Tropescilloscope: Foil

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

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