Tropescilloscope: Alas, Poor Villain

The villain's death or downfall is painted in a sympathetic light. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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