Tropescilloscope: He Who Fights Monsters

Hero becomes the very evil they sought to destroy. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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