Share your favorite plot or character tropes with the community! From constant classics to overused cliches, if you've noticed it enough times in enough places, put it here.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
"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.
