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