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