Basic Trope: A serial criminal always leaves a signature clue to identify their handiwork.
- Straight: Alex leaves a card saying "the victim is infected" for every victim infected by his virus creation.
- Exaggerated: Alex arranges the entire crime scene the same way each time, complete with artistic lighting.
- Downplayed: Alex merely leaves a footprint behind.
- Justified:
- Alex has OCD, which compels him to leave something behind.
- The calling card is accidental on Alex's part: like leaving pollen from the military complex he lives in.
- Alex is an egotist who enjoys taunting the cops.
- The calling card itself is somehow necessary to accomplish Alex's objectives.
- Inverted:
- Bob the Cowboy Cop-turned-Vigilante Man brands each criminal he puts away with his (former) badge number. It's flagrant Police Brutality, but dammit, he gets results!
- Alex goes to such unrealistically over-the-top lengths to make his every crime look like a completely different M.O. that they become distinctive in a whole new way. "He was nibbled to death by a flock of rabid hamsters? Sounds like The Randomer's work..."
- Subverted: Alex leaves a card behind that turns out to be blank.
- Double Subverted: ... which says "the victim is infected" in invisible ink.
- Parodied: Alex leaves a copy of his photographic ID, birth certificate and last bank statement at the scene of each crime, along with a cheek swab and a labelled & dusted fingerprint. The police are baffled.
- Zig Zagged: Sometimes Alex leaves a card, sometimes he doesn't.
- Averted: Alex always commits The Perfect Crime, leaving no evidence behind whatsoever.
- Enforced: "But if the villain doesn't leave something behind, how will the hero get his first clue?"
- Lampshaded: "How convenient of Alex to just leave a clue here..."
- Invoked: In a press conference, the police (entirely stumped for clues) insinuate that the killer must be too chicken to leave a calling card.
- Exploited:
- Alex leaves conspicuous Calling Card clues at each of his crimes... except the particular ones he doesn't want the police to connect to the others. He gets a copycat to continue his distinctive MO after he's put away, throwing doubt on his conviction.
- Alex leaves conspicuous Calling Card clues that hint at a greater threat… when he only does it to spread fear.
- Defied: Alex knows that leaving something behind would just be aiding his capture, so he doesn't leave anything behind.
- Discussed: "We've found a body. Jenkins, secure the perimeter. Thompson, start looking for extravagant clues that might link this crime to known villains."
- Conversed: "You ever wonder why villains keep leaving some sort of item behind wherever they go?"
- Deconstructed: Alex is immediately arrested.
- Reconstructed: There is not enough evidence to convict at first - the calling card could easily be used by an imitator. The authorities are forced to find more information (or not) before they can try to have Alex incarcerated.
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