Tropescilloscope: Anti-Villain

The antagonist is rather morally ambiguous instead of straight evil. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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