Tropescilloscope: Adaptational Villainy

A character is more of a villain in an adaptation than they were in the original material. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Black Comedy Mad Scientist Obstructive Bureaucrat Shipper on Deck Mundane Made Awesome Heroic BSoD Four-Temperament Ensemble Non-Indicative Name The '90s Unwitting Instigator of Doom Last-Name Basis Green-Eyed Monster Captain Ersatz Adaptation Expansion Would Hit a Girl Faking the Dead Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Pre-Asskicking One-Liner The Dreaded Did Not Get the Girl Insult Backfire Badass Bookworm Police Brutality Spiteful Spit Only in It for the Money Creator Cameo Only Known by Their Nickname Evil-Detecting Dog For the Evulz Dark Reprise Superhero Improvised Weapon Undying Loyalty O.O.C. Is Serious Business Sassy Black Woman Deal with the Devil Men Are the Expendable Gender Crucified Hero Shot Camp Gay Match Cut Gone Horribly Right Expository Hairstyle Change Almost Kiss Early Installment Weirdness Vampire Fiction Blood Knight Naked People Are Funny Adaptation Distillation Manly Tears Overprotective Dad Creative Closing Credits Belligerent Sexual Tension Suspiciously Similar Substitute Properly Paranoid You Have Failed Me Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Improbable Aiming Skills It Will Never Catch On Documentary Manic Pixie Dream Girl Jerkass Has a Point Vomit Indiscretion Shot Awesome, but Impractical Alas, Poor Villain Bring My Brown Pants Credits Gag Jump Scare Abhorrent Admirer Unusual Euphemism Combat Pragmatist Heel–Face Turn Monumental Damage Shower Scene Spiritual Successor Mooks Adaptation Name Change Meaningful Background Event Card-Carrying Villain Scary Black Man Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Tagline Running Gag Twist Ending Asshole Victim Gory Discretion Shot My God, What Have I Done? Make It Look Like an Accident Stealth Hi/Bye Contrived Coincidence Hollywood Law Greater-Scope Villain Moment Killer Bloodier and Gorier Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking "Awesome McCool" Name Call-Back My Greatest Failure Fish out of Water Black Comedy Rape Death of a Child Love at First Sight Fantasy Films Badass Boast Product Placement Laser-Guided Karma Redshirt Army Serial Killer Sports Stories Fainting Disproportionate Retribution Annoying Younger Sibling Vomit Discretion Shot For Want of a Nail Alpha Bitch Missing Mom Dirty Cop Blatant Lies A Date with Rosie Palms Casting Gag Karma Houdini Driven to Suicide Guns Akimbo Bond Villain Stupidity Villain Ball Daddy's Girl Breaking the Fourth Wall From Nobody to Nightmare Big Applesauce Fan Disservice Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Television Movie Index The Lancer Villain with Good Publicity Chewing the Scenery No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Expy Hollywood Darkness Offscreen Moment of Awesome Slasher Movie Rich Bitch Jitter Cam Overly Long Gag Token Minority 20 Minutes into the Future Badass in a Nice Suit Author Avatar Totally Radical Manipulative Bastard Establishing Character Moment Despair Event Horizon Neck Snap Beta Couple Anti-Villain Ambiguous Ending The Faceless Extremely Short Timespan Improbable Weapon User Villain Song Ass Shove Heroic Sacrifice Naïve Newcomer Catch-Phrase Peek-a-Boo Corpse Drill Sergeant Nasty Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Darker and Edgier Idiot Ball Evil Is Petty Recycled IN SPACE! No Antagonist Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Parental Incest Woman Scorned Artistic License – Physics Never Found the Body Obviously Evil Fingore Dual Wielding folderlabel timeperiod Rule of Symbolism Cold-Blooded Torture Too Dumb to Live Informed Ability Vitriolic Best Buds Empathic Environment Politically Incorrect Villain Hero of Another Story Fake Shemp Psycho for Hire Eldritch Abomination Time Skip Bilingual Bonus As Long as It Sounds Foreign Closed Circle Freudian Excuse Drives Like Crazy Together in Death Apocalypse How Deconstruction Throwing Your Sword Always Works Arch-Enemy Martial Arts Movie Stock Footage A Father to His Men Aside Glance Adapted Out Yandere Batman Gambit Setting Update Shell-Shocked Veteran Retcon NO INDOOR VOICE Eagleland Artistic License – Geography Blackmail Animated Credits Opening Word of God Be Careful What You Wish For The Bully Intrepid Reporter Historical Hero Upgrade Death by Irony "Shaggy Dog" Story From Bad to Worse Romantic False Lead All There in the Manual Dogged Nice Guy Bare Your Midriff Pretty in Mink Riddle for the Ages Bait-and-Switch Scenery Gorn Video Credits Neck Lift Hypocritical Humor Diabolus ex Machina Works Set in World War II I Did What I Had to Do Meaningful Echo Love Triangle She Cleans Up Nicely Corpsing Adaptation Dye-Job Meaningful Name Back from the Dead Freeze-Frame Bonus More Dakka Better to Die than Be Killed Brainless Beauty What You Are in the Dark Horror Comedy Storming the Castle Nice Hat Chekhov's Gunman Australian Movies Wham Line Mood Whiplash Your Cheating Heart Chekhov's Skill The Big Guy Mythology Gag Bottomless Magazines Motor Mouth Dying Moment of Awesome Loads and Loads of Characters I Have Your Wife Precision F-Strike The Stoner Deliberate Values Dissonance Dramatic Gun Cock Pimped-Out Dress Bowdlerise Agony of the Feet Honor Before Reason The Lost Lenore The Place Danny Peary Cult Movies List The Hero Mr. Fanservice Adults Are Useless Mind Screw Parental Abandonment Dutch Angle Eiffel Tower Effect Pragmatic Villainy Even Evil Has Standards Pyrrhic Victory Loophole Abuse Not Quite Dead British Films Not So Stoic The Mole Getting Crap Past the Radar Advertised Extra "The Reason You Suck" Speech Sealed Evil in a Can The Voiceless Kill It with Fire Continuity Nod Once More, with Clarity! Poor Communication Kills Extreme Doormat The Stinger Easily Forgiven Race Against the Clock Bullying a Dragon Never My Fault Genre Savvy Kids Are Cruel Good Is Not Nice The Cameo Shut Up, Hannibal! Insane Troll Logic Tranquil Fury Adaptational Attractiveness Anti-Hero Rule of Cool Papa Wolf Stuff Blowing Up Psychological Thriller Psychopathic Manchild The Great Depression Brutal Honesty Coming-of-Age Story Offscreen Teleportation Leitmotif Historical-Domain Character An Arm and a Leg Market-Based Title Serious Business Disguised in Drag Scenery Porn Male Frontal Nudity Italian Films Kick the Son of a Bitch BFG Adaptational Villainy Those Wacky Nazis The '70s Epic Fail The Smurfette Principle No OSHA Compliance Attempted Rape Say My Name "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Eyepatch of Power Ship Tease Disappeared Dad Character Development Gilligan Cut Groin Attack The Reveal An Aesop You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Abusive Parents Punny Name Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience What the Hell, Hero? Face Death with Dignity Dark Action Girl Artistic License – History Sexy Discretion Shot True Companions Let's Get Dangerous! Canadian Movies The Ace I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Boom, Headshot! Damsel in Distress Dumb Blonde Instant Death Bullet Smoking Is Cool Chase Scene Actor Allusion Artistic License – Biology Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Pragmatic Adaptation Took a Level in Jerkass Artistic License – Military This Is Gonna Suck Wrong Genre Savvy The Mafia Dressing as the Enemy Silence Is Golden Action Girl Film Series Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Failed a Spot Check Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Made of Iron No Name Given Based on a True Story Anachronic Order Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Double Entendre Call-Forward Homage Bunny-Ears Lawyer Chekhov's Gun Guile Hero Take a Third Option Get Out! Slashed Throat Ripped from the Headlines The Load Cat Fight Death by Adaptation Refuge in Audacity Body Horror Celebrity Paradox Suspiciously Specific Denial Plot Hole Heroes Want Redheads The Remake Names to Run Away from Really Fast Demonic Possession Bound and Gagged Dark and Troubled Past Well-Intentioned Extremist And the Adventure Continues Grey and Gray Morality Only a Flesh Wound Accidental Misnaming Ascended Extra Armor-Piercing Question Big "NO!" Earn Your Happy Ending Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Covers Always Lie Corrupt Corporate Executive Real Life Writes the Plot Vacation Films Sanity Slippage As Himself Police are Useless Evil Counterpart Evil Sounds Deep Parental Neglect The X of Y Knife Nut Bury Your Gays Sequel Escalation Fourth Date Marriage Animal Title Index Noodle Incident Slap-Slap-Kiss Not So Above It All Disney Death I'm a Humanitarian Index of Film Westerns Genre Throwback Mugging the Monster The Ghost Dropped a Bridge on Him Affectionate Parody Every Car Is a Pinto Mighty Whitey Red Herring N-Word Privileges How We Got Here As You Know Curse Cut Short Off-into-the-Distance Ending Break the Cutie Action Survivor Crapsack World Lighter and Softer All Men Are Perverts Hell Is That Noise Roger Ebert: Great Movies List She's Got Legs Berserk Button Wretched Hive Creepy Child The Musical The Oner Fate Worse than Death Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Canon Foreigner Light Is Not Good Half the Man He Used to Be Laughing Mad Bland-Name Product Training Montage Gainax Ending Gratuitous English Action Prologue Bond One-Liner Villainous Breakdown Red Oni, Blue Oni Worthy Opponent Animal Motifs The Atoner Didn't Think This Through Becoming the Mask Defrosting Ice Queen Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Bad "Bad Acting" Big Bad Not Using the "Z" Word The Film of the Book Historical Villain Upgrade Off with His Head! Even Evil Has Loved Ones Hoist by His Own Petard All for Nothing Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Faux Affably Evil Title Drop Cool Guns The Cavalry Never Trust a Trailer Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Dramatic Irony Manchild Dramedy Meet Cute Spanner in the Works Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Five-Man Band Shoot the Shaggy Dog Broken Bird Blood from the Mouth German Films Rape as Drama Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Book-Ends A God Am I Red Right Hand Dwindling Party Music Stories La Résistance Scare Chord Implacable Man Developing Doomed Characters Rule of Funny Sequel Hook Playing Gertrude Fanservice Extra Revenge Morality Pet Wounded Gazelle Gambit Sole Survivor The Casanova Fiery Redhead Nothing Is Scarier Pay Evil unto Evil Fat Bastard The '50s Mistaken for Gay In Medias Res Exact Words Dissonant Serenity Daylight Horror The Hero Dies Downer Ending Anachronism Stew Foreshadowing Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Shirtless Scene Retired Badass Hypocrite Lampshade Hanging The Smart Guy Face–Heel Turn Kick the Dog French Films Epic Movie Reasonable Authority Figure Major Injury Underreaction Film Noir Index Russian Films Amusing Injuries Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Antagonist Title Male Gaze Exactly What It Says on the Tin Camera Abuse Man on Fire Soundtrack Dissonance Brick Joke Rewatch Bonus Flipping the Bird There Is No Kill Like Overkill Mama Bear The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Big Eater Adorkable The '60s Adaptational Badass Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Roaring Rampage of Revenge Gorn Death by Sex Villain Protagonist Captain Obvious The Alcoholic Smug Snake Suddenly SHOUTING! Defiant to the End No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Important Haircut Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Frame-Up Heel Realization Curb-Stomp Battle Translation Convention It's Personal Imagine Spot Needs Wiki Magic Love Leave the Camera Running After the End Conspicuous CG Narrator Beauty Is Never Tarnished Ominous Latin Chanting Decoy Protagonist Does Not Like Shoes Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Taking You with Me The Sociopath Aluminum Christmas Trees Unreliable Narrator Shown Their Work Cowboy Cop Ironic Echo Whole Plot Reference He Knows Too Much Evil Laugh Bloodless Carnage As the Good Book Says... Older Than They Look Flashback Real Life Big Fancy House Humiliation Conga Funny Foreigner Author Appeal Broken Pedestal May–December Romance Maybe Ever After Stealth Pun What Happened to the Mouse? Immune to Bullets Dirty Coward Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Retirony Historical In-Joke Determinator aka: The Determinator Bar Brawl Domestic Abuse Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? No Celebrities Were Harmed Determinator The Quiet One All Just a Dream Big-Bad Ensemble Lock and Load Montage Kill 'em All Obfuscating Stupidity War Is Hell Cool Shades Evil vs. Evil Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Dull Surprise And Starring Ambiguous Disorder Japanese Films Death Seeker Spared by the Adaptation Brother–Sister Incest Femme Fatale Thriller Enemy Mine Department of Redundancy Department One-Word Title Anguished Declaration of Love I Just Shot Marvin in the Face The Power of Love Bad Boss Irony Punch-Clock Villain Visual Pun Insistent Terminology Large Ham Genre Shift And I Must Scream The End... Or Is It? Fatal Family Photo Broken Aesop The Un-Reveal Tap on the Head Same Language Dub Hate Sink An Axe to Grind Woman in White The Chessmaster Mercy Kill Badass Normal Funny Background Event The Bad Guy Wins Not Even Bothering with the Accent Action Genre Ax-Crazy Red Eyes, Take Warning Double-Meaning Title Beware the Nice Ones Gender Flip Intergenerational Friendship Science Fiction Films Black and Gray Morality The Stoic Trailers Always Spoil Accidental Murder Race Lift Victoria's Secret Compartment Cool Car The Chick Famous Last Words Put on a Bus Foregone Conclusion Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Pet the Dog Sadistic Choice One-Man Army Does This Remind You of Anything? Truth in Television Badass Grandpa Biopic Hero Antagonist The Starscream Killed Mid-Sentence Stylistic Suck Novelization Babies Ever After Car Fu Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Black Best Friend Here We Go Again! '80s Hair Humans Are Bastards Deliberately Monochrome Stalker with a Crush Deadpan Snarker Reality Ensues Hidden Depths Not So Different In the Back Big Brother Instinct Sci-Fi Horror Badass Longcoat Plucky Comic Relief Rated M for Manly Parental Substitute Central Theme Nice Guy Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Kubrick Stare Not What It Looks Like Bald of Evil Romantic Comedy Room Full of Crazy Ambiguously Gay Age Lift Disney Villain Death Bi the Way Everyone Has Standards Shout-Out Children Are Innocent Star-Crossed Lovers Small Name, Big Ego Award-Bait Song Sinister Minister Malevolent Masked Men Facial Horror Bittersweet Ending Up to Eleven Spell My Name with an "S" Rule of Three Fun with Acronyms Crazy-Prepared Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Evil Is Hammy MacGuffin In Name Only Unusually Uninteresting Sight You Killed My Father Would Hurt a Child Cool Old Guy I Need a Freaking Drink Interrupted Suicide Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Arranged Marriage The '80s Hair-Trigger Temper Auto Erotica Zombie Stories Betty and Veronica Dark Is Not Evil Took a Level in Badass Sacrificial Lion Evil Brit Military and Warfare Films Made of Explodium Bavarian Fire Drill Eye Scream Dirty Old Man Reality Has No Subtitles Country Matters Darkest Hour All There in the Script No Ending Rousing Speech Depraved Bisexual Karmic Death Straight Gay Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Our Zombies Are Different Artistic License – Gun Safety Self-Deprecation Silent Movie Unresolved Sexual Tension Jerk with a Heart of Gold Wham Shot Hooker with a Heart of Gold Big Damn Heroes Our Vampires Are Different Really Gets Around Random Events Plot Cloudcuckoolander Happily Married Cruel and Unusual Death The Ditz Amoral Attorney Only Sane Man Authority Equals Asskicking Soft Glass Stepford Smiler Cluster F-Bomb Those Two Guys Hope Spot The Dragon Mexican Standoff Adaptational Heroism Rasputinian Death Horror Films Pre-Mortem One-Liner Have a Gay Old Time B-Movie Artistic License – Law Actually Pretty Funny Madness Mantra Fire-Forged Friends Bloody Hilarious Framing Device Comically Missing the Point Tempting Fate Cool Old Lady Fanservice The Vamp Butt-Monkey Affably Evil Henpecked Husband Fatal Flaw Christmas Movies Index Skewed Priorities Taking the Bullet Jerk Jock Your Head A-Splode Wicked Cultured Villain Opening Scene Reckless Gun Usage Foil Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Posthumous Character Pretty Little Headshots Calling the Old Man Out Composite Character Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Black Dude Dies First Chiaroscuro Only One Name Beard of Evil My Beloved Smother Big Bad Duumvirate Ghost Fiction No-Sell "Well Done, Son!" Guy Married to the Job Handicapped Badass Dies Wide Open The Brute Evil Plan It Can Think Redemption Equals Death Those Two Bad Guys Fantastic Racism One Steve Limit Re-Cut Line-of-Sight Name Outrun the Fireball Reality Is Unrealistic All Girls Want Bad Boys It's All About Me Mystery and Detective Films Grievous Bottley Harm Jerkass Catapult Nightmare Unspoken Plan Guarantee Costume Porn Crazy Jealous Guy Anyone Can Die Oh, Crap! Destination Defenestration Public Domain Feature Films Protagonist Title Ungrateful Bastard Sir Swears-a-Lot Arc Words Distracted by the Sexy Ugly Guy, Hot Wife A Minor Kidroduction Eureka Moment Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Red Shirt World of Ham Super Strength Ms. Fanservice Deus ex Machina Death Glare Adult Fear Paper-Thin Disguise Drugs Are Bad Slasher Smile Break the Haughty Film Noir Cain and Abel Hong Kong Films Alliterative Name The Dog Bites Back Cat Scare Knight Templar Very Loosely Based on a True Story Due to the Dead Final Girl Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Show Within a Show Leaning on the Fourth Wall Demoted to Extra Early-Bird Cameo Bolivian Army Ending He Who Fights Monsters A.I. Is a Crapshoot Take That! The Alleged Car Drowning My Sorrows Logo Joke Friend to All Children Cassandra Truth Toplessness from the Back Heterosexual Life-Partners Gold Digger Air-Vent Passageway Left the Background Music On Mr. Exposition