History Main / SealedEvilinacan

* The Axe of Prissan in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' acts as a prison for an immensely powerful demon lord, whose very existence threatened the mortal plane. The enchantments binding the prison will gradually break down if the axe is not used for good, or even faster if used for evil. As such, it has enchantments layered on it to ensure it will aid any paladin who encounters it and refresh the prison. Later on it is revealed that the Axe is [[spoiler:exploiting this trope. It's actually a ''conduit'' "the Sacred" needs to cross from the hells into the mortal realm. The Axe was always intended to break; the legend about paladins needing to wield it ensured the one holding it would be a paladin, whose souls are delicious]]. It's also revealed at the same time there exist [[spoiler:three Prissans. The first is a hammer that [[SealedGoodInACan contains good]]; the second is the Axe; and the third contains "the Damned"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': After his initial defeat, Tai Lung is placed in a massive prison staffed with many countermeasures to keep him from escaping. But in the end, all it takes for him to break out is a single feather which he uses to pick the lock on his restraints, and then he magnificently uses the countermeasures against the guards to escape the prison.

[[AC:Dormant/Dead/Unsorted]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9827920/1/The-Door-of-the-Demon The Door of the Demon]]'' has a door on the Green Moon behind which a demon is imprisoned. The Eleventh Doctor barely stops a criminal breaking them out.
** From the same writer, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10170307/1/The-Purple-Star The Purple Star]]'' reveals the door led to a Universe which serves as this for {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'': Since [[ForWantOfANail Daolon Wong's spell turned Jade evil instead of releasing Tarakudo]], the latter is still trapped in the shadow realm, observing and mildly influencing events while building up his strength to escape.

** The Chaotic Masters were all sealed away centuries ago, the Monkey King as a puppet, the Collector in a mirror, and BJ's location currently unknown. The plot is kicked off when Monkey King is inadvertently freed and goes looking for the others, while Collector starts trying to manipulate people into freeing him.

** [[https://scryfall.com/card/uma/241/dark-depths Dark Depths]], after certain conditions are met – i.e. the costly "unsealing" process of removing ten ice counters from it – creates a [[http://www.wizards.com/magic/images/mtgcom/arcana1000/1119_maritlagetoken.jpg large and damn near unkillable monster]].

** Bill Cipher. He starts off as this – the statue he became in Gravity Falls' finale. Steven comes across it, which kicks off the plot. [[spoiler: It's ultimately {{Subverted}}, since Bill finds that he's lost some powers. But over the course of the story, he steadily regains them...]]

* ''Fanfic/TheGreatAlicornHunt'' has minor ArcVillain Malfunziona, a lesser cousin of Discord's who is basically a giant [[GripingAboutGremlins gremlin]]. His driving desire to break any complex technology he finds is why Equestria was stuck in MedievalStasis for so long, until Bold Lion (an {{expy}} of Leonardo Da Vinci) locked him away in a secret compartment of a statue. He finally breaks his way free while Applejack's group is visiting a convention the statue is on display at [[spoiler: and is resealed when Apple Bloom figures out how to design a prison that [[TailorMadePrison turns his own powers against him]] – he's locked inside a clockwork container that stays sealed because it's ''already'' broken, and any attempts to break it open will actually ''fix'' it, something Malfunziona's powers and nature won't allow him to do.]]

** At the end of the Wedding Arc, [[spoiler: this is the final punishment that Cadence – now Queen of the Changelings after [[ChallengingTheChief defeating Chrysalis]] – delivers on Kabuto, Chrysalis' MadScientist, for his [[TheSociopath many, many crimes]]. Since Cadence is a believer in ThouShallNotKill, she doesn't execute him, instead [[AndIMustScream sealing him beneath the surface of the sun, completely aware, for a time equivalent to the sum total of all the years of life he's stolen from his victims.]] He'll be there for ''several generations'', at least.]]

* The plot of ''Fanfic/HopeForTheHeartless'' – which takes place immediately after the events of ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' – starts with the [[VillainProtagonist Horned King]] being contacted by [[CosmicEntities the Fates]] while his soul endures [[AndIMustScream agony]] inside [[ArtifactOfDoom the Black Cauldron]]. They [[ResurrectedForAJob bring him back]] to Prydain to [[RedemptionQuest fulfill]] a [[ImpossibleTask hard assignment]] under the period of eighteen months. If he doesn't fulfill it, his soul will be ''permanently'' trapped inside the Cauldron.

* Creator/UweBoll's ''Film/AloneInTheDark2005'' has this, though watching the movie it can be hard to tell exactly what it is. The movie talks about a dark world that mirrors our light world, but at other times, it suggests that the Abcane tribe that discovered it ARE the evil in the can.

* ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}''. The titular ghostly con artist is trapped in the afterlife. He can be temporarily brought back to the real world (and returned) by saying his name three times, but can only be truly free if he marries a human female.

* In ''Film/TheBrassTeapot'' Dr. Ling knows he can’t destroy the Teapot, so he intends to seal it in such a way that no one can ever find it again. [[spoiler: At the end of the movie he casts the Teapot into the bottom of the ocean]].

* In ''Film/TheDemoniacs'', The Devil (or perhaps just ''a'' devil; the script is unclear) has been trapped in the ruins of an ancient cathedral for a century; guarded by a priest and a clown (ItMakesJustAsmuchSenseInContext). He can only be released if a virtuous woman agrees to have sex with him in exchange for the power to gain revenge. The two women raped by the SalvagePirates agree to do so. However, despite multiple warnings that freeing him will unleash his dark power upon the land, the devil doesn't actually do anything evil once released.
* ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}''
** In the [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} first movie]], the Ghostbusters seal all of their captured ghosts in a large containment unit that can only stay locked with the help of a power grid. [[spoiler: And it then gets unlocked.]]
** The BigBad of [[Film/GhostBustersII the sequel]] is a 16th-century despot whose spirit inhabits his portrait.

* In the 2015 ''Film/{{Goosebumps|2015}}'' movie, every monster Creator/RLStine ever wrote actually exists, locked away within their book's manuscript. Then someone unlocks one of the books...

* The comic books as well as the movie adaption of ''Film/{{Hellboy|2004}}'' feature several such sealed-away monstrosities. In the movie, one demon was sealed in a consecrated urn, and the Ogdru Jahad, the [[CosmicHorror Lovecraftian chaos gods]] of the ''Hellboy'' universe, lie imprisoned and waiting in the Void beyond the stars.
* In Creator/CliveBarker's ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'', the Cenobites will not come after you unless you solve the puzzle of the Lament Configuration.

* Another candidate for Most JustForFun/{{Egregious}} Example of All Time is the movie ''Film/{{Hobgoblins}}'', where a group of mischievous, killer, evil, mind-controlling, rapidly-nodding hobgoblin puppets are "sealed" inside a large, vault door, behind a barred gate, neither of which are, you know... locked. Worse yet, the man who's spent thirty years "guarding" these "sealed" horrors is a demolitions expert and always was. [[spoiler:He ends up blowing them up.]] [[FridgeLogic Too bad that didn't occur to him, you know... sometime during the last thirty years?]]

* In ''Film/KarateAMuerteEnTorremolinos'', Jocántaro destroyed a civilization, then was sealed underwater by five teenage virgins - that's why the HumanSacrifice of five teenage non-virgins can bring it back.

* Played with and subverted in ''Film/KungFuHustle''. The Beast is locked up in an insane asylum – but only because he was bored from the lack of worthy opponents to duel and so checked himself in. When Sing is snuck in by the Axe Gang to break out the Beast for recruitment and picks his cell door open, the audience sees the Beast as a bald old man with a pair of spectacles in a wifebeater and boxers sitting on the john reading a newspaper. Which makes the Beast Sealed Evil '''On''' the Can.

* ''Film/LivingHell'', a recent horror movie, has sublevel 4, vault 12, on a military base, which the protagonist doesn't want disturbed. The military had completely missed the hidden door in the vault till the protagonist waltzed in and told them there was something there... and we all know what to do with hidden doors, right? So, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero nice job there, hero]].
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse
** In the film ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', the villain Dormammu is trapped in the Dark Dimension so that he cannot harm the main universe.

** In the TV series Series/AgentsOfSHIELD, the ancient Inhuman The Hive is trapped on a distant planet so he cannot take over the Earth. See also the trope HiveMind.

* In the ''Film/MotherOfTears'', Mater Lachrymarum's powers are restored by the unearthing of a lost talisman, making it more a case of "Sealed Evil Artifact In A Can." Lachrymarum herself was apparently in some sort of self-imposed hibernation prior to this.

** In the 1999 version of ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'', it is the very act of Sealing Imhotep in a Can that ''bestows'' the apocalyptic abilities that he displays in the movie. Moral: [[ThePunishment Never Punish Your Enemy in a Way That Will Grant Him More Power.]]
** 2001's sequel, ''Film/TheMummyReturns'', opens up another can of evil in the form of Wrestling/TheRock's CGI-animated appearance as The Scorpion King – which in turn opened the door for one of those prequels mentioned in the main text.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers''

* John Carpenter's ''Film/PrinceOfDarkness'' had sealed evil in a can – The Anti-Christ, in fact, sealed in liquid form inside a giant glass and metal container in the basement of a church. In one of the sillier examples of this trope, the canister is designed in such a way that it can only be opened from the inside and the sole reason the son of Satan doesn't try to escape before the events of the film is that ''he was asleep''.
** And then there's ''Film/TheThing1982'', sealed in a block of ice until some ill-advised Norwegians dig it out.
* In ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', the jars inside the structure, which can cause mutation or destruction to anything and everything that comes in contact with it. Later on, the expedition team discovers that the Engineer ship has a cargo hold full of these jars, along with a dormant Engineer who put himself in hypersleep, and intends to use the craft to destroy Earth via releasing the jars.
* ''Film/QuatermassAndThePit'' has an ancient alien evil buried under London for millions of years, finally unearthed by building works.

* In the movie ''Film/TheRuins'', as well as in the book, the protagonists are attacked by [[spoiler:a sentient, carnivorous, and parasitic vine living on an ancient pyramid (or in a mine shaft, in the book). The vine is kept on the pyramid by a ring of deforested and salted land carved out of the jungle around it, and is effectively sealed up by a very stringent quarantine set up by the villagers living nearby]]. In the end, [[spoiler:one woman manages to escape, but it is hinted that the vine is living inside of her]], and in one alternate ending, [[spoiler: it is directly shown that she has taken the vine with her back to civilization, unsealing the evil and letting it go free.]]
* The Syfy Channel Original Movie ''Scarecrow'' has the title creature, who was BuriedAlive underneath a farm until accidentally being released. Justified, as the creature is ''literally'' impossible to kill and will simply regenerate from anything done to it, including being shredded to bits, so sealing it away is the only way to stop it. [[spoiler:At the end, the main character traps it in a boat and sinks it, imprisoning it at the bottom of a river.]]
* ''Film/{{Seventh Son|2015}}'' features an evil witch queen who was sealed in a pit until a Blood Moon re-empowered her and allowed her to escape.
* Played with in the film adaptation of ''Film/TheShadow''. A museum receives a silver sarcophagus from a mysterious source, with an inscription on it saying it's the coffin of Genghis Khan. When the security guard is left alone with it the coffin starts to shake around and eventually opens up to reveal a man in the dress of a Mongol warrior, who telepathically forces the security guard to shoot himself. However, it turns out it's not actually Genghis Khan, but a modern-day descendant named Shiwan.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek''

** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': [[spoiler:Khan; a former EvilOverlord accused of war crimes, and his crew of [[{{transhuman}} Augments]] were cryogenically frozen for centuries in a derelict ship... until Starfleet Intelligence found him. He ends the film this way, too]].
* ''Film/TheStoneTape''. The scientists investigating the LivingMemory of a ScreamingWoman imprinted into the stonework of a HauntedCastle accidentally 'erase' the scream. They give up their research, thinking they've blown their chance, and refuse to listen to the sole member of the team who insists the scream was 'recorded' on top of a more ancient evil, which is now free.

* ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940'', directed by Alexander Korda, provides a classic example, lifted from the old Literature/ArabianNights tale, "The Fisherman and the Bottle"; Abu the thief, stranded on an island by Jaffar, finds an old glass bottle and uncorks it, releasing a huge genie, who had vowed long ago to kill whoever released him from the bottle. Abu tricks the genie back into the bottle, prompting the genie to offer the prerequisite three wishes. He turns out to be a bit of a LiteralGenie.
* ''Film/TimeBandits'': "Don't touch it – it's ''concentrated evil!''" Also, Evil himself is unable to leave his fortress.
* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries''
** In ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', [[spoiler:Megatron]] is kept on ice inside the Hoover Dam, and is pretty angry upon thawing out.
** [[AllThereInTheManual Prequel comics]] for ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' reveal Shockwave to be this; he was found by the USSR decades ago and had been sealed under UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} for years. When he gets out, he's ''ticked off''. And there's [[spoiler:Sentinel Prime]], who's [[spoiler:been locked in stasis on board the Ark, which crashed on the moon]].
* The ''Film/VanHelsing'' movie has {{Dracula}} sealed inside his own part of the world, but circumventing it by developing wings, which he passed on to his other kin.

** This trope [[OlderThanFeudalism harkens back]] to the Myth/GreekMythology of PandorasBox. The container itself is an unusual case, as it was created and given to her for no other reason than Zeus felt like being a dick. After seeing all the atrocities emanating from the box, Pandora quickly shut it, leaving only one thing inside – Hope. As aforementioned, all according to [[MagnificentBastard Zeus']] plan.

** In 4th Edition, the ''entire plane'' of Baator is like this, being created by a divine curse to imprison the MagnificentBastard Asmodeus and the [[TheLegionsOfHell devils]]. Unfortunately, said can is rather ''flimsy'', and, while it does a good job of holding Asmodeus, any infernalist worth his salt can create a temporary portal to it, allowing the devils to stream through and wreak havoc and [[DealWithTheDevil contracts]]. The seal, for the record, wasn't made to save mortals from Asmodeus and his devils – but to save the other gods from him. Hence why mortals are free to poke holes at the seal and let devils come and do Faustian pacts. If you are dumb enough to do it, you deserve what's coming to you.

*** The quori, malevolent nightmare spirits, are trapped in their [[DreamLand own dimension]] because it's been knocked off its metaphysical axis, preventing travel to and from other planes[[note]]Initially, this was a case of Sealed ''Good'' in a Can, but then the Age turned – essentially resetting the entire plane and its inhabitants – replacing the relatively benevolent quori who got sealed with the current crop of borderline-Eldritch Abominations[[/note]]. The quori mostly get around this by projecting themselves into mortal dreams and [[DemonicPossession possessing people]], since while their bodies can't leave Dal Quor, their ''minds'' can...

** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': One of the oldest cans would be the Sharn Wall, erected by the creatures which gave it its name so as to keep the [[EldritchAbomination phaerimms]] sealed away from Faerûn. Weakened severely over the millennia, it is later brought down by the return of the Shadovar, who then must [[EnemyMine team up with]] the Sharn and the peoples of Toril to drive the phaerimm back. Other examples include: the djinn Calim and the efreet Memnon, [[SealedEvilInADuel locked in eternal struggle forever]], their battle creating the Calimshan Desert; Sarya Dlardrageth and the rest of her fallen house of demon-interbred Elves, trapped in the Nameless Dungeon beneath Hellgate Keep, who are [[NiceJobBreakingItHero inadvertently freed]] when the Mistmaster and his Harper allies destroy Ascalhorn's mythal with the Gatekeeper's crystal; Iyachtu Xvim, son (and receptacle) of Bane, imprisoned beneath Zhentil Keep until he breaks free in the wake of Fzoul Chembryl's reading of ''The True Life of Cyric''; an illithid and a rakshasa that became [[AndIMustScream trapped in stasis]] beneath Beorunna's Well after seeking revenge on Runlatha for [[NiceJobBreakingItHero their previous imprisonment and torture]] and who are even now (by using an image of the rakshasa to [[GodGuise pretend to be the totem spirit of the Red Tiger Clan]]) trying to obtain the cooperation of the Uthgardt barbarians in securing their freedom; and the three nycaloths [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally freed]] from their dimensional pocket by the flight of "a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil red dragon]] [[PropheticFallacy that never held malice or greed in its heart]] over the coronal's throne" – which leads directly to the Weeping War and the fall of Myth Drannor.

** Many published modules and adventure paths involve the player characters stopping some sealed evil from being unleashed – "Realm of the Fellnight Queen", "Pact Stone Pyramid", and "From Shore to Sea" just to name a few.

** There is one extremely secretive organization, the Seal-Breakers, who have put considerable time and effort into tracking down all of Golarion's various cans and cracking them open one after the other in the name of breaking down the artificial order of the world and giving birth to a truer reality – or of destroying the universe, they don't much care. They were partially responsible for freeing the Whispering Tyrant, and further plan to see Treerazer released from his own prison, invoke a variety of ancient slumbering entities, and ultimately split Golarion itself open to unleash Rovagug upon the universe.

** The Host are powerful, evil demons who were sealed in a very tight can indeed – it's almost impossible to find their dimensional prison except by blind luck, they need a summoner to willingly sacrifice themselves by allowing the demon to take over their body and soul (and most people willing to call upon such evil creatures would be nowhere near selfless enough to consider doing such a thing), and even once freed they categorically cannot cross between dimensions without another such summoning without being struck DeaderThanDead.

* In ''Webcomic/TheDwarfsTheSpiritAndTheSorceress'', a ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' {{Fan Webcomic|s}}, Zoso was this – in a rock – until the beginning, and is sealed again – in a medallion – at the end.

* In ''Webcomic/FlakyPastry'', Nitrine discovers that Moirganae (the evil vampire created by Morgana) has been trapped in the belt-buckle of her PoweredArmor for all the time since their fight. Moirganae promises to fight Nitrine's enemies and suck their blood whenever she gets summoned – until she becomes powerful enough to free herself, that is. Then she'll kill Nitrine.

* ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' now has its very own Sealed Evil In A Can, as of the end of the Return of Dr. Sloth plot event that happened January 29 – March 15, 2008. [[http://www.neopets.com/space/ros/comic.phtml?chapter=1 The comic is here]] and spoilers are here: [[spoiler:Dr. Frank Sloth is the sealed evil. The can is the Space Faerie's token. Roll your mouse over the very last panel of the last chapter, and you'll see the token, which was not destroyed in the explosion of the ship, floating through space. When it gets most of the way across the panel, a pair of red eyes glow from within...]]

* ''Fanfic/TheChaoticMasters'': The Chaotic Masters were all sealed away centuries ago, the Monkey King as a puppet, the Collector in a mirror, and BJ's location currently unknown. The plot is kicked off when Monkey King is inadvertently freed and goes looking for the others, while Collector starts trying to manipulate people into freeing him.

* The ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}''/''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3376586/1/The-Ghost-Child-and-the-Ghostbusters The Ghost Child and the Ghostbusters]]" concludes with [[spoiler:Morbius, a necromancer who absorbs power from other ghosts, trapped in a Fenton Thermos after being defeated by the Fentons and the Ghostbusters. Since Morbius's nature means that putting him back in the Ghost Zone or in the Ghostbusters' containment unit would risk him starting his campaign all over again, Clockwork volunteers to take custody of the thermos himself, as he can slow down time so that it will remain locked]].

May be caused by SupernaturalSealing. Depending on the nature of the seal, the evil may or may not be able to perceive or interact with the immediate surroundings of the prison, or have anything to really ''do'' . In the case that it cannot and does not, the FridgeHorror (AndIMustScream) is usually never addressed or acknowledged, mainly to [[UnintentionallySympathetic keep people from feeling sorry for the villain]], even though the DrivenToMadness aspect could easily make for a villain who's even worse when unpackaged than they were when they were first sealed in.

-->-- '''Creator/RodSerling''', from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E41TheHowlingMan The Howling Man]]"

* ''WebOriginal/TheCrawlspace'': The [[spoiler:MonstrousHumanoid creature]] apparently lives in the crawlspace, the entrance of which is a small, locked door in the master bathroom. Of course, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the girls just had to open it, didn’t they?]]

* In ''ComicStrip/HsuAndChan'', the Tanaka brothers fight off a demon invasion by sealing them in various trinkets and keepsakes.

* In "Literature/TheNinePeahensAndTheGoldenApples", the empress had gotten a dragon locked up in a cask bound with iron hoops and hidden away in a cellar under her palace. Then her husband goes into the cellar and accidentally releases the dragon.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': In Chapter 29 of ''R2 - Revolution'', [[spoiler: Cera lures Megatron into the Sword of Akasha, then uses a pair of Groundbridges to trap him in a Shadowzone, before then having the last Thought Elevator destroyed in order to cut the Sword off from Earth, thus making it impossible to reach Megatron]]. The author's notes for the chapter compare it to being locked in an air-tight vault and then tossing it into the ocean. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, [[CardboardPrison it doesn't last long]], as the end of the next chapter reveals that Shockwave and Soundwave used an artificial Thought Elevator to reach the Sword, before freeing him from the Shadowzone.]]