Signature Scene

The most famous scene from the most disastrous teen romance you're likely to find.

"THAT scene in American Pie."

— TV Tropes: an older revision of the Cringe Comedy page

That one scene that everyone remembers from a movie or other media. When people think of the work, this is the one scene that they immediately think of, and may be the only reason to remember it at all. If the work is referenced in popular culture, it will reference this scene. Cover illustrations will often depict this scene. Any parodies will also center on this scene specifically.

There are many reasons that the scene may stand out. It may be...

• The centerpiece of the trailer, causing it to enter the minds of people before they see the movie, or be all they know about it if they never see the movie.
• A piece of exceptional writing or visual beauty.
• A scene that is uncharacteristic and has nothing to do with the rest of the work.
• A scene that is so unintentionally laughable it overshadows the rest of the work.^note This is especially true for works that were already So Bad, It's Good.
• A scene that went viral.
• A scene that evoked major controversy.
• The major twist in the work.
• A scene that was just so shocking it became firmly lodged in the viewer's memory.
• An incredibly humiliating, embarrassing, or poorly-written scene.
• The Once an Episode setpiece.

No matter the reason, the Signature Scene is cemented in the minds of the general public. If you have actually seen the work yourself, there may be more scenes that you enjoy, or possibly stick out more in your mind than what people believe to be the Signature Scene. This dissonance leads to Small Reference Pools.

Remember that this should not just be a list of every single dramatic or important scene (those fall under Wham Episode or Shocking Moments.) This is the one scene that's so iconic that even people who've never seen the work likely recognize it. And part of the concept is that it is a singular scene — while the trope is sometimes a matter of opinion (and it's therefore reasonable to end up having more than one listed for a work due to different people identifying different signature scenes), you shouldn't generally feel the urge to add more than one for a particular work yourself.

Scenes which are little more than famous quotes should probably not be listed here. Those are examples of Signature Lines. Quotes do help keep a Signature Scene memorable, though.

Compare It Was His Sled, Best Known for the Fanservice, Watch It for the Meme, Money-Making Shot, and Everybody Knows That. If the Signature Scene is the only reason the audience watches the entire movie, see Just Here for Godzilla.

Warning: By virtue of being a list of the most memorable moments in various works, this will be littered with unmarked spoilers.

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Examples subpages:

• Anime & Manga
• Films — Live-Action
• Live-Action TV
• Video Games

Other examples:

Awards Shows

• Academy Awards
  • 1973: Sacheen Littlefeather declining the Best Actor award on behalf of Marlon Brando in protest of Hollywood's history of negative portrayal of Indigenous people. The response from the crowd has been a source of controversy for the Academy for decades.
  • 1997: James Cameron taking Best Picture award and quoting his own movie saying, "I'm the king of the world!" While a bit arrogant, it was an arrogance well earned after his Historical Blockbuster Romance won 11 Academy Awards and forever cemented itself in pop culture and awards history.
  • 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio winning his first Oscar for Best Actor after years of online memes about how he could never get one despite his list of famous roles.
  • 2017: La La Land being erroneously announced as Best Picture when in actuality Moonlight (2016) won. The fact that this occurred not long after Steve Harvey made a similar mistake at the Miss Universe competition it even more memorable.
  • 2021: Anthony Hopkins's upset win for Best Actor after the entire event was set up to make it seem like the late Chadwick Boseman would recieve it (to the point of making it the final award of the night).
  • 2022: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock for making an insensitive joke about his wife's alopecia and yelling "Keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth!" This was the first time in the show's history that such an act of violence occurred on stage, let alone on live television. The incident would lead to a backlash against Smith, who resigned from AMPAS as a result.
• Daytime Emmy Awards
  • 1999: Susan Lucci finally winning the statue for "Best Leading Actress" after 19 nominations, and the ensuing two minute roaring standing ovation that accompanied it.
  Shemar Moore: And the outstanding diva is...(opens the envelope) THE STREAK IS OVER! SUSAN LUCCI!!!
• The Game Awards
  • 2015: Geoff Keighley announcing that Konami had legally barred Hideo Kojima from attending the show. With the cancellation of P.T still fresh in people's minds, this incident only served to sour the studio's reputation further.
  • 2018: The announcement of Joker as the first Challenger Pack DLC fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Not only did this catch the audience and viewers by complete surprise, but this is the first time a new character was announced at the event, as well as DLC content being confirmed before the game even released.
  • 2022: The infamous "Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton" incident where then 15-year old Matan Even take advantage of the moment to blend in with the Fromsoft's rep team up to the stage and later 'thanking' the aforementioned Bill Clinton has become one of the memorable moments that ever happened in the Game Awards, with some viewers citing that he's the only reason why people ever remembered TGA 2022 in the first place. Matan himself was apprehanded by the organizers shortly after and is banned from attending any future Game Awards events, with Geoff promising tighter security across the venue from now on.
• Grammy Awards
  • 1990: Milli Vanilli winning Best New Artist. Only made memorable once the two were exposed for lip-synching all of their music and having them subsequently stripped.
• MTV Video Music Awards
  • 2001: Britney Spears exotic performance of "Slave 4 U", particularly the moment of her dancing with a Boa Constrictor around her neck. Often ranked and voted the sexiest and most iconic moment from the heyday of the awards.
  • 2009: Taylor Swift winning the award for Best Female Video, only to be interrupted by Kanye West. While already seen by much of America in a negative light, this act only made that reputation worse. Even Barack Obama famously called him a Jackass.
  • 2013: Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke's performance of "We Can't Stop" and "Blurred Lines", where various sex acts were imitated. It was a complete shock to everyone who remembered Miley as a family-friendly pop star, and kickstarted her brief period of branching off to more risqué content.

Comic Books

DC Comics

• Bane breaking Batman's back in Knightfall. One of the most iconic comic book panels of all time, a major point in Batman's publication history, and Bane's defining moment, to the point that the feat is repeated in The Dark Knight Rises.
• Final Crisis: The entire universe under the control of Darkseid. With his Anti-Life equation finally found and propagated throughout the known universe, Darkseid makes his proclamation as The New God and how all will "DIE. DIE FOR DARKSEID!"
• Green Arrow: From the Hard Travelin' Heroes arc, Ollie finding out his sidekick Speedy has become addicted to Heroin. Another kick in the teeth of the Comics Code on DC's side, and a defining moment for Roy Harper and Ollie's relationship as they would never quite be the same after the tension created from this moment.
• Supergirl:
  • Supergirl flying out of her space rocket in the cover of The Supergirl From Krypton (1959) has been paid tribute to, referenced and parodied countless times.
  • The cover of Supergirl (1982) #19 in which Supergirl fights Supergirl has been referenced several times.
  • Superman holding Supergirl in his arms in the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 has been frequently referenced and/or parodied and has sold tons of merchandising.
• Superman:
  • Superman comforting/saving a suicidal teenager in All-Star Superman. Not just for that one comic, but considered by many to be a perfect encapsulation of everything that makes Superman awesome.
  • Superman's closing speech to Manchester Black about why he lives the way he does in "What's so funny about Truth, Justice and the American Way". After defeating Manchester and his team of Anti-Hero pastiches of The Authority, Manchester that Superman's a fool, and that if he thinks it's over, he's "Living in a bloody dream world." Superman's response is the encapsulation of why his way matters. "Good. Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us into something better. And on my soul, I swear until my dream of a world where Truth, Honor and Dignity are the reality we all share, I'll Never stop fighting. Ever.
• Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, with all the Titans captured by Deathstroke and Terra's hands. A devastating low for The New Teen Titans run, but also a sign of the heights Marv Wolfman was willing to take the comic too. The arc would become the most famous Titans story ever.

Marvel Comics

• Civil War (2006):
  • The infamous tie in issue where Sally Field accuses Steve Rogers of being out of touch with modern American values. The issue was disliked by many readers, who felt it was Dramatically Missing the Point about how idealism should be let go of in the face of changing times. In a way, a symptom of the problems with turning this event into the end all be all of Marvel for a year.
  • The image of Iron Man firing repulsor blasts against Captain America holding his shield blocking it. An iconic image from near the end of the story showing how far things had fallen between heroes. Something that would be borrowed in the movie.
• Iron Man: Tony Stark staring at a glass of liquor while wearing his Iron Man suit. As part of the growing Bronze Age of comics, the writer of Iron Man decided to add a decidedly human flaw to this playboy millionaire hero: alcoholism. Something which would define the character thereafter with his struggles and triumphs over his drinking problem through the modern era.
• Secret Wars (1984):
  • The scene and the cover of Secret Wars #4 showing Hulk holding atop a mountain barely above his shoulders and protecting the other heroes from being crushed. This scene is so iconic that it was paid homage in Avengers: Endgame.
  • Spider-Man getting the Alien Costume, and of course the legendary cover of Secret Wars #8 which is much homaged and parodied and widely considered the image of the series.
• Spider-Man:
  • The death of Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man #121, notable for the much-debated SNAP! sound effect and the final panels with Spider-Man holding Gwen's body. This moment in general is one of the signature scenes in all of comics as there had never been a death as big as Gwen's, the Hero's Principle Love Interest, in any Comic Storyline up to that point and was a significant change in the landscape of the medium, as many stated it singlehandedly ushered in the end of the Silver-Age of Comics.
  • The infamous One More Day, that featured Peter and Mary Jane selling their marriage to Mephisto to save Aunt May's life. Still to this day it's considered the worst and most nonsensical moment in all of Spider-Man canon.
• Ultimate Marvel:
  • The "Freaky Friday" Flip crossover between Spider-Man and Wolverine, for not only cementing how Ultimate Spider-Man differs from the rest of the Ultimate Universe in being less of a jerk but for his memetic comment about how the Ultimate X-Men are disliked not for being mutants but for being jerks.
  • The scene in Ultimatum where the Blob bites a chunk out of the Wasp's ribcage while commenting that it tastes like chicken, is the proverbial image for the entire universe's tendency for Gorn and gratuitous Character Death.
  • The climactic fight between the Ultimates and the Liberators, specifically for showcasing almost every hero in Ultimate Marvel up to that point. It's even used as the page image for Ultimate Marvel itself.
• X-Men: "Days of Future Past" has both the moment where the future X-Men are massacred by the Sentinels and the cover◊ of "Uncanny X-Men" #141 which depicts an aged Wolverine protecting an adult Kitty Pryde as a poster of various captured and killed X-Men lies plastered on a wall behind them. It's one of the most homaged shots in comic history.

Other Comics

• Blake and Mortimer: Blake and Mortimer on the cover of The Yellow "M" has become so iconic that it inspired many parodies and homages.

Fan Works

• Whenever readers thought of the Dark Fic of Digimon Adventure 02 Digimon Adventure 02: The Story We Never Told, it will always be the moment when Ken dies mostly due to the fact that almost no readers ever saw it coming.
• Dragon Ball Z Abridged: Future Trunks finding Gohan's corpse in Future of Trunks, thanks to being played completely straight.
• How I Became Yours: The scene in which Katara bloodbends Mai to death in broad daylight, doing something that is not only fairly morally questionable, but seen as impossible^note Bloodbending is an advanced form of waterbending that requires a powerful (and unscrupulous) waterbender performing it under ideal conditions- night and the full moon at least until Legend of Korra.
• Kingdom Hearts: The Antipode:
  • The ending of Act 1, where Riku decides to leave the Door to Darkness open in favour of searching for Sora. This is the moment where the story diverges completely from The Stations of the Canon and takes off in its own unique direction.
  • The Final Battle of Fragmented Truths. Riku has an emotional confrontation with Riku Replica within Castle Oblivion in the culmination of the latter's struggles throughout the story. As they fight, the scenery around them morphs into different locations from their memories and as the castle crumbles around them, the area turns into an Amazing Technicolor Battlefield. Meanwhile, Roxas reluctantly fights Kairi, Donald and Goofy to prevent them from interfering. Kairi even summons her Keyblade in an awesome moment.
  • The Climax Boss of The Year Between, which serves as the conclusion to Riku Replica's arc. After several chapters worth of buildup, Xigbar and Demyx launch an attack on Disney Town during the Dream Festival to strongarm the heroes into rebrandishing their Keyblades. In this battle is where the Replica finally overcomes his identity crisis and adopts the name "Xiruk".
  • The Reveal in All That's Left, where it becomes apparent that Xemnas is actually Terra's Nobody, left a broken shell of a man after breaking free from Xehanort's control.
• When people hear of the infamous Harry Potter fanfic My Immortal, chances are they think of Dumbledor catching Ebony and Draco having sex and him yelling “What the hell are you doing here, you motherfuckers!”
• Sword Art Online Abridged:
  • Episode 4's version of the Mugging the Monster moment from the original show, in which Kirito goes Laughing Mad and gives an A God Am I speech, is cited by Something Witty Entertainment as "the scene" that sold viewers on their take on Kirito.
  • Episode 8 has the often-quoted "No More Holding Back" Speech that displays Abridged Kirito's Character Development. "Ya know something? I really. Hate. People..."
  • Episode 11 has Kirito's duel with Heathcliff, set to the season's title theme, "This is War." Or as viewers have commented, "they out-anime'd the original anime."
  • Episode 17 has two moments that epitomize the Fix Fic elements of Season Two. First, the notorious scene in which Asuna is molested by tentacle monsters becomes the culmination of her Adaptational Badass moments throughout the season, edited so that her captors are the ones panicking from being forced into a confrontation with someone who repeatedly escapes from her cell and brutalizes them, and Asuna is able to intimidate one of her recurring victims to the point that he tries to let her go. Second has the Internal Reveal of Leafa/Suguha's identity to Kirito/Kazuto and her subsequent teary breakdown - played sincerely by her voice actress - not over her canonical Big Brother Attraction, but over the Freudian Excuse hinted at over the previous episodes that turns out to have defined the siblings' relationship, Suguha's characterization, and even how Kazuto behaves online.
• Ellsee dancing out her frustrations is the most viewed Vast Error clip with 1.7 million views on YouTube. It's liked for its catchy song, fun animation, and that it can be enjoyed without context or knowing about the plot.

Films — Animated

• From Aardman Animations:
  • A Grand Day Out has the famous "Building the Rocket" scene, which introduced the world to Wallace & Gromit.
  • The Wrong Trousers has two:
    • The Rube Goldberg Machine that is Wallace's morning routine. A perfect Establishing Character Moment for the cheese-loving Bungling Inventor.
    • The Chase between Gromit and Feathers McGraw... taking place entirely on toy train tracks. Often cited as one of Aardman's finest pieces of animation, and indeed one of the most famous Stop Motion Animation sequences ever made by anybody.
  • Chicken Run:
    • The opening, setting up the film's nature as an Affectionate Parody of The Great Escape... with chickens.
    • The big Creation Sequence, in which the chickens work together to turn their coops into a pedal-powered plane on which they finally escape Tweedy's Farm, all set to the epic "Building The Crate".
• Allegro non Troppo: The Boléro segment, particularly the shot of the soda bottle. The segment was frequently shown stand-alone, and was featured on many covers for the film.
• Dot and the Kangaroo: The Bunyip Song. With its frightening visuals, downbeat instrumentation, and lyrics about how the Bunyip is "the most unpleasant monster that you have ever seen" and is "going to get you in the Bunyip moon", this sequence has terrified generations of Aussie children unlucky enough to see it. That being said, it is still generally regarded as being one of the most memorable parts of the movie.
• Several from the Disney Animated Canon:
  • Aladdin:
    • The "Friend Like Me" number contrasts to most of the other songs from the movie (and company!) with its Denser and Wackier tone, but it also fully establishes the Genie as the most fun and most unique character of the entire movie. As some have analyzed, this scene was much closer to a Looney Tunes short in terms of energy, but it also solidified the movie as a proto-DreamWorks movie, with many animated movies in the decades after Aladdin came out adopting a similar style.
    • "A Whole New World" is regarded as one of the most well-known Disney songs ever, and the Signature Song of the entire film. This is largely due to its breathtaking visuals, the Falling-in-Love Montage of Aladdin and Jasmine, and the captivating lyrics.
  • Bambi: The death of Bambi's mother, notable for being one of the studio's earliest big tearjerkers along with the Disney Death of Snow White, and being the first character in a major animated picture to die for real, and has been often parodied alot for reasons.
  • Beauty and the Beast: Belle and the Beast's dance in the ballroom to the eponymous song. A kind of culmination of them learning to love each other, along with a stunning mix of computer imagery and traditional animation, only heightened the experience. It also helped solidify "Beauty and the Beast" as the musical's Signature Song. In particular, there's the sweeping shot of the "camera" panning down from the ceiling to the floor to below Belle and the Beast; angles like this had never been seen in an animated film before.
  • The Black Cauldron features The Horned King awakening the terrifying Cauldron Born from the titular Black Cauldron. A sequence so trippy and shocking, it earned Disney its first PG rating.
  • Chicken Little has Runt and Abby singing a karaoke version of "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, which sticks out in people's minds because it comes out of nowhere even by the film's standards. It's only not a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment because Chicken Little has to interrupt them to talk about the high-tech piece of the sky that fell into his room.
  • Cinderella: The transformation of Cinderella's dress, which was Walt's favorite piece of animation in the history of the company under his tenure to the day he died.
  • Dumbo: has two. One is the "Baby Mine" scene, where Dumbo's caged mother sings to comfort her lonely calf, for the sheer emotion on display. This is followed immediately by "Pink Elephants On Parade", where Dumbo drinks water laced with alcohol and bears witness to one of the most infamous Mushroom Samba sequences in the company's history, absolutely loaded with Deranged Animation.
  • From Fantasia, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" sequence staring Mickey Mouse is the most recognized. Mickey outfit from the short has become iconic and has made many appearances since then,. Likewise, Sorcerer Yen Sid has become a recurring character in Disney media in his own right, most notably in the Kingdom Hearts series. While not quite as recognized, "Night on Bald Mountain" is considered one of the darkest and most memorable scenes in Disney history, featuring the Satanic Archetype Chernabog playing with the dead, corrupting beauty, and torturing souls with dramatic and horrific animation.
  • Frozen: "Let It Go", both for being backed by an iconic song and for its gorgeous CGI-rendered ice. It's actually the song that changed the entire plot of the movie, as Idina Menzel's vulnerable yet enthusiastic performance ended up turning her from the Big Bad into a tragic character meant to grow alongside her sister.
  • The Great Mouse Detective: The climactic battle in Big Ben, which used a computer-animation technique to render the gears in one of its earliest uses in an animated film.
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney): Frollo's Villain Song "Hellfire", really establishes why Frollo is such a terrifying Disney antagonist.
  • Hercules: The battle with the Hydra. It's the midpoint of the movie, and it's the Super-Strength hero's first serious challenge. Its CGI was impressive at the time and still holds up today to some degree, and despite the panic and thrill of the atmosphere, it ends with a glorious musical sequence that signifies Herc's second big step towards becoming a true hero.
  • Lady and the Tramp has the scene where the dogs are eating spaghetti together and bite down on the same strand, resulting in an Accidental Kiss. The scene endeared itself to everyone so much that it tends to be the one that gets parodied whenever a work makes a shout-out to Lady and the Tramp, and it's a trope on this wiki.
  • The Lion King (1994): The very first shot of the entire movie: a sunrise over the African savanna. Combined with the Oscar-nominated "Circle of Life" and breathtaking visuals, it's one of the most famous openings in all of Disney animation, and establishes the story's grandiose story and tone right from the start. Rafiki presenting the baby Simba to the animals of the Pride Lands as the music swells triumphantly is just as iconic. In fact, the entire "Circle of Life" sequence forms one of the movie's first trailers in its entirety. others such as Scar's Villain Song "Be Prepared" for his Establishing Character Moment and Mufasa's death for Disney's biggest Tear Jerker since Bambi's mom.
  • The Little Mermaid (1989):
    • The "Part of Your World" reprise sequence, where Ariel homages the "Little Mermaid" statue in Copenhagen as waves crash majestically behind her.
    • The storm sequence, a moment that had been in the Disney Archive since Walt's era, and which inspired the entire picture.
  • Peter Pan: The "You Can Fly" sequence. It's the most famous song of the film, features some extremely advanced animation for the time, and sets the tone of wonder and excitement that pervates the rest of the movie.
  • Pocahontas: The "Colors of the Wind" sequence. Like with The Lion King, the animators knew how pivotal this moment would be; one of the trailers was nothing but the song and animation in an abridged form.
  • The Princess and the Frog: The "Friends on the Other Side" sequence. Keith David's big Villain Song, it's a swinging, spooky, visually stunning number that makes the crucial plot step of creating the eponymous frog, and serves as Dr. Facilier's Establishing Character Moment.
  • Sleeping Beauty: Like Snow White before her, Aurora, the titular Sleeping Beauty, receiving True Love's Kiss from Phillip is just as romantic and famous. Before that however when speaking of Disney Climaxes you'll find few as iconic as Phillip's battle with Maleficent in her dragon form.
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is iconic as general as one of the first fully traditionally animated motion pictures ever made, but if one single moment is to be highlighted from the film, it's the sequence where the Prince comes and delivers True Love's Kiss to Snow White, reviving her and setting the standard of One True Love in cinema. Also well-known is the scene where the dwarfs mourn the apparent death of Snow White, proving right off the bat that animation could be use to evoke sadness as well as joy, laughter, and fear. Snow White's Disney Death is so iconic, it kickstarted the tradition of "fake deaths" in future animated media.
• The animated film Felidae is largely known only for the very explicit, shocking, and disgusting sex scene between two minimally anthropomorphic cartoon cats. To a lesser extent, it's known for its most gory scenes, such as the one with the disemboweled pregnant cat or the dismembered head of another cat.
• Kim Possible: So the Drama: Kim and Ron's Dance of Romance at the end of the movie, in which they have their First Kiss and complete their Relationship Upgrade as an Official Couple. The entire show up to that point, not just the movie, was building up to that moment. It's so iconic that it was made part of the final season's opening.
• My Neighbor Totoro: The scene with Satsuki meeting Totoro at the bus stop is popular enough to have resulted in several parodies specifically being shout-outs to that scene. It's also been used as the DVD cover at least once.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas: We have Jack during "Jack's Lament," singing atop the curled hill in the graveyard during a full moon. It's the image most often used for the cover of any home-release edition.
• Pixar
  • Finding Nemo: Marlin riding with sea turtles on the East Australian Current. After going through all kinds of turmoil and challenges, these kindly sea reptiles provide Marlin and Dory a true chance to just rest and enjoy the ride. Giving Marlin an alternate way to think about parenting, and beginning to spread his legend as not just a fish on a journey, but a heroic figure in his search for his son. The scene worked so well that Crush was put on the original DVD cover alongside the main duo rather than Nemo or any of the other characters.
  • Inside Out: Sadness works with Riley's memories after returning home. Though done through the lens of the end of a fantastical journey, the stark reality of the scene is just a girl confessing to her parents how sad she's really been, and the subsequent comfort given to her. A quiet and cathartic scene that emphasizes the Central Theme about what it means to feel all your emotions.
  • Monsters, Inc.: The Door storage area. The big set piece of the movie, featuring plenty of fun animation transitions as Mike and Sulley run from Randall and try to reach Boo's door.
  • Ratatouille: Anton Ego eating Remy's Ratatouille and his subsequent flashback to his childhood, for being an emotional high point for the film and showing an excellent example of a previously cold character warming up almost instantly to the hero, to the point where it's one of the most iconic Pixar scenes, period.
  • Toy Story:
    • The first Toy Story has Woody and Buzz triumphantly flying, or, as Buzz puts it, "falling with style", a scene that shows up a lot in animation-related montages, including many Disney advertisements.
    • Jessie's backstory in Toy Story 2, told through the song "When She Loved Me", is considered one of the more heartwrenching scenes in the series, and the first Pixar scene to have really left moviegoers crying their eyes out, and has stuck with more than a few people.
    • In Toy Story 3, there's a scene where the toys nearly get destroyed in an incinerator, and after that is Andy saying good-bye to Woody. Both are considered yet more scenes that demonstrate Pixar can leave more of an emotional impression on you than you'd expect from talking toys.
  • Turning Red: The scene where Mei shouts "AWOOGA!!" is iconic enough to have been incorporated into the official talking toy of Panda Mei.
  • The first ten minutes of Up chronicling Carl and Ellie's life together. Widely regarded as one of the biggest Tear Jerkers in any Pixar film, both it and its accompanying song were so acclaimed they almost overshadowed the rest of the movie.
  • Similarly, the first fifteen minutes of WALL•E. Where the only sounds used in the movie is the soundtrack to Hello, Dolly!, background score, and some sound effects for Wall-E and HAL. Many called it a coup for Pixar to basically do a kind of silent movie for the introduction of the main character through nothing but actions, establishing shots and visual storytelling. So much so that some even call what came afterwards almost a letdown once it brought in more speaking parts or a new setting.
• Pinocchio: A True Story: The scene where Cat just shoots Pinocchio is widely regarded as establishing just how insane the movie is.
• Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night: The scene where Pinocchio watches a puppet show, and is then lured and subsequentially turned back into a puppet against his will by the puppeteer, due to its surprising amount of Nightmare Fuel in comparison to the rest of the film.
• The Polar Express has the scene where Hero Boy discovers the Polar Express has arrived at his house, which has been recreated in numerous marketing campaigns.
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish:
  • The Wolf's first appearance, and the following vicious Curb-Stomp Battle where he absolutely trashes Puss, makes him bleed, orders Puss to pick up his sword when he disarms him, and makes him run away in fear. The scene took viewers by surprise because it's a huge Mood Whiplash, both in the context of the movie and in the context of the Shrek saga, because of the Wolf's intimidating presence and the intense fight in which Puss actually bleeds from a small cut. The blood itself has become famous for being truly shocking for most viewers, who believed it to be gag involving jam until proven otherwise, and there's reports of audiences gasping when they realize it's actual blood.
  • In a movie full of memorable action sequences, the one scene everyone talks about is the relatively quiet one of Puss having an anxiety attack, due to how realistically it is portrayed.
• Rankin/Bass Productions Christmas specials:
  • Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964): Rudolph finally earning his happy ending and leading Santa's team of reindeer. Earlier in the special, Rudolph's first encounter with Clarice during at the reindeer games and Clarice singing "There's Always Tommorow" to cheer up Rudolph.
  • The Little Drummer Boy: The climactic moment when Aaron plays his drum for the baby Jesus.
  • Frosty the Snowman: Frosty exclaiming "Happy birthday!" as he comes to life, and his later Disney Death, with Karen sobbing over his watery remains.
  • The Year Without a Santa Claus: Snow Miser and Heat Miser's "I Am" Songs.
  • Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey: The Heroic Sacrifice of Nestor's mother, who freezes to death as she shields her son from a blizzard with her body.
• Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure: The scene with the Greedy is often called the most memorable scene in the movie due to being so bizarrely terrifying and gorgeously animated.
• Sausage Party:
  • The kitchen massacre scene where Camille slaughters the food in its entirety, due to it being highlighted in the trailers and for being a Surprisingly Creepy Moment.
  • The orgy scene, infamous for marking the film, for better or for worse, as an Animated Shock Comedy of the highest calibur.
• Scooby-Doo:
  • Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase: Mystery Inc meets themselves. While the movie in of itself was more of a light hearted pseudo globe trotting adventure to contrast with the movies that came before it, this scene came out of nowhere as an unexpected event where they'd get to do a 2 part team up for what was to come.
  • Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur: Shaggy utterly trashing a biker gang, as it single-handedly launched the "Ultra Instinct Shaggy" meme and led to the creation of MultiVersus.
  • Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!: The scene where Velma admits to Daphne that she's crushing on Coco, as it is the first time Velma is explicitly portrayed as lesbian.
  • Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island: Fred trying to unmask one of the zombies, stating all the current suspects it could be. The other gang members keep repudiating these claims, ending in Fred pulling the head off! And saying, "Well maybe it's.....REAL???" Given that the formula for Scooby-Doo was usually to have an extra party that wasn't suspected at first, this is where the Plot Twist of the entire story was building to: Real Monsters and ghosts on the island. A surprise for sure when it came out, and tonally different from several of the other times this happened to the gang in other series. It's a thrilling scene that bent act 3 in a totally different direction with the gang's threat being VERY real.
• Many a meme has been made from the opening scene in Shrek, showing Shrek emerging from an outhouse and going through his morning routine, all set to "All-Star" by Smash Mouth.
• Shrek 2: The "I Need A Hero" cover serving as the dramatic final act set piece as Shrek and his allies try to get into the castle of Far Far Away. A great use of thematic contrast as the Fairy Godmother sings about needing a hero to sweep her off her feet and her skepticism in Shrek being worthy of a happy ever after. And yet, Shrek and team's heroic struggle truly proves that his love for Fiona is worth being a hero for. A highly memorable scene that is well remembered for its dramatic stakes and great musical accompaniment.
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: The iconic "Leap of Faith" scene where Miles Morales fully embraces being Spider-Man and leaps off a building in his new costume as "What's Up Danger" plays. The movie's creators said it was one of the first animated scenes of the character, intended to showcase how he moved, before evolving into a showcase of his growth in the movie.
• Spirited Away: The train ride is the most iconic scene in the movie as it's the most talked about scene; many praise it for its serenity and soundtrack.
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie has two scenes many people remember from it: the scene where SpongeBob and Patrick ride across the ocean with help from David Hasselhoff, and a little later when SpongeBob uses the power of rock to break everyone's mind control bucket helmets and save the day.
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie:
  • Bowser playing piano and singing about Peach quickly became one of the most memorable sights in the film, with many people meming the stuffing out of it not long after the film debuted.
  • The Rainbow Road chase scene is also well remembered for taking a Mario Kart Mythology Gag and turning it into a tense Mad Max-esque chase sequence.
• Thomas and the Magic Railroad: Lady's revival is widely acknowledged as the best scene of the film. The triumphant visuals, the powerful music, and the fact that the expressions on the actor's faces means even the film's biggest detractors praised it as it means the Big Good has returned.

Literature

• A Song of Ice and Fire:
  • A Game of Thrones: The execution of Eddard Stark. While the story had been all over the place with different Point of View characters, Ned was a part of the first chapter, and one of the few characters with power over and power to (see the analysis on this). While normally this would make him the main character in a fantasy series, his execution instead cemented that G.R.R Martin was interested in telling a different kind of fantasy series where The Good Guys Always Win won't be in effect.
  • A Storm of Swords: The Red Wedding. Everyone was tense following Robb Stark's faction after the mess his war for Northern Independence had taken. But this was the final kicker and THE scene of the book: a massacre of his army and generals at what should've been a peace offering to the Freys. A betrayal of the norms in Westeros, and the death of the 2nd major "king" of the War of the Five Kings. It was horrifical, dishonorable, and in the short term it WORKED for all involved. It was also such a brutal chapter that the author himself had to write everything except it first because writing the deaths of so many characters was emotionally draining for GRRM.
• The Dancing Girl of Izu: The hero discovers the titular dancing girl naked in the bath and subsequently finds out she's underage. This revelation is well-known for completely changing the hero's attitude moving forward and casting previous parts of the book in a different light.
• The Golden Demon: Kan'ichi kicking his girlfriend Omiya to the ground. Seeing how loving the former had been to the latter before this break-up scene, it serves to illustrate how deep he's hurt by the latter's betrayal. This scene is so iconic that it serves as the face of the novel, being put on the cover of several editions and the primary result when you type the novel's name in image search engines, and having a statue built out of it as a tourist attraction.
• American Gods: An early vignette features a goddess named Bilquis consuming a man by absorbing him into her vagina during sex. Author Neil Gaiman put it in as a kind of content gate, saying if people got past that scene they'd be prepared for the further bizarre events to follow.
• Cradle Series:
  • The scene where Suriel saves Lindon in the first book. It completely changes the dynamic of the series, expanding Lindon's worldview and forcing him to advance far past what he thought he knew.
  • The first time that Dross provides Lindon with a combat simulation in Ghostwater is often cited as one of the most exciting in the entire series.
• "East of the Sun and West of the Moon": The young bride riding her bear-husband through the woods. It's iconic of the story and frequently the illustration used on book covers.
• Lemuel Gulliver being tied down by the Lilliputians is very commonly featured in the cover art of some editions.
• The Hank Zipzer book The Curtain Went Up, My Pants Fell Down has the part where Hank's pants are pulled down in front of everyone while he's in a play. The scene is right there in the title and is featured on the cover, so everyone will remember it. Some readers like it for the Comedic Underwear Exposure, while other young readers like the cover because they see it as Fanservice (even though that wasn't the intent).
• Little Women: The March sisters gathering around their mother's chair as she reads them their absent father's letter on Christmas Eve. Virtually every adaptation includes this scene and the image serves as the cover illustration for several editions of the book.
• The Han Solo Adventures: The march of the War Robots of Xim in Han Solo and the Lost Legacy, given how they are the first droid army to appear in the Star Wars franchise, are a lot more competent than the Clone Wars-era droid army and have a series of gripping Mutual Kill moments while fighting some surprisingly tough Punch Clock Villains.
• Sherlock Holmes' death, which didn't last long because of his popularity. It's become an inside joke of the franchise ever since.
• Warrior Cats: Ashfur trying to burn Squirrelflight and her kits alive, both for the scene itself and for the Wham Line that single-handedly shaped the next seven books in the series.

Music

• The Beatles:
  • The band in their uniforms on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, eventually leading to many Sgt. Pepper's Shout-Out scenes.
  • The band crossing Abbey Road, also leading to Abbey Road Crossing imitations.
• David Bowie: His Ziggy Stardust image became so thoroughly established as a hallmark of British rock that, when Bowie announced the first remastering campaign of his catalog at the turn of The '90s, the press talk featured an elaborate set recreating the cover photo for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, complete with a cutout of Ziggy.

Music Videos

• Michael Jackson: Jackson transforming into a werecat and later a zombie in the music video for "Thriller", which leads to the thriller dance that has often been parodied.
• Miserable has two or three signature scenes:
  • The Giant Woman Pam/Val lying on her stomach in a bikini with the members of Lit standing on her butt. While the band does play on other parts of her body, when people bring up the video you can guarantee they'll bring up this scene. The scene was even used on the promotional posters for the video.
  • Pam/Val's high heel shoe poised in the air with the guys perched on top of it. Then she shakes her foot, causing them to almost fall off.
  • Arguably equally, if not possibly more, iconic than them playing on top her butt, is the Cruel Twist Ending where Pam/Val starts devouring the guys one after the other, with each band member getting a Death in the Limelight as she singles him out and eats him.
  • Branching off from the above, in that scene, the two stand-out moments are when she eats the Popoff brothers, Jeremy getting slurped up by her while he's trying to hide, followed by her spitting out his Signature Shoe, and when she picks up A.Jay, gives him a smile, then tosses him into the air and catches him in her mouth. The latter was even used as the ending for the "What We Like About Pam" music video in the Comedy Central Roast Of Pamela Anderson.
• Queen: The opening shot of the video for "Bohemian Rhapsody", where the band members are seen as four heads together. This has become so iconic that is has been imitated and parodied often.
• Talking Heads: David Byrne's incredibly weird dancing in the video for "Once in a Lifetime", which has become widely parodied in pop culture and helped make it one of the most memorable music videos of The '80s.

Newspaper Comics

• In the Moomin comics, the final panel of the "Moomin and the Martians" arc, where Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden hug, is considered one of the most iconic images in the Moomin franchise. This is thanks to the scene being printed on one of the collectible Moomin mugs, known as the "Love" mug, which then went on to become one of the best-selling pieces of Moomin merchandise thanks to the heartwarming imagery.

Professional Wrestling

• Triple H's squash match with Ultimate Warrior which he considers one of the low points of his career. He and Shawn Michaels poked fun at this in their European Championship match.
• CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011, culminating in Punk defeating Cena and running off with the WWE Championship in the middle of his hometown of Chicago less than two hours before his contract expired. On top of being the main roster's first five-star match since 1997^note the last one being Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker in the first ever Hell in a Cell match , it was the defining moment of Punk's career which saw him etched into history as a wrestling icon. It's also widely regarded as a major turning point in WWE; after Punk and Cena's feud, the company saw a gradual rise in prominence of major indy stars such as Punk and Daniel Bryan in addition to an increase in the average workrate of the main roster. In short, everything WWE (and arguably all of professional wrestling) would end up becoming in the next decade and beyond can be traced back to this match.
• Sheamus defeating Daniel Bryan in an 18-second match at WrestleMania 28, which damaged his babyface momentum.
• Jon Moxley making his AEW debut at the end of its inaugural PPV, Double or Nothing by attacking Chris Jericho and brawling with Kenny Omega. It made him a Game Changer for the up-and-coming promotion and made it clear that, one month after leaving the WWE, he wasn't going back there anytime soon.
• Will Ospreay getting hurricanrana'd off the top rope by Kota Ibushi at Road to Tokyo Dome 2018, but somersaulting out of it and landing on his feet—followed by Ibushi slowly turning around to see Ospreay standing right behind him. Widely considered to be one of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's most iconic moments.

Sports

• From MLB:
  • 1993 World Series: Joe Carter hits a game winning, world series ending 3 run home run to end the series. As dramatic an ending for the biggest game in baseball one could ask for. Along with the iconic broadcast call "Touch em all Joe. You'll never have a bigger hit in your career!"
  • 1995 ALDS: The Double. The Seattle Mariners had experienced only a smattering of winning seasons, and no playoffs. Going into the 1995 season their stadium had a roof issue that meant that management and the city government were at each others throats, meaning the franchise could've left in a few years if they didn't get a stadium agreement. After a miracle season where they squeezed into the playoffs off a sudden death game, they then clawed back from being down 2 games to the legendary Yankees. Making it to game five, they went into extra innings, and Edgar Martinez hit a 2 run double sending their superstar Ken Griffey Jr. in to score the winning run against a team Griffey hated for disrespecting his family in the past. This hit was not only Seattle's first dramatic playoff moment, but after the thrill of this moment, a fan phone and letter campaign to politicians finally settled the stadium talk, keeping the M's in Seattle to this day.
  • 2013 ALCS. The Red Sox down by four, bottom of the eighth inning in game 2, David Ortiz hits a grand slam, culminating into a walk-off run in the ninth. The image in every New England newspaper the next day was of a BPD officer in the bullpen with his arms raised in excitement as Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter went tumbling into the bullpen trying to catch the ball (though his excitement was more over the home run than Hunter doing a flip over the wall).
  • 2016 World Series: The Ultimate Curse Breaker World Series. As both the AL and NL teams with the longest droughts in franchise history met for a chance to end their "curses". At the end of Game 7, it went into the 10th inning. And with a quick throw from the pitcher to 1st Base for the final out, the Chicago Cubs ended a 106 year championship drought. Along with the dramatic call, "The Cubs...WIN THE WORLD SERIES!"
• From the NBA:
  • An injured Willis Reed walking out onto the court right before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals causing the MSG crowd to blow the roof off the place and subsequently hitting two uncontested jumpers at the beginning of the game, leading to a blowout Knicks victory. Cited to be one of the greatest moments in Finals history, Reed coming out to the court after taking pain injections sent the crowd into an uproar. Willis would only score 4 points, but his presence inspired the team to play hard and win the Knicks their first championship.
  • Garfield Heard's famous "Shot Heard Round the World" turnaround jumper that sent Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals to overtime. To this day, it remains the defining moment in the Finals game with the most overtimes, and is a huge reason why said game is widely considered as the greatest game ever played.
  • Larry Bird stealing Isiah Thomas's inbound pass and passing the ball to a cutting Dennis Johnson for the win in Game 5 of the 1987 East Finals. This play has gone down as one of, if not the greatest clutch steal in the history of the NBA, as it allowed Bird to clinch his fourth straight trip to the Finals.
  • Michael Jordan hitting "The Shot" over Craig Ehlo to eliminate the Cavs in Game 5 of the 1989 East First Round. The image of Jordan jumping into the air and fist pumping is iconic, and the moment is most credited as the defining factor in Michael’s rise to stardom.
  • The end of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, in which the Cleveland Cavaliers won the city their first major sporting championship in half a century. In addition, the Cavs had become the first(and so far only) team to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals, beating the heavily-favored 73-9 Golden State Warriors, who had broken the record for most wins in an NBA season. This victory is cited by many to be the pinnacle of LeBron James’s career, and the series itself is highly regarded as the greatest Finals series of all time
    • The most iconic play of the game was LeBron James Chase down block on Andre Iguodala's layup that would have given the Warriors the lead. Seen by a lot as the single most famous play of LeBron's career and the play that have Cleveland the win. It is also looked at as perhaps the most famous defensive play ever.
  • Ray Allen's miracle 3 pointer that sent Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals to overtime. Argued by many as not only the most clutch shot in Finals history, but the greatest shot in NBA history, this shot saved the Heat’s season and allowed them to win Game 6 and the following Game 7, clinching the Heat back-to-back titles and giving the aforementioned LeBron his second championship and Finals MVP. It’s not uncommon to hear someone claim Allen’s shot saved James’s legacy.
  • Wilt Chamberlain scoring an NBA record 100 points in a regular season game against the Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a record that is likely never to be broken. To this day, 60 years later, no player has even tied this record. Even with the addition of the three point line, the closest anyone’s ever come is Kobe Bryant, who scored 81 points against the Raptors.
  • Michael Jordan making the iconic "Last Shot" over Bryon Russell to clinch his 6th and final championship in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. The shot is well-remembered as the last shot Jordan ever took in his Bulls career, and most will claim that there’s no better way the game’s potential greatest player could’ve ended such an illustrious career than capping off another three-peat after coming back from retirement.
  • Magic Johnson playing all 5 positions as a rookie in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals and notching 42 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists for the victory when league MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was injured. Often cited as one of the greatest Finals performances of all time, the game was a huge step in shaping the player that Magic would become and showed the basketball world exactly what he could do as a player.
  • Michael Jordan breaking the playoff record for most points in 1 game with 63 points in an overtime loss to the Celtics. Especially famous for Larry Bird's "It's just God disguised as Michael Jordan" quote afterwards. To this day, Jordan’s 63 remains the most points scored by a player in a playoff game, and is cited as one of the biggest signs of Michael Jordan’s eventual rise to glory.
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaking Wilt Chamberlain's scoring record in 1984 with his iconic skyhook. To this day, Wilt’s records are notorious for the sheer insanity of some of them. Seeing a player like Kareem not only break one, but break arguably the most sought after record, was a huge moment. To this day, Kareem’s record remains the top score.^NoteThe record has since been surpassed by the aforementioned LeBron James.
  • Reggie Miller scoring 8 points in 11 seconds to steal a crucial playoff victory against the Knicks in 1995. The play is cited as one of the most clutch plays in NBA history, and cemented Miller’s status as one of the greatest shooters ever.
  • Jerry West sending Game 3 of the 1970 Finals to overtime with a 60 foot shot that unfortunately only counted for 2 points back then. West’s shot remains one of the most clutch Finals shots, and is especially huge because of how long he worked to perfect such a shot.
  • Magic Johnson winning Game 4 of the 1987 Finals with a Junior Skyhook. Acknowledged as another one of the most clutch shots in Finals history, this shot contributed to the Lakers besting their hated rivals once again and showcased how clutch a player like Magic could be.
  • Magic Johnson coming back for the 1992 All-Star Game and winning the MVP as his farewell to the sport over having to retire due to contracting HIV. Acknowledged as a Bittersweet Ending to a career like Magic’s, but most will argue that it was a hell of a way to go out.
  • Derek Fisher's miracle 0.4 shot to win Game 5 of the 2004 West Semis he hit a fadeaway 18-footer in less than half a second to give the Lakers a crucial victory. Iconic due to the sheer unbelievable factor that he was able to do so.
  • Kawhi Leonard's game winner and buzzer beater to win Game 7 of the 2019 East Semis. Iconic for the fact that the ball bounced on the rim 5 times before going in and the crowd's sheer quietness before it went in.
  • Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals when Michael Jordan played fantastically despite having the Flu and hitting the game winning 3 and the iconic image of him collapsed in Scottie Pippen's arms after hitting that shot. Iconic as it showed just how competitive Jordan was that he would play through anything and still play elite.
  • Allen Iverson crossing over Tyronn Lue to hit the dagger jumper to win Game 1 of the 2001 Finals and then stepping over Lue as he lied on the ground. Iconic as it truly showed the type of player Iverson was. It wasn't enough to make that shot over Lue , he wanted to embarrass him.
  • J.R. Smith running off with the ball with 4 seconds left, costing the Cavaliers the win in the first game in the 2018 NBA Finals. LeBron’s reaction to J.R.’s mistake quickly underwent Memetic Mutation. Smith himself became the subject of relentless mockery by fans, due to him seemingly wasting a huge performance by James in which he scored 51 points in a loss to the Golden State Warriors. To this day, this play remains the defining moment of J.R. Smith’s career for many, and has largely overshadowed any bright spots he may’ve had beforehand.
  • LeBron James scoring 29 of Cleveland's last 30 points in Game 5 of the 2007 East Finals including the game winning layup. This is widely looked at as the moment that LeBron began to really ascend and be looked at as the best of his generation.
• From the NFL:
  • The Ice Bowl of 1967: "The Block". What many consider the TRUE pinnacle of coach Vince Lombardi's career. With him trying to lead the Green Bay Packers to an unheard of 3 straight championship wins, the game was played back and forth in the coldest recorded conditions in NFL history. The Signature Scene of the game was when the Packers needed to score one final time to secure their victory. And with QB Bart Starr calling a wedge play to finish off GB's last chance to score, he ran the ball into the end zone himself, essentially securing their 21-17 victory, and the only time an NFL team won 3 consecutive championships in the playoff format.
  • The end of Super Bowl 36. After a minor cinderella run, The New England Patriots met the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl, and played The Greatest Show on Turf to a near tie. However, uncertain about the Rams getting their groove on in Overtime, head coach Bill Belichick instructed his young quarterback Tom Brady to play for a field goal before the end. Working their way down the field, kicker Adam Vinatieri hit a 48 yard field goal as time expired. It was the first time that the last play scored points that won the game, as well as the completion of a great upset for the underdog Patriots. But more than even that, this win in hindsight would serve as the beginning for the Belichick/Brady dynasty. As the Patriots would then appear in 8 other superbowls, winning 5, and becoming known as THE great "modern" football team through the 2000s and 2010s.
  • The Minneapolis Miracle of 2017. The Vikings Organization is infamous for great regular seasons, but repeated, shocking disappointment in the playoffs. In a rematch with the New Orleans Saints from a dramatic NFC championship 8 years before (Brett Farve's last good season), the game was a back and forth matchup where the lead changed 3 times in the final 3 minutes of the game. It all came down to an incredible final play where Vikings WR Steffon Diggs jumped up, managed to miss being tackled by the Saints defender, and then ran in the game winning touchdown with 0 seconds remaining. It was the first time the Vikings ever had such a dramatic finish in the playoffs actually work out in their favor, and became so defining that even getting blown out the next weekend at the NFC championship couldn't diminish how cathartic this win was for them.

Theatre

• Bye Bye Birdie's signature moment is probably the "Telephone Hour" song; nothing else in the show is quite as iconic as a massive choral number where several dozen teenagers call each other to gossip, though Hugo decking Conrad on the Ed Sullivan show is close.
• Fiddler on the Roof:
  • "Tradition", a grand, bombastic anthem celebrating the day to day life of the jewish society of Anatevka. Often times ranked the greatest opening number in the history of musical theatre.
  • Likewise Jerome Robbin's "The Bottle Dance", in which men perform a slow, heavily calculated dance while perilously balancing bottles on their heads, lauded as one of the most difficult pieces of choreography ever put to stage.
• Hello, Dolly!: Dolly making her grand entrance to Harmonia Gardens dressed to the 9s and singing the chart topping titular number. A moment that always gets rapturous applause from the audience.
• Swan Lake: Odile the Black Swan's astonishing pas de deux coda at Prince Seigfried's ball, one of the most notoriously challenging variations in all of ballet.
• From the plays of William Shakespeare:
  • Hamlet: Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy, and his "Alas, poor Yorick!" speech in which he contemplates a skull. (Which are sometimes wrongly assumed to be the same speech.) Ophelia' mad scene and her drowning, as described by Gertrude, are particularly famous too.
  • King Lear: The mad Lear wandering the storm-swept heath accompanied by the Fool; Lear carrying Cordelia's dead body in his arms in the final scene.
  • The Merchant of Venice: Shylock's intensely moving monologue that's had people empathizing with this criminal for centuries — "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream: The fairy queen Titania and the donkey-headed Nick Bottom lounging in each other's arms, Bottom having been transformed by Puck and Titania having been enchanted to love him. Likewise the ending in which Robin gives the iconic address to the audience, assuring them that if they were offending by the evening's proceedings, then to think of it as nothing more than "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
  • Julius Caesar: Mark Antony's "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech at Caesar's funeral, in which he manipulates the crowd into a frenzy against Caesar's murderers.
  • Othello: Othello's murder of Desdemona in her bed and his subsequent suicide after he learns the truth of her innocence.
  • Romeo and Juliet: The "balcony scene" where Romeo and Juliet affirm their love for each other, and the climactic scene in the Capulets' tomb, where the lovers commit suicide.
• "March of the Wooden Soldiers," particularly the climactic "falling down" trick, is the most iconic scene in the annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The scene has remained unchanged since its 1933 debut, the soldiers are the most common characters seen in the marketing, and ushers are specifically instructed not to seat patrons during the "falling down" scene as not to ruin the effect.

Web Animation

• If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device: The "Heresy Scene" from Episode 19, consisting of a succession of people executing one another for heresy, before one Inquisitor notices all the killing going on and gets so fed up he decides to call an Exterminatus on the planet. What makes this particularly significant is that the series' creator eventually released the scene as its own video after getting fed up with other people posting the scene on its own without giving proper credit.
• Ratboy Genius: "Potato Knishes", due to how unintentionally frightening it is out of context... Or even in context, really. This may be the reason why it became Little King John's leitmotif in The Flood.
• Red vs. Blue: Season 8 produced two outstanding scenes that became well-known beyond the borders of the Rooster Teeth fandom for different reasons.
  • In Episode 3, Agent Washington holds Sarge at gunpoint, only for the Warthog to crash through a wall in slow-motion. The animation quality of the fight sequence was such high quality by the standards of the show that it became regarded as the signature scene of its lead animator, Monty Oum, and remains one of the primary examples of his animation work.
  • In Episode 10, Tex curb stomps all the Reds and Blues in a single fight. The quality of the fight, the clever use of portals, and the Running Gag of Grif getting hit in the groin sent this scene viral so that even people who never heard of the show ended up seeing it. It continued to circulate as a quality animation fight for years after the episode aired.
• RWBY: The show's alpha and beta teams coming together in Volume 1, Chapter 8 to take on an enormous Death Stalker and Giant Nevermore. This fight was the defining moment of Volume 1, and remains the scene people recommend for anyone who doesn't know if they want to watch the show.

Web Comics

• Ctrl+Alt+Del, usually a silly and lighthearted Two Gamers on a Couch webcomic, suddenly had the character Lilah undergo a Convenient Miscarriage. The resulting Mood Whiplash and Narm caused the installment of the comic that depicted the immediate aftermath of the miscarriage, the page titled "Loss", to become infamous, particularly the final panel where Ethan finds Lilah crying in a hospital bed. "Loss" has since been mocked and parodied several times, both by other webcomics and on several forums, particularly Imageboards, to the point where it became a meme, which developed into ever more abstract forms.

Web Videos

• Game Grumps:
  • During the Jon era, Knuckles getting stuck in a stalactite during the notorious Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) playthrough, due to Arin's over-the-top reaction.
  • Super Mario Bros. 2's Mayor Luigi, cited by the Grumps themselves as a Win Back the Crowd moment following Jon's departure.
• Party Crashers:
  • Nick betraying Brent on the minigame Honeycomb Havoc despite promising not to in "Don't EVER betray me in Mario Party", cementing Nick's status as the most toxic member of the group:
    Nick: The Kingdom of Skill fucking hates me. Ever since I did Brent dirty in that one Honeycomb Havoc, they have never forgiven me.
  • Sophist's Star steal on the final turn in "Sometimes Mario Party wants you to win... or lose...", where he selects the Random option when visiting the Boo and ends up stealing a Star from Vernias while he was already in dead last, leading to #JusticeForVernias trending on Twitch and solidifying Vernias as the group's Butt-Monkey.
  • Vernias' dominating performance on Paddle Battle while repeatedly shouting "Perfect Rotation" in "The WORST Board in Mario Party 1..." has gone down as one of the most iconic moments in any of their Mario Party videos, to the point where a fan made a trap song remix of the moment, which has since become an Ascended Meme, being used by the Party Crashers themselves in subsequent videos with the original creator's permission.
  • Nick's Chance Time in his Mario Party Raid Boss session, where he tries aiming for himself in stealing a Star. He's initially excited when he manages to get himself on the roulette... only to realize immediately afterward that the arrow was pointing away from him, resulting in him losing a Star rather than gaining one, causing him to scream in despair over his mistake.
  • Sophist casting Thunder Spell on an innocent child in "I Made A Game Designed To Be Bad" has become the most iconic moment from any of the group's collabs with Magic the Noah. Sophist's subsequent defense of it being an "optimal play" would cement his status as the Token Evil Teammate of the group.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake: The scene where Fionna takes off her pants in front of Queenie in the first episode and showing the two finger salute after that quickly gained notoriety on the internet, not only to show the spin-off was going to be very different than the original series, but also for obvious reasons.
• Animaniacs: Dot rallying all the cartoons to earn the right to vote through song from the 2020 reboot. Heck, it won an Emmy for "Best Original Song"!
  • The Nations of the World segment in the original. While the pilot of the show was certainly fun, this song was where Animaniacs fully established its identity. As a mixture of both fun and a pinch of edutainment to make it all the more relevant for the future.
• Batman: The Animated Series: Batman confronting his fear of disgracing the family legacy for a second time thanks to Scarecrow's fear gas. The response he gives to snap himself out became legendary and became VERY easily parodied and referenced across media.
  Batman: No. You are not my father. I am not a disgrace. I am vengeance. I Am The Night! I! Am! BATMAN!
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The episode Chill of the Night, one of the darkest episodes in this otherwise-Lighter and Softer series, has Batman confronting Joe Chill (the man who killed his parents).
• Dinobot's death and funeral in Beast Wars; not only widely considered the single best episode/scene of the series, but also served as the moment the show's beard completed its growth.
• DuckTales (1987): Scrooge diving into his money bin in the opening, a thing many a 80s kid wanted to do their whole lives.
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Terrance creating and eating a pizza imaginary friend in "Seeing Red" for being a prime example of the pure Fridge Horror of the series’ premise come to life.
• Gargoyles: The end of "Her Brother's Keeper", in which it's revealed that Xanatos deliberately turned Elisa's brother into Talon. Not only did it cement how much of a scumbag Xanatos really was, but it was the first episode with a completely bitter ending.
• Invincible (2021): Episode 8, the first season finale, delivers the scene where Mark makes Omni-Man question everything he's done and drives him away from Earth in only one sentence, which immediately became an instant fan-favorite, with many considering it the most emotional and impactful scene in the series.
• Moral Orel is most well known for the hunting trip. Ya know, where Orel is shot in the leg? It's considered the scene where the entire series goes from kinda dark to pitch black.
• Ninjago: Zane's Robotic Reveal in "Tick Tock" is remembered for when the show started to reveal that it can pull off emotional scenes well.
• The Owl House:
  • Judging by the sheer amount of fan art for it, it's clear that the first scene people think of when it comes to this show is Luz and Amity's dance fight with Grom in "Enchanting Grom Fight".
  • Luz and Amity's Big Damn Kiss in Clouds On The Horizon, both for being incredibly well animated and being such a kiss on a Disney Channel show.
• Phineas and Ferb: "Get on the trike!" is easily the most remembered part of "Summer Belongs to You", because it is one of the few times where Phineas shows any negative emotion at all.
• Pucca: The scene when Pucca sits on a bench next to Garu, smudges his cheek with ice cream and cleans it off by kissing him has become so iconic that it has been recreated numerous times throught the franchise's run.
• The Real Ghostbusters: The show has a few moments with a near-legendary status among the fandom and may even be known by the odd person without much familiarity with the series, or even the franchise.
  • The pumpkin-headed Halloween deity Samhain summons all of the ghosts in the city in "When Halloween Was Forever."
  • The Heroic Sacrifice of the eponymous character in "Drool, the Dog-Faced Goblin."
  • Egon's showdown with his childhood tormentor the Boogieman in "The Boogieman Cometh," especially the moment when the monster's reflection is showing in Egon's glasses.
  • The scene where Slimer saves the Ghostbusters from an attack by their ectoplasmic Psycho Rangers opponents in "Citizen Ghost."
  • The first time Doomsday Door (a talking demonic head on a metal door) announces its ominous mantra when a pair of workers stumble across it in "Knock, Knock."
  • The Fur Against Fang Mêlée à Trois at the end of "No One Comes to Lupusville."
• Rocko's Modern Life: Rocko briefly working at a sex hotline is generally considered to be the standout example regarding how much Demographically Inappropriate Humour the show got away with.
• For Simba: è nato un re, when people are searching for its name online, 80% chance it's "the show where a snake is Blinded by the Sun". It helps that the scene is close to the beginning of the series, but the heavy What Do You Mean, It's for Kids? tone certainly leaves a mark.
• Sonic Boom gives us this scene not only because of how surprisingly funny it is but also how it tells the way feminism should be:
  Amy: It all comes down to this one penalty kick. Can the young woman break the glass ceiling and prove once and for all that a female can be just as good as an athlete than a male?
  Knuckles: You know, Amy, anytime someone calls attention to the breaking of gender roles, it ultimately undermines the concept of gender equality by implying that this is an exception and not the status quo. (Sonic, Amy, Sticks and Tails are stunned silent) What? Just because I'm a meathead doesn't mean I'm not a feminist.
  • Then from Just A Guy, a scene often referenced for showing off Roger Craig's acting ability as Sonic:
    Sonic: You know what I think is compassionate? Saving the village from Eggman! Like, every week! But do I get any props for that?! No! Everyone just goes around gasping at me for calling a guy "a guy," or people "people!" I quit hero-ing! And I quit this stupid group!
• Spider-Man: The Animated Series: Spider-Man finds himself hanging upside-down in front of a skyscraper window, seeing his reflection with the never-before-seen black costume. The original comic didn't have it, but every version since has had it. Even Spider-Girl has Mayday swinging past a building, red suit in real life and black suit in the reflection.
• Star Trek: The Animated Series: Spock having to put down his pet lehlat, considered to be one of the biggest tearjerkers in the entire franchise.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: If the amount of fanarts is to be believed, Star and Marco dancing under the Blood Moon is arguably the most memorable scene in the entire series.
• Steven Universe:
  • Garnet battling Jasper while singing "Stronger Than You" in "Jailbreak", the season 1 finale. This signature-ness of this scene can be ascribed to the show receiving a huge boost in popularity after the airing of this episode.
  • Steven re-fusing with Pink Steven. Especially memorable for having the most fluid animation in the entire show.
• Teen Titans: Slade’s breaking speech to Robin near the end of “Haunted”. The scene is notorious for just how unnerving and disturbing it is, and helped show many viewers how dark the show was willing to get in spite of it being a kids show. To the point where it’s essentially the defining example of the boundaries the show pushed at the time.
• Winx Club: Flora blowing some magic powder. The scene was used in every merchandise commercial up to season 3, often with whatever the commercial was for edited on Flora's hands, giving the impression she's magically delivering it to some little girl.
• X-Men '97 has the battle between the X-Men and the rebuilt Sentinels in the series's first episode, culminating in Gambit supercharging Wolverine's claws to cut down the Master Mold.

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