History Main / PropagandaHero

* In ''LightNovel/MaoyuuMaouYuusha'', [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Hero]] was this before the story began, as the human leaders cast him as the human savior against demons. [[{{Reconstruction}} Reconstructed]] after allying with the Demon Queen to SaveBothWorlds, as he is increasingly aware of his status as a Propaganda Hero. He also begins to take control of his own propaganda in the guise of Dark Knight, Demon Queen's loyal and fearsome servant.

* Capitão Falcão, from the eponymous film (released in Algophone markets as ''Film/ThePortugueseFalcon'' is definitely this - a CaptainPatriotic in the service of UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar's fascist regime, his sworn nemeses are the dreaded [[DirtyCommunists communists]] and [[StrawFeminist feminists]].

* Capitão Falcão, from the eponymous film (released in Algophone markets as ''Film/ThePortugueseFalcon'' is definitely this - a CaptainPatriotic in the service of UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar's fascist regime, his sworn nemeses are the dreaded [[DirtyCommunists communists]] and [[StrawFeminists feminists]].

* Capitão Falcão, from the eponymous film (released in Algophone markets as ''Film/ThePortugueseFalcon'' is definitely this - a CaptainPatriotic in the service of UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar's fascist regime, his sworn nemeses are the dreaded DirtyCommunists and StrawFeminists.

* Creator/SergeiEisenstein's ''Film/AlexanderNevsky'' was intended by him to be an anti-fascist propaganda piece, with the Prince of Novgorod's resistance to the Teutonic Knights being likened to a Soviet v Nazi encounter.[[note]]In real-life, the film played for a short while and was shelved with the announcement of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Then revived again in 1941 to global success when Hitler launched Captain Barbarossa.[[/note]]

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* ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'': Vassily's backstory and [[FriendlySniper natural talent]] are eagerly exploited by the Russian war department, who are desperate for a way to boost morale. At one point Vassily is seen answering fan mail, trying to get to as many as possible, as "I might not be here today".

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Part of Veronica Cale's attack on WonderWoman includes accusing her of using her position as a hero to become an icon for young girls and indoctrinate them with Themysciran ideology, including the worship of the Classical Greek pantheon.

* ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'': Vassily's backstory and [[FriendlySniper natural talent]] are eagerly exploited by the Russian war department, who are desperate for a way to boost morale.

** The Shichibukai/Seven Warlords of the Sea are pirates sanctioned by the (generally opposed to piracy) World Government. This is to maintain the appearance of a balance of power with the strongest pirates, to show that pirates still fall under the control of the government, and emergency allies in case of war. The Warlords get immunity for most acts of piracy for their compliance, as well as fame.

* The '' Videogame/{{Overwatch}}'' short ''Shooting Star'' reveals that Hana Song ka D.Va is this to the Republic of Korea. The media hypes up the supposed glamour of her lifestyle to keep up public morale and to keep people from realizing just how bad the situation with the Gwishin attacks actually is. Hana Song has no illusions about how dire things are and is actually quite the workaholic off-camera. She only ''acts'' bubbly in public to keep everyone's spirits up.

* ''ComicBook/{{Uber}}'': When the Nazis develop {{Super Soldier}}s at the end of World War II, prolonging the conflict significantly, the "Übers" quickly become figures in Nazi propaganda, particularly Siegfried and Sieglinde, both of whom seem to embody the Nazi phenotypical ideal of being blonde, tall, and having a HeroicBuild. Of course, since we're talking about Nazis, they're all ruthlessly massacring enemy soldiers and civilians alike.

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'': The superheroes are all created by a serum that is dispensed by a MegaCorp that desperately wants to turn said superheroes into human weapons so they can get all the money and power that comes from being a part of US defense spending. Having failed to do that so far, they settle for peddling lame, Silver Age style stories that people eat up and make them imagine the heroes are saving the world on a daily basis. Of particular note is the ComicBook/CaptainAmerica CaptainErsatz, who is a DirtyCoward whose WWII heroism was faked and pure propaganda (which is incredibly meta, considering Captain America also appears in this list).

** An example of this is the conversio][n of the Ste. Genevieve into the Pantheon, a hall of fame mausoleum where the Great Thinkers, Philosophers, and Politicians could be interred. Both Creator/{{Voltaire}} and Creator/JeanJacquesRousseau were interred there.

* John Henry, the famous "steel drivin' man" of song and story. From what little is known, he really did win his famous duel against the steam drill, a truly herculean feat that required him to [[DualWielding swing a 12 pound sledgehammer in each hand]]. While it's probably not true he then "laid down his hammer and died" afterwards, the steam drill was able to repeat the feet the next day and John Henry was not. Over the years, various people have re-purposed an event that was probably staged to settle a bet into everything from the story of a generically American folk hero to a specifically African-American folk hero to a heroic labor action. As for the real John Henry, his name appears in the pension records of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and and the Norfolk and Western Railroad later named a powerful experimental locomotive after him.

** Perhaps the most notorious case is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya_Jabrayilov Ahmadiyya Jabrayilov]]. His legend includes heroically fighting in the Red Army, getting captured after being surrounded, vastly outnumbered and rendered unconscious, fleeing from a German concentration camp by [[HighHeelFaceTurn hooking up with a local girl]] and BuriedAlive, fighting just as heroically in the French Resistance, with daring raids and taking part in liberating a few key cities towards the end of the war, and becoming a personal friend of Charles de Gaulle who specifically wanted to meet him during his later visit to the USSR. There are monuments and museums of him in Azerbaijan and France, complete with photos, medals and memorabilia... Then the Russian Wikipedia's article about him is deleted after the editors find out that likely '''''nothing''''' of what is known about him is true.

* The word Propaganda originates from a Catholic Church group called Committee for Propagating the Faith (Congregatio de Propaganda Fide), whose main function was to spread the faith in non-Catholic nations. Later historians argue that PatronSaint, pious Kings, Popes, and devout nuns have at various times become heroes for propaganda use by the Church, and one of the techniques used by the Church in modern times includes distributing comics showing famous saints and likewise using many saint iconography interchangeably with Jesus.

* In ''Comicbook/DCComicsBombshells'', Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} and Comicbook/{{Stargirl}} are intended to be this for the Soviets. When they get used as weapons against their own people they defect to the US. As members of the Bombshells, they're offered stars and stripes uniforms, but refuse them, saying they don't want to be ''anyone'''s propaganda tool.

** In the Fishman Island arc, Jinbe points to Luffy that, due to the FantasticRacism between fishmen and humans, if Luffy wants to beat the BigBad Hody, he has to come out of it as a "hero" for Fishman Island (as Hody is pretty much terrorizing the populace) or it'll be seen as just more cruelty of humans towards fishmen.

** Perhaps the most notorious case is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya_Jabrayilov Ahmadiyya Jabrayilov]]. His legend includes heroically fighting in the Red Army, getting captured after being surrounded, vastly outnumbered and rendered unconscious, fleeing from a German concentration camp by [[HighHeelFaceTurn hooking up with a local girl]] and BuriedAlive, fighting just as heroically in the French Resistance, with daring raids and taking part in liberating a few key cities towards the end of the war, and becoming a personal friend of Charles de Gaulle who specifically wanted to meet him during his later visit to the USSR. There are monuments and museums of him in Azerbaijan and France, complete with photos, medals and memorabilia... Then the Russian Wikipedia's article about him is deleted after the editors find out that probably '''''nothing''''' of what is known about him is true.

** Perhaps the most notorious case is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya_Jabrayilov Ahmadiyya Jabrayilov]]. His legend includes heroically fighting in the Red Army, getting captured after being surrounded, vastly outnumbered and rendered unconscious, fleeing from a German concentration camp by hooking up with a local girl and BuriedAlive, fighting just as heroically in the French Resistance, with daring raids and taking part in liberating a few key cities towards the end of the war, and becoming a personal friend of Charles de Gaulle who specifically wanted to meet him during his later visit to the USSR. There are monuments and museums of him in Azerbaijan and France, complete with photos, medals and memorabilia... Then the Russian Wikipedia's article about him is deleted after the editors find out that probably '''''nothing''''' of what is known about him is true.

** Perhaps the most notorious case is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya_Jabrayilov Ahmadiyya Jabrayilov]]. His legend includes heroically fighting in the Red Army, getting captured after being vastly outnumbered, fleeing from a German concentration camp by hooking up with a local girl and BuriedAlive, fighting just as heroically in the French Resistance, with daring raids and taking part in liberating a few key cities towards the end of the war, and being a personal friend of Charles de Gaulle who specifically wanted to meet him during his later visit to the USSR. There are monuments and museums of him in Azerbaijan and France, complete with photos, medals and memorabilia... Then the Russian Wikipedia's article about him is deleted after the editors find out that probably '''''nothing''''' of what is known about him is true.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Bombshells}}'', Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} and Comicbook/{{Stargirl}} are intended to be this for the Soviets. When they get used as weapons against their own people they defect to the US. As members of the Bombshells, they're offered stars and stripes uniforms, but refuse them, saying they don't want to be ''anyone'''s propaganda tool.