History Characters / TheEliteSquad

* SaltAndPepper: With Neto.

* SaltAndPepper: With Matias.

-> Played by: Wagner Moura.

* ButtMonkey: Where do we even start: he is a DirtyCop involved in prostitution and gambling up until his dealings are hijacked by a rival corrupt officer and he decides to join BOPE alongside Neto and Matias. He isn't tough enough for the training, gets beaten, berated and catches feet fungus before quitting. In the second movie, he is back to his old job and is promoted to Colonel, but is more or less the same spineless doofus as before. While he is technically [[TheHeavy Major Rocha's]] superior, he is bossed around by him and treated like a second fiddle.

[[folder:Diogo Fraga]]

[[folder:Gregorio Fortunato]]

* ActionDad: His wife is waiting a child in the first movie and he is born half-way through. Its the reason why he wants to retire so that he can come back to his family in one piece.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Sure, he's not [[OneManArmy BOPE]] standards, but the man survived years being an absurdly dirty cop in the meat grinder that is [[WretchedHive Rio de Janeiro's underworld]], Rocha forgets that, [[spoiler: [[KilledOffscreen it doesn't end well for him]] ]].

* BlackBestFriend: To Neto, whom he is friends since childhood.

-> '''Played by''': André Ramiro (Matias)

-> '''Played by''': Caio Junqueira (Neto).

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Sure, he's not [[OneManArmy BOPE]] standards, but the man survived years being an absurdly dirty cop in the meat grinder that is [[WretchedHive Rio de Janeiro's underworld]], Rocha forgets that, [[KilledOffscreen it doesn't end well for him]].

* TooDumbToLive: Kills Matias in front of Fábio, which is beyond stupid, [[IOweYouMyLife considering how Fábio views Matias]].

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Sure, he's not [[OneManArmy BOPE]] standards, but the man survived years being an absurdly dirty cop in the meat grinder that is [[WretchedHive Rio de Janeiro's underworld]], Rocha forgets that, [[it KilledOffscreen doesn't end well for him]].

* KickTheDog: Twice. [[spoiler: First, ordering one of his men to kill Matias InTheBack]], when the latter starts to confront him. Later, when two journalists get too close to the truth about the militia, he [[spoilers: tortures, rapes, and then kills them]].

[[folder: Capt. Nascimento]]

* KnightTemplar: Actually deconstructed.

* LastNameBasis: When speaking to colleagues and when off-work.

* NerdGlasses: Matias wears them as part of his BlackAndNerdy loo.

* StarCrossedLovers: Matias and Maria.

* ChehkovsGun: Shortly after graduating into BOPE, there is a short scene where he pays a tattoo artist to give him a "knife in the skull" symbol that represents the Elite Squad in his arm. [[spoiler: When he is killed by Baiano and his thugs, they notice the tattoo and instantly crap themselves in terror when they realized they [[CopKiller killed a BOPE member]]]].

[[folder: Capt. Fábio Barbosa]]

* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: He is a crooked cop, but he never comes across as violent or cruel like other villains in the movies. He is instead treated as the ButtMonkey.

* FauxAffablyEvil

* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:

* InterruptedCooldownHug: A non-monstrous variation of this trope at any rate: Fraga is introduced in the second movie to defuse a prison uprising and manages to convince the leader to surrender. Unfortunately, Matias interrupts the negotiation with his troops
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Fraga was explicitly based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcelo_Freixo Marcelo Freixo]], a real life leftist congressman from Rio de Janeiro with similar background as an history teacher/activist that also dealt with corrupt militias.
* StrawLiberal: He is set up as one, being definitely left-leaning and extremely critical of the protagonists' extreme brutality. He turns out to be a subversion as he is never really proven wrong about it: if Matias had not disobeyed Nascimento's orders during the prison uprising at the start of the movie, the bloodbath could have been avoided. [[spoiler:He ultimately turns out to be integral in helping Nascimento in exposing the corrupt politicians at the end of the movie]].

* BaitTheDog: Given his disdain for human rights and approving brutal methods against criminals, one would expect he'd be aligned with Nascimento and BOPE.

* {{Hypocrite}}: In his very first scene, he is featured in his tv show chastising the government for allowing criminals to steal weapons right under the police department... Except the guns were stolen by his secret associates as part of his plan to advance in power.

* VillainousBreakdown: Subverted. [[spoiler:When Nascimento exposes him in the hearing for being involved with the militias, he simply gets up... And calmly walks away with his back turned. He doesn't even appear angry in prison, he is merely resigned]].

* ButtMonkey: He suffers a lot in both films.

* BigBadEnsemble: In the second movie, while he is the primary and most direct antagonist, the corrupt politicians also facilitate his dealings and are just as important in bringing down as Rocha.

* VillainousBreakdown: Subverted. [[spoiler:When Nascimento exposes him in the hearing as involved with the militias, he simply gets up... And calmly walks away with his back turned]].

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Inverted. [[spoiler: Mathias manages to survive the first movie, while his friend Neto (who is white) dies, ironically in a ambush set up for Mathias. Then comes along the sequel and Mathias is the first main character to die.]]

One of Nascimento's substitutes-in-training, he is Mathias' childhood best friend.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: When Matias wants to deliver Romerito's glasses in the favela, but since he himself can't go because of a job opportunity, Neto offers to go in his place, and [[spoiler: dies in an ambush.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: Neto's Red Oni to Mathias' Blue Oni, being the most excitable and emotional of the group.
* SaltAndPepper: With Mathias.

* AscendedExtra [=/=] ChekhovsGunman [=/=] FromNobodyToNightmare: He was a minor officer that appeared on one scene in the prequel, but becomes the main antagonist and militia's leader in the sequel.

'''Played By''': André Mattos

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Generally speaking, he was based on several politicians that employed militias or were involved with them somehow, but his antics in particular were very similar to Wagner Montes, another real-life politician that hosted his own TV show and was popular for acting over-the-top in the same way as Fortunato - even their catchphrases were similar. That is the only thing they have in common though, as Montes was never associated with militias in anyway.

* StrawLiberal: Averted. He is definitely left-leaning and extremely critical of the protagonists' extreme brutality, but he is never really proven wrong about it: if Matias had not disobeyed Nascimento's orders during the prison uprising at the start of the movie, the bloodbath could have been avoided. [[spoiler:He ultimately turns out to be integral in helping Nascimento in exposing the corrupt politicians at the end of the movie]].

* DarkIsEvil [=/=] DarkIsNotEvil: BOPE's outfits are completely black, and their symbol is a dagger crossing a skull. If they're evil or not depends wheter you see their actions as evil or not.

-> '''Played by''': André Ramiro (Matias), Caio Junqueira (Neto).

* LeeroyJenkins: Neto, being HotBlooded and all. It nearly causes Nascimento a HeroicBSOD when Neto nearly botches an invasion because of this.
* NerdGlasses: Matias wears them.

[[folder:Neto]]

[[folder: Capt. Fábio]]
-> Played by: Milhem Cortaz.

[[folder: Lieutenant Rocha]]

* TheDragon: Fábio thinks he's this.
** DragonTheirFeet: His response.

* TheHeavy: He does almost all the work his superior, Captain Fábio, doesn't.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: He's very fond of giving these.

[[folder: André Matias and Neto]]

The deuteragonists of the first film, and Nascimento's substitutes-in-training.

* BlackAndNerdy: Mathias.
* BlackBestFriend: Matias, to Neto. They are childhood friends.

* KnightInShiningArmor [=/=] ByTheBookCop: They both start as this, but become the below trope during the film. Nascimento actually thinks that it's necessary for them to be like this, as it means they're honest cops who fight for what's right.
* KnightInSourArmor [=/=] CowboyCop: With special mention going to Matias, who actually wanted to be a lawyer, but after [[spoiler: Neto's death]], becomes a full-fledged BOPE official.
* InTheBack: [[spoiler: Both of them die by being shot in the back.]]

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Twice in the first film. The first, early on, is when they "use the system against the system" so that Neto could fix all the cars in his post, and both Neto and Matias suffer a little for it. The second case, later in the film, is when Matias wants to deliver Romerito's glasses in the favela, but since he himself can't go because of a job opportunity, Neto goes in his place, and [[spoiler: dies in an ambush.]]

* WhiteHairBlackHeart:

* ActionDad

* Badass: You don't say.
** ColonelBadass
** BadassBureaucrat: When he becomes Minister of Defense.
** BadassInANiceSuit: See above.

* BlackAndNerdy: Matias.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted / inverted. [[spoiler: Neto dies in the prequel, but in a trap that was actually meant for Matias. But then, in the sequel, Matias dies anyway.]]

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Neto's death]] really crushes him.

* Pornstache: Grows one in the sequel. It actually makes him even funnier to watch.

-> '''Played by:''' Sandro Rocha.

* LargeAndInCharge
* WhiteHairBlackHeart

--> ''"[[ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeople There are three kinds of policemen in Rio]]: Those who are [[DirtyCop corrupt]], those who [[HeadInTheSandManagement look the other way]], and those who [[CowboyCop go to war]]."''

** BadassBureocraut: When he becomes Minister of Defense.

* DrillSergeantNasty: When conducting the BOPE course. He actually discusses it, claiming that their training remige is actually tougher than Israel's.

* KickedUpstairs: In the sequel, after a prison riot gone wrong because of BOPE, he's demoted from BOPE, but becomes Minister of Defense.

[[folder: Lieutnant Rocha]]

* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: Ordering one of his men to kill Matias InTheBack]], when the latter starts to confront him.

[[Folder: Capt. Nascimento]]

[[Folder: André Matias and Neto]]

[[Folder: Baiano]]