Tropescilloscope: Diabolus ex Machina

Suddenly, unanticipated tragedy strikes. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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