Tropescilloscope: The Bad Guy Wins

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

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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