Tropescilloscope: Deus ex Machina

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

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