History Main / TheMan

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[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1647891543067202800 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

[[quoteright:237:[[Webcomic/DuelingAnalogs https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dueling_analogs_rejected_mmv_001.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:237:[-Even [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Dr. Wily]] answers to him.-] ]]

->''"I think you'll find that I'm in charge ''everywhere''."''
-->-- '''The Man''', ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing''

The Man is a much less specific villain than TheSyndicate or the AncientConspiracy, a personification of establishment itself, even if no one person or organization makes up that establishment. You've heard of him. He controls everything. Emperors, ancient conspiracies, gods, {{Absurdly Powerful Student Council}}s. They are all under his control according to the resident NewAgeRetroHippie.

This trope does not refer to any man, it refers to '''the''' Man. Often, this is just a stand-in for [[CapitalismIsBad capitalism]] and its many contradictions that benefit only a certain few.

It can overlap with TheManIsKeepingUsDown and TheManIsStickingItToTheMan. Rarely involves TheManBehindTheMan, unless the said person was made explictly clear to be the one who created the personification of establishment on the first place.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' had "That Man", the [[spoiler: actual leader of ACROSS, instead of Il Palazzo, who was more of an EvilOverlord]].
* The 2011 revival of ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'' introduced The Man, also known as the Merciful God, who handpicked a number of [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Chojin]] to become the first [[UltimateLifeForm Perfect Chojin]]. [[spoiler: His many disguises include Chojin Enma and Strong the Budo.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

* In ''ComicBook/NoHero'', [[spoiler:Carrick Masterson had been able to control the world since the sixties. He was responsible for having Nixon only stay one term in office, the Great Iran Oil Fire, and the destruction of South Africa.]]
* Max in ''ComicBook/TheLosers''.
* The kids in Bryan Lee O'Malley's ''Lost at Sea'' decided to head for another diner when they couldn't find a ''Wendy's'', because "sometimes it's good to give your money to somone other than ''The Man''". Cue laughter.
* The second issue of the ''WesternAnimation/BlackDynamite'' comic sees the titular hero taken in and offered a job by a bald (white) individual who, when asked who he was, answered "I am [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Man]]". More specifically, The Man is the representative of [[TheIlluminati the Illuminati]], the (predominantly white) elite who secretly run the world.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Fiction ]]

* According to [[WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers Dale]] in ''Fanfic/TheRodSquad'', his girlfriend [[Film/FoxyBrown Foxy]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse Glove]] is "[t]he chick who's protecting the people from [[AuthorVocabularyCalendar HASSLES and RIP-OFFS]] by the MAN".

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Used as a BlackComedy joke in ''Film/DontBeAMenaceToSouthCentralWhileDrinkingYourJuiceInTheHood''.
* The BigBad in ''Film/UndercoverBrother'', who only appears at the end.
* Jack Black's character in ''Film/SchoolOfRock'' rambles about The Man, prompting the kids to stick it to The Man. This leads to one of the kids telling the principal that "[she's] the Man." [[ComicallyMissingThePoint She thinks]] [[InsultBackfire it's a compliment.]]
* Captain Industry, the BigBad of ''Film/{{Defendor}}''. Subverted, though, as in reality [[spoiler:he doesn't actually exist, the protagonist confused a comment about his mother being "killed by the captains of industry" for his mother being "killed by Captain Industry."]]
* The unseen Man in ''Film/TheFriendsOfEddieCoyle'', who [[spoiler:personally orders the hit on the titular character]].
* Eddie from ''Film/SuperFly'' blames The Man for the existence of the drug trade that he and Priest are enmeshed in.
--> "I know it's a rotten game. It's the only one The Man left us to play."

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* One of [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Cao Cao's]] official titles was "The Man".
* In ''A Calculated Magic'' by Robert Weinberg, protagonist Jack Collins poses as an agent of The Man, who is a very real figure of modern origin among the living legendary and mythological beings that populate the ''Logical Magician'' series of novels.
* The infamous "{{Big Brother|IsWatching}}" in Creator/GeorgeOrwell's ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''.
* ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' describes a mechanised MindControlConspiracy called the "Combine" to represent society's ubiquitous systems of conformity and control. The Combine's chief representative in the story is not a man but a ''[[TheBaroness woman]]'' -- specifically, [[BattleaxeNurse Big Nurse Ratched]].
* Walker from Creator/SimonRGreen's ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' books. [[spoiler:At the end of ''The Good, the Bad and the Uncanny'', ''John Taylor'' is maneuvered into taking his place]].
* Randall Flagg is the source of all evil in the books by Stephen King. Any truly evil enterprise is linked to him in some way.
* Present in UnbuiltTrope form in 1922 novel ''Literature/OneOfOurs'', as Claude's progressive friend Gladys ruminates on the sort of people who run the world.
--> “She believed that all things which might make the world beautiful—love and kindness, leisure and art—were shut up in prison, and that successful men like Bayliss Wheeler held the keys.”

[[/folder]]


[[folder: Live-Action Television ]]

* ''Series/BarneyMiller'': In "[[Recap/BarneyMillerS5E09 The Harris Incident]]", Detective Harris is enraged when two NYPD beat cops arrive at the scene of a robbery, take him for the armed robber [[{{Profiling}} because he is black]], and shoot at him. He gets a lot angrier when Barney tells him that nothing will happen to the two cops right away, that Barney will file a report and things will go "by the book".
-->'''Harris''': ''[screaming]'' You mean the book written by the man?
* ''Series/InLivingColor'': Homey the Clown [[BatmanGambit pretended to sell out]] just to get close to the Man and whack him on the head.
* ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' once featured a PSA from The Man.
* Dave Gorman's documentary ''America Unchained'' was all about trying to tour America whilst avoiding what was called (at least in the book of the series) "The Man(TM)"- that being the big chains of shops, gas stations, motels and such, in favour of smaller, independent "mom and pop" businesses which were becoming harder to find.
* ''{{Series/Angel}}'': The demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart is the embodiment of the Establishment, and there are many examples of "The Man" among it and its clientele. In season five, the main characters take over the firm with the goal of reforming it, thus becoming "The Man" themselves. [[spoiler: After realizing that's impossible to reform the Establishment, they epicly stick it to The Senior Partners (TheManBehindTheMan, except demons) by assassinating a shadowy council of W&H's top clients and briefly postponing the Apocalypse.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Music ]]

* Music/JohnLennon correctly blames The Man for trying to kick him out of the country in "New York City".
* The Man is usually referred to as they in Music/{{Supertramp}}'s music. Good examples of this include School and The Logical Song.
* The Music/RoyOrbison song "Working for The Man".
* The Music/TheyMightBeGiants song "Working Undercover For The Man".
* [[Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival "Left a good job in the city, workin' for The Man every night and day..."]]
* [[Music/TheOffspring Shut up, you're talking too much!]]
* The Music/BenFolds song "The Ascent of Stan" is sung from the perspective of The Man, about [[LonelyAtTheTop how bad it actually is to be The Man]] and how he regrets betraying his old values to become The Man.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In the ''[[TabletopGame/FengShui Shadowfist]]'' CCG, The Man was the leader of [[AncientConspiracy The Ascended]] (and thus, pretty much ruled the world) in the 1970s.
* ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfSeventySeven'': This being a game about TheSeventies, all characters have a common goal of sticking it to him.
* The Technocracy, one of the two main playable factions, in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' are very much this. While they don't directly control the world, they secretly manipulate most modern institutions like academia, the financial sector and the media (all of which [[AncientConspiracy they created]]) in order to protect humanity from the supernatural, [[WellIntentionedExtremist by using methods]] such as torture, brainwashing, prison camps and [[FinalSolution genocide]].
** The Seers of the Throne in the sequel ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' are like this as well but without any of the Technocracy's [[ScienceHero redeeming factors]]. In fact, they go out of their way to make humanity scared and miserable as otherwise humanity would become powerful enough to destroy them. And their leaders are ''[[DeityOfHumanOrigin literal gods]]''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* [[http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/The_Man "The Man"]] turns up in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', as the leader of the Frat Orcs during the Mysterious Island War quest.
* The Illusive Man in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', played by Creator/MartinSheen. He communicates with Shepard to provide them with info via hologram and is always shown in dim light while smoking a cigarette and/or drinking. His name and backstory are only explained in a tie-in comic; none of the characters, including his right-hand-woman Miranda, have any idea where he came from or how he got where he is. All they know is that he has staggering resources and big, big plans for his species.
* The ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' character [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-Man_%28Half-Life%29 "G-Man"]] is always lurking around in the backscenes, armed with a briefcase that could contain anything, dressed in a perfectly anonymous suit. He may take a train to the opposite of your direction, he will still be at your destination before you.
* In ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'', Henry Leland ''thinks'' he's The Man. Potentially, however, Mike Thorton can ''become'' The Man through careful manipulation and control of his contacts.
* Mr. House of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the mysterious ruler of New Vegas.
* In ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', Bob Page serves as The Man in charge of the [=MJ12=] conspiracy.
* "[[http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?490692-Strange-Screenshots&p=12887881&viewfull=1#post12887881 The Manh]]" is a possible name for a general of Zhuang culture in [[VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun Victoria 2]].
* That Man is a main antagonist of the ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' franchise.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Here's an article about him on [[http://uncyclopedia.ca/wiki/The_Man Uncyclopedia.]]
* He was declared Man of the Year by Website/TheOnion in [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29703 1997.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Used as a "Rejected [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]] Villain" in the {{webcomic}} ''Dueling Analogs''.
* The Man applies RuleThirtyFour to capitalism and civil rights violations, [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=627 according to]] ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent''.
%%* King Jahad from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''.
* In Tigerlily Jones's personal reality in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'', the eponymous "black ops social services" organisation is The Man. Despite their leader, a female uplifted Spitz, insisting "I am not The Man! For several reasons!"
-->'''Tigerlily''': Hiding himself inside a cute dog. That's ''such'' a "The Man" thing to do.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' where Gumball mentions The Man and Idaho is confused as to who he's talking about saying "What man?" and "Who's that?"

[[/folder]]
----
--> Well, you can tell everybody. Yeah, you can tell everybody. Go ahead and tell everybody. I'm the Man, I'm the Man, I'm the Man...

* [[MagnificentBastard The Illusive Man]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', played by Creator/MartinSheen. He communicates with Shepard to provide them with info via hologram and is always shown in dim light while smoking a cigarette and/or drinking. His name and backstory are only explained in a tie-in comic; none of the characters, including his right-hand-woman Miranda, have any idea where he came from or how he got where he is. All they know is that he has staggering resources and big, big plans for his species.

* Used as a "Rejected [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]] Villain" in the {{webcomic}} ''Dueling Analogs'', as seen in the pic.

* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/001024c Who else would Mega Man blame?]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'',
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2668 Lil' E terms Jesus this.]]
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2722 Percy thinks Pooch is carrying a tracking device for him.]]
** [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3148 Monique characterizes Satan as him.]]
* King Jahad from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''.

[[folder: Live-Action Television ]]

* ''Series/InLivingColor'': Homey the Clown [[BatmanGambit pretended to sell out]] just to get close to the Man and whack him on the head.
* ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' once featured a PSA from The Man.
* Dave Gorman's documentary ''America Unchained'' was all about trying to tour America whilst avoiding what was called (at least in the book of the series) "The Man(TM)"- that being the big chains of shops, gas stations, motels and such, in favour of smaller, independent "mom and pop" businesses which were becoming harder to find.
* ''{{Series/Angel}}'': The demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart is the embodiment of the Establishment, and there are many examples of "The Man" among it and its clientele. In season five, the main characters take over the firm with the goal of reforming it, thus becoming "The Man" themselves. [[spoiler: After realizing that's impossible to reform the Establishment, they epicly stick it to The Senior Partners (TheManBehindTheMan, except demons) by assassinating a shadowy council of W&H's top clients and briefly postponing the Apocalypse.]]

[[/folder]]

* ''WebVideo/LouderWithCrowder'': Parodied in a sketch where Crowder depicts the Founding Fathers of the United States as a literal meeting of The Patriarchy getting together to find new ways to oppress women.

* The 2011 revival of ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'' introduced The Man, also known as the Merciful God, who handpicked a number of [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Chojin]] to become the first [[AGodAmI Perfect Chojin]]. [[spoiler: His many disguises include Chojin Enma and Strong the Budo.]]

This trope does not refer to any man, it refers to '''the''' Man. Often, this is just a stand-in for [[CapitalismIsEvil capitalism]] and its many contradictions that benefit only a certain few.