Tropescilloscope: Anti-Villain

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

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