History Main / CollapsingLair

* Midway through ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'''s fifteenth mission, "Just Like Old Times", Shepherd sets his hideout Site Hotel Bravo to be detonated through Directive 1-1-6 Bravo.

** In ''Discworld/TheColourOfMagic'', the Temple of Shub-Niggurath collapses after the eponymous EldritchAbomination is banished. It's suggested that as long as Shub-Niggurath was around, entropy itself was afraid to go near the place, but once Shub-Niggurath was gone it got stuck in and started making up for lost time.
** Parodied in ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', when freelance exterminator Wee Mad Arthur explains why he charges so much more for disposal of wasp nests. Being a gnome only a few inches tall, he plants squibs ''inside'' the nests and then has to fight his way to the exit before they blow.

* In ''Film/MissFisherAndTheCryptOfTears'', Phryne and Jack are attempting to return the emerald to the sarchophagus in the crypt. [[spoiler:Jonathon Lofthouse]] is attempting to help them, but then [[spoiler:Crippins]]--who has been revealed as the murderer--arives and demands the emerald at gunpoint. AS [[spoiler:Jonathon]] drops the emerald into the coffin, he and [[spoilers:Crippins]] get involed in a GunStruggle. As they do so, an earthquake hits and the crypt and it starts to collapse. Phryne, Jack and Shirin are forced to flee. Phryne tries to go back for the other two, but Jack grabs her arm and pulls her clear as fall and completely seal the crypt once again.

* Justified in ''Film/RedSonya''. The castle of the evil queen Gedren was housing an ArtifactOfDoom and was already on the verge of collapsing due to the queen recklessly overcharging it. When Sonja throws the artifact into a chasm, the resulting discharge of force brings the entire castle down.

* ''Disney/TheJungleBook'' features this occurance when Baloo & Bagheera fight the band of monkeys over Mowgli. Justified because of all the damage the ruined city endures during the squabble, with several pillars being destroyed.
* ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' shows Abu incurring this in the Cave of Wonders for touching the treasure.
* ''Disney/TheBlackCauldron'' ends with the Horned King's castle crumbling after the Cauldron's magic is neutralized by [[spoiler:Gurgi's HeroicSacrifice]].

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': A heroic and downplayed case happens with [[spoiler:Pastor Anne's church after she passes onto the afterlife]]. In the present case, the protagonists happen to be in room that gets less affected than the rest of the building, which enable them to stay the until it's safe for them to leave.

* ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'': When his manor is attacked by Phobos' forces, [[KnowledgeBroker Ludmoore]] triggers a magical SelfDestructMechanism which blows up the building (destroying the whole villa in the process) just after everyone flees.

* Parodied in ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', when freelance exterminator Wee Mad Arthur explains why he charges so much more for disposal of wasp nests. Being a gnome only a few inches tall, he plants squibs ''inside'' the nests and then has to fight his way to the exit before they blow.
** Also done straight with the Temple of Shub-Niggurath in ''Discworld/TheColourOfMagic''.

* The end of ''Film/{{Congo}}'' results in the convenient destruction of the "evil" gorillas' lair via volcanic eruption... despite the fact that it had been standing for hundreds of years before the protagonists got there.

* ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}:

* {{Lampshade h|anging}}ung in ''SwordcraftStory 2'', where an NPC is trying to make the protagonist get something she lost without being obvious. So she tells her that the sword the protagonist is trying to get will cause the cave to collapse without the object. Another character on the scene remarks, "Ah, the load-bearing treasure!"

* In the fifth and final epsiode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', after finally defeating Trogdor, his lair starts to collapse and WebAnimation/HomestarRunner literally says that Trogdor "must've been a load bearing dragon".
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'': Episode 1 is sorta this. In a nutshell it involves going into the citadel to slow the timer(conveniently sped up by the combine) then getting the hell out of dodge before it does, making all of C-17 the CollapsingLair.

* ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'': "This base will explod in 60 sec", after [[LoadBearingBoss killing Master D]].

* The second from last level of Duke Nukem Forever is a two-parter that involves destroying Hoover Dam in order to cut power to an alien wormhole. In the second half, you must escape its collapsing interior while waters rise and debris crashes down around you.
* In the fan game ''VideoGame/SonicChronoAdventure'', the [[FloatingContinent Sky Empire]] starts to get [[spoiler:overrun by Eggman's own magnetic mass, prompting Sonic and Rodolia to escape. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] because after the final battle in the city, the magnetic mass disappears, but Sky Empire miraculously floats for the next hundred years. It's also [[DoubleSubversion double subverted]] because the damages from the huge takeover prevent anyone from inhabiting in there.]]

** The final thing to go bye bye is none other than the Tower of Mirrors itself, though this one doesn't so much collapse as it does get sucked into itself. After defeating the final boss, the post-battle events result in the [[spoiler: gate to the immortals' world]] malfunctioning, eventually growing into a massive portal that sucks the entire tower into it. Escape is automatic as the party flees by airship, just barely making it out as the tower fragments into pieces, and then both the tower's remains and the gate vanish in an explosion.

** [[spoiler: Then in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', [[BigBad Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] does this to the [[MonumentalDamage abandoned MI6 building in London]] to kill Bond after some EvilGloating. Also combined with an attempt to [[PyrrhicVictory ruin Bond's life if he survives]] by [[KillTheCutie trying to kill Bond's]] {{girl of the week}}, which if it succeeded, would have [[RecycledScript been reminiscent of]] ''[[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 Casino Royale]]''. As the building comes down, you can see the OhTheHumanity on the faces of other MI6 characters such as M. Somehow, Bond still escapes to bring down Blofeld's escape helicopter. ]]

Rare in television except as the end of a StoryArc, because [[TrashTheSet destroying sets is expensive]]: you just have to build new ones next week. In animation, however, it's easy. In video games (as already mentioned), this often happens because of a LoadBearingBoss. Usually a result of StormingTheCastle.

* ''Manga/{{OnePiece}}'': In Arlong arc, after Luffy recognizes that Arlong's SupervillainLair has been Nami's jail cell, he tries to [[DestroyTheAbusiveHome destroy the lair]], states that it's the best way to help her. Luffy later smashing Arlong through the floors of the lair, causes the lair collapse.

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' gives us Seto Kaiba and his Battle Tower; after the finals, he blows it up! But just a few episodes before that, we have Gozaburo Kaiba, who triggers a meltdown so our heroes can't escape.

Often occurs after defeating the MonsterOfTheWeek or after setting a CatastrophicCountdown.

Rare in television except as the end of a StoryArc, because [[TrashTheSet destroying sets is expensive]]: you just have to build new ones next week. In animation, however, it's easy. In video games (as already mentioned), this often happens because of a LoadBearingBoss.

* ''Manga/{{OnePiece}}'': Justifed in Arlong arc. After Luffy recognizes that Arlong's SupervillainLair has been Nami's jail cell, he tries to [[DestroyTheAbusiveHome destroy the lair]], states that it's the best way to help her. Luffy later smashing Arlong through the floors of the lair, causes the lair collapse.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', during the spinoff Kakashi Gaiden in which we learn of Kakashi's childhood, Kakko causes the cave Kakashi, Obito and Rin were fighting him in to collapse in a last-ditch effort to defeat them, resulting in [[spoiler: Obito's death by giant boulder, which led to Kakashi gaining his left Sharingan eye]].
* In the ''Manga/PocketMonsters'' (''Manga/{{Pokemon}}'') manga, Red and Green set Team Rocket's headquarters on fire. After Red, Green, and Blue defeat Natsume, the building collapses.
* In ''Manga/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure'', Jupiter blows up the Galactic base to prevent their secrets from getting out. But since this happens in volume 5 of an 8 volume series, when next we return to Veilstone, [[spoiler:Charon]] has rebuilt it to be what it was in the Platinum version of the game.
* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime, Mewtwo blows up the Team Rocket base in the beginning of the first movie. The only known survivors are Giovanni and his signature pokémon (there could be more, but they're never addressed either way).
** Actually, when Mewtwo's flight from the HQ is seen in the show, all that's wrecked is the arena area, and those get trashed on a regular basis.
** Kyurem from the fifteenth movie subverts this. When his lair starts to collapse from the fight he had with Keldeo, he freezes the entire place after the heroes escape so that he could continue to [[IncrediblyLamePun chill]] in there.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': In the FinalBattle against [[BigBad Dr. Hell]], his base crumbled down and blew up. Justified, since a [[HumongousMecha giant robot]] was actively trying to demolish it.
* A Baoa Qu at the climax of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' doesn't quite collapse, but there's enough StuffBlowingUp by the end that the effect is the same.

* In the end of ''[[Anime/{{K}} K: Return of Kings]]'', [[spoiler: Iwafune]] blows up their base after [[spoiler: Nagare]] has died. [[spoiler: The Silver Clan]] escapes rather easily, though, due to [[spoiler: Kuroh's colorless]] powers.
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Sakyo, Season Two's BigBad, [[spoiler: decides to destroy his stadium after he is defeated. For some reason, even though this is supposed to trap and kill everyone inside (Sakyo wants to die himself), none of the main characters have any trouble escaping]].
* ''Anime/WitchHunterRobin'' : [[spoiler:When the heroes [[StormingTheCastle invade The Factory]], it turns out it's programmed to crush itself as a last-ditch security mechanism.]]
* Parodied in ''Manga/IonoTheFanatics''. The reason why the sorta antagonist's base did the traditional collapse? The building was raised against Japan's building standard acts (it was, for example, ''leaning'') and that's the reason why nobody else was using it even though it looked brand new. Naturally, the high-level battle between the assassin and Iono's bodyguards at the ground-level proved to be a wee-bit too much for its already unstable structure.

* ''Anime/RODTheTV'' has the Dokusensha building and, evidently, [[spoiler:''all of Hong Kong.'']]

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'''s Dark Masters Arc had of course the Dark Master whom once destroyed had their chunk of the Digital World which they bastardized destroy and reconfigure itself back to it's original form. This caused the [=DigiDestined=] to constantly shift from place to place until finally falling into a dark void filled by Apocalymon after defeating the last Dark Master.

* The Halcon research facility falls apart at the end of ''Anime/AppleseedExMachina'' for no apparent reason, other than to fulfill the cliché. In fact, it has no other reason even to exist!
* The dungeons in ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'' collapse after they have been successfully completed.
* The abandoned oil rig that served as the base for the [[TheRemnant Foreigners of Grief]] in ''VisualNovel/ShinkyokuSoukaiPolyphonica Crimson S'' sank into the sea at the climax of the final fight. Notable in that the bad guys, after having been given a series of speeches thoroughly deconstructing their UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans mentality, [[DrivenToSuicide willingly stayed in their base as it collapsed around them]].
* Though not exactly belonging to villains as such, ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has the [[spoiler:underground crystal chamber that lies beneath the Reiss family chapel]] destroyed after [[spoiler:Rod Reiss turns into an enormous Titan. The heroes manage to escape, but the Military Police's Interior Squad were killed in the process, along with Levi's uncle Kenny Ackerman]].

Why is this useful, apart from topping the FinalBattle with an exciting escape scene to safety (after which you can directly cut to the happy end celebrations)? Think about it. The BigBad has had a massive base, with several valuable gadgets, and many remaining lesser minions. You definitely do not want to drag out the story by having the hero deal with them one by one too, and much less to put his hands on something that could [[StatusQuoIsGod change the status quo]]. Better just blow it all up. And best of all, once you do actually make it out alive, you get the immensely satisfying shot of [[TheRuinsICaused the hero looking on as the Supervillain Lair goes bye-bye in spectacular fashion]].

* Parodied in ''Harry Potter and the Evil Summer Vacation'', where Harry accidentally ended up at a conference for aspiring criminal masterminds. The (mandatory) final seminar on the last day of the conference was "Secret Lairs, Part 3 - Defenses, Escapes, and Self Destructs". After an agent from SPECTRE gave a talk on why it was important to set up a new lair for every plan and how you should try to take out both the evidence and the good guys as well as your headquarters, they evacuated the conference theater and then blew up the hotel where it was located.

* At the end of ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheApes'', a cobalt bomb in an underground mutant lair is detonated and wipes out not only the lair, but [[EarthShatteringKaboom all Earth]] (This was detonated by Col. Taylor himself-- which is ironic, since he cursed mankind for doing the same in the original ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'' ([[EarthAllAlong the famous "Statue of Liberty ruins" scene]]).

** [[spoiler: Then in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', [[BigBad Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] does this to the [[MonumentalDamage abandoned MI6 building in London]] to kill Bond after some {{Evil Gloating}}. Also combined with an attempt to [[PyrrhicVictory ruin Bond's life if he survives]] by [[KillTheCutie trying to kill Bond's]] {{girl of the week}}, which if it succeeded, would have [[RecycledScript been reminiscent of]] ''[[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 Casino Royale]]''. As the building comes down, you can see the {{Oh The Humanity}} on the faces of other MI6 characters such as M. Somehow, Bond still escapes to bring down Blofeld's escape helicopter. ]]