Armageddon Trivia
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50 free Armageddon trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Armageddon was the highest-grossing film of 1998, a Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck blockbuster about oil drillers sent to nuke a Texas-sized asteroid, and it has been argued about ever since, from Roger Ebert's one-star review to the Criterion Collection release. This quiz covers the movie inside and out: the plot and the drilling crew, the casting stories, the writers, the Aerosmith theme song, the rivalry with Deep Impact, the box office, the awards and the physics students who worked out how big the bomb would really need to be. It also covers the word itself: where Armageddon appears in the Bible, the hill of Megiddo it is named after and how the term came to mean any end-of-the-world scenario. Easy questions ask who plays Harry Stamper and which band sang the theme. Harder ones dig into who was first considered for Willis's role, who auditioned for A.J., which city's destruction was added late for the ads, and how the set ended up on Home Improvement. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's articles on the film, its cast, its music and the biblical term, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who plays Harry Stamper, the oil driller who leads the mission to the asteroid?
Bruce Willis
He took the part, at a pay cut, as part of a three-picture deal to compensate Disney for the collapse of Broadway Brawler; The Sixth Sense was another of the three.
Q 02According to the film, the asteroid heading for Earth is the size of which US state?
Texas
The largest known potentially hazardous asteroid is only about 7 kilometres across.
Q 03Who directed Armageddon?
Michael Bay
He later admitted the studio took the film away from him and said he would redo the entire third act if he could.
Q 04How many days does NASA calculate remain before the asteroid hits Earth?
18
The drillers get 12 of those days to train as astronauts.
Q 05What are the names of the two space shuttles that fly the crew to the asteroid?
Freedom and Independence
Independence is wrecked by debris on approach; the real shuttle Atlantis is destroyed in the opening meteor shower.
Q 06What is the name of the shuttle's mobile drilling vehicle?
Armadillo
One is blown into space by a missed gas pocket, taking driller Max with it; Revell later sold a model kit of it.
Q 07What is 'Zero Barrier' in the film?
The point after which splitting the asteroid won't save Earth
The president tries to detonate the bomb early from Earth, not grasping that this would doom the mission.
Q 08How is it decided who will stay behind to detonate the bomb manually?
They draw straws
A.J. draws the short straw, but Harry disconnects his air hose and takes his place, calling him the son he never had.
Q 09Which actor plays A.J. Frost, the young driller dating Harry's daughter?
Ben Affleck
The director dismissed him as 'a geek' after his screen test; producer Jerry Bruckheimer insisted he would be a star.
Q 10Which of these was the actor playing A.J. required to do before filming began?
Get his teeth capped
He also had to lose weight and get a tan; Good Will Hunting had not yet been released when he was cast.
Q 11Which future star of The Hangover auditioned for the role of A.J. Frost?
Bradley Cooper
An older Bond actor, meanwhile, was originally considered for Harry Stamper before Bay met real oil drillers and went younger.
Q 12Which veteran actor was originally considered for the role of Harry Stamper?
Sean Connery
Bay decided on a younger lead after meeting oil drillers, and Willis came attached via his Disney deal.
Q 13Who plays Grace Stamper, Harry's daughter?
Liv Tyler
Her father Steven Tyler's band ended up doing the theme song only after she was cast; U2 had been asked first.
Q 21Which arthouse-focused label surprisingly released a director's cut of Armageddon on DVD and LaserDisc?
The Criterion Collection
Film scholar Jeanine Basinger, who taught Bay at Wesleyan, wrote the essay calling it 'a work of art by a cutting-edge artist'.
Q 22Which critic named Armageddon the worst film of 1998, 'an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense'?
Roger Ebert
He had considered Spice World for the title instead; his partner Gene Siskel gave the film a thumbs up.
Q 23Which sitcom used the film's asteroid set as a credits gag, disguised as a basement cave?
Home Improvement
Q 14Which band recorded the film's theme, 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing'?
Aerosmith
It became the band's first and only US number one, staying on top of the Hot 100 for four weeks.
Q 15Who wrote 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing'?
Diane Warren
She jotted the title down while watching James Brolin tell Barbara Walters he missed Barbra Streisand while they slept, and imagined Celine Dion singing it.
Q 16Which band was first asked to perform the film's theme song?
U2
The band that got the job ended up contributing four songs, including covers of 'Come Together' and their own 'Sweet Emotion'.
Q 17'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' lost the Best Original Song Oscar to a song from which film?
The Prince of Egypt
'When You Believe' took the award; country singer Mark Chesnutt's cover of the ballad topped the country chart in 1999.
Q 18Which other 1998 film about a giant object hurtling toward Earth was released the same summer?
Deep Impact
Its writer said a Disney executive took notes on his script over lunch and started Armageddon as a counter-film; astronomers judged the rival more accurate.
Q 19Which city's meteor destruction was added two months before release to set the film apart from its rival?
Paris
Disney chairman Joe Roth added $3 million to the budget for the extra Dream Quest Images effects.
Q 20Roughly how much did Armageddon gross worldwide, making it the biggest film of 1998?
$554 million
Its $140 million budget made it Disney's most expensive film at the time; only Saving Private Ryan beat it domestically.
Richard Karn stumbled on the set, Tim Allen asked ABC's Bob Iger, and the director agreed on condition they wait six months after release.
Q 24Which fast-food chain partnered with the studio for the film's tie-in promotion?
McDonald's
The film was also advertised during Super Bowl XXXII for $2.6 million, and some billboards were so realistic they caused panic.
Q 25Which theme park hosted an Armageddon ride from its opening day in 2002 until 2019?
Walt Disney Studios, Paris
It simulated the destruction of the Russian space station and was torn down for a Spider-Man ride.
Q 26Which cast member appeared in the Disneyland Paris attraction's pre-show and later played John Coffey in The Green Mile?
Michael Clarke Duncan
He befriended the film's star on set, and that friendship helped him land the Green Mile role that earned an Oscar nomination.
Q 27Which Fargo and Reservoir Dogs actor plays the geologist Rockhound?
Steve Buscemi
He had played Garland Greene in Con Air the year before, another Bruckheimer production.
Q 28Peter Stormare played cosmonaut Lev Andropov. Which nationality is NOT among his famous roles?
Australian
He was a German nihilist in The Big Lebowski, an Italian in Prison Break, a Frenchman in Chocolat and a Russian again in Bad Boys II.
Q 29Which Sling Blade Oscar winner plays NASA's Dan Truman?
Billy Bob Thornton
The same year he was Oscar-nominated for A Simple Plan and played a James Carville-style strategist in Primary Colors.
Q 30Which future Frat Pack comedian plays driller Oscar Choice, who dies when Independence crashes?
Owen Wilson
He made the film the same year as the indie drama Permanent Midnight, before Meet the Parents and Zoolander.