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