Tropescilloscope: The Atoner

Former bad guy spends story making up for the things he did. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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