Obviously Evil: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Woah, that's a bad guy, that's a really bad guy! Did you see his face? His head looks like one of the [[Eenie Meenie Miny Moai|Easter Island heads]]!"''
|'''Max''', ''[[Get Smart]]''}}
A lot of fiction out there has a tendency to employ [[Black and White Morality|incredibly black and white perspectives]] to the characters and their actions. Due to the belief that its target demographic (usually children or just [[Viewers are Morons|total morons]]) can't understand subtler shades of evil, many works of fiction create a stark contrast between the heroes and villains. When this happens, the creators will bring in their Obviously Evil[[
▲{{quote|''"Woah, that's a bad guy, that's a really bad guy! Did you see his face? His head looks like one of the [[Eenie Meenie Miny Moai|Easter Island heads]]!"''|'''Max''', ''[[Get Smart]]''}}
When a work of fiction indulges in Obviously Evil[[
▲A lot of fiction out there has a tendency to employ [[Black and White Morality|incredibly black and white perspectives]] to the characters and their actions. Due to the belief that its target demographic (usually children or just [[Viewers are Morons|total morons]]) can't understand subtler shades of evil, many works of fiction create a stark contrast between the heroes and villains. When this happens, the creators will bring in their Obviously Evil[[Tradesnark|®]] Design Team.
The goals of the villains and their organization are always incredibly ''eeeeeevil'', [[Evil Plan|with one of five purposes]]: [[Take Over the World|world domination]], [[
▲When a work of fiction indulges in Obviously Evil[[Tradesnark|®]], every villain will be a [[Card-Carrying Villain]], usually [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]] in shades of [[Dark Is Evil|black]] and red. There won't be any [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]], [[Knight Templar|Knights Templar]] or pretty much anyone that doesn't accept and accentuate their evilness. If you see anybody that might seem to be a shade of grey on the side of the villains, it will usually basically be a [[Token Good Teammate|hero with a slight bit of behavior modification to work with the villains]] (and an inevitable [[Heel Face Turn]] coming up during [[Sweeps]]). If the villainous group is a governing body, it will always be an [[The Empire|Evil Empire]] with a [[Zero-Percent Approval Rating]]. There aren't any [[Punch Clock Villain|Punch Clock]] [[Mooks]] that just accepted the job because it's work, but, instead, [[Always Chaotic Evil]] [[Faceless Goons]] that act like miniature versions of the main villain and provide no guilt whatsoever, when they get killed by the truckload.
Note that it's possible to have
▲The goals of the villains and their organization are always incredibly ''eeeeeevil'', [[Evil Plan|with one of five purposes]]: [[Take Over the World|world domination]], [[Endofthe World As We Know It|world destruction]], [[The Corrupter|corruption]], [[Final Solution|genocide]], or [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|antagonizing the heroes]]. Nobody on the side of evil will ever [[Pet the Dog]] (except maybe the none-too-subtle [[Heel Face Turn]] candidate). Even their imagery is blatantly made as a contrast to the heroes, with [[Nothing but Skulls|lots of skulls]], [[Spikes of Villainy]], and other assorted things. Imagine a villain whose entire body is made of [[Red Right Hand|Red Right Hands]], stitched together with thread made from the skin of [[Kick the Dog|dead puppies]] and you're beginning to get the idea.
▲Note that it's possible to have [[Obviously Evil]] figures in a normally more subtle setting; frequently, the justification is that the character is so far gone into his [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villainy]] (or some brutal variation of [[Blue and Orange Morality]]) that he doesn't care what other people think of him.
Fiction that employs this is almost always [[Anvilicious]] to a fault, being the most extreme example of [[Black and White Morality]]. If the writers don't like X, they can just have someone Obviously Evil [[Hitler Ate Sugar|doing X]].
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Tropes invoked in the establishment of this style include:
<div style="column-count: 3; -webkit-column-count: 3; -moz-column-count: 3;>
* [[
* [[Exclusively Evil]]
* [[Bad Powers, Bad People]]
* [[Black Cloak]]
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* [[Cats Are Mean]]
** [[Right-Hand-Cat]]
* [[
** [[Good Colors, Evil Colors]]
** [[Purple Is the New Black]]
** [[Red and Black and Evil All Over]]
* [[Complete Monster]]
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* [[Villainous Cheekbones]]
* [[Villainous Widow's Peak]]
</div>
Not to be confused with [[Obliviously Evil]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Highschool
* [[Double Subverted]] in ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]'' with the schoolgirl Mitama Mayo. While she really is as evil as she looks, people end up assuming that she could not possibly be evil because nobody is that obvious anymore. Making it more obvious, her [[Meaningful Name]] (which the series is filled with) means "exactly as (she) looks"
* Surprisingly, 'Gundam' plays with it.
** ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'''s Yazaan Gable is introduced by Scirocco to be an animal and [[Blood Knight]] but then appears with a cute turtle tattooed on his chest.
** ''[[G Gundam]]'''s [[Big Bad]] is named Devil Gundam (Dark Gundam) and is shown to be fighting a fighter squadron at its first appearance, but the others...
** On the topic of Gundam and other mech series, there's something interesting in [[Irresponsible Captain Tylor]], [[Martian Successor Nadesico]] and [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]], where although not all of the antagonists are all that evil, they use ships and mecha which are creepy and insectine looking, contrasting with the heroic-looking craft of the protagonist. You'd think someone would have realized that this is an image-problem. To be fair with [[Irresponsible Captain Tylor]], the "antagonists" are aliens and in-verse [[Values Dissonance]] comes to play.
** Dasil Galette from ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' looks more evil when he is an adult
* Played with a bit in an episode of ''[[Slayers]]''. Lina is fighting Vrumugun - a creepy-looking, [[Good Eyes, Evil Eyes|narrow-eyed]] sorcerer in dark grey robes with a sinisterly glinting red jewel on his forehead. When Amelia tries to join in on Vrumugun's side Lina says Vrumugun is the real villain:
{{quote|
'''Amelia:''' <thinks hard for a few moments> Both of you! }}
* Dr. Hell, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Mazinger Z]]'', has pale purple skin and a long white [[Beard of Evil]], also being prone to maniacal laughter. Oh, and his name is ''[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Dr. Hell]]''. The bizarre part is that his backstory involves betraying a group of companions in order to get some [[Phlebotinum]], which means that someone, somewhere, was willing to ''trust'' him.
** The modern remake ''[[Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen]]'' shows him before his [[Start of Darkness]], where he actually looks no more evil than your standard [[Mad Scientist]]... but he's still named Dr. Hell and {{spoiler|still the [[Big Bad]] of the series. This makes it surprising when it turns out he was also trying to keep an even greater evil in check.}}
** Emperor of Darkness, [[Big Bad]] from ''[[Great Mazinger]]'' was a giant being made of flame. He certainly did not seem someone nice.
** King Vega from ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' was brown-skinned, sported a [[Beard of Evil]], and his face was vaguely beastly.
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** Also, {{spoiler|Shou Tucker}} is far far far more obviously evil than in the first anime.
* Some of the real nasties in ''[[One Piece]]'' can be pretty obvious in their appearance. Apart from the hook hand, Crocodile looks like a mob boss. Akainu simply seems more realistically drawn and has a Yakuza tattoo. Blackbeard is a big, fat, ugly guy missing some teeth and a nose that looks like it's been broken a few times. Gecko Moriah is an obese, chalk white demon creature with horns, no chin and a neck about triple the length it should be, with razor sharp teeth and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|an odd resemblance to a balloon animal.]] On the other hand, Warden Magellan is probably a subversion since despite his highly demonic appearance, he's practically a hero antagonist: he just wants to keep the world safe from some nasty, ''nasty'' pirates.
* The [[Big Bad
* Professor Cobra in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]''. Aside from [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the name]], he begins forcing students to duel with Des Belts, which drain their energy upon defeat, and [[Evil Laugh|laughs evilly]] while disappearing for long tracts of time to his lair, with no one of note questioning where he went.
* There's also Dr. Faker in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal|Yu-Gi-Oh Ze Xal]]''. Who promises to use the [[MacGuffin|Numbers]] to cure Kaito's brother of illness. Gee, Kaito, is it possible [[Punny Name|he's]] [[Evil Laugh|deceiving]] [[Hostage for Macguffin|you?]]
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* [[Dark Magical Girl|Fate Testarossa]] from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' openly invoked this trope when she first appeared complete with [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|blood-red eyes]], a [[Stripperiffic]] [[Hell-Bent for Leather|black leather getup]] complete with Dracula's [[High Collar of Doom|spare]] [[Ominous Opera Cape|cape]], a [[Sinister Scythe]] to match, and a [[Big Badass Wolf|fearsome foxlike creature at least as big as she is]] for a familiar. [[Late Arrival Spoiler|Of course]] this impression [[Anti-Villain|did]] [[The Woobie|not]] [[The Dulcinea Effect|last]] [[Defeat Means Friendship|long]].
* It takes one look at him in the moment of his introduction to tell that Yakushiji Tenzen of ''[[Basilisk]]'' is the main villain. He's not too over the top, but... just look at him. His anime version is wearing a white cloak, combined with long black hair that looks like a pair of horns and he's got that perpetual rape-face complete with [[Guyliner]]. His live action incarnation takes it one step further by making him look like Sephiroth. You can't get more evil that that.
* Vento of the Front from ''[[
* ''[[Windaria]]'''s Lagado. He wears a black cloak with a face mask and calls someone off the road from behind a rock for a suspicious plan.
== Comic Books ==
* [[Jack Kirby]]'s ''Fourth World''. ''[[Darkseid]]'' of ''Apokolips'' and his minion ''Desaad'' are trying to find the ''Anti-Life Equation''. The visual doesn't help, either. The nicest guys in Apokolips seem to be [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture]] [[Torture Technician|mistress]] Granny Goodness and televangelist/propaganda minister Glorious Godfrey, so you know it's bad (and the rest of Darkseid's retinue? Try to guess what kind of people Kalibak, Virmin Vundabar, Lashina, Bernadeth, and Mad Harriet are).
* Ceryx, the [[Big Bad]] - maybe, this book doesn't reveal much - of ''[[Artesia]]''. All his teeth are sharp, chains and hooks hang from his thighs, he is surrounded by perpetual darkness, and he leaves bloody footprints wherever he walks.
* [[Magneto]] named his group the Brotherhood of ''Evil'' Mutants. Seriously, just drop the "evil" and you'd come across much better. Modern writers noticed this, and [[
** DC's ''Brotherhood of Evil'' is the same way. Then again, seeing as they were founded by a [[Brain In a Jar|brain in a skull-shaped jar]] and a [[Maniac Monkeys|bandoleer-wearing gorilla]], maybe they just decided [[Villain with Good Publicity|good PR]] wasn't a realistic objective. The Brotherhood of Evil are your typical [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]] looking to [[Take Over the World]]. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, on the other hand, are [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]] who, by ''definition'', wouldn't see themselves as evil.
* Surprisingly averted by Susan Veraghen of ''[[Grendel]]''. Arguably the only truly non-evil Grendel of the entire series (every last one of the others either starts out or ends up as a conscienceless psychopath), she basically looks like a Sith Lord, complete with huge muscles, spikes and full-body tattoos.
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* One of the greatest of the [[Green Lantern]] Corps was a man with reddish purple skin, a Snidely Whiplash-style mustache and a clear superiority complex named '''[[Sinestro]]'''. Go on and guess how his tenure ended.
** To quote the ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' [[Intercontinuity Crossover]]:
{{quote|
'''Sinestro''': I know. I get that a lot. }}
** To be fair, though, Sinestro's name was [[All There in the Manual|originally]] because he happens to be [[A Sinister Clue|left-handed]]. People just [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|assumed he was evil because of his name]]. Sinestro turns out to subvert this, however. He was loyal to the Green Lantern Corps for years and what ultimately motivates his villainy is [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|a sense of justice.]] His Sinestro Corps, on the otherhand, plays this straight. You have guys like [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Arkillo]], [[The Virus|Despotellis]] and [[Nightmare Fuel (comic book)|Kryb.]] Justified in that they're aiming to be frightening.
* In ''[[Dick Tracy (comic strip)|Dick Tracy]]'', you would think the cops would just arrest every hideously deformed citizen they spot. Not a single one can say they have no involvement in organized crime.
* Then we have [[Captain America (comics)]]'s old enemy the [[Red Skull]]. The name alone(coming after what his 'face' looks like) is bleedingly obvious a tip-off and this is without mentioning he sided with [[Those Wacky Nazis|the Nazis]]. Can't get much more
* Inverted with [[Blue Devil]].
* The Horde from ''[[Strikeforce: Morituri]]'' are a race of barbarian [[Planet Looters]] who deliberately avoid conquering Earth simply [[For the Evulz|for the fun of terrorizing the populace]] and think nothing of slaughtering helpless slaves and children. An early terror tactic was to eject large numbers of captured humans outside the Earth's atmosphere, allowing them to burn up in re-entry so people on the ground could see the streaks representing their burning forms.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120907071026/http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/7658/348512-107462-anti-monitor_super.jpg The Anti-Monitor] from ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''.
* [[X-Men/Characters/Villains|Mister Sinister]]. If his name isn't huge enough of a red flag, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150206065248/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/Mister_Sinister_001.jpg just look at him].
* [[The Mighty Thor]] (now called Journey into Mystery): Loki was recently reincarnated as a child (without his adult memories), and is facing this in-universe: Everyone other than Thor (and even he has reservations) is essentially saying "He's Loki, so he must be evil." Loki is trying very hard to make his reputation work for him, and in dealings with people like Mephisto is desperately trying to channel his evil past self (often making comments to his companions on how fun it is to talk like you're an evil, powerful trickster when you're really just a kid).
* Lampshaded with the [[
{{quote|
* [[Doctor Strange]]'s foes Dormammu (covered in [[Spikes of Villainy]], with a skull-like head surrounded by flames) and Shuma-Gorath ([[Starfish Alien]] with a single staring red eye in the center of his tentacles). Not to mention Satannish, Mephisto, Chthon, Sligguth, N'Gabthoth...
* Almost all villains in [[Les Legendaires]]. As if their [[Arch Enemy]] being named [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Darkhell]] wasn't enough, the guy also is a [[Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette]] and a [[Malevolent Masked Man]] who lives in a dark castle in the middle of [[Mordor|a always dark and hostile wasteland]], has a strong taste for [[Evil Laugh]] and [[Emperor Scientist|uses an army he created himself through magic mutations]]. His generals use the codename "Shadow" as a rank, they include a [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|Lizard Guy]], and his most trusted [[The Dragon|Dragon]] is his [[Dark Action Girl]] daughter [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Tenebris]]. And yet, he's such a good [[Manipulative Bastard]] that he still gets some people trusting him. Ironically, he turns out to have a slightly softer side in later books.
** Subverted with his daughter Tenebris, who does have a significant softer side and eventually commits a [[Heel Face Turn]].
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* ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'' has {{spoiler|Castor/Zuse}}
* Almost every role [[Tim Curry]] has ever had.
* A great many [[Walt Disney]] films do this, even going so far as to base their color and shape schemes around it (as talked about in the ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' DVD documentaries). Just take one look at a character sheet for an average Disney film and you can immediately pick out the villains. This is kind of odd when it's done with [[Animal Stereotypes]] and say - bears are painted as horrible, deadly, kaiju-like monstrous demons in ''[[The Fox and the Hound (film)]]'' and as friendly and lovable heroes in ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' and ''[[Brother Bear]]''.
** ''[[Brother Bear]]'' is an interesting case of subversion, actually. When the {{spoiler|mother}} bear first appears, she has beady black eyes and looks bestial, if not outright evil, but when the same bear shows up in the ending after the hero has undergone his character growth, {{spoiler|she}} has wider, Disney-esqe eyes and seems more human and compassionate as a result.
** In ''[[Toy Story 3]]'', we have {{spoiler|[[Vile Villain Saccharine Show|Lotso Bear]]}}, [[Inverted Trope|who looks cute and cuddly on the outside, but is outright evil and terrifying]].
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* If Disney plays this trope straight then you should see ''[[Quest for Camelot]]'' and ''[[The Fearless Four]]'', both distributed by [[Warner Bros]]. At least Disney villains try to be subtle.
* The live action Disney film ''[[A Kid in King Arthur's Court]]'' gives us Lord Velasco. When a character is first introduced as the king's trusted and loyal adviser, and ''the very first shot of the movie that he's in'' shows him as a tall dark man with black robes, a black horse, black hair with white streaks, a sinister smile and ominous background music, it's just insulting to our intelligence. He's like Jafar, except ''he's not hypnotizing the king,'' so the king really has no freaking excuse for trusting him.
{{quote|
* Nizam in ''[[Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time|Prince of Persia the Sands of Time]]'' qualifies. Let's see. [[Beard of Evil]]? Check. [[Bald of Evil]]? Check. Black robes and piercing eyes? Check. Played by Ben Kingsley? Check and Mate. Might as well give him a sign.
* The [[Dudley Do-Right]] Movie lampshades this trope with Snidely Whiplash. As a child explaining what he wants to be when he grows up he declares, "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to be the BAD GUY!" Later in the film, Dudley and the Kumquat Chief are speaking to a politician, who questions whether Snidely is the bad guy. The chief replies, "Just look at the way he dresses, DUH!"
* Most of [[Don Bluth]]'s movies. No one sufficiently [[Genre Savvy]] in their right mind would trust [[The Secret of NIMH|a black-furred rat dressed in purple arguing with the other rats]], [[An American Tail|a cigar-smoking, con-artist rat who's actually a cat]], [[The Land Before Time|a dark green Tyrannosaurus]], [[All Dogs Go to Heaven|a dog that smokes]], [[Rock-a-Doodle|a monocle-wearing giant owl]] who loves [[Ominous Pipe Organ
** Although to be fair, [[The Land Before Time|Sharptooth]]'s actions are strictly predatory.
* Played to creepy perfection in ''[[Rock and Rule]]'' with Mok, the waning rock megastar, who intends to summon a demon in order to enslave the world. Everything about him just oozes '''EVIL!'''
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*** Lampshaded by actors and writers in the commentaries. They have fun pointing out "What a surprise! The only guy without a Beard is the traitor!". Director [[Peter Jackson]] himself points the lack of eyebrows as an obvious sign that he's evil.
** Most of the villainous characters, such as the orcs, Nazgûl and particularly Sauron's material form, who are all pretty scary to look at and decked out in blackened [[Spikes of Villainy]].
** Played with when it comes to the rogue, self-sufficient Moria goblins. Obviously bad guys and as scary to look at, but they have distorted beliefs that the other peoples of Middle Earth, especially Elves, Dwarves, and Men, are the
** Subverted with the Army of the Dead, a spectral army of decomposing warriors who originally appear as threatening characters and implied villains, but eventually [[Heel Face Turn|help the heroes]] during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The motives are, if ultimately selfish, sympathetic and understandable.
* The [[Dirty Communists|Russians]] in ''[[Red Dawn]]''
* Comedy version in ''[[Silent Movie (film)|Silent Movie]]'': the evil corporation that wants to buy the good film studio is called Engulf &
* Deconstructed in the 2008 ''[[Get Smart (film)|Get Smart]]'', when Max deduces that Dalip is a KAOS agent because "...his face looks like an Easter Island head!" After a moment's thought, he chastises himself for profiling and assumes that Daliph is really a good guy. In fact, Dalip is working for the villain, but only because his wife is being held hostage.
* In the first ''[[Dungeons
* In ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', Judge Doom. [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|The name itself isn't very subtle]], because, let's face it, {{spoiler|Toons}} [[Justified Trope|aren't known]] [[Fridge Brilliance|for their subtlety]].
* Averted in ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]''. Unlike [[A Nightmare on Elm Street|Freddy]], [[Friday the 13th (film)|Jason]] and [[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre|Leatherface]], when Michael Myers is (briefly) unmasked in the climax of the first movie, he's revealed to have an almost ''angelic'' face. According to [[Word of God]], Tony Moran's "angelic" appearance is exactly why he was hired for that role. And the scar on Michael's eye wasn't supposed to be as ugly as it turned out to be, but prosthetics got a bit carried away when applying it to the actor's face.
* William Bludworth, the funeral director who appears in ''[[Final Destination]]'', ''Final Destination 2'', and the upcoming ''Final Destination 5'', is [[Affably Evil]] in that he deals with death itself and gives the protagonists cryptic clues about how to cheat death (for example, in ''2'': "Only new life can defeat death.").
* Doctor Heiter from ''[[The Human Centipede]]'', good ''Lord''. The Phelous review of the movie [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this by playing very fitting dramatic strings whenever he does something.
** "I don't trust...humans." The fact they trusted him and [[Too Dumb to Live|drank a glass of colored water from him]] is ''baffling.''
* Doctor Evil in the ''[[Austin Powers]]'' movies, of course. His frickin' ''name'' is Evil. He went to ''evil medical school''! Granted, he's mostly humorously ineffectual, but he's trying...
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** Subverted, however, with {{spoiler|Snape, who spends the whole series wearing black, being mean to the heroes and in general acting like a typical villain. He, of course, turns out to be a good guy, albeit one who happens not to like the protagonists and has ''really'' complicated motives.}}
** On the other hand, the Carrows with their twisted faces, squat and ugly bodies and constant wheezing (not to mention the fact that they ''[[Agony Beam|Crucio]]'' anything that moves) makes their alignment ''painfully'' obvious.
** [[Inverted Trope]] with Voldemort's teenage appearance: handsome, slim, well-groomed,
** Sirius Black {{spoiler|is a subversion. When we first hear about him, he's described as looking Obviously Evil with a skull-like face, yellow teeth, and matted black hair. And, of course, he's played by [[Gary Oldman]] in [[Harry Potter (film)|the movies]]. Then we get to [[The Reveal]] where we find out he was actually a good guy all along. After this happens, his description in the books becomes more favorable. For the films, they stop making [[Gary Oldman]] up to look scary at this point. It's attributed to him recovering from his time in Azkaban, but the result is the same.}}
** Bellatrix Lestrange is an inversion where she is described as being a beautiful woman (pre-Azkaban, at least) when she is actually one of the most evil characters in the series.
* We know James of ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' must be evil, because he's the only one of the vampires who is described as having a nondescript face, rather than being unbelievably beautiful. Also, he and his companions are dirty and dressed in worn clothing, rather than wearing designer labels all the time like the [[Beauty Equals Goodness|good vampires.]]
** How dare they!
* If ''The Grand Ellipse'' is any indication, [[Those Wacky Nazis]] have created a new version of this trope. The villainous empire of Grewzia is full of tall blond guys, everyone from it is habitually punctual, and its national language consists mostly of hard consonants. Note that this society is ''not'' an [[Expy]] of the Nazis, and beyond appearances has almost nothing in common with
* Since most of the villains in ''[[The Kingdom Keepers]]'' series are [[Disney/Characters/Villains|Characters]], it's natural this trope is in effect. Special mention goes to the new character Jez, who has pale skin, black hair, and her name is short for [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Jezebel]]. To Finn's credit, he does begin to suspect her...
* The Harkonnen in ''[[Dune]]'' are sodomites, love wanton slaughter, their leader is an obese glutton who cannot move without technological aids, their homeworld is a [[Crapsack World|cesspool of pollution]] and so on.
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* Zahhak in ''[[The Shahnameh]]'' is an oppressive ruler with brain-eating snakes coming out of his shoulders.
* Many villains of the ''[[Redwall]]'' series. Let's see... An ugly rat with a heavy whip-like tail, scars, a cape made of bat wings and clasped with a mole skull, a war helmet decorated in blackbird feathers and stag beetle mandibles, and an eyepatch: Check. A dark-cloaked rat-weasel creature with dead black eyes, dark fur, and snake-like movement: Check. A gray fox that wears a wolf skull as a helmet and a wolf pelt as a cape, with long iron claws on his arms: Check. A cult of black-robed rats led by a purple-robed rat who wields a mouse-skull scepter and serves a gruesomely deformed polecat who rules a slave-driven underground kingdom: Check. A ferret that wears terrifying warpaint, a necklace of teeth and claws, stains his fangs red, wears a blood-stained cape, and has a six-clawed paw sheathed in a heavy gauntlet: Check. The list goes on.
** Averted, however, with several villains that are explicitly described as regal and attractive, such as Vilu Daskar, Vilaya the Sable Quean, Emperor Ublaz, and especially Ferahgo the Assassin, who uses his decidedly un-evil appearance to his advantage.
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* Lord Zedd from ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''. He appears to be made of exposed muscles partly covered by gleaming metal skeleton-like plating; he wears long metal claws over the ends of his fingers; his face is a skull-like metal mask with a fang-filled Glasgow smile and the two eye sockets merged into a red, [[X-Men|Cyclops-like]] visor; what appears to be his ''brain'' is exposed where his scalp should be; he has creepy plastic tubing with... something... flowing through it running up and down his limbs; and he wields a magical staff (that used to be a giant venomous snake) with a giant razor-edged Z on it. He is, in fact, '''bad.''' [[Sarcasm Mode|No, really?]]
** However, there's an ironic reversal with Koragg/Leanbow from ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]''. He's given a form that looks like a more heavily armored Power Ranger when he's [[Brainwashed]] by the [[Big Bad]]. His ''natural'' [[One-Winged Angel]] form, on the other hand, makes you wonder if Hell has started selling [[People in Rubber Suits|rubber suits]]. The same applies to Wolzard/Isamu of ''[[Mahou Sentai Magiranger]]''.
* While ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' isn't always black and white in terms of morality, you can't get much more
** Played kinda weirdly with the Mayor. Sure, we knew he was evil from the start, but that was only because of the incredibly not-subtle hints that had been dropping as early as the previous season. But even with the hints, he still falls in [[Affably Evil]]. So, he's Obviously Affably Evil.
** Evil Willow looks '''very''' Obviously Evil.
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* The Borg in ''[[Star Trek]]''. Not that they would hide their attitudes anyway...
* The [[Psycho Rangers]] in ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]''. They roll-call how much better they are then the rest of the Rangers, and then Psycho Pink comes out with [[Captain Obvious|"But we're EVIL!"]]
{{quote|
'''Psycho Black''': We're faster than you!
'''Psycho Blue''': We're smarter than you!
'''Psycho Yellow''': We're stronger than you!
'''Psycho Pink''': [[Evil Is Hammy|But we're EVIL!]] }}
* The Source in ''[[Charmed]]''. Wears a black hood, carries a dark sword and revealed to have half a face with tribal markings on it.
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* Exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness in ''[[Lio]]'': everyone who's evil has bad teeth. It's almost a [[Red Right Hand]], except there's nothing in-setting to explain ''why'' they would all have bad teeth and why "good" ([[Villain Protagonist|sorta]]) characters all have nice teeth.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Gloriously played with in ''[[Warhammer
** The oddities of naming conventions are discussed hilariously [https://web.archive.org/web/20120124224525/http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?PHPSESSID=a6b3dc3e35f01e69a8668e5ed2b46aad&action=articles
** Of course, the [[Troperiffic]] setting has plenty of straight examples as well, such as giant [[Horde of Alien Locusts|all-consuming psychic insects]] and invincible undead robotic servants of star-eating [[Cosmic Horror
*** A Khorne Berserker ''not'' killing people? ''KHORNE DOES NOT CARE FROM WHOM THE BLOOD FLOWS, ONLY THAT IT FLOWS''
*** ''BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!''
*** ''SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!''
** And then there's the Orks, who are big, green, brutish, warlike, loving-to-fight, lots of horns, guns, horrible to each other (and especially Gretchins)... who just want a good fight and will actually leave a planet if they don't put up a good enough fight, or they've killed everyone who can, so they can come back and fight again. As they say, [[Funetik Aksent|Orkz wuz made for]] [[Blood Knight|foitin' an' winnin'!]]. One could actually argue that the Orks are the ''least'' evil of all of the factions.
** There are ''some''
*** What about ''[[Ciaphas Cain]], '''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!'''''?
** It is very tricky applying this to the verse because of the sheer level of [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] and [[Unreliable Narrator
** [[Black and Gray Morality]] doesn't help either. Many characters would be
* Most demons in ''[[Dungeons
* The [[The Empire|Coalition States]] in ''Rifts'' is basically The Imperium of Man Lite version; a collection of xenophobic humans with aggressive intentions, a hatred of anything non-human or magic-using, which armies of fanatical soldiers, genetically engineered dogmen and robot soldiers for the purpose of reconquering North America. Oh, and all their armors, ships and even robots have skull and bones for decoration, earning them the nickname "Deadboys".
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== Theatre ==
* [[Starship]]:
{{quote|
'''Pincer''': No duh! }}
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** Subverted by Nihilus, who had skull-like face paint and a [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|less-than pleasant name]]. However he serves as [[The Obi-Wan]] and a friend of Anderson... For about less than an hour into the game.
* The SNES JRPG ''[[Eien no Filena]]'' (which translates to "Eternal Filena") falls headlong into this. [[The Evil Empire]] has no redeeming qualities, and there exists not a single second of any of the bad guys being even [[Affably Evil]].
* [[
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'': Examine some of the villains closely. Could you see any of them (except maybe {{spoiler|Desther, the actually effective mole}} or {{spoiler|Maugrim, who doesn't really look evil, he is just insane}}) as good guys? The half-demon elf? The white dragon? The black-skinned white-haired almost nude drow queen? {{spoiler|The giant red guy with the trident, goatee, and horns}}?
** {{spoiler|Desther, convincing? The same Desther that spends literally all his screentime up to [[The Reveal]] viciously badmouthing you and Aribeth and downplaying the plague's threat? The same Desther whose Helmites give out "blessings" that give an ominous red glow? The same Desther who instantly becomes defensive and dismissive every time you hand Fenthwick evidence of the Cult's existence (which you can ''point out'' if your Wisdom is high enough)?}}
* All of the Sith in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' and the sequel are pretty disturbing-looking (except for maybe Visas and Darth Bandon). The shot with Malak without his mechanical collar? Darth Nihilus, whose [[Black Speech]] is so evil it doesn't get subtitles?
* [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Garnef/Gharnef]] in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Shin Ankoku Ryu'' (''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'', the [[Updated Rerelease]] of the first game). In the original, he was simply a [[Black Cloak]]. But in the remake he has a hunchback, [[Pointy Ears]] [[Glowing Eyes of Doom|glowing]] [[Eyes of Gold|yellow eyes]],clawed hands and pale, seemingly rotting skin. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111106060340/http://serenesforest.net/media/fe11illust/l/L_Garnef.jpg His new artwork speaks for itself.]
** Ashnard, King of Daein. Dark costume? Check. Spikes of Villainy? Check. Evil grin? Check. No redeeming qualities whatsoever? Check. Big black dragon to ride around on? Check and mate. {{spoiler|The last one's a subversion though}}.
*** {{spoiler|His mount Rajaion was a member of the Laguz dragon tribe, a sentient creature that he enslaved and drove mad to use as a weapon, a process that eventually resulted in Rajaion's death... leaving behind a grieving widow and a child he never got to meet. So I guess you could say that Ashnard subverts the trope by ''appearing'' extremely evil... and then actually being ''more evil than he looks''.}} And that's not counting what he did to {{spoiler|Almedha and Soren}}.
** Izuka looks like Wormtongue from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.
* Bowser, at least in the old ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' games. [[Evil Laugh]]? Check. [[Card-Carrying Villain]] who boasts about own evilness? Check. [[
** The RPG villains before ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' (and after, with ''Mario and Luigi 3'') are the same way, boasting about their evilness, trying very obviously evil plans and pretty much saying 'I am evil' in every last word. ''[[Wario Land]]'' and ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' are pretty much the same way.
* There are many villains in the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series that clearly look evil at first sight, but none other take the cake than Exdeath from ''[[Final Fantasy V]]''. Lets see here....He's a [[When Trees Attack|tree]] [[Made of Evil|made up of countless evil souls]] in the form of a ''[[Tin Tyrant]]'', complete with ''[[Spikes of Villainy]]'', ''[[Shoulders of Doom]]'', and an ''[[Evil Laugh]]''. His castle is {{spoiler|[[Womb Level|made of the bodies of people he didn't like]]}}, his [[Leitmotif]] features ''[[Psycho Strings]]'', and [[Incoming Ham|his every line announces]] [[Large Ham|his diabolical evilness]]. [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091123003859/finalfantasy/images/4/49/Amano_Exdeath_2.jpg Concept art] has him swirling something like [[A Glass of Chianti]], but ''eviller'' (you can tell because chianti doesn't give off poison fumes or come in that color). His name is [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Ex]]'''[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|death]]''' for crying out loud!
** Take a peak underneath the armor and add some more [[Nightmare Fuel]] to that [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091123003859/finalfantasy/images/5/54/Amano_Exdeath_real.jpg flame.]
** ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'''s Golbez. Another [[Tin Tyrant]], [[Evil Sounds Deep|a big, booming voice]], [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|named after a mythological poisonous fly]], and has placed a personal hand in destroying half the known world. He's very obviously an evil guy {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|except he is not]]; he is being manipulated by a [[Bigger Bad]] into scouring the planet in preparation of an alien invasion. He redeems himself in [[Final Fantasy IV:
** Seymour from ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' never hides the fact he's the villain. While not looking [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|particularly]] [[Evil Eyebrows|villain-like]], [[Creepy Monotone|he speaks]] and acts incredibly creepy making it impossible to believe he's a good character for a second.
* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' comes Master Xehanort. He's [[Bald of Evil]], has [[Eyes of Gold|golden eyes]], a [[Beard of Evil|silver goatee]], wears a [[Black Cloak]], walks around hunched over, the only smile he knows how to give is a [[Psychotic Smirk]], and his Keyblade is a frickin' ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20161005110554/http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100908153230/kingdomhearts/images/f/ff/Master_Xehanort%27s_Keyblade_KHBBS.png battle axe]'' adorned with [[Spikes of Villainy]], demonic wings and a horned face. And yet all three heroes are absolutely shocked when he's revealed to be the [[Big Bad]]. The game itself makes absolutely no attempts to hide this, making it quite clear in the opening cutscenes that he sabotages the Mark of Mastery exam, and his direct statement to [[The Dragon]] that he's just putting on an act to fly under the radar for now.
** Hell, just watch the secret ending of ''Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+'', a CG trailer for ''Birth By Sleep'' that foreshadows Xehanort's battle with the heroes at the end of the game. There is absolutely no dialogue, no subtitles, no ''context''. You just know there's three armored Keyblade warriors fighting a bald old man in a cloak. It's still perfectly obvious who the villain in the confrontation is.
* The [[Grey and Gray Morality]] of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' makes it difficult to find any truly evil characters in the entire series. But then you get [[Mind Rape|Psycho Mantis]] and [[Knife Nut|Vamp]], who really leave no trace of doubt that they need killing, and soon. Psycho Mantis has almost [[Evil Albino|white skin]] and always walks around in tight black leather with an [[Those Wacky Nazis|SS]]-[[Badass Longcoat|Longcoat]] and a freaking gas mask. Vamp is also extremely pale, but has a [[Beard of Evil]], an [[Lzherusskie|eastern European accent]], and also wears a [[Badass Longcoat]], but shirtless. His first appearance is slaughtering a Navy SEAL team single handedly with knives and drinking the blood of his victims. And he [[Depraved Bisexual|loves licking blood from his knife]] (he was the one from the page picture).
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* [[Oda Nobunaga]] from ''[[Samurai Warriors]]''. [[Beard of Evil]], a black and red ragged cape, a black sword with a purple, glowing aura. Considering that everyone else is fairly normal, with a regular weapon, he stands out a little bit.
** But then, he's more designed to be an [[Anti-Hero]], [[Magnificent Bastard]] or [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]], so this Nobunaga is at least much safer than [[Sengoku Basara|the Capcom version]]...
* Ghaleon of the ''[[Lunar]]'' series is a pretty
** Of course, it's subverted later, when he {{spoiler|does a [[Heel Face Turn]] to stop the [[Big Bad]] of the second game}}.
* In ''[[Soul Series|Soul Calibur]]'', Nightmare: full dark blue armor, glowing red eyes, a BFS that stares back and a [[Red Right Hand|'funny' right arm]]. Not to mention the fact that ''[[Body Horror|he has a giant fanged mouth on his chest]]''.
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*** The game does play it straight however, with it's [[Big Bad]] Ghirahim who is a bizarre but none the less [[Ax Crazy]] narcissist, and [[Bigger Bad]] Demise, whose true form is 10 foot expy of [[Street Fight|Akuma]] with flashing hair, pitch black skin, a muscle build that makes steroid abusers look slim, and an evil looking version of the Master Sword.
* Raizo Imawano, the principal of Justice High School in ''[[Rival Schools]]'', certainly seems like this at first glance. With his [[Large and In Charge|huge stature]], his [[High-Class Glass|evil monocle]], and his fingernails sharpened into claws, you'd think he was the [[Big Bad]]. But in truth he actually subverts this trope. Any evil acts he commits in the game are a result of brainwashing, rather than anything of his own intention, and while he does have aspirations of changing Japan, he wanted to do so through peaceful methods, such as preparing his students for careers in politics and guiding them toward his world views. By the end of the game, and in the sequel ''Project Justice'', he's actually a pretty decent guy.
* The NPCs Yurt the Silent Chief, Miralda the Executioner and Mephistopheles from ''[[
* In the ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' series, Dark Chips (evil battlechips which [[The Corruption|slowly corrupt your Navi and sap your hit points if you use them]]) truly ''look'' evil, with glowing purple icons and scary-sounding, robotic descriptions such as "USE LARGE SWORD AND SLICE".
** Dr. Regal takes this to ridiculous levels in his introduction. [[Beard of Evil]]? Check. Monocle? Check. Extremely polite? Check. [[Smug Snake|Smug Grin]]? Check. Mentioned as being from "[[Airstrip One|Nation Z]], the infamous military country"? Check.
** Dr Weil anyone? A cyborg with visible metal extensions in his flesh, a [[Beard of Evil]]. Oh, and he more or less shows that he's ''[[It's All About Me|D]] [[Evil Laugh|r]] [[Dystopia Justifies the Means|W]] [[Card-Carrying Villain|e]] [[Fantastic Racism|i]] [[Complete Monster|l]].''
** In [[Mega Man Star Force]], we have Mr. King, who is certainly ''known'' around the world as a famous philanthropist, the game wastes absolutely no time revealing that, yes, he is the [[Big Bad]].
* The villain of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006
** Are we forgetting that he moves like a puppet, has soulless, feral eyes, and NO MOUTH (yet his face [[Uncanny Valley|moves when he talks]])? And that's when he is a Shadow doppelganger, to say nothing of his powered up form, which is crystal-like, emits blue flames, and has red scleras with [[Sickly Green Glow|green glowing]] cat irises. And is voiced by [[Dan Green]].
** On top of that, his name is a corruption of [[Satan|Mephistopheles]]
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* The ''[[Overlord]]'' is a [[Tin Tyrant]] who usually starts out equipped with a [[An Axe to Grind|battleaxe]] and commands a legion of [[Chaotic Stupid]] minions (albeit ones that are [[Ugly Cute]]).
* Lord Recluse from ''[[City of Heroes]]''. Spider Motif? Check. Army of [[Faceless Mooks]]? Check. [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]]? check. [[Red Right Hand|Glowing red eyes and spider legs sprouting out of his back?]] Yup. He's evil alright.
** The Praetors fall victim to this as well, at least when compared to their primal earth counterparts. [[Spikes of Villainy]], [[Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains|skimpy outfits]], [[Evil Makeover|altered color
* ''[[Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku]] Darkdeath'': Really, how evil can you be if your name is ''''''Evilman'''''?! {{spoiler|Subverted. He's not as evil as he initially seems.}}
* [[Blizzard]] is known to play a lot with this trope:
** The Orcs and their Horde from [[Warcraft]] played this trope straight in the first game and even more in the second, but eventually subverted it starting with '''Warcraft III''', where it was revealed they had been corrupted by teh Demons (who of course play this trope ''very'' straight), and were actually a decently neutral specie before that. They ends up freeing themselves from the Demons' corruption and helped the Humans' Alliance to defeat the Demons. Ironically, by [[World of Warcraft]], they have come to appear ''more'' sympathetic than the humans, due to the Alliance's recent [[Kick the Dog]] moments.
** The buglike Zerg from ''[[
** In a similar vein, The Undead in [[Warcraft III]], though a small faction ended up joining the Horde and as such became "good" guy... though their clear position remains complicated.
** While ''[[Diablo (series)|Diablo]]'' plays this trope straight with most of the antagonists, who are almost all blood-thirsty, cannibalistic, [[
*** the first game include the Archbishop Lazarus from the [[Corrupt Church|Church]] [[Light Is Not Good|of Light]]... who turns out to be [[The Dragon]] for the titular [[Big Bad]], an [[Evil Chancellor]] and a [[Manipulative Bastard]] who tricked a gradually turning insane king into executing his own wife and people.
*** ''[[Diablo II]]'' gives us the [[Necromancy|Necromancer]], who has white skin, dresses in black with skulls movites, uses spells based on corpses, blood and poison... but is at worst an [[Anti-Hero]] and one of the playable characters.
*** ''[[Diablo III]]'' put it even further by giving us the [[Witch Doctor]], a [[Nightmare Fetishist]] with powers similar to the Necromancers... who turns out to be one of the nicest characters in the game.
* King Logan from ''[[Fable III]]'' is easily the most evil appearing person in the game. {{spoiler|It later turns out he's simply being [[Necessary Evil]] in order to raise enough money to fund his armies to combat the game's true villain, The Crawler. And as you can probably imagine, that thing fits this trope much better than Logan does.}}
* The Darkspawn of ''[[Dragon Age]]'' are [[
* The Lyrium Idol in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' starts glowing red the moment it is picked up and turns out to be an [[Artifact of Doom]] that drives people mad and when reforged turns into a BFS that [[Rule of Cool|glows and sounds rather like a red lightsaber]].
* ''[[Street Fighter]]'''s M. Bison. Let's just say a guy who wears a red [[Putting on the Reich|Nazi uniform]], has a near-constant [[Slasher Smile]] and calls his power "Psycho Power" probably isn't going for subtlety.
** We also have the even more evil-looking Akuma, who ironically is less evil than Bison, that always looks royally pissed off, wears black and a has blood red symbol for heaven on the back of his shirt and has blood red hair.
* [[Faux Affably Evil|Hazama]]/[[Complete Monster|Yuuki]] [[Troll|Terumi]] from ''[[
* ''[[Return to Krondor]]'' - Bear, for starters. {{spoiler|The head scribe for the jail, due to his shrill voice that sounds like a talking weasel. Journeyman Jorath, due to his oily voice, and his politically incorrect, racist attitudes toward Keshians. The necromancer leader Sidi, although he certainly did an impressive job sounding calm and normal at one point.}}
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' has a number of characters who qualify, but the most prominent example is [[Evil Overlord]] Shao Kahn, ruler of the [[Death World]] Outworld. Skull helmet, copious [[Spikes of Villainy]] and a grim throne to sit upon. He towers over all other characters and verbally abuses anyone, who would dare to challenge him. [[Casting a Shadow|Noob Saibot]] is another such type; a being of pure shadow spawned from the depths of hell after years of taint and death corrupted the soul of {{spoiler|Elder Sub-Zero/Bi-Han}}.
* The Negativitron from ''[[
* Junya Kaneshiro, unlike the previous two targets in ''[[Persona]]'' is blatantly evil, who doesn't bother to hide his true colors. He is chosen as a target by the Phantom Thieves for this reason. The Phantom Thieves wish to prove that they ''weren't'' making people confess to crimes that they hadn't committed.
* {{spoiler|[[Bigger Bad|Darkrai]]}} from the ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' series games is essentially this: He's {{spoiler|an evil Pokemon of pure darkness who loves to trap innocent young Pokemon children in unending nightmares just for the fun of it, and wants to destroy the entire Pokemon universe and plunging their planet into darkness by stopping time and space and corrupting another powerful Pokemon, who rules over both. And he wants to make the hero(ine) (whom he actually turned into a Pokemon him/herself) and his/her partner commit suicide over the course of the games!}}
** Subverted ''hard'' with {{spoiler|[[Blessed with Suck|his game]] [[Dark Is Not Evil|counterpart.]]}}
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* Lautrec of Carim from ''[[Dark Souls]]'' likes to end his ominously voiced chats with sinister laughter. Also, like his spiritual predecessor Yurt from ''Demon's Souls'', he wields a nasty assassin's weapon. He ends up {{spoiler|killing the Firelink Fire Keeper Anastacia requiring you to hunt him down to get her soul back.}}
* Large amount of villains in ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series are obviously evil, especially Zenitha trilogy remakes and ''[[Dragon Quest VII]]'', where villains are oversized monsters with no resemblance of human. Dhoulmagus from ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' are very much [[Final Fantasy VI|Kefka]] clone by appearance.
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]]'', the only way Ancano could be any more obvious would be if lightning struck every time you initiated conversation with him. Even in the game, ''no one'' trusts him and with good reason, because he's openly a member of the resident nazi-elves, he's a massive jerk and he does everything in a very suspicious manner.
* Salvador in ''[[Section 8 (video game)]]: Prejudice''. A bald, ugly blue-skinned giant wearing blood red armour... Who would have guessed?
* Inverted with ''[[Supreme Commander]]'' with the Cybran nation, whose units all have a red and black color scheme similar to [[Command
* From [[Agarest Senki]], we have the outstanding example of Giganda. The minute you see him, he displays a hell of a lot of evil tropes. [[Black Eyes of Crazy]], the dark armor of a [[Black Knight]], always going on about "the Plan", and generally looking very different than his fellow [[Physical God|Larva]].
* ''[[The Darkness (video game)|The Darkness 2]]'' has [[Big Bad|Brother Victor]], a [[Good Scars, Evil Scars|heavily scarred]], [[Looks Like Orlok|subhuman-looking]] [[Evil Cripple]]. Lampshaded repeatedly by other characters; one describes him as looking like "Nosferatu on crack".
* Doctor Nefarious from ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' is a hammy [[Card-Carrying Villain]] who combines this with [[Laughably Evil]].
* In ''[[Portal]]'' it is fortunate that Chell does not speak (and is unable to give any commentary on the situation) and there are a lot of [[Failure Is the Only Option]] situations in the gameplay, because otherwise, it is doubtful ''anyone'' would believe GLaDOS was the benevolent researcher [[Bad Liar|she initially claims to be.]]
* [[Mecha-Mooks|The Working Joes]] in ''[[Alien: Isolation]]''. In the beginning of the game, these android laborers and janitors don't act in any dangerous manner, but with their glowing red eyes and gravely voices, it's easy to assume they are eventually going to try to kill you, and [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|this assumption proves 100% true.]]
* The [[Artifact of Doom|Red Markers]] in ''[[Dead Space]]''. Seriously, who would be dumb enough to ''worship'' [https://deadspace.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Marker this thing?] Maybe a doomsday cult, but that is not what the Church of Unitology was.
* The robots in ''[[Atomic Heart]]''. Now, this game is, as of January 2023, not yet released, but given the previews and trailers, the enemies are mostly [[Mecha-Mooks]], and given what is known about them, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evnKsszbNxs they sure don't look friendly.]
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
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* Xykon from ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', who is a [[Our Liches Are Different|lich]] of the 'fully decayed to a skeleton state' variety, complete with evil red eyes. Oh, and he wears a [[Aristocrats Are Evil|crown and red cape]].
** [[Double Subverted]] in the case of Nale, who is an [[Evil Twin]] complete with [[Beard of Evil|goatee]], but is initially presented as just one of the good guys. It doesn't last very long, though.
* Sirleck of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' is introduced with his speech bubbles having wavy outlines and white on black lettering. Dan lampshades his Obvious Evilness in [
* The Private Villa of Corrupted Citizens in ''[[Sonichu]]''. Membership is completely voluntary.
* [[Darths and Droids]]: The player Jim, being [[Wrong Genre Savvy]], stays convinced the entire Prelogie that Sio "Bubble", [[The Good Chancellor]], is the [[Diabolical Mastermind]] behind everything, because of [[Good Hair, Evil Hair|his goatee]]. [[Hypocritical Humor|While playing as Qui-Gon Jinn]].
* [[Wizard School]] features an entire race of villains with spikes, tusks, horns, etc. Even the [[Genre Blind]] protagonist can work out that the faculty member who stole the priceless artifact is probably the one with fangs, cackling and muttering "You fools!"
== Web Original ==
* Parodied in this [http://xninjared.deviantart.com/art/Alan-Wake-Meme-197192094 Alan Wake Meme].
{{quote|
* The Necromancer of the [[Whateley Universe]]. Nobody has a name like that unless he's Obviously Evil. Then he goes for the evil cloak over the hideous armor that's part cybernetics and part chitinous inhuman organics, ''plus'' the obligatory skull facemask. And he has a team that based on monsters: Lycanthros (a super werewolf type), Vamp (a girl with vampiric powers), the Arch-Fiend, Nightgaunt, and Lady Darke. It goes without saying that he is not petting any puppies. Oh, and he's a Nazi.
* [[MSF High]] Forums has Xadan, who was a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] evil AI. Amongst other things, he has the speech mannerisms of Shodan. He's not bad, he's just programmed that way.
* The AI O'Malley (sometimes Omega) from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''. Everything the guy says or does is to emphasise just have eeeeeevil he is. From calling himself "[[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|Doctor]] [[Aristocrats Are Evil|Baron]] [[All Germans Are Nazis|von]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Evil-]][[Satan]]", to the [[Evil Sounds Deep|deep voice he uses when possessing people]], to his [[Evil Laugh]]... the list goes on.
{{quote|
[[Take Over the World|"Then the universe will be mine!]] [[The End of the World as We Know It|And I'll crush ever living soul into dust,]] [[Evil Laugh|ahahahaaaaa!]] [[You Will Be Spared|...Except of course for you, Vic.]] [[The Dragon|I'll make you Assistant Crusher."]] }}
* Subverted in this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DmYjAHAlV0&feature=related "Marvel What the!?" video] where [[Doctor Strange]] tries to prove that Mephisto is Evil.
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* ''[[Samurai Jack]]'''s enemy Aku, [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Shapeshifting Master of Darkness]], is about as obviously evil as they come. He's got [[Spikes of Villainy|natural spikes on his shoulders and elbows]], an [[Evil Laugh]], [[Evil Is Hammy|he's as hammy as they come]], and to top it all off, [[Incendiary Exponent|his eyebrows are made of fire!]]
** Well he ''is'' [[Made of Evil]]. It's a bit hard to come off as benevolent when you're an [[Eldritch Abomination]] of [[Chaotic Evil]].
* King Koopa and the Koopa Pack in ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show]]'', due to its pastiche nature, offered most genres' worth of
* Pretty much the basis of ''[[Captain Planet and the Planeteers]]''. The producers obviously believed that kids wouldn't be able to tell Exxon apart from Ecover, so they pretty much portrayed villain like this. Hoggish Greedly had a pig-face, Verminous Skumm looked like some kind of human/rat hybrid, Sly Sludge was short, fat, greasy, and overall unattractive, and Duke Nukem was made of some kind of glowing yellow bricks.
** Averted by Looten Plunder, who is proportionate and in good shape, if not downright good looking. Subverted by Dr. Blight, who other than the scarred half of her face, is a rather attractive woman. YMMV on whether Zarm is obviously evil, an aversion, or a subversion.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' once had a cigarette company taking over Peter's factory. They were pictured very true to the trope.
** ''[[South Park]]'' had some fun and reversed the standard roles, so the cigarette factory workers were a friendly bunch with no negative ambitions, while Rob Reiner's anti-tobacco activist group was
* ''[[
** ''Played Straight:'' Megabyte and Hexadecimal are ''destructive'' and look the part. Megs is in all secondary colors (and [[Expy|looks suspiciously like]] [[X-Men|Apocalypse]]), Hex is red and black and both are riddled with [[Spikes of Villainy]], talons and sharp teeth. Bob ''really'' hopes to convert these two... Somehow... Note that {{spoiler|both manage [[Affably Evil]] moments, but Megabyte's are just moments where there wasn't anything evil to do and Hexadecimal seems to get the excuse that she is mentally unstable and her [[Heel Face Turn]] was more Bob really, really wanting to convert her than her deciding to do good.}}
** ''Inverted:'' The series biggest [[Big Bad]] was a [[Light Is Not Good|French-accented, brightly colored ingenue]] supervirus who's based off Joan of Arc.
** ''Lampshaded:'' "Maybe it's a benign virus..." The virus is ten feet tall, clawed and red-and-secondary-colored. "Oh, yeah! You can tell by ''looking'' at it!"
** ''Subverted:'' When Megabyte's brainwashed mooks go from secondary colors to normal, this is usually the cue that they are no longer evil. Not so, ''at all''.
* Subverted in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' with the character of Prince Zuko. In the first two episodes he is established as the [[Designated Villain]], [[
** But taken completely straight with his father. Let's pretend for a moment that we didn't know the Fire Nation was evil. Any person with that voice who sits on a throne surrounded by flames and wearing black and red probably doesn't bring the word GOOD to mind. And as for Zuko's sister, pretty much her first line is about killing her captain because he is "disobeying her". Yeah, that family just radiates evil.
** Also taken straight with the Fire Nation in general, at least until later in the series. For many fans, it became sort of a running gag to see how long it would be after the Gaang arrived in a new town before the Fire Nation showed up and went on a [[Kick the Dog]] rampage. The sad part is that the running gag never stopped, as EVIL! Fire Nation soldiers, generals, and even animal trainers continued to gleefully do over-the-top villainy.
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** At least the Brotherhood of Evil didn't get weird like they do in the comics.
* Subverted by [[Big Bad|Tombstone]] of ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''. He's an [[Evil Albino]] [[Scary Black Man]] with ''teeth he's apparently filed to fangs''... and he's ''still'' a [[Villain with Good Publicity]]. That, folks, is the sign of a true [[Magnificent Bastard]].
** Of course, if someone did say anything, he could just say the accuser was discriminating against him because of his looks.
** Overt prejudice isn't really the issue- the [[Uncanny Valley]] is. Tombstone is [[Nightmare Fuel|freaky-looking]] and is every so often outright accused of being [[Big Bad|the Big Man]], but he's invested enough effort into his [[Villain with Good Publicity]] campaign that he's still accepted as a beloved pillar of the community, so much so that the police take ''his word over Spidey's'' on at least one occasion.
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' gives an example of this concerning Mr. Burns's bid to buy Santa Little Helper's brood.
{{quote|
'''Marge''': Hmm... she's right, Homer. There's something about his face I don't trust.
[Burns stifles an evil chuckle while looking really malevolent] }}
** Or when Homer wants to sell Bart's elephant ([[Long Story]]), Lisa again points out that the prospective buyer is not to be trusted:
{{quote|
'''[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Mr Blackheart]]:''' Little girl, I've been many things: Whale hunter, seal clubber, [[Biting the Hand Humor|President of the Fox Network...]] and like most people, yeah, I've dealt a little ivory. }}
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20140312184851/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Quest_for_Camelot_1998.aspx?Page=2 Agony Booth recap] of ''[[Quest for Camelot]]'' has this to say about Lord Ruber, one of Camelot's knights:
{{quote|
** What's more baffling about Rupert is that at the beginning of the movie, he seems to be putting no effort at all into hiding his evil nature. When he starts acting up against Arthur, the knights' remarks suggest that this is typical behavior for Rupert.
** The Critic also noted how [[Gary Oldman]] has a tendency to play
** But it's worth it for that downright hilarious shot at the beginning of the movie in which we get a panning shot of the Knights of the Round Table: a line of identical-looking generic men, and then one with green skin, yellow eyes, and a banana-shaped head.
* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' gives us [[Louis Cypher|Lucius Henious VII]], who is red with horns. [[Mad Scientist|Heloise]] wears a blood red dress and has [[Scars Are Forever|a scar on her forehead]].
* From ''[[Thundercats]]'', the ghastly wizened mummified warlock Mumm-Ra. Quite scary transformation, also.
** In Chile, the [[Phlegmings|saliva strings attached to an open mouth]] are often called "The Mumm-Ra".
* In general, ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' villains are ''really'' unsubtle in their constant [[Kick the Dog|dog kicking]], their blatantly selfish, malevolent motives, and their choices of wardrobe and lighting.
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* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' plays this straight with Nightmare Moon, but averts this with Discord.
** Also played straight with the villains of the season 2 finale, Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings, which all look like some kind of freaky horse-insect-demon hybrid, complete with monochromatic eyes, sharp fangs, and jet-black bodies. Of course, YMMV on whether or not they count as [[Ugly Cute]].
* While the whole cast of ''[[Helluva Boss]]'' are evil (seeing as they are demons and the setting is Hell), Stella does not even make any attempts to hide her atrocities from anyone. In the season 3 episode "Western Energy", she makes no attempt to hide from Stolas the fact that the assassin trying to kill him is working for her, grinning evilly at him when Striker launches his attack.
== Real Life ==
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* You have to wonder if anyone in Blackbeard's crew ever thought about this, when the ship's emblem is a demonic skeleton stabbing a heart and the captain's preferred combat style is running around killing everyone ''with his beard on fire''... Nah, probably not.
** Considering that the whole purpose of both of those was terror, they definitely thought about it.
*** Blackbeard was a showman extraordinaire, and deliberately sought to invoke the image of a madman inches away from a killing spree at all times. In fact, as far as the historical resources can confirm, the only time he certainly killed people was during his last stand. Most of the time his fearsome appearance and reputation ensured that people surrendered the cargo without a fight.
* Infamous Tour de France cheater Hippolyte Aucouturier. [[wikipedia:Hippolyte Aucouturier|Just look at him.]]
* Charles Manson seems to enjoy matching his appearance to his reputation.
* John Wayne Gacy as his [[Monster Clown]] Pogo: [https://web.archive.org/web/20111123082237/http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9m2zljes6qo/THv9Ty5Df8I/AAAAAAAABYk/xBXqjjy8WBA/s1600/John_Wayne_Gacy_Pogo_the_clown.jpg
* Son Sen, Defense Minister of the notorious Khmer Rouge. Just look at that [[Slasher Smile]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20141002034102/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/
* Greek businessman and criminal Makis Psomiadis: [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090919230854/anegkyklopaideia/images/2/23/Mac.jpg\]{{Dead link}}
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Good and Evil For Your Convenience]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Obviously Evil]]
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