History Main / SealedArmyInACan

* The Darkspawn from ''Franchise/DragonAge'' are another example. While straggling warbands occasionally roam the surface, the only time they seriously gather in massive numbers to wage war on the surface is when they are rallied by an Archdemon, thus beginning a new Blight. As such, the Grey Wardens make it their top priority to locate and slay the Archdemon as soon as possible, removing it's guiding influence on the mindless Darkspawn and forcing the horde to retreat underground into the Deep Roads. Once underground again, they resume their EndlessWar against the Dwarves, rebuild their numbers and begin searching for another Old God to corrupt into a new Archdemon, thus repeating the cycle all over again.

* The Darkspawn from ''Franchise/DragonAge'' are another example as they show up every few years and just start killing their way through the kingdom. [[spoiler: Turns out that they emerge whenever they manage to corrupt a dragon and stay until said dragon is destroyed.]] In the meantime they just stay in the Deep Roads fighting the dwarves and rarely going to the surface.

* ''TransformersPrime'' Airachnid found an army of huge Insecticons in stasis pods underground, and uses them to wreck havoc on the Decepticon warship.

* ''LordOfTheRings'': In a variation on this trope Aragorn gains control of one of these in both the film and the book ''The Return of the King'' [[spoiler: and uses it to save Minas Tirith]]. Different from most examples in that they retained their sapience.

** The Dragon Emperor's Army in the third movie, [[spoiler:although the heroes get access to ''another'' SealedArmyInACan in the form of his many dead slaves. They aren't exactly superior combatants, but they hold their own.]]

* ''PrinceOfPersia'' has an entire SealedArmyInACan in ''The Forgotten Sands''.

* ''{{Hellsing}}'': Alucard has the ability to summon people he's drained as familiars. Towards the end, he summons ''everybody he's ever eaten, ever''

* The buried alien army in ''TheWarOfTheWorlds'' remake.

* The Myrkridia, a terrifying race of AlwaysChaoticEvil humanoid monsters in the universe of {{Myth}} and its sequels, were sealed in a small artifact call the Tain. Various plotlines involved Myrkridia getting out of and/or the protagonists (and their armies) being trapped in it.

* The Darkspawn from ''DragonAge'' are another example as they show up every few years and just start killing their way through the kingdom. [[spoiler: Turns out that they emerge whenever they manage to corrupt a dragon and stay until said dragon is destroyed.]] In the meantime they just stay in the Deep Roads fighting the dwarves and rarely going to the surface.

Can sometimes be used as SealedGoodInACan for a '''really''' BigDamnHeroes moment; see also AwakeningTheSleepingGiant. In these cases they may not be quite as mindless. For several unique characters (often in seperate "cans") see SealedCastInAMultipack. For a single character in multiple "cans", see SealedEvilInASixPack.

* Played with an interesting twist in ''PowerRangersNinjaStorm''. In the finale, it turns out that, unbeknownst to either the audience or the Rangers, the heroes haven't been ''killing'' the [[MonsterOfTheWeek monsters of the week]], they've been sealing them. And the BigBad was keeping track of the exact number of monsters the can could hold, as when it went one over, it would let them all out at once.

* ''PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' The Fearcat army in a magic mirror.

Can sometimes be used as SealedGoodInACan for a '''really''' BigDamnHeroes moment; see also AwakeningTheSleepingGiant. In these cases they may not be quite as mindless. For several unique characters (often in seperate "cans") see SealedCastInAMultipack.

** Daleks in both "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks Planet of the Daleks]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E13Doomsday Doomsday]]". ("Doomsday" also has SealedEvilInACan in the form of the Cult of Skaro, an elite group of special Daleks who release the army, in an unusually literal application of this trope. The entirety of the army is sealed in a metal can the size of a single Dalek. It used TARDIS tech.)

Can sometimes be used as SealedGoodInACan for a '''really''' BigDamnHeroes moment. In these cases they may not be quite as mindless. For several unique characters (often in seperate "cans") see SealedCastInAMultipack.

* In ''ConanTheAdventurer'', most of the Serpentmen are still sealed in the Abyss along with their demon-god Set. The heroes' Starmetal weapons can send the remaining Serpentmen to Set's side in the Abyss as well.

* ''{{Angel}}'': A subversion is used where EldritchAbomination Illyria attempts to conquer the world by raising her invincible demon army that has waited underground while she was [[strike: [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]]]] [[BackFromTheDead dead]]. However, it has since crumbled to dust due to the passage of time.

* The Chimera from ''{{Resistance}}'' are a bit of a variation in that they aren't sealed away, the means by which they get more soldiers is.

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': seen in season 7 when Buffy & co. have to fight [[spoiler:the uber-vamps sealed beneath the Hellmouth]].

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''TheDoorIntoSummer'' he mentions in passing that the USA was able to win a war against Russia because of reserve troops kept in suspended animation.

* The Minion Hives in ''{{Overlord}} 1 & 2'' have to be recovered to grant the Overlord a replenishing supply of various forces.

** The Cybermen in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen The Tomb of the Cybermen]]"

* Bane creates a good version of the Sealed Army In A Can in TheDarkKnight Rises when he traps almost the entire Gotham Police Department in the sewers.