Tropescilloscope: Anti-Villain

The antagonist is rather morally ambiguous instead of straight evil. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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