History Main / DoomsdayClock

[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doomsday-clock.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at its lowest (1953), it was 2 minutes. As of January 2018, the clock once again stands at two minutes until midnight.]]

->''"Please don't stop it's lonely at the top''
->''These lonely days when will they ever stop?''
->''This doomsday clock ticking in my heart"''

* ''Film/JusticeLeague''.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Doomsday Clock}}'' by DC Comics. Enough said.

* "Particle Man" by Music/TheyMightBeGiants doesn't mention doomsday, but it does say that Universe Man has a watch that seems to measure the age of the universe. ("He’s got a watch with a minute hand, a millennium hand, and an eon hand".)

->''"And WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve tell me where ya gonna be?''\\
''Cleaning up the mess we've made or watching your TV?"''
-->-- '''Music/BillyTalent''', ''Turn Your Back''

* The second to last episode of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' season 5 is called "Two Minutes to Midnight". "Midnight" in this case referring to the rise of Lucifer on earth, who did show up in the last episode of season 5.

[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at its lowest (1953), it was 2 minutes. As of January 2018, the clock stands at two minutes until midnight.]]

[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at its lowest (1953), it was 2 minutes. As of January 2017, the clock stands at two and a half minutes until midnight.]]

-->-- '''BillyTalent''', ''Turn Your Back''

** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E7ThePyramidAtTheEndOfTheWorld The Pyramid at the End of the World]]'', every clock on earth displays the doomsday time, beginning at three minutes to midnight and advancing throughout the episode as the event that threatens to wipe out all life on earth unfolds. The closest the clock gets to midnight is 11:59:40.

** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E7ThePyramidAtTheEndOfTheWorld The Pyramid at the End of the World]]'', every clock on earth displays the doomsday time, beginning at 3 minutes to midnight and advancing throughout the episode as the event that threatens to wipe out all life on earth unfolds. The closest the clock gets to midnight is 11:59:40.

[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at its lowest (1953), it was 2 minutes. As of January 2015, the clock stands at three minutes until midnight.]]

* In Creator/PiersAnthony's novel ''[[Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality Wielding a Red Sword]]'', the Incarnation of War can use the DoomsdayClock to bring about WorldWarIII.

The ''[[http://www.thebulletin.org/ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' at the University of Chicago actually keep one as a prop... of DOOM! When it was originally introduced [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar in 1947]] the clock symbolized how close the world was to nuclear war, with the metaphor supporting it being: talks have broken down, and once midnight hits, the attacks start. [[DespairEventHorizon And we are all DOOMED]]. Since [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the fall of the Iron Curtain]], the original metaphor is (supposedly) obsolete, and it was expanded to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophic destruction]] of any sort, provided it's on a global scale. The ''Bulletin'''s website specifically mentions GlobalWarming and [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke bioengineering]] as possible causes of [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom DOOM]] in addition to nuclear war; however, given they can never go a year without also mentioning "global nuclear weapons modernizations" it's largely believed that the simple ''existence'' of nukes remains a big AuthorTract for the Bulletin.

The ''[[http://www.thebulletin.org/ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' at the University of Chicago actually keep one as a prop... of DOOM! When it was originally introduced [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar in 1947]] the clock symbolized how close the world was to nuclear war, with the metaphor supporting it being: talks have broken down, and once midnight hits, the attacks start. [[DespairEventHorizon And we are all DOOMED]]. Since [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the fall of the Iron Curtain]], the original metaphor is (mostly) obsolete, and it was expanded to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophic destruction]] of any sort, provided it's on a global scale. The ''Bulletin'''s website specifically mentions GlobalWarming and [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke bioengineering]] as possible causes of [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom DOOM]] in addition to nuclear war.

* ''The Call Up'' by TheClash has the lyric "55 minutes past eleven''.
* Likewise, ''Turn Your Back'' by BillyTalent has the lyric "When the clock strikes twelve, tell me where ya gonna be?" at the beginning. The entire song makes reference to disasters occurring and hoping the world can change.

* "Particle Man" by TheyMightBeGiants doesn't mention doomsday, but it does say that Universe Man has a watch that seems to measure the age of the universe. ("He’s got a watch with a minute hand, a millennium hand, and an eon hand".)

* While not an exact representation, RiseOfNations has an example clearly based on the Doomsday Clock. When a player researches nuclear weapons, a counter appears on his HUD. Every time ''any'' player uses a nuke, it goes down by 1. If it reaches zero, the game ends with everyone losing as the clock strikes midnight.

* ''LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' features this as a central theme of the game, but plays with it: Regardless of what happens, Nova Chrysalia ''will'' be destroyed no matter what you do as the player. The clock signifies that you have thirteen [[spoiler:(or, if you play ''really'' well, fourteen)]] twenty-four hour days left in to ensure that said world and all of the people living on it are [[RestartTheWorld reborn]]. If you accomplish the tasks at hand, the world will renew itself.

* In KimStanleyRobinson's ''[[ThreeCaliforniasTrilogy The Gold Coast]]'', where it's about 2050 AD and the UsefulNotes/ColdWar is still going on, one character mentions that the Doomsday Clock has been set at three seconds to midnight for several decades.

* One episode of ''AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' featured a DoomsdayClock built by an evil sorcerer, which would actually destroy the world if it ever struck twelve - unless, of course, it was destroyed first.

* In Creator/PiersAnthony's novel ''[[IncarnationsOfImmortality Wielding a Red Sword]]'', the Incarnation of War can use the DoomsdayClock to bring about WorldWarIII.

The ''[[http://www.thebulletin.org/ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' at the University of Chicago actually keep one as a prop... of DOOM! When it was originally introduced [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar in 1947]] the clock symbolized how close the world was to nuclear war, with the metaphor supporting it being: talks have broken down, and once midnight hits, the attacks start. [[DespairEventHorizon And we are all DOOMED]]. Since [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the fall of the Iron Curtain]], the original metaphor is (mostly) obsolete, and it was expanded to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophic destruction]] of any sort, provided it's on a global scale. The ''Bulletin'''s website specifically mentions GlobalWarming and [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke bioengineering]] as possible causes of DOOM in addition to nuclear war.

* In PiersAnthony's novel ''[[IncarnationsOfImmortality Wielding a Red Sword]]'', the Incarnation of War can use the DoomsdayClock to bring about WorldWarIII.

* MusicLinkinPark's album ''Minutes to Midnight''. The music video for ''Shadow of the Day'' from the same album also makes reference to the clock with 11:55 appearing at the beginning.

* ''4 Minutes (To Save the World)'' by {{Madonna}}.

[[caption-width-right:298:At its highest point (1991), it was 17 minutes to midnight; at its lowest (1953), it was 2 minutes. As of January 2012, the clock stands at five minutes until midnight.]]