Tropescilloscope: Heel Realization

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

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