History Main / FlamingSkulls

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': Lost Souls are floating engulfed in flames, and can be ''lethal'' when coming in large numbers.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}': Dark Vlad (Goultard's evil alter ego) takes the form of a human with a red skull wreathed in bright yellow flames for a head.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} villain the Atomic Skull (the second one) in Franchise/TheDCU.
* This is a favorite of [[ComicBook/GoldDigger Theodore Diggers]], making his head appear to be on fire, as a means of TwerpSweating would-be suitors to his daughters. (He's an archmage. It's just an illusion.) Brittany even explains it as, "Some fathers polish their shotgun in front of their boyfriend. My dad magically sets his head on fire."

* ComicBook/{{Firestorm}}'s EvilCounterpart Deathstorm sports one of these based on Firestrom's own FlamingHair. The first Deathstorm was the then-dead Ronnie Raymond being turned into a Black Lantern during ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', then existing as his own entity in ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'' when Ronnie was resurrected at the end of ''BL''. The ComicBook/New52 event ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil2013'' introduced a new Deathstorm, this time the MirrorUniverse version of Professor Stein fused with a corpse he was experimenting on.

* Creator/GamesWorkshop games:
** In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', the skulls fired by the Skull Cannon daemon engines of [[WarGod Khorne]] are coated in a pitch made from boiling blood and saturated with a measure of Blood God’s burning fury so that the madly laughing skull ignites when fired, before exploding in a shower of flaming bone shrapnel.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'':

*** The [[DemBones Tomb Kings]] make use of Screaming Skull Catapults, macabre war engines that fire [[BallisticBone volleys of skulls]] enchanted to burst into flame as they sail through the air while letting out the hideous death screams of their former owners. In-game there’s an upgrade for the catapult that lets you fire the skulls of the specific race being fought at them. This hurts their morale rather badly.
** In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', the [[DrivesLikeCrazy Speed Freak]] [[TheEngineer Big Mek]] Wazdakka Gutzmek once destroyed a [[HumongousMecha Titan]] by crashing through its head and killing everybody on-board. Wazdakka kept the crew's still burning skulls as a [[BattleTrophy trophy of his victory]], mounting them on his warbike’s handlebars.
* The ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' card game has a card actually called [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Burning_Skull_Head Burning Skull Head]], as well as [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Skull_Flame Skull Flame]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Supersonic_Skull_Flame Supersonic Skull Flame]]. Fittingly, Burning Skull Head and Skull Flame are FIRE-attribute Zombies (Supersonic Skull Flame is WIND instead).

* ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheDamned'' has Johnson, Garcia Hotspur's best friend. He's an eloquent and generally well-spoken individual who also happens to be a mohawked floating flaming demon skull covered in gems, piercings, and tattoos who can turn into a [[EquippableAlly gun that Garcia can use]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwvMh1HnpZI He also has the ability to make Freud throw up his hands and quit in disgusted frustration.]]

* All of the ComicBook/{{Ghost Rider}}s have one of these [[SkullForAHead for a head]], the skin often ''burning off'' when they transform. Ghost Rider's [[Film/GhostRider film incarnation]] is currently the picture.

* Once again, ''Film/GhostRider'' and its sequel are literally this.

* Lost Souls in the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' series are pretty much Bubbles, only more ''lethal'' than ''annoying''.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', BadassBiker duelist Mukuro Enjo uses a deck full of monsters with flaming skulls for heads.

* This is a favorite of [[ComicBook/GoldDigger Gina Diggers' father]], making his head appear to be on fire, as a means of TwerpSweating would-be suitors to his daughters. (He's an archmage. It's just an illusion.) Brittany even calls it the "magical equivalent of polishing the shotgun."

* In ''Literature/TheCaliforniaVoodooGame'', one character uses a magic spell to make his head appear as a flaming skull in order to scare off a loa.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** There are several types of undead that take some variation of this form; most notably, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Flameskull]].
** A feat called "Spell Theatrics" lets a caster change the visual effects of a spell. The example given is making a Fireball into a flaming skull.
** In adventure G3 ''Hall of the Fire Giant King'', King Snurre's symbol is a flaming skull.

[[folder:Film]]
* The opening and ending credits of ''Film/LiveAndLetDie''.
* Once again, ''Film/GhostRider'' and its sequel are literally this.

* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', the logo of Team Gurren is a flaming skull with CoolShades, bearing no small resemblance to the Gurren itself. [[spoiler: At the end of the series, Gurren Lagann takes command of Arc Gurren Lagann takes command of Super Galactic Gurren Lagann takes command of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, a HumongousMecha [[UpToEleven the size of a galaxy]], which is comprised ''entirely'' of giant flaming skulls]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/GhostRider https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ghost_Rider_Movie_on_bike_7222.jpg]]]]

** The most infamous one is the Headless Mule. In practically all the country regions of Brazil, people believe that any woman who has an affair with a priest will turn into a dark mule whose skull is permanently on flames, in the Thursday-to-Friday nights, to wander around and drive whoever sees her to madness. Although she’s frequently represented as a mule without a head, technically she would look “headless” because her head is covered by the flames. The curse can be broken if someone’ll be brave enough to yank off the bridle the mule wears or cut her skin deep enough to spill some blood. The mule's lover may also break the curse by disowning her while he celebrates the mass. Funny enough, he never is punished.
** Then there’s the Curacanga, in the Brazilian State of Maranhão, which is called Cumacanga, in Pará. Like the Headless Mule, Curacanga is cursed as punishment for being a priest’s lover, or, in some versions, the seventh daughter of a couple who had only girls. At Thursday to Friday nights, the cursed woman’s head gets loosen from its body to turn into a ball of fire and fly away, biting whoever is unfortunate enough to run into it. To prevent the curse, a mother of seven girls must ask her older daughter to be the godmother of her little sister.

* [[ https://www.amazon.com/skull-charcoal-briquettes/s?k=skull+charcoal+briquettesSkull-shaped charcoal briquettes]].