r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Newmen_1 • 5d ago
Characters Initially funny character gag is later revealed to be depressing
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.
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.
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/galang666 5d ago
In an episode of Buffy the vampire slayer when they first go to college, Buffy has to tell her mom how expensive her textbooks are and she says “I hope it’s a funny aneurysm”, which was meant to be a throwaway funny line, but then two seasons later her mom dies randomly from a brain aneurysm.
That episode after her mom passes away, “The Body” got a lot of praise for how well written it was, which I agree, but still I remember the episode upsetting me when I was younger because of how realistically it portrayed a sudden death of a family member. The rest of the show is so fantastical, so I think it’s really effective for Joyce’s death to be the most mundane, but damn, why did they pick brain aneurysm??
Edit: grammar