History Main / AWizardDidIt

* In ''Film/AlienResurrection'' General Peréz says humanity hasn't encountered any Xenomorphs in the 200 years since ''Film/Alien3''. This contradicts countless ExpandedUniverse stories so the ''[[Franchise/AlienVsPredator Alien Vs Predator:]] Thrill Of The Hunt'' mini-comic said the was an event called The Big Deletion where a computer virus wiped out most of humanity's stored knowledge.

* This trope is also known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps God of the gaps]], only replacing the wizard with {{God}} (it's the habit some people have of handwaving everything, especially mysterious and unexplained phenomena not yet explained by science, by invoking God and leaving it at that without further reasoning or explanation). Note that the term itself is meant to be derisive; it was coined by Christian philosophers ''opposed'' to this approach. Some people replace "God" with "[[AncientAstronauts aliens]]".

* ''Series/KamenRiderWizard''. 'Nuff said. And... the protagonist's superhero name is actually Wizard, leading to countless uses of this trope, with everyone saying "Wizard did it".

''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* In the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' franchise, there are countless areas, characters, items, etc., with absurd physics that remain unexplained to this day, causing many -- if not most -- fans to just call this. The franchise has a literal wizard/sorcerer named Kamek, Bowser's court magician and presumably responsible for all of the physics-breaking shenanigans. The manual for the first game states Bowser is a sorceror utilizing black magic. Princess Peach was also explained to be a magician in that game's manual, and unlike Bowser, this pops up every now and then in more recent games.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', the creators use [[SoulPower Aura]] as an excuse for absolutely everything that doesn't make sense. How do the characters even manage to lift their [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon weapons]]? Aura. Why don't the characters get cold when wearing fairly revealing clothing in [[GrimUpNorth Solitas]]? Aura. How do [[BrokenBird Blake]] and [[BrokenAce Qrow]] project energy waves from sword slashes when that's not their [[OnePersonOnePower Semblance]]? Aura. You get the idea.
[[/folder]]

* Wiki/{{Uncyclopedia}} likes to have fun with this: [[http://uncyclopedia.ca/wiki/A_wizard_did_it]]

* ''Webcomic/TrueBelievers'' has [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]] express disbelief that [[spoiler: the comic industry would instantaneously start booming again]] just because [[spoiler: Mary Jane eliminated [[Creator/JoeQuesada Joe Quesadilla]] with a stamp labeled "{{Retcon}}"]]. Mary Jane reminds him, "It's magic, Tiger," so Peter exclaims, "[[IronicEcho Yeah, it's magic! We don't have to explain it!]]"

*** Mister Mxyz'''pt'''lk was originally called Mister Mxyz'''pt'''lk and wore a purple suit as opposed to his iconic futuristic orange outfit. After the multiverse was established, the purple-suited Mxyztplk was said to be from the Fifth Dimension connected to Earth-Two.

** Franchise/{{Batman}} has his own personal version of this: "It's ''Gotham.''"

* ''Series/WonderWoman1975'': The magic lasso of truth, the shape-changing boomerang tiara, the belt of strength, why Wonder Woman lost her powers when she left Paradise Island, or even the basic physics of how 100-pound women could [[SuperStrength lift 20+ times their body weight and more]] these were all magical and never adequately explained.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' has episode "Trials and Tribbleations", which placed members of [=DS9=] staff in ''Series/StarTrek'' episode "Trouble With Tribbles". How did post-movie Klingon Worf respond when asked about the difference in appearence between him and the original series Klingons? "We do not speak of it with outsiders".

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. For once, there's a perfectly sound, scientific explanation for the plot - [[AliensStealCable a thousand-years-old broadcast being intercepted by an alien society a thousand light-years away]] - but Fry immediately interrupts the explanation with "Magic. Got it".

* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' says Mulch Diggums lost his magic but ''Literature/Artemis Fowl and The Arctic Incident'' has him use the Gift Of Tongues'' to talk to some dogs. ''Artemis Fowl and The Lost Colony'' explains that depowered fairies like Mulch and Doodah Day retain one spark of magic that lets them use the Gift. Frustratingly, ''Artemis Fowl and The Atlantis Complex'' says that depowered fairies can't use the Gift and Mulch mentions having to learn English.

Also known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps God of the Gaps,]] after the famous HandWave "(The) God(s) did it". Another MemeticMutation is "It's magic, I ain't gotta explain ''shit''."

** The only explanation anyone had for why a supposedly-permanent [[FusionDance Potara earrings]] de-fused inside the body of Super Buu was a speculative "Super Buu is a literal magical genie and RealityIsOutToLunch inside his body, it's ''[[OccamsRazor likely]]'' that YourMagicIsNoGoodHere." When ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' gave it a {{revision}} so that the [[FusionDance Potara]] is only permanent if at least one of the fusees is a Kai, and neither of the Kais around during the battle with Super Buu had any reason to know this; [[note]]One of them was thrust into the position unprepared and untrained, the other had already fused with a mortal witch, which was a permanent fusion because he was a Kai himself. However, the former were able to defuse using a wish to the Namekian Dragon Balls.[[/note]] it was generally accepted as an improvement over the former quote-unquote explanation relying on this trope.

* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2020'': This is the explanation The Prince of Power (who is very strong, but ''very'' stupid) gives when asked for his origin. Also, "ummm." [[spoiler:It eventually turns out he ''ate'' the Power Gem, and that's he got his power. Did say he was stupid.]]

Shirou: "A Wizard Did It."\\

* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': Whenever people react to Soundbite being able to speak, Cross is able to erase any shock just by saying "Devil Fruit." This soon applies to pretty much any weird occurrence (like Brook), and many people often give a deadpan response to anyone who should be inured to the weirdness by now.

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': Played very literally. Fiona's situation is explained only as [[spoiler:"It's a spell. When I was a little girl, a witch cast a spell on me."]] That's all they bothered to explain her premise with, and it's the primary foundation of the plot. Until the second movie at least. Even before then, [[AllThereInTheManual the DVD extras]] made it pretty clear [[spoiler:that's how Fiona ''naturally'' looks, the spell was what made her look human]]. The HandWave was probably done because going into detail about [[spoiler:what the witch did and why]] would have spoiled the plot.

** The standard explanation for any continuity errors in ''Film/StarTrek2009'' is, "A particularly troubled time-traveling Romulan did it." Even when those errors date from BEFORE the Romulan split the timeline.

-->"The Plot is strong in this one."\\
"May the Plot be with you."

** Pablo Hidalgo, who works for the ''Lucasfilm Story Group'' said on Twitter when asked why characters in other solar systems could see Hosnian System's destruction in the sky "What they're seeing is some weird hand-wavy hyperspace rip. Side-effect of the Starkiller."

** Creator/TerryPratchett has declared that all timelines are correct, but some went down different legs of the "Trousers of Time." He's also phrased it as, "There are no continuity errors in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novels. There are, however, alternate pasts."

* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': The world of Cradle is a terrestial planet the size of Jupiter. The gravity would make it extremely difficult for the planet to exist in any state similar to Earth, much less have humans living on it comfortably. WordOfGod handwaves this with [[BackgroundMagicField vital aura]]; not only does it strengthen the planet itself, but every single thing on the planet, living or not, can take the power into themselves to become stronger. For living creatures, they process it into [[{{Mana}} madra]]. Notably, in the rare instances when we see someone completely out of madra, they have a great deal of difficulty even ''breathing''. The author specifically compared himself to Creator/BrandonSanderson; Sanderson might spend a great deal of effort explaining exactly how the physics of this impossible world works, but he's content to stick with "it's magic, I don't have to explain it."

* ''Series/KamenRiderWizard''. 'Nuff said. And... the protagonist's superhero name is actually Wizard, leading to countless uses of this trope, with everyone saying "Wizard did it."

** Principal Snyder's standard excuse was "gang on PCP."
** "It could be witches! Some evil witches! Which is ridiculous 'cause witches, they were persecuted, wicca good, and love the earth, and women power, and I'll be over here..."

-->'''Doctor''': "There was a goblin, or a trickster. Or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it or... reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world."\\

'''The Doctor:''' "You know fairy tales -- a good wizard tricked it."\\
'''River:''' "I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him."

** Most of the more bizarre content in ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' is explained by A Wizard Did It. Sometimes ''literally''. One sourcebook actually explains the sheer weirdness of the setting with "It's magic, and it ''knows'' it's magic."
** The 3.5E supplement ''Drow of the Underdark'' openly states that the only reason the drow haven't driven themselves into extinction from infighting yet is literal divine intervention: half of Lolth's job as {{Top God}}dess of their pantheon is apparently to keep their StupidEvil tendencies in check. This is demonstrated in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' novel ''[[Literature/StarlightAndShadows Daughter of the Drow]]'', when Lolth sends an avatar to keep her core following in the city-state of Menzoberranzan from finishing itself off by CivilWar after a major military defeat. Note that Lolth also is described as "constantly monitoring the drow for signs of too much cooperation." She's the one who's forcing them into StupidEvil ChronicBackstabbingDisorder problems in the first place.

** "The Tyranids ate it." Deep-fried Squat, anyone?

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', the answer to such questions is almost inevitably "An Exalt did it." If not an Exalt, then a Primordial. If not a Primordial, then a god. If not a god, it was probably belched up by [[WorldOfChaos the Wyld.]]
* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' -- the stock response to canon discontinuity is "[[ChurchMilitant ComStar]] misinformation." This is helped by the fact that sourcebooks are generally written from an in-universe perspective (aside from rules sections) and often contain [[UnreliableNarrator deliberate inaccuracies]] simply because they're things that the in-universe authors didn't know.

* In ''VideoGame/TwentyXX'', attempting to jump out of bounds can lead to the message "Black magic bars your way."

* Seen often in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' video game series, but replace "wizard" with "Albert Wesker." ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles'' actually explains ''how'' he did some of the more wizardy things. And for those things the wizard did to ''him'', well, Birkin did it.

* A mutant of this has become a meme among the players of the MMORPG ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': "If it doesn't make sense, it's a Nemesis Plot." Nemesis himself is a supervillain who is infamous for making [[GambitRoulette plots within plots within plots]] and is revealed to be a driving force, or at least the root cause, of many of the conflicts going on in the game.
** Or, as the loading screens now lampshade this: "Everything is a Nemesis plot." Also on loading screens: "Not everything is a Nemesis plot."

* Any bizarre or unexplained happenstance in ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood'' is either due to [[DemotedToExtra Satsuki's Arc]] or "Tatari's Influence."

** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', when you hand over the Deep Road maps to Bartrand for his expedition, he asks you how you came by the maps. If Anders (the mage from ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins Dragon Age Origins: Awakening]]'', who gave you the maps in the first place) is in your party, he will quip, "A wizard did it." (Which is technically true, Anders himself being the wizard who did it, i.e. stole the maps.)

* In the webcomic ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', TricksterMentor Sarda the Sage ''refers to himself'' as "The Wizard Who Did It."

** "Yeah, 'omnipotent jerkass' pretty much covers it."

* ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'' explains most everything with "It's supposed to be insane, stop thinking about it, it doesn't make sense, don't even try to reason it out." This seems to be working somehow.

* Hellfire Comm's Let's Play of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006''. When asked by FTA to explain things like plotholes, magic mirrors, and all sorts, [=NTom64=]'s answer is almost always "Magic" and that you shouldn't "come to him to question the logic of this game, as there is none."

--->"I probably could have saved a lot of time by telling you these things worked by magic."

* The ''Literature/BinderOfShame''. The aptly-named KillerDM Psycho Dave just had a player character hit by a random magical effect in his sleep just to mess with the player and said character woke up to find his head had been turned into a giant piece of broccoli. When challenged to explain how and why, Dave replied "It's magic, I don't have to explain it."

** Creator Lauren Faust had her own form: "A Unicorn Pony Did It." Can be seen in [[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/09/exclusive-season-1-retrospective.html this]] interview with her. She tried to avoid any form of technology in the show, but when a plot absolutely required it, she would mentally handwave it by thinking that a unicorn enchanted the object behind the scenes, though that explanation is never explicitly mentioned in the show. When questioned by either new fans or people who are unfamiliar with the show how vehicles move or tortoises are given the ability to fly with a propeller harness, well-versed Bronies will simply respond with "Magic."

* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "The Frycook What Came From All Of Space," Sizzlor reveals that, after escaping his banishment on planet Foodcourtia, "The Foodening," a 20-year mob scene that increases the planet's gravitational pull, had come and gone. Zim asks how that can be since he hasn't been gone nearly that long, to which Sizzlor sheepishly replies, "There's a... [[TimeyWimeyBall time... warp]]... [[BuffySpeak thing involved]], I dunno...."
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. For once, there's a perfectly sound, scientific explanation for the plot - [[AliensStealCable a thousand-years-old broadcast being intercepted by an alien society a thousand light-years away]] - but Fry immediately interrupts the explanation with "Magic. Got it."
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', any weirdness beyond the setting's standard ElementalPowers can be explained with "spirits did it". Sokka even dismisses one incident with "That's Avatar stuff; it doesn't count."
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Amon justifies his strange powers as "the spirits chose me." [[spoiler:(They didn't, but it was considered a possibility in-universe.)]]

* A common tactic of Conspiracy Theorists when trying to explain away certain flaws in their arguments is to say "they are the government and they're that powerful." Making the government in essence "the Wizard that Did It".

* A video on Zipcar's website starts to explain how a rented car's keyless locks work, then gives up: "it sends a signal... to wizards."

* Justified in ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch''. The strange and wacky goings on can usually be explained by the titular character (or sometimes Aunt Hilda) messing up a spell, the rules of magic twisting spells in incredibly silly ways or use of a seemingly ordinary object that turns out to be magic. Rain and snow in the classroom? Spell gone wrong. Your home has become a silent movie? Magic gone awry. Characters from your poorly written spy story come to life? Magic typewriter in play.

* {{Nanotechnology}}'s effect on the body (mostly the Central Nervous System) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kNrIn8H32c is kind of a big deal]] in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4''. It explains everything from adrenaline rushes to temporary insanity to immortality. This gets taken almost to the point of self-parody where "[[MemeticMutation Nanomachines, son!]]" is basically the only explanation for why [[spoiler: the BigBad of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' is capable of ripping apart Raiden's weapons and armour with his bare hands, punching a [[HumongousMecha Metal Gear]] until it explodes, and generally being invulnerable and inhumanly strong despite being a politician who can't possibly be a cyborg.]]

* ''Film/MonsterAGoGo'': One of the most blatant examples of doing in this in-universe, the movie suddenly has the narrator explain that, all of a sudden, "As if a switch had been turned, as if an eye had been blinked, as if some phantom force in the universe had made a move eons beyond our comprehension", the monster they had been chasing for the entire movie suddenly never existed. [[GainaxEnding And that's the ending]]. Done because they apparently ran over budget before they could give the film a proper ending.

* ''Film/MonsterAGoGo'': One of the most blatant examples of doing in this in-universe, the movie ends with the narrator explaining that, all of a sudden, "As if a switch had been turned, as if an eye had been blinked, as if some phantom force in the universe had made a move eons beyond our comprehension", the monster they had been chasing for the entire movie suddenly never existed. [[GainaxEnding And that's the ending]]. Done because they apparently ran over budget before they could give the film a proper ending.

** Linkara of ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' is particularly prone to the sarcastic comment, "It's magic, I don't have to explain it!" when comic books engage in this. Summed up in his review of ''ComicBook/SupermanDistantFires,'' when a nuclear war somehow [[BroughtDownToNormal deprives all the heroes of their powers]] (no matter what their source) and [[LightningCanDoAnything lightning storms somehow restore them]]:

[[folder:WebAnimation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', the creators use [[SoulPower Aura]] as an excuse for absolutely everything that doesn't make sense. How do the characters even manage to lift their [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon weapons]]? Aura. Why don't the characters get cold when wearing fairly revealing clothing in [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Solitas]]? Aura. How do [[BrokenBird Blake]] and [[BrokenAce Qrow]] project energy waves from sword slashes when that's not their [[OnePersonOnePower Semblance]]? Aura. You get the idea.

* The trope name and [[TropeNamer namer]] are the subject of a pun in Chapter 3 of Creator/EliezerYudkowsky's ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5389450/1/The_Finale_of_the_Ultimate_Meta_Mega_Crossover The Finale of the Ultimate Meta Mega Crossover]]''.

* [[TropeNamer The trope name]] comes from Lucy Lawless (''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'')'s guest appearance on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E4TreehouseOfHorrorX Treehouse of Horror X]]", where she shuts up Professor Frink pointing out continuity inconsistencies in her show with the excuse that the changes happened because "a wizard did it".

** Isaac Newton, famously, asserted that God had to periodically intervene in the universe to keep it stable, which may well be [[TropeNamer where the phrase originates]].

* Similarly with the ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'' series. There’s been a few “The Ellimist did it” replies to inconsistencies.