Femme Fatale: Difference between revisions

 

''[[Femme Fatale/Trope Co|This item]] is available from the [[Trope Co]] catalog.''

 

{{examples}}

* One of the undeniable masters of the femme fatale role and [[Trope Codifier]] is Fujiko Mine of ''[[Lupin III]]'' fame. When she's not using her body to get what she wants, she falls back on her knowledge of weaponry, battle strategy, and disguising. She uses this against anyone and everyone, especially her male counterpart and [[Foil|rival Arsene Lupin III]].

** Fujiko's fame reached a climax in 2012, when after forty years and much egging by the fans, she received a spin-off series that featured her and the rest of the Lupin gang during the Monkey Punch era before the first TV series. Titled ''[[Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine|Lupin III the Woman Called Fujiko Mine]]'', it was praised for its distinct approach to the Lupin III universe.

* Nao Yuuki from ''[[My-HiME]]'', with [[Femme Fatalons|claws to match]]. She uses her feminine wiles to lure overly eager sexual predators [[Enjo Kosai|with promises of dating them]] and separate them from their money {{spoiler|as a sort-of revenge for the family she lost: thugs robbed her family, killed her father, and left her mom in a [[Convenient Coma]]}}. (Oh, and [[Dark Magical Girl|she can fight, too]].)

 

* Natasha Romanova, the original [[Black Widow (comics)|Black Widow]], although she reformed from her [[Honey Trap]] ways early and eventually became a SHIELD agent.

* Not surprisingly, due to its noirish roots, ''[[Sin City]]'' has quite a few. Almost every female character counts, and Dwight is the one that gets in trouble with them as they tend to go back and forth between [[Damsel in Distress]] and [[The Vamp]]. The most triumphant example from the series is in ''The Babe Wore Red''. Dwight said it best:

* ''Fatale'' by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (of ''[[Criminal]]'' fame) places a horror spin on this trope which also serves to make the femme fatale in question more sympathetic; it's implied that she's supernaturally cursed to forever remain young and beautiful, and the spell also works to cause them to fall hopelessly in love with her to the point where it leads to their own ruin. It's clearly established that she hates her life and the effect that she has on men, but can't escape it.

 

* Jessica from ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]''. She's a toon clearly created by some artist to be the perfect [[Femme Fatale]], from her dangerous good looks and sultry voice, to the slinky way she moves. Even her smile is suspicious. {{spoiler|It turns out that she's the [[Red Herring]] and was telling the truth all along. She really isn't bad; she's just drawn that way.}}

* The shade of Mal in ''[[Inception]]''. She killed or tried to kill someone in about every other scene she was in, but she still gave the hero pause when he was faced with stopping her.

* Tae-ju in ''[[Film/Thirst|Thirst]]'', who seduces Sang-hyun, {{spoiler|convinces him to murder her husband and turn her into a vampire, then turns into a gleeful killer.}}

 

* In ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat]]'' action/comedy series by Harry Harrison, thief turned galactic secret agent 'Slippery Jim' DiGritz finds himself up against the psychotic (yet beautiful and criminally brilliant) Angelina. Jim falls in love and marries her in the next novel of the series. Supposedly, the psych-techs have straightened out Angelina's twisted personality, implanting her with a conscience, but there are times when her husband has to restrain Angelina's natural enthusiasm for [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture]] and killing. Plus, Jim quickly learns the inadvisablity of showing interest in other women, or trying to wriggle out of promises (an attempt to back out of their marriage is stopped by Angelina shoving a [[Hand Cannon|.75 calibre recoil free pistol]] up his nose).

* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] novel ''Ghostmaker'', Inquisitor Lilith actively tries to incite [[Green-Eyed Monster|jealousy]] in Gaunt as a way to manipulate him. Gaunt calls her on it and tells her it's not needed, he will help voluntarily. She admits at the time that she's not used to voluntary cooperation and, later, when about [[Cool Gate|to go through a gate to an Eldar craftworld]], that she actually found Gaunt attractive.

* In [[Josepha Sherman]]'s ''[[The Shining Falcon]]'', Ljuba uses magic and sex to try to work herself into power.

 

* Selena Coombs of ''[[American Gothic]]''. In an interesting inversion, however, her primary sexual usage in the show, aside from being Buck's mistress, is not to turn a good man evil, but to keep a man nominally on the side of evil—Ben Healy—from defecting to the good.

* Sam Marquez on ''[[Las Vegas]]'' works for a casino. Specifically, her job is to keep 'whales' - big spenders - happy. Once, she only slept with a guy because he was dying, and she has openly called herself a slut. Strangely, she rarely sleeps with any of the whales themselves, and had to start going to a therapist later in the series after she was [[Wham! Episode|abducted and nearly raped and killed]].

* ''[[The Shadow Line]]'' has Petra Nayler, girlfriend of the missing Glickman. She seduces the married Joseph Bede using her apparent helplessness, {{spoiler|and is later revealed to have done this to Glickman too, under the orders of Counterpoint. Not only that, she only went to Bede to look for leads on Glickman's location, so she could kill him for trying to expose the conspiracy.}}

 

* Ada Wong from the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series initially showed very mild [[Damsel in Distress]] qualities in her first appearance, but by the fourth game in the series, there was no question that she was a first-class Femme Fatale, to the point that it's clear in retrospect that her originally helpless was playact the whole time. Trying to figure out which side the girl is on and if she's going to help you or hurt you can give you (and poor [[The Hero|Leon]]) a serious headache.

* Naomi in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 1]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots|4]]''. According to the backstory, she seduced Richard Ames away from his wife, Nastasha Romanenko, in order to get onto the FoxDie project so she could modify it to kill Snake. She spent the game until the bombshell [[Tsundere|alternately]] acting very cold towards him and [[Stalker with a Crush|drooling over him]]. She has good intentions though.

* Sylvia Christel from ''[[No More Heroes]]'', who manages to convince an impoverished otaku living in a cheap motel to use his laser sword that he got off the internet to murder people. Granted, said otaku wasn't exactly a prince himself in terms of morality.

 

* Blackarachnia from ''Transformers: [[Beast Wars]]'' plays this to the hilt when she gets a chance, towards allies and enemies alike, though she [[Dark Action Girl|does less flirting and more fighting]] than is usual for this trope. The choice of a black widow spider as her alternate mode is surprisingly appropriate, though she's not without redeeming qualities.

** The Blackarachnia in [[Transformers Animated]] fulfills this trope whenever it's convenient for her, either with the Autobots or the Dinobots. Optimus Prime is especially vulnerable to falling for this no matter how many times she does it. It does make you wonder why she considers herself such a horrific freak, when everyone with a spark seems to want to jump her thorax.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Femininity Tropes]]

[[Category:Mysterious Woman]]

[[Category:Stock Characters]]

[[Category:Tropes About Perverts]]

[[Category:Villains]]