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4[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gi_joe_battle.jpg]]]]
5[-[[caption-width-right:350:"Wouldn't it be more appropriate to light up her torch?"]]-]
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9
10->'''[[Franchise/GIJoe Destro]]:''' Cobra! Destroy the Taj Mahal!\
11'''Tight Ship:''' Why is Cobra attacking a tourist attraction with zero tactical value?
12-->-- ''Series/{{Community}}'', "[[Recap/CommunityS5E11GIJeff G.I. Jeff]]"
13
14Somehow, a disproportionate number of fictional fights break out at easily-recognized national monuments and landmarks around the world.
15
16One reason for doing this is that at least a portion of the audience will be familiar with the monument in question, whether by general knowledge or by having actually been there. This means the author doesn't have to justify the presence of a massive, ancient structure they just made up. In addition, the audience may feel more involved because the setting is familiar (allowing them to concentrate on the action), awed (because the setting is visually impressive), or concerned (because the setting itself might be in danger, and so elicits its own emotional response in anticipation of its defacement or imminent destruction).
17
18This can be justified several ways: the landmark, or something buried underneath it, is said to posses occult powers; there is something of importance about the landmark itself, like a clue left by an AncientConspiracy; or there is a major delegation of world leaders being held very close by. As often as not, however, it's a simple case of SmallReferencePools.
19
20'''Most common places:'''
21* [[GayParee Paris, France]]
22** The Eiffel Tower
23** Notre Dame
24* Giza
25** The Great Pyramids
26* South Dakota, USA
27** Mount Rushmore -- presents the unique opportunity to do battle on Lincoln's nose. See also RushmoreRefacement.
28* [[BritainIsOnlyLondon London, England]]
29** London Bridge or Tower Bridge.
30** The Clock Tower containing Big Ben (it's official name is "Elizabeth Tower", named after the former UK monarch).
31** The London Eye.
32** Some way from London, but still recognisable as English; Stonehenge, usually of the "ancient occult powers" version.
33* [[BigApplesauce New York]]
34** The Art/StatueOfLiberty has become a popular site for final one-on-one duels. (What it symbolizes is often a factor.)
35** The Empire State Building and (before a certain date) The Twin Towers.
36* UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco
37** The Golden Gate Bridge
38* [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Tokyo, Japan]]
39** TokyoTower
40** Tokyo Big Sight, aka the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, located on Odaiba in Tokyo Bay. The world's largest comic convention, Comiket, is held here twice a year for over half a million people.
41** Tokyo Dome
42** The Sunshine 60 skyscraper in Ikebukuro, which has many stores of all kinds: an aquarium, an observation deck, etc.
43
44A consequence of the EiffelTowerEffect, see also MonumentalDamage. Compare TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon - when the monuments are fictional, and the architects aren't limited by common sense. Or, often, the laws of physics. See also LandmarkingTheHiddenBase and WeaponizedLandmark, which go a little way explaining why some of the battles take place where they do. This can become HarsherInHindsight if some disaster ends up later destroying the monument you so gleefully smash in your work.
45-----
46!!Examples
47
48[[foldercontrol]]
49
50[[folder:Advertisement]]
51* Eurostar has a series of ads promoting the high-speed train line between London and Paris by pitting two symbols of London and Paris against each other. One lets the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsW6tg6RPMA Eiffel Tower fight Big Ben]].
52[[/folder]]
53
54[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
55* Besides TokyoTower, ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' also fought a battle in and around the Tokyo Dome.
56* Tokyo Big Sight, with its quadruple-inverted-pyramid shape is becoming popular for situations that poke fun at manga fans.
57** The second episode of ''Anime/NurseWitchKomugi'' had the bad guys turn the convention center into a giant robot, Big Sightron.
58*** In a DVD Bonus, Big Sightron gains its own [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD3dtfJ4Vtw Video PV]].
59** Ultimate Girls faced off with their final foe atop and beneath the distinctive structure.
60** ''Anime/{{Hellsing|Ultimate}}'' lightened its fourth [=OVA=] finish by showing the villains heading to Big Sight afterwards to sell {{manga}} and perform various {{otaku}} activities.
61* A fight in the second episode of ''Anime/{{Shinzo}}'', a fascinating and TimeyWimeyBall-loving series which takes place AfterTheEnd, finally shatters the already-wrecked Statue of Liberty. Nobody but the viewer knows the significance of it.
62* One of the most memorable battle of ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' occurs on the fictional Pyramid of the Southern Cross, built by the will of Souther, worthless child enslaving brute of an Emperor and Kenshiro, the hero of the franchise.
63* The first part of the Anime/ReadOrDie {{OVA}} ended atop the Statue Of Liberty.
64* Anime/SailorMoon defeated Kaolinite at the TokyoTower.
65** In the Stars anime, the las battle between the Senshi and Sailor Galaxia starts during the Starlights' last concert in the Tokyo Dome.
66** In the beginning of Stars, Haruka and Michiru are caught by Nehellenia's crones in the Sunshine 60 building.
67* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': The fight against [=DeathMeramon=] took place on top of Tokyo Tower, physically warping it from sheer heat. [[HarsherInHindsight Twelve years later]]...
68* The Anime/CowboyBebop film, ''Knockin' on Heaven's Door,'' has the final battle on what looks to be either the Tokyo Tower or the Eiffel Tower... but the film's set on Mars.
69* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Edo Phoenix can even ''create'' a facimile of Big Ben using his [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Clock_Tower_Prison Clock Tower Prison]] Field Spell. In theory, this means that he could conceivably use the Solid Vision Hologram system of the game to create a MonumentalBattle ''anywhere'', at least in spirit. (This would count as a WeaponizedLandmark too, seeing as it has benefits to him in more than one way.)
70* In ''Manga/{{X1999}}'', every battle between the Dragons of Heaven and Dragons of Earth takes place in several important locations in Tokyo such as the Rainbow Bridge, the Sunshine 60 building, the National Diet Building, and Tokyo Tower. With the exception of Kamui, every Dragon of Heaven is capable of summoning a "kekkai" or a Spirit Shield that keeps civilians out of the battlefield.
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Comic Books]]
74* ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen''
75** In issue #200, there's a big fight in Paris that includes Colossus getting thrown through the rose window of Notre Dame. This was the big payoff from Marvel having sent the comic's art team to Paris for X-Men publicity and story authenticity.
76** The issue before that featured the beginning of a big battle in the National Holocaust Memorial in New York, which was only ended when Magneto agreed to be arrested so Freedom Force would quit destroying shit.
77* In ComicBook/TheNewUniverse series ''ComicBook/PsiForce'', during a climactic battle, Psi-Hawk--a [[AllYourPowersCombined gestalt entity with the magnified powers of the titular team]]--hit Rodstvow with ''the Washington Monument''. He still lost, though. Rodstvow then walked into the National Archives and [[MonumentalDamage set fire to the Constitution]].
78* Done in ''ComicBook/SecretAvengers'' during the ''ComicBook/FearItself'' arc. A mutant Senator with vaguely defined powers to "bring history to life", animates The Lincoln Memorial and exhibits from The Smithsonian to battle the invading enemies.
79* During the ''Captain Britain and [=MI13=]'' portion of the ComicBook/SecretInvasion event, the Skrull invasion of Britain and the remnants of the human military have their climactic battle on Westminster Bridge. It's invoked to a degree, since a good portion of the battle is fought with magic and the location has a great deal of symbolic value for the British people linked to this.
80* ''ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'':
81** In ''The Apocalypse Suite'', the Eiffel Tower is actually a space-faring warship built by [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot zombie]] [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Gustave Eiffel]].
82** The Lincoln Memorial becomes a giant monster in opening to the ''Dallas'' storyline, [[spoiler:only to be shot in the head by a giant, stone John Wilkes Booth]].
83* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':
84** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': During "The Witch and the Warrior" New-Wave, Tsunami, Cascade, Tundra, Dr. Light, Nightfall, Nox, Gloss, Maya, Betty Clawman, Vicki Grant, Cyber-Cat and Owlwoman all fight in New York's Grand Central Station.
85** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': Diana fights D'grth in the National Mall in Washington D.C.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
89* ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' has a climactic fight in Big Ben between Basil and Ratigan. The fact that the characters are mice means the battle can also be on the hands themselves.
90* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie'' opens with a big, flashy battle between the Joes and Cobra over the Statue of Liberty. Even after being demoted from the final battle to an opening action scene, it's still often considered the highlight of the movie. (Hell, can you blame anyone? The one-minute sequence managed to include ''every little detail'' of the [[{{Sculptures}} Statue]] at least once, and fighting from nearly every possible angle imaginable. And the music accompanying it was rather well-done compared to other cartoons like this. Most would have considered it a milestone of animation at the time.) It's so awesome that it's our page image, currently.
91* ''WesternAnimation/WonderWoman2009'': The climactic fight against Ares and the zombified Amazons takes place at the National Mall.
92* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', the confrontation between Mei and Ming in the climax takes place in the [=SkyDome=] which together with the adjacent CN Tower are the most iconic parts of the UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} skyline.
93[[/folder]]
94
95[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
96* In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Vision and Wanda are hiding out in Edinburgh, Scotland. They just so happen to be ambushed on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh's most famous street, before moving the fight to the (empty) Waverley train station, both major tourist spots.
97* ''Film/JamesBond'':
98** There's a fight with Jaws in the cable car leading up to Sugarloaf Mountain of Rio de Janeiro in ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''.
99** Bond fights a major [[EvilMinions minion]] or two at the Eiffel Tower in ''Film/AViewToAKill''. The final confrontation takes place over the Golden Gate Bridge.
100** In ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', he ends up hanging off of a hot-air balloon above the landmark then called the Millenium Dome (now the O2 Arena).
101* The final showdown between apes and humans in ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'' takes place on the Golden Gate Bridge.
102* Although not a national landmark, the movie ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' had the final battle take place at the Silvercup Studios roof, with the "Silvercup" sign a local landmark.
103* OlderThanTelevision: In ''Film/KingKong1933'', Kong climbed the Empire State Building.
104* King Kong climbed the south tower of the World Trade Center before jumping to the north tower in the [[Film/KingKong1976 1976 version]].
105* Seems that Alfred Hitchcock liked this trope a lot:
106** The climax of ''Film/Blackmail1929'' involves a chase through the British Museum.
107** The climax of ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'' took place in and around a [[http://web.archive.org/web/20130103004844/http://www.jetsetmodern.com/modatmovies.htm fake Frank Lloyd Wright house]] on Mount Rushmore. Hitchcock started with the idea of characters crawling around the presidents' faces and figured out the rest of the movie from there.
108** The Royal Albert Hall in ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooMuch''.
109** The Statue of Liberty in ''Film/{{Saboteur}}''.
110* Big Ben features in the climax of ''Film/TheThirtyNineSteps1978''.
111* The live action ''Film/RichieRich'' film parodied this with a climax that took place on "Mount Richmore", a mountain carved Mount Rushmore-style to look like the Rich family. Earlier in the film, the villain actually watches a little of ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''.
112* In the final battle in ''Film/WayOfTheDragon'', Bruce Lee and a very hairy-chested Chuck Norris duke it out in Rome's Coliseum.
113* The Hong Kong {{Wuxia}} ''Film/AManCalledHero'' (as well as its original source material ''{{Manhua}}'' (Hong-Kong Manga) Manhua/ChineseHero featured an epic final duel between China and Japan's greatest warriors... on top of the Statue of Liberty.
114* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''
115** In ''Film/XMen1'', the final battle also takes place at the Statue of Liberty, with Wolverine and Sabretooth having a battle atop its head.
116** The climax of ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' takes place at Alcatraz and the demolishment of the Golden Gate Bridge.
117* ''Film/ShanghaiKnights'' ends with a battle inside Big Ben. (Or rather, inside the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, where the bell named Big Ben is.)
118* In ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'' the invading aliens damage the Capitol building and the Supreme Court building.
119* The first third of ''Film/SupermanII'' features both a fight with terrorists at the Eiffel Tower and a daring rescue (or two) at Niagara Falls.
120** ''Film/SupermanIII'' also features Superman in full {{Jerkass}} mode straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
121** ''Film/SupermanIVTheQuestForPeace'' features a chase between Nuclear Man destroying various landmarks and Superman quickly repairing things. Among them include the Great Wall of China and (of course) The Statue of Liberty.
122* Happens often in {{kaiju}} films: Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and Angurius destroyed Osaka Castle in ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'', Mothra wrecked Tokyo Tower in [[Film/{{Mothra}} her debut film]], and there have been at least three films with a final battle at Mt. Fuji.
123* ''Film/QTheWingedSerpent'' is finally killed in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLOyp_7X7K0 surprisingly cool action sequence]] at the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City.
124* The fight with the alien robot in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' culminates at the Golden Gate bridge.
125* ''Film/RemoWilliamsTheAdventureBegins'' features a [[LeParkour Parkour]]-type chase down the outside of the Statue of Liberty using the scaffolding that was in place during the refurbishment that it was undergoing around the time that the movie was being made.
126* Semi-Justified in ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' where the Pyramids were constructed as a hiding spot for an [[AncientAstronauts ancient alien]] DoomsdayDevice. The last third of the movie takes place at its base and on top of it.
127* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' has an epic battle scene in Paris, where Cobra attempts to destroy the city with nanites. [[spoiler:They fail, but manage to destroy the Eiffel Tower. Oddly, the Joes don't seem to care. (Well, they may not engage in conversation about the tower destruction, but Breaker seems to be genuinely appalled by the fact.]])
128* The first ''Film/{{Blade}}'' movie ends with a short scene of Blade hunting vampires in Moscow. Where, exactly? Well, on the Red Square, konechno!
129* ''Film/RushHour3'' ends with Jackie Chan facing off against the BigBad in a swordfight that starts in the Jules Verne restaurant of the Eiffel Tower and ends up on the girders of the outside. As is ''Rush Hour'' tradition, the baddie [[spoiler:falls to his death onto a glass booth below]].
130* Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones dangle from the skybridge of the KLCC Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in ''Film/{{Entrapment}}''.
131* ''Film/JudgeDredd''. The final battle between Dredd and Rico takes place ''inside'' the Statue of Liberty.
132* The [[WhatCouldHaveBeen original script]] for ''Film/FridayThe13thPartVIIIJasonTakesManhattan'' had the climactic fight taking place on the Statue of Liberty.
133* ''Film/TheRock'' is basically ''[[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard]]'' [[DieHardOnAnX in and around Alcatraz]].
134* In ''Film/DraculaUntold'', Vlad Dracula's battle against the Ottomans probably is to take the place of a real historical battle where Vlad III launched a surprise attack on the Ottomans in a narrow pass of the Carpathian Mountains.
135* The final battle in ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'' between Holmes and Blackwood takes place atop the incomplete Tower Bridge.
136* In ''Film/SherlockCaseOfEvil'', the final battle between Holmes and Moriarty takes inside the clock tower housing Big Ben. (Shades of ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective''!)
137* ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'': Peter sends a video to the ''Daily Bugle'' to bait the villains into fighting him at the Statue of Liberty. Not only is it a big obvious landmark that all the villains can identify, but Peter knows that there will be no innocent bystanders around.
138
139[[/folder]]
140
141[[folder:Literature]]
142* ''Literature/{{Silverwing}}'' features the main character and friends getting turned into living bombs and dropped on Brazil of all places. Christ the Redeemer features prominently during the bombing run & after they escape they hide in a bombed out hole in the thing.
143** "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb Bat bombs]]" are actually TruthInTelevision, developed by the U.S. military during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII but never actually deployed.
144* Literature/{{Percy Jackson|and the Olympians}} fights monsters at the top of the Saint Louis arch (''The Lightning Thief''), Hoover Dam (''The Titan's Curse''), Alcatraz (''Battle of the Labyrinth''), and of course the Empire State Building (''The Last Olympian''). Thank the gods for [[WeirdnessCensor mist]]
145** He also kills the Minotaur on [[TakeItToTheBridge Williamsburg Bridge]] (in fact, all the bridges in Manhattan are the site of battles) in ''The Last Olympian'', and fights Telekhines on Mt St. Helens [[spoiler:which is also where [[EldritchAbomination Typhon]] is [[SealedEvilInACan trapped]], until the battle accidentally frees him]] in ''Battle of the Labyrinth''. The sequel series ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' seems to be following the tradition, with the first time Jason, Piper and Leo face monsters is the Grand Canyon [[spoiler:well, the first time we ''see'' Jason fight a monster, that is]].
146* The final battle with the colloids and their monstrous offspring takes place at the Statue of Liberty in ''Literature/TheParasiteWar''.
147* ''Literature/TheFatalDream'':
148** A trap for the Pteranodon is prepared and staged at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
149** In Trevor's backstory, it is mentioned that a terrorist attack took place at the Statue of Liberty.
150[[/folder]]
151
152[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
153* ''Series/DoctorWho'' had Big Ben partially destroyed in "Aliens of London", and 10 Downing Street ''completely'' destroyed in the second part, "World War Three".
154** The Battle of Canary Wharf in "Doomsday" in and around 1 Canada Square (usually just called Canary Wharf) which, due to ParodyDisplacement, is now thought by countless Americans to be called "the Torchwood Tower" in real life...
155** And the original series had the world-conquering supercomputer WOTAN based in the Post Office/BT Tower.
156*** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The Pandorica Opens]] hundreds of aliens races gather at Stonehenge to battle it out for the Pandorica, with the Doctor standing between all of them and it. [[spoiler:Except they're all working together against the Doctor to trap him in it]].
157* * ''Series/{{Highlander}}: The Series'' put the final fight of the third season, between Duncan [=MacLeod=] and his arch-enemy Kalas, atop the Eiffel Tower. Kalas ''thought'' he had Mac in a no-win situation - lose his head or else lose TheMasquerade - but Mac realized that there was a critical flaw in Kalas's plan: the Eiffel Tower is made of steel, which makes it "the world's biggest lightning rod". He then killed Kalas and used the power of Kalas's Quickening, channeled through the Tower, to blow out the entire area's power grid, shorting out every computer for a mile or more in every direction - which included Kalas's hideout - and thus [[NiceJobFixingItVillain destroying the "or else" part of Kalas's plan]].
158[[/folder]]
159
160[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
161* In one ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' mission, Tesla's Torch, the heroes find themselves in New York, so naturally they end up battling the members of an interstellar crime syndicate on both the Empire State Building and the statue of liberty.
162* TabletopGame/YuGiOh'':
163** As noted in the anime section, Clock Tower Prison is a facsimile of the tower that holds Big Ben, used in Destiny Hero decks.
164** Also, [[{{Portmanteau}} Kyoutou Waterfront]], an amalgamation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Tower Tokyo Tower]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Tower Kyoto Tower]], used in Kaiju decks.
165[[/folder]]
166
167[[folder:Video Games]]
168* ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice''
169** ''Abe Lincoln Must Die!'': A cybernetically-animated version of the Lincoln Monument runs for president; the player must get Max to run against it, and ''win'', to advance the story.
170** The final battle in "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls" involves trying to foil a demonic SummoningRitual taking place at the very top of the Statue of Liberty.
171* ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart'': Lilica's stage takes place on the Tokyo Tower.
172* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': The final boss fight is a swordfight on top of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Hall Federal Hall]] in New York.
173* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'': A number of levels are set at famous landmarks, such as:
174** The Statue of Liberty
175** Battery Park
176** The Paris catacombs.
177* ''VideoGame/AtomicRunnerChelnov'' has the final boss fight atop the Statue of Liberty's shoulder.
178* ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man'' famously featured a battle in Manchester Cathedral which led to [[BannedInChina a legal spat between Sony and the Church of England]].
179* The climax of ''VideoGame/GhostReconAdvancedWarfighter'' takes place at the Presidential Palace in downtown UsefulNotes/MexicoCity, as well as the adjoining plaza [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zócalo El Zócalo]], the second most iconic location in the city. Several missions earlier, the hardest scene (as well as the final showdown) occurs at the ''first'' most iconic location, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ángel Plaza del Ángel]], where the US Embassy is blown up by insurgents.
180* ''VideoGame/TheConduit'' has several stages in or near various Washington D.C. landmarks.
181* Several missions in VideoGame/CommandAndConquer: Red Alert 2 take place around famous buildings, with them often being turned into infantry strongholds or super-weapons. In the Soviet Paris mission, the objective is to turn the Eiffel Tower into a ''gigantic tesla coil capable of destroying every enemy in the entire city''. In the expansion, Yuri even remakes the Easter Island heads in his own image, with ''lasers shooting out of their eyes''.
182** There was one moment where you got to fight in New York, [[HarsherInHindsight optionally destroying the World Trade Center]]... they had to rename it in a patch.
183** ''Red Alert 3'' has many more famous buildings around the battles. Some need to be destroyed to complete the mission, others have been fitted with weaponry to be used against you, including a [[WeaponizedLandmark weaponized Mount Rushmore with laser eyes!]]
184** In ''Tiberium Wars'', GDI and Nod's first campaigns are in Washington DC; both feature a level where you take over the White House; GDI also has to defend the Pentagon. The Scrin's first mission takes place in London, and your objective (aside from destroying GDI), is to take out Big Ben, Parliament, and Buckingham Palace.
185* The final battle in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' takes place in London, within sight of Big Ben. This is justified in that the Reapers are trageting major cities in order to easily harvest as many humans as possible.
186* ''VideoGame/BattleTanx: Global Assault'' was all about traveling to famous places in America, England, France, and Germany, and having a massive tank battle on top of their ruins.
187* In ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}}'', the PC and his squadmates fight in battles above Rio, Washington DC, and LA. In the DC mission, one of your squadmates mentions that the White House has been BLOWN UP in an attempt to kill the President. You also have to protect Air Force One.
188* One of the stages in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'' take place in Washington D.C., including a mission where your squad has to help [[spoiler:retake the White House from the Russians]].
189* ''VideoGame/Onimusha3DemonSiege'', which partly takes place in modern Paris, features several of these.
190* ''VideoGame/MetalWolfChaos'' featured this in pretty much every mission. Statue of Liberty? Fought a giant tank. Grand Canyon ([[RuleOfFunny which is somehow in Utah]])? 'copter. Alcatraz? Took down a giant rail gun. White House? Don't you mean the "Fight House?" Hell, in the D.C. missions, you can go parading around and shooting up monuments (namely Lincoln) for some funny dialogue.
191* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' features a ''lot'' of Washington landmarks. The more recognizable monuments actually get less plot-critical appearances, and the climactic battle takes place in and around the less familiar Jefferson Memorial.
192** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' features a major battle over Hoover Dam, one of the last remaining sources of electricity in the wasteland.
193* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' has the Chrysler Building as a BonusDungeon in the NewGamePlus. The Statue of Liberty, which gets destroyed by the military and [[BigBad Eve]], also serves as the backdrop for the final battle against Eve.
194* The VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/RedFaction II'' is set inside the Statue of Sopot.
195* One level in ''VideoGame/ToySoldiers'' takes place at Mt. Rushmore.
196* In ''VideoGame/SlySpy'', the first stage involves a firefight with terrorists in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
197* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' features many of Firenze's and Venice's landmarks, and the final mission involves sneaking into the [[spoiler:Vatican to assassinate [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade Pope Alexander VI]]]].
198* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi]]'', the BossBattle at the end of Stage 3 takes place atop the Statue of Liberty.
199* In ''VideoGame/StreetFighterI'', you fight Mike in front of Mount Rushmore and fight Lee on top of the Great Wall of China.
200* ''VideoGame/LegoMarvelSuperheroes'': You don't just fight ''at'' the Statue of Liberty, you fight ''against'' her; in a level [[PunnyName appropriately called]] "Taking Liberties", Magneto uses his magnetic powers to control her into fighting the good guys (including Captain America, who has to become an ApologeticAttacker against her.)
201* ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'': Spider-Man at one point has to destroy a UFO above the Statue of Liberty altering its appearance to that of Mysterio's.
202[[/folder]]
203
204[[folder:Web Original]]
205* Literature/TheFireNeverDies:
206** In a (allo)historical irony, many battles of the [[SecondAmericanCivilWar Second American Revolution]] occur on or near the sites of Civil War battlefields, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Manassas, and the Wilderness.
207** The [[WashingtonDCInvasion Battle of Washington]] sees firefights through both the Capitol and the Smithsonian.
208[[/folder]]
209
210[[folder:Western Animation]]
211* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' fought three villains at once at the Eiffel Tower; in a probable reference to the trope, she also fought Dr. Drakken at "The World's Biggest Wheel of Cheese".
212** [[RunningGag Which, in fact, is not just a cheese covered building]].
213* In an exaggerated twist on ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', Dexter and Mandark brought Washington and Lincoln's figures from Mount Rushmore to life, and made them fight. [[spoiler:They stop and go to get drinks after they realize they are both known for their honesty in pop culture.]]
214* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' faced an army of ghosts released when the Eiffel Tower was discovered to be a SteamPunk [[WeaponizedLandmark Ecto-containment grid.]] Like the ''Highlander'' example, they managed to use the tower's unique design to their advantage, converting it into a transmitter which beamed the ghosts back to their containment unit in New York.
215* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Super Best Friends" had Jesus, Buddha, Joseph Smith, Krishna, [[Creator/{{Laozi}} Lao Tzu]], Muhammad, and Sea Man (a parody of Aquaman) fighting David Blaine in Washington DC. Blaine brings the Lincoln Memorial to life to fight them, so they build and animate a giant stone John Wilkes Booth to fight back.
216* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': Jackie and Valmont were once in a fight on top of Mount Rushmore. This along with other battles taking place in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco's Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower, along with [[UsefulNotes/TheCityOfLight the Eiffel Tower]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} the Space Needle]], and Uluru/Ayers Rock.
217** The opening title sequence has Jackie doing battle at most every major landmark in the world, interspaced with the live action Jackie Chan.
218* The GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'' took place at Stonehenge.
219* At one point of the multi-part GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'', it is discovered that the Pentagon has been converted into a [[SuperSoldier Neolord]] brood facility, and the Charlie-Fives are dispatched to take it out. The resultant battle eventually ends up on top of the Washington Monument.
220* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' once battled an egomaniacal... theme park owner's right-hand man in Paris, taking in the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower.
221* This happened several times in ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', along with a tendency to deface or destroy the monuments with giant laser beams. The Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center, Uluru, Notre Dame du Paris, Rockefeller Center, and George Washington Bridge all saw fighting, while the Great Sphinx of Giza, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and NYC Cleopatra's Needle were severely damaged.
222* Happens regularly in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. It does take place in Paris, but more often than not the fighting ends up at (or sometimes on) the Eiffel Tower, Arc du Triomphe, Notre Dame, etc. Showing off the different parts of Paris to non-French viewers is one of the show's goals, after all.
223* As the original ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' series is a road trip across America, several battles take place on or near famous landmarks:
224** Ben's second fight with Kevin 11 takes place in San Francisco on the Golden Gate Bridge.
225** As Mount Rushmore is the base of a secret alien fighting society, it also ended up being the site of the climactic battle of a season.
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228[[folder:Real Life]]
229* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_the_Great_Wall Defense of the Great Wall]] in 1933. One of several battles in history at or around the Great Wall of China (hardly a surprise, given its purpose), but the only one with the Wall itself in the battle's name.
230* A common UrbanLegend about the Great Sphinx of Giza says that it lost its nose in a battle like this, by cannon fire either from the armies of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, British troops, or the Mamluks. However, sketches of it as far back as 1737 still show the nose missing. More than likely, the true reason the nose was destroyed was vandalism by the iconoclast Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr in AD 1378.
231* UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte[='s=] Battle of the Pyramids actually took place about nine miles away from the Pyramids, where they were only faintly visible on the horizon. Napoleon named the battle as such in order to imply that it had been a MonumentalBattle.
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