Basic Trope: A character (who may be low on the Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness or relatively high) self-identifies as "evil", "a villain", or the like.
- Straight: The Big Bad, Supreme Emperor-Doctor Vladimir “Villainous” Evulz, styles himself as a smart character who knows he's a villain, refers to himself whenever the subject comes up, often responds to someone's criticisms of his moral character with a hearty Insult Backfire rejoinder, and even carries a card around with him that literally details his villainy.
- Exaggerated:
- Evulz appears to be basing his every action on what would be the most villainous thing to do.
- Stupid Evil
- Evulz is so into the idea that he's a villain, he actively hates any villain who doesn't acknowledge they are in the wrong.
- Evulz’s main goal is to punish others for what he refers to as "crimes of virtue".
- Evulz considers himself to be irredeemably, abominably, and nightmarishly diabolical, fueled by the power of genocidal hatred gained from all who sincerely hate him, and claims to have went beyond crossing the line, which he routinely does, and that it feels very great, and he can jaywalk without fail. He also calls himself the Ultimate Evil God of Evil and a walking nightmare who believes that unconditional tyranny is the best thing in the world, even tastier then annihilating worlds. He goes on to say that he is made of pure, unadulterated evil, and those who try to see how evil he is will not able to put it into words how wicked he is, assuming that you don't Go Mad from the Revelation, and archiving all of his innumerable evils would fill the Library of Babel several times over.
- Evulz not only revels in his evil, but he has gone so far as to say that he is Evil.
- Cartoonish Supervillainy
- Downplayed:
- Evulz claims that he's evil, but doesn't have the heart to use vile methods to achieve his goals and because of this can only Poke the Poodle.
- Super Bob is morally ambiguous and quite proud of it.
- Evulz doesn't go out of the way to claim he's evil, but doesn't quibble when he's called that and proud of his more immoral talents.
- Report Siht is a Jerkass and quite proud of it.
- Evulz is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who actively prides himself on his brutality in pursuit of his noble goal, as he believes that only ruthlessness gets things done and pacifists are deluded cowards who refuse to do what is necessary to achieve their goals.
- Evulz doesn't actively flaunt that he's evil, but whenever anyone calls him "evil", "vile", "monster", and "villain", he doesn't really care, takes it in stride and thanks the guy for pointing out the obvious
- Red Baron
- Evulz is aware that others think he's evil and is slightly irritated by it, but doesn't let it bother him and continues committing immoral acts.
- Evulz never calls himself evil, but doesn't object when people call him that, even cracking a prideful smirk occasionally.
- Evulz is proud about being evil but won’t prove that he’s evil in committing some random villain acts for no reason whatsoever.
- Justified:
- Evulz is evil because he has built his entire belief system and methodology around the idea that he is a superior and better being because of his cruelty and malice. This belief system was taught to him by other equally cruel and warped people, who see it as their right to harm others because they view everyone else who doesn't subscribe to their beliefs as unworthy. As such, Evil is Good and Powerful and Good is Evil and Weak in their eyes.
- The world is ruled by a Balance of Good and Evil, and Evulz gains power by allying with the forces of evil.
- Evil Is Cool: Evulz doesn't personally think he's evil, however, he pretends to think he's one as villains are popular, and chicks dig the bad guys.
- Evulz can't possibly find a way to justify or excuse his actions as anything other than him being evil.
- Evulz is an Ax-Crazy sociopath (if not flat-out pure evil) who gleefully embraces his title as a villain and loves seeing others suffer.
- Evulz is a Punch-Clock Villain. He knows that he commits evil for a living, but also has kids to feed.
- Evulz has been Forced into Evil (possibly coerced into working for someone worse), and hates the position he is in.
- Honesty is the only virtue Evulz respects, so he's (ironically) morally against hiding his nature.
- Evulz has Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad mentality and thus desires to be evil as much as a normal person would desire to be good.
- Evulz is The Mole and is overplaying his role.
- Evulz has Black-and-White Insanity and thus thinks that if he does anything even remotely evil then he is evil.
- Evulz is Made of Evil.
- Evulz was raised by a family and/or society who was just as proud of their villainy.
- Evulz is an alien from a Blue-and-Orange Morality setting who thinks the word “Evil” is just another mundane word and what comes off as being evil in normal societies comes off as “normal behavior” in Evulz’s society.
- Evulz is a villain because he feels that society has only ever seen or treated him as one, so he's decided to embrace the title.
- Evulz hates Alice so damned much that he has dedicated his life to wrecks hers and enjoys the outrage she showcases whenever she calls him "evil".
- Inverted:
- Knight Templar, a bad guy who thinks he's moral and just, and would scoff at the label of being "evil".
- Villain with Good Publicity, who works hard and successfully at convincing the world that he is good and not evil.
- A Card-Carrying Ideal Hero who always proudly declares how good and noble he is.
- Alternatively, the Ideal Hero is ashamed of being good, and would rather be evil.
- An Anti-Villain who knows that Being Evil Sucks.
- Obliviously Evil
- A Minion with an F in Evil hates themselves for not being evil enough.
- Almighty Idiot
- Subverted:
- The heroes confront the Well-Intentioned Extremist and he remarks, "Right, my only reason for doing any of this is that I'm evil." The heroes fail to note that he is being sarcastic.
- The villain is Hated by All, so he pretends to be a Card-Carrying Villain.
- A character who is not, in fact, Evil in the slightest (or is just a bit worse than ideal), still pretends to be such to the heroes because he finds it funny, doesn't want to discuss morality with heroes or just has a jaded outlook on the world. Or because it's all a part of his plot to save the world. Or for some other reason a genuine villain can do this.
- Evulz isn't a bad guy — he's only acting like it because it makes him seem cool.
- Evulz was actually Brain Washed And Crazy or under a Demonic Possession
- Double Subversion:
- The villain doesn't actually believe in his "Well-Intentioned Extremist" motivations at all, and really is just doing it For the Evulz.
- A character believes himself to be a non-Evil subversion, but is in fact a Well-Intentioned Extremist or Knight Templar or He Who Fights Monsters, which is why heroes actually believe him.
- Evulz was actually Brainwashed and Crazy or under a Demonic Possession, but it turns out he's still a Card-Carrying Villain anyways.
- Parodied:
- Evulz carries a literal Calling Card to prove he's the villain, and uses it as a weapon.
- Evulz has a literal card saying he's a villain, a member of the local Villains' Guild, to be specific.
- Even when he's trying to infiltrate the heroes' organization, Evulz still gives himself away by referring to himself as a villain. (Or, he would have given himself away, but such examples almost always go unnoticed by the heroes.)
- Evulz considers himself a monster, yet he can't harm a fly.
- Evulz gives a long-winded and overly hammy declamation on how infinitely Eeeeeevillll he is.
- Not only does Evulz take pride in his villainy, but even lampshades the fact that he is a Card-Carrying Villain, boasting about how TV Tropes will list him as such.
- Evulz takes pride in his villainy, but prefers to let his actions speak for him. When his minion explicitly calls him 'Your Evilness', his response is an irritated "As if the kids couldn't figure that out".
- Zig-zagged: Sometimes, the villains are Obviously Evil and admit it, while other times, the same villainous characters are portrayed as far more morally complex, believing that Even Evil Has Standards, liberally engaging in dog-petting, and so on.
- Averted:
- The villains may be clearly bad people, but they show no sign of thinking of themselves that way.
- Knight Templar or Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- Enforced:
- It was decided that the audience wouldn't be able to tell that Evulz was a bad guy unless they gave him that kind of name and self-description. Perhaps because it’s a children’s show, or without it, there wouldn't be much difference between Dr. Evil and his enemies.
- The actor wants to play a Large Ham, and being a Card-Carrying Villain will enhance the hamminess.
- Black-and-White Morality: They have to enforce the idea that evil people think they're eeeevill!
- It's a comedy, and being a hammy Card-Carrying Villain just adds to this.
- The writers wanted to make the villain as loathsome as possible and someone for the viewers to root against. To emphasize this, they have him be fully aware of how evil he is and love every second of it.
- Lampshaded: "It's really quite a lot of fun, being evil."
- Invoked: In the story of Evulz’s turn to villainy, a major milestone was when he began self-identifying as evil.
- Exploited:
- Heroes use this to try to identify villains who can be redeemed; their logic being that villains who self identify as evil will do a Heel–Face Turn as soon as they get another option.
- As an inversion, the heroes use this to determine when villains are faking doing a Heel–Face Turn. As they see it, people who are so proud of being evil that they literally advertise it and don't put in a similar amount of effort to show that they changed are probably just awaiting the perfect moment for a "gotcha!" and betrayal. It's not fool-proof, but it has worked out more often than not.
- Evulz applies this logic to his entire organization: they'll feel obligated to do wicked deeds, while feeling morally superior due to admitting it and being able to distance themselves from their crimes due to their ludicrous, supervillainous nature.
- Defied:
- "Yes, I was convicted in that plot to blow up the White House, but I'm really a nice guy. I've changed, honest!"
- Screw this! I'll do whatever the hell I want from now on, evil or not, and I sure as hell won't advertise it!"
- Discussed: "You're one hell of a scoundrel, you know that? Wait, you probably take that as a compliment.
- Conversed: "Why do the villains on these shows just come right out and say that they're 'bad'? It's almost as if they're unclear on what the word 'bad' means."
- Implied: Evulz never says anything about being evil, but his expression noticeably brightens whenever someone calls him evil.
- Deconstructed:
- Evulz is doomed to be Hated by All because he never pretends to be anything but evil.
- The reason Evulz chose that name is that he's actually disgusted by the moral absolutism of the "heroes". Ultimately, he ends up saving the world since he's a Noble Demon, but since he presented himself as the ultimate bad guy, no one realizes this until long after his lonely and celebrated death, having been bound by his own ideological image.
- Evulz comes to the realisation that he no longer needs to justify his actions in any moralistic fashion, since it would clash with seeing himself as the villain. This leads him to become unrestrained in his evil, plummeting into depravity.
- Evulz sees himself as evil due to his self-hatred.
- Evulz wants to be evil because he believes that Evil Is Cool.
- Turns out that someone so proud of doing evil for evil's sake all day, every day is crazy, what would you know?
- Reconstructed:
- The Evil League of Villains gains a great deal of grudging respect from most non-members because, after all, they are cool and powerful, and at least they're not hypocritical about their evilness, like so many other people.
- Evulz is proud of his own evil, but is smart/clever/cunning enough to put up a facade to fool people into getting what he wants. Any kind of noble or reasonable words he says to fool or gain support are flat-out lies.
- Emperor Evulz's disgust with the hero's moral absolutism is justified: but the lengths he goes to combat it are not, bearing an uncanny similarity to their own. Ultimately, he is not a Hero with Bad Publicity: He is just another villain who lucked into a Pyrrhic Victory.
- Evulz comes to the realisation that he no longer needs to justify his actions...which changes very little, as he needs no justifications to commit good actions either. While he still proclaims himself as evil with a capital E, in truth he's a Wild Card that does what he wants when he wants, whether it's to Pet the Dog or Kick the Dog.
- Evulz's self-hatred comes from his numerous vile deeds. It's ultimately a vicious cycle, that Evulz lacks the strength of character to escape from.
- Played For Laughs: Evulz has a literal card that describes him as "evil" and does Stupid Evil actions because to not do them would mean he's not evil.
- Played For Drama: Evulz does atrocities of all sorts, from the most petty to the most destructive, and refuses any kind of negotiation for him to stop, no matter how much it would benefit him, because it would be a denial that he's "evil".
- Played For Horror: Evulz rapes and murders in massive amounts because that's what must be done to preserve his fragile ego and status as the greatest of all evils.
Back to Card-Carrying Villain, which would like to remind you that it is absolutely evil and plots to suck up your free time.
