History Main / DoingInTheWizard

** To a lesser degree also her ''Avalon'' books and ''Firebrand'' (they have some magic and some elements explained by more mundane factors).

%%* Justified and inverted ''at the same time'' in Creator/GKChesterton's ''Literature/FatherBrown'' short stories. At first, something supernatural seems to be going on; in the end, the "ghost-story" phenomena turn out to be this-worldly. However, Chesterton then follows up with a double twist: the crime had a supernatural cause after all, one far more dreadful than any ghost... i.e., the terrible mysteries of the human heart. (EDIT: Please explain)

* Interesting variation in the ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series. Magic exists in this world, but it has clear and researched rules and is treated as a mundane natural force - listed alongside nuclear and electromagnetic forces. The Incarnations themselves - Death, Time, War, Fate, Nature and even God and Satan - ''do'' use very strong supernatural powers, but they themselves are not really supernatural entities but normal people filling an office, and the powers are derived from that role.
* Creator/StephenKing has ''Literature/GeraldsGame'', which featured a superfluous last chapter that establishes that everything had a rational explanation. Not the usual from King, but that may have been the point.
* The online novel ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'' has malevolent living shadows, demons, and ghosts, all [[spoiler:actually the product of hostile extradimensional biotechnology]]. This gets subverted in the sequel. A Man In Black shows up, and, among other things, he can turn invisible and "sit" in midair as if in an invisible chair. The invisibility trick is just that--it takes years of practice, but there's nothing supernatural about it. The invisible chair? That's magic.
* In ''Literature/TheLastIllusion'', a short segment noted that [[OccultDetective Harry D'amour]] was haunted by the rape and murder of his friend Father Hesse by the "Lazy Susan Demon" during the attempted exorcism of Mimi Lomax. This led to Harry going hard Christian with much of his body tattooed with religious motifs as a means of protection against the supernatural. When Harry went through the events of ''Everville'', he learned that the "Lazy Susan Demon" isn't some Biblical devil out of hell. It was just a creepy pervert from the Quiddity world and nothing special. After learning the "demon" had returned to the old Lomax house, Harry gets into a fistfight with the monster and slaughters it with a FinishingStomp. Harry still lives in a supernatural-haunted world complete with Hell and all, it's just that "Lazy Susan Demon" was little more than an animated puddle of poop from another world and not some Prince of Darkness.

* ''Literature/SeventeenAndGone'' eventually reveals that [[spoiler:all the paranormal elements are the products of schizophrenic hallucinations and aren't actually real]].

* Played with in Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/SpellMyNameWithAnS": Dr Zebatinsky goes to a numerologist, someone who can [[FortuneTeller predict people's personal futures by using numbers]]. The numerologist insists that he's not using pseudo-magical techniques, but following [[PrescienceByAnalysis statistical analysis to predict the future]]. Then it turns that [[spoiler:the numerologist [[HumanDisguise isn't human]], but an {{Energy Being|s}} trying to prove that it can manipulate global events on Earth with minor efforts.]]
* [[Creator/JulesVerne Jules Verne]]'s ''The Sphinx of the Ice'' (a.k.a. ''An Antarctic Mystery'') is a sequel to [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Poe]]'s ''[[Literature/TheNarrativeOfArthurGordonPymOfNantucket Arthur Gordon Pym]]''. In it, Verne attempts to explain the earlier novel's bizarre, mystical elements with some (fairly implausible) physical science.
* The ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novel ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'' lampshaded this trope in-universe with respect to the midi-chlorians. The titular Sith Lord was a materialist that sought to explain the Force through rational means as opposed to the mystic reverence the Jedi bestow to it. With this knowledge, Plagueis attempted to manipulate the midi-chlorians to create a living being that would serve the Sith. However, the trope is ultimately subverted as it turned out the Force had a mind of its own and rebelled by creating [[TheChosenOne Anakin]] instead.

* ''Literature/TitusCrow'' by Creator/BrianLumley: Titus Crow and Henri decide that all magic in the world is actually just PsychicPowers and misunderstood Elder God science.

* ''Literature/WarlockOfGramarye'': ''Literature/TheWarlockInSpiteOfHimself'' has the "[[MageSpecies witches and warlocks]]" of the LostColony of Gramarye revealed as having inheritable mutations that give them PsychicPowers. Until the fourth or fifth book, when it is revealed that the main character is an actual magic user, not a psychic. Except that it's then (later in the same book) revealed that he is a psychic. The reason he can use 'actual magic' earlier in the book is that he's been transported to an alternate universe where there is actual magic. Once he gets back home, he can't do magic, but he keeps the psychic powers that he's now unlocked. (Hence the title of this book - ''The Warlock Unlocked''.)
* In the ''Literature/{{Wolves of Mercy Falls|Series}}'' series, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent lycanthropy]] is a disease that causes people to transform into wolves when the temperature drops. While curable through mundane means, it is still treated as supernatural and unexplainable. In the second book ''Linger'', a scientifically-minded werewolf puts his blood under a microscope and determines that lycanthropy has a physical, if somewhat pseudoscientific, cause. Werewolves transform as an immune response to a toxin spread by bites, and such transformations are more affected by brain chemistry than the actual temperature and can be induced with drugs.

* The climax of ''VideoGame/DeathEndReQuest'' introduces the Observers, a divine group that can rewrite reality using a primative language. The Observer that Arata interacts with explains their powers in programming terms and compares their role to that of a "debugger", since Arata is a professional coder and is thus familiar with these concepts. ''Death end re;Quest 2'' reveals [[spoiler:that said Observer was ''not'' being metaphorical: Arata's world is one of many virtual worlds created as a potential escape for the people of a hellish dystopia, while the Observers are actually prisoners forced to maintain these worlds under the threat of televised execution. All of the supernatural things that Arata encounters are in fact glitches in his reality]].

* With the Characters/ScarletWitch, the PowersThatBe have forever been going back and forth on whether she's a literal witch or not. It's mutant probability-altering power! It's "Chaos Magic!" [[ArmedWithCanon It's both! No, it's not! And on and on and on.]]

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheStrangeRevengeOfLenaLuthor''. Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}}'s friend Lena believes she has developed new psychic powers when stuff start randomly floating and exploding around her home. It turns out that a criminal gang was using high-tech devices to gaslight her into believing she has out-of-control telekinesis.

* Cryptozoologists occasionally come up with more natural explanations for [[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious the creatures they're seeking]]. The Thunderbird, for example, is often thought of as simply a large, undiscovered bird of prey, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratornithidae or an extinct one,]] rather than a titanic, lightning-shooting weather spirit. Likewise, the {{Kraken|AndLeviathan}} is thought to have been an exaggeration of sightings of giant squids, which were thought to be mythical themselves until the body of one was actually recovered.[[note]] Nevertheless, Cryptozoology is still a pseudoscience that ignores evidence to reach a preconceived conclusion, hence why cryptozoologists are neither liked by zoologists nor by folklorists. Cryptozoologists obviously reject the most mundane explanations (that mythical creatures are just that, myths, but also, that stories about animals can pass from a human group to another, without the second necessarily living in the same area as the animal). They might discuss the possibility of being based on garbled accounts of more common, living animals or meteorological phenomena, but they'll usually do it briefly before brushing them aside. Thus, for cryptozoologists the BigfootSasquatchAndYeti will always be large, bipedal apes, and never bears. It doesn't matter how common bears are in the creatures' supposed territory, how many times their tracks and hair turns out to belong to bears, or that the pre-European Tibetan images of yetis have bear-like snouts, fangs, and claws. Likewise, almost no cryptozoologist's description of the Mokele-Mbembe will include the nose horn (or "tooth") it had according to the first recorded description, because it conjures a rhinoceros over a surviving sauropod (even though the discovery of a hitherto unknown one-horned jungle rhino in the Congo basin would also be revolutionary).[[/note]]

* The final stretch of ''VisualNovel/RagingLoop'' involves main character Haruaki making some truly amazing leaps of logic to explain away the supernatural events during earlier runs of the Feast as entirely grounded in real-world logic and entirely man-made phenomena [[labelnote:For example...]]Humans rotting away in front of his eyes for breaking the rules of the feast? Rabies! Every participant in the Feast except the wolves fall uncontrollably asleep every night, and all the doors lock except the first one the wolves open every night? TheConspiracy connected every house in the town to a gas tank full of an odourless and invisible sedative that somehow makes everyone fall asleep every night perfectly [[OneDoseFitsAll despite the extreme differences in weight, age and physical condition of every villager]]) and put invisible electronic locks on everything! Killer werewolf with glowing red eyes who repeatedly kills Haruaki and Chiemi over dozens if not hundreds of time loops? A 95-year old man in a costume!.. And so on[[/labelnote]], and somehow ''being right every time''. This despite other aspects, like the setting's central conceit of a time loop and the sheep that allows Haruaki to keep his memories when looping, being clearly supernatural and never explained away. [[spoiler:It's implied Haruaki might actually have a superpower that turns his ArbitrarySkepticism into reality, and the entire setting and its looping is due to it being a dream created by a powerful RealityWarper. Given that both said dreamer and the sheep are personally fond of Haruaki, it's possible their interference somehow {{retcon}}ned the supernatural events away during his final loops, just to prove him right.]]

** Unicron is revealed to be a doomsday device created an ancient alien race threatened by Cybertronian expansion rather than being the archenemy of Primus and the "devil" equivalent to Cybertron.

** Oddly this universe avoids the "built by Quintessons" origin and never provides any concrete explanation for where the Transformers came from.

* Some of Creator/DeanKoontz's works prefer to settle for a paranormal solution over a supernatural one, and ''The Servants of Twilight'' is a particularly heavy-handed example. The main character's son is pursued by the followers of a religious fanatic throughout, who's had visions that paint the child as TheAntiChrist. In the final confrontation, [[spoiler:the fanatic is attacked and killed by a horde of bats]], and this, along with other strange occurrences, lead the mother to think her kid might really ''be'' the Anti-Christ. And that's when the fanatic's top mook -- who has been mostly silent throughout and shown no signs of higher thinking -- goes into a two-page explanation about how the two characters were most likely psychic and picking up on one another, before walking out of the book entirely.

* ''VideoGame/GreedFall'': The Naut's aquatic dominance is attributed to nature magic on par with that of the islanders. [[spoiler:The truth is that they just have better navigation equipment that they're not allowed to share]].

** In ''Series/CloakAndDagger'', D'Spayre is changed from an outright demon to a man who was granted powers after being exposed to the Darkforce and Lightforce energies Roxxon had been researching.

* ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'s original origin story stated that he got SuperSenses that [[DisabilitySuperpower compensated for the loss of his sight]] after [[RadiationInducedSuperpowers getting radioactive waste in his eyes]]. Realizing [[DiscreditedTrope the implausibility of getting superpowers from radioactive waste]], many later writers have suggested that his enhanced hearing and sense of touch are just the result of years of training under his sensei Stick, which he underwent as a way of coping with his blindness. [[ArmedWithCanon This would be further overturned]] by an arc where Bullseye schemed to track down this same radioactive waste and refine it into a serum that grants the same level of enhanced senses while also allowing the retention of sight.
* General comic book example: when Creator/{{DC|Comics}} jump-started UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} by reinventing a number of their once-popular characters, they tended to replace mystical origin stories with scientific ones. For instance, the new Franchise/GreenLantern got his powers from being a {{space police}}man with an advanced technological weapon, rather than finding a magical lantern. This is probably largely because of the influence of Editor in Chief Julius Schwartz, who was also a major editor in the field of prose science fiction.

* With the ComicBook/ScarletWitch, the PowersThatBe have forever been going back and forth on whether she's a literal witch or not. It's mutant probability-altering power! It's "Chaos Magic!" [[ArmedWithCanon It's both! No, it's not! And on and on and on.]]

* Subverted in ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheStrangeRevengeOfLenaLuthor''. ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s friend Lena believes she has developed new psychic powers when stuff start randomly floating and exploding around her home. It turns out that a criminal gang was using high-tech devices to gaslight her into believing she has out-of-control telekinesis.

** The mainstream version of ComicBook/BlackKnight is a mystical knight with an enchanted sword from the time of King Arthur. The Ultimate Black Knight is a quadriplegic {{Cyborg}} with ArtificialLimbs and a suit of PoweredArmor.
** ComicBook/{{Valkyrie|Marvel Comics}} from ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' started off this way (she was just a Thor {{Fangirl}} rather than an actual Norse deity), but ended up being given magical powers by Loki.

* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'': Although the xenomorph was always described in scientific terms, in its original, definitive appearances it was portrayed as a malevolent, Lovecraftian entity. An infection from beyond the stars that defies human comprehension--something completely ''[[TitleDrop alien]]'' to human sensibilities and sensitivities. It appears mysteriously on a derelict spaceship with no explanation and no backstory, and it exists only to spread and cover the universe in secreted resin, like a biological GreyGoo apocalypse. Flash-forward to ''Prometheus'' and ''Covenant'', and it's retconned that [[spoiler:a crazy robot with a god complex caused by his daddy issues took bits of animal [=DNA=] and glued them together with black goo created as a bioweapon by nine foot tall blue people who want to kill humanity because we executed their comrade, Jesus Christ. And no, that's not a cry of exasperation; according to the director himself, Jesus Christ was part of the alien race that created the xenomorphs. Not only do they do in the wizard, they do in the Messiah too!]]

** Instead of being a single man who uses Lazarus Pits to extend his life, ComicBook/RasAlGhul is but the latest successor in the long line of leaders of the League of Shadows, all calling themselves Ra's al-Ghul, and any fantastic abilities are chalked up to a hallucinogenic flower.
** ComicBook/TheJoker is given a MysteriousPast instead of having him becoming discolored and insane after being dropped in a vat of chemicals. His white face and green hair is very obviously makeup, and one scene shows him without them. His perpetual smile are two crude scars on his cheeks.
** Instead of pumping him with the SuperSerum "Venom", ComicBook/{{Bane}}'s mask pumps him with unspecified painkillers, and his strength presumably derives from TrainingFromHell only. He is also implied to have been raised in a brutal foreign prison like his comic counterpart, but this origin is then attributed to [[spoiler:[[Characters/BatmanTaliaAlGhul Talia al-Ghul]]]], and Bane's own is rendered a mystery.

* Not a single one of Film/{{the|FantasticFour}} [[Film/FantasticFour2005 three]] [[Film/FantasticFour2015 attempts]] at making a ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' film franchise have included ComicBook/DoctorDoom's sorcery abilities, instead always opting to make his powers a side effect of the scientific accident that disfigured his face.

** Somewhat averted or muddied with ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. It would appear the average Asgardian is a long lived mortal. But Odin, Thor, and Hela are something else entirely. ComicBook/{{Loki}} is explicitly said be a magic practitioner. His illusions are not tech, but rather, a magic spell he learned from his adoptive mother Frigga. Meanwhile, despite prior indications that Asgard existed in another dimension, the movie reveals that it's actually possible to reach it by spaceship.

* Jon Peters' infamous failed attempt at a new ComicBook/{{Superman}} movie in TheNineties included [[ExecutiveMeddling his request]] that Superman shouldn't fly, but use an invisible vehicle, and that he should get his powers from his suit rather than from being an alien from planet Krypton.

* In ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', TheJuggernaut never has his origin given, and is at least believed by the populace to be just another mutant. In the comics, he gets his powers and armor from a mystical gem. The Phoenix is just ComicBook/JeanGrey's [[SplitPersonality alternate personality]], rather than a god-like cosmic entity (this was actually the [[OlderThanTheyThink original comic version]], before the Phoenix was {{retcon}}ned into being a creature from space).

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings,'' Galadriél states she never quite knows what mortals mean by "magic," since people tend to use it both for her abilities and the "deceptions of the enemy." Elf-magic (and by extension, wizard magic) is more like [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology sufficiently-advanced science]] the elves learn over the course of their aeon-long lifespans, or straight from the Valar (read: Arch-Angels; ie, the guys who ''wrote'' the laws of the universe), if they're old enough (and wizards ARE minor angels). Of course, it's kinda hard to explain "a water-basin type mirror that shows the future" or "[[SoulJar a ring containing the soul of a fallen angel]]" as pure science.

** In the beginning, the show would [[MythologyGag allude]] to superheroes like Franchise/TheFlash, Franchise/{{Superman}}, etc. but WordOfGod said that they planned on keeping the series realistic, taking all superpowers and aliens out of the equation. [[LyingCreator Then that went out on Season 2]], with the introduction of The Flash and finally granting [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}]] his powers.

** Most superpowers are explained as a result of the particle accelerator explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs, [[spoiler:caused by a meta-human from the distant future in an attempt to find a way back]], but that also goes out the window when it's revealed there are metahumans who were nowhere near the explosion, the Lazarus Pit appears in season 3, and the existence of magic is recognized in Season 4 when Comicbook/JohnConstantine shows up. It goes even farther out the window with the addition of ''WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}}'' (magic), ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' (time travel, immortality, reincarnation), and ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'' (aliens are real in another reality) to the Series/ArrowVerse. Oh, and aliens then go ahead and invade Earth-1 anyway.

* While the original ''Series/LifeOnMars2006'' effectively [[DoingInTheScientist did in the Scientist]] by changing the main character's TimeTravel from [[spoiler:AdventuresInComaLand to the Afterlife and retconning Sam and ''Gene Hunt'' of all people as angels/spirit guides]], the [[Series/LifeOnMars2008 American remake]]'s finale did a 180º by revealing that ''both'' Sam's police careers in 1973 and 2008 had been AllJustADream [[spoiler:of an astronaut in hypersleep as he travels for Mars's first manned expedition.]] Even Gene Hunt's name was given an explanation as [[spoiler:the expedition's purpose to ''hunt'' for extraterrestrial ''gene''tic material on Mars' surface.]]

* The final ending of ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' strips away any of the vague religious magic with one final OnceMoreWithClarity sequence; [[spoiler:literally everything is a DyingDream of Isaac's as he suffers a slow, mundane death of asphyxiation in an old chest filled with family mementos. No god, no devil, even his mother trying to kill him after being commanded by God was all in his head]]. ''Repentance'' replaced this with the different, though still totally mundane explanation that [[spoiler:the whole game is just Isaac playing a ''very'' dark game of make-believe, though WordOfGod implies that it's [[AmbiguousSituation not quite that simple]].]]

** To put it simply (which is not easy, since the story of the series is wrapped up in about five layers of meta-narratives): [[spoiler:There is actually not "magic" in the setting. The actual events on Rokkenjima all happened without any supernatural influence and were committed by Yasu, Kyrie and Rudolf. All the Episodes of the visual novel are in-universe fiction written by Yasu (Ep 1-2) and Battler (Ep 3-6), with only the "present time" parts with Ange taking place in reality (unless they also involve magic... it is pretty complicated). Battler's struggle with Beato, the witches and other supernatural entities thorough the episodes is in practice nothing more than a clash between looking for the truth (the mystery perspective, finding the ultimate culprit and their motives) versus surrendering to deception (the fantasy perspective, accepting magic and giving up the search for clues and motives in order to protect oneself from accusing their loved ones). One could even say ''Umineko'' is one gigantic allegory for solving the core mystery, and doing in the different magical characters is about defeating the mysteries/obstacles they embody.]]

* This happens to a lot of the more fantastical elements from ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' once the GenreShift began occurring in "[[WebAnimation/RedVsBlueTheRecollection Reconstruction]]". How are Church and Tex able to come back as ghosts when no one else who dies ever displays that ability? Because they are both [[spoiler:AI programs who are possessing people/robots to give themselves physical bodies in the same way O'Malley/Omega does.]] What is the afterlife that Sarge visits early in season 1 when he is shot by Caboose? [[spoiler:It is the recovery mode installed in all Project Freelancer armor that keeps the body in a lucid dream like state until they are fully healed.]] The strange time jumping shenanigans that Church goes through in season 3? [[spoiler:It is actually a complex torture scenario by Gary/Gamma in order to manipulate the Alpha AI.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'', [[CaptainEthnic Apache Chief]] got his {{Sizeshifter}} powers from stereotypical "[[MagicalNativeAmerican Apache magic]]". In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', he was born with a {{meta|Origin}}gene that activated after he was [[AlienAbduction experimented on by aliens]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', it is stated that ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} was once a biologist who gained superhuman abilities [[ProfessorGuineaPig after being forced to use herself as a test subject when her funding ran out]]. This is in contrast to the comics, where Barbara Minerva's Cheetah was originally an AdventurerArchaeologist who was given superpowers by an African plant/FertilityGod via BloodMagic and HumanSacrifice.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons''

--->'''Farnsworth:''' Just as I suspected. These robots were buried in improperly shielded coffins. Their programming leaked into the castle's wiring through this old, abandoned modem, allowing them to project themselves as holograms.\\

Compare and contrast with HowUnscientific, as well as UnscientificScience (where the "scientific" explanation is just as nonsensical as the magical one, or even moreso). See also SufficientlyAdvancedAlien, TheMagicGoesAway, MagicVersusScience, and MaybeMagicMaybeMundane. Also compare ClarkesThirdLaw, which explains how the unexperienced could see technology and science as a form of magic. May overlap with AllJustADream, ThroughTheEyesOfMadness, and LotusEaterMachine, if used to reveal that the removed supernatural only existed in a character's mind; and ScoobyDooHoax and TheMasquerade, if it is revealed that the supernatural never existed but was faked by someone, or some group working to some end. Contrast MagicAIsMagicA and TheMagicComesBack. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] [[BurnTheWitch the execution of magic users,]] or [[ShootTheMageFirst targeting them in combat situations]].

Removing a [[MagicRealism relatively poetic]] or mystical element (or [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane possibility]]) and replacing it by way of {{retcon}} with a more "realistic" one, in a {{revision}}, sequel or [[AdaptationalMundanity other adaptation]], or occasionally even just later in the same story. This is pretty common in a fantasy-to-SciFi situation, probably because the two aren't too different in the outcome produced -- [[JustForFun/ScifiCounterpart a magical invisibility ring vs. a technological cloaking device]] are [[MagicFromTechnology functionally the same]].

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/GhostbustersIDWComics'': a friend of Egon’s dies in a car crash and TheGrimReaper comes for his soul. Egon, in a laughable effort to make it sound scientific, [[InsistentTerminology insists on calling the Reaper]] “[[ExpoSpeakGag an entity that siphons excess psychic energy from our dimensional plane]]”. It’s quickly noted that that’s just a fancier way of saying Grim Reaper rather than a legitimate “explanation”.

* Officially, ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} is not literally the devil in Marvel's comics; he just gets off on convincing people that he is. Magic is a very real, very prominent force in Marvel stories...sometimes. Depending on the writer and the tone of the series, seemingly magical elements may be written off as fantastic technology and [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]] may in fact be interdimensional aliens...or not. It's all quite confusing, really, but the go-to solution seems to be simply not to worry about it too much. Mephisto is one of several evil extradimensional beings who claim or have claimed to be ''the'' Devil, Satan Merkratang. They all rule their own Hell dimensions, and all claim to be the real deal. Canonicly, they're all liars and know it. The '''real''' Satan hasn't been seen in so long, even in Hell, that many (even among the rulers) don't believe he actually exists. It doesn't mean they're going to take the chance and sit on his empty throne.

* The ''Film/{{Halloween|2007}}'' reboot ignores the idea that Michael is a supernatural being (the result of an ancient curse placed on him by Druid cultists or literally being MadeOfEvil), instead opting to portray him as a very violent, deranged young man searching for his sister. And if the ending of [[Film/HalloweenII2009 the sequel]] is any indication, he [[spoiler:[[KilledOffForReal lacks]] the supernatural JokerImmunity of his pre-reboot counterpart]].

* The entire Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse is essentially an example of this. In the original Marvel comic book continuity (or at least in some iterations of it), some of the superheroes' abilities were left without a plausible scientific explanation, or were outright billed as magic or sorcery (e.g. ComicBook/DoctorStrange, the "Sorcerer Supreme of Earth"). In the MCU by comparison, the tone of the entire continuity is that "everything is explainable by science", even if this is not often stated outright.

* ''Film/{{Quarantine}}'' removes the demonic twist from the ''Film/{{REC}}'' movies by turning TheVirus into a hyper-virulent strain of common rabies that was created by an ApocalypseCult, resulting in the (now TechnicallyLivingZombie version of) infected being much easier to kill.

* ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'' eventually reveals its "{{magic|FromTechnology}}" to be lost, or rather confiscated, [[ClarkesThirdLaw technology]], and its religious mythos to be a front for {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s playing puppetmaster behind the scenes.

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'' has explanations all over the place, to justify it being ScienceFantasy. Humans can use magic? That's because they’re descended from a {{Transhuman}} offshoot of mankind. Fantasy monsters? They’re OrganicTechnology AmbiguousRobots that are built out of particles that polluted the environment during HostileTerraforming. A WorldTree grants PowerTattoo to people? It consumes those particles like normal trees do carbon dioxide, to fuel the granting of powers, being the result of an experiment to {{Terraform}} the planet back to a liveable state.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', Bill accidentally turns himself into a Pokemon using a machine. In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime, he instead was stuck in a Pokémon costume.

** In the comics, Harvey Dent became Two-Face after mob boss Sal Maroni threw acid at him during his trial. In the movie, an unnamed henchman of Maroni tries to shoot Dent during Maroni's trial, but Dent disarms him. Instead he is disfigured later by being dosed on fuel and set on fire by the Joker, and loses his sanity due to a combination of the Joker killing his fiancée and his own refusal to take painkillers.

* ''Film/Godzilla1998'' tries to make the monster more realistic by dialing it back from the 100 meters height of the Toho Heisei era to "only" 50 meters ([[OlderThanTheyThink still double]] than the original from the Toho Showa era, however), giving it a body plan similar to a theropod dinosaur instead of a [[PeopleInRubberSuits man in a rubber suit]], changing its origin from an ancient monster awoken by an atomic blast to an iguana mutated by an atomic blast, making its attack on a city the actions of a NonMaliciousMonster migrating to [[MonsterIsAMommy lay its eggs]], and taking out its '[[DinosaursAreDragons atomic breath]]' ability altogether (unless you consider its roar being able to send cars flying a down-to-Earth allusion to it).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** Parodied in [[Recap/FuturamaS2E18TheHonking "The Honking"]], when Professor Farnsworth offers a "mundane" explanation for the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot ghosts]] encountered by the gang previously in the episode (''human'' ghosts are said to have [[NoodleIncident died out]] in the early 2800s).

** Note that it is a RunningGag in ''Futurama'' to adapt supernatural {{Twice Told Tale}}s with robots, making them a unique mix of {{Demythification}} and in-universe {{Defictionalization}} of mythical creatures.

* Other than a few names and the recreation of [[spoiler:Bruce Wayne's parents' deaths]], ''Film/{{Joker}}'' has little in common with the Batman mythos, depicting the Joker's origin as a failed '80s stage comedian with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudobulbar_affect pseudobulbar affect]], a medical condition that makes him laugh incontrollably when he gets upset. Superpowers and high tech vigilantism are completely absent from the story.

* ''Film/TheVillage'' is a movie about a 19th-century community living in fear of some terrific monsters lurking in the surrounding woods, until the MandatoryTwistEnding reveals that [[spoiler:the movie is actually set in the present day and the Village's "elders" founded the community in order to flee from the depravities of the modern world, faking the monsters to keep their children from leaving the community.]] This was a subversion of Creator/MNightShyamalan's formula in previous films (''Film/TheSixthSense'', ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'', ''Film/{{Signs}}''), all of which had a twist ending that hinged on a supernatural element, but didn't invalidate it.

** Most superpowers are explained as a result of the particle accelerator explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs ([[spoiler:caused by a meta-human from the distant future in an attempt to find a way back]]), but that also goes out the window when it's revealed there are metahumans who were nowhere near the explosion, the Lazarus Pit appears in season 3, and the existence of magic is recognized in Season 4 when Comicbook/JohnConstantine shows up. It goes even farther out the window with the addition of ''WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}}'' (magic), ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' (time travel, immortality, reincarnation), and ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'' (aliens are real in another reality) to the Series/ArrowVerse. Oh, and aliens then go ahead and invade Earth-1 anyway.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonBallZKakarot'', Bulma explains that all of the {{Funny Animal}}s like [[OneWorldOrder King Furry]] [[WasOnceAMan used to be human]] but turned into animals using a FantasticDrug called Animorphaline. However it's PlayedWith by the fact that it was manufactured by a company called "Magical Pharmaceuticals".

* ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'' starts off using the word "[[CallARabbitASmeerp Lux]]" as just the Racconans' technical term for their medieval-era world's ''Force Magic'' version of FunctionalMagic, complete with constant uses of terms like "spells," "magic," and "wizard." After over a hundred pages of this, the fundamentalist Christian author devoted a [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00105.html text-heavy side arc]] to explaining that the force that looked like magic, acted like magic, sparkled like magic, was treated like magic, and was frequently ''called'' magic wasn't ''really'' magic. [[http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00426.html Another side arc]], much later in the comic's run, went further and showed the [[DownerEnding tragic consequences]] of Racconans referring to their magic-like powers as magic, implying that they weren't even going to use magic-related terminology anymore.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness In the first season]], not only are Gems are repeatedly referred to and treated as being magical beings by other characters, but even Pearl herself calls their powers "magic" in "Lars And The Cool Kids". Season 2 onwards quickly establishes that Gems are aliens, with all the magic now having sci-fi explanations behind them.

* Cryptozoologists occasionally come up with more natural explanations for [[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious the creatures they're seeking]]. The Thunderbird, for example, is often thought of as simply a large, undiscovered bird of prey, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratornithidae or an extinct one]], rather than a titanic, lightning-shooting weather spirit. Likewise, the {{Kraken|AndLeviathan}} is thought to have been an exaggeration of sightings of giant squids, which were thought to be mythical themselves until the body of one was actually recovered.[[note]] Nevertheless, Cryptozoology is still a pseudoscience that ignores evidence to reach a preconceived conclusion, hence why cryptozoologists are neither liked by zoologists nor by folklorists. Cryptozoologists obviously reject the most mundane explanations (that mythical creatures are just that, myths, but also, that stories about animals can pass from a human group to another, without the second necessarily living in the same area as the animal). They might discuss the possibility of being based on garbled accounts of more common, living animals or meteorological phenomena, but they'll usually do it briefly before brushing them aside. Thus, for cryptozoologists the BigfootSasquatchAndYeti will always be large, bipedal apes, and never bears. It doesn't matter how common bears are in the creatures' supposed territory, how many times their tracks and hair turns out to belong to bears, or that the pre-European Tibetan images of yetis have bear-like snouts, fangs, and claws. Likewise, almost no cryptozoologist's description of the Mokele-Mbembe will include the nose horn (or "tooth") it had according to the first recorded description, because it conjures a rhinoceros over a surviving sauropod (even though the discovery of a hitherto unknown one-horned jungle rhino in the Congo basin would also be revolutionary).[[/note]]

** Also, it was made clear that ships have been mysteriously disappearing in the Florian Triangle since long before Thriller Bark. At the end of the Arc in the anime as the Straw Hats are leaving the now-abandoned Thriller Bark a ''colossal'' shadow monster is seen watching their departure and looming over the island-ship, and [[NothingIsScarier has never been explained or mentioned again]].
** To date, there is exactly ''one'' supernatural occurrence that has not been given a logical or scientific explanation in-universe: The Klabautermann. It's described as a spirit that is attracted to a well-loved ship, such as the Straw Hats' ''Going Merry'', manifesting when a ship nears the ends of its life. It's used to explain how the ''Merry'' was mysteriously repaired overnight during the Skypeia arc, but no explanation is given for the spirit itself beyond the legend.
** Though it hasn't been talked about directly, Dr. Vegapunk, an ''extremely'' good scientist responsible for most of the world's technological revolutions apparently knows what Devil Fruits ''really'' are. The only thing close to an explanation so far is the myth giving the Devil fruits their name; being fruits of the Sea Devil, eating one will earn you the hatred of the sea itself, hence the [[SuperDrowningSkills inability to swim]]. As Vegapunk is almost certainly a man of science (it was his discovery that allowed weapons to "eat" devil fruits) it means that he probably knows the scientific reason behind how the fruits affect the eater's body. [[spoiler: Ultimately though, this is Averted and the Wizard sticks around. Vegapunk ''does'' know what Devil Fruits are, and it turns out they're the manifestation of people's impossible dreams given a form that makes them possible, something that there's no way for science to explain away.]]

* Pseudoscience is arguably a straighter example than regular science. Pseudoscience's only goal is to come up for an explanation for something that sounds more plausible to the modern ear than sorcery-whether its ''right'' is not a consideration.