Beard of Evil: Difference between revisions

{{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]].

* ''[[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.

* 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]]''.

* 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.

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'',

** The barbazu (or [https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2019/07/dd-monster-spotlight-bearded-devils.html "bearded devils"]) are [[Elite Mook]]s practically designed around this Trope, and probably the only monster in the game with beard-attacks.

** Mordenkainen from the ''[[Greyhawk]]'' setting is the biggest case of [[Heel Face Revolving Door]] in the game, and while he always has a beard, it's longer and scraggier when he's in an evil mood.

* 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]]'':

* [[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]].

* 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]]