Tropescilloscope: Deus ex Machina

A miracle that saves the heroes at the last minute. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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More Tropes Death by Sex Room Full of Crazy Shut Up, Hannibal! Karmic Death Bait-and-Switch You Have Failed Me Creepy Child Tempting Fate Drugs Are Bad Artistic License – Military Fiery Redhead Running Gag Mythology Gag Adapted Out The Alcoholic Chase Scene Corrupt Corporate Executive Evil Plan Dwindling Party Evil vs. Evil What the Hell, Hero? Loophole Abuse Kick the Son of a Bitch Eye Scream Cassandra Truth Made of Explodium Your Cheating Heart It Can Think Make It Look Like an Accident Gilligan Cut It's Personal Paper-Thin Disguise Sequel Escalation Japanese Films Moment Killer Not Even Bothering with the Accent Dramatic Gun Cock Bloodier and Gorier Call-Back Action Survivor Darkest Hour British Films Stealth Pun Badass Longcoat Informed Ability Demoted to Extra Silence Is Golden The End... Or Is It? Plot Hole Hypocrite Not What It Looks Like Ascended Extra Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality My Beloved Smother You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Scenery Gorn Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Nice Guy Horror Comedy A Minor Kidroduction Creative Closing Credits Jerkass Ass Shove Driven to Suicide Fate Worse than Death Drill Sergeant Nasty Villainous Breakdown All Girls Want Bad Boys Karma Houdini Even Evil Has Loved Ones Scare Chord Sir Swears-a-Lot Getting Crap Past the Radar Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Whole Plot Reference The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Token Minority Would Hit a Girl There Is No Kill Like Overkill Put on a Bus Large Ham Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Beauty Is Never Tarnished Fan Disservice Adults Are Useless Trailers Always Spoil Laser-Guided Karma Establishing Character Moment Anti-Hero Five-Man Band Death of a Child Dark Action Girl World of Ham The Dragon Meet Cute Cat Fight Villain with Good Publicity The Lost Lenore Bottomless Magazines Disproportionate Retribution Documentary The Chick Spared by the Adaptation Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Monumental Damage Stalker with a Crush Bury Your Gays Unusual Euphemism Tagline Adaptational Badass Captain Ersatz Exactly What It Says on the Tin Poor Communication Kills Genre Shift Early Installment Weirdness Advertised Extra I Have Your Wife Blackmail Parental Substitute The Power of Love Rule of Cool Heroic BSoD One-Man Army Earn Your Happy Ending The Hero Dies Fun with Acronyms Kill 'em All Big Eater Genre Throwback Never Trust a Trailer Non-Indicative Name Break the Haughty Only Known by Their Nickname Ungrateful Bastard Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Mistaken for Gay Redshirt Army The Smart Guy Closed Circle Babies Ever After Politically Incorrect Villain Straight Gay Freeze-Frame Bonus Foregone Conclusion Disney Death Overly Long Gag Only One Name Gratuitous English NO INDOOR VOICE Card-Carrying Villain Covers Always Lie I Did What I Had to Do Heel–Face Turn Undying Loyalty You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Male Gaze "Awesome McCool" Name Award-Bait Song Actor Allusion The Smurfette Principle Artistic License – History Serious Business Did Not Get the Girl Famous Last Words Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Implacable Man Stylistic Suck Green-Eyed Monster Be Careful What You Wish For Up to Eleven Anyone Can Die Funny Foreigner Historical Villain Upgrade B-Movie The '70s Military and Warfare Films Alliterative Name Dual Wielding Hate Sink "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Imagine Spot Offscreen Moment of Awesome The Place Attempted Rape Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Parental Incest Pet the Dog Unspoken Plan Guarantee Happily Married Heroic Sacrifice Silent Movie Malevolent Masked Men The Cameo Eureka Moment Ambiguously Gay Affectionate Parody Sealed Evil in a Can Jerk Jock Bond One-Liner Narrator Auto Erotica Daddy's Girl Hell Is That Noise Show Within a Show Intrepid Reporter Conspicuous CG Yandere Catapult Nightmare Public Domain Feature Films Boom, Headshot! Black and Gray Morality Men Are the Expendable Gender Naked People Are Funny Overprotective Dad Reality Is Unrealistic Empathic Environment Age Lift Brutal Honesty Batman Gambit Romantic False Lead Very Loosely Based on a True Story Not So Different Better to Die than Be Killed Married to the Job Armor-Piercing Question Antagonist Title An Axe to Grind No Celebrities Were Harmed Developing Doomed Characters Rated M for Manly Small Name, Big Ego Anti-Villain Black Comedy Rape Spiteful Spit Big Bad Duumvirate Madness Mantra Fake Shemp Biopic Twist Ending Freudian Excuse Intergenerational Friendship Sports Stories Pay Evil unto Evil Fantastic Racism Chiaroscuro Sinister Minister Shell-Shocked Veteran Gory Discretion Shot Training Montage Morality Pet Car Fu Dumb Blonde Neck Snap Black Comedy Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Villain Song I Need a Freaking Drink Mundane Made Awesome Insistent Terminology Kick the Dog Russian Films Take a Third Option Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Facial Horror Loads and Loads of Characters Worthy Opponent Failed a Spot Check Red Eyes, Take Warning Sassy Black Woman Together in Death Get Out! Your Head A-Splode Cat Scare Canadian Movies An Arm and a Leg Black Best Friend For the Evulz Redemption Equals Death Evil-Detecting Dog Took a Level in Jerkass Pretty Little Headshots Bullying a Dragon Serial Killer Fatal Family Photo May–December Romance Ghost Fiction Reasonable Authority Figure Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Protagonist Title Dropped a Bridge on Him Evil Laugh Smug Snake Faking the Dead Mercy Kill Badass Normal Arc Words Light Is Not Good Manipulative Bastard Author Appeal Fainting The Remake "The Reason You Suck" Speech Hair-Trigger Temper Heroes Want Redheads Our Vampires Are Different Dies Wide Open Zombie Stories Mooks Does Not Like Shoes Bavarian Fire Drill No-Sell Hoist by His Own Petard Coming-of-Age Story Cluster F-Bomb No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Bloodless Carnage Due to the Dead Early-Bird Cameo Handicapped Badass Romantic Comedy Mood Whiplash Cool Old Guy What Happened to the Mouse? Blatant Lies Death by Adaptation The '60s Broken Aesop Meaningful Echo Big "NO!" Cold-Blooded Torture Badass Bookworm Cowboy Cop Adaptational Attractiveness Only Sane Man Hidden Depths Ripped from the Headlines Shoot the Shaggy Dog Every Car Is a Pinto The '50s Everyone Has Standards Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Fingore Vitriolic Best Buds Villain Ball Bi the Way Spell My Name with an "S" Dutch Angle Bad Boss And I Must Scream Captain Obvious Blood from the Mouth "Well Done, Son!" Guy Time Skip Left the Background Music On Improbable Aiming Skills The Vamp Spiritual Successor Camp Gay Translation Convention Groin Attack Sexy Discretion Shot The Sociopath Hypocritical Humor Shown Their Work Action Genre Nothing Is Scarier The Hero Artistic License – Physics Canon Foreigner Friend to All Children Credits Gag Works Set in World War II Broken Bird Funny Background Event Evil Is Hammy Kubrick Stare Chuck Cunningham Syndrome My God, What Have I Done? Offscreen Teleportation Ironic Echo He Who Fights Monsters Actually Pretty Funny N-Word Privileges The Mole Hong Kong Films folderlabel Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Knife Nut Parental Neglect Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? After the End Video Credits Pre-Mortem One-Liner Bittersweet Ending Improvised Weapon Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Leave the Camera Running How We Got Here Suspiciously Similar Substitute Drives Like Crazy Disguised in Drag Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Alas, Poor Villain Chewing the Scenery Star-Crossed Lovers Unusually Uninteresting Sight Leaning on the Fourth Wall Creator Cameo Costume Porn Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Adaptational Heroism Beta Couple As Himself Face Death with Dignity Scenery Porn Red Right Hand Guile Hero Plucky Comic Relief Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Naïve Newcomer Asshole Victim She's Got Legs Spanner in the Works Deus ex Machina The Cavalry Lock and Load Montage Eagleland Body Horror Hollywood Law Determinator aka: The Determinator The Chessmaster Have a Gay Old Time Manchild Big Applesauce All Just a Dream Eyepatch of Power Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Deliberately Monochrome Celebrity Paradox Market-Based Title Badass Grandpa Shipper on Deck Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Ms. Fanservice Vampire Fiction Playing Gertrude Almost Kiss One Steve Limit Hero of Another Story Bland-Name Product Big Fancy House Homage Hero Antagonist Bunny-Ears Lawyer Meaningful Background Event The Stoic True Companions Back from the Dead Vomit Discretion Shot The Brute Self-Deprecation Obviously Evil I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Setting Update Artistic License – Biology Deliberate Values Dissonance Psychopathic Manchild Brother–Sister Incest Mexican Standoff Cool Old Lady Toplessness from the Back Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Gone Horribly Right The Un-Reveal Comically Missing the Point Brick Joke Apocalypse How Does This Remind You of Anything? Manly Tears Fanservice Dark Reprise Maybe Ever After Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Depraved Bisexual Irony Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! All Men Are Perverts She Cleans Up Nicely Off-into-the-Distance Ending Berserk Button Calling the Old Man Out Would Hurt a Child Kids Are Cruel 20 Minutes into the Future Deadpan Snarker Evil Brit Super Strength Race Against the Clock Good Is Not Nice Stealth Hi/Bye Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping The Film of the Book The Alleged Car Rule of Funny Red Shirt The Dog Bites Back Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Cloudcuckoolander Fanservice Extra Smoking Is Cool Riddle for the Ages Cruel and Unusual Death Dying Moment of Awesome Big Bad Not Quite Dead Character Development Mama Bear Didn't Think This Through Foreshadowing Chekhov's Gunman Enemy Mine All for Nothing Diabolus ex Machina Book-Ends All There in the Manual Pragmatic Adaptation Taking the Bullet Fire-Forged Friends Mad Scientist Animal Motifs The Great Depression I'm a Humanitarian Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Foil Bloody Hilarious Historical-Domain Character Horror Films Fantasy Films Australian Movies Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Red Oni, Blue Oni And Starring Last-Name Basis Agony of the Feet Insult Backfire Jitter Cam Those Two Bad Guys Tap on the Head Easily Forgiven Police Brutality Oh, Crap! Sacrificial Lion Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Male Frontal Nudity Manic Pixie Dream Girl Extreme Doormat Butt-Monkey The Ditz Screw This, I'm Outta Here! timeperiod Bolivian Army Ending The Load Say My Name Historical In-Joke It Will Never Catch On Well-Intentioned Extremist Break the Cutie '80s Hair Punny Name Ambiguous Disorder Becoming the Mask The Ghost Villain Protagonist Bowdlerise Reckless Gun Usage As the Good Book Says... Call-Forward Eiffel Tower Effect Combat Pragmatist Disappeared Dad Pyrrhic Victory The Stinger Sanity Slippage Pre-Asskicking One-Liner The Atoner No OSHA Compliance Ambiguous Ending Damsel in Distress Neck Lift Psycho for Hire Department of Redundancy Department Final Girl Important Haircut Idiot Ball Scary Black Man Slasher Smile Annoying Younger Sibling Our Zombies Are Different The Lancer Police are Useless Peek-a-Boo Corpse Flipping the Bird Dark Is Not Evil Disney Villain Death Kill It with Fire This Is Gonna Suck Curse Cut Short Epic Movie Red Herring The X of Y Film Series Refuge in Audacity Older Than They Look Punch-Clock Villain Aside Glance Deal with the Devil Names to Run Away from Really Fast Same Language Dub Logo Joke Slasher Movie Reality Has No Subtitles Double-Meaning Title Thriller Those Two Guys Animal Title Index Line-of-Sight Name Amoral Attorney Framing Device Jerkass Has a Point Dirty Old Man Henpecked Husband Badass Boast Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Defiant to the End Crucified Hero Shot Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Lampshade Hanging Crazy-Prepared French Films Those Wacky Nazis My Greatest Failure Domestic Abuse Only a Flesh Wound Dull Surprise Flashback Fat Bastard Woman Scorned Bar Brawl Lighter and Softer Mr. Fanservice Index of Film Westerns Papa Wolf Expy Casting Gag The Dreaded Drowning My Sorrows Alpha Bitch Decoy Protagonist What You Are in the Dark Composite Character He Knows Too Much Big Brother Instinct Storming the Castle Dogged Nice Guy Martial Arts Movie Even Evil Has Standards Badass in a Nice Suit Dirty Cop Superhero Unresolved Sexual Tension Amusing Injuries Daylight Horror Half the Man He Used to Be In Medias Res Revenge Wicked Cultured Four-Temperament Ensemble Cool Car Accidental Misnaming Brainless Beauty Love Triangle Product Placement Major Injury Underreaction Film Noir Television Movie Index Heel Realization Sequel Hook Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Not So Stoic For Want of a Nail Hope Spot Cool Guns In Name Only Cool Shades Mr. Exposition Sci-Fi Horror Killed Mid-Sentence La Résistance Heterosexual Life-Partners Word of God Historical Hero Upgrade Rule of Symbolism Bilingual Bonus Parental Abandonment Roger Ebert: Great Movies List A Date with Rosie Palms Visual Pun Interrupted Suicide Authority Equals Asskicking Rousing Speech Instant Death Bullet Rewatch Bonus Mighty Whitey Science Fiction Films Anachronic Order Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Let's Get Dangerous! Action Prologue Wrong Genre Savvy Femme Fatale Tranquil Fury Slap-Slap-Kiss Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Dramedy The Stoner Took a Level in Badass Pimped-Out Dress "Shaggy Dog" Story Psychological Thriller Accidental Murder Soft Glass Villain Opening Scene Awesome, but Impractical Corpsing Gorn Author Avatar Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Wounded Gazelle Gambit Dissonant Serenity The Oner Guns Akimbo Beard of Evil The Reveal Adorkable Blood Knight Bad "Bad Acting" Death by Irony The Faceless Noodle Incident A Father to His Men Destination Defenestration Meaningful Name Rasputinian Death Expository Hairstyle Change The Voiceless Title Drop Affably Evil Knight Templar Pretty in Mink Fish out of Water Hooker with a Heart of Gold Totally Radical Mystery and Detective Films The Quiet One Genre Savvy Cain and Abel Danny Peary Cult Movies List Based on a True Story Evil Sounds Deep Catch-Phrase Belligerent Sexual Tension Big-Bad Ensemble No Name Given Real Life No Antagonist Stock Footage Stepford Smiler Breaking the Fourth Wall Laughing Mad Retcon Grey and Gray Morality Fourth Date Marriage Bring My Brown Pants Continuity Nod Man on Fire Never Found the Body Outrun the Fireball Wretched Hive It's All About Me Precision F-Strike An Aesop Unreliable Narrator Needs Wiki Magic Love Adaptation Expansion Suddenly SHOUTING! Crapsack World Shout-Out Determinator Leitmotif Slashed Throat Vacation Films Adaptation Distillation Artistic License – Geography Deconstruction Obstructive Bureaucrat Dressing as the Enemy BFG Artistic License – Law Contrived Coincidence Italian Films The Mafia Epic Fail One-Word Title Dirty Coward Defrosting Ice Queen Novelization Action Girl Mugging the Monster Really Gets Around The '90s Motor Mouth Sole Survivor Vomit Indiscretion Shot Big Damn Heroes Dark and Troubled Past Film Noir Index Shirtless Scene Humans Are Bastards Taking You with Me Exact Words Music Stories From Nobody to Nightmare Wham Line Recycled IN SPACE! Not So Above It All Unwitting Instigator of Doom Rule of Three Fatal Flaw Adult Fear Curb-Stomp Battle Victoria's Secret Compartment And the Adventure Continues Adaptation Name Change Race Lift Gold Digger Real Life Writes the Plot Sadistic Choice No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Rich Bitch Darker and Edgier Never My Fault Country Matters The Starscream Bald of Evil Anguished Declaration of Love A God Am I Greater-Scope Villain Extremely Short Timespan Broken Pedestal Betty and Veronica Roaring Rampage of Revenge As You Know Anachronism Stew Grievous Bottley Harm Nice Hat All There in the Script Central Theme The Bully The Ace No Ending Eldritch Abomination Suspiciously Specific Denial Here We Go Again! Ax-Crazy Improbable Weapon User Hollywood Darkness Mind Screw Evil Counterpart Black Dude Dies First Children Are Innocent Truth in Television Gainax Ending War Is Hell German Films Chekhov's Gun Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? The Big Guy Shower Scene In the Back Crazy Jealous Guy Wham Shot Properly Paranoid Match Cut Demonic Possession Ship Tease Artistic License – Gun Safety Random Events Plot Gender Flip Humiliation Conga More Dakka Immune to Bullets Obfuscating Stupidity Aluminum Christmas Trees Retired Badass The Musical Not Using the "Z" Word A.I. Is a Crapshoot Despair Event Horizon Christmas Movies Index Bound and Gagged Insane Troll Logic Air-Vent Passageway Woman in White MacGuffin From Bad to Worse Frame-Up O.O.C. Is Serious Business As Long as It Sounds Foreign Too Dumb to Live Faux Affably Evil Death Glare Arch-Enemy Soundtrack Dissonance Bond Villain Stupidity The '80s Jerk with a Heart of Gold You Killed My Father Downer Ending Love at First Sight The Bad Guy Wins Missing Mom Jump Scare Dramatic Irony Adaptational Villainy Pragmatic Villainy Death Seeker Double Entendre Honor Before Reason Beware the Nice Ones Rape as Drama Once More, with Clarity! Arranged Marriage Stuff Blowing Up Skewed Priorities Reality Ensues Abusive Parents The Casanova Take That! Evil Is Petty Posthumous Character Chekhov's Skill Abhorrent Admirer Made of Iron Ominous Latin Chanting Face–Heel Turn Only in It for the Money Adaptation Dye-Job Bare Your Midriff Retirony Re-Cut Throwing Your Sword Always Works Off with His Head! Animated Credits Opening Distracted by the Sexy Camera Abuse