Tropescilloscope: Greater-Scope Villain

An evil that is greater than the Big Bad in some way, but is not directly causing the conflict of the story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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