Tropescilloscope: Batman Gambit

A plan that relies on its victims doing what they do naturally. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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