Tropescilloscope: Alas, Poor Villain

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

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