History Main / CaptainObviousReveal

* In ''KungFuPanda2'', Po's father Ping reveals a deep secret to Po: he's adopted. Being as Po is a panda and Ping is a goose, this doesn't come as a surprise to the audience.

** Then of course there's the fact that Naruto is the 4th Hokage's son...something most of the audience had already figured out, since they look similar and the guy's face is carved into the side of a freaking moutain.

[[AC:{{VideoGames}}]]

** It should be noted that this is also subverted somewhat. While initially it seemed obvious, as time went on it became less and less so leading to a number of others characters being considered and causing quite a divide among the fandom. It isn't until those 300 chapters later and a confirmation that he wasn't Madara Uchiha that it became obvious once again.

** It should be noted that this is also subverted somewhat. While initially it seemed obvious, as time went on it became less and less so leading to a number of others characters being considered by the fandom. It isn't until those 300 chapters later and a confirmation that he wasn't Madara Uchiha that it became obvious once again.

** It should be noted that this is also subverted in a way. While initially it seemed obvious, as time went on it became less and less so leading to a number of others characters being considered by the fandom. It isn't until those 300 chapters later and a confirmation that he wasn't Madara Uchiha that it became obvious once again.

** It should be noted that this is also subverted in a way. While initially it seemed obvious as time went on it became less and less so leading to a number of others being considered by the fandom. It isn't until those 300 chapters later and a confirmation that he wasn't Madara Uchiha that it became obvious once again.

[[AC:{{Videogames}}]]
* This is one major criticism of the first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' installment. Arguably, it applies to the entire series: the cases themselves have a fixed solution set and it's possible to see the solution to the entire mythology arc or ultimate reveal long before you'll be able to play the conclusions out at trial.

* Lampshaded in ''TheOrderOfTheStick''; the strip that revealed that Nale was Elan's twin brother referred to that fact as "semi-secret" and noted, "I mean, it's not like you couldn't have figured it out." The other characters were also completely unsurprised.

Compare TheUntwist; this trope is very similar, but not quite identical to that one. (The difference is that The Untwist can be intentional and ''always'' comes from too much foreshadowing. Here, it's never intentional, and it doesn't necessarily have to be foreshadowing.) Contrat TomatoSurprise and DeusExMachina.

Compare TheUntwist. Contrat TomatoSurprise and DeusExMachina.

Contrat TomatoSurprise and DeusExMachina.

As it turns out, this page was describing obvious plot twists the entire time! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Admit it, you're surprised.]]

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A Captain Obvious Reveal occurs when the writer sets up a [[TheReveal Reveal]] for their story… only the audience figured it out already by the time they revealed it. Obviously, this will never apply to 100% of the audience, but when it applies to the majority of an audience, you've got this trope on your hands.

This can happen for a couple reasons. The most common one is that the author put in so much {{Foreshadowing}} that the reveal become clear long before it was intended. Another reason is that there were no other options for the reveal; if we're told that a character has a missing father, and there's only one character we already know who's in the right age and position to have a missing child, audiences or likely to figure it out. And finally, it could be that this particular reader/viewer is very Genre Savvy; no matter how well you plan your plot twists, there will always be someone who can figure it out.

Note once again that this will never apply to 100% of the audience. Likewise, just because one audience member was GenreSavvy doesn't mean we have this trope - that particular audience member is just very Genre Savvy and good at recognizing foreshadowing.

!!Examples of this trope include:

[[AC: {{Film}}]]:
* One occurs in ''RevengeOfTheSith'' when we find out that Emperor Palpatine was Darth Sidious. Even if you weren't one of the many fans who knew beforehand, it was very, very obvious by the way he acted.

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]:
* TheMortalInstruments series is rather infamous for this. In particular Valentine being Clary's father and Jace not being Clary's brother were very annoying to fans.

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]:
* This is PlayedForLaughs in the {{Futurama}} episode ''The Sting''. When Fry is killed, anyone who's not completely [[GenreBlindness Genre Blind]] knew they were going to bring him back to life. The writers knew this from the beginning, so they kept on having Fry come back to life, only for it to turn out to be one of Leela's delusions. In the end, it was played straight.
** A couple fans predicted that Leela was a mutant, and tons put together that Nibbler pushed Fry into the cryogenic tube.

* One occurs in ''TheRevengeOfTheSith'' when we find out that Emperor Palpatine was Darth Sidious. Even if you weren't one of the many fans who knew beforehand, it was very, very obvious by the way he acted.

** A couple fans predicted that Leela was a mutant, and tons put together that Nibbler pushed Fry into the cryogenic tube.
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