40+ Instances Of The Simpsons Accurately Predicting The Future

Published on 02/12/2023
40+ Instances Of The Simpsons Accurately Predicting The Future

40+ Instances Of The Simpsons Accurately Predicting The Future

One of the longest-running adult animated series is The Simpsons, which debuted in 1989. The show is not only hilarious but also has an unexplainable capacity for prophecy. Many of the show’s scenes actually took place much later in reality! Yes, they do claim that life imitates art. Listed here are some of The Simpsons’ most bizarre and ominous predictions that came true.

Khaleesi Goes Crazy

If you haven’t already watched the Game of Thrones conclusion, I apologize for the spoiler notice, but you’re a little behind the curve. A parody of the show where the dragons burn down a whole hamlet was done by the Simpsons in 2017.

Khaleesi Goes Crazy

Khaleesi Goes Crazy

Nearly the same scene occurred in the final season of Game of Thrones, which debuted two years later. As she spirals into madness, Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons burn an entire hamlet of defenseless citizens.

This one seems impossible to be real because it is so bizarre. Who would have thought of this as a program concept, and how could it possibly have occurred in real life as well? The Simpsons had a criminal who attaches cotton calls to ferrets in an episode from 2002.

Ferrets Dressed As Poodles

Ferrets Dressed As Poodles

Then, he was peddling them as pricey toy poodles. Unbelievable as it may seem, the identical incident occurred in 2013! Perhaps the show inspired the man who was selling the ferrets.

Lisa and Bart go fishing close to a nuclear power plant in one of the show’s earliest episodes. They manage to catch a peculiar fish that appears to have been exposed to radiation. Three eyes make up the strange capture.

3 Eyed Fish

3 Eyed Fish

What transpired roughly 20 years later will shock you. Argentina is where a real three-eyed fish was discovered and captured. Additionally, a nuclear power plant was nearby when it was discovered.

This show’s creators should either find work as psychics or start betting on sporting events because they have amazing precognitive abilities! Marge and Homer appear in an episode from 2010 of the U.S. Curling Olympic team, an odd sport.

A Shocking Olympic Win

A Shocking Olympic Win

Most people were shocked to learn that the American curling teams actually took home the gold in 2018. They even defeated Sweden, the nation the Simpsons competed against in the episode, in winning their first gold medal. Eerie!

Even a massive corporate merger between two of the biggest media firms ever was somehow predicted by the show. In the episode, Homer creates a script that 20th Century Fox decides to use.

Fox Being Sold To Disney

Fox Being Sold To Disney

For whatever reason, they abruptly added Fox to Disney as a division. Indeed, Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2017 for an astounding $52.4 billion!

Instead of having pools for sports teams, the kids on The Simpsons have pools for who will win the next Nobel Prize. They uncannily foresaw a future victor and the division he would triumph in!

Predicting A Nobel Prize Winner

Predicting A Nobel Prize Winner

Bengt Holmstrom received the prize in the area of Economics six years after the episode aired. You can see that he appeared on the show’s card in that particular category.

In a 1995 episode, London was located fifteen years in the future. In addition to the well-known Big Ben, the London skyline also shows a structure that wasn’t constructed until many years later. There was no way that angular, black structure existed in the 1990s.

The Shard Skyscraper

The Shard Skyscraper

The black pointed structure that appears in the 1995 episode, the Shard, was actually not constructed until 2013. It not only resembles the one from The Simpsons in appearance but also location.

More than just events and discoveries have been foretold by the show. They have also foreseen developments in technology. In a 1992 episode, Maggie uses a “baby translator” gadget.

The Baby Translator

The Baby Translator

An uncannily similar technology, in the form of an app, was released in 2015. According to reports, it might assist in translating babies’ screams to determine what they required, such as meals, diaper changes, sleep, etc.

An art forger in a 2014 episode tells Lisa tales about the renowned people who have admired his work. Of which, Richard Branson was one. Branson is seen in the video appreciating the artwork while hovering on his spaceship.

Richard Branson's Space Exploration

Richard Branson’s Space Exploration

Surprisingly, the millionaire did take part in his very own test mission into space in 2021. When will the prophecies stop?

The absurd number of sequels that are hitting theaters was the subject of a parody episode of The Simpsons. A Star Wars 7 movie poster and an Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 movie poster are both displayed in the episode.

Sequels Prediction

Sequels Prediction

In a hilarious turn of events, comparable sequels in 2015 were released simultaneously. The titles were the only thing that varied, of course.

The Simpsons smacked us with a double whammy prediction in this 2014 episode that was incredibly difficult to believe. The episode centers on Homer, who is assisting the World Football Federation in overcoming the numerous crises that have plagued the league as a result of allegations of corruption.

The Soccer Corruption Controversy + A Soccer Win

The Soccer Corruption Controversy + A Soccer Win

Only one year later, FIFA received a lot of bad press for the same reasons. They also predicted that Germany would defeat Brazil in the 2014 World Cup, as if that weren’t enough. Unbelievable!

In a 1992 episode, it is revealed that Lisa has a specific talent for picking NFL game winners, suggesting she may be the person responsible for all of these incredible future predictions. Homer naturally began utilizing her to win games.

Lots And Lots Of Super Bowl Winners

Lots And Lots Of Super Bowl Winners

She made several forecasts, one of which being that the Washington Redskins would triumph in the Super Bowl, which they actually did. The show was then redone to include a prediction that the Dallas Cowboys would triumph prior to a subsequent Super Bowl game, which they also accomplished.

Marge tries to get a cartoon banned in an episode of the show from 1990 that was all about censorship. The other residents are laboring to conceal Muchaelangelo’s David statue while this is going on.

The Censoring Of Michelangelo's David

The Censoring Of Michelangelo’s David

This was also true in real life years later, in 2016, though much later. Russian citizens in Saint Petersburg held a vote to decide whether David should be more obscured than he is.

Homer uses nuclear energy to create the plant hybrid tomacco, which is obviously a tobacco and tomato cross, in a previous episode. He made a fortune thanks to the plant in the end.

The Tomacco Plant

The Tomacco Plant

A fan made this exact identical hybrid plant at their own initiative. We must confess that this is more of a passionate fan bringing the cartoon program to life than a forecast. Nevertheless, it’s intriguing to observe the show’s influence.

Siegfried and Roy’s ostensibly sinister encounter with their own trained animal actually took place. Homer and a friend travel to Vegas in an episode from 1993 to attend a show by two Germans and a white tiger.

Siegfried And Roy Being Attacked By Their Own Animal

Siegfried And Roy Being Attacked By Their Own Animal

Similar to Roy and Siegfried in real life, one of the actors is hurt by the tiger in the play. Evidently, the makers believed that the accident would occur eventually.

This is one of those instances where life imitates art. Homer embarks on a hunger strike in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons to protest his beloved minor league baseball team, The Isotopes, leaving for New Mexico.

The Name Change And Location Change Of A Baseball Team

The Name Change And Location Change Of A Baseball Team

The Calgary Cannons relocated to the same New Mexico location and adopted the moniker “The Isotopes.” In the stadium, there are statues of The Simpsons’ main characters.

An intriguing prediction made by the program was a Beatles member responding to fan mail 50 years in the future. Ringo Starr played the character who was going through a ton of fan mail and pledging to respond to each one, even if it took him 20 years.

Wrong Beatles Member

Wrong Beatles Member

They were partially correct in that a band member did begin responding to messages, but it was Sir Paul McCartney and not Ringo Starr.

In a 2012 episode of the show where she performs in Springfield, Lady Gaga actually provided her own voice. The animated vocalist was seen suspended above the ground wearing an animation of a well-known ensemble.

Predicting Lady Gagas Performance

Predicting Lady Gagas Performance

The singer later performed at the Super Bowl halftime performance in 2017 while being held to cables that identically matched those in the production. Coincidence? I disagree. It was the first time she had performed in this manner.

A fourth-season episode by Conan O’Brien focused on Homer and his stomach, which seemed to be a bottomless hole. After virtually devouring the whole menu, he is asked to leave the establishment. He then accuses the “all-you-can-eat buffet” of misleading advertising.

Pushing Limits At The All You Can Eat Buffet

Pushing Limits At The All You Can Eat Buffet

People brought buffest like the one in the show to court twice in real life for failing to meet their demands, and the same thing happened.

An episode from the middle of the 1990s features Lisa and Marge conversing on a device they termed a “picture phone.” It appeared to be very similar to modern technology that we are all used to.

FaceTime In 1995

FaceTime In 1995

Little did the show realize that this episode foreshadowed the early iterations of “Facetime.” Or perhaps the play inspired Steve Jobs and the other business moguls to start their own ventures.

The Simpsons wasn’t the only program to imagine smart watches before they were created, but they were able to foresee some of their key characteristics. In a 1995 episode, the program jumps ahead to 2010.

The Apple Watch

The Apple Watch

By speaking into a watch that resembles today’s ubiquitous apple watches, Lisa’s boyfriend asks her to marry him. The first smartwatch featuring voice commands was introduced in 2014.

People entering space today are nearly considered normal! It seems like every day we learn about a new space mission that was funded by a different billionaire. However, when this episode where Homer is taken into space was released, the idea of citizens visiting space was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Civilians In Space

Civilians In Space

After the airing of the episode in which Homer embarks on his space voyage, NASA launched their first human into space. We shouldn’t even be surprised at this point.

Characters Kearney and Dolph attempted to write a memo in 1994 that said “Eat up Martha” instead of “Bear up Martin.” Before the autocorrect feature that we all use today, this was the case.

Autocorrect Before Autocorrect Was A Thing

Autocorrect Before Autocorrect Was A Thing

Even Apple’s former director of engineering admitted that they planned to use the phrase “Eat up Martha” as a hint to the program’s autocorrection prediction. The Simpsons have an unparalleled impact!

The Simpsons fans cheated on us all in this unique situation. Many people are now aware of their apparent psychic skills. Images began to circulate online after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, giving the impression that the program had foreseen it.

They Predicted The Queens Passing (Or Did They )

They Predicted The Queens Passing (Or Did They )

Even the show’s prediction of her passing date was made in some of these visuals. Although The Simpsons show creators undoubtedly have a special ability to predict the future, in this particular instance all of these assertions surrounding the Queen were in fact untrue.

In a 1992 episode, Mr. Burns organizes a softball team. Don Mattingly, the first baseman for the Yankees, is recruited by him, but there are problems between the two. Mattingly gets expelled from the team despite shaving his sideburns as requested by Mr. Burns.

Don Mattinglys Hair

Don Mattinglys Hair

The similar situation, in which Mattingly was benched for defying the “hair policy,” occurred in real life. Although the episode was created before Mattingly was really benched, it was released following the actual incident.

The character, portrayed by the real-life theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, is featured in a 1999 episode of Homer and Stephen Hawking. Homer tells Hawking about his donut-shaped universe notion.

The Donut Theory

The Donut Theory

In the episode, Stephen Hawking declares that he agrees with Homer’s hypothesis and that he might even be stealing it. Surprisingly, there is a myth that claims the world is shaped like a donut.

Lisa and Bart beg their parents to let them play this new yard maintenance simulation game in an episode from back in 1998. It was about as uninteresting in the program as it sounds.

How A Boring Game Became Real Life Successful

How A Boring Game Became Real Life Successful

FarmVille, though, was introduced in 2009 and soon rose to become one of the most played games on social media. It seemed strange that a game with this premise would be so well received, but once again The Simpsons were spot on.

We can’t figure out how the creators of this one came up with such an outrageous prediction. Homer invents something and scrawls a difficult equation on the board. To us, this equation may appear to be ordinary.

Homer Predicts A Complicated Equation

Homer Predicts A Complicated Equation

However, it turns out that the mass of the Higgs boson particle, which was not discovered until 2012, is extremely near to this equation. Everything in the cosmos has mass, which is explicated by this equation. How they pulled off this one is beyond our comprehension.

The election of Donald Trump as president was one of the most well-known predictions made by the program. We inherited the fiscal issue from President Trump, Marge says in an episode where she stands for president.

Donald Trump’s Presidency

Donald Trump’s Presidency

It made reference to his campaign for the Reform Party at the time. However, after his election in 2016, the prediction became a lot more accurate. Surprisingly, the program also predicted that he will run in 2024.

Throughout the course of the show, Homer is duped by numerous “get rich quick” schemes. One of them entails him stealing cooking oil from various locations across the city and selling it for a profit.

Stealing Cooking Grease To Make Some Money

Stealing Cooking Grease To Make Some Money

It’s unknown if juvenile offenders were directly influenced by the show or if they came up with the same absurd concept as Homer. To try to make a quick buck, however, folks in New York were actually engaging in the same practice.

Marge tries to cheer up her husband by reading him a book in a 1990 Simpsons episode. “Curious George and the Ebola Virus” is the title of the tale.

The Ebola Outbreak

The Ebola Outbreak

Although the Ebola virus was known to exist before to the airing of this episode, the main outbreak didn’t occur until 2014 or 2015.

We wish this prediction hadn’t been made at all, but it did come true years after it was mentioned on the show. In one scene, Lunchlady Doris is seen adding horse meat to the meals served at the elementary school.

Horse Meat In Food

Horse Meat In Food

Sadly, this dire prophecy was realized in reality in 2013. Health authorities discovered horse flesh in numerous beef products. Yuck!

“Itchy and Scratchy,” a show within a show, with some very graphic content. In keeping with this concept, The Simpsons advertised Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie with a bloody billboard.

A Gorey Billboard

A Gorey Billboard

The well-known Kill Bill Vol. Streets were decorated with one billboard. Both have pavement that is covered in blood splatters. We simply can’t help but believe that the creators of The Simpsons know something we don’t.

The notorious “Whacking Day” appeared on the program. In the world of The Simpsons, this holiday entailed getting rid of as many snakes as you could.

Good Old “Whacking Day”

Good Old “Whacking Day”

The Python Challenge, the actual equivalent of this event, is celebrated in the Florida Everglades in an effort to control the Burmese python population since it poses a threat to much of the local species.

The Matrix 4 premiere poster was accurately anticipated in a 2004 episode. Keanu Reeves’ Neo was seen on the movie poster for “A Matrix Christmas” while wearing a Santa hat in an episode of The Simpsons.

The Matrix 4 Premiere

The Matrix 4 Premiere

Unlike what we had planned, Neo didn’t wear a Santa hat in the actual poster, but other than that, the image is nearly identical.

The Simpsons have again made a remarkable forecast about a significant international event in an episode titled “Marge in Chains.” In the drama, a vehicle carrying a sizable package of “killer bees” was accidently tipped over by a group of individuals.

The Murder Hornets

The Murder Hornets

The Asian Giant Hornet, which resembled a “killing bee” in appearance, broke out around the year 2020. The American bee population was under danger from the Asian Giant Hornet. The Simpsons: Are they at fault?

They started making spot-on predictions when The Simpsons made its way to the big screen in 2007 with The Simpsons Movie. In order to restore some legitimacy to the United States, Tom Hanks makes an appearance in the film.

Tom Hanks Bringing Some Hope Back To The U. S.

Tom Hanks Bringing Some Hope Back To The U. S.

Later, in 2022, Hanks made a genuine commercial appearance in Munich where he discussed Americans’ tenacity in starting to rebuild an economy that had been severely damaged by the pandemic.

The show was able to foresee a lot of humorous situations, but they also foresaw some really depressing ones. Even while all of their jokes were intended to be humorous and parodic, some of the prophecies that actually came true were harsh.

JCPenny Failing

JCPenny Failing

In fact, JCPenny did considerably falter and file into bankruptcy in 2020. In the episode, Marge discovers that a JCPenny store once stood where a man is now selling Persian CDs.

The massive NSA espionage crisis involving Edward Snowden in 2013 was also foreseen in The Simpsons Movie. The Simpson family was followed in the 2007 film as they escaped from Springfield’s EPA biodome.

The Spying Scandal

The Spying Scandal

But by listening in on their discussions, the NSA locates them. Six years later, Edward Snowden was widely publicized as the surveillance-related whistleblower in the news.

Another prediction made by the authors back in 2000 is thought by some to be just a happy accident. Others believe it to be yet another accurate prediction of the results of the 2021 presidential election.

Vice President Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris

In the 2000 episode, which was broadcast, they accurately anticipated Harris’s purple attire, even down to the jewelry. Almost too precise to be a coincidence.

The first-generation iPod may seem ancient now, but it was once the craze. This paved the way for the iPhones that we use to listen to music today.

The IPod

The IPod

This episode featured a gadget that almost exactly resembled the first iPod, yet it aired five years before Apple unveiled the first iPod. Both in terms of use and design, it was similar.

Homer Simpson appears on a news program in the episode “Politically Inept With Homer Simpson” from the year 2012. A banner on the show within a show reads, “Europe puts Greece on eBay.”

Financial Crisis In Greece

Financial Crisis In Greece

Although Greece did have a severe debt crisis in 2015, Europe didn’t literally sell the entire nation on eBay. It was the first industrialized nation to do so.

This show’s ode to cryptocurrencies is among the things that many viewers find difficult to comprehend. They make a veiled reference to the “Shiba Inu Coin” meme cryptocurrency in an old episode.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency

As the show had jokingly predicted, this cryptocurrency’s price soared in 2022. It appears that numerous episodes of the show have made various allusions to cryptocurrency.

Cannabis use was legalized in Canada in 2018. However, it appears that The Simpsons’ creators had a premonition of this happening back in 2005.

Legalizing Cannabis In Canada

Legalizing Cannabis In Canada

Homer, Ned, and Apu visit Winnipeg in the episode where they meet Ned’s Canadian twin. The man says it’s entirely legal in Canada and gives them a “puff of the reeferino.”

Although this forecast hasn’t materialized just yet, it is definitely going to. Homer and Bart rode aboard a vehicle they referred to as a “Hover Car” in an early episode.

The Hovering Car

The Hovering Car

This “Float” vehicle could travel in any direction without turning. It’s interesting to note that new Tesla cars are using a similar concept. We haven’t seen anything yet, but even if we did, we wouldn’t be shocked to see one of these flying around in the next years.

Many fans think The Simpsons foresaw Elon Musk’s acquisition of the Twitter platform in 2022.

​Elon Musk Buying Twitter

​Elon Musk Buying Twitter

The episode, titled “The Musk Who Fell to Earth,” shows Elon Musk traveling through space. Lisa feeds birds in a birdhouse that has the words “Home Tweet Home” on it as a subtle hint to the relationship to Twitter.

Greta Thunberg has emerged as the new face of the environmental movement, representing the younger generation. It seems possible that The Simpsons anticipated her arrival before we did.

Lisa Simpson As Greta Thunberg

Lisa Simpson As Greta Thunberg

Lisa Simpson begs the audience to care more about the environment and clean up Springfield in an older episode. That has been linked by many supporters to Greta’s movement.

Homer worries about a gas scarcity in an ancient episode and fills up his car to the brim with fuel. Naturally, in typical Homer form, he loads it into the trunk of his vehicle.

The Gas Shortage

The Gas Shortage

Many years later, there was a severe gasoline shortage in the UK. Some followers think this was yet another of the crazy prophecies made by the writers, who must be time travelers.

The most divisive prediction is this one. The COVID-19 virus was allegedly predicted by this occurrence, according to conspiracy theories. Others lack certainty.

The Osaka Flu

The Osaka Flu

They speculate that it might have been too fantastical to be true. Some contend that it’s more a matter of chance and probability than accurate forecasts, similar to previous predictions from the show.