List of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction


This is a list of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction works as portrayed in literature, film, television, and, comics.
Apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural phenomena, divine judgment, climate change, resource depletion or some other general disaster. Post-apocalyptic fiction is set in a world or civilization after such a disaster. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten.
Apocalypse is a Greek word referring to the end of the world. Apocalypticism is the religious belief that there will be an apocalypse, a term which originally referred to a revelation of God's will, but now usually refers to belief that the world will come to an end very soon, even within one's own lifetime.
Apocalyptic fiction does not portray catastrophes, or disasters, or near-disasters that do not result in apocalypse. A threat of an apocalypse does not make a piece of fiction apocalyptic. For example, Armageddon and Deep Impact are considered disaster films and not apocalyptic fiction because, although Earth and/or humankind are terribly threatened, in the end they manage to avoid destruction. Apocalyptic fiction is not the same as fiction that provides visions of a dystopian future. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, for example, is dystopian fiction, not apocalyptic fiction.

Works of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

FormatYearCauseTitleAuthor and notes
Novel1805Human declineLe Dernier HommeJean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville – regarded as the first story of modern speculative fiction to depict the end of the world
Game2017Infection, DiseaseHollow KnightHollow Knight is an artistically dynamic adventure metroid-style game. It indirectly tells the story of a broken and diseased civilization through dialogue, lore tablets, artwork and other features. As the player learns more and progresses, the infection occurs, and ultimately the player discovers the source of the infection as well as the history behind the world.
Film1977Eco, supernaturalHolocaust 2000Directed by Alberto De Martino.
Film2014Eco, technologySnowpiercerTakes place in an alternative history where an attempt to counteract global warming through climate engineering in 2014 backfires catastrophically, causing an ice age and extinguishing nearly all life; only animals that can adapt to sub-zero temperatures and the inhabitants of a circumnavigational train called Snowpiercer remain.
Game2016OtherNuclear ThroneA post-apocalyptic shoot-'em-up by Vlambeer, where humanity mutated into horrible monsters. These mutants are looking for the fabled Nuclear Throne.
Radio1938, 1943Eco"Oxychloride X"An episode of Arch Oboler's popular 1930s and 1940s radio horror and mystery anthology serial Lights Out. A deranged university chemistry student creates what turns out to be an "super-dissolving substance", with the potential, among other uses, to become "a doomsday chemical superweapon".
Film2017Bioterrorism, zombies'The story is set in between the events of Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. BSAA agent Chris Redfield is tracking Glenn Arias, a Brazilian-American death merchant and a former CIA operative who is wanted by both the Interpol and the FBI.
Game2017Technology, warHorizon Zero DawnThe story is set in the 31st century, in a world where humans have regressed to primitive tribal societies as a result of some unspecified calamity. Their technologically advanced predecessors are vaguely remembered as the "Old Ones." Large robotic creatures known merely as "machines" now dominate the Earth.
Radio1972Aliens, disease, zombiesThe Peoria PlagueOriginally recorded and aired by station WUHN, in Peoria, Illinois
Television1982WarWorld War IIIOriginally broadcast on the NBC television network. The film's original director, Boris Sagal, died in a freak mishap during filming, and was replaced by his successor, David Greene. The teleplay was written by Robert L. Joseph.
Game1980WarMissile CommandArcade video game designed by Dave Theurer and developed by Atari, Inc. Later ported to many different home computing and gaming platforms for many years afterward. Considered one of the most notable classic video games of all time.
Film1959Eco, monstersThe Giant Behemoth
Film2014DiseaseDawn of the Planet of the ApesDirected by Matt Reeves, and based on characters created by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. A growing nation of genetically evolved apes is threatened by a band of human survivors of a devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.
Game2012Disease'Visual novel adventure game released for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. The game takes place 45 years in the future, after a calamitous virus outbreak, known as Radical-6, has exterminated almost all of human civilization.
Radio1951War"The Last Objective"Written by Paul Carter and adapted by Ernest Kinoy for NBC Radio's 1950–1951 sci-fi anthology series, Dimension X. A military android questions its continued existence, after the last of its human comrade-counterparts dies out from the effects of a mysterious doomsday super-weapon that was unleashed at the end of a generations-long global atomic war.
Novel1970Supernatural, war, eco, human declineThe Late, Great Planet EarthBestselling blockbuster Bible prophecy-based "mockumentary" novel, co-written by Hal Lindsey and Carole C. Carlson, and later adapted into a 1979 feature-length theatrical motion picture narrated by Orson Welles
Game1992Sun, aliensEpic and its 1994 sequel InfernoPublished by Ocean Software. A Battlestar Galactica-esque 3-D space shooter video game for MS-DOS and other contemporary personal computing platforms.
Game1980WarNukeWarPublished by gaming company Avalon Hill. A turn-based strategy game for many early home computing platforms, such as the Apple II, the Commodore 64, and the Atari 400/800 model home computers.
Television1975–1977Eco 'Created by Gerry Anderson and wife Sylvia Anderson
Radio1946WarThe Fifth Horseman Early radio docudrama series originally aired over the now-defunct NBC Radio network. This "rare and unusual" series of shows was written, produced, and directed by Arnold Marquis, as part of a special postwar campaign aimed at convincing the public to place the then-newly developed technologies of nuclear energy and weaponry under United Nations control.
Game2006WarDEFCONCreated by independent British game developer Introversion Software, and inspired by the 1983 film WarGames
Television1984WarCountdown to Looking GlassCanadian-produced TV movie, directed by producer Fred Barzyk, and originally premiering in the United States, on the HBO pay-cable TV network
Television1994Aliens, impact eventWithout WarningDirected by Robert Iscove, and originally broadcast over the CBS television network
Game1998Aliens, technology Red Baron 2573
Novel1950WarShadow on the HearthJudith Merril; later adapted for television in 1954
Game1992AliensGalactixBackstory and game play take place in the year 2019, in which a powerful alien attack force threatens to obliterate the Earth. Developed by Scott Host, for Cygnus Games.
Game2014Impact eventAce Combat InfinityPlayStation 3 online game depicting a new world war 20 years after a meteor strike hits much of the Earth's surface
Game2013Disease, monstersThe Last of UsA fungal spore infection turns most of humanity into monsters and a small band of survivors try to live on.
Film2013Environmental cataclysm forcesAfter EarthHumans abandon Earth.
Film2013EcoThe ColonyAnother ice age causes survivors to move underground.
Television2012–2014Technology collapseRevolutionAll technology ceases after a global blackout.
Novel1964DiseaseVirusNovel by Sakyo Komatsu about a lethal super-germ that kills humanity in months; later adapted into a 1980 movie
Novel2008EcoFloodEarth is gradually submerged due to seismic activity that brings more water to the surface.
Novel2011TechnologyWoolA multi-part series by author Hugh Howey
Novel2008WarThe Diamond of DarkholdThe fourth book in Jeanne DuPrau's City of Ember series
Novel2006WarThe Prophet of YonwoodThe third book in Jeanne DuPrau's City of Ember series
Play2005War and gang violenceMercury FurPhilip Ridley
Novel2004WarThe People of SparksThe second book in Jeanne DuPrau's City of Ember series.
Novel2000EcoThe Last Book in the UniverseRodman Philbrick
Story2001War"Autobahn nach Poznan"Andrzej Ziemianski
Story1950War"Dear Devil"Eric Frank Russell
Story1969War"A Boy and His Dog"Harlan Ellison; filmed in 1975
Story1984War"Extinction is Forever"Louise Lawrence – A scientist uses a time machine to travel to the future and film the results of a nuclear war in a bid to prevent it from happening. However, his actions could have serious repercussions for the mutated descendants of the human race.
Novel1990Divine prophecyGood OmensNeil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Story1949War"Let the Ants Try"Frederik Pohl
Play1942War The Skin of Our TeethThornton Wilder
Novel1922WarTheodore Savage Cicely Hamilton
Story1941War"Magic City"Nelson S. Bond
Story1953War"Second Variety"Philip K. Dick
Story1949War"Time to Rest"John Wyndham – short story sequel "No Place Like Earth"
Comic1985–1989WarAppleseedMasamune Shirow – Japanese manga
Novella1989ZombiesOn the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead FolksJoe R. Lansdale
Comic1990–1995WarBattle Angel AlitaYukito Kishiro – manga series containing post-apocalyptic elements and taking place in a highly futuristic dystopian world
Comic2000–2014Impact event, war'Yukito Kishiro – a continuation of the former manga series containing the same elements as the previous series, but goes into greater detail as to how the dystopia came about
Novel1913DiseaseGoslings: A World of WomenJ.D. Beresford – a global plague has decimated England's male population and the once-predictable Gosling family is now free to fulfill its long-frustrated desires
Comic1997–WarDesert PunkUsune Masatoshi – manga series
Comic1986–1993WarEx-MutantsSet in a post-nuclear world
Comic1968–WarCobalt 60Created by Vaughn Bodé, first published in 1968
Comic2002War'
Comic2003WarJudge Dredd vs. Aliens
Comic1972–WarKamandi, the Last Boy on EarthCreated by Jack Kirby, first published in 1972
Comic2000–2001WarSaikanoShin Takahashi – manga series
Comic1990–1991WarThe Last AmericanSeries originally from Marvel in 1990/1991, re-released by Com.X
Comic2004War'
Comic1992–WarX/1999Clamp – manga series
Song1992War"April 2031"Song by the band Warrant on their album Dog Eat Dog; depicts an Earth devastated by war where life lives on only by artificial means
Other1995–WarAyreonArjen Anthony Lucassen – series of concept albums depicting the end of life on Earth in 2084 due to, among other factors, a catastrophic nuclear war
Poem1956War"The Horses"Edwin Muir – deals with society's regression to pre-Industrial Revolution conditions in the wake of a nuclear war
Poem1961War"Your Attention Please"Peter Porter – written in the style of a radio broadcast warning of an impending nuclear attack
Song1979War"Your Attention Please"Song adaptation of the above Porter poem, written and recorded by the Scottish post-punk group the Scars
Game2008Impact event'With virtually all of humanity wiped out by a meteor strike, the game follows the exploits of an army of survivors, fighting bandit raiders and hostile armies across the planet's desolate remains.
Other2004–Impact eventCompilation of Final Fantasy VIIIncludes video games, short stories, and animated features; revolves largely around the fate of a planet which is ravaged by the impact a giant meteor/asteroid, summoned by magic; published between 2004 and 2009
Game2007Impact event'PC video game, from Pipeworks, set in the post-apocalyptic Earth in which Earth has been destroyed by crystals
Game2011Impact eventRageVideo game by iD Software; set after a meteor collision with the Earth
Novel1997–AliensOutlandersNovel series created by Mark Ellis, a.k.a. James Axler
Novel1967–1988AliensThe TripodsJohn Christopher – novel series, made into a TV series in the 1980s
Game2001–AliensHalo seriesAn alien alliance called the Covenant begin attacking human colonies in 2525. By 2552, almost all of the human colonies are destroyed and the Covenant are attacking Earth.
Game2007–AliensCrysisCrytek – a near future where an ancient alien spacecraft has been discovered beneath the ground on an island in the East Philippines
Novel1928, 1929EcoDeluge and DawnS. Fowler Wright – a huge flood devastates the world; only the English Midlands survive
Novel1973, 1976EcoChildren of Morrow and Treasures of MorrowH. M. Hoover – set in California several centuries after pollution has all but wiped out the human race; published in 1973 and 1976, respectively
Novel2002–2004EcoThe Snowfall TrilogyMitchell Smith – novel trilogy comprising Snowfall, Kingdom River, and Moonrise. North America has retreated into hunter-gatherer societies and military kingdoms some 500 years after an apocalyptic ice age
Novel1995/2005EcoThe Mara and Dann novelsDoris LessingMara and Dann and its sequel, Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog, are set in a future ice age. Other Lessing novels, like Memoirs of a Survivor and Shikasta, also deal with apocalyptic themes.
Novel1994–2001EcoThe Greatwinter trilogySean McMullen – trilogy comprising Souls in the Great Machine, The Miocene Arrow, and Eyes of the Calculator. The first book was originally published as two books, starting in 1994. An ancient whale species recreated through a genetic experiment turns out to have been telepathic, and the whales issue a telepathic call which cause most of humanity and other large land mammals to walk into the oceans and drown.
Game2007TechnologyToxicNitrome Limited – flash game by about a character in a yellow hazmat suit attempting to free the world from a race of robots with a variety of bombs. A sequel, Toxic 2, was released in 2008.
Radio2005Technology"Humans Are Dead"Flight of the Conchords
Song1980Technology"The Eighth Day"Hazel O'Connor – hit single
Song2007Technology"Citizens of Tomorrow"Tokyo Police Club – single
Other2003TechnologyThe ProtomenThe Protomen's self-titled album
Film2003Human declineLe Temps du LoupMichael Haneke's film follows a family through the countryside after an undefined catastrophic collapse of civilization.
Film2001Human declineA.I.Depicts human extinction after 2,000 years
Television2006Human declineKorgoth of BarbariaCartoon Network/Adult Swim animated parody
Television2003Human declineWolf's RainThis manga/anime series takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where constant conflicts between nobles leaves whole parts of the earth uninhabited, cities in ruins, and technology rare. Only the nobles possess futuristic ships, and the richest have domed cities where the debilitated Earth can still support life. Wolves are proclaimed extinct, but found a way to enchant humans. Five wolves are on a quest to find 'Paradise', along with a Flower-Maiden, who was created from a Lunar Flower by a Noble. A second apocalypse ends the series, with a presumable renewing of the planet. Four of the five characters are seen in the renewed world.
Television2002Human declineThe Future Is WildUses computer animation to simulate the sort of creatures that may evolve from present-day animals. In the world depicted in the series, the human race has left Earth to colonize the stars. The future descendants of humanity have sent probes back to Earth to record what has become of it.
Novel1980–1983Human declineThe Book of the New SunGene Wolfe – novel series
Novel1953Human declineChildhood's EndArthur C. Clarke
Novel1982Human declineFridayRobert A. Heinlein - human society on a future Earth is slipping into a gradual, but inevitable, collapse
Novel1985Human declineGalápagosKurt Vonnegut – After an ambiguous eradication of the human species, several people on a cruise to the Galápagos Islands get stranded there. Much to the dismay of the only male left, the women of the island continue the human species for thousands of years, where they evolve into seal-like creatures.
Novel1963Human declinePlanet of the ApesPierre Boulle
Novel2004–2009Human declineBiomegaFollowed the manga NOiSE, Blame! and Net Sphere Engineer by Tsutomu Nihei. Published between 2004 and 2009
Novel1982–Human declineThe Dark Tower seriesStephen King - first book published in 1982
Story1956Human declineTo Serve The MasterPhilip K. Dick
Television2000–2005Future collapseAndromedaCreated by Gene Roddenberry; ran between 2000 and 2005
Television1988–1999; 2009–Future collapseRed DwarfBritish science-fiction sitcom; first ran between 1988 and 1999 and was re-started in 2009
Novel1953Future collapseAgainst the Fall of NightArthur C. Clarke; an early version of The City and the Stars
Novel1956Future collapseThe City and the StarsArthur C. Clarke; after the loss of a galactic empire, humanity is restricted to the single city of Diaspar, but lives a life of eternal comfort and safety. Alvin escapes and finds the truth – forcing his city to face the universe again.
Novel1963Future collapseThe Dragon MastersJack Vance
Novel1996Future collapseEndymionDan Simmons – plus a sequel called The Rise of Endymion
Novel1974Future collapseThe Mote in God's EyeLarry Niven, Jerry Pournelle Mankind's growing interstellar empire discovers an old and sophisticated alien society restricted for millions of years to a single planet. Their hopes for a peaceful coexistence are shattered when they discover how the aliens control their population.
Novel1996–2008Future collapseTrigunManga by Yasuhiro Nightow, published between 1996 and 2008
Novel1994–1996Future collapseReachesDavid Drake, published between 1994 and 1996
Story1959Future collapse"Transfusion"Chad Oliver
Novel1970Future collapseRingworldLarry Niven – an expedition from earth to find a futuristic planet, a ring surrounding a star, results in the members finding that a meteor puncture in the ring's floor and power failure caused the cities to break apart and civilization to collapse
Novel1979–1982Future collapseLast LegionarySeries by Douglas Hill – a lone soldier fights to bring down the organisation which unleashed a deadly radiation against his planet, killing all his people and rendering the planet uninhabitable
Novel1963Future collapseSpace VikingH. Beam Piper
Novel1991–1995Future collapseThe General seriesS. M. Stirling and David Drake, published between 1991 and 1995
Film1998SunLast NightDon McKellar – follows the lives of several individuals as they cope with their final six hours on Earth before its apparent incineration by the Sun
Television1997Sun"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars"An episode of Babylon 5 – written by J. Michael Straczynski
Television2005Sun"The End of the World"An episode of the television series Doctor Who.
Novel1986SunSongs of Distant EarthArthur C. Clarke – in which the last survivors of Earth arrive at a distant colony unexpectedly
Poem1816Sun"Darkness"Lord Byron - describes the end of life on Earth after the Sun's extinction
Story1906Sun"Finis"Frank Lillie Pollock – where a second Sun's light incinerates Earth
Comic2001–2002SunJust a PilgrimLimited series by Garth Ennis depicting the adventures of a man traveling on Earth's surface a few years after a solar event called The Burn. Followed by a sequel, Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden.
Film2000–SupernaturalLeft BehindFilm series based on the book series, concerning the Rapture
Television1998SupernaturalSilent MobiusThe manga and subsequent anime movies and TV series by Kia Asamiya, set in a Blade Runner-style world which has been invaded by demonic beings.
Television2001–2002SupernaturalX/1999The Clamp anime in which the Seven Dragons of Heaven battle the Dragons of Earth to save the world
Television2009–2010SupernaturalSupernaturalSeasons 4 and 5 were based around the pre-apocalyptic world in which the angels are gearing up for a battle between Heaven and Hell.
Novel1995SupernaturalThe End of the AgePat Robertson
Novel1995–2007SupernaturalLeft Behindnovel series concerning the Rapture
Novel1968, 1970SupernaturalBlack EasterJames Blish – a black magician brings about the end of the world by releasing all of the demons from Hell. Followed by a sequel called The Day After Judgment.
Novel2005–2012SupernaturalPower of FiveA series of fantasy and suspense novels, published between 2005 and 2012.
Novel2003SupernaturalThe RisingBrian Keene – and its sequel City of the Dead. Rather than the zombies being an infection, as in most zombie fiction; these zombies are reanimated by demonic entities, the Sisquisim, from the Old Testament.
Novel2006SupernaturalThe Conqueror WormsBrian Keene – a Lovecraftian tale of one of the last survivors on Earth. In the novel the world floods, causing several monsters to appear, mainly gigantic, man-eating earthworms.
Novel1997SupernaturalShade's ChildrenGarth Nix – a novel in which a group of extradimensional beings invade Earth and cause all human adults over the age of 14 to vanish
Novel2004SupernaturalThe TakingDean Koontz – a novel in which a malevolent demonic force kills off the majority of the human race
Game1998SupernaturalTribe 8A role-playing game in which sadistic demons invade Earth.
Game2004SupernaturalThe Shadow of YesterdayA role-playing game in which the unification of all people in a fantasy world under a single, supernatural language results in the destruction of a world by what is presumed to be an asteroid that becomes that world's new Moon, one that eclipses the Sun for a week out of each month.
Game2001SupernaturalFinal Fantasy XA role-playing game, in which an advanced civilization is threatened and destroyed by supernatural forces that religion is knowingly, and in some ways unknowingly, centered on.
Novel1985/1987/1990UnspecifiedDayworldPhilip Jose Farmer – Trilogy comprising Dayworld, Dayworld Rebel, and Dayworld Breakup. The reasons for the Dayworld dystopia seems to be a combination involving overpopulation, ecological catastrophe, some sort of disaster that rendered petroleum unusable, and World War III. This is hinted at in the second book.
Novel2004–UnspecifiedThe Emberverse seriesS. M. Stirling – Series of novels and short stories. A disaster of indeterminate cause causes electricity, combustion engines, and modern explosives to cease functioning.
Novel1987–UnspecifiedWraeththuA series of novels set in a world created by Storm Constantine – humanity is replaced as the planet's dominant species by a race of mystic hermaphrodites. War and plague ravage the human population, but no single cause is specified.
Comic2006–UnspecifiedWastelandComic series, which takes place roughly 100 years in the future, where North America is a dust bowl and lacking modern technology
Novel13th centuryImpact EventTheologus AutodidactusIbn al-Nafis
Novel1826DiseaseThe Last ManShelley, Mary
Novel1872Technology"The Book of Machines"The novel Erewhons section "The Book of Machines"
Novel1885WarAfter LondonRichard Jefferies – the nature of the catastrophe is never stated, except that apparently most of the human race quickly dies out, leaving England to revert to nature
Novel1895SunThe Time MachineH. G. Wells – towards the end of the book the Time Traveler witnesses the Sun's expansion, causing the death of all life on Earth.
Novel1898AliensThe War of the WorldsH. G. Wells
Novel1901EcoThe Purple CloudM.P. Shiel – a volcanic eruption floods the world with cyanide gas
Novel1908SupernaturalLord of the WorldRobert Hugh Benson
Story1909TechnologyThe Machine StopsE. M. Forster – a short story emphasizing machinery instead of computers
Novel1912DiseaseThe Scarlet PlagueJack London – Sixty years after an uncontrollable epidemic named the Red Death has depopulated the planet, James Howard Smith tries to impart the value of knowledge and wisdom to his grandsons
Novel1912SunThe Night LandWilliam Hope Hodgson – the Sun burns out and the last of humanity is sheltered in an arcology from the hostile environment and the creatures adapted for it
Novel1914UnspecifiedDarkness and DawnGeorge Allan England – two characters wake from suspended animation and find that some great disaster has torn an enormous chasm in Earth and created a second Moon
Novel1916WarThe Lost ContinentEdgar Rice Burroughs
Play1921TechnologyR.U.R.Play by Karel Čapek – notable for coining the term ""
Novel1926AliensThe Moon MenEdgar Rice Burroughs – The series comprising The Moon Maid, with the action set on the Moon; The Moon Men, set in 2120 after the Kalkars have invaded Earth; and The Red Hawk, which jumps to 2430 and in which the Great Feud reaches its climax.
Novel1926TechnologyThe Metal GiantsEdmond Hamilton
Novel1929TechnologyAutomataS. Fowler Wright
Novel1931Technology'Fletcher Pratt
Novel1932WarTomorrow's YesterdayJohn Gloag
Novel1933WarThe Shape of Things to ComeWells, H. G. – predicting an extended world war fought with modern scientific weapons, societal upheaval, and the beginning of space travel. Filmed as Things to Come in 1936.
Novel1934WarQuinzinzinziliMessac, Régis – predicting a great world war that ends with the vanishing of humanity. Only a group of children survives and forms a strange new humanity.
Novel1934WarThe Black FlameStanley G. Weinbaum – comprises two novellas, Dawn of Flame and The Black Flame, with a common character, Black Margot, a.k.a. Margaret of Urbs, a.k.a. the Black Flame
Story1934Technology"Rex"Harl Vincent
Novel1935TechnologyNightmare Number ThreeStephen Vincent Benet
Film1936WarThings to ComeA future Second World War leads to a breakdown of civilization in most of the world, with technology returning to medieval levels by 1970.
Novel1936WarWild HarbourIan MacPherson – a war much worse than World War I leads to complete social collapse in Great Britain
Story1937WarBy the Waters of BabylonStephen Vincent Benét
Radio1938–1975Aliens"The War of the Worlds"The radio play, originally directed and narrated by Orson Welles and premiered on The Mercury Theater on the Air, later remade for local broadcast by, and over, station WKBW -AM, in Buffalo, New York.
Novel1939WarThe Death GuardPhilip George Chadwick - when a near-invincible army of artificially created soldiers – the Flesh Guard – falls into the hands of an untrustworthy power, continental Europe forms an alliance and invades Great Britain. The resulting carnage, involving poisonous electric gas, "humanite" bombs, and the unfeeling march of the Flesh Guard, reduces whole cities and towns in Europe to smoking rubble.
Film1939Human declinePeace on EarthA cartoon short by Hugh Harman – animals rebuild a post-apocalyptic world after humanity has fought war to the point of extinction
Story1941War"Nightfall"Isaac Asimov
Novel1943WarGather, DarknessFritz Leiber
Novel1945SunRescue PartyArthur C. Clarke
Novel1946EcoMr. AdamPat Frank – depicts a world in which a nuclear power plant explosion renders the entire male population infertile
Novel1947TechnologyWith Folded HandsJack Williamson
Novel1948WarApe and EssenceHuxley, Aldous – also screenplay
Novel1949DiseaseEarth AbidesStewart, George R. – plague
Story1949War"Not with a Bang"Damon Knight
Story1949Impact Event"The Big Eye"Max Simon Ehrlich
Novel1950WarPebble in the SkyAsimov, Isaac – a later book, Robots and Empire, gave a different explanation
Story1950War"There Will Come Soft Rains"Ray Bradbury - short story in The Martian Chronicles.
Story1950Disease"The City"Ray Bradbury
Film1951WarFiveArch Oboler – the film shows the aftermath of a nuclear war, centered on a group of five survivors
Story1951Disease"The Visitor"Ray Bradbury – short story in The Illustrated Man
Film1951Impact EventWhen Worlds CollideScientists discover that a star named Bellus is on a collision course with Earth.
Novel1951Impact Event, Monsters, DiseaseThe Day of the TriffidsJohn Wyndham – initially thought to be a blinding meteor shower, but later suggested to be a man-made satellite based weapon accidentally discharged, allowing the bio-engineered Triffids to dominate
Novel1951AliensThe Puppet MastersRobert A. Heinlein
Story1951Technology"The Last Revolution"Lord Dunsany
Novel1951Social CollapseFoundationAsimov, Isaac – mathematician Hari Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way
Film1952WarCaptive WomenA new primitive society emerges long after a nuclear war. The film portrays tribes called the "Norms", the "Upriver People", and the "Mutates" fighting in the remains of New York City.
Film1952WarInvasion USA
Novel1952WarStar Man's SonNorton, Andre - also published as Daybreak: 2250 A.D. and Star Man's Son: 2250 A.D.
Story1952Eco"The Birds"Daphne du Maurier – made into the 1963 film The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock in which birds begin launching spontaneous mass attacks against humanity
Story1944Eco"The Great Fog"Gerald Heard; a mildew-generated fog appears to undermine
civilization.
Novel1952Human declineCityClifford D. Simak
Film1953AliensThe War of the WorldsBased on the novel of the same name
Novel1953AliensThe Kraken WakesJohn Wyndham
Story1953Supernatural"The Nine Billion Names of God"Arthur C. Clarke – a short story taken from the short story collection of the same name
Novel1954WarTomorrow!Wylie, Philip – cautionary civil defense-themed "tale of two cities": one American city is ready for nuclear World War III, while the other is not
Play1954WarThe Offshore IslandPlay by Marghanita Laski
Novel1954DiseaseI Am LegendRichard Matheson – a vampire apocalypse novel, adapted to film as The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, I Am Legend, and I Am Omega
Novel1954DiseaseSome Will Not DieBudrys, Algis
Story1954Technology"Slaves To The Metal Horde"Milton Lesser
Story1954Technology"Answer"Fredric Brown
Story1954Social Collapse"The Last of the Masters"Philip K. Dick – short story by Dick, Philip K. – 200 years after a global anarchist revolution, society has stagnated due to the loss of scientific knowledge during the revolt. Elsewhere, the last government, a highly centralized and efficient society, is in hiding from the Anarchist League, a global militia preventing the recreation of any government.
Film1955WarDay the World Ended
Novel1955WarThe ChrysalidsJohn Wyndham – U.S. title: Re-Birth - the aftermath of a nuclear war in a rural Canadian community
Novel1955WarThe Long TomorrowBrackett, Leigh – in the aftermath of a nuclear war scientific knowledge is feared and restricted.
Film1956WarWorld Without EndEdward Bernd, starring Hugh Marlowe, Rod Taylor – robust 20th Century men — narrowly escaping the ubiquitous "time warp" — kill giant spiders, help pale nerds and their beautiful women emerge from underground, and retake the post-World War III surface from troglodyte mutants
Novel1956WarThe World Jones MadeDick, Philip K.
Story1956War"The Last Word"Damon Knight
Story1956Impact Event"A Pail of Air"Fritz Leiber – a small family struggles to survive at near-zero temperatures after Earth is ripped from its solar orbit
Film1956AliensInvasion of the Body SnatchersBased on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
Novel1956EcoThe Death of GrassJohn Christopher – a virus that destroys plants causes massive famine and the breakdown of society. Made into the film No Blade of Grass
Novel1957WarOn the BeachNevil Shute – also the films based on the book
Novel1957Social CollapseAtlas ShruggedRand, Ayn – American society slowly collapses after the country's leading industrialists mysteriously disappear
Film1958WarTeenage Caveman
Novel1958EcoThe Year When Stardust FellRaymond F. Jones - the world's machinery grinds to a halt after comet dust arrives
Film1958WarTerror from the Year 5000
Television1958War"Doomsday For Dyson"A made-for-television play by J. B. Priestley. Tom Dyson is suddenly caught up in the chaos of a nuclear war. Several of the issues brought up in the programme were discussed in an hour-long debate following its conclusion.
Television1958War"Underground"A group of survivors from an atomic war become trapped in an underground station; during the play, broadcast live on Armchair Theatre, one of the actors actually died while the show was on the air.
Novel1958WarRed AlertGeorge, Peter – filmed as ' by Stanley Kubrick
Poem1958–1970Human decline"Bedtime Story"A poem from Collected Poems 1958–1970 by George Macbeth
Film1959WarOn the BeachStanley Kramer – starring Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins and Ava Gardner – the crew of an American submarine finds temporary safety from the fallout in Australia after the nuclear holocaust
Film1959WarThe World, the Flesh and the DevilAdapted from M.P. Shiel's The Purple Cloud.
Television1959WarThe Offshore IslandA TV adaptation of a play by Marghanita Laski.
Novel1959WarAlas, BabylonPat Frank – the aftermath of a nuclear war in a rural Florida community
Novel1959WarA Canticle for LeibowitzMiller, Jr., Walter M. - plus a sequel called Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman
Novel1959WarLevel 7Roshwald, Mordecai
Television1959–1987WarThe Twilight Zone – numerous episodes and its revivals"Time Enough at Last" ; "Two" ; "The Old Man in the Cave" ; "A Little Peace and Quiet" ; "Quarantine" ; "Shelter Skelter" ; and "Voices in the Earth"
Film1960WarAtomic War BrideA Yugoslavian science fiction drama film directed by Veljko Bulajic.
Film1960WarThe Final WarShigeaki Hidaka - a Japanese film about a third world war that is started when the U.S. accidentally drops a nuclear bomb on South Korea
Film1960WarThe Time Machinehad an atomic war explain the downfall of civilization
Film1960EcoThe Last Woman on EarthThe Earth's oxygen levels drop suddenly, suffocating most life–survivors in an oxygen-producing jungle. It is speculated that this happened because of "a bigger and better bomb", but the reasons are not made clear.
Film1960EcoX-plane arrives in future after solar radiation catastrophe
Film1961WarThe Last WarShūe Matsubayashi – another Japanese film about World War III
Novel1961WarDark UniverseGalouye, Daniel F.
Film1961EcoVoyage to the Bottom of the SeaThe Van Allen belt catches on fire.
Novel1961EcoThe Wind from NowhereJ.G. Ballard – First published novel. The world is destroyed by increasingly powerful winds.
Film1962WarLa jetéeChris Marker
Film1962WarPanic in Year Zero!A 1962 movie about a family that escapes Los Angeles after the city is devastated by a nuclear attack.
Film1962WarThis Is Not a Test
Film1962Impact Event, MonstersThe Day of the TriffidsLoosely based on the John Wyndham novel of the same name. The film version of the Triffids are poisonous space-borne plants, and arrive on Earth via meteorites.
Novel1962EcoHothouseBrian Aldiss – presents a dying Earth where vegetation dominates and animal life is all but extinct. Originally published in the United States in abridged form as The Long, Hot Afternoon of Earth.
Novel1962EcoThe Drowned WorldJ.G. Ballard – climate change causes flooding
Novel1962EcoThe Wanting SeedAnthony Burgess – global overpopulation and famine leads to mass chaos
Novel1962EcoThe World in Winter /The Long WinterJohn Christopher – a decrease in radiation from the sun causes a new ice age
Novel1963WarTriumphWylie, Philip
Novel1963EcoCat's CradleKurt Vonnegut – all the water on Earth is exposed to and becomes Ice-Nine, a fictional alternative structure of water that is solid at room temperature
Comic1963TechnologyMagnus, Robot FighterComic book series by Gold Key Comics
Novel1963UnspecifiedThe WallNovel by Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer. Adapted to film in 2012 under the same name. A 40-something woman, while vacationing in a hunting lodge in the Austrian mountains, discovers that a transparent wall has been placed that closes her off from the outside world; all life outside the wall appears to have died, possibly in a nuclear event.
Novel2009War, TerrorismThe War After ArmageddonWar novel by Ralph Peters. Islamic extremists launch a series of dirty bomb attacks against the West, which results in a backlash against Muslims. A radical Christian government takes over the U.S. and sends the Army, Marines, and a National Guard full of evangelicals to invade and retake a long-nuked Israel.
Film1964War'Stanley Kubrick – adaptation of the novel Red Alert by Peter George
Film1964DiseaseThe Last Man on EarthThe first film adaptation based on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend.
Film1964WarThe Time Travelers
Film1964EcoCrack in the WorldDeep-drilling project goes wrong
Novel1964WarDavyPangborn, Edgar
Novel1964WarFarnham's FreeholdHeinlein, Robert A.
Novel1964WarThe Penultimate TruthDick, Philip K.
Television1964Aliens"The Dalek Invasion of Earth"A Doctor Who serial; as well as other alien invasions in the 1963–1989 run, including in 1966 "The Tenth Planet", 1968 "The Web of Fear" and in the same year "The Invasion", in 1970 "Spearhead from Space", and in 1971 "Terror of the Autons"; this list is not complete but can be said to represent milestone episodes. Some notable examples from the relaunch are in 2006 "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday", and in 2007 "The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords".
Film1964EcoThe Day the Earth Caught FireEarth starts hurtling toward the Sun as a result of man's nuclear testing
Novel1964EcoThe DroughtJ.G. Ballard – a super-drought evaporates all water on Earth
Novel1964EcoGreybeardBrian Aldiss – the human race becomes sterile
Novel1964EcoTime of the Great FreezeRobert Silverberg – Another ice age has engulfed Earth. A group from New York travels over the ice to London in the year 2650.
Television1964–2002WarThe Outer Limits"Soldier" ; "Bits of Love"; "The Human Factor"; "The Vaccine"
Television1965WarThe War GamePeter Watkins
Novel1965WarDr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the BombDick, Philip K.
Game1965WarNuclear War Card GameGame by Flying Buffalo. A comical cataclysmic card game for 2–6 players of all ages.
Novel1965AliensThe GenocidesThomas Disch – alien flora is seeded on Earth, and quickly comes to dominate all landmasses, threatening Human extinction
Novel1965EcoA Wrinkle in the Skin John Christopher – civilization destroyed by massive worldwide earthquakes
Film1965TechnologyAlphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution
Television1966WarApe and EssenceTelevision adaptation of the novel of the same name
Film1966AliensDaleks - Invasion Earth 2150 ADBased loosely on "The Dalek Invasion of Earth', an early serial of the BBC television series Doctor Who, but not part of the official canon
Novel1966EcoThe Crystal WorldJ.G. Ballard - the jungle in Africa starts to crystallize all life and expands outward
Novel1966EcoMake Room! Make Room!Harry Harrison – made into the 1973 film Soylent Green directed by Richard Fleischer – showing a world where humanity has become massively overpopulated, a vague ecological disaster is creating a growing dust bowl, and the entire economy is collapsing
Novel1966, 1974, 1977TechnologyColossusD. F. Jones - plus two sequels called The Fall of Colossus and Colossus and the Crab
Film1967WarLate August at the Hotel OzoneCzech title: Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon
Film1967WarIn the Year 2889A remake of the 1955 Roger Corman film Day the World Ended that is set in the year 1977, despite the title.
Film1967WarJourney to the Center of Time
Novel1967WarIceKavan, Anna – Earth threatened by a nuclear winter
Story1967Technology"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"Written by Harlan Ellison, this Earth is the result of an American supercomputer made for war becoming sentient and going rogue, driving humanity to extinction and leaving only five humans alive to be tortured for eternity by the now-omnipotent supercomputer, christening itself AM. This was later turned into a point-and-click computer game, where AM was voiced by Harlan Ellison himself.
Story1965TechnologyThe CyberiadStanisław Lem – a collection of humorous short stories
Novel1967–2005TechnologyThe Berserker seriesSeries by Fred Saberhagen
Novel1968TechnologyRite of PassageAlexei Panshin – Earth, after building a dozen or so Ships and seeding a number of colony planets, is destroyed. The Ships are technologically advanced, but the colony planets have all to some extent regressed technologically. The Ships' populations are managed on strictly eugenic lines: as part of this, they deliberately strand their young on colony planets for a month in the Trial, both to weed out bad genes and as a rite of passage. Nebula Award winner, Hugo Award nominee.
Film1968WarPlanet of the ApesAdapted from the novel La planète des singes by Pierre Boulle
Novel1968WarDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Philip K. Dick – basis for the film Blade Runner
Novel1968TechnologyThe God MachineMartin Caidin
Novel1968Social CollapseStand on ZanzibarJohn Brunner – set in a future of extreme over-population. Winner of the Hugo Award, the British Science Fiction award, and the French Prix Apollo.
Film1969WarThe Bed Sitting RoomAbsurdist comedy film set in a post-war London destroyed by a nuclear bomb in World War III. Originally based on a play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus.
Television1969WarSalve ReginaFour people seek refuge in the basement of a department store following a nuclear explosion
Novel1969WarDamnation AlleyRoger Zelazny – made into a movie and a Hawkwind song in 1977
Novel1969WarHeroes and VillainsAngela Carter
Film1969DiseaseThe Seed of ManMarco Ferreri
Novel1969EcoThe Ice SchoonerMichael Moorcock – set in a new ice age on Earth
Film1970WarBeneath the Planet of the ApesThe second film in the Planet of the Apes feature film series.
Novel1970WarThe Incredible TideAlexander Key
Novel1970WarThe Last WarKir Bulychev – in the Russian language
Novel1970WarThe Year Of The Quiet SunWilson Tucker
Film1970EcoNo Blade of GrassBased on the novel The Death of Grass
Television1970Eco"Inferno"A Doctor Who serial in which attempts to tap Earth's core for power leads to a volcanic apocalypse.
Film1971WarGlen and Randa
Film1971WarThe Omega ManAn immune survivor of a biological/nuclear war battles plague-altered quasi-vampires bent on erasing all vestiges of science and technology. The second film version of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend
Novel1971WarLove in the RuinsWalker Percy
Novel1971WarThe Overman CultureEdmund Cooper
Television1971EcoTimeslip1971 TV series Timeslip: The Year of the Burn-Up – terraforming causes global warming
Novel1971Eco'Kit Pedler, Gerry Davis - a microbe designed to eat waste plastic gets loose
Novel1971TechnologyThe Moderan seriesSeries by David R. Bunch
Novel1971SunInconstant MoonLarry Niven
Novel1972WarMalevilRobert Merle
Novel1972WarThere Will Be TimePoul Anderson
Film1972EcoSilent RunningDirectorial debut for Douglas Trumbull. An ecologically-minded astronaut struggles to save the last bio-dome preserving what is left of Earth's plant life. Adventures with uncooperative droids and the rings of Saturn ensue.
Novel1972EcoThe Sheep Look UpJohn Brunner – the United States is overwhelmed by environmental irresponsibility and authoritarianism
Novel1972EcoThe End of the DreamPhilip Wylie
Film1972SupernaturalA Thief in the NightThe evangelical Christian film series, sometimes referred to as the Mark IV films.
Film1972WarDoomsday MachineIn 1975, a crew of space travelers tries to colonize Venus after Earth is destroyed by a "doomsday device". Originally filmed in 1967, but not finished and/or released until five years later. Directed by Herbert J. Leder, Lee Sholem, and producer Harry Hope.
Film1973WarBattle for the Planet of the ApesThe fifth movie in the Planet of the Apes feature film series.
Film1973WarGenesis IIGene Roddenberry – later remade as the unsuccessful TV pilot Planet Earth
Film1973WarRefuge of Fear
Film1973EcoIdaho TransferDirected by Peter Fonda. A research team discover a way to travel into the future, and in doing so discover that a worldwide ecological catastrophe is imminent. They send a group of earnest teenagers forward in time to repopulate the Earth after the disaster – but it does not end well.
Story1973EcoFlight of the HorseLarry Niven – collection of short stories
Comic1973EcoViolence JackA manga series by Go Nagai that tells the tale of a Japan devastated by a massive earthquake and mass volcanic eruption and isolated from the rest of the world, with the remnants of humanity divided between the strong and the weak. A sequel to Nagai's Devilman manga series.
Story1973Technology"Trucks"Stephen King – An unknown phenomenon makes Earth's machines turn against humanity. It was later made into the movie Maximum Overdrive, which added an alien invasion subplot.
Novel1973Human declineThe Camp of the SaintsJean Raspail
Television1973UnspecifiedThe StarlostA Canadian-produced science fiction television series created by writer Harlan Ellison and broadcast on CTV in Canada and on NBC in the United States.
Television1973–1974TechnologyCasshan
Film1974WarThe Third Cry
Television1974WarPlanet EarthUnsuccessful TV pilot remake of Genesis II
Television1974WarPlanet of the ApesTV series
Film1974DiseaseWhere Have All The People Gone?Made for TV movie. A mutated virus created by a solar flare destroys virtually all of the human population. One family has survived, and endeavors to travel across America to their family home.
Film1974EcoProphecies of Nostradamus
Film1974Human declineZardozJohn Boorman
Film1974ZombiesDawn of the DeadSurvivors barricade themselves in a suburban mall amid a zombie apocalypse
Novel1974, 1979, 1984, 1993MonstersThe Rats series - The Rats, Lair, Domain and The City James Herbert – Domain and The City, the last two books of the series, show how, after a nuclear war, humanity is overthrown by mutated giant black rats.
Film1975WarA Boy and His DogA young man and his dog struggle for survival and encounter strife in a harsh, post-apocalyptic wasteland where food, water, and women are scarce. Based on the writings of Harlan Ellison.
Film1975WarBlack MoonSurreal French production.
Film1975WarLa città dell'ultima paura
Film1975WarThe NoahDaniel Bourla – an American soldier becomes the sole survivor of a nuclear war
Television1975War"Day of the Daleks"A Doctor Who serial that also features alien invasion. Guerrillas from the future explain that they are attempting to kill someone because he caused an explosion at a peace conference, starting a series of wars that left humanity vulnerable to conquest by the Daleks.
Television1975WarReturn to the Planet of the ApesAnimated TV series
Television1975WarStrange New WorldAnother unsuccessful TV pilot remake of Genesis II and Planet Earth
Novel1975WarCaravanStephen Goldin
Novel1975WarThe Horseclans seriesSeventeen-book series by Robert Adams – first book The Coming of the Horseclans
Novel1975WarZ for ZachariahRobert C. O'Brien
Film1975DiseaseThe Ultimate Warrior
Novel1975DiseaseThe Girl Who Owned a CityO. T. Nelson
Film1975EcoLogan's RunSociety is chased into domes by an ecological disaster, and holds a ceremonial death ritual for all citizens who reach the age of 30 to control the population. A man who formerly helped control the population flees the domed city to avoid his own ceremony.
Novel1975UnspecifiedDhalgrenSamuel R. Delany
Television1975–1977DiseaseSurvivorsBBC series about the daily struggles of British survivors of a plague which kills most of the world population
Film1976WarThe People Who Own the DarkAmando de Ossorio
Novel1976WarDeus IraePhilip K. Dick – in collaboration with Roger Zelazny
Novel1976EcoThe HAB TheoryAllan W. Eckert – the stability of Earth comes into question
Novel1976EcoThe Winter of the WorldPoul Anderson – civilization and a new species has emerged from a deadly ice age that has destroyed all previous life
Novel1976SunA World Out of TimeLarry Niven
Television1976–1979EcoArk IIThe 1976–1979 TV series – pollution devastates humanity
Novel1977UnspecifiedEumeswilErnst Jünger – the story is set in an undatable post-apocalyptic world, somewhere in present-day Morocco
Film1977WarDamnation AlleyA surviving American ICBM crew sets out across the U.S. in an armored vehicle in search of survivors in Albany, New York – based on the novel by Roger Zelazny
Film1977WarWizardsRalph Bakshi – a good wizard and his evil brother battle some two millennia after Armageddon
Novel1977Impact EventLucifer's HammerLarry Niven, Jerry Pournelle – a comet impact
Novel1977–WarThe Shannara seriesTerry Brooks – novel series
Comic1977WarJudge DreddJohn Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra and Pat Mills
Novel1977DiseaseEmpty WorldJohn Christopher – a virus wipes out the weak and the old, until the planet is populated by young teenagers only
Novel1974DiseaseThe Last CanadianWilliam C. Heine – the planet is decimated by a virus, as told through the eyes of one survivor
Story1977Disease"Night Surf"Stephen King – Collected in the book Night Shift.
Story1977Eco"The Screwfly Solution"Short story; tells the tale of a virus which turns males into female-hating psychopaths when sexually aroused
Comic1977–1996TechnologyGalaxy Express 999Manga series
Film1978WarDeathsport
Television1978WarFuture Boy ConanAn anime series by Hayao Miyazaki. Supermagnetic WMDs devastate Earth and cause virtually all land to be submerged underwater.
Film1979DiseasePlagueAlso known as Induced Syndrome, M-3: The Gemini Strain, or Mutation.
Novel1978DiseaseThe StandStephen King
Film1978AliensInvasion of the Body SnatchersAnother film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
Novel1978UnspecifiedFalse DawnChelsea Quinn Yarbro – two humans search for a way to survive in a toxic wasteland. Republished in 2001.
Game1978–2010WarGamma WorldGame from TSR, Inc., the makers of Dungeons & Dragons
Film1979WarRavagers
Television1979WarBuck Rogers In The 25th CenturyMostly futuristic in appearance, but outside of the gleaming Utopian city lies apocalyptic ruins swarming with mutants.
Novel1979WarDown to a Sunless SeaDavid Graham
Film1979Impact EventMeteor
Film1979EcoQuintet
Film1979Human declineMad MaxAustralian movie; depicts a declining civilization through the eyes of the titular character who seeks revenge. Starring Mel Gibson.
Novel1979UnspecifiedEngine SummerJohn Crowley – civilization transformed several millennia past an unspecified collapse of civilization
Novel1979–1992AliensThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
Game1979–1998TechnologyChoose Your Own AdventureGame book series by Edward Packard
Novel1980WarThe Fifth HorsemanLarry Collins, co-author Dominique Lapierre
Novel1980WarRiddley WalkerRussell Hoban
Novel1980WarThis Time of DarknessH.M. Hoover
Film1980DiseaseFukkatsu no hiJapanese film also known as Virus, directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Novel1980AliensBattlefield EarthL. Ron Hubbard
Novella1980Aliens"The Mist"Stephen King
Novel1980AliensThe VisitorsClifford D. Simak
Novel1980SunThe Shadow of the TorturerGene Wolfe – Followed by The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor, The Citadel of the Autarch, and The Urth of the New Sun.
Television1980–1982Impact EventThundarr the BarbarianEvents 2,000 years after the disaster of 1994
Game1980–1983WarThe Morrow ProjectGame from Timeline Ltd.
Film1981WarMad Max 2The second installment in the Mad Max series, known as The Road Warrior in the U.S.. This movie follows the titular character as he interacts with a community based around a small oil refinery and a group of marauding bandits. Starring Mel Gibson.
Film1981WarMalevilFilm version directed by Christian de Chalonge. Starring Michel Serrault, Jacques Dutronc and Jean-Louis Trintignant
Novel1981WarThe Survivalist seriesJerry Ahern – Series. First book 1981, Total War
Game1981WarAftermath!Game from Fantasy Games Unlimited
Novel1981WarThe Pelbar CycleSeries of seven books by Paul O. Williams – first book The Breaking of Northwall ; a thousand years after a series of nuclear exchanges. Re-published in 2005.
Novel1981EcoThe Quiet EarthCraig Harrison – Adapted into the 1985 movie of the same name.
Television1981Impact Event, Monsters, DiseaseThe Day of the Triffids1981 TV adaptation of The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Novel1981TechnologyRobot RevoltNicholas Fisk
Comic1981TechnologyUncanny X-MenStory arc "Days of Future Past" by Chris Claremont and John Byrne
Film1982War2020 Texas GladiatorsPost-apocalyptic Italian film
Film1982WarThe AftermathReturning astronauts encounter bikers and mutants in a post-nuclear setting. Released as Zombie Aftermath in the U.K..
Comic1982–1990WarAkiraCyberpunk manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo published by Dark Horse Comics – about a group of young bikers in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo who clash with the government and psychics with incredible power. Adapted into a 1988 animated movie
Film1982WarHuman Highway
Film1982WarSheA low-budget B-movie and an extremely loose adaptation of the novel She by H. Rider Haggard, starring Sandahl Bergman as a post-civilization warrior.
Film1982WarWarriors of the WastelandAfter a nuclear war, humanity is reduced to starving tribes with roving gangs seeking to take what they can by force.
Television1982WarWhoops Apocalypse
Novel1982DiseaseThe White PlagueFrank Herbert
Game1982Technology'Created by Williams
Television1982–1983AliensThe Super Dimension Fortress MacrossThe anime series and its sequels.
Film1983War2019, After the Fall of New YorkAn Italian film set in 2019 featuring a mercenary out to rescue the last fertile woman on Earth.
Film1983WarEndgame
Film1983WarExterminators of the Year 3000
Film1983WarLe Dernier CombatLuc Besson
Film1983WarStryker
Film1983WarTestament
Film1983WarWarrior of the Lost WorldA wanderer on a super-sonic motorcycle becomes the saviour of a society of misfits.
Film1983WarYor, the Hunter from the Future
Television1983WarThe Day AfterThe effects of nuclear war on a Kansas town
Novel1983WarThe Amtrak WarsPatrick Tilley – series, set at the end of the 3rd millennium
Novel1983WarThe Ashes seriesSeries by William W. Johnstone - first book 1983, Out of the Ashes
Comic1983–1988WarFist of the North StarInfluential shonen manga series by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara – a warrior trained in a powerful martial arts style rights wrongs and battles evil warlords in a post-apocalyptic world. Inspired the landmark anime series, a live-action film, and many games.
Novel1983WarHiero's JourneySterling E. Lanier – plus a sequel calledThe Unforsaken Hiero ; a "metis" priest/killman quests across post-apocalyptic northeastern North America, 7,000 years in the future
Novel1983WarThe Last Children of SchewenbornGudrun Pausewang – in German
Novel1983WarPulling ThroughDean Ing
Novel1983WarTrinity's ChildWilliam Prochnau
Novel1983WarVampire Hunter DSeries by Hideyuki Kikuchi – first book 1983, novels, set 10,000 years after a nuclear war occurs in 1999
Television1983–1984AliensGenesis Climber MospeadaAnime series
Television1983–1985AliensVTelevision series
Film1984WarDark Enemy
Comic1984–1995TechnologyDragon BallIn the Cell saga of Dragon Ball Z, a time traveler arrives from a post-apocalyptic future where two powerful killer androids have destroyed much of the world, and attempts to stop the same thing from happening in the main timeline.
Film1984WarRadioactive DreamsAfter an atomic war, Phillip Hammer and Marlowe Chandler have spent 15 years on their own in a bunker, then they find the keys to the last MX missile.
Film1984WarSexmissionA Polish comedy. All men, except two who were hibernating, die after a war with the use of an M-bomb that kills only males.
Television1984WarThreadsBBC television docudrama
Television1984WarZ for ZachariahBBC made-for-TV film adaptation of the 1975 novel of the same name
Novel1984WarBrother in the LandRobert Swindells
Novel1984WarDoomsday Plus TwelveJames D. Forman
Novel1984WarEmergenceDavid R Palmer
Novel1984WarThe Traveler seriesD. B. Drumm – series; first book First, You Fight
Novel1984WarWardayWhitley Strieber, co-author James Kunetka
Novel1984DiseaseClay's ArkOctavia Butler
Film1984Impact EventNight of the CometWhen a comet passes too close to earth, two girls are left amid mutants.
Film1984EcoNausicaä of the Valley of the WindHayao Miyazaki – Based on the manga of the same name
Novel1984EcoIn the DriftMichael Swanwick – Also an alternate history story – the 1979 Three Mile Island reactor incident resulted in a very large release of radioactivity, devastating the northeastern U.S.
Television1984–1985AliensThe TripodsAn adaptation of the first two books in the trilogy by John Christopher
Television1984–1987WarFist of the North StarLandmark post-apocalyptic anime series based on the manga of the same name.
Game1984–1993War'Game from Game Designer's Workshop – set in a world where a Sino-Russian war degenerates into a limited nuclear conflict that eventually drags in Europe and America
Film1984–2009TechnologyThe Terminator franchiseSeries of films dealing with a future devastated by a war between humans and machines, the attempt of the machines to kill the hero of the human resistance in the past, and the attempt of the hero and others to prevent this future from ever coming to pass
Film1985WarDef-Con 4
Film1985WarMad Max Beyond ThunderdomeThe third installment in the Mad Max series. This film follows the titular character as he interacts with the post-apocalyptic community of Bartertown. Starring Mel Gibson.
Film1985WarWarriors of the ApocalypseAfter civilization is wiped out by nuclear war, an adventurer leads a group of wanderers on a search for the fabled Mountain of Life.
Novel1985WarChildren of the DustLouise Lawrence
Novel1985WarFiskadoroDenis Johnson
Novel1985WarFreeway FighterIan Livingstone – part of the "Fighting Fantasy" Gamebook series
Novel1985WarThe PostmanDavid Brin – A novel set in Oregon after the apocalypse. Serves as a basis for the 1997 movie of the same name.
Novel1985WarThe Steel, the Mist and the Blazing SunChristopher Anvil
Novel1985WarThis Is the Way the World EndsJames Morrow
Film1985DiseaseCity Limits
Novel1985DiseaseBlood MusicGreg Bear
Novel1985DiseaseThe Fourth HorsemanAlan E. Nourse – follows the progression of a new outbreak of the Black Death and the struggle to survive as society collapses
Novel1985AliensFootfallLarry Niven, Jerry Pournelle – baby elephant-like invaders hurl asteroids at Earth; the humans revolt
Novel1985EcoThe Handmaid's TaleMargaret Atwood – dystopia is fueled by rampant infertility caused by pollution
Film1985Technology'
Novel1985TechnologyThe Adolescence of P-1Thomas J. Ryan
Game1985TechnologyThe Mechanoid InvasionGamebook and its source books, supplements and sequels; was the first role-playing game from Palladium Books, conceived and written by Kevin Siembieda
Film1985SunThe Quiet EarthBased on the 1981 novel The Quiet Earth by Craig Harrison
Film1986WarAmerica 3000In Colorado, 900 years after a nuclear war in the U.S., humanity is sent back to the Stone Age.
Film1986WarFist of the North StarAnimated Japanese film based off the manga of the same name.
Film1986WarRobot Holocaust
Film1986WarThe Sacrifice
Film1986WarWhen the Wind BlowsJimmy Murakami – adapting the graphic novel by Raymond Briggs
Film1986WarWhoops Apocalypse
Novel1986–WarThe Deathlands seriesJames Axler – novel series
Novel1986WarThe Endworld seriesSeries by David L. Robbins – first book 1986
Film1986DiseaseDead Man's LettersKonstantin Lopushanskij
Story1986AliensMaximum OverdriveStephen King – Aliens remotely control machines to kill the human population before invading. Based on the Stephen King short story "Trucks".
Film1986EcoSolarbabiesAlso known as Solarwarriors
Novel1986EcoNature's EndWhitley Strieber and James Kunetka.
Story1986Eco"The End of the Whole Mess"Stephen King – a distillate of a Texas aquifer, originally harvested and distributed worldwide to reduce human propensity for violence, curses humanity with premature Alzheimer's disease and senility
Comic1986–1989AliensOutlandersJohji Manabe – manga
Film1987WarCherry 2000
Film1987WarCreepozoids
Film1987WarDeath Run
Film1987WarHell Comes to Frogtown
Film1987WarInterzone
Film1987WarSteel Dawn
Film1987WarThe SurvivalistThe Soviet Union blames the U.S. for a nuclear explosion, and in the ensuing chaos, the protagonist must defend his family. Based on the Jerry Ahern pulp novel series.
Film1987WarSurvivor
Film1987WarUrban WarriorsThree technicians working in an underground laboratory discover that a nuclear war has destroyed most of the aboveground world.
Television1987WarKnights of God
Novel1987WarFire BratsSeries by Scott Siegel – first book 1987, co-author Barbera Siegel, grades 8–10
Novel1987WarObernewtyn ChroniclesSeries by Isobelle Carmody – first book 1987
Novel1987WarSwan SongRobert R. McCammon
Game1987WarCrystalisGame from SNK
Game1987–War, Aliens, Disease, Technology, Supernatural, Future collapse, Social collapse, Human decline Warhammer 40,000The Eldar, a technologically advanced race who dominated the galaxy until the 29th millennium and was superior to the nascent human race, fell into moral decadence, causing the disfigurement of reality to numerous star systems colonized by the people of Earth fueled by the negative emotions of countless sentinent species brought into instability and unending conflict merely for survival, while at the same time the majority of humanity's population had degraded to a pre-industrial society because of the loss of technology due to a massive confrontation with artificially intelligent machines over thousands of years, until an Empire forcefully united most humans under a fascist totalitarian theocratic regime that conducted an unending war for the genocide of every other advanced lifeform, including some affected by supernatural factors.
Novel1987AliensThe Forge of GodGreg Bear
Novel1987EcoWolf In ShadowDavid Gemmell – The world is devastated by huge tsunamis. Most of the technology left in the world is on par with the mid- to late 1800s, but there are some newer weapons around.
Song1987Technology"Twilight of The Gods"Helloween
Novel1987UnspecifiedIn the Country of Last ThingsPaul Auster
Television1987–1988TechnologyCaptain Power and the Soldiers of the FutureAfter a war against the machines in which the humans lost, a small group of resistance fighters must keep humanity alive against the evil forces of Lord Dread.
Film1988WarAkiraGroundbreaking anime movie based on the manga of the same name
Film1988WarMiracle Mile
Film1988WarShe-Wolves of the Wasteland
Film1988WarWorld Gone Wild
Novel1988WarFreeway WarriorSeries by Joe Dever – first book 1988
Novel1988WarThe Gate to Women's CountrySheri S. Tepper
Novel1988WarThe Last ShipWilliam Brinkley
Novel1988WarTime CapsuleMitch Berman
Film1988AliensThey LivePart science fiction thriller and part black comedy
Game1988AliensManhunterA computer game set in an alternate timeline where Earth's population is enslaved by an alien species known as the Orbs
Game1988TechnologyWastelandPost-apocalyptic RPG, main story features a rogue AI that not only caused a nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union, but also is attempting to eradicate any humans that survived
Novel1988Human declineAt Winter's EndRobert Silverberg
Game1988Social CollapseDark FutureMiniature wargame by Games Workshop – a role-playing game franchise composed of the game and associated novels and short-story anthologies set within the Dark Future universe
Novel1988UnspecifiedTea from an Empty CupPat Cadigan – a novel set in a cyberpunk world following a vaguely described natural cataclysm
Television1988–1990AliensWar of the Worlds: The Second InvasionThe second season of this television spin-off from the 1953 movie was set after a successful alien invasion.
Film1989WarThe Blood of HeroesAustralian film written and directed by David Webb Peoples
Film1989WarCyborg
Film1989WarEmpire of Ash II
Film1989WarEmpire of Ash III
Novel1989WarFolk of the FringeOrson Scott Card – novella "West", plus several short stories
Game1989WarBadlandsA racing game by Atari Games set in the aftermath of nuclear war with races taking place in the wastelands left over from the war.
Novel1989DiseasePlague 99Jean Ure – sequels Come Lucky April and Watchers at the Shrine
Film1989EcoMillennium
Film1989EcoSlipstream
Novel1989EcoStarkBen Elton
Film1989TechnologyGunhed
Film1989TechnologyMoontrap
Novel1989MonstersMoonbaneAl Sarrantonio – about a worldwide uprising of werewolves
Novel1989SupernaturalThe DeadMark E. Rogers – combines themes of the Rapture and zombies
Story1989Disease"On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks"Story by Joe R. Lansdale. Bacteria causes the dead to rise. A bounty hunter chases his quarry and encounters an evil cult.
Film1989EcoA Visitor to a MuseumKonstantin Lopushansky – In a post-apocalyptic world, the population is divided and decimated. In the depths of the sea exists "the Museum", which can only be reached during occasional periods of low tide when the sea becomes a barren desert.
Film1990WarThe Handmaid's Tale
Film1990WarHardware
Film1990WarRobot Jox
Television1990WarThe Girl from TomorrowAustralian children's drama in which a girl from the 31st century becomes stranded in the 20th century. In the sequel, ', she and her friends fight to prevent history from being changed in such a way that the Southern Hemisphere is destroyed as well.
Novel1990WarNightfallIsaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg
Game1990WarMad MaxA single-player NES game based on the movie Mad Max 2.
Game1990WarRiftsA nuclear exchange triggers the return of Ley Lines and Interdimensional Rifts or portals. These Ley Lines and Portals subsequently cause several natural and supernatural disasters.
Film1990DiseaseA Wind Named AmnesiaA mysterious plague has swept over the entire world, causing everyone to suffer from amnesia, leading to the collapse of civilization. Based on a novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi.
Television1990DiseaseNot with a BangITV show, about three people who lived after everyone else in England was turned to dust by a chemical that was accidentally released by a television presenter
Novel1990DiseaseThe City, Not Long AfterPat Murphy – in the wake of a devastating worldwide plague, a handful of artists transform the city of San Francisco, and fend off marauders with a touch of magic
Novel1990DiseaseA Gift Upon the ShoreM. K. Wren
Film1990AliensI Come in PeaceAlso known as Dark Angel, directed by Craig R. Baxley
Novel1990AliensThe Madness SeasonCelia S. Friedman
Film1990EcoMindwarpTaking place in the year 2037, the loss of the ozone layer has left most of the planet a desolate wasteland scattered with highly radioactive Death Zones.
Film1990EcoOmega CopAfter an environmental holocaust, a lone cop battles a gang of rampaging marauders.
Novel1990Social CollapseWolf and IronGordon R. Dickson – a man and a wolf band together to survive in an America devastated by financial collapse
Television1990–1991TechnologyBucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars
Television1990–1992EcoCaptain PlanetThe Captain Planet two-part episode "Two Futures", in which the character Wheeler gets a glimpse of what could happen if damage to the environment was allowed to continue unchecked
Novel1990–1994WarGan MoondarkDonald E. McQuinn – trilogy Warrior, Wanderer, and Witch, set in the Pacific Northwest, generations after World War III
Film1991WarDelicatessenJean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro
Novel1991WarYellow PerilWang Lixiong – in the Chinese under the pseudonym Bao Mi, about a nuclear civil war in the People's Republic of China
Game1991WarArmour-GeddonGame from Psygnosis
Novel1991EcoFallen AngelsLarry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn – space-based civilization exists despite the government's wishes during an ice age
Game1991Eco"Dark Sun"A Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting by TSR, Inc. – focusing on a world that has been turned into an inhospitable desert by overuse of magic that destroyed the surrounding vegetation
Film1991SupernaturalThe Rapture
Television1992Warwoops!Short-lived sitcom about the survivors of a nuclear war
Game1992WarOutlanderA Mad Max-inspired driving game from 1992/93 for Snes and Genesis
Novel1992DiseaseThe Children of MenP. D. James
Film1992Technology'A film following the one woman who is able to conceive life after a third world war leaves the world's population sterile.
Novel1992MonstersSkeletonsAl Sarrantonio – the galaxy passes through a 'cloud' in space, which causes all previously expired creatures on Earth to return to life as bloodthirsty skeletons shrouded in ghostly mirages of their former selves
Film1993WarCyborg 2
Film1993EcoDemolition Man
Film1993WarRobot WarsSequel to Robot Jox
Novel1993DiseaseDoomsday BookConnie Willis
Film1993AliensBody SnatchersAnother film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
Game1993Aliens' and subsequent follow-upsThe computer game.
Novel1993Eco, Social CollapseParable of the SowerOctavia E. Butler
Film1993EcoOne man's quest for revenge in a world where toxic waste has driven the remains of civilization into the Arctic Circle.
Novel1993EcoThe Fifth Sacred ThingStarhawk
Novel1993EcoDeus XNorman Spinrad – the results of global warming
Novel1993EcoThis Other EdenBen Elton – the Earth's population is forced to live in Biodomes for 50 years while the environment recovers from humanity's actions
Game1993EcoSecret of ManaTakes place long after a time of environmental collapse that destroyed the world's older advanced civilizations
Novel1993TechnologyComputer OneWarwick Collins
Novel1993TechnologyThe Metamorphosis of Prime IntellectRoger Williams
Game1993TechnologyRayForceMultia Japanese scrolling shooter arcade game
Television1993MonstersCadillacs and DinosaursAnimated TV series in which dinosaurs reclaim Earth. Based on the comic book series Xenozoic Tales.
Game1993–presentTechnologyThe Mega Man X seriesA video game series created by Capcom
Game1993–presentSupernaturalThe Doom seriesA computer game series created by id Software – about a demonic invasion of human colonies on the moons of Mars. The sequel to the original game, ', sees the demons invading Earth itself.
Television1994WarKnight Rider 2010Made for TV movie that was designed to be a pilot for a post-apocalyptic spin-off from the original Knight Rider TV series
Television1994DiseaseStephen King's The StandTV miniseries
Television1994Impact Event'
Game1994Impact EventIllusion of GaiaA Super NES game where a comet passes next to Earth, which is a malicious being whose light turns humans into monsters. The story takes place in an altered reality, where the approaching comet already changed the timeline and reality.
Game1994SupernaturalFinal Fantasy VITitled Final Fantasy III in its initial American launch, this RPG features a plot twist in where villain Kefka moves magical statues out of their intended alignment, which in turn causes the balanced fictional world to fall into ruin, and Kefka to become its new god while protected by the powers of the same statues.
Game1994Technology'And its sequels, from Sierra Entertainment
Game1994TechnologyRise of the RobotsMulti-developed by Mirage Studios. A fighting game.
Game1994TechnologySystem ShockLooking Glass Technologies – incorporates elements from the alien invasion theory.
Novel1994UnspecifiedVanishing PointMichaela Roessner – Life in Silicon Valley 30 years after the mysterious and spontaneous disappearance of 90% of the world's population. The Winchester Mystery House serves as a focal point for parallel universes and inexplicable energies that are changing the world and its post-Vanishing children.
Comic1994–2006EcoYokohama Kaidashi KikoHitoshi Ashinano – Japanese manga series, set in a peaceful post-cataclysmic Japan, after an untold environmental disaster
Film1995WarFist of the North StarLive-action martial arts film based on the manga of the same name
Film1995WarJudge Dredd
Film1995Disease12 MonkeysDirected by Terry Gilliam – Based on La jetée.
Film1995Impact EventTank GirlLoosely based on the comic book series by Jamie Hewlett
Game1995AliensChrono TriggerThe console game, where modern civilization is at risk of being destroyed by an alien parasite in AD 1999
Film1995EcoWaterworldGlobal Warming has caused all landmasses on Earth to be covered by the sea. The remnants of humanity survive on "atolls," mechanical floating cities that are constantly attacked by pirates with steam-driven ships. Some humans have evolved to become amphibious to live among the old wreckage beneath the waves. Many people live in hope of finding the mythical "Dryland," the place safe from the seas.
Novel1995EcoMother of StormsJohn Barnes – a tactical nuclear strike in the North Pacific releases massive amounts of methane, spawning worldwide super-hurricanes
Novel1995EcoIll WindKevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason – a microbe consumes all materials based on petroleum
Film1995TechnologyScreamers
Comic1995Technology'Comics, great Droid Revolution
Television1995Technology'A subplot involves humanity fighting a race of cyborgs called Silicates.
Game1995TechnologyI Have No Mouth, and I Must ScreamFrom Cyberdreams
Game1995TechnologyVertical ForceA vertical shoot-'em-up scroller game, with two layers for Nintendo's Virtual Boy video game system.
Game1995TechnologyRed AlarmNintendo
Television1995SupernaturalNeon Genesis EvangelionHumanity's unearthing of a being known as Adam brings about the Second Impact, a catastrophic shockwave which destroys Antarctica and subsequently leads to the extinction of thousands of organisms, the destruction of much of the civilized world, and the deaths of billions. Millions more die from the social and economic troubles which follow this impact and the ensuing wars.
Game1995SupernaturalMortal Kombat 3The third installment of the Mortal Kombat series. Supernatural warlord Shao Kahn has taken over the realm of Earth, taking the souls of much of the populace. Extermination squads roam the land in search of the few surviving Kombatants that oppose him.
Game1995–presentEcoA radioactive, self-replicating alien crystal known as Tiberium crashes on Earth in 1995 and gradually renders most of the Earth's surface uninhabitable over the next several decades.
Film1996EcoEscape from L.A.The sequel to Escape From New York, the film is set in an America that has become a theocratic dictatorship. Central to the plot is Los Angeles Island, the remains of what was once the city of Los Angeles after "the Big One," where those who break the government's new laws are deported to.
Film1996War'A late-21st century Earth is devastated by nuclear conflict.
Novel1996WarArc LightEric L. Harry – limited nuclear war between the United States and Russia
Film1996AliensIndependence DayA fleet of alien warships appear over several Earth cities and lay waste to them.
Film1996AliensMars Attacks!Based on the trading card series Mars Attacks
Novel1996AliensThe Killing StarCharles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski – aliens conduct a preemptive strike against humanity with relativistic missiles
Story1996Aliens'Edited by Kevin J. Anderson - an anthology of short stories set during the events of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Film1996TechnologyOmega Doom
Novel1996Technology'Kevin J. Anderson
Game1996Human declineThe House of the DeadThe House of the Dead series of Sega video games. Scientist Dr. Curien finds a way to reanimate the dead, though not without disastrous results. Later in the series' timeline, Caleb Goldman uses the undead in his mission to destroy the human race and protect the Earth from further destruction by humans.
Television1996, 1999TechnologyThe Outer LimitsThe 1996 episode "Resurrection" and the 1999 episode "The Human Operators"
Television1996–1997Impact EventAfter War Gundam XIn the series' backstory, a brutal war sees multiple space colonies dropped on Earth, rendering much of the world uninhabitable.
Game1996–presentDiseaseResident EvilA multi-video game series
Film1997WarThe PostmanPartly based on the David Brin novel; starring Kevin Costner
Game1997DiseasePOD: Planet of DeathA mining accident unleashes a virus from within the colonized Jovian moon Io. Races are held to determine the winner of the last seat in the last shuttle leaving.
Novel1997WarAftermathLeVar Burton – American civilization crumbles after a civil war pitting blacks against whites and a devastating earthquake
Game1997Impact EventDark EarthSet in an unspecified post-apocalyptic region on an Earth shrouded by an impact winter and plagued by a dangerous mutagenic substance called "Archessence" – the game centers on a technologically regressed medieval-like society.
Game1997WarInterstate '76Game from Activision
Game1997WarThe KKnD seriesGame
Television1997Impact EventAsteroid
Novel1997Impact EventTitanStephen Baxter - about a manned mission to Titan while China directs an asteroid to hit Earth
Novel1997AliensThe Alien YearsRobert Silverberg
Game1997AliensSpellcrossTurn-based strategy game on PC
Game1997Eco7th LegionPC game. The Chosen, a group consisting of a corporate- and government-determined human elect, depart a heavily polluted Earth via a fleet of starships, returning as a force to re-occupy Earth, fighting against the titular 7th Legion, a coalition of the most advanced post-apocalypse humans on Earth.
Game1997TechnologyGURPS Reign of SteelA setting for the GURPS role-playing system, where machines have taken over the world after a war with humanity that the humans lost.
Film1997Human declineThe End of EvangelionAll humankind are reverted to a "primordial soup" and merged into a single consummate being.
Film1997UnspecifiedAlien ResurrectionFeatures a deleted scene in which Ripley and the other survivors land the Auriga in a devastated Paris. The cause of the destruction is never made clear.
Film1997UnspecifiedTrucksCanadian/American made-for-TV adaptation of the Stephen King short story by the same name.
Game1997–presentWarThe Fallout seriesA nuclear war in 2077 devastates much of the U.S.. Players start out in underground shelters called Vaults.
Film1998WarSix-String Samurai
Game1998WarBattleTanxVehicular combat game from The 3DO Company. Nearly all women around the world are killed in a nuclear war and the few female survivors are prized by men.
Game1998WarVigilante 8Activision
Novel1998DiseaseThe Transall SagaGary Paulsen
Novel1998Impact EventMoonfallJack McDevitt
Film1998AliensThe FacultyDirected by Robert Rodriguez – six students are about to find out that their teachers are really from another planet
Game1998AliensHalf-LifeThe computer game and its sequel
Other1998AliensGetter Robo ArmageddonOVA, where a combination of a nuclear missile and amorphous alien Invaders results in a war with the fate of humanity at stake
Novel1998EcoAftermathCharles SheffieldAlpha Centauri goes supernova and causes cataclysmic climate change
Novel1998EcoDustCharles Pellegrino – all the insect species on Earth die out, and the ecology crashes as a result
Game1998TechnologyRayCrisisMultiA prequel to RayForce
Game1998Technology'The sequel to KKnD; as part of its plot, Series 9 are advanced farming robots that have taken it unto themselves to destroy all life
Other1998TechnologyObsoleteFear Factory
Game1998Future collapseXenogearsPlayStation game set in a world with two nations fighting with weapons found in ancient ruins. Also, human fossils are all recent on the planet.
Film1998SupernaturalApocalypseAlso, the series of films made in the 1990s and 2000s by Cloud Ten Pictures
Comic1998–presentDisease'Manga by Hiroki Endo
Television1998–1999EcoCowboy BebopDisaster. The 1998–1999 anime series in which a man-made disaster has caused Earth's Moon to fragment, resulting in a constant rain of meteor strikes on the planet and forcing humanity to move out into the Solar System.
Television1999WarNow and Then, Here and ThereAn anime series that takes place 10 billion years into the future, where humanity lusts for power and children are forced into military duty.
Novel1999WarResurrection DayBrendan DuBois – set 10 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, which escalated into nuclear war
Game1999War'Game from The 3DO Company – sequel to BattleTanx
Game1999WarWarzone 2100
Television1999DiseaseCrusadeA spin-off from the TV show Babylon 5
Game1999Disease'Video game
Television1999Impact EventThe Last TrainCruel Earth in Canada. British TV six-part drama.
Television1999Impact EventThunderstone
Game1999AliensChrono CrossThe 1999 console game, where in alternate timelines modern civilization was destroyed by an alien parasite in AD 1999
Novel1999EcoThe RiftWalter Jon Williams
Game1999TechnologySystem Shock 2Sequel to System Shock
Game1999TechnologyGaleriansPlayStation, developed by Polygon Magic
Game1999TechnologyDescent 3PC developed by Outrage Entertainment, which explains that mostly mining robots were attacked by an unknown virus and are now attacking people
Television1999Human declineThe Big OThe Japanese manga and anime, where humans apparently suffered mass amnesia 40 years prior and are afraid to leave their city, Paradigm – it is a sort of mecha/apocalypse subclass of its own; the protagonist has to battle mechanical beings and other robots who are trying to destroy the remnants of the human race.
Game1999Future collapseHomeworldPCDeveloper Relic Entertainment – A small human civilization on the desert planet of Kharak on the edge of the galaxy is brought to the brink of extinction for violating a forgotten 5,000-year-old treaty forbidding them from developing hyperspace technology. The survivors, however, are fortunate to have the use of the recently completed Mothership – a large colony vessel meant to take them back to their ancient and forgotten homeworld near the center of the galaxy, Hiigara – The game was succeeded by sequels ' and Homeworld 2.
Game1999–2000WarSid Meier's Alpha CentauriA ship leaves Earth on the eve of World War III to found a new colony orbiting Alpha Centauri
Television1999–2003DiseaseThe TribeNew Zealand TV series that takes place in a near-future in which all the adults have been killed by a man-made virus and the children have to survive on their own
Film1999–2003TechnologyThe MatrixSeries of films dealing with a future where machines have trapped humanity in an illusory world, and the struggle of the surviving humans of the post-apocalyptic real world to free the rest of humanity from the illusion
Film2000WarOn the BeachA remake of the 1959 film.
Game2000WarEarth 2150Also Earth 2160 - the world is destroyed in 2150 and people settle on Mars in 2160
Game2000DiseaseDeus ExPC game in relation to the Gray Death
Game2000Impact Event'A Nintendo 64 game where the main character, Link, has three days to save the world of Termina from its moon that has broken from orbit
Film2000AliensBattlefield EarthBased on the novel of the same name by L. Ron Hubbard
Film2000AliensTitan A.E.2000 animated post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction
Game2000TechnologyGunlokA squad-based action adventure computer game developed by Rebellion
Novel2000SupernaturalDemonsJohn Shirley – revolves around a demonic invasion of Earth
Television2000–2002Social CollapseDark AngelAfter terrorists detonate a nuclear weapon in the Earth's orbit, all computer data is destroyed, bringing about an economic collapse, but with minimal loss of life. Created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee
Novel2001WarMortal Engines QuartetSeries by Phillip Reeve – first book 2001, Set in the distant future after a nuclear war. Cities are turned into machines on wheels which hunt other cities and 'eat' them. The first book follows the story of two children who have fallen off a city, and are trying to find it again so they can get back on, while the dictator of their city plans on using a weapon to destroy all of the land dwellers – people who have not upgraded their cities to be on wheels.
Game2001WarDarwin's WorldA role-playing game from Impressions
Film2001DiseaseEver Since the World Ended
Novel2001DiseaseIdlewildNick Sagan
Novel2001DiseaseThe Night of the TriffidsSimon Clark – sequel to The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Game2001DiseaseAfter the BombRole-playing game
Novel2001Impact EventThe Peshawar LancersS.M. Stirling
Game2001Impact Event'PlayStation 2 game centered in a fictional continent years after an asteroid crashes at several locations
Film2001Aliens'CGI animated film about spirit-based aliens roaming Earth after an asteroid crash over 30 years before
Game2001TechnologyOutliveA real-time strategy. Earth created robotic lifeforms allegedly to mine Titan's resources, though in reality they were to be used as a secret army. When the plan surfaced, the World Council lost power but the robots returned and occupied the planet in the name of their creators.
Game2001Human declinePikminAnd its sequel, the 2004 video game Pikmin 2, is set on an unnamed planet simply called as the planet of the Pikmin, inhabited by animals and plants. Although it is unnamed in-game, several cutscenes show it as Earth, or at least a very Earth-like planet. Further hints are man-made objects in both games like the Abstract Masterpiece, a bottle cap, and the Remembered Old Buddy, a R.O.B., as well as the stage based on the Pikmin planet in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Distant Planet, which its data refers to as Earth.
Film2001MonstersKairoKiyoshi Kurosawa – in which the world is overrun by humanoid ghosts, and everything is destroyed by them. Based on a novel of the same name.
Game2001SunTetris WorldsCross
Television2001–2002TechnologyDigimon Tamers
Film2002WarEquilibriumAfter barely surviving another worldwide conflict, humanity rejects all emotion and outlaws all forms of expression which might encourage emotional response.
Television2002WarSaikanoAnime series
Film2002Zombies28 Days LaterOrdinary citizens are forced to fight through hordes of rabid zombies after a virus ravages Britain
Film2002DiseaseTeenage CavemanDirected by Larry Clark - set in the post-apocalyptic future where after the majority of humans die from a mysterious viral plague, the remaining humans have conformed to primitive tribalism
Television2002DiseaseSmallpoxTV movie
Novel2002DiseaseThe Years of Rice and SaltKim Stanley Robinson – set in a world devastated by the Black Death in medieval Europe, which killed 99% of the European population before they could discover the Americas
Game2002DiseaseSoldiers of AnarchyPC video game featuring a group of ex-soldiers who spent 10 years underground after the Spontaneous Genome Degeneration Syndrome, an artificially created virus raged across the globe in 2004, nearly wiping off humanity. Although the virus was released to make money with the antidote, it was not distributed for some reason.
Film2002Impact EventThe Time MachineDownfall of man caused by the Moon breaking apart and bombarding Earth with rocks after extensive lunar mining
Film2002AliensSignsDirected by M. Night Shyamalan
Film2002EcoJason XThe 10th Friday the 13th film - Earth became a polluted wasteland by 2455, so humanity left Earth and colonized a planet designated as Earth 2
Game2002Eco'Video game in which a flood has decimated the fictional world of Hyrule
Novel2002TechnologyThe Butlerian JihadKevin J. Anderson – Part of the Dune universe
Film2002MonstersReign of FireDragons wreak havoc and destroy human civilization
Television2002–2003WarMobile Suit Gundam SeedAnime series involving a war between naturally-born humans and genetically enhanced humans
Television2002–2003EcoOverman King GainerAnime series, which depicts humanity living in domes after an ecological disaster
Game2002–2004WarNeocronGame for the Personal Computer by Reakktor Media
Television2002–2004DiseaseJeremiahShowtime cable television series, based on the comic book of the same name. In the year 2021, 15 years after a virus kills everyone over the age of puberty, the child survivors have grown up, living on the scraps of the old world.
Novel2002–2004TechnologyThe Legends Of Dune trilogyPart of the Dune universe
Comic2002–2008Disease'Comic book series that features a lone man and his pet monkey in a world populated only by women; series written by Brian K. Vaughan and published by Vertigo Comics
Film2003War'Based on the book series Deathlands
Film2003WarTime of the Wolf
Novel2003WarThe City of EmberA Jeanne DuPrau novel set in an underground city 241 years after a nuclear war.
Novel2003WarRevelation by Lord JohnRobert J. Szmidt – Polish: Apokalipsa wedlug Pana Jana
Novel2003WarThe Third World WarHumphrey Hawksley
Game2003War'Game
Novel2003DiseaseFull CircleDavid Mitchell
Story2003Impact EventShikari in Galveston
Novel2003AliensVampire EarthE. E. Knight – series
Game2003Aliens'The computer game and its sequels ' and ' by Altar Games
Film2003EcoDragon HeadBased on the manga of the same name
Film2003EcoIt's All About Love
Novel2003EcoOryx and CrakeMargaret Atwood
Novel2003EcoCladeMark Budz
Television2003EcoEncryptSet in the year 2068, the Earth's surface is in a cataclysmic upheaval, much of it transformed into wasteland by unstoppable storms. It was directed by Oscar Luis Costo.
Film2003Technology'
Novel2003TechnologyRobotaAn illustrated book by Doug Chiang and Orson Scott Card
Novel2003TechnologyThe Machine CrusadePart of the Dune universe by Kevin J. Anderson
Comic1999–2004TechnologyThe Matrix ComicsOriginally released as webcomics
Game2003TechnologyNeuroshimaThe Polish role-playing game from Portal Publishing
Game2003Social Collapse'Ion Storm Eidos Interactive. After total global economic collapse /man-made ) machine beings launch a devastating final assault upon the humans' original homeworlds, and chase a ragtag fleet of survivors, who are in search of a mythical planet called Earth.
Film2004WarAppleseed
Film2004War, TechnologyCasshernBased on two Japanese anime series. A race of super-robots led by their leader, Black King, take over the world.
Novel2004WarCloud AtlasDavid Mitchell – one of the six novellas is set in a post-apocalyptic future
Film2004ZombiesDawn of the DeadIndividuals try and survive a zombie outbreak by securing a shopping mall. Remake of the 1978 movie.
Novel2004WarCowlNeal Asher
Novel2004WarFitzpatrick's WarTheodore Judson
Game2004AliensHalf-Life 2Game from Valve
Novel2004DiseaseA Planet for the PresidentAlistair Beaton
Novel2004DiseaseWhite DevilsPaul McAuley
Film2004Impact EventPost ImpactThe asteroid Bay-Leder 7 was found to be powerful enough to wipe out the whole civilization. Although a top-secret experimental satellite weapon was able to cut it in two, the smaller piece impacted in West Russia, turning Europe into an ice-covered "death zone".
Film2004EcoThe Day After TomorrowBased in part on the novel The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber
Novel2004EcoCracheMark Budz
Novel2004EcoThe SnowAdam Roberts – the world is buried under kilometers of unnatural snow
Television2004Eco10.5The 2004 miniseries 10.5 and its 2006 follow-up '; in which a series of earthquakes tears America apart, separating the West Coast from the rest of the U.S..
Game2004Eco'PC - A German 3D role-playing game situated in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity is facing its possible end. The focus of the game is the deep story and the unique characters, with living environment offering many well-thoughtout sidequests. Gameplay similar to the Fallout series, although with a more traditional RPG approach in which the player can assemble a whole party in order to improve chances in battles and include specialists with complementary skills.
Film2004TechnologySky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Novel2004TechnologyThe Battle of CorrinPart of the Dune universe by Kevin J. Anderson
Comic2004TechnologyDeus VitaeA manga series created by Takuya Fujima
Television2004TechnologyZentrix
Game2004TechnologySplicersA role-playing game set in the midst of a war between humans and a worldwide computer intelligence
Game2004Technology'MultiIs a Japanese post-apocalyptic visual novel
Film2004Human declineIdiocracyTakes the premise that with no natural predators to thin the population of the world, evolution simply rewards whoever can pass on their genes the fastest, who are depicted as sexually promiscuous, drunken brutes. The average IQ is 80 by 2100, 60 by 2200, and 40 by 2505.
Television2004–2005WarDesert PunkAnime series, set in a future Japan that is a wasteland. In the Great Kanto Desert, scattered humans eke out a living in the hot sand.
Novel2004–2007DiseaseThe Uglies TrilogyScott WesterfeldUglies, Pretties, Specials and the companion novel, Extras, take place in a future civilization that arose after our current civilization collapsed because of an engineered bacterium that attacked not people, but oil, changing its chemical composition so that it exploded on contact with oxygen.
Television2005War"Dance of the Dead"An episode of Masters of Horror directed by Tobe Hooper – it has a triple apocalyptic theme as it features a man-made virus causing a zombie outbreak after World War III.
Novel2005WarThe Goodness GeneSonia Levitin – children's book
Novel2005WarMetro 2033Series by Dmitry Glukhovsky – Set in the metro tunnels of post-apocalyptic Moscow. A man named Artyom journeys to the central city of the metro, Polis, to find answers about a possible threat called the Dark Ones.
Film2005DiseaseÆon FluxBased on MTV's animated series Æon Flux
Game2005Impact EventGuild WarsPCA game in which, after a tutorial area set in a "pre-Searing" time, a race of beasts called the Charr summon meteors down upon the humans, destroying nearly all of the cities and all of the life
Film2005AliensAlien ApocalypseProduced by the Sci Fi Channel
Film2005AliensWar of the WorldsDirected by Steven Spielberg, along with the independent 2005 productions H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds and H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, all based on the H. G. Wells novel.
Novel2005Aliens'Douglas Niles – a retelling of the original The War of the Worlds story, but displaces the events to 2005. It is not a sequel, but an update.
Novel2005AliensEight WorldsJohn Varley
Game2005AliensDestroy All Humans!The 2005 console game, in which the player controls a Furon alien in an attempt to overthrow humanity.
Film2005EcoSerenityThe Earth's resources and biosphere get used up, prompting a mass exodus for the stars.
Film2005EcoA Sound of ThunderPeter Hyams – A group of travelers traveled in time and made changes in the past, which led to colossal alterations in the future where they came from, and in less than in a week everything in the world started changing chaotically, putting in the life of every living thing in danger.
Story2005EcoThe Garden Where My Rains GrowsBrian Keene – set in a post-apocalyptic world where it started raining one day and never stopped
Film2005Technology9
Novel2005TechnologyHow to Survive a Robot UprisingA semi-satirical book by Daniel H. Wilson
Novel2001–2005MonstersTrinity BloodSunao Yoshida, illustrations by Thores ShibamotoLight novel involving a war between humans and vampires
Television2005–2006Future collapseNoeinThis anime features several teens living in Hakodate, Hokkaido who come in contact with their future selves using time travel as a last resort to end the destruction of their world by abducting their dear friend Haruka Kaminogi from the past as a sacrifice to make the ultimate weapon against the destroyer known as Noein.
Television2005–2006AliensEureka SevenAnime series and its video games are set 10,000 years after humans had to leave Earth due to a Coralian appearing in Africa. In the current timeline, the remnants of humanity are now settled on a planet they refer to as the "Promised Land".
Television2005–2006Eco'Anime series where an earthquake triggers a series of worldwide natural disasters that devastate Planet Zi
Comic2005–2007TechnologyLego Exo-ForceComics and books
Radio2005–presentEcoNebulousRadio sitcom by Graham Duff – much of the world was destroyed by an event known as "the Withering"
Film1963EcoThe BirdsLoosely based on the 1952 story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, it focuses on a series of sudden and unexplained violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California, over the course of a few days.
Film1982WarBattletruckSet in New Zealand, survivors of nuclear war attempt to rebuild society while fending off the ambitions of a militaristic despot who has based himself in a mobile armored vehicle.
Film1985ZombiesDay of the DeadA handful of soldiers and scientists holed up in an underground bunker try to survive and understand the zombies outside the gates. Final chapter of Romero's trilogy.
Game1986–2003Future collapse, aliensMight and Magic series original universeJon van Caneghem. The games are set in colonies of the Ancients, an advanced space-faring race, several thousand years after all contact with the Ancients was lost due to them being engaged in interstellar war with an alien race called the Kreegan. This event, called the Silence, caused the colonies to regress into a medieval state and consider Ancients and their technology as mythical in nature.
Novel1990–1994FantasyThe Death Gate CycleSeries of books which take place after the world has been unmade and remade by magic
Novel1990–2013Supernatural, warThe Wheel of Time seriesRobert Jordan. An attempt by Aes Sedai researchers to tap into a newly discovered source of magic more advanced than the One Power leads to an experiment to bore a hole in the Pattern. It goes awry when it is discovered that the Bore leads to the Dark One's prison, allowing the Dark One to influence the world. This causes the male half of the One Power to be tainted, driving all male Aes Sedai mad and causing the Breaking of the World. The society regresses from futuristic to Renaissance-era, with only a few artifacts of the Age of Legends remaining.
Game1994Impact eventPrimal RageA fighting-style game where a meteor hits Earth and wipes out modern technology, reducing them to several Stone Age-type tribespeople. The continents are rearranged, and seven dinosaur-like deities fight for control over the new Urth.
Film1995WarFist of the North StarA live-action film based on the manga of the same name about a battle for control of a post World War III world.
Story2001Disease"After the Plague"Short story and collection by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Film2003UnspecifiedDream Warrior
Song2003UnspecifiedAbsolutionApocalyptic album by the band Muse
Novel2005SupernaturalThe Restoration seriesTerri Blackstock – novel series covering how people react and survive after a natural EMP blast from a distant star knocks out all electronics all over the world
Film2006War9/TenthsAbout the conflict between a wealthy couple and a poor laborer after a worldwide terrorist attack isolates them in a small remote ranch
Film2006WarThe Beach Party at the Threshold of HellDark comedy directed by Jonny Gillette
Film2006WarThe Dark HourThe eight-year-old boy Jesús has been living in a crumbling underground facility since he was born with eight survivors of an apocalyptic war.
Television2006WarJerichoCBS – the residents of a small Kansas town remain isolated in the aftermath of a series of nuclear attacks on America
Novel2006WarThe Book of DaveWill Self – split between modern London and post-apocalyptic London where a new society and religion is based on the legacy of a cab driver
Novel2006WarDeadlandsScott A. Johnson
Game2006WarAuto AssaultWhile seemingly caused by aliens, it is in fact human mistakes, breakdown and war that forges Auto Assaults apocalyptic world. Similar to the Command & Conquer series where an alien event is the catalyst needed to start decline.
Film2006ZombiesThe Zombie DiariesBritish made movie in which a virus creates a plague of zombies, viewed entirely from the POV of a character's video camera. This film was made and completed before George A. Romero's film Diary of the Dead which was shot in a similar POV perspective.
Novel2006DiseasePandemiaJohnathan Rand and Christopher Knight – A mutated bird flu virus wipes out everyone except the young. Set in Michigan.
Novel2006ZombiesWorld War ZMax Brooks novel about a global zombie outbreak and humanity's efforts to stop them
Novel2006DiseaseQuarantinePoetry by Brian Henry
Television2006Impact EventThree Moons Over Milford
Novel2006Impact EventLife as We Knew ItSusan Beth Pfeffer – an asteroid strikes the Moon and knocks it into an orbit closer to Earth, concentrates on how a family in western Pennsylvania is affected
Game2006AliensGears of WarThe video game, which takes place on the fictional planet of Sera; humans are shown fighting a war against alien monsters that have emerged from underground.
Film2006EcoThe World Sinks Except JapanA parody of Japan Sinks – all the land on Earth sinks into the ocean, with Japan being the last one to go
Novel2006EcoSmall-Minded GiantsOisín McGann
Television2006EcoInnocent VenusSet after the world population and economy is devastated by simultaneous hyper-hurricanes
Game2006EcoBattlefield 2142PC first-person shooting game about a war fought over land unaffected by a new ice age that renders most of the Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable
Television2006EcoErgo ProxyAnime series by the Japanese production company Manglobe – an undefined global ecological disaster has decimated the surface of Earth, and the small remaining human population lives in isolated, city-state dome complexes
Film2006UnspecifiedAndroid ApocalypseTV movie for the Sci Fi Channel
Television2006TechnologyLego Exo-Force
Film2006Human declineChildren of MenThe human race has become infertile. Based on the book of the same name.
Novel2006ZombiesCellStephen King – a strange cell phone signal turns ordinary humans into killer zombies
Film2006ZombiesThe Quick and the Undead
Film2006, 2008SupernaturalPulseAnd its sequels ' and '
Film2006Social CollapsePuzzleheadJames Bai – set in what looks like Brooklyn "after the decline", the streets are empty and there seems to be constant random killings
Novel2006UnspecifiedNight WorkThomas Glavinic – a novel in which a man wakes up to find that everyone else has disappeared
Game2006UnspecifiedMother 3Game Boy - in which a small group of humans escape to a post-apocalyptic utopia after the "old world" is destroyed. While the game never explains what happened to the "old world", they say that the humans were the ones that caused its destruction.
Novel2006UnspecifiedThe RoadCormac McCarthy – after the end of the world, a father and son attempt to survive while traveling through the ruins of the United States
Television2007WarMasters of Science FictionEpisode "A Clean Escape"
Novel2007WarLast LightAlex Scarrow – sudden end of oil availability leads to worldwide social collapse
Novel2007WarThe PesthouseJim Crace
Novel2007WarThe SlynxTatyana Tolstaya novel
Novel2007WarThe World Ends in Hickory HollowArdath Mayhar
Film2007Zombies28 Weeks LaterSequel to 28 Days Later. During the efforts to re-populate Britain, the discovery of a possible cure to the "Rage" virus may also begin the apocalypse all over again.
Film2007DiseaseI Am LegendIn an abandoned New York City set in 2012, military virologist Robert Neville tries to find a cure to a man-made virus that killed almost everyone on Earth, while at the same time trying to survive against the vampiric zombies that it left behind. The third film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend.
Film2007DiseaseI Am OmegaA low-budget fourth film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend made by The Asylum to capitalize on the release of the third film adaptation I Am Legend.
Film2007Zombies'
Novel2007DiseasePlague YearJeff Carlson – slated to be a trilogy
Film2007Impact Event'A speculative documentary produced by the Discovery Channel which hypothesizes the effects on modern-day earth of a large comet impact.
Film2007AliensThe InvasionBased on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. A mysterious virus brought by space-borne microbes possesses humans and renders them devoid of emotion.
Film2007AliensInvasion of the Pod PeopleA low-budget remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers made by The Asylum to capitalize on the release of The Invasion.
Film2007AliensTransformersA race of robotic aliens battle for humanity.
Game2007Eco'PC-MMOGA disastrous solar event in 2019 and 2020 leaves the world devastated, with only small pockets of human survivors scratching out a living in a bleak, irradiated world. Largely fueled by the stockpiles of hardware left behind by a dead civilization combined with the desperation of a new world order, the gladiatorial deathsports begin around 2035. The vast expanses of wilderness between the towns are menaced by gangs of road pirates armed with heavily armed cars and trucks and traveled by equally well armed trade groups, making a living by carrying food, fuel, and other specialist equipment between the towns.
Film2007TechnologyMeet the Robinsons
Film2007Human declineTooth and NailA group of survivors, called Foragers, take cover in an old abandoned hospital where the group attempt to re-build society. All we know of the apocalypse is that man "Ran out of gas", but not in the sense of oil, just that our time was up.
Television2007MonstersGurren LagannAnimated TV series in which cloned "Beastmen" fight an apocalyptic battle with humanity
Film2007ZombiesRECJaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza – a Spanish horror film about humans altered by a demon
Game2007Future collapseSupreme CommanderPC, Xbox - set at the end of a thousand-year-long war called the Infinite War between three separate factions; the UEF, the Aeon and the Cybrans.
Film2007SunSunshineDirected by Danny Boyle – the film follows a spaceship crew in the year 2057 who are tasked with reigniting Earth's dying sun
Game2007Supernatural'A PC game where humans and demons are in constant struggle on Earth.
Television2007UnspecifiedAfterworldAmerican series about a man living in a post-apocalyptic United States after an unspecified cataclysm
Game2007–2012TechnologyThe Mass Effect seriesHumanity and other alien races must work together to combat sentient machines called the Reapers from destroying all advanced life in the galaxy
Film2007–presentSupernaturalRebuild of EvangelionRemake of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series. The first of the four films, ', debuted in 2007; the second, ', in 2009; and the third, ', in 2012. The fourth is forthcoming.
Game2007War, supernatural'At the end of Part 3, the main characters are forced to deliberately awaken the supposed "dark god" Yune in order to avoid her being awoken accidentally by a war which has spread across Tellius. The goddess Ashera, upon learning that the beorc and laguz have long since broken a covenant forbidding military conflict between the races, petrifies nearly all inhabitants of Tellius despite Yune's protests. This calamity leads into Part 4, where Yune, while considering how to revive the petrified people, tasks the survivors with preventing Ashera from finishing the job.
Film2007UnspecifiedThe Gene GenerationDirected by Pearry Reginald Teo
Film2008ZombiesZombie WarsDirected by David A. Prior
Game2008Supernatural'The game's main antagonist Malefor the Dark Master claims that it is the destiny of all purple dragons to bring about the world's destruction. He is almost successful when the Destroyer, a massive golem he resurrected to cross the Belt of Fire and issue the world's end, completes its circle until he is defeated by the game's protagonist Spyro and Cynder and sealed away by the ancient dragons' spirits into the world's core and Spyro unleashes a powerful Fury wave to rebuild the world.
Television2008–2011Eco, Supernatural, TechnologyYu-Gi-Oh! 5D'sZero Reverse was a disastrous event in which the evolutionary use of quantum mechanics in the Enerdy system led to its reactor exploding and causing a massive tectonic shift that separated a chunk of Domino City from the rest of the landmass, splitting it in two and creating an island later known as Satellite, which was the area hit hardest by the energy release, while the Earthbound Immortals were released from the Underworld.
Film2008War20 Years AfterTwenty years after wars, plague, and natural disasters, a young woman follows the voice of a lone radio broadcaster and delivers the first child born in 15 years.
Film2008WarCity of EmberBased on the book of the same name by Jeanne Duprau
Film2008WarMutant ChroniclesBased on the Mutant Chronicles role-playing game
Novel2008WarFloodStephen Baxter book about huge underground oceans leaking to the surface, lifting sea levels by thousands of meters over several decades
Novel2008WarThe Hunger Games trilogyYoung adult series by Suzanne Collins about a survival tournament set in a post-apocalyptic continent
Novel2008WarThe Valley-Westside WarHarry Turtledove
Game2008WarExodusA post-apocalyptic role-playing game from Glutton Creeper Games set after the War on Terror destroy 99% of the world's population.
Film2008DiseaseDoomsday
Film2008DiseaseRepo! The Genetic Opera
Film2008DiseaseThe Last ManBased upon Mary Shelley's 1826 novel The Last Man
Television2008DiseaseSurvivorsBBC television series, a remake of the 1970s series of the same name
Novel2008DiseaseThe Martian General's DaughterCollapse of global civilization caused by virus-like nanotechnology
Game2008ZombiesLeft 4 DeadMultiplayer video game released by Valve. Featuring people transformed into crazed zombie-like mutants by an infection. The game diverges from the traditional zombie trope with the inclusion of "special infected" or zombies with specialized traits.
Novel2008Impact EventThe Dead and the GoneSusan Beth Pfeffer – how the same event as in Life as We Knew It affects a family in New York City
Novel2008AliensThe HostStephenie Meyer – An alien race, called Souls, take over Earth and its inhabitants. The novel follows one Soul's predicament when the mind of its human host refuses to cooperate with her takeover.
Film2008EcoThe HappeningThe movie depicts an unknown deadly neurotoxin.
Film2008EcoLost City Raiders
Film2008EcoWALL-EEarth is abandoned after becoming too polluted to sustain life. A robot stays behind and cleans up Earth.
Television2008Eco"The Poison Sky"A Doctor Who episode. The poisonous Sontaran gases above Sylvia and Wilfred's street ignite as the flames from the Doctor's atmospheric converter spread globally.
Game2008TechnologyToo Human
Film2008ZombiesQuarantineAmerican remake of the 2007 Spanish horror film REC
Television2008ZombiesDead SetA UK television series which chronicles a zombie outbreak
Novel2008SupernaturalTherefore Repent!Jim Munroe art by Salgood Sam – a post-Rapture graphic novel
Television2008Social Collapse"Turn Left"Russell T. Davies - explores an apocalyptic parallel universe in which British society has collapsed due to the death of the Doctor
Novel2008Social CollapseWorld Made By HandJames Kunstler – explores life in an agrarian village in upstate New York after America collapses under the combined trauma of plague, peak oil, global warming, and nuclear terrorism
Film2008UnspecifiedLife After PeopleA TV documentary film and its spin-off ' document life on Earth after all humans have instantly disappeared. The shows do not mention a cause of their disappearance.
Television2008–2009Technology'
Film2009EcoAstro BoyAstro Boy lives in highly advanced Metro City; the last of its kind floating above the clouds in the skies of post-apocalyptic Earth.
Film2009DiseaseCarriersA group of four people on the road trying to find a safe haven while plague rages across the U.S..
Film2009DiseaseDaybreakersA virus changes most of the populace into vampires sometime around 2019. At the point where vampirism is considered "normal", the remaining humans attempt to escape being farmed for their blood, while also attempting to find a cure.
Film2009ZombiesLa HordeDirected by Benjamin Rocher. The film is set in one of the French tower blocks, wherein a small group of people trying to make their way out of it thrust through hordes of zombies.
Novel2009DiseaseThe Killing MoonRod Glenn – Five friends struggle to survive 20 years after the collapse of civilization. Set in northern England.
Game2009ZombiesLeft 4 Dead 2The sequel to Left 4 Dead. Expands upon the original game with new characters, maps, and weapons.
Film2009DiseaseAutumn
Game2009DiseaseKilling FloorPCCooperative first-person shooter video game.
Film2009Eco2012
Novel2009EcoThe Windup GirlPaolo Bacigalupi – in future Thailand, where calories are the most needed energy source, an unexpected girl struggles to live like as she wants
Television2009EcoEarth 2100Time travel fiction. The 2009 ABC special Earth 2100 explores a possible future if humans do not take actions to help the ecosystem, which could prove to be disastrous. Lucy, the speaker, explains about this world and wonders how she was one of the lucky humans to have survived.
Film2009Technology9Adaptation of the 2005 film 9
Television2009Technology' The Power Rangers protect the last remnants of humanity, who are now settled in the domed city of Corinth, after the accidental release of a government created computer virus known as "Venjix". Malicious and self-aware, it leaves most of the planet in nuclear fallout, constructs an army of attack-bots and begins cybernetic experiments on human prisoners.
Novel2009ZombiesThe Forest of Hands and TeethCarrie Ryan – set generations after the zombie apocalypse, a girl struggles against the religious order in her village hoping for life beyond the fences protecting them from the Unconsecrated in the surrounding forest
Film2009ZombiesREC 2Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza – the sequel to the 2007 Spanish horror film REC
Film2009SunKnowingA film where the end of the world, caused by a solar flare erupting onto the Solar System, is accurately predicted.
Novel2009Social Collapse'James Wesley Rawles – an apocalyptic survivalist novel about a total socioeconomic collapse
Film2009UnspecifiedLes derniers jours du mondeA French film. Depicts the story of a man, Robinson, who travels across France and Spain during the end of the world.
Film2009UnspecifiedThe RoadA film based upon the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
Other2009UnspecifiedSongs from the FloodplainAn album by Jon Boden
Novel2009TechnologyOne Second After
Comic2009 to presentDiseaseSweet ToothSeries written and drawn by Jeff Lemire and published by Vertigo Comics about a young human/deer hybrid, who has survived an apocalyptic plague
Television2009–2011AliensVRemake of the 1980s television series
Television2009–2010DiseaseThe ColonyReality television style drama about a group of survivors forced to live in a warehouse in the virus-ravaged city of Los Angeles, California
Game2009–presentWarFallen EarthA post-apocalyptic massively multiplayer online role-playing game from Icarus Studios and Fallen Earth LLC set in the 22nd century after the Shiva Virus has spread all over the world.
Television2009EcoTokyo Magnitude 8.0After a massive earthquake in Tokyo 25 km under the sea at a magnitude of 8.0, siblings Mirai and Yūki, who were visiting a robot exhibition in Odaiba at the beginning of their summer vacation, struggle to reach their parents in their house in Setagaya, assisted by a female motorcycle courier named Mari, who is striving to reach her own daughter and mother in Sangenjaya. Together, the three brave the ruined city and try their best to make it home safely.
Novel2009Magic/MysticismThe Age of MisruleTrilogy of novels by Mark Chadbourn following several characters in England through the slow collapse of modern technological civilization as the previously suppressed world of natural magic and mystical, godly beings rises to take over the course of human events
Comic2009–presentTitansAttack on TitanHumanoid creatures or Titans are gigantic human flesh-eating monsters that lived outside of the humanity's curtain Wall Maria and the civilization was on the verge of extinction, but some are forced to fight back by joining the military, called Survey Corps. But there are some humans that transform into Titans to fight and kill other humans and Titans.
Comic2009Impact eventHomestuckA webcomic where children play a game called Sburb which causes multiple meteors to hit Earth. They survive by abandoning Earth.
Film2009ZombiesZombielandA geeky college kid and three strangers he meets travel west in an attempt to find a sanctuary free from zombies.
Television2009Impact Event, MonstersThe Day of the TriffidsLoose adaptation of John Wyndham's novel. A solar event blinds most of the people in the world allowing a new life form to assert itself, and the few remaining sighted people try to survive.
Television2010–2018WarAdventure TimeThe adventures of Jake the dog and Finn, the only known remaining human in the post-apocalyptic land of Ooo hundreds of years after the "Great Mushroom War".
Film2010WarThe Book of EliAlthough never directly stated, enormous craters can be seen throughout the film and characters mention an event called "the Flash". The writer, Gary Whitta, stated he wanted the audience to figure out the nuclear event slowly.
Game2010Supernatural, warDarksidersGame series by THQ set in a post-apocalyptic Earth where mankind faces near-extinction and angels fight a losing battle against the demon hordes for control over the world
Film2010WarMetro 2033Game by 4A Games and THQ for the PC and Xbox 360 set in post-apocalyptic Moscow 20 years after a nuclear war
Film2010Zombies'
Film2010ZombiesSurvival of the DeadOn an island off the coast of North America, local residents simultaneously fight a zombie epidemic while hoping for a cure to return their undead relatives back to their human state. Directed by George A. Romero
Television2010DiseaseAfter ArmageddonTV film about a family trying to survive after a global outbreak
Novel2010DiseaseDog Eat DogDavid J. Rodger - ten years after a devastating global pandemic, the lives of two survivors collide in a sequence of events that threaten both their sanity and their lives
Novel2010DiseaseThe PassageJustin Cronin – a virus turns humanity into vampire-esque creatures, leading to the collapse of civilization, while the survivors eke out a bleak existence
Film2010Impact EventMeteor ApocalypseA gigantic meteor enters Earth's orbit and begins to disintegrate, showering the entire planet with debris.
Film2010Impact EventQuantum ApocalypseA comet makes an unexpected turn towards the earth where all life may cease to exist within days if small town heroes fail to find a solution.
Television2010–2012TechnologyGenerator RexRex is an evo working with the military organization Providence to put an end to the outbreak of violent monstrous human mutations known as evos which are created when people are exposed to unsafe nanites, a nanobot technology developed to fight diseases within humans. Wars between evos and humans ensued when nanites started to get out of control.
Film2010AliensSkylineAliens invade Earth and attempt to steal the brains of its citizens
Film2010Aliens'Depicts the attempts of U.S. Marines to repel an alien invasion of Earth
Television2010–2015AliensFalling SkiesAliens or creatures called Skitters, Mechs and Overlords attack Earth; the series is showing the struggles six months after the initial attack on Earth
Novel2010EcoDrainDavis Schneiderman – Lake Michigan mysteriously empties of water and an end-of-time cult occupies the lake bed, waiting for a re-flooding of the zone by the power of a giant worm
Novel2010SupernaturalSword of My MouthJim Munroe, art by Shannon Gerard – a follow-up to Therefore Repent!.
Novel2010Social Collapse'Decline of world civilization caused by the depletion of oil reserves
Novel2010UnspecifiedBe Ready When the Sh*t Goes Down: A Survival Guide to the ApocalypseA comedy survivalist book by Forrest Griffin
Novel2010UnspecifiedCygnisVincent Gessler – a novel in which Syn the trapper and Ack, his cybernetic wolf, survive in a world covered with forests, facing robots and humans
Game2010EcoA New BeginningA video game by Daedalic Entertainment, in which climate change has made the Earth uninhabitable.
Television2010–ZombiesThe Walking DeadFrank Darabont - a television series featuring the world overrun by zombies
Film2010WarBunrakuIn the aftermath of a global war, the surviving nations introduced a ban on all firearms in an attempt to quell man's appetite for destruction.
Game2010War'PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game by Omega Force and Tecmo Koei based on the landmark anime and manga series
Film2010MonstersStake LandAn orphaned boy seeks safety and family amidst the vampire apocalypse.
Film2010MonstersMonstersWritten, shot and directed by Gareth Edwards.
Game2011EcoBrinkMultiA floating self-sustaining city contains what may be the final remnants of humanity, after global warming causes sea levels to rise
Novel2011TechnologyRobopocalypse: A NovelA apocalyptic robot/machine uprising novel by Daniel H. Wilson
Novel2011Social Collapse'James Wesley Rawles – an apocalyptic survivalist novel about a total socioeconomic collapse
Film2011DiseasePerfect SenseA worldwide pandemic of unknown origin causes every human to begin losing their five traditional senses one at a time.
Film2011DiseasePriestA century-spanning war between humans and vampires has devastated Earth's surface and led to a theocracy called The Church.
Film2011ZombiesZombie MusicalA short musical in which a young girl deals with the Zombie apocalypse on her first day of school. By Ryan McHenry.
Novel2011DiseaseEnclaveA novel by Ann Aguirre
Film2011Unknown power affecting only menSchoolgirl ApocalypseA Japanese schoolgirl, Sakura, finds her average life in a small town turned inside out when all the males suddenly become zombies and begin to attack and kill females.
With few skills and only her kyūdō bow and an English textbook to accompany her, she sets out on a journey through a dark world of murder and survival.
Game2011DiseaseHatoful BoyfriendA particularly virulent strain of bird flu kills a large majority of humanity, leaving birds to become the dominant class of animals. The protagonist is one of the few humans naturally resistant to the flu.
Game2011DiseaseInfamous 2A plague, primarily on the eastern coast of the United States, is spreading rapidly, causing diseases over the majority of those infected and granting special abilities to some individuals, designated as Conduits, while one of them, Cole MacGrath, in the Evil alternative ending of the game, manages to absorb the powers of his rival John White, who had been renamed "The Beast" due to the rampage he caused by the use of his powers over several weeks, and united most mutants under his leadership while waging a successful battle against the authorities, while Joseph Bertrand, a corrupt tycoon who had been secretly transforming into a bestial form known as the "Behemoth", managed before dying to sell the technology mutating normal individuals, usually into either poisonous reptilian monsters or muscular savages with control over ice, to several terrorists, including Osama bin Laden.
Game2011AliensDC Universe OnlineThe promotional trailer shows many trademark DC Comics heroes and villains fighting each other to the death with Lex Luthor emerging as the ultimate victor, but immediately after the culmination of the traditional battle between those legendary characters, Brainiac, according to statements, manages to conquer Earth unhindered by its defeated protectors and enslave humanity's population, until Luthor alongside Batman manage to survive and time travel back towards the past to warn their respective factions to cease their everlasting war and cooperate against the approaching enemy, with the custom player-controlled heroes contributing for the preparation of both previously hostile sides to confront the anticipated invasion as soon as it arrives.
Novel2011SupernaturalThe LeftoversSurvivors try to continue with life after a rapture-like event. By Tom Perrotta
Game2011Collapse of infrastructure, and fissures in races'A PlayStation 3 video game that depicts the West Coast of the U.S. hit by several disasters, like tornadoes, earthquakes, rains, and thunderstorms.
Game2011WarWasteland AngelA PC game that depicts the US after World War III.
Film2011WarThe DivideA film about the psychological unraveling of a group of survivors, who have holed up in the basement of their apartment building during a nuclear attack.
Novel2012EcoZooJames Patterson. Due to human activities, animals become more aggressive and begin killing humans
Film2012WarThe Hunger GamesSet in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. Based on the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins.
Film2012Impact EventSeeking a Friend for the End of the WorldAn asteroid is announced to hit Earth as a man searches to find his significant other before the impact occurs.
Television2012Impact EventEvacuate EarthHypothetical docudrama concerning humanity's efforts to seek out a new home on a distant Earth-like planet, in the face of Earth's eventual destruction by an approaching neutron star. Produced by Atlas Media, for original broadcast on the National Geographic Channel.
Film2012ZombiesChristmas with the DeadA freak lightning storm turned all who saw it into zombies.
Game2012War, Alien, Disease'Edward Richtofen, a Nazi German scientist attempting to succeed in conquering the world during World War II despite the failure of Adolf Hitler, creates an army of zombies army as well as various advanced infantry weapons and biological enhancements using an alien substance, called Element 115, and invades a space station on the Moon while cooperating with American Patrick Dempsey, Soviet Nikolai Belinski and Japanese Takeo Masaki in his effort to survive from the zombie horde until he manages to control it, and succeeds in transforming the Earth into a wasteland that is overrun by the endless tide of zombies in which almost everyone died.
Game2012EcoOil RushA PC strategy game, where ice caps have melted to cause global flooding.
Game2012UnspecifiedTokyo JungleA PlayStation 3 video game about a futuristic Tokyo that has become deserted by humans and overrun by many types of animals.
Web series2012WarElectric CityAnimated web series created by and starring Tom Hanks
Film2013ZombiesCargoA father tries to protect his infant daughter as he turns into a zombie during the zombie apocalypse. A short film on which the longer one of the same name was based.
Television2013War, SupernaturalFrom the New World/Shin Sekai YoriA millennium from now, in Japan, exists a utopia. The protagonist, Saki Watanabe, lives in an idyllic village barred from the outside world. Her world is ruled by the people who possess the "gods' power" of psychokinesis.
Film2013AliensOblivionEarth has been ravaged from war 60 years prior with the extraterrestrial "Scavengers"
Film2013AliensThe HostEarth's population has been almost entirely taken over by alien parasites that created a perfect planet
Film2013TechnologyThe World's EndHuman civilization is replaced by synthetic replicas that never age. When the last biological humans who are drunk from drinking too much beer confront the supreme intelligence with the possibilities that humanity might not want to be "improved", this contradiction leads to a crash in the simulant network, destroying most of the world as a result and throwing the planet into a new Dark Age without technology.
Film2013SupernaturalThis Is the EndThe Rapture occurs during a party attended by celebrities including Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and Emma Watson.
Film2013DiseaseWarm BodiesA disease transforms many humans into zombies and isolates them from society, despite a lot of them managing to retain most of their consciousness.
Novel2014DiseaseDawn of the Planet of the Apes: FirestormPrequel to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. A group of hyper-intelligent apes take refuge in the vast redwood forest known as Muir Woods while humanity battles the "Simian Flu" pandemic. By Greg Keyes.
Game2014Disease, Social CollapseEidolonVideo game by Ice Water Games. The destruction of lifespan-extending technology installed in major cities led to massive outbreaks of fatal illness, followed by wider social collapse.
Television2014War'Absurdist sci-fi comedy film. The growing tension between the last two remaining superpowers – China and Google – escalates in the early 21st century, and results in the global inferno of the "Google Wars".
Film2014War, Technology'Machines built to identify and eliminate mutants eventually target most humans as well. With much of the world destroyed, one mutant is sent back in time to try to prevent this future from ever happening.
Television2014–ZombiesZ NationA Syfy series focused on the days after a zombie apocalypse has killed most of the world's population. One man was experimented on before society's collapse and his body contains the only know antibodies to the zombie virus.
Television2014–WarThe 100The only survivors of a nuclear war live in a space station, which is falling apart. 100 of their teenagers are sent back to Earth's surface to determine if it is livable, only to discover that they are not the only survivors.
Television2014–2017DiseaseThe StrainFollowing a viral outbreak that has similarities to an ancient strain of vampirism, a CDC team works to defeat the virus as it spreads
Television2014–2017SupernaturalThe LeftoversDamon Lindelof series based on the Tom Perrota novel that takes place a few years after a rapture-type event.
Comic2014–2018WarGirls' Last TourThe series follows two girls, Yuuri and Chito, as they navigate the ruins of civilization after an unknown apocalypse, and as they travel in their modified Kettenkrad, they seek food and supplies while surviving day-to-day.
Television2014–2018DiseaseThe Last ShipBased on the 1988 novel of the same name by William Brinkle, the show follows the crew of a lone unaffected U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the fictional USS Nathan James, as it tries to find a cure for a global viral pandemic that wiped out over 80% of the world's population, stop the virus, and save humanity.
Television2015–ZombiesFear the Walking DeadA television series featuring the world overrun by zombies; spin-off of The Walking Dead
Novel2015EcoThe Water KnifeNovel by Paolo Bacigalupi. Southwestern United States suffer social collapse because of a water shortage.
Film2015DiseaseI Am Alone''While filming a survival show a survival expert is bitten by a person infected with a zombie virus.

Categories of Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction