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