The Twenty-Twenties or Two-Thousand (and) Twenties. (Either one is okay with us.)
The COVID-19 Pandemic (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2 for short) is the event that begins the first years of the decade. It originated in China near the end of 2019 and began to spread rapidly around the world, quickly causing a major socio-economic impact unseen since the Great Recession in the late 2000s. Millions around the globe became infected with a new disease (coronavirus disease 2019, a.k.a. COVID-19). For most, it's a mild illness that inflicts you with flu-like symptoms, but the unlucky people who find themselves with severe symptoms are left literally gasping for air note . Because the disease is already infectious during the two-week-long incubation period, it's considered a far greater threat than its most comparable predecessor, the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak (also caused by a strain of coronavirus), and countless countries implemented quarantines to try and slow down the spread of the virus.
Further down the line came headlining moments such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which led to many Ukrainian homes and settlement getting destroyed, leaving thousands upon thousands of people fleeing the country in order to save their lives. Due to this, Russia, or rather its president Vladimir Putin and his cronies, is now once again seen as a major enemy of the West, with many countries sending support to the Ukrainian troops in order to fight the invasion, and most major media companies cutting off distribution to the country, leaving them with mostly just homegrown media and illegal imports. In 2023 the Israel-Hamas war would break out as well, causing even more strife and unrest on the Eurasian continent. That's not to say the New World has been quiet either, with events such as the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, resulting in the censorship or outright removal of many racially charged works of media; the overturning of federal abortion protections in 2022; the backlash against the Israel-Hamas war from 2023 onwards; and mass ICE deportations under the second Trump administration causing mayhem across the United States. Trump losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, claiming election fraud after his loss, riling up a mob of his supporters to force their way into the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to stop the election from being certified, then getting re-elected in 2024 provides the country with an unstable political landscape which has already left a mark on media; Trump's re-election would quickly lead many production companies to swiftly about-face on diversity initiatives both in front of and behind the camera that had been incentivized during the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's conflict ended in 2021 with the fall of Kabul and the return of the Taliban, while the Syrian civil war ended with the overthrow of Baathist dictator Bashar al-Assad and the assumption of power by the new Saudi-backed President, Ahmed al-Sharaa. That said, post-Assad Syria has created fertile ground where ISIS wants to take advantage of the power vacuum (similar to how Iraq became after the invasion), and tensions between the US and Venezuela continue to escalate, reaching their peak after the capture of Nicolás Maduro.note Combine that with the US launching Operation Southern Spear toward the end of 2025,note and what you have is a hybridization of The War on Terror and The War on Drugs. Time will tell whether this ends in another Forever War.
So far, the type of media released has not changed much from what we got in the previous decade, although the pandemic certainly left people longing for escapist and/or comforting fare, preferably the sort of series that can be binged in a long sitting as there wasn't much else to do, with stuff like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Tiger King quickly becoming pandemic favourites. Theatres getting shut down led to a streaming boom that still hasn't really subsided, with many people now preferring to watch shows at home even after theatres reopened. This has led to many blockbuster theatrical releases either bombing and losing their studios millions, or getting sent straight to VOD/streaming in an attempt to recoup some money by subscription profits, although these aren't nearly as profitable as theatrical releases or physical media sales. Consequently, major theatrical releases now consist mainly of big-budget, effects-laden action/adventure movies, usually belonging to a major franchise, as well as prestigious dramas with big names attached, thriller or crime films, and slasher films with lower-profile movies (including many comedies, even ones with big stars) often getting limited releases or getting sent straight to streaming. The resounding success of movies like Avatar: The Way of Water, Barbie, Deadpool & Wolverine, Inside Out 2, Oppenheimer, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Wicked, Ne Zha 2, and the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch shows that cinemas are far from dead, however. Denis Villeneuve's Dune (Part One, Part Two, and Part Three), in particular, is poised to become a decade-defining film series, much like how The Lord of the Rings and the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy defined The 2000s.
Video games as a whole would surge in popularity during the pandemic due to the sudden mass increase in free time, although the necessary hardware would often remain out of consumers' hands due to supply shortages resulting from Chinese manufacturing plants getting shut down and scalpers/resellers/cryptocurrency miners hoarding what was left. Games, however, have gotten increasingly costly and time-consuming to develop due to the technological advancements, and many AAA studios would lose millions if a game bombed; this has led to many such games adopting the increasingly pricey games-as-a-service models instead, which has often been met with backlash from the gaming community. Indie games, however, continue to grow in popularity as they did in the last decade. Many such games were in fact developed by people who were stuck at home during the pandemic; it helps that game development can easily be done from home, providing the reason for why this sector of the media industry was the least affected by the pandemic compared to film, television, and especially theater. Speaking of video games, both Resident Evil Requiem and Grand Theft Auto VI are expected to be some of the most striking and defining titles of the decade.
Meanwhile, a boom in AI technology, including advances in generative models, automation, machine learning, and tools such as A.I.-Generated Artwork and ChatGPT, has ignited discussion and controversy about the far-reaching implications AI could have in terms of ethics, consciousness, and quality-of-life. While the technology has ardent defenders and optimistic investors, many in the creative industries have expressed concerns about its environmental impact, its use in disinformation campaigns, and the potential for mass layoffs in Big Tech companies. Generative AI capabilities of creating images based on existing ones raises copyright and Plagiarism concerns, with many creators objecting to their works being used train AI models with no compensation; this was a key issue in major TV Strikes in 2023. In the worst case scenario, a Terminator-like future doesn't seem so far-fetched at this point. Due to its transformative nature and the fact that it is already coexisting with humans for countless tasks and matters, some have compared the AI boom to the dot-com boom of The '90s. Time will tell whether the AI boom ends in another bubble.
Needless to say, the events of the decade have left a mark on the works covered here on TV Tropes, and as the decade enters its second half it will definitely continue to do so.
See Also: Turn of the Millennium and The New '10s.
Examples of Media set, but not made in the decade:
Anime & Manga
- Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex both start in 2029 and expand to 2032.
- Weathering with You takes place mostly in 2021, with its epilogue taking place three years later in 2024.
Fan Works
- Eyes on Me:
- What Was I Made For? takes place in 2024.
- It's My Birthday and I'll Die If I Want To takes place in 2025.
- The second half of the final chapter of Isn't That Cruel? takes place in 2027.
- Being Human also takes place in 2027. There are even mentions of a pandemic having occurred a few years earlier.
- With the exception of the last chapter, Happily Ever After takes place in 2028, beginning over two months after the end of Being Human.
- I'll Follow You Into the Dark takes place in 2028 around the same time as Happily Ever After. The former's direct sequel, Cry For Help, begins three months later.
Films — Live Action
- The climactic scenes of Click take place from 2023-2029.
Literature
- The prologue of Black Bullet is set in 2021 during the Great Gastrea War, with present day events taking place ten years after, following humanity's defeat in the war.
- Sword Art Online starts in 2022 and continues until at least 2026.
Live Action TV
- How I Met Your Mother has flash forwards to 2020 during Ted, Marshall and Lily's college reunion, Marshall's campaign as District Attorney in an unspecified year, and the titular mother dying in 2024.
- Years and Years: Made in 2019. The events of the series start in 2019, continue through the New 20s and end in 2034.
Video Games
- The First Encounter Assault Recon series takes place around 2025 or so, though no definitive time-frame is given other than that the third game is set nine months after the first two, and so may have passed in to 2026.
- The original Perfect Dark takes place in 2023, while its first prequel begins in 2022 its second prequel Perfect Dark Zero is set in 2020.
- Ready or Not chronologically begins in 2025 and continues into 2027.
- As the name says, Iron Man 2020 is set in this year, with Arno Stark taking Stark Industries and Iron Man's armor after the death of Tony Stark and becoming the new version of this superhero (set in Earth-8410).
- This comic later got a successor of the same name set in the main Marvel universe in January 2020.
Films — Live Action
- Annihilation Earth is set in 2020.
- Code Name Phoenix is set in a peacefully unified world of 2020.
- Future X Cops begins in 2080, but then its main characters time-travel back to 2020.
- The alien invasion of A Quiet Place overwhelms the world within the first three months of 2020, and the film is set immediately after.
- The mecha boxing of Real Steel takes place in 2020.
- Reign of Fire is set in the England of 2020, 20 years after the dragons' awakening.
- Stranded follows the first human expedition to reach Mars, which occurs in 2020.
- While Terminator: Dark Fate opens in 1998, the rest of the film occurs in 2020.
- Yesterday (2002) is set in 2020 on the Korean peninsula, which has been unified by then.
Literature
- To no-one's surprise, Titanic 2020 is set in the titular year.
Live Action TV
- Dark Angel: The second half of Season One and first half of Season Two are set in 2020.
- The Doctor Who episodes "The Hungry Earth" and "Cold Blood" (that marked the return of the Silurians to the New Who series) are set in the small Welsh hamlet of Cwmtaff in 2020.
- Knights Of God takes place in 2020 when the United Kingdom is ruled by a fascist religious order.
Tabletop Games
- Cyberpunk 2020, as you can probably guess by the name, is set in the year of 2020.
Video Games
- The global conflict of Battlefield 4 is fought during 2020.
- Crysis takes place in August 2020.
- Endgame begins on August 2nd, 2020.
- EndWar takes place in 2020.
- The opening of IS Defense tells us it is set in 2020.
- Raid 2020 is set in the titular year.
- Time Commando is technically set in 2020, but your enemies come from every other time period due to time-distorting vortex.
Webcomics
- The Mini-Comic in Heartstopper called Adoption is set in June 2020.
Western Animation
- Sealab 2020 is set in, well, 2020, and it focuses on the crew and their exploits around the said underwater research center.
- The epilogue for Your Name is set five years after 2016, placing it in 2021.
Films — Live Action
- The world of Johnny Mnemonic is beset by a global pandemic and hooked on the virtual internet in 2021.
Live Action TV
- In The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "On Thursday We Leave for Home", the rescue ship Galaxy 6 commanded by Colonel Sloane arrives on the planet V9-Gamma in order to bring its 187 inhabitants back to Earth. The settlement's leader Captain William Benteen decides to stay behind. It is also mentioned that Los Angeles is the biggest city in the world.
- In The Outer Limits (1963) episode "The Invisible Enemy", the M-1 is sent to Mars to assess the feasibility of colonizing it in the future. However, its crew never returns to Earth as they are killed by a Sand-Beast. The final transmission received by Earth is one of astronauts screaming.
Video Games
- H.A.W.X.'' mostly takes place in 2021, after a prologue set across 2014-2015.
Western Animation
- Sealab 2021 takes place one year after its predecessor, focusing instead on the hijinks of a crew full of crazies, idiots and Dr. Quinn.
- Soylent Green is set in 2022.
Literature
- Submission occurs in the France of 2022.
Video Games
- Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon takes place in 2022.
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- The majority of Avengers: Endgame takes place in the year 2023.
- Spider-Man: Far From Home is a direct sequel to Endgame.
- Half of X-Men: Days of Future Past takes place in this year (the other half in 1973).
Live Action TV
- In The Twilight Zone (1985) episode "Quarantine", Matthew Foreman enters suspended animation on June 18, 2023.
Video Games
- Crysis 2 takes place in 2023.
- Heavenly Delusion: The past storyline takes place around 2024, 15 years before the present, with the Great Cataclysm happening on November 11th.
Fan Works
- Marks of Time takes place in 2024, more than twenty years after the previous story Ancient Languages.
Literature
- Doctor Who Expanded Universe:
- In the novel Emotional Chemistry, the Eighth Doctor and two companions visit Moscow in 2024.
- The short novel Artificial Intelligence from the Short Trips: 2040 anthology, stated that Imogen Kelly Quaye, human teenager and Fifth Doctor's companion, was born on February 3, 2024.
Live Action TV
- A Season 3 episode of The Flash (2014) has the titular protagonist Time Travel to this year. Not only that, but it was also the original year when the Red Skies Crisis was gonna take place until Time Travel shenanigans moved it to 2019.
- Star Trek:
- The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The High Ground" claims that Ireland was reunified in this year after a successful terrorist campaign, a line that was censored when this episode aired in the UK and Ireland.
- The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "Past Tense Part I" and "Part II" feature the crew traveling back in time to a very '90s-looking 2024, when homeless people were kept in "sanctuary district" ghettos, supposedly for their own good.
Video Games
- The conflict of Frontlines: Fuel of War occurs in 2024.
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier takes place in 2024. Ostensibly, it also means H.A.W.X. 2 is set the same year, since the two are supposed to depict the same conflict.
- Jet Set Radio Future is set in 2024.
- Scud the Disposable Assassin takes place close to the 2025 "Mr Tough Guy Challenge".
Literature
- The Peshawar Lancers takes place in 2025, though the real turning point had been an asteroid strike in 1878.
- Rainbows End is set in San Diego, California of 2025.
- The Running Man is set in the year 2025.
Live Action TV
- Power Rangers S.P.D. is set in the year 2025.
- In The Outer Limits (1963) episode "The Duplicate Man", Henderson James has a duplicate of himself created by the Federal Duplication Bureau so that his clone can catch the Megasoid.
Video Games
- The Call of Duty: Black Ops II missions set in the future take place in 2025.
- Ghost Recon Breakpoint takes place in 2025.
- Homecoming, 2026: A Whateley Universe fanfic about the titular homecoming at Whateley Academy.
Literature
- Numbers 2: The Chaos
- Space station Observation had been crippled by a malfunction in 2026.
- There Will Come Soft Rains is set in 2026, years after a nuclear war.
Visual Novels
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is set in 2026.
- Digimon Adventure 02: The Distant Finale takes place in 2027, 25 years after the final battle with MaloMyotismon.
- Ghost in the Shell: Arise begins in 2027. Despite being a separate continuity just like everything else in the franchise, it takes a prequel approach to show how Motoko Kusanagi formed together the elite group of agents that would become known as Section 9.
Films — Live Action
- Babylon A.D. takes place in 2027.
- Captive State follows from the alien invasion of 2019 in 2027.
- Children of Men is set in 2027.
- According to its official booklet
, the 1927 movie Metropolis takes place "one hundred years hence" in the futuristic year of 2027.
Live Action TV
- Revolution is set in 2027.
Visual Novels
- Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is set in 2027.
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies is set in 2027, in the midst of the Dark Age of the Law.
Video Games
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution takes place in 2027.
- Homefront occurs in 2027.
- Hotel Artemis takes place in Los Angeles, in June 2028.
- RoboCop (2014) is set in 2028.
Visual Novels
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice is set in 2028.
Video Games
- Blood II: The Chosen takes place in 2028.
- Dusk Beyond the End of the World: The prologue episode's Downer Beginning is set in 2029 when a crying Akira is adopted by the Omagi's following his parents passing the previous year.
Films — Live Action
- Logan is set in 2029.
- In Planet of the Apes (2001), Captain Leo Davidson is a crew member aboard the space station Oberon in 2029.
- Terminator: 2029 is a key date in the early films of the franchise, being the Robot War-stricken Bad Future that time-travellers initially come from.
- The Terminator involves two time-travelers from 2029, the eponymous Killer Robot and the human soldier who's been sent to protect the robot's target.
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day also features the Bad Future war in the opening.
- Terminator Genisys, an attempted Continuity Reboot of the above, also involves the same two time-travelers from 2029.
Literature
- Vulcans Hammer takes place in 2029.
Video Games
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, a direct sequel to Human Revolution, takes place two years later, in 2029.
- The events of Homefront: The Revolution occur in 2029. It also takes place in a different timeline to the original Homefront.
Works made or continuing during the 2020s:
- Anime and Manga of the 2020s
- Comic Books of the 2020s
- Fanfics of the 2020s
- Films of the 2020s
- Literature of the 2020s
- Music of the 2020s
- Professional Wrestling of the 2020s
- Series of the 2020s
- Tabletop Games of the 2020s
- Theatre of the 2020s
- Video Games of the 2020s
- Visual Novels of the 2020s
- Web Animation of the 2020s
- Webcomics of the 2020s
- Western Animation of the 2020s
- La Argentina de siempre
- Batman Vs. Bateman
- Cryptoland
- Dear Alice
- DieHard Is Back
- Digimon Project 2021
- itemLabel
- Jake from State Farm
- Little Caesars vs. Big Pizza
- NATIVE
- One Man's Journey
- Qrazy Chocolates (first video posted in 2021)
- Type S: Chiaki's Journey
- Vive Sin Drogas - A remake of one of the 1990s ads was released in 2025.
- 54 Cryptids and Legendary Creatures by Todd Alcott
- Mystical Medleys: A Vintage Cartoon Tarot by Gary Hall
- A War Between Humans And AI
- Adventurer Carly
- All Saints Street (adaptation began on April 1, 2020)
- Brave Animated Series (adaptation of the manhua Brave Series; first released in 2021)
- Chhota Bheem (premiered in 2008, continuing into the 2020s)
- Deer Squad
- Dragon Raja -The Blazing Dawn- (The first season Blazing Dawn aired in March 2022, later getting a Japanese dub in 2024. The second season Mourner's Eyes started airing in April 2025)
- Fabulous Beasts (the adaptation started in 2021)
- Flower Angel (premiered in 2014; Season 5 was the first season to premiere in the 2020s)
- Garb Age (Taiwan)
- Happy Friends (premiered in 2010, continuing into 2020s as of Season 13)
- Incredible Ant
- Kaun Banega Superstar
- King Shakir (premiered in 2016, continuing into 2020s)
- Kung Fu Wa
- Jet and the Pet Rangers (2020)
- Lamput (premiered in 2017, continuing into 2020s as of Season 3)
- Link Click
- Lord of Mysteries
- Mechamato (2021)
- Momo (2022)
- Paws and Palaces
- Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (premiered in 2005, continuing into 2020s)
- Quantum Heroes: Dinoster (first aired 2023; Chinese-Korean co-production)
- Rainbow Bubblegem (Chinese-Korean co-production)
- Simple Samosa (the overall show premiered in 2018, Season 2 premiered in 2020)
- To Be Hero X
- White Cat Legend
- Yao - Chinese Folktales
- Agnes ended in 2023.
- Ask Shagg ended in 2020.
- Beware of Toddler (started in 2019 as a webcomic, continuing into the 2020s as a Sunday Strip)
- Blondie celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2025.
- Buckles ended in 2021. GoComics would eventually restart the strip on their website the same year.
- Crabgrass (started in 2019 as a webcomic, syndicated in 2022)
- Dilbert ended in 2023 following backlash over controversial comments made by Scott Adams (most notably a YouTube video containing racist remarks directly targeting African-Americans), which led hundreds of newspapers, including its distributor Andrews McMeel Publishing, to drop the strip entirely. Shortly after its cancellation, Adams independently revived Dilbert on Locals as a webcomic titled Daily Dilbert Reborn.
- Funky Winkerbean ended in 2022.
- FurBabies started in 2023.
- Mark Tatulli ended his tenure on Heart of the City in 2020, passing the strip to Christina "Steenz" Stewart (who later came out as non-binary), which resulted in a major shift in the strip's art direction.
- Mutts: Both dailies and Sunday strips went on hiatus in mid-2021, and again at the start of 2024, with the latter hiatus still ongoing as of 2026. New strips continue to be released sporadically.
- Nancy: Olivia Jaimes stepped down in 2025 after a seven-year run writing and drawing the strip. Caroline Cash, one of the guest artists who temporarily filled in during Jaimes’s sabbatical in 2024, officially took over in 2026.
- The Pajama Diaries ended in 2020.
- The syndicated run of Phoebe and Her Unicorn ended in 2025. Sunday strips, however, will continue to be published.
- Scary Gary concluded in 2025.
- Stone Soup ended in 2020.
- Baby Shark's Big Show!
- Bread Barbershop (premiered in 2019, continuing into the 2020s)
- Catch! Teenieping (premiered March 2020)
- Dalja, The Vampire Girl
- Hero Circle (premiered in 2020)
- Metal Cardbot (originally started in 2023)
- Quantum Heroes: Dinoster (first aired 2023; Chinese-Korean co-production)
- Rainbow Bubblegem (Chinese-Korean co-production)
- Shasha & Milo
- Tea Tea Cherry
- Wish Cat (premiered in September 2024)
- Avengers: Infinity Quest (2020)
- Foo Fighters (2023)
- FunHouse: Rudy's Nightmare (2022)
- Godzilla (Stern) (2021)
- Guns N' Roses (Jersey Jack) (2020)
- Harry Potter (2025)
- James Bond 007 (Stern) (2022) and James Bond 60th Anniversary Limited Edition (2023; an entirely different game by the same company)
- Jaws (2024)
- John Wick (2024)
- King Kong: Myth of Terror Island (2025)
- Led Zeppelin (2021)
- The Mandalorian (2021)
- Rick and Morty (2020)
- Rush (2022)
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (2023)
- Stranger Things (2020)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Stern) (2020)
- Toy Story 4 (2022)
- The Uncanny X-Men (2024)
- Venom (2023)
- The Modus Files
- Once upon a Wasteland
- Seen and Not Heard: Started July 2020.
- Sporadic Phantoms: Started in 2021.
- The rebooted XFL, Vince McMahon's own football league, had its inaugural season in the spring of 2020. After being cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, the league was sold off. Its new owners started it up again in 2023, then 2024 it merged with the USFL to form the United Football League.
- The rebooted USFL, owned by Brian Woods under a new company name after the previous USFL owners let go of most of that league's trademarks in 2014, held its inaugural season in the spring of 2022. For its inaugural season under the revival, all eight teams playing in that season, including the Birmingham Stallions, played their games in Birmingham, Alabama under two different stadiums.
- Olympic Games:
- The Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo in 2021 and in Paris in 2024, and will be held in Los Angeles in 2028. This is the first decade in which all the host cities had previously held the Games (Tokyo hosted the 1964 Games, Paris did it in 1900 and 1924, and L.A. held the 1932 and 1984 Games).
- The Winter Olympics took place in Beijing in 2022 and will take place in Milan / Cortina d'Ampezzo in 2026. This decade marks the first time a city has hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics (Beijing having previously hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics). Cortina is also a repeat host, having hosted the 1956 Winter Games by itself.
- The World Cup:
- The men's FIFA World Cup was held in Qatar in 2022 and will be held in the United States alongside a number of games in Canada and Mexico in 2026 (the U.S. hosted the 1994 Cup and Mexico held the 1970 and 1986 championships).
- The FIFA Women's World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, the first of the women's edition to have multiple host nations. The 2027 edition will be held in Brazil.
- Meryal Waterpark. Opened in 2023.
- Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. Opened in 2020.
- Super Nintendo World: First opened at Universal Studios Japan in March 2021, with a second opening in Hollywood in February 2023. Further locations are slated to open in 2025.
- Lost Island Theme Park: Opened in 2022.
- Universal's Epic Universe. Opened in 2025.
- Universal Studios Beijing opened in September 2021.
- Wondrous Journeys. Opened in 2023.
- Zootopia: Better Zoogether. Opened in 2025.
- VIMALION PROJECT: Revealed in October 2022.
- VoxTek Employee Hub (launched 2025)
- Blocklanta
- Catastrophe Crow
- The Heisenverse
- The History of the Seattle Mariners
- "It's Me, Boy! I'm The PS5!"
- Murder for Dummies
- The Noedolekcin Archives
- Projector: First episode premiered in November 7, 2010.
- Squirrel Tactics: First episode premiered on Jan 3, 2022.
- Textify
- The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
- "Transformers Have Weird Names"
- WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK.
- "Who's the REAL Optimus Prime?"
