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