Tropescilloscope: Anti-Villain

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

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