Tropescilloscope: Heel Realization

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

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