Multinational Team

File:Captain planet team 1433.jpg

A stereotype for every continent. Except Australia. And Antarctica.

A Multinational Team is a group of characters with different, emphasized nationalities with an In-Universe justification for this diversity. They are almost invariably the good guys, although the bad guys might have their own version of a multinational team. The trope can occur in works of fiction that do not take place in the present or even on Earth: in The Lord of the Rings, for example, many diverse people from all over Middle-Earth band together.

The Multinational Team differs from the Five-Token Band in that:

• The characters are explicitly from different nations, not merely different ethnicities. If the diverse characters coincidentally all grew up in the same suburban town, they are the Five-Token Band, not the Multinational Team.
• The team has been assembled for a specific purpose, usually by an independent party. If the diverse characters have no specific reason to be hanging out, they are the Five-Token Band.

In other words, the Multinational Team explains why the team is diverse, whereas the Five-Token Band simply is diverse, often with no explanation. This is not to say that Multinational Teams are incapable of tokenism or stereotypes. They're simply different breeds of trope.

Note that "emphasized" does not necessarily mean "thrown in your face every five seconds." If the series makes enough references to the characters' nationalities for the viewer to be aware of it, then the nationalities have been emphasized.

Compare the villainous counterpart, Equal Opportunity Evil. If it's people with power, it's likely a Cosmopolitan Council. Compare/contrast Five-Token Band.

Examples of Multinational Team include:

Anime & Manga

• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 has a main cast consisting of Jotaro (1/2 Japanese, 1/4 British, 1/4 Italian), his grandfather Joseph (British), Abdul (Egyptian), Kakyoin (Japanese), Polnareff (French), and Iggy (Boston Terrier).
• Battle Athletes
• Cyborg 009. 001 is Russian, 002 is American, 003 is French, 004 is German, 005 is Native American, 006 is Chinese, 007 is British, 008 is African (unspecified as to where in Africa), and 009 is Japanese.
• Sakura Taisen
• Mithril from Full Metal Panic!
• Victory Gundam had a unusually (at the series) high variety of races amongst the recurring cast.
• In G Gundam, a unit of True Companions was formed from rival champions of different countries: American Chibodee Crockett, French George DeSand, Japanese Domon Kasshu, Chinese Sai Saici, and Russian Argo Gulskii.
  • And the Swedish Allenby Beardsley.
  • And the German Schwarz Bruder.
  • Likewise, Gundam Wing's True Companions were Japanese (Heero), United States (Duo), European (Trowa), Arabian (Quatre), and Chinese (Wufei) descendants, though the important nationality distinction for them was that they were all Colonists and not Earthlings.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 00 uses this trope as well: Setsuna (Soran Ibrahim) is Kurdish, Lockon (Neil/Lyle Dylandy) is Irish, Allelujah (real name unknown) is Kazakh. Tieria (Base Sequence Pattern 0988) has no ethnicity.
• In Planetes, the Technora Corporation Debris Section has two Japanese astro-trash collectors, a Cuban-American captain, a Russian first-mate, a caucasian (probably American, but at the same time fulfilling Japanese middle manager stereotypes, and relatively harmless) Pointy-Haired Boss, his boot-licking toady from India, and a German Office Lady temp.
  • In the anime. In the original manga Fee is clearly black and the office staff don't exist.
  • Planetes also feature at least two mixed marriages: Fee's stay-at-home hubby is white, while Yuri's late wife was Japanese.
• In Kagaku Kyujotai Technovoyager, the team consists of a Japanese (who is the central character in the series), an American, an English, a Jamaican and a French. However, the characters' nationalities were changed into American when the series was exported to the US as Thunderbirds 2086.
• Black Lagoon — kind of. Revy is a racially Chinese American, Dutch is black American, Benny is Jewish American and Rock is Japanese... Not-american. Defining them as 'good guys' is kind of a stretch too. Since they're pirates, Equal Opportunity Evil may cover them just as well.
  • If you expand the scope a little to include some of the people they have happened to have teamed up with on occasion, the list includes the Russian Balalaika, Taiwanese Shenhua and her Irish driver, and the presumably Hong Kong Chinese Mr. Chang.
• The Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch girls are all princesses of the seven different oceans.
• Kirika is Japanese, or at least asian, while Mirielle is Corsican French, in Noir.
• Super Dimension Fortress Macross has a cast of various ethnicities and nationalities. After being Macekred into Robotech, it purportedly showed one of the first romances between a Caucasian and African on US animation.
• In the Space Western-cum-Humongous Mecha anime Sei Juushi Bismarck, the main team of heroes consisted of an Englishman, a Japanese, an American and a Frenchwoman; each one wore the appropriate flag on his/her battle helmet and uniform. When the show was Americanized as Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, the Japanese and French characters' nationalities were ignored. However, since the show was a Space Western and the American character was a futuristic cowboy, he got to stay American. The Englishman also retained his nationality because one episode's plot was based on his status as a descendant of Scottish royalty.
• D.Gray-man loves this trope. Allen is British, Lenalee is Chinese, Kanda is Japanese, Krory is Romanian, and Miranda is German. It's the same with the bad guys; Tyki is Portuguese, Lulu Bell is French, and Skinn, Jasdero, and Devit are American. Listing all the examples this series has would take too long.
  • Kanda's nationality has never been confirmed, and is always given as 'Japanese?' with a question mark. Recent plot developments suggest he is more likely to have been born and raised in China.
• The titular organization in Strike Witches is one of these, with members from their world's Fantasy Counterpart Cultures of Japan, Germany, England, Russia, France, Italy, Finland, and the United States.
• Transformers Super God Masterforce: Shuta and Ginrai are Japanese, Cab is Filipino, Minerva is French, Lightfoot is American, Ranger is Canadian, and Road King is British.
• The mercenary pilots of Area 88 primarily come from the NATO powers: Americans, West Germans, Brits, and others. The main character is Japanese.
• Don't forget the Blade Breakers! Beyblade's main protagonists were Tyson (Japanese, and the leader), Ray (Chinese), Max (American), and Kai (Japanese). They ended up competing against and defeating the national teams of the countries they were originally from (except Japan, which was their team), becoming world champions.
• The pilots from RahXephon; it's a surprisingly blatant example.
• Axis Powers Hetalia of course, being that the characters are personifications of nations as well as acting as a soldier from each. The main two groups would be the Axis Powers and Allied Forces, though the idea of good guys and bad guys is not the point of the series. The main character is North Italy, though Germany seems more in charge. The United States usually acts like the head of the Allies, much to the chagrin of England.
• From The Legend of Koizumi, when time comes to save the world from Space Nazis, we get the main team of Junichiro Koizumi (Japan), Vladimir Putin (Russia), Pope Benedict XVI (The Vatican), George H.W. Bush (U.S.A.) and Yulia Tymoshenko (Ukraine).
• The protagonists of Darker Than Black are variously Chinese, Japanese, Scandinavian, and a possibly Hispanic cat.
• The Mighty Bombshells, a failed attempt to bring the American style of comic book art to manga, consisted of Ms. Liberty and Dynamite Girl (U.S.A.), Fireball (England), Blitzkrieg (Germany), Red Dragon (China), and Cherry Blossom (Japan).
• Freezing
• From Infinite Stratos, there's Ichika and his harem: Ichika and Houki are Japanese, Cecelia is British, Rin is Chinese, Charlotte is French and Laura is German.
• Shaman King does this with some of the teams. But since there are really only four factions in the shaman fights, it's natural.
• The Idol Choujin in Kinnikuman include, by the end of the series: Kinnikuman and Rikishiman/Wolfman (Japanese, although technically Kinnikuman is an alien), Terryman, Specialman, and Geronimo (American; Geronimo is a full-blooded Apache), Robin Mask and Neptuneman (British), Warsman (Russian), Ramenman (Chinese), Buffaloman (Spanish), Brocken, Jr. (German), and Canadianman (Guess, dummy.)
  • Sequel series Kinnikuman Nisei features the New Generation Idol Choujin: Kinniku Mantaro/Kid Muscle (from Planet Kinniku), Terry the Kid/Terry "The Grand" Kenyon (Japanese-American), Kevin Mask (British) Seiuchin/Wally Tusket (Irish), Gazelleman/Dik Dik van Dik (Tanzanian), Checkmate (from Monaco), Illoukhine/Comrade Turbinski (Russian), Jade/Jaeger (German), Scarface/Eskara (Italian), Barrier-Free Man (Swedish), Chaos Avenir (alien from an unknown planet), and Hanzou/Hanzo the Horrible (alien from the planet Iga)
  • There's also virtually every villain group from either series, but we'll spare you the details.

Comics

• The "All-New, All-Different" X-Men team which debuted in 1975, was gathered from around the world. Including Wolverine from Canada, Storm from Africa, Nightcrawler from Germany, Banshee from Ireland, Sunfire from Japan, Colossus from Russia, and Thunderbird, who was Native American. They continued this trend for quite some time, with Shadowcat (Jewish), Psylocke (British), Forge (also Native American), Jubilee (Chinese-American), Gambit (Cajun... if that counts), Maggott (South Africa)... it goes on and on.
  • Vestiges of this were retained for the movies. Only Nightcrawler's nationality is obvious, but deleted scenes showed Storm being chased from her African village and certain details of Wolverine's uniforms (in flashback) apparently identify him as Canadian.
  • Also, Rogue, in the first movie, first meets Wolverine in a bar in Canada.
  • In First Class, Magneto practices classic Informed Judaism: We see him celebrating Hanukkah, and we see him in a Nazi concentration camp.
• The X-Men spinoff book The New Mutants followed this trend. Wolfbane was Scottish, Mirage was Native American, Karma was Vietnamese, Sunspot was Brazilian and Cannonball was American. Later, they added Magik from Russia, Cypher from the United States, Warlock who was an alien, and Magma who was from an offshoot of an ancient Roman tribe that lived in Brazil. Though, due to various retcons, she may be British. This troper isn't that sure.
  • Interestingly, these characters are each more complicated and "other" than their ethnic origins might suggest; the "passionate celt" Scot Wolfsbane is also religious, conflicted and repressed. The Native American Moonstar is also uncertain, suspicious, self-destructive and perhaps bisexual. The Vietnamese Karma is also (probably) a mother, later a lesbian, and prone to losses of self-control. Sunspot had an origin that cuts him off from most normal relationships; his (white, not-approved by his father) girlfriend was murdered and died in his arms, he ceases to show deep relationships after this. Cannonball joined the bad guys out of economic need, and now shows only the 'good soldier' traits expected of a good soldier.
    • For Moonstar, her ambiguous bisexuality might be Genius Bonus: Identifying as "heterosexual" or "homosexual" as a bifurcation is rarer on Indian reservations, largely because of a tradition of winkte, kurami, and the like. Magik also later got the Legacy Virus, which is analogous to HIV in the Marvel Universe. Wait, an ancient Roman tribe that lived in Brazil?
• Generation X, New Mutants' successor title, had a multinational team, but avoided criticism of New Mutants by making their characters opposite of their ethnic stereotype (i.e. Husk, an Appalachian girl, is generally considered the brain, and Skin, who was a Hispanic gang member, is generally the nice guy, etc.).
• The original Global Guardians in The DCU were a mish-mash of national stereotypes: The Knight from the U.K., Rising Sun from Japan, Tuatara from New Zealand, and so on. They got less token-ish as time went on. They made their debut in the comic adaptation of Superfriends; subtlety clearly wasn't a concern.
• Justice League International was a U.N.-sponsored iteration of the famous superhero team. Most of its members were American, but Rocket Red and Captain Atom officially represented the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. respectively, with a number of other international members as well: Fire (Brazil), Ice (Norway), Doctor Light (Japan), Crimson Fox (France), Tasmanian Devil (guess), etc.
  • Many of these members were taken from the pre-existing Global Guardians.
  • The upcoming New 52 version will add Vixen (from Zambesi), August General in Iron (from China), and Godiva (from the U.K., and another former Global Guardian to boot) to the mix.
    • And Booster Gold is now Canadian.
• The Club of Heroes (a.k.a. the Batmen of All Nations) from 1950s Batman comics (reintroduced in a 2008 story arc) was a loose group of non-powered heroes who were inspired by the Bat; their number included Batman (the United States), Man-of-Bats (also the United States; he was Sioux), the aforementioned Knight (Britain), the Ranger (Australia), the Gaucho (Argentina), Wingman (Sweden), the Musketeer (France), and the Legionary (Italy). The Knight, Ranger and Man-of-Bats also had Robinesque sidekicks: the Squire (who became the second Knight, and got his own Squire), the Scout (who became the Dark Ranger) and Little Raven (who became Raven Red).
  • Batman would later revisit the idea by creating Batman, Inc., featuring most of the above apart from the now-deceased Legionary, Ranger, and Wingman. New additions include the Hood (another representative of Britain), Mr. Unknown/Batman Japan (Japan, duh), and Nightrunner (an additional guy from France). There's also Batwing (Congolese), and a mysterious new Wingman of unknown national origin. Batman, Inc. might not seem like much of a team, but they operate independently and come together to tackle greater crises — like the Justice League.
  • The Elseworld Kingdom Come adds the Dragon (China), the Samurai (Japan) and the Cossack (Russia).
  • Green Arrow, at the time practically a same-company Captain Ersatz of Batman, had his own Club of Heroes. "The Costumed Archers of the World" included the Ace Archer (Japan), the Bowman of the Bush (Australia), the Phantom (France), the Bowman of Britain (Britain) and the Archer of Arabia (Saudi Arabia), in addition to the American Green Arrow.
• Blackhawk from Quality Comics in the Golden Age, later acquired by DC. Two distinct versions of this international team of aviators exist, sometimes with slight differences within the versions.
  • The Blackhawk Squadron that existed between 1941 and 1983 consisted of: Blackhawk (aka, sometimes, Bart Hawk — Polish, American, or Polish-American, Depending on the Writer); André Blanc Dumont (France); Olaf Bjornson (Norway... or possibly Sweden); Chuck Wilson (USA, specifically Texas); Hans Hendrickson (Netherlands); Stanislaus (Poland); Chop-Chop (aka Liu Huang or Wu Cheng, China); Zinda "Lady Blackhawk" Blake (USA).
  • In a 1987 miniseries, Howard Chaykin introduced an updated, slightly different, version of the team, which carried over into a subsequent ongoing series. These Blackhawks included: Janos "Blackhawk" Prohaska and Stanislaus Drozdowski (Poland); André Blanc-Dumont (France); Olaf Friedriksen (Denmark); Carlo "Chuck" Sirianni (Italy by way of the United States); Ritter Hendricksen (Netherlands); Weng "Chop-Chop" Chan (China); Natalie "the other Lady Blackhawk" Reed, and Grover Baines (the United States); Quan Chee Keng (Malaysia); and Paco Herrera (Mexico).
  • Present-day continuity seems to have reverted to some variation of the original team, Depending on the Writer.
  • The modern incarnation of the team seemed to follow suit to some degree; the nationalities of Andrew "Blackhawk" Lincoln, Lady Blackhawk, and Randall Wildman were never revealed (though Lincoln is likely American), but Kunoichi is Japanese, Canada is American (Nicknamed after an incident in a bar in Calgary), the Irishman is Ukranian (but born to American parents; he got his nickname from fellow Spetsnaz operatives due to his red hair), and Attila is Hungarian.
• The Apollo Eleven from Astro City were a team of astronauts from around the world sent to man the first moonbase; something up there changed them into superhumans and they came back with an eleventh person.
• The Suicide Squad has included at various points Captain Boomerang (both of them; Australian), Stalnoivolk (Russian), Ravan and Rustam (Quraci), Plastique (Quebecoise), Count Vertigo (Vlativan), Manchester Black and the Shade (English), Javelin (German), Mirror Master (Scottish), and virtually everyone else is American.
• In the Gold Key feature Jet Dream, Jet's all-female Blackhawk Expy Squadron consisted of: Jet Dream and Cookie Jarr (presumed American); Petite (France); Marlene (West Germany); and Ting-a-Ling (unspecified Polynesian island).
• Marvel's Circus of Crime is surprisingly cosmopolitan, featuring the Ringmaster (Austrian), Bruto the Strongman (Swedish), Fire-Eater (Spanish), the Great Gambonnos (Italian), Rajah (Indian). The Human Cannonball, the Clown, Live Wire, Princess Python, and Blackwing are Americans.
• Jack Kirby's Boy Commandos: Dan "Brooklyn" Turpin (US), Alfie Twigett (UK), André Chavard (France) and Jan Haasan (Netherlands).
• The titular team in The Boys: the leader and the viewpoint character are British, and there's also a Frenchman and two Americans.
• The latest incarnation of Image Comics' Guardians of the Globe features Bulletproof, Black Samson, Knockout, and Brit (American), Kid Thor (Canadian), the Yeti (Nepalese), Kaboomerang (Australian), Outrun (South African), El Chupacabra (Mexican), Best Tiger (Chinese), Cast Iron (From an unspecified former Yugoslav state), Pegasus (Russian), Japandroid (Japanese), Le Bruiser (French), and Shapesmith (Martian). Recruiting heroes from all over the world was a deliberate move on team coordinator Cecil's part — they're guarding the globe, and everyone should have a part in it.
• The Invaders and their Timely counterpart All Winners Squad were heroes from the various Allied Powers during World War II.
• Justice League of America had a team in Europe and an international team at one time. Over the years, there have been numberous characters that have joined the team. Even in its classic "Big Seven" incarnation, you can expect only three Americans. The rest are two aliens an amazon and an Atlantean.
• The Avengers, much like the JLA, have also had many international members as well as non-humans, although they are usually sponsored by the US government.
• The original Stormwatch team consisted of Battalion (American), Fuji (Japanese), Hellstrike (Irish), Winter (Russian), and Diva (Italian). They were joined in short order by Flashpoint (Australian), Flint (Kenyan), and three additional Americans in Synergy, Cannon, and Fahrenheit.
• The version of The Authority backed by the G7 featured members from each of the world's seven richest nations: The Colonel from Britain, Street from the United States, Teuton from Germany, Rush from Canada, Last Call from Italy, the Surgeon from France, and Machine from Japan.
• Excalibur basically acts as a cross between the X-Men/Avengers for Europe. In its initial incarnation it had Captain Britain (just guess...), Meggan (British/Fey), Nightcrawler (German), Shadowcat (American/Jewish), Lockheed (alien dragon) and Phoenix (Alt. Future America). In time the lineup changed and at one point or another also included Colossus (Russian), Douglock (alien, different race), Wolfsbane (Scottish), Widget (extradimensional robot), Black Knight (American), Feron (Fey/alternate universe), Cerise (yet another alien race), etc.

Fan Works

• In the Deva Series, the students at Hayate's academy are deliberately chosen from nations the world over. The Circles also have members from lots of nations.
• In Keepers of the Elements, each Keeper is usually from a different country.

Films — Live Action

• Sunshine (2007). The crew of Icarus II are American, Chinese and Japanese, as they were the countries most likely to have major space programs when the movie is set (in 2057). India and Brazil were also suggested, but it was decided to leave them out to avoid a too-disparate cast.
• The Fall, for fairy tale purposes.
• The Transformers Film Series has a partial example in NEST. While only American and British forces have any serious screentime in the film representing humanity alongside the Autobots, the prequel comics suggest the involvement of other nations, while the prequel novel features NEST agents from Israel, Russia and Japan. Michael Bay wanted Bundeswehr troops, but this was vetoed by the German government.
• Street Fighter The Movie

Literature

• Matthew Reilly's Jack West Jr novels. Seven Ancient Wonders had the team comprised of commandos hailing from Australia, UAE, Spain, Jamaica, Israel, Ireland (2 of 'em) and New Zealand, with a Canadian professer and Egyptian girl.
• Tom Clancy's novel Rainbow Six, which spawned a slew of video games, is centered around a NATO+ Israel Multinational Team, based in England albeit led by Americans.
  • The video games feature an even more diverse roster, with team members from countries including Egypt, Belarus, Russia, Korea, and Israel. The novel toned this down significantly: the team consisted solely of soldiers from core Western NATO countries (mostly American, with some British, a couple French, and one German) and an Israeli, and the Americans did most of the heavy lifting. The novel even admitted the multinational aspect was mostly just for propaganda/diplomatic purposes.
• The Ender's Game novels, particularly the Shadow arc that follows Bean, features a raft of child warriors from around the globe (the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, England, China, India, etc.).
  • Ender is the son of a Pole and a Mormon, Bean is Greek/Ibo from the Netherlands, Alai is North African, Dink is Dutch, Carn is an Aussie, Crazy Tom is a Brit, Dumper is Quechua, Fly Molo is from the Philippines, Hot Soup is Chinese, Petra is Armenian, Shen is Japanese, Vlad is Belorussian, Bonzo is Spanish, Rose De Nose is Jewish, Suriyawong is Thai, Virlomi Indian. Most of them end of commanding Armies against each other and then exiled off Earth as the first governors of the colonies.
  • At least one is Maori, and of course there's the reputation Jewish boys have for killing bugs.
• Phoenix Force is an internationally operating (but US Government-controlled) anti-terrorist team selected from the world's best soldiers and operatives. They include Israeli veteran Yakov Katzenelenbogen, Canadian demolitions expert and security engineer Gary Manning, Japanese martial arts and electronics expert Keio Ohara, ex-SAS soldier and pilot David McCarter, and Rafael Encizo, a Cuban survivor of the Bay of Pigs invasion. When Ohara was killed and Katzenelenbogen retired their numbers were made up with SWAT member Calvin James (Black American) and Somalia/Gulf War veteran T.J. Hawkins (a Southerner). The team has used the assistance of John Trent, a Japanese-American ninjitsu master; and German Karl Hahn, former GSG 9 operator turned BND agent.
• Contact had the Five, representatives from Earth who were chosen specifically to talk to the aliens. There's someone from India, the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and someone from an African nation.
• Andrew Vachss's Burke books have the white American Burke, Chinese Mama Wong, Mongolian Max the Silent, black The Prophet/Prof, Jamaican Clarence and then some.
• The hero's party in the Belgariad includes one member of each non-evil ethnic group on the continent, even the ones thought to be extinct.
  • In the sequel, some of the western groups are dropped but they gain a Nyissan (Sadi) and an Angarak ('Zakath).
• Remote Man is about a group of five teenagers who band together to bring down a wildlife smuggling operation: Ned (Australian, but living in Massachusetts for most of the book), Kate (Australian), Rocky (American), Cleverton (Jamaican) and Yvette (French). Most of the communication between them is through e-mail and chatrooms.

Live Action TV

• Pioneered, and possibly created, by Star Trek: The Original Series. Averted for some reason by the later series.
  • Not truly averted, just not nearly as obvious (partially to show how humanity is so united, and what not, not to mention the increase of aliens in the crew). In Star Trek: The Next Generation, for example, there was a Frenchman (Picard), a few Americans (Riker, Crusher), an African (La Forge), a Belarussian-by-adoption (Worf, who represents, obviously, a whole other "nation" as well) and an Irishman (O'Brien). Deep Space Nine had an American (Sisko), the Belarussian-by-adoption (Worf), the Irishman (O'Brien) and somebody clearly of a multi-ethnic background (Bashir). Voyager wasn't as diverse but tried to make up for it with more aliens. Enterprise had a few Americans (Archer and Trip), an Englishman (Reed) and a Japanese (Sato).
• Stargate Atlantis: The Atlantis expedition is an international team with members from a large variety of countries. You can have a bit of fun spotting the flags on the base uniforms too. Regulars have included a number of Americans, a Canadian (Rodney McKay), a Scot (Carson Beckett — no, I don't know why he has the Saltire on there when Scotland is not an independent state) and a Czech (Radek Zelenka). Extras have included South Africans, Russians, Chinese and a Belgian. And Rodney fangirl Miko Kusanagi is Japanese. Unfortunately, the only Australian was also imaginary.
• Power Rangers, at least in its earlier seasons. The episode "A Season to Remember" features a plot in which the villains tried to use their ethnic diversity against them by sparking a fierce Christmas/Kwaanza/Hanukkah rivalry. This episode, incidentally, pointed out the fact there were no Jewish Rangers until Power Rangers SPD, where Bridge is Jewish. The Jewish character in that Zeo episode was their geeky ally. It's weird when you consider that Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, who created the franchise, are both Israeli...
  • Well it is a kind of Multinational Team but most rangers have had American accents,rather than a clean one from Japan,one from America,one from Egypt...
  • A true Multinational Team is Power Rangers Operation Overdrive.
  • More jarring (given Saban and Levy's Jewish roots) is Power Rangers Time Force. Suffice it to say, a eugenic utopia is not a common source of heroes in works by Jews.
• Battle Fever J, the third Super Sentai show had a strange variation of this idea where the members except for Miss America were "from" nations around the world, but since they were played by Japanese actors, they were Japanese who had been sent to Russia or France to be trained in combat and in acquiring tastes for caviar and escargo. The first Miss America was the only exception since she was played by a Japanese-American woman. The peculiarities of this series have something to do with the leftovers of the original idea to make the show "Captain Japan", a Japanese interpretation of Captain America under license from Marvel Comics.
  • A few other sentai seasons have a Chinese character or a Japanese-American character.
• UFO (1970-1). SHADO is a multinational alien-fighting organisation based in England, but commanded by an American (e.g. a British Series aiming for a US market). Other characters are Australian, Eastern European, Indian and Afro-Caribbean. A lampshading of this is the food dispenser on Moonbase, with sections marked "American Meal", "Russian Meal" and so on.
• Star Cops, in a similar manner to UFO.
• The Knights of Prosperity. I know it's a total shock, but the American one is the leader.
  • There's two Americans, actually, but one is a meek nerd. Obviously he does not count.
• Defying Gravity had four countries represented among eight shipmates. At least one more country was represented among ground crew.
  • Crew: American (Maddux Donner, Paula Morales [Hispanic-American from Texas], Steve Wassenfelder, Ted Shaw), Canadian (Jen Crane, Zoe Barnes), German (Nadia Schilling), Israeli (Evram Mintz). Most of the ground crew is American, although Dr. Claire Dereux is Canadian and Ajay Sharma (who was originally supposed to go on the Antares) is Indian.
• Danger 5, an action comedy about a team of five assembled to assassinate Hitler and thwart Nazi plans in the 1960s. The five are Jackson (American), Claire (British), Tucker (Australian), Ilsa (Russian), and Pierre (European).

Music

• Dragon Force, while founded in London and widely considered to be a British band, consists in its current incarnation of six members from six different countries; England, Scotland, France, South Africa, Ukraine, and China.
• Hows this for a multinational team?

Video Games

• Ocarina of Time: In universe example with the 6/7 Sages. Rauru (Ancient Hylian) Saria (Kokiri) Darunia (Goron) Ruto (Zora) Nabooru ( Gerudo) Impa (Sheikah) and Zelda (Modern Hylian)
• In Super Robot Wars Original Generation series the squad is pretty multinational, though it seems to mostly be made up of Japanese, German, and Americans.
• Resident Evil 3's UBCS mercenaries.
• FOXHOUND, Dead Cell, Cobra Unit and the Beauty and the Beast unit from Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively, are rare villainous examples of these, even though the first two were technically American military units.
  • FOXHOUND: British, Kurd, Russian, American, and for the purposes of this trope: Russian.
  • Dead Cell: American, American, Romanian, German, Vietnamese and an American (the latter three start the game dead though).
  • Cobra Unit: American, Russian, Russian, Russian/Ukraine, French/Canadian/French-Canadian, possibly Brazil.
  • B&B Corps: Scandinavian, Indonesian, African and South American.
• The Fiendish Five and the Klaww Gang from the Sly Cooper series are also villainous examples. The Cooper Gang by the third game is this, though the original members are American.
• Team Sparrows from the Metal Slug games: Marco Rossi is racially Italian American, Tarma Roving (full name Tarmicle Roving III) is British, Fiolina Germi is Italian (from Genoa) and Eri Kasamoto is Japanese. Trevor and Nadia, the two members appeared only in Metal Slug 4, are Korean and French respectively.
• RED and BLU from Team Fortress 2 are staffed by a Bostonian, a Texan, a Midwesterner, a German, a Scotsman (indeed, a Black Scottish Cyclops), an Australian, a Russian, a Frenchman, and... the Pyro.
• The Jagged Alliance games allow players to hire mercenaries from around the world, ranging from Canadians to Russians, Poles, Britons, South Africans (both black and white), Australians, a Dane, a Hungarian, a Cuban, and even a Groundskeeper Willie-esque Scotsman. Subverted in that some actually refuse to work with others (the Pole won't work with Russians, the Dane thinks Ms. Fanservice is disgustingly unprofessional, etc). If you try to override their hatred of each other by, for example, hiring them both at the same time, they will both refuse to extend their contracts when their time is up.
• Despite the protagonists of Left 4 Dead being all pretty obviously American, they represent different slices of the population — a young black professional; a young, somewhat ethnic-looking white female college student; a not-so-young white biker dude; and an aging white military vet. Justified, in that that lineup is pretty much your average Zombie Apocalypse film Four-survior band. And Left 4 Dead is essentially an interactive zombie film.
  • The sequel takes place in the deep South, and features characters that, like the first game, portray different slices of life so that almost ever player ends up identifying with at least one character. The survivors include a black, middle-aged, and overweight high-school football coach, a white, young, redneck auto-mechanic, a black female news anchor, and a white escaped convict.
• X-COM recruits from around the world, with recruit names randomly drawn from British/American (hard to distinguish), German, French, Japanese, and Russian pools. The soldiers themselves all suck about equally.
  • In the sequel, Terror From The Deep, the Japanese names are changed to Spanish. They are probably easier to distinguish by the European/American players.
• Task Force 141 in Modern Warfare 2 (and the proto-141 seen at the end of CoD4) in the is made up of US, British, Canadian and Australian specops troops (befitting how such a unit would probably be made up if simply due to population, about 90% of the troops seem to be British or American, you have to look hard for the Canadians and Aussies). A horrible subversion occurs in Modern Warfare 2 when it is revealed that The American General in charge of the unit was using it as part of a plan that included the orchestrating of a major war that he would emerge from as a hero. And this plan includes murdering most of TF141, so that there will be no "loose ends".
• In Mass Effect, Shepard's squad consists of two humans, a Turian, a Quarian, a Krogan and an Asari.
  • In the sequel, it's bumped up to three humans (Five with DLC), a Turian, Salarian, Asari, Quarian, Krogan, Drell and Geth
  • The third game reduces the number of available squadmates for a better focus. You now have two humans, a turian, an asari, a quarian, an AI (non-geth), and a Prothean.
• The Psychonauts seem to be this: of the four adults seen in the game, one is German and the other is Brazilian. It's a bit harder to tell since the main cast is made of students, all of whom seem to be American (except for the Canadian Chops). Plus the whole technicolor skintones thing. And there's the Russian kid.
• In the Silent Storm series, the Allied and Axis special forces unit are manned by soldiers from Allied/Axis countries, with some from Allied/Axis-linked countries with a few joining them due to neutrality/"own country being a douche in standing up for itself"/"I think the Allies/Axis forces can help my own country be free" issues. One of them is a British from Northern Ireland who joined the Axis special forces unit due to her father's execution by the British as an IRA rebel.
  • In Silent Storm Sentinels, you get to choose from a combination of the soldiers from both sides of the previous game, since the war is over by that time.
  • In Hammer and Sickle, you recruit squad members as you go, and they are also multinational, as you travel all over Europe.
• In the H-game Dyogrammaton, DAKT is part of a UN response to an alien invasion, with team members from the United States, Japan, Italy, China, and Russia.
• Though it takes place in a One World Order setting and there are only accents to go by, the Pillar of Autumn in Halo has what sound like American, Mexican, English, Scottish and Australian soldiers aboard. Presumably non-English localizations also have a variety of accents present.
  • The advertising campaign for ODST was set (and filmed on location) in Serbia.
• The team from Inherit the Earth arguably qualifies.
• Dragon Age Origins has your NPCs representing all the different races and power factions present in and around Fereldan: Alistair (the Templars and nobility), Wynne (the Circle), Sten (the Qunari), Oghren (the dwarves), Zevran (the elves), Shale (a golem), Leliana (the Chantry perspective) and finally Morrigan who just out for herself.
  • Leliana is also Orlesian.
  • The sequel has you recruit team members in Kirkwall, which is overfilled with refugees from the Blight. You have Hawke's sibling (a Ferelden with roots in Kirkwall), Anders (a Ferelden mage with roots in Anderfels), Aveline (a Ferelden warrior whose father is Orlesian), Fenris (an elf from Tevinter), Isabella (a Rivaini pirate), Merrill (a Dalish elf), Sebastian (a Chantry brother from Starkhaven), and Varric (a dwarf). A DLC also adds a temporary companion in the form of Tallis (a Qunari elf).
  • The Awakening expansion has Anders (see above), Justice (a spirit of the Fade), Nathaniel (a disgraced Ferelden noble), Oghren (see above), Sigrun (a castless dwarf), and Velanna (a Dalish elf).
• Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel allows you to recruit squadmates from a number of races from all over the wasteland after completing certain objectives. This includes humans, super mutants (large green humanoids mutated by a virus), ghouls (radiation-mutated humans, deathclaws (massive beasts with large claws), dogs, and humanoid robots.

Web Comics

• Like their "real" comic book counterparts (see above), the transformed T-Girls of the Remix Comic version of Jet Dream are an international team. In this version, J.E.T. D.R.E.A.M. operates under NATO supervision, and all the T-Girls are citizens of NATO countries: "Jet Dream Queen" Harmony Thunder (USA); Petite (France); Marlene (West Germany); Ting-a-Ling (UK colony of Fiji); Cookie Jarr (Norway).

Web Original

• The Global Guardians, from the Global Guardians PBEM Universe are more or less this, depending on their lineup. The final lineup included a French-Canadian, a Greek, a Kenyan, a Norwegian, a Costa Rican, and four Americans.
• The Vindicators of the Whateley Universe. Their current line-up includes a Swede, a Dane, a Belgian, a Canadian, and two Americans. For that matter, Pan-Asia, which is made up of Whateley Academy students from all over Asia, including Japan, China, and Vietnam.

Western Animation

• Road Rovers, with an American as team leader (other nationalities: British, Russian, German, and Swiss).
• The Three Caballeros. This trio of savage party-goers include American Donald Duck, Brazilian José Carioca and Mexican Panchito Pistolas.
• Kids Next Door: The main characters all seem to live in the same American neighborhood, but if you listen to their parents, you realize they're basically this trope one generation removed---both of Numbuh 1's parents are British, Numbuh 3's are Japanese (though only her father has an accent), Numbuh 4's are Australian, and Numbuh 5's mother is French. Numbuh 2 seems to be the only one who (as far as we know) has a "normal" American family.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Led by Gaia, who looks Greek and is voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, features an American, an African (no country specified), a Soviet (tagline later changed from "From the Soviet Union" to "From the former Soviet Union," and later, "From Eastern Europe"), an Asian (no country specified), and a South American (again, no country specified). Plus the Asian girl's name sounds just like a Hindi/Urdu word for "goat fat"... despite the fact she looks Mongoloid.
  • Gaia is deliberately designed to be racially ambiguous, with features from various races.
  • In blink and you'll miss it moments, the Asian and the African are revealed to be from Thailand and Ghana respectively.
• Xiaolin Showdown: Lead by a Chinese boy, teammates are Brazilian, Japanese, and American... and those three were somehow already together to begin with, as they entered the temple for the first time.
  • Omi thought he was the leader. And considering Kimiko called Raimundo "the Brazilian kid", it's more likely they merely arrived at the temple at the same time.
• The MASK agents come from all over the world.
• In Spiral Zone, both the heroic Zone Riders and evil Black Widows are multinational teams.
• Jackie Chan Adventures: The J-Team — Jackie, Uncle and Jade (Chinese), El Toro (Mexican), Tohru (Japanese), Viper (American and Ambiguously Jewish - the Christmas Episode shows her at a Hannukah party)
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: An in-universe example; Aang (Air Nomads), Katara and Sokka (Water Tribe), Toph and Suki (Earth Kingdom), Zuko (Fire Nation).
  • The prominent members of the Order of the White Lotus: Iroh and Piandao are both Fire Nation, Pakku is from the Water Tribe and Bumi is of the Earth Kingdom (by extension there would have once been Air Nomad members, and fanon holds Gyatso was included). In fact, multinational cooperation is the basis for the Order.
  • One should add that the tribes are all a Fantasy Counterpart Culture: the Water Tribe are Yup'ik Eskimos, the Air Nomads are Tibetan (and this leads to Meat Versus Veggies debates between Aang and Sokka), the Earth Kingdom is China, and the Fire Nation is either a generic Western country or Japan. Some smaller tribes within fit the Magical Native American trope to a T.
• Code Lyoko: Set in France. Yumi is Japanese; most other characters are French, but for some their names suggest their families have various origins: Ulrich Stern (possibly German), William Dunbar (possibly Scottish), Odd Della Robbia (possibly Scandinavian, Italian, or both).
  • About Odd: Della Robbia is a last name of clear Italian origins, and Odd works as shorts for a couple of very embarassing Italian first names (at least, Odorico and Oddo are embarassing for an Italian). He's probably an Italian who moved in France for his parents' works, and goes by Odd due an embarassing first name...
• The 11 racecars from Cars 2 comprise two Americans (one of them being Lightning McQueen), one Italian, one Japanese, one Spanish, one French, one Brazilian (and the only female), one German, one pure-British, one half-British, half Grenadian; and one New Rearendian.

Real life

• The British Empire forces in World War One. Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, India and South Africa. And that's on the Western Front alone.
• It's hard to get more multinational than the French Foreign Legion.
• The planned Multilateral Force. Subs and Warships manned by multinational crews and equipped with nukes.
• Many space missions, especially after the Cold War ended. Personnel from dozens of different countries have crewed Russian and American vessels side by side, not to mention the ISS, which is owned and operated by fifteen nations, and also the European Space Agency (18 nations). Major future missions, such as human travel to Mars, are likely to be international as they would be so expensive, and the need for Cold War one-upmanship has vanished.
• The 1991 Gulf War coalition, besides the US, Saudi Arabia and the UK, included over 20 other countries. Likewise, the 2003-2009 US/British-led Multinational Force in Iraq included around 40 countries during it's existence.
• The Allied Powers of World War Two, which became the United Nations. They even form a Five-Man Band of sorts; conversely, the Axis Powers form a Five-Bad Band.
• Basically the point of Up With People. It's common to see upwards of fifteen different countries represented in a single cast. They also double as True Companions for the cast itself.
• ESL programs often contain English teachers of various countries. More often than not, they are from countries in which English is an official language along with whatever host country has brought them. Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and other countries have such programs.
• Many modern charity organisations such as Amnesty International and the Red Cross count as this, being huge teams of like-minded idealists from across the globe.