History Main / SaveTheWorldClimax

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' started off as a show in which two kids explore the strange and unusual mysteries in the titular town, and culminates in a three part finale called "Weirdmaggedon", [[spoiler:in which a demonic {{reality warp|er}}ing triangle creature invades reality and has to be stopped before he spreads his destructive weirdness to ''the entire universe'']].

* Part 6 of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' follows this. It starts as a prison drama about an inmate trying to reclaim her father's memories, then becomes a race to prevent a crazy priest from resetting the universe. [[spoiler: They fail...somewhat. They aren't able to stop him from gaining a power up to do so. But his end goal was to reset the world without a Joestar line to avenge Dio. Despite killing near all the main heroes, the one remaining ally manages to off him at the last possible moment. The world is reset but the Joestar line survives.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' started out as a simple slice of life show about characters solving interpersonal relationship problems, but through it's world building raised the tension and stakes with each season until the GrandFinale where Twilight, the Mane Six, and all the creatures across the show's world have to unite against the show's TerribleTrio to save Equestria and the lands beyond from destruction and chaos.

* Part 6 of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' follows this. It starts as a prison drama about an inmate trying to reclaim her father's memories, then becomes a race to prevent a crazy priest from resetting the universe. [[spoiler: They fail...somewhat. They aren't able to stop him from gaining a power up to do so. But his end goal to was reset the world without a Joestar line as to avenge Dio. Despite killing near all the main heroes. The one remaining ally manages to off him at the last possible moment. The world is reset but the Joestar line survives.]]

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' begins with Negi's misadventures as a teacher of an all-girl junior high school class with the goal of finding his father. The final arc involves him and his BattleHarem saving not Earth, but another world entirely. [[spoiler: Interestingly, saving the world is the end goal of the villains, they just have a different method of doing it that involves the sacrifice of a lot of the denizens of said world, who are just illusions]].

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'' starts with a group of friends travelling into an alternate universe formed from the human subconscious to perform HeelFaceBrainwashing on the wicked adults in their lives. As the game progresses, the steaks are raised [[spoiler:as the heroes must save their country from being taken over by a politician weaponizing said alternate universe, before taking on a wicked god hoping to subject humanity to his whims. [[SavingChristmas And just in time for Christmas!]]]]

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' begins with Negi's misadventures as a teacher of an all-girl junior high school class with the goal of finding his father. The final arc involves him and his BattleHarem saving not Earth, but another world entirely. [[spoiler: Interestingly, saving the world is the end goal of the villains, they just have a different method of doing it that involves the sacrifice of a lot of the denizens of said world, who are just illusions]].

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'': What started as three disgraced ex-graduates with a plan for a ZanyScheme ended with four heroes staring down an ancient god of destruction...''and winning''.

* ''Series/{{Star Trek Deep Space Nine}}'' starts with the Federation taking over an old starbase from the Cardassians who'd recently withdrawn from a long brutal occupation of the planet Bajor which the starbase orbits. Episodes involve the rebuilding of Bajor and its various growing pangs of independence (and bitterness over its recent past), and some exploration through a wormhole recently discovered near the station. But a great power lay on the other side of that wormhole, which soon puts the whole Alpha Quadrant in jeopardy in the large-scale Dominion War.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Magic The Gathering}}'''s Weatherlight Saga starts with the story of a ship's crew trying to rescue their abducted captain. It ends with a massive war against [[AlienInvasion invaders from another world]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' starts off with a group of friends discovering the (supernatural and thus unprovable) MO of a SerialKiller and resolving to catch him. If you manage to unlock the true ending it turns out [[spoiler: to be a conspiracy by an EldritchAbomination (disguised as [[TheDogWasTheMastermind a gas station attendant]]) to bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' starts with a group of friends travelling into an alternate universe formed from the human subconscious to perform HeelFaceBrainwashing on the wicked adults in their lives. As the game progresses, the steaks are raised [[spoiler:as the heroes must save their country from being taken over by a politician weaponizing said alternate universe, before taking on a wicked god hoping to subject humanity to his whims. [[SavingChristmas And just in time for Christmas!]]]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Anime/KillLaKill'' starts with a girl who wants to discover the identity of her father's killer, and ends with her fighting [[spoiler: [[LukeIAmYourFather her mother]] who is]] the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive evil CEO]] of a clothes company that has 100% of the global market; their clothes actually contain the spawn of an EldritchAbomination (that said CEO worships) whose life cycle will consume and destroy the Earth.

As a PlotTwist trope, expect spoilers.

* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' is from the same people that made ''Kill La Kill'', and has a similar structure: the first half is mostly episodic adventures in an enclosed space (an academy in both cases), then the BigBad is revealed in the second half and the threat rapidly escalates. In this case, Akko the witch goes from attending magic lessons to saving the world from being blown up by a literal magic missile, i.e. an ICBM possessed by dark energy as a result of one of the Big Bad's experiments gone haywire.

A hero who finds himself drawn into this task may find his character archetype subject to MessiahCreep.

* ''Film/{{Star Wars}}'': Luke Skywalker is your average moisture farmer living in the dusty ass-end of nowhere when BAM! This random astromech droid starts playing back a message from a princess in need of saving from the BigBad. Being the impressionable young man he is, Luke embarks on a mission to rescue the {{Damsel in Distress}} and maybe discover something about himself along the way. Simple, right? Wrong. Before Luke has time to say [[{{OncePerEpisode}} 'I've got a bad feeling about this']], he's undertaking a [[{{LaResistance}} pivotal role in the war to overthrow]] the [[{{TheEmpire}} evil Empire]] and confront his destiny to decide the final battle between Good and Evil.

* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' GrandFinale, ''The Golden Goose'', starts out with tussle between Scrooge and Glomgold over the cursed artifact (which can turn anything it's beak touches into gold, with the right magic word). The story escalates when the Golden Goose sets off the "golden death" - and Scrooge must return the goose to it's magic fountain before the entire world turns to gold! Just ''barely'' managing to do it.

Compare GrandFinale, where the scope of a serial work is [[SerialEscalation expanded]] for the final ([[StoryArc couple of]]) episode(s); BigDamnMovie, where an [[TheMovie cinematic adaptation]] of a smaller-scale work has a Save the World Climax plotline; MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot (formerly Gonna Need A Bigger Warrant), which is about the investigation of a small crime leading to the discovery of a major crime/conspiracy; and SequelEscalation.

Compare GrandFinale, where the scope of a serial work is [[SerialEscalation expanded]] for the final ([[StoryArc couple of]]) episode(s); BigDamnMovie, where an [[TheMovie cinematic adaptation]] of a smaller-scale work has a Save the World Climax plotline; MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot (formerly GonnaNeedABiggerWarrant), which is about the investigation of a small crime leading to the discovery of a major crime/conspiracy; and SequelEscalation.

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' averts this: [[spoiler: Templars and mages ''will'' end up fighting one another]], but [[ForegoneConclusion how that]] [[FramingDevice comes about]] is up to [[PlayerCharacter Hawke]], who can end up either [[spoiler: a symbol of rebellion or an accessory to a war crime]].

* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, at least since Gen III, barring most of the remakes. It always starts out as some kid leaving their small town on a journey ToBeAMaster, and escalates to them saving the world from the regional criminal organization who plans on TakingOverTheWorld (or reshaping it) using the version's indicated legendary pokemon. Gen IV ups the ante, where the protagonist is forced to intervene in order to save ''all of existence''.
** The ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' games are no different, always beginning with you helping your partner to chase their dreams, then eventually revealing you're a ChosenOne who needs stop some manner of world-ending crisis.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' ends with an alien invasion lead by Warhok and Warmonga, the latter of which whom had appeared earlier in the 4th season and having come back to enact revenge on Kim (who stopped her last time) and Drakken (who manipulated her into working for him). A threat that forces Kim, Ron, Drakken and Shego to work together to save the day.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' ends with an alien invasion lead by Warhok and Warmonga, the latter of which whom had appeared earlier in the 4th season and having come back to enact revenge on Kim (who stopped her last time) and Drakken (who manipulated her into working for him). A threat that forces Kim, Ron, Drakken and Shego to work together to save the day.
* ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'' end with Skullmaster reforging the Crystal of Souls and reviving all the previously slain villains to hunt down Max for his cap to complete his plans. Despite trying is SummonABiggerFish by teaming with the Lava Lord, Skullmaster is too powerful, defeat the Lava Lord, and ultimately gets the cap so he can enact a ceremony to reshape the world as he saw fit. [[spoiler: It's only due to Max interrupting and contaminating the ceremony at the last minute that the world is saved...albeit at the expense of throwing Max back to the day he got the cap. But hey, not all bad, Virgil and Norman, who died during the finale, are alive again and the three still have their memories of the events of the previous timeline, meaning they now have an edge over Skullmaster.]]

* Part 6 of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' follows this. It starts as a prison drama about an inmate trying to reclaim her father's memories, then becomes a race to prevent a crazy priest from resetting the universe. [[spoiler: They fail.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' GrandFinale, ''The Golden Goose'', starts out with tussle between Scrooge and Glomgold over the cursed artifact (which can turn anything it's beak touches into gold, with the right magic word). The story escalates when the Golden Goose sets off the "golden death" - and Scrooge must return the goose to it's magic fountain before the entire world turns to gold!
[[/folder]]

* Crono from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' wants nothing more than to go to the Millenial Fair, but ends up roped into a {{time travel}}ing quest to save his planet from annihilation at the hands of an incomprehensible EldritchAbomination.

* It's easy to forget these days that ''Franchise/MassEffect's'' Commander Shepard wasn't born killing Reapers. [[LateArrivalSpoiler Minus out-of-character knowledge]] you start the first game expecting an apprenticeship of sorts under a turian Spectre named Nihlus. [[ItWasHisSled That isn't the case for long.]] And until the Reapers actually arrive in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' the only folks who believe you and are willing to help are the ones who either know you personally (your squad and crew, mainly), and crazies like the Illusive Man.
* Particularly galling in ''IllusionOfGaia'', where your goal is generally exploring ancient ruins and collecting mystic statues.

* ''Radio/BleakExpectations'' starts out as a straightforward (if often surreal) parody of Creator/CharlesDickens' life stories such as ''Literature/GreatExpectations'' or ''DavidCopperfield''. Thanks to SerialEscalation, by series two the antagonist has [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons crossed the line from everyday villainy to cartoonish supervillainy]], and in the SeasonFinale the hero has to save the world from an AlienInvasion.

* ''Anime/KillLaKill'' starts with a girl who wants to discover the identity of her father's killer, and ends with her fighting the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive evil CEO]] [[spoiler:who's also her mother]] of a clothes company that has 100% of the global market; their clothes actually contain the spawn of an EldritchAbomination (that said CEO worships) whose life cycle will consume and destroy the Earth.