History Main / StormingTheCastle

* ''Series/TwentyFour'' has Jack doing this a couple times. The most notable are in the first season where he invades Ira Gaines' hideout to save his family and during the fourth season where he storms the terrorists' hideout to rescue the captive James Heller and Audrey Raines. In the former he was going on pure [[UnstoppableRage rage]], the latter was because he knew he couldn't wait for reinforcements. On Day 6, he storms the compound kills all the {{Mooks}} and ''hangs'' the {{BigBad}}. ''Then'' his reinforcements [[TheCavalryArrivesLate arrive]].

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': It happens when Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei storm Gonzou Tarukane's stronghold to rescue Yukina [[spoiler: who happens to be Hiei's sister]].

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', As soon as received directions there, Son Goku stormed the Red Ribbon Army HQ [[OneManArmy by himself]], to take the rest of the Dragon Balls from them, after their hitman killed his friend. While his friends did travel alongside him to back him up, expecting incredible danger, Goku managed to defeat them anyway, and take the Dragon Balls, so while it was a great show of support, their presence wasn't really needed. The look on their faces when Goku told them exactly what he did was priceless. A good thing to note is that Goku [[BadassAdorable was only 13 when he did this]], so the gang were reminded [[ChildrenAreInnocent it's a good thing that Goku has a heart of gold as well to go with his great strength]].

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

*** The eponymous Rogue One team infiltrate The Imperial Archives on Scarif in order to steal the plans for the Death Star, they succeed, [[spoiler: [[KillEmAll just.]]]]

* ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeason1'':

* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' features several examples:

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'''Miracle Max:''' ''[quietly, to Valerie]'' It would take a miracle.

* In ''LightNovel/TheSlayers'' OVA the Chrazy Chimera Plan has 11 Naga the White Serpent's storming the fortress where Lina is being held captive. Made plausible by the fact that there were only two defenders, who knew they were against a powerful sorceress who had bonded with the ten clones created to stop her, and whose laughter made defense impossible. They did the sensible thing and fled the approaching devastation.

** In the second villain arc, Tenchi, Ayeka, and Mihoshi storm Dr. Clay's ship to rescue Ryoko and Washu (although Washu was only there [[{{Troll}} to mess with Dr. Clay]]).

'''Miracle Max:''' ''[quietly, to Valerie]'' It'll take a miracle. ''[enthusiastic again]'' Bye bye!

While Storming The Castle can take place before the story's climax, the results are generally less dramatic. If a villain does this to the heroes, it's AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs and/or TheSiege, in which a small number of heroes HoldTheLine against numerically superior invaders. Weirdly, [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin the good guys tend to win no matter who's attacking what]]... or at least they do [[ShockingDefeatLegacy most of the time]].

* ''Film/{{Hero}}'': The King of Qin fears that everyone is out to get him. He's right. We eventually get a flashback to when a [[{{Wuxia}} battle-couple]] tried to kill him. By cutting right through his army and storming his palace, ''by themselves''. To awesome [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMe0AYSBZI music.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBE4b-sNK7M&feature=related Observe.]]

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In RealLife, particularly during the MiddleAges, actually storming the castle was the tactic of last resort, due to how most fortifications are [[DeathCourse built specifically to give the defenders every advantage possible]]. This is why they're called "fortifications". Any sort of direct assault on properly built and manned fortifications required a hell of a numerical advantage, very solid morale, and often repeated attacks--and even then it would be an absolute bloodbath. More often sieges were won by cutting off the defenders from supplies and starving them to death or surrender (which could take years), by [[DungeonBypass breaching the defenses from the outside]] and marching in that way (not always practical), or by convincing enemy soldiers within the defenses to TurnCoat and let you in (very difficult). Going through the front door is almost always a suicide mission (assuming it's even possible), but it [[RuleOfCool sure is entertaining]].

* The first season of ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' has the heroes storming the Garden of Time. Its third season has two castles being stormed at the same time: Fate, Schach, and Verossa attack Jail Scaglietti's lab, while Nanoha, Hayate, Vita, and a ton of air mages attack the Saint's Cradle. Everyone else is preventing an AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs situation.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' GrandFinale has the heroes storming the Island of Hell, where BigBad Dr. Hell had his SuperVillainLair. Happens again in ''Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}}''
* Happens in ''Anime/ReadOrDie'', and twice in ''Anime/RODTheTV''.
* Each of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'''s four arcs ends this way. The "castles" of the first three each become the good guys' headquarters for the next arc.

* Episode 26 of ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'' is a hilariously over the top mission into a noble's castle in order to rescue Sun.

* ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman''
* ''Anime/WitchHunterRobin'''s last episode.

* The final ''LightNovel/DirtyPair'' episode involves the girls rescuing their boss from [[ShoutOut Eagle's Dare Mountain]]. In an escalating series of plans that start with floating in with a hot air ballon wearing cat costumes (), and culminating with them walking through the front door after Kei flashes the guards.
* The climax of ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor''. Unusual in that it's not the Raalgon mothership they end up storming, but [[spoiler: the UPSF headquarters]]. Shortly before this they actually do storm the Raaglon mothership, with not-immediately-obvious results.
* In ''LightNovel/TheSlayers'' OVA the Chrazy Chimera Plan has 11 Naga the White Serpent's storming the fortress where Lina is being held captive. Made plausible by the fact that there were only two defenders, who knew they were against a powerful sorceress who had bonded with the ten clones created to stop her, and whose laughter made defense impossible. They did the sensible thing and fled the approaching devastation.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has to date based two entire story arcs on this trope; first storming Soul Society to save Rukia and then storming Hueco Mundo to save Orihime.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', As soon as received directions there, Son Goku stormed the Red Ribbon Army HQ [[OneManArmy by himself]], to take the rest of the Dragon Balls from them, after their hitman killed his friend. While his friends did travel alongside him to back him up, expecting incredible danger, Goku managed to defeat them anyway, and take the Dragon Balls, so while it was a great show of support, their presence wasn't really needed. The look on their faces when Goku told them exactly what he did was priceless. A good thing to note is that Goku [[BadassAdorable was only 13 when he did this]], so the gang were reminded [[ChildrenAreInnocent it's a good thing that Goku has a heart of gold as well to go with his great strength]].
* In episode 15 of ''Anime/KiddyGrade'' Eclair and Lumiere storm [[spoiler: GOTT headquarters]] after being hunted by them for the past few episodes.
* In ''Anime/NarutoShippuden'', during the Sasuke and Sai arc, Team Yamato storms [[EvilOverlord Orochimaru's]] underground hide-out to rescue Sasuke, but it fails. Sasuke himself does this later with his own QuirkyMinibossSquad, storming the Five Kage Summit. He nearly dies -- five times. In order: Jugo and Suigetsu have to save his ass from Darui's Genjutsu blitz; [[EnsembleDarkHorse Gaara]] saves him when he's about to be decapitated (or at least have his chest compressed) by [[MemeticBadass A]], the Raikage; then Zetsu saves him when he's nearly melted by [[SuperPowerLottery Mei Terumi]], the Mizukage; finally, Tobi saves him right as he's about to be atomized by Onoki, the Tsuchikage. [[HumiliationConga It was all so satisfying when he was kicked off his high horse.]]
* The finale of the manga version of ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' has the good guy group storming [[FloatingIsland Eden]], [[BigBad Aion's]] base of operations...only to get caught up in ''his'' plans to storm Pandaemonium, the demon world. The end result is two battered, small groups rushing through the defenses of several hundred [[spoiler:insane and feral]] demons to get to the throne room and fight ''each other'' over it.
* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': It happens when Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei storm Gonzou Tarukane's stronghold to rescue Yukina [[spoiler: who happens to be Hiei's sister]].
* Happened in Anime/MonsterRancher when Genki and the gang stormed Naga's castle. Notable in that Naga was not the BigBad of the series, just the last remaining {{CoDragon|s}}.
* Happens three times in the final arc of ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'': firstly, when [[spoiler:Kenji]] and co storm the 'castle' of [[spoiler:Moroboshi's killer]], and twice later on when the resistance storm Friend's tower. The second time is much easier for them seeing as how [[spoiler:the guards have all lost their morale]].

* The final arc of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has the cast assault [[spoiler:Grand Central, both above ground and underground (which is Father's headquarters)]].
* In ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', [[AntiHero San]] and her wolf "brothers" storm the heavily-fortified Irontown in order to assassinate [[AntiVillain Lady Eboshi]], as retaliation for their mother, [[PhysicalGod Moro]], being shot by Eboshi's gunners. It works surprisingly well for San once she's over the town's walls, but she's easily trapped by Eboshi. Luckily for everyone involved there was a third actor there to untangle the mess...
* The series finale for ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa''. The whole team attacks Nightmare's fortress, and Dedede and Escargoon directly confront Customer Service for the first time. [[spoiler:The audience weren't the only ones misled to think he was a normal human being. Instead, he has ''Kirby''-style feet like all the other characters. Dedede is taken aback by it.]]
* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', Magic World arc concludes in [[BadassCrew Ala Alba]] with its [[SixthRanger allies]] (Mana, Takane, Mei, Ariadne girls and others) storming [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Gravekeeper's Palace]].
* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'':
** Shana and Wilhelmina storm Seireiden in the first season finale to rescue Yuji.
** In the third season, Khamsin Nbh'w and Rebecca Reed storm it again to rescue [[spoiler:Shana]].
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Lelouch and Suzaku attack the flying fortress Damocles in the finale of the second season. Another one happened in the later half of the first, with Suzaku storming the fortress of a secondary terrorist group, which ended in failure when his mecha ran out of power... Until Lelouch [[BigDamnHeroes swooped in with a spare battery and together they utterly stomped the remaining forces]].
* ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'': The titular castle is stormed by an army of Interpol cops led by Zenigata during the final act, at the same time that Lupin puts his plan to beat the [[BigBad Count]] into action.
* The climax of ''Manga/Golgo13: The Professional'' has the titular character attack Dawson Tower in [[BigApplesauce New York City]], where the final shootout between Golgo, a squadron of attack helicopters, Snake, and Gold and Silver occurs.
* The final episodes of ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'' has the Cures and Coupe storm BigBad Dune's spaceship to rescue Tsubomi's grandmother and [[spoiler:restore Earth to its pristine condition after being transformed into a desert.]]
* Episodes 25-26 of ''Anime/Jewelpet2009'' are about Rinko and co. discovering and invading [[BigBad Diana]]'s lair, culminating in a climactic mid-season battle.
* ''Manga/FutureDiary'' has Minene, Nishijima and Yukki's friends sneak into the Eleventh's main base ([[spoiler: City Hall]]) to try and stop his plans. Little do they know that Yukki and Yuno were also storming the building...

* In ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' story "King Smurf" (and its AnimatedAdaptation), the rebel Smurfs do this to the Smurf Village when King Smurf orders his Smurfs to build a high fence around it.
* ''ComicBook/BlackMoonChronicles'': Castle and city sieges usually amount to thousands of soldiers storming the gates and killing anything in sight. Having sorcerers, dragons, giants and other huge war beasts helps a lot.
* ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersBoomStudios'':
** By issue 7, Billy is trapped in Rita's prison dimension and Rita herself has occupied the Command Centre. The Rangers take advantage of this by piloting the Dragonzord ''to the moon'' to attack Rita's palace, which has a portal they can use to rescue Billy.
** During the final issues of the ''[[ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersShatteredGrid Shattered Grid]]'' event, the remaining Rangers split into two teams to try and deal with Drakkon and his army. One group goes to take down a tower that allows Drakkon's Ranger Sentries to use the stolen Ranger powers across the multiverse, while the second group storms the moon base in Drakkon's universe to rescue Rangers that have been captured.
* In ''ComicBook/TheFurtherAdventuresOfIndianaJones'' #28, Indy partners with a Cossack band to assault the fortress of an [[AristocratsAreEvil evil Russian count]]. While the majority of the Cossacks stage a frontal assault on the stronghold, Indy and small group of handpicked allies sneak in through an otherwise inaccessible approach to retrieve the MacGuffin: a pair of gold plated revolvers award to Creator/BuffaloBill Cody by the Czar of Russia

* In ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', Hans and Weselton's guards storm Elsa's IcePalace to bring Anna back. While they couldn't find her, they did successfully captured Elsa and confine her to the dungeons, with Hans attempting to reason with her in regards to the EndlessWinter.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', an epic battle between, Po, the Furious Five, Shen and his army begins shortly after the heroes are brought before the Shen's cannon [[ImprovisedLockpick thanks to the efforts of Viper picking the lock on Tigress's cuffs with the end of her tail]], which involves the cannon being destroyed, Shen revealing that he has a '''TON''' of more cannons, and the tower singlehandedly being brought down in the process.
* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'': During the climax, Shrek and his friends need to crash the ball in order to prevent Prince Charming, who is masquerading as Shrek, from kissing Fiona, which will activate the love spell slipped into her tea and cause her to fall in love with him. In order to get past the moat and its small army of guards mounted atop the castle walls, they visit the Muffin Man, who crafts them Mungo, a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever gigantic gingerbread man]], all while Jennifer Saunder's [[ClimacticMusic absolutely blood-pumping, kickass cover]] of "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler plays in the background.

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', in which Westley, Inigo Montoya, and Fezzik are enthusiastically sent off by Miracle Max and his wife, Valerie, to storm Humperdinck's castle.
-->'''Miracle Max:''' Have fun storming the castle!\\
'''Valerie:''' ''[quietly, to Max]'' Think it'll work?\\
'''Miracle Max:''' ''[quietly, to Valerie]'' It'll take a miracle. ''[enthusiastic again]'' Bye bye!

* In ''Film/United93'', the cockpit door eventually gets broken down by civilians, who desperately try to wrestle the controls away from the al-Qaeda terrorists. Since the whole film is a ForegoneConclusion based on the RealLife September 11 terrorist attacks, everybody knows how this will end.

* Used realistically in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. The orcs storm castles on three different occasions. The orcs only ever get as far as they do because they vastly outnumber the defenders, occasionally have superior equipment to break down barriers, and soak up a huge amount of casualties just to achieve victory, not that they care about individual lives. Even then, they only manage one victory and lose twice ([[spoiler:Osgiliath, Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, respectively]]). And they only lose due to reinforcements for the defenders. In another instance, Frodo and Sam are the ones actually doing the storming, but all the fighting is done by the diversionary force led by [[SupportingLeader Aragorn]].
* Most of the ''Film/JamesBond'' films end this way.
** ''Film/DrNo'', ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'', ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'', ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', and ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' all end with James Bond willingly gearing up and assaulting a known enemy base that very definitely contains the major villain. ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' has a more subdued version in the form of a hotel, though it has the bonus of containing two villains.
** ''Film/LiveAndLetDie''. A one-man version. Near the end of the film Bond infiltrates Kananga's poppy fields and blows them up with incendiary bombs, attacks the voodoo village to save Solitaire, then sneaks into Kananga's underground base below the village.
** ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'' ends with an assault on Drax's space station by U.S. Marine astronauts with laser weapons. Bond was already inside the station when it occurred.
* Appropriately, the ''Film/AustinPowers'' movies follow suit: ''[[Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery International Man of Mystery]]'' ends with Kensington leading British forces to Dr. Evil's lair, while the ''[[Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe The Spy Who Shagged Me]]'' ends with Austin infiltrating Dr. Evil's moon base, and ''[[Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember Goldmember]]'' has Austin (with a little more help) invading Dr. Evil's underwater lair.

* In ''Film/HotFuzz'', the cops storm a grocery store.
* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'':
** Subverted: the knights are gearing up to storm "ze outrrrrageous" French guy's castle... [[spoiler:and end up getting arrested. The End.]]
** They also attempted to storm the French Castle before going on LetsSplitUpGang. However... a rain of livestock caused them to...
--->'''Arthur:''' RUN AWAAAAYYY!!!
** Also, when Lancelot assaults the Swamp Castle. By himself.
* ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'' climaxes with the good guys storming a toy company. Of course, [[spoiler: the "toy company" is a front for TheSyndicate]].
* The HeroicBloodshed film ''Film/ABetterTomorrow 2'' ends with the three remaining heroes going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge through a ''whole mess'' of mooks at the BigBad's mansion.
* In ''Film/PrinceCaspian'', the Narnian forces attack the Telmarine castle. [[spoiler:[[SpoiledByTheFormat Since it happens in the middle of the film]], it was [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle doomed to fail]] from the start.]] This is a major expansion on the book, where the idea was merely suggested by Reepicheep.
* ''Film/TankGirl''. Tank Girl, her tank, Jet Girl and the Rippers assault the Water and Power fortress at the end of the movie.
* This happens twice in ''Film/MaxPayne'' movie, once to get into a bad guy's stronghold and once to shoot a lot of people and maybe do something about revenge. But mostly to shoot people.
* Near the end of ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'', Buckaroo, the Hong Kong Cavaliers and some Blue Blaze irregulars assault Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems to recover Penny Priddy and the Oscillation Overthruster from the villainous Red Lectroids.
* The climax of ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves''.
* ''Film/TheAvengers1998''. Steed and Mrs. Peel infiltrate Sir August's base in order to stop his evil plot to control the weather and end up fighting TheDragon and Sir August himself.
* ''Film/{{Commando}}''. John Matrix single-handedly assaults the mansion headquarters of a crooked crime lord planning a coup in South America, slaughtering dozens of henchmen in order to rescue his kidnapped daughter.
* In the ending of the ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' film, [[spoiler:Wesley attacks the Fraternity's hideout, using [[ChekhovsGun exploding rats]], followed by an ultra-awesome GunKata run through a corridor... and then some.]]
* This is how the legend of ''Film/The47Ronin'' ends, so every film version ends the same way.
* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' has BigBad Victor Maitland's Beverly Hills mansion as the castle, the would-be LoveInterest as the DistressedDamsel, and a hilarious shootout between the heroic cops and the {{mooks}}.
* ''Film/TheLastCastle'' is actually an interesting reversal of the trope. The titular castle is a metaphor for a US military prison, and the entire plot is centered around the prisoners storming the castle ''from within'' in order to take it.
* This is the premise of a splendid battle sequence in the 1958 Kirk Douglas vehicle ''The Vikings''.
* The Dark Aster in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' is a castle in the sky.
* At the end of ''[[Film/InTheNameOfTheKing In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale]]'', [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Farmer]] storms the BigBad's fortress to kill him and rescue his [[DistressedDamsel wife]]... ''alone'', with the king's army and a magus providing distractions. Why? Because he's Creator/JasonStatham, that's why!
** He gets in through an unguarded air shaft at the top, because nobody would think of building a rope bridge or go in Franchise/{{Batman}}-style, right?
* Subverted and then played straight in ''Film/{{Timeline}}''. The French arrive to Castleguard prepared for a year-long siege, exchanging arrows and siege weapon fire with the English. Then Creator/GerardButler's character blows a hole to the catacombs, allowing the French general and a dozen men to storm the castle from inside. They manage to open the gates, allowing the French army to enter. While, the end result is known, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] at the beginning of the movie, the battle is still on as the main characters are returning to their own time. At the start of the film, Butler's character is giving a lecture on the siege, according to which, the castle was taken in one night through sheer fury and determination.
* At the end of ''Film/BadBoysII'', the titular bad boys and a team of volunteers storm the BigBad's mansion in Cuba to rescue Marcus's sister and Mike's girlfriend (same person). They have to hurry, though, as the drug lord has friends in the Cuban government, who will send the Cuban army after them.
* We see this about four times in ''Film/SinCity''. Two of those instances occur in the same story.
** Marv geared up to storm the Farm in order to kill Kevin. A couple scenes later, he's heading to Cardinal Roark's mansion.
** Hartigan storms the same Farm in order to kill the Yellow Bastard.
** Dwight and the Old Town girls subvert this by luring the mob out of their building, into the alley out back before attackign them.
* At the end of ''Film/{{Scarface|1983}}'' Sosa's mooks storm Tony Montana's mansion.
* In ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'', Jack and Wang Chi drink Egg Shen's magic potion and lead a group of warriors in an attack on Lo Pan's underground lair before he marries their girlfriends as part of an evil ritual.
* ''Film/{{Willow}}'', ''Film/{{Krull}}'', ''Film/{{Legend|1985}}'', ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}''... basically every '80s fantasy movie was required to end this way.
* ''Film/TheProfessional'': Mathilda tracks Stansfield's crew to their precinct and infiltrates it with the intention of taking her revenge. She fails to accomplish this task and seems on the verge of being charged with some serious offenses, [[spoiler:but luckily Léon shows up to take out Willi Blood and Neal and saves his apprentice]].
* ''Film/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' opens with the Persian army storming a fortified city. It's a subversion, however, because Dastan notes that his brother, who's leading the charge, is an idiot who only knows how to attack from the front and would have sacrificed a lot of soldiers just to get inside. Dastan instead sneaks over a poorly guarded wall with his small group and opens the gates on that side, allowing the army in with a minimum of casualties.
* Happens at the climax of all three ''Film/BladeTrilogy'' movies (except the first, where Blade fails and is captured; the FinalBattle happens elsewhere)
* ''Film/{{Hero}}'': The King of Qin fears that everyone is out to get him. He's right. We eventually get a flashback to when a [[{{Wuxia}} battle-couple]] tried to kill him. By cutting right through his army and storming his palace, ''by themselves''. To awesome [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMe0AYSBZI music.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBE4b-sNK7M&feature=related Observe.]]
* Double subverted in ''His Kind of Woman'': the hero's single-handed attempt to Storm the Yacht and does not go well at all, with him being captured by the crew within minutes of getting on board. The ''second'' attempt, which has police assistance, goes ''somewhat'' better.
* The climax of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' kicks off as Batman and the Gotham PD assault City Hall, which Bane and his mercenary army have taken as their headquarters. This includes [[CoolPlane the Bat]] swooping in and [[GunshipRescue destroying one of Bane's commandeered Tumblers]], followed by an ''epic'' shot of the cops charging forward, kicking off the fight.
* In ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' Colton and Jaye attack the Cobra-controlled Presidential retreat to save the real President.
* The climax of ''Film/TheExpendables'' involves infiltrating and blowing up General Garza's palace.
* The climax of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' has Ripley [[TookALevelInBadass taking a level in badass]] and [[LockAndLoadMontage loading up her weapons]] to launch a one-woman raid on the Xenomorphs' hive to rescue Newt.
* ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart2'' finally shows the raiding of the capitol.
* The FinalBattle in ''Film/LondonHasFallen'' has Banning along with a team of SAS and Delta Force soldiers attacking a heavily fortified terrorist hideout where [[spoiler: President Asher is taken hostage.]]
* The climax of ''Film/HardcoreHenry'' sees Henry and Jimmy [[spoiler: and Jimmy's remaining clones]] assaulting [[BigBad Akan's]] headquarters in order to take him down and rescue Estelle.
* The climax of ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' plays with this trope slightly by having the force that attacks the villain's base be released prisoners kept on that base.
* The climax of ''Film/TheAccountant'' has [[spoiler: Wolff attacking the mansion of Lamar Blackburn, who is both a CorruptCorporateExecutive and the movie's BigBad.]]
* ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'': The ape assault on the human tower is essentially this. The apes take a lot of casualties since the humans are fighting from cover against an open-air cavalry charge, but the apes turn the tide once they can get past the initial blockade.
* The climax of ''Film/TheDarkTower2017'' sees Roland assaulting [[BigBad Walter's]] base in New York and [[OneManArmy mowing down]] his army of {{Mooks}} in order to defeat Walter for good [[spoiler: and rescue Jake]].
* ''Film/InLikeFlint''. Flint storms the Z.O.W.I.E. missile base with an army of scantily-clad women. Their plan: "Operation Smooch". They overcome the male guards by seducing them with sexual flirtation, when that doesn't work, beating them up.
* ''Film/AReasonToLiveAReasonToDie'' climaxes in a battle scene with Col. Pembroke and his small group of {{Boxed Crook}}s attempting to take the 'impregnable' Fort Holman from the Confederates.

* The ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'' ends with the climactic last stand of the Burgundians, who are holed up in king Etzel's hall and fight off several assaults by the armies of Etzel and his vassals until every one of them except Gunther and Hagen is dead.

* Robert Jordan seems to like this as much as George Lucas, because ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' does it a lot:
** Book 2: Falme.
** Book 3: The Stone of Tear.
** Book 5: Caemlyn.
** Book 7: Illian. Subverted when Sammael runs away, and Rand has to follow him to Shadar Logoth.
** Book 11: The Shaido camp at Malden.
* ''WizardsFirstRule'', the first book of the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series, has the protagonists storming the villain's castle toward the end. Played with the twist that the villain, who believes himself invincible, lets them walk right in the front door.

* The storming of the pool ship at the end of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''.

* Creator/SMStirling's post-apocalypse ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'' novels feature ''some'' castle-storming, but in a subversion it's far more common for both the heroes and villains to do everything they can to ''avoid'' storming the other side's castles, because such attacks are so dangerous and time-consuming.
** In ''Dies the Fire,'' [[RedShirt local good guys]] unfamiliar with the idea of a castle send two hundred men against a hilltop abbey manned by a gang allied to Norman Arminger, who is ''very'' familiar with castles. The good guys lose twenty dead and over a hundred badly hurt to zero gain. Subsequent attacks fail at the "find anyone who wants to do this" stage...
* In the third book of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles, the main character Uhtred and his adopted brother Ragnar storm Dunholm, the fortress of a rival Danish lord named Kjartan, who killed Ragnar's father about six years prior. This is one instance of a Storming the Castle happening before the story's climax, as the actual climax involves Uhtred duelling another rival and coming to a truce with said rival's army and the army of the king he supports.
* In William King's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Wolfblade'', when they discover [[spoiler:the merchant Pantheus]] was behind an assassination attempt, they raid his asteroid [[spoiler:kidnapping him and destroying it]].
* In Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', Aslan, Lucy, and Susan [[spoiler:after his resurrection]] do not go to aid Peter and the army, but storm the White Witch's castle, to restore to life [[TakenForGranite the statues inside]]. (Aslan had earlier suggested Peter have a plan to storm the castle in case the Witch decided to fall back to her castle instead of committing to an open battle after killing him.)
* In Creator/JamesSwallow's TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 ''[[Literature/BloodAngels Deus Sanguinius]]'', Rafen gets on the outside of a shuttle going to the spaceship to inflitrate it. He is the only loyal Blood Angel left, and the ship, which should have been a refuge, is enemy ground.
* In ''Literature/InterestingTimes'':
-->[[TheMole Two Fire Herb]]: We must [[UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions storm the Winter Palace!]]
-->[[ChineseGirl Lotus Blossom]]: Excuse me, Two Fire Herb, but it is June.
-->[[{{Jerkass}} Two Fire Herb]]: Then we can storm the Summer Palace!
* Torquilstone in ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}''.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Voldemort and the Death Eaters [[spoiler:storm Hogwarts, killing some 50 people]].
* Happens in pretty much every ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' book where the villain builds or steals themselves a looming castle fortress from which to rule the landscape. Examples include Terramort (''Mariel of Redwall''), Marshank (''Martin the Warrior'') and Castle Floret (''The Bellmaker'') Most of the other books have assorted villains trying to storm either Redwall Abbey or Salamandastron. Subversions include the Kingdom of Malkaniss, an underground fortress, and Kotir, which was flooded and destroyed with siege weaponry instead of stormed.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** ''Proven Guilty'' ends with Harry, Murphy, Charity and Thomas storming Queen Mab's castle in Faerie [[spoiler: to get Molly back]]. Subverted in that [[spoiler: while they have to deal with some forces, they arrive to find that ''something'' has already been through and wiped out most of Mab's army...]]
** While not always a castle, several other books end with Harry and company raiding the SupervillainLair, including [[spoiler: Bianca's mansion]] in ''Grave Peril'', [[spoiler: the Denarians' island base]] ''Small Favors'', [[spoiler: the meeting of the White Court nobility]] in ''White Night'', and [[spoiler: the Red Court's castle]] in ''Changes''.
* In Creator/FrankHerbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', after the Harkonnens pull an AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs, Paul gathers the Fremen and storms the city of Arrakeen using a giant sandworm and [[NukeEm atomics]] (in the film). Many examples follow in [[Franchise/{{Dune}} later Dune novels]].
* Many examples in ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'', a major one being the desperate assault of the [[LaResistance Free Colonies]]' fleet against the heavily fortified Solar System. The only reason it succeeds is because the admiral in charge of the [[TheEmpire Earth Alliance]] defense shuts down most of the robotic systems right before the assault, reasoning that the rebels must succeed for humanity to survive (since he's killed in battle, this is a HeroicSacrifice). Otherwise, the assault was doomed to fail. Interestingly, the author doesn't focus much on the battle itself but on the consequences, particularly for a young Earth Alliance pilot who has to learn to live in a galaxy controlled by the newly-created [[TheFederation Confederacy of Suns]], where people from Earth are looked at in disdain.
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's "A Witch Shall Be Born", Olgerd says he can't besiege the city and Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian promises to draw them out for the fight.
* In the post-Apocalypse novel ''{{Literature/Malevil}}'', Emmanuel and his men make preparations to besiege the lightly-fortified village of La Roque to overthrow the despot priest Fulbert. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the night before they do so the village is captured by a renegade military commander and his army. Inverted in the end as it's the hero's castle that is besieged at the end of the novel]].
* ''Literature/InDeath'': Eve and Roarke storm Icove's underground chambers in ''Origin In Death'' quite impressively.

* In Suzanne Collins' final ''Literature/{{The Hunger Games}}'' novel "Mockingjay". Towards the climax [[spoiler: , this is subverted as a vengeful Katniss Everdeen has made her way through a now chaotic Capitol on her way to assassinate President Snow, only for several very sudden explosions to go off outside his mansion, collapsing President Snow's regime, setting her on fire and rendering her unconscious before she can take him down.]]
* In [[Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm The Granite Shield]], Rhys personally breaks into a dozen castles and army camps, usually to kill the commanders and terrify or destabilize the defenders. Justified in that his country doesn't have the strength or equipment to fight a traditional siege.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has a few examples, but they're outnumbered by far by proper sieges and more sensible alternatives. It's made clear that StormingTheCastle is ''not'' a good idea most of the time and is rarely successful without a truly massive numerical advantage, as per the oft repeated maxim that one man on a wall is equal to ten on the ground. Stannis Baratheon attempts to take King's Landing in open battle in the second book ([[spoiler:and fails because Tyrion burned his fleet down and the Tyrells relieved the defenders]]), the Wildlings make repeated attempts to storm the Wall in the third book after failing to infiltrate it from the inside ([[spoiler:and fail, forcing Mance to bring out his ForgottenSuperweapon only to be defeated before he can employ it]]), and Loras Tyrell is forced to abandon a siege and storm [[spoiler:Dragonstone]] directly in the fourth book. ([[spoiler:He wins, but is reportedly almost killed... and [[UncertainDoom may have been]] horribly wounded by quarrels, maces and ''[[BodyHorror boiling oil]]'') and loses a disproportionately large amount of men in the process]]).
* The War of Vordarian's Pretendership in the novel ''Literature/{{Barrayar}}'' centered on a siege of Vorbarr Sultana by the loyalist forces led by Regent Aral Vorkosigan against Count Vordarian's attempt to usurp the Imperial throne.
* Attempted against Sobol's mansion early in ''Literature/{{Daemon}}'', which doesn't go well. Near the end of ''Freedom'', Daemon operatives carry out another against the headquarters of an anti-Daemon task force.
* In the ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' series, Rachel and Kirsty storm Jack Frost's castle fairly often.
* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', assaulting a fortified city is the only really viable way to take it due to the highstorms, which are incredibly powerful storms that sweep across the continent every week or so and tend to destroy any structures not made of solid stone. These render conventional siege tactics useless. Thankfully, most cities on Roshar are built to shelter from storms first and foremost, rather than to defend against invasion. Invading armies will also have access to [[PoweredArmor Shardplate]] and [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Shardblades]], which are instrumental in breaking through walls and fortified positions.
** In addition, there is a good chance that any major city will have at least one Soulcaster (a {{Magitek}} device that can turn rocks into food or other supplies), making starving the city out much harder.
* In the final book of ''Literature/TheAccursedKings'', King John II of France insists on building a monstrous siege tower (against the advice of his generals preferring BoringButPractical mines or just negotiating) to take a minor fortress, more or less living out his fantasies of being a Crusader at Jerusalem (note that gunpowder artillery is already commonplace by the time the book takes place). The tower is built, loaded with soldiers, pushed up to the walls... and promptly blown apart by cannonfire. The siege ends when the defenders agree to leave in exchange for money.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' features this most notably in Season 7, where the Scoobies and Potentials charge into Sunnydale High, home of the Hellmouth, and finally bust the Hellmouth open, charging through to fight The First's army head-on. Other notable instances of Storming the Castle are the assault on Glory's ramshackle base with every MacGuffin they could scrounge together and the incursion into the Initiative base. There's also Buffy storming Angelus' mansion in [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E22BecomingPart2 the season 2 finale]]. Not to mention the time that Riley and Giles stormed Count Dracula's castle (yes, in Southern California, and yes, they [[LampshadeHanging comment on this]]) to rescue Buffy in the [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E1BuffyVsDracula Season 5 premiere.]]
* [[Recap/AngelS01E01CityOf The very first episode]] of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' had Angel storming Russell Winter's mansion to [[spoiler: avenge Tina's death]]. He later stormed the Wolfram and Hart building a number of times, including once to kill a Senior Parter in ''Reprise''. Angel and his gang later stormed their own base, the Hyperion Hotel, to stop the BigBad [[spoiler: Jasmine]] at the end of season 4. At the end of season 2, Wesley and Gunn lead a storming of an ''actual'' castle.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has examples of this. Notables include:
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' ep, "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds}} The Best of Both Worlds]]" features the Enterprise crew boarding the Borg cube twice.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', when they storm their own station to take it back. A good example also includes Jadzia Dax and three old Klingon Dahar masters (all of whom faced Kirk decades prior and survived) storming the compound of the Albino. Two of them don't make it, which is just fine for a Klingon.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS03E24ZeroHour}} Zero Hour]]" when they board the Xindi Death Star to attempt to destroy it.
* In ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', quite a few episodes have climaxes with a storming of the criminal's lair, usually to save Chuck.

* In ''Series/BurnNotice'', this happens about every other episode. Sometimes it happens near the beginning of the episode, because Michael needs to get the bad guy's attention in a major way. Sometimes it happens at the end of the episode, especially when Michael needs to rescue Fi or Sam. Either way, it always works, because Michael Weston is the man.
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'': Nothing says "GrandFinale" like a massive Cylon doom fortress hidden in an AsteroidThicket in orbit around a black hole.
* ''Series/EdgeOfDarkness'': Parodied when the infiltrators stop in the middle of the raid to enjoy a three course meal, with fine wine, cigars and classical music.

* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' season 3 premiere, "Into the Fire", SG-3, -5, -6, and -11 storm Hathor's fortress to rescue SG-1. But they get cut off, then captured on their way back out.

* ''Series/TwentyFour'' has Jack doing this a couple times. The most notable are in the first season where he invades Ira Gaines' hideout to save his family and during the fourth season where he storms the terrorists' hideout to rescue the captive James Heller and Audrey Raines. In the former he was going on pure [[UnstoppableRage rage]], the latter was because he knew he couldn't wait for reinforcements. On Day 6, he storms the compound kills all the {{Mooks}} and ''hangs'' the {{BigBad}}. ''Then'' his reinforcements [[TheCavalryArrivesLate arrive]].

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'': This is pretty common on show, but it's always [[ShownTheirWork realistically played]].
** Arthur had to storm his own castle to save it from his evil sister Morgana, who'd stormed it herself the episode before and declared herself [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queen]].
** In the Season 3 premiere, Morgause and Cenred are discussing storming the castle, which Cenred points out is near suicidal, since Camelot is well equipped for a siege and he has only so many soldiers. They only go ahead because they have [[TheMole an ally in the court]] who summons up an undead army to attack Camelot from the inside. When that fails, he immediately calls it off. Likewise, Merlin is seen stocking up food for the siege, telling Arthur that they could be trapped in there for weeks or months.
** In the Season 3 finale, Morgause storms the castle and succeeds because the army they rely on is over ten thousand immortal soldiers. Kind of hard to stop that.
** In the Season 4 finale, Morgana obtains the plans to the siege tunnels and essentially sneaks in with her soldiers.
* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'':
** In "Retribution", HMS ''Renown'''s crew attack a Spanish fort in the Caribbean. They manage to get in and take over because Hornblower figures out there is an underground tunnel.
** In "Loyalty", Hornblower and men from the ''Hotspur'' have to storm a French battery and a French fort.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'':
** In "The Asset", the team infiltrates [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Quinn]]'s Malta villa to rescue [[KidnappedScientist Dr. Hall]].
** In "The Girl in the Flower Dress", S.H.I.E.L.D. attacks the [[NebulousEvilOrganization Centipede]] facility in Hong Kong to rescue Chan.
** In "The Magical Place", the team attacks the Centipede facility where [[spoiler: Coulson]] is being held, while S.H.I.E.L.D. launches attacks on other Centipede locations worldwide.
** In "Beginning of the End", the team launches a full scale assault on Cybertek's Centipede headquarters in order to bring down [[spoiler: [[BigBad Garrett]]]] once and for all.
** In "The Dirty Half Dozen", the reunited original team infiltrates HYDRA's Inhuman experimentation facility in order to rescue Mike and Lincoln.
** "Maveth" has a literal example, as SHIELD -- with the Secret Warriors spearheading -- attack the old English castle where HYDRA is attempting to open the portal to bring [[spoiler: [[HumanoidAbomination Hive]]]] to Earth.
** In "The Team", the Secret Warriors assault HYDRA's primary ElaborateUndergroundBase in order to save the rest of the SHIELD higher-ups.
** In "The Man Behind The Shield", SHIELD attacks [[BadassNormal The Superior's]] oil rig headquarters to try and rescue the kidnapped Director Mace. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a trap, to allow [[MadScientist Radcliffe]] and [[AIIsACrapshoot AIDA]] to abduct and replace most of the team with [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot LMDs]].]]
** In "All Roads Lead..." Daisy and May break into [[GeneralRipper General Hale's]] bunker in order to take her down for good.
* ''Series/PennyDreadful'' does this several times:
** In the first season alone, there are three separate attacks on vampire nests by the heroes -- in an opium den in the pilot, on board a plague ship in "What Death Can Join Together", and in the Grand Guignol theater in the season finale.
** In the final two episodes of season two, the heroes storm the [[WickedWitch Nightcomers']] lair, which happens to be in a literal castle (albeit one built to 19th century living standards).
** In the GrandFinale, the heroes fight their way into [[spoiler: [[BigBad Dracula]]]]'s underground lair in order to rescue Vanessa.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In the penultimate episode of Season 12, Sam leads a group of the remaining American hunters in an assault on the [[KnightTemplar British Men of Letters']] base, in a preemptive strike to stop their plans to [[ThePurge wipe out the hunters]].
* ''Series/TheGifted2017'': In the Season 2 finale, the Mutant Underground attack the Inner Circle's headquarters in order to prevent [[BigBad Reeva's]] plans to launch a mass attack on Washington DC.
* ''Series/TheBarrier'': Near the end of the series, a group of revolutionaries that includes most of the protagonists breaks into the residence of the President who has been running an extremely oppressive dictatorship for the past twenty-five years.
* ''Series/VanHelsing2016'':
** In the first season finale, [[LaResistance the Resistance]] assaults the factory that serves as [[EvilOverlord Dimitri's]] fortress. While initially successful, by the end of the Season 2 premiere the vampires have turned the tide and succeeded in driving the Resistance back.
** In the series finale, Vanessa, Jack and Ivory storm [[spoiler: the White House]] in order to confront [[BigBad Dracula]], fighting their way through a small army of [[PraetorianGuard Delta Force vampires]] in order to reach [[SamusIsAGirl her]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has the following examples:
** The Daleks storming the Game Station in "The Parting of the Ways". They reach the top floor, exterminating everyone besides The Doctor before [[spoiler: a Time Vortex empowered Rose intervenes.]]
** In "The Sontaran Strategem" and "The Poison Sky", this happens three times. First, U.N.I.T. storm the ATMOS factory, which is then followed by a counter attack by the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Sontarans]] taking it from them and finally U.N.I.T. attacking the factory again with help of the Valiant as air support to drive the Sontarans back out or kill them.
** "Nightmare in Silver" features an actual castle in a theme park. Not that this does much to slow down an assault by Cybermen.
** The short "The Last Day" and the episode "The Day of the Doctor" show the beginning and the end of a Dalek invasion of Arcadia, the most fortified city on Gallifrey during the Time War.

* Featured in both ''Pinball/BlackKnight'' and ''Pinball/BlackKnight2000''
* This is the premise of ''Pinball/BigGuns'', with the player using a pair of {{BFG}}s to attack the King Tyrant and rescue the Queen.

* TabletopGame/{{Chess}}: Almost the only option if you castled (pun for once not intended) to different sides.

* ''VisualNovel/AnOctaveHigher'' has Franz, Elise, Aretha storming [[spoiler:the Maison de Bouvoire]] in order to rescue [[spoiler:Frederic]] from the clutches of [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized Libertad.]] It happens again in [[MultipleEndings the true ending]], when [[spoiler:Elise must storm the Libertad-occupied Conservatoire to stop BigBad Amadeus from executing an important hostage]].

* Used several times in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', most notably in the story arcs "Vampires," "Dangerous Days," and "That Which Redeems."

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''. Or rather, tricking the guards into thinking you're a new prisoner being sent there as punishment, only to storm the castle from the ''inside.''
%%* ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'': "Good Evening. This is a diversion."
* The [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Dogs of war]] and their french employers assault and storm a well defended airbase in the first chapter of ''Webcomic/CryHavoc''.

* ''Roleplay/TheMadScientistWars'' had one of these in Chapter 11, as a threefold plan. Group One pretended to join over, offering someone as a fake bribe, Group Two sneaked in and sabotaged security, and Group Three just charged the gates and blew things the hell up. At least, that was the idea-- Group One failed, though the other two more or less succeeded. Then, the chapter's BigBad, an evil robotic arm, used his master stroke, and everything went to hell.
* ''Literature/AssociatedSpace'' has several variations on this trope, from Fatebane sneaking into the Executive Mansion to give a [[MacGuffin mysterious box]] to the President, to Fatebane rescuing David [[RunawayBride from his own wedding]], to [[spoiler: Fatebane and Nazar rescuing David from his mother's mansion]].

* ''Literature/LegionOfNetHeroes'': At the end of a lengthy story arc in which Decibel Dude is framed for the murder of his girlfriend and on the run from everyone, including his partner, he manages to prove that he's innocent and that the murder was faked by his arch-enemy. He announces to the Legion that he's heading off to the villain's headquarters to free his girlfriend and arrest the bad guy, and walks away without looking back. When he gets to the headquarters, he finally turns around to discover the entire Legion is behind him, with his partner in the lead.
* Episodes 15-17 of ''[[Creator/AchievementHunter Achievement Hunter's]]'' "[[LetsPlay/AchievementHunterMinecraftSeries Let's Play]] ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''". Having absconded [[MacGuffin the Tower of Pimps]], Geoff tells Michael, Ray, Gavin and Jack that he hidden it somewhere and the first one who finds it and takes it back, wins. Midway through the episode, it's revealed that Geoff had hidden it in a fortress he built ''in the sky''. Once they find out where he's hidden, the four attempt [[spoiler:and fail]] to take back the Tower.
** Episodes 115-116, aptly titled "Storm the Tower", features one team (between Team Lads (Gavin, Michael and Ray) and Team Gents (Geoff, Ryan and Jack)) attempting to get to the top of a large fortified tower and capture the Tower of Pimps within one hour, while the other team attempts to stop them. [[spoiler:SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, however, as the Tower's defenses were so intricately designed that in the end neither team were able to get to the top and mine the Tower within one hour (though Team Lads were the closest when Ray successfully captured one gold block).]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Spider Skull Island was once a bad guy base until Team Venture captured it. The original owner fled and attempted to initiate a self destruct, but it failed due to faulty hardware.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' Captain America, Bucky and the Howling Commandos storm the Red Skull's castle.
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''. Obi-Wan and Anakin have been assigned to help out a siege effort of a clone army. Obi-Wan, bored out of his mind, asks a commander how much longer it will take for them to take the enemy's position. The commander, ''cheerfully'' responds three months, saying they're making good progress, while Obi-Wan moans about how long they've already been there. Then he and Anakin found an underground tunnel to sneak into the city, and take out its shields reactor, allowing the clones to storm all over it.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Castle}}'', the {{animated adaptation}} of architectural historian/writer David Macaulay's book, shows in vivid terms just how tough storming a well designed, built and supplied castle could be in medieval times with defenses upon defenses in place to discourage it.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' named the final episode of its first season after this trope, which had the titular character team up with an ex-henchman of the BigBad in order to rescue her best friend. And while she does manage to save him, it is implied that all the destruction that occurred resulted in a case of TheBadGuyWins.
* The first ''WesternAnimation/RosePetalPlace'' special has Rose Petal's friends invading Nastina's castle to rescue her after she's captured and nearly killed.
* ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'': In the series finale, A.C.M.E. launches a massive raid on V.I.L.E.'s headquarters, arresting all of [[BigBadDuumvirate the faculty]] and several operatives, sending the rest on the run.

* Happens in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' when Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei storm Gonzou Tarukane's stronghold to rescue Yukina [[spoiler: who happens to be Hiei's sister]].

** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'', Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Big Barda assault Apokolips to rescue ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}.

* In ''Film/PrinceCaspian'', the Narnian forces attack the Telmarine castle. [[spoiler:[[SpoiledByTheFormat Since it happens in the middle of the film]], it was [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle doomed to fail]] from the start.]] Note that this entire plot is ''nowhere to be found'' in the book.

* ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeason1'': When the heroes go to [[spoiler:rescue Jade from Tarakudo's corruption]] in "Return of the Queen", they simply burst into Phobos' throne room through the roof because they reason that after all the times they've entered the castle by sneaking in, the villains won't expect them to assault directly.

* ''Fanfic/TheImmortalGame'': After the [[LesCollaborateurs Royals]] manage to [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs invade their base]], the [[LaResistance Loyalists]] retaliate by attacking the royal palace so the Mane Six can defeat Prince Empyrean as part of a larger plan to [[spoiler: restore Celestia's power]] and draw out [[BigBad Titan]] for what they hope will be the FinalBattle. [[spoiler: That last part doesn't work out that well.]]

** The infiltration of the Black Fortress is the focus of the first [[StoryArc arc]], with a few differences in how it's played out compared to instances that plays the trope completely straight. Rather than going through the main gate, a fact that Kyril [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] to be a bad idea, the Black Dogs enter the fortress via a secret passage/culvert that they can access thanks to their resident mage Kin. The remastered version [[AdaptationExpansion expands a bit more]] on this plan, noting that the manpower they have is only enough for a surgical strike to the Dark Queen, which explains why they don't opt for waiting to starve the enemies out. Other differences include how the one residing in the fortress is [[DiscOneFinalBoss actually not]] the BigBad, and that the whole event does not takes place during the story's climax ([[AbortedArc assuming]] that there ''is'' one).
*** As for other [[JustifiedTrope reasons/assumptions]] on why the "sit through TheSiege" tactic is not used, [[{{Mordor}} Garan's]] foul climate would put the Black Dogs at a disadvantage should they stay for a prolonged period. Meanwhile, said fortress is mentioned to have superior supplies and resources, making this option more obsolete. On the other hand, the Black Dogs have a OneManArmy on their side, which obviously makes infiltrating the fortress an easier, more viable task.

* At the climax of ''Fanfic/LegendOfZeldaRingsOfDualty'''s first act, Hyrule Castle is infiltrated by not just one faction, but two, one being [[spoiler:the [[TheChosenOne (more) usually-heroic]] main character]]. It goes pretty well thanks to [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy lazy guards]] and [[StuffBlowingUp a distraction]].

* ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'' features a rare villain-on-villain example. When EvilSorcerer [[SmugSnake Lung]] captures Jade's astral form and tries to torture her into serving him, her Shadowkhan [[CoDragons Dragons]] Left and Right track down his fortress (with some anonymous aid from [[VillainousRescue Tarakudo]]), and proceed to [[CurbStompBattle curb stomp]] everything he puts in their way.

* ''Fanfic/TheImmortalGame'': After the [[LesCollaborateurs Royals]] manage to [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs invade their base]], the [[LaResistance Loyalists]] retaliate by attacking the royal palace so the Mane Six can defeat Prince Empyrean as part of a larger plan to [[spoiler: restore Celestia's power]] and draw out [[BigBad Titan]] for what they hope will be the FinalBattle. [[spoiler: That last part doesn't work out that well.]]
** The [[FinalBattle Battle of the Everfree]] is primarily focused on the Loyalists storming Titan's Citadel in the heart of the titular forest.

* The final ''LightNovel/DirtyPair'' episode involves the girls rescuing their boss from [[ShoutOut Eagle's Dare Mountain]]. In an escalating series of pl
ans that start with floating in with a hot air ballon wearing cat costumes (), and culminating with them walking through the front door after Kei flashes the guards.

* The final ''LightNovel/DirtyPair'' episode involves the girls rescuing their boss from [[ShoutOut Eagle's Dare Mountain]]. In an escalating series of plans that start with floating in with a hot air ballon wearing cat costumes (), and culminating with them walking through the front door after Kei flashes the guards.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has the following examples
** The Daleks storming the Game Station in The Parting of the Ways. They reach the top floor, exterminating everyone besides The Doctor before [[spoiler: a Time Vortex empowered Rose intervenes.]]
** In the Sontaran Strategem and The Poison Sky, this happens three times. First, U.N.I.T. storm the ATMOS factory, which is then followed by a counter attack by the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Sontarans]] taking it from them and finally U.N.I.T. attacking the factory again with help of the Valiant as air support to drive the Sontarans back out or kill them.
** Nightmare in Silver features an actual castle in a theme park. Not that this does much to slow down an assault by Cybermen.
** The short The Last Day and the episode The Day of the Doctor show the beginning and the end of a Dalek invasion of Arcadia, the most fortified city on Gallifrey during the Time War.

** In the Sontaran Strategem and The Poison Sky, this happens three times. First, U.N.I.T. storm the ATMOS factory, which is then followed by a counter attack by the Sontarans taking it from them and finally U.N.I.T. attacking the factory again with help of the Valiant as air support to drive the Sontarans out or kill them.
** Nightmare in Silver features an actual castle in a theme park. Not that this does much to slow down an attack by Cybermen.
** The short The Last Day and the episode The Day of the Doctor show the beginning and the end of a Dalek assault on Arcadia, the most fortified city on Gallifrey.