Body Bridge

Alpha: WOLF PACK! Form a... Wolf Bridge.
Junior: What is happening?
Tulip: The wolves are forming a suspension bridge.
Junior: How is that possible?
Tulip: I don't know.
Junior: Alright, let's go.

— Storks

The heroes are on an adventure, and find themselves in need of crossing some sort of gap or river. What's one way to make the situation more dramatic (or, in some cases, comedic)? Create a bridge using a person or creature!

In some cases, this might just be an existing part of the scenery. A skeleton serving as a bridge makes for an interesting crossing, giving the place an ominous flair since clearly something died there, and may even be dangerous depending on how fragile it is.

Sometimes, the characters themselves may become the bridge if they're in a situation where danger, lack of resources, or simple impatience prevents them from coming up with some other way to cross it. If not Played for Laughs, such a feat requires great strength to support someone else's weight in addition to their own, adding to the suspense as they may not be able to hold it for long.

May occur when Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity and it might result in them Hanging by the Fingers. Compare Human Ladder, which also involves characters using themselves to get over obstacles, and Rope Bridge, another type of perilous bridge. Chain of People and Take My Hand! are similar tropes involving physically helping others to safety.

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Examples:

Advertising

• Budweiser aired a commercial during the 2010 Super Bowl that involves a crowd forming a bridge out of themselves in order to let a Budweiser delivery truck drive cross a gap.

Anime & Manga

• Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo: When one of Team Bobobo's foes, Infinite Shoot, turns the whole forest into a Lethal Lava Land, Bobobo, Don Patch, and Jelly Jiggler linked together, forming a bridge for Gasser to have better footing.
• One Piece: At least one Filler episode has Luffy stretching his rubber body over a cliff to act as a bridge. He even names it as a technique!

Film — Animated

• The Chipmunk Adventure: During the "Wooly Bully" music number, a lot of natives become a long bridge as their chief nearly falls into the moat filled with crocodiles, which they plan to feed the Chipmunks as a sacrifice.
• In The Good Dinosaur, Arlo and Spot come upon a gap while traveling along a narrow ledge. Spot pushes and bites Arlo, making him fall so that he's holding on by his teeth and tail, and crawls across him to the other side.
• In Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the heroes exit the subterranean world by crossing a chasm bridged by a gigantic dinosaur skeleton. As Buck returns to the underground world, he cuts the vines that had been holding up the skeleton, making it fall and causing a tremor that seals off the cave.
• Inside Out: Joy needs to get back to headquarters, so she creates several clones of Riley's imaginary boyfriend (from Canada), who swear they would die for Riley, and uses them as a bridge to catch up to Sadness and make it to headquarters.
• Open Season 2: At one point, the characters are seen crossing Boog the bear in order to cross a ravine.
  Boog: Watch the ribs!
• Peter Pan: During the "Following the Leader" number, as the Lost Boys hop over stones to cross a river, Cubby trips and latches onto a stone while those behind march over him.
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Big Jack Horner's Bad Boss tendencies reach an apex when his carriage comes across a deep gorge. He orders the surviving members of his Baker's Dozen to form a human bridge across the gorge, walks over them to the other side, then orders the carriage to be driven over them as well. This proves to be too much for them, and they and the carriage are sent plummeting into the gorge, save one who manages to cling on to the cliffside (and even she only gets pulled up after reassuring Horner that she isn't "chatty").
• Storks: Exaggerated. After Junior cuts the rope bridge so the wolf pack can't follow them, he and Tulip share a frightened shock as they watch the wolves proceed to (improbably) form an elaborate suspension bridge using their own bodies.

Film — Live-Action

• Taken to the extreme in The 14 Amazons — the bridge leading to the Tangut fortress has collapsed, and the warriors of the Yang Family need to make their way across. So a few dozen men and women of the Yang clan form a Human Ladder, before collapsing into a bridge for the rest of the army, at the cost of nearly everyone forming the bridge falling into a chasm to their deaths. The 2011 remake, Legendary Amazons, does this as well. It... needs to be seen to be believed.
• Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: When Suko is leading Kong back to where he came from, they cross over a huge chasm that's bridged by the skeleton of some giant, long-dead animal. Given that Kong is already over three-hundred feet tall, the creature this skeleton belonged to must have been a truly immense beast.
• Lost in Alaska: George ends up accidentally forming one when an ice floe breaks off from the main land, falling forward off the ice and gripping the main ground. Tom, Rosette and Joe end up crossing him to get onto the floe in an attempt to escape Stillman and his henchmen.
• In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995): Ivan Ooze's Hornitron destroys a section of the Angel Grove monorail. Moments later, the teens of Angel Grove take a train to reach their parents, when they spot the fallen tracks. However, the White Ranger pilots the Falconzord towards the monorail and lands on that exact spot, acting as a makeshift bridge for the train to safely cross.
• In Ready Player One (2018), the Iron Giant (piloted by Aech) uses his body to build a bridge over the lava chasm at Castle Anorak. Watch the scene here.
• Superman: The Movie: One result of Lex Luthor nuking the San Andreas Fault is a crevasse breaking a gap in train tracks. Superman bridges the gap with his own body so an incoming train can pass over him.

Literature

• In the Warrior Cats book The Raging Storm, Violetshine gets stranded on a dead tree sticking out of a flooded stream. Juniperclaw stretches from the bank to reach her and urges her to climb across him. She gets to safety just before he falls in, having sacrificed himself so that she and her unborn kits could survive. This scene is depicted on a Chinese cover of the book.

Live-Action TV

• Played for laughs in Keeping Up Appearances. In "What to Wear When Yachting", Richard ends up in an absurd situation of holding a boat with his feet, while lying flat over the side and clinging to the river bank. Hyacinth boards by simply walking over him, using him as a bridge. Unfortunately, the boat then drifts off, leaving Hyacinth aboard, while Richard is on the bank.
• Shining Time Station: In "Mr. Conductor's Big Sleepwalk", Mr. Conductor gets a job as the Sandman's helper. He accidentally sneezes sleepy sand in his eyes, causing him to walk and talk in his sleep. As he wanders around, he walks across the railings of Schemer's arcade. To keep Mr. Conductor from falling off the railings and to keep Schemer from finding out about him, Kara tosses a nickel on the floor and tells Schemer about it. As Schemer is hunched down looking for the nickel, Mr. Conductor walks across his body until he reaches the other railing. After Schemer finds the nickel and leaves, Mr. Conductor turns around and Becky and Kara have him walk across their hands to keep him from falling.
• Supernatural: In "Abandon All Hope..." Castiel is trapped in a ring of holy fire by Meg, who hangs around for some Evil Gloating. Castiel uses his angel powers to undo a screw holding a large pipe the other side of Meg, which knocks her into the circle with him. He shoves her to the ground and uses her as a bridge out of the holy fire.

Mythology

• In The Mabinogion, Bran the Blessed, being a giant, at one point helped his entire army cross a river on the way to Ireland by stretching his body over the gap and letting them literally walk over him.

Video Games

• In Adventure Island III, the first level of Area 6 has Master Higgins crossing the tail of a giant beast's skeletal remains, which includes gaps that become extra wide when Higgins stands on the ledges.
• In Chrono Trigger, when Chrono and Lucca defeat the Dragon Tank, it plummets through the bridge, leaving the Chancellor and his two guardsmen trying to repair it hanging for their lives and forming a convenient makeshift bridge for the main characters to cross on.
• In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the Nords' afterlife, Sovngarde, contains a chasm bridged by a whale's skeleton. Those wishing to cross it and enter the Hall of Valor on the other side must defeat the guardian Tsun in battle.
• EverQuest: The Grait Spaign that connects Iceclad Ocean to the Eastern Wastes is made from the bones of a giant ancient dragon.
• King Arthur: Knight's Tale: The mission "The Witch Queen" has your party cross a bridge made from a dragon's skeleton.
• McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure: In the Alien King's spaceship, shortly before the final battle with the Alien King, Ronald comes across a guard who is holding the Fry Kids prisoner. When Ronald gives the guard some of his magic jewels, the guard falls asleep. Ronald sets the Fry Kids free, and they form a bridge that he can walk across to get across a gap leading to the Alien King's hideaway.
• Ōkami: During the Sei-An Story Arc, Queen Otohime uses the Dragon Orb to transform into a Water Dragon and, while having this shape, positions herself between the Watcher's Cape in North Ryoshima Coast and the elusive Oni Island so Amaterasu and Issun can reach the latter destination.
• Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire: One of the table elements on the Ruby Field is a loop ramp with a gap in it that the player must nudge a Nuzleaf towards with the ball until it falls over and forms a bridge in order to get the Pokéball upgrade or 1-Up on the other side.

Webcomics

• Rusty and Co.: Mimic uses Y.T.'s stretched body to cross a chasm over lava. Y.T. is particularly upset about this, as she just told Mimic, "Don't cross me."

Western Animation

• Invader Zim: In "Hobo 13", during Zim's training on the titular planet, his squad must cross a pit, rather than cut down a tree to use as a bridge like one of his team suggests, he forces them to form a bridge with themselves. This eliminates a larger number of them, who rightfully call Zim a horrible leader.
• Mickey Mouse (2013): In "New Shoes", Mickey swaps bodies with Goofy and uses his new tall body to help people, including holding onto broken ends of suspended tracks so Casey Junior can roll over him.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "Elements of Harmony", the sea serpent Steven Magnet allows the Mane 6 to use his body as a bridge across the river, as a way of thanking Rarity for her generosity.

Real Life

• Certain species of ants (particularly army ants) are capable of constructing living bridges by multiple colony members grabbing onto each other.

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