn't believe her and instead assumes that she's a witch. Why exactly she thinks that a witch is more believable than goddess is anybody's guess.
* In ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' episode five, when discussing strange markings on the school soccer pitch, a random fifth grader states: "Oh come on, there's no such thing as ''CropCircles''! What it really was was a ghost. And that dinosaur the principal saw? That was a ghost dinosaur."
* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'':
** In the Orichalcos arc, Rebecca and her grandfather explain what they know about the enemy, which involves Atlantis. Honda/Tristan laughs and calls them crazy. Joey/Jounouchi calls him out on it, reminding everyone about all the crazy adventures they've had so far.
** In the English dub of the series, Seto Kaiba stubbornly refuses to believe in the supernatural abilities of the millennium items and Duel Monsters' and his own mystical ties to ancient Egypt, despite constantly witnessing and occasionally being a victim of them. (By contrast, in the original Japanese series, he had no issue believing in the supernatural, he just thought dealing with it was a pain.)
** Invoked of one episode of ''Anime/YuGiOhSEVENS''. Yuga is put in a position where he'll lose by burn damage if he doesn't draw Fusion, a card that's not in his deck. [[ArcVillain Yuuou]] mocks him saying that the chances of him drawing Fusion are "zero". Yuga points out that he's [[ItMakesSenseInContext dueling a new life form born from a manga]] and that "the chances of me drawing Fusion have to at least be better than that". Even though Yuga is technically correct, Yuuou's skepticism is justified, because as it turns out "better than that" is still "infinitely approaching 0% probability". The way in which Yuga top decks Fusion is less "the stars align" and more "the universe itself bends to Yuga's will".
* ''LightNovel/BookGirl'': The eponymous Book Girl is a supernatural being who feeds on stories. She doesn't believe in ghosts.
* Yuriko of ''Manga/KotouraSan'' runs the "ESP Society" as part of her quest to prove the existence of psychics. Yuriko's mother was clairvoyant, and one of the club members is naturally telepathic. But she dismisses ghosts as ridiculous delusions, and explains the said {{telepath|y}}'s ghost sightings as accidental telepathy (sort of like DoingInTheWizard with a ''different'' wizard). She's right, but Manabe doesn't hesitate to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] how inconsistent this is.
* ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': Ghosts? Aliens? Underground civilizations? Sure, why not? But a magical girl? Clearly she's a deluded cosplayer. This is partially because Yurika is inexperienced and botches her magical powers the first few times she tries to demonstrate them to the group, and whenever she does manage to use them, they are never around to see. Koutarou admits that he does not want to believe her because he wanted a fellow normal person in the group. When she finally manages to demonstrate her powers, everyone thinks that she only acquired her powers recently and still will not believe that she always was a magical girl.
* In a crossover between ''Manga/FairyTail'' and ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'', Hawk, a talking pig, tells Elizabeth there's no such thing as talking cats, and is shocked when they meet Happy, a talking cat (technically an Exceed, a race of winged talking sapient cats, but still...).
* ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya'': Miyu is a MagicalGirl with access to powerful magic. Yet, when Illya demonstrates the ability to fly, Miyu is in utter disbelief and cites several scientific laws about why a human flying is impossible. [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Because Miyu doesn't believe it is possible, she cannot fly]]. [[spoiler:Later on this goes full CerebusRetcon, since the real reason she can't fly is because she's too emotionally damaged to think that she should be able to fly.]]
** This is carried even in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', where Miyu in a summer event doesn't believe that ghosts exist... Even though Servants are spiritual beings that require mana to physically manifest, making them super powered ghosts in a way.
* In ''Manga/MonsterMusume'', even after meeting Lala the dullahan the girls have a hard time believing that dullahans actually exist and aren't just a myth. Kimihito lampshades this by saying that, as monster girls themselves, they are in no position to talk.
* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Lucy Tsukioka/"Lu" believes in aliens, but not in magic or spirits.
* In ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'', Spacytchi comes from a planet besides Tamagotchi Planet and is surrounded by what would be considered aliens to his home planet as a result, and yet he refuses to believe aliens exist.
* ''Manga/YuunaAndTheHauntedHotSprings'': Kogarashi's class often witnesses poltergeist activity, but they refuse to believe that he has powers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' Film/MonsterVerse fanfiction ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'', Mark Russell initially doesn't believe that Vivienne Graham is both BackFromTheDead and has been [[BalefulPolymorph transformed]] into a [[TwoBeingsOneBody part-Ghidorah]] {{Kaiju}}. Mariko, [[InvokedTrope invoking the trope name]], promptly reminds him of the super-abilities Ghidorah displayed (which Mark observed himself) before Ghidorah's downfall, which InUniverse border on EldritchAbomination. To be fair on Mark, Dr. Brooks says that what's happened to Vivienne is unprecedented even for Monarch.
* ''Fanfic/AbyssalPlain'': Victoria is naturally unbelieving of them being in Hell, especially since she's been to their parahuman equivalent of the Afterlife.
* ''Fanfic/AllAssortedAnimorphsAUs'': Unlike [[AgentScully her husband]], Jean is accepting of the fact that a telepathic silverback gorilla threatened to murder her son in "What if they saved Jake's family?", but she doesn't believe Marco when he casually reveals that his mother is still alive.
* In ''Fanfic/AvengerOfSteel'', Matt Murdock refuses to believe in Stick's story of how dragons once walked the earth thousands of years before. Stick points out Matt is standing next to [[Franchise/{{Superman}} an alien]], [[Series/JessicaJones2015 a private eye with super strength]] and [[ComicBook/BlackWidow a trained assassin]] who works with [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor the Norse God of Thunder]], [[ComicBook/TheHulk a scientist who turns into a giant green monster]], [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica a World War II supersoldier who had been frozen in ice]] and [[ComicBook/IronMan a billionaire who designs super suits of armor]] "but dragons is where you draw the line?"
* In ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/story.php?no=27501 Blue Belle]]'', [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Willow]] has no problem accepting that a girl she recently met is the daughter of a lesbian couple from twenty years in the future but faints upon learning that her parents have been lying about who her father is.
* ''Fanfic/BoldoresAndBoomsticks'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] and [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] with Gary Oak's dismissal of Professor Cypress' warnings about the Grimm, despite his own past experiences with bizarre and inexplicable events. The professor is a well-known doomsaying crackpot who has occasionally turned out to be right in the same manner as a StoppedClock. Gary provides a reasoned and more plausible-sounding hypothesis that the Beowolf Cypress encountered was actually a [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Zoroark_(Pokémon) Zoroark]] due to the Pokémon in question being rare, really good with illusions, and having a similar body shape. He also takes things more seriously when his Arcanine reports unsettling and unfamiliar scents at the site where Cypress encountered the Grimm, and immediately stops doubting when he sees them for himself.
-->'''Gary''': Hey, Cypress?[...] I'm ready to stop being a skeptic now.
* In ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'' fanfic ''Fanfic/FairyTalesAndHokum'', Rick thinks upon hearing a disembodied voice: ''"Walking, talking mummies existed, as did green little murder pygmies, and Jonathan's common sense – [[VitriolicBestBuds though this last one was occasional]]. Ghosts did not. That he knew of."''
* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'':
** Aria Blaze comes from a magical land of talking ponies and used to be a creature who would lure sailors to their doom with her singing, yet she finds the idea of aliens hard to believe.
** On Terra, the events of the ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' films happened. Despite this being a world of {{Kaiju}}, when some people learn about this, they laugh and say dinosaurs being brought back sounds like science fiction.
* The ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' characters, particularly the fairies, are not quick to believe that Armani Dove is a Demigod child of a Greek goddess in ''Fanfic/BrokenBow''. He is quick to lampshade the fact that fairies are the ones disbelieving him.
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': Hermione does not believe that Harry Dresden is an actual wizard even though she lives in a world where not only magic exists, but also aliens, gods (or god-like beings) and the Sorcerer Supreme, because Dresden is in the phone book as "Wizard" (which, in fairness, is against the laws of the magic community she lives in, though not Dresden's).
** Ron has a very hard time accepting that mutants are real (or at least not some sort of wandless wizards) despite the aforementioned aliens, gods, and super science.
* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': [[BrokenBird Asuka]] has come to terms with [[PhysicalGod Daniel]] being a GodEmperor from another dimension… but seeing [[WingedHumanoid winged humanoids]] render her speechless.
* In ''Fanfic/CruelToBeKind'', Alexander has to deal with this whenever he claims to anyone of his legitimacy as a interdimensional traveler. He gets around it by teleporting them to Terra Prime, the homeworld of his inter-dimensional empire.
* ''Fanfic/DeadOrAlive4TheDevilFactor'' has two examples:
** Despite fighting all manner of demons, devils, and monsters on a regular basis, Dante finds it hard to believe that Kasumi and her family are real {{ninja}}s.
** Likewise, even after the Mugen Tenshin village is attacked by demons, Ayane is quick to dismiss the legend of Sparda as being just that.
* ''Fanfic/TheDesertStorm'': Despite being able to verify that Ben is a future version of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi Council still dismisses his claim that the Sith are alive. Ben is initially frustrated but admits to himself that in a similar situation he'd be equally skeptical. This attitude is called out by [[spoiler: Quinlan]] when he gets a number of Ben's memories, bluntly telling Mace Windu that the problem isn't so much the Sith but that the Jedi refuse to listen. Around that point, partly thanks to the evidence of the Kenobi Report, their attitude shifts from "we don't believe it" to "we need proof to convince everybody else."
* In ''Fanfic/DiariesOfAMadman'', no one except Nav believes Twilight when she claims the library is being haunted by something, despite this being a world filled with magic and ''far'' stranger things.
* In ''Fanfic/TheDimensionalDrifter'', Yuya expresses disbelief at the existence of Duel Spirits even though he created a brand new summoning method literally out of thin air just a few days prior. He also doesn't believe that aliens exist, but [[AlternateUniverse different dimensions]] are immediately accepted.
* ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': Lampshaded. Time Travel? Shinji finds it perfectly believable and thinks being skeptical about it is silly. After all what has happened to him, why not?
-->''He didn't see any point in wondering whether or not this was real; considering he'd been at least partly responsible for shattering the very fabric of reality and/or turning the entire human race -less himself, a two hundred-foot naked copy of his sister(?) and Asuka- into LCL to experience some rather nebulous transhumanist paradise, skepticism about mere mental time travel seemed rather silly.''
* ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsAFairlyOddFriendship'' averts this during the {{Internal Reveal}}s. The Rainbooms expect Timmy to not believe them when they tell him about Equestria and all the related magic, but given all the other weird stuff he's been through, he takes it all in with ease.
* ''Fanfic/TheEquestrianWindMage'': Vaati calls out Twilight for not believing in curses, despite all the other magic present in Equestria. When Celestia [[BrickJoke later confirms]] that curses are real, Vaati doesn't hesitate to rub her face in it.
* ''Fanfic/FantasyOfUtterRidiculousness:'' When Megas ends up in Gensokyo and several of its crew aren't sure that magic's really a thing, it's ''Jamie'' of all people who believes Alice. According to him they'd gone up against the Glorft and opponents ranging from a planet killer to a planet ''eater'', so why should they be surprised that magic's prevalent?
* ''Fanfic/FateKaleidPrismaTaylor'': Victoria Dallon/Glory Girl dismissively says telepathy isn't real. Lisa comments that meeting MagicalGirl Taylor should have made people more open minded.
* ''Fanfic/FatesCollide'':
** Francis Drake tells a tale of Apocrypha's first hero, Heracles, who liberated Apocrypha from the Grimm single-handedly (defeating twelve unique Grimm in the process), and inspired others to become heroes as well before disappearing. When Emerald Sustrai finds the idea of one man doing all that hard to believe, Drake calls her out on not believing after all the amazing things she had seen already.
** Vlad III explains that his Noble Phantasm, Kazikli Bey, gives him power over the concept of impalement itself. Pyrrha Nikos is shocked and says that is impossible. He tells her that she should learn not to limit her thinking, especially with all the unusual things in the world already.
** Archer and Cinder Fall run into BB, who is an IdenticalStranger to Archer's deceased friend Sakura Matou. He thinks she may actually be Sakura, even though he watched her die and get torn to pieces. When Cinder does some research and concludes it is more plausible that BB is an android, Archer says Cinder has some nerve thinking his idea is stupid, because her idea is the stupid one.
* In ''Fanfic/FateStayNightUltimateMaster'', Rin Tohsaka, a mage in a war between seven historical heroes, believes Ben Tennyson's transformations [[PowerMisidentification are magical in nature]]. She finds the concept of aliens from distant planets to be utterly ridiculous.
* ''Fanfic/GospelOfTheLostGods'': This being Westeros, there are inhabitants who don't believe the Wards are gods, but rather just people who can perform magic. None of the Wards believe in magic and chalk up what magic they do see as simply the appearance of superpowers.
* Both Soun and Akane in ''Fanfic/HeatedStormYieldsAWildHorsesHeart'' initially refuse to believe in the Kiss of Death despite Ranma and Genma both changing forms when exposed to water.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/HereThereBeMonsters'', Phantom Eagle finds size-changing magic more difficult to believe that all other instances of magic that he has witnessed.
-->'''Ibis:''' "Ibistick! Restore this man to his normal size!"\\
'''Phantom Eagle:''' "I've seen a lot, but if I see that, I'll start believing in the Tooth Fairy."\\
(Ibis magically shrinks Red Crusher)\\
'''Mr. Scarlet:''' "Well?"\\
'''Phantom Eagle:''' (shrugging) "Guess I'll have to start leaving stuff under the pillows again. When I start losing 'em, that is."
* In ''Fanfic/HopeComesToBrocktonBay'', Robin Maestra, a TimeMaster who can use her power to simulate SuperSpeed and flight, thinks Legend's ability to make lasers turn corners is bullshit.
* It shows up in the ''Film/{{Thor}}''/''Series/BeingHumanUK'' crossover, ''Fanfic/{{Housemates}}''. Nina, when informed that [[CuteGhostGirl the lovely young woman she's befriended is a ghost]], and one of her roommates is a [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire vampire]], her kneejerk reaction is to insist that there are no such things. Then she remembers that she's in a room with superheroes, two of them aliens. And one of those aliens is a ''sorcerer''.
* In ''Fanfic/HowTheLightGetsIn'', Laurel is brought BackFromTheDead. Felicity freaks right the hell out insisting things like this don't happen...despite several people in the room (Dean, Oliver, and Sara) all having ''also'' been resurrected at some point. Sara and Dean even comment on it.
** A few seconds later Oliver and Diggle wonder how could she have possibly [[RiseFromYourGrave dug herself out of her own grave]], only for Dean to point out not only is that if anything is the ''least'' bizarre thing to be happening, but logic has no real place here.
--->'''Dean:''' You might not want to pull on that thread, John. None of this makes sense. She was also [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] embalmed. In case any of you have forgotten. But here she is. She's breathing. She bled. She crawled out of her grave. That's what happened. This is the ''supernatural''. It's not about logic. Not the logic you've been taught anyway. It's about magic.
* ''Fanfic/ImNobody'': [[spoiler:Della Duck]] calls out the Citadel Council on dismissing the existence of the Reapers as a ploy that Shepard fell for when they openly admit that [[Franchise/KingdomHearts the Heartless]] are real during her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. In an earlier conversation when Shepard calls them out on the same thing, the Council admitted tha they ''would'' have dismissed the Heartless as tampered footage of not for all the eye-witnesses that saw the attack.
* ''Fanfic/MyIdealAcademia'': Angra Mainyu explains his origin story to All For One, but All For One thinks he is delusional. Angra asks why it is so hard to believe considering all the crazy, physics-defying Quirks in the world.
* Similarly in ''Fanfic/IWontSay'':
-->'''Light:''' You're not going to see a single ghost, not even the tiniest little spirit of a brutally murdered fly, because there are no such things.\\
'''L:''' Light-kun is right. [[LampshadeHanging Believing in ghosts is like claiming that you own a magical notebook or that you have a pet monster that only eats apples. Don't be ridiculous.]]
* ''Fanfic/JusticeLeagueOfEquestria'': When Shining Armor tells Cadance that he's been recruited by the [[Franchise/GreenLantern Green Lanterns]], she [[CassandraTruth doesn't believe him]], laughing it off as a joke. This despite the fact that she's had lunch with an [[Franchise/{{Superman}} alien superhero]] and is best friends with a [[Franchise/WonderWoman demigoddess]] -- something ''she herself'' pointed out when reassuring Shining that she'd believe whatever he told her, oddly enough. It takes actually seeing Shining transform for her to believe him.
* ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeason1'':
** When Irma is skeptical about Martin seeing a ghost, Taranee points out that, while she doesn't believe him either, they've seen a lot of other magical stuff since meeting Jackie. Irma admits the point.
** Uncle being skeptical of psychics is lampshaded as this, given all the other supernatural stuff he interacts with on a daily basis.
** In "A Jolly J-WITCH Xmas", Hay Lin calls out the others for not believing in Santa despite all the other magic in their lives.
* ''Fanfic/KurAndTheCrown'': In this ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' / ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'' crossover, Doc Saturday doesn't believe ghosts are real. Past experiences like alternate dimensions, underwater civilizations and sentinent lakes are [[ContinuityNod brought up]] as reasons Doc shouldn't be so unwilling to accept the possibility of ghosts being real.
* Averted in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2021451/chapters/4481901 Land of the Dead]]''. [[VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns Lizzie Liddell]], when being told that [[WesternAnimation/CorpseBride Downstairs]] has potions can help halt decay and keep maggots out, says that magic not real. But stops herself when she remembers that she and three-forths of her family are dead and in their burned-down house wanting for the afterlife. So why ''not'' magic?
* Averted and lampshaded in ''Fanfic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami'': Dark asks Blud if ghosts exist, and Blud says it is impossible. Dark asks if this would mean Blud, as a Shinigami, is impossible, too, and Blud says that shinigami are possible in the ''Death Note'' universe. It soon turns out that Blud's wrong about ghosts, though, as L comes back as one with the help of God's Ghost Note.
* Lampshaded in ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7210431/1/Life-in-Reverse Life in Reverse]]'' when the token Muggle is the only one to believe Harry's "crazy story" about being from the future, because they already have TimeTravel, so they feel fine with accepting {{Teleportation}}:
-->'''Harry:''' You believe me?\\
'''Owen:''' I don't know why I'm expected to accept appearing and disappearing but turn my nose up at time travel.
* Averted in the ''Manga/FairyTail'' / ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' crossover ''Fanfic/TheLionTheWitchAndTheFairysTail''. In contrast to the [[Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe book]] where the other Pensive siblings don't believe their sister Lucy about a portal in the wardrobe, the other Fairy Tail wizards believe Lucy Heartfilia when she says that an [[CallARabbitASmeerp Anima]] exists in her new wardrobe and took her to Narnia. This is because the guild has experience with other worlds like Edolas, and they are more concerned about the consequences of getting involved with Narnia and if the Anima can be used by those on the other side.
* In ''Fanfic/LostInCamelot'', despite living in a kingdom that has dealt with magic for decades, Morgana initially doesn't believe Bo when Bo reveals that she's a succubus simply because they are described as having blue eyes while Bo's eyes are brown, until Bo shows Morgana her OccultBlueEyes.
* ''Fanfic/LostToDust'':
** Yang Xiao Long dismisses the Maidens of the Seasons as just a story. Kairi Sisigou calls her out on this since they live in a crazy world and have seen a lot of crazy things already. She concedes his point.
** Qrow Branwen is skeptical that Miyu Edelfelt could use Glyphs through training instead of being related to the Schnee family, then says it is impossible when Scathach says she is immortal. Scathach says he should learn not to limit his thinking.
* In ''[[Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}} Lost World]]'', Tom has spent the past few years surrounded by aliens, but refuses to believe that Jake has time-travelled multiple times.
* ''Fanfic/MassEffectHumanRevolution'' has a fair bit of this:
** Chapter 15: Garrus dismisses the idea of a shapeshifting killer, to which Adam says that [[Series/{{Firefly}} he lives on a space station.]]
** Chapter 26: "You're an artificial human that can regenerate from fatal wounds in seconds denying the possibility that a young Asari can breakdown alcohol quickly."
** Chapter 38: Adam is confused by the sight of a sapient anthropomorphic rabbit-cat. [[spoiler:Hannibal]] reminds him that they "live in a galaxy dominated by blue women that can mate with their brains" and just killed a flying shark.
** Shortly afterwards in that same chapter, [[spoiler:Hannibal]] expresses doubt about the idea of "a Krogan scientist worthy of the term", upon which Adam tosses the other's earlier words right back at him.
** In chapter 39, Aya and Garrus can't believe the talk of psychic powers.
** It's a sign of Garrus' CharacterDevelopment in chapter 41 when his response to having killed a flying shark in a supersonic HighAltitudeBattle is not "are you kidding?" but "this is so cool!"
** Aya on the other hand still can't take talk of possession or ghosts seriously.
** In chapter 43, Spooky doesn't believe Adam's exposition on the past of the Prometheans and Reapers. Lunchbox calls him out on it.
--->''Lunchbox frowned at him. "Oh, come on! You believe in countless conspiracy theories! You believe in ancient societies faking the first moon landing but ancient space ninjas fighting ghosts from hyperspace is too much?!"''
* In ''Fanfic/TheMaximoffsAndFriendsAndFamilyVsTheMultiverseAndSometimesWith'' most characters have trouble believing the main characters about the multiverse despite both universes being full of superheroes, time travel, and gods. To be fair, most of the skeptics come from the Film/XMenFilmSeries where most of the oddities are explained away by science and genetics (though Film/DarkPhoenix still occurs, though no mention is made of aliens). As the MCU characters aren't particularly focused on in the first half, they're reactions are left offscreen, but it is implied that Team Cap at least accepts this. Meanwhile Vision does have amnesia for his confusion, whereas the S.W.O.R.D. team has a mixed reaction. To be fair, Wanda and Peter are.... alarmingly casual about explaining the very strange situation. Though subverted in that every X-Men character who was familiar with Wendy before her death easily believes it.
* Invoked in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4942676/1/Mercy Mercy]]''; even after spending years with Diana as a friend, Lois Lane is still surprised when Superman reveals that Diana's gods genuinely exist, to the extent that Persephone just visited the Watchtower to try and wake Diana up.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/NegaverseChronicles'', the members of the [[MirrorUniverse Friendly Four]] are informed that Negaduck is spending time with a witch. Bushroot (the guy who is part [[GreenThumb plant]]), Megavolt (the one who can shoot [[ShockAndAwe electricity]] from his fingertips), and Liquidator (the person made completely out of [[MakingASplash water]]) don't believe in magic. Only [[BadassNormal Quackerjack]] takes the threat of Morgana seriously from the start.
* ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'': Despite being a vampire (and thus himself a paranormal creature) Norlock doesn't initially believe Dib when he says he arrived at his castle in an alien's spaceship.
* In ''Fanfic/ANewWorldANewWay'', Twilight Sparkle has a hard time accepting that Aegislash is a spirit of a dead warrior possessing a sword with a shield. For added skepticism, this is ''after'' she met Arceus, the god of Pokèmon (and is willing to accept the fact that Arceus is a god).
* ''Fanfic/NotTheIntendedUseZantetsukenReverse'':
** Despite his family having dealings with the Mafia, and being surrounded by the supernatural and [[spoiler:the giant robots]], Soma still can't believe Mina when she tells him her roommate is in a crime syndicate. She immediately lampshades this.
** Later on, Soma delivers this line. He's wrong.
--->'''Soma:''' Just because I can do something like [steal Bigfoot's soul], it doesn't mean that other weird stuff automatically exists.
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23908072/chapters/58310101#workskin Outfoxed]]'', Alya doesn't believe Ladybug when she suggest that André the ice cream guy is another magic user rather than just a quirky vendor. This is despite the fact that she is the illusion-using hero Rena Rogue and that she just exposed [[ConsummateLiar Lila]] by dispelling her CharmPerson powers.
* In ''Fanfic/OriginStory'', no-one at first believes that a character from [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer a popular TV show]] is trapped in a [[ComicBook/PowerGirl superpowered woman's body]] and that their world is based on [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse a comic book franchise]]. But eventually, some people -- like ComicBook/TheAvengers -- came to (at some level) accept Alex's story. As Black Widow points out, they (the Avengers) have "encountered stranger things that were at least as improbable."
* ''Fanfic/OSMUFanfictionFriction'': The Odd Squad Mobile Unit deals with all sorts of oddities on the daily as part of their job, but when they visit Todd's Home for Villains[[{{Tradesnark}} ™]] and see him talking to his (named) shoes, they draw the line and are quick to leave.
* Lampshaded in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/34109776/chapters/88373437#workskin Our Teacher is a Devil]]''. Most people insist the stories of a man who can give and take Quirks are just ghost stories and myths, but Himiko notes that she once blackmailed a man who could turn into a horde of rainbow colored spiders and nothing could be weirder than ''that''. As such, she fully believes that All For One is real.
* Cyborg in the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom''/''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' story ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8841754/16/A-Phantom-Of-A-Titan A Phantom Of A Titan]]'' insists ghosts don't exist, despite being half-robot and having one teammate that's an alien princess and another that's a half-demon sorceress. Danny, the one telling him about ghosts, is also half-ghost but he hasn't told the team that yet.
* ''Fanfic/PointMeAtTheSkyrim'': Lampshaded by Victoria Dallon, a superhero from ''Literature/{{Ward}}'' who never believed in fairy tales, but after getting trapped in the parallel world of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' ends up wondering where she should draw the line.
-->Now here I was, in a world of imaginary creatures given life, and I felt like I was experiencing some twisted cosmic joke.\\
Where do I draw the line?\\
Did the existence of Dragons mean the same should be said for krakens and minotaurs? Did Leprechauns live under this Earth's rainbows and Tooth Fairies exchange currency for baby teeth? Does magic mean curses and good luck charms were common place? What about if little nonsense rhymes like stepping on a crack really could break a mom's back?
* ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'':
** Some {{Jerkass}} asylum orderlies refuse to believe Fluttershy can really talk to animals and think she's just making up what the animals are saying. This is in spite of the fact they believe in the powers she wielded as [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Princess Gaia/Nightmare Whisper]].
** [[spoiler:Flutternice]] refuses to believe that a Reaper's weapon is sentient and communicates with its wielder, in spite of everything else she has experienced.
** Some characters find the stories of Megan Williams and her friends hard to believe. Except for Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who have firsthand knowledge of the subject, many of the characters find the idea of alternate universes hard to believe.
* In ''Fanfic/PrincessTrixieSparkle'' after being victims of a FreakyFridayFlip, The Mane Six have trouble believing in such thing as a magical gem that can swap bodies. The same Mane Six, that live in magical world where their princesses move The Sun and The Moom, magic is common place, and they themselves have repeatedly used ThePowerOfFriendship to defeat {{Physical God}}s, shape shifters, and a [[RealityWarper reality warping chimera]] can't wrap their heads around a magical gem.
* Professor Kukui in ''Fanfic/AProfessorAndAStudent'' has no problem admitting he lives in a world with time traveling onion fairies, storm causing kaiju fish, and talking Meowth, but humans with special abilities like Aura, Telepathy, and Telekinesis is where he draws the line and is adamant that they do not exist.
* ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/10572666/chapters/23361390 Prophecy of the End]]'':
** In this story, set immediately after the ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' Season 4 premier, Doctor Fate teleports into the team's bunker and tells them he's "of magic". When Laurel expresses disbelief, he dryly points out they know about Metahumans and ''just saw'' that Damien Darhk has magic. The team quickly concede the point.
** Shortly after that, Diggle is skeptical that he could have delivered a real prophecy only for Laurel to comment:
--->"After seeing Damien Darhk suck the life out of that guy with his hands, there’s nothing I won’t believe."
* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'':
** As in ''Friendship is Magic'', nopony believes curses are real, dismissing them as "superstition" (or [[FantasticRacism earth pony superstition]] if they're real assholes). Meanwhile, Princess Luna acknowledges the existence of curses in public, showing her position.
** In ''Nightmares Yet to Come'', Trixie immediately dismisses the idea of somepony being a time-traveller (who, admittedly, claims seconds later they were making it up). By this point Trixie has done some weird stuff, including travelling to another universe ''by accident'', but the idea of time travel is just too ridiculous.
* ''Fanfic/{{Read The Fine Print|Evangelion}}'': When she meets Shinji and Asuka, Rei feels disturbed because she cannot see his "light", whereas Asuka's is too bright to stare at. When the duo explains he sold his soul to her for chocolates as a joke, believing they were signing a bogus contract, Rei finds their story difficult to believe...even though she has just told she can see souls.
* ''Fanfic/RealmOfEntwinedScienceAndSorceryAcademyCity'':
** Despite being a time traveler who has worked with several Servants, Ritsuka Fujimaru finds the idea of alternate worlds hard to believe at first. Da Vinci calls him out on this.
** Despite working with the Servant Sakata Kintoki to fight the monsters invading Academy City, Mikoto Misaka does not believe in magic and is skeptical of Ritsuka and Mash's explanations.
* This permits ''Fanfic/ReflectionsLostOnADarkRoad'' (a crossover of '''two''' crossovers -- ''Fanfic/TheRoadToCydonia'' and ''Fanfic/DarkTitans'') to get started as a case of LetsYouAndHimFight. In TRTC, the ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' crew is abducted by aliens, then escape into the (not-so) gentle clutches of ''VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense'', joining them in a GrimDark war against aliens and suffering severe cases of PTSD in the process. In DT, the Ranma crew befriend the Comicbook/TeenTitans and become part of Franchise/TheDCU. Several years later, Ryoga and several of the Titans are transported to the TRTC universe. Bad enough they're spandex-clad metahumans, or that the aliens' latest gimmick seems to be creating fake "metahumans" whom X-Com has responded to with a MutantDraftBoard, but as TRTC already has a Ryōga (with severe combat fatigue), he's more than ready to kill his alternate on sight rather than inquire as to the strangeness. {{Sociopathic Soldier}}s armed with SupernaturalMartialArts versus ThouShaltNotKill superheroes is a ForegoneConclusion -- the only surprise is that X-Com didn't ''kill'' any of the Titans.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11646385/2/Renegades Renegades]]'', [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Rocky]] is surprised to hear that [[Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm Shane and Tori]] (Both of who are training to be ninjas) thought that Power Rangers weren't real, despite the fact they live two hours from Angel Grove and there was a [[Series/PowerRangersInSpace massive alien invasion in Califonia less than five years prior]]. Shane replies that when he first saw the Power Rangers on TV, he was a kid and thought it was a weird tv show.
* In ''Fanfic/RunawayWind'', Ventus is strangely doubtful of Naminé's memory manipulation power. "I mean, you probably could read memories fine, but changing them? That’s a little far fetched." She quickly convinces him otherwise by momentarily editing herself into his memory of waking up in the Castle.
* In ''See the Stars'' [[spoiler:repli-]]Ada lives in a galaxy where killer robots, ascended beings and genetic semi-magical powers are a day-to-day occurrence, but she refuses to believe that ghosts exist. [[spoiler:As it turns out, she was right. It was a glitch in the algorithm.]]
* ''Fanfic/ServantsOfRemnant'':
** The Servants who allied with Salem told her all about Ritsuka Fujimaru and her adventures. Salem, despite being an immortal magic user cursed by the gods and seeing the Servants' abilities, finds the stories hard to believe.
** In the story "The Remnant of VIV", when Ritsuka tells them they are in the show ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', James Moriarty finds the idea of a fictional universe being real hard to believe, even though he's also from a story that is believed fictional. Sherlock Holmes chides him and points out they know there is a such thing as parallel universes.
* ''Fanfic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'': Used then averted. Despite working for an organization that uses colossal biological warmachines made of reverse-engineered alien body parts to fight against the equally colossal aliens that border on EldritchAbomination from which they are derived, numerous characters are initially immediately dismissive of things such as PsychicPowers or the existence of Machine Spirits. Then follows about a year of physics regularly being torn a new one to cause destruction on a scale the world hasn't seen since Second Impact, then all but the most mind-boggling things become almost mundane.
* ''Fanfic/ShowaAndVampire'': During the Sports Fest, Shinichi asks if they might run into a real minotaur. While going out with a vampire, a witch, a yuki onna, and a succubus, being a cyborg, etc.
* ''Fanfic/{{Stardust|Arad}}'':
** [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown Dr. Ngo]] refuses to believe [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle's]] stories of [[PhysicalGod Princesses Celestia and Luna]] manipulating the sun and moon of her planet, despite the fact she's talking to a pastel purple unicorn the size of a large dog who can speak, teleport, change physical matter on a molecular level, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick has enough telekinetic power she can crush a human into pulped gore with an idle thought]].
** Averted by Dr. Mills, who notes that his initial gut reaction is to dismiss such a story, but then reminds himself he's talking to a purple unicorn on the topic of magic, and so she might just be telling the truth.
** In chapter 26 Dr. Shen says that the engineers, who had seen so much previously thought impossible, flipped out when the topic of invisibility devices was broached.
* ''Fanfic/StreetsOfRageSaga'': Skate scoffs at the idea of ninja-themed magical powers during the CrossOver adventure with [[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Joe Musashi]] in the fourth book, ''The New Syndicate''... despite the fact that Skate has fought robots and clones and has teamed up with a cyborg to fight TheSyndicate.
* In ''The Stronger Evil'' (the sequel of the ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' fic ''Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil''), [[HunterOfMonsters Nataline Homato]] shared Uncle's belief that Oni weren't real until Tarakudo's entrance. Valerie Payne notes the irony of a demon hunter raised by a Japanese family with history of hunting demons not believing in Japanese demons. Nat defends herself by saying that there haven't been reports of any Oni for a thousand years.
** Valerie herself didn't take seriously Uncle's words of a comet shower signaling an awakening of dark chi, despite being magically bound to Shendu through a binding that happened in a rewritten reality. She later berates herself for this.
* In ''Fanfic/SOEEmeraldFury'', several people dismiss the existence of She-Hulk, despite the regular attacks by the [[EldritchAbomination Angels]].
* ''Fanfic/ATacticiansTestimony'': Despite knowledge of such things as magic and healing staves, in "Sword of Spirits," Katri is in complete disbelief that the [[CoolSword Mani Katti]] is [[LivingWeapon sentient]] and [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield chooses its owner]].
* ''Fanfic/TalesOfTheOtherverse'': Sherri is willing to believe in [[Franchise/{{Superman}} alien]] [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} humanoids]], but she draws the line at [[ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog alien dogs]].
-->'''Mon-El:''' "Dog? White? Named Krypto?"\\
'''Sherri:''' "Yes. Supposedly he came from the same planet Superboy came from, though I find that hard to believe. It's hard enough to imagine that evolution followed similar paths with humanoids on other planets."\\
'''Mon-El:''' "Depends. If you give credence to the theory that many worlds were seeded with similar life forms, then it stands to reason that those life forms might evolve along similar paths."
* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': Kaworu isn't human but an [[EldritchAbomination Angel]]. Still, when Shinji states that he owes his PsychicPowers to daemon training, Kaworu replies that's ridiculous because there's no such thing as daemons.
* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'':
** Happens to [[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]] after he gets told the reason why lightning only makes the sound when it hits the ground in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Equestria]]. He himself is the one that [[LampshadeHanging notes how he just pulled this off]].
--->'''Phoenix:''' I'm no meteorologist, but I'm pretty sure lightning doesn't work like that. Then again, I keep forgetting I'm in a land full of magical talking ponies who can [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows manually change weather]]..
** Phoenix refuses to believe in Pinkie Pie's [[SpiderSense Pinkie Sense]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''/''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/{{Ultrasonic}}'', this is subverted when Marinette is questioned about the akuma attack in Tundra Town and what she was doing there. Chief Bogo takes her explanation in stride, stating that he's willing to suspend disbelief a bit after what's happened that night. However, it's then played straight by Mayor Swinton, who dismisses Marinette as a delusional schoolgirl even after her warning of an army of Ultrasonic clones comes true, and refuses to let Bogo release her.
* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'':
** Wonder Woman briefly doubts the existence of a Zombie Green Lantern. Paul responds that there have been ''far'' stranger lanterns, listing off that there have been lanterns who have been a Mathematical Equation, a Robot, a Squirrel, a Plant, and a Planet (and yes, ''[[ShownTheirWork all of those are real.]]'')
** When Kid Flash decides to go on his "Magic isn't real" rant just before the battle with Klarion, OL points out that not only ''is'' it real, but that several League members [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Aqualad]] are all proficient in its use.
* ''Fanfic/WormGrandOrder'': Despite living in a world that is regularly threatened by the [[EldritchAbomination Endbringers]] and where many people have superpowers, pretty much no one in Earth Bet believes in magic, not even Hero, who was brought back from the dead as a Servant. Everyone insists that Taylor Hebert and her Servants' abilities are not magical and are simply science they haven't discovered yet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', in which Indy encounters magical artifacts, [[{{Prequel}} comes before]] ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', in which Indy at one point dismisses all superstition involving the Ark of the Covenant. After all he has gone through, you'd think Indy would at least be a bit more open-minded in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''. Despite previously encountering magic rocks, a Nazi-killing golden box, a healing cup and an Atlantean god-making machine, he still sneers at the prospect of [[CrystalSkull telepathic skulls]], calling it a "bedtime story", just as he did with the Holy Grail. He also dismissively tells Mutt that the Akator legend is "just a story", even though he'd surely have realized by then that in the Indiana Jones universe [[AllMythsAreTrue nothing is ever "just a story"]]. There are of course explanations for this stubbornness, such as that he knows Mutt is young and reckless and doesn't want to give him ideas, or he's trying to will himself into believing it's false precisely because he's seen how dangerous the supernatural can be, but the most likely reason is it just makes it more [[RuleOfDrama dramatic]] when he's inevitably [[SkepticismFailure proven wrong]].
** This tradition is continued in expanded media. In ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheEmperorsTomb'', Indy describes the MacGuffin as "a mythological artifact, like Excalibur or the Holy Grail", both of which are treasures that canonically he would later discover himself.
* In ''Film/TheLastMimzy,'' the brother has already found a strange cube that deposited several mysterious items, including a strange crystal that makes noise that only he and his sister can see (adults think it looks like a flat rock), a crystalline conch shell that enhances his hearing and teaches him how to command spiders through sound, and a set of stone "spinners" that his sister can spin to create a strange portal that causes her hand to split harmlessly into a million particles. Yet he still refuses to believe that her stuffed rabbit, which also came through the cube, speaks to her, despite it being the one that taught her how to spin the spinners. It takes the mimzy predicting their father's arrival to convince him.
* ''Film/EightLeggedFreaks''. The conspiracy-believing radio host is unwilling to believe the others' tales of giant killer spiders. This may have been as much him suspecting they were making fun of him, as him actually finding the idea itself unbelievable.
* ''Film/SabrinaDownUnder'': A merman, sitting in a bathtub next to a talking cat, refuses to believe in witches. One spell later:
-->'''Sabrina:''' You know, for a guy with a tail, you're extremely narrow-minded.
* In ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', the Tin Man, who is accompanying a talking lion and an animated scarecrow to kill a witch on the orders of a wizard, does not believe in "spooks" (ghosts).
* The ''Film/{{Cube}}'' film series:
** In the first movie, Holloway and Quentin both commit this during their discussion of each other's pet theories on the origins of the Cube. She believes that the military-industrial complex created the place, which he dismisses because he believes government organizations are just composed of people like him, whose goals in life are to "buy big boats", not conspire. Quentin believes that the structure is a rich psychopath's entertainment, comparing it to ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', to which Holloway reacts as if he just said that the moon is made of cheese. Granted that Quentin's theory is more outlandish than hers (and his citing of a stereotypical Bond villain doesn't really help his argument), but she didn't need to start acting like a {{Jerkass}} by ridiculing him for it. ([[spoiler:Not that it makes his murder of her partly in retribution for this any more justified.]])
** In the sequel ''Film/Cube2Hypercube'', Max calls the rest of the group crazy for even considering that space and time could be distorted in the cube (despite repeatedly witnessing things that are physically impossible, such as the rooms instantaneously moving around) and argues that there has to be a logical explanation, such as an optical illusion. At the same time he berates the others for not believing in his conspiracy theories, and is convinced that the cube is operated by a mysterious superhacker called Alex Trusk.
* ''Film/IndependenceDay'':
** Even though the White House had just been destroyed by an alien death ray, the president laughs off Julius' belief in Roswell and Area 51, saying it's all a myth. As the President he probably assumed this is the kind of thing someone would have told him, only to find out he was left out to create PlausibleDeniability.
** Many people consider Russell Casse to be insane due to his drunken ranting about being kidnapped by aliens. Fair enough, but when an alien invasion actually does happen, by aliens who have been confirmed to have been studying mankind in detail for years prior to their invasion, you'd think that'd give his story a little more credibility, but everyone continues to act like he's insane. (It's never made explicitly clear whether or not Russell is telling the truth, or if his ranting is just paranoid delusion that happens to match up to the circumstances. Russell certainly believes the invaders are the same aliens, though. The comic book adaptation, at the least, explicitly showed his abduction and that yes, it was the same aliens.)
* In the film version of ''Film/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Caspian and Edmund scoff at Drinian and the other sailors for being afraid of sea serpents, in spite of living in the original FantasyKitchenSink and being personally acquainted with a wide variety of mythological creatures, as well as well-versed in the lore of many others - including dragons. When Eustace mistakes a seagull for a sentient being and tries to talk to it, a minotaur laughs at him.
* In ''Film/TheHauntingOfMollyHartley'', Molly's dad simply refuses to believe that a {{Satan}}ic {{cult}} is coming for his daughter, even though ''he made a DealWithTheDevil'' to save her. And how did he not notice that Molly's [[spoiler:guidance counselor at school was the exact same person who acted as the Devil's agent in the deal]]?
* In ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace,'' people encounter flying saucers and a zombie that melts into a skeleton, yet have trouble believing that someone could have risen from the dead to break out of his own grave.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', the GCPD are awfully dismissive of Gordon's account of his encounter with Bane and his men in the sewers that he narrowly escaped from. And they still seem dismissive of Gordon's story about a masked man and an army living in the sewers even ''after'' Bane and his men attack the Stock Exchange, an attack in which Bane is clearly seen leading them, mask and all. Considering that, in the previous two films in the series, Gotham fell under terrorist attack by an army of ninjas and a man dressed as a clown, it's not particularly outlandish. On the other hand, those events occurred in the span of two years, at which time a vigilante who dressed as a bat was also active. Since the last ''8 years'' have been peaceful and Batman has retired, it's possible that the GCPD came to consider those attacks to be isolated incidents.
* ''Film/{{Kazaam}}'' is a genie who disbelieves in ''fairy tales''.
* Gibbs from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is highly superstitious. However, he is skeptical of the existence of Davy Jones' Kraken (which is, in fact, real).
** The trailer for the last installment, there is a character that deems herself a scientist and says "I choose not to believe in ghosts." Yep. [[TooDumbToLive You just can't help but wonder...]].
** William Turner, serving as captain of the FlyingDutchman, doesn't believe in old myths about the Trident of Poseidon. Likewise, the Royal Navy, who a decade before was ordering around Davy Jones to kill his kraken shortly before declaring war on Calypso the sea goddess, takes no stock in sailor's tales such as the Devils' Triangle.
* In ''Film/{{Alien}}'', Ripley wants to get rid of the Facehugger carcass, because they already know that the alien creature [[AlienBlood bleeds acid]] and have no clue what will happen after it's dead. Ash counters this by snarking at Ripley that it probably isn't a zombie.
* Shows up to varying degrees in the ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' series.
** In the [[Film/Ghostbusters1984 first one]], people are skeptical of the idea of ghosts even after the protagonists start doing regular business. Then there's a full-scale ghost attack on the city, followed by the conjuring of a [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever 100-foot tall anthropomorphic marshmallow]]. Somehow, this manages to convince everyone that the Ghostbusters are ''frauds'', despite the entire city having witnessed these events.
** A second near-apocalypse in the [[Film/GhostbustersII second film]] finally casts away any doubt, likely because the Ghostbusters animated the UsefulNotes/StatueOfLiberty to save the day and the ''UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic'' sailed into port during the ruckus. Notably averted by the mayor in ''Film/GhostbustersII'': when the Ghostbusters come to him proclaiming that the subway system is filled with anger-fueled ghost slime, his dismissal of them is not because he does not believe them, but because they aren't offering any realistic solutions (even within the context of their usual antics). Likewise, he only waits as long as he does to finally call on their services because he really would rather not have to.
* Dr. Koven, in ''Film/TheSkeptic'', is a parapsychological researcher who believes in psychics and in chi, but not in ghosts.
* In ''Film/SixSouls'' Cara does a good job of avoiding this, approaching her doubts realistically and scientifically. But her father believes she has succumbed to it all the same.
* ''Film/SonOfGodzilla'': A bunch of giant, mutant preying mantises are treated as [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight nothing special]], yet Goro's reports of a mystery woman sneaking around the camp are treated with skepticism bordering on hostility.
* In ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', Randa has been desperately trying to prove {{Kaiju}} exist for years. When a critic compares him to those people who believe in aliens, Randa dismissively says those people are nuts.
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': When Steve tells the others about Diana's belief that Ares is behind WWI, Charlie scoffs at the idea. Sameer points out how silly it is that Charlie finds it hard to believe when they had just witnessed Diana [[spoiler: conquer No Man's Land, throw a tank into a building with her bare hands, and demolish the top of a church by just jumping into it.]]
* ''Film/Aquaman2018'': Dr. Stephen Shin is dismissed by most as a conspiratorial loon for claiming that Atlantis exists. This of course ignores the fact that Earth has experienced two alien invasions already and has an Amazonian goddess living among humanity. Shin also repeatedly points out Aquaman's existence, to no avail.
* Likewise, ''Film/{{Shazam}}'' takes place next in the same continuity, so aliens, demigods, cyborgs, and Atlantis are all established parts of reality. But when Dr. Sivana tries to research the wizard who summoned him as a child, the only way he's able to do so is by disguising it as a study into mass delusions, since no credible scientist is willing to take him seriously. Even after witnessing video evidence of strange symbols appearing on a woman's alarm clock and learning that they correspond exactly to Dr. Sivana's own childhood experience, the head researcher ''refuses'' to consider a supernatural explanation [[spoiler: until she's affected by the magic and is killed almost immediately afterward]].
* In ''Film/TimeBandits'', Kevin insists that the "Time of Legends" isn't real, to a time traveller who just recovered him from Ancient Greece, where he helped kill a minotaur.
* In ''Film/TheOogielovesInTheBigBalloonAdventure'', Goobie refuses to believe that the balloons are magical and can talk, stating that it is scientifically impossible. This despite the fact they live in a house with a magic talking window, a talking pillow, and a talking vacuum cleaner.
* In ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', Rachel, Maddie's sister, faints at the sight of the unconscious Sonic, then later tries to convince Maddie that Tom has gone crazy because he's talking about aliens, despite the obvious alien in her house.
[[/folder]]

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23908072/chapters/58310101#workskin Outfoxed]]'', Rena Rogue doesn't believe Ladybug when she suggest that André the ice cream guy is another magic user rather than just a quirky vendor. This is despite the fact that she is the illusion-using hero Rena Rogue and that she just exposed [[ConsummateLiar Lila]] by dispelling her CharmPerson powers.

* In Fanfic/TheMaximoffsAndFriendsAndFamilyVsTheMultiverseAndSometimesWith most characters have trouble believing the main characters about the multiverse despite both universes being full of superheroes, time travel, and gods. To be fair, most of the skeptics come from the Film/XMenFilmSeries where most of the oddities are explained away by science and genetics (though Film/DarkPhoenix still occurs, though no mention is made of aliens). As the MCU characters aren't particularly focused on in the first half, they're reactions are left offscreen, but it is implied that Team Cap at least accepts this. Meanwhile Vision does have amnesia for his confusion, whereas the S.W.O.R.D. team has a mixed reaction. To be fair, Wanda and Peter are.... alarmingly casual about explaining the very strange situation. Though subverted in that every X-Men character who was familiar with Wendy before her death easily believes it.

* [[AwesomeMcCoolname RheaSnaketail]], from ''Webcomic/SlightlyDamned'', is actually called out on this by another character.