Tropescilloscope: Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?

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

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