History Main / TheCaptain

The Captain — from the Latin ''caput'', meaning "head" — is [[{{Leader}} in charge]]. The Commanding Officer of TheSquad or the CommandRoster. [[Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI It's good to be the Captain]]. Whether this character is the MissionControl or actually working in the field, he/she is clearly the one running things. Any CoolShip must have The Captain — no matter whether it's a CoolBoat, a CoolStarship, or a CoolAirship. He is expected to [[GoingDownWithTheShip stay with that ship no matter what]]. And any Captain must have a CaptainsLog.

* Captain Raynor of ''VideoGame/StarCraft''. Doesn't really look like one, but besides that, he fits the trope to the letter.

*** And on that note, Christopher Kraft, who essentially created the position of Flight Director, served as Flight Director through many of the most important moments of the Mercury and Gemini programs, and, in the wake of John Glenn's problematic Mercury-Atlas 6 flight, was the one who decreed that Flight has the final say in Mission Control. As Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} states, "More than any other person, Kraft was responsible for shaping the organization and culture of NASA's Mission Control."

* ''Church'' in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', while the de-facto leader of the titular Blues, is the only one to actually consider himself a Captain, despite their previous Captain's death occurring prior to the start of the series.

* Colonel Sharpe in ''Film/{{Armageddon}}''.

* ''Series/Avenue5'': The core of the show is a subversion of The Captain trope with Creator/HughLaurie playing gruff American Captain Ryan Clark, who [[spoiler: is revealed to be an Englishman doing an American accent and who was hired to handle and reassure the passengers because the real captain didn't the social skills to do so.]]

* Kaladin Stormblessed from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''. When he was injured and likely to die, Gaz tried to assign his crew a new bridgeleader. His men just started calling Kaladin Captain instead. Later he got [[spoiler:the title officially as after being made leader of Highprince Dalinar's bodyguards. Dalinar notes the position should probably carry a higher rank, but he can't promote a [[FantasticCasteSystem dark-eyed man higher than Captain]], without upseting a lot of people by ignoring normal social convetions]].

* Kaladin Stormblessed from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''. When he was injured and likely to die, Gaz tried to assign his crew a new bridgeleader. His men just started calling Kaladin Captain instead. Later he got that title officially, [[spoiler: when he became the head of Highprince Dalinar's bodyguards]].

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy Captain Miller of the ''Film/EventHorizon'', portrayed by Creator/LaurenceFishburne.

* Carol Freeman (''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'') is notable in that her daughter (Ensign Beckett Mariner) serves under her. ''Lower Decks'' also features the now Captain Riker aboard the ''Titan''.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy'': 17 year old Dal appoints himself as Captain of the RagtagBandOfMisfits who have stolen the ''Protostar'', passing themselves off as Starfleet cadets to the resident Emergency Training Hologram, who herself appears in the form of Captain Janeway. As it turns out, the ''Protostar'' was previously captained by former ''Voyager'' First Officer Chakotay.

* ''Series/TheLastShip'': Commander Tom Chandler, the captain of the US navy destroyer ''USS Nathan James'' must deal with TheEndOfTheWorld when an outbreak of [[SyntheticPlague the red flu]] wipes out most of the human population with only scattered bands of survivors. After finding a cure, distributing it and preventing yet another outbreak of a mutated version, Chandler is promoted to Admiral and is designated Chief of Naval Operations. His XO Mike Slattery becomes the new captain and has to deal with a new “red rust” plague and a resurgent China. He too gets promoted to Admiral by season’s end. The last season sees Kara Foster-Green, a lowly lieutenant for the first two seasons RankUp and take command of the ''Nathan James''.

* ''Series/TheLastShip'': Commander Tom Chandler, the captain of the US navy destroyer ''USS Nathan James'' must deal with TheEndOfTheWorld when an outbreak of [[SyntheticPlague the red flu]] wipes out most of the human population with only scattered bands of survivors. After finding a cure, distributing it and preventing yet another outbreak of a mutated version, Chandler is promoted to Admiral and is designated Chief of Naval Operations. His XO Tom Slattery becomes the new captain and has to deal with a new “red rust” plague and a resurgent China. He too gets promoted to Admiral by season’s end. The last season sees Kara Green, a lowly lieutenant for the first two seasons RankUp and take command of the ''Nathan James''.

*** In ''Countdown'', Data (BackFromTheDead) is shown to succeed Picard as TheCaptain of the ''Enterprise''.

** Major Kira gets promoted to {{Colonel|Badass}}, and takes over when Sisko [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence joins the Prophets]]. In [[Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch the relaunch novels]], new character Elias Vaughn takes over her position as XO. (Vaughn himself later succeeds Kira as The Captain, although as a result of a TimeSkip this period has yet to be chronicled.)

* [[Creator/MichelleYeoh Philippa Georgiou]] of the USS ''Shenzhou'' and [[Creator/JasonIsaacs Gabriel Lorca]] of the USS ''Discovery'' (''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''). Notably, Lorca is later revealed to be a [[spoiler:ShellShockedVeteran from the loss of his previous ship USS ''Buran'', being forced to kill his own crew to spare them from Klingon captivity]]. And then even later revealed to be [[spoiler: ''pretending'' to be a ShellShockedVeteran to cover the fact that he's really the Lorca from the MirrorUniverse, having switched places around the time of the ''Buran''[='s=] destruction.]] By the end of Season 1, [[spoiler:[[Creator/DougJones Saru]] becomes acting captain of the ''Discovery'', having grown from a coward to a leader]]. In the MirrorUniverse, Sylvia "Killy" Tilly is the captain of the ISS ''Discovery'' ([[spoiler:well, she was, but the Mirror!''Discovery'' was destroyed by Prime!Klingons after swapping with the USS ''Discovery'']]), while Michael Burnham is the captain of the ISS ''Shenzhou''. In addition, [[spoiler:Emperor Phillipa Georgiou]] is in command of the flagship ISS ''Charon'', before briefly taking command of the [[spoiler:USS ''Discovery'' while impersonating Prime!Georgiou]]. In Season 2, Christopher Pike assumes command of ''Discovery'' and falls neatly into this trope.

** Mamoru Endou from ''Anime/InazumaEleven'' and his successor, Tenma Matsukaze.

*** Upon receiving notification of a passenger liner in distress, Captain Rostron gave the following orders: wake all off-watch personnel, sailors and hospitality staff alike; Navigator, plot ''Titanic'''s position and best course to reach her; boiler rooms light everything and put up all the steam they possibly can; Engineers shut off nonessential systems and divert all steam power to the screws for maximum speed; deckhands rig additional lighting outside the ship, run out the boats, rig lifelines, and post an extra watch to look out for hazards and survivors in the water; stewards and maids gather every available blanket and heat them in the ship's laundry, and set up the ship's parlors, lounges, and dining areas as emergency shelters; cooks prepare hot soup and brandy in large quantities to help treat hypothermia. Only after these orders were issued did Rostron tell his radioman to get confirmation of the distress call. [[RealMenLoveJesus He also regularly offered up a prayer when he issued orders]], and later talked about steaming full speed into an ice field in the dark "I can only conclude [[DivineIntervention another hand than mine]] was on the helm." This is how Sir Arthur Henry Rostron [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever KBE RD RNR]] handled an emergency.

* Captain Dylan Hunt of the ''Series/{{Andromeda}} Ascendant'' fits the bill. Captain Beka Valentine of the ''Eureka Maru'' fits as well.