What is the type of soundtrack that's often played after a quick buildup when someone saves the day in a superhuman way?

Question

For example, there's a song that plays from 3:43 to 4:00 of this scene where Superman saves an airplane.

Or similarly a song that plays from 0:55 to 2:03 of the president saving scene in 'In the line of fire' movie.

I'd like to know what music is played, but much more importantly: in general, what is the type of music that's used when a character saves the day in a superhuman fashion? I searched for "soundtrack for climax scene" but I didn't find anything reasonable.

To clarify, I'm not searching for that exact soundtrack, just looking for the right keyword for similar soundtracks.

Answer 1

Perhaps you mean Leitmotif.

The term originated in musical theatre, and has been used in movie scores. It's a short, repeated, piece of music that signifies a particular character, location, or object. It is played when that character does something significant.

Discussion of Leitmotif in movies.

Answer 2

I don't think there is a single specific term for what you are asking for.

Music structure is all about dynamics, and how they interact. If somebody asked me to describe your two examples to help find something similar, I would just say they "build to a climax".

It is common parlance for people to say "build to a crescendo", which is accepted in everyday speech, but in terms of musical structure and notation this would be incorrect, as the crescendo is the rise, not the peak. The technically correct term should be "crescendo to a climax", but to me that just sounds clunky.