Beard of Evil: Difference between revisions

Note that this generally applies to small, well-groomed beards, especially goatees. Having a [[Beard of Barbarism|huge bushy beard]] turns one into a [[Nature Hero]], [[Seadog Beard|sailor]], grizzled old prospector or [[Boisterous Bruiser]]. Except, of course, for the beards recommended by certain religions that are in the public focus at the moment.

 

 

The Beard of Evil has a long history of being associated most closely with the [[Evil Twin]] or [[Evil Counterpart]], and you [[Mirror Universe|probably already]] [[Star Trek: The Original Series|know why]]. It also scores extra evil points if [[Bald of Evil|combined with a shaven head]]. (Anybody with a bald head and a beard is pretty much guaranteed to be a card-carrying villain unless they are [[Bald Black Leader Guy|black]] or East Asian. Blame [[Flash Gordon (comic strip)|Alex Raymond]] and Anton LaVey.)

 

{{examples}}

* In a Priceline ad [[William Shatner]] plays both his normal helpful negotiator self and his [[Evil Twin]] who's trying to trick people into paying too much for hotel rooms. Guess which one has a beard.

 

* Dr. Hell from ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' and ''[[Mazinkaiser]]'' is the [[Mad Scientist]] [[Big Bad]] and he has a long, bushy, bristly, white and positively epic Beard of Evil. In ''[[Great Mazinger]]'', [[The Dragon]] Great General of Darkness/Ankoku Daishogun had a [[Badass Beard]] warned he was ''not'' to be messed with. King Vega, [[Big Bad]] from ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' was the only on the side of the evil guys had a beard. His was bristle but well-groomed, though.

* Gendo Ikari from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' has a beard in pretty much the same configuration as [[Gargoyles|Xanatos]] and [[Doctor Who|The Master]]. That particular style seems to be a favorite of [[Magnificent Bastard]]s. In the spoof [[Fan Video]] ''Evangelion: [[Re Death]]'', he proudly announces he spent millions in research on [[Kavorka Man|the ultimate pimp beard]].

* That first enemy that appears in ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' wanting to take over the Kamiya dojo and claiming to be the Battousai.

* ''[[One Piece]]''

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''

** Lecter from the [[Filler Arc| Virtual Nightmare Arc]] had the typical diabolical goatee.

* The Count of Monte Cristo in ''[[Gankutsuou]]'' sports a sharp, blue goatee to complete his Byronic character. He isn't exactly pure evil, but definitely counts as a [[Manipulative Bastard]] willing to get innocents mixed to his pursuit of vengeance.

* In ''[[The Familiar of Zero|The Familiar of Zero]]'' when he arrives, Ward is shown a few times in flashbacks where he acts kind to the main character, and has no beard. However, in the present, he has a beard, and is, well, evil.

* ''[[Blue Exorcist]]'': Mephisto Pheles has one impressively sharp, blue, goatee. Interesting, considering [[Faust|what]] his [[Names to Run Away From Very Fast|name]] is an obvious pun off of. Whether or not he is evil however, has [[Wild Mass Guessing|yet to be fully revealed.]]

 

* While the titular hero himself might sport a trim goatee, ''[[Iron Man]]'' also plays it straight with Stane, who has a full beard and a [[Bald of Evil|bald head]].

** It's debatable whether this was deliberate on the part of the writers and artists, but Tony finally grew a goatee (after decades of having just a mustache) around the same time that he became much more morally ambiguous than he'd ever been before—first by becoming Marvel's poster child for [[No Transhumanism Allowed|transhumanism]] and incorporating elaborate upgrades into his body which may have [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|distanced him from his humanity,]] and then by becoming a virtual fascist in the ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]''.

* Taken [[Up To Eleven]] by Deimos (a henchmen of Ares, [[Wonder Woman]]'s foe) whose beard is, itself, evil, being ''made of snakes''.

 

* In ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|Batman Begins]]'', Ra's al Ghul's and Henri Ducard's fu manchus are our first clue that the League of Shadows is [[Knight Templar|evil]]. (Well, the first clue for those who hadn't read the comic books.) Bruce Wayne also sports a rather scraggly beard at the beginning of the film, but it's gone by the time he [[Thou Shalt Not Kill|disavows killing]] and severs ties with the League.

* [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|Doctor]] Smith in [[The Film of the Series]] ''[[Lost in Space]]'' gave away his role as villain this way.

* In ''[[Die Hard]]'', [[Alan Rickman]] as Hans Gruber sported one, contrasting a beardless [[Bruce Willis]].

* Averted in ''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]''. Henry Fonda planned to grow a beard as well as wear brown contact lenses to play the film's [[Complete Monster]] villain, but director [[Sergio Leone]] talked him out of it, since Fonda having his usual appearance in a role so different from his usual humble and noble characters would make it all the more shocking.

* The title character of ''[[Blacula]]'' grows some seriously wild sideburns every time he decides to drink someone's blood.

* Fouché sports one in ''[[The Duellists]]''. He was clean-shaven in real life.

* The [[Big Bad]] McComb sports an evil beard in ''[[Time Cop]]''.

** {{spoiler|Doubly appropriate as he's voiced by [[Leonard Nimoy|the page image]] - though his appearance is based on [[Sean Connery]].}}

* Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane in '[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]''.

* Christo and Shabal from ''[[Act of Valor]]''. Averted with Senior Chief who is bearded but good.

* Dr. Arliss Loveless, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Wild Wild West (film)|Wild Wild West]]'' has one of the [https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/File:Arliss_Loveless.jpeg strangest beard styles] in film history; seriously, could you even call it a goatee? Still, it ''does'' make him look pretty evil.

 

* ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'': Galbatorix has a beard in the film adaption. During ''Brisingr'', Eragon seems to assume that Galbatorix has a beard when he mentions him.

* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' universe:

** Lord Vetinari is commonly depicted with a tidy goatee.

*** He's not that evil, though. He does, however, have a 'menacing elegance'. Oh, yes, and he's ''[[Magnificent Bastard|awesome]]''.

* In ''[[The Corellian Trilogy]]'' the chief feature distinguishing Han Solo from his evil cousin Thrackan Sal-Solo is the latter's beard.

* The eponymous character of ''[[Bluebeard]]''.

* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' has [[No Name Given|the man with a beard but no hair]], who's apparently so evil that Lemony Snicket won't even tell us his name.

 

* The mirror universe of ''[[Star Trek]]'' more or less gave us the cliché of the [[Evil Twin]] with a Beard of Evil, as evil Mr. Spock has a goatee. Ironically, Evil Mr. Spock is far and away the ''least'' evil person in the mirror universe.

** And in ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'', ''Star Trek'' does a [[Shout-Out]] to ''itself'' by giving Mirror Soval a Spock-beard. ([[Wild Mass Guessing|Common fashion among Mirror Vulcans?]])

*** While, for obvious reasons, Mirror T'Pol couldn't have a beard, she did have long flowing locks of hair to distinguish her from her closely-cropped regular counterpart.

*** This seems to have been the fashion among ''commanding'' Vulcans. Mirror Spock's personal guard didn't have a beard, and neither did either of the Vulcans Mirror T'Pol enlisted to help her retake the ISS Enterprise from Archer. [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Mirror Tuvok from the Terran Rebellion]] was also clean-shaven.

*** However, he wasn't really evil.

* On ''[[Knight Rider]]'', Michael Knight's [[Evil Twin]], Garthe Knight, sports a Beard of Evil.

* On ''[[Community]]'', Alternate Universe [[Meta Guy|Abed]], [[Medium Awareness|deducing that he and his remaining friends inhabited the darkest of the alternate timelines]], decided that they should embrace the darkness and become evil. He therefore prepared false goatees for everyone until the men could grow theirs in properly. (Like so many things with ''Community,'' [[It Makes Sense in Context|it makes more sense in context]].)

 

* Kunt and the Gang's song "Men With Beards (What Are They Hiding)" has the singer theorizing all beards are Beards of Evil.

* Hooray for Gooba! has a song titled "My Evil Twin Has a Mustache" wherein the narrator/singer bemoans the fact that his friends cannot distinguish between himself and his [[Evil Twin]] when he blatantly has a mustache. There is also the matter of the [[Kick the Dog|puppy-kicking]]...

 

* ''[[Gaia Online]]'' has both mocked this and played this straight. (But mostly mocks it)

** On the serious side: Vladmir Von Helson, the arguably most evil character in the story line, had a particularly sinister goatee before he was ashed.

* [http://i41.tinypic.com/24vmlqe.jpg This] motivational poster, created during Mirrorverse Week on [http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_startrek/ ONTD_STARTREK]

 

* Ming The Merciless in ''[[Flash Gordon (comic strip)|Flash Gordon]]'', perhaps unsurprisingly, sports what is known as a Fu Manchu.

** And Dr Chaotica in ''[[Voyager]]'''s [[Show Within a Show]] homage ''The Adventures of Captain Proton!''

* In the comic strip ''[[Mark Trail]]'', ''Beard of Evil'' is played straight but ''[[Bald of Evil]]'' is subverted: Story-arc-specific male characters have a full-on [[Good Hair, Evil Hair|inverse relationship between levels of evil, and levels of hair on head and face.]] One arc featured an immoral bearded man (and another, with mutton chops), a very moral completely bald man (so moral, he was keeping his construction company from leveling a field because of a family of ducks he found), and a morally conflicted balding man.

 

* Following his [[Face Heel Turn]], the cleanshaven space around [[Hulk Hogan]]'s iconic blonde fu manchu was filled in by a black five-o'clock shadow.

* [[Daniel Bryan]]'s [http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/images/photos/001/578/400/whc_daniel_bryan_by_windows8osx-d4jmgpp_original.jpg?1329708118 has to be seen to be believed, following his] [[Face Heel Turn]]. Compare his current appearance to the completely clean-shaven image on his Trope page and marvel at the difference.

 

 

* Inverted in the ''[[Warcraft]]'' universe: male facial hair is directly proportional to goodness. Although the fairly unpleasant Blood Elves do tend towards goatees of the classic villain variety. It goes with their [[Evil Laugh|laugh]].

* ''[[Command & Conquer]]'':

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15S0g8pG6HU Pedophile Beards]

* [[Mirror Universe|Enforcers]] [[Protectors of the Plot Continuum|of the Plot Continuum]] Makes-Things had a beard, probably inspired by Emperor Spock's (see page image). In the prime multiverse, the Mysterious Somebody had a beard, as an [[Expy]]-cum-clone of [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Joruus C'baoth]].

 

* Pastiched on ''[[South Park]]'': in their mirror universe, ''everyone'' has a goatee, including the "Evil" Cartman, who, as the opposite of the "real world" Cartman, is polite, helpful, and a genuinely good person. The unbearded Cartman rips off his beard (as a unit...) after he finds out that Stan and Kyle want to send him to the alternative universe and keep the "evil Cartman."

* David Xanatos, the [[Anti-Villain]] of ''[[Gargoyles]]'' fame [[Xanatos Gambit|well known for his convoluted plans]] sported such a beard. He bore more than a passing resemblance to his actor, who played [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Commander Will Riker]] and whose beard was notable for [[Growing the Beard|another reason]].

{{quote|'''Jim Rage:''' "You don't understand, man... The Russians were already working on a beard... ''[[Doctor Strangelove|We had a facial hair gap!]]''"}}

* Parodied with Chad Ghostal, Space Ghost's [[Evil Twin]] brother on ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]''. His facial hair is different every time he's on screen.

* Fire Lord Ozai in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', along with several other villains, including Long Feng and Combustion Man.

* The Villain on the ''[[Jimmy Timmy Power Hour]] 3''.

* Here's how you tell the male heroes apart from the male villains in ''[[Visionaries]]'': If he's got a full beard, he's either a bad guy or he's [[Mysterious Backer| a wizard]], and wizards tend to be morally ambiguous at best. Good guys are usually clean-shaven, except Leoric, who has a [[Badass Mustache]].

 

* Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, grew a diabolical goatee to go along with his [[Bald of Evil]] and to fit in the part.

* Attila the Hun, the notoriously cruel barbarian warrior known (in Western history) as the "Scourge of God," reportedly wore a beard.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Always Male]]

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Hair Tropes]]