Tropescilloscope: The End... Or Is It?

An Ending Trope that casts doubt on the heroes' victory (thus creating a Sequel Hook). (read more at tvtropes.org)

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