In the 2000 film "Gladiator", what is the name of the Roman emperor killed by his son?

In the 2000 film "Gladiator," the Roman emperor killed by his son is Marcus Aurelius. Richard Harris portrays the aging emperor, whose death sets the film’s revenge story in motion.

The film opens in AD 180, after Marcus Aurelius has led Rome’s armies during the Marcomannic Wars. In the story, he decides that the Roman general Maximus should guide Rome toward restoring the Republic rather than allowing his son Commodus to succeed him. Enraged, Commodus secretly murders his father and claims the throne.

This is a major fictionalization of Roman history. The real Marcus Aurelius died at Vindobona, near modern Vienna, on March 17, 180. Ancient and modern historical accounts do not support the idea that Commodus murdered him; Commodus was already co-emperor and succeeded him. The film also changes Commodus’s eventual fate: historically, he was strangled in 192 after a conspiracy, rather than killed by Maximus in the Colosseum.

A common mix-up is confusing Marcus Aurelius with Commodus. Marcus is the father and former emperor; Commodus is the son who becomes emperor and the film’s principal antagonist.