Cool Scars

When a character gets a scar, it’s usually from a sword or knife fight (and the occasional fire), a childhood accident, or in rare cases born with that scar. But just because they have a scar doesn’t mean that it can’t be freakin’ awesome looking. Mainly it has to have a cool shape or be in a very noticeable place or have a cool back story. Sometimes it may be a Mark of Shame or a Distinguishing Mark.

Note that this is not "character X has a scar" - the scar has to be cool. (Karowu from Ai Yori Aoshi has plenty of scars, but they're signs of abuse, not badassery - none of them are cool.)

Compare and contrast with Scar Tropes and Rule of Cool.

Examples of Cool Scars include:

Anime and Manga

Zoro from One Piece had scars all over his body, though the prominent ones are on his left eye and a huge one in his chest, which goes down from his left shoulder to his right hip. These cool scars were from his many battles.
Tigrerra from Bakugan had a scar over her left eye but it’s assumed that’s natural for Tigrerras to have.
While they’re not exactly scars the tracer marks from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's look pretty cool, specifically Yusei’s.
Fullmetal Alchemist has Scar, who has an "X"-shape scar on his face, which he got from an encounter with Kimblee (anime) or an explosion, which Kimblee sets off to kill off the Ishvalan bystanders (manga).
Himura Kenshin, titular character of Rurouni Kenshin, has an 'X' shape scar on his cheek.
Both Kakashi and Iruka Umino from Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, but there's too many characters to make the list.
Nanaya has this trope, his scar runs down his face and uses an eyepatch.
Sosuke in Full Metal Panic has a scar on his left cheek - it looks like a Dueling Scar, but he probably picked it up in real combat. When he goes undercover and wears a cute animal mascot costume in Fumoffu, the costume gains the same scar.

Comic Books

Batman's rogue gallery has Two-Face, who has half a scar running down one-half of his face.
- Another Batman villain, Victor Zsasz, immortalizes each kill he makes by carving tally marks into his skin.
Dwight from Walking Dead got his facial scars when Negan ironed him just to punish him.

Films

Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride has a pair on both sides of his face because he tried to fight the six-fingered man.
The colonel in Avatar has three on the right side of his face, their never explained but it’s assumed something scratched him.
In The Mask of Zorro, Diego Zorro cuts a Z into Raphael Montero’s neck, surprisingly twenty years later it still looks pretty fresh.
- Also Alejandro Zorro cuts an M on Captain Love’s face.
Harry Potter’s lightning bolt shaped scar.
In The Dark Knight, the Joker relates where he got those scars. He never gives the same explanation twice.
Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has three parallel scars running under his eyepatch which help make him look dangerous and Badass. In 2019's Captain Marvel, we discover that a ~~cat~~ flerken scratched him and damaged his eye.

Myths and Legends

Kuchisake -onna's scar spreads across her whole mouth. Depending on the legend, it's a plastic surgery gone wrong, jealous husband slicing her with his sword, or she had an accident while crossing the street.
Star Boy, who is a legendary Blackfoot Indian warrior, was also called "Scarface"/"Poia". Because he was stuck down by a lightning-weapon.

Animated Films

Cloud gets a scar in his face in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children when Loz shoots him in the face at point-blank range but Cloud’s goggles took most of the damage for him but still you can notice it several times later in the movie.
- In Advent Children Complete Cloud gets cut in the face by Sephiroth during their Sword Fight scene, in several places including through the stomach.
- Barret has two going down the side of his face.
- Red XIII has one over his eye.

Video Games

Odette from Rune Factory Tides of Destiny has one on her face, supposedly she got it from playing kitchen by cutting a rock with a knife, the knife supposedly broke and hit her in the face.
- Gerard has one right under his left eye.
Squall from Final Fantasy VIII receives one from Seifer during their Gunblade fight, Squall returns the favor.
In the Kingdom Hearts series, Xigbar got his cool scars when during his fight with Terra, the latter blasted his face out with a spell.
- Saïx also has an "X"-shape scar on his face. How he got that, no one knows, since his younger self doesn't have it.
Metal Gear Solid's Solid Snake.
Guilty Gear‍'‍ Baiken has a scar over her left eye.
Geralt of The Witcher series fame has some scars on his face, one runs down his left eye.
Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat series has a scar on his left eye.

Web Original

In Dolan True Stories' Our Worst Injuries as Kids, a Reddit user (portrayed by Pringle) explained how he sliced his foot thanks to a rock collection under his sister bed, which he landed on while playing superhero. Despite the hard landing, the user explained that didn't feel any pain until his mother noticed that he was hurt, resulting in a cool scar.

Western Animation

Zuko’s burn scar from Avatar: The Last Airbender, even though he got it from his Jerkass dad and it looks like a rotting black eye and his eye can’t open all the way - it’s still pretty cool.
- Despite surviving an explosion and getting cut on some ice the cuts he receives from the Northern Water Tribe heal up completely.
- Song, a girl he meets, has a scar on her leg from getting blasted as well.
- And then there’s Aang’s scar on his back from getting shot with lightning.
Panthro in the 2011 version of Thundercats has a scar over his eye and many, many scars on the rest of his body.