A Fictional History of the United States is a timeline on AlternateHistory.com by user Ulysses Orbis, author of Face the Storm. Set in a world similar to that of Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in which (almost) all of fiction is true, it covers the history of the United States in this universe, in the form of a list of the many, many presidents the USA has and a description of the various fictional events during their tenure. A sequel, A Fictional History of the United Kingdom covered the history of Britain in this universe, although only from 1979.
The timeline is available here
and its British sequel here. An expanded thread, with some additional material is available to AH.com members here. It is also available on Fanfiction Dot Net here
A Fictional History of the United States provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Josiah Bartlet is the secret illegitimate father of Sean Rathcock, who is played by Martin Sheen's real-life son Charlie Sheen. Bartlet is also a distant relative of Greg Stillson, who was played by Martin Sheen in the film adaptation of the novel.
- Jack Ryan and James Marshall are distant relatives due to both being played by Harrison Ford.
- Just like his actor Michael Seaver has evidently converted to evangelical Christianity.
- Adaptational Heroism: A few characters are more moral than they were canonically.
- The Founding Fathers are paragons of moral virtue based on depictions of them in fiction with the more morally dubious elements of their analogues' lives largely not included.
- Alvin Miller is president of the United States in this timeline and is chosen by Jesus Christ Himself to lead the country in war with the Unmaker.
- Robert Kelly Webster has a starker Heel–Face Turn than he did in the main continuity and is responsible for fending off many actual threats to America such as Decepticons and Cobra.
- James Marshall exceeds his onscreen deeds by presiding over the rapid reconstruction of America following the Harvester invasion.
- Howard Ackerman, while still a hawkish figure and a Japanese android in disguise, commits suicide to avoid triggering a nuclear war on the orders of Kira.
- Quentin Trembley becomes the Big Good of the setting and assembles the anti-Gilead resistance movement (including a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).
- Paul Bunyan, instead of just being a Gentle Giant lumberjack like he is most of the time, here is additionally an analog of Abraham Lincoln when he becomes president. He is unfailingly honest, personally participates in the Civil War alongside Babe the Big Blue Ox and fights against slaveholding vampires and time-travelling South Africans to maintain the Union and end slavery.
- While already heroic, Mulder and Scully help save Josiah Bartlet from Rigellian captivity and thus end up saving humanity from the rule of Kang while restoring democratic government.
- Jefferson Smith here is the president who leads the United States to victory in the Second World War.
- Harold Danville, Stuart Little and Fievel Mousekowitz are part of a group that helps thwart a demonic plot.
- Adaptational Villainy: A few characters are more morally dubious than depicted in the source material to fit other works in.
- Josiah Bartlet is responsible for launching the Iraq War and nuking Raccoon City. He also has a secret illegitimate son in the form of President Rathcock, which isn't really consistent with how his relationship with his wife is portrayed in the source materiel.
- Renesmee Cullen is a vampiric cult leader who attempts to aid Gilead.
- Sheldon Cooper helps carry out research for the theocratic Gilead, though
Word of God is this is only due to threats to his family. - Josh Wheaton, Sol Harkens, Jeff Sims and Michael Seaver likewise all support a brutal theocracy whereas they are treated as generally good characters in the source material.
- The Vespertillo-homo (a species of Moon-dwelling bats that were the focus of the Great Moon Hoax) were strange, but generally benign as originally depicted. Here they attempt to invade Earth.
- While Macavity was a villain in the source material, here he is worse, trying to help the forces of Hell maintain a grip on Earth and being responsible for bringing a Zombie Apocalypse from 1600s Korea to 21st century South Korea.
- An entire organization gets this treatment as well, as Tenet turns out to be a group operating on behalf of Emperor Damien Thorn.
- Ben Chang gets this in the Third American Civil War map, where he goes from running Greendale with an iron fist to a warlord presiding over a large chunk of Colorado who uses child soldiers to enforce his whims.
- Alien Invasion: Happen on a regular basis. The 90's is noted as an especially bad time for this, as the Harvesters, the Martians, the Rigelians and the Yeerks all invade in quick succession.
- Alternate History: Political history is very different, although the majority of real historical events end up happening anyway.
- The Antichrist: Damien Thorn is the final president of the United States and rules over the galaxy for a thousand years before finally being defeated. Julien Felsenburgh also appears, taking a leading role in the opposition to Thorn in order to ensure that the forces of Hell win out either way.
- Back from the Dead: A few real-world figures who died in various works of fiction are brought back. Notable examples include Margaret Thatcher (who is revived after her funeral by Nazi time travelers and becomes host to a Yeerk), Queen Elizabeth II (who is seemingly killed in an accident along with the whole Royal Family before being found again), and Kim Jong-un (who was assassinated by American TV hosts before being revived atop a unicorn).
- Adenoid Hynkel also comes back under mysterious circumstances and becomes a politically-charged TV comedian.
- Bad Future: The timeline is explicitly meant to be the Mirror Universe as Thorn turns Earth into a totalitarian empire that enslaves numerous alien races over the next thousand years before being defeated.
- Besides this, a few other bad outcomes from various works are hinted to be canon instead of the main continuity-for instance, Biff Tannen is a wealthy, influential figure who takes on a role similar to Ross Perot in 1992 and Greg Stillson has a very successful political career that enables him to launch a nuclear war rather than being discredited due to his cowardice. Though at least Skynet gets shut down before it can do anything.
- Big Bad: President Damien Thorn is the closest thing there is, being the most threatening villain as well as being behind several of the disasters that occurred in the later stages of the timeline.
- Big Damn Heroes: When Cthulhu seems about to overwhelm the forces arrayed against him in Angel Grove, Uncle Sam shows up and manages to defeat Cthulhu.
- Big Good: Quentin Trembley leads the resistance against Gilead. Later Samurai Jack leads the revolution that finally overthrows Thorn.
- They arguably share the title with Sailor Moon as well, who despite failing to stop Thorn's conquest of Japan returns in the far future to help overthrow him and ultimately frees the planet from Kang the Conqueror, enabling the (albeit temporary) creation of an earthly utopia.
- Canon Welding: Quite a bit of it. For example, the Emergency period in Indian history in this universe was in large part driven by anti-mutant sentiment and targetted the Midnight Children and the Chrysalis Project. Khan Noonien Singh's anger over this persecution was responsible for his takeover of the government and the Eugenics Wars, which are depicted as having also involved M. Bison, Vladimir Radchenko and General Kazim leading elements of the Augment forces. The hijacking of Air Force One by Kazakh terrorists was also carried out by Augments.
- The Joseon-era zombie outbreak in Korea, thanks to time travel, is the cause of the 2016 zombie outbreak in South Korea.
- Composite Character: There are a few:
- President Jacob Ajax is a composite of President Jacob and President Ajax, from two Victorian era political novels.
- President James Cassidy Shea is a composite of Presidents James Cassidy and James Shea.
- President Robert Kelly Webster is a composite of Senator Kelly and President Webster, from the book, Murder in the White House
- President Sean Rathcock is a composite of Sean and President Rathcock.
- Damien Thorn takes on the role of Aku
- President Lex Luthor is a composite of himself with Ferris Fremont and the unnamed President in Secret Empire
- Most of the Presidents also take on roles that were held by others, named or unnamed in the source material.
- Ms. Frizzle is a regenerated Willy Wonka.
- The version of Gabriel (there are multiple versions of most divine beings) who possesses Judd Hammond in Gabriel Over the White House is The Trickster.
- It's implied that most characters portrayed by The Three Stooges are all the same demigods and that the same is true of The Marx Brothers.
- Crapsack World: Alien invasions, zombie outbreaks, kaiju attacks, battles between superhumans, major wars and totalitarian governments are extremely prevalent in this world.
- Creator Cameo: In the 1932 election update, the ending features a Shout-Out to Alternate History.com's Retrospective US Presidential Elections threads featuring a within-timeline version of Alternate History.com commentators discussing the in-universe 1932 election. One of the commentators goes simply by Ulysses and mentions a timeline they created where Charles Foster Kane won the presidency in 1932, which is a clear reference to the Fictional History author Ulysses Orbis' own timeline where Kane's real-life inspiration William Randolph Hearst does exactly that.
- Darker and Edgier: Than most of the source material.
- Decomposite Character: A few Presidents and Prime Ministers have attributes of theirs spread among multiple other presidents.
- Nathan Whipple takes power the way Calvin Coolidge did, but John P. Wintergreen takes his spot as president for most of the Roaring Twenties.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt's time in office is allocated among six different presidents, only two of which really reflect aspects of his. Theodore K. Blair reflects FDR winning amidst the Great Depression and implementing New Deal policies while his status as a wartime leader against Nazi Germany is taken by Jefferson Smith.
- Harry Truman's wartime leadership is part of Smith's term while his status as leader during the Korean War and Red Scare is occupied by Art Hockstader.
- Lyndon Johnson's status is split between Ambrose Payton (a leader who came to power due to the assassination of his younger predecessor) and William Russell (president during the Vietnam War).
- Ronald Reagan's attributes are split into his more pleasant attributes which go to President Webster and his more corrupt side which go to Henry Wadsworth.
- Jack Ryan is the main George HW Bush stand-in but Sam Baker has some of his attributes as well.
- Nathan Whipple
- Deconstruction Crossover: Makes very clear that a megacrossover world would not be a very nice place to live in.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Zig-Zagged Trope. During the Last Stand against Cthulhu himself in Angel Grove, initially Franklin Richards seems to be inflicting psychic damage on Cthulhu along with his allies...only for Cthulhu to wipe out the vast majority of his enemies in seconds. However, then Uncle Sam shows up and proceeds to literally punch Cthulhu back into the ocean and ultimately succeeds in defeating him at the cost of his life.
- Downer Ending: The vast majority of shorter updates end with it being noted that in the end the forces of Hell under Damien Thorn are destined to take over for a thousand years. Even ones that end well for the characters involved often bring up that long-term the destiny of this world is to fall to Thorn.
- Even worse, after Thorn's rule humanity is going to live through the fall of the Galactic Empire, Muad'dib's Jihad and the tyrannical rule of the Imperium of Man. What bright spots there are like the second Silver Millennium thus ring a bit hollow.
- Evil vs. Evil: During the Third American Civil War, Gilead wars with a number of also-evil factions such as Felsenburgh's far-left Red Eye, the Cycloid and Combine Empires, a horde of zombies with an unusually intelligent leader in Las Vegas, Queen Salamandra, Herbert Garrison's fascist regime, the neo-Nazi Holnists and the domain of Hulkland run by a now-maddened-into-Maestro Bruce Banner.
- Galactic Conqueror: Damien Thorn conquers the entire Milky Way, forming the Terran Empire.
- After he is overthrown, a few future examples arise. Among the most notable include Kang the Conqueror, En Sabah Nur, Paul Atreides and the God-Emperor of Mankind.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Black Thing is stated to be the force behind Damien Thorn and the others forces of Hell but never appears directly.
- Happy Ending Override: Happens quite a bit.
- Josiah Bartlet ends up getting killed by a Sentinel following Scudder's coup.
- The Pines Twins end up being placed in stasis alongside Trembley, thawing out in the far future. No mention is made of any of their friends or loved ones joining them. The same is true of Jane Hopper.
- Generally, most characters who got a happy ending in the source material and live into the 2020's are going to have to reckon with the rise of the oppressive Gilead regime, the chaotic Third American Civil War, an apocalyptic nuclear war, genocide in Britain, and the eventual total triumph of the Antichrist Damien Thorn.
- The overthrow of Vivienne Rook when her concentration camps are exposed just allows Adam Susan to achieve total control of Britain and escalate the genocide further. V overthrowing him also just allows Thorn to annex the country.
- After Samurai Jack overthrows Thorn in 3026, the democratic transitional government that is established ends up getting subverted and overthrown by Kang the Conqueror. This marks the beginning of a cycle where the descendants of humanity end up ruled by emperors ranging from the Trantor Imperium to House Atreides that ultimately culminate in the establishment of the Imperium of Man and, presumably, an age of Grimdark total war.
- Hero Killer: Damien Thorn kills Castiel during his conquest of the galaxy. He is later implied to have killed Erno Windt, Buck Rogers, Morpheus and Roj Blake after they led rebellions against him.
- The Harvesters kill Martian Manhunter, Steve Austin and Cleopatra Jones during their invasion.
- Historical Domain Character: While most figures in this timeline are fictional analogues, a few historical figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Steve Bannon, Vince Cable and Jordan Peterson all exist.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: The Founding Fathers get this quite a bit.
- Donald Trump exists in this timeline, but never becomes president and thus what questionable acts he commits at least impact no other people.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Margaret Thatcher's negative traits are taken to extremes in this timeline.
- Jordan Peterson goes from a controversial college professor to part of the inner circle of the Gilead regime.
- Boris Johnson and Steve Bannon both work to help the genocidal Norsefire Party win in the 2023 elections.
- In this timeline Ted Cruz actually is the Zodiac Killer thanks to time travel.
- Ron DeSantis' real-life controversies regarding censorship in schools are exaggerated here as he is responsible for creating the Firemen before Gilead made it national.
- Irony: The Antichrist ends up taking a leading role in the government of Gilead, a state of fanatical Christians.
- In Spite of a Nail: Due to the fact much of real-life history is integral to fiction, despite changes dating back to the beginning of the universe, most historical events of major historical significance still occur more or less as they did in real life.
- Despite having vampire slaveowners and time-travelling white supremacists helping them, the Confederacy still loses the Civil War.
- Even though The War in the Air and the Mollusc invasion happened not too long ago, the First World War begins right on schedule. The same is true of the Second World War, which proceeds identically to the way it did historically despite the Ghostapo elements the Nazis had in their favor and the superhuman support the Allies had that worked against them.
- The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the assassination of the Kennedy analog President Shea occur right on schedule and have similar impacts in the public consciousness to our own world despite major terrorist attacks and presidential assassinations being a LOT more common in this world than in our own.
- Alien invasions that devastate or destroy major cities, supervillains attacking them, zombie outbreaks and other such catastrophes occur with regularity to the point that major cities realistically should be abandoned by now. Despite this, they still exist in an intact-enough state that they continue to face peril.
- Killed Off for Real: In this universe Superman was actually permanently Killed in 1992
- Last Stand: When Cthulhu awakens, a large group makes one of these in Angel Grove. Participants include the current iterations of the Avengers and X-Men, an army of Sentinels Doctor Strange and a group of sorcerers, Homelander and the Seven, a force of Jaegers, a fleet from Akiridion, and members of the standard US military, the Black Chamber, the BPRD and the Initiative. Initial potential for victory gives way to a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle that is only salvaged when Uncle Sam shows up and manages to literally punch out Cthulhu. Cthulhu ends up defeated but casualties are near total.
- Mood Whiplash: Many entries in the timeline connect comedic works with ones that are entirely serious. For instance, the entry on Quentin Trembley goes from discussing his silly behavior in and out of office to a conspiracy by the vampiric Slave Power to depose him for abolitionist leanings and his war with Gilead.
- Mythology Gag: A few examples.
- Characters who share an actor are often identified as relatives.
- While the events of Old Man Logan are not canon, some elements of this arc are present in the Third American Civil War-for instance, Logan himself is old and involved in Trembley's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Maestro carves out a fiefdom known as Hulkland alongside his children-though unlike in the comic Hulkland only controls Idaho and Montana.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When the three goddesses of America enlist The Trickster to possess Judd Hammond in order to defeat Old Man Depression (the Anthropomorphic Personification of the Great Depression), they upset the cosmic balance in a way that allows the forces of Hell to ultimately claim control of America.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Many of the fictional presidents present are clearly stand-ins for historical ones and the same is true for the Prime Ministers. Outside of those...
- Adenoid Hynkel replaces Adolf Hitler.
- Quentin Trembley in 2020 becomes a more successful version of Mike Gravel, right down to having a pair of young people (the Pines Twins in his case) serving to gain a cult following on social media.
- Damien Thorn by background seems very similar to Peter Thiel and is credited with founding PayPal. Interestingly, Thiel himself evidently exists in-universe as well.
- Victor Petrov occupies the same role as Vladimir Putin as per the source material.
- Matthew Brady is clearly meant to be William Jennings Bryan, as per the source material.
- Etrigan serves a role in the 1992 presidential election pretty much identical to paleoconservative political commentator Pat Buchanan in real life, attempting to primary Jack Ryan and nearly succeeding.
- Biff Tannen meanwhile ends up taking the role of Ross Perot in that election, helping contribute to the landslide victory of Jack Stanton.
- Charles Foster Kane has a role similar to both William Randolph Hearst and Henry Ford (in that he supports fascism in the US).
- Johnny Iselin, as per the source material, occupies the role of Joe McCarthy in the 1950's, though his discrediting is more politically catastrophic for the Republicans than in real life given Iselin's status as a foreign agent.
- No Endor Holocaust: A few situations that would have major impacts on the world are depicted as being of little consequence.
- The Doomsday Device the Soviets built turns out to not work and thus the plan to hide out in mineshafts is rendered unnecessary.
- The Combine invasion and occupation begins and ends in 2021 when it had been an over a decade-long occupation canonically.
- Skynet is shut down in the 1980's before it can go rogue.
- Our Presidents Are Different: Pretty much every category is represented by at least one leader. There are often multiple examples that exist, especially of President Minority (Douglass Dilman, David Palmer and James Sawyer), President Evil (see below) and President Action (Jack Ryan, James Marshall and Marcus Robbins).
- Politically Incorrect Villain: President Nehemiah Scudder and his allies in Gilead are violently racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
- President Luthor comes to power on the back of an openly white supremacist campaign and plots to eliminate America's black population.
- While President/Emperor Thorn is not as blatantly bigoted, he does appoint the resurrected TV comedian Adenoid Hynkel as his viceroy in Europe.
- Meanwhile in Britain, People for Waldo, the Four-Star Party and Norsefire all qualify, stoking hatred towards immigrants, Muslims, LGBT people, nonwhite people, Oompa-Loompas and Jews. In Waldo's case it mainly is just immigration restriction and saber-rattling with the Muslim French President, Vivienne Rook escalates it to the estwhile sites and Adam Susan finally carries out a genocide dubbed the British Holocaust.
- President Evil: Quite a few of these exist.
- Buzz Windrip establishes a fascist regime that provokes two coups and a Second American Civil War to topple.
- Alexander Luthor is an authoritarian racist who wins on a white supremacist platform and actively seeks to steal foreign oil and persecute black people. He also works with Hydra's Secret Empire to become dictator.
- Kang of Rigel takes power by impersonating the Vice President-elect Eleanor Richmond and enslaves mankind before he is deposed by the Power Rangers.
- Howard Ackerman is a downplayed case where he is a Japanese-built android who acts as an insane warhawk, but he does kill himself to avoid an apocalyptic war.
- Charles Logan engages in numerous acts of corruption and warmongering to maintain his hold on power before finally being forced to resign from office.
- Frank and Claire Underwood both qualify. The former offs his opponents, manipulates the 2016 election in his favor, implements the annual Purge Night and engages in various acts of corruption. Claire Underwood outdoes him in this regard, turning America into a police state after being rescued from Hydra and partnering with corrupt groups like The Bamberly Trust and WorryFree to maintain her hold on power. She uses Sentinels to put mutants in concentration camps and perpetrates the Bakersfield Massacre to maintain order. By 2020, she has to resort to blatantly rigging elections to prevent Nehemiah Scudder from defeating her, which only makes the Third American Civil War inevitable.
- Nehemiah Scudder is even worse than his predecessor. He takes power in a coup against Underwood and declares the formation of the theocratic Republic of Gilead, which himself as the First Prophet. He uses the MASS program to make his genocide of various groups easier for his forces to perpetrate and implemented sex slavery for women in Gilead. His successor Winston Noble largely carries out his same preferred policies and it little more than his Puppet King.
- Greg Stillson is similarly fundamentalist as Scudder but even more insane. Randall Flagg grants him access to an American doomsday device which he promptly uses to nuke the rest of the world even though he dies in the process.
- Damien Thorn is the ultimate example of this trope, however, becoming a key figure in the Gilead regime with the goal of fulfilling his destiny as the Antichrist. He sets up a totalitarian empire that conquers and enslaves the entire Milky Way and rules for a thousand years of darkness before being beaten by a time-travelling samurai.
- Jim Jaspers uses his Reality Warper powers to take over the British government, create the Ingsoc regime and trick Britain into thinking he had ruled for decades before he was defeated.
- Francis Urquhart engages in murder, false-flag operations and general corruption to hold and maintain power, ruling the country as a strongman until his death. He is totalitarian enough that Lord Voldemort doesn't even place him under an Imperius.
- Jocrassa Slitheen attempts to trigger a nuclear war for profit before being killed.
- Harold Saxon is actually The Master in disguise, gases his cabinet, murders the American president-elect and took over the world. He was planning to go full Galactic Conqueror before the Doctor undid his regime from history.
- Brian Green attempts to hand over many British children to be used as drugs by an alien race.
- Waldo (really Jack Napier) restricted immigration and implemented a system of mob rule in Britain while Napier and his allies profited off government corruption. He also cut Britain's aid to anti-Gilead forces in the Third American Civil War.
- Vivienne Rook came to power via an alliance with Norsefire and created an authoritarian police state that began genociding marginalized groups. When an uprising broke out against her rule, she was ousted but managed to avoid being held accountable by her successors, who wanted the same things she did.
- Adam Susan fully makes Britain into a fascist police state and genocides minorities while becoming a puppet of Thorn.
- Pyrrhic Victory: When the government of Waldo in the UK finally collapses, he is succeeded by a coalition between Norsefire and the Four-Star Party. Following Vivienne Rook's overthrow as Prime Minister, Adam Susan takes full control of the country and when he finally gets toppled Thorn annexes the UK fully.
- Reality Warper: Sir Jim Jaspers. It's how he is able to convince the people of Britain that his Ingsoc government has been in power for decades.
- Reference Overdosed: Every update needs a full list of works of fiction referenced, which can include anything from niche 19th century literature or manga with a cult following to big blockbuster films and widely played video games.
- Shout-Out: It is too hard to list every work of fiction listed, but the 1932 update features a specific reference to the 2014 Alternate History.com Retrospective US Presidential Elections threads as well as several Expys of well-known members of the website.
- Super Team:
- In addition to the ones present in various sources that exist, a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is formed by Trembley to fight Gilead. Its membership includes Buffy Summers, Abe Sapien, Sam Winchester, Matilda Wormwood, Jesse Pinkman, 'Old Man' Logan, Jimmy Neutron and Harry Dresden. It later expands to include Ra's Al Ghul,Rick Sanchez and Jane Hopper.
- Two more original super teams are later revealed to have existed.
- One was formed in the '70's to fight the Vermicious Knids. It consisted of Steve Austin, J'onn J'onzz,Superman, Jack Harkness, Willy Wonka, Dr. Benton Quest, Race Banon and Cleopatra Jones. Lee also joins but isn't considered an official member.
- And another one was formed in the early '60's to rescue the Fairy With Turquoise Hair from Pottsylvania. It consisted of Madeleine Swann, Milo Zipzer, Eloise Frankweiler, Elmer Elevator, Connor MacLeod,Harold Danville,Stuart Little, Harry Cat, Tucker Mouse, Lyle the Crocodile and Boris the Dragon.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome : The seemingly endless string of alien invasions and superpowered villain attacks that occur due to so many works of fiction being included leaves the world much more paranoid, xenophobic and authoritarian then our own, which paves the way for fascist regimes to take root in both the US and UK.
- In this world, when the AWB time travels to help the Confederacy, they are up not just against the Union Army they faced in the source material, but Paul Bunyan personally fighting in the war and genuine divine intervention in the form of an ascended John Brown and Yankee Doodle/Saint Washington. The AK-47s they bring thus prove insufficient to the task of getting the Confederacy to triumph and the South still loses.
- Take That!:
- Renesmee Cullen appears as a Charles Manson-esque cult leader, in league with the forces of Hell.
- Josh Wheaton, Sol Harkens, Jeff Sims and Michael Seaver all appear as high ranking members of the government of Gilead. As does Jordan Peterson, who is a real-world right-wing "intellectual".
- Margaret Thatcher comes off rather poorly in the Fictional History of the United Kingdom, given she collaborates with an ultracapitalist race of alien infiltrators, gets mind-controlled by Jim Jaspers and Lord Voldemort and after dying in the 1990's is brought back by Nazi time travelers only to become a Yeerk puppet.
- Steve Bannon, former White House Chief Strategist in our world, actively campaigns on behalf of the genocidally neo-fascist Norsefire Party. Boris Johnson, meanwhile, is depicted as opportunistically joining People for Waldo.
- Peter Thiel is provided as an example of a 'Vampire-American' in a wikibox set in the timeline. The text accompanying the wikibox implies he's one of the wealthy vampires who, even after the invention of a synthetic blood substitute, feeds off humans while using his riches to avoid accountability.
- The likeness of Nehemiah Scudder, the theocratic dictator of America, is not present in the source material. As a result, a photograph of Vice President Mike Pence is used as an image of Scudder in the Gilead wikibox.
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis supports the Gilead regime and is responsible for pioneering the book-burning in Fahrenheit 451 here.
- An arguable one towards zombie media is made by Randall Flagg when Bertram Cabot, Jr. suggests unleashing a Zombie Apocalypse in 2020, with Flagg all but explicitly saying zombie media is overdone and cliche by this point.
- The Unmasqued World:
- The existence of metahumans and aliens is public knowledge in this universe—hard to hide it when they attack every other week, after all.
- Vampires are revealed to exist after the invention of a synthetic blood substitute that enables them to live peaceful lives. They are still targets of discrimination and a few still secretly feed on humans.
- By the end of the timeline, the existence of Satanic influences and supernatural horrors is definitely confirmed given Damien Thorn's demonic reign.
- Token Good Teammate: In the 2020 Democratic Party presidentiaal primaries, the candidates include Tommy Carcetti, Selina Meyer, Claire Hale Underwood and Julian Felsenburgh as major candidates. This leaves Leslie Knope as the only decent human being in the field.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: In Winnemac, apparently.
- The World Is Always Doomed: Deconstructed. Being under a constant state of attack leads to serious dysfunction in the U.S. and UK, culminating in both falling under totalitarian rule.
- Zombie Apocalypse: A few of these happened, albeit localized. In the US they happened in the Midwest in 1968, 1983 Louisville and Raccoon City in the 1990's. Outside the US, there was also an outbreak in London in the early 2000's and two outbreaks in Korea-one in the 1600's and then in 2016 thanks to time travel.
- Defied in 2020 (at least outside of South Korea which suffers the zombie outbreak from the film #Alive). Randall Flagg tells Bertram Cabot, Jr. he believes zombies are old hat at this point. The forces of evil instead use more mundane plagues.
