Tropescilloscope: Villainous Breakdown

When their Evil Plan is foiled, a calculating villain loses their composure, if not their sanity. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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