Death Glare

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"She stopped, because she saw, for the first time in her life, by what sort of look one learns that a man is capable of killing."

There are times even the Deadpan Snarker should know better and just shut up. This is especially true if the person being snarked at is giving him the Death Glare.

The Death Glare is a "calm", murderous look often coupled with a tensed and menacing posture, others with a deadly stillness, but always, always served with deathly silence. The Death Glare is hard to pull off, but when done right can convey a depth of anger and potential violence that no Badass Boast or Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner can hope to top.

This can be used by any character under Break the Cutie, Heroic BSOD, or other highly trauma/emotion causing pressures. Again, someone who's gently (or violently) pressing their Berserk Button may get this as a warning to stop before an Unstoppable Rage, Tranquil Fury or Roaring Rampage of Revenge is let loose.

See also Lightning Glare and Determined Expression. Frequently executed with a Kubrick Stare. Not to be confused with Eye Beams, which can literally kill with a look. If someone glares down something way bigger or more dangerous than them, they are Staring Down Cthulhu.

Examples of Death Glare include:

Anime and Manga

  • Axis Powers Hetalia has Sweden, whose facial expression is thought as a death glare by the other countries. However, he's not angry at anyone -- that's just how he always looks.
  • Anak from Tower of God who sports this when she realizes she is facing her parent's murderer. Who just took her keepsake out of his mouth.
  • Baki from Baki the Grappler is a master of intimidating Death Glares. He can throw one even while kissing (and without letting his girlfriend notice that something is not right).
  • Kanda's death glare in D.Gray-man. Complete with Slasher Smile, no less.
  • Lucy from Elfen Lied, as well as any diclonius in Kill All Humans mode.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist
    • Better not threaten to hurt Winry in front of Ed. You try and harm his automail mechanic, and you'll need an automail mechanic!
    • Also Ed and Al's teacher. Just her normal gaze is enough to make them Blue with Shock, and her actual death gaze, well...
    • And don't get on the bad side of Alex Louis Armstrong. If he looks at you that way, it's already too late. Enjoy the beating.
    • Though he is nothing compared to his sister, General Olivia Armstrong. Her normal look has shades of this. When she gets angry, well... let's just say that she doesn't need her sword to kill you.
    • If you harm one of Roy Mustang's subordinates, or worse, friends (though they are often the same), prepare for the death glare to end all death glares... if you can even see it while burning alive. Envy learned this the hard way.
    • Aside of Rose, any character showing up for more than two episodes provides various examples.
  • Gash Bell: Gash uses a Death Glare that inexplicably stops the far stronger Vincent Bari in his tracks. Other characters have also exhibited death glares, but not to the extent that Gash does.
  • Chikane Himemiya of Kannazuki no Miko will gladly Death Glare anyone who tries to bully Himeko Kurusugawa behind her back.
  • Katekyo Hitman Reborn
    • Hibari, near constantly.
    • Tsuna whenever he's in Hyper Dying Will Mode.
    • This seems to be Xanxus' default expression. Even Tsuna is still terrified of it.
  • Kenshin of Rurouni Kenshin is the absolute master of this. And at one point he faces Kurogasa, who has a literal death stare—by glaring at an opponent with his ki, he paralyses them. It takes a strong-willed person to resist it.
  • In Mahou Sensei Negima, Negi, after showing off his new powers by totally worfing a group of Bounty Hunters, manages to scare their boss into submission with one. Late in the series, Negi seems to throw these around frequently, especially in his aged-up form.
  • The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Kyon is in fact a Deadpan Snarker, receiving the Death Glare by Haruhi. Subverted in that Haruhi's intention was actually to give him a Care Bear Stare.
  • Naruto
    • Captain Yamato often gives one of these whenever Naruto and Sai are arguing.
    • During his earlier appearances, it was usually mentioned that Gaara seemed to have this expression all the time. Complete with a Nightmare Fuel Slasher Smile. The slasher smile is under his mask of sand that he wears during his fight with Rock Lee.
    • If they are not frowning, Sasuke and Neji are giving someone the death glare.
    • Sasuke, in fact, has been known to hold entire conversations simply by holding a steady death glare and letting the other guy talk. This is amazingly effective, and he has driven opponents to the point of recklessness simply by doing this. It doesn't hurt that he has a literal death glare.
    • Naruto gives one on chapter 538, one so damn potent and downright terrifying that even the GODDAMN KYUUBI was frightented.
  • In One Piece, this actually counts as a superpower that only the strongest pirates can use, called Conqueror's Haki.
    • Luffy begun developing the ability unconsciously. During the timeskip he has fully mastered it, along with other two types.
    • Shanks was the first shown user, right in the beginning episodes . He used it to make a giant sea snake (that just bit off his freaking arm) shit itself and run away.
    • Silvers Rayleigh uses it to make an entire room of attacking guards collapse. He then went on to train Luffy in it's use.
    • Aside from Haki users, some people use non-superpowered versions:
    • Roronoa Zoro has been accused on several occasions of having a "scary face". As we can see from this one example.
    • Nami has also made some very scary faces. You do NOT want to make her angry. More often than not, Nami falls under the category of Demon Head.
    • Boa Hancock gave Jinbe one when he started looking hungrily at a buffet Hancock made for Luffy. He was only allowed a few bites. She is also presumed to have the Conqueror's Haki.
    • Dracule "Hawk eyes" Mihawk. It has been said that the one thing that all his victims remember are his eyes.
    • Robin's reaction to Sanji's dumb joke here is downright terrifying; obviously she doesn't find it funny.
  • Every character in Peacemaker Kurogane has done this at least once.
  • It's the default expression of the main lead of Angel Densetsu. You do not want to see him actually glaring.
  • Toradora!
    • Taiga is pissed. She stares at a little bird. The little bird has a heart attack.
    • Ryuuji himself, due to having the Face of a Thug, tends to deliver these by accident. At one point he looked at Taiga while trying on some makeup for the role of a villain in a play and frightened her so badly she hit him. It gets even worse on the few occasions that Ryuji is actually trying to look scary. The school festival race stands out in this regard.
  • Corporal Randel Oland from Pumpkin Scissors gets this whenever he goes into his equivalent of "berserk mode".
  • Light pulls off a few of these at the end of Death Note. Nobody cares.
  • Vita of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's is usually glaring angrily during combat. Those are all trumped by the genuinely murderous look she gives Nanoha (who's frozen in terror) during a surprise hospital visit to Hayate...
  • Bleach:
    • Played for Laughs with Captain Unohana whose Yamato Nadeshiko personality makes her scary expression all the more jarring. She tends to use it to bring into line those who aren't normally scared of anything, such as members of the 11th division (including Kenpachi), or Ichigo.
    • Played straight with Byakuya. When Zommari informs Byakuya that he intends killing Rukia, Byakuya's eyes narrow. And, yes, Zommari dies.
    • Ichigo has proven capable of pulling off some really nasty ones.
  • Tohsaka Rin of Fate/stay night. Do NOT, just do NOT get her angry. Be prepared to be killed, er, I mean, amazed.
  • School Rumble. Eri did this to Harima when he bought her the wrong brand of tea.
  • Seto Kaiba of Yu-Gi-Oh!, according to Fanon, uses this all the time. In reality, he doesn't use it so much... unless your name is something other than Mokuba. Unsurprisingly, Kaiser Ryo has a very potent one of his own.
  • Berserk
  • Dragonball Z
    • A Super Saiyan is prone to give quite the death glare when pushed too far. Especially Goku and his eldest son Gohan. Actually, their expression seems locked into this when they use it during a fight. The only time when a Super Saiyan is seen using other expressions while in its mode is while Goku and Gohan are living in their Super Saiyan forms to increase their power.
    • Gohan's ultimate form in his fight with Buu is literally made of death glare, as part of his anger fueled power-up he always looks pissed in this form. Piccolo even commented about it.
    • The Super Saiyan Three Death Glare is worse, because Goku looks truly murderous when transformed, and there's no hint of humanity behind it, as he looks like a primitive, wild hedgehog/human hybrid. Gohan's Super Saiyan II transformation has a similar effect, same as Goku's when he fought Majin Vegeta.
  • Lawrence, from Spice and Wolf, in episode 4 of the second season. While he probably didn't intend to kill the stranger he rudely bumped into, he gave him a glare that made the much taller and tougher-looking guy back off instantly.
  • Kenshirou and Raoh from Hokuto no Ken, period!
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion. This trope + Scary Shiny Glasses = Gendou Ikari. Since his wife's death, he appears to be stuck into a permanent death glare he only lets up when he's looking at Rei.
  • Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru. Hotori insists that Kon add ridiculous ingredients to her cooking. Kon snaps, prompting a terrified Hotori to stand down.
  • Grings Kodai from Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions is such an evil, horrible person that he awakens to find himself on the receiving end of a mass Death Glare from the entire cast, including two characters who are just now discovering what an evil person he is. The only sounds in the whole scene are his Evil Gloating playing in the background over the TV network.
    • Misty also tended to be a master of these. Especially when meeting Melody in Pokemon the Movie 2000.
      • Pikachu gave Meowth a particularly hate-filled one when Meowth revealed himself to be a Heel Face Mole in Best Wishes!.
      • Pokemon The Movie: Black & White has Iris giving Emolga one after the latter used Volt Switch.[1] As this is a single-elimination tournament, this got Iris disqualified.
  • From Ah! My Goddess:
    • Hild can cow even first class goddesses with one meaningful look. Seemingly hereditary as her half-goddess/half-demon daughter Urd seems to be able to do it as well.
    • Even Yamato Nadeshiko postergirl Belldandy has a chilling one ready in the rare case someone is seriously abusing one of the people close to her. You usually need to try really hard to get her to make one though.
  • In Black Butler, Sebastian gives the servants one of these after they laughed when Elizabeth placed a frilly pink bonnet on his head.
  • Kenta Usui of Chibi Vampire has a face that scares people even when he's not trying to, similar to the Sweden example above. When he gets angry, though...
  • Inuyasha: Sesshoumaru is good at this. He can scare away a ravening pack of Youkai-wolves with a glare and once used it to terrify Kagome and Shippou into silence when he overheard them discussing healing his wounds.
  • In Digimon Savers, ShineGreymon gives Kurata one after assuming Burst Mode. It's filled with so much hate that you can practically hear ShineGreymon saying "I'm going to kill you". The Unflinching Walk as he delivers the Death Glare combined with Kurata's Oh Crap reaction to this only adds to it.
  • Kaoru of Virgin Love has one at his disposal for general use.
  • Oda Nobunaga in the Sengoku Basara anime. He paralyses Masamune to the spot by staring at him.
  • Tenchi in Tokyo: Those four ghosts in the first episode learned much too late about threatening the life of Tenchi Masaki. All SIX women and even Ryo-Ohki did not hesitate in displaying one en masse before an onslaught of ass-kicking ensued. The ghost that looked like a Shinto Priest tried to call their bluff... only to end up eating Ryoko's Megaton Punch.

Tenchi: Excuse me, ladies...
Ryoko and Ayeka: *GLARE*
Tenchi: (retreating back behind the rock) Never mind.

Comic Books

  • Comics and strips would often indicate a Death Glare with daggers.
  • Batman is one of the undisputed masters of these in comic book fandom, despite being very much a Technical Pacifist.
    • A good example was during the "Contagion" arc. Other members of the Bat-family are trying to disperse an angry mob, to no effect. Cue Batman appearing, pointing a finger, giving a Death Glare to the entire mob, and stating: "Disperse. NOW." It worked.
  • Superman
    • In All-Star Superman, our Man of Steel visits Lex Luthor in prison and implores him to put "that mind of [his]" to the good use of mankind, rather than insane schemes to kill Superman. What does Luthor do? Walks up the glass wall separating the two of them and hocks the mother of all lugies on it and just stares at Superman. Yikes.
    • Hell, once he was able to make Mxyzsptlk go back to his own dimension just by giving him the look.
    • Often, Superman uses this look in concert with his heat vision, giving him red eyes.
  • The same applies to Miyamoto Usagi.
  • In the Asterix album Asterix in Corsica, this is a talent shared by every Corsican male, and they're not shy about using it on pesky foreigners.
  • Preacher (Comic Book). The Saint of Killers' glare goes right past scary and into Bring My Brown Pants territory:

Cassidy: (re: Jessie) If that were me, I'd be turning them white jeans brown.

    • "And the preacher's faith came back in a rush of piss."
  • The Punisher Max #19. A group of mobsters have just dug up the remains of Frank Castle's family and filmed themselves pissing on the bones in an attempt to get the Punisher angry. Cut to a shot of him watching it on TV in a diner that shows it definitely got him mad.
  • In Body Bags, Mack and Panda Delgado do this right before an off-panel ass beating, or when they are especially angry and plan to do something violent. Their angry green eyes fill up a panel when this happens.
  • Dwight caught a death glare from Miho in Sin City: The Big Fat Kill. He was trying to stop her from torturing an abusive boyfriend to death (to give a good idea as to how brutal she was being). Once she gave him the look, he took a step back. Scaring a guy like Dwight is no easy task.
  • The Sandman is also very good at Death Glare. It probably helps that a) he can look like anything he wants, and b) his eyes usually look like bottomless holes of night. Which turn red when he's angry.
  • Daredevil 's look sent chills down The Punisher 's spine during their earlier encounters. The Punisher narrated it as being impossible to maintain eye-contact with Daredevil due to this trope. Eventually, The Punisher learned that Daredevil 's tendency to stare straight through him wasn't a psyche-out as much as Daredevil simply being blind.
  • The Penance Stare. Backed up by being forced to feel every sin you've ever committed all at once.

Fan Works

Film -- Animation

Jim Hawkins: If I'm not back in five minutes, leave without me.
Ben: I am not leaving my buddy Jimmy!
(death glare)
Ben: ... Unless he looks at me like that. Bye Jim!

    • The sparks jumping between the cables Jim was holding at the time really helped accent the glare.
  • Astro Boy (2009 movie): Tenma has this one down. Employed several times against Stone, but the deathiest of all was against Orrin. It's amazing he didn't burst into flame.
  • An American Tail: Fievel Goes West: The laaaaaaaaazy eye!
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas: When Jack arrives at Oogie Boogie's place, he's pretty pissed already, but when Jack hears Sally scream (therefore finding out that she was down there), he gives a Death Glare that pretty much signed Oogie's death warrant.
  • Astrid gives one to Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon when he wins out in dragon training over her.

Film -- Live-Action

  • Clint Eastwood's iconic Clint Squint usually takes the form of a Death Glare. There's a reason he's been referred to as "Father of the murder eyes".
  • Lee Van Cleef usually wears a perpetual sneer while playing villains that is enhanced by his narrow eyes and hawkish face.
  • Jack Nicholson is another career Death Glarer. If he hit his personal best in The Shining, it's not for lack of competition.
  • The one obsessive/traumatized Scottish soldier in Joyeux Noël who had his brother killed earlier. He looked very much about to kill a German soldier who was offering him champagne, before the German wisely walked away.
  • In Twilight, Edward scares off four thugs with lecherous intents with nothing more than a death glare... and a healthy dose of Drives Like Crazy. And an almost animal-like snarl. And, given the fact that he IS a vampire, perhaps a bit of Magic as well.
  • Meryl Streep in Doubt, about seventy-three times, all terrifying.
  • Meryl Streep glares at everyone within range in The Devil Wears Prada.
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
    • The big, hulking Thuggie guard is about to beat the living snot out of the slave child... when the mining cart rolls up and the lantern illuminates a very pissed-off Indiana Jones. We next get the cutaway of the guard sliding to a stop about 20 feet away.
    • And let's not forget Mola Ram himself, with his bulging eyes of epic doom. There was a reason they cast Amrish Puri in the role after all....
  • The Death Glare is the Weapon of Choice for the Antichrist in The Omen, capable of brainwashing or downright scaring people to death. It can also be used by proxy via animal familiars like crows or dogs.
  • Uma Thurman pulls off some truly amazing ones in Kill Bill. Particularly notable is the one directed at O-Renn Ishii in the scene where she's about to fight the Crazy 88.
  • Juan Miranda in A Fistful of Dynamite actually directs a death glare to the heavens themselves, no doubt piercing paradise and burning a hole through God in it's wake.
  • In Avatar, Jake Sully gets hit with an entire Na'vi tribe's worth of glare during his first night at Hometree.
  • The Sound of Music: Captain von Trapp delivers some of these towards anyone who has opposed him.
  • Get Shorty: "Look at me."
  • At the end of the 3:10 to Yuma remake, Ben Wade gives his gang a hateful stare, after the death of Dan, a man he had come to respect and like. They realize what that means and reach for their guns. It doesn't help.
  • Subverted in the fourth Rambo movie. Rambo gives some loud-mouthed mercenary called Lewis the Death Glare. The mercenary, however, just points out that he has seen this look a million times and isn't impressed at all. This example is also interesting in that both characters, Rambo and the mercenary, retain their badassness.
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
    • Kim Pine more or less has this as her default expression. One notable instance is when Scott insists she's over their breakup. Pan to Kim's glare, complete with Audible Sharpness.
    • Todd, Envy, and Julie all simultaneously give Knives one when she speaks, complete with "GLARE" written over their heads.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
    • In Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow delivers a formidable one when he shoots Barbossa to death. It's all the more effective since, up 'til that moment, the generally-cheerful pirate hadn't sported any expressions remotely like it.
    • Davy Jones can also do a killer stare. When he snarls "Do ya fear death?", everybody takes him seriously.
  • Daniel Day-Lewis is well known for his ability to perform these. One of his most intense ones is directed at the character of Eli Sunday in There Will Be Blood during his humiliating confirmation at the Church of the Third Revelation.
  • Played literally straight in the Puppetmaster movies, as Blade, the apparent "leader" of the puppets, has daggers set in his eye sockets which are only able to be clearly seen when someone is guaranteed to die.
  • Blind Mag gives two of these to Rotti Largo in Repo! The Genetic Opera: Once, when he jokingly tells her that she 'belongs to Gene Co', and the second is less subtle during Chromaggia, where she sings the line, "I would rather be... blind!" and then she rips out her eyes in a final act of defiance, rather than have her eyes repossessed by Nathan.
  • Both superhero/angel beings in Hancock have these, right after their Berserk Button is pushed. It's quite humorous.
  • Emma Watson lays down some scathing eyebeams o' doom throughout the Harry Potter film series.
  • Edward James Olmos (see below) pulls a pretty good Death Glare on his character's girlfriend in American Me.
  • Matsu, the protagonist of the Joshuu Sasori series, is largely silent, but has a superb line in Death Glares, producing fear, anger and insecurity in whoever they're directed at. Particularly when repeatedly stabbing people, but most effectively when bound hand and foot, lying in a puddle, in solitary, having just been covered with a sopping wet blanket; her abuser laughs in her face...until she sees Matsu stare back - and grin.
  • Every single Bruce Lee film is famous for this. The scary part about it is even when he is not pissed at anyone he still stares like that. Its more frequent in Enter the Dragon, when he confronts Ohara and Han.
  • In the film of Into the Woods, the Witch delivers a quite hilarious and frightening one to the Baker.
  • In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when Lucy sees that Eustace has become a hostage she gives him and/or the slaver a look that could burn through the wall.

Literature

  • The Lord of the Rings
    • In The Return of the King, Aragorn and army meet up with Sauron's "ambassador" at the Black Gate. While the "ambassador" rants on and on, Aragorn just glares at him, never saying a word, never moving a muscle. He is so taken aback by Aragorn's spiteful gaze that he eventually shudders and exclaims that he has been practically assaulted at parley (a BIG no-no) before riding off. Of course, in the novel continuity sufficiently pure-blooded Numenoreans have psychic powers, so it could have been more than just staring. In the extended cut of The Movie, a death glare wasn't deemed quite enough, and Aragorn does indeed assault the ambassador at parley, hacking his head off. Gimli tersely observes "I guess that concludes negotiations."
    • When Eowyn kills the Witch Kings flying beast and sends it falling to the ground with him still on the saddle, he stands back up and gives her an epic death glare without even having a face of eyes. He was about to kill her anyway, but now it's personal!
    • The most impressive one comes from Gandalf, however. Of course, when he did it to Bilbo, it was accompanied by special effects going for the more than ordinary effect described in the book.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire recounts a story in which a lord repeated an old joke about how Tywin Lannister was so rich he "must shit gold." Tywin's only response was to look at the man. Long after the laughter had died down, and throughout the rest of the feast, Tywin didn't look away. Eventually the lord had to flee the room to escape his gaze.
  • Discworld
    • Lord Havelock Vetinari. This is somewhat subverted, because just him looking at you may count as a Death Glare. Not to mention when he raises his eyebrow. Ooh, you don't wanna be in the same room when he does that...
    • And Sam Vimes freezes.

The chill radiated off him. The lines of his face locked like a statue.

    • In The Fifth Elephant after Vimes frightens the ambassador of a hostile state into pulling his/their armies back till they're practically in the next country:

Vetinari: Apparently you also looked at the ambassador in a very threatening way.
Vimes: It was only the way I usually look.
Vetinari: To be sure.

    • Granny Weatherwax is fond of these, and may use magic to augment them. (One usage in Wyrd Sisters is described explicitly as a "thousand-kilowatt diamond blue stare." She stares down a theater patron all the way to the ground.) At one point she and another witch get into a duel that consists of them both performing a Death Glare on the sun. And when someone came close, he got instantly sunburned. Granny lights fires by tossing some logs into the fireplace and staring at them until they burst into flames. You do not get much more deadly than that.
    • Mr. Slant, a zombie lawyer, also manages to pull one these off on opposing lawyers. Knowing 200 years worth of law and precedent because you were there to make it can be quite intimidating.
    • A favourite weapon of Keldas to keep the Nac Mac Feegle in line, to the point where the mere thought of it can terrify them.
  • Charles Morgan from Witch Week, while not always meaning to glare at anyone, is described as having a "blank and nasty" look which is generally magnified by his thick glasses.
  • Richard from The Sword of Truth throws these around fairly frequently. It's apparently a trait common to the Rahl family. The novel Blood of the Fold has a scene where Richard silences a near-riotous crowd by glaring at them.
  • In the Everworld series, the witch Senna Wales often uses these, to good effect; no outburst ever intimidates the others the way a flat stare from her Gray Eyes does. Her confrontations with her half-sister(the two hate each other) often consist of April being passionately, furiously angry, and Senna staring back all cold and contemptuously. Christopher states that Senna's glare basically says, "I'll crush you in my own good time."
  • Harry Potter
    • Molly Weasley has been described as a short, plump, motherly woman, and generally doesn't look very threatening, but if you piss her off, you will know about it. Her glare is capable of terrifying even her twin sons Fred and George (both of whom have otherwise never shown any signs of cowardice), and even scares innocent bystanders (such as Harry himself in book 2). Even her own husband, also a brave and courageous individual, is reduced to nervous mumbling under her glare.
    • Professor Minerva McGonagall is also capable of giving students "the sort of look that scorches."
    • Hermione Granger can do it too—when Ron teased her in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire about her self-enforced fast in protest of Hogwarts's employment of house-elves, she "gave him a look so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall that he gave up."
  • In Joe's World books by Eric Flint, Greyboar's glare is referred by several names, such as "The Mirror of Imminent Mortality", "Basilisk" or "Time to reconsider".
  • The Dresden Files
    • In Book 12, Harry meets Agent Tilly. One word and a look from Tilly is able to send Smug Snake Rudolph running from the room. Quite impressive, as the only other things that have been able to accomplish this were a loup-garou and a scourge of Red Court Vamps.
      • Harry's narration mentions that some people have one hell of a glare, that just the way they look at you gives you a little glimpse into the eyes of Death himself. Tilly is one of those people.
    • Harry himself probably posseses a seriously deadly glare, which he would't know being behind it. But when he looks at Cowl and Kumori in Dead Beat they visibly sway backward (Or maybe that was just the wind).
  • Paddington Bear's infamous "hard stare".
  • In Lord of Light, Yama's eyes can cause attacking men to drop their weapons and run. Being a Master Swordsman and the god of death could have something to do with it, though. Except that Yama does in fact have Eye Beams, too, which is why he's the god of death.
  • Miles Vorkosigan has, through a combination of osmosis and deliberate study of his near legendary grandfather and parents (as well as interactions with several veteran military personnel and senior government officials), learned to project quite an intimidating glare of his own, as his cousin Ivan discovers in A Civil Campaign.
  • The Count of Monte Cristo. This, along with the occasional Psychotic Smirk, has various characters outright terrified of him.
  • Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, in true So-Called Coward fashion, deploys a death glare now and then.

Atticus turned his head and pinned me to the wall with his good eye.

  • Stephanie Plum manages one in To The Nines as she's repeatedly being pulled aside for random security checks at an airport, calmly imagining murdering every annoying person around her in a particularly violent way. She doesn't let on what she's thinking, but Lula comments on how creepy Stephanie's suddenly gotten.
  • In the Warrior Cats graphic novel After the Flood, Leafstar proves herself very capable of giving death glares. One of them is enough to make her mate drop the prey he's carrying.
  • The first book of the Ramage series notes that when the title character is really angry, his eyes seem to bore straight through whoever he's staring at, and that at least one of the crew described him as being able to "see through oak planks." Another passage says looking into his eyes when he's angry is like looking into a pair of pistol barrels.

Live-Action TV

  • Two of these come to mind in the 2004 Battlestar Galactica:
    • Adama is known for this. Being of average height at best he prefers to get right in people's faces when he does so for maximum intimidation, although when he is further away it isn't much of an improvement. Notable instances include toward Starbuck in "Act of Contrition" and Athena in "Sine Qua Non". Olmos' glare in "Act of Contrition" was reportedly so terrifying that Katee Sackhoff, who plays Starbuck, thought Olmos was actually going to hit her! Heck, the Adama Glare has its own page on the Battlestar Wiki. It's like a punch to the soul. The effect of Adama's death glare is also well illustrated in this comic...
      • Special props to Dr. Cottle, the only character in the series to withstand an Adama Glare without side effects. Dr. Cottle is just THAT awesome. In the words of the BSG wiki: "So far, the only Colonial immune to the Adama Glare is Doctor Cottle, who is able to scowl intensely himself while making important medical decisions. Helena Cain resisted a Glare once, but the strain resulted in permanent back problems, exacerbated psychotic tendencies, and future vulnerability to the Adama Growled Ultimatum, a much weaker psychological weapon that fails to affect even D'Anna Biers on a later occasion."
      • Notably, in the mutiny episodes, Gaeta proves to be, if not completely resistant to the Adama Death Glare, then at least able to stonewall it for a good while. Adama really should have respected Gaeta a bit more...
    • Helo kills Athena, his wife, because as an Artificial Human who gets better if killed, she will resurrect near their kidnapped daughter to rescue her. President Roslin berates Helo for compromising the fleets security, at which he just stands up... and being much taller than her, and given she had faked their child's death earlier leading to her kidnapping, he looks like he might very well double his homicide count for the day. Roslin wisely pipes down and berates him from behind Adama.
  • Edward James Olmos in general is excellent at this—having had plenty of practice employing the Death Glare during his time as Lt. Castillo on Miami Vice (and during a guest starring appearance on The West Wing). A fanfic once described this actor as having a stare capable of melting solid neutronium at fifty paces—and causing small bushes to burst into flame.
  • Done in Serenity when Jayne is ripping Mal's leadership abilities by talking about how Mal got all the men in his unit killed back in the war. Zoe, the second in command and only other survivor of Serenity Valley, just gives Jayne a calm look and says "You wanna leave this room." Jayne, who is usually a muscle bound oaf without a clue, mutters, "Damn right I do," and does just that.
    • Done earlier in the series as well, in the episode "Out of Gas", where Mal slams Wash into the wall and gives him a vicious glare while ordering him back onto the bridge. The sheer force of personality in this scene is so powerful that it makes Jayne recoil defensively.
    • Jayne is constantly under fire from these. In "Objects in Space", Jayne makes an offhand comment about not wanting River on the ship. Mal, who'd already tried to throw him out the airlock at the end of "Ariel" for ratting her and Simon out to the Alliance, leans in real close and asks Jayne if that's the direction he wants this conversation to go, complete with a seriously scary Death Glare.
    • Simon can do this when he thinks River is threatened. In "Safe" he does this to his father, in "Ariel" he does this to Jayne in the "back off" scene. And a few times he and Mal have a mutual glare. Simon's glares don't exactly look death-like because of his fragile appearance. However they certainly look awesome.
    • River delivers one of these, coupled with a Kubrick Stare, at Jayne in "Trash." Later in Serenity, River gives these to the wall of Alliance commandos as she prepares to do to them what she just did to the Reavers.
  • 24
    • David Palmer is the master of the Death Glare. He's scarier than Jack at times, and that's hard to pull off.
    • Jack himself is no slouch when it comes to the Death Glare either; at one point, he completely subverts the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique, breaking President Charles Logan by simply staring at him.
  • Stargate SG-1
    • Teal'c is the master. In one episode, even though a suspect knew that Teal'c was only present to intimidate him, he was babbling everything he knew within a minute without a word of questioning being uttered. The scene goes like this: the prisonner is sitting in an interrogation room, handcuffed. Teal'c sits at the table across from him and simply begins glaring at him without ever saying a word. The prisoner immediately catches on that they think Teal'c will intimidate/bully him into talking, saying it won't work. A few more minutes of silent staring later and the guy snaps. (Entering the room whilst subtly reminding his victim that he is probably the strongest person on base simply by flexing his jaw muscles also helps.)
    • In another episode, Daniel has been turned into a Prior, and is understandably considered very dangerous. Woolsey informs SG-1 that he's recommended to the President that they kill him. Mitchell stands up and gives him a look, and Woolsey steps behind Landry and stays there for the rest of the scene.
  • Similar to the Teal'c example above, in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Die Is Cast", Garak reminisces with his former boss on how he once broke a prisoner during interrogation by simply staring at him from across the table for some lengthy period of time.
  • Aeryn Sun off Farscape is very prone to these. Often followed by lots of gratuitous violence.
  • Star Trek: Voyager: Captain Janeway in this episode. The opposite of Janeway's other favorite expression: the Big Gooey Look.
  • Captain Kirk shoots off a pretty good one at Dr. McCoy in the original Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". Doubly impressive in that he's buried up to his chest in dead tribbles at the time. (It probably helps that they had to drop those tribbles on Shatner something like 38 times.)
  • A blooper scene in Star Trek: Enterprise showed Jolene Blalock (playing T'Pol) forgetting her line and breaking down in nervous giggles when Scott Bakula (playing an evil Mirror Universe Captain Archer) moves menacingly towards her with his glare on Full Power.
    • Scott Bakula can be very good at the "Death Glare". In the episode where where religious fundamentalists take over the Enterprise and have killed at least one of his crewmen, Captain Archer gave a very deadly glare at the religious leader sitting in his chair in the Captain's quarters. As the fundamentalist religious leader makes demands to Archer, the glare got even deadlier.
  • Hilariously played out, parodied, subverted or whatever in Scrubs, with the Janitor giving J.D. the Death Glare with the song "Koyaanisqatsi" by Phillip Glass played. He later organizes a "group-glare" aimed at Carla, and rebukes Ted because the best Ted can manage is a sad glare. See both examples here.
  • In The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode "Dungeons & Dragons", Charley has a talk with Cameron, and compares her to Vick, a deactivated Terminator who she has been casually skinning and bagging. Once he calls her a "very scary robot," the normally emotionless and stoic Cameron gives him a sudden Death Glare, sets Vick's "corpse" on fire, and tells him "It's not safe for you here." Charley, understandably, runs the hell away.
    • Her death glare is very good for intimidating fellow students as well, though one nerdish boy on Pizza Day seems rather turned on by the experience. "Hectic!"
    • John gives his fair share of death glares later in the series as well; two that come to mind are to the Terminator attempting to kill Bedell and to Jesse.
  • NCIS:
    • Gibbs does this in almost every interrogation. His is so powerful you can feel it aimed at the back of your head.
    • Ziva also does a fantastic one near the end of the season five episode "Stakeout".
    • Tobias Fornell has an entirely adequate death glare of his own, usually aimed at DiNozzo. One time when he and Gibbs tag-team for an interrogation, the subject of their mutual glare starts spilling the beans in seconds.
    • Leon Vance is one of the few people immune to the Gibbs Glare, mainly due to having one of his own. When the two of them get into a Glare Down, the backscatter literally has other characters fleeing the room.
  • In Noah's Arc Malik taunts Wade at the wedding about Noah cheating on Wade with him. Wade delivers several death glares before giving him a solid punch to the face.
  • Criminal Minds. Given the kind of scum they deal with on a regular basis, most of the BAU has done this at one time or another. However, Hotch's is the most frequently seen, and the most legendary. Often precedes or follows the subspecies of Awesomeness By Analysis known as a Hotchalanche.
    • E.G. (from 4x03, "Minimal Loss"):

Colorado AG: Who the hell are you?
Hotch: I'm Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief. I'm the guy who's going to tell the attorney general of the United States whether to charge you with obstructing a federal investigation or negligent homicide. (pause) Get off my crime scene. (DEATH GLARE)

  • DCS Foyle from Foyle's War is a master of the cutting remark, especially against those who garner his contempt rather than his sympathy. But his most effective riposte was to a British pro-fascist politician in "The White Feather". Annoyed that this upstart detective is refusing to let him leave merely because a murder has been committed, the politician asks Foyle if he's Jewish. Foyle just stares coldly at him for a long moment, then walks out without bothering to reply.
  • Delenn assumes such a look for seemingly her entire journey from Minbar to Babylon 5 in the episode "Severed Dreams". She chases off an assault fleet from Earth with the stare and the words "Why not? Only one Human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else!" (Note that when the B5 CMOA page was put to crowner, this moment won.)
    • Her death glare reappears in "Atonement" when she figures out how to prevent her inquisitor from forcing her to leave Sheridan.
    • And again, with the phrase "end this," when first contact with the Drakh ends in her killing every one of them in sight.
    • G'Kar gives Vir the mother of all death glares before delivering his deathly chilling "dead...dead...dead..." monologue. It was chilling, at least in part, because G'Kar also sliced open his own hand, and was intoning "dead...dead...dead..." as each drop of blood fell to the floor.
    • In one episode Sheridan manages to piss of Kosh so much, that he manages to give him a death glare with just the single camera eye of his robot suit.
  • One Home Improvement episode, appropriately titled "The Look", revolved around the evil glare that wives give their husbands whenever they screw up big time. Or, in Al's case, mothers to their sons.
  • In Heroes Season 1, Nathan Petrelli often deployed a priceless Death Glare against his little brother Peter when the latter was saying or proposing to do something especially dumb.
    • The Death Glare is back in "Shades of Gray", after Danko defenestrates Nathan from the n~th floor of a high rise building. Nathan glares a whole catalogue of insults at him before booming off.
    • Claire Bennet uses the Death Glare for more defensive purposes. Once activated, she becomes immune to all forms of psychological warfare. She can also force a Heel Face Turn in her adoptive father, Noah "HRG" Bennet.
  • In Rome Lucius Vorenus... just about all the time.
  • Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It: "Have I got my Bollocking Face on? No no, this is my Bollocking Face".
  • Gossip Girl: Chuck Bass has a knack for it.
  • An exaggerated example in the How I Met Your Mother episode "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap", the audience is treated to Lily's "you're dead to me" look. The camera zooms in on her face, she starts breathing heavily, her hair starts swirling around her, and her eyes get a fiery glow to them.
  • David Tennant gives an impressive slow-burning Death Glare as Hamlet.
  • On Doctor Who, the Tenth Doctor gave MANY of these. Perhaps the most frightening of them are in "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" and "Waters of Mars". He also gave a few of these when he went into Tranquil Fury mode.
    • John Simm's evil Master squint is legendary.
    • The Ninth Doctor was fond of doing this to badly misbehaving Companions. (Adam in "The Long Game", Rose in "Father's Day", and Jack in "The Doctor Dances") He also managed to stare down some villains this way, at least temporarily. Usually it was just a bluff, though, done when he really had no weapons or way out.
    • And now Eleven seems to be carrying on the tradition: he's normally a happy-go-lucky guy who likes his fez and Jammy Dodgers, but if you cross him - well, you'll be wishing a time crack would eat you.
    • Back in the old series, the Fourth Doctor would occasionally break out the Death Glare if circumstances warranted. In "Genesis of the Daleks", the look he gives the Time Lord who stole his TARDIS and dropped him on Skaro should have had the guy needing to regenerate on the spot.
  • Michael from The Office busts out the glare from time to time, for example when Dwight went to Jan saying that he should be Regional Manager and then lied, saying he was at the dentist. Michael is usually a complete buffoon, but when he does that glare...he is pretty creepy looking.
  • Charlie Harper from Two and A Half Men is really good at giving these to his brother Alan.
  • Reba Hart from Reba is also good at this.
  • With a healthy dose of Papa Wolf, Ed Lane of Flashpoint gave one to a cop who was trying to stop him from reaching Parker and subsequently warn him about the investigator who appeared to targeting Parker with her questions and trying to pin the blame of the mission on him.
  • This exchange from Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

Willow: It's horrible! That's me as a vampire? I'm so evil and... and skanky. And I think I'm kinda gay.
Buffy: Willow, just remember, a vampire's personality has nothing to do with the person it was.
Angel: Well, actually--
Buffy: (death glare)
Angel: --that's a good point.

  • Deadwood: Timothy Olyphant is a master of these. One of his stares can leave a smoking hole in you.
  • Chuck: The Death Glare is John Casey's default face, even when he's happy. Assuming he ever is, it's kinda hard to tell. Basically as long he's not growling he probably won't kill you within the next five seconds.
    • The Greta agent in "Chuck Versus the Fear of Death" has a few of these, accompanied by her waving around a wickedly sharp knife. She and Casey even trade glares in a face-off at the end of the episode.
  • Beckett has one of these on permanent standby for whenever Castle gets snarky about their relationship... or when his theories go too far off the wall.... or when he tries her patience.... or pretty much whenever he's talking.
  • Sons of Anarchy enforcer Happy sends a bone chilling glare to Ethan Zobelle and A.J. Weston in the first episode of season 2. The fact that the actor who plays him, David LaBrava, is a real Hells Angel only makes it more terrifying.
  • Glee: Kurt Hummel has a pretty impressive one of these at the best of times. Combine it with a barely-arched eyebrow and a serial-killer head tilt and even Rachel Berry will get the message and back off, eventually. In a rather chilling example: When Kurt and Blaine dance at the end of "Prom Queen," it's a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming—except for the part where everyone who isn't the New Directions is dead silent and stone-faced.
  • Press Gang's Lynda Day has a Death Glare as her default expression.
  • Both the male leads in Chinese Paladin 3 break out the glare when they're seriously pissed off. It's not actually easy to get them them, considering that one of them is a Guile Hero and the other is The Stoic...but sometimes people do. Common reasons include harming Jing Tian's nakama, trying to make Changqing break his Heroic Vow, or bringing about the end of the world.
  • Breaking Bad's Walter White turns out to be a master of this. At least once a season he breaks out a mean one. It turns almost to Nightmare Fuel when coupled with Bryan Cranston's deep, growling voice.
  • Eliot Spencer from Leverage has this down to an art form. One character describes it as "that thing with [his] eyes that scares people."
  • Glee's Kurt Hummel has a very effective one. It's been called the "Kurt Hummel Bitchface" on more than one occasion.
  • Katsumi Daidou does this in the prequel movie Kamen Rider W Returns: Kamen Rider Eternal. The villain of the movie tries to mentally break Katsumi by killing someone whom he cared about. After the kill, Katsumi delivers one hell of a death glare, signifying the audience its ass-kicking time.
  • Abed pulls off a particularly awesome one in the Community episode A Fistful of Paintballs. In fact, it's so awesome it's accompanied by an eagle's scream and hellfire vfx. The recipient drops his gun and runs in terror.

Music

  • The singing group Heart had one implied for a cheating lover in an appropriately named song called "If Looks Could Kill".
  • Peter Gabriel's Games Without Frontiers includes the line "If looks could kill they probably will" in the chorus.

Tabletop Games

  • The game Adventure! has this as a Heroic Knack, Steely Gaze, which allows you to win all staredowns against non-Inspired characters and offers a bonus against Inspired characters, though the second-level Psychic knack, Cloak of Dread, might be a combo of this and a general aura of terror.
  • Similarly, Deadlands has an edge called The Stare that gives a bonus to intimidation rolls.
  • Warhammer 40,000
    • The Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, Mephiston, has one of these. He's known as the Lord of Death. Bad enough, but when you consider just how much death is involved in 40K...
    • Also the Nightbringer, whose glare can also function as an attack.
    • Also for the imperium Commissar Yarrick, same deal. Currently it is an Eye Beam attack but he used to just be rumored to kill orks at a glance. That's the point: when he heard the rumor, he instantly plucked out his eyeball and replaced it with a laser to live up to his reputation.
    • Also, in older pieces of fluff, Guardsman Pius, whom Horus killed with a mere flance for attempting to stand between him and the Emperor.
  • The illustration of the nymph in the 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual. Many fans have surmised that she's looking at someone who had been watching her and is not happy...

Theater

  • As the title character in Hamlet, David Tennant delivers the Death Glare to Claudius several times, and at least once to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Video Games

Frank: Out of the way, Bullseye.
Bullseye: Or what? You'll scowl me to death?

  • Damon Gant's Epic Stare of Death from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is the embodiment of this trope.
    • There was a flash parody which took Gant's sprite from the game, and used the audio from the above-mentioned Death Glare scene from Scrubs.
    • Miles Edgeworth from the same games is legendary for this.
    • Morgan Fey throws off some particularly vicious glares when provoked, as does Dahlia Hawthorne. Like mother, like daughter.
    • In Apollo Justice, when Kristoph Gavin is upset, he gains Scary Shiny Glasses. When you perceive him in the fourth case, you get to see through them. What you see is incredibly unnerving...
    • In Ace Attorney Investigations, Tyrell Badd gives one that makes Franziska back off. 'Nuff said.
  • Charlotte Aulin from Castlevania Portrait of Ruin lets out a comical Death Glare everytime that someone presses her Berserk Button by calling her a kid.
  • Several Pokémon have the "Glare" move, which paralyzes the target.
    • There's also "Mean Look", which prevents your opponent from escaping, "Leer", which lowers Defense, and "Scary Face", which sharply lowers Speed. Pokémon Black and White Versions also introduce the move Hex (known as "Evil Eye" in the Japanese editions), which doubles in power when the foe is afflicted by a non-volatile status ailment.
    • The ability "Intimidate" could also be an allusion to this trope, seeing as it takes effect (lowers the opponent's Attack) when all the battling Pokémon have done is merely look at each other, occurring before a single command is even given.
    • Uxie likely has one of these, as its eyes always remain mysteriously closed. The reason for this is because if the eyes do open, the target's memory will become wiped out.
    • Cyrus gives you, the player, a death glare during the opening credits of Platinum Version.
    • Cobalion, a Generation V Legendary Pokémon, can command other Pokémon to do its will simply by glaring at them.
    • Pokémon Black and White: Many mascot Pokémon from Generation 2 and beyond could be said to be exhibiting this trope based on their artwork.
  • Shinja from Battle Realms, whose death glare is an activated ability that intimidates all nearby enemies into dealing less damage. A popular folk tale claims that his glare can even block incoming magic (in-game, Shinja is near-immune to magic attacks).
  • Sonic the Hedgehog: During her Mama Bear moment, Amy gives Silver a look that essentially says "take one step foward and I'll kill you right here and now." This becomes a Crowning Moment of Awesome when you realize that she (a mere Badass Normal) made a powerful psyker back off with that look.
  • The floating eye enemies named Mogalls in Sacred Stones try to kill your units by looking at them, but they often miss.
  • In Mass Effect 2, Tali'Zorah is a Quarian, whose race was almost annihilalted when they accidentially created a race of sentient robots, with the few survivors having been forced to live in space on ancient dreadnoughts for several hundred years. When she is recruited to the Normandy SR2, she makes it very clear that she think it's a crazy idea to work with the human-supremacist group Cerberus and they can't be trusted a single bit, despite Jacob's best attempts to assure her that this group didn't have anything to do with the crimes and devastating experiments other chapters have commited. When she is about to leave the room, Jacob tells her to introduce herself to the ship's AI, she doesn't even say anything and just stares back over her shoulder for a few very long seconds.
    • It must be noted that this death stare is done through a near completely opaque/reflective helmet, making it all that much more frightening.
    • Shepard's no slouch at delivering such glares him/herself, and at one point is even able to outstare a freaking Krogan in Afterlife, leading to one of the funniest scenes of the game.

Krogan: I was just trying to have a drink here! No need to get all excited!

  • Mario Is Missing: After the internet got to him, Weegee began to do this frequently.
  • Kingdom Hearts example: Most of Organization XIII practices this frequently. A few (most notably Xemnas, Zexion and Saïx) have this as their default expression.
  • The portrait for Jaheira from Baldur's Gate could be interpreted as giving a Death Glare; at any rate, knowing her character, it's easy to imagine her dealing them out to everyone. (The second portrait on this page, if you're wondering.)
  • This is Bass' default look towards us in Rockman.EXE 4.5 (and the series in general, actually). Glowing Red Eyes of Doom included!
  • After beating the final boss in Mega Man Star Force 3, it gets up for more. After a short cutscene, the hero goes One-Winged Angel... stands there for a few seconds... and then glances over his shoulder at the boss. Cue unloseable boss fight.
  • In F.E.A.R. 3, the Point Man delivers a truly terrifying example of this in the intro when he realizes one of the Armacham soldiers is possessed by Paxton Fettel, and expresses his feelings toward him by slicing his throat.
  • In The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, Link pulls off an epic one pretty much all the time Demise is on-screen. Demise is actually intrigued by this: Link is the first human he's ever seen who looks at him with anger and hatred, rather than fear and terror.
  • This and Hulk Speak make up the entirety of Kimahri Ronso's interpersonal skills. (Although he's actually quite the Gentle Giant when he warms up to you.)

Visual Novels

  • Tsukihime: Tohno Shiki is usually quite gentle, doesn't particularly enjoy fighting and absolutely despises killing. However, if something truly angers him, The Glasses Come Off, and his glare has more often than not completely terrified his foes. Of course, his Evil Eyes help. In the Melty Blood manga, the majority of his expressions can be summed up into three categories: Exasperation, shock and tranquil fury. It should be noted that he hasn't gone Nanaya at all since the first game, so his terrifying glare is limited mostly to his normal persona.

Web Comics

Luna: I saw... I saw a tunnel of light, with my granddad waiting at the end, waving to me...
Marten: Jesus, I thought she was gonna go all Temple of Doom on you and pull your heart out through your chest!

Massey: Shh. I'm trying to kill you with my eyes.

    • Liz meets again the grumbling centauroid to whom she already gave a stink eye once (her summary is on the next two pages).

Liz: So help me, professor, if you're complaining about not having map pins[2], I will climb right up your neck and scowl at you so hard your degrees flake off.

Web Original

  • Lily, the human-hating fairy of Felarya has a truly frightening stare (mildly NSFW) with a generous helping of Ax Crazy.
  • Weiss Schnee of RWBY is a mistress of the Death Glare, especially during Volume 1. Even after she defrosts over the next couple volumes, she still is quite adept when it's needed.
    • Blake Belladonna delivers a particularly scathing one to Sun Wukon in V1E16.

Western Animation

Enzo: (while they're in a FPS based on the Evil Dead film series) "The next level has zombies, they have flesh on their bones!"
Dot: "I don't even want to think about that! What kind of sick twisted individual gets enjoyment out of this kind of game?!"
[Dot and Enzo glare at the viewers]

  • The Simpsons
    • In episode "Lady Bouvier's Lover" (#1F21), Abe Simpson had his dance-party date (Marge's mom) usurped by a rival. Abe angrily declared "I'm gonna give him the frowning of a lifetime!" and proceeded to do so. Unfortunately, the rival was the pathologically ego-centric Mr. Burns, so Abe's efforts were completely ignored.
    • Mr. Burns is no slouch in the Glaring department either.
  • Wakfu: Ruel's grandmother will give you a Death Glare if you ever say the word "borrow". Or "discount". Or "refund". Or... well, any suggestion you could pay less than her tariff. Even... especially to her grandson—he should know better.
  • Galaxy Rangers: Piss off Captain Foxx and you'll get one of these. Even Gooseman backs off when the stare comes out. You will not get a second warning before the Arm Cannon warms up.
  • Transformers Prime. Despite not having a face, Soundwave manages to pull this off. Right before giving Airachnid an epic beatdown.
  • In the Adventures from the Book of Virtues episode "Honesty", Plato does one to Socrates in response to his Incredibly Lame Pun.
  • In the ThunderCats (2011) episode "Berbils" gruff Old Soldier Panthro delivers one when he's caught openly hugging his new friend Ro-Bear Bill:

Wilykat: Busted!
Wilykit: Panthro's a big ol' softy!
Panthro: Is that a problem?
Wilykit: *stiffens nervously* Nope.
Wilykat: It's cool.

Real Life

  • Barack Obama became famous with White House reporters for his Death Glare, often after receiving a question he finds obvious and/or stupid (or, if you have a less positive view of the man, one he can't talk his way out of). Though that may be more along the lines of "Implied Face Palm".
  • Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave one to Representative Joe Wilson when he interrupted Obama's healthcare speech by shouting "you lie". Hilariously pointed out by The Daily Show of course.

Jon Stewart: Surprisingly, Joe Wilson survived that stare. Surprised everyone including myself, author of Nancy Pelosi: The Power of Her Peepers.

  • Even animals can give the Death Glare, as indicated by this famous quote by Robert Ruark on the Cape Buffalo:

"I lurched up and looked at Mbogo, and Mbogo looked at me. He was 50 to 60 yards off, his head low, his eyes staring right down my soul. He looked at me as if he hated my guts. He looked as if I had despoiled his fiancé, murdered his mother and burned down his house. He looked at me as if I owed him money. I never saw such malevolence in the eyes of any animal or human being before or since. So I shot him."

  • In the animal world, over-exerting oneself often means death. As such, the death glare has become a prominent form of saying "you've overstepped your boundaries" or "back off or die" without the user having to expend the energy to bluff, charge, fight, and/or kill the offender.
  • As any child or husband knows quite well, having their mother or wife give them "The Look" is never good.
  • There are a lot of different names for this look. "Death Glare" is just one of the more well-known. Other terms for it include the Evil Eye and "the hairy eyeball".
  • This is, of course, the first thing they teach you at Teacher Training Camp. Or at least, you'd think so.
  • Evil Eye charms, consisting of round beads with blue eyes painted onto them which are said to ward off the effects of the evil eye have been popular in Armenia, Turkey, and other countries in the Middle East since ancient times. The "evil eye" is said to be a sort of Death Glare stemmed from jealousy or just malice that could bring harm to whoever it is given to.
  • Australian Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop's stare has reached meme status.
  • Steve Jobs had a death glare that is infamous among Apple fans.
  • Jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman would often glare at other band-members while playing a song, and would continue staring for minutes on end while they played the rest of the tune. It was infamously known as "The Ray".
  • Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott recently spent a good minute of a one-on-one interview silently death staring the reporter after being asked a question. Most awkward thing ever.
  • Henry Rollins—His page image is more or less his default expression.
  • Any fighting event with a weigh-in, for example Mixed Martial Arts.
  • Reportedly, Michael Bay was talking to USAF helicopter pilot Maj. Brian Reese when one of his subordinates walked by singing the theme song of Team America: World Police. The Death Glare he gave the other resulted in Bay casting him as the Moustache Man
  • What happens when you drop your daughter to catch a foul ball in front of her mother? You get this.
  • Pat Summitt. Full stop.[context?]
  • The Transformer Owl, at 1:15.
  1. A Gen V move where the user electrifies an opponent, using the flash to self-eject and switch places with an allied Pokemon
  2. after trying to sucker two hundred millions of those out of her