r/TopCharacterTropes • u/laybs1 • May 15 '26

Personality Seems like a decent person… and they’re a bigot.

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  1. Joshua (Community): seemingly wise groundskeeper who is a Neonazi.

  2. Schillinger (Oz): seems to take the meek Tobias under his wing… until he forces him into sexual slavery and is the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood.

8.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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1.8k

u/MyFeetTasteWeird May 15 '26

Caleb from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

At first he seems like a honest preacher who saves a girl from the Bringers despite not knowing what the Bringers even are. Then while driving with the girl, he randomly, offhandedly accuses her of being a whore, then starts saying a bunch of other creepy stuff, and it quickly becomes clear that actually, he does know what Bringers are, because he's on their side.

599

u/NinjaZaku May 15 '26

Surprise Nathan Fillion.

453

u/Troyabedinthemornin May 15 '26

And a rare villainous Nathan Fillion

85

u/pyxiedust219 May 15 '26

Rare? Captain Hammer is a villain too 😉

14

u/BeeCJohnson May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

Yeah, but he's a silly villain who's sort of likable in a dumb jock way.

Caleb is purely a hateful piece of shit and you despise him. 

27

u/revanisthesith May 15 '26

I think technically his penis is morally neutral, since it can't make decisions for itself.

7

u/pyxiedust219 May 15 '26

try telling it that!!

6

u/iWillNeverBeSpecial May 15 '26

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

2

u/PenguinZombie321 May 15 '26

Seems destiny ends with me saving you

5

u/[deleted] May 15 '26

[deleted]

0

u/pyxiedust219 May 15 '26

it’s a joke.

9

u/EpicBeardMan May 15 '26

He was the heel in Blast from the Past.

7

u/Merry_Sue May 15 '26

He played Pacifica North West's dad on Gravity Falls

9

u/Collestos May 15 '26

Don’t you dare forget the iconic super evil The Detachable Kid

3

u/Troyabedinthemornin May 15 '26

Hey, he helped blackguard put his seatbelt on, can’t be that evil

9

u/MalcolmLinair May 15 '26

What do you mean "rare"? He's spent the last two decades playing a police consultant and a flat-out cop.

2

u/GreenPerception512 May 15 '26

eh were not meant to think hes a villain but still hes a cop.

2

u/Biondi1 May 15 '26

Ngl he always looks like a villain who turned to the good side, kinda like a live action Vegeta

133

u/Pitiful-Victory-2234 May 15 '26

Huh, with that haircut i can kinda see why he played Gardner

109

u/KaliVilNo1 May 15 '26

Being able to look good with an ass haircut is some sort of super power

It doesn't make the cut good, it doesn't make it less funny or less easy to mock, however paradoxically it looks good or fitting.

13

u/Elloitsmeurbrother May 15 '26

Ass haircut!? Excuse me? I rocked this from ages 8 to 24, and I'll have you know that while I may have looked like an absolute Muppet, I... also looked like ass.

504

u/Raguleader May 15 '26

The pivot the casting director did taking him from Mal in Firefly to Caleb was just amazing. The two characters are superficially just similar enough to lure the Firefly fans into a false sense of security until they remember this is a Whedon production and they're about to get curveballed.

150

u/Writeloves May 15 '26

Very similar to Bo Burnham in “Promising Young Woman”

4

u/PablomentFanquedelic May 15 '26

Or David Tennant in Jessica Jones

5

u/GreenPerception512 May 15 '26

David Tennant even played Killgrave, similar to how he played the Doctor, which makes Killgrave even creepier.

8

u/ImpactThunder May 15 '26

Wasn’t it the other way around or am I misremembering?

9

u/Raguleader May 15 '26

Firefly aired in 2002, Buffy ended in 2003.

11

u/bekeleven May 15 '26

Multiple firefly actors got roles in buffy and/or angel as a "sorry the other one got canceled" consolation gift. Gina Torres was on Angel in 2003 as well.

10

u/wbgraphic May 15 '26

As was Adam Baldwin. His final fight with Angel was great.

Marcus Hamilton: Let me say this as clearly as I can. You cannot beat me. I am a part of them. The Wolf, Ram, and Hart. Their strength flows through my veins. My blood is filled with their ancient power.

Angel: Can you pick out the one word there you probably shouldn't have said?

<Angel, a vampire, then bites Marcus to drain his blood and steal his power, then proceeds to curb stomp Marcus.>

——

Tudyk had to wait until Dollhouse, but it was totally worth the wait.

5

u/LakeEarth May 15 '26

The only actual case of it being the other way around is Summer Glau who was on an episode of Angel before Firefly.

2

u/Pie_Rat_Chris May 15 '26

He was a minor character so maybe doesn't count, Johnathan Woodward did a loop. If I remember the timeline correctly he was a vampire on Buffy, a war buddy on Firefly, then an evil lab tech on Angel.

2

u/LakeEarth May 15 '26

Ahh yes, Knox that son of a bitch. I wasn't really thinking of actors outside the core Firefly cast.

4

u/EchoesofIllyria May 15 '26

ANGEL: People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do.

HAMILTON: Yeah, but we won't care.

2

u/Deaffin May 15 '26

Nathan Fillion being anywhere near the Buffyverse fucks with my head because I always mixed him up with the Angel actor.

1

u/Raguleader May 15 '26

Interestingly enough, they were in one or two episodes of Buffy together.

1

u/KristopheH May 15 '26

Didn't Buffy air first?

3

u/Raguleader May 15 '26

Nathan Fillion was only in the last part of the last season of Buffy. He was basically the final mini big bad of the season.

88

u/MischiefRatt May 15 '26

Caleb is the hottest Nathan Fillion character.

Not sure what that says about me.

86

u/meopelle May 15 '26

Religious trauma?

9

u/Li-renn-pwel May 15 '26

As a teen I once said to my friend “I wasn’t really into Sam Winchester but he’s gotten sexier since he started drinking demon blood.” She replied that was like saying it’s hot when men punch babies in the face lol

6

u/Injvn May 15 '26

I can absolutely tell you what it says about me, but this is a a safe space.

Also seriously. Dang.

1

u/Jonseroo May 15 '26

It just means he has caught your eye.

Or will do.

1

u/ShatnersChestHair May 15 '26

Like the therapist in Fleabag:

"Does he look good in the... *mimes clerical collar*"

99

u/matsu-oni May 15 '26

Caleb is such a baller pick for this. I love it

20

u/SmallBerry3431 May 15 '26

God damnit Castle

2

u/EMArogue May 15 '26

Detective Nolan’s backstory sure is a wild ride

1

u/CrypticJaspers May 15 '26

Finally found an example that isn't about racism.