Apocalyptic imagery is a common element in 20th and 21 st century popular culture. Such imagery, largely consisting of dualism, tragedy, eschatology and messianism, draws upon two millennia worth of apocalyptic history. Emerging out of ancient Judaism and Christianity, western apocalypticism found its most enduring and influential forms in Revelation and the Book of Daniel. Tracing the themes of the apocalyptic imagination from ancient times into contemporary popular culture clearly shows that dualism, tragedy, eschatology and messianism underwrite the authority of popular media. These four aspects of apolcayptic imagery appear in secular films and games, as illustrated in The Matrix trilogy, The Terminator series, and Avatar, and in the Massively Multiplayer Online game, World of Warcraft. The religiously apocalyptic elements of these and similar films and games make the fictional stories richer and more detailed, as well as making them more appealing and convincing to modern audiences. As a consequence, popular films and games are important media through which ancient religious ideas percolate through modern culture, and which simultaneously sustain the ancient ideas and images.