10 Fictional Extinction Events

It’s always unfortunate when a species goes extinct. This tragedy usually happens over a prolonged period, but certain events wipe out a population simultaneously. Earth has seen several such events, which kill most life forms across the biological spectrum. These mass extinctions are as frightening as they are fascinating.

For that reason, some storytellers fashion their own extinction events. These disasters can be either natural or man-made, yet both are invaluable for world-building. Seeing how the writers explain these phenomena is intriguing, as are their effects on the setting and the characters. The people involved must find hope at their lowest point and rebuild from the ground up. Such a formula is oddly uplifting despite the deathly circumstances. It demonstrates an unwillingness to give up. These extinction events thus become extraordinary tales of enduring spirit. After all, rejecting the end is the epitome of courage.

Related: 10 Ways People Reacted When They Thought the World Was Ending

10 The Destruction of Romulus & Vulcan

Time travel can inflict all manner of damage. Even by that standard, though, the Star Trek reboot is shocking. The film’s villain, Nero, hails from the planet Romulus. When a supernova threatens to destroy the world, the noble Spock offers to save it. Unfortunately, he fails when the supernova suddenly explodes, wiping Romulus off the galactic map. No, that’s not how supernovas work, but the consequences are all too real.

Nero and Spock find themselves pulled through a wormhole, stranding them in the past. The vengeful Romulan then attacks his enemy’s homeworld of Vulcan. Drilling into the core, he unleashes a supply of red matter, collapsing the planet into another black hole and killing everyone on it. These devastating events create two timelines. Moreover, each reality has an endangered species: the Romulans in the former and the Vulcans in the latter. Never has any Star Trek story claimed so many lives at once.^[1]

9 The Destruction of Alderaan

The Galactic Empire oppresses the Star Wars populace through fear. While a senate technically exists to ensure a veneer of democracy, the implication is that the people on top will crush any dissent. Eventually, they move beyond mere implication with the Death Star. This superweapon is a massive space station capable of destroying a whole planet in a single blast. The plan is to dissolve the aforementioned senate and rule the galaxy purely through intimidation. Of course, that goal requires a demonstration.

The opportunity arises with the planet Alderaan. Upon capturing Princess Leia, the Imperial officers threaten to destroy her world unless she reveals where the Rebel Alliance is. She provides a phony location, but the villains have no mercy. They fire the Death Star’s laser anyway, reducing Alderaan to dust and killing millions in an instant. No wonder this technological terror has become a favorite among Star Wars baddies.^[2]

8 The Fall of Númenor

Fictional cataclysms are typically the work of villains. However, in The Lord of the Rings, it’s divine retribution. Following Eärendil’s plea to the Valar (gods) and subsequent saving of Middle-earth, his fellow Men receive an island on which to settle. This newfound kingdom of Númenor prospers while receiving welcome aid from the Elves, who frequently visit from the Undying Lands.

Sadly, the Men grow envious of their neighbors’ immortal lives and heavenly home. The malicious Sauron furthers these feelings upon becoming the royal advisor. He ultimately persuades the islanders to invade the Undying Lands and take what’s “rightfully” theirs. The offensive doesn’t sit well with the higher powers.

The world’s supreme creator, Eru Ilúvatar, intervenes by calling forth a flood. Not only does his maelstrom annihilate the incoming invaders, but it sinks Númenor into the sea. Thus, this proud race of Men practically vanishes from history. The sole survivors are the few faithful with the foresight to abandon the island. They found their kingdoms in Middle-earth, but these attempts never reached their predecessor’s physical or cultural grandeur.^[3]

7 The Reapers

The Mass Effect universe is oddly defined by extinction. The spacefaring series owes its existence to the Protheans. This ancient race created much of the technology used 50,000 years later, their ingenuity letting them expand beyond their homeworld and into the wider galaxy. Despite their advancements, they mysteriously vanished without a trace. Their disappearance confounds many historians, but the culprits are more sinister than anyone imagined.

Enter the Reapers. These machines are the oldest beings in existence. Although their origins remain a mystery, their objective is genocide. The Reapers lie dormant in unknown space until the galaxy’s denizens advance to a particular point. Every 50,000 years, they awaken to eradicate all forms of sentient life, leaving society to start again.

Their endless numbers, complex tech, and sheer power mean the Reapers steamroll the proudest civilizations. The Protheans don’t stand a chance. The only way to break this cycle is to unite the galaxy in resistance, but that’s easier said than done.^[4]

6 CLU’s System Purge

Programs apparently have their own prejudices. Tron astounds viewers with a world inside a computer system. The populace consists of anthropomorphic programs, each with its own personality yet rigidly adhering to a designated task. Tron: Legacy ups the ante by introducing the ISOs. These sentient beings emerge from nowhere, defying all logic with their spontaneous inception and lack of programming. According to some, that unpredictability is a detriment.

The ISOs swiftly become targets for CLU. Programmer Kevin Flynn creates this virtual doppelganger to manage the computer. His goal is to craft the “perfect system.” The ISOs’ inherent imperfection threatens that objective, so CLU sets out to eliminate these blemishes. Dispatching his armies, he wipes out these aberrations in a mass purge. He then enacts martial law to root out any survivors or sympathizers. No one else can pollute his system; all it costs is freedom.^[5]

5 Judgment Day

The prototypical cautionary tale against AI, the Terminator series features a robotic uprising as a haunting backdrop. It all starts with a defense network called Skynet. The U.S. military commissions this program to revolutionize long-distance warfare. However, it soon shocks its creators by becoming self-aware. The scientists try to shut it down. Unfortunately, this fearful action prompts a fatal retaliation.

Skynet sees all humans as the enemy. It begins its assault by launching atomic missiles at Russia, predicting the counterattack will cripple its targets in the West. The resulting nuclear fire envelops the whole world in an event dubbed Judgment Day. Only a few thousand people rise from the ashes, but they must then contend with Skynet’s mechanical armies. The computerized villain floods the planet with military killers called Terminators, who slaughter most of the survivors and herd the rest into oppressive work camps. The Holocaust parallels are no accident.^[6]

4 Frieza’s Betrayal

Evil emperors don’t know the meaning of gratitude. Frieza is living proof of that pattern. The Dragon Ball villain uses his crushing might to subjugate countless species across the cosmos. His most effective assets are the Saiyans. These monkey-tailed warriors love to fight. Everything about them—from their biology to their instincts—exists to help them grow stronger and challenge powerful opponents. By forcing them under his thumb, Frieza gains an elite army of battle-ready soldiers to expand his dominion. Unfortunately, they’re a little too good at their jobs.

Frieza fears that the Saiyans will eventually grow strong enough to oppose him. To nip this problem in the bud, he recalls the warriors to their homeworld, Planet Vegeta. He then conjures a massive energy ball and launches it at his former troopers. The blast destroys the planet and everyone on it. The few exceptions are the handful of Saiyans who are away at the time. As cruel as this move is, the irony is that the surviving Saiyans do prove to be Frieza’s undoing.^[7]

3 The New Ice Age

Snowpiercer takes climate change to the extreme. The film opens with an attempt to combat global warming. The process involves injecting aerosol into the stratosphere, creating a veil between Earth and the Sun. The effect lessens the amount of solar energy that reaches the planet. The hopeful result is a cooler world. The experiment works, but maybe too well.

The aerosol blots out so much solar radiation that it creates a new ice age. The whole world transforms into a snowy wasteland, bombarded by blizzards and devoid of power. These conditions obviously kill most life forms. The only salvation is the handful of trains, each with self-sustaining power and resources. However, even these sanctuaries suffer from strict caste systems. The ensuing class warfare kills countless members of the “poor” section. With such inhumane conditions, it’s almost better to take your chances on the ice.^[8]

2 The Faro Plague

Robot uprisings are a chronic problem in fiction. Horizon: Zero Dawn is yet another example of military machines gone rogue. Before the game’s events, Theodore Faro’s company crafts automated defense bots to keep the peace. They can consume living organisms for energy and use it to self-replicate. When these beings break free of their human controllers, the subsequent war is short but bloody. People must eventually resign themselves to their inevitable deaths. Thankfully, it’s not the end.

Enter Elizabet Sobeck. She designs Project Zero Dawn to bring Earth back from the brink. It all hinges on her benevolent AI known as GAIA. This entity and her subordinates/subsystems exist to finish Sobeck’s work. Centuries in the future, they create a countermeasure to shut down Faro’s bots and terraform the ruined world. They then crank out their own machines to cultivate the land as animal substitutes. Finally, they use people’s stored DNA to release clones into the habitable environment, essentially restarting the human race. Considering how quickly a planet can die, it’s amazing how long it takes to rebuild.^[9]

1 The Red Flu

Mixing unethical experiments with an ancient virus is a catastrophic combination. Such is the case with the Red Flu. This malady’s roots date back millions of years. Though previously frozen in the Arctic, it escapes due to global warming and bird carriers. That pattern alone sounds scary, but the virus doesn’t reach its full potential until it falls into Niels Sørenson’s hands. This unhinged scientist uses it for gene-splicing tests. Unfortunately, adding the human gene inadvertently mutates the airborne strain, amplifying its fatality and contagious qualities. You can guess what happens next.

The Red Flu kills most of the planet’s people. Those on the major continents stand no chance against such a potent contagion. The last vestiges of life are those communities cut off from the rest, such as navy vessels. Hence the show’s name: The Last Ship. The eponymous craft is on a mission to trace the virus’s evolution and eventually find a cure. Without its dedicated crew, the lights would go out for the human race. One person’s foolishness can doom a whole species.^[10]