History Main / SacrificialPlanet

* The final arc of Creator/JohnByrne's ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' run involves Kryptonian villains from a "pocket reality" stripping its Earth bare of all life and even destroying its atmosphere as a show of power and then threatening to come to the "real" Earth and do the same.

* In ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', Earth-3 is destroyed in the opening pages to establish the threat, and [[SerialEscalation that's just the beginning; by the end, all but one of the infinite parallel universes has been wiped out.]]

** [[FridgeLogic Apparently no one mentioned to Roald Dahl that Venus's atmosphere is a lot thicker than ours, which was already known at the time]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' "Dial M for Monkey" shorts Rasslor, the universe's greatest wrestler goes searching for worthy opponents on inhabited planets. If no one can beat him he destroys the planet.

** The short is a spoof of ''Marvel Two-In-One Annual'' #7, where the Champion of the Universe makes the very same threat to Earth's heroes.

Yes, [[PlutoIsExpendable a certain former planet]] qualifies for this trope as well. It's in our solar system, it counts. Compare DoomedHometown and ThroawayCountry.

Yes, [[PlutoIsExpendable a certain former planet]] qualifies for this trope as well. It's in our solar system, it counts. Compare DoomedHometown.

** Also done multiple times in the first few episodes of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' to show how dangerous Beerus is.

* ''ComicBook/OurWorldsAtWar'' had [[UpToEleven sacrificial galaxies]] being shown to have been destroyed by Imperiex.

* The Showa-era ''Franchise/Godzilla'' villain, King Ghidorah, was said to have wiped out all life on many planets, including Venus.

** ''Comicbook/Countdown'' had Superboy Prime traveling to various alternate realities and destroying their Earths due to all of them not matching the perfect Earth he wished for.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Film]]

** ''Film/ANewHope'': Alderaan is destroyed to demonstrate how evil the Empire is and the powers granted to them by the Death Star at full power.

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Toys]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

* The titular PlanetEater in ''Manga/{{Remina}}'' announces its presence by eating all the planets in the Solar System. It then proceeds to do the same to Earth.

* The ''ComicBook/Negation'' was shown to invade and destroy many planets, including one similar to modern Earth, after defeating and killing its super-powered, cape wearing protector (who was [[CaptainErsatz definitely not]] ''ComicBook/Superman''.

* In ''VideoGame/TheClueFinders: Mystery of the Missing Amulet'', the game's eponymous MacGuffin, the Amulet of Life, was responsible for completely reducing the planet Millenia into a dying wasteland. At the end of the game, the evil sorceress Malicia says that once she finishes off Millenia with the Amulet, she's going to drain life from the Cluefinders' home planet, Earth, next.

* The titular PlanetEater in ''Manga/HellstarRemina'' announces its presence by eating all the planets in the Solar System. It then proceeds to do the same to Earth.

* In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', Mysterio travels to the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' to save it from the elementals that destroyed his Earth. [[spoiler:This is all a lie.]]

* In ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'', after the Surfer inadvertently interrupts Richard and Sue's wedding and nearly causes a helicopter crash, Richard discovers energy signatures in the cosmos matching the Surfer that correlate to destroyed planets.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/ANewHope https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_destruction_of_alderaan.png]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/ANewHope https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/destructionofalderaan.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:I have chosen to test this station's destructive power on your home planet of Alderaan.]]

** In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', [[spoiler:the resurrected Emperor Palpatine]] reveals a fleet of Star Destroyers, each armed with a miniature planet-shattering weapon. The first world to be destroyed is Kijimi.

** Inverted in ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' where Whis demonstrates his ability to rewind time to save a moon that Beerus destroys during a tantrum. {{Foreshadowing}} what he'll do when Freiza destroys Earth later on.

* ''Film/StarTrek2009'' shows the planet Vulcan being destroyed by the villain, and then heading for Earth to repeat the process.

* In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', Mysterio travels to the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' to save it from the elementals that destroyed his Earth. [[spoiler:This is all a lie.]]

** Inverted in ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' where Who's demonstrates his ability to rewind time to save a moon that Beerus destroys during a tantrum. {{Foreshadowing}} what he'll do when Freiza destroys Earth later on.