History Main / TheMonolith

* ''VideoGame/ZakMcKrakenAndTheAlienMindbenders'' features the monolith on the surface of Mars; it's actually a vending machine which dispenses tram tokens. There's a second monolith at the other end of the track, but it's broken, meaning you need to get enough tokens for return trips as well.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', along with ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', features several Monolith-like objects, dubbed Zohar(s), along with the Anima Relics.

Not to be confused with the Creator/DCComics character, a heroic {{golem}}; the Creator/MarvelComics character called The ''Living'' Monolith, who's an ''Franchise/XMen'' villain; ''{{Videogame/Monolith}}'' the top-down shooter; ''Film/TheMonolithMonsters''; Creator/MonolithSoft; or Creator/MonolithProductions.

* Creator/JackKirby briefly produced an ongoing ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' comic book for Marvel, chronicling the Monoliths' interactions with humanity throughout history. The series is best remembered today for introducing the android hero Aaron Stack the Machine Man in its final issues. A Monolith appears to Aaron and helps guide him to stable sentience. Retellings of his origin usually omit the Monolith for licensing reasons, but it does pop up occasionally — most notably, decades later, the final issue of ''X-51'' finally reveals that the Monolith aliens are [[Comicbook/TheEternals the Celestials.]]

* Music/TwinTribes: The cover art for "Monolith" is of the titular vertical slab of stone. It appears as the instigator of The Corruption that comes from outer space in the music video. The 2nd time the corrupted heroine touches it, she disappears.

* The cover of Music/TheWho's album ''Music/WhosNext'' shows the band walking away from a monolithic concrete slab. After having [[UrineTrouble peed on it...]]
* The artwork for Music/LedZeppelin's album ''Presence'' features photos of various people whose attention is drawn by a small black object. This was apparently inspired by the original monolith.
* [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants "The Statue Got Me High"]]... ''[[EpilepticTrees could]]'' be about this. The [[WordOfGod official story]] is even weirder; they claim it perfectly mirrors the ending of ''Theatre/DonGiovanni,'' which ''neither of them knew about...''

* ''Shouting at the Ground'' by Music/ZovietFrance, features a half circle one, sitting in the middle of a field of dry grass.
* The music video for Thompson Twins' ''Lies'' is shot in a room similar to the hotel room from 2001, with the Monolith at the back, accompanied by the band and several other figures fading in and out while three people watch from the foreground in a hospital bed.

** And by ''3001'', it's revealed they can do a whole lot more.
*** Though interestingly enough, [[RetCon it no longer works as a Star Gate.]]
*** The books were sequels to the movie. So, this lends support that it was never a Star Gate in the movie universe.

* The ''VideoGame/ArmyMen {{RTS}}'' features a [[IncrediblyLamePun monolithic]] [=PS2=] in the eighth mission (to them, it's an unlimited power source). It's even introduced with Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra.

* The [[WebSerialNovel blog novel]] ''[[http://fartago.blogspot.com Fartago]]'' is about a tribe of cavemen reacting to life since the arrival of The Monolith. Features the recurring CatchPhrase, "Since monolith come, nothing make sense!"

* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', SEELE keeps in contact with NERV via monolith-like holograms when the organization's members want to remain concealed...or when they just want to be sinister and unnerving.

* The teaser trailer for Greta Gerwig's ''Film/Barbie2023'' is an AffectionateParody of the entire opening sequence of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'': little girls replace the apes, baby dolls represent the bones and primitive tools of the original, and the background music is Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra. The monolith is--what else?--a gigantic version of the original Barbie doll (Creator/MargotRobbie), which the girls stare at with wonder.

* In the Caveman Chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', you can find one in a hidden cave provided you do a specific action. Offering a bone to it will net the player the Basic Rock which significantly boosts IQ, can scan the HP of and also disable a target's limbs (cannot be able to move or attack with physical skills) if used as an item

* In the ''[[StonePunk Stone]] [[Franchise/StarTrek Trek]]'' episode "20001 BC: A Space Oddity", the sun rises over the Monolith to Also Sprach Zarathustra until [[Series/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone]] has his dinosaur dump it on a rockpile. Later Captain Kirkstone falls into the other Monolith where he meets Creator/WilliamShatner, who tells him his future and advises him to not take this Trek stuff too seriously.

Not to be confused with the Creator/DCComics character, a heroic {{golem}}; the Creator/MarvelComics character called The ''Living'' Monolith, who's an ''Franchise/XMen'' villain; ''{{Videogame/Monolith}}'' the top-down shooter; or ''Film/TheMonolithMonsters.''

* In ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace'', the mysterious black monolith that was orbiting Jupiter now serves as the President of Earth's coffee table.

* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy 3'' has ''three'' different kinds of Monoliths that serve as [[DemonicSpiders elite foes]]. The ones that fit this trope best are the [[BossInMookClothing Cosmic Monoliths]], which are shaped very much like the ''Space Odyssey'' Monoliths. [[TotalPartyKill You probably won't last long against them.]]
** The sequel adds some more Monoliths (although they are much weaker compared to the previous game). Also, the aforementioned Cosmic Monolith? It's not present as a foe, but later on in the game you can learn to summon one to assist you in battle, and it's the strongest summon in the game.
** As of the Steam release of ''Epic Battle Fantasy 4'', there is a Cosmic Monolith fight at Battle Mountain. First, you fight one. [[OhCrap Then three more appear.]]

** They continue to call them “monoliths” even when there are two of them.

** Via the character of Machine Man, who originated in the ''2001'' [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel comic book continuation]] and lately in ''ComicBook/{{Nextwave}}'', this selfsame Monolith exists in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse.

Compare Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra. See also Main/SinisterGeometry.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', the name of the computer on the Tanker is [[SpellMyNameWithAnS MONORITH]]. The tanker itself is called "Discovery".

[[folder:Film]]

* Possibly referenced in ''Westernanimation/TheLEGOMovie'' with the top of Lord Business' tower when it comes off and flies over Bricksburg.
-->'''President Business:''' Don't worry about this big, black Monolith thing that's blocking out the sun.
* The animated movie of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}}'' opens with the Monolith hovering in space [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext over an alien's satellite dish]], before it splits into the two slabs of clay that Gumby and Pokey are made of. They fuse back together [[BookEnds at the end of the movie]].

* Creator/JackKirby briefly produced an ongoing ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' comic book for Marvel, chronicling the Monoliths' interactions with humanity throughout history. The series is best remembered today for introducing the android hero Aaron Stack the Machine Man in its final issues. A Monolith appears to Aaron and helps guide him to stable sentience. Retellings of his origin usually omit the Monolith for licensing reasons, but it does pop up occasionally — most notably, the final issue of ''X-51'' finally reveals that the Monolith aliens are [[Comicbook/TheEternals the Celestials.]]

* Creator/JackKirby briefly produced an ongoing ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' comic book for Marvel, chronicling the Monoliths' interactions with humanity throughout history. The series is best remembered today for introducing the android hero Aaron Stack the Machine Man in its final issues. A monolith appears to Aaron and helps guide him to stable sentience. Retellings of his origin usually omit the Monolith for licensing reasons, but it does pop up occasionally — most notably, the final issue of ''X-51'' finally reveals that the Monolith aliens are [[Comicbook/TheEternals the Celestials.]]