Tropescilloscope: Heel Realization

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

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