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- MacGyvering: Discussed. In a story, Filemón tells Mortadelo about an art counterfeiter who could replicate Modigliani paintings by using just tomato juice, egg yolks, and a brush.
- Made of Bologna: Characters are often cut in half in different ways, with almost no viscera or blood. It merely takes some glue, some sewing, or just pressing together the two pieces to repair the damage.
- Made of Iron: And HOW! The list of accidents the main characters have survived is basically endless:
- They have been shot at any place in their bodies. Sometimes also they have gone through being shot several times, with each bullet leaving a hole.
- They have fallen (or been thrown) from planes flying at more than 11,000 metres of altitude.
- In Secuestro Aéreo, Mortadelo landed a jet airliner... at 800 kilometers per hour, without deploying the landing gear, and crashing it against the airport's control tower.
- They have been subjected at point-blank explosions.
- They have been cut into tiny pieces (and then glued or sewed back together).
- They have been frozen.
- They have been completely submerged in acid.
- They have fallen in concrete pools that have solidified with them still submerged on it.
- They have been put under objects that were very heavy (as in, the range of metric tons).
- They have been thrown to outer space with no space suit whatsoever.
- They have been devoured whole by different wild animals, mainly lions and giant snakes. They sometimes cry for help from the beast's stomachs.Mortadelo: (after being rescued by Filemón when a bird attempted to eat him while he was in an insect disguise) What a dreadful experience, boss! I've seen its oesophagus, its craw and its sternum... from inside!
- They have survived a NUCLEAR BOMB TEST.
- Lampshaded by Mortadelo on "¡Elecciones!" after falling off the building when trying to get into Ofelia's apartment to investigate her:Mortadelo: Come on, boss, get up, that was just eleven floors! We've been through worse!
- However, they have actually died once or twice:
- Once they broke an old fortune-teller's crystal ball... which prompted the old fortune-teller to reveal that she was actually a buff thug in disguise. Cue Mortadelo and Filemón on their graves on a graveyard, apparently alive ("How are you doing, boss?" "Meh, kinda chilly in here.) After escaping their graves, Filemón tells the reader "You don't want to know how we did this." On the background we see an archangel chiding St. Bartholomew "I don't care if you're a fan of Mortadelo! The rules are clear; no miracles!"
- They also died at the end of an episode of the old animated series by Estudios Vara. They were caught on a nuclear explosion (after reaching an island with a giant bullseye painted on the ground). Then we see Mortadelo and Filemón flying to Heaven, complete with tunic, halo and wings.
- Nonetheless, a number of characters are explicitly seen to die - like "el Rana" or the unnamed villain from Los Guardaespaldas, smashed by a rock that later smashes Filemón (for some reason, Filemón survives). In the 1994 Animated Adaptation, they avoid showing these scenes that are
Demographically Inappropriate Humour, even if they explicitly replicate any other panel, Sin City-like.
- Mad Scientist:
- Doctor Bacterio.
- Sometimes, the enemy is a Mad Scientist who is madder than Bacterio. Examples include a guy who can "resurrect" beings that can serve him for his plans (such as Frankestein's Monster, Mata Hari or César Borgia (venom included)), a guy who concentrates bug DNA into some pills and can turn into a certain bug by eating one of them, or one who developed instant growth seeds.
- Manchurian Agent: Several villains, including Magín and The Sorcerer (El Brujo, Aniceto Papandujo), have tried this plot to take over the T.I.A.
- Master of Disguise: Mortadelo, which serves him well in his work and even better when he has to make a quick getaway.
- One of the best disguises is his Invisible Man one - which actually makes him invisible. Another is his Ghost disguise. Depending on the moment (or, rather, on which result will be funnier), it may allow him to go through a wall or not.
- Subverted in one comic book, in which he disguises as a werewolf in order to scare a man, but said man immediately recognizes him and asks him why he didn't come in disguise.
- In three stories ("Maastricht... ¡Jesús!", "El señor todoquisque" and "El disfraz, cosa falaz"), he has met someone that may be his equal or superior in using disguises. And in a rather detailed manner, Todoquisque explains to the reader how to realistically disguise yourself putting on a Wig/Dress/Accent, using accessories like fake noses, glasses, pillow or balloons filled with air/water to make yourself bigger
- Master of None: This is Mortadelo's biggest flaw when it comes to his disguises; while he does have a vast array of Professionals, Animals, Objects and even Vehicles as disguises, he utterly fails as a result of not having the basic knowledge on how to do the job of the person he is impersonating. Not only he is nowhere near a Master Actor but he doesn't even use make-up to disguise his face!
- Master of Unlocking: Mortadelo proves quite often to be very efficient with a lockpick. He sometimes parodies the trope instead by using his "master key" — a giant key (taller than himself) with which he simply smashes the door to pieces.
- Meaningful or Punny Name: OK, this is a big one. Bring popcorn. We can wait. These names only work in the Spanish version and few more:
- Mortadelo is called like that because... he is thin and always wrapped in black, like a bar of mortadella
- Filemón, aside from a respelling of a (barely known in Spain) real name in Greek, sounds much like "filetón" (big steak). (In Brasil he is called Salaminho and in Portugal, Salamão; both are references to salami.
- Vicente was a common name in Spain a few years ago, and not punny in itself... until you remember a Spanish saying: "¿A dónde va Vicente? Adonde va la gente" (literally: Where does Vincent go? Where people go; in correct and orthodox English: monkey see, monkey do), which isn't a particularly good name for the boss of most characters in T.I.A.. Also, his surname, Ruínez, is an obviously fake surname meaning "Ruinson".
- Ofelia (Ophelia)... maybe for her Mad Love for Mortadelo? (But see Ironic Name above)
- Professor Bacterio, because he plays with bacteria
- Todoquisque (informally "anybody"). because he can disguise as anybody.
- Bestiájez, an obviously fake surname, meaning Brutesson. (Also Migájez, "Crumbson", and many others).
- A character in "Concurso Oposición" which brings painful misfortunes to whoever is near him (namely, Mortadelo and Filemón) is named Hediondo Gáfez Cenícez ("Fetid Jynx Hoodoo").
- "Impeachment!" features another one-off character similar to the previous one named Cenizo Gafe Nefástez ("Hoodoo Jynx Disastrous")
- Actually, in every single book there are several new characters that have this trope. The amazing thing is that Ibáñez rarely repeats any of them.
- Establishments are also given punny names. Notably bars, whose name made by extracting the prefix "Bar" from a Spanish word that begins with it; so we have Bar Baro ("barbarian"), Bar Budo ("guy with a large beard"), Bar Quillo (lit. "biscuit roll", double points as "Quillo" is Andalusian slang for "Guy")...
- Less frequently, banks ("banco") and streets ("calle") are used for punny names, like Banco Jeando ("van cojeando", which translates as "They go limping") or Calle Se ("cállese", which means "shut up") and the neighboring Calle Seusté ("cállese usted", which can be interpreted as "YOU shut up").
- Overlapping with Theme Naming: one of the Football World Cup themed albums featured the Scotland national football team, with names such as Mac Arron (Macaroni) Mac Abeo (Maccabee) or Mac Anudo (macanudo, Argentinian slang for 'excellent')
- Sometimes overlaps with Bland-Name Product, like in the "Pescadillac" example above.
- Foreign characters and/or places tend to fall into this as well. For example, the villain of "Robots bestiajos" was a Japanese Mad Scientist called Mirake Tekasko ("mira que te casco", roughly "be careful or I will hit you") who eventually was reported to have been arrested in the Japanese town of Higosheko ("higo seco", meaning "dried fig").
- Mortadelo is called like that because... he is thin and always wrapped in black, like a bar of mortadella
- Megaton Punch:
- From time to time, a character will get hit so hard by another that they will end up flying several meters in the air, crashing into a nearby building or even into the moon. Lampshaded once in a while as well:
Mortadelo: (to Filemón, who is in the air after getting punched this way) Boss! You can fly?Filemón: Yes, with the help of a left hook!- Parodied in one of the tie-in books, which features a two-page ad for TIA's own airline, Cebollazo Tours, that actually runs on Megaton Punches. The advert even details which Berserk Buttons you have to push to be punched or kicked into some of the destinations.
- Mission Briefing: Each long story commonly has one, in the first episode, with Superintendente Vicente briefing Mortadelo and Filemón.
- Mistaken for Gay: See Heterosexual Life-Partners. There is a moment in a different story when the General Director walks in on them in the worst possible moment and thinks that Filemon is proposing to Mortadelo.
- Monster in the Moat: One issue involves the two agents falling into a dry moat and Filemon is relieved because no water means no sharks. Only for Mortadelo to explain to him that it's more practical for a moat to have crocodiles... just like the really big and hungry one he is pointing at.
- Monumental Battle: When Mortadelo and Filemón travel through the world, important landmarks may appear, sometimes with slight changes (such as the Statue of Liberty using her torch to fry a sausage).
- The Movie:
- A 2003 Live-Action Adaptation movie exists.
- A 2008 sequel: "Mortadelo y Filemón. Misión: Salvar la Tierra" (Mortadelo & Filemón. Mission: Save Earth) with the popular Spanish comedian Eduard Soto replacing Benito Pocino in the role of Mortadelo.
- Then, in 2014, a new film, this time an animated film, "Mortadelo y Filemón contra Jimmy el Cachondo" (Mortadelo & Filemon vs Jimmy the Joker, marketed internationally as "Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible").
- Muck Monster: El "Bacilón".
- Mugging the Monster: The comic El Bacilón has the title character (a gigantic, anthropomorphic green monster) walk around the seedy parts of the city; a mugger targets him, but since he is waiting behind a corner, he only hears it walking. He becomes a Running Gag along the episode and eventually turns mad due to both the monster and Mortadelo disguised as a big animal.
- Multidisciplinary Scientist: Professor Bacterio's inventions cover a wide range of areas.
- Multiple Reference Pun: The agency the titular characters work for is called T.I.A., which is an obvious reference to the CIA. Since "tía" in Spanish means "aunt", the name also works as a pun on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., fitting since it is a Spanish series about comedic espionage.
- My Horse Is a Motorbike: Played for Laughs in "Mortadelo de la Mancha". Mortadelo and Filemón believe themselves to be Don Quixote and Sancho, and Mortadelo steals a motorbike for Filemón to ride, mistaking it for a donkey.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: A Berserk Button of Mortadelo in the movie; apparently, Filemón somehow abused his little sister, Cordelia (played by Hollywood Homely actress Carmen Ruiz). It later turns out that Cordelia is stalking Filemón and he only sees her as an Abhorrent Admirer. Mortadelo forgives Filemón after Cornelia tells him that she is in love.
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- Name and Name: Mortadelo y Filemón.
- Negative Continuity: The events of previous episodes are frequently disregarded, including stories which end with the characters being killed, fired, or transferred to another post, the agency being disbanded, or the protagonists having a Face–Heel Turn. Different tales on characters' backgrounds and families are often given. One story has Filemón born in a seemingly middle class family, while another claims that he was born and raised in a shantytown. Mortadelo's origin story mentions his family having to migrate when he was a child to avoid bad publicity following an ill-conceived prank in a hospital. Another story depicts him born and raised in a rural village, where he is apparently the sanest person around.
- There’s been some attempts at consistency in later years. Some characters (particularly villains) make returns in later comics,note since "Su Vida Privada", Mortadelo and Filemón have always been shown living in the pension El Calvario, and their families have always been the same ones since then, and since the 90’s the designs for the Chairman, his wife and the Supervisor’s wife have been mostly the same.
- Nephewism / Uncanny Family Resemblance: In the 1988 album "Los sobrinetes" (The Little Nephews), Mortadelo and Filemón coincidentally introduce their nephews, who look exactly like them, and wear exactly the same clothes but with short trousers, with no introduction or even mention of their parents.
- New First Comics: In a strange comic book example, the publishers had around a hundred of their early strips (including the first one◊) redrawn by unrelated artist Martínez Osete to account for the changes Ibáñez introduced after 1969- mainly, changing the heroes' roles from private detectives to secret agents and adding their new boss, Súper, who would take in many cases the role of Filemón, now Mortadelo's sidekick instead of his employer.
- Non-Standard Character Design:
- Whenever real people show up, they are drawn with realistic faces, which contrasts with the usual characters looking cartoony. Then there is also the Crossover with El Capitan Trueno, where the Trueno characters get sometimes drawn in their original realistic style, sometimes look cartoony and sometimes it is a mix.
- An old story has Mortadelo seeking help from Superman, but the superhero is depicted as a fragile old man, unlike his other depictions. The story depicts Superman as having aged a lot since his prime in 1938.
- No Sense of Direction: Mortadelo's level of disorientation is legendary. Instructed to drive to Córdoba, Argentina (M&F are playing in the 1978 FIFA World Cup with the Spanish team) he makes it to the Córdoba of Spain. After fording the Atlantic Ocean, thinking that it was just a very wide river.
- Not This One, That One: One of the most common running gags. For example, when the duo needs, for example, a plane for a mission, it will appear at first that they are going to get something like an F-22, only to realize that what they are going to get instead is an old, beaten up plane from World War I.
- Not With the Safety On, You Won't: Played for Laughs in "Los bomberos". At the end, the Big Bad is about to hammer in a huge missile to blow everything up, but Mortadelo tells him that he won't be able to do it because the hammer's safety is on. When the Big Bad looks at the hammer, confused, Mortadelo knocks him out.
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- Obfuscating Insanity: In the second festival of Humor short, Engaño a Filemon, Mortadelo's psychologist cousin makes Filemon believe that Mortadelo has developed Don Quixote's personality, with the latter taking advantage of it to humiliate his boss by getting him into trouble just for the giggles. Filemon doesn't react well when he finds out the truth.
- Off the Chart: In the comic that tells the story of Mortadelo and Filemón before making it to the TIA, they are shown joining a private investigation agency. The chart at a room, with the date of January 28, the day M&F are hired, reflects significant benefits for the company... but only two days later, the chart line has dropped so far down that it goes off the chart paper, and has an annotation next to it that reads "continues on the cellar".
- Old-Timey Bathing Suit: Mortadelo's favorite swimming gear.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Played with. In his first appearance ever, Dr. Bacterio is introduced as a biologist and just a biologist, only specialized in Super Serums. However, he is later stripped of the trait and given instead the role of T.I.A.'s chief scientist, extending his field not only to biology, but also physics, technology and pretty much everything which is needed. The best sign of this evolution is his very title: the series and its adaptations are wildly inconsistent about whether Bacterio is a doctor or a professor, with both titles being pretty much interchangeable for him.
- One Game for the Price of Two: The comic's licensed computer games were often released in pairs, in a manner that made them form a larger game when both of them were installed. Balones y patadones and Mamelucos a la romana formed La banda de Corvino, while El mundo del cine was composed of Dos vaqueros chapuceros and Terror, espanto y pavor.
- Only Sane Man: Filemón, though by a very small margin. He often has more common sense than the people around him, and an awareness of social etiquette far superior to Mortadelo's.
- The most iconic moment is when ten villains make ten holes in the wall to escape from their cell. Filemón points out that they could all have escaped through the same hole, and both Mortadelo and the Súper admit that they had not thought of that.
- "Open!" Says Me: A humorous version occurs when they pay a visit to the President of the United States. A security guard goes through a number of scans and checks (iris scan, voice recognition, access code, etc.) to open a door in the White House, prompting Mortadelo to remark that "Security sure is tight." Then along comes the cleaning lady, who just slaps and kicks the door a few times until it opens. Perhaps she is an Almighty Janitor.
- Our Time Machine Is Different: Professor Bacterio's shabby time machine looks mostly like a phone booth. Justified, as it is a prototype he just jury-rigged in his lab.
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- Parody Names: Sometimes applies to brand names, sometimes even to people.
- People Jars: One of the many forms of Cool and Unusual Punishment employed by the Súper against Mortadelo and Filemón involves preserving them in jars of formaldehyde for weeks.
- People's Republic of Tyranny: The aptly named Tirania in "El Sulfato Atómico".
- Percussive Maintenance: The first live-action movie combines this with a "Eureka!" Moment of all things. Dr. Bacterio has invented a device that he just can't get to work. He is sure that something is missing, but he doesn't know what. When his radio stops working, he hits it to get it going again. That is when he realizes what is missing: "Of course! Beatings!" He proceeds to beat the crap out of the device with his shoe, and it works! It is the only part of the movie that is even remotely funny, and the German dub completely ruins it because the joke went right past the translator.
- Percussive Therapy: Happens from time to time:
- From example, at the very beginning of Secuestro Aéreo Filemón discovers his TV set, his radio, and his portable (by
'70s standards) TV were respectively kicked and totalled, thrown out of a window and of course ruined, and smashed with an axe by Mortadelo, who had been following a soccer game that went really bad for the team he was a fan of. The latter tries to make Filemón thinks the first two work with predictable results. - In La Gallina de los Huevos de Oro, both agents receive a vinyl with the mission briefing, that ends with the usual "This message will destruct in five seconds" at the end. A song that Filemón really hates beging to play and he destroys both the vinyl and the turntable… in precisely five seconds.
- From example, at the very beginning of Secuestro Aéreo Filemón discovers his TV set, his radio, and his portable (by
- Perspective Magic: One comic deals with UFOs that were coming to Earth in order to invade it. One of them appears to be really huge and far away, but in the end it turns out it is very small... and it hits Filemón right in the mouth.
- The point 2 example, "those far away houses are just on the other side of the page", is used in another story. With those literal words.
- Pictorial Speech-Bubble: Gag comics such as this one commonly have pictures in speech bubbles whenever a character is supposed to curse; for example, in the speech bubble there would be a pig with the face of another person if the character was angry and shouting at him, or just the picture of a turd when someone was supposed to say "shit!".
- Ping Pong Naïveté: Filemón can either be the Straight Man with much more common sense than Mortadelo or just as big as an idiot as him (usually when the boss is present and both of them do something to anger him).
- Plot Armor: Everybody in the series can survive anything, you name it -atomic explosions, drowning, being electrocuted, burnt alive, cut in pieces...-. You only need to worry if you happen to be the Villain Of The Week and the book is getting close to page 44, because it is very likely that your Plot Armor will fade just in time for a last explosion to kill you off for real (while the Súper, who happens to be sitting next to you, survives it).
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: Another Ibáñez character, Tete Cohete, was introduced in a Mortadelo comic of the same title.
- Potty Emergency:
- This is the running gag for poor Superintendente Vicente in the last chapter of El Bacilón. The eponymous monster is disintegrated at the end by a single slap from El Súper because it stood in between him and the toilet - but Mortadelo and Filemón grab him too fast to let him relieve himself.
- Filemón has one of his own in a chapter in "¡...Y van 50 tacos!".
- Prematurely Bald: Mortadelo lost all his hair to one of Doctor Bacterio's experiments. Filemón combines this with Hair Antennae.
- Product Delivery Ordeal: Many stories consist in them having to travel long distances through all kinds of terrain and suffering a lot of Amusing Injuries along the way.. only to find out at their destination that they were given the wrong item, that the person who receives it does not want it anymore or even that the item itself was completely unnecessary from start.
- Prophecy Twist: In "El Profeta Jeremías", the aforementioned prophet keeps making predictions that are always fulfilled, but always with a twist. For example, one prophecy states a moustached man will send Irma to the cemetery - which he does because he wants to ask her to put some flowers in the tomb of a relative of his, which is next to one of her relatives' tombs.
- Puff of Logic: In a short story where the Superintendent is trying to find a safe Mortadelo and Filemón have hidden, he concludes that they must have left some kind of mark on the floor while carrying the safe away. He finds one line he thinks could be that mark (it's not) in a room and starts walking over it...Now it goes up this wall... [walks up the wall following the line], turns around at the ceiling... [keeps walking upside down on the ceiling] Th-the ceiling? Did I say the ceiling? How is that possi— [falls off]
- Pun: Ibáñez masters this like no other in the Spanish language. The number of puns throughout the series is so big that it would need, not its own page, but its own Wiki!
- Punched Across the Room: Exaggerated, to the point of characters getting punched into different countries and even INTO SPACE!.
- Kicked Across The Room: characters are also prone to kick others in the same way. One example: Filemón is almost dead after being shot in the stomach, and is on a wheelchair. The Súper (who was the indirect cause of him being shot) asks him how he is. The next frame has the Súper with a shoe-mark on his back after having landed on an igloo, asking himself how it could happen.
- Punny Name: See Meaningful Name above.
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- Real Vehicle Reveal: This happens lots of times; for example, in the albums "Valor y al toro", "Contra el Gang del Chicharrón", "Los verdes", "La maldición gitana", to name just a few.
- Rebus Bubble: This is how characters swear.
- Refuge in Audacity: When Spain was under the Francisco Franco regime, Mortadelo y Filemón was a pretty tame comic with just some very mild slapstick violence. After the death of the dictator, Ibáñez started introducing more "raunchy" themes, with graphic violence, sex jokes, toilet humor, profanity and political incorrectness in general. It is still aimed at kids though.
- In-Universe, some of Mortadelo's plans run on this. For example, in "El sulfato atómico", the duo has to cross the border with Tirania but doesn't have their passports. Mortadelo disguises himself as an ostrich and successfully gets through because the commander angrily punches the guard that asks about permissions for ostriches. Filemón nearly manages the same with a donkey disguise, but he gets caught when another guard tries to vaccinate him.
- Another In-Universe example: in a short story, both Mortadelo and Filemón are sent to the loony bin, wearing straitjackets, and easily get out of the jackets. What do they do to escape the building? Mortadelo calls the nurse, and when he shows up, he points at the empty straitjackets and tells him the two people wearing them just escaped. The nurse promptly runs to raise the alert, while the two agents walk out without a problem.
- Relationship Sabotage: Accidental. In "El Brujo" (The Warlock), there is a middle-aged couple sitting on a fallen trunk in a romantic countryside setting, lovingly holding hands. "Abelarda", says he, "swear that there is no other man between you and me". "I... I swear, Eloíso", says she. Mortadelo suddenly teleports right between the two, thanks to a spell he has unknowingly activated. Eloíso breaks the relationship and leaves angrily, figuring that Abelarda was lying to him. Mortadelo is then beaten off-screen by Abelarda.
- Retool: Mortadelo and Filemón originally had a private detective agency and were a parody of Sherlock Holmes and Watson (the comic's original title was "Mortadelo y Filemón - Agencia de Información"), not the James Bond parody they eventually became. As a relic of that time, Mortadelo still calls Filemón "Boss", despite the fact that they don't seem to have much different responsibilities in the T.I.A. Though Filemón does have a tendency to give orders to his partner.
- Revision: They were given this in a book where it is explained how they lost their private detective agency and were forced to join the secret services overnight. Several years after it kind of suddenly happened.
- Ridiculous Future Inflation: In "Los mercenarios" the main characters obtain 100,000 "percebos" (the fictional coin of Percebelandia) They think they can get more than one million pesetas (a fortune in the moment of the album), but thanks to a sudden devaluation only obtain 17.50.note
- Same in Los Guardaespaldas. Mortadelo and Filemón receive as reward for accomplishing their mission, 1 million "dólares cochinchinos" (Cochinchinese dollars; obviously another fictional currency), which Filemón thinks are worth 200 million pesetas (a real fortune when the album was published). Mortadelo turns on the radio to know what is going on in the currency change... to discover that a massive devaluation turns that million of cochinchinese dollars into just 6.50 pesetas, even less money that in the former case.
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand:
- If Mortadelo and Filemón take separate ways in order to solve a problem (say, capture a baddie, finding things or laying on traps) they will very commonly screw up each other's plans.
- In some stories El Súper gets tired of waiting and appears on the scene to spy on the duo or to get the mission done by himself. This can only end badly.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Ever since the end of the Spanish Democratic Transition in 1977 (and thus, the end of Francisco Franco's dictatorship censorship system), Ibáñez very often bases (very loosely) his stories in Real Life current events.
- Road-Sign Reversal: Mortadelo does this at the end of "Los mercenarios", to lead a squad of mercenaries to the country that hired them, instead of their intended destination.
- Rule 34: Artist Casanyes' strip for the satiric magazine Titanic.
- Russian Reversal: The 1978 FIFA World Cup has the USSR team losing to Spain and being booed by the public. Cue the Russian players throwing pillows to the former and Mortadelo and Filemón lampshading something is wrong.
