History PlayingWith / Antihero

** Billy decides to be even more careful not to kill an innocent (wo)man again & makes sure he has solid evidence and that the [[OrgyOfEvidence evidence]] [[FrameUp wasn't]] [[FramingTheGuiltyParty planted]] there against the suspect before killing them.

** Billy decides to be even more careful not to kill an innocent (wo)man again & makes sure he has solid evidence and that the [[OrgyOfEvidence evidence]] [[FrameUp wasn't]] [[FramingTheGulityParty planted]] there against the suspect before killing them.

** Billy decides to be even more careful not to kill an innocent (wo)man again & makes sure he has solid evidence and that the evidence wasn't planted there against the suspect before killing them.

* '''Reconstructed''': Billy has a [[MoralEventHorizon line he will not cross]]; the story runs on BlackAndGrayMorality or GrayAndGreyMorality (with Billy as ALighterShadeOfGray).

** Billy kills a criminal, only to find out the villain's still out there. Billy starts to feel guilty, questions his methods, and wonders if all those lives he's taken away before were really the lives of innocent men & women.

** Billy kills a criminal, only to find out the villain's still out there. Billy starts to feel guilty and questions his methods & wonders if he's taken away innocent lives before.

* '''Downplayed''': ???

* '''Justified''': Billy lives in a CrapsackWorld.

* '''Subverted''': Billy appears to be killing crooks left and right, but it turns out he [[BrainwashedAndCrazy didn't have control]] of his actions at the time; when he's back to normal, he's TheCape, through and through.
* '''Double Subverted''': Billy is revealed to have been BrainwashedAndCrazy, and underneath that...he's just as brutal.
* '''Parodied''': Billy tries to bring about his own brand of harsh justice, but he lives in a SugarBowl society where there's hardly ever even any conflict -- Billy spends most of his time [[{{Angst}} angsting]] that there's nothing to {{Angst}} about.
* '''Deconstructed''':
** Billy is rapidly becoming [[NotSoDifferent just as brutal as]], [[HeWhoFightsMonsters if not WORSE than]], [[EvilVersusEvil his villains]], and when he's killed all of the real threats to society, he's still a dangerously unstable and violent individual.
** Alternatively: Billy is arrested for killing a criminal because, as it turns out, murder is murder.
* '''Reconstructed''': Billy has a [[MoralEventHorizon line he will not cross]]; the story runs on BlackAndGrayMorality or GrayAndGreyMorality (with Billy as ALighterShadeOfGray).
* '''Zig Zagged''': Billy has a very inconsistent attitude towards his crime-fighting; sometimes he's [[ThouShallNotKill unwilling to kill anyone]], sometimes he's killing left and right, and sometimes he's trying to be an ActualPacifist. It's all DependingOnTheWriter.
* '''Averted''': All the heroes in the story actually act heroically.

* '''Plotted A Very Good Waste''': Billy's morally questionable actions makes him a more complex character and are used to analyze what "the qualities of a hero" truly are, and what makes someone heroic.

Back to {{AntiHero}}

* '''Discussed''': "Billy's not exactly a nice guy, but he's on the side of good. No, really."
* '''Plotted A Very Good Waste''': Billy's morally questionable actions make him a much more interesting character and are used to analyze what "the qualities of a hero" truly are, and what makes someone heroic.

* '''Deconstructed''': Billy is rapidly becoming [[NotSoDifferent just as brutal as]], [[HeWhoFightsMonsters if not WORSE than]], [[EvilVersusEvil his villains]], and when he's killed all of the real threats to society, he's still a dangerously unstable and violent individual.

* '''Enforced''': "No one's interested in a flawless hero anymore, let's give this guy loads of issues and have him be all morally ambiguous!"

<<|PlayingWithWiki|>>

* '''Deconstructed''': Billy is rapidly becoming [[NotSoDifferent just as brutal as]], [[HeWhoFightsMonsters if not WORSE than]], [[EvilVersusEvil his villians]], and when he's killed all of the real threats to society, he's still a dangerously unstable and violent individual.

* '''Inverted''': ABilly is an AntiVillain.

* '''Exaggerated''': Billy is a ByronicHero or a NinetiesAntiHero
** DesignatedHero
* '''Justified''': Billy lives in a CrapsackWorld where there's no room for a [[IdealHero classic hero]] to survive.
* '''Inverted''': AntiVillain

* '''Parodied''': Billy tries to bring about his own brand of harsh justice, but he lives in a SugarBowl society where there's hardly ever even any conflict -- Billy spends most of his time [[{{Wangst}} Wangsting]] that there's nothing to {{Wangst}} about.

* '''Reconstructed''': Billy has a [[MoralEventHorizon line he will not cross]]; the story runs on BlackAndGrayMorality or GrayAndGreyMorality (with Billy as ALighterShadeOfGray.

* '''Lampshaded''': "I'm not some KnightInShiningArmor, kid; there aren't any real heroes in the world anymore. If there ever were."

* '''Defied''': Billy feels himself slipping into [[AntiHero antiherodom]], and works hard to maintain his moral code.

* '''Conversed''': "Oooh, another angsty anti-hero type with questionable morals. That's so [[NinetiesAntiHero Nineties]]."
* '''Played For Laughs''': {{Heroic Sociopath}}
* '''Played For Drama''': Usually the standard version of this trope.

* '''Justified''': Billy lives in a CrapsackWorld where there's no room for a [[TheCape classic hero]] to survive.

* '''Invoked''': ???

* '''Exaggerated''': Billy commits [[HeroicBSOD mass murder]] on [[HeroicSociopath criminals]] for the [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans world to be free]].

* '''Exaggerated''': Billy commits [[HeroicBSOD mass murder]] on [[HeroicSociopath]] criminals for the [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans world to be free]].

* '''Exaggerated''': Billy commits mass murder on criminals for the world to be free.

'''Basic Trope''': A hero who doesn't have the qualities of a hero.

** IncorruptiblePurePureness

** Billy has standards, and there is a line to his actions, such as not killing his enemies, and saving the villain.

** Alternatively: The author is trying to [[AnAesop prove some point]] about the nature of heroism, or else is [[DeconstrucedTrope deconstructing]] TheHero or TheCape, which requires Billy do some questionable things in the name of justice.

* '''Defied''': Billy feels himself slipping into [[AntiHero AntiHerodom]], and works hard to maintain his moral code.

* '''Played For Laughs''': ???
* '''Played For Drama''': ???

* '''Inverted''': AntiVillian

* '''Exaggerated''': Billy commits mass murder on criminals for the world to be free.

'''Basic Trope''': A character who doesn't have the qualities of a hero.