Parodied: Our so-called "villain" brags about being a genocidal galactic conqueror, and all the atrocities he's committed in that capacity...While he's climbing a tree to get a kitten out of it and giving large denomination bills/coins to all the beggars on the street.
Deconstructed: Being evil means having control and respect, to this character, and so they are proud of their status as evil, and work to maintain it. But in spite of their image, they don't have the stomach for genuine depravity.
Reconstructed: The character does evil for control and respect at first, but discovers that Evil Feels Good. Thereafter, if an Evil act does not feel good, they don't see any reason to do it.
Zig Zagged: An evil character pretends to be noble, gets on the heroes' good side, and then betrays them. However, this turns out to shield them from a more dangerous evil. Then it turns out that the shielding was completely unintentional, and to prove it, the character puts a metaphorical flag on the heroes, calling that greater evil right to them. However, this is, in and of itself, a Batman Gambit: just as the noble demon expected, the greater evil interprets that flag as a trap, and avoids the heroes because of it.
Averted: All the evil characters in the story are Complete Monsters.
Lampshaded: "You're awfully nice for someone who keeps saying how evil they are, you know."
Invoked: A character looking for an opening into a Heel Face Turn starts out by lightening up their evil acts, to make sure the heroes will accept them when they change sides.
Defied: An evil character deliberately represses their more generous urges, so that they don't "weaken".
Discussed: "Maybe he's not as bad as he looks. Like, you know, in dramas, there's always that one bad guy that lets innocents get away because they're not involved."
Conversed: "Nah, you can always tell when they don't like being evil. See how the camera focused more on his face when he let them go? I bet he joins up with them in the finale."
Played For Laughs: The evil character really wants to be badass, but when it comes down to it, all he can ever actually pull off is Poke the Poodle.
Played For Drama: The Necessarily Evil character feels terrible about their misdeeds, but sees no other path, and as a result of their guilt, spares whoever they can afford to.
Here's a link back to Noble Demon, but I'm only doing this to prolong our fight, you got that?
