I assume it was s nuclear bomb?

Well...as has been discussed in a number of other threads there are quite a few other explanations as to what caused the carnage, which includes but is not limited to:

- Supervolcano(s).

- Asteroid Strike.

- Nuclear conflict.

- Climate Change


I personaly like to think of the disaster as something not explicitly expalined for the reason that it doesn't NEED to be explained. Great writers such as J.G Ballad presented us with great global horrors and such apocolypses are not the focus because that isn't the point of the story.

They would all be dead of radiation sickness.

"Is that your IQ or the number of dipwads your mother had?" - Car Pool Man

...but a nuclear bomb is all that makes sense.

The old man talks about signs and no-one believing them before it happened. I don't believe in God, but the way they talk about Him all through the film and the fact that Papa is so weirdly spiritual (a bit born again) makes me think this is like a rapture event.

Still I think it's good that the cause of the end isn't mentioned.


(Done with fish.)

I believe that the post apocalyptic enviroment was caused by an escaped anaconda.

Didn't they say there was a burst followed by a series of concussions?

I don't think it was a nuclear strike, but who knows.
The reason is that everything is dead, but there doesn't seem to be nuclear fallout.

not a super volcano either. The earth is too old and cooled off too much for a volcano to cause worldwide death.

Also there are earthquakes now. I don't think a nuclear war would cause an increase in earthquakes.

An asteroid strike is possible though. this would wipe out 99% of life on earth like it did when one killed the dinosaurs. Would explain why there is no plant life left and no sun. its blocked out by the debris in the atmosphere.
and a large one like that would upset and add stresses to the moving plates of the earths surface creating the geological disturbances seen in the movie as the not uncommon earthquakes.

No mention of war or fallout. The father mentions light in the sky, a series of loud concussions and fires over the horizon. So a series of large meteor-strikes. And a nuclear bomb couldnt have done this. A full out nuclear war could, but my first sentence makes that an unlikely culprit.