Tropescilloscope: Villain with Good Publicity

A villain who's popular with the general public. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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