Top Character Tropes

Spider-Man (2002): Peter Parker is late for Thanksgiving dinner, injured from a previous fight with the Green Goblin. Unfortunately for him, he's sitting directly next to the Green Goblin as Norman Osborne, who is VERY interested in how Peter got the same wounds he inflicted on Spider-Man. (I also like how Peter's wearing Green Goblin colors and Norman's wearing Spider-Man colors.)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2016): Peter Parker is off to prom with his date Liz and her father, the Vulture. He slowly realizes over the car ride that this little twerp dating his daughter is also the little twerp wrecking his criminal operation.

Robert Pattinson as The Batman (2025). Pattinson's work in the Twilight franchise led some to see him as just a "sparkly vampire" with little substance. This take promptly disintegrated after his stellar brooding portrayal of Bruce Wayne in The Batman.

Similarly, Michael Keaton's casting in Batman (1989) was questioned by comic book fans due to Keaton's primarily comedic background - people feared he would simply rehash the campy Adam West-y vibes of the Batman TV show. However, Tim Burton's signature dark take on the character coupled with Keaton's rockstar performance created the highest-grossing movie of the year.

Heath Ledger, much like Robert Pattinson, was known for "pretty boy" roles in teen dramas. Many people doubted he could put on a competent Joker performance, much less one that could outdo Nicholson's. However, The Dark Knight (2008) was overwhelmingly praised for a version of the Joker that's now a widespread cultural icon.

(The Force Awakens) Kylo Ren speaking to Darth Vader

(Megamind) Megamind visiting the Metro Man Museum

(Planet of the Apes) The Planet of the Apes is actually a post-apocalyptic Earth. They put this Statue of Liberty shot on the actual Blu-Ray cover. It was also parodied on Family Guy.

(Metroid) Samus Aran, underneath the power suit, is a woman. The instruction manual refers to Samus as male to obscure her gender until the surprise reveal at the end of the game, but nowadays, Zero Suit Samus is a playable character in most Smash titles.

(Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) The two characters are actually split personalities of the same person. In the book, this is a massive revelation, but the title of the book is now synonymous for someone with a secret dark side.

(Puss in Boots 2) Before his epic debut duel, Death is shown in the opening scene watching from an alleyway. He's also in the death-montage number cards.

(Spider-Man: Far From Home) Quentin Blake/Mysterio and his team is secretly stalking Peter on his Europe trip to ensure the plans go smoothly

(Game Changer) Sam Reich's iconic line is "I've been here the whole time." Yes, he's an antagonist.

A Minecraft Movie (2025)

Fant4stic (2015)

Suicide Squad (2016)

This doesn't exactly fit the format, hopefully that's ok. I'm hoping folks can help me find the examples for this one. I love this trope but haven't been able to remember any!

Usually this happens at the end of an epic fight, the BBEG is often like stunned or something. Each team member tags in one at a time, beats the tar out of them in their own unique style, then tags out to the next team member.

The only thing that comes to mind is the Bahamut fight in Final Fantasy: Advent Children, but it's not quite right.

Chernobyl, site of a nuclear reactor meltdown

Pompeii, city lost to a volcanic eruption

Auschwitz, complex of concentration and extermination camps

Unnamed Fire Nation lackey accidentally refers to Iroh & Zuko as "prisoners", forcing Azula's hand and resulting in their escape. Iroh & Zuko continue to grow and change as people. (ATLA)

Some rat lets Scott Lang out of the Quantum Realm, causing the inciting incident of Avengers: Endgame. This makes the rat the undisputed MVP of the Avengers saga, don't @ me (MCU)

Random mugger kills the two wealthiest people in Gotham, unknowingly creating the Batman. It is absolutely better for their deaths to be caused by a random mugging that's representative of the rot and crime that pervades Gotham as a whole and leaves no one safe, absolutely @ me I'm prepared to keep explaining (DC Comics)

Moses & Ramses (Prince of Egypt)

Charles Xavier & Erik Lehnsherr/Professor X & Magneto (X-Men)

Orion Pax & D-16/Optimus Prime & Megatron (Transformers)

Kingpin (Civil War): after Kingpin tried to have Aunt May murdered after Peter's identity was revealed in Civil War, Spider-Man breaks into prison to handle Kingpin personally, as Peter Parker, with murderous rage.

Vasil Ghurkos (Superman (2025)): The Justice Gang foils the President of Boravia's invasion of neighboring Jarhanpur, and the President himself is captured by Hawkgirl. When he says Superman wouldn't kill him, Hawkgirl laughs and says she's not Superman, and drops him like fifty stories.

Megamind (Megamind): In his first bout against Titan, a superhero Megamind himself created in order to do dramatic and glorious battle with, Megamind loses jovially and commends him on his performance before asking to be taken to prison. Tighten responds by trying to kill him.

Stan Pines (Gravity Falls): "Do a pretty good impression of my brother, don't I? Switch clothes and no one can tell us apart." Switched clothes with his identical twin to bait an interdimensional god into invading his set-to-destruct brain.

Johnny (Devil Went Down to Georgia): Through sheer love of his craft, bests the Devil in a musical contest. It's not, like, a cautionary fable against mortal arrogance or a tale about human cleverness. He's just a goddamn good violin player.

Both Arthur and Powerpuff Girls have visually referenced South Park, while the drug manufacturers in Zootopia reference Breaking Bad (bonus points if you knew their names were Woolter and Jesse)

Steven Universe references Amigara Fault, while Primos (it's a Disney channel show, I haven't heard of it either) references SCP-5675

Absolute Batman, whose ass has been handed to him by Bane, realizes that Bane hasn't even juiced up yet

Unnamed rebels looking at Darth Vader as they realize their blaster shots have done and are going to do nothing

Scar realizing his hyenas overheard his plan to betray them

Viggo Mortensen realizing his son killed John Wick's dog and stole his car

Saitama (OPM) - Strongest character in the verse broke every single physical record, but failed the written portion of the Hero Exam, resulting in him being placed in Rank C.

Richard Reed (Marvel) - "Smartest Man Alive" has, in multiple continuities, failed his driving exam.

Charlie Chaplin (real life) - allegedly lost a Charlie Chaplin Lookalike Contest

Prometheus (Greek Mythology) - for bringing divine fire to common humans, he was chained to a mountain and had his liver eaten by an eagle. Unfortunately, he could endure this more than once after being "blessed" with immortality and a healing factor.

Quynh (The Old Guard) - Burned at the stake for witchcraft. When she survived that, they put her in an iron coffin and sank her to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Black Pearl crew (Pirates of the Caribbean) - Stealing accursed Aztec treasure let them live without the need for food or water. Unfortunately, they can no longer eat or drink, but they still feel ravenous hunger and desperate thirst.

"THINK, MARK, THINK" (Invincible): An epic clash of ideologies between two immortals, father and son

"NO NO NO WAIT WAIT WAIT" (The Punisher): Frank Castle watching his family killed in front of him

Walter White dramatically falling over (Breaking Bad): His reaction when Hank is killed

Willem Dafoe looking up at something (At Eternity's Gate): Vincent Van Gogh having a mental breakdown

Agent Galahad (Kingsman): In one of the best action scenes ever, super spy Galahad kills a church full of homophobic & racist religious extremists.

GI robot (Creature Commandos): A robot designed to kill nazis in WW2 murders a gathering of neo-nazis after seeing the flag

B.J Blazkowicz (Wolfenstein): Protagonist of the Wolfenstein shooter games, where you play as someone who shoots down a bunch of Nazis in an alternate timeline where the Axis Powers have access to sci-fi and supernatural technology.

Captain America (Captain America: The First Avenger): there's a brief montage in the first Cap film of him & the Howling Commandos on the warpath

Superman TAS: Lois Lane asks Clark Kent how he always gets the best stories. Clark slyly tells her that he gets up close to the action constantly because he's actually Superman, to which Lane merely replies "You're a sick man, Kent."

Lucifer (show): The real archangel Lucifer runs a nightclub on Earth in Los Angeles. He constantly tells people, including the police, that he's the devil. Everyone assumes he's being metaphorical or grandiose.

Batman (Gotham Adventures v1 #35): Bruce Wayne can't ethically testify in court against someone he helped imprison as Batman, so he confesses his identity. Everyone simply laughs, and the judge sternly tells him off for joking.

Raymond Holt (Brooklyn Nine-Nine): Instead of being a classic "gay black man" character, he's a very strict police captain with a desert-dry sense of humor and an occasional flair for drama when he wants to be petty. While his sexuality is sometimes incorporated into some gags or storylines, it's far from his domineering trait. Gustavo Fring (Breaking Bad): I haven't seen Breaking Bad so I can't quite say, but from what I've been told, Gus could basically be a straight guy and the story wouldn't change. I didn't even know there were gay Breaking Bad characters until this post. Undyne the Undying (Undertale/Deltarune): You don't actually realize Undyne is a lesbian unless you go for the more pacifistic option and watch her date Alphys. You could play undertale start to finish and never realize it, but the ship between the royal guard & royal scientist is one of the best in game.