Tropescilloscope: Deus ex Machina

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

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