History Main / TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse

** Played with for Haibara's deceased parents, Elena and Atsushi Miyano, whose faces are never seen for ''years'' (real-life years), since they're PosthumousCharacter so the main character never actually meet them and can only imagine what they look like. And since they're supposedly {{Morally Ambiguous Doctorate}}s and {{Mad Scientist}}s who work for the BigBad, the main character (and sometimes Haibara herself) always imagines their [[FaceFramedInShadow faces framed in shadow]], having ScaryShinyGlasses, having their backs and faces turned, etc. When their faces do get shown in one of the later flashbacks from Amuro (who unexpectedly has fond memories of them), they surprisingly look nothing but [[https://www.detectiveconanworld.com/wiki/images/c/c4/Elena_reveals_pregnant.jpg loving parents]][[note]]This image is from when Elena tells her husband she's pregnant with Shiho (Haibara's real name)[[/note]].

** TheMole is ''not'' any of the anti-social students who pick fights, it's not one of the dumbasses hiding evil smarts, and it's not a DetectiveMole. It's [[spoiler: Sakura Oogami]], who is generally trusted but plays little role in investigations, as they admit up front that they're not good at mysteries. [[spoiler: Of course, Sakura is ultimately on the students' side, but was blackmailed by Monokuma.]]

** Yoshikage Kira, the BigBad of ''Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable'', stands out among the series' major villains by how much he ''doesn't'' stand out; he makes an active effort to be as normal and unremarkable as possible, living a quiet and peaceful life while also regularly murdering women and taking their hands as trophies/"girlfriends". Resemblance to Creator/DavidBowie aside, his appearance is nothing special, which makes for a chilling moment when, [[spoiler: after he forces another Stand user to swap his appearance with another ordinary man he killed]], the heroes lose him in a crowd and realize that he could be ''any'' of the people wandering in the street.

* In ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'', unlike the later hulking hockey-masked figure that Jason would later be known to be, [[spoiler: Pamela Vorhees, the StrangerBehindTheMask, is a completely normal looking middle-aged lady, dressed in jeans and a sweater. No creepy mask, scars, chainsaw, or anything.]]

* The guards and staff who run the show in ''Series/SquidGame'' [[spoiler:are no more than regular everyday people, just like the contestants. When Player 119 learns about this by forcing one of the guards to unmask - and finds himself face to face with a relatively ordinary-looking teenager - he is so horrified that he immediately shoots himself.]]

This is when a villain doesn't look like a villain and is even more terrifying because of it. This does not apply to particularly handsome or charming villains -- that goes under EvilIsSexy, BeautyIsBad or FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon. Characters following this trope look completely ordinary. You could pass them on the street and [[BeneathNotice never notice them]], let alone suspect they murdered someone just the other day.

* In ''Utaite no Ballad'', which [[GenreDeconstruction deconstructs rape hentai]], the VillainProtagonist of the series is an up and coming musical performer who is secretly a [[PaedoHunt pedophile]], and he ''isn't'' a stereotypical fat, ugly DevilInPlainSight; he is instead a handsome young man.

* The opening of ''Film/PulpFiction'' features a lovey-dovey couple in a diner who coo and call each other Pumpkin and Honey Bunny. They then get up and [[MoodWhiplash violently rob the place]]. Later in the movie, the two perverted hicks who briefly imprison Creator/BruceWillis and Creator/VingRhames in the TortureCellar under their pawn shop also fall under this trope.

* The opening of ''Film/PulpFiction'' features a lovey-dovey couple in a diner who coo and call each other Pumpkin and Honey Bunny. They then get up and [[MoodWhiplash violently rob the place]].

* This was used to great effect with the [[BigBad Fire Lord]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. You only ever get to see his silhouette against a wall of flames for most of the show's run, and when his face is finally revealed [[spoiler:he looks like a completely normal and even fairly handsome man]].

* [[https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/mccarthyism-red-scare Joseph McCarthy]], one of America's most infamous politicians, exploited this trope via McCarthyism. Starting in 1950, he began a series of persecutions and trials that attacked anyone believed to be a Communist or Communist sympathizer. He used fears of Communists sneaking into America and destroying from the inside out to get people on his side, convincing people that anyone who did anything that deviated from "the American way" was not to be trusted. Many of the "Communists" he attacked were innocent people, and their lives were ruined as a result of his witch hunt.

** Wong Chi-Hang from ''Film/TheUntoldStory'' (alternate title: ''Human BBQ Pork Buns'') is a simple, bespectacled, if somewhat grumpy-looking chef working in a restaurant by day, until the truth is revealed at the end where he ''murdered'' the restaurant's previous owner, alongside the [[FamilyExtermination ex-owner's wife, sister]] and [[WouldHurtAChild five children]] before grinding their flesh into pork buns. So now you know where the alternate title comes from.

The TropeNamer is a quote by Wednesday Addams from ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'' going in ordinary clothes to a costume party, then claiming, "I'm a homicidal maniac. They look just like everybody else."

* The TropeNamer is a scene at the end of the first ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'' movie where Wednesday and Pugsley are showing off their Halloween costumes to their family. When asked by Margaret why she's not wearing a costume like her brother, Wednesday announces that she ''is'' in costume as a "homicidal maniac" because "they look just like everybody else." The sequel, ''Addams Family Values'', plays this completely straight with Debbie Jellinsky, the Addams' [[BabysitterFromHell new nanny]]. A gorgeous blonde dressed all in white, who's actually an AxCrazy BlackWidow with her sights on Uncle Fester. It eventually turns out she's been killing [[SelfMadeOrphan since childhood]].

* ''Film/{{Barbarian}}'': Frank, at least when he was young, looks like your average Joe of a maintenance worker. This is in spite of the fact that he is a [[spoiler:kidnapping, incestuous, serial rapist]].

* John Doe in ''Film/{{Se7en}}''. Combine a very subdued performance by [[spoiler: Kevin Spacey]] with a name like "John Doe" (the default name assigned to unidentified male corpses) and you've got a killer who is both chilling and credible.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' it's established from the beginning that there's a serial killer in Inaba. In such a small town, it would be incredibly easy to fly under the radar by just not doing anything extraordinary. That makes it hurt more when you find out that it's [[spoiler:Tohru Adachi, the bumbling comic relief detective who works under your uncle. It's hard to believe that a man you've had in your house for dinner several times is actually a closet MisanthropeSupreme who was willing to end the world just for kicks]].

** Near the end of the Azure Moon route, a child NPC at the monastery comments on various actions [[TheEmperor Edelgard]] has taken and that she must look really scary. While this trope is somewhat downplayed because [[spoiler:cruel [[TestedOnHumans human experimentation]] performed on Edlegard as a child]] left her with a [[WhiteHairBlackHeart very unusual hair color]], she otherwise looks a normal petite young woman who's rather attractive, if in a severe and aloof way. You can say this to the kid, but it's clear that they don't really get the idea that someone can do such bad things without looking evil. Ironically enough, this is the only route where Edelgard can assume a OneWingedAngel form that more than lives up to the kid's assumptions about her looking scary.
** Subverted with [[spoiler: Monica and Tomas]] in Part 1. While they look like ordinary people, these are just disguises via KillAndReplace, and their true forms are much creepier.
** Played straight with the ArcVillain of the Cindered Shadows DLC, [[spoiler: Aelfric]], who's possibly the most mundane-looking villain in the ''Fire Emblem'' series, although they do get a OneWingedAngel form at the very end.

* ''Film/ArsenicAndOldLace'': Jonathan Brewster is as ObviouslyEvil as it gets ([[BerserkButton looking like]] Creator/BorisKarloff [[TextualCelebrityResemblance does that]]) and Teddy Brewster is rather obviously nuts (being dressed like [[NapoleonDelusion Theodore Roosevelt while believing that you're Theodore Roosevelt]] does that), but the two elder Brewsters, Abby and Martha, are just a pair of nice little old ladies... who have [[SerialKiller fatally poisoned twelve]] lonely old gentlemen looking for a room and buried them in their home's basement by the time the story takes place and [[ObliviouslyEvil don't think there is anything wrong with that]] (heck, they think that they are doing the bachelors ''[[MercyKill an act of kindness]]'' as they would otherwise have no mourners). The only normal member of the family, Mortimer, fears that it's only a matter of time before his symptoms manifest, but he is relieved to learn that he is adopted.

* ''{{Series/Frasier}}'': Lampshaded when Frasier recalls a line from his old performance in Agatha Christie's play ''Ten Little Indians'': ''"On the contrary, Major, many a psychotic killer would would appear to be quite normal. You see, you can never suspect that underneath that calm exterior there lies the heart of a maniac."'' Being a psychiatrist, he then adds, ''"Happens to be true, by the way."''

** The Ventriloquist is just an unassuming man in an old suit. If not for that dummy Scarfarce, he would seem perfectly normal.

* As mentioned in the above paragraph, the TropeNamer is a scene at the end of the first ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'' movie where Wednesday and Pugsley are showing off their Halloween costumes to their family. When asked by Margaret why she's not wearing a costume like her brother, Wednesday announces that she ''is'' in costume as a "homicidal maniac" because "they look just like everybody else." The sequel, ''Addams Family Values'', plays this completely straight with Debbie Jellinsky, the Addams' [[BabysitterFromHell new nanny]]. A gorgeous blonde dressed all in white, who's actually an AxCrazy BlackWidow with her sights on Uncle Fester. It eventually turns out she's been killing [[SelfMadeOrphan since childhood]].

* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum'': [[spoiler: Dr. Oliver Thredson]], a compassionate and upstanding psychiatrist who is [[spoiler: actually the infamous serial killer, Bloody Face]].