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