Characters / Flash Gordon (1980)

Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon

"He'll save every one of us!"

Played By: Sam J. Jones

Dubbed By:^{Foreign V As}David Povall (Los Angeles Spanish dub), Andres Skoknic (Chilean dub), Hideyuki Tanaka (NTV Japanese dub), Akio Ōtsuka (TV Asahi Japanese dub)

• Action Hero: One of the originals.
• Adaptational Job Change: In the comics, Flash was a polo player, but polo was deemed a less popular sport by 1980, so he was made a football player.
• Back from the Dead: Before he gets executed, a doctor gives him an injection and says to him "This will help you on your way."
• Chekhov's Skill: Flash was a quarterback before coming to Mongo. Luckily, there happened to be an awful lot of football-shaped objects among Ming's tribute.
• Distressed Dude: Flash in little leather shorts strapped to a chair....
• Dumb Blonde: "Dumb" may be a bit harsh, as much more of a handsome, golden haired hunk and totally guileless.
• Dumb Is Good: While being a slightly boorish jock, Flash is a saint compared to the intelligent and conniving but evil Emperor Ming.
• Dumb Muscle: Downplayed. Perhaps compared to the likes of Ming, Klytus and certainly Dr. Zarkov, but he's no fool, despite his brawny hunkiness.
• Face Death with Dignity: Flash goes to his execution calmly.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Flaxen-haired, and just about the most noble and decent fella you could ever meet (though he lacks the Innocent Blue Eyes of his original counterpart, because Sam Jones couldn't wear the colored contact lenses).
• Hidden Depths: Despite his hot-headed and painfully straightforward tendencies, Flash is said to be a graduate of Yale University and champion polo player (in comic/serial)/New York Jets quarterback (1980 movie).
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Doesn't give Ming's We Can Rule Together offer a second of serious consideration before he shoots it down.
• Magnetic Hero: Gordon has a stellar track record of this trope in this movie, several examples causing full-on conversions of enemies to allies. Princess Aura's "fascination" with Flash sparks her High-Heel–Face Turn; his duel with and subsequent sparing of Prince Barin generates a Defeat Means Friendship flip, and Prince Vultan, awed by Flash's courage and mercy, swears eternal loyalty and friendship as well.
• Messianic Archetype: Flash Gordon, due to being brought Back from the Dead by Princess Aura.
  • The Expository Theme Song's lyrics refer to Flash as savior of the universe, a miracle, and king of the impossible, who'll save every man, woman and child with a mighty hand.
• Mr. Fanservice: See Walking Shirtless scene
• Nice Guy: What can you say about a guy who not only asks the man who's trying to kill him during a Duel to the Death to promise to team up with his enemies to overthrow Ming (if he dies), and spare that same man's life when he wins?
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Declines to take part in the challenge of the wood beast... Until Barin sticks his own arm in the stump and calls him a coward.
• Only Mostly Dead: Flash. (King of the Impossible!)
• Same Language Dub: Sam Jones's entire dialogue was dubbed by a long-unknown actor because Sam refused to do ADR for post production. It wasn't until 2020 that the actor in question was revealed to be Peter Marinker.
• Shirtless Scene: In the scene where he gets executed, he's wearing nothing but short tight underwear.
• Universal Driver's Licence: Flash using the Hawkmen rocketcycle and piloting War Rocket Ajax.

Dale Arden

Dale Arden

"We only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!"

Played By: Melody Anderson

Dubbed By:^{Foreign V As}Magdalena Leonel (Los Angeles Spanish dub), Mari Okamoto (NTV Japanese dub), Mika Doi (TV Asahi Japanese dub)

• Action Girl: In the scene where she escapes from Ming's palace
• Damsel in Distress
• Damsel out of Distress: Dale temporarily rises to Action Girl status with a spectacular display of She-fu during her escape from Ming. She takes out no less than 4 guards before making her getaway.
• I Gave My Word: Dale swears and fully intends to be a faithful wife (concubine?) to Ming if he will spare the Earth.
• She-Fu: Dale gives a startling display of this during her escape from the palace.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Just look at the picture.

Emperor Ming

Emperor Ming

"Pathetic Earthlings!"

Played by: Max von Sydow

Dubbed by: ^{Foreign V As}François Chaumette (European French), Antonio Raxel (Los Angeles Spanish dub), Seizō Katō (NTV Japanese dub), Kiyoshi Kobayashi (TV Asahi Japanese dub)

• Absolute Xenophobe: If a sapient species shows signs of regarding sudden catastrophes as proof of an alien enemy, he destroys their world. Maybe. He reveals to Flash later that he intends to make Earth and humans a servant race.
• Abusive Parent: When Klytus decide to put the bore worms on Aura, he doesn't seem to care.
• Adaptational Villainy: Unlike his serial counterpart, who's otherwise just as monstrous, he shows no inclination whatsoever towards letting Flash live.
• The Ageless: He mentions testing all the planets in his dominion "every thousand years" as if that is not a significant amount of time. Could easily border on Time Abyss.
• Ambiguously Brown: Played by a white actor (Max von Sydow) but his facial hair, costumes and behavior are pure Yellow Peril.
• Arch-Enemy: To Flash.
• Bald of Evil: Cower before his gleaming dome!
• Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: Practically verbatim.
• Beard of Evil: Shudder at his follicular wickedness!
• Big Bad: A Galactic Conqueror who seeks to destroy the Earth For the Evulz.
• The Caligula: He rules his empire with sadistic brutality and is said to have brought ruin to countless worlds.
• Dimension Lord: Is said to rule the entire universe.
• The Emperor: Of the planet Mongo.
• Evil Laugh
  Klytus: Will you destroy this... Earth?
  Ming: Later! I like to play with things awhile... before annihilation. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!
• Expy: Is based on Fu Manchu.
• For the Evulz: His whole reason for wanting to destroy Earth? He's just bored.
• Galactic Conqueror: He seems to already rule most of the universe apart from mostly ignoring primitive planets.
• Human Aliens
• Hypno Ray: Emitted by Ming's ring.
• Hypno Trinket: Ming's ring.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Gets stabbed through the torso when Flash crashes the Ajax into his throne room.
• Long-Lived: He claims to have been alive for tens of thousands of years.
• No Body Left Behind: He collapses into energy and gets absorbed into his ring.
• No Ontological Inertia: Killing him apparently stops the moon hitting the Earth when it's seconds away.
• Royal "We": Emperor Ming uses it occasionally, but not consistently.
• Sadist: He admits to destroying entire civilizations for his own pleasure.
• The Sociopath: He has no love for anyone, not even his own daughter, beyond their use to him.
• We Can Rule Together: Offers to spare Earth if Flash joins him and rules in Ming's name with humanity as slaves. Flash turns him down flat.
• Yellow Peril: An alien inspired by this trope.

Princess Aura

Princess Aura

Played by: Ornella Muti

• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Inverted: her torture with Ming's approval not only alienates her from him but seems to improve her general ability to empathize with other people.
• Break the Haughty: Courtesy of her Cold-Blooded Torture. It cures her of being a Rich Bitch and able to talk to Dale as an equal.
• Covert Pervert: Aura swears she won't watch Flash change out of his little black briefs, turning her back, but stares into a mirror to watch anyway, telling him, "I like you a lot!"
• Daddy's Little Villain: Aura, until redeemed by the love of a good man (Barin).
• Femme Fatale: At first. She gets better.
• Heel–Face Turn: She helps Flash and his friends defeat Ming after he let her be tortured.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She cheats on Barin with many men. But she still loves him.
• Ms. Fanservice: And HOW!
• Really Gets Around
• Tears of Remorse: She originally didn't even know what tears were, but after having her Lack of Empathy tortured out of her, Aura cries in front of Dale to show that her heart really had changed.
• Too Kinky to Torture: Klytus remarks that she actually seemed to enjoy the bore worms. Although in context it's clearly a lie and just Klytus being an arsehole to Barin.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Again, just look at 'em.

Dr. Hans Zarkov

Dr. Hans Zarkov

Played by: Chaim Topol (credited as Topol)

• All There in the Script: Dr. Zarkov's backstory was that he was a NASA scientist who was fired for his paranoid fantasies that Earth was going to be attacked from outer space. 60 Minutes derided him as "A Poor Man's Billy Mitchell".
• Ambiguously Jewish: Played by Topol for a start. His Mental Picture Projector scene implies memories of the Holocaust, and the Talmud is among the list of things he says he used for Psychic Static.
• The Determinator: Manages to resist Klytus's brain-emptying and brainwashing treatment
• Herr Doktor
• Ignored Expert: Hans Zarkov's warning about an attack from space got him fired from NASA.
• Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Zarkov (and Munson) both have one of these. Given that the science they're engaged in mainly requires looking at radar screens and printouts — except whenever they assembled that rather nifty rocket, which would have been better done wearing overalls — there can be no other reason for their labcoats than to visually label them "scientists."
• Mad Scientist: He can't understand why NASA fired him or why Flash and Dale seemed frightened of him...the scientific community and the media perceive him as a crackpot. That said, he is actually more than a little eccentric.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero;
  • Throws one of them Fabergé egg things to Flash during the football scene and accidentally knocks him out.
  • Played with. Ming claims to only destroy planets that are advanced enough to realize his attacks aren't natural disasters. If his claim is true, and he's not just doing whatever he feels like, it's Zarkov's own attempt to contact whoever was launching the attacks that nearly dooms the Earth. However, Ming and Klytus' commentary at the beginning of the film contradicts this, and suggests Ming said that just to screw with Zarkov.
• Pretend to Be Brainwashed: Gets mentally reprogrammed and his whole memory is supposed to be wiped out. When he is rescued later, he reveals that he resisted the brainwashing by reciting Shakespeare, the Talmud, the formulas of Einstein, and a song from The Beatles.
• The Smart Guy: He didn't get all those degrees out of a cereal box.
• They Called Me Mad!: He's a rare heroic example.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Essentially kidnaps Flash and Dale after threatening his lab assistant with a gun to try to get him to go to space, but is still basically a hero.

Klytus

Klytus

Played by: Peter Wyngarde

• Admiring the Abomination: During Zarkov's brainwashing session (viewing his memories of the Holocaust), he opines that Hitler showed promise.
• Black Cloak: His body is completely covered by one, except for the golden mask he wears.
• Canon Immigrant: He was made up for the movie but later appeared in the Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist comics.
• Catchphrase: "With Pleasure."
• Cool Mask: A shiny gold, rather Doctor Doom-ish one, at that.
• Deadpan Snarker: Can spew excellently barbed witticisms even from behind an expressionless metal mask. Check out this exchange between Klytus and Flash, as the latter is chained up in the dungeon with a "pain helmet" over his head:
  Flash: "I demand to see the Governor! I can hardly breathe in this thing!"
  Klytus: "Yes, you don't look well. And I'm told you refused your final meal. The chef will be upset."
  Flash: "Tell him to go to hell!"
  Klytus: "Maybe it's just as well. Gas works more quickly on an empty stomach."
• The Dragon: Ming's right hand man.
• Evil Brit : Rocks that inexplicably upper class Brit accent, as evil space people often do in movies.
• Eye Scream: Klytus' eyeballs bugging out of his mask when he dies. Yucko!
• The Faceless: He is never seen without his mask.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Klytus. See Impaled with Extreme Prejudice just below.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Flash and Barin toss him onto a spike-covered platform.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Always wears a gold mask, and is definitely no hero.
• Not Quite Dead: According to Peter Wyngarde, it's supposed to be Klytus who picks up Ming's ring at the end of the film, as he was intended to be the Big Bad in the never-produced sequel.
• Rage Helm: Which never gets removed, even upon his death.
• Red Right Hand: Gold one, anyway.
• Stalker with a Crush: To Aura.
• Villainous Harlequin: In addition to being The Dragon, he seems to serve as a court jester type person to Ming.
• Would Hurt a Child: Warns that Prince Vultan will sacrifice his daughter (who looks to be no more than ten years old) if he refuses to stand down during his skirmish with Prince Barin in the Imperial Court. And no one in attendance doubts he'll follow through on his threat.

Prince Barin

Prince Barin

Played by: Timothy Dalton

• Action Hero: As Flash is the main hero of the movie, Barin doesn't get as many action scenes, but once the two have broken into Ming's fortress, the Prince of Arboria quickly makes up for lost time!
• Alien Blood: Like all Arborians, it's thick and green.
• Berserk Button: God help you if he thinks you're beating his time with Aura. And if you hurt her...
• Defeat Means Friendship: He spends much of the film trying to kill Flash as a rival for Aura's affections, but finally teams up with him after Flash spares his life in a Duel to the Death.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Barin is haughty and more than a little hot-headed to the point of murderous rage, especially when dealing with Flash and Vultan. But he ultimately wants what's best for everyone on Mongo and will fight by an ally's side to the death.
• Master Swordsman: He definitely knows how to handle a blade.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: His reason for entrapping Flash into a deadly ritual. He realizes he underestimated Flash after he successfully passes the test twice, refuses to keep alternating with Flash - essentially forcing him to do the test over and over til he dies.
• Princesses Rule: Played with. He rules the Arborians as a prince with no mentioned father/king above him, but he's actually the King, but since Ming is in charge...
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: The cultured version to Vultan's outright barbarian.
• Rightful King Returns: After Ming is defeated, it's revealed Barin's lineage is the rightful royal line. There's a reason he's called a Prince, after all.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: You have to be handsome to play James Bond, after all.
• Would Hit a Girl: Fatally blasts General Kala, though it was totally in self-defense.

Prince Vultan

Prince Vultan

"GORDON'S ALIVE?!?"

Played by: BRIAN BLESSED!!!!!

Dubbed by: Med Hondo (European French)

• Boisterous Bruiser: Usually he carries a large, wicked-looking war club - and relishes chances to use it - but he also enjoys knocking mooks out with a hammerlike blow of those meaty fists.
• Death Glare: Gives Klytus a brief but intense one when Kyltus threatens to sacrifice Vultan's daughter if he refuses to stand down.
• Frontline General: Vultan gets down and dirty with the rest of his troops. There's a reason he's appointed as Barin's military leader at the end of the film.
• Large Ham: See above.

"Well, who wants to live forever?...DII-III-VE!"

• No Indoor Voice: He bellows a lot. Which means BRIAN BLESSED!!!!! is having a good day.
• Papa Wolf: Vultan is ready to throw down (probably to the death) with Barin during Ming's court, and still won't back off after he and Barin are ordered to. A direct threat from Klytus to Vultan's young daughter makes him swiftly comply, but he is clearly pissed that Klytus would dare.
• Princesses Rule: He rules the Hawkmen and has no mentioned father/king above him. Ming being Emperor probably forces all those who would be rulers to be Princes under his rule.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: You want to fight about it? To the death, on a platform over a fifty-mile drop, with the tilting and the spikes? Oh, and with whips. And did we mention the spikes?
• The Starscream: Admits he'd overthrow Ming if he could and Ming knows it.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Names the trope before going into a suicidal battle. Not actually an example.
• Winged Humanoid: He and all the other Hawkmen.

General Kala

General Kala

Played by: Mariangela Melato

Dubbed by: Micheline Dax (European French)

• Alien Blood: It's black and goopy.
• The Baroness: The accent, demeanor and mode of dress.
• Blatant Lies: Claims she doesn't enjoy torturing Princess Aura...after whipping her intensely.
  • Also lies that the city's cannons firing is to honor Ming's marriage to Dale...when in truth, they're trying to shoot the commandeered War Rocket Ajax down.
• Co-Dragons: With Klytus to Ming.
• Dark Action Girl
• Defiant to the End: "We do not lead traitors into the Imperial presence!"
• Evil Wears Black: From head to toe, even.
• Gender Flip: Kala, who in the comics was a male fishman, is here a female general who looks basically human.
• I'm Melting!: How she dies after being shot by Barin.
• Kill It with Fire: Tries this to kill Barin and Zarkov with a ring seemingly with a flamethrower built in. It fails when Barin shoots her in the gut.
• No Body Left Behind: After being fatally shot by Barin, her corpse dissolves into black slime.
• Properly Paranoid: When she's informed that War Rocket Ajax is flying back to the palace after being sent out to kill Flash, but that they can't raise communications with it, she asks if it's on the proper approach route. When she's told it isn't, she immediately orders the guns to open fire on it.
• Torture Technician: And very hands on about it, as Aura can attest.
• Unholy Matrimony: Implied to be with Klytus. Not that it stops him lusting after Aura.

---