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