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