Shocking Examples Of How Satirical Cartoons Actually Predicted The Future

Although... we wish they didn't.

Elana

• Published in Funny
• May 31, 2019

Fortune telling, future predictions, an all-seeing eye... they're all supposed to be things of myth, impossible, untrue, and filled with woo. Despite the notion that predicting the future can boil down to not much more than a lucky guess or interpreting statistics, there has been a trend for a few decades now where some of the funniest, off-beat, and controversial cartoons (targeted towards a more mature audience) have managed to predict the future.

We never really imagined a world where the butt-end of jokes in poor-taste became reality but alas, here we are living it every day and scratching our heads wondering, "how did it come to this?" Perhaps if we paid better attention to the lame joke in our favorite adult cartoon 10 or 20 years ago we'd have been better prepared emotionally for the shit-show we're all living with today?

The Smart Watch

20 years before Apple launched the Apple Watch, a 1995 episode of The Simpsons showed a character wearing a watch that you could also use as a phone!

Faulty Voting Machines

In a less humorous example, an episode in 2008 The Simpsons poked fun at the assumption America might not have been ready for a black POTUS. In the episode, Homer votes for Obama during the election but the vote automatically changed for Mitt Romney. A mere 4 years later this actually happened in Pennsylvania! The faulty voting machine had to be removed because it was in fact changing people's votes for Obama to Romney!

Horse Meat Scandal

Springfield Elementary existed on a terribly tight budget so it's no surprise that a 1994 episode depicted the lunch lady Doris preparing meals for students using meat from a container labelled "assorted horse parts." Nine years after the episode aired, Ireland's Food Safety Authority launched a huge scandal when thy found horse DNA in over 1/3 of the beef-burger samples from supermarkets and ready-made meals... (and pork in 85% of them.)

Lady Gaga's Super Bowl Performance

Most of the country applauded Lady Gaga's Super Bowl performance but it was nothing new... since 5 years prior Lady Gaga flew threw the air while singing in Springfield on an episode of The Simpsons.

Nobel Prize Winner

Six years before Bengt Holmström won the Nobel Peace Prize in Economic Sciences, Milhouse bet on the MIT professor in a pool that he would indeed win the Nobel Prize. Sometimes the little nerdy details are just appreciated.

Caitlyn Jenner's Transition

In April of 2015, Caitlyn Jenner publicly announced her transition. She then announced her name in July and had her name and gender legally changed the following September. Many years before the public transition, Family Guy creators released multiple episodes depicting the then Bruce Jenner in a feminine manner. In one episode, Caitlyn, then known only as Bruce, was illustrated dancing on stage for men in the navy. In another episode, the not-yet-transitioned Bruce was described by Stewie as a "beautiful Dutch woman." To this day, creators of the show have denied comment as to why they chose to portray Caitlyn the way they did when she was known as Bruce.

The Miss Universe Mix Up

Perhaps it was only a matter of time before something so embarrassing would happen but in 2015 the wrong Miss Universe was crowned before the mix-up was corrected and the situation was hilariously depicted in a 1999 episode of Futurama. Even looking at a still from the 2015 event and the 1999 episode it's hard not to see practically the same thing.

GOT Season 8 Plot Twist

Are you not a fan of GOT spoilers? Blame The Simpsons!

Disney Buying 20th Century Fox

Okay, by now we all have come to realize that Disney is some sort of media version of The Borg, assimilating everything worth anything into it's conglomeration. However, back in 1998 the creators of The Simpsons show Homer creating the script. Produced by 20th Century Fox in the episode, there is also a sign in front of the studio's headquarters that says, "a division of Walt Disney Co." It was 19 years later that Disney did indeed purchase 20th Century Fox for over $52 billion! Which was after they purchased a variety of other media giants.

A Mauling

As a part of the Siegfried & Roy Show at The Mirage in Vegas, the performers were iconic for involving a white tiger in their performances, to the "ooh's" and "ahh's" of countless audiences. In 1993, The Simpsons mocked the dynamic duo by showing them getting mauled by their white tiger. Tragically, ten years later it actually happened when a white tiger did indeed maul Roy on stage, reportedly after he suffered a stroke, dragging him off stage in his mouth.

Donald Trump's Presidency

16 years prior to Donald Trump announcing his candidacy for the 2016 Presidential Election, the Simpsons took a jab at the then more liberally minded Donald Trump when they joked in an episode in 2000 that he had just finished his time as the POTUS...

The Prediction Of Higgs Boson Or "God Particle"

It's been a few years now but back in 2012, physicists confirmed the existence of the Higgs Boson, AKA the "God Particle." One of the most important scientific breakthroughs of our time, the "God Particle" helped explain how an invisible energy field present throughout the universe that imbues other particles with mass. Cool, right? Well 14 years before the incredible discovery, TV's favorite idiot, Homer Simpson, appeared in an episode where he draws an equation on a blackboard that actually predicted the mass of the not-yet discovered particle. Was Homer Simpson the first scientist to share Higgs Boson information with the world? Maybe we should re-name it.

Virtual Reality

Many have attempted over time to predict (or dream of) what media entertainment might look like in the future but the perfect prediction for virtual reality goes to Futurama, whose creators knew exactly what we would use it for.

The Censorship Of Michelangelo's David

The Simpsons frequently poked fun at the prudish nature of culture but in a stunning turn of events, their joke about censoring Michelangelo's famous David statue became a reality in St. Petersberg where a replica of the iconic statue was placed in St. Anne's Lutheran Church. Residents were not pleased and protested that the statue be censored. One woman even went so far as to write a letter, asking, "how could you put this bloke without any trousers in the center of St Petersburg next to a school and church?”

Local authorities scrambled to turn the negative event into a positive one and started an initiative called, "Dress David," where people could vote on how the replica statue could be censored for those virgin eyes. The options did include one, "leave it as it is." During the voting period, David's nether regions were covered in black tape.

Three Eyed Fish

The Simpsons touched on the massive pollution problem the fake city of Springfield was facing and how significantly and horribly it affected nature. Sadly, the running joke became reality when a real 3-eyed fish was found near a nuclear power plant in Argentina.

The First Laptop

Inspector Gadget was pretty well-known for predicting the future of technology and there's been quite a few gadgets from the show that are today eerily similar to what major tech companies have created many years later. One of the best examples, however, definitely goes to the episode where a character from the show known as Penny was using her "computer book." The computer book looks awfully similar to the first Toshiba laptop, and it was released a couple of years after the show!

Drone Cameras

Today, drones and drones with cameras are all the rage. Virtually anyone with some coins in their pocket can purchase on of their very own and nab some aerial footage of their communities. Surprisingly, the then vague concept was well-illustrated back in a 2000 episode of Futurama!

The First Digital Camera

Speaking of Inspector Gadget... in the episode "The Infiltration", the show's character Penny Gadget was holding a device that clearly resembles an old-school digital camera. Penny's device was attached to her computer-book and was used to snap photographs. At the time, not only did the technology not exist, but cameras were more likely to look like an SLR model, while Penny's camera bears striking resemblance to the Kodak Elektra, an unusually compact point and shoot camera for the time.

Self Parking & Self Driving Cars

Back in the 80's, self-driving vehicles were a thing of pure science fiction. Today, not only do most luxury vehicles have the capabilities to self-park but we are also watching self-driving vehicles emerge into the market more so every year! So when Inspector Gadget's car had all those tech-savvy abilities we once only dreamed of it's hard not to consider it an accurate prediction.

Ebola

While Ebola has existed since the late 1970's, mainstream outbreaks outside of Africa weren't exactly a thing in 1997 when Marge gave a book to Bart in an episode of The Simpsons titled, "Curious George and the Ebola Virus." In 2014 An Ebola outbreak went on to hit the United States, causing quite a bit of panic that lingers today.

The Shard Building in London

Is this one a stretch? You decide. 14 years before the Shard building was built, the location and shape is perfectly depicted in an episode of The Simpsons, "Lisa's Wedding."

The Fall of the World Trade Center?

Johnny Bravo aired an episode a few months before 9/11 in 2001 called "Chain Gang Johnny," with their "Coming soon" poster. Conspiracy Theorists latched onto it as a subliminal message, but JB wasn't the first cartoon to predict the fall.

In 1997 The Simpsons predicted the tragedy in an episode where the family planned a trip to New York. Another conspiracy theory stretch, the magazine cover shows the Twin Towers next to a large number 9.

Financial Crisis in Greece

In 2015, Greece became the first developed country in the world to enter a large scale debt crisis. Just 3 years prior in an episode titled, "Politically Inept with Homer Simpson," Homer appears as a guest on a news show. A subtle hint at impending doom flashes at the bottom of the screen in a news blip: "Europe puts Greece on eBay." Okay, Europe didn't sell Greece, but the crisis did happen!

Autocorrect.

Today, autocorrect fails are a pinnacle of hilarity for all of us in our daily lives, but it didn't officially launch until 2005! In a 1994 episode of The Simpsons, Dolph uses an Apple Newton (a digital assistant.) He tries to write a memo to "Beat up Martin," but the machine changes it to "Eat up Martha."

Reportedly, the original employees who created autocorrect "fondly" refer to this episode of The Simpsons when they created the actual product.

Miley Cyrus's rise and fall

No stranger to pop culture phenomenon, South Park has hit the nail on the head a few times, too. In a particularly telling episode from 2008, "Brittney's New Look," where they poke fun at the media's relentless obsession with the then pop culture princess, Southpark creators "prophesied" that the next teen sensation to fall down the well of success and chaos to the tune of Brittney Spears would be Miley Cyrus, then only 15 years old and not far from a long stint of controversial public choices.

The Death of Osama Bin Laden

Another South Park episode to accurately predict the future was one that aired in October of 2010, where Osama Bin Laden (the leader of Al-Qaeda,) was shot in the head by military special forces. It was a mere 8 months later that the US Navy SEALS actually did kill Bin Laden in a strikingly similar manner!

Another Ebola Outbreak Prediction

The Simpsons did it first but that didn't stop South Park from taking a stab at an impending Ebola outbreak on US soil in an episode called, ''Gluten Free Ebola." The episode actually aired a mere days before the actual outbreak really "swept" through the USA, because at the time only 8 cases had been confirmed.

First Generation iPod

In 1996 a device that closely resembles the first ever Apple iPod was seen in an episode of The Simpsons, communicating music and messages just like the iPod went on to be capable of doing. Although it is depicted as an intercom and that's a little less prediction-worthy, we'll let it slide.

Elana