Tropescilloscope: The Atoner

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

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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