History Characters / Oppenheimer

* BaitTheDog: Inverted. At first, he offers Strauss frequent political advice about how to spin the hearing to his advantage and what sorts of strategies he should undertake, some of which involve carefully tiptoeing around the truth. But by the end of the movie, it becomes clear that Strauss, who's been around the block a fair bit longer than him, has also far surpassed him in political skullduggery.

* NoSocialSkills: See about half of the tropes in this section.

* NoSympathy: He doesn't have any sympathy for Oppenheimer's guilt about the effects of his bomb, callously dismissing him as a "crybaby". As noted, this is actually ''downplayed'' compared to real life, where he reportedly expressed his annoyance with Oppenheimer's moral scruples in much stronger terms, referring to him as "that fucking cretin" after their meeting.

* SouthernFriedGenius: Technically from Missouri and not the Deep South, but he has a noticeable twang in his otherwise Midwestern voice and despite his "aww shucks" down to earth demeanor (which some historians claim was partially exaggerated to seem more accessible to the public), he is sharp as a whip and sees right through Oppenheimer, leaving the genius practically stammering. Truman would not have been a president and a strategist otherwise. It is immediately clear that, in terms of rhetorical debate, Oppenheimer is in way over his head.

A theoretical physicist

* RaceLift: The real David Hill was Caucasian, whereas this movie has him portrayed by Creator/RamiMalek, who is half-Egyptian.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: The real Lawrence didn't have Josh Hartnett's dashing good looks or chiseled features.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[spoiler:That Hill would actually expose Strauss' true character for the senate instead of gratify himself by lambasting Oppenheimer, who had been shown to be dismissive and rude to him earlier, is something that never occurred to him. For all his talk about Oppenheimer's faults, he is clearly incapable of recognizing his own makes him even ''less'' likable than the man he views to be his nemesis.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: He appears as a minor part of the scientists working in Chicago and barely speaks, only to reappear much latter and torpedo Strauss' Cabinet nomination by exposing his pettiness.

* {{Hypocrite}}: [[spoiler:He was wanting to affirm that there'd be a system in control of the nuclear power once harnessed that would prevent its misuse and yet because he feels so personally offended by Oppenheimer and is wanting a political office too, makes arrangements for Oppenheimer to be condemned by an oversight board that will revoke his security clearance when he's in the midst of voicing his MyGodWhatHaveIDone concerns that would fit in with what Strauss was saying. Ultimately, he's far more concerned with getting both the Senate seat and sticking it to Oppenheimer that he'd rather put focus on that than working with him on actually helping to develop a plan on that--and also totally breaking down and insisting Oppenheimer's disingenuous when Strauss himself was the one deceiving and scheming otherwise.]]

* BigGood: The closest thing to one the movie has - a convivial, grandfatherly figure beloved by rhe scientific community, who gives wise counsel to Oppenheimer at varying points in the narrative when he is faced with difficulties, and who seemingly doesn't carry the same guilty burden over the rise of atomic weaponry from his research that Oppenheimer does (at least until their fateful conversation by the lake).

* BigGood: The closest thing to one the movie has - a convivial, grandfarherly figure beloved by rhe scientific community, who gives wise counsel to Oppenheimer at varying points in the narrative when he is faced with difficulties, and who seemingly doesn't carry the same guilty burden over the rise of atomic weaponry from his research that Oppenheimer does (at least until their fateful conversation by the lake).