History Main / AscendedFridgeHorror

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has the Nefertari Family. [[spoiler: As we know, Donquixote Homing and his family were disowned by the World Nobles due to [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished stepping down from their godly status]], and Doflamingo partly regained that by blackmailing them years later. The Nefertaris never were the Celestial Dragons, so how screwed they will be if they confront the WG?]] Answer: [[spoiler: So much that The Five Elder Stars have their family on their list for [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide 'extinguishing their light']] from the world.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': In ''ComicBook/TheAvengers1963'' #200, ComicBook/MsMarvel was kidnapped by a character named Marcus -- the apparent son of Avengers foe Immortus -- and taken to an alternate dimension, where she was brainwashed, seduced, and impregnated. The character gives birth back on Earth to a child that rapidly ages into another version of Marcus, who takes Ms. Marvel back to the alternate dimension with no opposition from the Avengers. The whole storyline felt in bad taste to a number of people, especially Creator/ChrisClaremont. He wrote an Avengers-X-Men crossover, where Ms. Marvel would escape to Earth, be un-brainwashed with the help of Professor X, then let the rest of the Avengers have it for so callously dismissing what was tantamount to an extradimensional rape.

* The Shadow Dragon Arc in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' explores the PowerAtAPrice aspect of the Franchise/{{Dragon Ball}}s that was never originally explored but merely hinted in the series. After all, such powerful wishes and magic must come with a catch. Every time a wish was made with the Balls, negative energy was released along with the positive energy and the Dragon Balls would absorb the negative energy and disperse it harmlessly over many years due to the Balls being difficult to find and gather. Repeatedly using the Dragon Balls builds up negative energy which is dependent in size on the grandiosity of the wish one makes. Goku and his friends have repeatedly found and used the Dragon Balls throughout the series to fix the world and during their adventures that the negative energy accumulated becomes astronomical, corrupts the Dragon Balls, and gives birth to Shadow Dragons which nearly destroy the world entirely. As the Shadow Dragons point out, they wouldn't even exist if the heroes hadn't [[NiceJobBreakingItHero kept abusing their wishes in the first place]].

* ''Manga/BlackClover'' spends quite a while with BlackAndWhiteMorality, with the main characters as a clan of Magic Knights (one of many), a military and police force of mages fighting villains who want to TakeOverTheWorld or kill people [[ForTheEvulz because they find it fun]]. Though it's shown that the only accountability Magic Knights have is to the captain who commands them, much of the series doesn't depict this as problematic as the clan the main characters belong to are firmly on the side of good. The series later addresses what happens if a captain him- or herself is corrupt or incompetent as a leader, as well as Magic Knights who physically and sexually abuse the townsfolk when they don't get their way and their leaders aren't watching. The series reaches full GrayAndGreyMorality when it receives an AntiHero who goes around killing Magic Knights on sight. The people caught in the middle, meanwhile, wind up terrified of both parties.

* In ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' #200, ComicBook/MsMarvel was kidnapped by a character named Marcus -- the apparent son of Avengers foe Immortus -- and taken to an alternate dimension, where she was brainwashed, seduced, and impregnated. The character gives birth back on Earth to a child that rapidly ages into another version of Marcus, who takes Ms. Marvel back to the alternate dimension with no opposition from the Avengers. The whole storyline felt in bad taste to a number of people, especially Creator/ChrisClaremont. He wrote an Avengers-X-Men crossover, where Ms. Marvel would escape to Earth, be un-brainwashed with the help of Professor X, then let the rest of the Avengers have it for so callously dismissing what was tantamount to an extradimensional rape.
* In ''ComicBook/SpiderManReign'' Mary Jane was said to have died of leukemia developed because of her continued exposure to her [[ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics radioactive husband]]'s sperm.

* After the ''ComicBook/XMen'' story "Fall of the Mutants" first introduced the [[GreaterScopeVillain En Sabah Nur]] (ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}) in 1986, his introduction retroactively made the team's earliest adventures seem pretty disturbing to some fans, implying that there was a millennia-old Mutant warlord just [[ParanoiaFuel biding his time and waiting to strike]] while the X-Men were busy battling Sentinels and clashing with the Brotherhood. Then the 1995 crossover "ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse" took that idea and ran with it. Apparently, not only was Apocalypse ''always'' lurking in the background of the Marvel Universe, the only reason he didn't reveal himself when the X-Men were teenagers is because he didn't think he could challenge Xavier and Magneto's combined forces, and was wary of [[EnemyMine giving them a common enemy to unite against]]. And in an alternate timeline where [[WhatIf Xavier died before he could form the X-Men]], Apocalypse easily ''[[BadFuture conquered most of the world]]''.
* The ''ComicBook/BackToTheFuture'' comic series has an arc that tackles the repercussions of the Marty [=McFly=] we know and love settling down in [[CloseEnoughTimeline an "improved" timeline that he didn't originally inhabit]]. [[RippleEffectProofMemory Alone in remembering the original timeline]], he begins to doubt [[LossOfIdentity whether he is the Marty that everybody around him remembers]], fearing that he may have displaced the timeline's original Marty and assumed his life. Heavy.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':

* ''ComicBook/HannaBarberaBeyond'':
** ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' comic released under this comic series reveals that the show's sky cities really are situated above a post-apocalytic Earth.
** One of the stories in ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' comic decides to give ADayInTheLimelight to the [[FantasyCounterpartAppliance animal appliances]] that appeared throughout the series as {{Running Gag}}s, revealing their harsh and miserable lifes, being seen and treated as simple objects by the humans despite being living beings, and how they experience the DoubleStandard of [[AllAnimalsAreDogs Dino]] being treated as the house pet.
* {{Big Be|autifulWoman}}rtha of the ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers is a mutant with the power to [[TemporaryBulkChange swell her body fat]] to grant herself SuperStrength and durability; her civilian form is a conventionally-thin model named Ashley Crawford who funds the GLA with profits from her career. In order to change back from Big Bertha, she must undergo "power puking" to literally vomit up the excess fat and return to her original size. While this was first played for a joke, fans pointed out the disturbing implications (especially since Ashley is a model, and that industry is ripe with bulimia and other eating disorders); as such, later issues of the comic had Ashley severely traumatized by the fact that she has to make herself throw up if she wants to swap forms.
* ''WesternAnimation/MegaManFullyCharged'''s vague implications of the Hard Age war between robots and humans, with an uneasy peace in the present day, are delved into fully in the ''ComicBook/MegaManFullyCharged'' comic book adaptation, with the revelation that Dr. Light used to fight fully on the humans' side and Mega Man was once a war drone who had his memories erased.
* ''ComicBook/TheDepartmentOfTruth'' acts as a {{Deconstruction}} of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve trope; reality is portrayed as subjective and can retroactively change if enough people believe in a singular "fact". With conspiracy theories on the rise, the Department of Truth works to make sure that conspiracy theories don't take root because a lot of the conspiracy theories people believe in -- like [[LizardFolk Reptilians]] or pedophilic, cannibalistic Satanists controlling the world -- would be incredibly dangerous if they existed. The result is a world where modern-day society is its own CosmicHorrorStory, where human belief can literally destroy the world if left unregulated.

* Among fans of ''Franchise/{{Frozen}}'', a popular piece of {{Fanon}} has always been that Olaf's existence is tied to Elsa's powers and that he'll melt or disappear when she dies. In ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'', [[spoiler: sure enough, when Elsa goes too far into Ahtohallen and turns to ice, Olaf disintegrates into snow flurries [[DiedInYourArmsTonight in the distraught Anna's arms.]] Fortunately, both he and Elsa [[DisneyDeath come back to life by the end]]]].

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** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'' has an entire character - Forky - meant to explore the loose definition of what a toy can be to a child. He's pieces of trash made to resemble a fork and given eyes. Forky comes across as though merely ''existing'' is painful for him, and actually takes a long time accepting his purpose is now to please a child, since unlike the other, factory-made toys, he was never meant to be used like that.

** In ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' Diana gets ComicBook/{{Ares|DC}} to step back and reevaluate--making him an occasional incredibly antagonistic ally for the rest of the series--by showing him that his goal of causing a nuclear WWIII would kill him by destroying the human race thereby killing anyone who might make war, believe in him, or even spread stories about him, the first and last of which he ''requires'' to exist. This made some readers wary when years later Ares usurped Hades and became Lord of the Dead since he now only needs the souls of the dead in Hades for power. Sure enough, in [[ComicBook/WonderWoman2006 the next series]] Ares tries to use Genocide in a plot specifically designed to kill off ''everyone'' on earth.

* [[BigBeautifulWoman Big Bertha]] of the ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers is a mutant with the power to [[TemporaryBulkChange swell her body fat]] to grant herself SuperStrength and durability; her civilian form is a conventionally-thin model named Ashley Crawford who funds the GLA with profits from her career. In order to change back from Big Bertha, she must undergo "power puking" to literally vomit up the excess fat and return to her original size. While this was first played for a joke, fans pointed out the disturbing implications (especially since Ashley is a model, and that industry is ripe with bulimia and other eating disorders); as such, later issues of the comic had Ashley severely traumatized by the fact that she has to make herself throw up if she wants to swap forms.

* Sukhinov's ''Emerald City'' series, a continuation of ''Literature/LandOfOz'', explores the fact that animals in OZ are sentient. Carnivorous animals (and ogres who are also carnivores) are completely ostracized and slowly driven to extinction, with the exception of cats (mice have to be kept in check after all). This makes the life difficult for several characters who keep carnivores as pets.
** It's also established that no one dies in Oz. Which leads to things like a fully-sentient severed head in a closet that is not at all happy.

* ''Manga/CellsAtWork'' portrays the anthropomorphized cells of the body as attractive young people, with Red Blood Cells as couriers and White Blood Cells as police officers and soldiers. While the depiction of the body cells as people with their own lives and relationships is a cute notion, it does come up with a horrifying issue: what would autoimmunity look like in such a setting? This was finally revealed in the DarkerAndEdgier spin-off ''Manga/CellsAtWorkCodeBlack'', where the Killer T cells, driven insane by the harsh conditions and the constant stimulation of cytokines, have gone berserk and started murdering innocent body cells, mistaking them for cancer cells in their crazed rampage.

* One of the main criticisms of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' is how nothing comes of [[spoiler:Naegi defying direct orders from his superiors in the Future Foundation and [[HeelFaceBrainwashing saving the surviving Remnants of Despair]] instead of executing them; he gets a sternly-worded email warning him that he's committing treason, and at the end, Kirigiri and Togami remind him that he'll have to deal with the fallout when he gets back to base]]. The very first shot of ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' shows [[spoiler:Naegi being placed under arrest by the Future Foundation]], setting off the plot.
** Given what happened to [[spoiler:the Remnants of Despair]], another criticism is that there are probably more of people like them out there that aren't being dealt with. [[spoiler:Chisa Yukizome, one of the Future Foundation's own ''branch heads'', as well as a homeroom teacher to the cast of the second game, is revealed to be similarly brainwashed to the Remnants in ''Side:Despair'' and has been unwittingly wreaking havoc from inside the foundation for ''years''.]]
** Among the Hope's Peak Saga villains, fans wondered what kind of killing game would result from a Mastermind that wasn't so honor-bound in their game rules. The result? [[spoiler:Tengan, who rigged the Final Killing Game so that it would go on without him and set up his protégé to enact his plan even after the game was over.]]
* The ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher'' video games generally ignored the implications of creating monsters from [=CDs=] and freezing them in cold storage to be used later, and mentions of a GreatOffscreenWar in the past were limited to monster data cards and rarely dwelled upon. The ''Anime/MonsterRancher'' anime had the ancient people grow complacent about such technology and turn savage when it was stripped away, General Durahan uses frozen monsters to raise an army, and monsters fighting in wars is a huge part of the anime world's backstory.
* ''Manga/BlackClover'' spends quite a while with BlackAndWhiteMorality, with the main characters as a clan of Magic Knights (one of many), a military and police force of mages fighting villains who want to TakeOverTheWorld or kill people [[ForTheEvulz because they find it fun]]. Though it's shown that the only accountability Magic Knights have is to the captain who commands them, much of the series doesn't depict this as problematic as the clan the main characters belong to are firmly on the side of good. The series later addresses what happens if a captain him- or herself is corrupt or incompetent as a leader, as well as Magic Knights who physically and sexually abuse the townsfolk when they don't get their way and their leaders aren't watching. The series reaches full GrayAndGreyMorality when it receives an AntiHero who goes around killing Magic Knights on sight. The people caught in the middle, meanwhile, wind up terrified of both parties.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': In [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders part 3]], Dio demonstrates the ability to take control of others by implanting flesh buds in them. Dio died and his body ended completely destroyed at the end, but that begged the question: what happened to the people who still had flesh buds in them after he bit the dust? Well, [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable part 4]] gives us the answer in the form of Okuyasu's dad, who transformed into a hideous, [[AndIMustScream unkillable]], mucus-green blob of a person over the course of a ''year''.
* In ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess2016'', the existentially horrifying implications of being a god-chosen EternalHero in an equally EternalRecurrence have not gone lost on Link and disturb him enough that [[spoiler:he briefly considers sparing Ganondorf to spare future generations the misery of a cosmic ForeverWar, though Ganondorf denies him the opportunity out of spite and opts to do himself in instead]].

* A popular fan theory in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' is that TheRival's Raticate died when the PlayerCharacter catches up to him in Lavender Town. This becomes the crux of ''Webcomic/PokemonFestivalOfChampions'' by showing how emotionally and psychologically damaging to a young child and his other {{Mons}}the death of their could be.

* A promotional booklet for the 2015 ''Film/{{Goosebumps|2015}}'' film adopts the popular if not universal {{fanon}} interpretation of a line from the [[Series/{{Goosebumps}} tv series']] episode "Night of the Living Dummy II" that the incantation that brings a DemonicDummy to life (who, keep in mind, proceeds to blackmail and threaten prepubescent-to-teenage girls into being his "slaves") translates to "You and I are one now." Only fans could come up with a translation ''that'' creepy.

%%* ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' and ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'' both show just how horrifying shrinking powers can ''really'' be if in the hands of an AntiHero or a downright villain. For one? Entering the human body and wiping their shoes on the brain.

* The ''ComicBook/BackToTheFuture'' comic series has an arc that tackles the repercussions of the Marty [=McFly=] we know and love settling down in [[CloseEnoughTimeline an "improved" timeline that he didn't originally inhabit]]. [[RippleEffectProofMemory Alone in remembering the original timeline]], he begins to doubt [[LossOfIdentity whether he is the Marty that everybody around him remembers]], fearing that he may have displaced the timeline's original Marty and assumed his life. [[CatchPhrase Heavy.]]

* The [[AllThereInTheManual viral marketing]] of ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'', as well as WordOfGod, confirmed that [[spoiler:the Clover monster seen in the movie was actually a baby, and the destruction of New York was the equivalent of Clover throwing a tantrum after being rudely awakened by a piece of falling space debris.]] While this does lend some context to the events of the movie, particularly Clover's actions, it does raise a terrifying question: [[spoiler:how unimaginably gargantuan must an ''adult'' of Clover's species be]]? Well, [[spoiler:if the ending of ''Film/TheCloverfieldParadox'' is anything to go by, the answer is "large enough to '''rise above the cloud layer''' with apparent ease".]]

!!Examples:

* The ''Franchise/ToyStory'' series starts out taking the concept of sentient toys relatively light, while it explores some of the darker implications of having an AnimateInanimateObject co-exist with oblivious humans, it leaves one of the biggest ones out, namely the owner growing up and separating from them forever, but as the series goes on, it recognises the FridgeHorror of the concept more and more thoroughly; it openly spells the issue out in the second film and eventually, to a further extent than most people would probably expect from a children's movie series. The whole premise of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' is the toys having to deal with the fact that their owner has grown up and put them aside.
** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'' has an entire character - Forky - meant to explore the loose definition of what a toy can be to a child. He's pieces of trash made to resemble a fork and given eyes. Forky comes across as though merely ''existing'' is painful for him, and actually takes a long time accepting his purpose is now to please a child, since unlike the other, factory-made toys, he was never meant to be used like that.
* ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'', by calling attention to the darker implications of [[spoiler:Mater's]] prior ButtMonkey status, turns him into TheWoobie.

%%* ''Animation/DoggyPoo'' is a short film about sentient objects, including leaves, flowers, and the titular [[TalkingPoo doggy poo]]. With the exception of being able to talk and see, they are completely immobile and at the mercy of their environment.

%%* The ''Film/{{Bean}}'' movie somehow manages to [[InvertedTrope invert it]]. In the film Bean destroys a priceless historical artifact, but he covers it up by replacing it with a poster of the same painting, and cue the happy if hilarious ending. As it's really only a short-term solution however, [[EsotericHappyEnding the forgery would undoubtedly be uncovered sometime after the film's events]]. The original script had apparently already considered this, as it ends with someone noticing the change after the painting is slightly damaged, which didn't make it into the final film.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is set thirty or so years after ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' and shows the Imperial [[TheRemnant remnant]] having rebuilt itself into a fully functional, powerful and dangerous new organization called "The First Order". This overturned the [[EvilPowerVacuum highly improbable]] implication at the end of the original trilogy that the death of the Emperor led to the immediate downfall of the authoritarian state. The New Republic and its semi-independent Resistance (the Rebels' remnant) have already [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent become complacent]] and, [[spoiler:one Alderaan-times-five tragedy]] later, the galaxy is back to square one.
** A common observation about the Original Trilogy is that the Galactic Civil War often seems suspiciously [[BlackAndWhiteMorality black and white]] compared to RealLife conflicts between brutal military dictatorships and rebel militants. But since we only see a tiny fraction of the war, many fans have long speculated that the Rebel Alliance probably does some [[HeWhoFightsMonsters morally questionable things]] in pursuit of victory that we just never see. ''Film/RogueOne'' takes that idea and runs with it: the entire premise of the film revolves around showing us what the war looks like from the perspective of average Rebel soldiers, like the unnamed spies who stole the Death Star plans and made the events of [[Film/ANewHope the original film]] possible. As the film shows, even the heroic Rebels aren't above using ChildSoldiers, torturing Imperial defectors, and [[ShootTheDog coldly murdering their own informants]] to protect themselves.
** ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' raised some eyebrows when it established that Anakin Skywalker was recruited into the Jedi Order when he was just nine years old, and it implied that many other Jedi recruits were even younger than him--since Mace Windu considers him "too old" to begin Jedi training at the age of nine. ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' also established that this wasn't at all unusual, showing dozens of prepubescent Jedi apprentices (or "Younglings") training with Yoda in the Jedi Temple. This struck many fans as rather unsettling, since it implied that many of the Jedi murdered by the Empire were just ''children''. Sure enough, ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' not only showed the Younglings fleeing in terror from armed Stormtroopers, but showed Anakin personally turning his lightsaber on them.
** For another ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' moment, it has been confirmed (In the novelization) that one of the Younglings calling Anakin "Master" pressed his buttons over being denied the rank, as he took the remark as mocking.
** ''Series/TheMandalorian'' has a major plot point that [[spoiler:Din Djarin]] ends up becoming the rightful ruler of Mandalore by besting Moff Gideon in combat and thus unwittingly claiming [[BlackSwordsAreBetter the Darksaber]] — ancestral weapon of a Mandalorian Jedi and former ruler — as his own, with it being explicitly stated the saber can ''only'' be legitimately won [[TrialByCombat through combat]]. Fans immediately questioned this, pointing out how Sabine Wren had previously ''gifted'' the Darksaber to Bo-Katan back in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'' before it was stolen by Gideon in the Empire's sacking of Mandalore, with some joking that Sabine and Bo-Katan just didn't care about the rules… only for it to be [[Series/TheBookOfBobaFett subsequently]] confirmed that, yeah, Sabine and Bo really did blatantly violate the laws of Mandalore by not dueling for the blade, and that this in fact is believed to have afflicted the Mandalorian people with a terrible curse for allowing themselves to be led by [[ThePoorlyChosenOne an illegitimate leader]], a curse played out when the Empire destroyed Mandalore and stole the saber. Bo-Katan is therefore viewed by a lot of surviving Mandalorians as a disgrace and cautionary tale, revealing a nasty undertone to her determination to hunt down Gideon and her barely-concealed anger and shock when [[spoiler:Din]] gets the saber by accident.

%%** And the short film ''One Minute Time Machine'' addresses a similar issue with MentalTimeTravel: after time travelling back several times he realizes that [[spoiler:every time he time travels, his braindead body is left behind in the history he left]].

* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', the fairies' incompetence is played for laughs. But one must wonder how on earth Aurora made it to her sixteenth birthday happy and healthy. ''{{Film/Maleficent}}'' cranks this up by increasing the fairies' incompetence. Not only do they forget to feed the baby (and Aurora refers to them accidentally feeding her spiders once) but at one point they're too busy arguing - and the child nearly runs off a cliff! Had it not been for Maleficent intervening ([[AdaptationalHeroism yes, really]]), Aurora would have been dead long before her sixteenth birthday.
* A small case in ''Film/{{Cinderella 2015}},'' where the film asks the question [[ShadowArchetype "What would Cinderella become if she didn't hold onto her positive attitude?"]] The film's answer is that she would become [[spoiler:Lady Tremaine.]]
* A common observation about ''Film/ManOfSteel'' is that the movie's portrayal of Franchise/{{Superman}} seems to come off as far more of a DestructiveSavior than nearly every other incarnation of the character, to the point that he seems to cause almost as much property damage as General Zod and his soldiers, and probably racks up a sizable body count by the end of the movie. ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' is surprisingly up-front about acknowledging this fact. It turns out that [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] was in Metropolis during Superman's battle with Zod, and he came to see Superman as a threat because [[BewareTheSuperman he was so terrified by the destruction that he saw]]. Among other things, we're introduced to a young girl who lost her mother when a building in Metropolis was leveled by the battle, and we meet Wallace Keefe, a man who lost both of his legs to falling debris and went on to resent Superman for the rest of his life. We also see that, from Bruce's spot on the street, it was nearly impossible to tell Zod and Superman apart while they duked it out in the sky, making it rather ambiguous which one of them was the ''real'' alien invader.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse
** ''Film/Item47'' is about a couple who restore to working condition a Chitauri weapon that'd been laying around in the wreckage after the battle in New York from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. They then use it to go rob banks. ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' also exploits this, showing that Adrian Toomes and his gang have been gathering whatever rest of discarded tech results from superhero battles (along with Chitauri, there's [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier SHIELD, HYDRA]], and [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Ultron]]) and repurpose if not reverse-engineer into items that usually get sold in the black market.
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'' had a couple bits at the end. Okay, so Peter is a HalfHumanHybrid, and that explains how he was able to handle the Power Stone and not die instantly. And [[EvenEvilHasStandards Yondu, a notorious career pirate and criminal, refers to Peter's father as a "jackass".]] Okay, so what kind of being was both ''that'' powerful and so bad that someone who spent a lifetime plundering ships and killing people would call a "jackass"? We find out [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 in the sequel]]: [[spoiler: [[Characters/MCUEgoTheLivingPlanet this universe's version]] of Ego the Living Planet, a Celestial who sired - and [[OffingTheOffspring murdered]] - untold numbers of his own offspring trying to find one that had enough power to help him destroy the entire universe. Yondu was hired to deliver Peter to Ego, but backed out of the deal and raised Peter as his own when he realized what Ego was doing to the ''other'' kids he helped bring to him.]]
** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'''s central conflicts is based on acknowledging the real life pitfalls of a country like Wakanda. A ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' [[https://www.cracked.com/article_24417_why-black-panther-really-marvels-most-dangerous-villain.html article]] claims that Wakanda's refusal to help it neighbors, arsenal of advanced weapons, and absolute leadership determined by brute force would make it an ideal authoritarian state. Likewise, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByeyFfOHgQA an episode]] by ''[[WebVideo/GameTheory The Film Theorists]]'' pointed out that Wakanda's over-reliance on vibranium and traditionalist society could lead to the country losing out in a technological arms race with the outside world. Come the actual movie, many of these talking points form the crux of the conflict. Not only do many of T'Challa's advisors point out that the outside world is closing the technology gap, but T'Challa realizes that Wakanda's tribalistic isolationism has led to the suffering and neglect of the Wakandan diaspora. The film also shows why choosing a king based on ritual combat is a bad idea when [[spoiler:Killmonger exploits Wakanda's power structure to usurp the throne by defeating T'Challa in combat, despite his lack of leadership skills, and uses his privilege as king to create a fascist state and attempt to start a race war that doesn't have a guarantee of Wakandan victory.]]
** ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' spends its entire first third covering how the world has coped (or rather, failed to cope) with the ending of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. [[spoiler:Major metropolitan areas are abandoned due to not having the population to sustain themselves. Places where people do live are in disrepair and covered in trash and graffiti. Depression rates are incredibly high, with people apparently breaking down crying fairly regularly.]] It's even worse on a cosmic scale, since Earth at least has the Avengers as a source of hope.
** ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' covers some of the speculated side-effects of [[spoiler:pushing the ResetButton after five years had passed. People have lost their homes and spouses in the interim. Everyone who was blipped didn't age in that time, so a lot of kids didn't grow up alongside their classmates and siblings.]] It's mostly PlayedForLaughs, but still shows a darker side to Endgame's happy ending.
** ''Series/WandaVision's'' take on the same events, however, isn't played for laughs at all, and fully explores the panic that four billion people popping into existence would really cause in the moment. [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Monica Rambeau]] revives in a hospital, which is in a state of absolute chaos thanks to an untold number of spontaneous new arrivals instantly pushing it well above capacity. On top of that, Monica was unable to be there when her mother died three years ago, even though it was almost instantaneous to her. Hayward even hints at a rift developing between those were Blipped and those who weren't at one point.
** ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' provides a serious examination of the political, social, and economic ramifications of the Blip. Sam Wilson's family's fishing business are struggling to obtain loans due to an unstable and highly competitive economy, the dating scene has exploded due to snapped people suddenly finding their partners have moved on since their "death", and the Flag-Smashers exist because those who weren't Blipped feel left behind while society works to provide aid to those who ''were'' Blipped.
* The [[AllThereInTheManual viral marketing]] of ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'', as well as WordOfGod, confirmed that [[spoiler:the Clover monster seen in the movie was actually a baby, and the destruction of New York was the equivalent of Clover throwing a tantrum after being rudely awakened by a piece of falling space debris.]] While this does lend some context to the events of the movie, particularly Clover's actions, it does raise a terrifying question: [[spoiler:how unimaginably gargantuan must an ''adult'' of Clover's species be]]? Well, [[spoiler:if the ending of ''Film/TheCloverfieldParadox'' is anything to go by, the answer is "large enough to '''rise above the cloud layer''' with apparent ease".]]
* While ''Film/ThePurge'' is light on details and WorldBuilding, it is hinted that the New Founding Fathers are [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica a corrupt oligarchy]], and that they created the Purge as a way to KillThePoor. The sequels make this implication explicit and establish the New Founding Fathers as the GreaterScopeVillain of the franchise, while also showing various other horrifying scenarios that might come with the Purge, such as white supremacists using the holiday to murder minorities, gangsters planning massive gang wars around it, the takeover of the economy by major corporations because small businesses can't rebuild as easily when they get looted and torched, and depraved foreign tourists coming to America on Purge Night to partake in something that's legal nowhere else.
* ''Film/ResidentEvilWelcomeToRaccoonCity'' does this with the [[ApocalypticLog "Itchy. Tasty." diary]] from the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil1 first]] ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' game. That diary indicates that, upon infection with [[TheVirus the T-virus]], zombification is a process where the victim remains conscious and at least somewhat aware of their situation even as they develop a hunger for human flesh. While this is never shown with T-virus victims in the games (the various other bioweapons are a different story), in this film we get to witness a horde of zombies banging on the gates of the Raccoon Police Department headquarters ''crying out for help''.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' series does this in ''[[DarkerAndEdgier Ecco: Tides Of Time]]'', (the sequel to the original game) with the questions the concept of time travel raises. The original had Ecco time travel into the past one time to [[spoiler:get a globe from past-Asterite to bring to present-Asterite]], and another time to [[spoiler:save his fellow dolphins from a Vortex invasion]]. One cannot help but think the developers noticed this left various questions about the effects of time travel in the minds of fans, because the sequel explored them in [[NightmareFuel frightening]] and [[MindScrew confusing]] depth.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' introduces Team Plasma, an AnimalWrongsGroup that believes keeping Pokemon is slavery and forcing them to battle is cruel, which is an idea that's been around ever since the start of the franchise. [[spoiler:However, it turns out that while N is sincere about his motives, Ghetsis only preached this to try and convince everyone else in the world to release their Pokémon so that he'll be the only one with Pokémon, thus delving even deeper into the back of the fridge. By definition, criminals don't obey the rules, so trying to stop people from using Pokemon altogether would only make things worse.]]
** On the same note as ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' listed above, ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness XD]]'' let the [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom Donphan]] out to play with Cipher attacking trainers that try to obstruct their operations. The [[SaharanShipwreck S.S. Libra]] is the biggest case, with its human crew lost at sea after [=XD001=] takes their ship away.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonRescueTeam'', you play as a human who was turned into a Pokémon. In the ending, as your character is returning to the human world, they wish to stay a Pokémon. A lot of people found it offputting that they would choose to abandon the friends and family they presumably have back home forever. Two games later, in ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonGatesToInfinity'', your partner is hesitant to wish you back for this exact reason.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' and their ''[[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon Ultra]]'' versions take a deconstructing approach to sidequests, including five powerful Eevee trainers from the past who in the present day all middle-aged, elderly, or in one case dead, and a woman whose husband died to his own Machoke in an accident. [[spoiler:''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' also touch on long-speculated things like what happens to Pokémon abandoned in the PC, as well as the thought of Ditto, a Pokémon that can theoretically mimic anything, and Zorua, a Pokémon with the power to cast illusions to pose as other Pokemon and people, replacing humans]].
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' finally shows what happens when fossil Pokémon are put together the wrong way before reviving them. Even better, [[TruthInTelevision this is based off of a period in British history]] when paleontologists would actually do this (minus the reviving part, of course).
* When Marle is temporarily removed from the timestream early in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', she's still alive and conscious in some sort of void. ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' explores the implications of changing the timestream and condemning people to that void.
* As a game that incorporates {{time travel}}, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' led to the belief that the adult timeline didn't vanish just because Link stopped Ganondorf in the past, leading to two splits:
** First came ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', which confirmed that theory, revealing that in said timeline the whole world was flooded because Ganon returned and Link wasn't there to stop him from taking over.
** When the ''Literature/HyruleHistoria'' artbook was released, it confirmed that a ''third'' timeline existed that fans rarely acknowledged; if Link failed and died. This led to the "degradation of Hyrule" timeline that follows Hyrule after Ganondorf reaches and corrupts the Sacred Realm. This timeline where TheHeroDies spans several millennia as things go from bad (''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast Link to the Past]]''[='s=] WorldHalfFull) to worst (''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI Zelda I]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink II]]'', where society was seven mildly populated towns among a massive barren wasteland of monsters).
** Strangely, the only timelines where Ganon(dorf) is KilledOffForReal are ones where Link wasn't around to stop him at some point. In the Adult timeline, he dies for good in ''Wind Waker'', and in the Downfall timeline, in the original ''The Legend of Zelda''. ''Breath of the Wild'' potentially throws a wrench in this, but it's confusing regarding the timeline in the first place, seemingly deliberately.
* The [[AuthorsSavingThrow Extended Cut]] of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' retconned various aspects of the endings, after fans pointed out that the original ending had accidentally caused several major {{Inferred Holocaust}}s. However, getting the [[spoiler:Destroy ending with low EMS]] takes all the horror from the vanilla endings and makes it that much worse.
* The ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series used this trope to its advantage when it was called to make a PostScriptSeason. ''Zero 3'' was the original GrandFinale, and while its ending ties up most loose plot threads and resolves Zero's concern over his identity, it leaves one big loose end hanging--by the end of ''Zero 3'', a revived Copy X and the remainder of his ruling cabinet are killed off, leaving BigBad Dr. Weil alive and essentially with sole rulership over Neo Arcadia. ''Zero 4'' explores this and kicks off its plot with a caravan of human refugees fleeing the hellhole that Neo Arcadia has become under Weil's iron fist.
** Even at the beginning of the series, the first game's main villain, Copy X, showcases a potential worst case scenario which lingered in the X series backstory. What would happen if Dr. Light didn't subject X to 30 years of ethical testing? As the copy was created as a quick replacement to take over the original's role and duties, the untested and inexperienced copy of X quickly became a brutal KnightTemplar, branding various reploids as mavericks and sending them to their executions over the most minor things, eventually going Maverick himself.
* In the third ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' game, that fact that one of the game's culprits was executed is a plot point. It's never stated whether any of the other killers you've helped convict were given the death penalty, but seeing as most of them don't appear afterwards, it's certainly likely, though it's never addressed. ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonVsPhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', however, doesn't sidestep the issue: the true culprit of the second case ''is shown being executed on-screen'',[[note]][[spoiler:she wasn't ''actually'' executed, though, though it sure seemed so at the time]][[/note]] and via [[BurnTheWitch horrifying]] CruelAndUnusualDeath to boot. ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'' also explicitly says that the defendants of the trials set in Khura'in will be given the death penalty if they are convicted.
* The ending of ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'', [[spoiler:at least the "good" ending"]], shows us the results of Atrus's decision on how he'll handle the atrocities that his son committed. That result left the player wondering what really happened to them when Atrus enacted his decision. ''VideoGame/MystIVRevelation'' put that wondering to rest quite firmly.
* The "Moriya Arc" in ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' [[note]]''Mountain of Faith'', ''Subterranean Animism'', ''Undefined Fantastic Object'', ''Hisoutensoku'', and ''Ten Desires'', named because [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom all of them are caused directly or indirectly by the Moriya shrine]][[/note]] introduces three new factions to Gensokyo, each wanting to expand their worshipers and ideology, and each having reason to dislike the others and the local authorities. With each introduction fans were wondering whether war would break out, and speculated endlessly over how it would happen. Then comes ''Hopeless Masquerade'', where the human population falls into desperate pessimism because [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed Gensokyo Is Always Doomed]] (another bit of Ascended Fridge Horror) and all three exploit the crisis to gather more faith for them themselves, fighting the other factions over worshipers. [[spoiler:Turns out they were all manipulated by an independent party, though.]]
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** Many fans have long observed that the series' many "worlds" (levels) [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale seem suspiciously small]], particularly since they're implied to be entire {{parallel universe}}s. Even in levels that supposedly take place in countries on Earth (like "[[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Deep Jungle]]" and "[[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} The Land of Dragons]]"), we never see locales other than the locations of the movies, making the worlds seem more like horribly claustrophobic {{pocket dimension}}s. [[note]] By the same token: it can seem a bit creepy that the Destiny Islands are seemingly the ''only'' landmasses on an otherwise empty planet.[[/note]] The prequels actually build on this idea, revealing that there's more than a little truth to it: turns out that the world of ''Kingdom Hearts'' was once a Universe, and only became a {{Multiverse}} when all of reality was irrevocably shattered by [[GreatOffscreenWar the Keyblade Wars]]. So the worlds seem claustrophobic because they're actually the splintered remains of a world that was once whole.
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', it's revealed that the antagonist of the first game was really Xehanort's Heartless, and Xemnas (the current antagonist) is his Nobody. Both entities are created when a person loses their heart, and the player is told that the hearts of transformed people are "freed" when their Heartless is slain. However, the game never explains what happens when a person's Heartless and Nobody are ''both'' destroyed, leading many fans to speculate that perhaps [[NotQuiteDead Sora didn't really defeat Xehanort like he thought]]. Then the secret ending of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Re:coded]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance 3D]]'' proper reveal that [[spoiler:killing a person's Heartless and Nobody brings the original person back just as they were before losing their heart. You've brought back the BigBad of the series.]]
** The [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI original]] ''VideoGame/{{Kingdom Hearts|I}}'' left a lot of fans wondering what happened to [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White]], WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} and [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Aurora]]'s homeworlds after they were kidnapped by the Heartless. We never actually see the fates of those worlds--but considering Aurora hails from the same world as Maleficent, the leader of the Heartless, [[FridgeHorror it probably isn't good]]. In the {{interquel}} ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage'', [[ActionGirl Aqua]] travels through the Dwarf Woodlands, the Castle of Dreams and the Enchanted Dominion after they're absorbed by the Realm of Darkness, confirming that they fell to the Heartless after all. The experience is every bit as nightmarish as you'd expect.
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** The mysterious places that appear in every game can be absolutely lethal to {{Muggles}}, since they on principle don't know how the dimension works unlike our heroes. In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', the main antagonist is somebody that uses that game's mysterious place to go on a killing spree, simply by forcing normal people in and letting the Shadows take care of the rest, since the victims can't escape on their own. [[spoiler:And to make matters worse, he's been chosen by a higher power of his own.]]
** Since ''VideoGame/Persona3'', the character gifted the Wild Card ability (usually the protagonist) takes up the Velvet Room's contract and uses their powers for good. Fans had speculated what that power would look like in the hands of a major antagonist for years, until [[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax Sho Minazuki]] (a violent misanthrope with a deranged SplitPersonality) and [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/Persona5 Goro Akechi]]]] (a person screwed over in life on a twisted quest for revenge) answered their question.
** Shadow Selves are shown to be the repressed feelings of the individual, and for most games the ones we see are from average people with mundane (but still meaningful) truths attached to them. ''VideoGame/Persona5'' shows what a corrupt person's Shadow Self acts like -- they act like the unrepentant bullies and abusers that you ''really'' wish weren't their true selves.
** While fighting and defeating a Shadow Self is present throughout the series, actually killing one is never shown due to their importance to their real world counterpart. In ''Persona 5'', it's explained that a person with a dead Shadow Self goes into mental shutdown. [[spoiler:The real world person also experiences a heart attack and their brain breaking until they keel over and die, as Haru's father shows us, a fate that Futaba's mother shared.]]
** ''Persona 5'' has the Phantom Thieves engage in HeelFaceBrainwashing by using the Metaverse to change the hearts of their targets, turning the targets from horrid people into good ones who feel sorry for what they've done. The ethics of doing this were brought up a few times, [[spoiler:with the Phantom Thieves ultimately getting drunk on their power in the bad ending]], but it's generally portrayed as a justified last resort to dealing with people who can't be brought to justice through normal means. ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'' examines this more closely by having the villains use the Metaverse for mind control instead, showing what happens when someone without such strong convictions has that kind of power.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'' introduced Things, giant real world objects that can alter the world around Mario or be used as incredibly powerful attacks. Given that they could do anything from knock out a giant rampaging dragon to create tornadoes, Things carried a lot of destructive potential, but ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'' really dived into just how dangerous they were through its primary bosses, the Legion of Stationery, a collection of living art supplies who have all of the power of Things and absolutely nothing stopping them from going all out with their abilities. Special mention to Hole Puncher, who ''stole the sun so he could use it as a'' '''disco ball''', and Scissors, who is pretty much living Kryptonite to a world made out of paper and cardboard.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', people playing the [[DeadlyGame Reaper's Game]] exist in the UG, a plane of reality parallel to the RG(real world) and are InvisibleToNormals outside of certain stores, but can influence people by imprinting various thoughts in their heads. ''VideoGame/NeoTheWorldEndsWithYou'' examines up the horrifying implications of misusing this power when one opposing player uses his abilities to force a woman to cut ties with her friends ForTheEvulz. Similarly, while Neku and his friends paid for all their purchases, one opposing player in ''NEO'' engages in shoplifting as a form of stress relief, taking advantage of the fact that he becomes invisible once he leaves the store.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Meg is quite a dark example of a ButtMonkey, being horribly abused by her parents yet it's always played for BlackComedy. The episode "Seahorse Seashell Party" deconstructs the abuse as a serious issue, turning her into TheWoobie. Even Meg mentions that if people on the outside ever saw how Peter treats her, he would've been put in jail a long time ago. One would think Meg finally catches a break as her family breaks down in tears from the revelation, but Meg later realizes that the reason her family treats her like shit is because they need someone to expel all their negative energy into and without Meg for that, they would turn on each other. Meg decides to apologize for what she said and lets her family abuse her again for the sake of keeping everyone slightly sane.
** Ironically, the episode after that one involves domestic abuse and it's definitely not played for laughs!
* ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' did this with the concept of Robotnik [[UnwillingRoboticisation turning innocent creatures into evil robots]]. The prior video games did not explore the process of roboticization in much depth, other than implying that the animals inside robots worked like organic batteries while ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' sidesteps the issue by having Robotnik build the robots from scratch. ''[=SatAM=]'', on the other hand, thoroughly explores the BodyHorror and loss of identity implicit in the robotic transformations; Uncle Chuck stated that roboticized people [[AndIMustScream actually know what they are doing, but cannot do anything about it]]. Granted Bunnie eventually gets her original organs back in the comics, but the process must have been painfully gruesome.
** In ''WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground'', Sonia’s friend Rafi has the entire lower half of his body roboticized. He claims that they “did him a favor”. Take from that what you will.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The series is built on the premise that about 1/10th of the population can telekinetically manipulate, or "bend", one of the [[ElementalPowers four classical elements]]. It's also demonstrated several times that benders can affect things that are partially of their element (for example, waterbenders bending mud or plants, earthbenders bending metal, firebenders bending lightning). Well, the human body is 70% water, isn't it? So what would happen if a waterbender were to bend ''that''? [[spoiler: We find out in the episode "The Puppetmaster" that this is indeed a thing. Its inventor Hama calls it bloodbending, and uses it to create PeoplePuppets.]]
** SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has many of its major and minor plot points based on the Fridge Horror of what if the special talents exhibited by the main characters became widely used. Ty Lee's [[SheFu chi-blocking]] is the main combat form of [[FantasticRacism anti-bender terrorists]], [[spoiler:two major villains]] can Bloodbend, and [[BigBad Amon]] plans to rid the world of benders via [[spoiler: a combination of the two.]]
** The anti-bender movement of Season 1 in itself points out the downsides of being a normal guy in a world full of people who can tear steel and shoot lightning.
** ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise'' confirmed several fan theories that ending a hundred years war did not suddenly fix all problems created because of that war. In particular, colonized Earth Kingdom territories.
** Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has new Airbenders popping up after [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Harmonic Convergence]]. Now, while the Air Nomads were pacifistic, developing their bending into a primarily defensive art, FridgeHorror has long abounded among the fans since discovering Monk Gyatso's body and those of the soldiers who tried to kill him regarding what an [[LethalHarmlessPowers airbender could do]] if the airbender had lethal intent, especially since there isn't much that can easily stop an airbender. These fears have now been realized as the apparent BigBad of the season is one of the new benders, and he is ''not'' holding back with his new powers. In a later episode, he even uses his powers to [[SupernaturalSuffocation suffocate]] someone by bending the air out of their lungs. In the Season 3 finale, [[spoiler: Jinora leads a small group of relatively untrained airbenders into making a ''tornado'' to help Korra defeat the ArcVillain. A small tornado, granted, but the fact they were able to create something like with minimal training really drives home how powerful and dangerous an airbender could be if they weren't pacifists]].
* ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'' liked to play around with some of the implications of various Creator/HannaBarbera cartoons, the one most following this trope being that WesternAnimation/TheJetsons really do live above a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic wasteland]] (as well as that commuting everywhere on moving sidewalks instead of walking means that even moving across a room under their own power is a monumental feat).
** FurryConfusion in Hanna-Barbera cartoons (and in the show itself) is somewhat addressed in an episode where WesternAnimation/AugieDoggieAndDoggieDaddy appear. Turns out sentient anthropomorphic dogs have no more rights than regular ones; Doggie Daddy is arrested for not having a license, sentenced to obedience training, ''neutered'' (try not to think of the many people in RealLife who have been sterilized against their will), and winds up so brainwashed from his ordeal that he is basically lobotomized. All PlayedForLaughs of course.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' explore the dark idea of how messed up a boy adventurer would grow up to be and verbally expresses it through Rusty's despair of the gloomy future that awaits his boys only because they were born with the Venture name.
** In this, the series as a whole can be considered Ascended Fridge Horror following on from ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'', since the format and characters were originally conceived as loose parodies of that show. Rusty is of course the grown-up Jonny. However, later on the producers discovered that they didn't have to rely on parody, since the rights to Jonny Quest were owned by Cartoon Network. So in the second season they re-ascended the fridge horror far more directly by introducing Jonny Quest himself as the recurring character of "Action Jonny". Jonny's characterization is dominated by two features: substance abuse, and deep mental scarring from his father. Basically, the same traits Rusty has, but dialed up so high that Rusty looks normal by comparison.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
%%** The Ice King's AesopAmnesia and rampant sociopathy led to the idea that he is physically incapable of learning his lesson or changing in any way, and that he will be forever doomed to repeat the same behavior no matter how many times it fails. Cue the reveal of his [[ArtifactOfDoom back]][[WasOnceAMan story]], which among other things shows this is exactly what happens.
%%** The post-apocalyptic setting of the entire show sort of counts. Originally it was just sort of vaguely implied, but as the series progressed it gradually became more explicit until it became ''fully'' explicit, with {{Whole Episode Flashback}}s and other front-and-center undeniable things dealing with it.
* Many ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' fans have pointed out the disturbing implications of the show's premise--specifically, that it's [[ContrivedCoincidence a rather odd coincidence]] that the ''Scooby-Doo'' universe is filled with adults who all decide to [[ScoobyDooHoax dress up like monsters]] to pull off [[ComplexityAddiction weirdly complex criminal schemes]] for their own unrelated reasons. [[note]] ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' somewhat famously theorized that the series took place in the aftermath of a disastrous economic collapse, explaining why none of the crooks ever [[CutLexLuthorACheck use their considerable talents to get real jobs]].[[/note]] Well, ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' finally explained it. It turns out that it ''isn't'' a coincidence, and the crimes ''aren't'' unrelated: there's an [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoned]] EldritchAbomination under the kids' hometown that's been exerting its psychic influence over people for centuries, inspiring them to take the form of monsters and commit evil acts. Also, at least some of them base their appearances on ''real'' monsters that inhabit an alternate dimension that can be glimpsed through dreams.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' has Foop, who, from the start of his introduction episode, had a ThereCanOnlyBeOne mindset with regards to Poof. However, it has been hinted that fairies and their anti-fairy counterparts are connected and anti-fairies rely on their counterparts to exist, leaving many to wonder what would happen to Foop if he ever succeeded in eliminating Poof. The answer comes around in "Timmy's Secret Wish" when Foop manages to get Timmy branded as the worst Godkid to exist and have all his wishes erased, including Poof. In the middle of celebrating his success, Jorgen tells Foop that as Poof's Anti-Fairy, his existence is erased as well. [[ResetButton Following being restored]], [[VillainDecay Foop went from seeking Poof's destruction to being]] TheRival, since he realized that killing Poof would kill himself.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' has ''[[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 Journal 3]]'' to provide further and often darker details about several parts of the show:
** It showed that Bill was planning to kill Dipper by throwing his body off the water tower when done with him after the events of "Sock Opera", and staging it as a suicide.
** It also confirmed fan theories that [=McGucket=] had had multiple bad experiences working with Ford even before the portal incident.
** Also revealed where all the bodies that became zombies in "Scary-oke" came from: [[spoiler: the lumberjacks who drowned in the flood described in "Northwest Mansion Mystery"]].
** One early entry conforms that some of the anomalies in the series have actually ''killed people.''
%%* In the backstory of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'', there used to be hundreds of Gummis living in Gummi Glen, whose numbers have dwindled to seven. There's always been the subtle implication that Cubbi might end up alone someday, and this was addressed in the episode, where we meet another Gummi by the name of Chummi. Chummi was the youngest of his clan, and now the last, and it's outright stated that if something isn't done, all Cubbi has to look forward to is eventually being alone.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'': In the original film, Mufasa spoke about how the kings of the past lived on in the stars, which was confirmed by his later appearance in the sky, and how in the sequel, he still spoke to Rafiki through the winds. Kovu also wondered if Scar was in the stars as well. While Kovu’s question was a tragic display of the brainwashing Zira had put him through since childhood, he still had a valid question. As the cobra Ushari realizes early into Season 2, if Kion and Rafiki can speak to the lions of the past, surely there’s a way to speak to Scar. [[spoiler:”The Rise of Scar” ends with Ushari and Janja’s hyenas successfully raising Scar from the dead as a fiery spirit from the franchise’s equivalent of hell, and Scar becomes the main antagonist of the season.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
** The episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess Secret Of My Excess]]" applies ascended fridge horror to the implications of a dragon living in a pony community, even though most other episodes before it stepped around it. Later, though the issue isn't explicitly dwelt on for very long, "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E21DragonQuest Dragon Quest]]" addresses the fact that Spike is an orphaned child and neither he nor Twilight knows where his egg came from or who/where his real parents even are.
** [[http://porpoiseoflife.org/my-little-dv-survivor-761/ It's been suggested by some]] that Fluttershy's ShrinkingViolet characteristics are at least partially the result of childhood trauma. "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles The Cutie Mark Chronicles]]" establishes that she was bullied, but Rainbow Dash seemed to get it about as badly as her (at the hooves of the same bullies, no less), and [[BoisterousBruiser look how she turned out]]. But then "Hurricane Fluttershy" shows us just how pervasive the problem ''really'' was, and how it affected her to the point that its resurgence is enough to provoke graphic, demonic hallucinations well into her adulthood. This is to say nothing of how crappy a lot of the townsfolk treat her in ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E19PuttingYourHoofDown Putting Your Hoof Down]]'', preying on her quiet tendencies to push her around and take advantage of her, implying that unlike Rainbow Dash who would fight back Fluttershy is ''still'' regularly bullied.
** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E11KeepCalmAndFlutterOn Keep Calm and Flutter On]]" confirms the popular theory that Discord was [[AndIMustScream still aware of everything]] while in his [[TakenForGranite stone prison]].
** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E1PrincessTwilightSparklePart1 Princess Twilight Sparkle]]" revolves around how Discord, a [[ForTheEvulz massively vindictive]] {{Reality Warp|er}}ing ManipulativeBastard, left a few nasty surprises around for his captors even after he was defeated the first time, an idea that fanfiction writers used constantly ever since his debut.
** Despite the show itself [[AngstWhatAngst glossing over it]], fans quite reasonably speculated that Celestia being forced to banish [[CainAndAbel her sister]] to the moon for a thousand years, to save Equestria from [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], would have been devastating to her. Cue Twilight's vision of the past in "Princess Twilight Sparkle", which shows Celestia desperately pleading with Luna to stop, tried to stop her by herself, only using the Elements of Harmony when it was clear Nightmare Moon was too powerful, and when she makes that decision she starts crying.
** When "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E20ItsAboutTime It's About Time]]" introduced the realm of Tartarus, where various monsters and villains were sealed away, many people feared that someone may have been able to escape it while Cerberus was away from his post in that episode. In Season 4's [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E25TwilightsKingdomPart1 finale]], it turned out [[spoiler:Tirek]] ''had''.
*** The same episode also addresses the fan-theory that [[spoiler:Discord may not have been completely sincere in his turn to good]].
** Princess Celestia largely serves as the BigGood of the series, often treated as a PhysicalGod with power over the Sun itself. As such, fans became confused at how [[TheWorfEffect quickly and easily she was defeated]] in several episodes, ranging from the pilot to "A Canterlot Wedding," when Queen Chrysalis overcomes her in a BeamOWar. The most commonly-accepted explanation was that Celestia is [[AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength terrified of her own power and deliberately holds herself back]] to keep from hurting others. This became canon in "A Royal Problem," when it's revealed that Celestia has a SuperpoweredEvilSide called "Daybreaker" whom she ''constantly'' has to ward off in her own head. She struggles endlessly with the temptation to tap into her full potential and become an untouchable, unconquerable warlord, and thus [[ToughLeaderFacade puts on a brave face]] to her subjects (to the point of being a StepfordSmiler) while deliberately only using a fraction of her powers.
*** The same episode also explores another common fan-fic theme: namely, that despite Celestia and Luna making up at the end of the pilot, there might still be some resentment between them. While it's clear that Luna has forgiven Celestia and views her exile as a [[IDidWhatIHadToDo necessary evil]], "A Royal Problem" shows that, like any siblings, the two engage in petty squabbles and struggle to communicate with each other, especially after a thousand years apart. They're even remarkably passive-aggressive to one another and come across as grouchy teenagers rather than [[GodEmperor godlike rulers.]]
** The [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 2017 feature film]] confirmed lots of the fandom's speculation:
*** Many speculated that the rest of the world wasn't as peaceful or idealistic as Equestria. Turns out there are nation-conquering warlords with the might to subjugate Equestria, and {{Wretched Hive}}s where sapient trafficking (slavery and body parts) are the rule of law.
*** Tempest Shadow confirms fanon that losing their horn would rob a unicorn of their magic/make it dangerously uncontrollable, nor would it grow back or get better. Her FreudianExcuse also confirms the detrimental social effect it could have on them.
*** Spike being able to breathe fire is used offensively for the first time in Generation 4, and it's just as effective as a BreathWeapon as any other form of fire.
*** The first season of the series often featured dangerous creatures from the Everfree Forest, which is located ''right next to Ponyville''. Fan speculated on how dangerous of a place Equestria is to live in, especially in locations where the Mane Six aren't around to save the day. Sure enough, the movie depicts via flashback an Ursa Minor attacking a unicorn filly [[spoiler:and breaking off her horn]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' episode "Chickens" actually addresses the issue of where meat comes from in a world where [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist]]. Certain species of animals are set aside to be bred as unintelligent livestock, and everyone accepts this as normal.
* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' began as dark comedy satire of Fundamentalist Christianity/Leave it to Beaver-type innocence with the basic formula of Orel taking flawed advice from his authority figures and turning them on their heads, causing much more problems than intended. That was until the episode, “Nature”, which completely turned the show from a dark comedy to essentially a drama. Now, all the characters who had previously been seen as caricatures of fundamentalist types were shown to have several mental scars and dark psyches which made them more three dimensional then they were shown in their debuts. A perfect example was Orel’s father, who was introduced as a parody of a Standard 50’s Father, who eventually was shown to be an alcoholic, abusive, DepravedBisexual, narcissistic and unapologetic man who resented his family, and has a severe OedipusComplex. If anything, the show still displayed the dangers of hypocrisy in faith, just no longer through the lens of comedy, and showed the more dark, seedy, and unfortunately realistic side effects of it.
* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersAtWork'': Many fans have pointed out over the years that Monsters Inc. switching from Scream to Laugh Energy would be a very messy transition for the Scarers. They would either have to adjust to the new system, abandoning the skills they've spent most of their lives developing, or be put out of work. Tylor's role in the series revolves around this fear, as he arrives at Monsters Inc. fresh off graduating at the top of his scaring class, only to learn that they don't need Scarers anymore.
* In the early seasons of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Kenny died in every episode]], and no one ever commented (beyond a few jokes here and there) about him simply showing up in the next episode completely fine. Some fans began to wonder if Kenny himself could remember all of those deaths and theorized about how he came back so easily. Sure enough, the "Coon and Friends" saga revealed that Kenny [[spoiler: is the literal spawn of Franchise/{{Cthulhu|Mythos}}]], and with every death (which he feels and remembers in agonizing detail), his mother becomes pregnant with and gives birth to him as a baby who wakes up fully-grown the next morning. To make matters worse, [[spoiler: Cthulhu's curse]] means that people ''can't'' remember the deaths--only Kenny (and possibly his parents) do, meaning that he has to watch his friends treat him like nothing's wrong despite his constant brutal fates (itself a bit of a {{Retcon}}, since they sometimes remember about his deaths as mentioned earlier). As such, it's made him a DeathSeeker to the extreme. When Kyle (thinking Kenny was just playing superhero) commented that immortality sounded "pretty cool," Kenny [[WhoWantsToLiveForever quickly corrected him]]:
-->'''Kenny''': PRETTY COOL? Do you know what it feels like to be stabbed? To be ''shot?'' Decapitated? Torn apart? Burned? Run over? It's not "pretty cool," Kyle; it ''fucking HURTS!'' And it ''won't go away'', and ''NO ONE WILL BELIEVE ME!'' ''(Taking out a gun)'' Remember this time! ''''' Try and FUCKING REMEMBER!''''' ''(Shoots himself)''
[[/folder]]

-->'''Kenny''': PRETTY COOL? Do you know what it feels like to be stabbed? To be ''shot?'' Decapitated? Torn apart? Burned? Run over? It's not "pretty cool," Kyle, it ''fucking HURTS!'' And it ''won't go away'', and ''NO ONE WILL BELIEVE ME!'' ''(Taking out a gun)'' Remember this time! ''''' Try and FUCKING REMEMBER!''''' ''(Shoots himself)''

** Princess Celestia largely serves as the BigGood of the series, often treated as a PhysicalGod with power over the Sun itself. As such, fans became confused at how [[TheWorfEffect quickly and easily she was defeated]] in several episodes, ranging from the pilot to "A Canterlot Wedding," when Queen Chrysalis overcomes her in a BeamOWar. The most commonly-accepted explanation was that Celestia is [[AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength terrified of her own power and deliberately holds herself back]] to keep from hurting others. This became canon in "A Royal Problem," when it's revealed that Celestia has a SuperpoweredEvilSide called "Daybreaker" who she ''constantly'' has to ward off in her own head. She struggles endlessly with the temptation to tap into her full potential and become an untouchable, unconquerable warlord, and thus [[ToughLeaderFacade puts on a brave face]] to her subjects (to the point of being a StepfordSmiler) while deliberately only using a fraction of her powers.

** The series is built on the premise that about 1/10th of the population can telekinetically manipulate, or "bend", one of the [[ElementalPowers four classical elements]]. It's also demonstrated several times that benders can affect things that are partially of their element (for example, waterbenders bending mud or plants, earthbenders bending metal, firebenders bending lightning). Well, the human body is 70% water, isn't it? So what would happen if a waterbender were to bend ''that''? [[spoiler: We find out in the episode ''The Puppetmaster'' that this is indeed a thing. Its inventor Hama calls it bloodbending, and uses it to create PeoplePuppets.]]

-->-- '''Joan Cusack''', on ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', from [[http://www.aintitcool.com/node/45519 this]] interview.

* One of the main criticisms of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' is how nothing comes of [[spoiler:Naegi defying direct orders from his superiors in the Future Foundation and [[HeelFaceBrainwashing saving the surviving Remnants of Despair]] instead of executing them; he gets a sternly-worded email warning him that he's committing treason, and at the end, Kirigiri and Togami remind him that he'll have to deal with the fallout when he gets back to base]]. The very first shot of ''Anime/DanganRonpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'' shows [[spoiler:Naegi being placed under arrest by the Future Foundation]], setting off the plot.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': In [[Manga/StardustCrusaders part 3]], Dio demonstrates the ability to take control of others by implanting flesh buds in them. Dio died and his body ended completely destroyed at the end, but that begged the question: what happened to the people who still had flesh buds in them after he bit the dust? Well, [[Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable part 4]] gives us the answer in the form of Okuyasu's dad, who transformed into a hideous, [[AndIMustScream unkillable]], mucus-green blob of a person over the course of a ''year''.

** Princess Celestia largely serves as the BigGood of the series, often treated as a PhysicalGod with power over the Sun itself. As such, fans became confused at how [[TheWorfEffect quickly and easily she was defeated]] in several episodes, ranging from the pilot to "A Canterlot Wedding," when Queen Chrysalis overcomes her in a BeamOWar. The most commonly-accepted explanation was that Celestia is [[AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength terrified of her own power and deliberately holds herself back]] to keep from hurting others. This became canon in "A Royal Problem," when it's revealed that Celestia has a SuperpoweredEvilSide called "Daybreaker" who she ''constantly'' has to ward off in her own head. She struggles endlessly with the temptation to tap into her full potential and become an untouchable, unconquerable warlord, and thus [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask puts on a brave face]] to her subjects (to the point of being a StepfordSmiler) while deliberately only using a fraction of her powers.

* The first act of ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' is a cheerful FracturedFairyTale. The ''second'' act is every single nasty consequence of every single person's actions coming back to haunt them (and everyone else around them), in ways that readers of the original fairy tales could easily imagine. These include LoveAtFirstSight not being enough to sustain Cinderella and Rapunzel's marriages, as their Princes both turn out to be PrinceCharmless, and Rapunzel suffers SanitySlippage from her years of confinement.

** Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has new Airbenders popping up after [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Harmonic Convergence]]. Now, while the Air Nomads were pacifistic, developing their bending into a primarily defensive art, FridgeHorror has long abounded among the fans since discovering Monk Gyatso's body and those of the soldiers who tried to kill him regarding what an [[LethalHarmlessPowers airbender could do]] if the airbender had lethal intent, especially since there isn't much that can easily stop an airbender. These fears have now been realized as the apparent BigBad of the season is one of the new benders, and he is ''not'' holding back with his new powers. In a later episode, he even uses his powers to asphyxiate someone by bending the air out of their lungs. In the Season 3 finale, [[spoiler: Jinora leads a small group of relatively untrained airbenders into making a ''tornado'' to help Korra defeat the ArcVillain. A small tornado, granted, but the fact they were able to create something like with minimal training really drives home how powerful and dangerous an airbender could be if they weren't pacifists]].

** Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has new Airbenders popping up after [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Harmonic Convergence]]. Now, while the Air Nomads were pacifistic, developing their bending into a primarily defensive art, FridgeHorror has long abounded among the fans since discovering Monk Gyatso's body and those of the soldiers who tried to kill him regarding what an [[LethalHarmlessPowers airbender could do]] if the user ''wasn't'' focusing on defense, especially since there isn't much that can easily stop an airbender. These fears have now been realized as the apparent BigBad of the season is one of the new benders, and he is ''not'' holding back with his new powers. In a later episode, he even uses his powers to asphyxiate someone by bending the air out of their lungs. In the Season 3 finale, [[spoiler: Jinora leads a small group of relatively untrained airbenders into making a ''tornado'' to help Korra defeat the ArcVillain. A small tornado, granted, but the fact they were able to create something like with minimal training really drives home how powerful and dangerous an airbender could be if they weren't pacifists]].

** A common observation about the Original Trilogy is that the Galactic Civil War often seems suspiciously [[BlackAndWhiteMorality black and white]] compared to RealLife conflicts between brutal military dictatorships and rebel militants. But since we only see a tiny fraction of the war, many fans have long speculated that the Rebel Alliance probably does some [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized morally]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters questionable]] [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters things]] in pursuit of victory that we just never see. ''Film/RogueOne'' takes that idea and runs with it: the entire premise of the film revolves around showing us what the war looks like from the perspective of average Rebel soldiers, like the unnamed spies who stole the Death Star plans and made the events of [[Film/ANewHope the original film]] possible. As the film shows, even the heroic Rebels aren't above using ChildSoldiers, torturing Imperial defectors, and [[ShootTheDog coldly murdering their own informants]] to protect themselves.

* The popular ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' fan theory that the reason Jon's roommate Lyman from the early days of the comic [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome hasn't been seen or referenced in years]], is because he was kidnapped and murdered (quite possibly by Jon himself) has been more-or-less [[AscendedMeme adopted as]] [[AscendedFanon canon]] by Jim Davis and company. When asked where Lyman had gone, Davis frequently responded "Don't look in Jon's basement", and Lyman has shown up twice in the web games "Garfield's Scary Scavenger Hunt" under rather disturbing circumstances: the first one chained to the wall in the basement of a haunted mansion, and the second one with ''his severed head in the oven''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' did this with the concept of [[BigBad Robotnik]] [[UnwillingRoboticisation turning innocent creatures into evil robots]]. The prior video games did not explore the process of roboticization in much depth, other than implying that the animals inside robots worked like organic batteries while ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' sidesteps the issue by having Robotnik build the robots from scratch. ''[=SatAM=]'', on the other hand, thoroughly explores the BodyHorror and loss of identity implicit in the robotic transformations; Uncle Chuck stated that roboticized people [[AndIMustScream actually know what they are doing, but cannot do anything about it]]. Granted Bunnie eventually gets her original organs back in the comics, but the process must have been painfully gruesome.

** SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has many of its major and minor plot points based on the Fridge Horror of what if the special talents exhibited by the main characters became widely used. Ty Lee's [[SheFu chi-blocking]] is the main combat form of [[FantasticRacism anti-bender]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist terrorists]], [[spoiler:two major villains]] can Bloodbend, and [[BigBad Amon]] plans to rid the world of benders via [[spoiler: a combination of the two.]]

** The very first episode of the anime deals with this as well. It also deals with how well a ten-year-old would cope on their own while on the kind of journey that trainers face.