A Stock Phrase when something particularly unexpected happens, usually following O.O.C. Is Serious Business. For instance, "Alice just spoke, does anyone see four horsemen riding up?"
If it's someone saying the end is nigh if this thing happens, and then it does, see Cue the Flying Pigs. Often used to lampshade Dumbass Has a Point. For extra humor, someone with a sign may show up to declare The End Is Nigh.
Not to be confused with Signs of the End Times, which is when you're literally seeing signs of the apocalypse. Or someone carrying a sign that says The End Is Nigh.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Rurouni Kenshin
Kaoru cooking? Is it a sign of the apocalypse?
Fan Works
- Finding the Truth
:
It was one thing to see the opposing houses being less aggressive the night before. It was another to see them enjoying breakfast together and at least attempting to be civil towards one another. Harry had a feeling that most of the seventh years at this point were wondering when the apocalypse started and how they missed it. - In Long Live the Queen Harry and Hermione help Sirius with a research project instead of helping clean Grimmauld Place, which disgruntles most of the Weasley children.
Only Ron's quietly telling them that it was important got them to back down. After all, if Ron thought research in the library was important, the end of the world must be nigh.
- Jedi Potter:
The morning of the third, Harry woke and prepared for his morning’s run. Hermione long used to his training, joined him, and to his surprise, all the students were waiting outside when he left the castle...even Ron, which Harry privately thought was a portent of the apocalypse!
- The Curator Chronicles:
George: Personal research projects being done by a first year... What is the world coming to?
Fred: The end of the world must be nearing. - In This Means War Sirius offers to help Remus research a possible werewolf cure and Harry disappears.
Harry: Is it safe to come out?
Ron: Err, where are you?
Harry: Under the bed. Padfoot wanting to study is one of the signs of the Apocalypse. - Two Shall Be As One:
On Sunday morning as the Gryffindors headed for their table in the Great Hall an unusual sight met their eyes. Hermione Granger was there with Potter and Weasley as usual, but without a book! Was the world about to come to an end?
- Unlocking Harry's Dress Code:
Harry: Malfoy.
Draco: Potter.
Harry: You're my 11 o'clock? And you're neither in chains nor apparently pissed off over some triviality … has the apocalypse started, then?
Draco: Not yet, but I'm sure something could be arranged just to please you. Would you prefer a general Armageddon, or does it have to be a true Götterdämmerung? - The Girl Who Loved:
Ami was not paying attention in class. Ami, the smartest, most studious girl Usagi ever met, was ignoring her teacher. She had failed to raise her hand for a question three times in a row. Had the end of the world arrived early?
- Let the Game Begin:
Harry: [Draco] called me delusional.
Ron: What's worse is for a minute there I was ready to agree with him.
Neville: Oh the world is going to end. Ron agreed with not only a Slytherin but a Malfoy to boot. - In A Different Professor Fred and George are at Platform 9 & 3/4 long before the rest of the Weasleys.
Hermione: What are you two doing here? Is the world ending or something?
Harry: That's what I said. - Mistakes and Second Chances:
Padma: Professor Snape just gave points to a house other than Slytherin? Is the world ending?
- Breaking Forwards:
Blaise: Can you imagine what it would be like if Professor Snape smiled?
Harry: His face would probably break.
Blaise: It'd signify the apocalypse. - Triads and Tribulations:
Hermione watched the whole exchange unravel, concerned that at any moment the universe might rip into pieces. Ron and Malfoy being genuinely civil, friendly even, without any threat of violence hanging over them? It was the end of times.
- Strings of Fate:
McGonagall: The Lions are good. Although they are disappointed that Mister Potter was not sorted into Gryffindor. Young Mister Weasley seemed most vocal in his... disappointment, but the twins managed to quieten him down.
Flitwick: The Weasley twins defusing a situation?
Snape: That must be a sign of the Apocalypse. - The Western Sky - Series 3:
Giles: As a wise woman once said - we saved the world, I say we party.
Xander: You're quoting Buffy? You're calling Buffy a wise woman? I think I speak for everyone when I say the earth is most definitely doomed! - Enternity:
Sirius: I will deny ever saying this in front of my godson, but Snape has never lied to us before. And... he is a good judge of character, normally. The only person he's been so incredibly wrong about before has been Harry, and that was just because of James. I think if he trusts the Malfoys... we should give them a chance.
Remus: Oh, sweet Merlin, it's the end of the world. - The Bolt Chronicles: When Mittens finds Rhino sitting in front of the TV watching Porgy and Bess in "The Wind," she uses this phrase to register her extreme surprise at the sight.
Mittens: You're watching opera, rodent? Wow, isn't that one of the seven signs of the apocalypse?
- Faith:
Sirius: Now, I'm sure you're all curious as to why the dearest godson of my heart brought you all here today. We have come up with [theatrical pause] a plan.
Draco: Heaven save us. Gryffindors with plans. The world is coming to an end. - Double Back:
Sirius: So, are we done with this now? Because I'm kind of sick of being the reasonable one here, it's not a good look for me you know.
James: I knew the world was ending for a reason. - HexCrossed Lovers:
Harry: I wasn't about to advertise my animagus form to all the Death Eaters and Voldemort. I want to have a means of escape if I'm cornered. There haven't been many reptilian animagus' and they wouldn't expect me to be a snake now would they? They most likely would look for a stag since that was my dad's form.
Snape: That actually made sense. I think the world is ending. - The Fury Within:
Remus: Leave it cub. Let your father take care of you a bit.
Snape: Listen to the wolf.
[Harry looks up and flinches.]
Remus: What's wrong, cub?
Harry: You two just agreed on something. I'm looking for whatever is about to cause the world to end. - The Potioneer's Assistant Rebrewed:
Harry: You didn't make a joke about the name pun!
Sirius: It's no longer funny. Thirty plus years and I've moved onto other things.
McGonagall: Sirius Black not finding something funny about his name in conversation? The world must be coming to an end. - The New Adventures of Invader Zim: In Season 2, when Gaz actually develops a friendship with Nyx, all the other schoolchildren freak out and flee the building, screaming about it being a sign of the apocalypse.
- In Harry Potter and the Pink-Haired Auror Harry comments on Ron being made a prefect.
Harry: I am the better troublemaker of the two of us, clearly you've been demoted to the voice of reason.
Hermione: Then the end is nigh if Ronald Weasley is the voice of reason. - Cult Potter:
Daphne: I have been, and always will be, a student of the fine arts.
Sally: Did...did a pure blood just quote Star Trek? That's it! The world's ending, tell me how much time I have left, can I at least say goodbye to my loved ones? - In Draco Malfoy's Very Drunken Adventure Draco and Harry's cousin Dudley get drunk together and go to Harry's house to chew him out.
Hermione: Harry? Harry! I heard voices! What's going on there?!
Harry: Nothing important. Just the apocalypse is all. - Reparations:
Harry: Draco Malfoy drinking a Muggle beer. Either you've genuinely changed or the Apocalypse is upon us all.
Films — Live-Action
- Played with in Summerslam
Don't be ridiculous, it's not one of the signs of the apocalypse when he starts quoting Judy Garland. When he starts singing like Ethel Merman, then you've gotta worry.
- Buying the Cow
Mike, in a relationship? Isn't that one of the signs of the Apocalypse?
- In Avengers: Age of Ultron, when the team is asking Thor why he helped activate Vision:
Thor: Because Stark is right.
Bruce: Oh no, it's definitely the end times.
Literature
- In The Dresden Files book Proven Guilty, Harry thinks:
I started to get annoyed, but was struck by the disturbing thought that if I did, I would be coming down on the same side of the situation as Charity, which might be one of the signs of the apocalypse.
Live-Action Television
- The Nanny
Miss Fine and Miss Babcock walking arm in arm. Isn't that one of the biblical signs of the apocalypse?
- Rescue Me episode "Bitch".
Oh, sh*t. Sean Garrity readin' a book. That's the first sign of the apocalypse.
- Point Pleasant episode "Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Choked"
Well, you're falling in love. It's not one of the 7 signs of the Apocalypse. ... Is it?
- Puppets Who Kill episode "Dash the Greeter"
My God, no more attention. This is like one of the signs of the Apocalypse.
- Smallville, unwittingly making a Pun:
- In the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer they point to the band playing in the Bronze (Nerf Herder, a song from whom also provided the theme tune throughout the series) as a sign of the Apocalypse. At the same time as a lot of rather more conventional signs of the apocalypse are occurring.
- Family Ties:
Alex: She's right. I'm wrong, and Mallory's right. The world is ending!
- In 30 Rock, Kenneth has been convinced by a reverend that the apocalypse is going to happen soon. The other writers decide to mess with him, and tell him that they saw four flaming horses ride by. Kenneth says that the reverend told him that super-gay horses are one of the signs of the apocalypse.
- In an episode of House, the titular doctor known for being the poster boy of Dr. Jerk, offers Wilson a coffee. He is understandably skeptical.
House: Why are you suspicious?Wilson: Because it's either that or accept the fact that you've done something nice. And then I have to deal with the Horsemen, and the Reign of Fire, and the End of Days.
Magazines
- A weekly piece in Sports Illustrated is a "Sign Of The Apocalypse", which lists some mind-boggling or otherwise "Ugh, really?" sports-related event (not necessarily in an actual game) that happened recently (relative to the date of the issue). For example, the January 21, 2013 issue had the story of a prostitutes' advocacy group in Belo Horizonte, Brazil who was offering free English classes so that local prostitutes would be prepared for the increase in traffic for the 2014 World Cup.
Newspaper Comics
- From Pearls Before Swine.
Rat: What is true happiness?...How does a dumb pig like you answer a question like that?
Pig: I think happiness is finding an extra couple of french fries at the bottom of the bag.
Rat: ...Pig made sense. The apocalypse is upon us. - In one Garfield strip, when a girl actually says 'Yes' to Jon asking her out, Garfield cries "It's The End of the World as We Know It!"
Podcasts
- Done in episode 108 of The Magnus Archives; when Peter Lukas learns that Elias murdered someone personally for once his response is to muse, "Elias Bouchard, getting his hands dirty. Must be the end times." The joke here is multi-layered; the third season is all about trying to stop a ritual to bring about The End of the World as We Know It, but as the protagonists soon learn, there are as many as fourteen separate apocalypses they have to stop, and Lukas is looking into a fifteenth apocalypse even worse than the others.
Video Games
- BlazBlue: Chronophantasma has Rachel give us this line when put against Kokonoe (though, given her Astral Heat , this could also be considered Tempting Fate ).
Oh, the little shut-in girl has come to play outside. Should I expect a meteor to fall?
Webcomics
- From Out There:
Chuck: Does this seem like a particularly awkward silence?
James: Dude, Miriam's not saying anything. It's the end times, man. - From Penny and Aggie, when the two leads put their Betty and Veronica rivalry behind them and become friends:
"But it can't be the Apocalypse today, the Mayan calendar says..."
Western Animation
- Humorously used in an episode of The Fairly OddParents!. Timmy gets an "A", which causes the other students to panic, thinking it's the end of the world since he's normally a terrible student. Crocker thought Timmy had help from his fairy godparents. Timmy actually aced the test out of sheer luck. He marked the answers in a way that made a drawing.
- She-Ra: Princess of Power:
Hordak: The end of the world is upon us, Grizzlor has had an idea!
- Justice League Unlimited, in the Grand Finale, when Flash learns that the Martian Manhunter is married:
"These are the end times".
