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