Tropescilloscope: Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!

The hero's efforts to fix things make things worse instead. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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