Tropescilloscope: Punch-Clock Villain

Working with the villain is just a job for them; they're not inherently a bad person. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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