History Main / TheCowl

* ''Film/Blade1998'': In the rave sequence at the nightclub, blood rains down from the ceiling, and it's revealed that ''everyone'' except the poor innocent human lured to the dance is a bestial [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]]. The lone human flees in panic -- and runs smack into the film's titular silent, stoic, hate-filled, murderous vigilante. [[GladHesOnOurSide Thankfully]], he's a ''{{good|IsNotNice}}'' vampire.

** And Graywing ([[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Batman), Black Wing I ([[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Batman) and Black Wing II ([[UsefulNotes/TheModernAgeOfComicBooks Modern Age]] Batman/Nightwing) in the ''TabletopGame/HaltEvilDoer!'' setting for same.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} in virtually all of the animated series from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' on. Going meta, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' had the TV show character "The Gray Ghost", voiced by {{Adam West|ing}}. Since he was a major inspiration for Batman himself, he probably counts.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' spoofed this in an episode where Cartman becomes a vigilante called The Coon but no one pays attention to anything he does and in later episodes he straight-up becomes a VillainProtagonist. Played semi-straight with The Coon's rival, Mysterion (AKA [[spoiler:Kenny]]).

* Subverted with the Blue Spirit [[spoiler:(Zuko)]] from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', who frees Aang from Zhao's clutches, but [[spoiler:only to capture Aang and get the glory for himself.]]

The Cowl is TheCape with a dark twist and typically on the cynical side on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. Instead of adventuring in the daylight and showing themselves for the glory of the protected, they stick to the shadows of the night where evil lurks and prey on the fears of their quarry. The Cowl tends to be a NonPoweredCostumedHero, their greatest assets being wit and psychological tactics, but if they do have powers, they tend to be related to darkness, ghosts, or some kind of sufficiently-creepy animal, such as wolves, bats, RavensAndCrows, snakes, spiders, or others.

[[quoteright:299:[[Franchise/{{Zorro}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zorro_b.png]]]]

%% * ''Kaiketsu Franchise/{{Zorro}}''

* Franchise/{{Zorro}}, the masked swashbuckler who fought for the indigenous peoples of his land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only was he too cunning for the authorities to catch, but he also delighted in publicly humiliating them.

** Implied with Black Rapier; he appears to be Batman [[RecycledInSpace with fencing]], or perhaps a CaptainErsatz Franchise/{{Zorro}}. Other characters have referred to him as a detective.

* Franchise/{{Zorro}}'s [[OlderThanTheyThink first appearance in 1919]] makes him [[ProtoSuperhero one of the longest-running examples of this trope]]. He is thought of as much more of a swashbuckler, especially in the Disney series, but in the original novels he was much more The Cowl, especially to his opponents. A black-clad night-prowling outlaw with the boldness (and skill) to carve his initial into the property and, occasionally, persons of his opponents tended to inspire a certain amount of uneasiness.

%% * Franchise/{{Zorro}}

%% * Franchise/{{Zorro}}

%% * There was a Franchise/{{Zorro}} game as well.

* Franchise/{{Zorro}}. He's had at least four {{animated adaptation}}s, five if you count the RecycledInSpace version.

** Later protagonists Connor and Edward Kenway have some of the same elements (both are cowl-clad heroes who use stealthy tactics), but don't really match the trope completely due to their adventures generally not taking place in the sort of shadowy urban setting typical of The Cowl.

%% * Warden from the [[WebOriginal/AcademyOfSuperheroes ASH Universe]].

%% * The Confessor from ''ComicBook/AstroCity''.

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity's'' most famous example is unarguably The Confessor, an {{Expy}} for Batman who easily surpasses him in all major skills -- he fights off crowds of thugs without effort, avoids gunfire at point-blank range, intimidates everyone with his piercing gaze, is never seen in daylight hours, and has such mastery of the StealthHiBye that he's never been caught on film or camera. [[spoiler:That's because he's a vampire.]]

* Green Arrow in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', to a much greater extent than his portrayal in ''Smallville''; this is more notable during crossovers with [[Series/TheFlash2014 The Flash]]. In Season 4 Qliver makes a conscious effort to become TheCape, changing his costume slightly and presenting himself as the "Green Arrow", but his efforts to change his image aren't always successful.

* Blackwolf in ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'' is a combination of Wolverine and Batman. Boasts that he can beat pretty much any super-powered hero or villain, and many agree that he can. The novel claims that he's on the autism spectrum, which is why he's so meticulous, but he seems to be far too socially adjusted for that.

* Of course, Franchise/{{Batman}}, in all of the movies (to greater or lesser success) ''except'' the one based on the 1960's TV show - and even that one shows that Batman (sometimes) has that effect on his enemies, at least when he wants to.
* David Dunn from ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' is an example of this trope applied to a somewhat realistic setting. Though he does have superpowers, Dunn wears a cowl-like poncho as part of his [[CivvieSpandex "costume"]], uses violence to save innocents, and has difficult family issues to boot.
** Part of the plot of ''Film/{{Glass}}'', the [[SequelGap distant sequel]], is that Dunn's mentor Elijah is unhappy that Dunn chose to be The Cowl instead of TheCape. Elijah wants to prove to the world that superheroes are real, so he [[spoiler:puts his DiabolicalMastermind skills to use and [[VillainTeamUp teams up]] with [[SuperpoweredEvilSide the Horde]] to force Dunn into a very public superpowered showdown.]]

* ''Film/{{Blade}}''. The rave sequence in the nightclub, when blood rains down from the ceiling and it's revealed that ''everyone'' except the poor innocent human lured to the dance is a bestial vampire. The lone human flees in panic - and runs smack into the film's titular silent, stoic, hate-filled, murderous vigilante. [[GladHesOnOurSide Thankfully, he's a]] ''{{good|IsNotNice}}'' [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]].

** There's also the Mistress of Mystery, who's a character in the Silver Shroud plays. In ''Videogame/Fallout76'', it's shown that her actress actually donned the persona herself after the bombs fell to become a vigilante using all the skills she learned for the role.

* Dr Shade in Creator/KimNewman's fiction. A British CaptainErsatz of Radio/TheShadow, he's so mysterious that the closest he's come to appearing in a story is as a spirit based on a fictional character in "The Original Doctor Shade". In settings where he's real (such as the ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' series... [[BroadStrokes usually]]), he is [[TheGhost only referenced]], often as someone the Diogenes heroes really don't want involved, because it'll lead to a lot of dead people and no real answers.