World Trade Center in popular culture

Pre-9/11 1 and 2 World Trade Center from Battery Park City

The World Trade Center was a landmark building complex in Lower Manhattan, New York. The famous Twin Towers (1 and 2 WTC) were completed by 1973 and were among the tallest buildings in the world until their destruction in 2001. An iconic feature of the New York City skyline for nearly three decades, the World Trade Center has featured in innumerable films, television shows, cartoons, computer games and comic books.

Movies

Notable appearances

Main article: List of films featuring the World Trade Center

Date	Title	Notes
1975	Three Days of the Condor	Three Days of the Condor has Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offices based in the World Trade Center. James Sanders characterizes the World Trade Center and its offices as depicted in Three Days of the Condor as "a cold, anonymous, largely soulless environment...The Trade Center was not in its design a humane public place, a soulful place."
1976	King Kong	In this version, the final scene took place at the World Trade Center, instead of the Empire State Building where the scene took place in the original film. The change was due partially to poster campaign and to acknowledge that the Twin Towers had taken the Empire State Building's place as the tallest building in the world, the reason that the Empire State Building was chosen in the first place. The death of King Kong was filmed using a styrofoam stand-in, which was equipped with electrical wiring, hydraulic hoses and jacks to control its movements.
1978	The Wiz	The 1978 film adaptation of the musical The Wiz uses the Twin Towers as the location of "The Wiz" in the Emerald City, and a musical number was shot on the plaza between the two towers.
1983	Trading Places	The 1983 film Trading Places includes an external shot of the towers (at the plaza level) where Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy enter the COMEX commodities trading floor in 4 World Trade Center which is featured in the climax of the film.
1988	Working Girl	Working Girl features the Trade Center complex in its opening sequence moving from the Staten Island Ferry to Lower Manhattan. Advertising and promotional pieces for the film also used images of the World Trade Center heavily. The film itself is set in 7 World Trade Center.
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York features the Trade Center complex after Kevin McCallister realizes he's all alone in New York, he catches a taxi and arrives at the plaza and goes up to the observation deck.
2008	Man on Wire	Man on Wire is a documentary film that chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Despite being made in 2008, it makes no reference to the towers' destruction.

Other 1970–2001 appearances

The World Trade Center appeared in many establishing shots of Lower Manhattan; the buildings were an integral part of the skyline.

Date	Title	Notes
1970	Loving	The 1970 film Loving featured several scenes outside and inside of the "Lepridon Building" which was under construction. In real life, the construction site was part of the World Trade Center complex.
1971	The French Connection	The 1971 film The French Connection shows the still under construction complex in the background during the unloading of the "drug car" in Brooklyn Heights.
1972	The Hot Rock	The 1972 film The Hot Rock includes footage taken from a helicopter flying toward the World Trade Center, still under construction.
1981	Escape from New York	In the 1981 film Escape from New York, the lead character lands a glider on the roof of the World Trade Center. The film also has a group of terrorists crash Air Force One into a different New York City building.
1982	Mazes and Monsters	The 1982 made-for-television movie Mazes and Monsters includes a climactic scene at the top of the Twin Towers.
1982	Wrong Is Right	The 1982 film Wrong Is Right features a plot by Islamic terrorists who threaten to detonate two stolen suitcase nuclear bombs in the United States while demanding that the President resign. The suitcase nukes are found at the top of the World Trade Center.
1988	Cocktail	The 1988 film Cocktail in a scene where Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) and Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown) are playing basketball in lower Manhattan. The Twin Towers appear shortly in the background a couple of times.
1988	Oliver & Company	In the 1988 animated movie Oliver & Company, the Twin Towers are featured in various painted shots of the city.
1992	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	In the 1992 film movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Kevin McCallister can be seen looking at the Twin Towers and taking a picture from the top of the South tower.
1992	Freejack	In the 1992 movie Freejack, the Twin Towers are shown standing in the year 2009. In the last scene of the movie, just before the credits start rolling, the towers are seen in the background, just to the left of the 200 story tall "McCandless Building", which is in the future fortress of Battery Park City.
1995	Hackers (film)	The towers appeared at the end of the movie; where ZeroCool, who's new hacker alias is Crash Override, and AcidBurn swim in the pool. They look across the way to see on the two buildings Crash & Burn, the end.
1996	Independence Day	In the 1996 movie Independence Day, the Trade Center appears several times in the New York skyline, as a large alien ship arrives over the city. They are the tallest remnants of a ruined New York in a later shot with a toppled Statue of Liberty in the foreground.
1998	Godzilla	The World Trade Center appears numerous times throughout the film and at the beginning of the film a T.V. reporter says that Godzilla's presence in the city is the worst thing since the World Trade Center bombing of 1993.
1998	Jeans	The site appears in the Tamil film, Jeans, with the lead pair, Prashanth and Aishwarya Rai, dancing inside the tower and in areas surrounding the tower.
1998	Armageddon	The 1998 film Armageddon At first during a normal day in New York, the Twin Towers are shown in the background. Later, a meteor shower hits New York City in the beginning in the movie. The Twin Towers are shown three times during the meteor shower. The first appearance was a low point of view from between the towers looking up as large meteors pass over the towers. The second appearance is when the New York Financial District is shown as meteors passed by, one hitting the South Tower. The third appearance is New York City after the meteor shower. The North Tower had a hole on its north side of the tower while the top of the South Tower had been partially destroyed and was on fire. As a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the scene showing the towers getting hit and being on fire were cut when the movie aired on ABC in April 2002.
1999	Stuart Little	The World Trade Center can be seen when Stuart's mice parents drive over the Brooklyn Bridge and when they are arrive at the golf course.
2000	Left Behind: The Movie	The World Trade Center appeared in a brief scene of the New York skyline. The story, having been set in the future, would have taken place some time after the towers' destruction in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
2000	Model Behavior	The World Trade Center appeared in a brief scene of the New York skyline.
2000	Ready to Rumble	The World Trade Center appeared in a brief scene of the New York skyline as the RV leaves NYC.
2001	A.I. Artificial Intelligence	In the 2001 Steven Spielberg film A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the towers were shown standing in the year 2142 where global warming has flooded many cities including New York City. Then, they are seen again, in the year 4142, many years after humanity has ceased to exist, this time covered in glacial ice but were one of the few buildings standing above the ice. Less than three months after the release, the towers were destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Although risking controversy and criticism, Steven Spielberg left the towers in the DVD release. The towers are in the Blu-ray release as well.
2002	You Stupid Man	In the opening credits there is a night time shot that pans the Lower Manhattan skyline which focuses on the two towers. There is also a scene with the towers as the backdrop around thirty minutes in and there is the 'standard' shot across the Brooklyn Bridge near the end of the film.
2002	Spider-Man	After the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, Sony recalled teaser posters which showed a close-up of Spider-Man's face with the New York skyline (including, prominently, the World Trade Center towers) reflected in his eyes. Not all of the posters were recovered, however, and the ones still at large are now highly prized collector's items. The towers are seen in the movie, even reflected in Spider-Man's eyes. The makers of the film decided not to remove them digitally. The movie's original trailer, released in 2001, featured a group of bank robbers on their getaway in a helicopter, which Spider-Man catches in a giant spider-web between the two towers of the World Trade Center. The trailer was pulled after the events of September 11, 2001, attacks, but can be found on the Internet.

1970s

1971

• A sequence in the Robert Redford movie The Hot Rock, filmed in summer 1971, featured shots of a helicopter flying around the partially uncompleted towers (where one can actually see inside the construction at one point).

1973

• In the film Godspell the musical number "All for the Best" performed by film's cast at the top of a tower nearing completion.
• Serpico shows the towers at the end right before Pacino is shot.
• Mean Streets shows the towers under construction briefly in the background

1974

• In Death Wish the towers are visible during aerial shots of Manhattan.
• In The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three the towers can be seen briefly through the back window of a car.
• In For Pete's Sake the towers can be seen in the closing credits as the camera pans from a car driving on the Manhattan Bridge to the skyline of lower Manhattan.

1975

• Dog Day Afternoon uses the World Trade Center in the opening credits.
• The Twin Towers are seen in the beginning of The Ultimate Warrior (movie).

1976

• In the 1976 remake of the 1933 classic King Kong, Kong climbs the WTC instead of the Empire State Building.
• In the movie Taxi Driver, the World Trade Center together with the lower Manhattan skyline is framed by the window behind Travis Bickle as he purchases a gun.

1977

• Saturday Night Fever shows the towers several times. We see them in the opening credits, when Travolta leaves, and when he comes back to Brooklyn.
• In Kentucky Fried Movie, the Manhattan skyline is shown with the Statue of Liberty in view.
• In Bye Bye Monkey the characters come across the carcass of King Kong from the 1976 film remake.

1978

• In the film Superman, the Twin Towers appear in a crucial scene as Superman performs one of his first rescues for the public, announcing his presence. The Twin Towers are seen in the background of the night sky as Superman turns around while flying. Later on, the Twin Towers are shown briefly as Superman takes Lois Lane on a flying tour of the city by night. (Of course, in the universe of the film, the location is not New York City but Metropolis.)
• In the musical film The Wiz, the Twin Towers are portrayed as the Emerald City.

1979

• The film Meteor shows the Twin Towers hit by a meteor fragment.
• In Woody Allen's Manhattan, the towers are seen early in the film.

1980s

1980

• In Dressed to Kill, the characters played by Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon have a drink at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
• The towers are seen in minor background scenes in Zombi 2.

1981

• In the film Escape from New York Manhattan has become a maximum security prison. As Snake enters the island, he lands a gilder on top of the South Tower.
• In the Harry Canyon sequence of the animated film Heavy Metal, the twin towers are very briefly seen in an establishing shot; the story is set in the dystopian New York City of 2031.

1982

• In Mazes and Monsters Tom Hanks tries to jump off the South Tower when he thinks he can fly.

1983

• In Born in Flames, a television transmission tower on top of the World Trade Center is destroyed by a bomb.
• In Terms of Endearment, Debra Winger gives a speech in front of the towers on a cloudy day.
• Trading Places shows the Twin Towers near the end of the movie. It was filmed outside the WTC, as well as on the New York Board of Trade floor at 4 WTC.

1984

• Ghostbusters shows the World Trade Center in a few scenes in a long shot of the city.
• Near the middle of The Killing Fields, after Sam Waterston returns to New York, he is seen outside with the Twin Towers in view.
• In The Pope of Greenwich Village we see the towers in two establishing shots, and once when Eric Roberts is talking on a rooftop.
• In Splash, the World Trade Center is featured in a couple of scenes.

1986

• The Australian comedy film Crocodile Dundee featured a shot of the Twin Towers as an establishing shot.

1987

• A Hong Kong film, An Autumn's Tale
• Coming to America features a night sequence of the towers when Akeem gives away a large sum of money to tramps Randolph and Mortimer.
• In Moonstruck the towers are shown in the opening credits and once again later.
• The poster for the 1987 Michael Keaton workplace comedy The Squeeze features Keaton sandwiched between the Twin Towers, as a hand squeezes them together.
• Wall Street with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas features the World Trade Center in numerous scenes; the opening credits have a number of sepia shots lingering on the towers. We also see the World Trade Center's PATH escalator bank.

1988

• In Bette Midler's Big Business the towers are briefly seen in the background.
• In Bright Lights, Big City the towers are used at the end of the film as a symbol of hope and change.

1989

• Back to the Future Part II features a view across New York harbour of the towers still intact in 2015 on the cable TV station "The Scenery Channel".
• In Crocodile Dundee II the Center is seen in the opening credits. It can also be seen at night as Mic and his gang drive along to Long Island.
• The Dream Team features Michael Keaton playing a pathological liar. He points out the Trade Center, saying, "You see those two towers? World Trade Center. I was an architect working on them. First they just wanted to build one but I said, 'Hey, fellas, we're here - What the hell, let's throw another one up'. Turned out pretty well, didn't it?"
• In Friday the 13th Part VIII the World Trade Center could be seen in the film's introduction, and when the characters head towards Manhattan in a canoe.
• The towers are seen in Ghostbusters II, in the scene where a mechanical Statue of Liberty walking across the city. They are the buildings from which Janosz Poha flies to kidnap Oscar. The towers are also seen in a shot of the city at the end of the film.
• New York Stories show the towers in all three segments. The towers can be seen through the window of Nick Nolte's apartment. Later, Woody Allen's mother talks over the skyline.
• The World Trade Center can be seen in the opening credits of the comedy film See No Evil, Hear No Evil.
• She-Devil with Roseanne Barr and Meryl Streep briefly features the World Trade Center in the background while Barr's character is searching for an office to open her own business.
• In the beginning of the film Weekend at Bernie's where Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman are walking to work on a hot summer day, the Twin Towers are seen briefly in the background.
• In When Harry Met Sally the towers are visible after their drive from Chicago to New York.

1990s

1990

• The Bonfire of the Vanities features an opening sequence following Bruce Willis through the basement of the World Trade Center for nearly five minutes.
• In The Godfather Part III the towers are shown after the opening narration.
• The Twin Towers are shown at the very beginning of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" shows the World Trade center in the introduction.

1991

• The Twin Towers are shown at the beginning of New Jack City.

1992

• Freejack, starring Emilio Estevez and Mick Jagger, shows the Twin Towers standing in the year 2009. In the last scene of the movie, just before the credits start rolling, the towers are seen in the background, just to the left of the 200 story tall "McCandless Building", which is in the future fortress of Battery Park City.
• Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) visits the outdoor observation deck of the World Trade Center and snaps a photograph of the view (including both towers) during a montage in the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
• The towers are visible in Scent of a Woman after Al Pacino gets pulled over for speeding in the Ferrari.

1993

• In Coneheads (film), when Beldar and Prymmat's spaceship crash lands in the harbor, we see the twin towers in the background, and when they rise out of the water.
• In Super Mario Bros., the Twin Towers become the "Koopa Towers" in the film's parallel dimension, which is a dinosaur-laden Manhattan run by antagonist King Koopa (Dennis Hopper). The North Tower features a sharpened top while the South Tower is unfinished with a jagged top. Both are adorned with Koopa's signature "K" symbol. The towers briefly replace the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan when the two worlds are merged for a short time.
• In We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, when the dinosaurs first arrive to New York City via the old Staten Island Ferry terminal they are shocked by how tall the Twin Towers are. One of the dinosaurs falls back into the East River. The towers are later seen several times throughout the film, sometimes portrayed as being side by side, other times with one tower being rotated at an angle.

1994

• In The Cowboy Way the towers can be seen as the boat enters Manhattan.
• In The Last Seduction the towers are visible as Bridget runs from her cab to a getaway car with the bag of money.
• In Léon: The Professional the towers are shown in the first minutes of the film.

1995

• In Die Hard with a Vengeance the towers can be seen behind McClane and Zeus as they are jogging away from Wall Street.
• Two shots of the towers appear in The Indian in the Cupboard in the distance.
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation had a brief shot of New York City including the towers after Liu Kang defeated Shao Kahn.
• In The Usual Suspects the towers can be seen right after the police car is set on fire.
• In the science documentary The Life and Times of Life and Times, the towers are prominent in the background whilst the camera pans around the Statue of Liberty surrounded by scaffolding during its renovation (by way of illustrating cell death).
• In the 3-Part Movie entitled Oh, Brother: Starring Stick Stickly on Nickelodeon's Afternoon Block: Nick in the Afternoon, Stick tries to find his brother; Woodknot, in the Towers

1996

• In Daylight the towers are featured prominently in the final shot of the film.
• In Independence Day, after the aliens destroy New York City there is a brief shot of the Twin Towers, severed in half and on fire.

1997

• In Cop Land the towers are seen just before the closing credits.
• In the film Donnie Brasco, the towers are in the background during the scene by the water when Lefty reveals he is going to make Donnie a made man.
• The World Trade Center can be seen near the beginning of the film Jungle 2 Jungle. Tim Allen's character is shown walking out revolving doors. The scene then changes to an upwards shot of both towers while Tim Allen's character continues with his dialogue. The camera then pans down towards the front of the complex while the main speaking characters continue to walk off screen.
• Men in Black shows the Twin Towers in the background of the scene on the turnpike where the agents intercept a fleeing extraterrestrial family (one of whom gives birth). The finale of its 2002 sequel, Men in Black II, was set to take place atop one of the WTC buildings. Due to the fate of the towers, this was modified prior to release. The original ending can be seen on the DVD release as the "alternate ending".
• The made-for-television film Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing chronicled the events leading up to and shortly after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

1998

• In the TV movie Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, a TV reporter is reporting the damage from a news chopper; the Twin Towers had a few small fires, and the reporter said "They look good. They're both still standing." They also appear in the ending behind the Statue of Liberty, which was under reconstruction.
• The opening shot of Antz shows what appears to be the New York skyline including the World Trade Center, but turns out to actually be grass. At the ending shot of the movie, the camera pans out of the anthill, which is in Central Park. The real New York City skyline appears in the background including the Twin Towers, appearing closer than they actually were (in real life the World Trade Center was not visible from Central Park). A photo of the Twin Towers appears on the movie poster, along with the Empire State Building.
• Armageddon depicts the Twin Towers (along with many other famous landmarks) severely damaged after New York City was struck by a meteor shower.
• In the documentary The Cruise, bus tour guide Speed Levitch suggests to a tourist that she stand in the plaza between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and spin around in circles, then look up and experience the illusion of the towers toppling down on her. In a scene later in the film, Speed appears in the plaza of the World Trade Center, performing this very act.
• In Deep Impact, a comet hits the earth, causing a megatsunami that hits the east coast. As the tsunami strikes New York the Twin Towers are shown as the wave engulfs them. At the end of the tsunami scene the water recedes, and the Twin Towers can be seen poking out of the water as the only buildings left standing.
• In Godzilla, a news report said that the event of Godzilla destroying the city was worse than the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The two towers can be seen in various establishing shots.
• The Twin Towers provide backdrop in a number of scenes, including the intro, of the film Half Baked. The character of Thurgood (played by Dave Chappelle) stands on the Brooklyn Bridge awaiting Mary Jane (Rachel True) towards the end of the film. During this scene, the Twin Towers are visible in the background.

1999

• In Bicentennial Man, the future New York shows the World Trade Center three times its actual height.
• In the 1999 film Big Daddy, a shot of the towers is briefly seen.
• In The Matrix, Morpheus describes where Neo has gone by entering him into the Matrix system. He shows a scene from New York in a Matrix TV including the World Trade Center 200 years in the past, through to what the towers looked like 200 years later. The towers lost a heavy amount of concrete like most New York buildings, but they were still both standing.
• Trick revolves around two gay men trying to find a place to have sex and who fall in love. Near the end of the movie, an establishing morning shot is shown centered on the Twin Towers in the early morning, and in the final scene a pan out moves from the main character to the Twin Towers and a portion of 7 World Trade Center from Greenwich Village.

2000s

• The World Trade Center is seen in the opening credits of the TV mini series The 10th Kingdom. The opening shows New York City crumbling into mountains, waterfalls and castles. The Empire State Building crumbles and turns into a mountain, the Plaza Hotel terraforms into a castle, and the Twin Towers are drawn into the ground as 7 World Trade Center disintegrates.
• In the 2001 film Gypsy 83, Gypsy and Clive arrive in New York City, where they see the Empire State Building and World Trade Center at night from the New Jersey Turnpike. In the final scene in the movie, Gypsy goes to visit her mother's grave in a cemetery in New Jersey, and the towers and the rest of Lower Manhattan can be seen in the distance.
• In the 2001 Steven Spielberg film Artificial Intelligence: A.I., the towers were shown standing in the year 2142 where global warming has flooded many cities including New York City. They are seen again in the year 4142, many years after humanity has ceased to exist, this time covered in glacial ice but were one of the few buildings standing above the ice. Less than three months after the release, the towers were destroyed. Although risking controversy and criticism, Steven Spielberg left the images in the DVD release. The towers are in the Blu-ray release as well.
• Made was released just a few weeks before the attacks. Jon Favreau walks outside with the Twin Towers in view just before the bar shootout.

After 9/11

2001

• On November 2, 2001, Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV premiered in New York City. During the following months after September 11, nearly all movies made in New York had the towers removed either by editing the footage out or digitally removing them from the frame. Lloyd Kaufman relates in his book Make Your Own Damn Movie that he felt audiences would be able to see the Twin Towers in film without being distressed. The opening narration features the Twin Towers prominently and it is reported that the audience cheered.

2002

• The 2002 Spike Lee film 25th Hour directly incorporates the ruins of the Twin Towers. The opening credits are shown over views of the Tribute in Light, and one scene takes place at the apartment of Frank Slaughtery, which overlooks the site.
• Martin Scorsese's 2002 film Gangs of New York, about life in New York's Five Points neighborhood in the 1860s, featured an ending sequence showing the city's skyline slowly progressing to its modern form. The final shot featured the World Trade Center restored to the skyline using computer-generated imagery. This scene also included a voice-over by one of the characters, who said, (to paraphrase) "those who lived in those times would never forget what it was like". Martin Scorsese chose to show the towers rather than remove them because the movie is supposed to be about the people who build New York, not those who tried to destroy it.
• Released in September 2002, Igby Goes Down was one of the last films to show the Twin Towers. Establishing shots with the towers in prominent view were removed intentionally. Remaining in the final cut of the film are two brief, street-level shots from SoHo showing part of one tower in the background.
• The 2002 TV movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie depicts Kermit the Frog traveling to an alternate universe in which he had never been born. With the guidance of his guardian angel Daniel (David Arquette), Kermit seeks out this world's Miss Piggy, who lives alone and works as a telephone psychic. From her apartment window, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center can be seen.
• In Spider-Man (2002), the towers receive a few discreet cameos throughout the movie. The film's original trailer showed a web spun by Spider-Man between the two towers and was withdrawn after the attacks, although the towers did appear briefly in Spider-Man's eyes. They were also seen towards the end of the movie when he climbed up the American International Building. The makers of the film chose not to remove them.
• The first 9/11 dramatization, 2002's Stairwell: Trapped in the World Trade Center, showed a number of different shots of the towers. The footage was shot in 1999 and was originally going to be used in a movie about the 1993 bombing. That movie, titled Hellevator, was shelved after the September 11 attacks.
• The end segments of the movie Vanilla Sky feature the Twin Towers still standing in the panoramic city background. This is plausible as the ending scene to this is created from the lead character's memory. If he remembers the Twin Towers to still be standing, then they would still appear in the skyline.

2004

• The 2004 film Miracle, set in 1979 and 1980, features a digitally re-inserted shot of the towers just prior to the USA hockey team's exhibition game against the USSR at Madison Square Garden. The buildings of the World Financial Center, which would not be built for several years, are also included in the shot.
• In the 2004 film Spider-Man 2, the North Tower and 7 World Trade Center are briefly seen in a piece of stock footage showing the West Side Highway after Doc-Ock breaks out of the hospital. The footage is flipped horizontally, making it seem as if the skyline was viewed from the East River; the two buildings are only visible in the Wide Screen Edition. Like its predecessor, Spider-Man, both movies show the World Trade Center despite the events of 9/11.

2005

• The towers are the focus of the last shot of Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich. A period film ending in 1973, the towers' presence served as a reminder that the troubles in the Middle East depicted in the film had not ended by 2001, when the World Trade Center was destroyed, or by 2005, when the movie was released. Despite the movie ending in 1973, several post-1980s skyscrapers are seen in the skyline.

2006

• The 2006 movie Click, starring Adam Sandler, features a wedding scene with a futuristic version of the Twin Towers in the background, which was actually a duplicate version of the current One World Trade Center, the final design for the main tower of the new World Trade Center, slated to be completed by April 2013.

• The 2006 remake of the horror classic The Omen had a few screen shots of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well as the 2004 tsunami and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
• In the poster for the 2006 film United 93, the Twin Towers can be seen just under the Statue of Liberty's crown. The North Tower is on fire and a plane, United Airlines Flight 175, is heading towards the South Tower. In the film itself, the towers are the last glimpse of Manhattan caught by the passengers (most notably hijacker Ziad Jarrah, played by Khalid Abdalla), through a plane window as the flight departs Newark International Airport. While the intact complex was digitally re-inserted into the skyline, its destruction was shown through actual news footage.
• Oliver Stone directed World Trade Center (released on August 9, 2006), the first feature-length film about the attacks on the Twin Towers. It stars Nicolas Cage as Port Authority police officer John McLoughlin, one of the first men called to the scene of the 9/11 attacks. Although it was the second film about the September 11th attacks to be released to theaters (following United 93), it is the first dramatic non-documentary film based on 9/11.

2007

• In the 2007 movie The Kingdom, the opening sequence revolves around the history of U.S. involvement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A map shows America as the number one oil consumer in 2000. A bar graph rises and soon turns into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, with United Airlines Flight 175 heading towards it. A quick cut shows Manhattan with the World Trade Center site on fire.
• The 2007 movie We Own the Night features a scene in which Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix have a discussion in an NYPD station in Brooklyn. The World Trade Center can be seen behind them through a window. The film takes place in 1988, thirteen years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

2008

• The 2008 movie Definitely, Maybe takes place in 1992 New York City. An aerial view of Manhattan is shown with the Twin Towers edited in place.
• In the 2008 movie Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, when baby Alex arrives in New York, he looks out of his crate and sees the pre-9/11 skyline. There is no indication of the year, but if the 2005 prequel is assumed to be contemporary with its release, we can surmise that it is circa 1995. (When Alex arrives at the zoo, the zebra Marty is a baby, and in 2005 he celebrates his tenth birthday.)
• In the 2008 movie August, the towers are seen twice in the film, which takes place a month before the 9/11 attacks.

2009

• In the 2009 movie The Box, which takes place in 1976, the towers are seen on TV.
• In the 2009 film Mao's Last Dancer the Twin Towers are seen in a close-up shot on a poster.
• In the 2009 movie Notorious, which takes place during the 1990s, The World Trade Center can be seen in a city shot.
• In the 2009 movie Watchmen the World Trade Center is present in New York, as the story is set in an alternate 1985. Both towers are shown several times inserted back into the skyline and even shown surviving a nuclear blast in New York City.

2010

• The 2010 movie Remember Me takes place in New York City in 2001. The date the movie is set is not initially revealed. Viewers are told there has been a ten-year lapse since the murder of Ally Craig's mother in 1991. As Tyler Hawkins makes his way downtown to visit his father's office, a reflection of the World Trade Center can be seen on a neighboring building. Once in the office, a pan-out reveals that he is on the uppermost floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001, at the exact point that Flight 11 hit the tower.

Notable movie posters

• Godzilla vs. Megalon, (1973). In the American theatrical poster it shows Godzilla and Megalon fighting on top of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The movie contained no scenes set in New York City.
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, (1992). The Twin Towers can be seen in the logo.
• Jungle 2 Jungle, (1997). The Twin Towers can be seen in the background of the poster.
• King Kong, (1976). Kong is shown atop the Twin Towers with one foot on each tower, grasping a burning fighter plane as other planes attack.
• Little Nicky (2000). The poster shows Adam Sandler's character sitting on a bench in a park with the World Trade Center in the background.
• Manhattan, (1979). Both towers make up the two legs of the "H" of the title "MANHATTAN".
• Men in Black, (1997). The Twin Towers can be seen in the background of the poster. The same poster design was replicated for the initial collector's edition DVD release. All subsequent home video releases feature a different background.
• Moonstruck, (1987). Seen in the background behind Cher and beneath a giant moon.
• New York Stories, (1989). The poster shows a small apartment building with various people in each window, behind is the title and only the Twin Towers. They were removed in the 2003 DVD release.
• The Object of My Affection, (1998). The Twin Towers can be seen in the background of the poster.
• The Secret of My Success (1987). The Twin Towers can be seen in the background of the poster.
• Sidewalks of New York, (2001). The poster showed the World Trade Center in the background; the poster had to be changed, delaying the movie's release.
• Spider-Man, (2002). Seen in Spider-Man's eyes in the pre-9/11 teaser poster. The poster is still at large, and now is a highly prized collector's item.
• Splash, (1984). Seen in the background of the original poster. In the 2004 anniversary edition, it is changed to a view of the Empire State Building.
• The Squeeze, (1987). The main character is actually being "squeezed" in between the two towers with a large hand.
• Superman II, (1980). Both versions of the poster include the World Trade Center with the New York City skyline on fire, or in this case Metropolis.
• X-Men, (2000). The Twin Towers can be seen right above the X-Men.

Television

Television programs

• The towers are used extensively in The Simpsons episode The City Of New York vs. Homer Simpson in 1997. Because of the World Trade Center's central role, the episode was initially taken off syndication in many areas following the September 11, 2001 attacks, but has come back into syndication in recent years.
• The 2003 HBO miniseries Angels in America (which takes place in the late 1980s) is noteworthy as being the first major post-9/11 production to digitally insert the towers in the New York City skyline.

• Beginning with the second season of the sitcom Barney Miller, the opening credits include a shot of the New York City skyline, with the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center prominently featured. Coincidentally the first episode of the season aired on September 11, 1975 and is entitled “Doomsday” and the plot centers around a suicide bomber who wants to destroy the 12th Precinct if his issues with New York State & City government are not addressed.

• Diff'rent Strokes - (1978–1986) - opening credits

• From 2007–present, 7 World Trade Center's facade is used as the preface to scenes in ABC's Dirty Sexy Money for the office of Patrick "Tripp" Darling III.

• The Twin Towers made a brief appearance in the Family Matters (1989–1998) episode "Fa La La La Laagghh!" After Carl turned on the Christmas light decorations on the Winslow's house, a malfunction (thanks to Steve?) results in a power outage. First, the Winslow's home goes out, then a row of family homes, then Lower Manhattan, and finally, the entire world. Steve then says "Look what you did."

• Several shots of the Twin Towers appear in the introduction and several establishing shots of New York City, some episodes, all including the Twin Towers, for Friends (1994–2004) over the first seven seasons (1994–2001). Pictures of the Manhattan Skyline featuring the World Trade Center also feature on many DVD cases, and DVD box set cases. Every season had a slightly different opening sequence. A new shot of the skyline was shown with the title card; some seasons showed the Twin Towers, others the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. Later seasons after 9/11 still briefly showed the Towers. The original and main title card used for later seasons has a portion of both towers visible, yet they are not very obvious. The last episode (2004) even included one of the most commonly seen pieces of stock footage, a shot of Lower Manhattan in the late afternoon under the Brooklyn Bridge, panning as far as the South Tower. As of 2007 the Twin Towers are still being shown in establishing shots throughout earlier seasons in reruns, and have not been edited out.

• On Fringe:
  • 2011 - Peter Bishop appears 15 years into the future in Season 3, standing outside of One World Trade Center.
  • From 2008–present, Fringe depicts the rebuilt 7 World Trade Center as the headquarters of commercial conglomerate Massive Dynamic, and the Twin Towers still standing as of 2011(Season 3) in a parallel universe.
  • During the final scene of the season one finale of Fringe, the World Trade Center is seen intact in a parallel universe of New York City. The main character, Olivia Dunham, is revealed to be in an office in the South Tower in an alternate reality of 2009, in which the World Trade Center was not destroyed on September 11, 2001. A newspaper headline reading "OBAMAS SET TO MOVE INTO NEW WHITE HOUSE" suggests that the White House was destroyed on September 11 in this alternate timeline instead of the Towers, and has just recently been rebuilt.

• In an episode of the sitcom Full House, (1987–1995) Stephanie is at home waiting for her date for a school dance to pick her up. She suddenly starts playing with some building blocks and eventually makes the Manhattan skyline. When Danny (Bob Saget) enters and sees what she's made, he comments' "The New York skyline. Wow, the World Trade Center looks as tall as ever."

• In Futurama, there is a future WTC in New York, with its appearance very similar to the old one, except with skybridges. In the art for the Volume 1 DVD collection, they are shown as similar to the Petronas Towers.

• In the Hey Arnold! episode "Married", Helga has a dream about her future life with Arnold. One scene included them having breakfast atop a luxurious skyscraper north of Central Park. The Twin Towers are prominently seen in the distance, along with other landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and Chrysler Building. The episode first aired March 2002, but the view of the penthouse and New York City skyline were not cut out until later airings. The tops of the two towers can still be seen while the two characters converse.

• In a first season episode of Journeyman the Twin Towers are seen in picture on the front page of a San Francisco newspaper when the main character goes back in time before the terrorist attacks.

• King of Queens shows shots of New York, including the World Trade Center.

• Late 1980s airings of Late Night with David Letterman featured an opening helicopter shot with the camera view flying into the facade of one of the towers, inside and through the offices of one floor, then back out. The Twin Towers were also prominently featured in the intro of the Late Show with David Letterman up until September 11. Afterwards, shots of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building were used.

• The Twin Towers appear in the opening title for early episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present). The sequence is replaced after 9/11 with generic shots of the city.

• In 2008, early in the pilot episode of ABC's drama Life on Mars, the World Trade Center buildings are shown as the series is set in 1973. The premise of the show is that the main character is a detective from 2008 who has been transported in time back to 1973.

• The pilot of the TV series The Lone Gunmen, first aired March 4, 2001, had the gunmen thwarting a plot to fly a jet into the World Trade Center. In the episode, a faction of the U.S. government is behind the plot; they hope to blame the attack on another country's dictator and use it as an excuse to start a war with him.

• In a 2005 episode of Lost the Twin Towers are seen out of the window of a New York solicitor's office. They were digitally inserted to show the time frame of the episode.

• McCloud - in several episodes throughout the series, the World Trade Center can be seen in various stages of construction. During a scene on a ferry in the season three episode titled "A Little Plot At Tranquil Valley", a completed North Tower and a partially constructed South Tower can be seen in the background. The towers also appeared in the opening credits of later seasons when McCloud was carried by a helicopter across Manhattan.

• The Nanny shows the pre-9/11 skyline with the Twin Towers in it.

• The opening scenes of the 1984 pilot for the series Murder She Wrote included a brief scene of New York city and the twin towers.

• The towers are shown during the opening credits of New York Undercover.

• In the Northern Exposure episode "The Quest", Dr Joel Fleischman returns to New York. He's standing at the rail of the Staten Island Ferry which is covered in fog. As the fog clears, the Twin Towers become visible in the distance. Cable channel A&E aired this episode (the second-to-last NX episode A&E aired) on Thursday, September 13, 2001.

• NYPD Blue, a police drama from the mid 1990s, featured the World Trade Center in many of the introductions to the show.

• In the first season of Rescue Me (2004 – present), the main character of Tommy Gavin has several flashbacks to 9/11, both before and after the towers fall. 9/11 is mentioned through the entire season featuring four firefighters who were lost on that day. One of them appears in almost every episode as a vision to Tommy. Rescue Me was the first TV show to show a dramatized depiction of the events of 9/11.

• Sex and the City, another HBO original series, showed a quick shot of the World Trade Center in its opening credits (with the name of its lead actress, Sarah Jessica Parker). For seasons 5 and 6, shown after 9/11, the visual was changed to a stylized shot of the Empire State Building.

• The opening credits of the first three seasons of the HBO mob drama The Sopranos (1999–2007) featured a shot of the World Trade Center as seen from the rear view mirror of Tony Soprano's SUV, as he enters the New Jersey Turnpike. In later seasons, after 9/11, the sequence was replaced with a new view of the Manhattan skyline in which the World Trade Center is absent. Among the things Tony later discloses to his psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi as contributing to his depression is "this whole 9/11 thing."

• In Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005), an image of the Twin Towers burning was visible in a panorama of historical images present in the timestream, when Daniels informed Jonathan Archer that time had been altered and set back on course. The episode is a two-parter called "Storm Front."

• The 2005-2006 Portuguese soap opera Tempo de Viver devoted its entire first episode to a diamond heist in a South Tower corporate office. A subsequent confrontation as the would-be thief is caught is violently interrupted by Flight 11 crashing into the North Tower. The characters involved then scramble to leave the South Tower after it is also struck. Fictional footage of the attack as seen from the interior of the office was digitally created, but stock footage was also used for other scenes and later flashbacks.

• The TV series Third Watch (1999–2005), set in New York, featured many shots of the Towers during the show's first 2 seasons. One final shot appeared in the episode September 10, set the day before the attacks.

• During the last two seasons of the sitcom The Wayans Bros., shots of each cast member are shown with images of various New York landmarks in the background during the opening sequence, including the WTC, Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty (with Shawn's face imposed on the statue). In one episode of the first season, "Afro Cab", an Arabic looking man gets in a cab driven by a Wayans Brother and demands, "Take me to the World Trade Center!" (alluding to the WTC bombing of 1993).

• In a December 1991 episode of the game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, the Double Trouble twins steal the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.

• The ABC series Sports Night (1998–2000) often used an establishing shot of the New York skyline in which the Twin Towers were the focal point, implying that the studios were in the Towers.

• In the intro of the Saturday morning show on FOX Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, the World Trade Center's Twin Towers are seen.

• The 2004 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) PPV, WrestleMania XX, had a model version of the future of New York City which included the Freedom Tower currently under construction.

• Occasionally in establishing shots of New York on the 1960s TV series Family Affair, you can see a view of lower Manhattan from underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. In the far background a partially constructed North Tower with cranes on top of it can be seen.

• As construction of the World Trade Center progressed, it began appearing in later seasons of the Marlo Thomas series That Girl.

Televised advertisements

• An Anheuser-Busch advertisement for Budweiser beer features the company's signature Clydesdale horses appearing to pay their respects to the tower-less New York skyline. It was aired during the broadcast of the 2002 Super Bowl, as well as on the tenth anniversary of the attacks, during that day's NFL games.

• In Eurosport`s Olympic Magazine commercial, a few seconds of the beginning of the north tower collapse are shown.

• In the early 2000s the Twin Towers appeared in an animated skyline including various United States skyscrapers in a commercial for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. The Towers were however represented as cylinders.

Video games

• In Aero Fighters 2 (1994), for the Neo-Geo, the first half of the U.S. level takes place in New York City, featuring the World Trade Center in the background. The player is able to destroy the buildings.

• The 1990 arcade game The Combatribes features the World Trade Center Towers on the title screen as the game's action takes place across New York. The Super Nintendo port of this arcade game shows the characters heading back towards the Twin Towers in the ending cutscene.

• In the popular fighting game Tekken 2 (1995) the Twin Towers can be see in Paul's Stage in New York.

• Shortly after the attacks, the now defunct Westwood Studios pulled all remaining copies of the 2000 real-time strategy game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, whose box contained artwork of New York City under attack by invading Soviet forces; notable landmarks depicted under attack included the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. The single player campaign of the game also contains a pair of missions in which the player was instructed to destroy The Pentagon and capture the World Trade Center as well as being able to destroy it. Westwood retooled the box art before re-releasing the game.

• The first map of the 2000 game Deus Ex, set in 2052, encompasses Liberty Island and a bombed Statue of Liberty. The section of the New York City skyline containing the Twin Towers is absent, to reduce memory requirements for the map. The reason that the developers gave, if anyone asked, was that they had been destroyed by terrorists: "We just said that the Towers had been destroyed too, and this was way before 9/11… years. That's kind of freaky."

• Driver (1999) features 1 and 2 World Trade Center, and The Sphere, in its depiction of New York – the final city unlocked. On "Take a Ride" mode, the player starts on a road just south of (and facing) the South Tower.

• In Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999), the Twin Towers can briefly be seen in the opening video.

• Driver: Parallel Lines (2006) features a slightly modified World Trade Center complex in the game's depiction of New York City in 1978, lacking the Marriott World Trade Center hotel and 7 World Trade Center (since both were completed in the 1980s). The complex also features The Sphere sculpture, though unlike the real World Trade Center, a road divides the complex in two. In the latter half of the game, set in 2006, the entire area is replaced by a fenced-off building site.

• In The Incredible Hulk: The Video Game (2008), In Lower Manhattan, where the Twin Towers should be, is a large pit that is under construction

• The 1991 arcade game King of Monsters features monsters fighting in different destructible cities. Among them is New York City, where the World Trade Center can be destroyed.

• The 1988 arcade game Vigilante features a panaromic shot of New York City on the title screen. Included is the World Trade Center. This same title screen was included in the TurboGrafx-16 version. In the background during gameplay is the New York skyline, including the World Trade Center's twin towers.

• Max Payne (2001) features the World Trade Center in several billboards for the fictional company "Aesir". They are also visible in the background in the beginning of the mission "The American Dream". The buildings were visible in the PC version of the game, however they were removed from the Playstation 2 and Xbox ports of the game, which were released three months after the September 11 attacks.

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) featured a major plot on a ship going down the Hudson River in New York, with the World Trade Center included. The building was cut from the game, delaying both games' releases.

• In response to the events of September 11, Microsoft announced that future versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator would not include the Twin Towers in the game's New York City skyline. A patch was also made available to remove the World Trade Center buildings from the existing versions of the simulator.

• Midnight Club: Street Racing (2000) features the entire complex, where players can drive into the Austin Tobin Plaza in between the buildings. They can also gain access to the underground parking garage beneath the World Trade Center – the site of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

• In the 1998 Nintendo 64 game Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA, the entire World Trade Center complex is featured on the 'New York: Downtown' track. Buildings 1 – 6, and the western pedestrian bridge are all accessible to drive around. The stairways on both sides of the complex double as jumps for the racers.

• The Nintendo 64 game Cruis'n World, released in 1998, also features the World Trade Center on its New York City track. However, they are only seen briefly in the background.

• The 1999 PC game Sim City 3000 features the North and South Towers as buildable landmarks.

• The 2004 video game Spider-Man 2, the game adaptation of the movie, features a virtual Manhattan which included a large plaza, bearing resemblance to the Tribute in Light memorial, on the World Trade Center site.

• Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro (2001), featured the roofs of 1 and 2 World Trade Center in the final stage. The level involved battling Hyper-Electro and the antenna atop the North Tower was crucial in defeating the villain. The game was originally released in North America on August 26, 2001, though the game was pulled after the September 11 attacks and re-released on October 17, 2001, with a modified final stage so that the buildings less resemble the Twin Towers. The PAL version of the game was never released prior to the attacks.

• Streets of Rage, a game released in 1991 on the Sega Genesis, features the Twin Towers in the background of the final boss battle, which occurs in the Marriott World Trade Center hotel.

• Streets of Rage 2 (1992), sequel to Streets of Rage, features the World Trade Center in the opening scene of the game. They are also visible in the background of the second level.

• The 1994 action game Urban Strike, the third in the Strike series, features a scene where a giant laser deflects from a satellite, hitting the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. Further missions take place involving the effects of this, at the World Trade Center. Ironically, the game takes place in a fictional/alternate 2001 timeline.

• The 2005 video game True Crime: New York City features a fenced-off "Ground Zero".

• In Tycoon City: New York (2006), the World Trade Center is paid tribute to in the form of two very tall trees standing side by side, representing the Towers. Further into the park, there is a Pentagon-shaped base, with an American Flag at half mast. An inscription on the side reads We Will Never Forget.

• In World in Conflict (2007), the NYC teaser trailer for the game prominently features the World Trade Center in the NYC skyline during a U.S. Ranger assault on Governor's Island, which has been occupied by the Soviets in an alternate timeline in which the Cold War culminates into World War III between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The game is set in an alternate 1989, twelve years before the events of 9/11. In the tenth level Liberty Lost, the World Trade Center is featured prominently in the background during the player's efforts to recapture Governor's, Ellis, and Liberty Islands.

• The laser disc arcade game Cobra Command (1984) features the Twin Towers prominately in the New York City level. It is possible for the player to crash his/her helicopter into one of the towers.

Cartoons and anime

• In the anime Eden of the East, the Freedom Tower can be seen in the background. When mentioning the subject of the destroyed Twin Towers, Takizawa takes a picture of himself and Saki in a background that is reminiscent of 9/11. The series is set in the year 2010-11.

• In the animated sitcom Family Guy:
  • In the episode titled "A Picture Is Worth a 1,000 Bucks", Peter does a musical number with Meg across NYC, which had the Twin Towers. During the musical, Peter jumps off one of the towers and goes into match cut.
  • In the episode Baby Not on Board, Peter and the family visit Ground Zero.
  • In the 2002 episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows", Brian performs a musical number to Pearl about how America has changed since the 1950s. Many cut scenes show places around the United States, including a shot of the Twin Towers. When the episode aired in 2002 on Fox, the two towers were digitally altered to look like generic buildings. Other airings of this episode (including the DVD release of Family Guy's third season) have shown the Twin Towers intact.
  • In the episode Hannah Banana, the September 11 attacks are seen as an Islamic man crashing a bicycle into one of the Twin Towers.

• In the 1994 animated series Gargoyles the Twin Towers are seen in a few episodes (such as the 4 part pilot) as well as the 3rd Season opening of The Goliath Chronicles. The second season episode "The Mirror" has an antagonist gargoyle, Demona, use a magical mirror with help from Puck atop the South Tower at night in order to amplify and broadcast an evil magic spell to all of New York City's human population. Ironically, this episode first aired on September 11, 1995.

• In the 1985 cartoon M.A.S.K., an episode titled "Attack on Liberty" leads Matt Trakker to Miles Mayhem's current hideout - three quarters of the way up the side of the North Tower. Hovering the Thunderhawk outside the window, Matt leaps through the window and confronts Miles, who later escapes and is pursued by Matt around the Statue of Liberty. Mayhem's plot circulated around destroying the Statue and creating a 9/11—style incident.

• In an episode of the 1999 cartoon Mike, Lu, and Og Mike makes a sand sculpture of Manhattan, and she mentions the Twin Towers when showing it to Lu.

• In the first episode of the 2001 fantasy anime OVA Read or Die, an aerial battle in Lower Manhattan which climaxes around the Statue of Liberty begins with a helicopter crash on the roof of one of the towers.

• In the 1997 episode of The Simpsons (season 9) titled "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", Homer is forced to deal with a mountain of parking tickets issued while his car sat illegally for months in the plaza of the World Trade Center (an unrealistic event after the 1993 bombing, due to a bomb being placed inside a rental truck and parked in garage in the basement). Homer, desperately needing to use the restroom, pushes people out of his way to get a ticket to the elevator into the towers. After pushing other people out of the elevator line to get to the top of the South Tower, Homer discovers the only working bathroom is in the North Tower. Also in the episode, two men in opposite towers begin arguing with each other, and one proclaims "Sorry, they put all the jerks in Tower One", a line which the show's creators expressed deep regret at during the post 9/11 episode commentary on the season 9 box set. This episode has been banned in many countries (including some American affiliates around the time of the 9/11 attacks, though others have aired the episode with many edits to remove the scenes and verbal references to The World Trade Center), but is included in the season 9 box set. Some Fox affiliates continue to show the episode in syndication, including New York City's own WNYW Fox 5, airing the unaltered episode less than two weeks after the towers collapsed.

• In the 2000 MTV animated series Spy Groove, in the episode entitled "Manhattan Glam Chowder", the villain Mr. Fish is on top of the South Tower of the World Trade Center about to lure Agent #2 into a trap. Later Agent #1 appears on the North Tower and uses a laser to slice the antenna to make a bridge over to the South Tower. This episode did not air in the United States, because the show was cancelled after six episodes. The episode is found in Europe and Canada.

• In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon television series:
  • During the season three finale ("The Big Blow Out"), as the Technodrome rampages through New York, Krang uses the Trade Center Towers as the basis of a conduit that will transmit enough energy to propel the earth into Dimension X, where Krang's spacefleet is waiting to destroy New York City.
  • The 1987 episode episode "Enter: The Fly", the TMNT are flying in their blimp over New York City, searching for Shredder. April O'Neil said that Shredder was seen on the roof on one of the two buildings, and the TMNT find Shredder and Baxter Stockman there.

Music

(Alphabetically by artist)

A

• "New York, New York" is a song composed and performed by American alt-country musician Ryan Adams. The song's music video shows Adams performing in front of the city's skyline, and features the World Trade Center visible from across the East River in Brooklyn. It was filmed just four days before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Because of this, profits of the video went to a 9/11 charity. A message was written at the end of the video giving tribute to those who lost their lives.
• AC/DC used the World Trade Center in the video for "Shake Your Foundations".

B

• The cover of the Beastie Boys' sixth studio album, To the 5 Boroughs, is a drawing featuring the Twin Towers in a compressed New York skyline. This album was released in 2004.
• The World Trade Center appears in the music video for Blondie's hit "Heart of Glass."
• The back cover for the album How I Spent My Summer Vacation by The Bouncing Souls shows the Twin Towers, among other buildings, burning and being destroyed. This album was released in May 2001.
• The band Breaking Benjamin filmed their 2009 single "I Will Not Bow" in the World Trade Center Building 7.
• The towers are seen in Brooks & Dunn's music video "Only In America". The song was later featured in the beginning of Oliver Stone's film World Trade Center with the towers in the background.

C

• Eurodance group Corona prominently features the Twin Towers on the cover of their worldwide hit, "The Rhythm of the Night".
• Rap group The Coup released an album in late 2001 called Party Music, whose original cover depicts explosions in the towers set off by a detonator. The cover was changed after the 9/11 attacks.
• The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center briefly appear in the background behind Eve who is riding a motorcycle under the Brooklyn Bridge in City High's 2001 single Caramel.

D

• The Dave Matthews Band was set to film a music video for their song "When the World Ends" from the album Everyday. The music video was supposed to feature lead singer Dave Matthews climbing a ladder to the top of a giant tower. The video idea and single were shelved after the 9/11 attacks and replaced by the more uplifting song "Everyday".
• A promotional video for Depeche Mode's song "Enjoy the Silence" features the band performing the song on the observation deck of the South Tower. This video is not the official music video for the song. The Twin Towers can also be seen in the background of the cover of the band's single "In Your Room" and in the official music video for the song "It's No Good".
• The music video for "Worst Comes To Worst" by Dilated Peoples contains a shot with the Twin Towers in the background. The video was filmed before the attacks, but was released afterwards with a disclaimer stating that the artists meant no disrespect by including an image of the World Trade Center.
• The video of Dinosaur Jr.'s "Feel the Pain" was filmed with the World Trade Center as a backdrop.
• The cover for the album The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One by Liam Howlett of The Prodigy shows a counter with three rows of numbers. Second row is the numbers "0090". Third row is "1101". This album was released in 1999.
• New York based Progressive metal band Dream Theater's song "Sacrificed Sons" from their 2005 album Octavarium is a tribute to the rescue workers who died during and after the attacks. Their 2001 live album Live Scenes from New York was recalled, as it showed the NYC skyline, including the WTC, in flames. The album was released on September 11, 2001.

E

• Eminem highlights the World Trade Center attacks in his song "My Dad's Gone Crazy" from the Eminem Show album. The lyrics are "More pain inside of my brain, than in the eyes of a little girl inside of a plane, aimed at the World Trade..."

F

G

• Vince Gill's 1995 "When Love Finds You" video had several scenes of the towers.
• They are seen in the background during a scene of the "Paradise City" music video by Guns N' Roses.

H

I

• I Am the World Trade Center is a music group active since 1999. After the September 11 attacks, the group briefly went by the name "I Am the World".
• The song "United Stand" on the Impelliterri album System X is about the two towers.

J

• The towers appear several times in Janet Jackson's 1995 music video of "Runaway". They appear in the background as Jackson and her backup dancers dance atop the Manhattan Bridge and later when she flies around the towers.
• Rapper Jay-Z pays tribute to the dead of 9/11 attack in album Blueprint 2. He was one of the first entertainers to also help out after the disaster, using his tour money as part of the donation.^{[citation needed]}
• Rapper Jay-Z features the World Trade Center in his music video "Dead Presidents".
• Rapper Jay-Z mentions "Long live the World Trade" in his 2009 hit "Empire State of Mind".
• Alan Jackson's 1994 "Gone Country" video had them featured in a flyover scene.
• In the Jefferson Starship music video "We Built This City", the World Trade Center appears several times as part of a changing background of various landmark buildings during the last two minutes of the video.
• Rapper Jeru the Damaja says "Cuz I blow up spots like the world trade center" in the song "Come Clean" from the album The Sun Rises in the east which cover depicts the towers on fire which was released on May 24, 1994 in New York.

K

• One of the barhops from the pub Hogs and Heifers in downtown Manhattan walks near the globe where the Twin Towers stood in The Kentucky Headhunters' 2001 "Louisiana Coco" video.

L

• The ska punk band Leftover Crack featured the world trade center attacks on their album Fuck World Trade and also refer to their previous album, Mediocre Generica, as "...the tower toppling Mediocre Generica." as it was released on the 11th of September 2001.
• In John Lennon's music video Whatever Gets You Through The Night in the beginning the twin towers are shown in the background.
• Lil' Kim's music video for her 1996 debut single "No Time" features her and P. Diddy riding up and down the World Trade Center escalators while rapping. Kim makes a reference to the video in her 2005 single "Whoa" were she says "...told you I'm the same bitch from the escalator...".
• The group Limp Bizkit feature the World Trade Center in their music video for the song "Rollin'" (2000). The band is shown on the South Tower, staging portions of the music video on its rooftop observation deck. The end of the video features a gradually distancing helicopter shot of the towers.
• In Linkin Park's 2007 single "What I've Done" the video features many clips of global issues; a brief shot of the Lower Manhattan skyline is shown with the Twin Towers. Scenes of 9/11 are shown later in the video.

M

• The Twin Towers are shown in some of Madonna's music videos, such as "Like a Virgin," "Papa Don't Preach," and "Ray of Light."
• Heavy metal Band, Meshuggah's Album Contradictions Collapse Album art has the World Trade Center on it.
• Martina McBride's "Wild Angels", released in 1995, showed the tower in a wide shot of the video.
• The towers appeared prominently in Neal McCoy's 1994 video "The City Put the Country Back in Me."
• During Megadeth's live concert DVD Rude Awakening, Dave Mustaine dedicates their performance of "A Tout Le Monde" to the lives lost on September 11. The concert was shot in 2001, after the attacks.
• The song "Open Letter to NYC" includes Mike D referencing to The Twin Towers and pays homage to New York City.
• Rapper Pete Miser wrote a song titled "Might Be" which mentions the events of September 11, 2001. The song is featured on Pete Miser's album Radio Free Brooklyn which was released in 2002.
• In the official video by the English group Muse, "Invincible" they enter in a "It's a Small World" attraction, as the video goes forward, there's scene the Twin Towers appear burning after the planes crash.
• The My Chemical Romance song "Skylines and Turnstiles" was written as a tribute to the 9/11 attacks. Gerard Way witnessed the attacks firsthand from a ferry. Template:ZCitation needed

N

• The towers make an appearance in Nana's 1998 music video "Remember The Time".
• The song by The Notorious B.I.G., "Juicy", released in 1994, features the lyrics "blow up like the World Trade" in a reference to the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. When the verse was sampled for the Jay-Z song "A Dream" in 2002, the words "World Trade" were omitted.

O

• The World Trade Center appears behind and to the left of the Empire State Building on the front cover to the Oasis album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.

P

Q

R

• The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center briefly appear twice in the music video to R.E.M.'s 1989 single "Stand".
• In the Kevin Rudolf song "N.Y.C." Nas raps and mentions the towers: "The illest city on the planet, towers came down, Wall Street barely standing."
• The Twin Towers are shown several times in the background in Reel 2 Real's music video I Like to Move It.

S

• In the music video for the song "Cherish the Day", Sade is singing on top of a skyscraper. The Twin Towers are seen in the background while the Chrysler Building is seen in the forefront.
• Will Smith wrote a song titled "Why", which in the first verse of the song mentions him and his son watching the attacks on TV.
• The video for the Spice Girls song "2 Become 1", released in 1996, features numerous night-time shots of the World Trade Center, from differing angles, throughout the duration of the clip.
• In Bruce Springsteen's Song "Darlington County" (Born in the U.S.A. - released 1984) a lyrical reference to the Trade Center is made: "...Our pa's each own one of the World Trade Centers for a kiss and a smile I'll give mine all to you..."
• In Al B. Sure's music video "Nite and Day", the towers are shown.
• On Supertramp's album cover "Breakfast in America", the towers are shown as a pile of white cereal boxes on a huge breakfast tray. Released in 1979, the album was the group's most popular, and sold over 18 million copies.
• On 16th April 1998 Spiritualized played the highest recorded concert in history in the restaurant atop the World Trade Center.

T

• The song "The Evil Has Landed" by American Thrash metal band Testament from their 2008 release The Formation of Damnation was written about the 9/11 attacks. It includes lyrics such as "The towers got hit, a steel bird with wings of destruction".
• Filmed in the NYC area, the video titled "Scenario" by A Tribe Called Quest featuring Leaders of the New School (with Busta Rhymes) briefly shows the Twin Towers in the background. The towers are also seen in their video "Electric Relaxation."

U

V

W

• Stevie Wonder's video for his 1985 hit song "Part-Time Lover" shows the Twin Towers in the background at night while he is singing.

X

Y

• The Yellowcard song "Believe" on the album Ocean Avenue was written as a tribute to the 9/11 attacks.

Z

• The towers can be seen in Zhane's "Vibe" music video.

Comic books and graphic novels

• Adventures of Superman #596 was coincidentally released one day after the September 11, 2001 attacks. It depicted, in passing, the Twin Towers as having been damaged but not destroyed, by an alien attack (along with other world landmarks such as the White House, the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, the Great Wall of China, Big Ben, and the in-universe LexCorp Building). The artist, Mike Wieringo remarked, "The book was completed months ago. The ironic thing is that the damage done by the terrorists is far greater than I could ever portray visually." The book's writer, Joe Casey, could not have intentionally referenced the attacks on the World Trade Center, but DC acknowledged that it mirrored the devastation so vividly that they made the books returnable without penalty to retailers. Many retailers took DC up on this offer, causing the issue to become sought after on the secondary market due to its rarity and general curiosity towards the real-life synchronicity with the 9-11 attacks.
• In the Aliens: Outbreak graphic novel, Hicks and Newt escape from a mental hospital using "Jet Rescue technology". It was "developed after the World Trade Center Smoked in '24".
• The cover of Archie Annual Digest Magazine #65 (September 1994) has a picture of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. It shows a snapshot of Veronica Lodge standing in front of them.
• In the 1989 Damage Control, the Twin Towers were damaged when a giant robot fell on them. Damage Control, a construction company that specialized in repairing superhero-related damage, had the towers repaired (although visibly crooked) by the end of the issue.
• In a Duck Tales comic, twin buildings made by Uncle Scrooge get destroyed by a flying money vase.
• The 2004 comic Ex Machina detailed the life of Mitchell Hundred, formerly the world's first and only superhero, who was elected mayor of New York City in the wake of his saving hundreds of lives during the collapse of the North Tower, and in preventing the collapse of the South Tower.
• In 1982 Fantastic Four #242-243, the Fantastic Four fight Terrax in a battle atop the World Trade Center.
• The comic continuation of the Gargoyles animated series still have the World Trade Center in its backdrop. Creator Greg Weisman went on record to state than in this universe, the towers were never attacked.
• Most of the Marvel Comics heroes reside in New York City, so views of the towers were not uncommon.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 #36 showed the aftermath of the Tower's collapse through the eyes of the heroes, more specifically, Spider-Man's.
  • Captain America vol. 4 #1 had Steve Rogers arguing with Nick Fury when the former decided to stay and find survivors before heading to Afghanistan.
  • Marvel Comics' Marvel Graphic Novel #17 depicts the Living Monolith standing almost as tall as the World Trade Center and thrusting his giant fist through one of the towers.
  • Marvel Comics' Peter Parker: Spider-Man (then just titled Spider-Man) #16 and X-Force #4 have the hero and team battle the Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy on top of one of the towers. A Wizard special on Spider-Man named this crossover pointless and, after the attacks, very tasteless.
• In the Mortadelo y Filemon comic "El 35 Anniversario" (The 35th Anniversary) appears an image of a plane that crashes into the WTC.
• In 1985 The Uncanny X-Men #189 continued the alternate vision of the future first seen in the Days of Future Past storyline. Rachel Summers (who came from the future), while describing the dire future of the early 21st century, says "The Twin Towers of World Trade Center lie in ruins. Thousands are dead, many more injured". The accompanying image is of a somewhat futuristic Twin Towers smouldering after having been hit by an unknown attack.
• Issue #1 of Valiant Comics's Game Boy comic series had two teenagers going through Manhattan Island, aiding Mario in rescuing Princess Daisy from the villainous Tatanga, the story concluding at the Windows of the World restaurant.

References

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD18k3DIw-s&playnext=1&list=PL6A12D4F13DF71D63

Further reading

• Dixon, Wheeler Winston (2004). Film and Television After 9/11. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-2556-X. 
• Sanders, James (2001). Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57062-6. 

External links

• Celluloid Skyline, James Sanders
• World Trade Center - Literary and Cultural Reflections, Dennis G. Jerz, Seton Hill University
• WTC in Movies The Web's most extensive list