Tropescilloscope: Historical Hero Upgrade

Fictionalized portrayal of a historical figure as more heroic than their real-life counterpart. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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