History Characters / TheProfessional

* AgeGapRomance: A one sided version. He views the Mathilda, a 12-year kid, as a daughter, while she's clearly interested in him romantically, which he's obviously disturbed by.

* AgeGapRomance: With Mathilda, a 12-year kid, though he doesn't exactly like the romantic aspect of the relationship.

* DarthVaderClone: Interestingly enough, he comes off as a realistic hybrid of Vader and Prequel-era Anakin, predating the latter by a half-decade. A badass warrior in black clothing with a stoic personality who has a tragic backstory of losing a loved one which drove him down a dark path and a deep voice befitting of his ferocious, intimidating nature. He also trains a young apprentice to become just like him, works for a mentor that sends him to do various tasks and missions for a larger organization. Not to mention that he has a romantic relationship with Mathilda despite the big age difference, like Anakin and Padmé in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' (and the latter would be played by Creator/NataliePortman, amusingly enough) albeit [[DownplayedTrope downplayed later on]] and has a small non-human companion as a friend. Even his lecture on revenge isn't too dissimilar to Anakin's warning to Ahsoka in the fifth season of ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]''. Just like how Anakin was a slave on Tatooine with her mother Shmi, Leon came from a "less than respectable" family from Italy. While he doesn't wear a mask, he does have a beanie hat with black shades which is somewhat akin to the Kabuto-esque helmet of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Much like Vader, [[spoiler:Leon does a HeroicSacrifice that kills him and the main villain in the climax of the movie]]. Ironically, he also shares elements of Anakin's first mentor Qui-Gon Jinn since he is a middle-aged man who saves a young child from being hurt and is killed by a younger, less experienced opponent in the final act of the movie unlike most examples of this trope.

-->''"This is... from Mathilda..."'' [[spoiler: ([[StuffBlowingUp BANG!]])]]

* BadassMustache: Léon has a goatee-stache combo that suits his rugged outlook.

* LethallyStupid: When he and his guys go to the Lando’s apartment to kill the family and find the drug stash, instead of killing Matilda’s father there on the spot, he discusses music with him. This leads to Matilda’s father reaching out for a gun and killing one of Stansfield’s men. Him doing this is also an example of GenreBlindnes.

* LethallyStupid: When he and his guys go to the Lando’s apartment to kill the family and find the drug stash, instead of killing Matilda’s father there on the spot, he discusses music with him. This leads to Matilda’s father reaching out for a gun and killing one of Stansfield’s men.

* CreepyChild: She's a nice girl, but León's admittedly disturbed when she starts to play Russian roulette.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: He's rather eccentric, to say the least: he discusses classical music during hits, is careless about where he points his gun, and frequently switches from absolute calm to screaming rage and back. He is still a dangerous crimelord and gets the drop on both Lon and Mathilda.

* DissonantSerenity: When he's killing Matjilda's family while cheerfully humming along to the classical music in his headphones.

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler: "This is from Mathilda"]].

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler:"Shit..."]]

* FamousLastWords: "Easy man, I'm a cop."

* GoshdangIttoHeck: In contrast to most of the characters in the film, Leon never swears. The worst word he ever utters is "crap" in the International Cut when he has to deal with an unhinged apartment dweller.

* AssassinOutclassin / BestedByTheInexperienced: [[spoiler:Formidable badass Leon is killed when Stansfield cowardly shoots him in the back of the head]].

* [[GoshdangIttoHeck Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: In contrast to most of the characters in the film, Leon never swears. The worst word he ever utters is "crap" in the International Cut when he has to deal with an unhinged apartment dweller.

* PapaWolf / ParentalSubstitute: He becomes an adoptive father figure to Mathilda, taking her in after the death of her family, mentoring her in assassination and protecting her from Stansfield. He starts assassinating the men who killed her family, and in the final showdown with Stansfield's cops, he goes OneManArmy to ensure she survives. [[spoiler:He even spends his last seconds of life ensuring that the man who killed her family and went after her, dies alongside him.]]

* ForTheEvulz: The only reason why he's even a DEA agent is that he wants to get his hands on drugs. Other than that, he also enjoys life and killing people for no reason at all. This is best summed up by the man himself when he discovers Mathilda at the bathroom with a package full of guns and pizza.
-->'''Stansfield''': Do you like life, sweetheart?
-->'''Mathilda''': Yes.
-->'''Stansfield''': That's good. Because I take no pleasure in taking life — [[FalseReassurance if it's from a person who doesn't care about it]].

* {{Foil}}: To Leon, who's his opposite in nearly every way. Leon's a ConsummateProfessional while Stansfield is AxCrazy and has a HairTriggerTemper. Leon tries to act cold and aloof while being a much better person than he lets on, Stansfield can appear charming but is really a raging maniac. Leon is StraightEdgeEvil who doesn't use drink, smoke or using foul-language, while Stansfield is a drug addict who swears all the time. Both men exhibit almost childlike qualities, but while Leon treats a potted plant like his best friend and takes childlike joy in musical movies, Stansfield's idea of fun and games is hunting down and murdering a family for fun. While Leon is a HitmanWithAHeart, [[DarkIsNotEvil who dresses mainly in black]], Stansfield is an AxCrazy DirtyCop [[LightIsNotGood who wears lighter-clothing]].

* KillerCop: He's a psychotic DEA agent who uses the law to threaten, extort, and kill whoever he wants. On a drug bust early in the film, Stansfield goes on a drug rush and along with his men, murders Matilda's family, including their baby brother, only caring about how he'll explain their deaths to his superiors. When Matilda confronts him later on, Stansfield plans to kill her—implying that he'll enjoy doing it—before he's stopped by the news of the death of one of his subordinates. He later leads a raid on Leon's apartment to try to kill both him and Matilda and shoots Leon In the Back as the latter tries to escape.

* SirSwearsALot: Even the [[spoiler:last thing he ever]] says is, "Shit".

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler: The first of Stansfield's unit to die.]]

* {{Foil}}: To Leon, who's his opposite in nearly every way. Leon's a ConsummateProfessional while Stansfield is AxCrazy and has a HairTriggerTemper. Leon tries to act cold and aloof while being a much better person than he lets on, Stansfield can appear charming but is really a raging maniac. Leon is StraightEdgeEvil who doesn't use drink, smoke or using foul-language, while Stansfield is a drug addict who swears all the time. Both men exhibit almost childlike qualities, but while Leon treats a potted plant like his best friend and takes childlike joy in musical movies, Stansfield's idea of fun and games is hunting down and murdering a family for fun. While Leon is a HitmanWithAHeart, [[DarkIsNotEvil who dresses mainly in black]],Stansfield is an AxCrazy DirtyCop [[LightIsNotGood who wears lighter-clothing]].

* AssassinOutclassin / BestedByTheInexperienced:[[spoiler:Formidable badass Leon is killed when Stansfield cowardly shoots him in the back of the head]].

* PapaWolf: He becomes a ParentalSubstitute to Mathilda, taking her in after the death of her family, mentoring her in assassination and protecting her from Stansfield. He starts assassinating the men who killed her family, and in the final showdown with Stansfield's cops, he goes OneManArmy to ensure she survives. [[spoiler:He even spends his last seconds of life ensuring that the man who killed her family and went after her, dies alongside him.]]

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: "Eerie" would be quite an understatement as she does a lot of unchildlike behavior from smoking a cigarette to openly cursing at her half-sister and Leon as well as her sexual interest in the latter.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: In a sense, she is the DarkerAndEdgier Besson/Gaumont version of [[Film/{{Matilda}} Matilda Wormwood]] from Creator/RoaldDahl's [[Literature/{{Matilda}} novel of the same name]] as both characters are young brunette girls that come from abusive families who develop close bonds with an adult that is consistently nice to them and they also work together to take down a LargeHam villain that just so happens to be in a normally trustworthy position of power with a creepy obsession over a mundane hobby played by a British actor ([[Creator/GaryOldman Gary Oldman]]/Pam Ferris). Both were also the main leads of mid 90s movies portrayed by [[FormerChildStar Former Child Stars]] ([[Creator/NataliePortman Natalie Portman]]/[[Creator/MaraWilson Mara Wilson]]).

* HollywoodPersonalityDisorders: He has Antisocial Personality Disorder. Antisocial, lacks empathy and murders without a shred of remorse.

* FamousLastWords: "Shit..."

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: In a sense, she is the DarkerAndEdgier Besson/Gaumont version of [[Film/{{Matilda}} Matilda Wormwood]] from Creator/RoaldDahl's [[Literature/{{Matilda}} novel of the same name]] as both characters are young brunette girls that come from abusive families who develop close bonds with an adult that is consistently nice to them and they also work together to take down a LargeHam villain that just so happens to be in a normally trustworthy position of power played by a British actor ([[Creator/GaryOldman Gary Oldman]]/Pam Ferris). Both were also the main leads of mid 90s movies portrayed by [[FormerChildStar Former Child Stars]] ([[Creator/NataliePortman Natalie Portman]]/[[Creator/MaraWilson Mara Wilson]]).