History Main / TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed

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** The setting has ''at least'' one planet-ending apocalypse per year (the Hellmouth alone was almost opened on three separate occasions), as well as one ''reality-ending'' apocalypse, along with endless armies of vampires, demons and the forces of darkness maiming and slaughtering and generally being not very nice. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in numerous episodes, to the point that characters [[CollectiveGroan collectively groan]] "[[OhNoNotAgain AGAIN?!]]" when Giles mentions it the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E11Doomed Doomed]]". One episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' even has Spike and Angel arguing over who ''saved the world more'':

[[folder:Card Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
** Dominaria is a planet that had so many magical near-apocalyptic experiences (five at last count) that it had a ''near-apocalypse caused by having had too many near-apocalypses''. Seriously, the place was starting to fall apart.
** When the game stopped focusing primarily on Dominaria and started showcasing a different world each year, every world visited would have a near-apocalypse... which were all later revealed to be ''[[ArcWelding indirectly caused by Dominaria's latest near-apocalypse!]]''
** The Innistrad block is primarily about humans trying to survive in a world full of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. One character in particular, the Planeswalker Sorin Markov, is vampire lord trying to keep humanity from dying out. Because if the humans go, the vampires will have nothing left to eat. Even so, the other vampires aren't too happy with him.
*** Specifically, it's managed to push back world-ending catastrophes at least ''three times'' in the years it was introduced (monsters run amok, [[EldritchAbomination Eldrazi]] invasion, and eternal night). When New Phyrexia got around to invading the entire multiverse, Innistrad was one of the better-prepared planes.
--->'''[[https://scryfall.com/card/moc/29/dance-with-calamity Dance With Calamity]]''': ''It was just another day on Innistrad.''
** [[BigBad Nicol Bolas]], who incidentally is ''responsible'' for at least one of the near-apocalypses, boasts to Ajani that he's "survived more apocalypses than you have ''chest colds''."
[[/folder]]

* In one ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story, most residents of an apartment building gather on the roof to watch a potentially cataclysmic battle - except for one kid who stays inside to finish his homework. As his mother explains, "if the world doesn't end, he's still got school tomorrow." .

** Various superhero books do this, but writer Grant Morrison's era of ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'' is particularly well-known for ramping up the world/universe-shattering threat level every storyline.
** It's a PlotPoint in ''ComicBook/{{Wonder Woman|2006}} Volume 3'' when Diana resolves to spend more time with her friends in "Man's World" and comes to notice that threats to "Man's World" suddenly seem to be emerging at a much greater frequency than ever before, and [[BigBadEnsemble nothing]] seems to {{con|trivedcoincidence}}nect all of these campaigns to destroy human civilization.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse is much like its blue-colored brother in that, especially after UsefulNotes/TheSeventies, you couldn't throw a rock without hitting ''some'' diabolical schemer attempting to control/destroy/[[PlanetEater eat]] the earth. One can argue this was present even from the Marvel U's inception, with the ComicBook/FantasticFour foiling alien invasion plans and the like.
* This gets brought up in ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies''. When Nick Fury starts organizing a counterattack, he does so with an attitude of "right, we're being invaded by an interdimensional undead virus, it must be a Wednesday, so we'll probably figure something out." Nova is shocked at how casually he's taking it, as by the time of the meeting, ''dozens'' of superheroes have already been infected, including multiple teams in their entirety, making it by far the biggest disaster they've ever suffered. Fury tells him, more or less, [[GetAholdOfYourselfMan to can it]] unless he has a better idea. Tragically, Nova ends up being right, as Fury's ragtag resistance ultimately completely fails to stem the tide. Turns out that ExpendableAlternateUniverse + ZombieApocalypse [[WrongGenreSavvy has a tendency to remove that troublesome]] PlotArmor...

* As befitting a story set in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the planet of Dandriss is constantly in danger of being enslaved or slaughtered by Daemons, Rogue psykers, and the not-yet-fallen Eldar in ''Fanfic/AgeOfStrife''.

* In the beginning of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'', Jiminy Cricket remarks how the newspapers are always reporting one disaster or another.

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'': Every movie features a new disaster, to the point where the series can be summed up as Apocalypse Of The Week. Beyond the titular ice age, the cast has faced global warming, [[AlternateHistoryDinosaurSurvival the dinosaurs coming back,]] and giant meteors, nearly all of which end with everyone fine and/or in a new location that looks [[StatusQuoIsGod exactly like the last one.]]

* ''Series/SevenDays1998'' is about the agent the NSA sends back in time to avert all the catastrophes that would befall us every week without his intervention - things like a weapons test wiping out all life on Earth, or [[UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}} China and Taiwan]] getting into a war, or the President's nuclear launch computer falling into the hands of an irate ape. This raises the question of how the world survived before the Backstep project went online. The series actually ''starts'' with a mere 'terrorist attacks kills the President, the Vice-President and the Secretary of State' (damaging to the US and history-altering, but as it was not causing international tensions when the backstep is made, far from world-threatening). Then the second episode has the release of a virus killing about 98% of humanity, setting the stage for about two-thirds of the episodes (even discounting the ones where the danger to the world comes from the Backstep project itself).
** Thanks to the time-travel aspect, we usually get to ''witness'' the catastrophe before the hero goes back to prevent it.

* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'': At the end of the ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' crossover, Barry unveils a headquarters for the combined teams for when they need a place to meet up. Jefferson, who only met everyone when he showed up in the last few hours of the Crisis, wonders if it's really necessary to get a whole headquarters.

'''Kate:''' Don't worry; I was the new kid [[Series/{{Elseworlds2018}} last year]].
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'' have ''at least'' one planet-ending apocalypse per year (the Hellmouth alone was almost opened on three separate occasions), as well as one ''reality-ending'' apocalypse, along with endless armies of vampires, demons and the forces of darkness maiming and slaughtering and generally being not very nice. {{Lampshade}}d in numerous episodes, to the point where characters were going "AGAIN?!" whenever anybody mentioned it. One episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' even has Spike and Angel arguing over who ''saved the world more'':
-->'''Angel:''' I helped save the world, you know.\\

** In "The Zeppo", the entire gang except Xander saved the world in a huge epic battle... almost entirely offscreen, played as a joke. And Xander saved the world (on his own) by saving them from a different plot.
** As the fourth-season episode "A New Man" shows, the Scoobies have become [[SeenItAll a bit blasé about the stakes they tend to deal with.]]
--->'''Riley''': Buffy. When I saw you stop the world from, you know, ending, I just assumed that was a big week for you. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Turns out I suddenly find myself needing to know the plural of "apocalypse".]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' does this with an ''entire galaxy''. The [[TheHeartless daemons]] of [[TheCorruption Chaos]] and their mad human servants, the implacable [[OmnicidalManiac life-hating]] Necrons rebuilding their [[TimeAbyss ancient]] dominion, and the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts endlessly ravenous Tyranid hordes]] are all closing in, completing intricate plans or simply steamrolling over everything in the path, and any minute now the galaxy will meet its end... ''aaaaaany'' minute now. It's reached the point where a number of writers started to hint that all of the threats to the galaxy have collided into each other and effectively canceled out due to infighting or stalemates.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The Website/SCPFoundation and its counterparts contain all kinds of objects of doom with varying degrees of success. We also see many {{Alternate Universe}}s where the Foundation failed to stop the end of the world.
** There are even some [=SCPs=] that [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption cannot actually be stopped from ending the world]], namely the ones classified as Apollyon.
* In ''WebVideo/TalesFromMyDDCampaign'' the only thing keeping civilization alive is the EnemyCivilWar between the [[EvilVersusEvil Illud and Deluvian factions of the Kua-Toa]]. If either side ever wins, they will butcher and/or enslave all humanity. Meanwhile, deep within the Astral Sea, BigGood Ioun and BigBad Vecna fight an unending battle for control of the Source of all magic. So far, Ioun keeps the Source open, but should Vecna ever win, all magic and all gods will be blotted out, and [[DevilButNoGod Vecna will reign unchallenged and unchallengeable for all eternity.]]

** Deconstructed in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft "Turn Left"]]: in a ForWantOfANail timeline where the Doctor is KilledOffForReal after Series 2, the Earth quickly becomes a CrapsackWorld without his protection. Any wins that humans achieve against the world-ending threats are at best a PyrrhicVictory, coming at increasingly horrific costs. By the time the ResetButton is hit, it's clear that Earth won't last much longer.

* The AnimatedAdaptation of ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' both uses and averts this trope, with world-ending disasters being not unusual but the most common situations involve a single alien (or group) or a threat to the MIB itself instead of the planet.