History Film / RealSteel

* DropTheHammer:
** Metro's weapon. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the WRB rules]], using a weapon is illegal; however, as Metro is mostly an underground fighter, there isn't a really big deal made of it.
** Zeus has ''pistons for fists,'' making him an example of this as well, though a fairly original one.

* LicensedGame: Two, actually; one for Xbox Live / UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork, and one for Android / iOS. No motion or voice controls, sadly.

** Atom's name is a twofer. It belongs to both the robot hero ''Manga/AstroBoy'' and the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero ComicBook/TheAtom, a diminutive scrapper who was taught to box, and proceeded to outfight thugs much bigger than him.

!! This film provides examples of:

** A video about Atom also explains his origins: [[spoiler: He was a Sparring Robot for former Robot champion Gamma.]]

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: A variation: [[spoiler: Charlie gives Max back to Debra and Marvin after Ricky beats both of them up, causing him to realize how unfit he is to have custody of Max.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Atom's shadow function is mentioned early on in an apparent throwaway line. [[spoiler: It later becomes crucial to Atom's winning streak due to Charlie's boxing expertise, and ultimately causes his near-victory against Zeus after the voice control breaks mid-match.]]

* CombatBreakdown: [[spoiler:In the final round, all the fancy indirect commands for both Atom and Zeus are dropped through damage or desperation. Charlie is left using Atom's shadow mode after the voice control is broken, and Tak decides to control Zeus manually after he runs almost out of power and Atom starts fighting back. This is particularly visible in the moments before Zeus goes down: the champion is barely able to stand and leaning heavily against Atom is a desperate attempt to pin his arms, with Atom[=/=]Charlie furiously punching at Zeus' heavily-armoured midsection to try and damage him.]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: The cover of the DVD release showcases Atom and Ambush as if Ambush is a significant character. [[spoiler: Ambush is in the movie for all of five minutes and is completely trashed.]] Zeus would have been a better choice.

* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Atom does indeed knock Zeus down near the end of the fight, but Zeus is able to get back up. However, by this point in the fight Zeus is low on energy, and had he not been saved by the bell, Atom probably would have been able to knock him out.]]

* MassOhCrap: Everyone in the stadium when [[spoiler: Atom lands a punch on Zeus' head]].
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Hints of [[spoiler:Atom being sentient]] are dropped, but it is never explicitly stated one way or the other. According to the DVDCommentary, [[spoiler: Atom's fight with Metro was originally written to confirm that Atom was indeed sentient, with him fighting without Max operating him.]] The filmmakers eventually realized that it would be better if this trope was in effect, so the scene was scripted to its final form.

* MeaninglessVillainVictory: Zeus [[spoiler: May have won the match, but the crowd most definitely doesn't care as they still cheer for Atom despite the loss. Tak, despite prevailing, was still humiliated that his masterpiece would have been beaten by an ancient scrapheap not even designed for actual fighting if the fight had continued, ''and'' the crowd booing his supposedly-perfect creation.]]

** The original story has its main robot breakdown before its fight, leading to its handler to fight in its place. Naturally, [[DownerEnding this doesn't go very well]]. In the film, [[spoiler: Atom's voice recognition is damaged in the middle of his fight with Zeus. Charlie then has to control Atom through his Shadow Mode, meaning that Charlie is technically the one fighting against Zeus.]]

** Atom got his ass kicked when he went up against Metro. [[spoiler: The tides quickly turn to his favor in Round 2]].

** Zeus specialises in these. The brief montage of him besting other bots ahead of Atom's first League appearance features him taking down other League robots with one blow, occasionally adding a second for theatrics or pure overkill. True to form, Atom falls instantly at the first punch Zeus throws at him. [[spoiler: He gets up soon after]].

--> '''Charlie''': "Oh, come on. Are you kidding me with those eyes? Dammit..."

* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: Zeus wins the final fight, but just barely by scoring higher previously. The match ended with Atom raining blows upon the hobbled Zeus, and it's clear that Atom would've won by knockout had the fight gone on for even one more round. More importantly, Zeus loses credibility and the respect of the crowd (as his "never needed more than one round" reputation is broken), while Atom is crowned "The People's Champion."]]

** Most of the robots. Twin Cities is "The Two-Headed Tyrant", Midas is "The Gold-Blooded Killer", Zeus is "The King of the Ring", Noisy Boy is either "The Steel Samurai" or "The Manga Mangler" and Atom eventually becomes [[spoiler: "The People's Champion"]].

* VictoryByEndurance: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] [[spoiler:in that Atom didn't win the match. However, the fight against Zeus plays out like this. Atom was designed as a sparring bot, and as such, built to take a ton of punishment, whereas Zeus was designed for overwhelming power, and usually won by decimating his opponents early on in the fight. Because Atom can take that kind of punishment (and because he was "trained" by a master boxer), Atom manages to go the distance and last longer in the Ring than Zeus can. By round five, Zeus is running on empty and actually gets knocked down by Atom. In the end, Zeus has to be saved by the bell and wins on decision. However, it's heavily implied that, had the fight gone on even just a little longer, the trope would have been played completely straight and Zeus would have outright lost to Atom.]]
* VillainousBreakdown:

* BigBad: Farra Lemkova, a powerful businesswoman who aids Zeus' creator, Tak Mashido.
* BribingYourWayToVictory: The Xbox Arcade game seems good value at first, but the high-quality parts cost the equivalent of an Indie game - for each one. You can even buy complete and overpowered robots for the same amount of points you paid to buy the game in the first place. Also, you have to shell out even more to play 2-player, use Zeus or even decorate your robot.

* CoolCar: Charlie's International Harvester Sightliner.

** Or it can be seen as a subversion for the fact that both Ambush and Atom are bookends to Charlie's life seen in the film. Though he may have been in only the start of the movie, Ambush was introduced with Charlie. And Atom is probably the last ever robot that Charlie will continue to have a career with (along with Max's help).

* DelinquentHair: King Pin, Metro's handler, is an Underworld punk who sports a pretty over the top mohawk.

* DropTheHammer: Metro's weapon. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the WRB rules]], using a weapon is illegal; however, as Metro is mostly an underground fighter, there isn't a really big deal made of it.

* FightClubbing: When we see Charlie, his mech fights have been reduced to this - taking place at unofficial tournaments and outright underground fighting rings - and Atom's first real win takes place at an illegal ring in a former zoo.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When Bailey sits down in the bar to watch Atom's fight with Twin Cities, the guy next to her clearly tries to get ready to hit on her, but cannot even get a word out before she turns her attention to the fight.

* JerkAss: Ricky. He ignores Charlie's calls to quit the match when his robot is badly damaged, and then beats Charlie and his son up and steals their winnings.

* LargeHam: The antagonists aren't shy of getting hammy, but King Pin is easily the movie's most unhinged scenery-chewer, especially his BigNo when Metro loses to Atom.

--> '''Charlie:''' Stubborn kid.
--> '''Bailey:''' [[SarcasmMode Surprise surprise]].

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Hints of [[spoiler:Atom being sentient]] are dropped, but it is never explicitly stated one way or the other.
** According to the DVDCommentary, [[spoiler: Atom's fight with Metro was originally written to confirm that Atom was indeed sentient, with him fighting without Max operating him.]] The filmmakers eventually realized that it would be better if this trope was in effect, so the scene was scripted to its final form.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Atom got his ass kicked when he went up against Metro. [[spoiler: The tides quickly turn to his favor in Round 2]].

** To be fair, Finn also refered to Ricky as "Pardner".

* ProductPlacement: Sponsorships within the movie appear all over the equipment and arenas used by the WRB (considering that it's a professional sport, it would be kind of jarring if they ''weren't'' there), including Sprint, Bing, and the Xbox [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 720]]. Dr. Pepper appears as a standard product placement when Max drinks it throughout the movie. Royal Purple (synthetic oils and lubricants) appears on the control consoles of Team Twin Cities and Team Zeus. Hewlett-Packard's "HP" logo can clearly be seen through the back of Noisy Boy's control console and the round cards in Zeus' fight.

* RedBaron: Most of the robots. Twin Cities is "The Two-Headed Tyrant", Midas is "The Gold-Blooded Killer", Zeus is "The King of the Ring", Noisy Boy is either "The Steel Samurai" or "The Manga Mangler" and Atom eventually becomes [[spoiler: "The People's Champion"]].

* StealthPun: One of the underground robots Atom fights during his montage is a cowboy-themed boxer named Six Shooter. If one looks closely at Six Shooter's arms, one can see how his biceps are designed to resemble a pistol's revolver. As in his guns.
** Not to mention the fact that he "fires" his arms, producing a gunshot sound effect. A similar gag is made for Blacktop, whose punches make a motorcyle's revving sound effect.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: The key to Atom's success. Seemingly every other robot in the world is just a bipedal competitor in Series/RobotWars. Atom's shadow function enables ex-boxer Charlie to effectively "train" him to "perform" elegant punches, and utilize his years of experience to perceive telegraphed moves. And in the final fight, it enables Charlie to effectively fight Zeus ''himself'' - and beat him to a pulp like any pro boxer could any undisciplined juiced street fighter.

* ThereAreNoRules: Midas gets the upper hand on Noisy Boy when it starts using illegal moves, Max objects pointing them out but Charlie explains that there are no rules in the underworld.

* TenMinuteRetirement: Tak went into retirement after Noisy Boy lost to the Lemkovas' first robot, Rubicon. Shortly after, he came out of retirement after striking a deal with them that culminated in Zeus' creation.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The first half of Noisy Boy vs. Midas was released without editing as one of the later trailers, including the Gold Blooded Killer's comeback.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Aside from the fact that robots have taken over boxing, everything looks pretty much like present day. The film is set in 2020.

* WouldHurtAChild: Ricky and his men take no issue at beating up Max alongside his dad, in fact, they go down harder on the kid upon learning he's Charlie's son.

* BerserkButton: Do not call Finn "homeboy".

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In a variation, Ricky fails to understand that the only reason why Finn called him "partner" was because of his hat.

* LaserGuidedKarma: When Charlie puts up money he doesn't have in a bet with Ricky and loses, Ricky tracks him down and beats him. Ricky then proceeds to make a bet with Finn, with money ''he'' doesn't have. He tries to run out on Finn when the latter shows up, without thinking that a promoter and bookie acting on the major league would be smart enough to have backup to catch an idiot that wants to backpedal on the failed bet. At the end, he's "escorted" (read: shoved) off the arena, and one can presume his offscreen fate.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Ricky, who just has to {{kick the dog}} further by mockingly calling Finn "home boy!" toward the end of the film.

** Ricky is so confident that Atom won't last past round one vs Zeus that he tells Finn his exact seat in the stadium so that the can personally bring his money to him. [[LaserGuidedKarma This backfires horribly on him]] when Finn uses that information to track him when Atom manages to survive to round two.

* LargeHam: The antagonists aren't shy of getting hammy, but King Pin is easily the movie's most unhinged scenery-chewer.

* NoNewFashionsInTheFuture: Clothing styles still look the way they are in 2011. Granted, the film is only in 2020, but you'd expect ''some things'' to change.

* DelinquentHair: Midas' head is modeled after a Greco-Roman helmet, but it also makes him look like he has a mohawk. With the underground fighting setting and his violent fighting style, it employs this trope.

** "I think I'll pay attention to flirting with this girl instead of the fight, even though my last robot is fighting [[BrutishBull a creature with no concept of breaks between rounds.]]" Surprise surprise, Ambush promptly gets dismembered by his rather grumpy opponent.

* GroinAttack: Midas does this to Noisy Boy in their fight. They might be robots, but it still made all the men in the room wince. And just like in real life fighting sports, it is heavily implied to be an illegal move.

A 2011 {{Science Fiction}} {{Action|Genre}} {{Drama}} film (loosely) based on a Creator/RichardMatheson story first adapted for ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''. Starring Creator/HughJackman, Creator/EvangelineLilly, Creator/DakotaGoyo, Creator/AnthonyMackie and Creator/KevinDurand.

** Twin Cities's has a small hitch in his shoulder whenever he performs a right hook, slowing him down slightly and telegraphing his punches. Once Charlie notices it, he exploits it to dodge out of Twin Cities' longer reach, then batter him into submission.

* CombatBreakdown: [[spoiler:In the final round, all the fancy indirect commands for both Atom and Zeus are dropped through damage or desperation. Charlie is left using Atom's shadow mode after the voice control is broken, and Tak decides to control Zeus manually after he runs almost out of power and Atom starts fighting back.]]
* CombatPragmatist: Midas' handler, Artie Bakker, has no problem playing dirty in the ring.

** [[ChildProdigy Max]] manages to greatly enhance Atom overnight.
** Tak, Zeus' creator, is hailed as one, and apparently is one of the revolutionary figures in the robot boxing world.

* AndShowItToYou: One of Zeus' victories looks like this, with Zeus punching through the middle of Danger Zone's chestplate and yanking out some wires.

* CombatBreakdown: [[spoiler:In the final round, All the fancy indirect commands for both Atom and Zeus are dropped through damage or desperation, with Charlie using Atom's shadow mode and Tak controlling Zeus manually.]]

* CurbStompBattle: Zeus knocks down Atom with his first blow. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Atom then gets back up.]]]]
** Heck, nearly ''every'' battle Zeus has ever been in had this result, so the fact that Atom even makes it through the first round is shocking to the spectators.

* DerelictGraveyard: Charlie goes to one of these to look for spare parts. He finds Atom.

* [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe Half The Robot It Used To Be]]: One of Zeus' opponents, Axelrod, gets bisected at the waist. Only Axelrod's upper half gets carted out, twitching and punching the air.

* MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever: [[spoiler:Charlie/Atom runs a textbook Rope-a-Dope on Zeus in the final round of the title fight.]]

** [[spoiler:Midas takes Noisy Boy apart.]]

* [[OneHitKill One Hit Knockout]]: Atom falls instantly at the first punch Zeus throws at him. [[spoiler: He gets up soon after]].

* OneHeadTaller: Charlie and Bailey

* TooDumbToLive: Oh hey, I'm on a cliff? Yeah, I'm just going to stand here RIGHT ON THE VERY EDGE DURING THE RAIN and act coo-WHOOOOAAA!
** I think I'll pay attention to flirting with this girl instead of the fight, even though my last robot is fighting a creature with no concept of breaks between rounds.

* VillainousBreakdown: Not exactly a villain, but Tak loses it when he sees his precious robot taking a fierce beating from Atom. First he drags the technician controlling Zeus from his chair and sits down to control Zeus himself. When Zeus takes a really harsh beating, Tak actually ''punches through the screen''. Later, when the paparazzi tries to interview him, Tak can only [[TranquilFury breathe into the microphone before storming away]].
* VillainyFreeVillain / OpposingSportsTeam: Team Zeus, all the way.

* WrenchWench: Bailey

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Yes, we ''already'' have remote control robot fighting, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robo_One albeit]] [[Series/BattleBots on a much]] [[Series/RobotWars smaller scale.]]
** ...And now nearly completely {{defictionalized}} with Creator/{{Syfy}}'s ''Series/RobotCombatLeague''. The only thing left is to make them wireless and not need the crane arm to hold them up.

* DropTheHammer: Metro's WeaponOfChoice. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the WRB rules]], using a weapon is illegal; however, as Metro is mostly an underground fighter, there isn't a really big deal made of it.

A 2011 {{Science Fiction}} {{Action|Genre}} {{Drama}} film (loosely) based on a Creator/RichardMatheson story first adapted for ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', Starring Creator/HughJackman, Creator/EvangelineLilly, Creator/DakotaGoyo, Creator/AnthonyMackie and Creator/KevinDurand.

* AbnormalLimbRotationRange / EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Twin Cities can turn both his heads 360 degrees.

** Similarly, Midas is thin and wiry compared to the other non-Atom bots in the movie, and makes up for his weight disadvantage with speed, flexibility, and dirty grappling-heavy boxing.

* UnnecessaryRoughness: Zeus didn't get penalized for throwing Atom across the ring. In a regular boxing match, he would have gotten a few points docked off.