History Film / SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow

* DistresCall: As a horde of giant robots is attacking New York City, a radio signal is sent to Sky Captain asking for his help.

* DistressSignal: After a horde of giant robots attacks New York City, the U.S. and other countries (whose armed forces are spread thin across the world) send a radio signal to Sky Captain asking for the help of him and his mercenary air army.

* WaitHere: Sky Captain tells Poly Perkins to "stay here" when he goes after the person who mortally wounded Dr. Jennings, and tells the group he's with (including Polly) to "wait here" when he's about to confront the robots guarding Dr. Totenkopf's lair. In each case Polly obeys him, which is a surprise because of how assertive and independent she is.

* AnachronismStew: Natch for a DieselPunk movie, but while the P-40 Warhawk existed in 1939, the Flying Legion are using the P-40E model[[labelnote:*]]distinguished by its larger propeller spinner to accommodate a more powerful engine and 6 machine guns[[/labelnote]], 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[[labenote:*]]which gives the planes away with their distinguished blunted noses[[/labelnote]]hadn’t been designed yet.

* ItIsBeyondSaving: Totenkopf's [[WellIntentionedExtremist motive]] in creating his World of Tomorrow. [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI The Great War]] convinced him that Earth was doomed to be torn apart by strife and internal conflict, so he began working on TheArk to take a sample of every living creature on Earth, along with the genetic essence of humanity, dubbed "Adam and Eve"--and then launch it all into space to seek out a new world elsewhere. However, as he believed Earth itself to be doomed, he designed his ark's rocket boosters to ''incinerate the Earth's atmosphere'' and destroy the planet as it sped away, ostensibly to [[MercyKill spare the world's population from destruction by war.]]

* ItIsBeyondSaving: Totenkopf's [[WellIntentionedExtremist motive]] in creating his World of Tomorrow (and destroying the old one in the process).

* AnachronismStew: Natch for a DieselPunk movie, but while the P-40 Warhawk existed in 1939, the Flying Legion are using the P-40E model[[labenote:*]]distinguished by its larger propeller spinner to accommodate a more powerful engine and 6 machine guns[[/labelnote]], 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[[labenote:*]]which gives the planes away with their distinguished blunted noses[[/labelnote]]hadn’t been designed yet.

** 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).

* 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.

* RaygunGothic

'''Survivor:''' [lifts his face up to show the absolutely ''grotesque'' tumors and deformations on his head] ''[[ICannotSelfTerminate Kill me.]]''

* AcePilot: Joseph Sullivan the "Sky Captain".

** "Totenkopf" is German for "Death's Head", which is a subtle clue to the fact that [[spoiler: he's been DeadAllAlong.]]

* ChairReveal: Doctor Totenkopf is revealed to be [[spoiler:DeadAllalong]] when a light is turned on, showing him sitting in a chair.

** In one scene, the poster of the 1939 version of ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' is visible on the cinema marquee. It's even more hilarious when you realise that Sir Creator/LaurenceOlivier was Heathcliff on that film.

** In one scene, the poster of the 1939 version of ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' is visible on the cinema marquee. It's even more hilarious when you realise that [[spoiler:Sir Creator/LaurenceOlivier]] was Heathcliff on that film.

* FakeShemp: Creator/LaurenceOlivier, via the magic of stock footage and CGI, [[VirtualGhost comes back to life]] as Dr. Totenkopf.

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

* YourCheatingHeart: Joe eventually admits he had a three month long affair with Franky while still seeing Polly.

* ChairReveal: Dr. Totenkopf. Only it turns out he's been [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong]].

* WithinArmsReach: While the robots attacking Sky Captain's base, Dex fights them with a DisintegratorRay pistol. A large beam falls on his legs and knocks him down, causing him to drop the pistol. He has to reach out desperately to grab it and continue the battle.