Tropescilloscope: Anti-Hero

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

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