Tropescilloscope: Heel Realization

Realizing you're a bad guy. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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