Tropescilloscope: Diabolus ex Machina

Suddenly, unanticipated tragedy strikes. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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