Sandbox / Washington DC Invasion Wick Check

Washington D.C. Invasion is a trope that's very much about villains invading the US Capital. However, there are real life examples that are simply "DC was invaded", and a note about the trope happening in real life. This is at odds with the morality trope aspect, and implies that the wiki sees this trope about DC invasions in a more general, morally neutral sense. Because it only has 72 non-sandbox wicks, all non-sandbox wicks will be checked.

72/72

Results:

• Villains: 24/72
• Non-Evil / Generic Invasions: 29/72
• RL invasions: 7/72
• ZCE: 10/72
• Other: 9/72

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Villains Invading

1. Finishing Each Other's Sentences: In G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, the villainous Crimson Twins (Tomax and Xamot) have a Psychic Link and talk accordingly. One will begin a sentence, the other will continue it, then they'll finish it together. For instance, when their leader plots an ill-advised Washington D.C. Invasion:
   Xamot: Invasion is easy—
   Tomax: —but holding U.S. territory—
   Both: —is all but impossible!
2. Post-Apocalyptic Traffic Jam: It's more Pre-Apocalyptic Traffic Jam, but in Independence Day after the City Destroyers take position over major cities around the world, everybody and their dog try their damnedest to evacuate, leading to a scene in which David Levinson and his father Julius are the only people in the lanes heading towards Washington, D.C. while the other half of the highway is loaded with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Jasmine Dubrow and her son are also stuck in a similar traffic jam of people fleeing Los Angeles. A later scene in which the military tries to nuke a City Destroyer flying over Houston has a brief shot of an APC sent to surveil the nuke's effectiveness stopping on an overpass that has the "outgoing" lanes full with empty cars (General Grey mentions to President Whitmore that the city was evacuated hours ago, and that “casualties should be at a minimum” - looks like the people of Houston wasted no time in abandoning their cars and getting out of town). Kinda a weird spot to link it, but seems to fit the villain part
3. Characters.Command And Conquer Tiberium Series Factions And Characters: In Tiberium Wars, the first act of the Nod campaign is a multi-stage invasion of DC and the environs, with special attention paid to the White House and Langley AFB. Nod has plenty evil tropes and is compared to COBRA
4. Characters.Fallout 3: Not-So-Harmless Villain: Most people regard Enclave radio as a joke, since the messages loop the same things and no one has ever seen an Enclave soldier. Once you rescue James and begin to restart the Purifier however, the Washington D.C. Invasion begins.
5. Characters.Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Monsters Season One: In the Boom comics, Rita invaded Washington D.C. at one point as she and Lord Drakkon conquered the Earth, and a giant Pumpkin Rapper was seen dangerously close to the Capitol Building.
6. Characters.Monster Verse King Ghidorah: Upon taking over as King of the Monsters, whilst the other Titans now under Ghidorah's thrall attack various cities around the world, Ghidorah himself flies north from Mexico to quickly invade Washington D.C.: turning the city into his roost, he scorches the buildings with his lightning and he inundates the entire city with his hypercane. For bonus points, Ghidorah unlike the other Titans is actually an alien creature. And thus Bill Randa was proven quite wrong when he said there would never be a more tumultuous time in D.C..
7. ComicBook.Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash: Freddy stages a surprisingly successful one with a Deadite army (and Jason leading the troops). When the government's dumb enough to bring Freddy, Jason, and the Necronomicon itself to Washington...
8. Fanfic.Coreline Operation Endgame: Washington D.C. Invasion: Team Seven and Cap Mari (and their allies) go to war with CHIMERA on the streets of Washington. With the CHIMERA forces too numerous even for them, all they can do is Hold the Line long enough for President Rogers to be safely evacuated, denying CHIMERA one of its biggest targets.
9. Fanfic.Mega Man Defender Of The Human Race: ProtoMan plans this in Episode 9, but it doesn't happen due to Wily's interference. Wily then steals his idea to use in Episode 11.
10. Film.The War Of The Worlds 1953: Averted and even lampshaded: the Martians never mobilize towards the city, for some odd reason, and so this provides the opportunity to utilize it as the headquarters for the world-wide effort to fight the Martians. I guess the Martians are considered villains
11. JustForFun.Grand Unified Timeline The Post War Era: On Earth 10, Nazi Germany captures Washington. This is the final step in their conquest of Earth. (DC Comics)
12. Pantheon.Other Weapon Tropes: As a whole: Developing and intent on deploying several top-secret weapons in conjunction against their enemies, Many of the secret weapons being developed using the latest in German science, Intent on taking the war to the mainland United States of America, Including the US Capital Washington DC, The Kriegsmarine, Schutzstaffel, and Imperial Japanese Navy working and pooling their resources together to achieve these goals, Many of the individuals involved becoming priority targets of the OSS and SOE, and thus on Karl Fairburne's kill list. Operation Kraken folder
13. Recap.The Outer Limits 1995 S 2 E 16 The Deprogrammers: It is mentioned that the Torkor invasion of Earth began with one ship landing on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. The Torkor appear to be evil.
14. TheOuterLimits1995.Tropes Q To Z: In "The Deprogrammers", it is mentioned that the Torkor invasion of Earth began with one ship landing on the National Mall in Washington, D.C..
15. VideoGame.Command And Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars: The first act of the GDI campaign is kicking the Nod invasion back out of the city, starting with the Siege of the Pentagon. Best part? The first act of the Nod campaign (unlocked by beating Act I of GDI's campaign) is the Nod invasion of DC! From my understanding, Nod is evil
16. VideoGame.Command And Conquer Red Alert 2: Putting this here because the soviets seem to be portrayed as evil.'''
    • America Saves the Day: Inverted, as getting the European Allies to enter the war against the Soviets is of prime importance to the United States. The USA also has to set up a Government in Exile in Canada until Washington DC is retaken.
    • The first Soviet mission has you destroying the Pentagon. This contradicts the Allied (canon) side, where you actually have to defend and attack with a lot more than just basic grunts. The eighth Soviet mission involves attacking General Vladimir's base near and capturing the White House.
17. VideoGame.Conduit 2: One of the game's levels is a return to Washington D.C., as it's in the middle of a full-blown alien invasion. The aliens are described elsewhere as being evil.
18. VideoGame.Extrapower Attack Of Darkforce: As every major city becomes a target for Dark Force attacks. Galaxy Star gives the player characters the mission of defending Washington DC, so several fights against the invaders take place here. Dark Force is Always Chaotic Evil
19. VideoGame.Ion Fury: The game takes place around a futuristic Washington, DC (since christened "Neo DC"), which is being attacked by Dr. Jadus Heskel. Heskel is described as openly evil
20. VideoGame.Mental Omega: The very first Allied mission tasks you with defending Washington D.C. from the Russians. The first Soviet Act II mission reverses the roles, with you being the Russian occupiers of the city and the enemy being American rebels. The Soviets appear to be villainous
21. VideoGame.Octogeddon: The final level involves the Octogeddon destroying Washington D.C. and The White House.
22. WesternAnimation.GI Joe A Real American Hero: The second was a full-scale invasion of Washington ordered by Serpentor at the end of his 5-part debut arc. However, the other Cobra characters point out to him that while he occupies Washington, the rest of America is still free and in the fight, and both the President and Vice President were away at the time of the attack. This realistically Lampshades how difficult attacking the U.S. mainland really is for conventional militaries. Serpentor should have listened to his subordinates as the Joes lead the retaking of the city in a Curb-Stomp Battle.

Non-Evil / Unmentioned-morality examples

1. Aliens in Cardiff: Not to be confused with Aliens of London (though this doesn't mean they are mutually exclusive), Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here (where the location is just generically boring). Contrast with Canada Does Not Exist, where it's forbidden to name the semi-known location, as well as Washington D.C. Invasion, when the aliens don't feel like faffing around and cut right to the chase. Aliens in Cardiff is just about supernatural events, not evil invasions, so that's what this comparison implies
2. Deadly Gas: In The Fire Never Dies, the Reds make use of chemical weapons in several key battles, such as Erlanger, Wilmington, and Washington. While their weapons are described as less sophisticated than their European counterparts, the Whites never manage to get proper countermeasures in place due to their mediocre industrial base.
3. Divided States of America: A powerless rump state in Washington, D.C. (or elsewhere if DC was destroyed or overrun), still claiming descent from the Federal government and issuing grandiose proclamations which are ignored by the rest of the 'country'. A hypothetical with no moral alighments
4. First Contact: If taking place in America, it may turn out that First Contact actually happened decades ago in Roswell, New Mexico, and that the government has been keeping it under wraps ever since. When the aliens send an embassy right to the capital, there may be overlap with a Washington D.C. Invasion if the negotiations disappoint.
5. Invaded States of America: May or may not involve a Washington D.C. Invasion.
6. Monumental Battle: The Fire Never Dies: The Battle of Washington sees firefights through both the Capitol and the Smithsonian.
7. Secret Weapon: Sniper Elite 5: Operation Kraken is actually several of these put together. Stealth-plated U-boats and Japanese I-400 class submarines that can evade Allied radar and sonar carry English-speaking Nazi spies and V2 rockets to be used against the East Coast of the United States, including Washington DC. The rockets will be launched off the US Coast, while the spies will be offloaded near New York and Boston, with both wreaking havoc onto a mainland United States that hasn't experienced the full effects of the European War.
8. Film.Earth Vs The Flying Saucers: The final battle takes place around major landmarks in the city. Notable for the amount of (second unit) location filming around the Capitol Building and other landmarks, giving the tightly budgeted film a better look than your average B movie. The aliens are very specifically not evil
9. Funny.Mobile Suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans: A meta example in that of all places on Earth, the show's big climactic battle takes place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It's so unusual that a (free) local Edmonton newspaper wrote an article on it as its front-page headline.◊
   “In popular fiction when they’re choosing a place to destroy they’re looking for something iconic, or at the very least, a place that people recognize,” Schatz said. “That’s why you get New York destroyed all the time, or Washington, or monuments. It says something about Edmonton, that we’ve been chosen to be wrecked.”
10. Literature.Decades Of Darkness: Ater Washington, D.C. gets burned to the ground again in the War of 1833, the *US moves its capital to Knoxville, Tennessee, out of the reach of British and Yankee assault. Knoxville was named for the Bostonian Henry Knox, which just cannot do for the nation's new capital given the actions of 'treasonous' New England, and so it is rechristened Columbia City.
11. Literature.Sphere: Ocean Punk: Almost the whole story occurs on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, an important part of the Project ULF report was the Lampshade Hanging that people assume (because of pop culture) that aliens that visit will automatically aim for someplace on land (like Washington D.C., if not elsewhere) when the ocean-vs.-land disposition on Earth makes it more possible that they will land on water (and may be even more suited to live on water) and there are many mentions in passing about how the conditions of the extreme depth are demanding to both human and machine (and even to something as simple as cooking). As it turns out, the spaceship crash-landed, which further justifies the setting - if you hit a random part of the world, you've basically got a 71% chance of landing in water.
12. Literature.The Fire Never Dies: The climax of the Second American Civil War was the Battle of Washington, which culminated in the invasion of Washington DC itself. With the Reds' crushing numerical superiority, the White forces would surrender after ten days of urban warfare.
13. Literature.Timeline 191: In this timeline, Washington D.C. is just across the river from the CSA, easily within artillery range. Once The Great War starts, Confederate forces quickly overrun it, and occupy it throughout the war.
14. Quotes.Aliens In Cardiff: ->“In popular fiction when they’re choosing a place to destroy they’re looking for something iconic, or at the very least, a place that people recognize. That’s why you get New York destroyed all the time, or Washington, or monuments. It says something about Edmonton, that we’ve been chosen to be wrecked.”
    — The Metro Edmonton on Episode 24 of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.
15. Recap.Justice League S 2 E 24 To 26 Starcrossed: The beginning of the episode where the League were staking out at a world conference held in Washington in anticipation of a terrorist incident, but only to be interrupted by a Gordanian ship. Lampshaded by Batman, who finds the small scale of the invasion and the convenience of the Thanagarian fleet being nearby suspicious.
16. Roleplay.Destroy The Godmodder: Project Binary did this, but that's because he lives there. He had to control D.C. to get to the rest of the world.
17. TabletopGame.Axis And Allies: Can be done by the Axis, albeit with a large navy and many, many troop transports coming across the Atlantic. As anyone can choose either side, neither side seems to be cast as evil.
18. VideoGame.Civil War Generals: As noted above, the ultimate Confederate objective. You get a chance to pull this off after a decisive victory in the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Gettysburg, or the Battle of the Wilderness. The later the invasion is, the less prepared Washington's defenders are. Since players can choose either side, this seems to lack a firm morality
19. VideoGame.Crush Crumble And Chomp: One of the four cities in which you can rampage.
20. VideoGame.End War: Battles can happen in the US, including Washington DC.
21. VideoGame.Rise Of Nations: In the Cold War campaign, if the player as the Soviets launch a conventional attack on the US capital territory (Eastern Seaboard), the scenario that plays starts with the Soviets having seized control of New England up to Hartford (even if you attack from the south). The win condition is the capture of Washington. Doesn't seem to be moral alignments here
22. VideoGame.Shattered Union: Can be done by anyone, although instead of the White House players finds a huge crater.
23. WebOriginal.Red Alert 3 Paradox: Played with, as Washington DC is being invaded by Americans.

Real Life invasions and references to them

1. Cultural Posturing: Canadians, on the other hand, are always quick to brag about the War of 1812, treating it as a Curb-Stomp Battle in Canada's favor—as exemplified in claims that Canadian forces "burned down the U.S. capital." That was actually the work of British Army regulars who'd just arrived from Europe, and it was also in retaliation for (among other things) American forces burning down Canada's own capital of York (known today as Toronto).
2. Unspecified Apocalypse: General Bethlehem claims to have been at "the Battle of Georgetown" and seen the White House burn to the ground. I guess?
3. FamilyGuyFanon.Tropes A To C: "The Birthday Bootlegger" explains Bert and Sheila's sudden replacement. It turns out Bert and Sheila were at the United States Capitol on January 6, revealing that their progressive views were a facade, and that they were actually staunch supporters of Donald Trump.
4. Film.The Postman: General Bethlehem claims to have been at "the Battle of Georgetown" and seen the White House burn to the ground. Like the crosswicked example above, this is another that SEEMS to be referencing something real
5. Funny.Dream SMP: The fact that the Doomsday War took place on the same day as the storming of the US Capitol, January 6th, 2021. What makes it funnier is that some fans didn't realize the news about the attack on government was happening in real life as well as in the Minecraft roleplay.
6. Literature.Trail Of Glory: As in the Real Life War of 1812, the British forces in The Rivers of War attack Washington, DC in a punitive raid. However, unlike in the original war Sam Houston helps rally the troops to defend the Capitol Building, effectively turning the British attack from a major propaganda victory to petty arson when they settle for torching other buildings, after being bloodied badly and driven away in their attempt to assault the Capitol Building.
7. HomeByChristmas.Real Life: While no timetable was ever mentioned, American War Hawks at the beginning of the War of 1812 declared the conquest of Canada to be "a simple matter of marching." With capable commanders in Canada like Isaac Brock and Tecumseh, all US invasion attempts ended in failure, though the Americans did succeed in burning York (now Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada... which led to the British and Canadians burning Washington, D.C. in response

ZCE

1. Literature.Dirk Pitt Adventures: just the trope name
2. Pantheon.Administrative Centers: Potholed as a similar place to War-Torn Berlin
3. Roleplay.Cape And Cowl: A supervillain attempt to nuke the National Mall. A hidden ZCE, presumably because it doesn't explain that it's in DC
4. VideoGame.Empire Earth: Blackworth's attempted coup in the American campaign from EE2 involves an attack from his cybernetic army. Does not mention DC, nor if Blackworth is evil
5. VideoGame.HAWX: Just the trope name
6. VideoGame.The Conduit: Just the trope name
7. VideoGame.Toy Soldiers: The last mission in Cold War.
8. Webcomic.Draw Your Own Story: Played with, as Washington DC is being invaded by Americans.
9. WesternAnimation.Mega Man Ruby Spears: Wily does this in "Mega-Pinocchio" with the help of Mega Man and the other Light robots.

Other/Unsortable (Indexes, general misuse that doesn't go into other categories, etc)

1. Indexed States of America
2. Military and Warfare Tropes
3. Narrative Devices
4. ComicBook.Amazons Attack: The raison d'être of the entire project. The Amazons aren't evil, even if they do some evil stuff, other villains are pulling the strings... it's hard to place
5. Film.The Day The Earth Stood Still 1951: The film starts with a spaceship landing on the National Mall. Not an invasion, but no one told the Army.
6. ImageSource.Live Action Films A To L
7. It.Elenco Provvisorio W
8. Recap.My Superhero University Maybe The Children Of A Lesser God: Capital Offensive: The students hold half of the artifacts. If the Guardians want to continue with their plan, they have to infiltrate/attack the university. Villains storming Saint University and even Super City is not the same thing as attacking the US capital. Indeed, Saint University has Swiss-Cheese Security, but, as far as the factions in this war, its the Students vs the Guardians vs the Terrans and the university is a very big target for forcing an endgame. Unsure how to sort this, since it's a generic pothole but the trope is discussing villains
9. VideoGame.The Forgotten: Hero of Another Story: The campaign runs parallel to the GDI and Nod campaign from the main game. For example, Trogan's broadcast interrupts the W3N news report about the GDI Commander successfully repelling Nod's Washington D.C. Invasion. Because it's a perspective flip, it's unclear if this example is villainous or not in context

Multiple case

1. Capital Offensive:
   • This can be seen as a super-trope of Washington D.C. Invasion, which deals with similar scenarios in the United States capital. This trope isn't about evil invasions, just war
   • Ace Combat: Assault Horizon has two of them, both involves two real life capital cities. The first one is in Moscow where the combined NATO and Russian loyalists launches a decisive offensive against NRF forces who have occupied the Russian capital. While the last one happens in the final mission where the Big Bad leads a whole squadrons of rogue Russian fighters and bombers on a daring offensive against Washington DC to nuke the White House. Just war
   • Modern Warfare 2 had the Russians launch an invasion of the United States on the Eastern Seaboard. Washington, D.C. is one of their first targets. Several levels take place in D.C. wrapping up with the retaking of The White House. Just war
   • The second was a full-scale invasion of Washington ordered by Serpentor at the end of his 5-part debut arc. However, the other Cobra characters point out to him that while he occupies Washington, the rest of America is still free and in the fight, and both the President and Vice President were away at the time of the attack. This realistically Lampshades how difficult attacking the U.S. mainland really is for conventional militaries. Serpentor should have listened to his subordinates as the Joes lead the retaking of the city in a Curb-Stomp Battle. This is about Cobra, so it's an evil invasion
   Cobra Commander: [to Serpentor] This is insane! You can't possibly hold Washington, much less conquer the entire United States. I know. I've TRIED!
2. Monumental Damage:
   • Compare Big Applesauce, Monumental Battle, Rushmore Refacement, The Tokyo Fireball, Tilting Tower of Pisa, and Washington D.C. Invasion. Tokyo Tower gets messed up so much it's also its own trope. This trope could be Justified if Landmarking the Hidden Base is being utilized and the bad guy finds out. See also Weaponized Landmark when the monument shoots back. Just a mention as a type of invasion
   • As mentioned under Film, in the original The Transformers the episode "Atlantis Arise" centered on the Decepticons allying with the city of Sub-Atlantica to attack Washington, DC. The Decepticons damaged the Washington Monument to the point where it would have toppled had the Autobots not intervened, and Megatron himself strode into the Lincoln Memorial and ripped the Abraham Lincoln part of the statue off to claim its chair as his throne. Impossible (hence why the movie version shot the statue), but the symbolism is still effective. Evil attack
3. UsefulNotes.Washington DC:
   • The Capital Beltway, aka Interstate 495. On its southern and eastern sections, it also contains mainline Interstate 95... which was supposed to go directly through DC on its trek from Miami to Maine, but was redirected by freeway revolts (see above). All in all, it's another reason why invading DC is not advised. Generic invasion
   • Due to being the United States's capital, Washington, D.C. is a frequent target in fiction for foreign (or alien) invaders — so much so, in fact, that Washington D.C. Invasion has its own trope page. Generic invasion
   • Both Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 have several missions taking place in Washington. ZCE'