History Film / SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow

** The two treacherous agents of Doctor Totenkopf manage to obtain the two metal vials from Polly and Joe. Totenkopf's female [[spoiler:RobotGirl]] TheDragon is later shown taking off with the vials, so presumably the agents turned them over to her offscreen. However, what happened to the agents afterwards? Were they captured and punished? RewardedAsATraitorDeserves?

** When Dex appears with three of the kidnapped scientists he says the others were recaptured after their escape attempt. Those scientists don't appear in person and their fate after [[spoiler:the rocket crash]] is unknown.

While ultimately unsuccessful at the box office, the film has garnered a cult following in the years since its release.

* IslandBase: Dr. Totenkopf's island base in ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' (2004), complete with robots, [[spoiler:prehistoric animals and a space ship]]. In addition, it isn't on any map.

''Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'' is a 2004 movie [[GenreThrowback homage]] to the TwoFistedTales of the 1930s, written and directed by Kerry Conran. The film follows the adventures of AcePilot H. Joseph "Joe" Sullivan, known as Sky Captain (Creator/JudeLaw) and IntrepidReporter Polly Perkins (Creator/GwynethPaltrow). Creator/AngelinaJolie also appears as Royal Navy Commander Francesca "Franky" Cook.

They begin investigating the affairs of the [[MadScientist mysterious German scientist]], Dr. Totenkopf, after his machines attack UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, searching for ''something''. Further implicating Totenkopf is a string of kidnapped scientists, all of whom point back to Totenkopf's work...

The plot shamelessly uses the [[AwesomeButImpractical outrageous gadgets]] and cliches of the PulpMagazine and ComicBook genres, plus numerous {{shout out}}s to other media of the period. Filmed with live actors against computer-generated surroundings, the movie did not make enough money to offset its production costs, so a sequel is unlikely.

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!!The movie has the following AwesomeButImpractical machines:

* [[HumongousMecha Humongous]] [[TinCanRobot Tin Can]] [[HumongousMecha Mecha]]: Giant bipedal robots armed with FrickinLaserBeams stomp through the streets of New York. They can [[FlyingBrick fly as well]].

!!Other tropes include:

* AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker: Dr. Totenkopf's machines carry on his work of assembling a "Noah's Ark"-type rocket and loading animals on it despite [[spoiler:him having died 20 years prior]].
* ActionDressRip: Polly tears her skirt to run better during the NYC robot attack. But leaves on the heels...
* ActionGirl:
** Commander Francesca "Franky" Cook of the Royal Navy, who sports an EyepatchOfPower. She is also part of a LoveTriangle in the movie.
** There's also the MysteriousWoman, a [[HeWhoMustNotBeHeard silent]] but deadly woman who controls Totenkopf's machines and turns out to be a [[spoiler:RobotGirl]].
* AdvertisedExtra: Creator/AngelinaJolie's Frankie appears for about fifteen minutes despite the very heavy presence of Jolie in the film's marketing. Disappointment over this has been blamed for some of the film's negative audience reaction.
* AerialCanyonChase: The title character flies his fighter plane along the streets of New York just above ground level while trying to escape Dr. Totenkopf's robot ornithopters.
* AlternateHistory
** There is a ''Hindenburg III'' zeppelin in the opening scene, which implies either that the first ''Hindenburg'' did not explode, or else its explosion was not an impediment to further airship construction.
** The entire movie is obviously AlternateHistory. There were no HumongousMecha robots destroying the world in 1939, neither was there [[DieselPunk space travel, rayguns, or flying British naval squadrons]]. There are some subtler AlternateHistory implications though, such as the apparent absence of [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi Germany]] and an American/British evacuation of Nanjing (which of course implies that Japan still annexed Manchuria and China).
* AluminumChristmasTrees: The concept of a ''heroic'' "[[PrivateMilitaryContractors army for hire]]" is puzzling to modern viewers, but is actually where Joe's backstory crosses into RealLife; before building the Flying Legion, he flew for the First American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force; a mercenary organization nicknamed the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers Flying Tigers.]]
* AnachronismStew: While the P-40 Warhawk existed in 1939, the Flying Legion are using the P-40E model, which was barely on the drawing board at the time. They also have a fleet of later-model [=B-24s=], an aircraft that was just being prototyped, and whose powered gun turrets hadn’t been designed yet.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Spoofed. Joe Sullivan believes Polly Perkins deliberately sabotaged his plane in China while GoingForTheBigScoop. When they're trapped in a cave packed with dynamite that's about to explode, Joe looks her in the eyes and asks ... if she really did cut his fuel line. Polly is understandably annoyed that they're going to spend their last moments on Earth discussing this point. [[spoiler:And on Totenkopf's island, she admits she did. A pissed off Joe then admits that he did sleep with Franky.]]
* ApologeticAttacker -- PlayedWith: The note [[spoiler:Totenkopf leaves at his death chair]] reads "Forgive me", and there's indications he tried to shut down his [[spoiler:entire project, and it's implied his robot assassin/kidnapper rebelled when he tried to shut everything down]].
* ArtisticLicensePhysics
** Skyscraper-sized giant bipedal robots wouldn't have been able to stomp down the streets of the Big Apple. With their first step, they would have crashed through the streets and kept sinking until they hit bedrock.
** While the P-40 really is an amazing airplane, banking around Manhattan streets at taxicab-altitude with one is not even remotely possible at any flyable airspeed.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Polly and Joe bicker throughout the movie.
-->'''Joe:''' Could we just for once die without all this bickering?
* BedmateReveal: After an OutrunTheFireball moment, Polly wakes up naked in a bed next to an equally naked Joe. An embarrassed Polly tells him to turn around, which a grinning Joe does only to find he's also in bed with their guide, Kaji, who [[FanDisservice is also naked.]]
* BilingualBonus: Thanks to understanding what "Totenkopf" actually means, German-speaking viewers will figure out a crucial plot twist long before the rest of the audience does.
* BilingualDialogue: Polly can understand both written and spoken German.
* BlatantLies: Joe looks Polly in the eyes and earnestly says he [[spoiler:never had an affair with Frankie]]. Polly confesses to [[spoiler:cutting his fuel line]]. A pissed-off Joe promptly confesses to [[spoiler:the affair.]]
* BodyHorror: The results of the radiation was ''not'' pleasant to those who worked in Totenkopf's uranium mines, as evidenced by the [[SoleSurvivor last surviving worker.]]
--> '''Kaji:''' [acting as translator] He says that in exchange for this information, there is something you must do for him.\\
'''Sky Captain:''' Yes, anything.\\
'''Survivor:''' [lifts his face up to show the absolutely ''grotesque'' tumors and deformations on his head] ''[[ICannotSelfTerminate Kill me.]]''
* BrickJoke: [[spoiler:Polly really did sabotage Joe's plane in Manchuria.]]
* BringIt: [[NoNameGiven The Mysterious Woman]] makes a gesture to Sky Captain before fighting him outside the rocket ship.
* CameraObscurer: Polly Perkins spends much of the movie with only one frame left on her only roll of film, and wants to save it for a truly awesome photo. In the film's denouement, she decides to take a photo of [[spoiler:Joe Sullivan]], only for him to look at her and say "[[spoiler:Lenscap]]".
* CatchPhrase: Joe (Sky Captain) says "Good boy, Dex" whenever his {{Sidekick}} Dex does something good.
* ChairReveal: Dr. Totenkopf. Only it turns out he's been [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong]].
* ChekhovsGun
** The two metal tubes that Polly Perkins received from Dr. Jennings.
** Dex also built Chekhov's Ray Gun and is seen chewing Chekhov's Gum.
* ChromaKey: The actors used only the most basic sets and props, with CGI backgrounds used in every shot. This was allegedly done for two reasons: One, the producers wanted to give the movie a "comic book" atmosphere, and two, the studio was too small to accommodate such large sets.
* CoolPlane: Joe's [[AceCustom extensively-modified]] P-40E Warhawk. The Flying Legion has dozens more just like it, plus some B-24 Liberators, though they all get get shot up on the ground. Franky's amphibious fighters also count.
* CutAndPasteEnvironments: Toward the beginning of the movie, just after the robots attack Manhattan, Sky Captain lands at his base and drives his plane into a huge hangar. At the top of the doors of the hangar are these huge windows of 8x10 panes. In every window, some of the panes are broken. In every window, it's ''exactly the same panes'' that are broken.
* CuttingTheGordianKnot: Polly and the door to Dr. Jenning's lab.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Filmed in colour and desaturated, then resaturated again to make it more like a painting than a photorealistic movie.
* DieselPunk: With a healthy helping of [[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla Tesla Punk]] and RaygunGothic, to boot.
* DisintegratorRay
** GadgeteerGenius Dex is shown testing a ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'' raygun that can burn a hole through solid metal with luminous rings of energy.
** To a lesser extent, the [[spoiler:superelectric field outside of Totenkopf's room that disintegrates anyone who steps on it, first stripping them to a skeleton, then pulverizing that to dust. An unfortunate no-name scientist finds this out the hard way]].
* TheDragon: Dr. Totenkopf's [[spoiler:RobotGirl]] ActionGirl agent. A rather extreme case of [[spoiler:DragonTheirFeet]].
* DragonAscendant: The agent acts as the effective BigBad after [[spoiler:we learn that Totenkopf's long dead.]]
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The [[spoiler:planet-colonizing rocketship]] seems benign, until it's revealed that its afterburners will [[spoiler:ignite the Earth's atmosphere.]]
* EurekaMoment: Sky Captain is given a staff and told to "Follow Rana. The staff will lead you to Totenkopf".
-->'''Polly:''' Have you looked at this? There's markings on it, like a ruler. And there's a moon and a star.\\
'''Joe:''' "And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by." A star. He wasn't talking about a place, he was talking about a star! Rana is a star! Ancient sailors used to navigate by using the night sky. They could determine their position by the moon and the stars. The Vikings were known to create maps for certain stars, latitude tables that required a key to decipher them. The key was called Jacob's staff. This has to be the key!
* EyepatchOfPower: Franky (Angelina Jolie's character)
* FakeShemp: Creator/LaurenceOlivier, via the magic of stock footage and CGI, [[VirtualGhost comes back to life]] as Dr. Totenkopf.
* TheFantasticTropeOfWonderousTitles: As a deliberate throwback.
* {{Foreshadowing}}
** "Totenkopf" is German for "Death's Head", which is a subtle clue to the fact that [[spoiler: he's been DeadAllAlong.]]
** [[ForgotToFeedTheMonster Totenkopf's monster has starved]] to death. This would seem like [[KickTheDog simple cruelty]], except [[spoiler: the master isn't around to feed it, and the robots aren't interested in pet care.]]
* ForgotToFeedTheMonster: Totenkopf's lair has a giant, now-skeletal beast chained up outside his lair. The ''other'' one, however, is either alive or something is tugging on its chain just offscreen, so Joe and Penny opt to use a drainage pipe instead of risking it. [[spoiler:This is the first hint that the robots are running the show.]]
* GadgeteerGenius: Dex works for Sky Captain. He is an expert on radios and HumongousMecha and can create and use advanced avionics and {{Disintegrator Ray}}s.
* GenreThrowback: to 30's sci-fi and 40's-50's war fiction.
* GiantFlyer: The protagonists encounter giant prehistoric birds on Totenkopf's island.
* AGodAmI: Totenkopf, in the video that plays while his rocket is rising through the atmosphere. It plays a twisted version of the first few verses of Genesis, replacing him as God and him seeing that "Man was evil."
* GratuitousGerman: The German in this movie is often mangled.
** A particularly noticeable example is a button labeled with "Dringlichkeitsfreigabe", which then gets translated as "Emergency Release", while it actually means "Urgency Release". It should be "Notfallfreigabe/-abkopplung/-entriegelung/-freisetzung". (But then they'd have needed a bigger button.)
** The German newspaper headline about the robot invasion translates to ''"Very Big Metallc [sic!] Machines Steal Steal Reserves"''
* TheGrotesque: The sole survivor of Dr. Totenkopf's uranium mining and experiments.
* GunshipRescue: [[spoiler:An entire fleet of heliocarriers]] turns up to rescue the protagonists at the end, though they don't really need saving by that stage. And Dex has a BigDamnHeroes moment when he [[spoiler:arrives in a hoversled just in time to save Joe and Polly from the swarm of flying killer robots]].
* HesDeadJim: Dr. Jennings slumps and his hand opens, spilling two metal vials. Polly tells Sky Captain "He's dead" and pulls a blanket over his head without checking his life signs.
* HerrDoktor: All the scientists are German and Austrian.
* HindenburgIncendiaryPrinciple: The film, set in an alternate timeline, has multiple ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld. The zeppelin ''Hindenburg III'' arrives safely in New York, but when Dr. Totenkopf's robots attack Sky Captain's base, the zeppelins moored overhead are set aflame by enemy attack.
* HoldingHands: Joe is helping Polly out of the cockpit, only to quickly drop her hand and leave her to clamber off the plane when Frankie shows up.
* {{Homage}}s
** The attack by giant bipedal robots is copied from the [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons 1941 Superman cartoon "The Mechanical Monsters"]].
** The giant robots' laser sound-effects are the same as the Martian [[DisintegratorRay heat ray]] in the 1953 ''Film/{{The War of the Worlds|1953}}'' film.
** Polly's phoned-in report on the attack uses lines lifted from the famous Creator/OrsonWelles radio broadcast.
** On seeing one of the robots, Dex mutters "ComicBook/{{Shazam}}!"
** The silhouette of Franchise/{{Godzilla}} can be seen in a newspaper from Japan. [[spoiler:The headline indicates that the big G popped up to fight off the robots, anachronisms be damned.]]
** During an underwater sequence we see both the wreck of the UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic and the ship from ''Film/KingKong1933'', complete with ape-holding cage. King Kong himself can be seen at the top of the Empire State Building during one shot with the robots in the streets.
** The flying robots on Totenkopf's island have the same chest controls as Commando Cody's JetPack.
** ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' is seen playing in the cinema where Polly meets with one of the scientists, and the entire Totenkopf hologram head sequence is a massive homage to the ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'''s giant head scene (Captain Sky even mentions the film when the Hologram appears and starts speaking).
* HostageForMacGuffin: When Dr. Totenkopf's thugs capture Polly Perkins in the uranium mine.
* HologramProjectionImperfection: As the protagonists approach Dr. Totenkopf's office, a Tesla-type generator creates a HugeHolographicHead of Totenkopf that explains his motives and warns them to get out or die. Both the image and voice are distorted when powering up, highlighting the more primitive 1930's zeerust technology of the film. The imperfections also hint this is a case of [[spoiler:TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat]].
* HyperspaceArsenal: The many ''many'' things concealed in Joe's P-40 Warhawk. It's anyone's guess where the plane's builders found room to put the fuel and engine.
* {{Infodump}}: Dex and the [[ReluctantMadScientist scientists]] explain Totenkopf's entire plan (as well as mentioning an [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome offscreen escape where the majority of them got killed]]) in a single moment of exposition. Although not unusual in the ComicBooks on which the movie is based, the scene appears clumsy on screen.
* IntrepidReporter: Polly.
* IslandBase: Dr. Totenkopf's island base in ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' (2004), complete with robots, [[spoiler:prehistoric animals and a space ship]]. In addition, it isn't on any map.
* IslandOfMystery: Totenkopf's IslandBase.
* ItIsBeyondSaving: Totenkopf's [[WellIntentionedExtremist motive]] in creating his World of Tomorrow (and destroying the old one in the process).
* ItsTheOnlyWay: Spoofed.
-->'''Sky Captain:''' Is it safe?\\
'''Dex:''' Well, there's only one way to find out.\\
''[Sky Captain and Polly step across the [[DoorOfDoom booby-trapped threshold]], holding hands and in lock-step, and are relieved to be unharmed]''\\
'''Dex:''' ... I meant throw something.
* JetPack: ActionGirl and AcePilot Francesca 'Franky' Cook [[EjectionSeat ejects]] from her [[MilitaryMashupMachine submersible airplane]] just in time to avoid a MacrossMissileMassacre. After breaking the surface of the water a JetPack boosts her the rest of the way up to her AirborneAircraftCarrier. Even the [[LoveTriangle rival for the hero's affections]] is impressed.
* JustifiedTitle: The CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase title is obviously a reference to the retro-futuristic nature of the movie, but "Sky Captain" is the nickname of the main character, and the villain calls his scheme to [[spoiler:seed life on another planet]] the "World of Tomorrow".
* KnuckleCracking: After Joseph "Joe" Sullivan (AKA Sky Captain) enters his office and pours out some Milk of Magnesia he cracks his neck, presumably to relieve stress.
* LetsSplitUpGang: Sky Captain, while in Dr. Totenkopf's abandoned uranium mine.
* ComicBook/LoisLane: While Polly doesn't have the myopic identity problems Lois had, she's definitely filling this role in the film as the no-nonsense female reporter determined to follow the hero to the end and get the story.
* MadScientistLaboratory: The laboratory of Dr. Walter Jennings (with mutated fetus and tiny elephant), and the room in [[TheShangriLa Shangri-La]] (shown in a deleted scene) where Totenkopf conducted experiments on radiation victims from his uranium mine.
* MeaningfulName: "Totenkopf" is German for "dead man's head" or "skull" (Totenkopf wanted to destroy the world and create a new one out in space). It also harkens back to Nazi Germany's SS "Totenkopf" division, which was in charge of the concentration camps. It's most likely an allusion to the fact that he appears as a HugeHolographicHead [[spoiler: and that he's actually been DeadAllAlong.]]
* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Kidnapping scientists -> Plot to build a [[spoiler:spaceship that will destroy the Earth's atmosphere]].
* MisguidedMissile: Twice, both by Frankie and Sky Captain.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Totenkopf, realizing the error of his ways and unable to stop what he started (the rocket he's sending off the planet will destroy the Earth's atmosphere to escape its gravity), simply leaves a note on his corpse: "Forgive me."]]
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Dr. Totenkopf ([[GratuitousGerman Dead man's head [skull] in German]]). Subverted, he's [[spoiler:[[DeadAllAlong literally a dead man]]]] and it is implied that he was rather a WellIntentionedExtremist. It's more commonly used by Germans as a name for the bare skull, hence the skull motif.
* NeverTrustATrailer: Angelina Jolie is in the movie for all of 15 minutes, but you'd think she was a main character.
* NoahsStoryArc: Dr. Totenkopf believed that Earth was doomed due to the destructive nature of humanity, so he built a rocket ship to carry two of every animal on Earth (and genetically engineered humans) to another planet. He intended them to create a technological utopia there.
* NoodleIncident: Polly is visibly annoyed when fellow fliers (and [[LoveTriangle implied ex-lovers]]) Franky and Joe share an incomprehensible nostalgia moment.
-->'''Joe and Franky:''' PROTECT THE RABBITS!!! PROTECT THE RABBITS!!!
* NoOSHACompliance: The walkways inside the rocket ship. They're barely wide enough to walk on, and have no railings. {{Justified}} in that [[spoiler: the "actual" Dr. Totenkopf is long dead, and his operation is being carried out automatically via robots, drones, and mechs]]. Obviously they would not bother with human safety hazards.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Despite being an American, Joe speaks with Jude Law's natural British accent.
* OneBulletLeft: Polly is down to one shot left in her camera, so she's forced to forgo the chance to photograph the [[spoiler:lost kingdom of Shangri-La]], a [[spoiler:top-secret flying aircraft carrier]], a giant [[spoiler:prehistoric bird]], and [[spoiler:every creature on Earth being loaded two-by-two into a giant rocketship]]. In the end Polly passes up the Scoop of the Century for a photograph of [[spoiler:Joe]] ... who promptly informs her she [[spoiler:left the lens cap on]]. [[note]]Except the point of view during the shot is facing Polly and the front of her camera, and the audience can clearly see the lens cap is ''not'' on (and in fact, her camera doesn't even have a lens cap). Though you could {{handwave}} this as Joe messing with her again.[[/note]]
* OutrunTheFireball: As tons of dynamite inside a uranium mine are about to explode, Sky Captain, Polly Perkins and Sky Captain's friend Kaji try to run out of the mine to safety. When the dynamite explodes they're blasted out of the mouth of the mine and wind up flat on their faces in the snow.
* PercussivePrevention: Joe knocks out Polly to stop her from accompanying him on a one-way trip to [[spoiler:destroy Totenkopf's rocketship. It doesn't work.]]
* PlummetPerspective: Happens on at least three occasions.
* PracticalVoiceover: A radio announcer (along with a SpinningPaper montage) is used to show that the robot attack on New York is part of a worldwide phenomenon.
* PropheticNames: Totenkopf, literally "dead man's head" (i.e. "skull") in German. Not only alluding to [[SigilSpam the skull symbol on his creations]], but [[spoiler:guess what you find him as. Well, still sorta... intact.]]
* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: Doctor Totenkopf's ActionGirl TheDragon does this several times to Joe (Sky Captain). When she first faces off against him in Dr. Jennings's lab, she backhands him across the face and knocks him across the room. When she fights him on Doctor Totenkopf's island, she knocks him up into the air and back about ten yards using a metal quarterstaff. Her tremendous strength makes more sense after it's revealed that she's a [[spoiler:RobotGirl]].
* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway: One of Dr. Totenkopf's {{Mooks}} tries this on Joe in the Tibetan uranium mine.
* PuttingOnTheReich: Dr. Totenkopf's emblem looks very much like UsefulNotes/NaziGermany's coat of arms, with a death's head in place of a swastika.
* RaygunGothic
* RecklessGunUsage: Joe emphasizes his GetOut to Polly with a brandished Webley pointed at her stomach ''with his finger on the trigger''.
-->'''Dex:''' ''[staring at the gun]'' Oh great. We all made up.\\
'''Joe:''' Escort Polly off the base, Dex. If she resists, shoot her.
%%* {{Reconstruction}}
* RecurringCameraShot: Has one near the beginning when the robots arrive in New York, first with bystanders pointing at them, three of them lined up in a row, followed by the police shooting at them arranged and framed the same way.
* RedshirtArmy
** The [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Flying Legion]] gets strafed by [[AttackDrone radio-controlled ornithopters]], with exploding hangers and airships galore. On returning to the devastated airbase the only concern of the protagonists however is missing colleague Dex. Mind you, we don't really ''see'' anyone die, so perhaps the {{killer robot}}s were acting under ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy rules too.
** Franky's (Commander Francesca Cook's) Amphibious Squadron/Manta Team - pilots of planes that can convert from flying to underwater travel and back again. Most of them are wiped out during the approach to Dr. Totenkopf's IslandBase, and the last couple of them [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse mysteriously disappear after they fire their cluster torpedoes at a robot and are never seen again, with no explanation]].
* ReluctantMadScientist: The former members of Unit 11.
* RobotGirl: [[spoiler:Dr. Totenkopf's TheDragon]] turns out to be one of these, to Sky Captain's surprise. She is an excellent fighter and dedicated to her work.
* RunningGag
** Polly and Joe's discussions about whether she cut his fuel line. As it turns out, she [[spoiler:did cut it]].
** Polly missing a shot with her camera, or having it not show up for any reason. (She's a reporter, this is very important.)
* TheShangriLa: Shangri-La itself, whose people were forced to work in Totenkopf's uranium mine.
* ShootOutTheLock: The title character throws an object and hits the control box for a door, causing the door to close.
* ShoutOut:
** '''By the dozen'''. Everything from ''Film/TheLandThatTimeForgot'', ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'', Apple's ''1984'' commercial, ''[[Film/ThePhantomMenace Star Wars Episode I]]'' and the anime film ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''.
** Some people view the movie as a SpiritualLicensee of ''TabletopGame/CrimsonSkies.''
** Godzilla appears on one of the newspaper headlines in a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo.
** In the scene where Sky Captain is flying back and forth down the street attacking the giant robots, in one shot the Empire State Building is framed in the background ... with King Kong hanging from the top.
*** It goes further with the wreck of SS ''Venture'' being found on the seabed just off Totenkopf's island, which is also implied to be Skull Island.
** "[[Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds They've reached Sixth Avenue. They've reached Fifth Avenue. They're a hundred yards away. Oh, my God.]]"
** Big slow-moving robots that are ImmuneToBullets and fly around casting ominous shadows and stealing things from baffled citizens? Seems to pay homage to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LEfzup0aNs The Mechanical Monsters]], an early [=40s=] {{Superman}} cartoon.
** The sound effects of the giant robots' lasers are the sounds of the Martian heat rays in ''Film/{{The War of the Worlds|1953}}''.
** [[MadScientistLaboratory Dr. Jenning's laboratory]] is located in a New York City basement, suite [[Film/{{THX 1138}} 1138]].
* {{Sidekick}}: Dex, to Joe (Sky Captain). But there's a lot more to Dex than this; he may ''look'' like a skinny little nerd but he's [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badass]] and has matters well in hand when Joe finally arrives to "rescue" him. To his credit Joe doesn't seem very surprised and just asks for a heads up on the plan.
* SittingDuck: The Flying Legion is caught on the ground by an air raid launched by Totenkopf's robot flyers.
* StrippedToTheBone: One of the [[spoiler:escaping scientists]] on Totenkopf's island gets skeletonised by a bolt of electricity from a [[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla Tesla coil]].
* StylisticSuck: A couple of effects were CGI'ed to resemble early stop-motion effects from serials. Note: This does not apply to the film's overall [[{{Zeerust}} sepia-tone]] look, which is [[DoingItForTheArt quite elaborate]].
* SurpriseVehicle: Dex suddenly appears in one of Totenkopf's hoversleds to save Sky Captain and Polly Perkins from pursuing robots.
* ThatWasTheLastEntry: When the group finally gets to Totenkopf's office, they find his papers and discover that "the last entry in his journal was made on October 11, 1918", 20 years before the setting of the film. Shortly thereafter, they find [[spoiler:his mummified body]].
%%* ThereWasADoor: Inverted.
* TooAwesomeToUse: See OneBulletLeft.
* TraitorShot: Two of the guides look at each other while standing under Joe's plane as sinister music plays.
* TravelMontage: As Joe and Polly fly around the world, lines of latitude and longitude, and other cartographic symbols, appear superimposed on the scenery below.
* TrespassingToTalk: When Joe (Sky Captain) returns to his dark office, he's surprised by a voice coming from the shadows. He pulls out his pistol and turns a desk light toward the intruder. He's surprised to discover that it's his old girlfriend Polly Perkins. She got in by talking with Dex, one of Sky Captain's subordinates.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: Implied. When they finally find Dr. Totenkopf, the good doctor [[spoiler: [[DeadAllAlong is in no state to argue]], and the note reading [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone "forgive me"]] left on his corpse seems to suggest that he had second thoughts about his plan and tried to shut down his machines, only for them to shut ''him'' down first.]]
* UndressingTheUnconscious: After Sky Captain, Polly and Kaji OutRunTheFireball of the explosion in the uranium mine, they are knocked unconscious. When they wake up in a room in an unknown location, they find that they are all completely naked under a [[ModestyBedsheet sheet]] and in the same bed together.
* VisionaryVillain: Dr. Totenkopf [[spoiler:plans to restart the wold with an Ark of his own design.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse
** A [[{{Mutants}} survivor of Totenkopf's experiments]] asks for one last favor: [[spoiler:to be killed]]. We never find out if Joe obliges, although his rather sad look after they've left Shangri-La implies that he did it.
** The two treacherous agents of Doctor Totenkopf manage to obtain the two metal vials from Polly and Joe. Totenkopf's female [[spoiler:RobotGirl]] TheDragon is later shown taking off with the vials, so presumably the agents turned them over to her offscreen. However, what happened to the agents afterwards? Were they captured and punished? RewardedAsATraitorDeserves?
** Commander Cook's RedShirtArmy, the Amphibious Squadron/Manta Team (planes that can convert from flying to underwater travel and back again). Most of them are killed during the approach to Dr. Totenkopf's IslandBase. After the last few survivors fire their cluster torpedoes at a robot, they mysteriously disappear and are never seen again, with no explanation.
* WhyWontYouDie: Invoked word-for-word when [[spoiler:TheDragon, beaten, revealed as a RobotGirl]], and left for dead at the villain's island, [[spoiler:sneaks into the rocketship to attack Joe one last time]].
* WouldHitAGirl: In a rare heroic/noble example, Joe knocks Polly out to keep her from needlessly putting her life in danger.
** WouldntHitAGirl: On the other hand, when Sky Captain first encounters [[TheDragon the Mysterious Woman]], he stops to say he doesn't want to hurt her, giving her a chance to escape.
* WronskiFeint: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. It looks like Joe is doing this with the ornithopters chasing him out over the water, when actually he has every intention of actually crashing into the ocean. His plane is able to transform into a submersible mode!
* {{Zeerust}}: Basically the [[DoingItForTheArt whole point of the film]]. Influences include the futuristic designs of Norman Bel Geddes, Raymond Lloyd and Hugh Ferriss.

* HesDeadJim: Dr. Jennings slumps and his hand opens, spilling two metal vials. Polly tells Sky Captain "He's dead" without checking his life signs.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics
** Skyscraper-sized giant bipedal robots wouldn't have been able to stomp down the streets of the Big Apple. With their first step, they would have crashed through the streets and kept sinking until they hit bedrock.
** While the P-40 really is an amazing airplane, banking around Manhattan streets at taxicab-altitude with one is not even remotely possible at any flyable airspeed.

** Big slow-moving robots that are ImmuneToBullets and fly around casting ominous shadows and stealing things from baffled citizens? Seems to pay homage to this old {{Superman}} cartoon. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LEfzup0aNs]]

** '''By the dozen'''. Everything from ''Film/TheLandThatTimeForgot'', ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'', Apple's ''1984'' commercial, ''Film/StarWars [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Episode I]]'' and the anime film ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''.

--> '''Kaji (acting as translator)''': He says that in exchange for this information, there is something you must do for him.
--> '''Sky Captain''': Yes, anything.
--> '''Survivor''': (lifts his face up to show the absolutely ''grotesque'' tumors and deformations on his head) ''[[ICannotSelfTerminate Kill me.]]''

-->'''Sky Captain:''' Is it safe?
-->'''Dex:''' Well, there's only one way to find out.
-->''[Sky Captain and Polly step across the [[DoorOfDoom booby-trapped threshold]], holding hands and in lock-step, and are relieved to be unharmed]''
-->'''Dex:''' ... I meant throw something.

-->'''Dex:''' ''[staring at the gun]'' Oh great. We all made up.
-->'''Joe:''' Escort Polly off the base, Dex. If she resists, shoot her.
* {{Reconstruction}}

* ShoutOut: '''By the dozen'''. Everything from ''Film/TheLandThatTimeForgot'', ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'', Apple's ''1984'' commercial, ''Film/StarWars [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Episode I]]'' and the anime film ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''.

* ThereWasADoor: Inverted.

* SurpriseVehicle: Dex, in one of Totenkopf's hoversleds.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Skyscraper-sized giant bipedal robots wouldn't have been able to stomp down the streets of the Big Apple. With their first step, they would have crashed through the streets and kept sinking until they hit bedrock.

* EurekaMoment: "Rana is a star!"

** Franky's (Commander Frank Cook's) Amphibious Squadron/Manta Team (planes that can convert from flying to underwater travel and back again). Most of them are wiped out during the approach to Dr. Totenkopf's IslandBase, and the last couple of them [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse mysteriously disappear after they fire their cluster torpedoes at a robot and are never seen again, with no explanation]].

** Franky's (Captain Frank Cook's) Amphibious Squadron (planes that can convert from flying to underwater travel and back again). Most of them are wiped out during the approach to Dr. Totenkopf's island, and the last couple of them [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse mysteriously disappear after they fire their missiles at a robot and are never seen again, with no explanation]].

* {{Reconstruction}}
* RedshirtArmy: The [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Flying Legion]] gets wiped out by an air raid, but Joe is only concerned about his missing buddy Dex. Additionally, Franky's troops.

* AnachronismStew

** The entire movie is [[CaptainObvious obviously]] AlternateHistory. There were no HumongousMecha robots destroying the world in 1939, neither was there [[DieselPunk space travel, rayguns, or flying British naval squadrons]]. There are some subtler AlternateHistory implications though, such as the apparent absence of [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi Germany]] and an American/British evacuation of Nanjing (which of course implies that Japan still annexed Manchuria and China).

* GadgeteerGenius: Dex works for Sky Captain. He is an expert on radios and HomongousMecha and creating and using advanced avionics and {{Disintegrator Ray}}s.

* AlternateHistory: There is a ''Hindenburg III'' zeppelin in the opening scene, which implies either that the first ''Hindenburg'' did not explode, or else its explosion was not an impediment to further airship construction.

** The two treacherous agents of Doctor Totenkopf manage to obtain the two metal vials from Polly and Joe. Totenkopf's female [[spoiler:RobotGirl]] TheDragon is later shown taking off with the vials, so presumably the agents turned the vials over to her offscreen. However, what happened to the agents afterwards? Were they captured and punished? RewardedAsATraitorDeserves?

** The two treacherous agents of Doctor Totenkopf manage to obtain the two metal vials from Polly and Joe. Totenkopf's female [[spoiler:RobotGirl]] TheDragon is later shown taking off with the vials, so presumably the agents turned the vials over to her offscreen. However, what happened to the agents afterwards? Were they captured and punished?

** Similarly Polly's phoned-in report on the attack uses lines lifted from the famous Creator/OrsonWelles radio broadcast.