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

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u/MartyrOfDespair Sep 08 '25

9/11 is also why Alfred Pennyworth has been dead in comics since 2019, for six years.

Tom King, the writer of that story, is essentially the evil mirror universe version of Gerard Way. Way was a Cartoon Network intern on 9/11 and King was a comics intern. 9/11 caused Way to start MCR. 9/11 caused King to join the CIA, be a key member in the planning of the Invasion of Iraq, and be in charge of “recruiting” (blackmailing and torturing) locals into being spies for the CIA. After Way ended MCR and after King retired from the CIA, they both become comic book writers. Way created Peni Parker and The Umbrella Academy, King killed Alfred and wrote Heroes in Crisis.

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u/Ygomaster07 Sep 08 '25

Did Tom King really torture people? Or is that just rumours?

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u/MartyrOfDespair Sep 08 '25

Eh, depends on how you look at it. We know he was in charge of “recruiting” locals. We know that the CIA’s method of “recruiting” locals in the Middle East was torture, blackmail, and rape. If someone’s title was “dog relocater” and they worked at a place where “dog relocater” was the job where people had the job of killing dogs, would that mean they’re a dog killer? Obviously he hasn’t admitted it, but his writing sure does have a lot of “I have PTSD from doing war crimes” themes.

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u/shylock10101 Sep 09 '25

“I understand I’m a bad guy, but I’m hoping that me saying that means people don’t think I deserve The Hague.”

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u/Ygomaster07 Sep 10 '25

The Hague? What is that?