Tropescilloscope: Punch-Clock Villain

Working with the villain is just a job for them; they're not inherently a bad person. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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