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Captain Patriotic: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.CaptainPatriotic 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.CaptainPatriotic, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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This [[Superhero]] is motivated by one thing above all: love of country. He loves everything it symbolizes, all its values, and is damn proud of its history.
[[Ideal Hero|He's heroic]], maybe [[The Cape]], and will normally follow [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]. Unless it's war, then you can expect him to be on the front line, taking down as many of [[Those Wacky Nazis]] and [[Dirty Communists]] as he can. He is a master of the [[Rousing Speech]] or can give somebody a powerful [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!]] moment. If he becomes [[Older and Wiser]], he will almost always end as [[The Mentor]].
No matter how near the cynical end of [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] the major premise is, he will be idealistic. In the [[Five
However, all [[General Ripper|Mad Generals]], [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|crooked politicians]], [[President Evil|Evil Presidents]], and [[The Mole|infiltrators]] from [[The Illuminati]] must remember that he's not [[My Country Right or Wrong|loyal to government, law or army]]. He may serve them, but his true loyalty is to his country's spirit and ideals. Attack his values, use the symbols he values as a hypocritical excuse to commit injustice, or limit people's freedom with law, and he will be the first to [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|kick you in the face]].
Discovering that his country has fallen and become corrupt is the best way to cause his [[Heroic BSOD]]. This is temporary. You can be damn sure he will stand again to restore his fatherland to glory. In case he is forced to [[Turn in Your Badge|give up his costume and secret identity]], he will join the army or the police, or adapt a similar superhero identity. He knows there are many ways to serve his country.
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This archetype was most popular in [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] and almost vanished during [[The Dark Age of Comic Books]]. Compare [[The Cape]]; often there is overlap, sometimes he is both.
Compare [[Patriotic Fervor]], [[The Paragon]], [[Captain Superhero]], [[All
Note: Many of the [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] superheroes mentioned here, who have entered the public domain, have been repackaged in ''[[Tom Strong (Comic Book)|Tom Strong]]'' and ''[[Project Superpowers]]'' comics.
{{examples
== [[Anime]] ==
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Captain America]] is the most famous, and greatest embodiment of this trope ever. If you need to sum up his deepest values with one line, it's "I am loyal to nothing...except the [American] Dream."
** ''[[Captain America:
*** Prior to becoming a hero, he plays a hokey parody of this concept while touring with the USO.
** [[Ultimate Universe]] Cap seemed to be an subversion of this in [[The Ultimates]], where he is more a [[Jerkass]] than anything else, but [[Warren Ellis]] managed to make him a little better, as evidenced here:
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** [[Dark Avengers|Iron]] [[Dark Reign (Comic Book)|Patriot]] is supposed to [[American Robot|look like one]], but is the ultimate perversion of this.
** In MC 2, this role is occupied by [[Legacy Character|American]] [[Distaff Counterpart|Dream]].
** Another Marvel example is Captain Britain, who stands for all values of England, and all his alternate counterparts do the same - the only [[Evil Twin|Evil Twins]] he has are from worlds where England is an evil empire. Such as Captain Airstrip-One, the ultimate government tool with nothing resembling a will of his own. He fights for the glory of [[Nineteen Eighty
** And we cannot forget about Falcon, the biggest Captain Patriotic not dressed in the flag.
** Parodied in ''[[Twisted Toyfare Theatre]]'': Captain America is a jingoistic Ugly American, sometimes even indulging in [[Black Comedy Rape]].
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* In ''[[Rising Stars]]'', corporate superhero [[Captain Geographic|Flagg]] (who later changes his name to Patriot), is working on his reputation as one. However, the real [[Captain Patriotic]] in this universe is officer Matthew Bright. Bright wanted to serve America and its people so much he joined the police force. He has to hide his powers, because Specials cannot be members of any force. And when the government found out and was trying to kick him out, his fellow police officers protested so much, they had to give up and try to use a [[Legal Loophole]] to forbid him from wearing a police uniform and badge, thus making it impossible for him to work. They underestimated his friends from the Police Department, who just brought an uniform and badge designed only for him.
* The [[Ciem Webcomic Series|Gerosha expanded universe]] has the Gray Champion, based on Hawthorne's character. More about "God" than "country," he takes the "God and Country" thing very seriously. Almost ''[[Knight Templar|too]]'' seriously some times.
** Which actually helps balance him somewhat. Unlike Ciem, who is always worrying about her family and her sexual problems, Gray is already mature and nearly beyond having such concerns. It also gives him a compass to control his emotions, so he doesn't degenerate into the [[Emotion Eater]], [[Reality Warper]], [[Ax Crazy]], [[Sliding Scale of Anti
* ''[[PS 238]]'' had several examples. They have a Captain America clone, Freedom Fighter, hanging around, but he's not immortal, and is nearing retirement. Both the Republicans and the Democrats are grooming their own 'Replacement' flag-waver: US Patriot Act and American Eagle. Their constant attempts at out-patriot each other are obnoxious, the constant quarreling prevents them from accomplishing much of anything, and instead they cause trouble for anyone hanging around. [[Sarcasm Mode|Political commentary? Where?]]
* [[Superman]]. "Truth, justice and the American way.". Superman, being an alien, adopted the USA as his country.
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* ''[[Tomorrow Stories]]'' features the First American and his sidekick U.S.Angel as it is, but one issue sees FA consulting with other national heroes - Captain Uzbekistan, Le Premier Francais, Deutschlander Zahlein, and the Fightin' Limey ("who sleeps in my garage").
* Parodied with [[Superlopez|Capitán Hispania]], who carries a shield with the colours of the Spanish flag, but never says anything that can be considered patriotic.
* American Eagle is a C-List Marvel hero who combines this trope with [[Animal
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdupont Superdupont], by Jacques Lob and [[Gotlib|Marcel Gotlib]], is a French parody of the concept.
* Ritter Germania from the ''[[Block 109]]'' series, a [[In Universe]] [[Propaganda Machine|nazi propaganda]] hero, with [[In Universe]] movies and comics to boot.
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== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* While wrestling has plenty of [[All
** [[Kurt Angle]] could be seen as a [[Subversion]] of this, especially at the beginning of his career. He even adopted The Patriot's old music, which is now known as the "You Suck" theme.
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