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