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