Big Entrance

Sixty elephants, llamas galore, bears and lions,
a brass band and more.^note And don't forget his forty fakirs, his cooks, his bakers, and birds that warble on key.

Applejack: That gal probably just wants to make some sort of grand entrance.
[doors burst open to show Rarity carried by the Diamond Dog Boys on a grand piano]
Rarity: TA-Daaaaaa!
Applejack: Told ya.

— My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, "Player Piano"

A Big Entrance is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. An entrance so over-the-top and so cool, ensuring that every character's eyes are on that entrance, that the entrance itself merits its own entry on the Moment of Awesome page.

The absolute most important things in the entrance are that the entrance itself has to be loud, it has to be overly dramatic, it has to catch the attention of all characters present, and it has to be cool. There are many other tropes that can help achieve this, including, but not limited to...

• Big Damn Heroes: Because if someone is going to save everyone from the Monster of the Week, they're going to have a dramatic entrance.
• Dynamic Entry: When the entering character has their foot buried in another character's temple, you can be damn sure you have everyone's attention.
• Grand Staircase Entrance: Often understated, but no less awesome, when someone descends from a great staircase.
• Hammy Herald: Why chew the scenery when you hire someone to do it for you?
• Incoming Ham: Adding a hammy, memorable line helps a lot.
• One-Liner: Occasionally, they help.
• Team Power Walk: When done right.
• Running Over the Plot: As character introductions go, either running someone over or being run over is extremely memorable.
• Super Window Jump: With the loud crash and broken glass falling like rain, it's literally impossible to make this kind of entrance without being noticed.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Often playing in conjunction with an Unflinching Walk, Three-Point Landing, There Was a Door, Team Power Walk, or Dynamic Entry.
• There Was a Door: It's really hard for your entrance to go unnoticed when you make your entrance by smashing through the wall.
• Three-Point Landing: With entrances involving a great height, this helps to say "nothing can hurt me."
• Unflinching Walk: Only when walking into a situation.

The diametric opposite of the "Stealth Hi" in a Stealth Hi/Bye.

Although many Dynamic Entries are part of this trope, not all are. A dynamic entry is an entrance plus violence. This trope is an entrance plus drama/awesome (violence optional).

May become an Establishing Character Moment. Contrast Jobber Entrance. Not to be confused with Big Door.

One Sub-Trope of this is Crash in Through the Ceiling, which is for when there's a loud entrance through a ceiling.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The first Ai no Kusabi OVA has Riki being a Big Damn Hero with a Big Entrance using Bike Fu against a squad of police to save his old gang from being arrested or shot to death.
• In Assassination Classroom, when The Final Question arrives at the very end of the second term finals, it does not do so subtly. The manga merely has it flying in, smashing its way into the imaginary arena. But in the anime, it arrives through a giant black hole in the sky that spits out lightning everywhere, surrounded by a halo of flames. Everyone but Karma and Gakushuu can only look on in awe. this is an appropriate visual metaphor for reaching the very end of a test and suddenly coming upon a question miles above the level you've studied for, which is worth a fifth of your grade in that subject.
• In Baccano!! 1933 — The Slash, Ronnie Schiatto opens a door and walks into a room. This incredibly basic entrance nonetheless effectively stops time and terrifies every damn man and woman in the room, leaving everyone thoroughly convinced he's some terrifying Humanoid Abomination from that point on. They're right.
  Ennis: Excuse me... Mr. Ronnie. Who... What are you?
• In Episode 11 of Cross Ange, Arzenal is under attack by a large swarm of DRAGONS. The Normas are initially successful at repelling the invasion, but then they hear a soothing song that conspicuously makes the DRAGONS back off and retreat around the dimension gap where they came from. From the same gap, three machines that conspicuously resemble Ragna-mails dramatically make their descent, the first of which is the red-colored Enryugo piloted (though not shown yet) by Salamandinay... who then proceeds to activate the mecha's Golden Super Mode via singing and wipe out an entire squadron of Norma Para-mails, as well as half of Arzenal's island, with a single Wave-Motion Gun.
• An understated one in Cowboy Bebop — when one-off character Doohan first enters frame, you can instantly tell what kind of person he is by the fact that he's on fire and apparently doesn't even care enough to put it out.
• In Hanaukyō Maid Team episode 5, Konoe, the head of the security division, is introduced by having her return to the mansion from a business trip together with a whole squadron of fighting helicopters.
• Inuyasha: Sesshoumaru is fond of these. If there's a sudden explosion slamming into the earth from the sky involving flashing lighting, shaking ground and an overload of raw power, it's usually Sesshoumaru landing in a manner that ensures everyone pays attention. He even brought a life-or-death battle between Inuyasha's group and Mouryoumaru to a stop when everyone on both sides turned to give his entrance their full attention.
• In Maiden Rose, Hasebe is about to kill Klaus when suddenly his sword is shattered. Following this is a two page spread of an ill Taki standing in the doorway, sporting a Death Glare, katana drawn, wearing a Badass Longcoat as a Coat Cape blowing in the Dramatic Wind against a stream of white light, with some flower petals floating around for good measure. The shocked looks from the others are pretty well warranted at that point.
• In the second episode of G Gundam Domon Kasshu summons the Shining Gundam by calling out to it so loudly that Tomokazu Seki and/or Mark Gatha must have shattered some glass in the booth delivering the line, but that's not even the best of it oh no, the Shining Gundam then explodes on to the scene from within the Statue of Liberty, letting the viewer know that NOTHING is sacred.
• Invoked by Monkey D. Garp in One Piece. How did he make his entrance? Busting straight through a wall when there was a door. Why? Because it was cooler that way. He then goes on to fix the wall.
• Team Rocket of Pokémon: The Series — oh, they've used every big entrance on the list and several more besides. They like to bring their own spotlights, sound system, costumes and fireworks.
  PREPARE FOR TROUBLE!
  MAKE IT DOUBLE!
• This is common in the Pretty Cure franchise, but special mention goes to Smile PreCure! 's movie where Cure Happy gets her Ultra Form and the whole world goes from Gaia's Lament to an Arcadia in just seconds. The song is even called Ultra Cure Happy Tanjou! ^Translation "Tanjou" is Japanese for "Enter".
• Red River (1995) has Ilbani invoke this at one point. After finding Yuri, who had been kidnapped by Urhi during the latest of Queen Nakia's plans, he tells Kail to go to the big spring outside the palace and pray for her return. Kail is sceptical, since he knows that Nakia is responsible, but does so on Ilbani's insistence. He and the citizens of Hattusa stare as the spring begins to bubble, and out bursts Yuri.
• Sailor Venus' debut in the main Sailor Moon manga consists of her saving Sailor Moon from Zoisite by cutting him into pieces with a Precision-Guided Boomerang, and then appearing on a rooftop smiling.
  • In the 90's series she may not have cut Zoicite to pieces, but it was still rather nice. Zoicite was giving the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen a "The Reason You Suck" Speech as he had the girls trapped and Kamen was seriously wounded... but then Venus shut him up, told the heroes to not give up, undid the girls' trap with her Crescent Beam, and then jumped in to join the group.
• The animated adaptation of Sengoku Basara is so rife with over-the-top introductions that you can instantly tell exactly what kind of approach the creators are going for.
  • Oda Nobunaga is introduced to Masamune and Yukimura by holding at gun point the cowardly Yoshimoto on top of a cliff, with dark clouds swirling in the sky and Hiroyuki Sawano's soundtrack blasting the scenery to bits with Gratuitous German. When you're looking for the advent of an Obviously Evil villain, look no further.
  • Hideyoshi Toyotomi first appears before the other lords by circling their already engaged armies with an even bigger army of his own and overlooking the scene from atop a hill. The Uesugi and Takeda factions, defiant as they are, order a volley of arrows on him. Hideyoshi's answer? One wave of his arm to deflect it all back, then a skyward punch that clears the clouds, all to the sound of his tailor-made leitmotif.

Comic Books

• The Cleopatra example below under films is parodied with the Asterix version of Cleo, who always makes an entrance like this, even when she's "just popping in incognito".
• Blood and Thunder: Colonel Castillan tells an aide not to worry, as the commander of the awaited reinforcements likes to make an entrance. Unfortunately, while his armored convoy does show up dramatically cresting a ridge, the commander's head is seen on a spike of the leading tank, as it's been hijacked by the orks.
• The Italian Disney Ducks Comic Universe story "Uncle Scrooge and the Last Adventure" has the grand visir of the Maharajah of Howduyustan enter Duckburg with an immense parade complete with elephants. Made even grander when you find out it was actually Scrooge McDuck and Jubal Pomp in disguise, making such an entrance as part of the plan to retake Killmotor Hill and Scrooge's industries from Glomgold and Rockerduck. It works like a charm.
• MonsterVerse: In the Kingdom Kong graphic novel, Camazotz's awakening on Skull Island is signalled by a sonic scream from deep in the Vile Vortex that is heard all over Skull Island, followed by earthquake-level tremors and Skull Island's storm system closing in over the sky before Camazotz explodes out of the earth dramatically.
• Wonder Woman (1987): Three of the Bana's chief deities — Neith, Bast, and Isis — make a grand entrance when they come to Olympus to join with the Themysciran's patrons to go give Hera a piece of their minds for destroying Themyscira. They do a Team Power Walk down the staircase to their allies with a wall of flame containing their steeds and carriage behind them and Neith gets off a one liner about kicking Hera's keister.

Fan Works

• A Gem in the Rough: The Crystal Gems tend to do this quite a bit. Their most notable entrance would be at the end of "The Seastone Cage": Steven and the Straw Hats are captured by Crocodile and Sanji has just been knocked out by Mr. 3. Just when Crocodile is confident that nothing will stand in his way, Mr. 3 reveals that he understands the price of what failure in Baroque Works means and has brought partners who are most eager to talk to him. With that, the ceiling came crashing down and said partners adopted a battle stance, ready to take on the Shishibukai.
  Garnet: I'm going to tell you this once: Give. Us. Steven!
• In Just an Unorthodox Thief, Rider makes a big entrance by crashing a truck through a warehouse wall.
• The Mountain and the Wolf:
  • The Wolf's very first entrance has the approach of loud thudding sounds before he emerges to announce that he's going to fight the Mountain (an unhappy-looking Oberyn confirming this). Later chapters see his longship tear out of the Warp and plowing into the midst of an enemy army/along side an enemy ship, discharging screaming Norscan berserkers while he insults and fights the commander.
  • When Daenerys returns to King's Landing, she swoops around the citadel a few times before landing in the throne room, and announcing her position as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms before anyone can say a word.
• In My Immortal, the immortal line...
  "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUKERS!" It was....... Dumbledore!
• Scarlet Lady: Scar nearly misses her, Chat Noir, and Marigold's interview with Nadja because she insists on making one of these.
• In Time Anomaly, the Doctor makes one when he finally reaches UNIT HQ, essentially introducing himself to the Avengers and the returned Amy and Rory in the process (Bill notes that he actually spent the last few minutes waiting outside the door for the right cue to make a suitably dramatic entrance).
• In Time to Plan, Tech Leader fled ten billion years into the future just to escape retribution for her crimes. To rectify this, several characters made a plan to wait for her until she arrives by finding ways to turn themselves immortal. Under the guidance of Magic Incarnate, these characters introduce themselves in the most dynamic way possible in quick succession once they finally reunite with Tech Leader.
  • Rainbow Hurricane and Ghostly Pie encounter Tech Leader in the Everfree Forest, the former drawn to Tech Leader's racism and making herself known by freezing her shoulder cannons. When Tech Leader flees to Ponytropolis, they chase her to the center, setting the stage for everyone else's arrival.
  • JackAI introduces herself by stomping into view with her Apple Megalith body. Around the same time, Rariamat and Spykoran, two massive elder dragons, have perched themselves on the roof of a nearby building.
  • Discord and his Happily Married wife Fluttershy, now Flutterbold, arrive by transforming a building and its residents into a giant wedding cake, which they jump out of shortly after. They then proceed to passionately make out in public.
  • Love introduces themselves by loudly gushing about Discord and Flutterbold's passionate love. They are followed by their wife, Empress Chrysalis, who approaches Tech Leader in an alicorn disguise before revealing her true, healed form, and their husband Sombra, who emerges from Tech Leader's own shadow.
  • Finally, as Tech Leader despairs over being outnumbered and outmatched, Magic Incarnate appears, descending from the skies in her four alicorn bodies (i.e. Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Trixie Lulamoon, and Starlight Glimmer) while voicing Tech Leader's thoughts out loud in agreement.
• In A wand for Steven, the cue to reveal that Ruby woke up was when Alexandrite appears and turns the tide at the Battle of Hogwarts.
• In The Witch of the Everfree, Sunset is in the habit of doing these when she enters Ponyville for parties. She uses illusion magic to lower the ambient light, make her voice reverberate, and otherwise make her entrances far more dramatic than they would otherwise be.

Films — Animation

• Aladdin gets an extended Big Entrance with the "Prince Ali" music number. Elephants, dancers, the Genie's magic, and practically kicking the 200-foot door down (and into Jafar's face). It was mostly to impress the Sultan and woo Jasmine, but an entrance doesn't get much bigger than having the entire city focused on you during a musical number.
• Green Lantern: Emerald Knights: Mogo's Big Damn Heroes moment. Arisia sums it up: "He may not socialize, but he sure does know how to make an entrance." (Mogo is a living planet. His entrance has to be big.)
• The concept of the dramatic entrance is discussed by Shifu in Kung Fu Panda 3 as an integral part of any battle, as it prepares the mind as much as the body. He shortly after demonstrates the dramatic exit.
• The LEGO Movie:
  • President Business walks through doors with a dramatic burst and smoke trailing along the floor. He has his people arrange it ahead of time.
  • Uni-Kitty also has one with her leaping out of nowhere and saying "HIIIIIII!"
• In The Lost Treasure, Tink, Terence, and Blaze make an unplanned grand entrance in a cotton boll balloon. Queen Clarion even comments "Now that's how you make an entrance."
• The title character of Megamind does this several times during the film. Usually, he has his robot minions doing a light show set to classic rock.
  Megamind: [to Titan] Oh, you're a villain all right. Just not a supervillain.
  Titan: Oh yeah?! What's the difference.
  Megamind: PRESENTATION!
• Monsters University: Hardscrabble loves these, the best being her introductory scene. She swoops in, quickly shuts of nearly all sources of light in a way that can only be described as "borderline telekinetic", and then slowly slithers up from the darkness. The best part is that her entire entrance leaves no room for discussion about her credentials as a Scarer.
• The climax of the "This Is Halloween" number in The Nightmare Before Christmas sees a scarecrow set itself on fire and jump into a well. However, when the scarecrow rises, we see it wasn’t a scarecrow at all. It was actually Jack Skellington, whom the song had been hyping up for the past minute, making quite an entrance to the adoration of his people.
• Dave the Octopus as Dr. Brine shows up at the end of Penguins of Madagascar riding on top of his submarine as if he was dashing through the water.
• The competitors for Pirate of the Year in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. Peg Leg Hastings swings in on a rope, Cutlass Liz blasts a hole in the wall, and Black Bellamy arrives inside a whale, which crashes into the tavern, opens its mouth for him to step out, and then starts disgorging gold dubloons like a fruit machine.
• In Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Eris shows up after Sinbad's execution and Heroic Sacrifice. Said entrance involved the clouds spiraling into a tornado, creating a water sprout, and Eris emerging from the mist in a 50-foot version of herself. And the spectators were scared shitless.
• In Sleeping Beauty Mistress Flora, Mistress Fauna and Mistress Merryweather arrive in a heavenly light of sparkles when Lord Duke declares, “Their most honored and exalted Excellencies, the Three Good Fairies! Mistress Flora, Mistress Fauna, and Mistress Merryweather!”. Later in the same sequence, Maleficent gets a really cool one, by blowing the doors open, filling the palace with Dramatic Wind and lightning, and slowly coalescing out of green flame. Seen here. It's subtle, understated, and threatening as all hell.
• The Bog King from Strange Magic after his minions sneak in and subdue everyone. They start a rock song and comes in singing 'Mistreated' by Deep Purple as the stage pyrotechnics go off.
• In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Bowser arrives at the penguin castle by bringing his whole castle to their doorstep, and emerges Out of the Inferno from the mouthpiece of his head statue on the front of his flying volcano island.
• The Thief and the Cobbler: Zigzag is introduced with a big parade down the streets, with performers singing his praises, thugs with whips holding back the crowd, and attendants fanning him and rolling carpets in front of him. It gets interrupted when Tack, fighting off the Thief, accidentally spills his tacks on Zigzag's path; the Vizier steps on one and takes it as a personal attack.
• In Turning Red, Mei gets into the 4*Town concert by skydiving in through the open SkyDome roof without a parachute thanks to her panda transformation ability.
• In Ugly Dolls, Lou gets one with his Villain Song, "The Ugly Truth", and a glorious one at that! Essentially turning the Institute of Perfection into a concert venue. Complete with flashing lights, a jumbotron, backup singers, and of course, a sea of screaming fans who all faint at the sight of him.

Films — Live-Action

• Batman, whenever he wants/needs the attention, and isn't using his Stealth Hi/Bye shtick. Lampshaded by the Riddler in Batman Forever after Batman bursts through the skylight... after Two-Face merely kicked in the front door followed by his mooks.
  The Riddler: [to Two-Face] Your entrance was good. His was better. The difference? Showmanship!
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Doomsday sends a massive energy blast at Batman, only for it to be stopped by something. The blast dies down, and we see what got in the way... a certain Amazonian princess, bracelets crossed in front of her, the glow of the heat from the blast beginning to fade as she lowers them, revealing a look of grim determination on her face, and that music strikes up. Wonder Woman couldn't have possibly had a cooler cinematic debut. She then clangs her bracelets together, making a shockwave that drives the previously unscratchable monster back!
• Cleopatra, the 1963 version with Elizabeth Taylor, has a 9-minute Big Entrance scene. The preliminaries include a cavalry company, chariots, archers, and four different dance troupes. Then a hundred slaves tow in a giant stone sphinx with Cleopatra on a throne.
• You know how performances of the cancan often start with the dancers running to the stage, shrieking and waving their skirts? French Cancan in its climactic performance: the dancers surge through the crowds, rappel down ropes into patrons' laps, and burst through a wall poster. Featured dancer Nini makes her entrance by leaping off the band's elevated bandstand into a rescue blanket.
• Godzilla:
  • Terror of Mechagodzilla has Titanosaurus going on a rampage in one scene. The camera pans over to a separate set of buildings as a familiar, spiny silhouette appears. Titanosaurus is shown again as he is promptly blasted by a blue Breath Weapon. We then go back to that silhouette as the lighting increases to reveal Godzilla.
  • Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II has a scene where a team of scientists investigating an irradiated island are suddenly attacked by Rodan. Their retreat brings them to a cliff overlooking the coast, where they see the ocean violently bubbling up. As Rodan catches up, a blue beam shoots from the bubbling area and hits the giant pterosaur. Godzilla himself emerges from the ocean and goes into battle with Rodan.
  • In Godzilla (2014), a MUTO is introduced demolishing a Honolulu airport. At one point, it causes a long chain reaction of exploding aircraft. The last explosion dissipates, revealing a Giant Foot of Stomping that manages to dwarf the entire MUTO. We then get a sweeping shot of Godzilla's whole body as he roars. It's also done in San Francisco just when he's about to face off against the female MUTO.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Ghidorah's awakening has him emerging from a pit filled with howling wind, fog and lightning-flashes surrounded by fiery-looking light, while thunder crashes and lightning flashes in the sky in Antarctica. There's also his arrival in Boston where he's heralded by his ominous unnatural storm billowing lightning-filled mist between the buildings, and him shaking Fenway Park when he himself physically appears.
• Referenced in Independence Day. "You know me." "Yeah, I know, you always like to make a big entrance." The first case was pretty mild; Steven Hiller just stole a helicopter to rescue his fiancee and the other survivors of the alien invasion. The second case, where Hiller and David Levinson crash-landed in the desert after blowing up the main alien ship causing streaks of burning rubble? That's a big entrance.
• In Into the Woods, when the Witch enters the Baker's house, she blasts the door off its hinges with her magic.
• Jurassic Park:
  • Jurassic Park introduces the Tyrannosaurus rex this way, starting with her audible footsteps leading up to her tearing through the (no longer) electrified fence and culminating with her Mighty Roar.
  • Jurassic World features the triumphant return of the original Tyrannosaurus rex, who makes her entrance by barreling through the Spinosaurus skeleton and shattering it to pieces before giving a truly Mighty Roar.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Iron Man 2:
    • Tony lands stylishly at the site of his Stark Expo in his Iron Man suit to the cheers of many admirers after skydiving out of his personal carrier. For added effect, he's surrounded by a group of The Rockettes-esque women in garb meant to resemble his armor who are performing the Can-Can.
    • Also Ivan Vanko/ Whiplash as he calmly walks down the track, casually slashing cars in half as his equipment burns his shirt off. Mass "Oh, Crap!" ensues.
  • The Avengers:
    • Loki's first appearance: a portal to the other side of the universe opens up in a crackle of blue lightning, and suddenly Loki is standing there in front of several stunned S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Whom he promptly starts attacking.
    • Tony makes his by hacking the Quinjet's stero to blast AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill", blasting Loki, and then making his Three-Point Landing. "Make your move, Reindeer Games."
  • Thor: Ragnarok:
    • The Hulk isn't exactly patient and doesn't even wait for his arena door to fully open or the Grandmaster to properly introduce him — he just batters through the entrance with a mighty roar.
    • Loki, true to form, makes sure to draw all the attention to himself when he returns to Asgard with the gladiators, standing on the ramp of the Statesman with his arms stretched out:
      Loki: YOUR SAVIOR IS HERE!
  • Avengers: Infinity War: Thor arrives in Wakanda in a beam of light wielding Stormbreaker. Bruce Banner even yells out, "You guys are so screwed!" at the invading army the second he sees his fellow Avenger... and he's not wrong. This scene mirrors a similar one in the beginning of Thor: The Dark World.
• RoboCop has a special version of this to answer concerns that a simple open entrance could make the title character look silly. Instead, Verhoeven has Murphy's entrance teased out with first his support crew coming and, as the Desk Sgt. protests, he is suddenly silenced by the sound of heavy mechanical footsteps of some figure entering the station, barely visible through frosted glass. That is followed by teasing looks that become more and more revealing until you are eagerly following the running cops through the halls trying to get a good look at this thing. At the end, you get to see RoboCop towering in his maintenance chair and looking completely kickass.
• Rocky IV: For the match between Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago, Creed decides to show off his Patriotic Fervor and stick it to the Soviets by giving Drago a Jobber Entrance (in the form of literally being in the ring as it's brought to the venue), while he gets James Brown to sing Living in America, as he descends to the stage on a giant bull. All the while American symbolism and showgirls are on full display, down to him having flag themed clothing all over.
• Dr. Frank N. Furter's first appearance in The Rocky Horror Picture Show during "Sweet Transvestite".
• The entrance of Harry Lime in The Third Man is considered to be one of the best entrances of all time.
• The 1969 film version of The Royal Hunt of the Sun has a Cleopatra-like entrance for Atahualpa Inca (yes, that's Christopher Plummer).

Literature

• Towards the end of the fourth Cat Royal book, the title character and her friend Pedro crash an upper class party, on horseback, with Cat dressed as a Native American. It gets exactly the stunned reaction one would expect.
• Kelson and Dhugal in The Quest for Saint Camber were thought to be dead after a mountain trail washed out beneath them. When they return to Gwynedd's capital Rhemuth, they arrive with their entourage via Transfer Portal (which permits instantaneous travel) in the sacristy of the cathedral on Easter Sunday morning no less.
• In The Dreamside Road:
  • Orson Gregory arrives in Nimauk by driving the Aesir upriver. Despite its capabilities, the Aesir still looks like a retro camper, and this odd display attracts the attention of festival guests and locals alike.
  • Enoa and Orson interrupt Tucker's "Scooby-Doo" Hoax when they land the Aesir outside the gym where the Liberty Corps is keeping the detained festival guests.
• The Dresden Files:
  • Nicodemus does this in Death Masks. After hearing a minor character state "There's nothing that anyone can do to hurt me anymore," Nick blows down the wall, steps through with his two Mooks and shadow, and declares "No matter how many times I hear that, it's always a fresh challenge."
  • Harry himself gets in on this in White Night. Afer hearing the White Court convene, one vamp states "Who is going to call us to task [for our crimes]?" Harry takes this as his cue to blast the door, send in a rolling red carpet of flames, and challenge the vamp to a duel right then and there to the death. Quoth Harry, "Damn, there's nothing like a good entrance."
  • Speaking of the White Court, Lara's entrance with her sisters in Turn Coat qualify. They show up in a helicopter, which is no big deal. But they simply jump out without zip-lines, and casually walk up to the assembled White Council forces. In heels. Harry laments that if there were any justice in the world, it would have gone in slow-motion so he could have had a subjective eternity to watch.
  • Arguably, Harry's entrance to the climactic battle of Dead Beat, as seen by the Wardens and the Kemmlerites. It's not too much to brag about, it's just, you know... the dinosaur.
  • Harry does this in Storm Front to Marcone, blowing down the door. Marcone has remembered this and now puts flimsy doors at all dramatic entry points. All strategic entrance points have doors of solid steel.
  • Sigrun Gard and her habit of showing up in helicopters playing Ride of the Valkyries at top volume.
  • Again, in Cold Days, when Harry arrives at the Island with The Wild Hunt in tow. Anyone and anything on those barges had to be crapping their metaphorical pants.
  • Referenced in Cold Days, when Titania (who bears Harry a deep and violent hatred) asks Harry if he knows what her sister Mab believes in. Harry replies "Flashy entrances", and Titania's lips twitch. Titania herself has one when she shows up - she emerges out of a spontaneous tropical hurricane.
• In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore makes one of these after Professor Trelawney has been sacked, by opening the castle's huge double doors by himself and striding through them. Harry notes how impressive he can make the simple act of walking through a door.
• In the Heralds of Valdemar series, Princess Elspeth is gone on a mission for longer than expected, and rumors circulate that her stepfather has murdered her so his own children can take the throne. Fortunately, the new allies she's gathered include two mages (one of them flamboyant), a catlike girl, two gryphons, and their two gryphlets, meaning her entry into the capital city becomes an impromptu parade. By the time she's back home, there's no doubt that she's alive and well.
• The Hobbit: The dragon Smaug's arrival at Dale and the Lonely Mountain was heralded by "a noise like a hurricane" and a hot gale which made pines creak and crack, before he started burning Dale.
• Making Money lampshades and mocks this trope with Pucci Lavish and her attempt to steal Moist's thunder at the bank. Moist notes to himself that she intended to majestically "sweep" in, (and had the henchmen, dogs on leashes, dress and arrogance to make a good show of it,) but she misjudged how densely packed the crowd was, meaning her flunkies couldn't clear a path for her fast enough and so she just got stuck in the crowd along with everyone else.
• Mary Poppins demonstrates a knack for this. To name but one example, her first-ever appearance involves the East Wind blowing her through the Banks family's gate and onto their doorstep.
• King Solomon makes one in the third chapter of Song of Songs in The Bible, coming on the scene carried on a litter with sixty men surrounding him, armed with swords, and with incense wafting in the air.
• Soon I Will Be Invincible. Spoofed when Dr. Impossible goes to an Abandoned Warehouse to meet other supervillains; he has to hide outside in the bushes while changing from his street clothes into cape and mask before entering.

Live-Action TV

• Arrow:
  • Oliver first meets the Black Canary when he's surrounded by a SWAT Team, only for the Canary to smash through an overhead skylight, then break every other sheet of glass in the room using her sonic device so she and Oliver can jump out the window while everyone else is clutching their ears in pain.
  • In Season 6, Oliver is on trial for being the Arrow, so an Identity Impersonator enters the courtroom by crashing through the overhead skylight to further sell the idea that he's the real Green Arrow.
• Avataro Sentai Donbrothers sees Taro Momoi/Don Momotaro make his debut by appearing on his Cool Bike, with a group of men carrying said bike, while a group of women dance in front of them.
• On The Chase, this is standard issue for a Chaser. After each Cash Builder round, they will come out from behind a corner, and walk across a walkway in a 'C' shaped tunnel, with the studio lighting turning red and orange, giving a flame-like look, as a dramatic jingle plays. See for yourself.
• The Crown (2016). In his introductory scene, Winston Churchill upstages everyone at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. After making sure that he is the last of the guests to arrive, he delays until the choir starts singing "I Vow to Thee My Country" before striding into the abbey. Even though he's Leader of the Opposition at the time, everyone rises for Churchill despite not doing so earlier for the current Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
• With the exception of Denis Leary, Jeff Foxworthy, and Alec Baldwin, the roastee for The Comedy Central Roast always made some sort of big phenomenal entrance:
  • Pamela Anderson floated down toward the stage on a Glinda-style bubble.
  • William Shatner literally rode in on a fucking horse! This prompted George Takei to finally say, "Fuck you, my friend! And the horse you rode in on!"
  • Flavor Flav flew onto the stage like a superhero.
  • Bob Saget appeared on a broken elevator with chickens.
  • Larry the Cable Guy walked in like a boxing champion.
  • Joan Rivers walked onto the stage with a bunch of children, one of which she claimed was being given away by Brad and Angelina.
  • David Hasselhoff, true to his trope name, walked onto the stage surrounded by German barmaids singing Blue Suede's "Hooked on a Feeling".
  • Donald Trump rode onto the stage on a golden golf cart (which, in hindsight, was definitely compensating for something.)
  • Charlie Sheen rode onto the stage on a locomotive accompanied by Slash.
• Doctor Who:
  • One of the Fourth Doctor's particular quirks is that he would never enter a room the same way twice. Between this and how much of a Large Ham and Attention Whore this incarnation of him was, this makes practically every time his character went through a door an example of this trope. Sometimes he would actually leave and come in again if people didn't react sufficiently to his arrival. Tom Baker often explains about this that he is extremely bad at coming through doors convincingly in a way that isn't funny even in real life.
  • The Eleventh Doctor With some frequency, notably through a chimney in "The Christmas Carol":
    "Ah. Yes. Blimey. Sorry. Christmas Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain just went: 'What the hell!'"
  • The Tenth Doctor, in "The Girl in the Fireplace", enters by crashing through a mirror, on horseback, into a crowded ballroom. Just in time to save the day.
  • ""Rise of the Cybermen": Lumic's Cybermen crash Alt-Jackie Tyler's birthday party by smashing their way in through the windows, prompting their creator to make an atrocious pun about it.
  • "The End of Time": Ten barges in on Rassilon and the Master by throwing himself out of a low-flying spaceship and falling hundreds of feet, smashing through a skylight, then falling another fifty feet to the (marble) floor. He spends most of the conflict on the floor, crippled with pain.
  • "The Day of the Doctor": The three Doctors (War, Ten, Eleven) enter the Black Archive by sonicking a Dalek through the glass of the Gallifrey Falls 3D painting.
    War: Hello.
    Ten: I'm the Doctor.
    Eleven: Sorry about the Dalek.
    Clara: [exiting the painting] Also the showing off.
  • In "The Magician's Apprentice", Twelve carries on this fine tradition, when he rolls into a medieval arena on a tank, playing the electric guitar.
  • Twelve does this again in "The Lie of the Land" when escaping from a prison ship. Bill comments that they could have gone for the stealthy approach, but "the Doctor being the Doctor", he decides to ram the entire ship into the dock while standing on the front and cackling like a maniac.
• In Father Ted, Bishop Brennan makes an unforgettable entrance running towards the camera screaming with his 10ft-wide cloak billowing behind him once he figures out the title character really did kick him up the arse.
• In Game of Thrones, practically every single entrance that involves Daenerys' three dragons is treated as this, largely because they are just so damned awe-inspiring and destructive every time they show up in battle or even just on-screen.
  • House of the Dragon: A dying King Viserys Targaryen's entrance into the throne room in the eigth episode of Season 1. Just as the matter seems hopeless for Rhaenyra and her children, the doors are unexpectedly thrown open, and the King is announced. The fact that he's scarred with a half-masked face, bent, and hobbling all the way to the throne only adds to the drama and anticipation. Triumphant and poignant music plays as he hobbles to the throne.
• In the iCarly episode iStill Psycho, Mrs. Benson and T-Bo arrive to make their Big Damn Heroes moment by driving T-Bo's motorcycle straight through Nora's front door.
• Power Rangers:
  • Power Rangers Samurai: In "The Master Returns", Xandred arrives on Earth in style. Rocks pile together into his shape to create a gate for him. The sky darkens as he proclaims "Day shall become night as I escape from the Netherworld to face my enemies!". Everyone present from the Rangers to even Serrator goes Oh, Crap!. Xandred follows up on this by sending Serrator running and beating the living crap out of the Rangers while drying out.
  • Prior to this, Antonio deliberately tries to engineer a dramatic entrance in his debut episode. He even runs away from the other Rangers when they wind up tracking him down ahead of time, just so he can come back and show off at an opportune Big Dang Hero moment.
  • Some of the classic villains got some decent entrances too. Lord Zedd, Master Vile, and King Mondo come to mind. Mondo notably made his entrance with Quadrafighters attacking Rita and Zedd's palace, sending them running to another galaxy despite them having fought the Power Rangers for three years.
• Rome. Invoked in the first episode when Atia intercepts a fine White Stallion meant for Pompeii and has her son Octavian take it all the way to Gaul to present to Julius Caesar so as to impress him. Octavian is kidnapped and the horse stolen by the same brigands who stole Caesar's eagle standard. Vorenus and Pullo then rescue Octavian and the three of them go riding into Caesar's camp, holding the standard aloft while being cheered by the legionnaires, so his entrance was even more impressive than expected.
• In Stargate SG-1, Thor is often fond of these. Even when doing something minor such as beaming down, he often makes a point to do so whilst sitting comfortably in his Cool Chair, simply because he can.
• Supernatural:
  • Castiel's first scene. All the lights start flickering and bursting, the roof starts rattling, and the barn door breaks open, and Castiel casually strolls in amidst the howling wind and sparks, paying no attention as he walks through every type of ward Dean and Bobby could think of while being shot with a range of weapons and showing no sign of being wounded.
    Dean: [panicked] Who are you?
    Castiel: I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition.
  • Gabriel's opening move against Lucifer and his Pre-Asskicking One-Liner, seen here.
    Gabriel: Lucy. I'm home.
  • Death is an interesting case. On one hand, his entrance is nothing special in of itself, but manages to make a considerable impression with the incredibly appropriate music, the Cool Car, and the inadvertent Touch of Death (no pun intended). Subverted? Zigzagged?
• The Twilight Zone (1985): In "Cold Reading", the Large Ham radio writer and director Nelson Westbrook arrives at the UBS Radio Center in an ambulance with the sirens blaring. As soon as the ambulance stops, he jumps out of the back of it without a moment's hesitation.
• Jim Carrey has often made tongue-in-cheek grand entrances as part of talk show or awards show appearances:
  • When he received the Generation Award at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, the backdrop lifted to reveal him dressed in white and flanked by a "choir" of women dressed as angels as Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" played.
  • He rode in on a scooter for his 2018 Jimmy Kimmel Live! appearance.
  • For a 2020 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he led the house band in a New Orleans Mardi Gras-style march around the studio.

Pro Wrestling

• This is part and parcel of the spectacle. All wrestlers would have music and theatrics, some would have pyros, fireworks, explosions. Some example would include Shawn Michaels and the zipline, Sting and the helicopter absail, Goldberg standing in the fireworks, Kane using fire and explosives, and Rey Mysterio using trapdoors or Sin Cara using a trampoline.
• The Undertaker already has a spectacular entrance using any manner of smoke, pyros, explosions, controlling the lights at will, lightning, or riding a Harley Davidson to the ring. For special occasions he will be led to the ring by druids, make use of a hearse or horse drawn cart, or teleportation.
• The trapdoor backfired in WCW, where Ultimate Warrior's ended up leading to several injuries, though it usually worked for entrances.
• At the 1999 FMW tenth anniversary show, tag team partners Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Hisakatsu Oya had separate big entrances, Kuroda riding in with a biker gang and Oya having Tomomi Tanimoto perform his entrance music live.
• At Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003, Antonio Inoki parachuted his way to the ring.
• Prior to Wrestlemania 21, Carlito Caribbean Cool returned to his home promotion, WWC, for his first match since his injury on Smackdown, a rematch with little brother Eddie, and arrived to the arena in a helicopter!
• Discussed in Ring of Honor when The Lovely Lacey was trying to get Jimmy Jacobs to abandon his ring gear and wear a "flashy" robe when she made him and Whitmer her "angels".
• For WrestleMania, John Cena has used the likes of gangsters and Tommy Guns, Ford Mustangs driving through glass, an army of lookalikes and the US Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team to help make his entrances.
• Fireman Luther Black has been flanked by other firefighters and lowered into arenas in the basket of fire engines since at least Spring of 2014.
• Defending title holder Leah Von Dutch was driven to a September 2014 Classic Championship Wrestling event in a Firetruck.
• Joe Hendry is known for memorable entrances. At Insane Championship Wrestling's Fear And Loathing VIII he came down the ramp in a ball.
• Gangrel is considered by many to have the greatest non-PPV entrance in wrestling history, rising up from the floor through a ring of fire under blood-red lighting (sometimes strobed). When he was joined by Edge and Christian in The Brood, all three entered this way together and it was awesome.
• "Stone Cold" Steve Austin may not have had the biggest, flashiest entrances, but every wrestling fan is guaranteed to raise the roof the instant Glass Shatters.

Puppet Shows

• Miss Piggy in The Muppets is fond of these:
  • Her arrival at the farmhouse in A Muppet Family Christmas is on a dog sled driven by Doc dressed as a Mountie. Doc himself is at a loss to explain where any of this came from. (The last time we checked in on Piggy, she was trying to get her car out of a ditch.) Kermit just says that Piggy always knows how to make an entrance.
  • In Muppet Treasure Island, her appearance as "Benjamina Gunn" is heralded by native drums, dancers, chanting statues, and a real elephant, before she emerges in slow motion from a floral howdah. "BOOM-Shakalaka!"
  • Both of these are then immediately undercut by her falling over: in Family Christmas she slips on the Running Gag icy patch, and in Treasure Island she trips over her pet anteater, Flaubert.

Roleplay

• Dark Dragon from Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, being the ham that he is, specifically makes sure that he has at least one witness before he barges into a room as loudly and scarily as he can.

Theatre

• Escamillo, the toreador from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, enters from a distance with a large chorus singing about how great he is. When he arrives onstage, he then proceeds to sing about how great he is in a song that is as flamboyant, pompous and likable as he is, complete with lots of percussion, dramatic descriptions of bullfighting and possibly the catchiest tune in this catchiest of operas.^note Escamillo is a minor character in the original story without this much splash. Bizet wrote the "Toreador Song" as kind of a campy parody of this kind of character and music. He said "Well, they wanted some shit, so here it is."
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory features a double subversion at the end of Act 1 when it's time for the tour of Willy Wonka's factory to begin. The stage-spanning factory gates slowly open as the crowd sings his name, but the little door beyond opens to reveal an anxious Wonka dressed in a black overcoat pleading in an old, quavering voice for someone to help him walk down a flight of steps. Then he changes his mind and declares he'll do it himself, almost topples over with that first step — then strikes a pose that causes the coat to vanish, revealing his wildly colorful suit, able body, and Large Ham personality. Cue the Showstopper.
• Elisabeth: Death makes one in the opening number in some productions. Toho has him descending from the ceiling with huge wings. Takarazuka Revue has him brandishing a sword, dressed in armor, with a wing as part of his costume. The 2019 concert in Vienna has him entering the frame with two of his angels on either side, making it look like he's dressed in white with huge black wings. All productions has Lucheni being a Hammy Herald, though.
• The Balinese traditional dance-drama Gambuh is virtually all dramatic entrances. Each character makes a lengthy, elaborately formal presentation and tells the audience what's going on in stylized Kawi, an ancient literary language; they're preceded or accompanied by attendants who translate to modern Balinese. It's very long and complicated and beautiful and slow, because it's based on glacially-paced Javanese court drama. So you might sit there wondering when the show's going to begin, when you're actually halfway through it.
• Hamilton: "Everyone give it up for America's favorite fighting Frenchman!"
• In Pokémon Live!, Team Rocket has a big entrance; they even repeat it to get the audience to cheer for them.
• In Tosca, Baron Scarpia makes one of grand opera's baddest of bad-ass entrances. He and his secret police crash an enormous chorus number in mid-note, which swerves like a skipped record needle into the bad guy's signature theme. A chorus of happy children, to be precise. Really putting bad in bad-ass.^note Singer/producer/director Tito Gobbi is so associated with Scarpia — he played him over 900 times — that he actually led off his autobiography with those signature chords, and says that entrance is one of the finest moments in all opera.
• The Warriors at Helgeland by Henrik Ibsen has the largest opening line in any play written by Ibsen. Cue a massive sword fight and a lot of people speaking in chorus.
  Retreat, Warrior!
• From Richard Wagner's operas:
  • Lohengrin has the titular Knight in Shining Armor's majestic arrival on a boat pulled by a swan, just when Elsa needs to be saved from Telramund's accusations by him.
  • The Ring of the Nibelung:
    • Das Rheingold has the loud arrival of the Giants to seek their due payment from Wotan.
    • Die Walküre features one of the most dramatic entrances ever seen on a stage: the Ride of the Valkyries. Maiden goddesses riding chargers and singing about battle practically barge onto the stage (in the best way possible) to the sound of Wagner's most universally recognizable and bombastic piece. Hojotoho!

Theme Parks

• Subverted in the former Disaster! attraction at Universal Studios Florida, as Frank Kincaid tries to make a big entrance with an explosion, but it doesn't work as he had planned.

Video Games

• Balrog from Cave Story. In his first appearance, there's an ominous pounding on a door, then he smashes down the door and the wall around it, shouting (depending on the translation) either "Huzzah!" or "Oh yeah!" (a la the Kool-Aid Man) He even gets his own distinct theme music.
• In Dark Souls II's Crown of the Ivory King Downloadable Content, your final battle in the Old Chaos sounds little more than clearing wave after wave of Elite Mooks, with up to four NPC allies and two phantom summons at your disposal. A few minutes into the fight, however, a thundering noise will be heard, and two massive pillars rise from nothingness to form a Hellgate larger than the ones spawning the mooks. From the flaming gate, you can make out a silhouette coming out of it with a Menacing Stroll: it's the titular Ivory King, and his hellish Leitmotif starts blaring once he starts coming out of the portal, initiating the true phase of his Optional Boss fight.
• Dante being Dante does this in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne where he intoduces himself by jumping of a 60 story building and landing neatly (if a bit loudly) behind Hitoshura before beginning his boss battle.
• In Elite: Dangerous, whenever a capital ship jumps into the battlefield.
• In Fate/Extella Link, Charlie actively tries to come up with these as part of his obsession with the Rule of Cool. In one conversation, Astolfo recommends Charlie drop from the sky and land on one knee and fist like a superhero. Charlie initially points out how dangerous that is, as he could easily hurt his hip or stab himself with his sword. Astolfo shoots back that coolness is more important than safety, which convinces Charlie to start jumping off buildings to practice, prompting Astolfo to mutter that he didn't think Charlie would actually do it.
• Inverted in Final Fantasy XII by the Esper, Chaos. As you enter, the Esper telekenetically slams the door shut, by clapping its hands together. The thing isn't even the one doing the entering, and you have that sense of dread even before the fight starts.
• Love & Pies:Whenever Edwina dramatically storms into her rival Amelia's café, her face is lit by evil green light and lightning striking behind her.
• Octopath Traveler II: In Partitio's Chapter 4, Lord Alrond arrives in a magnificent ship as Roque and the audience are looking on, before announcing he brought the 80 billion leaves in cash.
• In Runescape, one quest has you rescue a gnome who has been a prisoner for about 200 years. After you rescue the guy, the gnome you've been escorting throughout the quest calls in air support for a quick ride out. Everyone present discusses landing in the Gnome Tree Village, even though the local king has declared that no gnome gliders may be used over the village. The pilot uses this trope as part of his rationale for going to the Gnome Tree Village on a glider anyway.
  Captain Belmondo: You need to make a big entrance when you've got the king's long-lost brother in tow!
• One Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC trailer plays the trope for horror; our heroes face certain annihilation by Galeem... only for someone to split Galeem in half. Then One-Winged Angel begins to play...
  SEPHIROTH DESCENDS TO BATTLE!
• Uncle Albert's Magical Album has a dragon who enters the screen while doing a backflip.
• World of Warcraft: Deathwing's entrance in World of Warcrsaft: Cataclysm was so big it actually BROKE Azeroth. (Several zones were completely changed because of his explosive return).

Web Animation

• In the Rainbow Rocks short "Player Piano", the Rainbooms are waiting for Rarity to practice, and Applejack comments, "That gal probably just want to make some sort of grand entrance." Cue the doors bursting open with Rarity being carried in on a grand piano by the humanized Diamond Dogs.
• In Episode 6 of Helluva Boss, Stolas steps in to save I.M.P. by possessing Agent Two, reanimating the corpses of the other agents, and having them all draw his Ars Goetia sigil around Agent Two. She then regurgitates a flurry of black feathers which takes the form of a bird-like demon that finally changes into the Great Prince of Hell.

Webcomics

• The Adventures of Dr. McNinja:
  • Dr. McNinja makes a pretty good entrance here, mainly as a Shout-Out to Batman. Although, his entrance is rendered rather moot when you take into account that the gang he dropped in on had nothing at all to do with the plot.
  • Chris Hastings has claimed that he could do a whole book on the entrances and exits of King Radical.
• In Alice and the Nightmare, Rougina ramps up the ham when entering the main hall to give an inauguration speech to the new students, complete with amazing dress, a light show and magic dust everywhere. It's so big, she gets an entire page just to the moment she comes on the stage.
• Close to Your Heart: In contrast to Cuda who is sneaking towards the temple, Blixer makes his presence known by blaring into a horn. Cuda takes him out after the knights are alerted, and then Lycan suggests that they should have came up with a plan to beat Cuda rather than make an awesome introduction. Blixer buffs it off, stating that "presentation is the key".
• Done, and lampshaded in Exterminatus Now, here.
  Virus: Hal! That was fucking awesome!
  Eastwood: Shut uuuup! You're ruining my big entrance!
  Virus: Sorry! Carry on!
• In Girl Genius, during the Cinderella parody, Agatha has a nice one. When in doubt, go with the classics. Nicely lampshaded at the bottom of the next page.
• In The Glass Scientists, Jekyll enters in a sparkling couch that would be more fit to a fairy tale than The City Narrows he's in, pulled by a sparkling, snow-white horse with shining long mane, capturing everyone's attention and having entire Torches and Pitchforks crowd stare in stunned silence before they even see him emerging from the carriage and chatting with policemen like it's no big deal.
• The Order of the Stick:
  • Elan at various points. Two points that come to mind are when he bursts through the window to rescue Haley from Nale (which is slightly dampened by Thog following while dressed like a leprechaun), and doing the same when confronting Kubota over his plan to dethrone Hinjo and kill the Kato family. The latter is hilariously lampshaded, as Therkla has left the door open for Elan, so Elan has to go around and find a good window to jump through.
  • Also, Vaarsuvius, when they attacks Xykon. V just teleports in, which is normally no biggie. But since the whole area is covered in epic-level magic to prevent teleportation, it is somewhat of a big deal. Between that and the loud boom V makes when entering, the elf has everyone's immediate and rapt attention.
    Xykon: Someone tell the TeeVo to cancel Movie Night... I think we've got our own little action-comedy-drama here.
• In Spinnerette, Agent 7, né Thunderfist, enters with a Ground Punch.

Web Videos

• Flander's Company:
  • Hippolyte Kurtzmann makes a very gratuitous Super Window Jump in season 3 episode 12.
    Hippolyte: Lesson number 12 of the supervillain: always indulges in a charismatic entrance.
  • Carla Burnelle's return to Flander's in season four's "Forgiven, not Forgotten". Blasting off the doors is just the start.
    Armand: [clapping] Bravo, Carla. Nice comeback. Truly. There was tension, light and sound effects, a rather good sense of timing... no, really, it was nearly perfect. A true model of the genre.

Western Animation

• Darkwing Duck is a master of this. His entrances are always preceded by a cloud of smoke, followed by his signature phrase; complete with ominous echo: "I am the terror that flaps in the night, I am the [insert latest unusual analogy here]..."
• DuckTales (2017):
  • An In-Universe employee training video has Flintheart Glomgold kicking down a wall and welcoming all concerned to Glomgold Industries where he barely even tries to hide what a scoundrel he is before concluding that employees are their greatest treasure. (Which he does not actually believe.)
  • The second season introduces Zan Owlson, the acting CEO of the company since he went missing during the "Shadow War" incident. She taps on the silhouette where Glomgold used to be and awkwardly works her way through the empty space before politely introducing herself.
• In the penultimate episode of Justice League, Darkseid has been resurrected by Lex Luthor (it was an accident). Since his death, a civil war has been raging on Apokalips as to who would take his place. Just as the final battle is about to take place, Darkseid immediately puts a stop to the war by making a literal explosive entrance of epic proportions. Without him even saying a word, everyone from both sides immediately redeclares allegiance to him without a single protest. Darkseid Is indeed.
• The Magic School Bus: Ms. Frizzle has a tendency to do this, showing up in various episodes by hang gliding in, hopping in on a pogo stick, riding an inflatable alligator on a wave out of the closet and zipping into frame from offscreen.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Princess Luna's entrance in "Luna Eclipsed". She comes in on a Batmobile-looking chariot drawn by pegasi with wing armor and helmet crests that look like bat wings, wearing a Black Cloak and accompanied by Dramatic Thunder. She does an awesome drop from the chariot and dramatically flips the hood off her head. Finally, her cloak dissolves into bats. Because of this, many Bronies now refer to her as "Princess Luna, Princess of F-ING METAL!!!"
  • In "The Mane Attraction", pony pop star Countess Coloratura shows up on a palanquin carried by four backup dancer stallions, on a throne adorned with her cutie mark inside a gem-shaped structure that opens like a flower, with appropriate light show and background music. Subtle.
  • "Between Dark and Dawn": During the Cold Open, Princess Celestia and Luna make their appearance by loudly announcing their presence, the sun right behind them. Later, they enter the Cake's bakery by smashing through the door.
• In the Phineas and Ferb episode "Temple of Juatchadoon", Heinz Doofenshmirtz makes a big entrance, only for Perry the Platypus to make a BIGGER entrance.
  Doofenshmirtz: Perry the Platypus, you totally one-upped my entrance!
• This has been Lampshaded on The Simpsons, when Mr. Burns makes his first appearance before his new Indian employees at the outsourced power plant. He comes out of a basket to dancing like a charmed snake, with appropriate snake-charmy music. Smithers asks him why he wanted to make an entrance like that, to which he replies, "I'm a showman!"
• General Grievous from Star Wars: Clone Wars. His first appearance (which, incidentally, was his Real Life first appearance in any Star Wars media) involves his droid army ambushing and surrounding a group of Jedi. From off-screen, Grievous tells the droids to stop attacking, and then calls out to the Jedi, urging them to make peace with the Force and promising to personally grant them a warrior's death. One of the Jedi panics and charges out to attack, and Grievous finally shows himself by jumping on the Jedi's back, killing him instantly.
• Star Wars Rebels:
  • "Twilight of the Apprentice": Darth Vader enters standing on top of his TIE Advanced as it slowly descends, with his lightsaber ignited and his cape billowing behind him.
  • "Legacy of Mandalore": Fenn Rau has a Big Damn Heroes moment by flying through a glass wall, shattering it spectacularly.
• Storm Hawks: Aerrow in "Tranquility Now" when arriving to bail out the others. He crashes through the face of the clock tower with his skimmer, somersaults off of it while it slides across the floor and crashes into Snipe and Ravess, and lands in a crouch in front of his team.
• The Teen Titans episode "Birthmark" starts off with Dr. Light fighting the Titans. At first he seems to be holding his own, until Raven makes her entrance. She mimics the last time the two of them encountered each other, with scaling up her size a fair bit, Glowing Eyes of Doom, and tentacles made of shadow.
  Raven: Remember me?
  Dr. Light: [goes Blue with Shock, turns and raises hands] I'd like to go to jail now, please.
• In Thunder Cats 2011, these are given to The Dragon and the Big Bad respectively.
  • In "Omens Part One" Catfolk General Grune arrives in a Captain Morgan Pose atop a gigantic geode hauled by a chain gang of four-dozen Lizard Folk slaves because he's Too Important to Walk.
  • In "Omens Part Two" Sorcerous Overlord Mumm-Ra is revealed Wreathed in Flames while a vortex with swirling red clouds opens in the sky above his head, Dramatic Thunder booms and a Dramatic Wind blows, all backed by his personal Leitmotif featuring Conlang Ominous Latin Chanting.
• Played with on an episode of The Venture Brothers The Monarch and his henchman execute a badass, minty-fresh entrance on what he thought was the Venture compound, turns out it was just his accountant's office.

Real Life

• Queen Elizabeth II entered the 2012 Olympics Arena in London by paradropping from a hovering helicopter! Alongside James Bond! Okay, it was actually stunt people standing in for her and Daniel Craig, but that didn't make her entrance any less awesome.
• Mere months after being shot in the head, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords returned to the floor of the US House of Representatives to vote on a debt ceiling measure. She was greeted with a standing ovation.
• Drag Queen Tandi Iman Dupree's incredible performance of "Holding Out for a Hero" must be seen to be believed.
• At any official military gathering (briefings, formations, etc.) the Commander's entrance will usually be announced with a Sergeant Rock loudly calling the gathered troops to attention (standing ramrod-straight and silently awaiting orders). So even though the officer in question is usually quietly walking into the room, the effect is the same complements of the NCO getting everyone's attention first. In the US military, Generals, Admirals, and the President will usually have a band playing a fanfare to accompany the entrance at any publicized gatherings.

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