Tropescilloscope: Anti-Hero

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

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