Tropescilloscope: Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas

Mothers are important to everybody, even villains. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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