Tropescilloscope: Historical Hero Upgrade

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

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