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