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