History Main / TrapDoor

* Used plenty of times in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo''. [[TheChick Daphne]] had a talent for finding them and getting stuck at the bottom...

** In one of the stories of ''[[Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion]]'', Scrooge [[spoiler: uses a stage trapdoor to drop Donald out of his dream so he can have some private dream time with Glittering Goldie]].
* In ''Comicbook/ActionComics'' #765, set shortly after Brainiac 13 has turned Metropolis into a 64th century city, Lex Luthor is informed that his control panel in the new Lexcorp building's conference room activates trapdoors beneath all the other chairs, leading to an AcidPool. He decides he loves the future.

* In ''FanFic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'', Marcus Vickers has a trap door in his office. Once he even ejected himself.

* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent stand in the Vogon airlock while klaxons sound, facing the standard giant, ominous-looking space door, waiting for it to open and [[ThrownOutTheAirlock send them to their doom]]. Nothing happens. Then a tiny and inconspicuous Trapdoor opens under them instead.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Film/TheGrayMan2022. Sierra Six goes to buy a counterfeit passport, not knowing there's a huge price on his head. While taking his photograph, the forger opens a trapdoor beneath him. Fortunately he's able to break out just when the BigBad and his mooks turn up to kill him.

** ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. Bond goes chasing after Aki, only to find her waiting for him in a corridor. He takes a cautious step forward and the floor gives way beneath him, sending Bond down a slide that dumps him into a couch in front of [[KidnappedByAnAlly Japanese Secret Service chief Tiger Tanaka]]. A more lethal version is used by the BigBad, who has a bridge that drops you into a pool of piranhas.

* ''Samson & Goliath'' episode "Operation Peril". After Samson and Goliath reach the ship's control room, the BigBad pushes a button and the floor slides open underneath them and they fall into a containment area.

* Spoofed and used as a RunningGag in ''Manga/ExcelSaga''. Excel is "trapdoor'ed" almost constantly by [[MeanBoss her employer]], Lord Il Palazzo, as punishment for being, well, herself. In one episode, the trap door is implemented as a form of transcontinental transportation.

* Used straight by [[BigBad Dessler]]([[DubNameChange Desslok]]) in ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato''. One of the few comedic points of both the original and the [[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato2199 remake]] is a Gamilas general who gets a trap door opened under his feet after annoying Dessler with inappropriate laughter.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' anime #159. Trap doors open up under Renji Abarai and Dondochakka Bilstin, sending them into an arena where they confront the Espada Szayel Aporro Granz.
* ''Manga/HanaukyoMaidTeam La Verite''. In episode 5, Ikyo Suzuki uses a trap door to send Ryuuka down the garbage chute.
* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', Ryuko is dropped through one by her StealthMentor into a hidden CreepyBasement under her house, where she encounters a ClingyMacGuffin.
* Used in the Chunin Exams in ''Manga/{{Boruto}}''. [[spoiler:ALL of the examinees fall through it. To pass the test, an examinee has to avoid coming in contact with any of the ink pooled at the bottom.]]
* In ''Anime/LastPeriod'', the haunted mansion in episode 3 features one, which takes out all the heroes except Liza.

* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'':
** In ''Tintin in America'', gangster Bobby Smiles presses a button with his foot to make Tintin fall through the floor and into a room with some KnockoutGas.
** Later, when Tintin is being given a tour of a meatpacking plant, Smiles arranges for him to lean against a trick guardrail, in the hopes of turning him into HumanResources.
** In ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'', Tintin is involuntarily ejected from a private plane by the pilot opening a trap door underneath his seat.

* ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'': in the one-shot special "The Jungle Adventure" (written by Walt Simonson, pencilled by Mike Mignola), Wolverine falls through a trap-door while investigating a high-tech lab in the Savage Land, run by Apocalypse who provides the lampshade: "Greetings, Wolverine. You'll forgive me, but I'm required by law to say this, how nice of you to drop in so unexpectedly."
* ''ComicBook/{{Thorgal}}'', "The Fall of Brek Zarith": In the villain's treasure room, the entire floor is one giant (and ''very'' deep) lever-activated trapdoor, as a particularly greedy and careless Viking finds out the hard way.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Tigra Tropica places an incapacitated ComicBook/SteveTrevor on a trap door above a cage full of tigers and sets things up so that if Wonder Woman attacks her Steve will be dropped as tiger food. Diana manages to lasso her and save Steve from the tiger pit, though as the fall woke him he was unsettled by the experience.

* ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine''. After they pass through the Sea of Science a creature drops into the sub. Ringo pushes a button and a door opens under the creature, dropping it out into the Sea of Monsters.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'', Pete drops a few of his [[MinionWithAnFInEvil minions]] down "The Pit", followed by the required scream fading out... only to subvert it when the short one stands up on the floor to reveal that it's roughly two feet deep. They are later seen playing poker inside and hop out when Pete needs them again.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' segment "Captain Sternn". After the title character pays Hannover Fiste the 35,000 zulaks, he pulls a lever that drops Fiste out of the space station and out of orbit, causing him to burn up on re-entry.

* There are two of them in ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', both used to comedic effect. One apparently leads to a crocodile pit. The other leads to a random hole on the side of the palace.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'': Right before the finals of the BattleOfTheBands, Trixie and her two bandmates trap the Rainbooms under the stage by pulling a lever and opening a trap door right under their feet.

* A variant of this appeared on ''Survivor: Exile Island''. It was an immunity challenge where each competitor knelt on a platform above the ocean. If they were unable to hold onto the ropes that held the weights, the trapdoor would open and drop them into the drink.
* Spoofed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDedpreZH-0 a segment]] from ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' where the architect working for the EvilGenius has built the trap door compliant to safety requirements. That is, with a red light, an announcement warning to clear the area, and yellow signs. The guy in the chair escapes.
-->"Trap door? Is there a trap door?"
* In the ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' episode "Move and you're dead", Virgil paints a surrealist picture of Alan, who is less than amused. By way of retaliation, Alan presses a button which causes Virgil and Scott to descend rapidly through the floor.

* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': At Freeway 42, Ann is dropped through one by the opposing UndergroundCity tribe to fight their red beasts. Later on at The Consortium's research facility, she falls into another one when she's pitted against [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile The Varanus]].
* In certain spaces of the Pachisi tracks in the versions of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' that feature them, ending your run then and there.
* Ryu Hayabusa is constantly punked by such pitfalls in the ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' games for the NES.

* In ''VideoGame/LesManley in: Search for the King'', the boss will drop you down a Trapdoor if you try to steal the keys while he's watching, and you can HaveANiceDeath.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'':
** A variation: Ashley panics and runs down a narrow hallway, avoiding spike traps along the way, before finally stopping to catch her breath, leaning against a dead end. Steel bindings promptly pop out of the wall to catch her, then the wall flips around, taking Ashley with it. This trap would be absolutely useless unless someone of Ashley's build was standing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlOBqzbI6dc#t=6m00s at that exact spot]].
** Salazar attempts to kill Leon with one of these by dropping him into a spike pit. Leon responds by using a grappling hook attached to his utility belt to latch onto a tiny ledge on the wall.
* In ''VideoGame/UltimaV'', the Sceptre of Lord British is being guarded by all three of the Shadowlords and a demon in their earthly fortress of Shadowkeep. Getting around ''that'' in bad enough. However, in addition, there are trap doors in the floor all around the sceptre itself; which leads to a lava pit and an instant TotalPartyKill. If you're paying attention, you ''might'' notice the small dot in the floor that is usually only present for secret doors in the walls.

* VideoGame/NetHack. "A trap door opens up under you." Usually preceding [[EverythingTryingToKillYou some kind of death]].
* ''Franchise/TombRaider'' is full of these, whether sprung by Lara's doing or her stumbling into them. The latter usually has instant death traps such as spikes.

* Used by you in ''VideoGame/MastermindWorldConquerer'' to dispose of your henchmen whose services [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness are no longer needed]].
* There's a number of these in a storage area in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''. They're pressure-activated, and you can hear them buckle just before they open. If Snake's too slow to get off them, he dies.

* ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' has this, and many other traps, and manipulating them is an essential part of the gameplay.
* ''VideoGame/DoubleSwitch''. A number of the traps are essentially this, but some of them are a little more complex than that.
* ''VideoGame/MegaMan8'': In Clown Man's stage, the skull blocks have ones that send you straight down through them when triggered by the bell-ringers in the background.
* Several of these send Lan and the other net-battlers from the Netopia Castle meeting room into the dungeon in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork2'. And then another one on the roof for [[spoiler:Princess Pride]] after [[spoiler:[=KnightMan=]]] is beaten.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' lets the player construct trapdoors out of either wood or iron; normally the wood versions are just doors that can be placed on floors or ceilings, but when hooked up to a Redstone signal they can function in the more traditional capacity.
* ''VideoGame/Mother3'': After [[spoiler:Porky]] finishes his monologue, Lucas and the others are dropped from the 100th floor of the building all the way to the FinalDungeon.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'': The Ruins of Alph have these, triggered by completing each one of its puzzles and sending you inside the ruins proper.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrails'':
** ''VideoGame/TrailsOfColdSteel'' has Class VII's first day of class all fall off a trap door and they must find their way out while working together.
** ''VideoGame/TrailsIntoReverie'': During Rean's journey inside the Castle of Mirrors in his fourth chapter, his party ends up falling into one. Unlike the [[RunningGag last two times]] however where ThanksForTheMammary was involved, nothing like that happens.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': one remote Dwemer ruin high in the mountains is just a single room with a pedestal in the middle. When you touch it, a security system fires up, scans you for a few moments, and then the floor below you flips over and dumps you down the longest single drop in the entire game. You land in some SoftWater, though, and have to fight your way through some caves to get back to the outside world.
* The ''VideoGame/PowerBomberman'' stage High Life has trap doors that open when a switch on the wall is activated (which is done by exploding a bomb next to it). Falling into these leads to a OneHitKill. One of the variants is even designed like a dining room, with the trap doors located in front of the chairs.

* ''Webcomic/MinionsAtWork'': [[http://www.minionsatwork.com/2007/04/minions-55-one-up.html One way for your annual review to end]]

* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': Why are there [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=71#comic trap doors under our desks?]]
* Used and parodied very often in ''Webcomic/EvilInc'', a corporation of old-style super villains. [[http://www.evil-comic.com/archive/20050602.html Here]] [[http://www.evil-comic.com/archive/20050609.html are]] [[http://www.evil-comic.com/archive/20050610.html a]] [[http://www.evil-comic.com/archive/20050614.html few]] [[http://www.evil-comic.com/archive/20050615.html examples]] from just the first 3 weeks of this comic.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/TheBMovieComic,'' where the trapdoor mentioned by Dutchman Fu is a [[http://www.bmoviecomic.com/?cid=935 complete fabrication]] meant to distract Snuka.
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius:'' Unsurprisingly, Castle Heterodyne comes [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110304 eqiupped]] with these, for disposing (or is that testing?) of any visiting heroes.
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Nanase [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/nanasecraft-42 falls]] down one while exploring a dungeon.

* [[Creator/RoosterTeeth Burnie Burns]] had a Henckman Bros. model 607 trap door installed in his office in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j54r37hyzNk Downstairs]] that he'd use to drop employees into the restaurant on the floor below. He also has one in the ceiling in the same spot that drops a 16 ton anvil.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'', Robotnik has used a few of these. Coconuts is a regular victim of one, sometimes multiple times in the same episode. The episode, "Boogey-Mania" had a mobile trap door with {{Hammerspace}} inside it.

** In one episode of the 1990 series, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNcy9YaYxkc The Baroness orders Destro to prove his loyalty by dumping Zarana. He immediately pushes a button, and Zarana's bed turns out to be a trap door.]]

* ''Samson & Goliath'' episode "Operation Peril". After Samson and Goliath reach the ship's control room, the BigBad pushes a button and the floor slides open underneath them and they fall into a containment area.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': In "System Failure", Entrapta has one equipped at the front entrance to her castle. It just leads to a cage and not any dangerous situation.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E10LairOfGrievous , "Lair of Grievous"]]: Once Grievous gets to his control center he opens a trap door underneath the heroes that sends one of the clone troopers to a fiery death and nearly results in Commander Fil's death, though he and the Jedi react quickly enough to save him from the lava pit the door leads to.

* The Technodrome in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' has a circular, pizza-like one in the main control room. In one episode, Leonardo activates it with a control panel when Bebop and Rocksteady are standing on it.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'' when the Joker is supervising the construction of his SupervillainLair and SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs.
-->'''Joker:''' I need a permit for a trapdoor? The whole point is no-one is supposed to know about it! Especially the City!

Compare PitTrap, which can be triggered by touch as an actual ''trap'' and occasionally lead to a BottomlessPit, SpikesOfDoom, or something the victim will not like.

** ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. Bond goes chasing after Aki, only to find her waiting for him in a corridor. He takes a cautious step forward and the floor gives way beneath him, sending Bond down a slide that dumps him into a couch in front of [[KidnappedByAnAlly Japanese Secret Service chief Tiger Tanaka]].

** Used straight in the Film/JamesBond movie ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' where the villain had it set up in his elevator to drop into a SharkPool. Bond defeated it by straddling the walls.
** In an earlier film, ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'', Bond suspects the same trick, only to be felled by gas instead.
** Subverted in ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', when Japanese Secret Service chief -- and Bond ally -- Tiger Tanaka uses a Trapdoor with slide to bring Bond to their first face to face meeting.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheManCalledFlintstone'', the Green Goose uses one on Barney Rubble. Moments later, Fred Flintstone, unaware that it's there, falls into it as well.

* Pit traps, with or without accompanying trap doors, are among the more popular traps in role playing games.

-->'''Guru:''' You are about to fall for it again. ''(trapdoor opens under their feet)''

* ''Series/GetSmart'': Affectionately parodied in a scene where Maxwell Smart and 99 are breaking into the villain's lair.
-->'''Smart:''' (''picking the lock'') We'll be alright as long as this door isn't connected to a... to a...\\

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': The trapdoor in Brie Meighsaton House is [[BookcasePassage activated by a nearby lever that's also a candlestick]]. That aside, it's not much of a trap: it's only because the aged wooden platform it opens onto collapses, bringing down part of the wall with it, that Torg takes all night to clear and use the exit through the cellar to the backyard.

* ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' is full of these, whether sprung by Lara's doing or her stumbling into them. The latter usually has instant death traps such as spikes.

* Subverted by Leon Kennedy in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' where the villain pulls this on him; if the player successfully [[PressXToNotDie Presses X To Not Die]], he flings a [[GrapplingHookPistol Grappling Hook]] into the shaft wall to break his fall, stating that he "Won't fall for this old trick!" ...Leon, are you telling us that since ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' you've seriously fallen victim to this so many times that you've taken preventative measures?

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has an improvised version in the finale. When Sokka, Toph and Suki hijack one of the Fire Nation's airships, they trick the crew into doing to the bomb bay on the excuse of holding a birthday party (even funnier because [[AccidentalTruth it]] ''[{AccidentalTruth was]]'' [[AccidentalTruth someone's birthday that day after all]]). Then they open the hatches and dump everyone in the ocean.

* Used straight/spoofed in ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro''; the title castle is rife with secret passages, {{Portrait Painting Peephole}}s and of ''course'' trap doors.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', when Bandit Keith confronts Pegasus at gunpoint (in the dub, he [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment merely points at Pegasus]]) in a last-ditch effort to get revenge. Pegasus nonchalantly opens a Trapdoor that dumps Keith into the ocean. In the manga, he uses his MacGuffin to WELD THE GUN to Keith's hand, and have Keith [[PsychicAssistedSuicide shoot himself]]. (Keith in the anime, even in the original Japanese, survives the fall.)

* Played with in ''[[Film/AustinPowers Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery]]'': During his introduction, Doctor Evil [[YouHaveFailedMe sends numerous minions into fiery pits]] with the push of a button, but when he reoccupies the [[SupervillainLair Evil Lair]] thirty years later, the mechanisms are a bit rusty and the goon he incinerates is NotQuiteDead. Although, same said henchman survived a fall off a cliff with two broken legs and a bear mauling him at the end credits, so you can't blame it on the mechanisms themselves.

* The vampire superhero film ''Film/{{Blade}}'' (1998) had a character named Dr. Karen Jensen fall down into a trap chute near the end of the film, where she found and killed her former research partner (who had been turned into a vampire slave), but climbed back out of the chute using an old bone for leverage.

* ''[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi]]'': Jabba the Hutt uses one to have Luke Skywalker drop in on his pet rancor. Unique in that you DO see that he's standing on some kind of grille, and earlier Jabba's minions made sure Luke was standing on the middle of it. C-3PO desperately tries to warn Luke about it, to no avail.

* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory:'' At the tail end of her IWantSong, Veruca is standing on a chute which has this effect.

* There's a Trapdoor in Castle Oztroja that you'll find when playing ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI''. It's right in front of a locked door that has a two switches in front of it. One opens the door, the other springs the trap. It changes randomly each game day. It's possible to hit the switch and run away before you fall down, but if you don't know that, this can be annoying(Or deadly, if you're low enough in level).

* In ''VideoGame/PaperMario'', this happens a couple of times.
** The first time is in the Koopa Bros. Fortress. When you enter one room, you (the player, not Mario) see the trap door being installed under a question block. [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Yes, you have to hit it.]] It drops you into a dungeon where you meet your next party member...
** That same party member comes in handy later, as a Bowser-face shaped door in Bowser's castle drops you into a dungeon the first time you try to go through.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', after the crossdressing incident, Don Corneo uses a trapdoor to dump Cloud and friends into the Midgar sewers.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Tekken 5]]'', Panda's ending involves her dropping Kuma down a trap door when he comes into her office, followed by falling through herself when Xiaoyu gets curious about the BigRedButton on Panda's desk.

* Several of these send Lan and the other net-battlers from the Netopia Castle meeting room into the dungeon in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork2''--And then another one on the roof for [[spoiler:Princess Pride]] after [[spoiler:[=KnightMan=]]] is beaten.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'': You have 8 Power Stars, so that you can open the first door with the big Star on it. Upon opening it, you run towards the painting with Princess Peach's face on it. Suddenly, it morphs into Bowser's face, and as you jump towards it, you run into an invisible wall... and just as you land, you start falling again. Bowser had installed a trapdoor to the Dark World in that very room anticipating you'd go for the painting in there!
-->'''Bowser''': Bwa ha ha ha! You've stepped right into my trap, just as I knew you would! I warn you, "Friend", watch your step!
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' has Class VII's first day of class all fall off a trap door and they must find their way out while working together.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', when Cecil and the party try to reclaim the seven crystals after defeating Rubicante, they fall into a trap door, and their attempt has become moot, forcing them to escape. Edge later uses it to his advantage in The After Years when he and the Elban Four were out matched against the Mysterious Girl. He leads then into the exact same spot... and as it activates, the Eblan Four took time to register the trap door. Edge drops calmly, while they flail momentarily before falling.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Creator/{{Filmation}}

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "Sneeky Peepers", Walter Denton installs a trap door next to a copy of Rodin's "The Kiss", mistakenly ordered for Madison High and covered with a tarp until it can be returned. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Sneaking to take a peep]], Mr. Conklin, Miss Brooks, Mr. Boynton, Mr. Stone and [[WhatAnIdiot Walter Denton himself]] fall thought the trapdoor into a vacant (and locked) storage room in the basement