History Characters / JohnCarter

* HistoricalDomainCharacter

* YoungFutureFamousPeople

->'''Played By''': MarkStrong

* ActionGirl: A Thark female would be expected to be this, and Sola is rarely seen without her weapons, but her personality is such that she only fights when necessary.

* ProudWarriorRaceGirl: Played with. She clearly believes in the Thark ideals of courage and honor, but can't deal with her people's brutality.

* ActionGirl: Dejah is capable of handling her own in a fight. Even better than Carter at times. Lampshaded by John Carter after their first meeting.
-->'''John''': Maybe I ought to get behind you.
-->'''Dejah''': You let me know when it gets dangerous.

* BadassPrincess: She's a princess who can handle her own in a fight is far from a damsel in distress.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Book!Carter is a very straight-up heroic type. Movie!Carter starts out embittered after the Civil War and not wanting much to do with anyone, until he finds his inner hero on Mars.
* TheAgeless: After returning from Barsoom.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: If John sees someone is in serious danger he ''will'' intervene on their behalf, he just can't help himself.

* DualWielding
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: On Earth, a normal, if skilled, cavalry soldier. On Mars, a OneManArmy.

** The original books were written at the very beginning of the 20th century, when no one really knew what operating in low gravity would be like, but Burroughs did amp it up quite a bit...

-->'''John''': Maybe I should get behind you...
-->'''Dejah''':
* AdaptationalBadass:
* ArrangedMarriage: Forced into one with Sab Than.
* BadassBookworm: She's definitely got a brain on her.
* BadassPrincess

* {{Deuteragonist}}

* LadyOfWar
* TheLancer
* ProudWarriorRaceGirl
* TheSmartGirl

* PapaWolf

* ActionGirl

* HumanAliens
** [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Red-Skinned Space Babe]]

* BigBadWannabe: He's pretty happy in the hopeless delusion that he's the toughest, smartest guy in the room.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Can turn on the charm when he wants, but underneath it he's slime.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: He's a horrible person, but he's shown to lead from the front lines on several occassions, even before he got his superweapon from the Therns.

* [[TakeOverTheWorld Take Over Barsoom]]

* {{Badass}}
** EmpoweredBadassNormal: On Earth, a normal, if skilled, cavalry soldier. On Mars, a OneManArmy.

* {{Badass}}
** BadassBoast: ''"Leave a Thark his head and one hand, and he may yet conquer!"''

* {{Badass}}

* {{Badass}}
** EmpoweredBadassNormal: Starts out "normal" for a Red Martian, and then he gets Thern technology...
** TookALevelInBadass: Thanks to the Thern technology.

* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal]]

* {{Badass}}

* [[spoiler: ForgottenFallenFriend]]

* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal]]

* InTheBlood: Tars Tarkas is her father, and it's no coincidence they're the two nicest Tharks. "The blood of my father drives me" indeed. Her MissingMom is implied to have been in the same vein.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: It's clear the other Tharks don't like him, either before or after he becomes Jeddak. [[spoiler: Most of them are perfectly willing to support Carter's right of challenge as a result]].

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Thinking he could trust Sab to keep his word about not attacking his people in exchange for his daughters' hand in marrige.

* AffablyEvil: He's not an unpleasant sort to be around, for chessmastering planet-conquering alien godling, and actually seems to enjoy his cat-and-mouse game with Carter. "Your move, earthman."

** Which is just silly; Barsoom and Mars both have the same surface gravity (0.38 of Earth's surface gravity, so John Carter would only be able to lift a bit over 2.5 times more than what he is capable of on Earth. Also mass is independent of local gravity, he'd still have to overcome the same amount of inertia to get something to move. Pretty much all of his feats can be chalked up to RuleOfCool.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: If John sees someone is in serious danger he ''will'' intervene on there behalf, he just can't help himself.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: He seems a bit wayward at first, and even when he first shows up on Mars, the only real thing he wants to do is go back home. Then he starts getting attached to the Tharks as well as Dejah...

* EmotionEater: At one point he explains that he (and by extension all Therns) feed off of the negative emotions of other life forms. Thus making the Therns a kind of PsychicVampire race.

* BigBadWannabe

** BadassBookworm: She's definitely got a brain on her.
** BadassDamsel: When Sab Than takes her captive during the final battle, she ''stabs him through the wrist'' to escape.
** BadassNormal: Normal for a Red Martian, anyway.
** BadassPrincess

* {{Xenafication}}

** BadassAbnormal: On Earth, a normal, if skilled, cavalry soldier. On Mars, a OneManArmy.

** BadassAbnormal: Starts out "normal" for a Red Martian, and then he gets Thern technology...

* ActionGirl: A Thark female would be expected to be this, and Sola is rarely seen without her weapons, but her personality is such that she very rarely actually fights.

* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Though a good deal less dangerous than [[BloodKnight most]] [[ProudWarriorRace Tharks]].

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy

* AdaptationalVillainy

* [[spoiler: KilledOffForReal]]

* DualWeilding

* BadassBoast: Leave a Thark his head and one hand, and he may yet conquer!

* BadassAbnormal: Starts out "normal" for a Red Martian, and then he gets Thern technology...

* SmugSnake

* ForgottenFallenFriend

* MasterSwordsman

->'''Played By''': PollyWalker

->'''Played By''': CiarinHinds

->'''Played By''': LynnCollins

->'''Played By''': DominicWest

->'''Played By''': TaylorKitsch

->'''Played By''': WillemDafoe

->'''Played By''': SamanthaMorton

->'''Played By''': ThomasHadenChurch

!!Dejah Thoris

* ActionGirl
* ArrangedMarriage: Forced into one with Sab Than.

** BadassBookworm: She's definitely got a brain on her.
** BadassDamsel: When Sab Than takes her captive during the final battle, she ''stabs him through the wrist'' to escape.
** BadassNormal: Normal for a Red Martian, anyway.
** BadassPrincess
* BattleCouple: With Carter at the climax.
* {{Deuteragonist}}
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses
* HumanAliens
** [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Red-Skinned Space Babe]]
* LadyOfWar
* TheLancer
* ProudWarriorRaceGirl
* {{Xenafication}}

!!Tars Tarkas

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority
* {{Badass}}

!!Sab Than

* AdaptationalVillainy: Movie!Sab is much more vicious than Book!Sab (though admittedly, Book!Sab had next to no characterization).
* BadassAbnormal: Starts out "normal" for a Red Martian, and then he gets Thern technology...
* TheBrute: Explicitly described as such by both Dejah and Matai Shang.
* CompositeCharacter: In the book, Sab Than was the ''prince'' of Zodanga and its Jeddak was his father Than Kosis. In the movie, Sab is Jeddak and Than Kosis is nowhere to be seen.
* TheDragon: Though Matai Shang lets him think he's the BigBad.
* EvilCounterpart: To Carter. Both were warriors who found themselves in possession of incredible power, but where Carter at first just wanted to go home, and then used his abilities to save Dejah, Helium, and Barsoom, Sab revels in his power and wants to TakeOverTheWorld.
* EvilOverlord
* FauxAffablyEvil: Can turn on the charm when he wants, but underneath it he's slime.
* HumanAliens
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: He's a horrible person, but he's shown to lead from the front lines on several occassions, even before he got his superweapon from the Therns.
* SmugSnake
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Courtesy of Matai Shang.

!!Matai Shang

* AdaptationalBadass: In addition to the Therns as a whole getting a major tech-upgrade, Book!Matai Shang basically [[OrcusOnHisThrone sat on his throne]] and didn't get involved until Carter was already exposing the Therns' false religion. In the movie, he's a much more proactive, [[StarWars Darth Sidious]]-esque schemer.
* AffablyEvil: He's not an unpleasant sort to be around, for chessmastering planet-conquering alien godling, and actually seems to enjoy his cat-and-mouse game with Carter. "Your move, earthman."
* AGodAmI
* BaldOfEvil
* BigBad
* BreakoutVillain: He's not mentioned until the second book and doesn't get involved personally until the third. Here, he's BigBad from the get-go.
* TheChessmaster
* CreepyBlueEyes
* ForTheEvulz: Explicitly says he has no cause. 'Course, he may have been lying- Therns tend to do that.
* HumanAliens: Assuming his ShapeshifterDefaultForm is what he really looks like, he's completely indistinguishable from a Caucasian human.
* MagicFromTechnology
* ManipulativeBastard
* SquishyWizard: His MagicFromTechnology may give him great power, but it doesn't save him from being tackled by Woola.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: One of the many abilities conferred by the Thern medallions.
** ShapeshifterDefaultForm: He usually looks like a tall, bald, pale-skinned humanlike man in grey robes.

* ChallengingTheChief: Against Tal Hajus. [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle Which he wins effortlessly]]]].

* ActionGirl: A Thark female would be expected to be this, and Sola is rarely seen without her weapons, but her personality is such that she very rarely fights.

* ForTheEvulz: Explicitly says he has no cause.

WMG: John Carter

WMG: Dejah Thoris

WMG: Tars Tarkas

WMG: Sola

WMG: Sab Than

WMG: Matai Shang

WMG: Tal Hajus