Tropescilloscope: Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?

Villains never take the most direct approach to dealing with enemies. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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