Glowing Eyes of Doom

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
... NO MERCY.

Whether a permanent indication of malevolence, the emergence of the Super-Powered Evil Side or perhaps the result of a Berserk Button or Rant-Inducing Slight, these eyes are clearly not a good sign. Though they aren't necessarily the province of villains—particularly powerful heroes often manifest this trope when it's time for the gloves to come off. Unlike Red Eyes, Take Warning, this always means immediate trouble, and thus are near the top of the hierarchy of Uh-Oh Eyes.

Very good for giving the Death Glare. A Slasher Smile or other happily murderous expression doesn't hurt either.

You can usually tell the trouble is over when the eye lights go out.

A subtrope of Kaleidoscope Eyes or Technicolor Eyes. See also: Demon Head, Scary Shiny Glasses, Hellish Pupils and Mind Control Eyes. Part of a package deal with an Evil Makeover. Often paired with a Throat Light or Sinister Silhouettes.

Sub-Trope of Glowing Eyes, which merely indicate power. Super-Trope of Glowing Eyelights of Undeath. This trope sounds like it should go hand-in-hand with By the Lights of Their Eyes, but it doesn't.

Examples of Glowing Eyes of Doom include:

Anime and Manga

  • Lelouch in Code Geass (and everyone else with Geass) does this every time the Geass is used.
  • For The Hero of Fist of the North Star, Kenshiro has a seriously evil-looking pair of red Glowing Eyes of Doom whenever you get him seriously angry.
  • The title character of Hayate the Combat Butler resorts to this after being hit by a car. The occupants instantly surrender. It gets used a little more in the manga than the anime, but mostly by Hayate and it's pretty much always a Crowning Moment of Awesome such as coming back from a Curb Stomp Battle against Machina because the latter tried to take the Stone of Bonds or Crowning Moment of Funny such as when Hayate actually does something nice for Kotetsu and promptly takes him out with a vicious elbow to the chest when he tries to propose again.
  • Naruto's eyes start glowing red when he lets his emotions get the better of him. However, upon reaching the 4-tailed state, he will definitely obliterate anyone, friend or foe, and destroy everything within a half-mile radius or greater.
  • One of the shinigami in Death Note gains these eyes at one point while going for some dramatic kills. Light tends to do this, as well, to reflect his Kira persona. Mikami and Misa, too.
  • Even Humongous Mecha do this at times:
    • Mazinger Z: When the eyes of the titular Humongous Mecha glowed, you knew you had to run for cover. Often it happened when Kouji was really, REALLY fired up or even panicked and somehow his state of mood affected his mecha (which suggests Mazinger was sentient, a point plot later versions have explored). A memorable example happened in Shin Mazinger Zero. Mazinger was chained by a Robeast and unable to get free as another Mechanical Beast was disintegrating Sayaka's Humongous Mecha. Then Kouji got REAL MAD, and Mazinger's eyes glowed right before he shattered the chains binding it and delivered a Curb Stomp Battle to both Robeasts.
    • Zeon mecha from Mobile Suit Gundam in particular are notable for a single mono-eye that seems to have no purpose other than to swivel towards the camera and glow menacingly.
    • Gundam Wing took it a step further, with the image of a Gundam or other mobile suit appearing in front of an enemy bridge, eyes glowing, before the bridge explodes(usually due to a beam saber strike) becoming so visually impressive that every series since has copied it.
    • Also in Gundam Wing, characters unable to control the ZERO System enter an Unstoppable Rage, marked by glowing golden eyes.
    • In Gundam00, when the innovators use quantum brainwaves to send messages to each other. Or, alternatively, when "fucking Ribbons" uses said quantum brainwaves to hijack their minds.
    • Also, the Evas' eyes in Neon Genesis Evangelion glow white when they enter 'Berserk Mode', which generally means their opponent is doomed. DOOMED. Rebuild of Evangelion takes this a step further at the end of the second movie when Shinji, his EVA out of power and the 14th angel beating the hell out of him, finally snaps. We are treated to an absolutely terrifying scene of his eyes glowing Blood RED (film) before, in an explosion of pure rage, he re-activates EVA-01 through shear force of will and begins one of the most awesome beat-downs in the franchise's history.
      • When Mari switched Unit-02 into Beast mode, her eyes turned into an almost white hue of green.
    • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's title mech, the Gurren Lagann, does it as well, usually combining it with something lighting on fire as the heroes become even more resolved. The one time this is used against them is phenomenally awesome, as the main bad guy of the first part of the series gets out of his Ganmen, walks over it, on foot, with his head on fire, with glowing eyes of doom raging, and PUNCHES THE SHIT OUT OF LAGANN BARE-HANDED. Lord Genome is a force to be feared.
  • Most of the cast of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni do this both humorously and seriously. Not being able to tell which is which amps up the creep factor.
  • The title character of Rurouni Kenshin does this when he goes into Battousai mode.
    • Makoto Shishio from Rurouni Kenshin, after being shot through a wall, looks menacingly at the main characters with Glowing Eyes of Doom.
  • Girls Bravo: Humorously done by Lisa, Kosame, Fukuyama when they're pursuing Yukinari, Kirie, and Koyomi respectively, as well as Kirie at one point.
  • Nagasarete Airantou: Humorously, as the women close in on their "prey" like zombies.
  • Inuyasha: A sign of Youkai malevolence and/or power-activation. In particular, it happens whenever Inuyasha's Super-Powered Evil Side starts taking over or when Sesshoumaru begins to transform into his true form. Neither event is a good thing.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist
    • Although it still isn't very common, a lot of characters exhibit this trait—including both Elrics, Izumi, Winry, most (if not all) homunculi and some others.
    • On a more humorous note, Ed's eyes occasionally do it too when someone insinuates that he's short.

"There's no need to say anything more, Envy. The first thing I'm gonna burn to ash is your tongue."

    • Roy also did it (hilariously) when Barry the Chopper was hitting on Hawkeye.
    • In Brotherhood, Kimblee once does this while giving Ed a Hannibal Lecture and then proceeds to blow him up with a hidden Philosopher's stone.
    • Averted with Al's eyes which appear as small pools of light, that disappear only when he is unconscious.
  • Azumanga Daioh's Yukari-sensei, after Tomo accidentally hits her in the face with a tray.
  • Dragon Ball
    • Happens often in the first half of Dragon Ball Z, most often pertaining to Gohan, who would occasionally fall into a superpowered psychotic rage, during which his eyes would lack pupils and become more pronounced, at least during the loss of control.
    • Goku also does this during his first Super Saiyan transformation.
  • Kazuma's eyes in Kaze no Stigma glow blue when he taps into his full powers, and red when he's reverted to his Super-Powered Evil Side.
  • Vash The Stampede in Trigun does this occasionally, notably in the episode "Diablo". Basically it happens when a bad guy does something bad enough to break through his Obfuscating Stupidity, and when it happens, it's even worse than if he put on the Scary Shiny Glasses. He still won't kill you, mind, but by the time he's done with you, you'll wish he had.
  • Yuusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho gets these several times; once during his fight with Suzaku when he's about to use up all his life energy to win, once while glaring at Younger Toguro from the stands of the Dark Tournament, and occasionally thereafter while powering up or in the middle of a particularly intense fight - especially when, at the end of the Chapter Black saga, he is taken over by his ancestor, Raizen, shortly after being killed and returning to life as a demon. Where before Yuusuke's Glowing Eyes of Doom have always been blue, these are red, possibly to signify either his new demonic nature or the foreign presence in his body.
  • In Blue Drop, Hagino Senkouji's eyes glow a brilliant blue right before she tries to strangle another character. It also happens when she summons her space ship.
  • In Clannad, Kyou's eyes glow red as she strangles Tomoya and Sunohara after they pull a prank on her sister.
    • In the game, though, anytime she's mad (which is quite often), Kyou will pull this off.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S
    • Subaru invokes this trope when the Numbers abduct her sister and she activates her Combat Cyborg nature in response before going completely berserk on them.
    • Fate did this in the first season of the show during her first appearance, appearing as a black silhouette with Alucard-style glowing yellow circles.
  • Ryoko in Tenchi Muyo does this sometimes. It's not too big a deal if they're glowing yellow—that just means she's a bit narked—but when they glow red, she's ready to kick booty at the planetary level. If they turn green, well, let's just say she's not being herself.
  • Parodied in Magical Project S when Ginji Kawai (Sasami's father) gets a little over-enthusiastic while flying Washu's rocket.
  • When informed of the fact that she could turn Genshiken into a cosplay research club as president, Ohno gets Glowing Eyes of Doom. In fact she gets Glowing Eyes of Doom whenever she gets sufficiently obsessed about something, mainly cosplay-related.
  • The Count in Gankutsuou does this a few times.
  • Two characters from My-HiME get these—Mikoto (gold) and Nao (Red Eyes, Take Warning). Also Shizuru, when she arrives to help Natsuki against Nao, knocking her and her Child off a cliff (although she still appears to be sane at the time).
  • When Chika finds a photograph of Tina and Kaoru In Ai Yori Aoshi, Tina gets perfectly round Glowing Eyes of Doom combined with Hidden Eyes-style shadowing. After the cutaway for various spooky imagery, Tina's bright and cheery, while Chika's petrified.
  • The most powerful fighters in Ikki Tousen get these when they summon their inner dragons.
  • Ichika from Uta Kata gets glowing eyes when she gets afflicted by her powers, leading one very spooky scene when she approaches Manatsu while she sleeps.
  • Zelgadis in Slayers gets these when Rezo takes control over him when he needs to stall for time. A few scenes later and Rezo manages to summon Shabranigdo—only to learn that Shabranigdo was actually sealed inside his own eyes. Naturally, this leads to more glowing eyes to signify that Shabranigdo is taking over Rezo's body.
  • Soul Eater
    • Medusa is fond of this.
    • Death the Kid also starts glowing toward the end of the anime.
    • Might be the intended look of how Noah's eyes are occasionally drawn in the manga.
    • Members of the Star Clan gain golden star pupils.
  • Bleach has a few examples.
    • Ichigo's eyes will glow when he's wearing his hollow mask. This is particularly noticable in episode 271 when his hollow form gains an unexpected and nasty upgrade and for a moment all that's visible through the smoke are his glowing Eyes of Gold. This becomes a major Oh Crap moment for Ulquiorra. His eyes changed to red when the fight was re-animated for the fourth film.
    • Ikkaku's eyes sometimes glow when activating Bankai
    • Episode 217 of the anime when Cuulhorne has Yumichika at his mercy and unleashes his final technique. Yumichika simply thanks him for doing that as his eyes begin to glow with hidden power. Curb Stomp Battle is the only description for what happens next.
    • During Captain Amagai arc, several people have these while wielding bakoto blades, including the assassin Hanza, Captain Amagai's father, and Captain Amagai himself.
    • In Episode 303, several highly seated officers engage in a Men-versus-Women card competition. The final card to be competed over is a picture of Yoruichi. The surviving competitors charge for the card only to stop at the build-up of power behind them. They find themselves staring down the barrel of Soi Fon's bankai as her eyes glow wildly with her determination to obtain Yoruichi's card.
    • In the anime Invasion arc, The shinigami clones have eyes that glow with a lilac light, complete with lightning effects, just in case their special bracelets aren't enough for the readers to tell them apart from the originals. The eyes don't glow all the time - just when they're saying something particularly evil or about to get dangerous.
    • Also, when any Shinigami is resolved to kill another—resolve to win, resolve to fight to the death if they must, their swords gain a menacing sheen, wind starts to blow, and their swords will sometimes howl. Also, in people like Ichigo's case, their eyes will turn an unearthly crystalline blue.
  • Lime in Saber Marionette J has these when first activated, and again when Hanagata pisses her off.
  • The eyes of Tohno Shiki and Ryougi Shiki from the Nasuverse glows bright blue; it is the result of their Evil Eyes of death. Ryougi's eyes only does this when she activates them but Tohno's eyes are always activated. They become more apparent when he takes off his glasses, though, a sign that he is in his "killing mode."
  • Creed from Black Cat did this when his precious time with Train was constantly interrupted by others. And no, it wasn't played for humor.
  • Rail Tracer in Baccano! enjoys this trope almost as much as it enjoys dragging people under moving trains and grating their limbs and faces against the rails, which is a lot.
  • Black Lagoon managed to pull this off in a late episode when Rock upset Balalaika - she stood over him at an angle at which light reflected off her glass eye, evoking the trope.
  • The Shin Red Eyes in Samurai Deeper Kyo is the Glowing Eyes of Doom upgrade of the Mibu clan's regular Red Eyes.
  • Used occasionally in One Piece. One notable (and hilarious) scene is during the battle with Oz.
  • Hellsing
    • Both Alucard and Anderson invoke this trope whenever they stop screwing around and are about to curbstomp someone into the ground.
    • Seras Victoria gets it later on when she becomes a true vampire and renegerates her eyes. The effect is enough to terrify a horde of Nazi vampires. They're right to be frightened, considering what she does to them next.
  • One of Fushigi Yuugi's later villains, Tenkou, makes his first appearance as just a pair of glowing white eyes amidst flames. And a creepy disembodied voice.
  • Himeno of Prétear occasionally gets these when she is angry.
  • In the hilarious Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou OAV episode "Omoi no Arika", Kotengu manages to induce these in, of all people, Yasuaki.
  • Takeda Shingen from Sengoku Basara whenever an epic beatdown is in order. Young Blood Knight Date Masamune also does this whenever he's really enjoying a fight.
  • In Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple pretty much every single master in Ryozanpaku shows Glowing Eyes of Doom periodically, and not even when fighting other masters, but rather during the Training from Hell sessions with their own disciple.
  • In Berserk, the houndlike "Beast" that sometimes appears in Guts's dreams and that represents his darker side post-Eclipse has two really evil-looking red glowing eyes, and when Guts is under its sway, his good eye will often glow red like the hound, best illustrated in the PlayStation 2 game which focuses on the Millennium Falcon arc.
  • In Darker than Black, Contractors' eyes glow red when they use their powers. It's almost the only way of identifying them.
  • This happens in Boku no Futatsu no Tsubasa here.
  • In the Chrono Crusade anime, the demons tend to have Glowing Eyes of Doom when they're unleashing their full powers. Chrono in particular seems to get these when he's being overcome with Unstoppable Rage.
  • Pokémon: If Mewtwo does this and he's looking at you, kiss your ass goodbye. Same goes for Psyduck.
  • Casshern's cyan eyes in Casshern Sins glow during combat.
  • Played for Laughs in Full Metal Panic Fumoffu after Sagara trains the rugby team this is what happens to the peaceful rugby team from Kaname and Sagara school.
  • In a recent Bakugan episode, Drago's eyes began to glow. And then the stadium exploded.
  • Though he... she... it normally just has a pair of creepy Red Eyes, Take Warning Kyubey of Puella Magi Madoka Magica pulls the glowing eyes of doom off rather well after getting shot by Homura and coming back
  • While not particularly malevolent, the Bus Driver and school Chairman both have glowing, white eyes in Rosario + Vampire.
  • Towards the end of the Tower of Heaven arc in Fairy Tail, Natsu eats some of the Etherion Initially his eyes glow ice blue, the same color as the Etherion; then he starts choking, and his eyes blaze up into flames. Much ass kickery ensues.
  • Momoyo in Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai, whenever she's about to get serious. It helps that her eyes are red.
  • The eponymous Claymores get this when they activate their Yoma powers.
  • Vincent's eyes start to glow when he becomes Ergo Proxy. This generally does not bode well, considering what he is. Similarly, the other Proxies also exhibit this trope when initiating aggressive action.
  • When the Archdemon ravaged the kids eight years before the current Daily Lives of High School Boys plot, she has red, glowing eyes.
  • Ooyuki will do this when she gets mad. Making her angry is as difficult as it is a bad idea.


Comic Books

"Burn."

  • Several X-Men characters do this.
    • When a villain (or Wolverine) is really getting on Cyclops' nerves, a glow can be seen through/around his shades or visor. As his Eye Beams are always on, this probably indicates that their blast is becoming far more intense.
    • Storm's eyes become solid white and glowing when she uses her powers. This carries into almost all adaptations.
    • When Magneto gets angry, his eyes glow as well, independent of power usage.
    • Primarily in adaptations, a disguised Mystique is frequently revealed to the audience by her eyes glowing yellow (their natural color) briefly.
    • Gambit's eyes have been known to give off red energy when he's intended to look particularly badass.
    • Cable and his alternate-universe clone X-Man both have glowing left eyes.
      • Only when Liefeld manages to remember that the left eye is the glowing eye, since he seems to forget half the time.
      • Being related to Cyclops will do that. His other brother Kid Vulcan has them, and his alt-reality daughter Ruby does as well.
    • Sometimes Nightcrawler is shown with Glowy-eyes when he's lurking in the shadows.
    • Jean Grey and anyone else possessed by the Phoenix Force tends to have solid glowing gold eyes when they use the Phoenix powers.
      • Her daughter Rachel (who actually was the Phoenix host for far longer Jean, not that any writers remember that these days) has a glowing left eye (just like her half-brother Cable; see above), except that in addition to the glow it's surrounded by a glowing Phoenix emblem. Normally it's yellow, but a recent upgrade turned it blue.
    • When Wolverine is introduced in the first Ultimate X-Men storyarc, he is seen perched up in a tree, hidden in the shadows. Except his eyes are glowing for some reason. Not "cat-eye reflected in the light" glowing either, more like "Superman about to unleash the heat vision." No explanation given.
  • In the Star FOX comic from Nintendo Power, Fox McCloud gets these on two occasions. One is right at the beginning, where Falco hits Fox's Berserk Button by suggesting raiding commercial freighters instead of the Imperial ships the team usually targeted in the beginning ("Feathers for brains! For the last time, we are NOT THIEVES!"). The other is right at the end when Fox goes into Unstoppable Rage mode after learning the truth about what happened to his mother and father.
  • Even Badass Normals seem to get glowing eyes when they're lurking in shadows. The entire Bat-family for example seemed to have glow-in-the-dark lenses in their masks. Rule of Cool excuses this for the most part.
  • Sistah Spooky from Empowered seems to get these under extreme emotional stress. How extreme? Picture watching the love of your life die as you are literally seconds from saving her, then having your worst enemy (in your own mind) show up to gloat. If things get that bad, running is not even an option. Said 'enemy' breaking down because she chose to save her over herself, is.
  • Due to their connection with the Speed Force, Flashes and other speedsters sometimes get glowing eyes (or, as Bart likes to put it, "lightning eyes"). This is mostly involuntary, but it usually does happen at moments clearly meant to be significant, so it all works out.
  • In Mega Man, the end of issue 3 had the Robot Masters standing behind Dr. Wily with their eyes glowing.
  • Doctor Strange sometimes gets these when spellcasting. Considering that he has a lot of dangerous spells which don't make his eyes glow, these are a good cue that he's really getting serious.
  • Nains got red-to-yellow fiery glow as a side effect of wielding rune weapons; runes themselves start to glow at an earlier stage. Which is appropriate, since battlerunes usually resonate with the wielder's rage, so a warrior with glow spreading from runes onto the rest of a weapon and glowing eyes can be assumed... less than reasonable at the moment.
    • Redwin, being the greatest dwarven duellist alive and Living Legend, after his retirement was seen with glowing eyes even without a rune weapon — and still had good restraint, at that. Also, once he caught between his naked palms a glowing rune sword and threw the wielder by it while in this state.


Fan Works

  • Dragon Age the Crown of Thorns
    • The dwarven noble protagonist, being a Spirit Warrior of sorts, suffers from this effect whenever he calls on the energies of the Fade. The glow is pure white and can extend to his whole body and even become something like a shroud of mist-like gossamer strands around him, depending on how much power he pumps out.
    • Alim Surana has a true sight spell that makes his own eyes glow blue. His irises can shine crimson too, when he uses blood magic.


Films -- Animation

  • In The Iron Giant, the title character's eyes glow red whenever he sees a weapon or is fired upon. If his rage becomes too great, he transforms into a nigh-unstoppable killing machine, that's capable of taking out tanks (and possibly battleships).
  • Chernobog, the Slavic dark god, in the "Night on Bald Mountain" segment of Fantasia.
  • The Secret of NIMH has a more benign application of this. Both Nicodemus and the Great Owl have glowing eyes to indicate that they are beings of mystical wisdom. And if you've never read the book, you'd be forgiven if you assumed that implied they were the same being (what with the glowing eyes and wispy grey fu manchus...)
  • Megamind: Titan's eyes tend to glow when he get's really pissed off.
  • Aladdin: Jafar in his genie form has glowing yellow eyes, visible for about two seconds before he gets stuffed in a lamp.
  • Zurg's eyes glow yellow in Toy Story 2 via lightpiping, explained in the Defictionalization of a Show Within a Show Buzz Lightyear of Star Command as being related to heat vision.


Films -- Live-Action

  • X-Men films' Mystique's eyes glow yellow. Sometimes when she is impersonating another character, her eyes will flash yellow to reveal her identity. The heroes use this to identify her when she impersonates the Senator.
  • Star Wars' Anakin Skywalker's eyes glow a bright yellow when he goes off to kill all the youngling Jedi. He covers his head with a hood, but you can tell that they glow in the shadow. Also, he is wearing eyeliner. That's what happens when you go darkside.
  • Scott Howard, the titular werewolf from Teen Wolf uses this to hilarious effect along with a demonic voice to procure beer from a curmudgeonly old liquor store keeper without having to show ID.
  • The creepy children from Village of the Damned have eyes that glow bright blue whenever they use their Psychic Powers.
  • Louis Tully in Ghostbusters got glowy eyes after being possessed by Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer.
  • The evil robot kids from Spy Kids have eyes which flash like this, accompanied by an electronic sound effect.
  • Iron Man's eyes glow. But the trope is really invoked when, in the darkness, the Iron Monger suit's eyes switch on.
  • The creature's mask's eyes in Predator occasionally flash a yellow glow. This trick is brought back in the second Alien vs. Predator movie, as well as in Predators.
  • In the film adaptation of Dune, the entire Freman race has glowing blue eyes, as a side-effect of their addiction to the Spice. In the original novels, however, it was simply altered pigmentation, and they're eyes were just a weird kind of blue.
  • If you're in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and "God"'s eyes are glowing in response to your query to why he needs a starship, let's just say you're not going to get an honest answer.
  • Shows up in Tower of Terror as a trick by the ghosts.
  • In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Todd (a.k.a. ex-boyfriend #3) has eyes that glow whenever he uses his vegan superpowers.
  • Subverted in Attack the Block. The glowing bits turn out to be teeth.


Gamebooks

  • An interesting variation occurs in the Lone Wolf gamebook The Kingdoms of Terror. Lone Wolf is being attacked by a very fast monster with glowing eyes in a pitch-black castle. If you choose to fire an arrow at its eyes you actually get a bonus to your success roll since, because they're glowing, they're an easier target.


Literature

  • Drool Rockworm's permanently red-glowing eyes in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are a typical example of this. On the other hand, Caerroil Wildwood with his silver-glowing eyes is not, being neutral to the good guys and doom for the bad guys.
  • The Nazgul in The Lord of the Rings are often depicted in art as having glowing red eyes. As they are normally invisible, this is their only visible feature.
  • The vampires in Black Dagger Brotherhood reverse this: their eyes glow like lighthouses when they see their mates. When they actually battle the bad guys, no glow.
  • Star Wars Expanded Universe
    • Grand Admiral Thrawn from Timothy Zahn's Star Wars spinoff novels is a Chiss, a race of aliens closely related to humans but with blue skin and featureless glowing red eyes. He's a gentleman military commander of a villain, rather than someone who will flip out and burn you with laser beams from his eyes, and while he's definitely a bad guy he's complex and not strictly evil. The glow is nonetheless unsettling, and goes out when he dies.
    • Other Chiss show up elsewhere in the EU. While the most antagonistic any of the named ones has been was around the level of an Obstructive Bureaucrat, they all have eyes like that, and they all tend to have a little of Thrawn's inscrutability.
    • Flim simulates the glow with "self-powered surface inserts".
  • Subverted in Discworld with Death, who has glowing blue eyelights (unless he's angry) and is a lovable example of The Spock. It should be pointed out that the blue eyes in question are STARS and that in moments of "emotional" stress (Death can't really do emotions; no glands) they go supernova. Yes, you heard me, his eyes explode when he's angry.
  • Ba'alzamon from The Wheel of Time has eyes that occasionally appear to be pits of fire. After he's defeated, his body has its eye sockets burned out.
  • Precision, does this a lot in Hells Children by Andrew Boland.
  • In Fiona Patton's Branion novels, royals have literally flaming eyes. In one book a four-year-old sovereign stares so hard at one of her vassals as she argues with him that her eyes grow hot and a "red-hot nimbus of flame" rises up between them. The man, old enough to be her grandfather, hastily submits to her will.
  • Sorcerers in Second Apocalypse have very bright glowing eyes (and mouth) when they sing their spells. In cases where extreme power is invoked this extends to a whole-body glow.
  • In the Doctor Who tie-in novel Forever Autumn, the aliens attack the Doctor & co. using possessed cats, and later, children whose eyes glow green.
  • In The Island of Doctor Moreau, the first definite sign Prendick sees that M'ling isn't just an ugly human is when he sees the beastman's eyes flash in the darkness, reflecting light like an animal's.
  • The Dresden Files: White Court Vampires have this as a gauge of how far into their "super vamp" mode they've gone. If they're normal, you're looking at a dangerous predator. If they're all white, back away slowly and then get out of dodge. If they're silver, make your time.


Live-Action TV

  • Stargate SG-1
    • The Goa'uld do this for intimidation, as well as involuntarily when taking on a new host or dying. Slightly subverted in the fact that the Tok'ra, the good alien cousins of the Goa'uld, also show off their glowing eyes. But they usually nod before, and that's an indication that the symbiont is going to talk, not the host.
    • The Doci in seasons 9-10 does this when possessed by the Ori, as does Adria on her own, both before and after ascending.
  • Lyta on Babylon 5 has both a Glowing Eyes of Doom mode when under Vorlon influence and a glossy black eyes mode when resisting (or influenced by) the Shadows.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • Willow gets a pair of completely black eyes when tapping into The Dark Side, once against Glory for messing with her girlfriend, and the other when she does her Face Heel Turn following Tara's murder. And when she did some serious white magic in the last episode, she gets a pair of completely white glowing eyes.
    • Buffy gets also a pair in "Primeval".
  • Carnivale: Ben Hawkins sometimes has glowing white eyes when doing something seriously holy.
  • Heroes: Isaac and Peter along with Sylar -- once he steals Isaac's power -- and later Matt, for no apparent reason, get glowy eyes when their in their precognitive trances. Ted, the Radioactive Man, gets glowy eyes when he's about to explode.
  • In Scrubs, when The Janitor makes the grave mistake of saying a new attractive latina nurse looks like a "young Carla", Carla gets glowy eyes and conjures up a powerful wind that blows all throughout the hospital (in an obvious Shout-Out to Storm) and emits a high-pitched scream that breaks Dr. Kelso's glasses and shatters Turk into a million pieces. ("So that's why they call him Glassman!") This all happens in an Imagine Spot by the way.
  • This trope was also a regular standby of Charmed. For example, Cole's eyes glowing with fire after a You Kill It, You Bought It turns him into the Big Bad in season four.
  • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Gary Mitchell is zapped by the galactic barrier, his eyes start to glow, and his psi powers grow exponentially. He goes power-mad and murders a crewmate. In the end, Kirk is forced to kill him.
  • Doctor Who
    • The Master in the Made for TV Movie had constantly glowing yellow eyes which he concealed behind sunglasses and used to instantly hyptonise Chang. The eyes are a continuity nod to the final story of the original series, Survival, in which the Master was infected and under the influence of the Cheetah Planet that gave his last incarnation Eyes of Gold.
    • Another example would be Rose when she absorbs the Time Vortex energies. When the Doctor takes it out of her, his eyes glow too.
    • Ditto Donna when her Time Lord metacrisis brain kicks in.
    • In the episode "42", those who become possessed by the sentient sun- including the Doctor- have burning orange eyes.
  • Most werewolves on Big Wolf on Campus have eyes like this. Tommy being the most obvious example.
  • Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
    • When Tommy Oliver is Brainwashed and Crazy, his eyes would occasionally glow neon green.
    • The original Megazord, the Mega Dragonzord and the Thunder Megazord would have their eyes flash while performing their Finishing Moves.
  • In an episode of How I Met Your Mother entitled "Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap", we see Lily's "you're dead to me" look, which is kind of an overly dramatic Death Glare. The camera zooms in on her face, her hair starts swirling around, she starts breathing intensely, and her eyes light up with a fiery glowing.
  • Johnny B. of Misfits of Science developed glowing eyes when his electricity-based powers were fully charged up.
  • The original Battlestar Galactica's robotic Cylons have one glowing red eye that slide back and forth with a scary metallic noise. Also, in some posters/still images for the reimagined Series, the humanoid Cylons sport glowing red eyes as well, though this isn't in the actual show.

Music

Star is burning
 in my eyes, and beating
 in my heart. I done my sacrifice…

Puppet Shows

  • The main villain on Thunderbirds, known as The Hood, has eyes that glow yellow when he uses his mesmeric powers.

Tabletop Games

  • In the original Vampire: The Masquerade, the single-dot Protean power was "Eyes of the Beast" or "Gleam of Red Eyes" depending on the edition. Aside from making the vampire in question's eyes glow red, which was great for intimidating some characters, a vampire using it could see in deepest night as though it was a clear day at noon.
  • Seemingly everyone in Warhammer 40,000 has these. It can only be assumed that any face-concealing helmet will have LEDs in the eyepieces.
    • That said, the Salamanders chapter of the Adeptus Astartes actually DO have them: glowing red orbs that emit heat, with no pupil or iris.
  • Tieflings in the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Technically, they don't actually glow, but the fact that they're always a solid, often metallic, color seems to create a similar effect. For bonus points, they're often gold or Red Eyes, Take Warning.
    • In 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons, psionic characters would gain glowing eyes whenever they used many of their powers.
    • Certain spells such as "Arcane Sight" make a person's eyes glow blue, and Darkvision can make a character's eyes flash or glow red.
    • First Edition's Oriental Adventures also has the "Fiery Eyes" spell, which makes the caster's eyes glow with an unnatural fire.
  • In the Palladium Fantasy RPG, a character could be "cursed" with glowing red eyes, which actually give him increased stats for the purposes of intimidation.
  • In the Warcraft RPG, at least in the first one, night elves (and perhaps high elves also; don't have now the sourcebook) are described to have no pupils and glowing eyes, especially under the moonlight.


Video Games

  • Spiders in Minecraft
  • In Warcraft III, Grom Hellscream had glowing red eyes, caused by his embracing demon rage with open arms. The glow dies away a moment before his death because he killed the demon who caused the rage.
  • World of Warcraft (see also Glowing Eyes for less sinister examples):
    • The Warlock class's demon summons have glowing eyes (except the Felhunter, whose eyes are so tiny as to be practically invisible).
    • The demonic eredar have glowing yellow eyes (although that differs from their non-demonic draene counterparts only in colour).
    • Fel Orcs, who achieved their state by drinking a demon's blood, have glowing red eyes.
  • In the Tekken series, Kazuya Mishima's left eye glows red as of the 4th game, either because of the Mishima bloodline's Devil Gene, or his resurrection by G Corporation. Mokujin, as well, though his aren't really evil as much as an indicator of evil.
  • Dracula of Castlevania fame has glowing red eyes - as if it weren't already obvious that he's not someone you want to mess with...
    • Joachim of Lament of Innocence and Walter of the same game display this, too, when they're showing the hell off with magic - Walter in a cutscene notably creepier than most of the others.
  • Dragon Age II
  • Although the Hummer robots of Marathon are pretty much a joke, their eyes glow in the dark and may cause pants-crapping. Oh yeah, and what's worse is when you see the juggernaut's eyes... The only difference is that the juggernaut is DAMN FAR FROM A JOKE.
  • The Witch from Left 4 Dead. Oh God, the witch...
  • The Heartless of the Kingdom Hearts series, at least those with visible eyes, do this constantly. So does Sora in his Anti Form.
  • Common in fighting games, especially with possessed or boss characters. Akuma and Evil Ryu from the Street Fighter series always have their eyes glowing red to show they're under the influence of Satsui no Hadou. M. Bison has glowing white eyes in every game he's appeared in outside of Street Fighter II.
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
    • Fighters put their eyes all glowy and get a fiery Battle Aura when they grab a Smash Ball, which gives them a somewhat diabolic look. Check out yourself.
    • However, Captain Falcon and Meta Knight already have these to begin with, and Mr. Game & Watch averts this by having no eyes to speak of...
    • Speaking of Brawl, Link and Toon Link both have "dark" alternate costumes featuring ebony skin, white hair and, yes, glowing red eyes.
  • In Fable being fully evil causes your eyes to glow red. By this point, you also have demonic horns, insects buzzing around you, a red mist emanating from your footsteps, and townspeople flee at the sight of you.
  • In King's Quest VI Heir Today Gone Tomorrow, you can recognize a shapeshifting genie, trying to lure you to your death, by his flashing golden eyes (see Mystique, above).
  • Devil May Cry
    • Subverted with Sparda, who is a demon but had a Heel Face Turn long before the games to become a sort of savior figure to parts of the human race.
    • Played straight with Beowulf, whose Red Eyes, Take Warning glows when he Turns Red in the third game.
    • Also played straight with Dante in the first game and Nero in the fourth.
  • Some of the characters in The Black Heart have these; Animus' single eye glows yellow, so do Hashi's eyes. Final has two huge glowing yellow eyes, and their glow amplifies whenever he casts powerful magic. In a particularly sinister variation, Janos is always portrayed as a dark silhouette, and generally with a single red eye glowing.
  • In Doom, the protagonist's eyes on the status bar become glowing and golden when an invulnerability power up is taken (or God Mode is enabled). Combine with a Berserk Pack, and you too can have fun with puns!
  • Similarly, the protagonist in Wolfenstein 3D—but only on enabling of God Mode (no invincibility powerups in that game).
  • City of Heroes
    • Several different forms of these are costume options. These range from a face-type (which predates costume auras) with solid-color eyes, to Electric Eyes, Fiery Eyes, Smoky Eyes, Sparkly Eyes, and more.
    • Also, human-form Kheldians' eyes glow when using their powers as an indication that they're channelling power from their alien halves.
  • Continuing from the Mobile Suit Gundam example in the anime section, in a number of games, most mobile suits will have their eyes momentarily glow before some of the more dramatic attacks. By the latest SD Gundam game, G Generation Spirits, pretty much every single Mobile Suit in the game will have a freeze frame where nothing moves except the background and the glowing eyes of the attacking unit. Occasionally matching certain suits with certain pilots will give even more dramatic glowing eye shots. The best is whenever Char Aznable pilots his Sazabi, which provides a particularly menacing image. Of course, it IS a Zeon MS....
  • Sam Fisher of Splinter Cell is nearly always pictured wearing his night-vision goggles, with the glowing green eyepieces as a visual reference to this trope. He's not superpowered, but he's certainly not someone you'd ever want to anger.
  • In The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf's eyes start glowing hellishly just before he goes into One-Winged Angel mode.
  • Those infected by the Unstoppable Rage in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe have this.
  • The four fiends of Final Fantasy IV seem to have this, whether or not it's due to graphical limitation is debatable.
  • Waluigi exhibited these whenever he scored a point in Mario Tennis for Nintendo 64.
  • In Overlord, YOU have these.
  • Geneforge, people who use many canisters frequently develop glowing eyes. They're not necessarily evil, but they are powerful and frequently unstable. It may be intentional, rather than a random side effect—a character in the first game says glowing eyes are "designed to engender respect."
  • The Little Sisters in BioShock (series) have glowing eyes until they're rescued.
  • Phazon-corrupted characters in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption sport glowing blue eyes, including Rundas, Ghor, Gandrayda, and Samus herself - the last being visibly reflected in her visor, and growing worse throughout the game.
  • Free Space's Shivans have seven Glowing Eyes of Doom. In a V shape. All of them are Red Eyes, Take Warning.
  • The Moon Rabbit Reisen Udongein Inaba from Touhou has these. She has the ability to drive people insane by using her eyes to screw around with wave lengths, which also allows her to make illusions and such. When you fight her, a pair of seriously freaky GIANT RED EYES appear in the background to signal that she's screwing with you. All the more fun, considering that her last spellcard turns her bullets invisible.
  • The three core characters in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness have these. Laharl and Etna show them when they're angry, whereas Flonne also sports them when she's overly excited. Bonus points for her eyes lighting on fire either way.
  • In Jak 3, Jak's Light form has glowing white eyes—a stark contrast to his Dark form's Black Eyes of Evil. While he might look rather angelic with those massive, radiant wings, he can also freeze time and then blast the hell out of you with the Supernova.
  • The Perverse Puppet that Lieselotte carries around in Arcana Heart has these as a side-effect of her dead sister possessing it.
  • All of Persona 4's shadows have these when in human form.
  • In Killzone, the Helghast combine their gas masks with these.
  • In the opening cutscene of Titan Quest, it is shown that the Gorgons' tendency to turn people into stone with their gaze is voluntary; you can tell when one is about to use this power because her eyes will glow. they never try doing this to player characters.
  • In Katamari Damacy and all ascending games, when you fail, the King's eyes will glow and make a speech on how much you fail.
  • In StarCraft, all the Protoss (and most of the Zerg) have glowing eyes
  • BlazBlue
    • The Kaka clan have glowing eyes. All. The. Time. They're descended from a living weapon, but are largely comical and harmless. Even the playable member, Taokaka, is a comic relief Cloudcuckoolander.
    • Hazama/Terumi has Glowing Eyes Of Doom in the Continuum Shift trailers, and when revealed as the The Man Behind the Man in Calamity Trigger
  • For some no doubt insane reason, Kim Kaphwan's eyes have been known to become sparkling white spotlights when he decides to start kicking evil in the ass.
  • Baldurs Gate: Sarevok's eyes glow yellow/golden, at least sometimes. Even in his portrait in Throne of Bhaal when he's no longer a Bhaalspawn.
    • Fan Fiction likes to extend this to the player character as well, when they get really mad or something, for obvious reasons.
  • Resident Evil
  • Neverwinter Nights
    • A character reaching twentieth level as a monk will get glowing eyes, presumably reflecting their becoming more than mere mortals as per the 20th-level class property.
    • The 1.69 patch gave the Valsharess glowing eyes, which made her look a lot less realistic.
  • In God Hand the mooks will gain glowing eyes when there's a Demonic Spiders about.
  • Guilty Spark 343 from Halo is basically a floating mechanical eyeball. His eye goes from blue to red when he's enraged beyond rationality.
  • In the arcade version of Double Dragon II, the boss Abore has glowing red eyes and Terminator style Sunglasses at Night; is he supposed to be a cyborg?
  • In Monster Hunter (more specifically Monster Hunter Tri) a hunter can forge the Helios armor set, in which the "eye slots" glow a sort of light blue. It doesn't really inspire doom (in fact you'd probably get some praise from fellow hunters) except for the monster you hunted to make it, an Elder Dragon named Ceadus. Who is most likely at the very least 15 meters long and causes earthquakes to an entire island whenever he rams it with his horns.
  • Monsters' eyes glow a sickly greenish shade when they're subjected to Mind Control in Parasite.
  • The Raincoat Killer in Deadly Premonition has what appear to be red-tinted headlights where his eyes should be.
  • Mass Effect 2
    • If Shepard moves toward the Renegade side of the Karma Meter, his/her eyes begin to glow red as his/her more violent and aggressive and ruthless nature exacerbates the cybernetic implants in his/her body. Needless to say, it looks scary, and renegade Shepard is definitely someone you do not want to piss off.
    • Also invoked when Harbinger takes control of a Collector soldier.
    • In the first game, Saren had these, as well, due to his Reaper implants.
  • In the Legacy of Kain franchise, the Hylden and those possesed by them have glowing green eyes. The Hylden seen at the time are Exclusively Evil. Being in the local idea of Hell for untold millenia does that. Oh, and they try to take over the world and kill everyone. And most humans have no idea.
  • The Replica Ninjas in FEAR.
  • All demons in Strange Journey. It's a callback to the earliest days of the series.
  • The Zuul from Sword of the Stars are depicted with glowing eyes in the artwork.
  • In Bayonetta, Rodin and Bayonetta are talking in the Gates of Hell Bar, and Rodin is using bottles to describe the relationship between Paradiso, Inferno, and the Human world. When he says that heaven and hell are going "straight for each others' throats," his eyes glow red behind his sunglasses.
  • Night Trap features these with Sarah (if you're fast enough to see her in the bedroom at the start of the game) and Tony. All of the other vampires have them as well, but only when they show their fangs.
  • The Doctor Who adventure game The Gunpowder Plot features a shapeshifting Rutan called Lady Winters, who when in human and cat form has bright green glowing eyes.
  • Standard for anyone on the recieving end of an Ubercharge in Team Fortress 2. The Demoman can get them by taking heads with the Eyelander.
  • All of the colossi in Shadow of the Colossus have these. When they're simply moving around, their eyes are blue, but when they're attacking or being attacked, they turn orange.
  • Asura from Asura's Wrath after climbing out of Naraka has eyes permanently in this state, and they glow their former red color on occasion. His master Augus has these naturally, but they are white holes because Augus is blind.


Visual Novels

  • Dahlia Hawthorne from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations does this in the first case after she is revealed to be the murderer of Doug Swallow. Also, her mother Morgan Fey tends to do this when she gets angry.
  • Rider in Fate Stay Night when she actually shows her eyes... Probably because they aren't really eyes so much as (apparently) crystallized magical energy that happen to be what she sees with. Oh, and she's Medusa. Figure out the 'of doom' part.


Web Animation

  • Haiku Melon from Banana Nana Ninja has eyes that glow orange when he's about to unleash Psychic Watermelon Powers.
  • The Hypersuit from Hyperboy.
  • Epsilon Church from Red vs. Blue, embodied by a Monitor (basically a floating eyeball) from Halo. When the eye shifts from blue to red, it indicates that the Monitor is about to fire a laser beam.

Epsilon: You will fear my laserface!!

  • Chicken of Chicken and Moose sometimes has these, usually coupled with bursts of frightening lucidity.


Web Comics

  • In a Dragon Fable fan-fic, Dan's eyes glow red when doom takes over him.
  • Ciro and Kareems eyes glow when they "go dark" in Project 0. Inversion in that it doubles as a cartoonish trick.
  • The title race of Tarol Hunt's Goblins sport something close when angered. It's not quite glow—it's their widened pupils. Big Ears on the other hand did receive these when he acquired his enchanted paladin gear.
  • Magic users in Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire have their eyes glow when particularly focused.
  • Gunnerkrigg Court
    • Reynardine does this occasionally.
    • His cousin Coyote's eyes (and he has many) glow when he's showing off his awesome power, which, if he wanted to use it that way, could mean certain doom for just about anyone.
  • Spoofed in these two Adventurers! comics.

Tesla: I can't believe you would do something like that! We lost people on the force to glowy-eye-soul-stealing-related complications!

  • Lackadaisy: While not literally glowing, Viktor's eye is often noticeably shaded lighter than his surroundings would logically cause it to be, giving it a "glowing" look (aka The Glare Beam). This is especially noticeable during the firefight with the pig farmers, which takes place in a darkened garage. During this scene, everything is shaded so as to give an impression of pitch blackness... except for Viktor's scary, glare-y eye. The fact that he's a cat doesn't hurt either.
  • Looking for Group
  • The Order of the Stick
    • Celia's eyes glow blue when she's angry, or possibly when she shoots lightning, as these tend to happen at the same time. She also likes to use them against her mother, apparently.
    • This is common with enraged spellcasters in The Order of the Stick. Samantha the Sorceress and more recently, Vaarsuvius both glow with an awesome power.
  • Sluggy Freelance
    • Lord Horribus's eyes glow so fiercely when he's mad that flames start to creep out of them (which almost always goes along with a fiery Battle Aura).
    • Also Gwynn, when she gets so angry that the powers of K'Z'K or the Book of E-Ville activate in her automatically.
  • In CRFH, Dave's eyes glow when he's about to unleash his laser beams.
  • In The KA Mics, the ex-valkyries, Gertrude, Brunhilda & Nikki's, eyes glow when they are angry. Oddly enough they usually glow the same color as their hair color.
  • The Seven Deadly Sins of Jack have glowing eyes, including the titular character, whose eyes grow black and become pin pricks of light when he's ticked off. The Devil subverts the trope by having completely dark black eyes.
  • Eight Bit Theater: Black Mage. Complete with the hellish aura that was last seen when Black Mage confronted the personification of his sins ( himself), and before that, seen on Black Mage when he took over hell. Not surprisingly, Black Mage was using the power he gained from killing the personification of his sins.
  • Lilah from Ctrl Alt Del likes playing Sims 3... for a very particular reason [dead link].
  • The title characters of Freak Angels have this when they use their powers.
  • Characters who go into Berserk mode in Gold Coin Comics.
  • In Wapsi Square, the golem girls and Monica can make their eyes glow, essentially causing them to function as flashlights. It is fueled by fear, doubt, or anger. A Golem feeling any of those certainly spells danger.
  • Homestuck
    • After Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, Rose's eyes glow white. Inverted with Kanaya, however; after coming back from the dead, everything glows except her eyes.
    • More literally, Sollux has glowing red/blue eyes—and is a "Mage of Doom"
  • leveL's main character combines this with some glowing goo oozing from his wrists. Sure, he's always been a pretty timid guy, but when you see a kid that glows that much, and advances towards you with a creepy smile, you have to admit that something ain't right.
  • The Bulldog Dragon from El Goonish Shive has these.
  • In Endstone, rocking the Banestone, or the Artifact of Doom, gives Jon glowing eyes.
  • In The Adventures of Shan Shan, Karmavore.


Web Original

  • In The Gamers Alliance, the eyes of demons and half-demons start glowing when they channel their demonic powers and are about to kick some major ass.


Western Animation

  • On Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Frylock's eyes glow blue before he zaps you.
  • In the Silver Surfer cartoon, Galactus' eyes glow brightly. So does his mouth when it opens.
  • Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender has these when he's in the Avatar State. Every young Avatar gets Glowing Eyes of Doom when they enter the Avatar State before they learn to control it. However, when they master it and become full-fledged Avatars, they only need to enter it for about half a second to gather power, then they break out the ass-kicking with normal eyes. This is extremely important, because an Avatar killed while in the State breaks the cycle of reincarnation. Avatar Kyoshi is shown using this method (her eyes pulse, then she bends all four elements simultaneously to move tectonic plates) during the episode "Avatar Day". Aang also uses the master method in the finale, after finally learning to control the Avatar State to keep himself from breaking his Moral Code and killing Firelord Ozai. Presumably Korra from The Legend of Korra will have them too, but we haven't seen her in the Avatar State yet.
  • Spawn in the HBO animated series. That's pretty much ALL you see of his face most of the time. Also Clown/Violator.
  • Gargoyles
    • The gargoyles develop these when angered; males have glowing white eyes, while females have glowing red eyes. Originally, the writers only gave Demona with the glowing red eyes of doom, but the creators thought that would be too silly to base it on evil alignment, and changed it to a natural, sexually dimorphic trait.
    • The gargoyle clones reverse this: males have glowing red eyes and females white, though this may have more to do with being rapid-aged in tanks rather than their being clones, per se.
  • Teen Titans
    • When animated Starfire's eyes go from green with green-tinted whites to solid, glowing green, you don't want to be in her way. And once she gets Eye Beams, this happens whenever they're used. (Comicverse Starfire's eyes are always solid green.)
    • Also, Raven's eyes generally glow solid white when she's using her powers. And if her eyes ever start glowing solid red, it's advisable to run. Especially when they split from two into four. But then, it's probably already too late if that's happened. (Happened in "Aftershock", in season two, without recourse to the Season Four Arc.)
    • Terra's eyes glow bright yellow when she's pissed or can't control her powers.
    • This is pretty common in Teen Titans. In addition to the above, Trigon has red eyes that glow constantly, Brother Blood's eyes glow red when he uses any of his powers, Blackfire's eyes are purple and glow when she's angry or charging up a starbolt, and Jinx's glow pinkish-purple.
  • Transformers
    • Similarly, although most of the Transformers in Beast Wars have glowing eyes, Dinobot's normally red eyes shine bright green when he's charging up his Eye Beams. On top of that, they blink by having the lights switch off and then back on, while the actual physical eyes don't close.
    • The following picture from Transformers Cybertron: [1] [dead link] 'Cons, you should run now.
  • X-Men: Animated Cable's left eye glows white when using his telekinesis (or at dramatically appropriate moments) and red when using his cybernetically enhanced vision.
  • In Danny Phantom the title character can make his eyes glow green when he gets serious or angry; it's one of the effects of his ghost powers. Appropriately mocked by Vlad, the series' resident Magnificent Bastard, when Danny tries to intimidate him.

Vlad: Ooh, the scaaaaary eyes. (fires his Eye Beams)

  • The eponymous robot in the DuckTales (1987) episode "Armstrong", when it becomes clear that he's turned on Scrooge.

"I...AM...ARMSTRONG. I...AM...YOUR...FRIEND.'"

"Gosh. Maybe this is weird to say, but... am I the only one who's being made to feel hungry by watching... this? "

  • Green Lantern John Stewart from Justice League has glowing green eyes as long as he's wearing his power ring -- Word of God says that it's because he's been a GL for so long that it's more or less "infected" him. He's also one of the few Green Lanterns who doesn't wear a mask. A few other maskless Lanterns have this same effect.
  • In the 2005 New Captain Scarlet, Captain Black and anyone possessed by the Mysterons, their eyes will glow green either to show the viewer who's working for them, hypnotizing a victim, or ready to fight the title Captain.
  • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
    • Twilight Sparkle gets these when she uses some of her more powerful spells.
    • Princess Luna also gets these when angry.
    • The mane six whenever they break out the Elements of Harmony.
  • On The Secret Saturdays, Zak Saturday's eyes glow yellow-orange whenever he uses his cryptid-controlling powers.
  • Gwen in Ben 10 Alien Force gets these with some uses of her powers. The pilot of Ben 10 Ultimate Alien has Ben getting the same for a moment after using Spidermonkey's Super Mode.
  • In Static Shock, many Bang Babies, good or bad, have glowing eyes while using their powers. The protagonist's eyes don't glow, but they do have sparks flying in them.
  • In ReBoot, when Matrix's bionic eye spins around and glows red, you know something is either going to blow up or die. Even when he doesn't get to shoot something, he obviously wants to.
    • Hexadecimal's eyes are always like this except for the time she became a sprite.
  • On Jimmy Two Shoes, this happened to Heloise once to go along with a Slasher Smile.
  • GIR in Invader Zim. His eyes are always glowing, but when he goes into Duty Mode, there's a brief flash from his eyes.


Real Life

  • Cats can appear to have this ability, but it's actually more like Shining Eyes of Doom. Cat eyes have reflective membranes (the tapeta) that bounce light which gets past the retina back onto it to increase their night vision. However, the "glow" is all light reflected from the environment and is not a real glow.
    • Not surprisingly, the pictures on Cats That Look Like Hitler often have "glowing eyes of evil"—in some cases it's probably deliberate.
  • Parrot eyes don't glow, but they do dilate very noticeably -- "flashing". Somewhat akin to a cat's purring or a pet rodent chattering their teeth, this eye flashing might indicate excitement, or warn another that they are very, very PO'd.
  • Many creatures (most familiarly dogs and cats) have eyes with an organic mirror (the tapetum) behind the retina, to increase the sensitivity by bouncing light back onto it. In diurnal creatures, this tends to be red (not quite the same thing as the red-eye effect in humans), in nocturnal, crepuscular, and cathemeral creatures such as cats or owls, this tends to be orange, yellow or green, and in dogs, this tends to be blue-green or blue.
  • Humans don't have a tapetum lucidim, the red eye effect is simply caused by the flash being too close to the camera lens.[1] Animals that do have a tapetum very rarely exhibit the red eye effect unless their eyes are blue; instead you may see eyeshine. In fact, humans that DO exhibit something resembling eyeshine (other than the typical red eye effect) in photos should be checked by an ophthalmologist as it is a common symptom of Leukocoria and several other serious (but fairly rare) illnesses.
  • The Vampire Squid uses bioluminescence to pretend to have these.
  • There are neon contacts that glow under UV light. Technically, they absorb light at an invisible wavelength and convert it into a visible wavelength before releasing it. This is known as fluorescence.
  • Cars, if you think of their headlights as "eyes". And it certainly looks like a giant glowy-eyed monster's bearing down on you if you're standing on a dark road with a car coming in your direction. No wonder deer are paralyzed with fear.
  • Night vision goggles make other people's eyes look like this. The pupils appear either white, whitish green, or greenish white.
  1. ↑ The light from the flash travels into the person's eye, bounces off the retina, and back into the lens. Placing the lens farther away from the lens widens the angle, making it more difficult for the light to hit the retina and bounce back to the lens. And now you know.
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