History Main / BarrierBustingBlow

* In the [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Figure Skating]] battle in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Ryōga has just crushed Mikado Sanzen'in, the rival male skater, between two icebergs, forced Asuza Shiratori, his female partner, to flee, and buried Female!Ranma in the resulting multi-ton mass of broken ice (and she was already fully submerged in ice water, too). Just as he's relaxing and thinking about going to greet Akane after his victory, [[MadeofIron Ranma's]] hand breaks through the ice and [[{{Determinator}} she clings tenaciously to his leg]].

[[folder:Eastern European Animation]]
* In ''Animation/KaykoAndKokosh'''s first episode, Corporal is running from Hegemon after reporting that the titular duo intercepted the delivery of the dragon egg. He runs out of the keep, slamming the door behind him. Hegemon punches through the door with his fist... and then grabs the handle to actually open the door.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/IronMan1'', one of the villains gets pulled through a wall when he thinks he can hide from Tony.

** ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'':

** In the opening NightmareSequence in ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'', [[spoiler:hundreds of zombie arms break through a white wall to grab the female protagonist]].

* Used in ''Film/RoboCop1987'' to get the drop of a hostage taker in the town hall. After determining the perp's exact position with his [[InfraredXrayCamera infrared vision]], Robo punches both arms through the wall, grabbing the criminal from behind and dragging him all the way into the other room.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]", the Zygon chasing Osgood smashes an arm through the door to the Undergallery hidden behind the portrait of Queen Elizabeth I: punching out Elizabeth's face in the process.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': Luke Cage does this when Kilgrave commands him to fight Jessica.
** ''Series/LukeCage2016'':

** ''Series/IronFist2017'': One of the signature scenes is when Danny uses the Iron Fist to blow open the steel door when escaping Birch Psychiatric Hospital.
** ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': By virtue of their superpowers, Danny Rand and Luke Cage have the ability to throw punches that break down doors.

* Sideshow performer Oofty Goofty seemed to have developed an immunity to pain after being coated with so much tar he had to be left on a roof for it to dissolve, and then falling onto a street. He then utilized his newfound resistance to pain by inviting the citizens of San Francisco to take a whack at him with a baseball bat for ten cents a swing. Worked out pretty well...until boxing champion John L. Sullivan took up the challenge and broke the bat over Oofty's back, fracturing three of his vertebrae.

* Various militarys also employ this tactic when breaching a room, only their tools are typically a bit more lethal.

** In the earlier Abbott & Costello film ''Hit the Ice'', Bud makes a bet with Lou that, if they're standing on the same handkerchief, Lou won't be able to hit him, then wins by closing a door between them. Lou later tries the same trick on a hulking gangster...who just punches through the door and knocks him out.

* ''Series/LostTapes'': Happens twice in the vampire episode. First the vampire breaks through the basement wall that [[InsideAWall it had been hiding within the crawl space for]] in order to catch and prey upon the exteriminator that had been called to investigate by the family living in the house. And on the evening of the very same day it caught the exterminator, the vampire breaks a hole through the door to the bedroom that the family is trying to hole up in for safety when it tries to hunt them. The second instance ironically ends up contributing to its death, as one of the pieces of wood that falls to the bedroom floor as a result of the damage dealt to the door ends up sharp enough for the [[PapaWolf dad]] of the family to use as an improvised WoodenStake to stab it in the heart with.

* ''Series/LostTapes'': Happens in the vampire episode.

* ''Westernanimation/{{Mulan}}'': After Mulan draws Shan Yu's wrath towards her, she closes the door between them... and then he punches a hole. Before a full-body charge that destroys the whole door. Shan Yu also later jumps through the ceiling to find Mulan in the rooftop.

* Averted in H.G. Wells' ''War of the Worlds''; the narrator, hiding in the cellar of the wrecked house, is at the mercy of Martian war machines with heat rays and digging machines with all sorts of mechanical apparatus, but the Martian ultimately elects to open the door.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'', Shaggy attempts to shut a door on a mummy, only for the mummy to punch right through.
* In the ''Transformers: WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' episode "Gorilla Warfare", Optimus Primal, driven insane by a berserker virus, cranks this trope up a notch by pulling Waspinator through a wall into the corridor, then promptly flinging him through the ''other'' wall.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead''. After watching ''Film/RoboCop1987'', the two decide that it would be a fun stunt to try. Butt-Head plays the criminal standing beside their door, while Beavis plays [=RoboCop=]. When Beavis tries to ram the wall, he smacks it hard enough to knock some plaster off it. Butt-Head goes outside and complains to Beavis' unconscious (and possibly dead) body that he hardly made a dent.

* In the [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Figure Skating]] battle in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Ryōga has just crushed Mikado Sanzen'in, the rival male skater, between two icebergs, forced Asuza Shiratori, his female partner, to flee, and buried Female!Ranma in the resulting multi-ton mass of broken ice (and she was already fully submerged in ice water, too). Just as he's relaxing and thinking about going to greet Akane after his victory, [[MadeofIron Ranma's]] hand breaks through the ice and [[{{Determinator}} she clings tenaciously to his leg]].

* Happens in ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'' once. After [[spoiler: Teshigawara snaps]], Onizuka taunts him unseen until he backs against a wall, then Onizuka busts through it with one hand and drags him through.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': In the fight of Kirishima and Fatgum vs Rappa and Tengai, Tengai raises a barrier to protect them from the heroes' incoming attacks, while confidently stating that nothing can penetrate it. However, when Kirishima bravely stands between Rappa and Fatgum, he gives the latter the opening he needs to burn all his stored fat and channel it [[DeathOrGloryAttack into a powerful blow]], shattering Tengai's barrier and [[BlownAcrossTheRoom and sending them flying across the room.]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/LivingDeadSeries'':
** ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'':
*** Ben walks past one of the boarded-up windows, and a bunch of zombie hands suddenly reach in at him.
*** The film's climax, when a mob of zombies reach into the house to pull Barbra away. [[spoiler:Including her zombified brother Johnny.]]
** In the opening NightmareSequence in ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'', [[spoiler:hundreds of zombie arms break through a white wall to grab the female protagonist]].

* In ''Film/TheRock'', Stanley Goodspeed is trying to dodge a pair of soldiers and hides behind a really flimsy wooden wall. Cue the soldiers smashing through the wall to grab him.
* In ''Film/IronMan1'', one of the villains gets pulled through a wall when he thinks he can hide from Tony.
* Agent Smith punches through a wall to grab Neo in ''Film/TheMatrix''... only to be saved by Morpheus's self-sacrifice. Morpheus inverts this trope in the same scene; he breaks ''out'' of the wall and falls on top of Agent Smith.
* Used in ''Film/RoboCop1987'' to get the drop of a hostage taker in the town hall. After determining the perp's exact position with his [[InfraredXrayCamera infrared vision]], Robo punches both arms through the wall, grabbing the criminal from behind and dragging him all the way into the other room.
* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' has David apologize while moving back towards a window... cue the zombies breaking through the barricade and pulling him away to be eaten.
* Subversion: in Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall'', Pink tries to escape the wall in this manner... and fails miserably.

* ''Film/DeadSnow'' has an unusually [[MadeOfPlasticine squishy]] version of this, where the zombies burst through the protagonist's barriers, grab the resident nerd and crush his skull.
* ''Film/DogSoldiers'': Spoon really should know better than to stand near the window.
* In ''Film/{{Species}}'', Sil punches through a bathroom stall to rip out a woman's spine.

* In ''Film/{{Dagon}}'', Paul quickly learns not to rely on aging wood in old hotels, especially when an angry mob is outside.
* The famous axe-through-the-door scene from ''Film/TheShining''. "HEEEEERE'S JOHNNY!"
* The scene from ''The Shining'' was a ShoutOut to the silent film ''Film/BrokenBlossoms'', which is more impressive because the villain chops through the door [[SpecialEffectsFailure using the wrong side of the axe]].
* ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' has a ShoutOut to the famous scene in ''Film/TheShining'', only done with a machete.
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'' where the killer grabs a corpse lying on the other side of the wall instead of the girl he's stalking, giving her a chance to stab him before he realises his mistake.
* In ''Film/TheBrainThatWouldntDie'', Cortner's assistant is killed when Jan-in-the-Pan lures him near the door holding back one of Cortner's failed experiments, who punches through the door and rips the assistant's arm off. When this clip was used on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway''[='s=] game "Film Dub", Colin Mochrie supplied this immortal line: "BUY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA! BUY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA! I'M WORKING MY WAY THROUGH COLLEGE!"

* ''Creator/AbbottAndCostello'' :
** ''Film/AbbottAndCostelloMeetFrankenstein'': Glenn Strange's Monster punches through a door Bud and Lou are hiding behind, conking Lou in the head. Lou was ''supposed'' to stand on marks so Strange would miss him, but he kept forgetting. The director liked [[EnforcedMethodActing Lou's reaction]] and kept the take.
** In the earlier Abbott & Costello film ''Hit the Ice'', Bud makes a bet with Lou that, if they're standing on the same handkerchief, Lou won't be able to hit him, then wins by closing a door between them. Lou later tries the same trick on a hulking gangster...who just punches through the door and knocks him out.
* ''Film/JurassicParkIII'' has one that doesn't end with the heroes captured: the humans go through a hole in a fence, and then the Spinosaurus [[RammingAlwaysWorks just smashes through it]]. And yet once the heroes close a laboratory door on him, it surprisingly withstands the enormous dino charging at it.
* An interesting variation in ''Film/TC2000'', where Matthias Hues's character flees Bolo Yeung's character and hides behind a big metal door, pressing his back against it. The latter remembers Newton's cradle (the suspended metal balls that transmit kinetic force between them), and uses a similar trick to deliver a fatal blow to the bad guy on the other side by punching the metal door. The door doesn't even appear to have a dent in it, but the bad guy collapses with BloodFromTheMouth.
* ''Film/WeirdScience'': When the bikers start trashing the WildTeenParty, Gary and Wyatt hide in the coat closet. One of the bikers punches through the wall, grabs Wyatt and drags him out.
* In ''Film/{{Slashers}}'', Chainsaw Charlie smashes through the wall to grab Rebecca by the throat. Later Dr. Ripper does something similar to grab Brenda, but only punches through a paper poster.
* In ''Film/SlaughterHigh'', Marty punches through a reinforced glass window to get at Carol (but don't worry... he's wearing gloves).

* During the climax of ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout'', while Benji and Ilsa try to look for Lane and the second nuclear bomb, Ilsa spots Lane in a nearby cabin and locates the second bomb. When Ilsa is about to contact Benji that she found the bomb, Lane bursts through the wall and knocks Ilsa unconscious by bashing her with a log.

* Happens in the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVDemonsAndAngels Demons and Angels]]", with [[EnemyWithout Low Kryten]] grabbing Lister through a wall.
* In ''Series/TheShield'', a punk tries to evade Vic Mackey by running down an alley and climbing over a wall made of wooden boards. Mackey simply crashes through the wall and tackles him.

* In ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast1987'', Vincent breaks through a boarded-up section of wall to get to the man who [[spoiler:shot Catherine]].
* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS07E14PluckyPennywhistlesMagicMenagerie Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie]]", a man on the run from a killer {{unicorn}} hides behind a metal plate before his chest gets impaled.
* ''Series/MythBusters'' tests this in the zombie special, using a rickety old barn like what you'd be likely to see the protagonists using in a zombie movie and seeing if a horde of zombies could break it down. The verdict is that the normal, worn door on such a barn would barely slow the zombies down, but if the protagonists had time to [[BerserkBoardBarricade reinforce it with wood planks]], it'd successfully keep the zombies at bay (at least until they lost interest).

* In ''Series/KamenRiderExAid,'' Kamen Rider Genm's upgraded form is zombie themed. The new TransformationSequence ends with his fist ''punching through his own special effects'' and [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou usually in the viewers' direction]], before tearing it apart and being revealed in a zombie-like pose.
* ''Series/LostTapes'': Happens in the vampire episode.

* The ending of Music/MichaelJackson's "Music/{{Thriller}}"; Michael and his fellow zombies chase after his frightened girlfriend. When the girl enters the haunted house and locks the door, one of the zombies crashes through the wall.

* Tachibana Muneshige from ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' 3 made this kind of entrance as an AdvancingBossOfDoom. If you flee up to a certain point after capturing a certain base, he will bust another wall to get you while avoiding stepping on his boss' image made appear by capturing the aforementioned base.
* Some people get owned this way in ''[[Franchise/AlienVsPredator Aliens vs. Predator 2]]''.
* Sam Fisher can do this in ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Chaos Theory'' and ''Double Agent'', albeit only with particularly thin and/or easily-punctured surfaces, like paper walls in the Japanese bathhouse level of the former and patches of ice coming up to the oil tanker in the latter.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', the ImplacableMan Mr. X has a habit of introducing himself by busting through walls. In one darkly hilarious moment, he'll bust into a room from the hall surrounding it to kill you, and when you take him out or run away, he'll bust back out of the room, through a ''different'' wall, to keep chasing you. And in one hallway, zombies can grab you through the boarded-up windows; in this case, however, it's more of a CatScare, as the hands are completely harmless and will let go and recede all on their own even if you don't mash buttons to pry yourself away.
** In the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake remake]], Mr. X kills the reporter Ben by grabbing him through the back wall of his cell before lifting him into the air ''still through the wall'' before finally killing him by crushing his skull with one hand. Mr. X can also come through the wall of the interrogation room hallway from the briefing room, and bursts through the parking garage wall in a cutscene.

* Abobo from ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' commonly does this. ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonNeon'' gives him the subtitle "Brick Busting Bruiser".
* You can do this to people in ''VideoGame/StubbsTheZombie''.
* The scissor man from ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' will gladly smash the bathroom door open if you're foolish enough to hide behind it.
* One of [[PlayerCharacter Adam Jensen's]] possible moves in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''. XRayVision + [[SuperStrength super strong synthetic arms]] = NeckSnap from the opposite side of a wall. Frustrating and somewhat humorous to someone going for a PacifistRun is that while Jensen will ''always'' snap their neck if they're on the other side, taking it down with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG1qKzIsisU a bomb]]'' tends to do just knock them unconscious.
* Batman gains this in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', allowing him to punch through a weak wall to take down a henchman on the other side. One of the Abramovici twins does this to Bats in a JumpScare as well.
** Bane does this to Batman in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', punching through the roof of an elevator to grab Bats then throwing him to the floor.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'' (2012), at several scripted points, you get prompted to charge through weak walls and obstacles.

* There's an {{exaggerated|Trope}} example in ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'' after you get knocked back into the beginning of a later level it becomes a free-for-all of vampires exploding out of walls/columns to try and kill you. Also happens in an in-game cut-scene where a vampire bursts out of a wall, grabs Neo and they bust through a wall into a dungeon.
* The larger dinosaurs in ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame'' like to do this a lot. A ''Triceratops'' knocks down a steel gate while Gerry is struggling to close it. The ''Tyrannosaurus'' smashes her head through the Visitor Centre's front door, and then smashes the doorway aside on the next attempt. And this is just for the first episode.
* In ''VideoGame/LastYearTheNightmare'', the Giant can spawn in by busting through certain walls if a survivor is standing close enough to them, instantly killing the survivor in the process.
* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': In addition to [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules all the other ways in which it breaks the rules of the game up until this point]], the AdvancingBossOfDoom [[spoiler:in Griffith Park]] is the only entity in the game that can break through walls (and one of very few who can break through [[ThereWasADoor doors]]). This will likely come as an extremely nasty surprise to first-time players who are told immediately before the battle that they can hide from the boss inside a nearby building, only to have said boss drop in on them through the roof.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'': When Megamind traps the real villain Titan in a copper ball, he starts taunting Titan, claiming he couldn't break through the trap. Titan punches through anyway, much to Megamind's surprise.
* ''Westernanimation/{{Mulan}}'': After Mulan draws Shan Yu's wrath towards her, she closes the door between them... and then he punches a hole. Before a full-body charge that destroys the whole door. Shan Yu also later jumps through the ceiling to find Mulan in the rooftop.
* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': Ralph bursts through barriers several times, such as to free Felix and Vanellope. He was literally programmed to be a wrecking ball, so things like "solid walls" and "locked doors" are just momentary inconveniences to him.

[[caption-width-right:335:[-Well I'm quite sure that this sturdy wall will pro-'''*crash* OhCrap!'''-] ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'': When Megamind traps the [[CompleteMonster real villain]] Titan in a copper ball, he starts taunting Titan, claiming he couldn't break through the trap. Titan punches through anyway, much to Megamind's surprise.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''Westernanimation/{{Mulan}}'': After Mulan draws Shan Yu's wrath towards her, she closes the door between them... and then he punches a hole. Before a full-body charge that destroys the whole door. Shan Yu also later jumps through the ceiling to find Mulan in the rooftop.
* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': Ralph bursts through barriers several times, such as to free Felix and Vanellope. He was literally programmed to be a wrecking ball, so things like "solid walls" and "locked doors" are just momentary inconveniences to him.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/{{Night of the Living Dead|1968}}'':
** Ben walks past one of the boarded-up windows, and a bunch of zombie hands suddenly reach in at him.
** The film's climax, when a mob of zombies reach into the house to pull Barbra away. [[spoiler:Including her zombified brother Johnny.]]
** And the opening NightmareSequence in ''Film/{{Day of the Dead|1985}}'', [[spoiler:when hundreds of zombie arms break through a white wall to grab the female protagonist.]]

* ''Film/{{Kruel}}: In the film's climax, [[TheProtagonist Jo]]'s dad gets into the room Willie's holding her in by kicking the double doors in.

* Agent Smith punches through a wall to grab Neo in ''Film/TheMatrix''... only to be saved by Morpheus's self-sacrifice.
** Morpheus inverts this trope in the same scene; he breaks ''out'' of the wall and falls on top of Agent Smith.
* Used in ''Film/{{RoboCop|1987}}'' to get the drop of a hostage taker in the town hall. After determining the perp's exact position with his [[InfraredXrayCamera infrared vision]], Robo punches both arms through the wall, grabbing the criminal from behind and dragging him all the way into the other room.

* [[Film/DogSoldiers Spoon]] really should know better than to stand near the window.

* In ''Film/{{Dagon}}'' Paul quickly learns not to rely on aging wood in old hotels, especially when an angry mob is outside.

* The scene from The Shining was a ShoutOut to the old silent film ''Film/BrokenBlossoms'', which is more impressive because the villain chops through the door [[SpecialEffectsFailure using the wrong side of the axe]].

* ''Film/PitchBlack''. After the suns go down and the planet is covered in darkness due to the eclipse, the Bioraptors roam free. The protagonists temporarily hide out in a storage compartment of the crashed ship. Imam sits down against a wall, but then an Alien pierces its claws through the hull right next to his head, almost impaling him.

* Happens in the "Angels and Demons" episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', with [[EnemyWithout Low Kryten]] grabbing Lister through a wall.
* On ''Series/TheShield,'' a punk tries to evade Vic Mackey by running down an alley and climbing over a wall made of wooden boards. Mackey simply crashes through the wall and tackles him.

* In ''Series/{{Beauty and the Beast|1987}}'', Vincent breaks through a boarded-up section of wall to get to the man who [[spoiler: shot Catherine]].
* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie" a man on the run from a killer {{unicorn}} hides behind a metal plate before his chest gets impaled.
* ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' tested this in their zombie special, using a rickety old barn like what you'd be likely to see the protagonists using in a zombie movie and seeing if a horde of zombies could break it down. The verdict was that the normal, worn door on such a barn would barely slow the zombies down, but if the protagonists had time to [[BerserkBoardBarricade reinforce it with wood planks]], it'd successfully keep the zombies at bay(at least until they lost interest).
* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': By virtue of their superpowers, Danny Rand and Luke Cage have the ability to throw punches that break down doors.

* "Series/LostTapes": Happens in the Vampire episode.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Our introduction to Species 8472 in "Scorpion, Part One".

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead''. After watching ''Film/{{RoboCop|1987}}'', the two decide that it would be a fun stunt to try. Butt-Head plays the criminal standing beside their door, while Beavis plays [=RoboCop=]. When Beavis tries to ram the wall, he smacks it hard enough to knock some plaster off it. Butt-Head goes outside and complains to Beavis' unconscious (and possibly dead) body that he hardly made a dent.