History Main / HumanLadder

* ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'': Force of July member Silent Majority's MesACrowd ability was fined tuned enough that he could use his bodies to create human chains to span distances too long to jump or climb.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Madrox}}'', Jamie Madrox (a.k.a. Multiple Man) [[SelfDuplication creates several duplicates of himself]] to create a ladder so he can get over a fence into someone's property.
* Played for {{Fanservice}} in ''ComicBook/{{Papyrus}}''. Papyrus and Theri-Cheri need to see over a wall at one point, and for practical reasons, [[SkirtsAndLadders she has to stand on his shoulders]]. Lucky bastard.

* In chapter 2 of ''ComicBook/SimonSaysNaziHunter'', Simon has Bruno stand on a garbage can, and then stands on Bruno's shoulders so he can see over a fence at who he suspects to be Nazis. Said plan works [[YouDirtyRat until a rat comes along]].

* ''ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'': Force of July member Silent Majority's MrsACrowd ability was fined tuned enough that he could use his bodies to create human chains to span distances too long to jump or climb.

* In the comic ''[[ComicBook/XMen MadroX]]: Multiple Choice'' by Peter David, Jamie Madrox (AKA Multiple Man) creates several duplicates of himself to create a ladder so he can get over a fence into someone's property.
* Played for FanService in ''ComicBook/{{Papyrus}}''. Papyrus and Theri-Cheri need to see over a wall at one point, and for practical reasons, [[SkirtsAndLadders she has to stand on his shoulders]]. Lucky bastard.

* ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske: The main characters form a human tower on the back cover of every album. They even provide a shout-out to it in the album ''De Woeste Wespen'', where Jerom has to transport everybody as quick as possible and therefore carries them off in the same pose.

* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "Cuffed" Beckett and Castle are handcuffed together and Beckett climbs on Castle's shoulders to open a hatch in the ceiling. Complete with reference to [[SomeonesTouchingMyButt Someone's Touching My Butt]].

** In "Frankie My Dear", Mac and Bloo get into a fight when they both start having a crush on Frankie, who has apparently met the man of her dreams. Their feud ends quickly, however, when they realize that that man is neither Mac nor Bloo and both become jealous every time another man shows up for Frankie, including a pizza delivery guy named Chris and an imaginary PrinceCharming. Finally, they all discover that Frankie has a real date named Dylan and join forces to sabotage their date at a fancy restaurant. The plan involves Chris, Mac, and Bloo standing on each other's shoulders and wearing a huge overcoat to make it look like they're one really tall person, with Bloo on top wearing a fake mustache, [[DraggedIntoDrag while Prince Charming reluctantly masquerades as a woman]]. Mac complains that he, not Bloo, should be on top since, although he's a kid, he is at least human.

* One boss fight in ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Hard Corps'' involves this, probably to block you from jumping across them. Luckily, there are other ways to dodge their attacks.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanet'', Kwame and Wheeler do this to access an air vent after the gang is trapped in a mine shaft.

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode "The Apple Corp", a whole swarm of Pichu stack on each other to reach and recharge a captive Pikachu. The whole group then [[ExplosiveOverclocking overclock]] Team Rocket's battery.

*** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS5E10 A Flea in Her Dome]]", when Sandy's treedome becomes [[FleaEpisode infested with fleas]] after she ended up picking up one during her trip to Texas, she, [=SpongeBob and Patrick need to find a way to exterminate them. Near the end of the episode, [[LethallyStupid Patrick's idea, as usual, turns out to be useless]], as he wanted to form a human ladder into the tree so he could get an apple, with Sandy on the bottom and SpongeBob in the middle=].

*** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS5E10 A Flea in Her Dome]]", when Sandy's treedome becomes [[FleaEpisode infested with fleas]] after she ended up picking up one during her trip to Texas, she, [=SpongeBob and Patrick need to find a way to exterminate them. Near the end of the episode, Patrick's idea, as usual, turns out to be useless, as he wanted to form a human ladder into the tree so he could get an apple, with Sandy on the bottom and SpongeBob in the middle=].

*** In "[[A Flea in Her Dome]]", when Sandy's treedome becomes infested with fleas after she ended up picking up one during her trip to Texas, she, [=SpongeBob and Patrick need to find a way to exterminate them. Near the end of the episode, Patrick's idea, as usual, turns out to be useless, as he wanted to form a human ladder into the tree so he could get an apple, with Sandy on the bottom and SpongeBob in the middle=].

** So far, in [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants the main series]], this is done twice:

*** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS13E9 Say Awww!]]", when another one of Plankton's inventions in order to attack the Krusty Krab, namely QT-Pi, goes haywire, it eats pretty much everyone in the Krusty Krab after they've said "Awww!", and their only means of escaping is through the emergency evacuation uvula. At first, after Mr. Krabs is eaten, there's not enough people to reach the uvula, so they need QT-Pi to eat more people. QT-Pi soon eats everyone in town, leaving [=SpongeBob the only one left. After SpongeBob is eaten, there's enough people to reach the uvula. Amazingly, it takes Plankton lifting the bottom for them to reach the exit.=]

*** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS13E9 Say Awww!]]", when another one of Plankton's inventions in order to attack the Krusty Krab, namely QT-Pi, goes haywire, it eats pretty much everyone in the Krusty Krab after they've said "Awww!", and their only means of escaping is through the emergency evacuation uvula. At first, after Mr. Krabs is eaten, there's not enough people to reach the uvula, so they need QT-Pi to eat more people so there's enough people to reach it. QT-Pi soon eats everyone in town, leaving [=SpongeBob the only one left. After SpongeBob is eaten, there's enough people to reach the uvula. Amazingly, it takes Plankton lifting the bottom for them to reach the exit.=]

*** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS13E9 Say Awww!]]", when another one of Plankton's inventions in order to attack the Krusty Krab, namely QT-Pi, goes haywire, yet again, it eats pretty much everyone in the Krusty Krab after they've said "Awww!", and their only means of escaping is through the emergency evacuation uvula. At first, after Mr. Krabs is eaten, there's not enough people to reach the uvula, so they need QT-Pi to eat more people so there's enough people to reach it. QT-Pi soon eats everyone in town, leaving [=SpongeBob the only one left. After SpongeBob is eaten, there's enough people to reach the uvula. Amazingly, it takes Plankton lifting the bottom for them to reach the exit.=]

* The kids on ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' did this quite a few times. Once they did it to time a clock to get out of school.

[[caption-width-right:285:"Easy now... Steady... [[BlackComedy No one]] {{sneeze|OfDoom}}!"]]

** ''Literature/OhSayCanYouSay'' has a story about the [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/seuss/images/0/0a/Fuddnuddlers.png/revision/latest?cb=20180813063424 Fuddnuddler Brothers]], who like to pile each on the heads on the others. 21 of them in an awkward egg-shape with all the pressure on poor little Lud - and if Lud ever [[SneezeOfDoom sneezes]], his name will be mud. [[https://youtu.be/fpoPLS5HL6U?t=252 Amusingly]], the Beginner Book Video adaptation manages to depict this happening despite the limited animation, by panning left from Lud to a dog watching them, adding a sneeze sound effect and then shaking the camera to [[GoryDiscretionShot imply]] that they all fell down.

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1364938773033487500
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* The Three Musketeers do this in a 2004 ad for the 3 Musketeers candy bar.

* [[https://youtu.be/U8z701wmytg This 2019 ad for LL Bean boots]] depicts a couple of teenage girls doing this to pick apples from a tall tree.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* There is a Mind Trap card that involves this. Two people are trying to reach something in a tree -- one is five feet tall, one is six feet tall. The five-foot person stands on the shoulders of the six-foot person, but the object is just out of reach. Would it help for them to switch places? [[spoiler:Yes, because the taller person will probably have longer arms.]]

[[folder:Comics]]

* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke:'' In "Tortillas for the Daltons", the Daltons escape by forming a ladder to scale a cliff. Unfortunately, Lucky Luke arrives just about then, and takes Averell prisoner at gunpoint. With Averell gone, Luke waits for the other three to drop "like horrible rotten fruit". Joe manages to scramble up over the cliff... only to discover he's on a rocky piton less than ten square feet across. Luke proposes that he come back for Joe in a year or so, and Joe surrenders.
* In chapter 2 of ''ComicBook/SimonSaysNaziHunter'', Simon has Bruno stand on a garbage can, and then stands on Bruno's shoulders so he can see over a fence at who he suspects to be Nazis. Said plan works [[YouDirtyRat until a rat comes along]].
* ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske: The main characters form a human tower on the back cover of every album. They even provide a shout-out to it in the album ''De Woeste Wespen'', where Jerom has to transport everybody as quick as possible and therefore carries them off in the same pose.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9954045/1/A-Very-Soul-Eater-Christmas A Very Soul Eater Christmas,]]'' Kid, Liz, and Patty do this to decorate their manor for [[ChristmasEpisode a Christmas party.]]

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

* Near the end of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', the toys (except for Buzz, Slinky, and Forky) stack up in order to reach the switch to activate the awning of the RV they are riding in, so Woody can use it as a bridge between the carousel he's on and the roof of the RV itself.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* In Franchise/TheMonkees movie ''Film/{{Head}}'', after Davy, Micky, Mike and Peter get sucked into the giant vacuum, they notice that Davy is missing. The other three do this to see if they can find Davy in the hole they came out of.

* In ''{{Literature/Pyramids}}'', one of the early ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'' books, Teppic's 1300 ancestors form an undead ladder to get him to the top of the giant reality warping pyramid to destroy it, giving them the chance to properly die (and since some of them have essentially been staring at the lid of a coffin for about 5000 years, you can see why they'd want to), and taking out an entire bizarre pantheon of gods in the process.

** ''Yertle the Turtle'': Yertle commanded all his subjects to stand on each other so he could see further.
** ''Oh Say Can You Say'' has a story about the [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/seuss/images/0/0a/Fuddnuddlers.png/revision/latest?cb=20180813063424 Fuddnuddler Brothers]], who like to pile each on the heads on the others. 21 of them in an awkward egg-shape with all the pressure on poor little Lud - and if Lud ever [[SneezeOfDoom sneezes]], his name will be mud. [[https://youtu.be/fpoPLS5HL6U?t=252 Amusingly]], the Beginner Book Video adaptation manages to depict this happening despite the limited animation, by panning left from Lud to a dog watching them, adding a sneeze sound effect and then shaking the camera to [[GoryDiscretionShot imply]] that they all fell down.
* In one of the ''Olga Da Polga'' books, Olga tells a story about how ages ago, all the guinea pigs decided to go to the moon by standing on each others' shoulders. It doesn't end well.

* Used in Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'' as part of standard assault tactics to get over the wall of a fort.

* Used several times in Creator/AlanDeanFoster's Literature/{{Spellsinger}} series, most notably in ''Literature/TheMomentOfTheMagician'' by a hunting party of anthropomorphic otters in an attempt to escape an oubliette. [[spoiler: The attempt fails, not that it matters...]]
* In one ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'' story, the mystery is who was picking apples from someone's tree. The suspects prove that, even one standing on the other's shoulders, they can't reach the apples. [[spoiler:But if they switched places and the boy with longer arms was on top, then of course they could. And did.]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* The Muppets perform an astounding Muppet Ladder at the climax to ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'' with Gonzo at the top and Sweetums at the base.
* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
** In Episode 1911, Snuffy leaves his giant trash can near Oscar's regular-sized one, and when Oscar sees the giant trash can, he wants to move into it. When Telly comes to see Oscar, Oscar decides to stand on Telly so he can climb up to the giant trash can. Unfortunately, this plan doesn't work because the top of the giant trash can is just out of Oscar's reach, and Oscar is too heavy for Telly to carry.
** In a "Smart Cookies" sketch, Miss Fortune, Figby, Chipowski and Cookie Monster form one to destroy The Crumb's Bearclaw pastry that is trying to steal the guests' costumes at a cookie-themed ball.
[[/folder]]

* Goes a bit crazy in ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis4'' where a lot of National Guards goes into this mode so that the main characters can climb them up to stop the BigBad and the nuclear strike.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', this is the Mr. Saturn race's favorite pastime. Only five can ladder, however; any more and they can't retain their balance.

* In the Sega Genesis game, ''VideoGame/WorldOfIllusion'', during the 2-player mode, there are some instances where Mickey and Donald have to pile up on each other to reach certain areas.
* You can use this technique with Yakko, Wakko and Dot in the ''VideoGame/{{Animaniacs}}'' game on the Super NES.
* One boss fight in ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Hard Corps'' involves this, probably to block you from jumping across them. Luckily, there are other ways to dodge their attacks.
* In ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', the Koopa Bros. do this when they're battling Mario in their second form.

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' has yellow versions of Itty Bitty Biters that stack up on top of each other and and lunge at the player.
* ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife'' has stacking baki enemies with one large baki at the base and three small baki's on top.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', there are certain parts of the game where Sora, Donald and Goofy need to stack up on each other's shoulders to reach certain things.
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' there is a totem pole-like enemy that uses elemental magic.
* ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'': During the end of the quest in Lake Kilma, the sailors make a ladder to get back to the top of the lake cliff.
* ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory'''s co-op mode includes a nifty two-part move. One player can give the other a boost onto ledges they can't reach by jumping, allowing them to either climb up, or remain hanging there so the booster can use them as a ladder.

* In ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'', the rivals of Week 2 are Skid and Pump, the game's first crossover characters from [[WebAnimation/SpookyMonth a Newgrounds property]]. Skid is sitting on Pump's shoulders so they can easily pass the mic around as they sing, and Skid remains on Pump for each of their poses, with him even clambering onto Pump's head for the up pose.
* The Boy and The Girl in ''VideoGame/Rain2013'' routinely use this to access places that would be too high for either of them to reach alone.

* ''Webcomic/EnnuiGo'': In [[http://ennuigo.thecomicseries.com/comics/1453 Tower Formation]], Max and his friends form one so he can climb into the ceiling after the Spaghetti Bandit. Cricket isn't entirely willing about the whole thing.

Add a coat to become a TotemPoleTrench. Sometimes implied in a ScoobyStack. For an extreme version of this trope where the human ladder becomes a co-existing organism, see TheWormThatWalks. Contrast INeedNoLadders, the other option where there are no nearby ladders. See also ChainOfPeople.

[[folder:Machinima]]
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' A human ladder is also used by Sarge and Caboose to see into a square window.
[[/folder]]

** In another episode "Gooey Aliens That Control Your Mind", said gooey aliens (which Dexter had wished for in order to study them) escape from his lab and [[PuppeteerParasite infect his mother, father and Dee Dee]]. When Dexter learns what's going on, he has no choice but to don his PoweredArmor and [[BeatTheCurseOutOfHim attack his family to remove the aliens]]. In response, under the aliens' control, his parents and sister sit on each other's shoulders so that all three of them can attack him together as a group.

** In another episode "Gooey Aliens That Control Your Mind", said gooey aliens (which Dexter had wished for in order to study them) escape from his lab and [[PuppeteerParasite infect his mother, father and Dee Dee]]. When Dexter learns what's going on, he has no choice but to don his PoweredArmor and [[BeatTheCurseOutOfHim attack his family to remove the aliens]]. Under the aliens' control, his family all sit on each other's shoulders so that all three of them can attack him together as a group.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePony'' movie, the Grundles do this to help Lickety Split and Spike find their home.

* In
''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'', during the "Perfect Isn't Easy" number, five dogs stack up on each others shoulders up against a tree to get a better view of Georgette. Ironically, this occurs at the part where she sings, "[[LiteralMetaphor You're barking up the wrong tree.]]"