History Film / RealSteel

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Charlie and Max have won the hearts of everyone in the world, earning them and Atom the title of the People's Champion, but Zeus retains his title as undefeated champion (which mirrors ''Rocky'' in that it was more about going the distance and making the invincible sweat... and leaving the way open for a sequel!)]]
** [[spoiler:Max is probably going to live with his adoptive parents rather than Charlie, but they did get their glorious WRB fight and Charlie's sister-in-law has clearly been won over by the sport, meaning that Max might not have to leave it behind in his new life and it's implied he may be able to see Charlie again.]]
** [[spoiler:Charlie controlling Atom in shadow mode against Zeus in the final round is basically a [[TheLastDance last hurrah]] for human boxers made obsolete by the robots. Even if it was a glorious moment, it was an act of desperation that almost certainly won't become standard practice, and in the end he didn't win, but at least he still got to "fight" one more time.]]

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Max, who not only displays [[GadgeteerGenius extraordinary technical skills]] for an 11 year-old, but is also shown to be quite a bit more GenreSavvy than his father.

* OlderThanHeLooks: Max. Charlie even asks him to clarify if he really is 11 years old. Might have to do with his intellect

* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins: Downplayed. In the final fight, Zeus was saved by the bell and won against Atom on the judges' decision, though the commentator described the fight as an "Absolutely Humiliating Near-Loss" for Zeus, and Zeus' controller Tak stormed out of the ring in frustration, leaving no comment.]]

* XMeetsY:
** ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' meets ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant''.
** ''Film/OverTheTop'' meets ''Series/BattleBots''.

* BigBad: Farra Lemkova, a powerful russian businesswoman who aids Zeus' creator, Tak Mashido.

** Farra Lemkova has a kind of [[SensualSlavs Sensual Slav]][=/=]Creator/KimKardashian thing going on.

** At first, Charlie is the reckless one, and Max is the cautious methodical one. As the movie progresses, Max becomes more reckless and aggressive, and Charlie starts thinking things out more.

Or, as it's become known on the Internet, ''[[FanNickname Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots: The Movie]]''.

* LaserGuidedKarma: When Max 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. [[WhatAnIdiot 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]] GenreSavvy [[WhatAnIdiot 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.

* DespairEventHorizon: See HeroicBSOD.

* BilingualBonus: The kanji on Noisy Boy.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Detroit doubled for Texas.

* FollowTheLeader: The influences of ''Transformers'' and ''Rocky'' are clearly felt. Not quite enough to qualify for XMeetsY but enough to mention.

* RecycledINSPACE: ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' [[AC:with robots!]]

* [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe Half The Robot It Used To Be]]: One of Zeus' opponents, Axelrod, gets bisected at the waist.

* ThatPoorCar: Atom smashes one of his opponents into a car during the montage. Cue the car alarm.

* UsedFuture: Invoked in some of the robots, who look like they've seen better days. Mostly applies to underground fighters; WRB League robots like Twin Cities and Zeus are well taken care of.

** Tak Moshido, Zeus' creator. BackStory on the film's website reveals that he was the original creator of Noisy Boy, Charlie's second robot, and was also one of the revolutionary inventors of robot boxing.

* CombatBreakdown: [[spoiler:In the final fight, All the fancy indierect commands for both Atom and Zeus are dropped through damage or desperation.]]

* CreatorCameo: Screenwriter John Gatins plays Kingpin, the mohawked promoter who heads "The Zoo". [[LargeHam That might explain his enthusiasm.]]

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

** The games give the minor bots their own nicknames. Blacktop is "The Bot out of Hell", Six Shooter is "The Sheriff of Robotown", Gridlock is "The Bronze Bodybuilder Bot", Axelrod is "The Wheel-Spinning Fistfighter", and so on.

** Not to mention the fact that he "fires" his arms, producing a gunshot sound effect. A similar gag is made for Black Top, whose punches make an engine revving sound effect.

* [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe Half The Robot It Used To Be]]: One of Zeus' opponents gets bisected at the waist.

* RedBaron: Most of the robots. Twin Cities is "The Two-Headed Tyrant", Midas is "The Gold-Blooded Killer", Zeus is "The King of Kings" and Atom eventually becomes [[spoiler: "The People's Champion"]]. From the main robots, the only one who doesn't have one is Noisy Boy.

* ShareTheMalePain: During the Midas fight, Midas punches Noisy Boy in "that spot". Being a robot, Noisy Boy doesn't feel anything, but despite that, the ''entire crowd'' flinches and reaches reflexively downward.

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

* CombatPragmatist: Midas' handler has no problem playing dirty in the ring.

** Zeus executes a robot by squashing its head flat between his fists.

Executive produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/RobertZemeckis, although not directed by either (step forward [[NightAtTheMuseum Shawn Levy]]).

* CrowningMomentofHeartwarming: During the part of the match were [[spoiler: Charlie is using Atoms Shadowing feature to control his movements]], Max doesn't focus on the ring [[spoiler: He focus's on his father fighting like it was him in the ring.]]

* UnderdogsNeverLose: Averted. Zeus wins in points at the end of the fifth round, but the fact that Atom put up such a strong fight and probably would've won had the match had another round got him the support of the crowd. Atom is even dubbed "The People's Champion", no relation to that [[DwayneJohnson other one.]]