Tropescilloscope: Big Bad

The ultimate villain of the story, who's causing the problem the heroes must solve. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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