Tropescilloscope: Anti-Villain

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

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