Tropescilloscope: Historical Villain Upgrade

A work's portrayal of a historical villain is heavily modified from the real-life figure the character is based on. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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