History Main / TheGeneralissimo

* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': Corto Maltese is a small island nation off South America who recently gone through a military coup against the brutal pro-American Herrara family, which has replaced them with the [[FullCircleRevolution equally brutal]] anti-American general Silvio Luna. [[spoiler:After Harley shoots him dead, his right-hand man General Mateo Suarez takes over briefly before dying. When the generals are debating who to replace Mateo, pro-democracy rebels burst in and shoot them all dead after a general stupidly goes for his sidearm.]]

* The Literature/{{Discworld}} of Creator/AAPessimal introduces the UpToEleven LatinLand of Paraquat, which is of course ruled benevolently and wisely out of its capital city La Ciudad del Generalissimo Augusto Richochet by the Head Of Everything and President For Life, Generalissimo Augusto Richochet.

* The setting of ''Videogame/Brigador'' is the city of Solo Nobre, which was ruled by a man who is literally known as Great Leader. Great Leader rose to power through a revolution that chased the corporations that previously owned the city offworld, and his government was a corrupt dictatorship that enforced its rule through martial law. The game begins a few hours after Great Leader's sudden death, with the city erupting into widespread violence as various political factions try to gain power.

A SubTrope of EvilOverlord, as well as TheCaligula in some cases. The militaristic leader of a [[FictionalCountry fictional third world state or nation]] (often located in [[BananaRepublic Latin America]], [[{{Ruritania}} Central or Eastern Europe]], [[{{Bulungi}} sub-Saharan Africa]], or [[{{Qurac}} the Middle East/North Africa]]). Almost invariably rules a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or a BananaRepublic, though other flavors of [[TheDictatorship dictatorship]] are not unheard of. Almost AlwaysMale, and often either LargeAndInCharge or TheNapoleon[=/=]MisterBig. If they do have families, they will naturally be ThePatriarch as a parent.

* ComicStrip/{{Nero}}: The series poked fun at both real-life dictators such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein, UsefulNotes/FidelCastro, as well as self-created ones, like Daris, a Mexican dictator introduced in ''De Man Zonder Gezicht''.

Sub-Saharan Africa is another common location. Usually, generalissimos from this region are based on UsefulNotes/IdiAmin and [[UsefulNotes/{{Liberia}} Charles Taylor]], but others, such as [[UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}} Siad Barre]], [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent-Desire Kabila]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Nigeria}} Sani Abacha]], [[UsefulNotes/BurkinaFaso Thomas Sankara]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Mali}} Moussa Traoré]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Zimbabwe}} Robert Mugabe]], [[UsefulNotes/CentralAfricanRepublic Jean-Bedel Bokassa]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}} Mengistu Haile Mariam]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Chad}} Hissene Habre]] are also fairly common.

[[GodwinsLaw Surprisingly]], UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is rarely parodied in this manner, perhaps because the man himself is enough of an [[AcceptableTargets acceptable target]] (although one of his henchmen, Hermann Goering, did famously dress this way). UsefulNotes/JosephStalin is sometimes parodied in this way and has influenced the communist variant of this trope, but, like Hitler, he is uniquely infamous enough to represent a specific archetype of his own. Like Stalin, UsefulNotes/MaoZedong sometimes gets parodied like this and has influenced fictional examples (especially East Asian communist ones), but also like Stalin, he's iconic enough to be a stand-alone archetype. While never an actual head of state, UsefulNotes/CheGuevara is sometimes parodied in such a manner as well.

** Another example had Bart call one up to find out if his toilet flushes in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere to the northern. El Presidenté's translator's English isn't the best and he ends up telling El Presidenté that the rebels will win, causing him to jump out the window.

A SubTrope of EvilOverlord, as well as TheCaligula in some cases. The militaristic leader of a [[FictionalCountry fictional third world state or nation]] (often located in [[BananaRepublic Latin America]], [[{{Ruritania}} Central or Eastern Europe]], [[{{Bulungi}} sub-Saharan Africa]], or [[{{Qurac}} the Middle East/North Africa]]). Almost invariably rules a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or a BananaRepublic, though other flavors of dictatorship are not unheard of. Almost AlwaysMale, and often either LargeAndInCharge or TheNapoleon[=/=]MisterBig. If they do have families, they will naturally be ThePatriarch as a parent.

* In ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' the head of Bacteria - being an {{Expy}} of [[UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini Mussolini]] - was portrayed like this.

A SubTrope of EvilOverlord, as well as TheCaligula in some cases. The militaristic leader of a [[FictionalCountry fictional third world state or nation]] (often located in [[BananaRepublic Latin America]], [[{{Ruritania}} Central or Eastern Europe]], [[{{Bulungi}} sub-Saharan Africa]], or [[{{Qurac}} the Middle East/North Africa]]). Almost invariably rules a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or a BananaRepublic, though other flavors of [[TheDictatorship dicatatorship]] are not unheard of. Almost AlwaysMale, and often either LargeAndInCharge or TheNapoleon[=/=]MisterBig. If they do have families, they will naturally be ThePatriarch as a parent.

A SubTrope of EvilOverlord, as well as TheCaligula in some cases. The militaristic leader of a [[FictionalCountry fictional third world state or nation]] (often located in [[BananaRepublic Latin America]], [[{{Ruritania}} Central or Eastern Europe]], [[{{Bulungi}} sub-Saharan Africa]], or [[{{Qurac}} the Middle East/North Africa]]). Almost invariably rules a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or a BananaRepublic, though other flavors of [[TheDictatorship dicatatorship]] are not unheard of. Almost AlwaysMale, and often either LargeAndInCharge or TheNapoleon[=/=]MisterBig. If they do have families, they will naturally be ThePatriarch.

A SubTrope of EvilOverlord, as well as TheCaligula in some cases. The militaristic leader of a [[FictionalCountry fictional third world state or nation]] (often located in [[BananaRepublic Latin America]], [[{{Ruritania}} Central or Eastern Europe]], [[{{Bulungi}} sub-Saharan Africa]], or [[{{Qurac}} the Middle East/North Africa]]). Almost invariably rules a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or a BananaRepublic, though other flavors of [[TheDictatorship dicatatorship]] are not unheard of. Almost AlwaysMale, and often either LargeAndInCharge or TheNapoleon[=/=]MisterBig.

A SubTrope of EvilOverlord, as well as TheCaligula in some cases. The militaristic leader of a [[FictionalCountry fictional third world state or nation]] (often located in [[BananaRepublic Latin America]], [[{{Ruritania}} Central or Eastern Europe]], [[{{Bulungi}} sub-Saharan Africa]], or [[{{Qurac}} the Middle East/North Africa]]). Almost invariably rules a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or a BananaRepublic. Almost AlwaysMale, and often either LargeAndInCharge or TheNapoleon[=/=]MisterBig.

His reign tends to be characterised by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, [[KangarooCourt judicial killings]], extrajudicial killings, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections nepotism]], corruption (particularly embezzlement and bribery), and [[ThePurge frequent purges of any subordinates he finds suspicious.]] His political viewpoints ([[StrawmanPolitical if he even has any]]) usually veer towards [[DirtyCommunists Communism]], [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Fascism]], or [[CommieNazis some combination of the worst aspects of both.]] Of course, none of this will stop him from [[GloriousLeader proclaiming himself "The People's Liberator"]] or otherwise [[FakeUltimateHero billing himself as a great hero.]] He may have attended a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague or {{UsefulNotes/Oxbridge}} university in his youth, where he MajoredInWesternHypocrisy. He is often the target of American assassination attempts and rebel groups, who may or may not be figments of his own paranoia. A common feature is to have a [[DirtyCommunists communist]] guerrilla movement training to overthrow them. Once their revolution happens, the general goes into hiding to train his own revolutionaries to overthrow the new revolutionary government, [[FullCircleRevolution that is just as corrupt as the old one]]. A common twist is to make him a StrawHypocrite: he doesn't really care for his stated ideology, but uses it to cement his hold on power. He also has a tendency to make [[WindbagPolitician extremely long and winding speeches]] in public or over the national airwaves.

If European, usually expect them to be based on fascist dictators such as UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, [[UsefulNotes/{{Croatia}} Ante Pavelić]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Greece}} Ioannis Metaxas]], or communists, such as UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev, [[UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} Nicolae Ceausescu]] and UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito if Eastern. Other prototypes include UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar[[note]]Who started off as part of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditadura_Nacional military junta]] that he later succeeded[[/note]], UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco[[note]]Who gave himself the official title of caudillo[[/note]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}} Miklós Horthy]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} Alexander Lukashenko]], [[UsefulNotes/TheChechnyaWars Ramzan Kadyrov (and his father Akhmad)]], and UsefulNotes/SlobodanMilosevic.

The Middle East and North Africa is another favourite location for these types of rulers to thrive, especially in more contemporary works set after UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar or during UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Prototypes include UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein, UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi, [[UsefulNotes/{{Yemen}} Ali Abdullah Saleh]], UsefulNotes/BasharAlAssad (and his father Hafez), [[UsefulNotes/{{Sudan}} Omar al-Bashir]] and [[UsefulNotes/ModernEgypt Hosni Mubarak]].

Sub-Saharan Africa is another common location. Usually, generalissimos from this region are based on UsefulNotes/IdiAmin and [[UsefulNotes/{{Liberia}} Charles Taylor]], but others, such as [[UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}} Siad Barre]], [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent-Desire Kabila]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Nigeria}} Sani Abacha]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Zimbabwe}} Robert Mugabe]], [[UsefulNotes/CentralAfricanRepublic Jean-Bedel Bokassa]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}} Mengistu Haile Mariam]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Chad}} Hissene Habre]] are also fairly common.

* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': Corto Maltese is a small island nation off South America who recently gone through a military coup against the brutal pro-American Herrara family, which has replaced them with the equally brutal anti-American general Silvio Luna. [[spoiler:After Harley shoots him dead, his right-hand man General Mateo Suarez takes over briefly before dying. When the generals are debating who to replace Mateo, pro-democracy rebels burst in and shoot them all dead after a general stupidly goes for his sidearm.]]

A SubTrope of EvilOverlord, as well as TheCaligula. The militaristic leader of a [[FictionalCountry fictional third world state or nation]] (often located in [[BananaRepublic Latin America]], [[{{Ruritania}} Central or Eastern Europe]], [[{{Bulungi}} sub-Saharan Africa]], or [[{{Qurac}} the Middle East/North Africa]]). Almost invariably rules a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny or a BananaRepublic. Almost AlwaysMale, and often either LargeAndInCharge or TheNapoleon[=/=]MisterBig.

His reign tends to be characterised by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, [[KangarooCourt judicial killings]], extrajudicial killings, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections nepotism]], corruption (particularly embezzlement and bribery), and [[ThePurge frequent purges of any subordinates he finds suspicious.]] His political viewpoints ([[StrawmanPolitical if he even has any]]) veer towards [[DirtyCommunists Communism]], [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Fascism]], or [[CommieNazis some combination of the worst aspects of both.]] Of course, none of this will stop him from [[GloriousLeader proclaiming himself "The People's Liberator"]] or otherwise [[FakeUltimateHero billing himself as a great hero.]] He may have attended a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague or {{UsefulNotes/Oxbridge}} university in his youth, where he MajoredInWesternHypocrisy. He is often the target of American assassination attempts and rebel groups, who may or may not be figments of his own paranoia. A common feature is to have a [[DirtyCommunists communist]] guerrilla movement training to overthrow them. Once their revolution happens, the general goes into hiding to train his own revolutionaries to overthrow the new revolutionary government, [[FullCircleRevolution that is just as corrupt as the old one]]. A common twist is to make him a StrawHypocrite: he doesn't really care for his stated ideology, but uses it to cement his hold on power. He also has a tendency to make [[WindbagPolitician extremely long and winding speeches]] in public or over the national airwaves.

Tends to be [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed based on one or more real-life military dictators,]] and particularly Latin American ones, who experienced ''so many'' that they created their own term to describe such leaders as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudillo caudillo.]] Common inspirations include UsefulNotes/FidelCastro[[note]]Who likely inspired the tendency of such characters to be a WindbagPolitician, being one himself[[/note]], UsefulNotes/FulgencioBatista, UsefulNotes/JuanDomingoPeron, UsefulNotes/AugustoPinochet, [[Literature/TheFeastOfTheGoat Rafael Trujillo]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Paraguay}} Alfredo Stroessner, Francisco Solano Lopez]], [[UsefulNotes/TheMexicanRevolution Porfirio Diaz, Victoriano Huerta]], and UsefulNotes/HugoChavez. The many generals that led the [[UsefulNotes/NationalReorganizationProcess Argentine]] and [[UsefulNotes/BrazilianMilitaryRegime Brazilian]] military regimes are also favorites.

If East or Southeast Asian, expect them to be an Expy of UsefulNotes/ChiangKaiShek, UsefulNotes/HidekiTojo, [[UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}} Suharto]], UsefulNotes/FerdinandMarcos, [[UsefulNotes/SouthKorea Park Chung-hee (and his successor Chun Doo-hwan)]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Cambodia}} Hun Sen]], [[UsefulNotes/ThatSouthEastAsianCountry Than Shwe]] and ''especially'' UsefulNotes/TheRulersOfNorthKorea.

If European, usually expect them to be based on fascist dictators such as UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco[[note]]Who gave himself the official title of caudillo[[/note]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Greece}} Ioannis Metaxas]], or communists, such as UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev, [[UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} Nicolae Ceausescu]] and UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito if Eastern. Other prototypes include UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar[[note]]Who started off as part of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditadura_Nacional military junta]] that he later succeeded[[/note]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} Alexander Lukashenko]], [[UsefulNotes/TheChechnyaWars Ramzan Kadyrov (and his father Akhmad)]], and UsefulNotes/SlobodanMilosevic.

The Middle East and North Africa is another favourite location for these types of rulers to thrive, especially in more contemporary works set after UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar or during UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Prototypes include UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein, UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi, UsefulNotes/BasharAlAssad (and his father Hafez), [[UsefulNotes/{{Sudan}} Omar al-Bashir]] and [[UsefulNotes/ModernEgypt Hosni Mubarak]].

Sub-Saharan Africa is another common location. Usually, generalissimos from this region are based on UsefulNotes/IdiAmin and [[UsefulNotes/{{Liberia}} Charles Taylor]], but others, such as [[UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}} Siad Barre]], [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent-Desire Kabila]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Zimbabwe}} Robert Mugabe]], [[UsefulNotes/CentralAfricanRepublic Jean-Bedel Bokassa]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}} Mengistu Haile Mariam]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Chad}} Hissene Habre]] are also fairly common.

[[GodwinsLaw Surprisingly]], UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is rarely parodied in this manner, perhaps because the man himself is enough of an [[AcceptableTargets acceptable target]] (although one of his henchmen, Hermann Goering, did famously dress this way). UsefulNotes/JosephStalin is sometimes parodied in this way and has influenced the communist variant of this trope, but, like Hitler, he is uniquely infamous enough to represent a specific archetype of his own.
While never an actual head of state, UsefulNotes/CheGuevara is sometimes parodied in such a manner as well.

Usually dressed in [[BlingOfWar fancy military garb]], with a ChestOfMedals and topped with a CommissarCap, though if he's a Castro or Che imitation (particularly with characters who are part of the standard guerrilla subplot), he might wear plain olive drab fatigues and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_cap Ridgeway cap]] or Che-style black beret instead. Common traits include [[BeardOfEvil facial hair]] of some sort, [[CigarChomper cigar smoking]], [[SinisterShades dark sunglasses]], [[DemocracyIsBad a hatred of democracy]], a [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard long list of]] [[TheMagnificent self-bestowed]] [[LargeHamTitle titles]], and [[{{Egopolis}} naming cities and monuments after himself.]] Because Generalissimos often have little political credibility but self-delusions of grandeur, they are often also called Tin Pot Dictators (not to be confused with {{Tin Tyrant}}s).

Note that generalissimo (Latin ''generalissimus'', the absolute superlative of "general") ''[[AluminumChristmasTrees is]]'' a legitimate rank in some militaries, denoting a '''seven-star general'''.[[note]]In the United States, the equivalent is ''General of the Armies'', only held by John J. Pershing after World War I and posthumously to UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington, UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur was proposed to be promoted in preparation for the Invasion of Japan, as the invasion would envolve enormous amount of manpower and a would have a large command staff[[/note]] The trope namers come from many dictators who awarded themselves with this rank primarily due a big ego and bloated sense of self-importance, but you don't necessarily need to be a dictator to be a Generalissimo. The first to bear the rank was Albrecht von Wallenstein, the Imperial commander-in-chief in the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar. A similar (theoretical) rank of ''admiralissimus'' exists; so far only Haireddin Barbarossa of the Imperial Turkish Navy has borne it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', while Boris and Natasha are the most common antagonists to the Moose and Squirrel, they both answer to "Fearless Leader", the leader of [[{{Ruritania}} Pottsylvania]].

* Pagan Min of ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' is the military dictator of the nation of Kyrat, having started off as a [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triad gangster]] who ingrained himself within the royal family before overthrowing them and taking over in a bloody civil war. He uses his position to take his anger out on the Kyrati populace while also cultivating a CultOfPersonality. Interestingly, while certainly a military dictator, Pagan doesn't dress like one, preferring a pink suit instead.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry6'' has BigBad Anton Castillo (played by Creator/GiancarloEsposito) as a straighter example. He is the military leader of the definitely-not-Cuba island nation of Yara, and is clearly modeled after two famous Cuban leaders given the setting; Fidel Castro by espousing words of strength while holding an iron grip on the populace, and Fulgencio Batista by wearing a well-tailored suit adorned with a few medals, statues of him all around, and having the military in his hand. All the while, he eagerly grooms his son Diego to become his successor, unpinning a grenade in his hand and giving him a SadisticChoice of either letting go and killing himself, or throwing it at protesters clearly furious with the current regime.

* ''Literature/TheAutumnOfThePatriarch'' as the dictator (unnamed) as its protagonist.

** Prime-Minister Torrez of the Democratic Republic of Sahrani (DSR), who orders the invasion of the monarchy in South Sahrani.

** If you don't want to make your own avatar, you can just pick a pre-made one, with predetermined traits, backgrounds, appearances, and outfits. These include real world caudillo such as Fidel Castro of Cuba and Manuel Noriega of Panama.

* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': Corto Maltese is a small island nation off South America whose recently gone through a military coup against the brutal Herrara family which has replaced them with the equally brutal general Silvio Luna whose big difference is that he hates the US. [[spoiler:After Harley shoots him dead, his righthand man General Mateo Suarez takes over briefly before also dying. When the generals are debating who to replace him, pro-democracy rebels burst in and shoot them all dead.]]

His reign tends to be characterised by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, [[KangarooCourt judicial killings]], extrajudicial killings, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections nepotism]], corruption (particularly embezzlement and bribery), and [[ThePurge frequent purges of any subordinates he finds suspicious.]] His political viewpoints ([[StrawmanPolitical if he even has any]]) veer towards [[DirtyCommunists Communism]], [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Fascism]], or [[CommieNazis some combination of the worst aspects of both.]] Of course, none of this will stop him from [[GloriousLeader proclaiming himself "The People's Liberator"]] or otherwise [[FakeUltimateHero billing himself as a great hero.]] He may have attended a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague or {{UsefulNotes/Oxbridge}} university in his youth, where he MajoredInWesternHypocrisy. He is often the target of American assassination attempts and rebel groups, who may or may not be figments of his own paranoia. A common feature is to have a [[DirtyCommunists communist]] guerrilla movement training to overthrow them. Once their revolution happens, the general goes into hiding to train his own revolutionaries to overthrow the new revolutionary government, [[FullCircleRevolution that is just as corrupt as the old one.]] A common twist is to make him a StrawHypocrite: he doesn't really care for his stated ideology, but uses it to cement his hold on power. He also has a tendency to make [[WindbagPolitician extremely long and winding speeches]] in public or over the national airwaves.

His reign tends to be characterised by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, [[KangarooCourt judicial killings]], extrajudicial killings, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections nepotism]], corruption (particularly embezzlement and bribery), and [[ThePurge frequent purges of any subordinates he finds suspicious.]] His political viewpoints ([[StrawmanPolitical if he even has any]]) veer towards [[DirtyCommunists Communism]], [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Fascism]], or [[CommieNazis some combination of the worst aspects of both.]] Of course, none of this will stop him from [[GloriousLeader proclaiming himself "The People's Liberator"]] or otherwise [[FakeUltimateHero billing himself as a great hero.]] He may have attended a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague or {{UsefulNotes/Oxbridge}} university in his youth, where he MajoredInWesternHypocrisy. He is often the target of American assassination attempts and rebel groups, who may or may not be figments of his own paranoia. A common feature is to have a guerrilla movement training to overthrow them. Once this happens, the general goes into hiding to train his own revolutionaries to overthrow the government, which will be just as corrupt as the old one (as seen in ''Franchise/{{Tintin}} and the Picaros''). A common twist is to make him a StrawHypocrite: he doesn't really care for his stated ideology, but uses it to cement his hold on power. He also has a tendency to make [[WindbagPolitician extremely long and winding speeches]] in public or over the national airwaves.

Sub-Saharan Africa is another common location. Usually, generalissimos from this region are based on UsefulNotes/IdiAmin and [UsefulNotes/{{Liberia}} Charles Taylor]], but others, such as [[UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}} Siad Barre]], [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent-Desire Kabila]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Zimbabwe}} Robert Mugabe]], [[UsefulNotes/CentralAfricanRepublic Jean-Bedel Bokassa]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}} Mengistu Haile Mariam]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Chad}} Hissene Habre]] are also fairly common.

Sub-Saharan Africa is another common location. Usually, generalissimos from this region are based on UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, but others, such as [[UsefulNotes/{{Liberia}} Charles Taylor]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Somalia}} Siad Barre]], [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Mobutu Sese Seko]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Zimbabwe}} Robert Mugabe]], [[UsefulNotes/CentralAfricanRepublic Jean-Bedel Bokassa]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}} Mengistu Haile Mariam]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Chad}} Hissene Habre]] are also fairly common.

If European, usually expect them to be based on fascist dictators such as UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco[[note]]Who gave himself the official title of caudillo[[/note]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Greece}} Ioannis Metaxas]], or communists, such as UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev, [[UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} Nicolae Ceausescu]] and UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito if Eastern. Other prototypes include UsefulNotes/AntonioDeOliveiraSalazar, [[UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} Alexander Lukashenko]], [[UsefulNotes/TheChechnyaWars Ramzan Kadyrov (and his father Akhmad)]], and UsefulNotes/SlobodanMilosevic.

The Middle East and North Africa is another favourite location for these types of rulers to thrive, especially in more contemporary works. Prototypes include UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein, UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi, UsefulNotes/BasharAlAssad (and his father Hafez), [[UsefulNotes/{{Sudan}} Omar al-Bashir]] and [[UsefulNotes/ModernEgypt Hosni Mubarak]].

Note that generalissimo (Latin ''generalissimus'', the absolute superlative of "general") ''[[AluminumChristmasTrees is]]'' a legitimate rank in some militaries, denoting a '''seven-star general'''.[[note]]In the United States, the equivalent is ''General of the Armies'', only held by John J. Pershing after World War I and posthumously to UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington, UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur was proposed to be promoted in preparation for the Invasion of Japan, as the invasion would envolve enormous amount of manpower and a would have a large command staff[[/note]] The trope namers come from many dictators who awarded themselves with this rank primarily due a big ego and bloated sense of self-importance, but you don't necessarily need to be a dictator to be a Generalissimo. The first to bear the rank was Albrecht von Wallenstein, the Imperial commander-in-chief in the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar. A similar (theoretical) rank of ''admiralissimus'' exists; so far only Haireddin Barbarossa of the Imperial Turkish Navy has born it.

* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': Corto Maltese is a small island nation off South America whose recently gone through a military coup against the brutal Herrara family which has replaced them with the equally brutal general Silvio Luna whose big difference is that he hates the US. [[spoiler: After Harley shoots him dead, his righthand man General Mateo Suarez takes over briefly before also dying. When the generals are debating who to replace him, pro-democracy rebels burst in and shoot them all dead.]]

* ''Series/VagrantQueen'': When [[BigBad Lazaro]] [[TheCoup takes over]] the Republic [[spoiler: through use of the [[MindControlDevice Steerzad]]]], he dubs himself the "Grand Supreme Leader" and puts his face on the national flag.

* In the original ''VideoGame/BionicCommando,'' the evil dictator trying to re-activate the secret [[ThoseWackyNazis Imperial Army]] superweapon is named Generalissimo Killt in the American release of the game. He has the stereotypical dictatorial appearance, in that he dresses exactly like the aforementioned M. Bison and looks like a slightly melted [[Series/{{Brookside}} Brian Regan]], and is characterized with the expected arrogance and military fervor. [[spoiler: He also kind of gets HijackedByGanon when he gets killed off by a revived Hitler.]]
* Colonel Allende in ''Videogame/RedDeadRedemption'', who perfectly fits the archetype of "Corrupt Mexican military leader" as befits the adherence of the game to various kinds of Western films. John Marston does some work for him in order to get to his target Bill Williamson [[spoiler: but eventually works completely against the government after Allende tries to have him executed (who turns out to be sheltering Bill).]]
* General Raul Grasiento, who appears in ''VideoGame/BrokenSwordIITheSmokingMirror'', who has a crush on Nicole (much to her dismay), and George notes that he had all the medals in the wrong side of the chest. In a variation of the trope, he isn't the leader of his country, Quaramonte. That position belongs to his mother. [[spoiler: And in an even odder variant, he pulls a HeelFaceTurn towards the end, and helps the heroes save the day]].

* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' features a corporate version in the form of Handsome Jack. While Jack lacks the military background or chest full of medals, he regularly bills himself as a hero and claims to be civilizing Pandora, a miserable DeathWorld, throughout the game. Jack rules over the planet with an iron fist, suppresses dissent by sending his army to destroy any resistance, cultivates a cult of personality from both Hyperion workers and Pandoras, and puts up statues and posters of himself everywhere. His ideal city for Pandora is also a massive Egopolis dedicated to himself and telling everyone what a great hero he is. The final episode of ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' also hints that he regularly kills his own employees, with [[spoiler: AI Jack interrogating his workers to find Rhys's location, and casually gunning them down with a turret if they can't answer immediately]].

** Former President of the DSR Ramirez/Richardicz (the in-game name is different from the manual and published material for some reason), he supposedly died before the events of Armed Assault. [[spoiler: He was actually alive and hiding in Rahmadi, directing the invasion from the shadows.]]

* ''Once Upon a Time... Space'' has General Pest, leader of Cassiopeia, who given the {{Expy}} of the RealLife Roman Republic with CrystalSpiresAndTogas that is that nation is closer to a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dictator dictator in Roman sense]]. That changes near the end of the series, [[spoiler: when he organizes a coup d'état and becomes the ''de facto'' leader of Cassiopeia. He does not get much time to enjoy it, however.]]

* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': Corto Maltese is a small island nation off South America whose recently gone through a military coup against the brutal Herrara family which has replaced them with the equally brutal general Silvio Luna whose big difference is that he hates the US. [[spoiler: After Harley shoots him dead, his righthand man General Mateo Suarez takes over briefly before also dying. When the generals are debating who to replace him, the rebels burst in shoot them all dead.]]

* Queen-for-Life Deidranna in ''Jagged Alliance 2'' splits the difference between this trope and GodSaveUsFromTheQueen, as the little Central American state of Arulco was a constitutional monarchy before she deposed her husband, got him arrested and imprisoned on trumped-up charges and turned the place into a {{Troperiffic}} BananaRepublic. Luckily for everyone who didn't hastily set about exploiting this state of affairs for personal gain, King Enrique escaped overseas with the help of the nascent LaResistance and spent several years scraping up the money to hire mercenaries to bolster their ranks.

Usually dressed in [[BlingOfWar fancy military garb]], with a ChestOfMedals and topped with a CommissarCap, though if he's a Castro or Che imitation (particularly with characters who are part of the standard guerrilla subplot), he might wear plain olive drab fatigues and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_cap Ridgeway cap]] or Che-style black beret instead. Common traits include [[BeardOfEvil facial hair]] [[BadassMustache of some sort]], [[CigarChomper cigar smoking]], [[SinisterShades dark sunglasses]], [[DemocracyIsBad a hatred of democracy]], a [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard long list of]] [[TheMagnificent self-bestowed]] [[LargeHamTitle titles]], and [[{{Egopolis}} naming cities and monuments after himself.]] Because Generalissimos often have little political credibility but self-delusions of grandeur, they are often also called Tin Pot Dictators (not to be confused with {{Tin Tyrant}}s).