History Main / AmericaSavesTheDay

* ''Armageddon'''s {{Dueling Movie|s}} ''Film/DeepImpact'' also had an all-American crew of astronauts heading out to destroy the world-ending comet, notwithstanding the token Russian cosmonaut. Worse, the smaller comet landed in the Atlantic; that this also affected Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean was passed over in ''one line'' of a speech.

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

** As a reversal of their being the bad guys of ''The Shooting Star'', perhaps... later editions replace the stars and stripes of the rival ship with an anonymous white star on black. The villain is still a gangster stereotype with UnfortunateImplications given later world events (fat, balding, black suit, little glasses, big nose and lips), but now is not explicitly identified as American.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals: The first game plays it straight with the US Military succeeding where the Chinese Military failed and successfully invading the GLA's capital, with a dramatic ending (presumably in Hong Kong) depicting the unnamed President doing a speech with Marines by his side during a press release, being cheered by onlooking civilians with an airshow of Air Force and Army aircraft flying overhead. Subverted in the follow up Zero Hour, Although America (in the first campaign) '''virtually''' defeats the GLA and saves the world during the US campaign. The GLA makes a comeback and drives the US out of Europe during '''their''' campaign, and China (in the final campaign) comes in to save the day during '''their''' campaign. That's right, America is handed its own ass and Communist China are the big heroes. All that and it still wasn't enough to keep it from getting banned in China.
* The universe of ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' plays with this trope like a cat's cradle. The times when Snake (any of them) is acting as an American agent, the trope is played straight; when Snake is a free agent as part of Philanthropy, the American military is sometimes portrayed as not helping with or '''contributing''' to a problem (like the tanker incident in ''[=MGS2=]''), and sometimes as coming to Snake's aid (like the U.S.S. Missouri's [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Battleship]] moment in ''[=MGS4=]''). In the end, the United States is just as much at the mercy of the machinations going on behind the scenes as the rest of the world. What it really boils down to: [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots Snake Saves The Day From The Metal Gear Solid 3 Cast]]]].
* ''Heavily'' subverted in the VideoGame/ModernWarfare series of games:

* In ''Series/{{Helix}}'', this is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Dr. Sarah Jordan when she points out to their army liaison that neither the CDC nor USAMRIID should have jurisdiction over an outbreak at an Arctic Biosystems research facility, as its in international territory. Major Balleseros {{handwave}}s this away, noting they've been allowed temporary access as the first to receive a distress call.

* When All for One and Tomura Shigaraki's forces grow exponentially more powerful in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia's'' final arc, the United States decides to bring in their current no.1 Hero, Star and Stripe, to put a stop to Shigaraki (and they are the only country noted to do so). Subverted in that while she ''is'' immensely powerful and likely would have won since she ordered Shigaraki's heart to stop, it only ends in her disintegration and the situation getting worse. It’s something of a zigzag because while she does die, she manages to get out a final order to make her quirk rebel against other quirks. This annhilates a lot of All For One’s accumulated stolen quirks before he can get rid of it and likely makes it that much easier for his opponents in the final battle, [[spoiler: Armored All Might and Bakugo]]

* When All for One and Tomura Shigaraki's forces grow exponentially more powerful in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia's'' final arc, the United States decides to bring in their current no.1 Hero, Star and Stripe, to put a stop to Shigaraki (and they are the only country noted to do so). Subverted in that while she ''is'' immensely powerful and likely would have won since she ordered Shigaraki's heart to stop, it only ends in her disintegration and the situation getting worse. It’s something of a zigzag because while she does die, she manages to get out a final order to make her quirk rebel against other quirks. This annhilates a lot of All For One’s accumulated stolen quirks before he can get rid of it and likely makes it that much easier for his opponents in the final battle, [[Spoiler:Armored All Might and Bakugo]]

* When All for One and Tomura Shigaraki's forces grow exponentially more powerful in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia's'' final arc, the United States decides to bring in their current no.1 Hero, Star and Stripe, to put a stop to Shigaraki (and they are the only country noted to do so). Subverted in that while she ''is'' immensely powerful and likely would have won since she ordered Shigaraki's heart to stop, it only ends in her disintegration and the situation getting worse. It’s something of a {{Zigzag}} because while she does die, she manages to get out a final order to make her quirk rebel against other quirks. This annhilates a lot of All For One’s accumulated stolen quirks before he can get rid of it and likely makes it that much easier for his opponents in the final battle, [[Spoiler:Armored All Might and Bakugo]]

* When All for One and Tomura Shigaraki's forces grow exponentially more powerful in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia's'' final arc, the United States decides to bring in their current no.1 Hero, Star and Stripe, to put a stop to Shigaraki (and they are the only country noted to do so). Subverted in that while she ''is'' immensely powerful and likely would have won since she ordered Shigaraki's heart to stop, it only ends in her disintegration and the situation getting worse.

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Ssali, the only American in the film, is the one who captures Black and hands her over to the police.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals: The first game plays it straight with the US Military succeeding where the Chinese Military failed and successfully invading the GLA's capital, with a dramatic ending (presumably in Hong Kong) depicting the unnamed President doing a speech by Marines by his side being cheered by onlooking civilians with an airshow of Air Force and Army aircraft flying overhead. Subverted in the follow up Zero Hour, Although America (in the first campaign) '''virtually''' defeats the GLA and saves the world during the US campaign. The GLA makes a comeback and drives the US out of Europe during '''their''' campaign, and China (in the final campaign) comes in to save the day during '''their''' campaign. That's right, America is handed its own ass and Communist China are the big heroes. All that and it still wasn't enough to keep it from getting banned in China.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals: Zero Hour''. America '''virtually''' defeats the GLA and saves the world during the US campaign. The GLA makes a comeback and drives the US out of Europe during '''their''' campaign, and China comes in to save the day during '''their''' campaign. That's right, America is handed its own ass and Communist China are the big heroes. All that and it still wasn't enough to keep it from getting banned in China.

->''"America, fuck yeah! Coming again to save the motherfuckin' day, yeah!"''
-->-- ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice''

%% One quote. Extras go on the quotes tab.
[[caption-width-right:350:He wants YOU, Americans, to kick bad guys in the face!]]
%%

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/america_saves_the_day.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm the hero!"'']]

->''"America, fuck yeah! Coming again to save the motherfuckin' day, yeah!"''
-->-- ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice''

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'' also subverts this, with the final mission of the Americans being more of a portrayal of rest of the Marines being fortunate enough to survive and go home after a final massive assault against; whilst they spend their missions clearly struggling and being ground down by the resilient and fanatical Japanese defenders. The final mission of the game which better evokes a feeling of victory is won by the Russians taking the Reichstag in Germany. [[AnachronicOrder To be technical though, the American Marines chronologically finish the war.]] On the other hand, the Russians' missions themselves make their [[WarIsHell front seem pointlessly brutal]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Film/BlackHawkDown'': {{Inverted|Trope}}. The Americans are only able to get their besieged men out of the city [[TheCavalry with the help of mechanised units from the Malaysian and Pakistani army]]. [[DoubleSubvertedTrope Of course]], the Malaysian units never make an appearance, and the Pakistani unit is shown to be as useless as possible (which going by the accounts of the people there is TruthInTelevision - they conducted themselves very poorly).

* The comet in ''Film/DontLookUp'' is a threat to the whole Earth, and yet America is the only country able to do anything. It takes months after Isherwell's plan is revealed for any other country to even consider doing anything themselves, and even then it takes Russia, China and India combined to replicate America's original plan (something that they had needed basically zero preparation to do). [[spoiler: And while the American attempt was shown to be going remarkably well, with the implication it would have worked if it wasn't called back, their attempt fails. And they are unable to attempt it a second time, and no other country can. Even worse when you consider that Isherwell's plan, a complete disaster, is still more successful than that by virtue of at least making it to space).]]

* ''Series/TwentyFour'' employs this trope in the sixth season, where the American CTU not only has to save America from terrorists, but also has to [[spoiler: recover a device stolen from the Russians by the Chinese, to stop World War III from happening. Yes, really.]]

* The universe of ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' plays with this trope like a cat's cradle. The times when Snake (any of them) is acting as an American agent, the trope is played straight; when Snake is a free agent as part of Philanthropy, the American military is sometimes portrayed as not helping with or '''contributing''' to a problem (like the tanker incident in ''[=MGS2=]''), and sometimes as coming to Snake's aid (like the U.S.S. Missouri's [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Battleship]] moment in ''[=MGS4=]''). In the end, the United States is just as much at the mercy of the machinations going on behind the scenes as the rest of the world. What it really boils down to: [[spoiler: [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots Snake Saves The Day From The Metal Gear Solid 3 Cast]]]].

** In ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'', it's the [[spoiler:Americans who get screwed over by their "no man left behind" policy. Your character's chopper is turned around to rescue a fellow pilot, which means that your squadron isn't out the blast range when a nuclear bomb goes off. There's also the fact that the entire sequence is played up to show how bull-headed and belligerent the US is compared to the methodical British SAS. It's the British SAS who save the day, though the American military does help some near the end - a joint Marines/SAS mission to avoid nuclear strikes on both Moscow and Washington D.C. The Brits still fire the final shot of the conflict though. There's also cooperation from the Russian Federation's government itself, which aids the SAS in its ongoing Civil War]]. The Spectre gunship is not normally available to the British armed forces. Fortunately we have allies with a big stick, and leaders who know a good weapon when they borrow one.

** The inversion is even more pronounced in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareII'', as [[spoiler: you don't even play as a member of US military for the entirety of the campaign (save for few contractors of the unsanctioned Shadow Company PMC), instead the two primary playable characters, and their squadmates are British SAS operators in Task Force 141, with help from Mexican Special Forces and token American goodie Laswell. Considering the mess they are cleaning up is Iranian terrorists attacking the US thanks to a US Army General who screws up his illegal dealings and ordering the assassination of their General, this is a scenario where foreigners literally have to save the US from the consequences of their leaders' actions. To drive point home of the inversion, the game even depicted the American mercenaries in Las Almas carrying out the same atrocities as their Russian counterparts did in Urzikstan.]]

** The logic behind this trope - and the downfall of thinking like that - is demonstrated in the backstory. The whole in-universe idea of X-COM originally came from a Japanese unit called the Kiryu-Kai, who were disbanded after five months with no success in intercepting [=UFOs=] precisely because the aliens are a '''worldwide''' threat that '''everyone''' needs to contribute to solving, thus leading to the formation of the multinational X-COM after Kiryu-Kai's disbandment.

* Sardonically referenced in dark comedy podcast, ''Podcast/FatFrenchAndFabulous''. Janel, one of the hosts, is particularly skeptical of American military adveturism, as she herself works with veterens.
-->'''Janel''': "We have orange juice and tomato juice... and we also have intercontinental death and destruction. Would you like cookies or pretzels? Or a forever war against terrorism?"
-->'''Jessica''':Forever war? Okay, well, I'm going to give you another napkin. That could get messy."

-->'''British dude''': Smith! I don't need your help!\\
'''Stan''': Nobody needs America's help! Until they need it!

* Painfully subverted in ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'' in which US troops help reinhabit a small portion of London amidst a previously rage infested United Kingdom. Needless to say [[spoiler:a sane rage host inadvertently infects her husband, resulting in a mass reintroduction of rage to the ''barricaded'' refugee population.]]

** In ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'', it's the [[spoiler:Americans who get screwed over by their "no man left behind" policy. Your character's chopper is turned around to rescue a fellow pilot, which means that your squadron isn't out the blast range when a nuclear bomb goes off. There's also the fact that the entire sequence is played up to show how bull-headed and belligerent the US is compared to the methodical British SAS. It's the British SAS who save the day, though the American military does help some near the end - a joint Marines/SAS mission to avoid nuclear strikes on both Moscow and Washington D.C. The Brits still fire the final shot of the conflict though. There's also cooperation from the Russian Federation's government itself, which aids the SAS in its ongoing Civil War]]. The Spectre gunship is not normally available to the British armed forces. Fortunately we have allies with a big stick, and leaders who know a good weapon when they borrow one.
** In ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'', it's the [[spoiler:British again, this time working on taking down a '''rogue American general''' who was in command of the troops that got nuked from the first game. That's right, not only is it American Doesn't Save The Day, it's The British Save The Day From America. Granted, General Shepherd's plan has more-or-less succeeded, and the open war between the US and Russia that he wanted is pretty much a guarantee, but still...]]
** In ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3'', it's played [[spoiler:more straight, with the Americans doing the bulk of the fighting throughout World War III, sending large numbers of US troops over to Europe to help fight against a Russian Invasion, which to be fair, would be TruthInTelevision in reality. However, the main focus of the plot is once again on the British (assisted by a couple of Russians no less) trying to capture and stop Ultranationalist terrorist Makarov who played a role in the previous games, although the Americans do help on multiple occassions, including rescuing the Russian President. Ironically, the final act of the game, and the trilogy, focuses on a British soldier (Price) fighting alongside one of the before mentioned Russians to finish Makarov off once and for all]].

** The inversion is even more pronounced in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfareII'', as [[spoiler: you don't even play as a US military member for the entirety of the campaign (save for few times you play as contractors of the unsanctioned Shadow Company PMC), instead the two primary playable characters, and their squadmates are British SAS operators in Task Force 141, with help from Mexican Special Forces and token American goodie Laswell. Considering the mess they are cleaning up is Iranian terrorists attacking the US thanks to a US Army General who screws up his illegal dealings and ordering the assassination of their General, this is a scenario where foreigner literally have save the US from the consequences of their leaders' actions. To drive point home of the inversion, the game even depicted the American mercenaries in Las Almas carrying out the same atrocities as their Russian counterpart in Urzikstan.]]

** Again happens in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2019'', as [[spoiler:the US is playing a more underhanded role alongside the UK in Urzikistan in assisting a resistance group called the ULF against both a terrorist faction and a rogue Russian Force, both to help in freeing the country and the recovery/destruction of a chemical weapon. Towards the end of the story, officially at least, the US brands the ULF as a terrorist group, leaving British SAS operatives and a few Americans to unofficially assist the ULF in the finale. Yes. It's a Resistance group, branded ''terrorists by the US'', that saves the day, albeit with unofficial assistance. Of course given the nature of this particular game, it's hard to say if it's really 'saving the day' due to the more underhanded nature of it]].

* The trope's presence in ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'' is sensible (but also ''heavily'' {{Lampshaded}}). As one of the few space faring nations, only America has the necessary technology and infrastructure to build the equipment necessary to destroy the asteroid. The Russians do provide support in the form of a refueling station. The team NASA sends is purely American, except for the Russian cosmonaut from the station.

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/annotation_2020_06_06_142001.png]]]]