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->'''Lance:''' Hey Captain, what's that?\\
'''Willard:''' Death cards.\\
'''Lance:''' What?\\
'''Willard:''' Death cards. Lets Charlie know who did this.
-->-- ''Film/ApocalypseNow''

A CallingCard is a piece of evidence or item deliberately left at the scene of a crime to serve as perpetrator's "signature". Sometimes it's a literal playing card or gamepiece left near the scene of the crime, or perhaps the victims are arranged in strange poses.

Actual calling cards are rare in RealLife, because it would make it very easy for the cops to track you down; but in fiction, it seems like ''every'' villain has to have one for stamping their achievements with.

Occasionally, a GenreSavvy character may even use another villain's calling card to frame them. If the villain is well known, and their calling card shows up before they're introduced in the current continuity, (or if said Villain has been missing or dead for some time), then it's a nice SequelHook, or simply a hint of what's to come.

Sometimes, the calling card may be a result of the villain's M.O. One obvious example: [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] always leave their characteristic two-holed neck bite.

Compare CatchPhrase, which is also a signature of the character who uses it.

This has become a DeadHorseTrope in ComicBooks, where it was once a staple. A hero may also have a CallingCard, especially one who typically disappears after stopping the criminals rather than hanging around to discuss things with the police.

For actual calling cards (which a criminal may also leave, although it's a bit obvious), see MyCard.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''Manga/DragonBall'' when Tambourine is sent by his father Piccolo Daimao to murder martial artists to prevent them from sealing him away, at the site of each murder he would leave a piece of paper with the Japanese symbol for demon near the body.
* Phantom Thief X from ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'', who leaves a "red box" at the crime scenes (actually a clear glass box filled with the liquefied remains of his victims).
* The Kisugi sisters in ''Manga/CatsEye'' always leave their card when they steal something.
* The titular character from ''Manga/{{Mouse}}'' leaves his card, ''before'' the theft like several other [[PhantomThief Phantom Thieves]].
* The ''Manga/DeathNote'' allows its user to not only kill remotely but also control victims' behavior shortly before they die. Light Yagami uses this ability to send a taunting message to L.
* Speaking of Holden Caulfield, in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', The Laughing Man had a smiley-face surrounded and a quote from ''Catcher in the Rye''. As it turns out, [[spoiler:all the crimes that were marked just by the smiley-face were performed by copycats, but following the J.D. Salinger quote eventually led Section 9 to the real Laughing Man]].
* In one early episode of ''Anime/SonicX'', [[ClassyCatBurglar Rouge the Bat]] steals a very large diamond... and replaces it with a card with a stylized picture of her on it, along with the words "thank you".
* The titular thief of ''Manga/LupinIII'' often inverts this by sending calling cards ''before'' he pulls off his heists. It seems rather foolish, but often his targets' attempts to increase or alter their security end up playing right into one of his [[BatmanGambit Batman Gambits]] and allow him to accomplish the theft.
* ''Manga/CatsEye'' has two different calling cards. The titular girls leave a business card with a stilized cat and the words Cat's Eye on it, while the thief Masato Kamiya (nicknamed The Rat by the police) leaves a coin mounted on a pendant. Like Lupin, the girls sometimes send calling cards before the heists: the police squad assigned to capture them has two members with the bad habit of confiding to them their strategies to capture Cat's Eye (and, in one memorable occasion, [[WhatAnIdiot discussed the strategy]] ''[[WhatAnIdiot in their coffee house]]''), and live near their police station enough to use binoculars and lip-read the rare plans they won't discuss with the girls.
* Eroica in ''FromEroicaWithLove'' leaves a card with the series title on it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* From TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks through TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks, most of {{Batman}}'s RoguesGallery left {{Calling Card}}s, either explicitly (SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker's playing cards and the Riddler's conundrums), or in the form of Signature Crimes: Two-Face's crime sprees always revolved around the number two, for instance. This was often [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]; even in TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, the Riddler's compulsion was flat-out stated to be his downfall. In the current comics, however, it's a DeadHorseTrope.
** The serial killer from ''TheLongHalloween'' would kill on a holiday and leave behind some knickknack related to the date--the press dubs them The Holiday Killer. And in the sequel ''DarkVictory'', the next serial killer leaves behind incomplete Hangman games.
** The Joker is famous also for victims with a hideous grin on their faces due to Joker Venom (or in [[Film/TheDarkKnight one case]], carved [[GlasgowGrin Glasgow smiles]]).
** Hero example: Batman himself sometimes leaves a card with a bat-symbol next to unconscious thugs.
* In ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', Rorschach's calling card is a piece of paper with a mirrored lowercase letter R written on it.
* In ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' early in Carnage's killing sprees he would write "Carnage Rules!" in his victims blood near the body.
** Spider-Man himself would occasionally leave a note to the police tacked onto a felon he had left webbed and hanging from a streetlamp, signed, "Courtesy of your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man".
* Lobster Johnson, of ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' fame, would burn his symbol, a stylised lobster claw, into his victims' foreheads using the palm of his hand. He also had [[MyCard actual calling cards]] that he would leave for the police.
* In ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', V is fond of graffiting walls with a stylised V, which is meant to look similar to the symbol for anarchy.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': TheRedSkull used to have two calling cards: his Red Dust, a poison that made the victim's face turn red and skull-like, and a leitmotif of Chopin's "Death March" which he would arrange to have played when he struck, sometimes in very clever ways. He hasn't used either of these in years, having gone to more subtle evil schemes.
* ComicStrip/ThePhantom has two calling cards, both in the form of rings. He wears a ring with a skull emblem on his right hand, which leaves a permanent skull-imprint on the faces of his enemies when he punches them hard enough, forever branding them as the Phantom's enemies. On his left hand, he wears a ring with a symbol of four 'P's in a circle. By pressing the dye-emitting ring into the hand of an ally, he leaves the four-P emblem as a permanent mark on their skin, a sign to the world that they are protected by the Phantom.
** Parenthetically, the Phantom's skull ring was the subject of a ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' episode, as the Build Team attempted to determine if a strong enough punch could leave a permanent indentation in someone's skull. For the record, it was busted; any punch hard enough to leave such a mark would also crack said skull like an egg. Perhaps the skull ring also had permanent dye like the four-P ring, and the Phantom just punched his enemy because he deserved to be punched. (''Mythbusters'' also didn't consider making the edges of the ring ''sharper'' and seeing what happened.)
* One of the many {{serial killer}}s in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' was nicknamed Lefty due to his habit of always leaving his victims' left hands near the scene of the crime. Turns out there was a grisly [[JustifiedTrope justification]] for this: [[spoiler:he was attempting to set a record for the number of people killed in a single night, and leaving behind the left hands ensured that all the kills would be credited to him.]]
* The Clock, from ''Centaur Publications'' and later ''Quality'', leaves as his calling card an image of a clock-face over a domino mask along with a message.
* Mister Midnite, from ''Silver Streak Comics'', leaves a watch dial with the hands set at midnight as his calling card.
* Black Diamond, from ''Black Diamond Western'', has a playing card with the suit of diamond as his calling card.
* ''MickeyMouse'': The Phantom Blot's calling card is an ink blot. He'll usually leave a message with it, but sometimes not -- one time Mickey finds himself framed by the Blot, and then notices there is an actual ink blot on his jacket.
* The GoldenAge [[SandmanMysteryTheatre Sandman]] and [[NewOldWest Vigilante]], both from DCComics, left poems.
** Sandman:
-->There is no land beyond the law
-->Where tyrants rule with unshakable power!
-->'Tis but a dream from which the evil wake
-->To face their fate, their terrifying hour!"
** Vigilante:
-->Some play games for sky-high stakes,
-->And some play penny-ante.
-->But those that gamble with the law,
-->Must pay the Vigilante!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* The Jigsaw Killer from ''Film/{{Saw}}'' cut a Jigsaw piece out of his victim's flesh.
* In the original ''PinkPanther'' film, "The Phantom" would leave behind a monogrammed glove at every robbery.
* In ''Film/HomeAlone'', the "Wet Bandits" would leave the water running (after clogging the sink) in the homes they robbed.
-->'''Harry''': You left the water on again? That's sick.\\
'''Marv''': All the great ones leave their mark. We're the "Wet Bandits." *awkward pause*
** It was Marv who did this; Harry thought it was stupid and berated him for it. Near the end of the movie when they both get caught, the arresting officer mentions that they know which houses they robbed due to the running sinks.
* In the first ''AustinPowers'', the Irish killer has his little charm bracelet from which he leaves little trinkets at the scene of each crime. Cue joke: Scotland Yard is "always tryin' to get me Lucky Charms!"
* The vigilante protagonists of ''TheBoondockSaints'' left pennies on the eyes of their victims, as well as executing their chosen targets, the ones they save for last, with simultaneous gunshots to the back of the head while [[HolyHitman reciting the family prayer]].
* In ''[[OceansEleven Ocean's Twelve]]'', Vincent Cassel's GentlemanThief character, Francois Toulour, leaves a small onyx statue representing a fox as his calling card to let his "victims" know they were robbed by the "Night Fox".
* In ''Film/NateAndHayes'' the film's villain has framed the latter half of the duo for years by leaving Hayes' sign on the scenes of his crimes.
* Film/{{Fantomas}} sometimes left behind his cards (at least in the French movie adaptations).
* ''Film/TheProwler'' leaves roses behind on his victims.
* ''MrBrooks'' leaves a thumbprint from each of his victims, marked with their own blood, on an object near their body after murdering them. He's come to be known as the "Thumbprint Killer".
* Less of a 'I was here' card and more of a 'I'm about to be here' sign, the ninjas in ''NinjaAssassin'' leave an envelope filled with black sand for their victims to find, right before they, literally, come from the shadows and kill them.
* Title villain of ''Film/TheStranglerOfBlackmoorCastle'' carves the letter "M" on his victims' foreheads.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'', The Joker would sometimes leave playing cards[[hottip:*: Jokers]]. In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', this was used as a SequelHook[[hottip:*: In an evidence bag indicating that it was found by Officer J. Kerr, implying that he not only left the card, but impersonated an officer to collect it and make sure it got into evidence.]] In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', he also made a habit of marking his victims with a Glasgow Smile. [[MonsterClown Charming fellow.]]
* In ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', ColonelKilgore throws "Death cards" with the emblem of his Air Cavalry Regiment around corpses to let Charlie know who killed them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* "Kissin" Kate Barlow from ''{{Holes}}'' was famous for giving her victims The KissOfDeath, leaving a lipstick mark.
* ''AngelsAndDemons'': Invoked by The Hassassin who engages in theme killing. He also brands each of his victims with the name of the element he killed them with. [[spoiler:He does the killings this way frame an AncientConspiracy, that is already extinct.]]
* In ''TheStainlessSteelRat'' series, there's The Bishop, who leaves behind drawings of the chess piece in question. The titular character [[spoiler:robs a bank, and leaves The Bishop's Calling Card in order to meet him]].
* In the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''Literature/TheABCMurders,'' the killer always leaves an "ABC Alphabetical Railway Guide" near the victim, [[spoiler:as he's ''framing'' some other guy as a serial killer]].
* ''TheExecutioner''. Elite sniper turned {{vigilante}} Mack Bolan leaves a miltary marksman's medal at the scene of his killings. Sometimes he has one delivered to a future target as psychological warfare. His enemies have been known to leave such medals at murder scenes, either to frame Bolan or cover up for their own internal disputes (one Mafia ''capo'' who cut the throat of a rival might have gotten away with it, if Bolan hadn't chosen that moment to attack in a completely different area). The latter tactic was used so often that one underling reporting a Bolan hit got beaten up "for pulling that stunt", until Bolan (who'd let him live so he could follow the man to his superiors) walked through the door and started shooting.
* ''NancyDrew'The pirates in story would pierce the right earlobes of all the men on any ship they stole.
* Franchise/{{Zorro}} and his [[ZorroMark carved 'Z']].
* TheSpider marks his victims with a spider brand on the forehead; not all of them are dead first.
* Leslie Charteris's ''Literature/TheSaint'' stories. Simon Templar used a [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/SaintLogo.png hand-drawn picture of a stick-figure with a halo]] as his signature/Calling Card.
* Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters would leave a Dark Mark whenever someone had been killed in ''Literature/HarryPotter''.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** Weirdly used in ''[[Literature/{{Discworld}} Thud!]]'', in which the Summoning Dark ''is'' its own calling card: [[spoiler: wherever the Dark-inhabited Vimes goes, objects tend to fall in such a way as to form the eye-with-a-tail symbol]].
** Technically, the fact Thieves and Assassins always leave a receipt could be considered a calling card. This is how you know you were visited by a licenced professional, and not a common criminal.
* The suspense novel ''The Caper of the Golden Bulls'' is about a retired thief coerced into a new caper; he laments that he can't get the aid of another master thief known as the "Ace of Diamonds." The Ace had a bizarrely elaborate signature: the ace of diamonds playing card, with a gryphon's head drawn on it, and then a stiletto driven through the card. It's eventually revealed that the gryphon's head referred to the thief being a lovely young woman named Grace -- "gr" from "gryphon" plus "ace" -- so she was ''telling the authorities her name'' every time she pulled a theft. And she turned out to be [[ContrivedCoincidence the hero's girlfriend]], so the Ace of Diamonds ''was'' available to help.
* In Paul Doherty's novel ''The Mysterium'', the Mysterium is an assassin in 14th century England whose victims are found with an M on their forehead, standing for "''Mysterium Rei''"; "[[GratuitousLatin the mystery of the thing]]".
* The SerialKiller Karkas, in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', cut a "K" into the forehead of anyone he murdered.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''TheMentalist'' has the serial killer "Red John", who always leaves a smiley face drawn in the victim's own blood.
** In a recent episode, a child was abducted (a child belonging to a woman that Patrick Jane previously scammed as a fake psychic), with a baloon animal left behind, which was the mark of a serial child abductor/killer known as the "balloon killer" who had previously abducted and killed two boys, and within eight hours murdered them. However, upon raiding the balloon killer's house and shooting him in a fierce firefight, the balloon killer implies that [[NotMeThisTime he was not responsible for the boy's disappearance this time around]], which was shortly thereafter confirmed by Patrick Jane via both a phone call and a note in one of his partner's pocket that he somehow planted in there.
* One of the early killers ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' goes after makes the victime's bodies themselves his signature--a frozen, chopped-up, bloodless body. The killer also [[spoiler: left increasingly personalized clues for Dexter himself]].
** Season 3's B-plot serial killer had a rather disturbing calling card: [[spoiler: partially skinning his victims; one victim died ''from'' the skinning]].
* ''TheMightyBoosh'' does it with Old Gregg - a sea monster who kidnaps Howard and leaves a card saying "I'm Old Gregg"
* In ''FunkySquad'', the GentlemanThief called "The Cat" left a calling card with a paw print on it at the scene of his crimes.
* Parodied in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' with the "Identity Killer", whose calling card is that he leaves documents pertaining to his identity -- such as his driver's license, his passport and, on one occasion, himself -- at the scene of the crime. The [[PoliceAreUseless police still are baffled as to who he could be]].
--> '''Sgt''': He's always ''one step ahead'' of us!
* ''TheMeetingPlaceCannotBeChanged'': the Black Cat gang (specialty: burglary with a side dish of murder) leave a cat drawing or an actual cat at the scene of the crime.
* Somewhat subverted in the Turkish crime-drama "Yılan Hikayesi". Investigating an elusive crime boss called "The King", the protagonists occasionally find a single rose flower was left in the places that the King was believed to have been. The subversion comes from the fact that they were not meant for the cops. They were meant as a message for his ex-wife whom he could not meet face-to-face for fear of retailiation by his enemies but still loved dearly. The locations where the roses were found were the places his ex-wife had gone as part of her own investigation on her husband's disappearance.
* In ''Series/QueenOfSwords'', the Queen sometimes leaves behind a Queen of Swords tarot card to taunt the authorities.
* Episode 2.01 of ''WhiteCollar'' featured a bank robber who left actual calling cards at his crime scenes.
* Inverted in the ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr. Monk's 100th Case." The serial killer has photographs of various models that he takes, and then adds lipstick to each of those killed, but he keeps them at the studio as a checklist, not leaving them at the crime scene.
* In the short-lived NBC series, SwordOfJustice, protagonist Jack Cole would use playing cards, the three of clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades as his calling cards. The three of clubs was left with the target of each episode, as a warning that he was going down. The three of diamonds would be used to pass information to the police. The three of hearts would be used to pass information to the person (usually female) that he was helping, and the three of spades for the final "I got you" message to the target.
* ''LawAndOrderSVU'' loves this trope.
** One episode featured the VictimOfTheWeek being tied up in a particular way, and there was also the BlondeBrunetteRedhead pattern.
** Another featured a serial killer who considered his killings TrueArt, "critiquing" the work of a copycat, who turned out to be [[spoiler: his PsychoExGirlfriend]].
* In "Child Predator" of ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', the Balloon Man would leave behind balloons saying things such as "thank you" and "congratulations" after abducting a child.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Role Playing Games]]
* [[AxCrazy Blood Boy]] in ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' does this at one point: carving a smiley face into one of his victims. (Blood Boy wore a smiley face mask).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''{{GURPS}}'' calls this disadvantage "Trademark," and it's worth more points the more dangerous for the character leaving it is.
** Examples of the most elaborate Trademarks include dousing captured thugs in a certain colonge, painting an entire crime scene pink, and writing a long poem to the police.
** Fourth Edition ''Dark Champions'' had this as a disadvantage as well. It's not specifically noted in 5th edition, but several [=NPCs=] have one anyway.
* ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' allows the characters to modify their [[KarmaMeter Karma Meters]] to allow different breaking points in pursuit of the Vigil; to make up for it, though, they need to take certain "Triggers" that risk being activated in times of stress. One of them is "Calling Card"; you ''have'' to leave a sign at the scene of a kill. Needless to say, this Trigger carries over well if the hunter becomes a [[SlasherMovie Slasher]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Shelly [=deKiller=] in ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Justice For All''.
** He actually states that he leaves the card to save the police the trouble of investigating, [[spoiler: and to deflect suspicion from the one who hired him. Naturally it backfires.]]
** [=Mask* DeMasque=] from ''Trials And Tribulations'' takes this UpToEleven; he plants the card ''long before'' robbing the place.
** The Yatagarasu from ''Ace Attorney Investigations'' doesn't leave a card at the scene, but rather gives it to the media along with the item stolen, with the intent of exposing corrupt dealings.
* ''SlyCooper'': Sly always leaves a raccoon-head-shaped card in place of the valuables he steals.
* The beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Condemned}}'' has you investigate a murder by "The Matchmaker", whose CallingCard involves seating the corpses of his victims at a table along with a disfigured mannequin.
* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'': The Origami Killer, so called because he/she leaves an origami figure next to their victims.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the ClassyCatBurglar, Kasumi Goto, will tell Shepard that she left a rose in place of what she stole earlier in her career. She later says that her partner made her realize that continuing to do so wasn't a very smart thing to do.
* Mr. Valentine in ''GuiltyParty'' always leaves rhyming Valentine's cards for his victims.
* From ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', Fatman's calling card is placing cologne on his C4 explosives.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In TheLastDaysofFoxhound, Fatman runs off immediately getting rescued from an enemy base.
->'''Fatman:''' Just wanted to leave my calling card.
->'''Raven:''' What's that?
->'''Fatman:''' A pile of smoking rubble.
->'''Enemy Base:''' KABLOOEY
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* In "Ayla and the Grinch" of the WhateleyUniverse, a serial killer is loose in Los Angeles, leaving the heads of the victims behind as an identifier. Heads that are apparently burned off the still-living bodies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The Joker's Calling Card was parodied on ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', with "The Prankmaster", whose calling card was a Joker with the word "PRANK-MASTER" written over it.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** Parodied in "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase", during the Chief Wiggum sketch. After Ralph is kidnapped they find a skull lying on his bed:
-->'''Skinner''': Big Daddy's calling card... it's right behind that skull.
** In "Homer the Vigilante" the mystery thief leaves a card behind at each crime scene: "You have just been robbed by the Springfield Cat Burglar."
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' one episode dealt with a serial killer named Michael Deats who would remove the left hand of his victim after he killed them and he would also visit the sites in a blood soaked raincoat. With nothing but a yellow bikini underneath! At a certain point, the police almost arrest him, but realize that, since the hands have been flipped over, [[InsaneTrollLogic they're all right hands, so he's not the killer.]]
* ''PinkyAndTheBrain'': Brain tries to TakeOverTheWorld by becoming a superhero, modeling himself after {{Batman}} parody The Caped Opossum, and calling himself the Cranial Crusader. When Brain leaves his calling card at the scene of the crime, an explosion causes ink to hit the card, making police think Caped Opossum did it.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' had the Pack Rats, who steal things and leave behind walnuts in their place.
* Lotus Blossom in the 1987 ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' always leaves a lotus flower whatever crime she strikes.
* On ''JimmyTwoShoes'', the mysterious Hooded Chicken is said to leave a feather on its victims door before it strikes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The Washington DC Beltway Snipers left Tarot Cards with messages on them for cops to find.
* The Zodiac Killer wrote cryptograms for police, signing them with a sun cross.
* The ace of spades was used by American soldiers in Vietnam War. US troops mistakenly believed that the Vietnamese held the symbol to mean death and ill-fortune and in a bid to scare away NLF soldiers they would leave an ace of spades on dead Vietnamese. While not meaning much to the NLF, this practice helped the morale of American soldiers.
* In one murder case the perpetrator did actually leave his calling card at the scene of the crime. (He accidentally dropped a case of them not to far away from the scene). This led to the prosecutor having an IAlwaysWantedToSayThat moment when he came to trial. Not surprisingly he was the primary suspect from beginning to end of the case.
[[/folder]]

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