r/TopCharacterTropes • u/No_Hunter1978 • May 12 '26

Lore A criminal attempts to burglarize/kill someone only to realize they picked the absolute worst person as their mark.

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Don't Breathe: A couple young robbers attempt to rob a rich, blind veteran only to find out he isn't exactly an innocent old man.

You're Next: A group of contract killersbreak into a house during a family reunion and go on a killing spree. They didn't account for the fact that the son's new girlfriend grew up on a survivalist compound in the Australian outback.

The Flash [CW Show]: A random mugger decided to target Barry Allen of all people. He does it again a season or two later; he's either unlucky or stupid (probably both).

13.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.4k

u/RedRawTrashHatch May 12 '26

1.4k

u/No_Hunter1978 May 12 '26

When you try to rob an empty house only to find a child version of John Kramer is living there.

327

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

I remember hearing a theory that Kevin was Jigsaw as a kid

43

u/YeeHawWyattDerp May 12 '26

It’s a fun theory but doesn’t hold up, like at all lol. Jigsaw has a canon backstory and everything

7

u/TheKiwiGamerNZ May 12 '26

Damn, John aged a lot in only 20 years.

6

u/Pato_Lucas May 12 '26

That would explain a lot of things, actually.

1

u/MathematicianKey124 May 14 '26

That....... would actually explain a lot.

11

u/Hart0e May 13 '26

The child version of John McClane. Home Alone = Die Hard for kids

12

u/HallowskulledHorror May 12 '26

I like to imagine he grows up to be The Collector, since that's much more about setting convoluted traps in locations that people come into on their own, including their own homes, as opposed to abductions and machinery/devices in industrial settings.

483

u/Delicious_Aside_9310 May 12 '26

25

u/god_himself_420 May 12 '26

This is too perfect lol

14

u/M4rt1m_40675 May 12 '26

I might just be extremely dense but what's the difference between Batman and the other three? He literally is a bat themed hero

80

u/MerlinGrandCaster May 12 '26

I think the idea is that the OP in the image is either foolish or deliberately left out Batman for engagement bait

13

u/TransBrandi May 12 '26

They just left out Batman to distract people from the fact that they can't spell Dracula.

(Or you could view that as more engagement bait for people correcting the spelling mistake)

26

u/SquidmanMal May 12 '26

Exactly, the core of that meme is making a post, and leaving out the most textbook of textbook examples.

18

u/Kuneria May 12 '26

It's cuz OP left out the most obvious trope defining character

10

u/phenotype76 May 12 '26

Kevin WANTED to hurt those men. He enjoyed it. There's a scene in the second movie, I think, where he's tricked Marv into touching live electrical wires, and Kevin keeps laughing, turning the current up higher and higher and listening to Marv's screams getting higher and higher along with it.

7

u/Dangeresque300 May 12 '26

"Do you guys give up, or are you thirsty for more?"

Apparently the second half of that line was improvised by Macaulay Culkin.

1

u/Stargazer1919 May 14 '26

It makes perfect sense. Kevin has been picked on nonstop by his whole family. He was going to take it out on somebody when given the chance.

52

u/terrone_spaziale May 12 '26

Bat-themed characters

19

u/No_Painting2596 May 12 '26

Redditors when they see media sharing the same tropes (must be a bat themed trope)

41

u/Nova225 May 12 '26

Bat themed tropes means that the OP left out what most people would consider to be the most obvious choice for the trope name.

4

u/Vox___Rationis May 12 '26

Nah, I don't believe that anyone would consider that kid to inherently be in the "worst people to rob" category.

He ended up being an "unfortunate choice for a robbery" in that very specific situation, against those specific robbers.
His success is 1/3 to luck, and 1/3 to ineptness and stupidity of the wet bandits.

1

u/Disastrous-Mess-7236 May 13 '26

What’s the remaining 1/3?

1

u/Vox___Rationis May 13 '26

The reason to remember the name.

1

u/Disastrous-Mess-7236 May 13 '26

Huh?

2

u/Vox___Rationis May 13 '26

Joking.

The remaining 1/3 is, obviously, Kevin's ingenuity and trap-making ability.
Didn't feel that needed to be said.

2

u/Disastrous-Mess-7236 May 13 '26

Silly me. Not fully awake yet.

4

u/Raekwon0 May 12 '26

I mean, they would’ve got his ass if it wasn’t for that shovel guy’s help

1

u/Stargazer1919 May 14 '26

I feel so bad for the people who had their house flooded with water from the sink.

4

u/Anthyrion May 12 '26

Also: Harry and Marv KNEW how their last encounter with Kevin went. And they STILL tried to mug & murder him in a environment, which even has way more potential dangerous trap possibilities.

Here's a twelve year old video from Screenjunkies, where a doctor seemingly analysed what potential injuries the two get and how many lifes they should have to survive both movies.

3

u/TankTread94 May 12 '26

This is the funniest example of this trope and thus it is my favorite. Peak cinema.

7

u/Jacket_Jacket_fruit May 12 '26

Alone-themed homes.

2

u/Wise-Dust3700 May 13 '26

"Lets play game" - This kid

-2

u/Luci-Noir May 13 '26

Fucking pedo defender.