...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Historical Badass Upgrade
- 280 statements
- 51 feature instances
- 114 referencing feature instances
| Historical Badass Upgrade | type |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade | label |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade | comment |
Sometimes a Historical Domain Character is portrayed by adding a copious amount of badassery and Stuff Blowing Up, that was either far lesser or non-existent with the Real Life person. The reasons could range from sloppy research to Rule of Cool. Maybe a king, who was known for very little else but diplomacy, gets to be a war hero instead. Maybe Mahatma Gandhi gets to fist-fight grizzlies. Maybe a pope was a vampire hunter in his spare time. Kung-Fu Jesus and Historical Domain Superperson are subtropes. Compare Beethoven Was an Alien Spy (a possible justification of this trope), Adaptational Badass (when this happens to a character from a previous work) and Memetic Badass (when the Badassery is upgraded through Memetic Mutation). Giving the same treatment to a living famous person would generally fall under Celebrity Power. See also Historical Hero Upgrade and Historical Villain Upgrade, both of which this trope may very well overlap with if the character's more heroic or more villainous actions come off as Badass. See Historical Relationship Overhaul for other changes a Historical Domain Character may receive. |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_18f4b8c1 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_18f4b8c1 | comment |
In Jreg's Centricide, the spirits of Kim Il Sung, Ayn Rand, Julius Evola, Che Guevara joined forces and went on to possess YouTuber Greg Guevara and make jrem become the embodiment of anti-centrism, forming Jregnote An acronym of Juche, Randian, Evola, and Guevara. Together, they led a group of extremists of various kinds in their quest to eradicate centrism in the Centricide. | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_18f4b8c1 | featureApplicability |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_18f4b8c1 | featureConfidence |
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| Jreg (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Historical Badass Upgrade / int_18f4b8c1 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_1bddac16 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_1bddac16 | comment |
In Ãœber, Alan Turing and General Patton are turned into Ubers, being the only historical figures so far in the comic to be enhanced. | |
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1.0 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_1bddac16 | featureConfidence |
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| Ãœber (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Historical Badass Upgrade / int_1bddac16 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_1c1b1123 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_1c1b1123 | comment |
I Shot Jesse James: In this film, the character John Kelley is meant to represent Edward Capehart O'Kelley, who came into conflict with main character Robert Ford. In real life, O’Kelley had a history of drunkenness and only beat Robert Ford when he surprised him in Ford’s own tent. In the film, he’s able to take on two men at the same time and defeat Robert Ford in a duel by playing to Bob’s dislike of shooting men in the back. | |
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Historical Badass Upgrade / int_1c1b1123 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_24740992 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_24740992 | comment |
Bossa Nova Heartstrings, Blue's older identical twin brother, is based on Jesse Garon Presley, Elvis Presley's older identical twin brother who came out stillborn. While he came out stillborn like his character inspiration, Bossa Nova was adopted by the Three Deaths, giving him a (rather large) surrogate family of his own. His noble upbringing influenced him to eventually become something great — an Alicorn god — despite being dead, and being a Death god means he's still rather powerful despite not being a "prodigy" deity like his younger brother. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_24740992 | featureConfidence |
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Historical Badass Upgrade / int_24740992 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_261c8d3f | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_261c8d3f | comment |
Jebediah Springfield, eponymous founder of Springfield in The Simpsons. Pop history holds that he killed a bear with his bare hands, but evidence suggests it was actually the other way around. It's also said that he tamed a buffalo, but by his own confession, it was already tame; he merely shot it. His presence at the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga has been questioned. It turns out he was a murderous pirate, and while he was a brawler, his involvement in the American Revolution is probably a post-hoc interpolation, since he was called Hans Sprungfeld until 1795. According to the same episode, he actually died of disease. | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_261c8d3f | featureConfidence |
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Historical Badass Upgrade / int_261c8d3f | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2cc5c333 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2cc5c333 | comment |
The Spanish Princess featured Catherine of Aragon donning a suit of armor and partaking in a battle while pregnant- even personally killing James IV of Scotland. While the real Catherine did navigate England through wartime despite being heavily pregnant, and is agreed to have given a Rousing Speech to the English troops to boost their morale, she did not directly participate in the battle, and she certainly didn't kill James herself. | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2cc5c333 | featureApplicability |
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Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2cc5c333 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2dae76e9 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2dae76e9 | comment |
In Bungo Stray Dogs, each of the cast corresponds to a real writer, and almost all are given badass superpowers based around the writer's work(s). | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2dae76e9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2dae76e9 | featureConfidence |
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Historical Badass Upgrade / int_2dae76e9 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_3b88d68c | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_3b88d68c | comment |
In real life, Dante Alighieri (of The Divine Comedy) was a scholar and historian, who only had some military service. In Dante's Inferno, not only is he a high-ranking Crusader, he winds up killing many of Hell's demons and trapped souls with the help of the large Sinister Scythe he stole from The Grim Reaper. | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_3b88d68c | featureApplicability |
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Historical Badass Upgrade / int_3b88d68c | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_4037825e | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_4037825e | comment |
Romance of the Three Kingdoms: While many of the main characters were generals and war leaders, the romance heightens everything and turns many historical figures into Four-Star Badass front-line warriors who single-handedly turn the tides of battles with their fierce fighting prowess. Some commanders are also given more brilliance than historical records document. For example, Zhuge Liang in real life was known to be a brilliant administrator but only average as a military commander, while the Romance turns him into an supernaturally gifted commander, giving him credit for a number of strategies not specifically attributed to him by history, as well as actual magical powers. | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_4037825e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_4037825e | featureConfidence |
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| Romance of the Three Kingdoms | hasFeature |
Historical Badass Upgrade / int_4037825e | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_43576f5 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_43576f5 | comment |
Supernatural: Dean Winchester is thrown back in time and meets Elliot Ness, who went down in history as a badass lawman, only to discover he is also a monster hunter. L. Frank Baum is revealed to have been one of the Men of Letters. |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_4b693145 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_4b693145 | comment |
The Manhattan Projects feature robot Wernher Von Braun, irradiated skull Harry Daghlian, cannibal Evil Twin of Oppenheimer, evil parallel universe Einstein, and FDR AI meeting aliens, discovering wormholes and fighting robots zen powered by death monks. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_50cb8af5 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_50cb8af5 | comment |
The Vision of Escaflowne: Sir Isaac Newton is an alchemist who uses the power of Atlantis. | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_50cb8af5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_50cb8af5 | featureConfidence |
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Historical Badass Upgrade / int_50cb8af5 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_52eb7183 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_52eb7183 | comment |
Irregular Webcomic!: Sir Isaac Newton is portrayed as a Time Lord, and gathers various scientists from history to fix the time stream. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_53dc3731 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_53dc3731 | comment |
In Atomic Robo, virtually any historical figure to appear will get this unless they were badass already, but special mention has to go to Carl Sagan, who gets to take a break from talking about the universe to blast the crap out of an Eldritch Abomination with a lightning gun while talking about the universe. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_585e7a79 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_585e7a79 | comment |
UHF: The Show Within a Show Gandhi II reimagines the passive resistance leader as a Death Wish-style vigilante who drives a Ferrari and fights thugs in the street. | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_585e7a79 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_585e7a79 | featureConfidence |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_61339eee | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_61339eee | comment |
The character of Phillip Thomsen in Das Boot is very loosely based on Heinz Hirsacker, the real life commander of U-572. Hirsacker was not as noble or brave as Thomsen is portrayed in the film and was never awarded a combat decoration for his U-Boat service, much less the Knight's Cross. He was further accused in 1942 of cowardice before the enemy after repeatedly avoiding enemy ships and retreating to base at the first sign of pursuit. Hirsacker was convicted by a court martial and sentenced to death, but committed suicide in 1943 before the sentence could be carried out. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_6300d32a | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_6300d32a | comment |
Another was a parody of 300 called 1776. It was a very loose retelling of the story of the Declaration of Independence. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_663261c | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_663261c | comment |
Venezuelan terrorist Ilich RamÃrez Sánchez, better known by his nom de guerre Carlos the Jackal, was for a long time viewed as one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. The Bourne Series played him up as Jason Bourne's archenemy and a Diabolical Mastermind par excellence who has a number of prominent assassinations under his belt, including that of JFK. After his capture in 1994, however, his performance was re-evaluated and he's now largely seen by serious historians as more of a bumbling Smug Snake whose previous reputation was highly exaggerated. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_68237790 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_68237790 | comment |
Pathfinder includes, in its Reign of Winter adventure path, an encounter with the evil mastermind Rasputin the Mad Monk. Not a fantasy counterpart, the actual historical figure. In this version, he has dark magic and is capable of being a boss battle against a party of experienced adventurers; a Rasputinian Death indeed. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_7832b74c | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_7832b74c | comment |
Mayor Dewey tried to do this in Steven Universe with his ancestor William Dewey, but he wrote him as too over-the-top — he gave his ordinary human ancestor the power to grow 50 feet tall at will, entirely to invoke this trope. Pearl, who was actually there for the events the play covers, rewrote the whole thing to be more historically accurate and less absurd. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_7ec770d3 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_7ec770d3 | comment |
In The Legend of Koizumi, many historical figures good and bad are represented as superpowered Mahjong gods, prominently Adolf Hitler. Who can become a Super Saiyan and has a Mahjong power level of over 30,000 Adelheids at his maximum power. In addition are the additional members of the Fourth Reich, including Josef Mengele, Otto Skorzeny, Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Rudolf Hess, Erwin Rommel, and, for some reason, musical composer Richard Wagner. Each of them also are formidable at Mahjong to some extent. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_819b8c9e | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_819b8c9e | comment |
This is the entire premise of Warehouse 13. The emotion-based Magical Realism of the setting makes every last Historical Domain Character ever mentioned into a terrifying badass and makes their belongings into Artifacts of Doom. | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_819b8c9e | featureApplicability |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_877bc78 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_877bc78 | comment |
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: Samuel Steele was certainly an exemplary officer of the RCMP who re-established order in the lawless Yukon during the Gold Rush, but writer Don Rosa tops this by making him The Ace. The meanest, orneriest prospector imaginable rides into town on a friggin' bear, but is so scared of Steele that he rushes off before the man arrives. In fact, Steele is SO badass that explosions can't even hurt him. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_89465e75 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_89465e75 | comment |
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: It's mentioned that many a famous historical figure is secretly a demigod, which also implies that they went to Camp Half-Blood and fought mythological monsters in their youth. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_8df5521b | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_8df5521b | comment |
Superman: In the "Camelot Falls" arc, Superman in a possible future faces against Khyber, or Hassan-i Sabbah. In real life, Hassan is already considered relatively badass, being the founder of the Order of Assassins. In DC, Hassan in that possible future is shown to be strong enough to fight Superman, cause global devastation by hurling Superman into the Earth and destroying part of a continent, and finally be able to kill Superman (albeit he had to use all of his energy and took advantage of Superman's hesitation to kill him). | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_8e4d2a96 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_8e4d2a96 | comment |
Almost everyone in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel who's a historical figure has taken a level or two in badass. This includes the ones who were badass already, like Joan of Arc, as well as the ones who weren't, like the Flamels and John Dee. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_972c43d5 | type |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_972c43d5 | comment |
The King's Man: In addition to his usual Historical Villain Upgrade, this version of Grigori Rasputin is presented as being an excellent fighter in combat and with the sword, fighting the movie's good guys at once. That's a far cry from the historical Rasputin who was basically a Non-Action Guy and a preacher and mystic. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_976c2c38 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_976c2c38 | comment |
America's Founding Fathers are given this treatment in Sons of Liberty. In reality, they were mostly middle-aged and spent their time debating and writing pamphlets, contrary to the series' portrayal of them as a band of scruffy thirty-somethings who can jump between rooftops and excel in combat. | |
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Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_a183d57f | comment |
Futurama has done this occasionally. Benjamin Franklin invented a weapon he dubbed "The Franklin-ator": a live badger tied to the end of a club. Harry Truman in "Roswell that Ends Well" can punch his way out of a crate. Inverted and then played straight with Leonardo da Vinci, who is revealed to be an alien who is one of the least intelligent of his speciesnote though this still makes him incredibly smart compared to humans, which is one of the reasons he came to Earth, but designs and builds a giant killing machine to extract revenge for his ill-treatment. |
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Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_a369af46 | comment |
Roughly half the cast of The Pyrates, but particularly Calico Jack (who becomes an intelligent, level-headed, superhumanly strong leader of men) and Captain Avery (historical records are sketchy, but the real Henry Avery was definitely not a Master Swordsman Chick Magnet Canon Sue). The big exception to this is Colonel Thomas Blood, who in the book is merely a roguish, charming, highly capable antiheroic badass, but in real life was, if anything, a couple of steps up from that. | |
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Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_b0aff8db | comment |
Until the End of Time: Adolf Hitler turns into a Super Saiyan to battle Goku. Despite his preference for people with a Saiyan’s description (blonde hair, blue eyes), Hitler in real life is not known to have possessed such abilities. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_b1cbc51 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_b1cbc51 | comment |
The Untouchables (1987) presents Frank Nitti as Al Capone's top assassin. In real life, while Capone's second-in-command, Nitti left the actual dirty work to others. | |
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| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_b5a087d7 | type |
Historical Badass Upgrade | |
| Historical Badass Upgrade / int_b5a087d7 | comment |
Robot Chicken does this frequently: A quick sketch has Benjamin Franklin practicing his bojutsu in a forest before triumphantly proclaiming, "For America!" A Dream Sequence of George W. Bush involved him in a lightsaber duel against Abraham Lincoln. And another featuring Dubya's imagination had him as superhero Captain Texas. One sketch consisted of a Tag Team match (in the vein of WWE, no less) with Ben Franklin and (in Big Damn Heroes fashion) Gandhi vs. the Wright Brothers. Another was a parody of 300 called 1776. It was a very loose retelling of the story of the Declaration of Independence. |
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Celebrity Deathmatch: Most celebrities and historical figures get this treatment by humorously exaggerating their public personas. A few examples: Bill Murray wielding a functional proton pack. Chris Tucker's Motor Mouth comedy style manifesting as outright Super-Speed. Willie Nelson hiding a magical, laser-shooting Third Eye behind his signature bandana. Missy Elliott shrugging off decapitation ("What, you thought that music video *referring to an infamous CGI bit in "Lose Control" was just special effects?!"). |
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Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Every historical person shown fighting is given a healthy dose of this due to the stylized combat. Marcus Crassus, however, is also portrayed as a tyrannical Magnificent Bastard. In real life, Crassus (by many estimates the richest person who ever lived) is believed to have simply bought his way to the top and eventually got himself killed in what is generally considered an ill-advised quest for military glory. | |
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This is the running theme of Fate/stay night and its various spin-offs. If a Historical Domain Character is summoned as a Servant, you can bet they will be at least ten times more badass than their original legends or myths depict them as. Joan of Arc, King Arthur, Gilgamesh, Jack the Ripper, Vlad the Impaler, Achilles, Heracles, Alexander the Great, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart... ALL of them. It's also established that a Servant gets an even bigger Historical Badass Upgrade when in the area of the world where their fame is the greatest, though in the main entries of the series this doesn't come into play since the only Japanese Servant to be summoned isn't a "real" one. There are examples of subversions, however. For example, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, who in myth is known to wield a sword and spear combination, something he can't do as a Servant. He is still physically stronger than when he was alive, but he cannot use his preferred fighting style as a Servant. This is due to Servants being summoned into specialized RPG-style classes that put limits on which of their historical or mythical abilities are available to them. |
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In Codex Equus, many historical figures in real life become badass once they're adapted into the Codexverse. Blue Suede Heartstrings is based on Elvis Presley, one of the most famous rock stars of his time. They are musicians who are also former soldiers who served during World War II. However, while Elvis continues to be remembered as an influential figure in the development of both rock-and-roll and modern rock, he's also remembered for his degrading career and obesity in his later years, ending with a rather Undignified Death. By contrast, Blue would meet Luminiferous during a very low point in his life while he was still relatively young. The pep-talk he received from Luminiferous motivated Blue to quit his job as a career musician and travel around the world, doing good deeds until he became an Alicorn god of Music and Humility (something he sees as ironic due to his religious background). Bossa Nova Heartstrings, Blue's older identical twin brother, is based on Jesse Garon Presley, Elvis Presley's older identical twin brother who came out stillborn. While he came out stillborn like his character inspiration, Bossa Nova was adopted by the Three Deaths, giving him a (rather large) surrogate family of his own. His noble upbringing influenced him to eventually become something great — an Alicorn god — despite being dead, and being a Death god means he's still rather powerful despite not being a "prodigy" deity like his younger brother. President Theddeus Moosepelt is based on Theodore Roosevelt, who is venerated for his reforms and was something of a Renaissance Man when he was alive. Here, he served five consecutive terms (Franklin D. Roosevelt served four terms as President), and was responsible for various reforms, including the federal income tax, workers' rights, monopoly/trust-busting, electoral reform, prohibition of alcohol, universal suffrage, desegregation of the Federal Government, and greater civil rights for minorities. It's noted that many of his reforms had been met with mixed or considerable success. |
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Black Sails: The show portrays Ann Bonny as a Dark Action Girl and a deadly fencer who bests everyone she fights and acts as the enforcer to her foppish boyfriend Jack Rackham. While Bonny was a real pirate who did participate in ship combat, there's no evidence that she was an exceptional fighter. The historic Jack Rackham was a raging alcoholic pirate captain who met his end from being too drunk to help fight off attackers. The show gives him a completely different character as a brainy Dragon-in-Chief Non-Action Guy who is an ineffective fighter but still very dangerous by virtue of being devious. |
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Blackadder Back and Forth features a working Time Machine based on plans by Leonardo da Vinci. | |
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Doctor Who: Whenever a historical figure teams up with the Doctor, they will always prove very capable in a tight spot and help win the day. | |
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Cox and Combes' Washington presents the titular Washington in increasingly glowing terms, until he's Washington, Washington, twelve stories high / made of radiation. | |
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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: The eponymous President is depicted as a badass vampire hunter who started his profession after learning what really killed his birth mother. | |
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Jurassic Park: Many of the dinosaurs and recreated animals in this franchise are subjected to this trope, most notably the theropods. The Velociraptor is an intelligent and social killer, a far cry from the solo hunting, turkey-sized and not outright stupid but rather simple-minded ambush hunter, the Spinosaurus can now apparently kill large and dangerous prey such as tyrannosaurs when its anatomy is clearly that of a pisciverous water-lover, and Compsognathus is no-longer a solitary, cat-like predator of small prey and now a sort of land-piranha with toxic saliva. Zig-zagged in the Dilophosaur's case, as she is shrank, but armed with toxic spraying powers and a menacing frill on her neck. Ironically, the Tyrannosaurus rex itself is something of an Adaptational Wimp, as she retains most of the real animal's power, she is slightly handicapped with terrible eyesight, when real tyrannosaurs had excellent vision. | |
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In The Alice Network, the Femme Fatale Spy Eve uses the Code Name of Marguerite le Français. In Real Life, a woman with this name actually was arrested with Louise de Bettignies, but the real Marguerite almost certainly wasn't a spy. Our fictional Marguerite, on the other hand.... | |
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The Fire Never Dies: Almost every single Red Army general fits this to a degree, being largely composed of veteran union organizers. The only exceptions were Leon Bronstein, Charles Whittlesley, and Omar Bradley, all of whom were accomplished commanders IOTL. Arguably applies to many Ku Klux Klan leaders who become senior officers, although their military records tended to be short on victories and long on atrocities. |
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In Blood Meridian this happens to the supposedly real figure simply known as Judge Holden, whose only record of existence comes from Samuel Chamberlain's memoir My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue. Chamberlain described the Holden he knew as the type who would only engage in a fight if his side had the clear advantage and would avoid fighting otherwise. While the Yumas attacked Glanton's gang, Chamberlain had to go rescue Holden from being circled by them, then shortly afterwards he tied up Holden with the intention of leaving him to die, although he later felt guilty about it and went back to free him. Blood Meridian, meanwhile, turns Judge Holden into an Ambiguously Human, nigh-unstoppable force of nature who never shies away from violence, gets away from the Yumas himself, and the other survivors of Glanton's gang are completely unable to shake him off for good. | |
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The Baroque Cycle portrays Peter the Great as a giant Boisterous Bruiser with enormous strength. While Peter was in reality extremely tall, especially for his era, he was also very thin and had health problems. | |
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The Star Trek: Voyager episode "Living Witness". The story focuses on the historical depiction of an encounter with Voyager by an alien civilization hundreds of years before. The actual Voyager crew were stranded in a distant part of the galaxy on a ship built primarily for exploration and diplomacy who were constantly outclassed by far more aggressive enemies. The biased depiction portrays them as a ruthlessly violent gang of Nazi-like thugs, and the Voyager as an impenetrable warship armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry, and containing a complement of Borg drones at the captain's disposal. | |
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Belisarius Series. You would think the Real Life Belisarius was badass enough, but this Belisarius defeats an evil cyborg Conqueror from the Future. | |
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Almost any historical figure who appears in the Assassin's Creed franchise gets this, often along with either a hero or villain upgrade. "Almost" any because some, like Cesare Borgia and Caterina Sforza, actually were that badass and didn't need the upgrade, but some others did. Among other things, Leonardo da Vinci actually succeeded in building a flying machine. | |
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In Gravity Falls, we have Nathaniel Northwest, a supposed badass pioneer and the touted founder of Gravity Falls. In reality he was a waste-shoveling village idiot who was used to hide the existence of the real founder of Gravity Falls and America's most embarrassing secret, the 8th and 1/2 President of the United States, Quentin Trembley. Although later it turns out he wasn't so much an idiot as a Manipulative Bastard, making this more of a Historical Hero Upgrade. | |
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