2012 in fiction

This is a list of fictional references to the year 2012. Many depict the end of the world occurring in that year, in line with the much-publicised 2012 doomsday prediction.

Literature

  • Methuselah's Children (1941/1958) and Time Enough for Love (1973) by Robert A. Heinlein: A crucial meeting of the Howard Families takes place, following the election of Nehemiah Scudder for president of the USA. In both novels, viewpoint character Lazarus Long is asked what happened at this meeting as he is the last living eyewitness; in both novels he declines to answer. Nehemiah Scudder establishes a religious dictatorship in the USA.
  • Decipher (2001) by Stel Pavlou depicts the discovery of Atlantis and a polar shift being caused by solar flare activity.
  • Domain (2002) and Resurrection (2000) by author Steve Alten: A fictional series that tells the events of the Gabriel twins after discovering the mystery behind 2012.
  • 2012: The War for Souls by author Whitley Strieber (2007) is a fictional novel AbOUT three parallel earths and the occurrences leading up to December 21, 2012 in each as the walls between them begin to thin and allow passage through gateways to the others. A film adaptation is proposed, produced by Michael Bay.
  • Absconders (2009) by Karen Haynes depicts the perilous journey of survivors of increasingly catastrophic events (global warming sets the stage, solar flares cause elecromagnetic storms, climate changes result, and astonomical events mark the passage of time toward the Earth's inevitable rendezvous with the Dark Rift in the center of our galaxy) of the year 2012, where each character's actions have a direct bearing on the outcome of their encounters in a not-too-distant future.

Comics

  • The Invisibles ("The Invisible Kingdom," 1999–2000): The Invisibles' "fictional" universe expands into the meta-context of the "higher universe," possibly our own.
  • Jojo's Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki: In the 6th part of this manga, the protagonists Jolyne Kujo, Hermes, Emporio, Anasui and Weather Report have to stop the villain Enrico Pucci from erasing the universe. Pucci obtains the stand Stairway to Heaven, which has the power of rewriting the universe, and tries to use the stand to create the perfect world for his master Dio. All these events occur in 2012, with the current universe ending near the completion of the thirteenth cycle of the Mayan calendar.

Music

  • "A Certain Shade of Green," a song from the Incubus album S.C.I.E.N.C.E., references 2012 in the following lines: Are you gonna stand around till 2012 A.D.? / What are you waiting for, a certain shade of green?. December 21, 2012 also appears to be the date when the video for the song "Warning" is supposed to take place.
  • Genesis's song Get'em Out By Friday from their 1972 album Foxtrot, sets "18/9/2012" (on the printed operistic-dialog lyrics) as the date when "Genetic Control" would set a height restriction on human beings so that twice as many people could fit on real estate properties.
  • The Hed PE song "I.F.O." (to be found on their self-titled album), which is about UFO sightings and governmental conspiracies to cover them up, references the year 2012: "Prepare to meet your maker in the skies over the pyramids / Check Stonehenge / Go ask the Mayans / 2012 soon come / I will be waitin' sayin' I told you so / When the skies are ripped open / And the mothership lands on your cynical [...]".
  • Stones Throw Records artist Dudley Perkins released his LP, entitled 'Expressions (2012 A.U.)', in 2006
  • The instrumental song "December 21, 2012" by Frodus, which appears as a B-side to their best-selling 7" vinyl single of their Devo cover "Explosions" (Released 1997).
  • The Anaal Nathrakh song "Timewave Zero" is about the apparent end of the world on December 21, 2012. The lyrics are translated as "The 21st Of December, 2012, The time will come"
  • British nu-rave outfit Klaxons sing about apocalyptic horsemen in their song "Four Horsemen Of 2012" from the 2007 album Myths of the Near Future.
  • The song "2012 — Demise of the 5th Sun" by the melodic death metal band Scar Symmetry is a reference to the year 2012. "For the lines on the fractal wave / Fit the course of history / They're created to work as one till the end / When the winter solstice comes / Actualizing the prophecy / The demise in 2012 realized"
  • The Testament song "3 Days in Darkness", off of The Gathering album is a song about 2012, and speaks of the earth being swallowed in molten fire.
  • VNV Nation's album Praise The Fallen" has the subtitle "PTF 2012", which is also the name of a track in the album, which seems to be predominantly about an upcoming war. The song, "Honour" starts with the line, "Passive fields, January 2012..."
  • Heavy metal band Burnt By The Sun's two albums both deal with prophecies concerning the year 2012.
  • "2012" is the name of the 2005 album by the experimental rock band Old Time Relijun, and several songs make references to ancient Mayan culture, such as "Burial Mound" and "The King of Lost Light."
  • On the band Hella's album There's No 666 in Outer Space there is a track called "2012 and Countless" in which the only words are "There's no 666 in Outer Space" repeated.
  • Metal band Ewigkeit's album Radio Ixtlan has a track entitled "Live at Palenque 2012" referencing both the Mayan calendar date and the site at which the Temple of Inscriptions where it is carved.
  • Canibus mentions the year 2012 and December 21, 2012 on his Poet Laureate Infinity vocals and on his 2007 album For Whom the Beat Tolls.
  • Industrial metal band Hanzel und Gretyl's fifth album is called 2012: Zwanzig Zwölf referencing the belief that the world will end in this year, as foretold in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.
  • On DJ Muggs & Sick Jacken's album Legend of the Mask and the Assassin, they "prophetize" Armageddon and other catastrophic events occurring in "2012 (feat. Cynic)."
  • On a Jadakiss song called "What if" from his album "the last kiss" a fellow rapper called Nas raps: "And 2012 was the end of men, And all world civilians?"
  • On the band A Day To Remeber's album, For Those Who Have Heart the first track is entitled, Fast Forward to 2012, and deals with the end of the world.

Film

  • I Am Legend (film), (2007) set in this year.
  • 2012 (film), (2009) based on significance of Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.
  • Death Race, film (2008) references this year as the year when the U.S. economy falls.
  • The Fallen:2012, film for release early in 2010, based on a world transformed by the 2012 Doomsday prediction

Television

  • Doctor Who
    • "Dalek," 2005: A Dalek breaks loose under the Utah salt plains, and plans to kill every living thing on Earth.
    • "Fear Her," 2006: The episode is set during the lead-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
  • Futurama
    • Xmas Story," 1999: The War of 2012 occurs, during which talk-show host Conan O'Brien lost his "freakishly long legs."
    • Jurassic Bark," 2002; Philip J. Fry's dog Seymour dies in this year.
  • The X-Files ("The Truth," 2002): On December 22, Aliens begin colonization of Earth.
  • In the anime version of Death Note, the SPK organization is formed (in the manga, this occurs in 2009) following Near's meeting with the President of the United States.

Games

  • Shadowrun: With the sixth Mayan world beginning, magic returns to the world in an event called "The Awakening."
  • Escape 2012: The player's mission is to escape from alien captivity.
  • In Dark•Matter, a campaign setting for the Alternity and D20 Modern roleplaying games, the institute that the protagonists belong to believe that 2012 will be the end of the world.
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R — Shadow of Chernobyl is set in this year
  • Psychic Force 2012 is set during this year.
  • In Universe at War: Earth Assault, the Hierarchy invasion on Earth begins.
  • An in-game document from The Secret World contains the date 2012 circled and underlined but the significance of this is yet unknown.
  • In Shattered Union, U.S. president David Jefferson Adams accepts his second term in office after the Supreme Court disqualifies all other presidential candidates.
  • Events of Mega Man III, Mega Man's Soccer, Wily and Right's RockBoard and Mega Man V are set in this year.
  • One of the puzzles later on in La Mulana (A freeware PC game based on many of the older MSX games released) states you need to 'walk the end year of the Aztec's Fifth Age.' The player must then light only the torches of the gates that correspond to the numbers in the year '2012'.
  • The setting of Assassin's Creed is September, 2012. At the end of the game is a barcode with reference "21122012" for 21 December 2012. The main hero learns that the villian company is going to launch a satellite (whose objective is to send dangerous radiation back to Earth) on December 21.

Radio

  • The sitcom Deep Trouble, set on a nuclear submarine, takes place in 2012.

See also

2012 Doomsday prediction