The ends: My favorite apocalypses — from books, TV and comics

MANILA, Philippines - 1. The earth is demolished by the Vogons to make way for an interstellar bypass. (From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a book by Douglas Adams)

2. A giant godlike being generates a worldwide “anti-AT Field,” which causes all of humanity to dissolve into a kind of primordial soup. It’s as fascinatingly yucky as it sounds. (From the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion)

3. In the year five billion (or thereabouts), the sun expands and destroys the earth, while we watch in relative comfort and safety from Platform One. Bring industrial-strength sunblock. (From the relaunched Doctor Who TV series — Season 1, Episode 2)

4. The end of the world is ushered in by a caduceus-wielding, poetry-spawned, besandalled superheroine. Awesome in more ways than one. (From the comics series Promethea, by Alan Moore and J.H, Williams III)

5. The entire world — not our world, exactly, but a world called Fantastica — is consumed by a vast and rapacious Nothing. It’s okay, all that’s needed to restart the world is a wish or two. Or three. Or four… (From The Neverending Story, a book by Michael Ende)