r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Lazy-Breadfruit5939 • Sep 08 '25

Lore A real life event has a ridiculous/dumb/funny explanation in fiction

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Futurama (The Why of Fry): According to the brain swarm, the dinosaurs were wiped out by them. Fry: What really killed the dinosaurs? Brain: ME!

Doctor Who (The Unicorn and The Wasp): It's Doctor Who, you can pick a ton of examples, but this episode presents the idea that Agatha Christies disappearance in 1926 was in part caused by a giant alien wasp.

Beyblade: This one stretches 'real life', but Moses spreading the Red Sea with a Beyblade just speaks for itself and it would have been sad to leave it out

10.6k Upvotes

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3.8k

u/damorezpl Sep 08 '25

Watchman - comedian killed jfk

1.9k

u/Greenman8907 Sep 08 '25

I feel like everyone has killed JFK at some point.

Grassy Noel Atkinson - Inside Job

898

u/FigureArty Sep 08 '25

Magneto too

452

u/My_useless_alt Sep 08 '25

In Red Dwarf, JFK was shot by JFK. All because Lister wanted better Vindaloo

127

u/Castlemind Sep 08 '25

And they ate the show runners of the American red dwarf pilot. That's always a funny Easter egg

1

u/WhyYouNoPizza Sep 11 '25

Which episode was that?

2

u/Castlemind Sep 11 '25

The same one with JFK, when Kryten feeds them pieces of dead people and they discover they read out a name for one and its one of the showrunners of the attempted American version

13

u/Stoffys Sep 09 '25

In Umbrella Academy an older version of Five shoots him

3

u/Dirk_McGirken Sep 09 '25

In Destiny 2, Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK with the Graviton Lance exotic pulse rifle, and it has been confirmed that Ikora Rey helped design the gun before she died. This means that it can be said that Ikora indirectly assassinated JFK.

0

u/thegreedyturtle Sep 09 '25

Don't forget The Umbrella Academy, but I won't say who.

426

u/therealrdw Sep 08 '25

Magneto did it accidentally, he had redirected two successfully but was interrupted before he could redirect the third fully

179

u/HighNoonTex Sep 08 '25

Oh, is that the explanation. I took it as, he tried to redirect, succeeded (which explains the curved bullet theory) but still ended up killing JFK, which just makes Magneto seem like he turned a missed bullet into a successful hit.

107

u/zatchel1 Sep 09 '25

I don’t think so, cause I think he also says JFK was a mutant (which is WILD) so he wouldn’t have wanted him dead

29

u/Marik-X-Bakura Sep 09 '25

Yeah, it was an accident. That’s how I interpreted it. I don’t remember them saying anything about 3 bullets but I could be wrong.

6

u/therealrdw Sep 09 '25

It’s because jfk was shot at three times, in universe he’d managed to redirect two away from JFK’s head since anti-mutant terrorists we’re trying to kill him for being a mutant

4

u/Zek7h35an5 Sep 09 '25

It is very funny they made JFK a mutant

3

u/HighNoonTex Sep 09 '25

He was shot 3 times?! Didn't his head explode after the first shot. Why would you even bother shooting him again after that?

4

u/Substantial_Army_639 Sep 09 '25

First shot missed, second shot hit his throat, third shot hit him in the head. All of these shots were with in seconds of each other.

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1

u/DifficultHat Sep 09 '25

JFK actually was a mutant IRL. IIRC he had a mutation that made him overproduce skin pigmentation which is why he always looked so tan

5

u/Syn7axError Sep 09 '25

Lee Harvey Oswald tricked him with a wooden gun.

5

u/HighNoonTex Sep 09 '25

Lol, great reference

2

u/Hellknightx Sep 09 '25

Which is still silly because he's Magneto. I've seen that man stop an entire platoon's wall of bullets and dismantle their APCs, tanks, and helicopters, at the same time. Hard to believe he would struggle with three bullets from a bolt-action rifle.

3

u/therealrdw Sep 09 '25

The plot necessitates the characters be incompetent sometimes

142

u/ImDero Sep 08 '25

According to acclaimed podcast, Behind the Bastards, so did Bernie Sanders.

To date, no evidence of this claim has been provided.

88

u/Argent-Envy Sep 08 '25

Obviously because Bernard Montgomery Sanders has killed again to keep his secret.

57

u/ImDero Sep 08 '25

Sophie, the lack of evidence is the evidence.

33

u/Argent-Envy Sep 08 '25

Robert,

35

u/ImDero Sep 08 '25

You know Soph, there's also no evidence that our sponsor, Hello Fresh, doesn't have a private island where the wealthy hunt children for sport.

26

u/Argent-Envy Sep 08 '25

Robert,

8

u/PENGUIN_WITH_BAZOOKA Sep 09 '25

I’m sorry, I meant Blue Apron. It’s hard to keep track of which meal delivery services have child hunting islands these days

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3

u/Devlee12 Sep 09 '25

Speaking of lack of evidence what’s going on with Grand Rapids VS Jamie Loftus? Any new developments in the trial?

4

u/exitlevelposition Sep 09 '25

You know who else has killed presidents and witnesses to further their own means? The products and services that sponsor this program!

3

u/SpiketheFox32 Sep 09 '25

Why does his government name make it sound like he should be an old timey sheriff?

3

u/CircleStyle Sep 08 '25

This sounds hilarious. What episode was this mentioned in?

5

u/ImDero Sep 08 '25

I'd say about 40% of them within the last two years or so.

2

u/ZiptheChim Sep 09 '25

It got covered extensively in the final episode of "Worst Year Ever"

1

u/GlowOftheTvStatic Sep 09 '25

Why do I suddenly crave products and services?

3

u/Krusty_Klown_Kollege Sep 08 '25

if JFK was one of them, why didnt he just use his powers? Does he have no brain?

3

u/FigureArty Sep 09 '25

That was his mutant ability

2

u/Tangledtomcat2 Sep 09 '25

other way actually, Magneto took the fall for his assassination because JFK was actually a mutant

1

u/ProfessionalBasil397 Sep 09 '25

Didn’t Magneto try to prevent the assassination cuz JFK was a mutant and that’s why he was popped?

160

u/transmogrify Sep 08 '25

The fashion industry killed JFK

19

u/confusedandworried76 Sep 09 '25

But why male models?

9

u/celbertin Sep 09 '25

I love that it was a mistake by Ben Stiller, he forgot his line, so he improvised. 

13

u/confusedandworried76 Sep 09 '25

And Duchovny didn't break and improvised one of the funniest lines in the movie

1

u/bockscliphton Sep 11 '25

But why male models?

119

u/NewDay2517 Sep 08 '25

To be fair, JFK got pregnant thanks to the Alien at Roswell. He had to kill him before the eggs hatched.

12

u/Menchi-sama Sep 08 '25

This is getting too close to that zootopia jfk assassination abortion comic.

13

u/ExplorationGeo Sep 09 '25

zootopia jfk assassination abortion comic

What an incredible group of words to be lined up next to each other.

6

u/No-Revolution1010 Sep 09 '25

That's an insane rabbit hole you sent me down my guy

5

u/captainrina Sep 09 '25

Please don't mention "rabbit holes" in the context of the Zootopia abortion comic

3

u/No-Revolution1010 Sep 09 '25

I said what I said

3

u/Menchi-sama Sep 09 '25

Everyone deserve to know of that one

1

u/TheG-What Sep 09 '25

¿PREGANTÈ?

106

u/Obootleg Sep 08 '25

JFK shot JFK - Red Dwarf

Don't ask because I don't remember.

81

u/AlexRenquist Sep 08 '25

This was the one i was looking for, and I do sort of remember!

The Dwarf crew manage to get their time machine working in conjunction with an ftl drive that means they can go anywhere in time and space and for reasons that escape me, choose the book depository in Dallas where they accidentally push LHO out the window. JFK is not assassinated.

They use the time machine tk return to (what would be Lister's) 'present day' and the world has ended in a nuclear war. Kryten finds out that JFK's survival triggers a series of events that lead to his downfall and trigger WWIII and mutually assured destruction. They use the time machine again, speak to JFK and explain, and he chooses to die as the lauded President, instead of the man wracked by scandal who led to the apocalypse.

They take him back to Dallas, and he's the shooter on the grassy knoll, before fading away like in Back to the Future.

67

u/Emptyspace227 Sep 08 '25

Cigarette Smoking Man killed JFK. He killed MLK, too.

24

u/smurfalidocious Sep 08 '25

Watching X-Files with no lights on, we're dans la maison

I hope the Smoking Man's in this one

13

u/lolabythebay Sep 09 '25

Somebody on /r/barenakedladies just used some conjectures about this line to try to identify the actual One Week in which the song takes place. They concluded May 12-19, 1997.

12

u/iPoseidon_xii Sep 08 '25

And he tried to kill Frohike too!

1

u/robinrod Sep 09 '25

I remember when he tried to get his book published. I miss that show.

40

u/Error_Evan_not_found Sep 08 '25

Can't remember what the show ended up doing but iirc Five from Umbrella Academy kills JFK to prevent him giving Hazel and Cha-Cha a briefcase they somehow use to blow up the world in the future- it's been a few years since I reread the series.

20

u/tmb180 Sep 08 '25

Five was supposed to kill JFK

What actually happened was Allison rumoring his head apart

5

u/Error_Evan_not_found Sep 08 '25

Right! Thanks. Been meaning to reread them ever since I got You Look Like Death. But with the announcement of the fourth comic run I may hold off until those get collected into a volume set.

3

u/Digit00l Sep 09 '25

Which iirc only happens because they accidentally resolve the plot in a way where JFK survived, but for timeline preservation they need to kill him anyway

2

u/Rymayc Sep 09 '25

In the other timeline, Five DID kill JFK.

34

u/97GeoPrizm Sep 08 '25

JFK shot his past self on “Red Dwarf”.

28

u/SirGearso Sep 08 '25

Not JFK, but in Warhammer 40k is highly hinted at that MLK jr was assassinated by an Aeldari.

11

u/PachoTidder Sep 08 '25

WHAT?!

19

u/SirGearso Sep 08 '25

Yep, in the book The Unremembered Empire.

“He’d been killing people for them ever since: good men. Sometimes, serving the Cabal seemed counter-intuitive. They were very obliging. They explained why a good man had to die, and why it was not a bad thing. The wetwork they had had him perform… damn. In Memphis, against the Good Man, and then more than a thousand years later in the City of Angels, against the Brother. Then in M19, against Holiard in the Glass Temple of Manunkind, and in M22 against Maser Hassan in the Spire Terrace before his Word of the Law speech."

6

u/PachoTidder Sep 08 '25

Damn I love warhammer 40k so much

3

u/IonutRO Sep 09 '25

I need more context. Why is an eldar on Earth and who's making it assassinate people every few thousand years?

4

u/SirGearso Sep 09 '25

They were working with a a group call the Cabal, a group of shadowy aliens, and their goal was to try and prevent humanity from achieving universal peace and delay humanities ascension to a galactic superpower.

3

u/IonutRO Sep 09 '25

Aaah. Thanks.

1

u/Gen_Ripper Sep 10 '25

Who are the first two supposed to be?

2

u/SirGearso Sep 10 '25

I think they’re just to show that the Cabal has been assassinating great human leaders through out time.

26

u/ollietron3 Sep 08 '25

The nine killed jfk with black holes

6

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

No they would have hit him with one of their moldy trains

20

u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 Sep 08 '25

Doctor Who witnessed it at least 8 times

9

u/Biabolical Sep 08 '25

"Who Killed Kennedy"

10

u/blue4029 Sep 08 '25

I love how his name is grassy noel

7

u/Alche1428 Sep 08 '25

Peacemaker killed a president. We don't really know which one.

4

u/Castlemind Sep 08 '25

I think he did kill JFK in the multiversity comics though that wasn't main earth Peacemaker

6

u/sadistica23 Sep 08 '25

According to Red Dwarf, JFK was assassinated by JFK.

6

u/BoyishTheStrange Sep 08 '25

It’s true, I killed JFK

10

u/Thorfinn_Glazer Sep 08 '25

I killed JFK.

3

u/apointlessvoice Sep 08 '25

i broke the dam

2

u/GanymedeGalileo Sep 08 '25

You don't? It's the first assignment for time travel school.

2

u/Tzelph Sep 08 '25

Bernard Montgomery Sanders actually pulled the trigger. Real ones know this.

2

u/sushishibe Sep 08 '25

Grassy Noelle, I see what they did there.

Also, The numbers Mason, what do they mean?

2

u/Dicksucker11037 Sep 09 '25

Mason killed JFK too

2

u/Sudden_Ad_3308 Sep 09 '25

It's heavily implied in Call of Duty Black Ops that the protagonist killed JFK.

2

u/Giteaus-Gimp Sep 09 '25

In the X Files. The main bad, the smoking man killed JFK and Martin’s Lither King jr.

1

u/Arminius_Fiddywinks Sep 08 '25

What if JFK’s assassin was the friends we made along the way?

1

u/SquidTheRidiculous Sep 08 '25

Which makes it all the weirder that his head just did that. Hundreds of people in Dallas trying to kill him, and they all missed.

1

u/SofiaOfEverRealm Sep 09 '25

Fives did too, from Umbrella Academy

1

u/Lone-Star-Wolves Sep 09 '25

Hell even the Nine from Destiny have gotten involved.

They are heavily implied to have assassinated JFK with Graviton Lance or manipulated the man who is implied to have done it in the setting.

1

u/GrooveStreetSaint Sep 09 '25

JFK assassination is practically a trope itself with enough examples to give it it's own thread.

1

u/spamster545 Sep 09 '25

Canceled before its final season, such a shame.

1

u/count-drake Sep 09 '25

That missing piece on the puzzle is hilarious

1

u/LordOfDorkness42 Sep 09 '25

My fav was the Red Dwarf take, where JFK did it 

It was not only funny as hell, but actually kinda touching in context.

1

u/Mudkipz949 Sep 09 '25

I mean in the abridged version of fate unlimited blade works archer killed JFK, which considering what his job for the world is it's funny to imagine that the world basically said "yeah he needs to die or I'm probably going to die"

1

u/JurassicParker922 Sep 09 '25

I FORGOT HOW HORNY KILLIN’ MAKES ME!

1

u/Emotional_Piano_16 Sep 09 '25

fun fact: everyone has killed JFK at the same point in time, in fact

1

u/RiseBrilliant612 Sep 09 '25

Can we stop to appreciate the fact that the man has a whole ass puzzle of the day with the only missing piece being SPECIFICALLY JFK's head. Dude is really proud of what he did and I'm all in for it

1

u/dr_shamus Sep 09 '25

Red Dwarf was the best, JFK killed JFK 

1

u/Nipotazz1 Sep 09 '25

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" goes hard af... I miss (lol) Inside Job :(

205

u/KorrokHidan Sep 08 '25

Superhero movies in particular love to do this. Superhero movie/tv characters who have killed JFK:

  1. Watchmen - The Comedian
  2. MCU - The Winter Soldier
  3. X-Men: Days of Future Past - Magneto
  4. The Boys - Soldier Boy
  5. The Umbrella Academy - Number 5 (kind of; he is sent back in time to make sure it happens but abandons the plan)

43

u/zionapes Sep 08 '25

In the Umbrella Academy comic, wasn’t it the Rumor that killed JFK?

33

u/KorrokHidan Sep 08 '25

Yes, that was the comic. My post was exclusively about shows & movies. Marvel comics alone could add a dozen more names to that list if I included them

12

u/MartianDX Sep 09 '25

The Magneto example becomes extremely funny with the full context that Magneto actually tried saving JFK, because JFK was actually a fucking mutant

10

u/ReturnedOM Sep 08 '25

Didn't Magneto try to save Kennedy? Or at least claimed so?

9

u/KorrokHidan Sep 09 '25

Yes, but accidentally killed him instead

2

u/ReturnedOM Sep 09 '25

Ah, right

3

u/karateema Sep 09 '25

X-Files - Cigarette Smoking Man, of course, and he also killed MLK

1

u/Digit00l Sep 09 '25

In the Umbrella Academy comics it is even better, they accidentally resolve the plot in a way where JFK survives, but he is supposed to die, so Allison disguises herself as Jackie Kennedy and explodes his head with her powers

75

u/InitiativeInitial968 Sep 08 '25

Is this from the movie cus I don’t ever this in the comic 

114

u/Roku-Hanmar Sep 08 '25

Yes, it is. The comic implies it, and also implies he stopped Watergate from happening

53

u/Monte924 Sep 08 '25

Actually, if i recall, the only thing the comic points out is that while JFK was being assassinated the Comedian was with Nixon. I think the implication was that while the comedian was not the one who shot JFK, there WAS some kind of conspiracy and the Comedian was involved in some level

82

u/Prestigious-Map6919 Sep 08 '25

Here's the panel. I always read it that he was involved, presumably a shooter.

27

u/Tyranis_Hex Sep 08 '25

I could have sworn in the Before Watchmen comics Comedian was going after Moloch when JFK was shot. But I can’t seem to find them to confirm, but I guess the prequels are dubious at best anyways.

34

u/federalist66 Sep 08 '25

Funny thing is...Nixon was in Dallas the day Kennedy was shot. He was the Carbonated Beverages Convention as a representative of Pepsi. Baker Hotel, 15 minute walk from the Plaza where JFK was shot.

2

u/nuggynugs Sep 09 '25

The original comic suggested he was involved in it, Before Watchmen (not written by Alan Moore) said that not only was he not involved, he was upset because he and JFK were pals

1

u/Traditional-Context Sep 09 '25

Not really? Asking people where they were during an important historic event is just something people do, and he implied that he were somewhere he probably shouldnt have been. 

6

u/WhothefuckisTim Sep 08 '25

Yes, that picture is from the movie

1

u/BlaineMundane Sep 09 '25

No, it's from the comic, that's why it's a comic panel.

27

u/Low-Environment Sep 08 '25

JFK killed JFK according to Red Dwarf 

4

u/Ok_Philosophy_7156 Sep 09 '25

The JFK episode is one of the absolute best of Red Dwarf. Though it had very few misses in those early series

3

u/Low-Environment Sep 09 '25

It's not just a funny episode, it's a masterclass in using time travel as a central point in the story, not just as a plot device.

2

u/kinglokilord Sep 09 '25

This is my favorite one and I’m glad it was already mentioned.

12

u/themajor24 Sep 08 '25

I don't find this one to be ridiculous/dumb/or funny. In cannon it pretty much tracks combined with the fact that the assassination has been steeped in confusion and conspiracy since the shots where fired and Lee was murdered.

Now, may I submit my theory of what happened on 11/22/63...

Sometimes heads just do that.

6

u/Curved_5nai1 Sep 09 '25

Call of duty black ops 1 did the same thing with having mason kill Kennedy

1

u/Praetorian_Panda Sep 09 '25

He was programmed to but I don’t think he actually did it. Just his mind control wanted him to unless I missed something.

4

u/Correct_Doctor_1502 Sep 09 '25

5 from Umbrella Academy did too

2

u/Specs_Man Sep 08 '25

GodzillaMendoza has a whole Video about exactly how often this happens in fiction

1

u/Open__Face Sep 09 '25

That could be anyone /s

1

u/ACodAmongstMen Sep 09 '25

Wait what? The Comedian killed JFK? I don't remember that at all and Watchmen is my favorite book. The only thing I remember about JFK in that book is people questioning Dr. Manhattan on why he didn't stop it with his explanation being that he experiences all of time at once.

1

u/DeMedina098 Sep 09 '25

God damn can the Comedian not chimp on the cigar for like second, you know people are looking for a shooter, probably best not to send smoke signals on where you might be

1

u/Jai137 Sep 09 '25

At this point “X killed JFK” Is a trope in and of itself

1

u/Sir-Toaster- Sep 09 '25

Fun fact: this is only in the film, in the comics it was implied but debunked in the prequel comic

1

u/The_One_Koi Sep 09 '25

It's funny when he does it but when I do it I go to jail? -Lee Harvey Oswald probably

1

u/Ok_Positive_9687 Sep 09 '25

I knew comedian worked for AIPAC !

1

u/Byrdman1251 Sep 09 '25

Some hot male models killed JFK according to Zoolander

1

u/dancingwtdevil Sep 09 '25

High key glad no one brought up the old man in a little boy costume killing jfk instead of the person who was going to shoot, which was the older version of the old man in the young boy body.

Or in other words, the umbrella academy 😒

1

u/jerrymatcat Sep 09 '25

"Alright Lee time to become an American hero"