Tropescilloscope: Heel Realization

Realizing you're a bad guy. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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