Orbital Bombardment

Death From Above is cool enough, but can we get much higher? Yes! Consider this subtrope, for there is no higher ground than space, after all.

Orbital Bombardment is the practice of attacking a planet or natural satellite from space. From Colony Drops to deploying Kill Sat constellations to Macross Missile Massacres nuclear or not, broadsides of Death Rays, Kinetic and Magnetic Weapons and Wave Motion Guns, and more, this trope is for when something in a gravity well needs to be destroyed and you can't spare the troop conveyance or don't want to sully your Cool Starship with the heat of reentry. At the extreme end is Earthshattering Kaboom, where the whole planet dies.

Film

 * Alluded to but ultimately not carried out in Aliens with Ripley's famous "I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit" line.
 * In Captain Marvel, Ronan and the Accusers are infamous for considering orbital missile strikes the solution to any problem. Torfa is subject to this, and

Live-Action TV

 * At the start of Battlestar Galactica (2004), the Cylons used orbit-to-surface nukes to commit genocide on the Twelve Colonies.

Video Games

 * In the Halo series, humanity could hold off the Covenant on the ground, but almost invariably lose in space, after which the aliens would glass the offending planet.
 * Homeworld has the infamous "Kharak is burning" scene courtesy of the Taiidan.
 * In Sword of the Stars, war usually leads to the aggressor bombarding enemy planets with its ships in tactical combat to kill off the planetary population. This can be aided by Assault Shuttles conducting transatmospheric bombing runs and plaguebearing Biowar Missiles. Surface-to-orbit missiles can fight off small early attacks for a while, but Can't Catch Up to lategame heavy fleets with proper point defense.