Top 10 Causes of the Apocalypse In Apocalyptic Fiction

The Top Ten

  1. Disease

    Deadly pathogens could be brewing and evolving anywhere in the world. Just look at Ebola. It was refining itself in a mountain somewhere in Africa. The first host it had spread it so fast no one knew how to stop it.

    Black Plague, granted it was the medieval ages, if something like that were to resurface, virus-wise it would be incurable until someone made a vaccine before the disease killed the person. With the population today, 1/4 of the world could possibly be infected before anyone knew what was happening.

    I think out of all the options, this is the most realistic. With more people, bacteria spread more easily (especially in overpopulated third-world countries). Whilst it would be a rarity, I think if anything would wipe out mass chunks of humanity, it would be disease.

  2. Aliens

    1. War of the Worlds

    2. Mars Attacks

    3. Independence Day

    The top 3 of the top 10. Does anybody disagree?

    Alien invasion. War with alien species.

  3. Impact Event

    People have worried about this a million times before. Although it's never happened, it's certainly plausible.

    I think this is the most possible.

    Impact with celestial bodies (meteorites, asteroids, planets, etc.). Near-impact knocks Earth out of orbit.

  4. Ecological Disaster

    Ecological catastrophe. Global climate change (causing a new ice age). Global warming (melting of icecaps, global flooding). Global pollution.

  5. Monsters

    Yeah, zombies could take over the world, but after they finish off the last human, they would starve to death and decompose.

    I believe that zombies will take over the world.

  6. Supernatural Events

    Religious and supernatural apocalypse. Demons. Eschatological fiction.

  7. Human Decline

    If things continued to stay relatively the same, this wouldn't be likely. It's a given that in every part of the world, the population goes through periods of decline and incline.

    Now if you had all the right ingredients, however, such as simultaneous plagues, natural destruction, cosmic collisions, and a sudden change in climate with a big, fat world war in the middle of it, that could lead to some terrifying results.

    Imagine if only 1/4 of the world's current population existed after just a few years of destruction. A modern, worldwide dark age. That would be scary.

    This is the scariest because it's the most possible.

  8. Sun

    The sun getting closer to Earth and burning everything.

    Expanding or dying sun.

  9. War

    It just seems to be the most plausible. I mean, consider the vast nuclear arsenal of the nations across the world. WWIII would NOT be fun.

    World War I. Global nuclear holocaust. Other apocalyptic wars between humans.

    How is War 8? It should be first.

  10. Zombies

    This has to be everyone's favorite these days. I haven't met a kid who didn't know what to do in case of a zombie apocalypse.

    The thought of dead animals coming back out of the grave and starting the zombie apocalypse.

    I like zombies.

    11. The Newcomers
  11. ?

    Nuclear Weapons

  12. ?

    Clathrate Explosions

    13. The Contenders

  13. Technology

    Apocalyptic wars between humans and technology. Cybernetic revolt, war with, or revolution by robots, computers, etc.

    This should definitely be higher on the list, I think.

  14. Cure for Major Diseases

    Sure it's been mentioned before, but think about it. Say you have some terrible disease, and some scientist comes up with a "cure" that really ends up not only attacking the disease, but the whole body. Thus turning the diseased into zombies. Kind of like the movie "I Am Legend".

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