Tropescilloscope: The Atoner

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

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