History Main / ShadowOfImpendingDoom

If you're in a cartoon, an [[AnvilOnHead anvil, safe, or piano]] can fall on you at any time — often without warning. But when [[RuleOfFunny comedic effect]] demands, your imminent flattening can be several seconds away, portended by a BombWhistle and the slowly expanding Shadow of Impending Doom.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'':

* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', the Leonopteryx, a flying Apex Predator, is known to the Na'vi as ''Toruk'', which translates to "Last Shadow" in English.

* ''Webcomic/{{Erma}}'': During the third part of the "Family Reunion" arc, the head of the yokai village, who happens to also be Erma's grandfather, returns and casts a ''gigantic' shadow over the land, completely eclipsing the village. Considering he's likewise TheDreaded among many of the village inhabitants, including his family, this arrival brings any activity to a screeching halt and the lookout even sound an alarm via a bell. But the real kicker, the man is only in a small form at the current, showcasing just how imposing he truly is.

** Happens in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'', where in the 'escape' from Dreamy Mount Pajamaja, you see a huge shadow appear with an ominous falling sound as Mario and Luigi run past the shop at the bottom. That shadow? The mountain/volcano, which is alive and has lept off the top of the mountain after the bros. Thankfully, it just about misses them.

* ''VideoGame/TheBindingofIsaac'': Isaac's mom casts an impending shadow before she tries to stomp him with her foot.

-->'''[[FanNickname Namazu]]:''' I am big and ugly.

* This trope is used for seriousness in ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'', in the animated adaptation of [[spoiler:the real Madara Uchiha's]] fight against the Allied Shinobi Forces' Fourth Divison, when the BigBad in question decides to clear the field by summoning an utterly gigantic meteorite into the sky and [[ColonyDrop drop it on the entire Division]]. The first hint that it's coming is a massive shadow that darkens the entire battlefield.
* In ''Anime/{{Gundam Build Fighters Try}}: Island Wars'', the heroes have just managed to stop a massive attack from the Scramble Gundam firing three [[WaveMotionGun Superweapons]] at them. When Minato laughs at the Gundam's failure to stop them, he fails to notice the stage shifting to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Sydney, Australia]], until [[ColonyDrop the sky grows dark]]...

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda's'' Wallmasters show the shadow of their hand before they strike from above and take you back to the dungeon's start.

* One of the minigames in the first ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}: VideoGame/RavingRabbids'' game involves walking a blindfolded Rabbid around a small landscape full of cartoonish instruments of pain, and scoring points for every misfortune that befalls the miserable protagonist. The target score is 51,000 points, and the player might soon discover that this is a tall order indeed, for the scores awarded for blundering into a cactus, or for stepping on a rake or perhaps walking into a beartrap, are generally a matter only of a few tens. It's then that the player notices the Shadow of Impending Doom at the centre of the game area, which is gradually growing larger and larger. The payoff comes when a colossal 50,000 ton weight crashes down covering the entire arena, awarding 50,000 points on the spot...
* In the [=2D=] GBA ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' game, one cutscene has an alien guard standing outside the secret base Duke is being held in when it blows it up. He finds himself in the shadow (though due to poor graphics, it looks more like he turns black) before a chunk of the base falls on him.

* The Toy Kingdom boss from ''VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy'' had several attacks like this.
* In ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', a shadow appeared when something huge was about to fall on Bowser. First it was his castle (which might I add, is the size of a mountain and made of solid stone), then it was a giant tower mecha's foot (whereupon Bowser tries to recall what happened last time the shadow appeared, but got squished before he figured it out), and then [[spoiler:a remodeled Peach's Castle]] (where Bowser had no time to react before it stomped him). Whenever Bowser gets squishinated into a pulp, he goes giant and [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome kills whatever squishified him.]]

* Any and most flying enemies from ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2]]'' usually had a shadow when they were preparing to attack. Most notable may be the Bowser fights in ''2'' in which you're on a small planetoid, and as Bowser is preparing to punch the living daylights out of you, a bright orange shadow appears under his fist.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin 2}}'', in the hardest dungeons, has boulders that fall from the ceiling, and any Pikmin that it lands on are crushed. Possible a subversion of the BombWhistle; not because of the factually inaccurate pitch change, but because there are actual explosives that can also come from the ceiling...without the shadow or whistle. The only advantage is that you can run away from them ''after'' they fall.
* [[VideoGame/TheBindingofIsaac Isaac's mom]] casts an impending shadow before she tries to stomp him with her foot.
* ''VideoGame/RoadRunnersDeathValleyRally'', based on the classic WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner cartoons, naturally features this as a regular feature for end-of-level humiliations for Wile E. In fact, his final humiliation is this: [[spoiler: that fat lady that he shoos away after the first four boss fights? Well, there's a reason she doesn't walk on in the finale.]]
* ''VideoGame/BugsBunnyRabbitRampage'' features this in several levels. Most notably, the second level allows Bugs to weaponize the trope — he can throw bullseye targets on the ground, and an enemy that walks on one will get crushed by the inevitable falling safe. These are also potential obstacles for Bugs in later levels.
* ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'': In Fleeing The Complex, Henry has to get past a guard on a catwalk, and [[MissionControl Charles]] offers a few ideas while watching the scene from his helicopter. The player can choose to have Charles help directly, in which we see Henry watching the shadow of Charles' helecopter approaching. The game immediately [[SmashCut cuts]] before we see the resulting crash.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWarriorsOfKyoshi "The Warriors of Kyoshi"]], Aang is surfing on a giant koi fish, until something suddenly stops it and he is thrown off. Aang soon learns why this happened when the world darkens around him because [[AlwaysABiggerFish its predator's]] dorsal fin breaks the surface...

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In the episode Warrior of Kyoshi, Aang is surfing on a giant koi fish, until something suddenly stops it and he is thrown off. Aang soon learns why this happened when the world darkens around him because [[AlwaysABiggerFish its predator's]] dorsal fin breaks the surface...

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda's'' {{Wallmaster}}s show the shadow of their hand before they strike from above and take you back to the dungeon's start.

* ''VideoGame/RoadRunnersDeathValleyRally'', based on the classic WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndRoadRunner cartoons, naturally features this as a regular feature for end-of-level humiliations for Wile E. In fact, his final humiliation is this: [[spoiler: that fat lady that he shoos away after the first four boss fights? Well, there's a reason she doesn't walk on in the finale.]]

* [[VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries "This is the Greatest PLANNNN!"]] [[HaveANiceDeath Not again! You should know better!]]

If you're in a cartoon, an [[AnvilOnHead anvil, safe, or piano]] can fall on you at any time -- often without warning. But when [[RuleOfFunny comedic effect]] demands, your imminent flattening can be several seconds away, portended by a BombWhistle and the slowly expanding Shadow of Impending Doom.

As this shadow - often [[LazyArtist circular]] - engulfs the soon-to-be-crushed (an especially large anvil or rock may darken the entire scene), it will be met or ignored with a number of stock responses (such as wondering why it got dark so early), a particularly oblivious flattenee clapping the dust off his hands in satisfaction of a job well done, while the merely stupid will watch in confusion as their partner or adversary flees the scene; if he does notice, there's a good chance the falling object is far to big to escape -- expect him to simply stand there, resigned to his fate, perhaps [[DeathByLookingUp looking to the sky]] in bug-eyed terror, perhaps producing a tiny umbrella or [[TalkingWithSigns sign reading "Eep!"]] On rare occasion they might run back and forth within the shadow, too panicked to think to actually leave it. Note that this implies both that the object is falling down perfectly straight and that there's light directly above it.

* Not a cartoon use per se, but several boss encounters in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' feature [[DeathFromAbove plummeting meteors]] or other forms of messy death that must be avoided by players; this is usually advertised by an obvious visual effect on the targeted area several seconds before anyone within it goes splat. Players who die repeatedly due to failing to move out from under the Shadow of Impending Doom tend to get laughed at by those with sharper reflexes. Some memorable examples include Kael'thas Sunstrider's Flamestrike, Kil'jaeden's Armageddon, Kel'thuzad's Shadow Fissure, the Twilight Fissure used by Sartharion's drake minibosses, Flame Leviathan's multiple {{Kill Sat}}s, Hodir's ice stalagmites, Freya's solar beams, Mimiron's rockets[[note]] boasting the highest raw damage in the whole game out of all abilities that don't just kill you no matter the HP[[/note]], General Vezax's shadow crushes, rocket launchers during the battleships encounter, viscous goo thrown by Putricide during Festergut's hardmode encounter, [[AvertedTrope sudden ]]''[[AvertedTrope lack]]'' of markers for same goo thrown by Putricide in his own battle and exploding cluster slime bombs during Rotface battle, back to visible markers for vortexes of the Blood Princes, ice geysers during Valithria encounter, Sindragosa's frost bombs and [[BigBad Lich King's]] Shadow Traps.

* In the [=2D=] GBA ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' game, one cutscene has an alien guard standing outside the secret base Duke is being held in when it blows it up. He finds himself in the shadow (Though due to poor graphics, it looks more like he turns black) before a chunk of the base falls on him.

* In ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', a shadow appeared when something huge was about to fall on Bowser. First it was his castle (which might I add, is the size of a mountain and made of solid stone), then it was a giant tower mecha's foot (whereupon Bowser tries to recall what happened last time the shadow appeared, but got squished before he figured it out), and then [[spoiler: a remodeled Peach's Castle]] (where Bowser had no time to react before it stomped him). Whenever Bowser gets squishinated into a pulp, he goes giant and [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome kills whatever squishified him.]]
** Happens in VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam, where in the 'escape' from Dreamy Mount Pajamaja, you see a huge shadow appear with an ominous falling sound as Mario and Luigi run past the shop at the bottom. That shadow? The mountain/volcano, which is alive and has lept off the top of the mountain after the bros. Thankfully, it just about misses them.
* Any and most Flying enemies from ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2]]'' usually had a shadow when they were preparing to attack. Most notable may be the Bowser fights in ''2'' in which you're on a small planetoid, and as Bowser is preparing to punch the living daylights out of you, a bright orange shadow appears under his fist.

* ''VideoGame/BugsBunnyRabbitRampage'' features this in several levels. Most notably, the second level allows Bugs to weaponize the trope - he can throw bullseye targets on the ground, and an enemy that walks on one will get crushed by the inevitable falling safe. These are also potential obstacles for Bugs in later levels.

* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' provided us with: "That's odd. The thief's almanac didn't say anything about there being a total eclipse of the "

* '''Webcomic/{{Erma}}''': During the third part of the "Family Reunion" arc, the head of the yokai village, who happens to also be Erma's grandfather, returns and casts a ''gigantic' shadow over the land, completely eclipsing the village. Considering he's likewise TheDreaded among many of the village inhabitants, including his family, this arrival brings any activity to a screeching halt and the lookout even sound an alarm via a bell. But the real kicker, the man is only in a small form at the current, showcasing just how imposing he truly is.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', the Leonopteryx, a flying Apex Predator, is known to the Na'vi as ''Toruk'', which translates to "Last Shadow" in English.
* The literal shadow of Death follows a car being driven dangerously on a mountain in ''Film/DeathTakesAHoliday''. Death then decides to hang out with these people.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' would occasionally have Hobbes pounce on Calvin and Calvin noticing the shadow upon Hobbes' approach. [[YouAreAlreadyDead By then, it was normally too late.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Any and most Flying enemies from ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2]]'' usually had a shadow when they were preparing to attack. Most notable may be the Bowser fights in SMG2 in which you're on a small planetoid, and as Bowser is preparing to punch the living daylights out of you, a bright orange shadow appears under his fist.

* This is becoming a common mechanic for third-person perspective 3D games to warn you of impending danger. The ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' series, for example, warns you of everything from eagle attacks to giant sea monster tentacles by showing a (shaped!) shadow where they will strike. Of course, these shadows have no bearing whatsoever on where the approaching objects are, when you consider the sources of light which would be casting shadows.

* In ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', a shadow appeared when something huge was about to fall on Bowser. First it was his castle (which might I add, is the size of a mountain and made of solid stone), then it was a giant tower mecha's foot (whereupon Bowser tries to recall what happened last time the shadow appeared, but got squished before he figured it out), and then [[spoiler: a remodeled Peach's Castle]] (where Bowser had no time to react before it stomped him). Whenever Bowser gets squishinated into a pulp, he goes giant and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome kills whatever squishified him.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soid_3.png]]]]

* Just about every cartoon made back when violence was the plot (WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes et al.)

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' contains a nice subversion/variation of this. One of the cutaways shows a man on the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 6th of August 1945 in Hiroshima]]. He first gets a parking ticket and then a car speeds by, causing him to [[RoadsideWave get stained by mud]]. He then asks "How can this day get any worse?" We then see a shadow falling towards him together with the noise and the man proclaims: "Oh my God!" [[spoiler: The shadow turns out to be a baboon which lands on the man and attacks him. Great example of CrossingTheLineTwice]]