Tropescilloscope: Foil

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

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