• 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.
  • 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's 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.
• 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
  • 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.

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.
• 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.

Marvel Comics

• 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 homaged 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 ASM #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 their 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.
• 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.

• 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."

• 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.
• Several from the Disney Animated Canon:
  • Aladdin:
    • The "Friend Like Me" number. It contrasts to the other numbers 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 at the time. As some have analyzed, this scene was much more of a Warner Bros. in energy, but it also solidified the movie as a proto-Dreamworks movie which would dominate animated movies the decade after this film came out.
    • The “"A Whole New World" musical number, largely 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.
  • Beauty and the Beast: Belle and the Beast's dance in the ballroom to the song "Beauty and the Beast". A kind of culmination of them learning to enjoy each other, along with some stunning use of computer effects during the dance only heightened the experience in showing how far the beast has come in learning to love. In addition, this helped solidify this song as THE song from this musical.
  • Chicken Little has Runt and Abby singing a karaoke version of "Wannabe", which sticks out in people's minds because it comes out of nowhere, even by the film's standards, and is very close to being a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment, the only thing removing it from that status being that Chicken Little has to interrupt them to talk about the hi-tech piece of the sky that fell in 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:
    • The "Baby Mine" scene, which is one of the most infamous Tear Jerker moments in the Disney canon.
    • Followed immediately by "Pink Elephants On Parade", which is one of the most infamous Mushroom Samba sequences in Deranged Animation history.
  • From Fantasia, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" sequence staring Mickey Mouse is the most recognized. Mickey in the Sorcerer's Hat 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.
    • "Night on Bald Mountain". While not as recognized, its dark sequence on Chernabog, playing with the dead, corrupting beauty, and torturing souls with dramatic and horrific animation makes it one of the darkest and most memorable scenes in Disney history.
  • Frozen: The "Let It Go" song. Using CGI to model Ice magnificently, it's actually the song that changed the entire plot of the movie. As Idina Menzel's vulnerable but enthusiastic performance of the song ended up turning her from an antagonist into a tragic character meant to grow alongside her sister.
  • The Great Mouse Detective: The climactic battle in the clocktower, which was one of the first major uses of Computer Animation in history, to animate the gears.
  • Hercules: The battle with the Hydra. The midpoint of the movie, and in contrast to much of the movie around it, this was a serious challenge for the Super-Strength hero. With its pretty good use of CGI, it had some Visual Effects of Awesome, and despite the panic and thrill of the atmosphere, ends with a glorious musical part which signified Herc's second big step towards becoming a true hero.
  • Lady and the Tramp has the scene where the dogs kiss while eating the same strand of spaghetti. 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: an African sunrise. Combined with the music and visuals, it's one of the most famous openings in all of Disney animation and establishes the grandiose setting for the story right from the start.
  • The Little Mermaid (1989):
    • The "Part Of Your World" reprise sequence, where Ariel homages the "Little Mermaid" statue in Copenhagen.
    • The Storm sequence. A moment that had been in the Disney Archive since Walt's era that inspired the entire picture.
  • Peter Pan: The "You Can Fly" sequence. The most famous song of the film, with some pretty creative use of flying animation, and setting the tone of wonder and excitement that would pervade the rest of the movie.
  • Pocahontas: The "Colors of the Wind" sequence; the animators knew how pivotal this moment would be that 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" song. Keith David's big Villain Song, it's a swinging, spooky, visually stunning number that makes the crucial plot step of creating the titular frog, and establishes Dr. Facilier as a worthy part of the Disney villain pantheon.
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The entire movie really, when talking about animated history, as it was the first fully traditionally animated motion picture, but if one single moment is to be highlighted from the film, its the sequence in which the Prince comes and delivers love's first kiss with Snow White, that set the standard of One True Love in cinema.
    • There's the scene of the dwarves mourning the apparent death of Snow White, notable for being Disney's first ever cinematic Tear Jerker, and her Disney Death in general 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.
• 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.
• Pinocchio: A True Story: The scene where Cat just shoots Pinocchio is widely regarded as establishing just how insane the movie is.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

• 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.
• 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).
• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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).
• From the NBA:
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 second straight trip to the Finals.
  • 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.
  • 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.^Note The 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.
  • 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.

• 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.
• 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.
  • 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.

• Ace Attorney:
  • The original game:
    • The part on the final day of the fourth case in which Phoenix, desperate to prove the identity of a witness and get him to testify, cross-examines the man's parrot and gets two clues that are seemingly meaningless on their own but together, prove his theory. This is frequently cited as one of the most outlandish parts of the series, but also a part that shows that while Phoenix is prone to winging it, he's much better at putting the pieces of a mystery together than people give him credit for.
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All:
    • The bad ending of the final case, especially due to the North American localization featuring one of the most infamous typos in media: “The miracle never happen.”
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations:
    • The suicide of Terry Fawles, Mia's client six years ago. Notorious because the episode it appears in was a Foregone Conclusion for everything in it except that.
    • Phoenix bringing down the final case's killer, Prosecutor and rival Godot. Memorable thanks to Mia's phantom pointing her finger alongside Phoenix and the Awesome Music that goes with it (a remix of the first game's climax theme, no less).
  • Dual Destinies:
    • Blackquill revealing the truth behind the state he found Metis's body in, and how Athena was trying to "fix" her by dismembering her. The massive shock of this scene leaves a major impact, and it is widely believed to be the main reason why Dual Destinies is rated M instead of T.
  • Ace Attorney Investigations 1: The final confrontation, for going on so long.
• Fate/stay night:
  • Saber standing over Shirou and asking him whether he is her Master, the point at which the story truly begins, is one of the most recognizable images in the series, as well as one that is often referenced and parodied.
  • Archer summoning Unlimited Blade Works, accompanied by a lengthy Gratuitous English Magical Incantation and Awesome Music. The version in the Studio DEEN anime adaptation is arguably the most famous, and resulted in the creation of the "GAR" meme.
  • Unlimited Blade Works has four: Berserker versus Gilgamesh and the latter's brutal murder of Illya, which provides both a massive shock and one of the biggest Tear Jerkers in the game; Lancer being ordered to kill himself by Kotomine, then proving to be Not Quite Dead and both kill Kotomine and drive Shinji off before either can harm a captive Rin; and then Shirou's two climactic duels, the first with Archer and the second with Gilgamesh. The first is dramatic for the testing of Shirou's ideals and his commitment to them, and the second is awesome for Shirou taking on the most powerful character in the entire VN and one of the most powerful in the franchise and winning.
  • The Heaven's Feel route has three: "Nine Bullet Revolver," "Sparks Liner High," and "All Evils of the World." The first two involve Shirou using Archer's arm to create a powerful projection to defeat a seemingly undefeatable Servant; the former has Shirou copy Berserker's own sword and destroy him with his own "Nine Lives" technique, while the latter has him call upon all of Archer's knowledge to defeat Saber Alter in a swordfight at the cost of a fatal Heroic RRoD. Notably, Sparks Liner High is a dead end and thus never happened in the "proper" route, yet it's iconic enough that the "Kakuyoku Sanren" technique Shirou used in the scene - a technique which appeared nowhere else in the VN - has evolved into a Finishing Move used by both Shirou and Archer in the expanded universe. In the third scene, however, Shirou fights Kotomine Kirei in front of the embryo of Angra Mainyu, both of them on the verge of death and just beating the living holy fuck out of each other with their bare fists, no superpowers involved. It's fairly universally considered one of the most incredibly metal things in a VN full of incredibly metal things.

• 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.

• 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 has achieved Memetic Mutation status.

• 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.
  • Mayor Luigi, cited by the Grumps themselves as a Win Back the Crowd moment following Jon's departure.

• 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 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.