History Main / FamousFamousFictional

Usually the trope serves only to remind us that it is, in fact, the future and people haven't stopped thinking and discovering things in between our time and story's setting. It would be odd if there hasn't been any new discoveries or geniuses worth mentioning, especially if the story involves something like FasterThanLightTravel. When someone or something we already know is used as such, then the author is just making a point: say, if [[Creator/StephenHawking Hawking]] is mentioned, that means people of the future in that verse think he is a genius equal to Newton and Einstein, meaning that readers also should.

* The novels for ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'' usually quote "Judas, Adolf Hitler and Stefan Amaris" as the worst traitors in human history. In the backstory of the series, Amaris tried to usurp the throne of the Star League, a huge empire ruling all of mankind. He caused a massive civil war that led to so many succession wars that mankind has been reduced to five warring houses using schizo tech(fighting in giant mecha while rediscovering the fax kind of schizo tech). Except for the defense forces of the Star League, who fled the fighting to avoid being destroyed and devolved to a group of marauding warrior clans that want to take over those houses.

* A sample advertisement in the ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}}'' sourcebook ''Home of the Brave'' claims that by going to Bram [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Jhonson]] New Life Clinic, the woman depicted in it gained better legs than Creator/BettyGrable, a better figure than Creator/MarilynMonroe and a prettier face than Bes Isis; the last of the three is a famous in-universe musician.

*** [[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Captain Lorca]] places pressure on [[ReluctantMadScientist Lieutenant Stamets]] by asking if he wants to be "Alongside the Wright brothers, Elon Musk, Zefram Cochrane?".

* ''Series/{{Batwoman}}'' does a "famous, fictional, fictional" variation when Julia Pennyworth tells Kate she tracked a hitman from Jakarta to Metropolis to Gotham.

* In an early episode of Series/StarTrekDiscovery, Lorca says he wants to be remembered like UsefulNotes/TheWrightBrothers, UsefulNotes/ElonMusk, Zefram Cochrane.

* An example that may not even be found anymore, but when the ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' film was released, the accompanying website which contained a lot of character bios and historical information listed the Mobile Infantry alongside historically [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous prestigious military units]] such as UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar, [[UsefulNotes/PolesWithPoleaxes the Winged Hussars]] and the UsefulNotes/NavySeals.

** ''[[Literature/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2010: Odyssey Two]]'' "All this had been known since the Voyager flyby missions of the 1970s, the Galileo surveys of the 1980s, and the Kepler landings of the 1990s." The book was published in 1982, when the Galileo probe was still being developed; due to delays it didn't arrive at Jupiter until 1995.

** In a practice quiz during the trip to D.C. for the Academic Decathlon, Peter answers one question "strontium, barium, [[Film/BlackPanther vibranium]]".

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' has a slight variation with the four names of the ships that carried humans to the Koprulu Sector; each are named after a famous ship from the past: the Nagglfar (named after the Naglfar of Norse mythology, the Ship of Nails that carries barbarians to fight the gods during Ragnarök), the Argo (from Greek mythology), the Reagan (likely named after the modern aircraft carrier) and the Sarengo, which presumably is a ship from an explored part of ''[=StarCraft=]'' history.

** The video regarding the ancient history of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}, and how all of its greatest citizens fled as it sank: "Ted Turner, Hank Aaron, Creator/JeffFoxworthy, the man who invented Coca-Cola, [[StageMagician The Magician ...]]" [[note]]A parody of the New Age folk song "{{Atlantis}}" by Donovan[[/note]] Leela is [[LampshadeHanging unimpressed]] by the last addition.

* In a likely unintentional inversion, most online ads for Creator/DisneyPlus that highlight each of the studios/franchises represented -- in order, Disney, Pixar, Marvel, ''Franchise/StarWars'', and National Geographic -- have the following serving as respective mascots: [[WesternAnimation/{{Moana}} Maui]], [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Mr. Incredible or Elastigirl]], [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Iron Man or Captain America]], [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader or Rey]], and... Creator/JeffGoldblum! Fans of the quirky actor were quite amused.

----> '''Sybok:''' The people of your planet once believed their world was flat. Columbus proved it was round. They said the sound barrier could ''never'' be broken! It was broken. They said warp-speed could not be achieved.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': The [[spoiler:Chainsaw Devil]] has the ability to eat abstract concepts, and anything it eats [[RetGone is retroactively erased from existence, including every person's memory of it]] (although [[RippleProofMemory some Devils can still recall them]], vaguely). Things it has eaten include AIDS, World War II, nuclear weapons, and Nazis, as well as stranger entities like a star that drove children insane, four things that happened to humans instead of death at the end of their lives, a disease called "Anolon Syndrome", the eruption of "Mount Hio", and an unknown sixth sense.

* In a rare example where the universe is entirely fictional even though references to the real world are present, the city of Anor Londo in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' is strewn with real-world Renaissance portraits, engravings, and architecture. One of the few exceptions is a portrait of Princess Gwynevere, which is taken straight from her concept art. While the portrait itself is beautiful and doesn't clash too badly with the setting, Gwynevere has [[GagBoobs certain attributes]] which make her painting instantly distinguishable from the real ones.

* Played for laughs in ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}'':
-->'''Lucifer:''' This is patricide! A tale as old as time! Oedipus, the Menendez Brothers, [[Literature/HarryPotter Voldemort!]]

* Inverted in ''ComicBook/ExMachina'': a traveler from an AlternateUniverse arrives in the comic's universe (which is mostly identical to ours) and attempts to gather information by ordering his suit AI to connect to "gharity.com" and "skyvann.com". When both fail, he connects to ... Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}.

* In ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' the pictures of scientists at Peter's school include [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008 Bruce Banner]], [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Howard Stark, and Abraham Erskine]] among several real ones.

** Inverted with equipment manufacturers and their brand names. The vast majority are entirely fictional, but sprinkled among them are references to Apple, Ford, General Motors, Mauser, Nissan...

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'': In [[BadFuture 1985-A]], [[InSpiteOfANail the things that are established to have stayed the same in this timeline]] are that Music/MichaelJackson still becomes a famous pop star, ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' is still made, the Wounded Knee Occupation still takes place, and Lorraine's brother Joey still turns out to be a jailbird.

* ''Film/TradingPlaces'': The movie opens with shots of UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} [[EiffelTowerEffect landmarks]], including statues of the American Founding Fathers... and the Franchise/{{Rocky}} statue from the then-recent ''Film/RockyIII''.

->''"I note that Benjamin's taste in music essentially obeys the Science Fiction Law of Threes. (As in, 'For lunch we're serving chicken, mashed potatoes, and [[SpaceX Betelgeusean laser squash]]' or 'I'm familiar with all the great philosophers -- Creator/{{Socrates}}, Descartes, Xaxxix'x of Denobulon IV.')"''

** In the episode "Infection", it's mentioned that Dr Franklin aspires to become one of the great names of medicine, alongside Fleming, Salk, Jenner, and Takahashi.

** Prof. Farnsworth lists his influences as Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, UsefulNotes/NicolausCopernicus, Euclid and Braino.