Science fiction and other related fields of fiction are often set in the future, or at least involve events in times that have not yet occurred. This list is a chronological collection of significant events from various works of such fiction. It includes some events that were set in the future when the fiction containing them was first written but which have now been overtaken by real history, becoming a form of alternate history or failed prediction in the process.
It is rarely true that science fiction writers are seriously attempting prediction - the needs of the story are usually the primary concern, and science fiction stories are often more about the present in which they are written than the future in which they are supposedly set.
when the orbit of Comet Halley intersects with the Earth, catastrophe ensues, but the comet gasses cause an alteration of human psychology to a more rational thought-process; as revealed in In the Days of the Comet by H. G. Wells (written in 1906).
After stopping in the middle of World War I, and then traveling through World War II, the Time Traveler encounters a nuclear explosion in this year in George Pal's version of The Time Machine.
After three decades of global war, a great plague wipes out most of the people on Earth. (Things to Come)
Astronaut George Taylor and three other volunteers depart Earth from Cape Kennedy on an important mission 3,000 years into the future. Some months after, another astronaut, Michael Brent, takes off from Earth in an attempt to find his colleague. Weeks later, Taylor's ship returns from the future with three talking apes (one of which is killed almost immediately). After discovering Earth's future fate, the President orders the two surviving apes, Cornelius and Zira captured. Ultimately, a police officer murders them, and the investigation files are ordered sealed (according to the first three Planet of the Apes movies)
Arrival of Tiberium, rise of the Brotherhood of Nod, formation of the Global Defense Initative , and the First Tiberium War. (Command & Conquer Tiberian Series )
The New Order Nation take control of the US and ban music (Revolution X video game)
John Spartan and Simon Phoenix are frozen as Cryocons
June 6 - Lucifer-Alpha, a chemical weapon under development in the Chernoton Research Facility in Russia, is released into the atmosphere, killing 80% of the Eurasian population. It takes ten years for the virus to mutated into a non-lethal form. (Snatcher)
October 1 - The event setting in motion the storyline of the classic NES game Crystalis occurs: "The End Day. Savage war engulfs the world ... civilization is destroyed. An evolution had taken place. The earth's axis shifted, and all creatures became mutated. Life would never be the same. Those surviving vowed not to repeat the mistakes of the past and erected a great tower in the sky to oppress evil forever..."
November 5 - The first recorded appearance of the mysterious terrorist known as "Codename V" in Westminster, London. During the next year he launches a series of elaborate attacks against the fascist regime (which had ruled England since the nuclear war of 1988), causing increasing confusion and unstability, which ultimately brings the regime down (V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd ).
Efficient international flight has been achieved by fleets of dirigibles, controlled by the Aerial Board of Control (With the Night Mail and As Easy as A.B.C. by Rudyard Kipling)
September 13 - Second Impact occurs at the South Pole, melting the world's ice, tilting the planet off its axis and killing off half of the world's population. (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
January 20- The triggering of World War III by the secret detonation of a nuclear device in Washington DC by the Soviets, leading to complete destruction of the United States, and creating Deathlands (A fictional series based on this scenario, set a century later)
February 7 -Space launching ceremony of the SDF-1 Macross. The same day, the Zentradi army arrives in the Solar System and war breaks out when the Macross's guns automatically fire on the Zentradi. This is the beginning of Space War I. (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross)
June 1 - The Pulse, the deployment of an EMP weapon, destroys a significant amount of the computer-based infrastructure in the US, in turn leading to economic and social breakdown across the country. (Dark Angel)
Events of 2010: Odyssey Two. David Bowman, now a magnetic being, returns to Earth, and later on merges with HAL 9000. Jupiter explodes, forming Lucifer, a small sun.
John Boone becomes the first human to set foot on Mars at age 38. (Mars trilogy)
Mankind completes its first fully-functional space colony, Beyond Coast. (Policenauts)
The Policenauts, a group of specially-trained policemen, are formed in order to secure the colonists in Beyond Coast. The "original cops" (as they've been nicknamed by the public) consisted of Jonathan Ingram and Ed Brown from the LAPD, Salvatore Toscanini from the NYPD, Joseph Sadaoki Tokugawa from the Tokyo MPD and Gatse Becker from Scotland Yard. Later, Jonathan dissappears after a space-walking accident with the EMPS prototype Yuri and is presumed dead.
December 19 - Yuzo Takaya , Noriko Takaya 's father, piloting humanity's first faster-than-light spaceship Luxion, is attacked and killed by aliens. (Gunbuster)
Hyperspace gates are set up around the solar system. One of them explodes destroying a part of the moon and forcing emigration to other planets. (Cowboy Bebop)
In the fictional movie The Terminator (1984), while under LAPD interrogation in 1984, Kyle Reese (played by actor Michael Biehn) states 2021 was the year he joined the human resistance.
Simon Phoenix is released from the cryoprison into a milquetoast future where he quickly wreaks havoc over a subdued and nonviolent society. Old school cop John Spartan is then released from cryogenic imprionment to catch him. (Demolition Man)
July 4- John Connor is killed by a T-800. This unit is reprogrammed and sent back in time by Katherine Brewster to protect him. Terminator_3:_Rise_of_the_Machines
July 23- Aliens attack Earth fleet in the Battle of the Solar System. They are defeated by Noriko piloting the Gunbuster.
Jonathan Ingram is miracuously discovered alive, thanks to the cold-sleep module in the Yuri suit, preserving his youth as well. After a year of rehabilitation, Jonathan stays on earth and forms a private investigation agency. (Policenauts)
Japanese pharmacist Kenzô Hôjô dissappears on his way home during a Wednesday 15 . A few weeks later, his wife Lorraine goes to earth and hires Jonathan to investigate his dissappearance, triggering the events of Policenauts
Frank Hollister apparently wins the 'Mr Fat Bastard' award in this year. A possible setting of Red Dwarf before the radiation accident.1
The 17th Siberian Investigative Force finds amnesiacs Gillian and Jamie Seed in the Siberian Neutral Zone. (Snatcher)
December 22: SRS Flight 4003 crashes in the Rocko Mountain range. One body is initially identified as computer instructor Rick Sawamura, but is later discovered to be a heretofore unknown type of bioroid. (Snatcher)
December 29: Neo-Kobe's Mayor O'Connor asks the countries of the world to investigate the strange bioroids, but investigation proves fruitless. (Snatcher)
February 18: The bioroid that replaced Mayor O'Connor is captured, but self-destructs during transport. The bioroids are later dubbed "Snatchers" by the media. (Snatcher)
The band Fire Bomber performs their first live concert with Mylene Jenius . (Macross 7)
December: Neo-Kobe experiences "Bioroid Panic." An anti-Snatcher task force is formed. Over 5,000 die in witch-hunts, and the mayor requests that all citizens submit to testing. The panic spreads throughout Japan by the end of the year. (Snatcher)
April 20: Japanese government passes the "Snatchers and the Protection of Civil Rights" bill, requiring a warrant for Bioroid tests.
May: The Rug-Hunt organization is formed to study the Snatchers.
August: Rug-Hunt and the Anti-Snatcher task force merge and become JUNKER (Japanese Undercover Neuro-Kinetic Elimination Rangers).
Mid-October: Snatchers begin actively hunting down JUNKERs. At least three are killed in October alone, one is left brain-dead, and the entire Descartes family is massacred.
November: A well-known KBC newscaster, a Yakuza mob boss, a prominent religious figure, and a former biotechnology firm president are revealed to be Snatchers.
December: The Japanese government quarantines Neo-Kobe due to the increasing Snatcher problem.
Earth attacks the aliens' home at the center of the galaxy using an enormous black hole bomb. The bomb is too damaged to go off, and Gunbuster restarts it with one of its engine cores, causing it to take 12000 years getting back home. (Gunbuster)
The cartoon series The Jetsons, was originally set in 2062. This is because the series first aired in 1962, and the show was a prediction of what life would be like a hundred years in the future. Jetsons: The Movie(1990) states that The Jetsons is set "Late in the 21st century." Note that no precise date has ever been stated in any episode.
A force of Cybermen try to take over the Gravitron weather control installation on the Moon to alter Earth's weather and wipe out all life. They are stopped by the Second Doctor and his companions (Doctor Who - The Moonbase ).
Arnold Rimmer is kept back a year in an alternative universe. Being a foot taller than the rest of his classmates makes him buckle down and learn inner strengh. He becomes Ace Rimmer. In another universe, Rimmer carries on through his life and becomes a snivelling coward. (Red Dwarf)
Arnold Rimmer fails to fix a drive plate on the mining ship Red Dwarf. A cadmium II radiation blast kills him and 1,167 people. The only survivor is Dave Lister, who is in stasis.1
Abelard Lindsay is born, events of "Schismatrix" begin. (Shaper/Mechanist)
2195
First battle of Mars is fought and lost, Jovians decimate the Utopia Colony on Mars. (Martian Sucsessor Nadesico)
2196
Privately owned high mobile battleship Nadesico launches on the mission to rescue survivors of the Jovian invasion of Mars. (Martian Sucsessor Nadesico)
Earth is lost to humanity, and is renamed Lost Jerusalem. (Xenogears)
A conference is held on Earth to unite the systems of humanity in a war against the Cybermen. The Cybermen's attempt to disrupt this conference is foiled by the Fifth Doctor, but his companion Adric is killed (Doctor Who - Earthshock ).
A guru called Rufus uses a time machine to help Bill S Preston Esq and Ted Theodore Logan to pass a history report as their band 'Wyld Stallions' holds the key to world peace.
Current setting of the Legion of Super-Heroes (Note: the Legion stories are set 1000 years after the "present day", and the exact period changes with the DC Universe floating timeline).
By this century, time travel is commonplace. In one alternate future (later cancelled), Earth has long been devastated by an undisclosed conflict. (Star Trek: Enterprise episode, "Shockwave").
Ulysses kills the giant cyclops when he rescues the children and his son, Telemachus. The ancient gods of Olympus are angry and threaten a terrible revenge. (Ulysses 31)
January 1 - Philip J. Fry, after awaking from cryostasis earlier that day in 2999, joins the crew of the Planet Express delivery company in the animated TV series Futurama.
An ice age occurs on Earth. Around this time, the Supreme Alliance comes to power, and is eventually defeated at the battle of Reykjavik. The Alliance's Minister of Justice, Magnus Greel, escapes through time to the 19th century, using a time cabinet powered by zygma energy (Doctor Who - The Talons of Weng-Chiang ).
Machinery rules the galactic universe, with humanoids and conscious robots in control, the human race is reduced to a state of apathy (TV version of Dune)
62nd century
6100s
The Great Revolt, a human rebellion against the machines, forcing human beings to use their minds for development and breeding; this leads to the formation of mental training schools and the discovery of the spice Melange, both of which would be the turning point for the human race (TV version of Dune)
Distant future
7277
The Zohar Modifier is integrated into System Deus. The experiment testing System Deus goes wrong, causing the tested planet, Miktam04B, to be destroyed. It is during this experiment that The Wave Existence is pulled from its higher dimension and trapped into the Zohar Modifier. (Xenogears)
Abel faces the Zohar Modifier, his desire for a mother making the Modifier instantly create a human female in Kadomony. Deus later inserts his own program into the female, creating The Mother. (Xenogears)
The Elridge, carrying System Deus, is forced to crash into a unknown world due to Deus' sudden reactivation. The Mother is ejected from Kadomony.(Xenogears)
~10,000
Man's reign on Earth is believed to be finished (the song In The Year 2525)
North Central Positronics is a very popular provider of mental enhancement. (mentioned once in The_Dark_Tower_(series))
The first human vessel - a small surface lander, the "Atlantean" - makes planet-fall on Rubi-Ka. It is immediately followed by a second lander, the "Rimor". Both surveyor vessels have been commissioned by the Omni-Tek Corporation. (Anarchy Online)
29,475
Illegal restrictions on colonisation are lifted after prolonged ICC objections. Rival corporations are now allowed to transport passengers to and from Rubi-Ka. Ships in orbit immediately begin to transport new colonists to the surface. The population mushrooms overnight, causing logistical problems and chaos. The Rubi-Kan infrastructure is unprepared for the massive influx of colonists. (Anarchy Online)
Solaris, the anti-sun, unleashes a cancer plague, forcing the current Superman to sacrifice his life in rewriting Solaris' programming. ("DC One Million")
700th century
The original Superman returns to Earth, forges a covenant with his descendants and retreats to the inner core of the Sun. ("DC One Million")
Dave Lister released from stasis. He is the last human being alive. His companions are a hologram of his dead bunkmate, a senile computer and a life form that evolved from a cat he smuggled aboard. Events of Red Dwarf.1
~10,000,000
The 57th Segment of Time, when solar activity wipes out all life on Earth. Refugees of humanity leave for the planet Refusis (Doctor Who - The Ark ).
50,000,000
After humanity's final extinction, an insect-like race arises on Earth and becomes the dominant species. They are possessed by the Great Race of Yith, who have been forced to leave their previous home on a planet near Taurus. At some point in the future, this race will also die out, and the Yithians will be forced to relocate again to Mercury, taking over the bodies of a plant-race living there. (H.P. Lovecraft)
The Red Dwarf crew travels into the far distant future to a point after the Universe has begun collapsing towards a Big Crunch, causing time to run backwards until it is the equivalent of 1993 on Earth again (or 3991, as the locals write it). They spend three weeks in Nodnol. In the novel Backwards, they arrive to collect Lister in Niagara Falls in the year 9891(1989).
The Inquisitor decides there is no afterlife or god, and that the only purpose in existence is to lead a worthwhile life. So, he constructs a time machine to judge every person in history. (Red Dwarf)
The guru Gaspar and the God of War, Spekkio, await the ones who will slay Lavos and it's spawn. (Chrono Trigger) (However, the timeline of Chrono Trigger is completely independant of our Earth's)
Beyond the end of time
Climax of Isaac Asimov's story The Last Question. The end of time itself is said to be ten trillion years in the future, and the climax of the story occurs even later, after a "timeless interval".
Notes
1Perhaps conscious of the slow development of Earth's space programme, several different dates have been given in Red Dwarf for the time from which Lister and Rimmer originate. In the early television series the dates 2044 and 2077 are both given. The first novel, published after the second season was transmitted, gives dates in the 22nd century. In the fourth season Dave Lister states he is "an enlightened 23rd century guy."
