Tropescilloscope: Villainous Breakdown

When their Evil Plan is foiled, a calculating villain loses their composure, if not their sanity. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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