10 Movie Scenes That Brilliantly Subverted Expectations
4. Peggy Betrays Stanley - The Mask
In The Mask, a very clear line of distinction is drawn between the two most prominent female characters - Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz) is the sexy femme fatale who spells nothing but trouble for Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey), while reporter Peggy Brandt (Amy Yasbeck) seems like the more down-to-Earth potential love interest he'll actually end up with.
But the movie doesn't merely flip this equation on its head by having Stanley end up with Tina at the end, Peggy actually betrays Stanley, selling him out to villain Dorian Tyrell (Peter Greene) so she can afford to keep her condo.
It's a genuinely surprising subversion of the very 1990s expectation that the hero realises the more wholesome love interest was right in front of his face the entire time.
Instead, Peggy ain't so wholesome, and in a deleted scene even gets murdered by Dorian in disturbingly cartoonish fashion when she's yeeted into a printing press, as you do.