With the world as it is, it can feel as though the apocalypse is just around the corner. Of course, people have feared the end times for many years now, due in part to how terrible the world always seems to be. Nevertheless, humanity endures past some of the most horrendous of scenarios due to our tenacity and will to live.

However, there will come one day, however far in the future, where humanity ends. This of course begs the question which apocalyptic scenario in media -- be it film, television, literature, anime or comics -- humanity might stand a chance of surviving and which ones will erase mankind from face from the planet.

Survivable - Nuclear Wasteland (Mad Max)

Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky in 1979's Mad Max

The world of Mad Max was crumbling apart long before the disasters in the prologue of The Road Warrior. The militarized fanatical government was already engaging in all-encompassing nuclear war, leaving roaming car gangs where chaotic-evil warlords rise to supremacy.

However, of all cinematic apocalypses, this is a more survivable future. Humanity finds new ways to recreate society in the most dire and horrific of situations. The Road Warrior and subsequent sequels show that society survives long enough to deify people like Max. Humanity survives one -- though society as we know it is over.

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Nightmare - Infertility (Children of Men)

Children of Men

Children of Men tackles a disturbing possibility: what if the world went infertile? Radiation poisoning has left humanity unable to reproduce, and society is crumbling. The story contains a source of hope in the form of a miraculous new pregnancy. However, one new birth might not be enough to reverse the damage of a worldwide infertility problem. Without new children, humanity dies with a whipmer.

Survivable - Zombies (Romero's Dead Trilogy, The Walking Dead)

Zombies from Day of the Dead.

Most zombies are optimistic about humanity's chances for survival. Movies, comics, and shows like The Walking Dead present mankind as struggling to survive, but, ultimately, making it through just fine. Even the most cynical of all zombie apocalypses, George Romero's Dead trilogy, shows some hope for humanity. Individuals can survive, so long as they stick together. The problem is many people won't. Society -- and all its problems -- will continue.

Nightmare - The Anti-Christ (The Omen, Left Behind)

Films like The Omen and Left Behind depict an apocalypse that's supposedly inflicted from within human society, orchestrated by the Son of the Devil, who has found ways to turn mankind against itself. If the Offspring of Satan were to emerge and take command of humanity's resources, it would result in a never-ending war that would completely eradicate mankind, unleashing the horrors of Hell upon the world.

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Survivable - Invasion (War of the Worlds, A Quiet Place, Independence Day)

The Alien monster from A Quiet Place, which is attracted to sound

If an alien life form were to invade, their advance technology or incredible physical capabilities would overpower humanity. It would be horrendous. However, it would in no way be a no-win scenario. Aliens and monsters in film all have weaknesses, be they viruses, sounds, water or even blindness. Even if there is no particular weaknesses the aliens possess, eventually humanity will figure out a way to even the odds if everyone puts their minds to it.

Nightmare - Replacement (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing)

There is one frigheni ng exception to the aforementioned category. If the aliens don't invade through an offensive strategy, but rather disguise themselves among us, then there will be no hope.

Movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing present scenarios where the alien presence disguises themselves among us so effectively that no one can tell they're us. In particular, the 1970s version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers ends with the implication that it's already too late to save humanity. You just don't realize it. Yet.

Survivable - Third Impact (Evangelion)

Neon Genesis Evangelion End Of Evangelion

End of Evangelion presents a pretty bleak outlook on mankind's future. Shinji Ikari enacts Human Instrumentality, which results in all of mankind blending into one entity of primordial LCL. In an instant, humanity ends, and the world is left a barren wasteland... or so it seems.

In actuality, when Shinji ends Instrumentality, the whole of mankind is given the chance to return on their own, so long as they have the will to live. In the final scene of End of Evangelion, Asuka returns. In the manga, society as a whole completely returns, albeit without memory of the Third Impact. While it looks horribly disturbing, the reality is you can survive Third Impact.

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Nightmare - Total Annihilation (Annihilation)

The apocalypse is averted in the sci-fi film and novel Annihilation. However, the expanding zone known as the Shimmer would, ultimately, rewrite all of reality in a horrifying, nightmarish fashion. You might survive in some form inside the Shimmer, but whatever thing you become will no longer be you. It will just be part of you blended into something else -- maybe even the thing that killed you.

Perhaps your organs might become alive inside of you. Perhaps your last moments of terror will become a part of the thing that ate you. And you wouldn't even realize it's happening until it's too late.

Survivable - Global Pandemic (Contagion, 28 Days Later)

Jude Law amidst masked crowd in Contagion

Contagions are among the most anxiety-inducing ways society can end. Throughout history, pandemics and plagues have eradicated whole chunks of society. Indeed, films like 28 Days Later, I Am Legend and Contagion have frightened audiences with stories of super-plagues.

The good news is no plague in human history has ever eradicated society. It's dangerous, but some percentage of humanity will survive -- or just be immune to the virus.

Nightmare - Planetary Collision (Melancholia)

Total and absolute destruction will occur should Earth ever strike a celestial body of equal size. This is the existential horror of Lars van Trier's Melancholia, a film where the main characters come to terms with the looming reality that, in a matter of days, nothing they do will matter.

Humanity can't drill a nuke into the center of an asteroid that size. You cannot stop something that large from striking us. The impact will eradicate everything in its entirety. Nothing would remain. And that would be that.

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