Cartoons have always served as the primary source of entertainment for kids. As for adults, they offer a form of escapism from the hardships of life. Are you having a rough day? Just lay back on your couch, grab some snacks, and spend your evening watching episodes of Courage the Cowardly Dog or maybe Spongebob. While a cartoon offers an opportunity to appreciate the artistic and imaginative powers of individuals, it also carries within them a hidden prophecy, revealing glimpses of the future. In this brief article, we will list some of the cartoon predictions/prophecies that went true in real life.
Popular Cartoon Predictions/Prophecy
Looney Tunes
In the Looney Tunes episode titled “Tortoise Wins By A Hare,” we come across an excerpt from a newspaper in which one of the news headlines predicts the suicide of Adolf Hitler. The episode aired on February 20, 1943, and the Führer died by suicide two years later on April 30, 1945. Chicago Sunday Tribune’s front page, published on November 1, 1942, served as the source of inspiration for this newspaper. The main headline was amended to “Hare Races Tortoise Today.” The rest of the sub-headlines were left unaltered, except for the one including Adolf Hitler.
Cartoon Predictions: Simpsons
The Simpsons, a show that has been running for over 30 years, is unavoidable on this list of cartoon predictions. From Super Bowl wins to Nobel Prize winners, Coronavirus, and astronomy, there is hardly any field left for the Simpsons to predict.
In S02E04, titled “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish,” Bart Simpson catches a three-eyed orange fish from a pond located in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant. In 2011, 12 years after the episode was aired, a similar event occurred in Córdoba, Argentina. A fisherman was lucky enough to snag a three-eyed fish from a pond. But wait! It doesn’t end here. The reservoir from where the fish was caught had a water outlet pipe connected to a plant nearby. What are the odds?
Secondly, in a 1993 episode, a news reporter was found informing the viewers about a hypothetical disease called the Osaka Flu, originating in Japan. Homer Simpson and many townsmen ordered juicers from Japan, where the packaging contained the virus. This led to the virus creating havoc in the town. This event is very reminiscent of the Novel coronavirus that spread across the world like wildfire. The episode also depicted people’s protest against the government for vaccines and the incompetence of political figures during a time of crisis. All such events are reminiscent of how ineptly take care of the situation during the Covid-19 era.
Rick and Morty
This article is unfinished without the cartoon prophecy of Rick and Morty, a cartoon series focused on multiverse, space travel, and hyper-advanced technological gadgets. In the episode titled “The Old Man and the Seat,” we find Rick sitting on the toilet on another planet, where the toilet is surrounded by a majestic landscape. A similar feature called Environments is available in Apple Vision Pro, which allows users to alter the landscape they are currently looking at. With landscapes ranging from Mount Hood to the Moon, users have a plethora of landscapes to choose from.
Cartoon Predictions: Futurama
Being a future-centric cartoon of the 00s, Futurama has foretold a cartoon prophecy of multiple real-life events. In Season 1, Episode 2, titled “The Series Has Landed,” we find Amy playing a game of Virtual Skeeball. We discover her wearing a VR headset-looking equipment and playing the game. In other episodes such as “A Bicyclops Built for Two,” “Parasites Lost,” and “I Dated A Robot,” we find similar occurrences of characters wearing VR headsets.
Secondly, the episode “The Lesser of Two Evils” speculated about Steve Harvey’s mis-announcement of the Miss Universe (I like wordplays). In case you’re not caught up to speed, in 2015, Steve Harvey wrongly announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez as the winner. Later, he apologized for this mishap. Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach finally wore the crown of Miss Universe in 2015. In Futurama’s episode, a similar event occurs when the announcer wrongly proclaims Leela as the Miss Universe. But just like Steve Harvey, the announcer corrects himself and announces Miss Vega 4 as the genuine winner, making one of the most shocking cartoon prophecies of all time.
The Jetsons
Another cartoon prediction centered around technological advancements of the future! An animated sitcom of the ’60s, The Jetsons also made its share of predictions, most of which were catered toward future gadgets. Quite often, we find the characters, present poles apart, communicating with each other face-to-face on a screen. This is similar to how video chatting works in the modern era, where people use Google Meet, WhatsApp Video Call, Zoom, Skype, etc. Other inventions that The Jetsons predicted were LCD screens, smartwatches, AI assistants such as Siri and Alexa, and many more.
Cartoon Predictions: Men in Black
While many cartoons, such as Johnny Bravo, Family Guy, Batman Beyond, etc., forecasted the events of 911, the Men in Black Animated Series was the most authentically prophetic. In S01E06, titled “The Neutralizer Syndrome,” Agent J and K are seen fighting baddies in an airship. With no one to pilot the vehicle, the airship gets dangerously close to the Twin Towers. Agent J asks K about the Twin Towers, to which Agent K replies with a “Yes.” J remarks, “I don’t think they (the Twin Towers) aren’t gonna be so tall anymore.” This remark hints at the 9th September 2011 at the World Trade Center.
SpongeBob SquarePants
The SpongeBob SquarePants episode named “Krabby Land” is another addition to the cartoon predictions list. The episode (S03E57a) aired in 2002 and deals with Mr. Krabs’ yet another horrendous business idea. One fine morning, Mr. Krabs decides to capitalize off of children who are currently enjoying their summer break. He rebranded Krusty Krab, altered the name of the meals, and quadrupled the price to attract more children to his restaurant. However, seeing that the children are at the playground, Mr. Krabs makes his own playground and names it Krabby Land. As the cherry on top, he hypes up Krabby Land with empty promises to squeeze every penny out of the pockets of the kids. His plan falls apart when people find out that the Krabby Land is nothing like what he promised.
The prophecy of this cartoon became true 22 years later. In February 2024, an event named “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” was announced. The promotion of that occasion was heavy as a dream-come-true sort of event. However, the posters, promos, and website banners were AI-generated. The organizers of the show did not even bother to rectify the laughable spelling and grammatical errors in the advertisements. Misled by the colorful posters, many people jumped in to visit the chocolate factory by paying $40 per ticket. As it turns out, the event, like Krabby Land, is far from what it promised. The empty warehouse setting shocks everyone. The cosplays of the volunteers were laughable and of low effort. This attracted immense Internet hatred to the point that the event organizer deleted his social media profiles, such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and his website.
Cartoon Predicitons: Doraemon
How can we forget one of the most known Doraemon cartoon predictions? The gadget called Invisible Cape made its way into multiple episodes and video games of Doraemon (such as Doraemon: Story of Seasons). The chapter “Chin Up To the Ancestors,” issued in 1970, features the Invisible Cape as well. It’s mind-boggling how a 1970s manga predicted the invention of a cape that can make a person invisible. In real life, you can indeed turn invisible; well, using some video editing skills of course. There is a green-colored cape that you can enshroud yourself with in front of the camera. You can use any video editing software to blend the green color of the cape with the surroundings, and voila! You’ve become invisible.
Family Guy
Does the name Brian O’Conner ring any bells? Well, maybe Paul Walker? We all know about the sudden death of Paul Walker in 2013 due to an unavoidable car crash. The tragic demise of the popular co-star from the Fast and the Furious franchise was also a part of the Family Guy cartoon prophecies. Paul passed away on Saturday, November 30, 2013.
Earlier that week, the episode “Life of Brian” was aired (on Sunday). In the episode, Brian Griffin met with a car accident, thereby ending his life. You might say that it’s a coincidence. That might or might not be the case because the death of two popular Brains in car accidents in one week is a pattern that’s difficult to overlook. Maybe the prophecy of the cartoon series became true after all. However, Brian Griffin from Family Guy resurrected from the ashes, thanks to time travel. Oh, how I wish that we could bring back Paul Walker, too, using Family Guy’s time-travel.
Cartoon Prophecies: South Park
South Park is the final cartoon that we shall cover in this read – a cartoon prophecy around the video gaming realm. If you’re a gamer, you must have tried Freemium games. Games such as League of Legends, Clash of Clans, Call of Duty Warzone, and Genshin Impact are some examples in this category. While these games are free to play, they incorporate microtransactions to keep the cash inflow. While it has only been 8-10 years since the concept of freemium games has been booming in the video game industry, South Park predicted the idea.
Almost 10 years ago at the time of writing this article, South Park released an episode titled “Freemium Isn’t Free”. The episode highlighted how video game companies manipulated players to spend thousands of dollars. In the episode, the “Terrance & Phillip” mobile game pushes players really hard to purchase in-game currency for a low price, say $0.49 for 200 in-game coins. The amount seems minuscule, right? Well, Stan Marsh ended up spending $20000 in the game after a few days. The episode also covers the psychological impact freemium games have on players. We also learn how desperately freemium games spam flashy notifications once you’ve quit playing the game. If you still have the game downloaded to your phone, they try their best to trigger the addicted gamer’s itch.
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