Tropescilloscope: Pragmatic Villainy

A bad guy keeping standards not for any moral reason, but because it's in their best interest. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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