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