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)

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