Tropescilloscope: Anti-Hero

A hero who lacks the proper traits of The Hero. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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