The original World Trade Center, which featured the landmark Twin Towers (1 WTC and 2 WTC), was a building complex in the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, New York City. 1 and 2 World Trade Center – the North and South Tower – stood at with 110-stories respectively, becoming the tallest buildings in the world from 1971 to 1973. The North Tower, with its antenna included, was the tallest building in the world by pinnacle height until the towers were destroyed in the September 11 attacks in 2001. An iconic feature of the New York City skyline for nearly three decades, the World Trade Center has been featured in comic books, computer games, video games, television, films, photographs, artwork, and music videos.

Literature

Books In Richard Martin Stern's novel The Tower (1973), a breeches buoy line shot from a helicopter is used to link the World Trade Center's North Tower to the neighboring (fictional and taller) World Tower Building to rescue hundreds of people trapped by a fire. Dozens of people are saved by this method before the breeches buoy is overwhelmed in a panic and crashes to the ground below. The World Trade Center's Twin Towers appear on the cover of Wilt Chamberlain's 1991 reissue of his book A View From Above. Similarly, The World Trade Center can be seen on the cover of Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben's children's book Lisa in New York (The Misadventures of Gaspard and Lisa), which was published in 2002, a year after the building complex was destroyed. and in Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse, the prequel novel of Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters anime film, the giant mantis Kamacuras appeared in New York City in May 1999, and proceeded to destroy the World Trade Center and devastate much of the city, leaving 2.5 million casualties.

Comic books and graphic novels Most of the Marvel Comics' heroes reside in New York City, so views of the towers were not uncommon. The World Trade Center complex was featured in numerous other comics as well. In Uncanny X-Men #189 (1985), Rachel Summers describes the dire future of the early 21st century from which she originates. In this future, the Twin Towers are devastated after an attack from an unspecified perpetrator. The 1986 graphic novel Rebel, by Pepe Moreno, depicted the two towers being destroyed in a post-apocalyptic 2002 setting. In Damage Control #1 (1989), the Twin Towers are damaged when a giant robot falls on them. Damage Control, a construction company that specializes in repairing superhero-related damage, has the towers repaired (although visibly crooked) by the end of the issue. In the 1992 Mort & Phil comic El 35 aniversario (The 35th Anniversary) appears an image of a plane that crashes into the WTC.September 11 Premonitions, Dark Roasted Blend (blog), September 10, 2007. Adventures of Superman #596 was coincidentally released one day after the September 11, 2001 attacks. It depicted, in passing, the World Trade Center (specifically the Twin Towers) as having been damaged but not destroyed by an alien attack. The issue's 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. 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 fist through one of the towers. 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 North Tower's collapse and preventing the South Tower's collapse. The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2 #36 showed the aftermath of the Towers’ collapse through the heroes’ eyes, more specifically Spider-Man's.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center have also been depicted in several online web comics: Coming-of-age web comic "Maddie in America" vols. 2 and 3 are set at the original World Trade Center during November 1985, with the main characters staying at the Vista Hotel and visiting the Austin J. Tobin Plaza and the Windows on the World restaurant. After Volume 5 of the spin-off series "Outsiders", the Twin Towers become a focal location of the series as the workplace of main character Siobhan Pattinson. She receives employment on the 103rd floor of the South Tower in the summer of 1987. Artist Sebastian Utzni's "M-Maybe" collects pages from 18 Comics published between 1973 and 2001 depicting the destruction of the Twin Towers.

Television

Animation In the M.A.S.K. episode "Attack on Liberty" (1985), Matt Trakker confronts Miles Mayhem in the North Tower. The Twin Towers appear in The Transformers episode "City of Steel" (1985). In The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Boogeyman is Back" (1986), the Twin Towers are the site of a battle between the Ghostbusters and a blue ghost. The Twin Towers are depicted as being part of the skyline of New York City in multiple episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987). In the second-season episode "Enter: The Fly", the TMNT confront Shredder at the Twin Towers. In the third-season episode "The Big Blow Out", Krang uses the World Trade Center as a conduit to propel Earth into Dimension X. In the Fantastic Four episode "Incursion of the Skrull" (1994), the Twin Towers are destroyed by Skrull forces in an in-universe video game played by the Thing. In the Iron Man episode "The Grim Reaper Wears a Teflon Coat" (1994), the Twin Towers are destroyed in a simulation run by Tony Stark to demonstrate what would happen if the Grim Reaper fighter jet fell in the wrong hands. In Gargoyles (1994), the Twin Towers are seen in a few episodes (such as the five-part pilot) as well as the third-season premiere. In Futurama (1999), there is a future WTC in New York with its appearance very similar to the old one, except for its skybridges. In the art for the Volume 1 DVD collection, they are shown as similar to the Petronas Towers. In the Fantomcat episode "The Manhattan Incident" (1995), Dr. Butyrik attempts to launch a bomb from the top of the North Tower to destroy Manhattan. In Downtown (1998), the towers are seen in the background of a couple of episodes. In the Godzilla: The Series episode "Future Shock" (1999), the Twin Towers are shown to have been destroyed in the potential future of 2022. In the Spy Groove episode "Manhattan Glam Chowder" (2001), Agent #1 confronts the villain Mr. Fish on the top of the South Tower. The Twin Towers appear in a dream sequence in the Hey Arnold! episode "Married" (2002). In the animated sitcom The Simpsons: In the episode "A Star Is Burns" (1995), the towers appear in a transition shot after Marge starts writing an invitation letter to critic Jay Sherman. In the season 9 episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" (1997), Homer is forced to deal with a mountain of parking tickets issued while his car sat illegally for months in the Austin J. Tobin Plaza of the World Trade Center. Following the events of 9/11, the episode was banned in many countries. However, it was included in the season 9 box set and continued to air in syndication on some Fox networks. In "Desperately Xeeking Xena" (1999), the towers appear during the scene where Lisa uses her super strength to destroy a Nazi blimp with the Statue of Liberty. In the episode "New Kids on the Blecch" (2001), the towers are seen as L.T. Smash steers a battleship into New York Harbor intending to blow up MAD Magazine. In the Digimon Adventure 02 episode "Digimon World Tour" (2001), the Twin Towers are seen in a skyline shot when Davis and Kari arrive in New York to round up a group of rogue Digimon. In the first episode of Read or Die (2001), an aerial battle in Lower Manhattan begins with a helicopter crashing on the roof of one of the towers. The Twin Towers were depicted in the pilot episode of the animated TV show The Critic. In The Penguins of Madagascar episode "Operation: Big Blue Marble" (2012), the skyline of New York is seen, showing the new One World Trade Center and Battery Park. The Twin Towers are depicted several times in the animated sitcom Family Guy: In the episode titled "A Picture is Worth 1,000 Bucks" (2000), Peter does a musical number with Meg across NYC, with the Twin Towers being visible. In "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" (2002), Brian performs a musical number to Pearl about how America has changed since the 1950s, with the Twin Towers being visible. Following the events of 9/11, some airings of the episode had the Twin Towers digitally removed. In the episode "Baby Not on Board" (2008), Peter and the family visit Ground Zero. In the episode "Hannah Banana" (2009), the September 11 attacks are seen as an Islamic man crashing a bicycle into one of the Twin Towers. In the episode "Back to the Pilot" (2011), Brian Griffin prevents the events of 9/11 after being warned by his time-traveling future self. In the episode "Peter & Lois' Wedding" (2019), the Twin Towers are seen several times on a flashback.

Live action television In the TV series Miami Vice (1984–1989), the Twin Towers are seen in the background of the pilot episode "Brother's Keeper" in Ricardo Tubbs' flashback. In the first episode of Season 2 "The Prodigal Son", the Twin Towers can be seen during the New York montage, and the shootout at the end of the episode was shot at the World Trade Center around The Sphere, Crockett then chases a drug dealer down and shoots down a helicopter with the Twin Towers seen in the background. In the TV sitcom Barney Miller (1975–1982), the Twin Towers were depicted in its intro before the opening credits from season 2 until the end of the series. The exterior and interior of the Twin Towers were featured prominently, along with other New York City landmarks, in Late Night with David Letterman’s opening montage from 1987 to 1992. The TV series Third Watch (1999–2005), set in New York City, featured many shots of the Towers during the show's first two seasons. One final shot appeared in the episode September 10, set the day before the attacks. The first two seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit included a shot of the towers at the beginning and end of the opening sequence. It was removed for episodes that aired after the attacks. The pilot of the TV series The Lone Gunmen, first aired on 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.Transcript of pilot episode In the first and second intro of Power Rangers Time Force (2001), the Time Shadow was seen standing on the Twin Towers, just before the title of the show appears. After the events of 9/11, Fox Kids chose to remove the towers from the intro. The third season of NBC's The West Wing was postponed; instead, a special episode called "Isaac and Ishmael" was run. The episode started with the main characters paying tribute to the victims of 9/11 and dealt mainly with terrorism.