History Main / RooftopConfrontation

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* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. The Individual Eleven practice a ritualized [[spoiler: MutualKill]] on top of a rooftop; it ends with a sword-fight when one of them changes his mind. All of this is caught on tape and makes for a pretty horrifying news report.
* In the TV version of ''Manga/YamadaTaroMonogatari'' (can't vouch for the manga here) Sugiura confronts Taro on the rooftop in an early episode.
* In the film version of ''Manga/{{X1999}}'', the final battle takes place on the roof of a tall building.
* ''Manga/{{Parasyte}}'':
** In volume 7, Goto faces off against [[spoiler:the military]] on the roof of a building. [[spoiler:He massacres them.]]
** Played with when Shinichi and Migi kill [[spoiler:Hideo]]. They're both on rooftops, but different buildings, and [[spoiler:Hideo]] doesn't know Shinichi is there (they deliberately picked a building out of Parasite detection range) until it's too late. Shinichi uses his new super strength to [[spoiler:throw a rock straight through Hideo's heart, 300 meters away]].
* ''Anime/{{Shenmue}}'': Ryo fights both Lan Di and Dou Niu on the roof of the Yellow Head building.

* In the beginning of ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}'', Alice Fuji fights her master and father figure, Kumo, at the top of a building. [[spoiler:[[BookEnds Near the end]] she battles her [[ArchnemesisDad evil]] [[DisappearedDad disappeared]] biological father, Suzume Bachi, at the rooftop of her school]].

* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': In the Assassination Island arc, the final fight between Nagisa and [[spoiler:Takaoka]] takes place on the helipad of a hotel.
* Both the first and final battles of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' start with Vita attacking Nanoha on top of a building, though the battles quickly move elsewhere since all the characters can fly.
* ''Anime/ShamanicPrincess'' loves to show characters [[DramaticHighPerching posing dramatically on spires, columns, and the like,]] making the transition to rooftop combat irresistibly easy.
* ''Manga/TheLoveAndCreedOfSaeMaki'', after saving Misao from the thugs bothering her, Sae drags her onto a nearby rooftop. Sae shakes and slams Misao against the guardrails while screaming that [[PsychoLesbian she loves Misao]] more than anyone else and demanding that [[DestructiveRomance she obey her every whim]]. After a shaken and terrified Misao apologizes, Sae orders her to ShamefulStrip as a test of loyalty.
* In ''Literature/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'', Sorata and Mashiro (well, mostly Sorata) confront Jin on the school roof for refusing to return Misaki's feelings, even though he's admitted he likes her. Things get heated enough that they come to blows, though Sorata is no match for Jin. He wasn't actually trying to win, just to buy enough time for Nanami and Misaki to get there before Jin left.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* Creator/{{Disney}} likes this trope, since it leads to DisneyVillainDeath[=s=] very easily:
** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''[='s=] Gaston chases the Beast onto the rooftops of the Castle.
** WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} fights Shan Yu on the roof of the Imperial Palace. Notably, he isn't dispatched by a DisneyVillainDeath but by being blown up by fireworks.
** Judge Frollo pursues [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney Quasimodo and Esmeralda]] onto the rooftops of Notre-Dame of Paris, no less.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Rampant}}'': The final battle between Lee Chung and Kim Ja-joon takes place on the roof of the [[BattleAmongstTheFlames burning palace]].
* In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990'', Raphael heads for the roof after a fight with Leonardo. Suddenly, a bunch of Foot ninjas attack him. After their numbers grow, they manage to overtake him and throw him through a skylight and down into April's apartment. Later, the climactic battle against Shredder takes place on a different rooftop.

* Near the end of ''Film/WhoAmI1998'' Creator/JackieChan faces off against the BigBad's CoDragons, an EvilBrit and a Chinaman, atop a skyscraper, in one of his most death defying fight sequences ever, ending with NoEscapeButDown.
* The climax of ''Film/HollywoodHomicide'' ended up on a roof.

* The original ''Film/DieHard'' movie has this, with the plot-relevant roof being special because it [[spoiler: doesn't survive the fight]].
* The final fight between Connor and the Kurgan from ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' starts on top of a warehouse. Both men fell through a skylight and the fight continued inside the warehouse.
* ''Film/LastActionHero'': The climactic battle between Jack Slater and the Ripper occurs on a rooftop.
* The final confrontation between Colin Sullivan and Billy Costigan in ''Film/TheDeparted'' is on a rooftop, although the actual shooting happens in the lift when they reach the ground floor.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1Y6wcI9M Denny and the drug dealer "tangle"]] in ''Film/TheRoom''. The incident itself is [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment never mentioned again]].
* Near the beginning of ''Film/Batman1989'', the title character confronts and fights two robbers on the roof of a building where they're counting their ill-gotten gains.
* ''Film/ScotlandPA'' ends with a fight between [=McBeth=] and Lt [=McDuff=] on the roof of a fast food restaurant.
* In ''Film/MaxPayne'', the climax where Max confronts the mastermind of his family's murder occurs on a hele-pad on top of the Aesir Pharmaceuticals high-rise building.
* In the film version of ''Film/IchiTheKiller'', the final confrontation takes place on the roof of the Yakuza apartment building.
* The 1920 silent movie ''Film/TheGolem'' features a showdown between the Golem and Knight Florian on top of the Rabbi's observatory tower.

* Freder and Rotwang on the cathedral rooftop in ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''.
* ''Film/TheCrow'': The final battle between Eric and Top Dollar takes place on the roof of a church.
* The FinalBattle of ''Film/HardcoreHenry'' culminates in Henry confronting [[BigBad Akan]] and his cyborg army on the helipad atop his corporate headquarters.

* ''Film/AngelHasFallen'': The FinalBattle ends with a duel between [[ItsPersonalWithTheDragon Mike and Wade]] on the roof of the building where the latter just tried to kill the President again, Mike intercepting Wade before he can escape via helicopter and forcing him into a showdown.
* ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'' has the final battle between Jack and [[spoiler: Komarov]] take place on the roof of a building.

* Lampshaded heavily in all of Creator/RobertRankin's books that feature Lazlo Woodbine, PrivateDetective. Lazlo only works four locations: his office, a bar, a back alley, and a rooftop, with the latter being reserved for the final denouement with the villain.

* ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'':
** Forms part of the climax in "Moon Over Soho" and lets our hero throw a chimney stack at the BigBad.
** Occurs again at the end of "Broken Homes" where the returning Big Bad engineers one of these between him and Peter, [[spoiler:then blows the building up underneath them]].
* The final confrontation in ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' (the book and the movie) happens on a rooftop. The movie has Anton fight with Zabulon with a ''halogen lamp'' (Zabulon is wielding a sword he has just pulled out of his spine). In the book, Zabulon is about to kill Anton with a powerful spell after Anton has a revelation about Svetlana but is stopped.
** In the movie, the entire fight is choreographed by Zabulon to end up with Anton nearly killing Yegor by accident, resulting in the latter becoming a Dark Other.
* In ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'', the final confrontation between Yuji, Shana and [[BigBad Friagne]] happens on the roof of an abandoned department store.

* After a very long battle in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Gandalf ends the fight against the Balrog atop the highest peak of the Misty Mountains.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Dumbledore is killed after a very tense conversation in Hogwart's Astronomy Tower.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E12ProphecyGirl Prophecy Girl]]", Buffy's post-temporary-death rematch with the Master took place on the roof of the high school, and culminated with the Master being hurled through a skylight into the library.
* ''Series/{{Happy}}'' has [[AntiHero Nick's]] showdown with [[TheHeavy Very Bad Santa]] in the first season finale, atop the roof of the abandoned department store the latter uses as a lair.

* The music video for Music/StabbingWestward's "Shame" features a young woman trying to escape from her psychotic ex-boyfriend. The final confrontation occurs on the roof of her apartment building [[spoiler:where she tricks him into jumping off.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Vigilante}}'', the fifth and final stage has the player fighting on top of girders high above street level.

* Climactic showdowns in the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' series are prone to taking place atop a very tall building.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendII'' had one in Edo World atop the castle, at nightfall. Said rooftop also has special encounters which drop Flare tomes or powerful swords.
* ''VideoGame/{{XenoGears}}'': One of Fei's [[RecurringBoss recurring duels]] with Ramsus occurs near the top of Babel Tower.
* The battle against Zenim in ''VideoGame/DaikaijuuMonogatari''. He even falls off the roof when defeated.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Snake and Liquid have an intense hand-to-hand duel atop Metal Gear Rex.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', Raiden and Vamp have their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Ub-6sKfGSmw final confrontation]] in the same place. Also, Snake and Liquid Ocelot have their own final brawl atop Outer Haven.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'': Sundowner is fought at the helipad atop World Marshal headquarters. Mistral also sort of counts, since her boss fight starts at the top of the refinery.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', Gary and Jimmy's final fight happens at the school's rooftop.

* In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', Raphael heads for the roof after a fight with Leonardo. Suddenly, a bunch of Foot ninjas attack him. After their numbers grow, they manage to overtake him and throw him through a skylight and down into April's apartment. Later, the climactic battle against Shredder takes place on a different rooftop.

* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'':

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': Many of the Turtles' battles with the Shredder and the Foot happen on rooftops in the [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage original comics]], [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 series]], [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles 90s movies]], [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 the 2012 cartoon]], and [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014 the 2014 reboot]].

%% ZCE * ''Film/KingKong''. ItWasHisSled.

* Subverted in ''Film/SpiderMan2''. A fight between Spiderman and Octavious begins on the roof of a building, but they end up chasing each other all over the city.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', Raiden and Vamp have their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Ub-6sKfGSmw final confrontation]] in the same place. Also, Snake and Liquid/Ocelot have their own final brawl atop Outer Heaven.

* ''VideoGame/ForTheKing'': The heroes confront the BigBad of the main campaign on top of his EvilTowerOfOminousness. For some reason, they arrive by airship, then fight their way up from the ground floor to reach him.

* In ''LightNovel/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'', Sorata and Mashiro (well, mostly Sorata) confront Jin on the school roof for refusing to return Misaki's feelings, even though he's admitted he likes her. Things get heated enough that they come to blows, though Sorata is no match for Jin. He wasn't actually trying to win, just to buy enough time for Nanami and Misaki to get there before Jin left.

* In ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'', the final confrontation between Yuji, Shana and [[BigBad Friagne]] happens on the roof of an abandoned department store.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': The penultimate episode "All In", has Anne agreeing to battle King Andrias on the top of a building to fully stop the invasion of Earth.

* ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'': Right after [[spoiler:watching Efilin get absorbed by Fecto Forgo]], Kirby pursues [[spoiler:Fecto Efilis]] up to the roof of a skyscraper in Lab Discovera.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* At the climax of Tsumihoroboshi-hen in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', Keiichi and Rena [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight square off on the roof of the school]].

* ''Manga/YuGiOh'' apparently kept trying to top itself on how high up people could confront.

* ''Film/KingKong''. ItWasHisSled.

* Near the end of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRFvWO31La8 Who Am I?]]'' Creator/JackieChan faces off against the BigBad's CoDragons, an EvilBrit and a Chinaman, atop a skyscraper, in one of his most death defying fight sequences ever, ending with NoEscapeButDown.

* ''Film/LastActionHero''. The climactic battle between Jack Slater and the Ripper occurs on a rooftop.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1Y6wcI9M Denny and the drug dealer "tangle"]] in Film/TheRoom. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment The incident itself is never mentioned again.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'',Gary and Jimmy's final fight happens at the school's rooftop.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry: Frantic Antics'', a UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis game based on ''TomAndJerryTheMovie'', Tom confronts Aunt Figg on the roof of the cabin in the final level.

** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'': Since the game has all its boss fights take place on various floors of the Last Resort hotel, of course the final battle with [[BigBad King Boo]] takes place on the rooftop. [[spoiler: Well, that and the reason the battle takes place outside of the hotel is because the final phase has him create a magic picture frame large enough to swallow up the whole building!]]
* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'': Ryu's traditional fighting stage is set atop the roof of a Japanese temple.
* ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters TMNT: Tournament Fighters]]'': The SNES version uses a rooftop overlooking the Manhattan skyline for Michelangelo's background.

* ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesShreddersRevenge TMNT: Shredder's Revenge]]'' has two of these:
** Episode 7, Roof Running Reptiles is almost entirely set [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin on various rooftops]], as Bebop and Rocksteady try to escape from the Crystal Palace mall (and by proxy the Turtles) by running from rooftop to rooftop.
** [[spoiler:Episode 14, Wrath of the Lady, starts with our heroes standing on a rooftop so that they can fight the Krang-piloted Statue of Tyranny.]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Leo vs Raph in ''WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}}''.
** Also many of their battles with the Shredder and the Foot happen on rooftops in the [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage original comics]], [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 series]], [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles 90s movies]], [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 the 2012 cartoon]], and [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014 the 2014 reboot]].
* The opening sequence of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' features Batman confronting bank robbers on a rooftop.
** At the end of the episode "Showdown", Jonah Hex has a knife-sword fight atop an airship.

** In the film version of ''Manga/{{X1999}}'', the final battle takes place on the roof of a tall building.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Snake and Liquid have an intense hand-to-hand duel atop Metal Gear Rex.

* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': The FinalBoss battle against Grunty takes place at the very top of her lair. After the battle, she falls all the way down to Spiral Mountain, leaving a deep ImpactSilhouette in which she gets trapped by a boulder. This sets the stage for ''Banjo-Tooie'', whose own final battle takes place at the top of Cauldron Keep.

* Since ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'' has all its boss fights take place on various floors of the Last Resort hotel, of course the final battle with [[BigBad King Boo]] takes place on the rooftop. [[spoiler: Well, that and the reason the battle takes place outside of the hotel is because the final phase has him create a magic picture frame large enough to swallow up the whole building!]]

* ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesShreddersRevenge TMNT: Shredder's Revenge]]'': Episode 7, Roof Running Reptiles is almost entirely set [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin on various rooftops]], as Bebop and Rocksteady try to escape from the Crystal Palace mall (and by proxy the Turtles) by running from rooftop to rooftop.

* ''VideoGame/TMNTTournamentFighters'': The SNES version uses a rooftop overlooking Manhattan skyline for Michelangelo's background.

* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'': Ryu's traditional fighting stage is set atop the roof of a Japanese temple.
* ''VideoGame/TMNTTournamentFoighters'': The SNES version uses a rooftop overlooking Manhattan skyline for Michelangelo's background.

[[folder:Fanfictions]]

* The culminating battle of Creator/AAPessimal's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' adventure ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11536013/17/Hyperemesis-gravidarum Hyperemesis Gravidarum]]'' takes place on the rooftop when Assassin Johanna confronts the man who is out to kill her, who she (wrongly) believes has just been responsible for murdering her sister. To add a bit of operating difficulty, Johanna is, by her own count,[[note]]Her count is out. as she shortly discovers,[[/note]] [[MamaBear over eight months pregnant]].

** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''[='=] Gaston chases the Beast onto the rooftops of the Castle.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' fights Shan Yu on the roof of the Imperial Palace. Notably, he isn't dispatched by a DisneyVillainDeath but by being blown up by fireworks.

* The culminating battle of Creator/AAPessimal's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' adventure ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11536013/17/Hyperemesis-gravidarum Hyperemesis Gravidarum]]'' takes place on the rooftop when Assassin Johanna confronts the man who is out to kill her, who she (wrongly) believes has just been responsible for murdering her sister. to add a bit of operating difficulty, Johanna is, by her own count,[[note]]Her count is out. as she shortly discovers.[[/note]] [[MamaBear over eight months pregnant]].
* ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'': In Chapter 26, Viper and Jackie fight Tristan, the [[BigCreepyCrawlies scorpion]] Shapeshifter, on the roof of Count Cornelius' mansion in Lannion, with Taranee and Hay Lin later flying in to provide support.
* ''Fanfic/AvengersOfTheMultiverse'': Episode 7 sees Zak and Argost dueling each other atop the roof of Weird World.

* ''Anime/ShamanicPrincess'' loves to show characters [[IHaveTheHighGround posing dramatically on spires, columns, and the like,]] making the transition to rooftop combat irresistibly easy.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the entirety of Luffy's fight with Blueno takes place on the roof of the courthouse of Enies Lobby.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'': In "[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS1E9SweaterLuckNextTime Sweater Luck Next Time]]", once Cuphead and the Devil are at the top of the Obliterator's tower, and the Devil gives him a pat on the shoulder before discovering that Cuphead doesn't have the protective sweater on him, the battle for his soul ensues, as the panicked crowds can do nothing but watch as the Devil corners him and starts pulling out his soul before Mugman enters the fray by quick thinking and places the sweater on the villain, pushes his brother's soul back into his body, and watches the fireworks along with everyone else before getting on the ride with his brother.

** Judge Frollo pursues [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Quasimodo and Esmeralda]] onto the rooftops of Notre-Dame of Paris, no less.

* After correctly identifying the killer in ''[[Pinball/WHODunnit WHO dunnit]]'', the player must take a taxi to Tony's Palace, then confront the culprit on the hotel rooftop and catch them before time runs out.

* ''VideoGame/ForTheKing'': The heroes confront the BigBad of the main campaign on top of his EvilTowerOfOminousness. For some reason, they fight their way up from the ground floor to reach him, despite arriving by airship.

* ''VideoGame/{{Unavowed}}'' begins with this having happened to the PlayerCharacter, with titular group finally tracking their demon-possessed body down and restraining it, allowing a much-needed exorcism to be performed. Later in the game, [[spoiler:the final confrontation takes place within a pocket dimension, on top a mirrored version of the Empire State Building, with the Player Character confronting the Summoner one last time, BookEnding the game]].