Tropescilloscope: The Bad Guy Wins

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

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