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4[[quoteright:350:[[Film/FunnyGames https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/funny_games.png]]]]
5%%
6->''"Well, what else is there to do when life turns on you and you've retreated into some small room? You look out your window. You see people come in and out of this phone booth. The same ones every day. You make up names for them. You imagine their stories. But eventually, you get tired of imagining and follow one of them. And you hear all of his lies. And you decide that his sins should be punished. Some guy shouting into a cell phone full of self-importance isn't gonna notice me."''
7-->-- '''The Caller''', ''Film/PhoneBooth''
8
9This 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 BeautyIsBad, SexyVillainsChasteHeroes, SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains, 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.
10
11In fantasy and science fiction shows, this is often what makes {{Mundanger}} villains so terrifying. While the normal beasties the protagonists hunt down and slay are obviously fantastic monsters that don't exist in our world, ''these'' monsters could be living right next door.
12
13Please note: the identity of many of these villains may be part of a [[TheReveal reveal]], so please use spoilers wisely.
14
15An EnfantTerrible is usually one of these, as is your typical AffablyEvil villain. Frequently overlaps with TomTheDarkLord (when a villain has a mundane name). Contrast ObviouslyEvil and DevilInPlainSight, as well as FaceOfAThug (when someone is good or well-adjusted despite ''looking'' untrustworthy). Compare ManchurianAgent, where they genuinely are like everyone else until triggered, and AnticlimacticUnmasking, where someone with a distinct disguise looks like this without it. Related with but not to be confused for TheyLookLikeUsNow, where previously inhuman beasties learn to pass for human. TheNondescript is when their "normalness" is taken so far that people can't even remember what they're like. May intersect with RidiculouslyAverageGuy, who looks and acts utterly normal in every respect.
16
17The {{Trope Namer|s}} 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."
18
19This is TruthInTelevision. [[ParanoiaFuel Who knows? Maybe one of the tropers could just be this.]]
20
21[[noreallife]]
22----
23!!Examples:
24
25[[foldercontrol]]
26
27[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
28* ''Anime/{{Monster}}'': While the BigBad is [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon an exception]], the most evil and dangerous characters are often the most ordinary-looking: Hartmann and [[spoiler:Franz Bonaparta]] come to mind.
29* In the "Greenback Jane" arc of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', Jane and the protagonists are pursued by a band of bounty hunters. One of them eschews the series' ClusterFBomb style and speaks in GoshDangItToHeck terms and at face value is a wholesome, Mr. Rogers-ish guy. It turns out, he's a {{pyromaniac}} who previously torched his wife so that he could smell her flesh burn. Imagine an evil [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Hank Hill]] and you get the picture.
30* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': While the series is quite known for its ridiculously flamboyant villains, some of the very worst people in the series are the most normal-looking.
31** In ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'', while most of [[BigBad DIO]]'s assassins are pretty ObviouslyEvil, some look normal and like to blend into the crowd.
32*** Gray Fly looks like a plain old man and deliberately acts like he has no idea what is happening, while his [[FightingSpirit Stand]] rips people apart.
33*** Captain Dragon looks quite ordinary, which he uses to deceive the Crusaders into thinking he's a normal guy hired by the Speedwagon Foundation. He's only exposed as a Stand User by Jotaro bluffing him.
34*** We barely get to see any of Arabia Fats, but when the heroes find him and knock him out, he's revealed to be a chubby, plain, and completely non-threatening man.
35*** Mariah is a normal-looking woman who Joseph asks for help before she reveals herself as the one behind the current Stand attack.
36*** Oingo and Boingo, [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain in so much as they count as villains]], do nothing to make themselves stand out and are able to take the place of servers in a cafe without anyone noticing.
37** 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. And indeed, he ''is'' present in the crowd shot ([[EarlyBirdCameo alongside other characters who would properly debut later]]) establishing this; he's the guy with the black hair, white jacket, and pink pants facing away from the camera over to the right. [[HidingInPlainSight The heroes had him in their sights all along, but never realized who they were looking at.]]
38** Prosciutto from ''Manga/GoldenWind'' is one of the more normal looking members of Passione (and certainly has the most normal [[FashionVictimVillain fashion sense]]), and spends most of his fight against Team Bucciarati hiding alongside the passengers of the train, [[spoiler:even using his own Stand [[RapidAging ability]] on himself to blend in with the infected civilians]].
39** Viviano Westwood from ''Manga/StoneOcean'' appears to be a completely normal prison guard, but turns out to be a Stand user Pucci sent to assassinate Jolyne. To make the reveal all the more surprising, the chapter he appears in features many background characters with the flamboyant fashion sense readers usually associate with Stand users.
40** The Eleven Riders from ''Manga/SteelBallRun'', a group of unnamed Stand users sharing a single Stand, have subdued designs that would not stand out in the manga's Western setting, fitting how they're meant to be an Old West variation of TheMenInBlack.
41** In ''Manga/{{JoJolion}}'', the Rock Humans are called out as being identical to normal humans when they're not hibernating in rock form; [[FashionVictimVillain terrible fashion sense]] aside, most of them can and do infiltrate society and live normal lives.
42* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Krillin is surprised to find that Androids 17 and 18 (immensely powerful cyborgs that caused a BadFuture in an alternate timeline) look just like regular people you'd see walking down the street. This is justified as they [[WasOnceAMan were once human]], although even then they both happened to be juvenile delinquents. The other androids and Cell avert this.
43* The Titan Shifters in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. Just the reveal that ''they exist'' puts the military on edge, since there's absolutely no way to tell who's a Titan Shifter until they transform and squash you. Their Titan forms are distinctive, but their human selves aren't. [[spoiler: Four of them were able to pose as members of Eren's training group- Annie, Bertholt, Reiner, and Ymir]]. Later reveals justify this as [[spoiler: they're actually the same thing. Normal mindless Titans are incomplete Titan Shifters who haven't yet inherited one of the nine Titan Powers and as such can't turn back or control themselves. Any Eldian (which encompasses all the main characters except Mikasa) has the potential to turn into a titan or become a Titan Shifter, so most Shifters ''are'' just ordinary people.]]
44* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', [[Characters/DeathNoteLightYagami Light Yagami]] being the smart, charming, supposedly kindhearted honor-student son of the Chief of Police makes it difficult for many of the characters to take L's accusations seriously. L seems to be the only one who ''really'' believes that Light is Kira until very close to the series' end.
45* This is a common theme in ''Anime/HellGirl''. The evil person during most episodes is often seen as ordinary or even [[VillainWithGoodPublicity respectful]] by other people, leaving the victim no choice but to summon Ai Enma (Hell Girl) for revenge, knowing they're damning their souls too.
46* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' loves this trope. Though some of the villains like Hisoka or Illumi strike you from the first glance as different from the common man, a good portion of the serial killers would fit in real Life without anyone batting an eye. Examples include Sharnalk, Pakunoda, Nobunaga, Phinks, Genthru, Tserriednich...
47* ''Manga/InuYasha'': Sango reflects at one point that, according to her father, the most dangerous kinds of {{youkai}} are those that can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting assume human form]].
48* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', Ghouls look exactly like humans and are nearly indistinguishable from them. Some humans even wonder whether they really exist, and express surprise when discovering that Ghouls look human. This is driven home when Ken Kaneki manages to score a date with a beautiful girl, and their wonderful evening ends with her trying to eat him. [[HunterOfMonsters CCG]] Investigators are trained to watch for very subtle signs someone might be a Ghoul, but even then the law restricts them from acting until they actually see a Ghoul's GameFace. However, it is subverted in that, while there are violent and malicious Ghouls, most of them ''are'' [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire perfectly normal people]] outside their powers and hunger for flesh.
49* In ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', this is made quite apparent. Each arc has a different villain, who is always just one of the group beforehand. In some cases, it's clear who the villain is, and in others, the tension is increased by the fact that it could be anyone and no one looks like they could be it. Additionally, the ultimate villain also appears to be just like everyone, except maybe for a slight apparent fondness for the macabre.
50* In ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' the Knights of the Eastern Calculus, who form the current incarnation of an AncientConspiracy able to hack reality itself thanks to the BigBad, are an executive, a fat nerd and a housewife who plays videogames with her son.
51* In ''Manga/{{Erased}}'', the culprit behind multiple strings of child kidnappings and murders is [[spoiler:Yashiro Gaku, the charming and seemingly well-intentioned elementary school teacher]].
52* [[Characters/MyHeroAcademiaAllForOne All For One]] in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' doesn't fit this currently, but from flashbacks ([[FaceFramedInShadow insomuch as we can see him]]) it seems that he looked fairly normal before All Might [[FacialHorror punched his face off]] and made him a DarkLordOnLifeSupport.
53* The BigBad of ''Anime/PsychoPass'', Shogo Makishima, certainly looks like an ordinary individual, but what makes him truly qualify for this trope is [[spoiler:that the [[BigBrotherIsWatching Sibyl System]] views him as an ordinary individual. Being [[TheSociopath criminally asymptomatic]], Makishima's Psycho-Pass decreases as he commits crimes, where most other people would have their Psycho-Pass dramatically increase if they even ''think'' about possibly committing a criminal act. Makishima can commit all of the horrific crimes he wants and still be viewed by the Sibyl System as a perfectly healthy and stable person.]] This eventually turns out to be major foreshadowing for a twist that turns this trope on its head. [[spoiler:Makishima fits perfectly within the Sybil System because it’s made of people like him.]]
54* The Parasytes in ''Manga/{{Parasyte}}'' crawl into their host's brain, take over their body and eat unsuspecting humans. What makes the Parasyte's particularly ParanoiaFuel inducing is that; say a normal person somehow managed to escape a Parasyte and memorize their face, said Parasyte can then completely change their face and catch that same person off guard.
55** [[spoiler: This becomes even truer later in the series where the Parasytes eventually stop attacking humans and start focusing more on just acclimating and assimilating into society; by then, they've essentially become like everyone else, and the only way even the reader can tell them apart is the slight slant to a host's eyes.]]
56* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'':
57** Akihiko Kayaba, the man who trapped 10,000 players in his [[TheMostDangerousVideoGame death game]]. His anime character design is an average-looking man in a lab coat, in contrast to his [[SilverFox Heathcliff avatar]]. Yet, he's still the BigBad of the Aincrad arc.
58** Sugou Nobuyuki is a power-hungry, [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] CorruptCorporateExecutive with a [[AGodAmI god complex]], and in real life, looks like your average everyday guy in a business suit and glasses. Even Kirito didn't realize his true colors until Sugou [[PervertedSniffing sniffed Asuna's hair]] and gloated about their upcoming marriage.
59* ''Literature/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'' has the King of Vices, the ShadowDictator of the Republic of Heiburg, who passes herself off as a plain-looking and meek soldier with a standard Drag-ride. Meanwhile, her decoy and fake boss was brainwashed into being ObviouslyEvil in facial expression and behavior in order to emphasize their contrasting outward personalities.
60* ''Manga/CaseClosed'':
61** There are many cases where "faceless" characters, often criminals, tend to look pretty unintimidating when their identity is revealed, most notably the MadBomber that killed police detective Matsuda.
62** 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 like 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]].
63* Part of the RealismInducedHorror of the GenreDeconstruction of rape hentai ''Utaite no Ballad'' is that Seiji Kotani, the VillainProtagonist of the series, is ''not'' a stereotypical fat, ugly DevilInPlainSight, but rather a fresh-faced young man able to put on a MaskOfSanity when off the clock from his burgeoning musical career long enough to have a normal conversation with a college friend and remain unnoticed on a busy train, enough to hide the fact from the public that [[PaedoHunt he is a predatory pedophile]].
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Comic Books]]
67* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Most villains, even if they start out as relatively normal criminals, wind up disfigured and/or embracing some kind of super-villain gimmick. Not so with [[ComicBook/BatmanTheBlackMirror James Gordon Jr.]], an ordinary, bookish-looking lad who happens to also be a [[TheSociopath sociopath]] and SerialKiller.
68%%** Mr. Fun from the 2002 mini-series ''ComicBook/BatmanFamily2002''.%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample
69* ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'': Kevin Thorn looks like a completely ordinary guy, but is, in fact, the personification of storytelling, whose goal in "The Great Fables Crossover" was to erase the Fables universe from existence and start from scratch.
70* ''ComicBook/{{Raptors}}'': In stark contrast to the [[TheBeautifulElite Molina twins]] who could [[VampiresAreSexGods easily stand out among the crowd]], their vampire rivals on the other hand look completely mundane due to having mingled with humanity ages ago and taken positions of influence among society. They could be fat, old or completely plain, but deep down they are all depraved monsters that delight in abusing humans. This trope is usually not a problem for the twins, since they have managed to elude their enemies for centuries, but it certainly is for normal characters like Benito and Vicky, since they don't know who to trust as the conspiracy has [[WeAreEverywhere infiltrated the police, politics, the church, etc]]. Even [[spoiler:Vicky's own family is revealed to be part of it]].
71* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'':
72** Thessaly is a powerful and ''enormously'' vengeful witch who is [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld at least several millennia old]], can travel between different planes of existence, and will [[RevengeBeforeReason obsessively]] hunt down and murder or [[FacialHorror cut off the face]] of anyone who has slighted her. Her physical description is something along the lines of a slightly shorter than average woman with light brown hair somewhere in her mid 20s to early 30s, wears large eyeglasses, and strikes people as kinda pretty and also kinda plain at the same time. If you saw her and tried to guess her job you'd probably find yourself assuming she was a librarian.
73** This is one of the nightmare-inducing qualities of the ''Collectors'' story as well. On one end of the spectrum, you have [[SerialKiller cereal fans]] who look like sweaty, loserish sexual predators you'd steer clear of at all costs. On the other, you have those who are ordinary-looking in the extreme... and they are just as vicious as the sort you'd try to avoid based on appearances.
74* ''ComicBook/SinCity'': Kevin is just a guy in a sweater and glasses. You wouldn't believe that he is a martial arts master, to say nothing of his knack for eating people. For extra uncanny points, it's a Charlie Brown sweater. Ratcheted up by casting Creator/ElijahWood in the film.
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder:Fan Works]]
78* Discussed in the ''ComicBook/KickAss'' fanfiction [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9637577/1/Fall-of-a-hero-Rise-of-a-legendcereal Fall of a hero, Rise of a legend]] when Mindy asks why the government don't deal with the criminals like terrorists or enemy armies and they discuss that visually there is no difference between them and civilians.
79* ''FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse:''
80** The villains of ''Nightmares Yet to Come'', when at work, tend to wear black hoods, have black coats and glowing orange eyes. Over the course of the first few chapters, Trixie runs into several ponies who turn out to be members of that group, and is absolutely none the wiser, nor has any reason to suspect them of abducting her. Their numbers include a genial teacher, a ditzy socialite (who, admittedly, has a second job as a secret agent), a college student, a Shadowbolt, and two secretaries in Luna's palace, one of whom Trixie has known for ''years''.
81** Several times, it's shown there are Changelings about the place, just pretending (or possibly just being) ordinary ponies, and no-one's the wiser. [[spoiler:Not even the notoriously paranoid country of Zaldia, which is ''lousy'' with Changelings... one of whom is leading the invasion and is best buds with the country's king. She pretends to be a humble musician.]]
82* Prince Jewelius, the main antagonist of the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', is a normal-looking unicorn who [[BitchInSheepsClothing initially comes off as a sane nice guy]]. However, after [[TheUsurper he takes over Equestria's throne]], he gradually reveals himself to be a [[TheUnfettered terribly unhinged]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who has secretly hated his aunt Princess Celestia and cousin Princess Cadance and desired to kill them for years, [[GreenEyedMonster just for being more loved than him]]. Jewelius himself lampshades this trope by stating that [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Changelings]] aren't the only ones capable of putting on façades when he finally reveals his true colors to Twilight Sparkle.
83* ''Fanfic/APeacefulAfterlife'':
84** Inverted. Kira trying to maintain the lifestyle he had on Earth by doing the exact same things he did to go unnoticed while alive makes him stick out like a sore thumb in Hell, as his particular flavor of StraightEdgeEvil is ''not'' the norm there.
85** Played Straight with Kira's Mr. Clean persona. Angel Dust notes how a nobody like Kira could easily brush up against a target, boobytrap a doorknob, or deliver a package to blow someone up without them ever seeing it coming.
86* ''Fanfic/ARabbitAmongWolves'': Discussed InUniverse. [[TheSocialExpert Coco]], when trying to help Team [=RWBY=] rebuild their reputation, explains that Jaune's success with the public is partly because he ''doesn't'' wear a mask. His shy, dorky face makes him far more sympathetic and approachable with the public then if he wore the scary looking White Fang mask.
87* ''Fanfic/SeventhEndmostVision'': Ifalna mentions in Chapter 22 that the weirdest part of seeing Lucrecia was just how ''normal'' the [[BigBad horrible]], [[EvilGenius horrible]] woman looked.
88--> " You know, the weirdest thing is, she looked so damn normal. After everything, after all Ifalna's terror, I expected... I don't know, a demon, a dragon, some supermonster like the Leviathan the Alliance buried Junon with. Not... just some woman. Young, too, or at least young-looking, with a big ponytail and mismatched eyes."
89* ''Fanfic/CultOfSalem'': This is why Mercury finds the Cult of Salem [[EvenEvilHasStandards so unsettling]]: they commit incredibly horrible deeds, while also behaving and hanging out like normal people in their spare time.
90* ''Fanfic/AManOfIron'': When Logan and Hulk succeed in removing the Juggernaut's helmet, Daenerys remarks that he looks like the kind of man she wouldn't think about again after crossing him on the street.
91[[/folder]]
92
93[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
94* Most villains in the ''Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon'' are ObviouslyEvil, but there are a few (typically twist villains or realistic villains) exceptions to this.
95** Part of what makes ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'''s Coachman character so terrifying by Disney villain standards is that he basically looks like a normal, grandfatherly old man. There's no clear visual indication of his evil until he makes his NightmareFace. His only other tell is easy to miss: he has FourFingeredHands as opposed to every other human having five.
96** Lady Tremaine in ''{{WesternAnimation/Cinderella}}'' has the appearance as a old upper-class lady, which is what she is. There's nothing supernatural about her (at least in the original film), she's just a abusive, tyrannical stepmother towards Cinderella.
97** Bill Sykes in ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' is a scarily realistic depiction of a mob-involved LoanShark, and has the appearance of a grey-haired old man with eyeglasses that you can come across on the street.
98** Commander Rourke of ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' is an unassuming, outwardly friendly middle-aged man compared to the more eccentric members of his team. It makes the part where he has Milo and Kida cornered with a jovial smile on his face all the creepier, especially when he casually decides to leave an entire civilization to die.
99** [[spoiler: Prince Hans]] from ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' is a normal looking gentleman, as opposed to the {{Gonk}} Duke of Weselton, [[spoiler: who turns out to be a RedHerring]].
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
103* The {{Trope Namer|s}} 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]].
104* ''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. He probably did become a little loopy from the events he had to endure through the film, though; [[CloudCuckoolander just not murderously loopy]].
105* ''Film/BadApples'': The killers in this movie are a pair of teenage girls who spend their Halloween night torturing and murdering anyone who makes them angry. They spend most of the movie wearing masks (even in class, which gets them sent to the principal's office), so their faces aren't shown until the end, when Ella unmasks them while they're both unconscious... they look like ordinary teenage girls.
106* ''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]].
107* ''Film/CappsCrossing'' has David. At first glance he seems like a decent guy who likes hiking. You would never know he's a psycho killer until he plants his knife in your jugular.
108* ''Film/Desolation2017'': The killer in the movie is a bearded man with orange sunglasses and a hoodie. He may give off bad vibes, sure, but he still isn't some creepy masked guy.
109* Norman Bates in ''Film/{{Psycho}}''. In the book, he's written as middle-aged, homely at best, and a bit creepy (much like his inspiration, Ed Gein), but Hitchcock thought it would be more interesting to make him look wholesome.
110* Jigsaw in the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' movies. Extra points because [[spoiler:he's dying of brain cancer]].
111* 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.
112* Creator/RobinWilliams has also played a couple of very troubling antagonists in ''Film/OneHourPhoto'' and ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'' as well. While this borders on PlayingAgainstType here, his character in ''One Hour Photo'' was scary because he could have been ''any random photomat clerk'', and [[BeneathNotice he nearly faded into the background anyway]].
113* Patrick Bateman from ''Film/AmericanPsycho''. Bateman is apparently such a cookie-cutter yuppie that people keep mistaking him for other yuppies.
114* Numerous villains from CAT-III {{Exploitation Film}}s made in Hong Kong fits under this, and what's even worse is that most of them are VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory:
115** 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 [[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies grinding their flesh into pork buns]]. So now you know where the alternate title comes from.
116** Lam Gor-yu from ''Film/DrLamb'' is a meek, ordinary taxi driver who works the night shift, and secretly a [[ILoveTheDead necrophile]] who murdered four women during the film, the youngest being a 17-year-old teenager. He would sneak his victim's bodies into his rented apartment the following morning to pleasure themselves with their corpses before dismembering them with impromptu medical equipment, besides having a collection of severed breasts pickled in liquid formaldehyde sliced off from his victims as his CreepySouvenir for his kills.
117** Kai from ''Film/EbolaSyndrome'' killed his boss and his boss' wife after being caught having an affair, before escaping to South Africa where he works in a Chinese restaurant in Johannesburg, murdering his new boss as well before escaping back to Hong Kong. He's the ''least'' likely suspect to the string of murders he committed since he looks too much like an average joe.
118* Garland Greene in ''Film/ConAir'', played by Creator/SteveBuscemi. The other cons comment on how he doesn't look like an infamous mass-murderer.
119* In ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'', unlike the later hulking hockey-masked figure that Jason would later be known to be, [[spoiler: Pamela Voorhees, the StrangerBehindTheMask, is a completely normal looking middle-aged lady, dressed in jeans and a sweater. No creepy mask, scars, chainsaw, or anything.]]
120* Virtually all of the people Creator/BruceWillis' character has [[TouchTelepathy psychic flashes]] about in ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' are seemingly ordinary people who have done or are looking to do bad things. [[spoiler:The biggest case being a janitor who is a rapist and a SerialKiller.]]
121* ''Film/{{Devil}}'', which is about five average people trapped in an elevator, one of whom is Satan.
122* The Beast from ''Film/KungFuHustle'' turns out to be a dumpy old guy in his underwear. Much of the appeal in general of Kung Fu Hustle is how the martial arts masters turn out to be the most regular, unflattering-looking people in the movie, while the suave, Hollywood-ish Axe Gang are a pathetic joke.
123* ''Film/TheNightOfTheHunter'': Harry Powell is either this or a DevilInPlainSight, depending on how sensitive your [[DetectEvil Evildar]] is. To all appearances, a charming and folksy preacher and the best stepfather a KidHero could ever want. Actually a [[TheBluebeard Bluebeard]] SerialKiller.
124** A TV-remake of ''Film/TheNightOfTheHunter'' had Harry played by [=Gerald McRaney=], who is possibly best known for appearing in the ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' spinoff ''Promised Land''. He played a dad. A dad possibly a lot like yours. Put some role association together, and you have prime ParanoiaFuel.
125* In the comedy film ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooLittle'', the main character (Bill Murray) thinks he's in a TuxedoAndMartini simulation game and, when informed about TheBaroness, thinks that she is this elderly woman dressed as a dominatrix ("It was our anniversary!"). TheBaroness is a real person, a TortureTechnician / MadDoctor. She is a middle-aged woman of average appearance, maybe even pretty, and she acts completely calm and normal. The film sends the message that unlike in the world of ''Film/JamesBond'', villains in the real world aren't always ObviouslyEvil with a convenient RedRightHand.
126* Mr. Baek of ''Film/SympathyForLadyVengeance''. After a very emotional buildup, a parent of one of a serial killer's victims says, "But you look just like a normal person."
127* Lampshaded in ''Film/EightMM'' when Nicolas Cage's character tracks down and unmasks the SnuffFilm performer "The Machine" to reveal [[spoiler:some ordinary bald guy with glasses.]]
128-->'''Machine/[[spoiler: George Higgins]]:''' "What did you expect? A monster?"
129* Creator/DylanBaker's [[SerialKiller serial killing]] school principal in ''Film/TrickRTreat''.
130* In ''Film/BehindTheMaskTheRiseOfLeslieVernon'', the slasher killer of the title is, while out of his costume, a normal-looking guy. [[spoiler: Because he ISNT Leslie Vernon, he really is just some random guy]]
131* ''Film/TheHandThatRocksTheCradle'', where the antagonist's true intentions are made incredibly clear to the audience and the protagonist, but the latter has to spend the whole movie trying to ''prove'' it.
132* Ben from ''Film/ManBitesDog''. Sure, he's a hitman and serial killer but other than that, there's absolutely ''nothing'' weird about him.
133* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'':
134** This was supposed to happen in ''Film/TheTerminator''. Creator/LanceHenriksen was James Cameron's first choice to play the Terminator and had already appeared in-character at a fundraising event. Arnie originally auditioned for the role of Kyle Reese before switching roles to make the Terminator look much more imposing and threatening; Henriksen ended up playing one of the cops instead.
135** In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', the default appearance of the shape-shifting villain is a fairly nondescript man (Robert Patrick), as opposed to the lantern-jawed Schwarzenegger. This really brings out the tension in the first part of the movie, before the audience knows that Arnold is the good guy this time around. Or would have, if [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil every single trailer and commercial]] hadn't capitalized on the awesome T-1000 effects and the line "How do you terminate a Terminator?" thus spoiling the surprise at the time.
136** ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'': The Rev-9 takes the outward appearance of a rather unremarkable Latino guy, and is even able to crack jokes with those it's disguised among as if it was just one of the boys.
137* Dominic Greene in ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. According to director Marc Forster, Greene was deliberately styled without make-up, in order to symbolise the 'hidden evils in society'.
138* A nice one in the Bruce Willis movie ''Film/Red2010''. The operatives bump into [[spoiler:a thoroughly ordinary middle-aged woman at the airport, with the most paranoid among them insisting she's a killer, while the others assume he's just crazy. Then after she's released, she turns up again - with a rocket launcher.]]
139* ''Film/{{Halloween|1978}}'': As a six-year-old, Michael Myers is revealed to look like an ordinary dirty blonde boy. In the final minutes of the film, Laurie manages to rip off the adult Michael's mask, revealing that he's still just an ordinary looking brunette young man, though with a fresh eye injury from his fight with Laurie.
140* ''Film/{{Kruel}}'': When we see Willie without his ice cream truck clown makeup on, he looks to be an average middle-to-late-aged man,
141* When the cops in ''Film/TheresSomethingAboutMary'' mistakenly think that Ted is a serial murderer, they remark that they never look like how you expect them upon seeing Ted.
142* In ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'', the alien replacements all look like regular humans... [[GlowingEyesOfDoom until they attack]].
143* Implied to have been the case with Freddy Krueger in ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'', who - in life - was the janitor at the local elementary school and wore a crumpled brown fedora and a tacky Christmassy sweater, and was secretly murdering (and possibly molesting) kids for years. Of course, by the time we meet him, he's an undead monster with burns all over his body, so his appearance is a bit more striking.
144* At the end of ''Film/MemoriesOfMurder'', [[spoiler: a young girl describes a man who is more than likely the killer, and says that he looked "ordinary" and had a "normal" face. This suggests even further that the handsome Hyeon-gyu Park, the main suspect of the case, really was innocent.]]
145* ''Film/GhostInTheMachine'': When Terri learns that Hochman was the killer who recently died, it's noted that he just looked like a normal guy.
146* While the Cenobites of ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'' are terrifying, mutilated demons, most of the human villains fit this trope to a T, which is fitting considering the series commentary on sadistic cruelty hiding everywhere. Most notable is Frank Cotton from the first two films, who looked like a handsome, regular man before he was turned into a skinless monstrosity, but in reality was a sadistic SenseFreak.
147* In ''Film/HellboundHellraiserII'', when the Channard-thing kills the Female, Butterball, and Chatterer, we briefly see who the three were before their transformation into Cenobites--respectively, a beautiful woman; a husky, ordinary-looking man; and, unexpectedly, a teenage boy. Presumably, they shared the same desire Elliot Spencer did before his transformation into Pinhead--to seek out the limits of human pain and pleasure, no matter the cost.
148* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
149** In contrast with TheEmperor's inhuman appearance in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the prequels reveal that he once looked like a friendly old man. Then ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' establishes [[FacialHorror how he came to look like he did]]: a blast of his own [[ShockAndAwe Force Lightning]] that [[HoistByHisOwnPetard backfired in his face]]. Works in the rebooted canon have Imperial propaganda (and speeches where he doesn't show up in public) using this face instead of his real one [[ObviouslyEvil for obvious reasons]]. It's possible, however, that the twisted and deformed face was his real one all along, and that the reflected lightning simply broke the {{Glamour}} he had put on himself. It makes sense, considering the [[EvilMakesYouUgly stark effects long-term Dark Side use does to people]].
150** Count Dooku, one of Palpatine's apprentices, looks like a dignified older gentleman, sharply contrasting his demonic RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver predecessor Maul. He never even develops yellow Sith eyes.
151** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', Kylo Ren responds to Rey calling him a "creature in a mask" by removing his helmet. Unlike Vader (who only fit this trope in the brief period between completing his FaceHeelTurn and getting horribly scarred on Mustafar), he's entirely normal-looking without it, and Rey is visibly thrown that her terrifying captor is someone who she could pass on the street and never look at twice.
152* In the film adaptation of ''Literature/{{Misery}}'', Annie Wilkes was changed from intimidating and unkempt to somebody you could pass on the street and not look twice at. The effect is deeply unsettling.
153* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', BigBad Zemo is completely unremarkable-looking (at least [[CastFullOfPrettyBoys in context]]). This is a drastic change from his comic book counterpart, a heavily-scarred, [[VillainousFashionSense garish-looking]] former Nazi.
154* In the first third of ''Film/AHistoryOfViolence'', two mass murdering thieves on a cross-country killing spree massacre an entire motel staff in the beginning and then try to rob the diner of Tom Stall, the main protagonist, and kill everyone there. The older partner [[ObviouslyEvil looks like bad news right from the start]], which Tom notes the moment they enter the diner, but the younger robber looks just like any ordinary late-20s to early-30s white guy from the suburbs. In truth he's just as vicious as his more threatening partner, being a serial-killing rapist who murdered a child in the opening sequence and who violently prevents the waitress from Tom's diner from leaving, casually sexually assaulting her while doing so.
155* The unnamed killer from ''Film/{{Hush}}'' looks like a fairly normal 30-year-old man when he takes off his mask, though he does have a tattoo on his neck.
156* Peter and Paul in ''Film/FunnyGames'' look like a pair of clean-cut young men who want to borrow some eggs... until they unleash their more sadistic side to a hapless suburban family.
157* The title character in ''Film/TheStepfather'' series of movies looks and acts like an ordinary-bordering-on-ideal father figure, if you ignore the fact that his go-to solution for discovering that his latest family doesn't live up to his standards is to murder all of them and move on to the next one.
158* The ''Film/{{Hostel}}'' series of movies features the Elite Hunting group, made up of wealthy sadists who pay top-dollar for the privilege of torturing kidnapped tourists... and who otherwise are perfectly normal people with regular lives and loved ones.
159* From ''Film/{{Predators}}'': [[spoiler:Edwin looks and acts like a completely normal guy, especially when surrounded by badasses and killers, but he turns out to be a psychopathic serial killer who enjoys drugging his victims and playing with them while they're helpless]].
160* ''Film/TheyLookLikePeople'': One of the protagonists is convinced that "monsters" are lurking in society, looking like ordinary people, possibly even his friends. Whether this is true or he's having paranoid delusions is a central question.
161* In ''Film/DeadlyAdvice'', UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper confides to Jodie that the secret for getting away with murder is to look like someone no one would ever suspect: pointing out that he looks like a harmless old man, and not the monster everyone was searching for.
162* ''Film/BerlinSyndrome'': Andi turns out to hold women captive in his apartment (Clare and Nathalie, a Canadian tourist previously, perhaps more). Even his own father is entirely ignorant about Andi's true character, as he comes off as a normal and charming man, aside from a few moments where he seems "off". Even then he's just weird or rude, not dangerous.
163* ''Film/ArlingtonRoad'': Oliver and Cheryl just seem like normal, suburban Americans (albeit who have a troubled young son). Then it turns out they're far-right terrorists.
164* The very end to ''Film/HellFest'' reveals that the Other lives in a nice suburban home and has a loving daughter who has no idea that her father is a serial killer.
165* ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': Unlike her toad-like GonkyFemme description in the book, [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Dolores Umbridge]] is an unremarkable older woman, played by Creator/ImeldaStaunton. Her grandmotherly appearance heightens the contrast between her saccharine demeanour and her horrible actions.
166* ''Film/{{Preservation}}'': All three of the psycho hunters look (and act) like normal teenage boys without their masks. One is shown playing games on his phone, another is shown to have asthma and uses an inhaler, he and the leader text each other (while sitting five feet apart, no less), and the leader has a completely casual phone conversation [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas with his mother]].
167* ''Film/{{Spree}}'': On the surface, VillainProtagonist Kurt Kunkle is a rather awkward and unassuming young man.
168* 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 beneath their pawn shop also fall under this trope.
169* ''Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania:'' TheStinger shows a presentation on time being given by an eccentric looking man with typical wild hair of a MadScientist calling himself "Victor Timely". [[spoiler:In the audience is Loki, who is positively terrified of the guy, and with good reason since Victor is an alternate of Kang, who just happens to look like a nebbish dweeb rather than the ObviouslyEvil looks of all his counterparts.]]
170* ''Film/{{Wishcraft}}'': The killer is Mr. Turner, a very ordinary looking, bespectacled middle aged man who teaches history in high school.
171[[/folder]]
172
173[[folder:Literature]]
174* In ''Literature/AliceGirlFromTheFuture'', Rat, even in the later books, is one of the galaxy's most feared and resourceful criminal masterminds. His default human form is that of a short, thin, unassuming man, with a face so forgettable it borders on TheNondescript.
175* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
176** The Yeerks are [[PuppeteerParasite aliens that control sentient beings]] by [[OrificeInvasion tunneling into their heads through their ear canals]] and spreading themselves around the brain, sinking into the cracks, etc. So the protagonists are aware that anyone they know could be a "Controller". Like Jake's brother Tom, their Vice Principal Chapman, and many more throughout the series.
177** To really drive the paranoia home, it's not at all uncommon for the Animorphs to cause a public spectacle... and start getting attacked by random members of the crowd.
178* In ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'', the Bank of England has been robbed by a man who [[CriminalDoppelganger unfortunately resembles]] protagonist Phileas Fogg. The British consul in Suez remarks that the description given is that of an honest man, to which the detective Fix declares that great robbers always look like honest men; the ones who look like rascals are too easily caught.
179* ''Literature/BasLagCycle'': In ''Literature/PerdidoStreetStation'' the city of New Crobuzon's militia forces are basically this trope. The majority of the militia is made up of agents that walk around the city like any normal person. This is used as a great effect when [[spoiler: a strike breaks out and eventually leads to fighting between two crowds. The militia has people in both. Even the crowd that's on strike.]] They could be anywhere at any time and you would only know when it's already too late.
180* A DiscussedTrope more than once in the Literature/BernieGunther novels, several of which are set in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany.
181* ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses'': Upon meeting Amarantha, Feyre states that while she's attractive she's not some devastatingly beautiful goddess of death, which actually makes Feyre ''more'' afraid of her, seeing as this seemingly ordinary woman has laid waste to armies, enslaved High Lords and is the most powerful being in Prythian.
182* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
183** Vampires from the Red Court can put on a "fleshmask" that hides their true appearance, making them look like attractive humans instead of emaciated bat-like creatures.
184** It is remarked that Goodman Grey looks absolutely average, when in reality he is [[spoiler: the son of a human and a skinwalker.]]
185* ''Literature/PragueFatale'': Bernie watches Nazi Party leaders UsefulNotes/ReinhardHeydrich and Karl Hermann Frank, in civilian clothes, in the audience at a circus. He can't get over how they look "just like everyone else", when of course Bernie knows they are brutal, vicious murderers.
186** Bernie makes the same point in a police conference, where he gives a speech about when he caught a SerialKiller and then comments about how evil people can't be spotted, how they look like everybody else. But he's also talking about the Nazis, and in this instance he is indulging in a little InUniverse GettingCrapPastTheRadar, since among the people in the audience are arch-criminals like Heinrich Himmler and Arthur Nebe.
187* Creator/AgathaChristie loves this trope. The murderer is always someone who looks completely normal, and whom the reader would never have suspected.
188* ''Literature/{{Circleverse}}'': In ''[[Literature/TheCircleOpens Shatterglass]]'', the serial killer turns out to be [[spoiler:one of the Hindu Untouchable/Dalit {{Expy}} characters who have been constantly on the outskirts of the protagonists' radar, cleaning, being abused, and biding their time]].
189* In ''Literature/DandelionWine'', the serial killer called "the Lonely One" turns out to be a perfectly ordinary-looking man when he's finally caught. Douglas and his friends, who had fun spinning tales about the Lonely One in earlier chapters, are disappointed that he isn't the supernaturally creepy being they envisioned him to be and, being children, decide that this mundane man can't be the ''actual'' Lonely One and that the real Lonely One is still out there somewhere.
190* ''Literature/{{Dexter}}'' goes to a lot of trouble to seem like just an average guy.
191* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
192** [[Literature/NightWatchDiscworld Carcer Dun]] is a PsychoKnifeNut who at a glance looks like nothing more than a cheerful fellow with an honest face, which enabled him to [[CopKiller murder an off-duty cop]] who bumped into him through pure rotten luck and didn't even recognize him.
193** PsychoForHire Stratford in ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' is an unremarkable youngish fellow who looks like nobody in particular — until he has you at the wrong end of a weapon when he looks distinctly, awfully like [[TheSociopath Stratford]].
194** {{Exploited|Trope}} by the Ankh-Morpork City Watch in a non-villainous example. When it's an open secret that they have a werewolf on the force, having a {{Gonk}} like Corporal Nobby Nobbs around to divert attention from the attractive but (usually) very human-looking [[ActionGirl Angua]] trips up any number of crooks.
195* The infected humans in ''Literature/EdenGreen'' are eventually taken over by their needle-symbiotes, but otherwise appear completely human unless freshly-injured and still healing.
196* The Silencers in ''Literature/TheFifthWave'' by Rick Yancey. Used to chilling effect early in the novel when Cassie finds an injured soldier dying in an abandoned convenience store but doesn't know if he's a Silencer or not [[spoiler: and so shoots him out of fear. It turns out he was perfectly human]].
197* ''Literature/GirlsDontHit'': Miles, Joss and Echo all just look like ordinary people, though their business is murder for hire. Joss even goes out of her way to seem normal, marrying and having kids just to fit in (despite this not really being her wish), since most don't suspect a middle class family woman.
198%% * ''Literature/{{Hater}}'', a book by David Moody, and the movie of the same name.
199* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': In ''Literature/{{Take a Thief}}'', the BigBad has what Skif's mentor calls "a face-shaped face".
200* ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'':
201** In ''Literature/DragonBones'', after killing a would-be rapist, Ward mentions that the man didn't look much older than him, maybe even younger, a mere boy. He reminds himself that the man would have killed him, too, if he had given him the chance.
202** ''Literature/DragonBlood'' has an ordinary-looking, grandfatherly old man, who wants to teach his grandson his trade ... which happens to be torturing. The contrast between his genuine disappointment that the boy doesn't want to follow in his footsteps, and the fact that he is ''torturing a woman'' makes the scene all the more horrible.
203* Many of Creator/StephenKing's stories feature antagonists who look like perfectly ordinary people, most notably:
204** The novella ''Apt Pupil'' in ''Literature/DifferentSeasons'' describes Todd Bowden as an all-American kid with reasonable grades, a paper route, and overall nothing to indicate his obsession with concentration camps and Nazi war crimes. Naturally, the fugitive Nazi war criminal Todd uncovers and befriends also counts, as his appearance is just that of an old man now.
205** The True Knot in ''Literature/DoctorSleep'' look specifically like harmless old men and women clad in lots of polyester and travelling around in their RV. They also torture children with psychic powers and feed on the "steam" they produce in order to sustain their own immortality.
206** Perhaps the Uber-example is Randall Flagg in ''Literature/TheStand''. Under hypnosis, Tom Cullen tells the Free Zone Committee that "He looks like anybody you might pass on the street"; when Dayna and Glen finally come face-to-face with him, they're astounded that he looks like an ordinary guy, not a monster.
207* ''Literature/RedDragon'' spends a lot of time dealing with the day-to-day working life of Francis Dolarhyde, its eponymous SerialKiller, the sheer mundane nature of which make his horrific murder sprees all the more unsettling. In a twist, the killer thinks of himself as hideous and disfigured, because of a cleft lip he had as a child... except that it's barely noticeable after all the surgery he got for it.
208* ''Literature/TheScholomance'': The true BigBad of the series, [[spoiler:Orion's mother Ophelia Rhys-Lake]], is the most powerful maleficer seen in all three books. Despite that, she looks nothing like a normal maleficer would, be it supernaturally beautiful or decrepit and haggard. No, instead she looks just like a perfectly normal middle-aged woman who takes care of herself, and that is what El finds the most unsettling about her.
209* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
210** The Tickler is a brutally efficient TortureTechnician, but Arya notes that he's a completely unexceptional and ordinary-looking man while not plying his trade.
211** Later in the series we meet Qyburn, who combines this with AffablyEvil to give him a "grandfatherly" appearance, masking his true colours as an EvilutionaryBiologist and TortureTechnician extraordinaire.
212** Lord Roose Bolton is one of [[TheSociopath the]] [[{{Sadist}} evilest]] [[TortureTechnician characters]] in the series (even if he [[VillainWithGoodPublicity does his best to hide it]]) and is described as an unremarkable man of average height and build with a plain face, and no distinguishing features apart from his "pale" eyes. Slightly played with in that he still has a very creepy aura, with his soft voice.
213* Dr. Impossible from ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'' is a short guy just this side of middle-aged. When he walks down the street in his civvies, he's completely unremarkable. With his costume on, he looks more like the EvilGenius SuperVillain he is.
214* Part of the threat posed by the spy ring in ''Literature/TheThirtyNineSteps'' is that there's nothing remarkable about them. Several times Hannay encounters perfectly harmless seeming people who turn out to be members of the group. At the novel's climax, Hannay goes to a house which he knows to be the base of the ringleaders, and finds the people living there are so ordinary that he comes very close to leaving again convinced that he's made a mistake.
215* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': In the ''Literature/BekaCooper'' novel ''Terrier'', Beka and her mentors search for the Shadow Snake, a kidnapper and child murderer named after the local [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight Boogeyman]]. They are shocked to learn the Shadow Snake's true identity: [[spoiler:the grandmotherly proprietor of the local pastry shop.]]
216* {{Invoked|Trope}} by the Grey Men in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', assassins who are cloaked in a PerceptionFilter that makes them look ordinary and forgettable... ''so'' ordinary and forgettable that you almost forget seeing them at all when they were the ''only'' person you passed in an otherwise empty hallway just before coming across a dead body.
217* ''Literature/TheWitches'': The early chapters of the book hammer in that witches are difficult to detect because they are ''very'' good at blending in with the general population; while they do have [[RedRightHand some physical tells]], they're either easily concealed or difficult to spot unless you're close enough to them as to be in danger.
218-->''REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ORDINARY JOBS.''\
219This is why they are so hard to catch.
220* ''Literature/WorldsOfShadow'': Shadow is revealed to be just a [[spoiler: plump woman whose appearance is middle-aged, though she's [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld actually centuries old]]]].
221* Music/LeonardCohen's simple yet effective poem "All There is to Know About [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Adolf Eichmann]]":
222-->EYES:……………………………………Medium\
223HAIR:……………………………………Medium\
224WEIGHT:………………………………Medium\
225HEIGHT:………………………………Medium\
226DISTINGUISHING FEATURES…None\
227NUMBER OF FINGERS:………..Ten\
228NUMBER OF TOES………………Ten\
229INTELLIGENCE…………………….Medium\
230\
231What did you expect?\
232Talons?\
233Oversize incisors?\
234Green saliva?\
235Madness?
236[[/folder]]
237
238[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
239* In the series ''Series/Adam12'', Reed and Malloy were helping a female officer conduct a rape-resistance class at a local college. When one of the attendees asked what a rapist would look like, the lady cop pointed to the pair of heroes and said, "Just like them. A man."
240* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryAsylum'': [[spoiler: Dr. Oliver Thredson]], a compassionate and upstanding [[spoiler: psychiatrist who is actually the infamous serial killer, Bloody Face]].
241* In ''Series/TheAmericans'', Elizabeth, Phillip, and their handler Claudia are KGB operatives but speak with flawless American accents.
242* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
243** In the episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS04E18IntersectionsInRealTime Intersections in Real Time]]", Sheridan has been captured and is being tortured in a prison cell somewhere. The TortureTechnician who comes to make him give a FalseConfession is not a [[AxCrazy bloodthirsty brute]], but a mild-looking and mostly soft-spoken bureaucrat who looks like a family accountant or somebody's math teacher, and who administers ElectricTorture and [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink poisoned food]] like it's just another day on the job. WordOfGod is that this was all intentional, as the creator wanted to remind his fans that not all evil men look or even ''act'' evil.
244** While he's almost exclusively HeWhoMustNotBeSeen, the few times [[PresidentEvil President Clark]] is seen onscreen, he has an ordinary appearance, and the fact that his name is so ordinary also adds into this trope.
245** This is definitely not in effect for Mr. Morden, the most frequent [[MouthOfSauron human representative]] of [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien the Shadows]], but it is when Captain Sheridan briefly meets Justin, the highest-ranking human working for the Shadows, in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E22ZHaDum Z'ha'dum]]". Justin is a middle-aged man who has the air of a kindly grandfather, complete with a cane, bushy mustache, and enormous eyebrows. The very first thing he does upon meeting Sheridan is to invite Sheridan to have tea and explains that he has chamomile tea prepared because it helps Justin to sleep at night. If you saw him walking a hypothetical grandchild down the street, you'd probably automatically smile and/or nod at him just because he seems so likable.
246* ''Series/Batwoman2019'' give us the Candy Lady, a white suburban woman who kidnaps kids and cruelly brainwashes them so that they can be sold to the gangs. In a universe where most of the villains have either a mask, a cool outfit, or a facial deformity, Candy Lady has absolutely nothing that makes her stand out. Probably everyone who watches the show has seen at least one woman who looks almost exactly like her.
247* ''Series/BeingHumanUK'': Herrick, the BigBad of Season One and the vampire "king" of Bristol. In the unaired pilot, he was a tall, imposing ScaryBlackMan who looked like he had walked out of ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', complete with leather duster and nightclub. In the series proper he's a non-threatening, average height, dumpy, middle-aged white guy who dresses in off-the-rack business casual or his [[DirtyCop police uniform]].
248* The ''Series/BlackMirror'' episode ''[[Recap/BlackMirrorCrocodile Crocodile]]'' features VillainProtagonist Mia, a perfectly ordinary-looking woman who helps her boyfriend cover up a hit-and-run, later proceeding to kill him when he [[TheAtoner is on the verge of confessing]], an unlucky insurance investigator, her husband and [[WouldHurtAChild their baby]] in a desparate attempt to LeaveNoWitnesses.
249* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
250** The series contrasts the over the top antics of the AxeCrazy Salamanca clan with the ordinary-looking members of Gus' criminal organization. The Salamancas rely on intimidation and crazy violence for their reputation. Gus prefers to blend in and appear to be extremely boring and affable. He also goes to great lengths to make sure that his underlings do not attract any unnecessary attention. Walt strides the line between these two extremes as he knows that he has to be as nondescript as possible but his pride and ego constantly prompt him to do things that will get him noticed.
251** Todd is a heartless, casual sociopath associated with a Neo-Nazi gang through his uncle, and is capable of [[spoiler:killing an innocent little boy]] with no more reaction than a shrug and saying "Shit happens." He looks like a blonde all-American kid in his early 20s who seems like he was probably the [[LovableJock friendly but slightly dim jock]] in high school who still hasn't fully outgrown his high school ways a few years after graduating. Overall, he looks like one of the show's most normal characters.
252* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
253** Not often used in the series, but this quote deserves mention:
254--->'''Willow''': ''(in reference to a murderer)'' It could be anyone. It could be me! ...it's not, though.
255** Played straight in Season 5 with [[ArcVillain Glory]], a PhysicalGod with SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, and NighInvulnerability... who looks like an average pretty girl you'd see on the street. In fact, the first time the Scoobies meet her, she's casually [[VillainsOutShopping buying items for a spell at the Magic Box]]. Since only Buffy (who wasn't there) knew what she looked like, the gang thinks nothing of her until they realize she bought items for a dangerous SummoningRitual and would require tremendous power to be able to perform that particular spell; cue OhCrap.
256** As a whole, vampires can easily pass for human, and there's virtually no way to tell them apart from humans until they assume their GameFace. This diminishes as a vamp gets older, where their ability to assume human form is lost.
257* Two of ''Series/ColdCase'''s most notorious killers embodied this trope to a T. One, George Marks, was overweight, balding--and a rabid misogynist who kidnapped women by disguising himself as a cop, then forced them to strip to their underwear and run through the woods for hours before finally finishing them off with a gunshot to the chest. The other, John Smith, was incredibly average looking and well-mannered, easily tempting his victims to walk away with him. And, you know, his name was John Smith, which is probably the blandest name in human history.
258* Some of the [=UnSubs=] in ''Series/CriminalMinds'' are sleazy looking, creepy, brutish or in some way unusual, but the vast majority look like regular people. In one episode, a woman is being followed by an obsessive stalker who isn't identified until the third act, at which point you realised he was standing in the background of half her scenes. Another notable one is the unassuming killer from the episode "Lucky", in reality, was a devil-worshipping cannibal. Not to mention the episode "Normal", which is entirely based around the fact that the killer looks completely unassuming.
259* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'':
260** A composite drawing of a suspect in "[[Recap/CSINYS04E08 Buzzkill]]" is so generic, Mac snarks to Angell, "So all we have to do is find everybody with two eyes, a nose and a mouth."
261** The perp in "[[Recap/CSINYS07E13 Party Down]]" is described as a male with "dark hair, light skin and a bit of a stutter".
262* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': Polite, charming, good-looking, and [[Characters/DexterDexterMorgan Dexter Morgan]] even works for the police. You'd never know he was a calculating serial killer-killer.
263* There's a certain stereotypical look you tend to see for hardcore [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters OPA members]] in ''Series/TheExpanse'': tall, [[note]]due to living all their lives in low or zero gravity environment, which elongates bones and joints, and also makes bones far more fragile[[/note]] muscular, [[note]]as a result of working out fanatically to overcome muscular atrophy and the aforementioned brittle bones that result from living in space[[/note]] and men almost always have slightly overgrown beards and punk style haircuts. Regardless of gender, most have facial or neck tattoos that are a symbol of their grudges against the "Inner Planets", Earth and Mars. By contrast, Marco Inaros is a man of rather normal height and build, with a soft-spoken demeanor, a youthful, clean shaven, and even boyish face (despite [[OlderThanTheyLook being old enough to have a son who is in his late teens-early 20s]]), with no visible tattoos and who prefers to rely on [[TheSocialExpert a front of reasonableness]] and [[TheCharmer charm]] instead of brute force. He's also a ruthless radical with a plan to [[RenegadeSplinterFaction go much further than pretty much any other OPA faction would]], by [[spoiler:covering multiple asteroids with [[StealthInSpace Martian Steal Technology]] and [[ColonyDrop launching them at Earth]], which has devastating effects on the entire planet]]. Ashford lampshades on more than one occasion how Marco is dangerous because he [[ExploitedTrope knows how to exploit this trope]], and make it, his convincing speeches (which often [[VillainHasAPoint have a point]]), and his charisma all work for him.
264* ''{{Series/Frasier}}'': Lampshaded when Frasier recalls a line from his old performance in Creator/AgathaChristie's ''[[Literature/AndThenThereWereNone Ten Little Indians]]'':
265-->''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.''
266** Being a psychiatrist, he then adds, ''"Happens to be true, by the way."''
267* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': In the [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire books]], the sadistic, AxeCrazy Ramsay Bolton is fleshy, worm-lipped and ugly, while his show counterpart (played by Creator/IwanRheon) is very normal looking, to the point that he easily passes himself off as a random house retainer.
268* In ''Series/{{Graceland}}'', FBIAgent Paul Briggs has a confrontation with the always masked [[TheCartel cartel]] [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] who years earlier forcibly addicted Briggs to heroin and killed a bunch of his fellow agents. In the aftermath of a GunStruggle, Briggs pulls the hood off the dead assassin... and [[AntiClimacticUnmasking sees the ordinary face of some guy he doesn't know]]. Briggs goes as far as to lampshade this trope and berate himself for having expected anything else. (Unknown to Briggs, the real assassin is still out there... and he's also a guy who Briggs doesn't know and looks just like everyone else.)
269* The villain of the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' is a mailman who wears loafers and cardigans, collects porcelain figurines, does needlepoint, makes homemade chicken pot pies, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and eats people]]. [[note]] He's a Blutbad.[[/note]]
270** All Wesen, since most of the time humans cannot see their true form.
271* A sketch from ''Series/KidsInTheHall'' features an ordinary-looking guy in pajamas and a robe having breakfast. When he begins his monologue revealing he's a mass murderer, it's a bit of a surprise.
272* The defendant in the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "[[Recap/LawAndOrderS11E9Hubris Hubris]]" is a mild-mannered real estate salesman and a regular [[TheCasanova Casanova]] with the ladies. As it turns out, he also murdered his girlfriend, the old couple who were employing her, and ''her 6-year-old daughter'', all to cover up a fifth murder that he had already committed years before. And while the detectives know he did it because they see security camera footage of the crime (suppressed at trial, [[OffOnATechnicality natch]]), ''the audience'' never sees him doing anything criminal or sinister at all. To the very end of the episode, this mass-murdering scumbag just looks like everyone else.
273** In "[[Recap/LawAndOrderS5E20BadFaith Bad Faith]]", an episode involving a PedophilePriest, Van Buren comments on how easily predators blend into normal society, even into positions of trust, and that it's "too bad they don't glow in the dark".
274** The BigBad of the ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' season 13 finale/season 14 opener is a frumpy, average-looking woman who is first introduced tending to the animals on her farm. She looks more like an elementary school teacher than someone who's engaged in sex trafficking, arranged a string of murders, and is using her prostitution business to blackmail half the cops and prosecutors in the state of New York.
275* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', a show filled with so many pretty yet stupid people, it's mild-mannered ferret-faced chartered-accountant-lookalike [[MagnificentBastard Benjamin Linus]] who really runs the table.
276* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': Looking like a seemingly random pedestrian, Bushmaster walks up to Luke while he's minding his own business and being filmed by D.W. Griffith, and proceeds to lay him out flat in two moves, just because he can.
277* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "[[Recap/MastersOfHorrorS1E11PickMeUp Pick Me Up]]", the [[EvilVersusEvil dueling serial killers]] Walker and Wheeler both look fairly inconspicuous as a young drifter and a middle-aged trucker, respectively. Walker discusses the trope proper:
278-->'''Walker:''' Your genuinely dangerous individuals -- they almost never ''look'' crazy. They don't have any weird tattoos, they don't have any weird stitches on their face, funny-shaped heads. They are NOT predictable.
279* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS04E13 M.I.A.]]" features a hitman who seems like a perfectly ordinary, harmless man. A perfect cover, as Reese and Finch realize.
280* The Yin Yang Killer from ''Series/{{Psych}}''. [[spoiler: It turns out she was standing right there among the crowd in the background of nearly every scene.]]
281* ''Series/TheRookie'': A serial killer is revealed to be an ordinary-looking, seemingly kindly older man with senility.
282* ''Series/TheSandman2022'':
283** John Dee is a rather rumpled-looking man in his fifties, and because he spends most of the series in his pajamas and a borrowed overcoat, he seems too harmless to be a murderer escaped from a mental hospital. In "A Hope In Hell," John's befuddled appearance inspires pity from a passing motorist, who happily gives him a lift, while in "24/7", John looks so unassuming that it takes an entire episode for Bette to realize that he's directly responsible for the ongoing MindRape of the diner patrons.
284** Several episodes in the latter half of the first season feature a gathering of {{serial killer}}s; all of them, with maybe a couple of outliers, look like ordinary people you wouldn't look twice at when passing them in the street. The convener of the gathering is a soft-spoken bespectacled little man who looks like a retired accountant or math teacher... and makes clothing out of the skins of his victims.
285* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'':
286** The killer in "[[Recap/SherlockS01E01AStudyInPink A Study in Pink]]" is an unassuming old man that works as a cab driver.
287** [[TheChessmaster Moriarty]] looks snazzy in a suit, but he also has no problem blending in and convincing others that he's just a normal guy on several occasions. When he's wearing his baseball cap and jacket, you wouldn't give him a second glance on the street.
288* The guards and staff who run the DeadlyGame 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.]]
289* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': The fact that the demons and monsters can and will look like anyone else is very heavily used on the show.
290* Most of the accused on Canadian courtroom series ''Series/ThisIsWonderland''. Since most of the show was set in small claims courts or mental health court, most of them ''were'' normal people who had just made terrible mistakes or had been put in a terrible situation. This made the rare appearance of a genuine monster all the more startling.
291* ''Series/TrueLies2023'': The Wolf is a notorious hitman who is described as horrifying. It turns out he looks like just a nerdy, friendly man who's quite average, though his darker side does show to Harry. He tells Helen that his first name is also [[TomTheDarkLord Nathan]].
292* ''Series/TwinPeaks'':
293** To an extent, BOB He basically looks like an extra from a bar scene - a denim-clad old man with stringy grey hair who smells like burnt motor oil. In fact, given that his entire presence in the show is basically a case of ThrowItIn, his appearance is mostly modeled on what the set dresser happened to be wearing the day he got accidentally caught in the shot. On the other hand, you probably couldn't have a conversation with him, since he mostly runs around snarling at people and hiding in the woods.
294** This also applies to [[spoiler: Leland Palmer]], seemingly a perfectly normal [[spoiler: family man and lawyer]]... who is actually [[spoiler: a SerialKiller who has been raping his own daughter for years, under the DemonicPossession of the above BOB.]]
295* Heroic variant: The Regents in ''Series/Warehouse13'' are not at all what Artie expected. However, they all look a little ''too'' ordinary...
296** Some artifacts are a non-human version of this. Who would have suspected that the tip jar at a food truck was behind a mini-ZombieApocalypse?
297* ''Series/TheWatch2021'': Sybil reacts like this on meeting the man who killed her parents, who's a professional Assassin, saying he looks like an accountant (he's ordinary-looking with glasses).
298* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime2021'': Darkfriends (followers of [[GodOfEvil the Dark One]]) it turns out don't often have any sign before they're revealed (although a few like Ishamael are pretty sinister to begin with). For instance, [[spoiler:Moiraine (one of their most dedicated enemies) turns out to have a Darkfriend in her own friendly and polite nephew]].
299* Parodied in ''Series/{{Wings}}'' in the episode "Murder She Roast," when the cast (most specifically, Brian) believes that [[CoolOldGuy Fay]] [[MistakenForMurderer is a wanted killer]]:
300-->'''Brian''': Oh, that's what every homicidal maniac's neighbor says about them. "He was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest man I have ever met. Was very quiet. Always said 'Hello.' Helped me build a dog pen." Just once I would like to hear them say: "[[ObviouslyEvil He was a raving lunatic. I feared for my life]]. ''I was just waitin' for the chainsaw to come rippin' through the wall!''"
301* The second season of ''Series/TheWire'' introduces [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname The Greek]], the head of [[TheSyndicate an international crime syndicate]] which supplies heroin and cocaine to the drug gangs in Baltimore and also runs a large [[HumanTraffickers human trafficking ring]]. The Greek is an enigmatic figure [[NoOneSeesTheBoss who never sees or speaks with anyone outside his organization]], no matter how important a partner they may be. Nobody guesses that the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greek#/media/File:The_Wire_The_Greek.jpg grandfatherly man]] constantly reading the newspaper in a little diner is the mastermind of the organization that causes untold amounts of misery and crime on multiple continents. Even the police dismiss him at first. In the one picture they get of him, they initially write him off as a random bystander and think it's the man in the expensive suit standing next to him (a lawyer giving advice to the Greek) that is the mysterious kingpin they've been investigating.
302* This trope happens a lot on ''Series/TheXFiles'' since the villains usually take pains to blend into society and are only outed when unnatural things start to happen:
303** Eugene Tooms in the episodes "[[Recap/TheXFilesS01E03Squeeze Squeeze]]" and "[[Recap/TheXFilesS01E21Tooms Tooms]]".
304** Donnie Pfaster of "[[Recap/TheXFilesS02E13Irresistible Irresistible]]". Scully comments on how extraordinarily ordinary he is in her closing report on the case.
305** John Lee Roche, the serial-killer-of-girls in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS04E10PaperHearts Paper Hearts]]", looks and talks like a balding salesman, which he was before he got caught.
306** The vampire town in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E12BadBlood Bad Blood]]".
307** The villain in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E19FolieADeux Folie à Deux]]" was a giant monster, disguised as a human being in a normal company.
308** Though not a villain, the alien in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS06E19TheUnnatural The Unnatural]]" lives convincingly like a human baseball player. [[BecomeARealBoy It's his whole motivation, in fact]].
309** The brain-eating man in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS07E03Hungry Hungry]]" took pains to disguise himself. Undisguised, he resembled a cross between a bald man and a shark.
310** The Alien Bounty Hunter can shape-shift into anyone he wants.
311** The Super Soldier human/alien hybrids are indistinguishable from humans until you look at the back of their neck. Or they kill you. Whichever comes first.
312[[/folder]]
313
314[[folder:Radio]]
315* ''Radio/ThePriceOfFear'': The killer is often someone quite unassuming. In particular we have "The Man Who Hated Scenes", where a quiet and shy man commits a coldly premeditated murder.
316[[/folder]]
317
318[[folder:Roleplay]]
319* The majority of characters in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' are [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Ordinary High School Students]], meaning that oftentimes people who choose to play the game fit this trope in some way or another. This is particularly true in regards to v4, where there has been an increased focus on realism. Many, many characters in [[DevelopingDoomedCharacters pre-game]] come off as people who you could easily find at your school in real life, but once you get to in-game... well, it brings out the worst in people. [[BigBad Danya]] himself can fit as well, as aside from bearing scars from attempts on his life he's described as someone who wouldn't particularly stand out in a crowd; Bryan Calvert even says Danya looks like his father.
320[[/folder]]
321
322[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
323* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful:'' This is one of the primary threats posed by the [[EvilSorceror Mnemosynes]]. Unlike the bestial Darkspawn, Mnemosynes welcomed the Darkness in without a fight and it didn't need to destroy their minds or warp their bodies to make them into its servants. As such, Mnemosynes are physically indistinguishable from regular humans and they retain the capacity for long-term planning and the self-control to interact normally with other people.
324[[/folder]]
325
326[[folder:Video Games]]
327* This serves as paranoia fuel in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', as the l’cie chosen by Pulsean Fal’Cie look like ordinary people except for a brand somewhere on their bodies. However, one of the protagonists actually uses this to humanize them to a squad of soldiers, pointing out that they’re still ordinary citizens who love Cocoon, and that it’s not their fault that they were around these godlike beings when they just happened to need servants.
328* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'', one of the leaders of the cult you're hunting, is a woman named Nyx The Shadow. Her defining characteristic is that she looks so ordinary, she can easily blend into society and spy on people for information which the cult later uses as blackmail. It's possible to walk past her and not notice because she looks like an average civilian NPC until evidence you gather exposes her. And once you try to assassinate her, you discover that she is a very capable fighter, and she has a lot of cult members in plain clothes around her. This on top of the soldiers attacking you, and possible bounty hunters, makes what seemed like a simple stealth kill into a frustrating boss fight if you attack unprepared.
329* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', 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]].
330* There are tons of examples from [[WesternRPG western RPGs]] that feature many different [[NonPlayerCharacter [=NPCs=]]]. Often the character models of some of the most evil characters, such as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Bann Vaughan]] from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' or [[CorruptPolitician Nassana Dantius]] from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' don't really look that much different or more sinister than the character models of any of the other [=NPCs=] of their race.
331* The true villain of ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'', [[spoiler: Dr Angus Bumby]] is a rapist turned child sex trafficker who dresses in a brown tweed suit and spectacles, giving every impression of being a boring Victorian professional. In sharp contrast to the other characters in London (good and bad), he doesn't sport hideously exaggerated facial features, a grotesque-looking physique, or some kind of hammily accented performance; like Alice, he looks perfectly ordinary and almost never raises his voice.
332* In ''VideoGame/MitadakeHigh'', every sprite looking the same except for their hair and gender can easily provide you with this trope, as one out of the players has to be the killer. Subverted (at least for the characters) if the killer is the "Creepy Red-Haired Guy".
333* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork 3'' has one subplot in which a bunch of ''generic [=NPCs=]'' turn out to be undercover World 3 agents planted in a strategic location ''specifically'' to provide cover stories for a more conspicuous (and [[ContinuityNod well-known]]) agent.
334* When Shepherd starts detailing Makarov in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' you expect based on the other villains that he would be some kind of monster or Expy of Stalin. Shepherd then shows you a photo, looking all the world like one for a passport, and Makarov looks much more like an off-duty soldier or businessman than a terrorist mastermind.
335* In Jhin, the Virtuoso's backstory in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', no one suspected the elusive murderer known as the "Golden Demon" would turn out to be an unassuming stagehand named Khada Jhin.
336* Clanden from ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is an entirely normal-looking man in a sweater vest who is, in fact, a truly evil serial killer who makes snuff films and was hired by the Omertas to build a device to poison the inhabitants of the Strip with chlorine gas.
337* [[spoiler: Mr. Jefferson]] in ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' turns out to be the mastermind behind the darker events of Arcadia Bay in Episode 5. Fittingly, the player is led to initially assume that the clearly unhinged Nathan Prescott is the one pulling the strings. After all, he pulls a ''gun'' on Chloe in Episode 1 alone and is the one pumping drugs to students as part of the vortex club. Chloe's overly paranoid asshole stepfather David Madsen is also thrown into the ring as a possible suspect due to his abrasive behavior namely stalking students as you find out in his files, but no, [[spoiler: the seemingly good-hearted "cool" teacher Mr. Jefferson is the same guy behind the disappearance of Rachel Amber and Kate Marsh's attempted suicide/suicide, And illicit photography sessions with the aforementioned girls.]]
338* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' invokes this in-universe with the [[OmnicidalManiac life-eating]] [[EldritchAbomination Dark-Side entity of intent]] Darth Nihilus, should the player-character choose to let his liberated servant Visas Marr remove his skull-like mask upon his death; if the player asks her what his face looked like, she will simply reply "A man. Nothing more."
339** This is actually just one of two responses and only the one above is this trope, "Tell me what you saw." gives you a stranger answer.
340* In ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3'', the BigBad of the ''Hearts of Stone'' expansion is [[spoiler: Gaunter O'Dimm, the average-looking merchant Geralt met at the very beginning of the game who's revealed to be a SatanicArchetype. It's taken even farther by the revelation that he spies on Geralt over the course of the DLC subtly disguised as various background characters, with WordOfGod stating he was designed to perfectly blend in with the crowds.]]
341* The Neighbor in ''VideoGame/HelloNeighbor'' appears to be a painfully average across-the-street neighbor, but the player character isn't buying it. Considering he may be responsible for the kidnapping of several children and the lengths he will go to in order to keep the protagonist out of his house...
342* Seen in the online Hacking/Tailing mode in the ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'' [[VideoGame/WatchDogs2 series]]. The enemy players take the appearance of random civilians, so unless they are profiled or act out of the ordinary they are indistinguishable from [=NPCs=].
343* In a late mission in ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'', one of your targets is interrogating a low-ranking courier of [[TheIlluminati Providence]] for information about his boss, once of Providence's commanders. The poor scrub can only tell him that his boss looks like [[SuspectIsHatless "a banker, like a guy who'd sit next to you on the bus"]]. Sure enough, you see a major leader of Providence (and presumably said boss) in various cutscenes, and, apart from a nice suit and a bit of a raspy voice, he looks like a [[TheNondescript a perfectly generic middle-aged guy]] who wouldn't stand out in a crowd.
344* Yan-Chan, of ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'', is by all appearances an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent--however, as the title indicates, she is utterly emotionless except for her obsession with her beloved Senpai. She can eliminate her romantic rivals in a number of ways, but blackmail and murder are not off the table. As [=YandereDev=] puts it, this is a horror video game--where ''you'' play the monster.
345** Info-chan, an amoral information broker, ''also'' looks like a normal high schooler (well, [[TheFaceless her back does at least]]). Her hair is bright red, [[AnimeHair but that's not uncommon in context]].
346** The Bully clique look like standard [[GyaruGirl ganguro girls]], but they're perfectly able and willing to bully students into suicide. ''Repeatedly''.
347** Before the game proper, there's [[spoiler: Ayano's mom Ryoba]]. Looks like a sweet motherly lady... until you get her alone with the guy she kidnapped.
348* [[BigBad Asav]] from ''VideoGame/UnchartedTheLostLegacy'' looks more akin to a college professor than any sort of terrorist or warlord. Which makes his [[SoftSpokenSadist quiet, two-decibels-above-a-whisper-loud speeches]] about the bloody practices of the Hoysala empire all the more unnerving.
349* DownplayedTrope in ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem''. While villains (TheMafia, the SerialKiller, the [[PyroManiac Arsonist]], the [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Werewolf]], the [[DeathSeeker Jester]], the [[MiscarriageOfJustice Executioner]], the [[SalemIsWitchCountry Witch, the Coven]], the {{Pirate}}, the [[PlagueMaster Plaguebearer]] and the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]]) start with their identities hidden (like everyone else), Investigative roles can get clues to identify them. The Vampires are particularly good at this, as they can turn townies into more vampires without anyone knowing until it's too late.
350* The Darkness Among Us trailer for ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'' has Frank, the leader of the Legion, tricking David into thinking he's a survivor before putting on his mask and stabbing him. In game while they don't have any power resembling this, their faces are fully modeled underneath their masks and they all look relatively normal.
351** Ji-Woon Hak, a.k.a. [[MadArtist The Trickster]], takes it a step further. While his brightly colored and outlandish outfit can be excused by him being [[IdolSinger a K-Pop idol]], nothing about his outward appearance would indicate that he's a [[{{Main/Narcissist}} narcissistic]] {{Serial Killer}}. Without his {{Yellow Eyes Of Sneakiness}} and the fact that he's [[BloodIsTheNewBlack covered in blood]], he'd look like a normal {{Pretty Boy}}.
352* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:'' The Charlatan, the leader of the mysterious and nigh-omniscient Collective on Kadara. [[spoiler:They turn out to be a guy Ryder's been chatting with since they first set foot on the planet, the charming and genial Reyes Vidal, once nothing more than a humble shuttle pilot for the Initiative.]]
353* ''VideoGame/TheTiamatSacrament'': The BigBad, Ry'jin, has the face of a mundane old man. [[spoiler:This allows him to infiltrate Draslin's resistance group as a seemingly harmless scholar.]]
354* ''Escape Until Friday'' has a normal looking man as your kidnapper.
355* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'',
356** 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 Edelgard 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.
357** 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.
358** 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.
359* In ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis 5: True Mastermind Edition'', the BigBad turns out to be [[spoiler:Robert Baxter, [[BigBadFriend your commander]] who's turned against the VSSE]]. Unlike past villains, who tend to wear cool outfits like {{Badass Longcoat}}s, {{Arm Cannon}}s, and ocular implants, this particular villain is just wearing [[spoiler:a grey polo shirt, slacks, and sunglasses]].
360* ''VideoGame/Yakuza2'': Kei Ibuchi, with his well-groomed hair, glasses, and proper suit that includes a tie, would fit right into a normal corporate setting none the wiser, unlike the majority of characters who are obviously rough and tumble soldiers of the mob.
361[[/folder]]
362
363[[folder:Visual Novels]]
364* Part of the fun of ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' is that you ''never'' know who's going to snap and commit murder or turn out to have been a crazy killer the whole time. Sure, sometimes the ObviouslyEvil guy [[TheUntwist really is the Blackened]], but just as often it's some random student who you've been interacting with normally up until this point, and who the protagonist might even consider a friend- and who might actually ''be'' nice and ordinary, until [[BigBad Monokuma]] found just the right button to press.
365** The [[FirstEpisodeTwist very first case]] is a good example. The Blackened is [[spoiler:Leon Kuwata]] and the AssholeVictim is [[spoiler:Sayaka Maizono]], both of whom come off as the most normal students (aside from Makoto) in a class of nutcases, and one has significant (and by all evidence, genuinely friendly) previous interaction with Makoto. [[spoiler:Then Monokuma provoked Sayaka to attempt murder by playing on her abandonment complex, and he decided to kill her to escape by Monokuma's rules.]]
366** TheMole is ''not'' any of the anti-social students who pick fights, it's not one of the dumbasses hiding evil smarts (the idiots in the class really are what they seem), 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.]]
367** The Ultimate Despair is mostly composed of people who are, visually speaking, [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ordinary high school students]]. Mukuro Ikusaba has very plain looks when she's not toting her guns, [[spoiler:her sister Junko Enoshima, the mastermind, is a fashion model in her daily life]] and the big reveal of ''Goodbye Despair'' is that [[spoiler: literally ''every'' new character, with the sole exception of Chiaki Nanami, was part of Ultimate Despair. Yes, even absolute sweethearts like Sonia and Ibuki, tiny Hiyoko and Teruteru, and [[TheProtagonist Hajime]]. In fact, he's the amnesiac mastermind of the killing game, Izuru Kamukura. [[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool The story of how they got that way...]] [[MindRape isn't pretty]].]]
368** The mastermind of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' isn't the SelfProclaimedLiar Kokichi, creepy Korekiyo, or the menacing Maki. [[spoiler: It's Tsumugi Shirogane, Ultimate Cosplayer and self-proclaimed ordinary person. Ironically, some fans called the twist ''because'' of this trope; she fades into the background ''so'' much (she never does anything during investigations or trials, and never has a subplot to herself; the closest she gets is filling out Angie's Student Council, and even then, the focus is on Himiko and Tenko) that it became clear that she was being set up for a big endgame reveal.]]
369* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'' has [[spoiler: Pu'ray Zeh'lot]], who looks like a perfectly normal Khura'inese citizen despite being [[spoiler: a vigilante serial killer working for the SecretPolice to kill rebels, who had no qualms about attempting to kill a ''pregnant'' woman. In a twist, he's the case's AssholeVictim rather than murder, killed in self-defence by one of his targets]] but their face portrait looks so generic the player isn't likely to suspect much of them. They even [[spoiler: lived as a surrogate child to High Priest Inmee and his wife for ''years'', with them being none the wiser until the incident happened.]]
370* From ''VisualNovel/LastWindow'', we have [[spoiler:the incredibly ordinary-looking [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly9lx1zOuG1r4ym0no7_250.jpg Dylan Fitchar]], who we discover is a mole for Nile, the crime syndicate that is behind every terrible thing that happens to people in both this game and ''VisualNovel/HotelDuskRoom215''.]]
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372
373[[folder:Web Animation]]
374* Several videos in ''WebAnimation/StoryBooth'' have people learn the hard way that even seemingly average people can actually be cruel {{Jerkass}}es at best or depraved monsters at worst.
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376
377[[folder:Webcomics]]
378* Dongsoo Seon from ''Webcomic/Bastard2014'' looks like an ordinary father and businessman. He's actually a SerialKiller who's been murdering women for years. His son Jin even discusses this trope, noting, "Amazingly enough, [[BeneathNotice no one suspects a murderer if he has a child with him]]."
379[[/folder]]
380
381%%[[folder:Web Videos]]
382%%* Terrence from ''WebVideo/KateModern''.
383%%[[/folder]]
384
385[[folder:Western Animation]]
386* This was used to great effect with [[BigBad Fire Lord Ozai]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. For two entire seasons his face was always obscured or only partially visible, or only a silhouette of him could be seen against a wall of flames. All the while the audience learns more and more about the horrific deeds of his forces as they set about conquering the world and Ozai's cruelly abusive treatment of his family, especially [[AbusiveParents his son Zuko]]. This is likely to cause viewers to imagine a hideous or fearsome mental image of him, and when his face is finally revealed at the start of the third season he looks like a completely normal and even quite handsome man in his late 30s.
387* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', the Clock King is the only self-created supervillain in the series to avoid the tropes in the EvilMakeover index. Aside from his gadgets, he's just a guy in a nice suit.
388** The Ventriloquist is just an unassuming man in an old suit. If not for that dummy Scarface, he would seem perfectly normal.
389* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
390** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAmon Amon]], whose creepy mask, unexplained AntiMagic powers and mysterious backstory made for a truly terrifying villain. Under the mask [[spoiler:and scar makeup, he looks like a completely normal Water Tribe man in his thirties]].
391** P'Li and Ming-Hua, the female members of the Red Lotus both have obvious [[RedRightHand Red Right Hands]] (eye tattoo in the middle of the forehead and missing arms), but Ghazan and Zaheer just look like two guys with no real distinctive features besides being slightly taller or shorter than average respectively.
392* In the French cartoon ''{{WesternAnimation/Clementine}}'' most of the minions from the BigBad Malmoth look just like ordinary people when they are turned into humans.
393* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', most of the villains that received major story arcs were usually beings on par with {{Physical God}}s and other supernatural entities with sinister and terrifying appearances that were all bent on taking over Equestria. Later seasons, however, began to throw some of these into the mix.
394** Season 5 introduces a unicorn named [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicStarlightGlimmer Starlight Glimmer]], whose appearance, voice and name are so ordinary that it seems like she was taken from a database of background ponies and thrust into the role of an arc villain on a whim. This is very intentional as her entire philosophy is based on [[IndividualityIsIllegal conformity and not standing out]], and it serves to make her [[JustTheFirstCitizen hypocrisy]] and [[TotalitarianUtilitarian insanity]] all the more striking.
395** Season 8 introduces [[spoiler: [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicCozyGlow Cozy Glow]], a pegasus [[EnfantTerrible filly]] who [[BitchInSheepsClothing looks and acts as intimidating as a kitten]], but in reality is a power-hungry child who conspired with ''[[SatanicArchetype Tirek]]'' to drain all the magic out of Equestria and makes friendships specifically to try and abuse ThePowerOfFriendship for her own gain. And unlike [[HeelFaceTurn Starlight Glimmer]], she [[RedemptionRejection refuses to accept she was wrong]]]].
396* [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is seen without his mask for the first time in "Eclipse Lake", and his face, aside from the streak of rot going down one side, is perfectly ordinary. He looks more like someone's grandfather or uncle than any sort of tyrant or evil mastermind.
397** [[Characters/TheOwlHouseTheGoldenGuard The Golden Guard]], the second-in-command of Emperor Belos. Luz even expresses surprise when she sees him without his mask, noting that he looks like he could be one of her classmates at Hexside. This works against him when he tries ordering around some Coven scouts after being attacked by Kikimora.... just to have them laugh him off because without his mask or staff, he just looks like a regular teenager.
398* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' has the Dominator, a man in PoweredArmor who slaughtered an alien village, brainwashed their children to become feral, and subjected Ashi to electric torture. After Ashi knocks his helmet off, he's revealed to have an unremarkable face and moustache.
399* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a race of sentient advertisements have achieved human form, making them indistinguishable from actual human beings as they force them out of their towns while they take over. The most prominent example of such is [[spoiler: Leslie Meyers, who looks just like a normal 4th grade girl attending South Park Elementary School.]]
400* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': In the GrandFinale, when the government [[spoiler:begins spraying a PowerNullifer gas over the city to DePower all the metahumans in Dakota]], we get to see what [[BigBad Ebon]] looked like prior to his transformation into a [[CastingAShadow shadowy]] HumanoidAbomination and the most powerful supervillain in the city… and, perhaps unsurprisingly but anticlimactically, he's just a normal dude. As Teresa subsequently observes, he was a random nobody before [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent the Big Bang]] gave him the power necessary to be ''somebody''.
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403[[folder:Real Life]]
404* [[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.
405[[/folder]]

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