Characters in the horror movie Us. Spoilers will be unmarked. Read at your own risk.

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The Tethered

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tethered.jpg

Mysterious and violent doppelgangers who live in underground tunnels, emerging only to kill.

A Child Shall Lead Them: Downplayed, but it's implied that when Red performed her pas de deux as a child or young teenager, the Tethered realized that she was special and chose her as their leader.
Always Chaotic Evil: Except for possibly Pluto, every Tethered is driven to kill their counterpart above ground and will stop at nothing to make sure it happens.
Ambiguously Human: It's never revealed exactly what the Tethered are, where they came from (other than a vague Hand Wave about a government conspiracy), or how they've kept going all this time on their own. They're flesh and blood, and they can die like any other human, but their pain tolerance is insanely high, they show virtually no emotional responses other than occasional aggression, and lash out violently at the slightest provocation.
Ax-Crazy: Regardless of what they are, it’s very clear that they enjoy the prospect of murdering their "real" counterparts.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Red claims this about them. She says the Tethered went insane being underground for so long and whatever form of free will they possessed was only enough for them to realize they hated their existence, but it's unknown if they were always vengeful or if she made them this way.
Beware the Quiet Ones: It's extremely frightening to everyone that none of the Tethered, bar Red, can talk.
Charles Atlas Superpower: They seem to possess abilities beyond normal humans, such as Red being able to press someone’s head into a glass table hard enough to cause cracks, or Umbrae being able to outpace and ambush Zora despite giving her a generous head start, or climb on top of a car trying to ram her. Absolutely nothing about them is explicitly supernatural apart from their Psychic Link.
Conspicuous Gloves: The movie poster features one of the Tethered wearing a single glove that is fingerless and also lacks knuckles. In the movie, each of the Tethered also wears a single one of these gloves on their right hand.
Create Your Own Villain: If Red's theory is indeed true, these things were made by the US government and end up taking over America.
Evil Counterpart: To whoever they're menacing.
The Family That Slays Together: The group that threatens the Wilsons are a family, as are the group that menace the Tylers. They often make attacks together.
Feel No Pain: Their pain tolerance is either absolute or extremely high; Umbrae has no reaction to being impaled on a tree branch and being broken in half, Tex is able to shrug off a fire poker to the forehead, and Pluto is burned alive, but remains mostly unresponsive throughout.
Humanoid Abomination: Besides their suspicious likeness to their intended victims, they act and move at times unnaturally enough that lets you know in no uncertain terms that there’s something seriously wrong here.
Kill and Replace: The ultimate goal of the Tethered.
Kill on Sight: Though the Wilsons' Tethered don't do this to them due to their deeper connection and Red's personal revenge mission, the sudden deaths of the Tylers imply that this is what the Tethered are supposed or intending to do.
Meaningful Name: They all have names that correspond to how they are connected to their originals.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Their given names tend to be either mythic/Biblical (Abraham, Io, Nix, Pluto) or unconventional yet threatening (Dahlia, Red, Tex, Umbrae), with most evoking imagery of darkness. Dahlia and Tex are both references to true crime (the Black Dahlia is reminiscent of the scars that Dahlia has on her face, and Tex Watson was one of the people who killed Sharon Tate and her friends under the command of Charles Manson).
No Name Given: Red has named the members of the family, but you won't know what the other major Tethered antagonists are called (or even if they go by those names) unless you watch the credits.
Nothing Is Scarier: One of the most disturbing things about them is how little we actually know about them. All we know is that they were potentially government experiments. We don't know exactly what for, we don't know how they were made, we don't even know exactly what they are. The best we know is that they were used to possibly control their original counterparts, but that is about it. And if that's the case, why would the government even want to do that in the first place?
Psychic Link: All Tethered shares a mental link with their aboveground counterparts, and are forced to spend their lives mindlessly acting out a shadow pantomime of whatever their originals are doing. It's never explained how this works, but Red believes that the Tethered somehow lack the "soul" the originals have, and are thus the ones trapped by the bond.
Shear Menace: They wield golden scissors as their signature weapons.
The Sociopath: These things as a whole are low-functioning examples. They have the impulse to kill their surface world counterparts, often laughing psychotically throughout. They also attempt to take over their counterparts' lives as a means of constantly keeping themselves stimulated and escaping the torture of their eternal pantomime.
The Soulless: According to Red, they have no soul, explaining their behavior. Subverted, in they actually have souls, the problem is that they aren't the only owners of their souls; they share them with the originals.
The Speechless: None of them manage more than animalistic howls, except for Red. Downplayed, in that these howls are clearly being used to communicate, implying it may be a primitive language.
Training the Peaceful Villagers: Red spent over twenty years militarizing potentially millions of initially listless Tethered into a murderous fighting force.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Killing their counterparts is the only way for them to claim their soul and end the miserable Psychic Link, allowing them to live normal lives above ground. Red makes it clear their insanity is due to never having seen the sun and being constantly yanked around by the originals' actions.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: It's implied that they were abandoned by their mysterious creators for this reason, though why is not made clear. Red believes the creators were the government.

The Wilson Family

Originals

Adelaide

Adelaide Wilson

"They will not stop until they kill us. Or we kill them."

Portrayed by: Lupita Nyong'o, Madison Curry (as a child), Ashley McKoy (as a teenager)

The main protagonist and matriarch of the family.

Ambiguously Evil: She seems very happy and excited to finally kill the real Adelaide in their final duel, going as far as to laugh after doing the deed. Alhough, as noted below, she doesn't show many other negative qualities, although it's possible that all the negative qualities she had suppressed (along with her memories) return to her at the end, hence her own son's fear of her.
Anti-Villain: Despite what she did as a child, swapping places with the real Adelaide, one can imagine why she'd want out of the hell of a life she had underground. And as an adult, she clearly loves her family and would do anything to protect them. She even shows sadness about the deaths of the Tethered children as well.
The Bad Guy Wins: From a certain perspective; she kills Red, and gets to resume the life she stole with nobody the wiser. Of course, this is downplayed, as she doesn't want to do much other than get back to her life with the family she's raised and clearly loves, and she doesn't want to hurt any other normal humans.
Beat Them at Their Own Game: When she confronts "Red"/the real Adelaide at the end of the film, she initially fails miserably to land a single blow as "Red" dances away and inflicts a slow but steady Death by a Thousand Cuts with her scissors. It is only when she pulls a Wounded Gazelle Gambit and convinces "Red" to take the initiative and act, rather than react, that she is able to land a hit of her own. Fortunately, it's enough.
Believing Their Own Lies: She is the real "Red" who stole the original Adelaide's life when they were kids, and over time grew up to believe she was the original who was attacked by her Evil Counterpart.
Boomerang Bigot: She speaks contemptuously of the Tethered and views killing them as necessary for her family's safety, but is actually a Tethered herself.
Dark and Troubled Past: She had an encounter with her doppelganger when she was a young girl.
Enfant Terrible: She flashed Slasher Smile after Slasher Smile immediately after making the switch with Red at the utter glee she felt at having stolen the original Adelaide's life.
Evil Vegetarian: She doesn’t eat fast food with the rest of her family, instead eating fruit. Given that the Tethered are only shown eating scraps of raw meat, this might be an indicator of how far she's gone to embrace the world aboveground and leave the tunnels behind.
Greater-Scope Villain: Depending on the viewer's perspective after The Reveal, but it should be noted that the Apocalypse How that occurs during and especially at the end of the film wouldn't have happened if she hadn't succeeded at stealing the real Adelaide's life, as it was the real Adelaide's memories of life above being shared with the Tethered which prompted their revolution.
Handy Cuffs: She has to handcuff herself to the table at Red's demand, which she manages to slip (although not without a great deal of athleticism/difficulty), and kills many Tethered with cuffs hanging from her wrists.
Handy Feet: She escapes using them while her hands are handcuffed to the table by managing to grab a fire poker with her feet.
Happily Married: To Gabe, one of the things that Red finds most galling about her doppelganger's life.
Karma Houdini: She kidnapped and replaced the original Adelaide, is indirectly responsible for her victim's actions as Red, and survives the events of the film with the entirety of her family.
Kill and Replace: She opted to imprison the original Adelaide underground at first, but over thirty years later, fulfills this trope entirely with no one save (perhaps) Jason being none the wiser.
Knight Templar Parent: Justified. She knows how dangerous the Tethered are, and she is determined to protect her children from them.
Love Martyr: She feels some level of attachment towards Umbrae and Pluto, as she is a Tethered herself, and is rather saddened when they both violently perish.
Mama Bear: She will do whatever it takes to protect her children from their Tethered counterparts.
Morally Superior Copy: Deeply Deconstructed. She was a Creepy Child initially, but learned enough empathy later in life to become a loving mother and wife, while her original became a Dark Messiah (playing on themes of Nature Versus Nurture). How much this is sincere, though, is left open to interpretation, especially since she seems most terrified of Red taking her life back.
Murder Is the Best Solution: Crosses over with Boomerang Bigot, where she advocates to her family that they either have to run from or utterly exterminate the Tethered if they hope to survive against them. Notably, she says this before she ever gets her hands dirty killing one herself. This might be justified in that she knows the Tethered won't stop.
Sanity Slippage: As her family is endangered by her defining childhood crime and the fear of being outed as a Tethered continues to build, Adelaide becomes increasingly unhinged as the film progresses, and starts to mentally regress to the Ax-Crazy state of the feral Tethered during her final duel with her original counterpart.
Slasher Smile: She gives one after killing Red, and had a few in her childhood after replacing the original Adelaide.
The Sociopath: She's a high-functioning example as far as Tethered go, at least as a child. She was manipulative enough to pull off an impersonation of her counterpart, constantly reveled in the luxuries and life she stole, and felt no remorse for forcing someone else to live her life underground. She does show some signs of growing out of it as an adult, as shown by her protectiveness of her children and her sympathy towards Pluto and Umbrae, but whether this is because she cared for them as individuals or saw them as possessions/associates is anyone's guess.
Tomato in the Mirror: She's revealed to be Adelaide's Tethered, who pulled a Grand Theft Me when they were kids.
Unreliable Narrator: Adelaide was traumatized at a young age by a previous run-in with her counterpart. However, with the reveal that she was the doppelgänger all along, it's hard to say whether she repressed the memory of what she did or if she knew what was happening the whole time.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: By forcefully switching places with Red (the original Adelaide), she escaped the underground facility and lived happily up above at the cost of her original counterpart's sanity, which led to Red orchestrating a massive Kill and Replace scheme with the Tethered as revenge.
Villain Protagonist: Up to the viewer's perspective after The Reveal.
Walking Spoiler: Given the truth behind her traumatizing experience, this comes without question.
White Shirt of Death: Adelaide wears a white shirt and hoodie when the Tethered invade, which gets progressively blood-soaked as the film goes on, foreshadowing that she is a Tethered.

Gabe

Gabe Wilson

"If you wanna get crazy, we can get crazy!"

Portrayed by: Winston Duke

The patriarch of the family and Adelaide's husband.

Actor Allusion: Gabe gets the boat engine to work to shred his Evil Twin to bits by headbutting the engine, which was something that another character Duke previously played did during ritualistic combat in Black Panther (2018). Also, during Red's Hannibal Lecture Motive Rant, Red compares Gabe to to a handsome prince, one of which Duke's Black Panther character fought in said ritualistic combat for the title of King.
Amazingly Embarrassing Dad: As evidenced by him purchasing a boat in the trailer. He also randomly "dabs" for no reason and makes terrible dad jokes near the start of the movie.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: When Adelaide tells him about her past, he comforts her and tries to lighten the mood. See Beware the Nice Ones
Badass Normal: The only member of the main family without any Tethered heritage, but he still heroically saves Zora and Jason by killing Tex and several other Tethered even with a broken leg.
Batter Up!: He takes a baseball bat as his weapon at one point.
Beware the Nice Ones: He is willing to get dangerous to protect his family. He later kills his counterpart by shredding him with a boat engine.
Black and Nerdy: He's pretty much viewed this way by his daughter, and doesn't really do much to prove he's anything but. If his sweatshirt is any indication, he attended the prestigious Howard University. It doesn't stop him from kicking ass when he has to, though.
Bumbling Dad: Downplayed, but the way he is overjoyed from buying a boat with an embarrassing name counts, getting a You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! reaction from his wife and children.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He zigzags more or less nonstop throughout the film, going between terrible ideas (not listening to Adelaide, setting Home Alone traps), to being able to single-handedly take on and kill the Tethered, especially when he kills Abraham and Tex.
Genre Blind: After Red delivers her Motive Rant Hannibal Lecture, Gabe still perceives the Tethered to be burglars set out to rob them and begins to bargain for his family's lives by offering them his money, car, and boat, much to Red's confusion.
Gentle Giant: He is played by the imposing-looking Winston Duke, but he mostly is a chill dude.
Greed: He's very materialistic, and appears to be at least upper-middle-class, seeing as he owns two houses and a yacht (though the yacht is rather poor quality and has a terrible engine, and the vacation home seems to come through Adelaide's family), which shows us he's willing to throw away money on frivolous luxuries. Also, after the Tethered Tylers take over the real Tylers' mansion, Gabe dreams of owning the Tylers' home and making it his third home (or a replacement for his second one).
Happily Married: To Adelaide. Even when Adelaide takes over control, he never seems to mind very much.
Henpecked Husband: He becomes one for Adelaide in a life and death situation, especially when she shuts him down and says Gabe doesn't make the decisions anymore in their situation, although it's completely justified due to him lacking the full knowledge Adelaide has about what's really going on and thus making poor decisions.
Let's Get Dangerous!:
- He tries to intimidate the family outside with a baseball bat. It doesn't work.
- He later is cornered by Tex inside Josh's yacht. He comes out on top.
Made of Iron: He takes a ridiculous amount of abuse over the course of the film, but nevertheless kills his own physically powerful Tethered, and even with an injured leg, still overpowers and kills Tex in direct conflict.
My Car Hates Me: Or rather, My Yacht Hates Me. Gabe bought a very cheap yacht that has a crappy engine, forcing him to whack it just to get it operational.
Papa Wolf: He might be a chill guy, but mess with his family and he'll mess you up completely, as his Tethered counterpart and Tex find out the hard way.
Plucky Comic Relief: He acts as the film's primary source of humor for his mostly laid-back and easygoing personality.
Pretty Fly for a White Guy: He may actually be a Black man, but he's a decidedly upper-middle-class Black man who drives a luxury SUV, owns a lake house and a boat, and acts like a corny suburban dad. His kids cringe when he starts playing "I Got 5 on It".
Throwing Off the Disability: A meta example. The Tethered badly break his leg when they break in. While he is shown limping several times, this never stops him from being able to swim, crawl all over the boat, or kill Abraham and Tex.
Took a Level in Badass: He seems to be just your average father, but he personally kills his counterpart as well as Tex in spite of his injuries.
Worf Had the Flu: The physically strongest family member quickly suffers a crippling leg injury that lasts throughout the entire movie. He still manages to kill two Tethered.

Zora

Zora Wilson

"It's about drugs."

Portrayed by: Shahadi Wright Joseph

The daughter of the Wilson family.

Blood Knight: She swiftly adapts to the circumstances and becomes this, especially when hunting down the Tylers' doppelgängers.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: Downplayed, as she grows a lot more mature throughout the film, but even when she and her father are running from the Tethered, she still has time to be irritated with his dad jokes.
Car Fu: She attempts this on Umbrae, though she doesn’t die until Zora brakes and she’s flung towards a tree.
Chekhov's Skill:
- Her being a track athlete is mentioned early on.
- It's less obvious, but also driving. She and her parents argue about how she's not allowed to drive, while Becca and Lindsey are. Eventually, she winds up driving the Tylers' car after her father is injured and her mother is handcuffed.
Combat Pragmatist: Zora proves herself to be a great fighter when she needs to, but when Umbrae is distracted by the random guy who is just angry she's standing on his car, she turns and runs. You can hardly blame her for this.
Conspiracy Theorist: She believes that the government is putting fluoride in the water for mind control purposes, foreshadowing the movie's actual Government Conspiracy.
Golf Clubbing: She arms herself with a golf club when entering the Tylers' house, and manages to take down Io and Nix with it. It remains her weapon for the rest of the film.
Half-Human Hybrid: Downplayed. She's half-baseline-human, half-human-clone-with-some-preternatural-physical-abilities.
Lightning Bruiser: It's downplayed, but she is extremely vicious when she needs to be and also very fast, as a result of being half-Tethered.
Little Miss Badass: She manages to take down the Tethered twins and her own Tethered. If she succeeded on her first kill, her boast about having the highest body count would’ve held by the end.
Social Darwinist: She outright allows her Tethered Umbrae to kill off an innocent bystander (the guy in his underwear barking at Umbrae to get off his car) by not telling the bystander about Umbrae being armed with scissors just so she can get a headstart running for her life while Umbrae gets to work gutting that poor man.
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Zora's reaction when she learns that her dad bought a boat.

Jason

Jason Wilson

"There's a family in our driveway."

Portrayed by: Evan Alex

The son of the Wilson family.

Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear if his obsession with getting his sparking magic trick to work is a result of his connection to the pyromaniac Pluto, or if Pluto's pyromania is linked to Jason's obsession with the magic trick, or if it's entirely a coincidence.
The Baby of the Bunch: He's the youngest member of the Wilson family. Adelaide often worries about him wandering off because of this.
Badass Adorable: He's a clever kid, who ultimately manages to defeat his Tethered by making use of their connection through a Mirror Routine.
Character Tic: He lowers his mask whenever he is nervous or Takes a Level in Badass.
Cool Mask: He wears a Wolfman mask consistently, although it's usually tipped up back on his head.
The Cutie: Throughout the movie, and while he may end up corrupted at the end, it's ambiguous whether he actually has.
Deadpan Snarker: He puts people in their place while keeping a straight face.
Half-Human Hybrid: Downplayed, like his sister.
Mirror Routine: He does one with his counterpart, Pluto, in his family's closet. Later, at the car fire, this comes back when he uses their link to walk Pluto backwards into the fire without resistance.
Non Violent Initial Confrontation: He and Pluto don't fight each other at first, although their interactions aren't exactly bright and fear-free.
Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Jason doesn't get his parents' reference to Micro Machines, although this is hardly surprising for anyone born in the 21st century.
Secret Secret-Keeper: It's implied at the end through a Disapproving Look that Jason suspects his mother of being Red and not the real Adelaide.
Stage Magician: Jason seems to be an aspiring one. He wears a lighter ring for magic tricks, and his pajamas look like a tuxedo. In the end, he keeps one of the rabbits from the facility as a pet.
Title Drop: He gets one in reference to the Tethered.
Jason: It's us.

Tethered

Red

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_81.jpg

"It's our time up there."