History Main / CommandingCoolness

** Noteworthy for being used inconsistently. Other sources use the title Commander like the actual NATO navies use it, being the second in command of a large warship. There is also a Lord Commander Militant of the Munitorum, the leader of the entire Imperial conventional military and specific Astartes Chapters, who ''is'' a High Lord, and the Lord Commander Solar, who is the Militant Commander's highest-ranking officer and usually also on the Senate of the High Lords.
** A Space Marine "Commander" is simply the highest ranked Space Marine in a force. If a Space Marine battlegroup to ''really'' bad casualties, then the senior Battle-Brother would be "Commander". Force Commanders can also be younger Brothers in line for promotion, given command of a few squads or half-squads for the duration of a surgical strike.

In real life navies, commander is the second-most senior field rank, right below the rank of Captain. A commander can be the commanding officer of a ship (a.k.a. TheCaptain), but generally he is the first officer, or as TV Tropes puts it: the NumberTwo. The army equivalent is either major or lieutenant colonel, depending on the country; while there is no commander rank in any army, it is used as a title.

Someone who qualifies as commanding coolness can also be of the rank Lieutenant Commander. In the old days, lieutenants would be given command of ships that didn't necessitate the presence of a Captain or Commander. The rank itself was initially called "Lieutenant Commanding" or "Lieutenant in Command" before it was officially named by the US Navy in the 19th Century. This practice is continued today, with smaller ships like minesweepers and submarines being captained by Lieutenant Commanders.

When using UsefulNotes/CommonRanks, is subordinate to ColonelBadass[[note]]although in many RealLife militaries they're actually equivalent[[/note]] and superior to MajorlyAwesome. When used as a General Staff Rank, is usually superior to TheBrigadier and subordinate only to the FourStarBadass.

* WarhammerDarkOmen: Morgan Bernhardt, leader of the Grudgebringers, insists on "Commander", rather than going by "Captain" like most mercenary company leaders do. A lot of people he meets seem to consider his choice of title rather grandiose, though the Grudgebringers are large and well-equipped enough that not settling for "Captain" may be justified.

* The Space Marine's leader in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe is called Force Commander. 'Force Commander' actually refers to the senior Space Marine officer in charge of a campaign, regardless of how many Chapters are present. For example: Davian Thule is the Captain of the 4th Company, but in Dark Crusade, he was the Commander of the strike forc, having authority over the other companies and their captains present.

* The highest rank in the Children of the Light in ''WheelOfTime'' is "Lord Captain Commander".

* In season one of ''Series/BabylonFive'', Commander Sinclair is in charge of the station with Lt. Commander Ivanova as his NumberTwo.
** Ivanova is promoted to full Commander at the start of season two when Captain Sheridan takes over.
** This is probably because Sinclair was never in command of a ship. The most he ever flew was a Starfury during the Battle of the Line. Sheridan actually had his own ship by the time he was re-assigned to B5.

* Commander Film/JamesBond, at your service. He's addressed as such in ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' and ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', and seen in uniform in ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', and ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies''.
** Mentioned while he banters with Xenia Onatopp in ''Film/GoldenEye''.
** Even more so in the ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' continuity. In the original, he was a member of the Royal Navy Reserve. Daniel Craig's Bond was a member of the Special Boat Service, which is the British equivalent of the Navy [=SEALs=]. No wonder he's so brutal in hand-to-hand combat these days.
*** While the Special Boat Service is a Royal Marines unit, Bond's [[AllThereInTheManual service record]] has him being one of those occasional Royal Navy officers who are deployed as Swimmer Canoeists.

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' films, this is perhaps the most common rank. By ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', all the Imperial officers were commanders (even Admiral Piett) due to a costuming goof.
** It is a replacement of the rank Major.

* The Space Marine's leader in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' universe is called Force Commander. The first game follows the rules for it by having the Blood Ravens work with Grey Knight infantry, but the second game does not involve other chapters, making the Blood Ravens' use of it either unique to their chapter (and likely RuleOfCool).
** 'Force Commander' actually refers to the senior Space Marine officer in charge of a campaign, regardless of how many Chapters are present.
** For example: Davian Thule is the Captain of the 4th Company, but in Dark Crusade, he was the Commander of the strike forc, having authority over the other companies and their captains present.

* In ''Franchise/DragonAge'', the highest-ranking Grey Warden in a nation is known as the Warden-Commander, their only superior being the "First Warden", who manages the order from Weisshaupt Fortress in the [[{{Mordor}} Anderfels]]. The first game's PlayerCharacter becomes Warden-Commander of Ferelden in the ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' expansion (their predecessor Duncan also held this title, although he was never actually referred to as such.)

* [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Captain-Commander Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai]].

[[quoteright:252:[[Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/NavyYOLT-1_6347.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:252:"Bond, ''Commander'' Film/JamesBond."]]

* The Terran's NonEntityGeneral in all {{Starcraft}} games is referred to as Commander by all units (including the Battlecruiser, who is supposed to be a Commodore).

* TabletopGame/BattleTech, the rank Galaxy Commander is very high rank among the Clans, its should be the equivalent of General in the Inner Sphere, as they command an entire regiment called a galaxy, and they have a big say in the Clans policies and decisions. One of the prerequisites of the rank is to be a real {{Badass}} mechwarrior.

* ''Series/The100'' had ''[[BadassGay Commander Lexa]]'', military leader and ruler of the twelve clans.

* ''Series/The100'' had ''[[Badassgay Commander Lexa]]'', military leader and ruler of the twelve clans.

* ''Series/The100'' had Commander Lexa, military leader and ruler of the twelve clans.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' has several.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' has several. On the Spartan side, we have Commander Carter-A259 and Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 from ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', Commander Miranda Keyes from the original trilogy, and Commander Thomas Lasky from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' (though he's a Captain in all subsequent appearances). The expanded universe also gives us Lieutenant Commander Kurt-051 (he was given the fake last name "Ambrose" as part of the promotion, but Halsey reveals that his real last name is "Trevelyan"), Lieutenant Commander Jameson Locke (before he [[EmpoweredBadassNormal became a Spartan]]), and Jacob Keyes (before he became TheCaptain).

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' has several. On the Spartan side, we have Commander Carter-A259 and Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 from ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', Commander Miranda Keyes from the original trilogy, and Commander Thomas Lasky from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' (though he's a Captain in all subsequent appearances). The expanded universe also gives us Lieutenant Commander Kurt-051 (he was given the fake last name "Ambrose" as part of the promotion, but Halsey reveals that his real last name is "Trevelyan"), and Jacob Keyes before he became TheCaptain.

* VideoGame/{{Halo}} has several. On the Spartan side, we have Carter-A259 and Catherine-B320, who hold the ranks of Commander and Lieutenant Commander, respectively, and Commander Miranda Keyes from the Halo Trilogy. In the expanded universe, we have Lieutenant Commander Kurt-051 (he was given the fake last name "Ambrose" as part of the promotion, but Halsey reveals that his real last name is "Trevelyan"), and Jacob Keyes before he became TheCaptain.

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** A Space Marine "Commander" is simply the highest ranked Space Marine in a force. If a Space Marine battlegroup to ''really'' bad casualties, then the senior Battle-Brother would be "Commander".

* In ''Franchise/DragonAge'', the highest-ranking Grey Warden in a nation is known as the Warden-Commander, their only superior being the "First Warden", who manages the order from Weisshaupt Fortress in the [[{{Mordor}} Anderfels]]. The PlayerCharacter becomes Warden-Commander of Ferelden in the ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' expansion (their predecessor Duncan also held this title, although he was never actually referred to as such.)

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the highest-ranking Grey Warden in a nation is known as the Warden-Commander, their only superior being the "First Warden", who manages the order from Weisshaupt Fortress in the [[{{Mordor}} Anderfels]]. The PlayerCharacter becomes Warden-Commander of Ferelden in the ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' expansion (their predecessor Duncan also held this title, although he was never actually referred to as such.)
** Similarly, the highest-ranking Templar in any one place is the local Knight-Commander. Kirkwall's Knight-Commander [[IronLady Meredith]] is one of the major players in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. She does not answer to the lord of the city, but he doesn't do anything that would go against her wishes, making her the actual most powerful person.