Tropescilloscope: Alas, Poor Villain

The villain's death or downfall is painted in a sympathetic light. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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