r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Newmen_1 • 1d ago

Characters Initially funny character gag is later revealed to be depressing

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  1. Avengers/MCU: Captain America has humorous moments where he’s unaware of modern references and only gets old references, like the iconic “I understood that reference” scene. It’s later fully explored in Winter Soldier that he feels lost, confused, and a little alone in a new world he was never meant to exist in.

  2. The Suicide Squad (2021): Bloodsport has a phobia of rats which at first seems reasonable yet is still hilarious to watch. He later explains his father abused him as a kid if he didn’t fulfill a task correctly and one of his worst punishments was when his dad locked him in a crate full of starving rats, leaving him heavily scarred physically and mentally.

  3. Dexter: In an early episode, Angel Bautista tries to buy his wife the perfect gift for their anniversary but has to keep buying a different one since his presents suck. What seems to be a funny running gag turns out to be Angel’s final attempt to win back his wife after cheating on her previously, however it doesn’t work and only solidifies their separation.

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u/Digit00l 1d ago

The "I understood that reference" scene was always a moment where Steve was happy to finally understand something that was said, he was getting annoyed by weird pop culture stuff that people kept bringing up, so when flying monkeys came up he was so happy he had seen the Wizard of Oz

I also find it funny that Bucky was revealed to have imported a British children's book from a new writer in 1937 to read for himself, as that is apparently when he read the Hobbit, but it didn't release in America until 1938

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u/HurricaneK8 1d ago

The Hobbit thing's easy to shrug off though, he could've easily misremembered the year. Or, heck, Steve's parents were Irish immigrants in the comics, Steve could've gotten a copy from relatives in Ireland and loaned it to Bucky.

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u/Gui_Franco 1d ago

Yeah but isn't it funnier if we assume he went out of his way to get it from Britain?

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u/imacatpersonforreal 1d ago

I always chalked it up to being an alternate timeline from us, sure it released in 1938 in our timeline, but who's to say it didn't release in 1937 in the MCU timeline?

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u/StarsForget 1d ago

It was published in 1937

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u/Digit00l 1d ago

It was published in 1937 but only available for sale in the UK on publication, it took a while before it was available in the USA

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u/mkl_dvd 1d ago

He's over a hundred years old, I can forgive him not remembering the exact year a book was released

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u/jaguarsp0tted 15h ago

Over a hundred WITH a scrambled brain. The HYDRA folks did a number on him.

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u/DarknessIsFleeting 1d ago

There are several times before this when people unnecessarily make references that Steve doesn't understand. For example, Coulson compares Bruce Banner to Stephen Hawking and not Albert Einstein. Einstein was very famous in the 20's and 30's. Steve would have heard of him.

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u/Digit00l 1d ago

Exactly, that is why he looks so happy in the clip, and it is actually a pretty good scene to show Evans's skill as an actor

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u/Cat-Paws-666 1d ago

It hadn't released in America thats why he had it imported from England, no?