Tropescilloscope: Foil

A character who highlights another character's trait(s), usually by contrast. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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