Tropescilloscope: The Bad Guy Wins

"Good always triumphs" has exceptions. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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