History Main / NeverWasThisUniverse

* The Marvel title ''ComicBook/{{Newuniversal}}'' features mention of how this 2006 Earth is different before the White Event even hits - Hillary Clinton is President, Paul [=McCartney=] died while John Lennon is still performing, the World Trade Center is still standing, and Korean ''manwha'' is popular in America while Japanese ''manga'' is merely an affectation for specialists. This is particularly notable since the original ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse'' made a big deal out of this being "the world outside your window"; the only superhero universe that was exactly like ours until the White Event (although that never quite worked either).

* The Marvel title ''ComicBook/{{Newuniversal}}'' features mention of how this 2006 Earth is different before the White Event even hits - Hillary Clinton is President, Paul [=McCartney=] died while John Lennon is still performing, the World Trade Center is still standing, and Korean ''manwha'' is popular in America while Japanese ''manga'' is merely an affectation for specialists. This is particularly notable since the original ''Comicbook/TheNewUniverse'' made a big deal out of this being "the world outside your window"; the only superhero universe that was exactly like ours until the White Event (although that never quite worked either).

* ''Literature/{{Sunshine}}'' and ''Dragonhaven'' by Creator/RobinMcKinley both do this--''Sunshine'' is set in a world with [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]]s, and ''Dragonhaven'' one with [[OurDragonsAreDifferent marsupial dragons]].

* The final {{retcon}} in ''Literature/{{The Redemption of Time}}'' is that the rest of the ''Literature/{{Remembrance of Earths Past}}'' novels, as well as ''Literature/{{Ball Lightning}}'', [[spoiler:actually take place in the universe prior to ours. In that universe, Alpha Centauri is much more chaotic, China started their own search for extraterrestrial intelligence in 1964, and there was a major conflict between China and America in the South China Sea around the start of the 21st century]].

* What ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' shows of the world outside of [[FantasticGhetto Gensokyo]] seems to put it in this trope. {{Youkai}} and magical creatures co-existed for millennia with humans (and some still do), {{Physical God}}s were actively worshiped until [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly disbelief threatened their ability to work miracles]], some of the first humans left Earth to form a new society on the moon, and magic was (and to some extent still is) quite common--but the history of the world nevertheless progressed quite similarly to our own.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'' is a case of Never Was The Canon Verse. It initially appears to be a case of ForWantOfANail with Petunia marrying a scientist instead of Vernon Dursley, but as the story goes on more and more differences are revealed with no specific point of divergence from canon. The author's note on the first chapter clarify that "there exists a primary point of departure, at some point in the past, but also other alterations", the primary point of departure most likely being [[spoiler:Dumbledore's decision to look at ''all'' the prophecies]].

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' starts off as a case of ForWantOfANail but the further the story progresses certain points of canon begins to diverge more and more. WordOfGod even confirms that the fic will evolve more as an alternate universe.

* ''WebOriginal/AtlasAltera'': The geographic changes (large seas in the middle of Australia and Siberia, enlarged lakes in Africa and North America, and extra islands scattered around the world) make it clear this world has been different from the beginning of its history.

* ''Second Sons'' fulfills the trope, but inverts the normal working of it. Instead of taking place in our world [[InSpace with magic]], it exists in a perfectly plausible world that has no magic, no species that don't exist in our world, and no supernatural elements of any sort, but happens to not be ours, as is cemented by the existence of [[AlienSky two suns]].

** ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheToxicSpellDump'' takes place in a universe much like ours, except [[MagiTek all the science and technology has been replaced with magic]]; somehow, this hasn't kept the CIA from employing spooks (only now they're real ghosts), and even crosswalks and hermetic seals retain their names despite their origins differing wildly from our world.

* To some degree, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''; The offical divergence is shortly post-WW2, with the most important difference that the microtransistor is not invented, leading to an Atomic age focused around vacuum tubes and other inefficent technology that depletes Earth's resources much faster. However, certain tech, such as fusion cells, energy weapons, sentient robots and the effects of radiation, imply that the physical laws of the ''Fallout'' universe are different from our own. Fallout 3 and 4 expands on this, implying that the presence of non-human, eldritch beings, and an entire nonhuman civilization have been part of Earth's past.

* To some degree, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''. Sure, the point of historical divergence can be pinned down to the 1940s, but their laws of physics (especially involving nuclear physics, of course) are different enough that it would mean that the real point of divergence would have to have been sometime during the ''very formation'' of the ''Fallout'' universe.

* Strangereal in the ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' series is an alternate version of our Earth with virtually identical nature and humans and a roughly PresentDay tech level, but the continents are completely different (their shape often hints at an amusingly warped and twisted version of our real landmasses). The countries and nations are completely fictional as well, but are all thinly-veiled {{Fantasy Counterpart Culture}}s.

* This is a major plot point of ''Literature/AshASecretHistory''. Initially framed as a "lost chapter" of European history by the FramingDevice, the historians translating the text grow increasingly puzzled by its increasingly inexplicable divergences from known history, such as a Carthage founded by Visigoths, an alternative Christianity centered around the "Green Christ", and {{golem}}s. Then they start finding artifacts corresponding to this divergent history at dig sites. [[spoiler:Then the big twist comes out: this divergent history is the result of humans being latent {{reality warper}}s. Our history is the result of our powers having been sealed off retroactively by a CosmicRetcon... but the seal is failing, and our ''original'' history is leaking back in.]]

* The MirrorUniverse in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is said to be of such a nature. In the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "In A Mirror Darkly", Mirror Phlox says that he's looked through the USS Defiant's database and found consistent differences in history and culture--with the exception of Shakespeare, whose plays were "equally grim in both universes".

*** In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' when they visited 1996 in the episode ''Future's End'', the Eugenics Wars at least got a ContinuityNod via an easter egg of set dressing, a model of a DY-500 transport like the Botany Bay was visible in the office of an astronomer. While the Eugenics Wars weren't referenced in plot or dialogue, there was at least a (very) token acknowledgement of Khan and his saga existing in that timeline.
** In ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' of [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]] Spock outright says: "An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains – however improbable – must be the truth." Whether he was referring to Literature/SherlockHolmes as a real person or Creator/ArthurConanDoyle is up to you. Holmes is treated as a fictional character in several episodes of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration".
* The TV series ''{{Series/Kings}}'' apparently ''does'' take place on Earth, but the exact location of the fictional countries is never revealed and the precise historical era remains a mystery (though the society and tech ranges from UsefulNotes/ColdWar to TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture levels). The only clear-cut reference to our world is a throw-away line about Franz Liszt.
* The AlternateUniverse seen in ''{{Series/Fringe}}'' looks to be this way as there is no set divergence point mentioned, as of yet. But the map of the US clearly shows different borders for states plus most of California is missing, [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld the Zeppelins]], Martin Luther King Jr. is on the twenty instead of Andrew Jackson, and their technology is a little more advanced, although a lot of what was shown was created by [[spoiler:"our" universe's William Bell]].

* The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Netflix shows are set in a version of New York City where everything is very much the same as real life except for anything impacted by [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the "Incident"]], such as the decimation of Hell's Kitchen (which Wilson Fisk is taking advantage of to gentrify entire blocks in ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' season 1) or the sale of Judas bullets on the street (which are sold by gun dealers in the first season of ''Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}}'').

* The 2003 ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime's setting is explicitly a parallel universe to the real world, with a specified point of divergence, meaning it falls under AlienSpaceBats. The ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' manga, by contrast, falls under this trope: the proliferation of FantasyCounterpartCulture nations implies a great similarity to the real world, but no actual connection is ever made between the two.

* One could assume all the AlternateHistory in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''' derives from [[AlienInvasion gems attempting to colonize Earth]] around 4000-3000 BCE, which even includes altered landmasses from the early stages of HostileTerraforming. However, maps also show a big piece of real life northwestern Africa is instead located in South America. So apparently Earth was somewhat different by the Mesozoic period, tens of millions of years before gems arrived.

* The MirrorUniverse in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is said to be of such a nature. In the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "In A Mirror Darkly", mirror Phlox says that he's looked through the USS Defiant's database and found consistent differences in history and culture--with the exception of Shakespeare, whose plays were "equally grim in both universes".

* ''VideoGame/{{Deathloop}}'' appears to take place in a sci-fi alternate history of the 70s on an abandoned arctic fishing island. However, as you explore the island, you begin finding things that don't quite add up such as the fact that despite the 70s aesthetic of the game, the year is 1965 and that one character's favorite book is about the fall of empires in the ''previous'' century. [[spoiler:Pieces start adding up to ''heavily'' imply (something that was later [[WordOfGod confirmed by the developers]]) that the game doesn't take place in our world but ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}''s world centuries later.]]