Basic Trope: A villain tries to act nice and polite, but it doesn't make them seem any more affable or charming.
- Straight:
- Stephen politely invites Kyle for dinner, then kills Kyle and devours his remains upon arrival.
- Stephen is an underworld kingpin running a criminal empire. He nevertheless acts extremely polite — even when killing underwhelming subordinates and ordering his former partners dispatched.
- Exaggerated:
- Troll
- The Sociopath
- Stephen slowly tortures Kyle to death while hugging and kissing him and talking to him in soft, caring terms like a father to his child.
- Stephen kindly offers Kyle a hand towel after giving him repeated swirlies and punching him in the nose.
- Stephen acts nice to everyone he meets, and Kyle accepts the invitation to be Stephen's guest... only to find out the hard way that his host is a viciously adept Torture Technician, luring the gullible people that fall for his hospitality to his place, mutilating the victims' bodies and often minds in blood-curdling horrible ways according to his twisted desires, and disposing of them once he gets bored. Why? Because he enjoys it, from the first minute to the last.
- Stephen is a Complete Monster whose polite façade comes off as too creepy and suspicious to convince anyone, even In-Universe.
- Downplayed:
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
- Stephen acts nice to Kyle, but that's only because he knows Kyle is a dangerous enemy.
- Stephen is mostly serious and mission focused, but will occasionally make a dry mocking quip at his enemies.
- Justified:
- Despite learning to have impeccable manners to keep people liking him, Stephen has a severe personality disorder.
- Stephen is an utter hypocrite.
- Despite his friendly façade, Stephen has never learnt proper anger management and channels his impulses to evil.
- Stephen is just being friendly to his minions in order to satisfy them.
- While Stephen is naturally polite, Stephen also happens to be a sadistic bastard who loves every second of it.
- Inverted:
- Noble Demon: Stephen wages a war of conquest with Kyle's country yet makes it clear that he doesn't hold anything against Kyle, sticks to the laws and customs of war whenever possible, treats captured soldiers and officers as nicely as his own subordinates, and generally tries to conduct the warfare as honorably as he can.
- Good Is Not Nice: Stephen calls Kyle an idiot and a bastard and gives him a Dope Slap — right after rescuing him from captivity.
- Alternatively: Stephen, a hero tries to act like a Jerkass by poking a poodle. Instead of making him look tougher, it makes him look even more nicer considering that’s the meanest thing he can ever do.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Stephen may be widely known as an uncaring, untamed, foul-mouthed philanderer who drinks like a fish and can't even display basic manners in society, but he treats his girlfriends nicely, thoroughly cares about well-being of his True Companions, and woe be to anyone who harms an innocent in his presence.
- Stephen calls his girlfriend a slut after treating her to a dinner at a fancy restaurant.
- Subverted:
- Stephen, an underworld kingpin in charge of a criminal empire, behaves in a polite and friendly manner... because acting that way is actually his normal personality.
- Stephen initially starts off as faux affable, but throughout the story he Takes A Level In Kindness and his affable façade becomes his actual personality.
- Double Subverted:
- Stephen acts pleasant while committing horrific crimes, but it turns out he was only trying to fool people.
- Stephen seems to never lose his politeness... until things start getting out of his control.
- Stephen changes back to his old personality later on.
- Parodied: Even Stephen's victims adore him because he is so polite and pleasant while committing crimes.
- Zig Zagged:
- Stephen is polite most of the time, but he is Not So Stoic when someone presses his Berserk Button.
- Depending on who Stephen is dealing with, the affability is either sincere or a cruel facade.
- Stephen has split personalities with one of them being genuinely affable and another being a mere facade.
- Averted:
- Stephen makes no secret of what an outright Jerkass he is, inside and outside.
- Alternatively: Stephen’s politeness is genuine.
- Enforced:
- The writers want to make their horrific villain enjoyable to the audience.
- The writer wants to show that actions speak louder than words.
- Lampshaded: "Stephen is only pretending to be polite so he can kill us."
- Invoked: Stephen decides to put up a pleasant face, because he knows that to be a powerful psychological tactic for scaring heroes shitless.
- Exploited: Kyle decides to play Stephen's need for public approval against his villainous plan by derailing one of his PR stunts.
- Defied: Stephen decides acting all polite is a waste of time and that not pretending to be anything else than a monster he is helps him achieve what he wants the quickest route.
- Discussed: "Stephen's probably just trying to frighten and confuse us. Or he's just insane."
- Conversed: "It's kind of unrealistic how some villains in movies pretend to be nice even while murdering the hero's love interest. Although it sure is entertaining to watch."
- Deconstructed: Stephen's affability causes people to treat his misdeeds far more seriously than he deserves, because it makes him look creepy and hypocritical.
- Reconstructed: ...but those people change their minds, deciding that said affability, though superficial, proves that Stephen is capable of redemption.
- Played For Laughs: Laughably Evil
Wasn't that interesting? Now, return to Faux Affably Evil so we can continue the regimen of having TV Tropes Ruin Your Life sans educational values.
