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Evil will always triumph, because Good does not make me want to masturbate furiously.
She's wearing red leather. I mean, red leather?? Of course she's evil!
Hitler had Eva Braun
Manson had Squeaky Fromme
Ted Bundy got lots of dates
I wonder what I'm doing wrong...
— Bill Hicks, "Chicks Dig Jerks"
Evil does strange things to people. It can be pleasurable, delicious, addictive, it can make you more badass, and it even makes you more sexy.
Although Beauty Equals Goodness, some villains are just gorgeous. They ooze sex appeal and carnality in a way that represents how seductive and tempting evil can be. They tend to have much looser sexual mores. They are as handsome as they are arrogant (much to the heroes' annoyance). They hide their demonic soul behind the face of an angel. And they're not afraid to use their beauty, wiles, and sex appeal to seduce the hero and carry out their nefarious plans. (Okay, maybe that last Pot Hole went too far...)
Their outfits also tend to show more skin, and to have more leather, fetishist hangups, and occasionally lace, or even the gorgeous and functional Femme Fatalons. Hey, what's the point of being evil if you can't do it with class? (Or lack thereof.)
A good guy temporarily tempted by evil also tends to suddenly wear skimpier clothes and be more sexually assertive.
An opportunity for Fanservice of all kinds. Especially problematic as it is guaranteed to garner loads of entirely undeserved sympathy from fans.
As a trope, perfectly understandable. Evil characters, after all, are rarely so cut and dry as "I choose evil!" Even if a character has misgivings, the Big Bad should want to be what he or she is...and what better way to represent that than by making evil seductive? Storytellers have understood this for millennia. The trope seems to have gone a little overboard, though, with evil in general, not just evil meant to seduce other characters to The Dark Side, being presented more and more as something that is physically enticing.
Several tropes are related to this:
See also Evil Tastes Good and Evil Is Cool.
This trope is often reconciled with Beauty Equals Goodness by making the good-aligned characters' beauty more genuine, and the evil-aligned characters' appearance be more focused on inspiring lust. Compare the Fanservicey Stripperiffic tendencies of heroines.
Mostly applied to female villains, as generally male villains are rather hideous. Still attractive male villains are becoming more common.
When the Love Interest is the initial Ms Fanservice, The Baroness/ Vamp will always be shown taking it to the next level, sometimes almost immediately. This is especially true of Bond Girls. In Never Say Never Again, every time Kim Basinger is shown in some Absolute Cleavage gown or other remarkably Stripperiffic attire (usually in a light or neutral color), Barbara Carrera would soon after be shown in an even more jaw-dropping gown or swimsuit (usually in red, black, or some other More Dramatic Color.) The World Is Not Enough is another example. Christmas Jones: vest-top with midriff. Elektra King, see through outfit.
Contrast Full Frontal Assault - when the villain comes running at you armed and naked. Compare with Beauty Equals Goodness.
Examples:
- Most vampires everywhere, if they can pass for human at all. There may be permanently monstrous vampires, but one never seems to run into a pimply, fat vampire. Outside of Discworld, that is.
- With the exception of those based on the original Norse and Scottish mythologies, most "Dark Elves" in almost any Fantasy fiction. All of them. Especially the females. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but something a little more original would be nice. We also ought to mention some of the Dark Eldar from Warhammer 40,000. They're actually meant to be naked, but Games Workshop aren't permitted to sell nude figures to under-18s (a major part of their customer base), so they have just enough clothing to cover their naughty bits. Daemonettes of Slaanesh don't, though.
- For that matter, most elves in the original mythologies were barely good and hardly the beauty that modern works have them.
- There are a few exceptions; they appeared as tiny little demons in Final fantasy 1.
- Apparently this trope is strong enough to make some of the most evil and sadistic psychopaths in fiction sex icons for a suprising amount of women (in a lot of cases though, it's simply the actor playing the psychopath that attracts the audience). Unlike Real Life psychopaths who have a distinct disorderly narcissism and a crudely aggressive personal style, which in most cases would turn off women romantically (depending on the woman), the cool self-possession and unflappable personal style of many film psychos attract quite a few fangirls, despite their... flaws. These characters include Jason Dean in Heathers, David McCall in Fear, Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and Hannibal Lecter (yes, it's possible to make even Anthony Hopkins sexy) in The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising.
- An unfortunate case of Truth In Television. See Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome
 .
- The Joker has FanGirls. Yes, that Joker. The one with the Glasgow Smile and the sloppy makeup and the sing-song-y voice. The one who pencil-ed someone in the face. He also receives a large number of MarySues in Fan Fic.
- Forget Fan Fic, Harley Quinn basically incarnates this trope going both ways and she's canon. And, yes, both meanings of 'both ways.' She spends a lot of time with Poison Ivy.
- Star Wars in general averts this trope. With the dark side anyway. The deeper you go into the dark side, the more horrible you look. This is especially obvious in some of the games (at least in Knights Of The Old Republic games) the more you slide down to the dark side on the morality scale, the more their eyes turn yellow, their skin becomes sickly pale, and... well, let's just say that seeing a female dark jedi in a metal bikini isn't as sexy as it's supposed to be.
- Though it kinda depends on the author... See Tavion, of the Jedi Knight games, and Githany, a Sith contemporary of Darth Bane. Some authors play the trope straight, others subvert it. Then we've got Asajj Ventress, where Your Mileage May Vary as to whether it's played straight or not. Some cases just have the dark side turn your eyes red, like during Anakin's big emo slaughterfest in Ep III.
- Bane's apprentice Darth Zannah also seems to play this trope straight, if the "Personality and traits" section in that Wookieepedia article is to be believed...
Live Action TV
- While it's a very mild example, in the Stargate Atlantis episode "This Mortal Coil", "Dr Keller" is revealed to be a Replicator. Once this is revealed, "her" jacket is unzipped. No cleavage or nothing, but this troper can't help thinking someone's invoking something...
- The Stargate Verse has plenty of more stronger examples. The Goa'uld in particular.
- Probably justified in the case of the Goa'uld. They are Body Snatcher s, so naturally they are going to try and snatch the best bodies they can find. A former host said that beauty is considered a curse on her world because of this.
- Not especially 'evil' but Blackadder got a lot sexier once he became a total bastard. The flattering clothes, a nicer haircut and the amount of the leather he wore in series II might have had something to do with it.
- The many incarnations of Number Six in the 2000s Battlestar Galactica. In particular, Chip Six and Caprica Six. Of course, all the Sixes got decreasingly evil.
- The Master from Doctor Who, at least as played by John Simm. Come on, JOHN SIMM!
- Of course, Anthony Ainley was sexing it up as the Master since 1981.
- Bah, neither of them have anything on Roger Delgado.
- Although it's worth noting that the Master is one good-looking exception from a show in which most evil things were really quite unpleasant to look at, most of them being represented by blobby, slimy lumps of monstrosity.
- There's a reason why the Supernatural fandom loves Skin, Devil's Trap, Born Under a Bad Sign and Dream a Little Dream of Me so much. It's because Evil!Sam/Dean/John ooze sexual appeal (even more so than when they're being good) and also because they seem to touch each other a hell of a lot more.
- Let us not forget that most female demons on this show are well-endowed.
- Servalan. Just...Servalan. I need say no more.
- Most of the population of the Mirror Universe in Star Trek. Especially obvious with the female characters, naturally.
- Sheriff Buck of American Gothic falls under this trope, and his schoolteacher girlfriend Selena Coombs embodies it.
- Heroes has Nikki's Superpowered Evil Side Jessica, who manages to be infinitely more sexy than her good counterpart despite looking exactly the same, and Serial Killer Sylar, who has acquired a significant Draco In Leather Pants following because of said sexiness.
- Adam Monroe. Oh yessss. The accent, the charisma the RAW SEX. Ahem. And, be it in armour or in that suit with the shirt opened WAY down, he's a snappy dresser. In a way Athur Petrelli WISHES he was.
- Angel/Buffy the Vampire Slayer: As much as this troper loves good-but-broody-Angel and good(ish) Spike, she can't help but drool over Angelus and pre-chip Spike, 'cause there is just something so hot about those particular bad boys- then again, it might also be that Angelus' wardrobe tended more towards the leather-pants side (which is in fact lampshaded by one character). Oooer.
- And, of course, Darla and Drusilla.
- Prince Dirk Blackpool (played by the luscious Duncan Regeher) the black leather clad villain of Wizards And Warriors.
- While the heroic Taja wears reasonable clothing, all the villainous females of Mortal Kombat: Conquest wear revealing outfits—Omegis to the point of wearing nearly nothing. The well-built Shang Tsung usually wears a vest over his muscular body, but spends a lot of time with his shirt off.
- Power Rangers had some valiant efforts in Scorpina and Divatox, but with Astronema, it really took hold, as she had a liking for black leather and changed her hair style and color every five episodes or so. (If you're watching episodes out of order, it's a great way to check where you are in the plot!) Every other season since has featured someone similar to her. Made more evident because Astronema was actually The Hero's amnesiac sister. When she reverted to the nice and pure Karone, she had straight blonde hair and modest clothes. When brainwashed to become Astronema again... form fitting black leather and cropped red hair. When Karone returned in Lost Galaxy as the Pink Ranger, she evoked Evil Is Sexy by dressing up as Astronema to get back the Pink Ranger's Quasar Saber, but was still shown to wear black leather in her civilian form. Even though the show has an almost ludicrous devotion to Color Coded For Your Convenience, the only pink things she ever wore hair clips and ponytail holders... in eight or so episodes, she managed to have more unique hair styles than Kendrix and Maya combined...
Anime
- Dio Brando, from Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure, elevates this trope to practically a superpower. Many of his subordinates follow him just because of his charisma and beauty. Many of them outright wanna jump his bones, and some succeed (Vanilla Ice and Enrico Pucci). To be slightly fair however, he was already extremely attractive BEFORE he became completely evil, and its implied that he is using his Stand Power to aid him in this. Dio's beauty is so amazingly mythical leveled that it even seduced a blind man.
- In Fullmetal Alchemist, the homunculus Lust is pretty much this trope incarnate. The Ax Crazy Zolf J. Kimblee and Envy, another homunculus, are good examples too.
- Take one look at Pretty Sammy and her antagonist, Pixy Misa, and tell me which is the evil one.
- It's even worse in the alternate universe spin-off Sasami: Magical Girls Club. When she is possessed by evil, Misao goes from being a 10-year-old girl to a voluptuous 20-something with very little clothing.
- All the Sailor Moon villains with the notable exceptions of Queen Metallia, Death Phantom, Pharaoh 90 and Zirconia are handsome Bishonen and seductive FemmeFatales.
- Let's examine Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Nanoha, our main protagonist, wears a white schoolgirl uniform with a long white skirt and long white sleeves, a costume that's cute but conservative. Fate, our main antagonist, wears a black swimsuit with very interestingly placed red belts and a pink skirt that's barely there, a costume that's basically sin incarnate. When pantyshots are applied, Nanoha's are pink, while Fate's are black (save for that one instance with the pink thong). This example, of course, only applies in the first season for reasons you should already know.
- Then there is Fate's Non Human Sidekick, Arf. Skilled in melee combat and blessed with the Most Common Super Power while wearing a Stripperiffic halter top with a bare midriff and a pair of short shorts that's unbuttoned and sometimes look like they're not zippered either.
- Yu-Gi-Oh GX: While he played up the White Haired Pretty Boy trope just fine when he was good, Johan Anderson was arguably much more kawaii in the outfit he got while possessed by Yubel — sleeveless trenchcoat, baggy jeans, and leather straps everywhere, all in a fashionable shade of dark slate blue-gray. Sadly, the same couldn't be said for pretty boy Judai during his conversion into the full-armored Supreme King Haou.
- Kaname and Momomi from Strawberry Panic are the only characters in a series full of Schoolgirl Lesbians who actually have a sex life, played for much Fanservice. Their "good" counterparts, Hikari and Amane, clearly have sex with each other as well. Maybe it's a yin-yang thing.
- In Princess Tutu, Rue demonstrates a classic case of this: when she transforms into her evil alter ego Princess Kraehe, her previously fairly standard ballet costume is now something strapless, backless, and cut down to her bellybutton in front.
- Also, once Mytho is infected by the Raven's blood in season 2, he becomes much much more sexually assertive. He flirts openly, tracing his fingers over girl's hearts, draping his arms around one woman's shoulders, and essentially coming on to every girl he meets in an attempt to take their heart from them as a sacrifice. Although towards the end of the series, when it takes him over more and more, he becomes less sexy and more squicky.
- In Monster, Johan Liebert is by far the most attractive man in the entire series. He is also, without a shadow of a doubt, the most evil.
- Dakki, the Big Bad of Houshin Engi. She's got a nice body, and often wears revealing outfits. Her magic weapon even gets a power boost when she strikes sexy poses.
- In Lodoss, both Deedlit and Pirotess are extremely attractive, but the latter Dark Action Girl shows way more skin.
- The Winged Ones of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch cater to the Villainous Crossdresser, Dragon Lady and Lolicon niches, and with titles like "the wings of desire and pleasure", as well as Lady Bat's Kiss Of The Vampire and Alala's anime-only career as an Idol Singer with an army of fanboys, they know it.
- Akio Ohtori from Revolutionary Girl Utena. He's quite the charmer (whose wiles know no gender limits), and is privy to many a Shirtless Scene.
- Asakura Ryoko of Suzumiya Haruhi. Rawr.
- One of the rare, rare examples of a nice girl-style evil. The first impression about her typically isn't a plain "rawr", but "I want to date her". Pity about the Yandere aspect.
- Rob Lucci of One Piece. Even dressed well, and wears a Nice Hat.
- To a mild extent in an early episode of the Rockman.EXE anime, where the baddies temporarily turn Roll evil - while her outfit doesn't change, she gets a whip and a dominatrix personality for the duration of this effect.
- Paptimus Scirocco in Zeta Gundam and Haman Kahn in Gundam ZZ are extremely sexy and attractive. The former is also an egotistical Magnificent Bastard with a Utopia Justifies The Means mentality, who thinks nothing of using everyone around him (specially pretty women with huge piloting skills) and tossing him/her away after having outlived their usefulness, and the latter is an Baroness who wants to revive the old Principate of Zeon with herself standing on top, manipulating her ward Princess Mineva Zabi for her own gain, and take control of the Earth Sphere as an added bonus...
- Viletta Nu, Viletta Nu, Viletta Nu...
- Prince Schniezel, Prince Clovis, Princess Cornelia, Younger Emperor Charles, and Marianne.
- Lelouch V. Britannia. Even the guys know he's pretty. And villainous.
- Played straight in Yu Gi Oh with Kaiba, Pegasus, Yami Bakura, and normal Marik. Completely subverted, however, with Yami Marik, who is prone to having veins randomly pop up on his face, usually while his eyes are out of proportion and his tongue sticking out.
- Ticky Mick/Tyki Mikk...whatever, from D Gray Man, who represents the "Pleasure" of the Noah Clan. Even his brother is hot for him.
- Pretty Cure rarely takes this approach, with the female characters generally balancing out the positive aspects of their looks with things like odd-looking eyes, conspicuously odd skin tones, and so on. Eas, though◊...
- Grimmjow Jeagerjacques of Bleach, particularly because he goes around with his shirt constantly unbuttoned.
- The straighter example is Halibel. She was sexy, but goes un-sexy when she revealed her bone jaws. Then she released her Zanpakutou.... and she probably out-sexied Matsumoto.
- She had underboobs!
- Aion from Chrono Crusade plays with this, particularly in the anime adaptation, where he goes from being attractive and charasmatic to willing to sleep with Anything That Moves. However, this trope is also used in the anime to make him creepy and squicky—he not only happily seduces those that are willing to sleep with them, but is implied to attempt to rape many of the ones that aren't willing (and may have even succeeded in one case).
- Though more case of nuts and misunderstood, Gun X Sword features ex-prostitute Fasalina, who is still gratuitous enough to reveal some of her ample bosoms (though not so Stripperiffic), fights on a strip pole, long gorgeous hair... Guess which side she's on.
- Light Yagami from Death Note is much hotter when evil than when innocent.
- Governor General Godel of Mahou Sensei Negima is arrogant, manipulative, underhanded, and undeniably evil from the first time we see him. He also has a stylish suit and glasses and is very hot even while tormenting Negi.
Comic Books
- Mildly subverted in the New Teen Titans comic; while Starfire's evil sister is not by any means ugly, she is apparently the only person on their entire home planet who wears a full-body outfit. (It's black, mind you.) Starfire herself generally dresses in a Chainmail Bikini.
- In Young Justice, teen heroine Arrowette nearly murders a a man, causing her to abandon superheroics and break down for fear that she'll become evil and have to get a black leather costume that shows off her cleavage...and, for that matter, cleavage. Later, in an alternate universe, evil teen heroine Arrowette has a black leather costume, and massive cleavage.
- Magneto. Full stop. The chiseled, aristocratic features, the silver hair, the tragic past... he's thrice her age and still makes Rogue weak in the knees.
- Anti Villain Namor is the incarnation of temptation for virtuous Susan Richards.
- In Legion Of Super Heroes, Shrinking Violet falls under the power of the Emerald Eye, and, well... this... happens. (Her breasts appear to get larger, but that might just be the effect of that push-up bra.)
- Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn from Batman.
Film
- End Of Days - the real threat of Satan is that the female protagonist finds him so damn sexy.
- In the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, Elektra King turns out to be a bad guy. In her final scene, in which she tries to kill Bond with a strangulation chair, she's wearing a see through top with strategically placed bits of black lace.
- Speaking of James Bond: Xenia Onatopp. The amoral fighter pilot who delights in crushing men to death... between her thighs. Well, if you gotta go...
- Parodied in Annie Hall where Woody Allen's character is shown to be sexually attracted to the Wicked Queen from Snow White.
- Captain Hook, circa the 2003 Peter Pan film. Far too much sexy for a kid's film.
- In the 2007 film, the titular character of Beowulf has trouble slaying Grendel's mother (portrayed by Angelina Jolie) due to this.
- Jareth from Labyrinth, mostly due to the actor playing him, tight pants, and the fact he's supposed to be someone a teenage girl can't resist when he offers her a gift. Still, yum.
- Mrs. Coulter, at least as played by Nicole Kidman in the movie of The Golden Compass. In the original book, Lyra has quite a bit to say about how glamorous she is initially. Nicole Kidman portrayed the character pretty accurately.
- Subverted in the third Spider-Man movie. When Peter Parker flirts with the The Dark Side due to the symbiote costume, he acts more sexually assertive and seems to think he's suddenly the hot stuff. To the objective gaze and the befuddled look a random girl gives him in the street, he just now looks like a more sleazy dork. He's still fundamentally himself, after all. No matter how self-confident and sexually assertive he's acting, he remains a nerd and has no idea how to carry himself otherwise. Furthermore, in a neat little bit of irony that underscores this point, the only women who he does manage to charm with his new assertive manner were already attracted to Peter when he was 'good' anyway.
- Tom Riddle, undoubtedly; and also Christian Coulson, to some degree. And unlike a certain potions master, the character is canonically sexy, at least at this point. It probably doesn't help that even his monstrous adult form is portrayed by the ridonkulously charismatic Ralph Fiennes.
- And is capable of rocking a well-tailored suit, as seen in the fifth movie.
- Prince Septimus from Star Dust. Also, Lamia starts out as an old crone but becomes young and sexy due to digesting the remains of a star's heart. Subverted in that each time she uses magic, she regresses more and more back to her previous, hideous state.
- Devil's Advocate has Keanu Reeves tempted to join Satan Al Pacino by Connie Nielsen who is Satan's daughter. Now Satan is certainly evil, but that's just fighting dirty.
- Is it just this troper or is Pacino kind of hot as Satan?
- no, it's not just you. *sigh*
- Elizabeth Hurley is a very sexy Satan in Bedazzled.
- The fan reactions to Pavi and Luigi, two of the antagonists in Repo! The Genetic Opera, are made of this trope. That's ignoring the fact that both of them get plenty of attention throughout the film.
- Graverobber has become quite the sex symbol among Repo fans, as well.
- Basic Instinct and Basic Instinct 2. Catherine Trammell is a dangerous, manipulative, sociopathic nymphomaniac and compulsive multiple murderer, but don't try to tell me she isn't damn sexy.
- One Word: Legend.
- A certain Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual, Transsylvania.
- Oh, let's face it, Tim Curry is made of this trope.
- Many Hammer Horrors, especially ones directed by Terence Fisher, not only have evil as sexy but evil as overtly sexual— though this was always a popular subtext in vampire stories.
- Otis B. Driftwood from House Of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, anybody?
- A Discussed Trope in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, where the son tells his father that bad women can be identified in comic books by skinny eyes and big busts.
Literature
- William Sleator's Strange Attractors features this rather prominently. A boring scientist and his plain daughter have evil duplicates, which are nearly identical, just evil and slightly older. They're presented as incredibly sexy and interesting, to the point that the protagonist rebuilds a device which may destroy all time just to be with them.
- Villains in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books are frequently mages who gratuitously make use of magic to make themselves ridiculously attractive, to the point where the nastiness of a particular character can be discerned from how attractive the main character finds them. That is, physically attractive. Those sorts of mages hardly ever get (voluntary) dates.
- This is similar to sorceresses in The Witcher who are chosen by being gifted in magic. Since noble families are the ones most sorceresses come from and would better benefit the family to be married off to other nobles ASAP, the only ones sent to receive training in magic are ones who are somewhat lacking in the looks department. And one of the first things they learn is modifying their own body. Not all sorceresses are evil, of course, but most of them sure as hell are bitter.
- Lanfear of the Wheel Of Time is a singularly attractive and alluring woman, supposedly one of if not the most beautiful in history, who makes all the male leads drool and the female leads envy. She's also reputed to be the most powerful dark mage in the world. She's in good company; her fellow Forsaken aren't too harsh on the eyes either. Graendal's a voluptuous temptress whose perverse kinks are the stuff of legend, Rahvin's a dashing ladies' man, and all the rest scrub up pretty well except Aginor and Balthamel and Balthamel is eventually placed in the body of a beautiful young woman and assumes the persona of a brazen (but seemingly harmless) hussy. Most female Darkfriends are hotties, most of the Black Ajah are (at the very least) imperious and regal, both aspects of Slayer are attractive (since they're both related to attractive protagonists), and all the biggest Knight Templar jerks in the Children of Light are exemplars of rugged aryan manhood. Then again, there just aren't many ugly people in Wheel Of Time, period.
- All the more interesting in Slayer's case, since he's Lan's uncle. Lan isn't known for his beauty.
- With a penchant for wearing things that show off his sixpack and well-muscled arms, curious-but-hey-it-works-for-him fashion sense, cheerful and polite manner, and general air of Affably Evil, Jarlaxle displays the ability to seduce even human would-be paladins while flamboyantly drow on the surface, which (twenty years ago, anyway) would have been cause for a lynching for a less charismatic and bold dark elf.
- Mostly averted in the Whateley Universe, where highly attractive 'exemplar' mutants are seen on both sides of the fence and the current acknowledged hottest girl at Whateley Academy is Fey, who's firmly on the side of good.
- The Stainless Steel Rat: Crook turned galactic agent 'Slippery Jim' diGriz falls for the villainess he's pursuing not just because she's beautiful, but because he genuinely admires her brilliant criminal mind. If only he could get past the fact that she's a sociopathic killer…
- Let's not overlook the fact that the villainess used to be extremely ugly in her youth and used the crime money for drastic plastic surgery to gain super model looks (cosmetic surgery is even better in the future). diGriz only met her after she was beautiful. How much insults from others about her ugliness led to her life of evil is a good question. While he did fall in love with her while she was evil, he then brought her to justice so she could be "cured" of her evil (psychological) thanks to some future Applied Phlebotinum. After the cure she no longer approves of killing, although she enjoys robbing (non violently and only the rich) with her husband (in between their constant saving of the galaxy).
- The Dresden Files plays this one straight and subverts it with vampires: White court vampires are made supernaturally sexy by their inner demon - Lara Raith is described as so beautiful that it's hard to describe her actual features as they are obscured by her beauty (hence here success as a porn star, Thomas Raith is described as "The Forgotten Greek God of Body Cologne," and even though he isn't evil at all and is the main characters half-brother, his very evil father is described in much the same terms. The Black Court, on the other hand, subvert this trope, they are desiccated corpses, complete with dried eyeballs, missing limbs and rotting hair. The Red Court play it straight and subvert it at the same time: On the outside, they look beautiful but under their flesh-masks they are hideous, slimy bat-things.
- The Draka seem to spend as much time screwing (their slaves and each other, in just about every permutation imaginable) as they do fighting and conquering. The books also include lavish descriptions of their well-muscled warrior physiques (especially the bisexual female ones).
- Andrea, from The Zone World War III novels by James Rouch, uses her incredible beauty and sociopathic skills of manipulation to get the other male soldiers to teach her new means of killing. Major Revell, the commanding officer of the unit, is obsessed with her, even though he knows full well she's a crazed killer.
- Probably the most famous reversal of this trope is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, in which the protagonist's wrongdoing causes him to age and become ugly - except that it's the titular picture to which this happens. Until the end, that is.
- Subverted in Harry Potter, where Voldemort is the ugliest creature in the book.
- ...Unless we're talking about pre-resurrection Voldemort/Tom Riddle. In which case, he's ridiculously pretty and pure evil.
- The Sword Of Truth series had the Mord-Sith, a cadre of gorgeous, leather-clad women...whom the Big Bad had psychologically broken and uses to torture his enemies. When he is deposed, they become Dark Is Not Evil retainers to the heroes.
Western Animation
- Avatar The Last Airbender took this to the logical extreme by making the four hot teenaged villains the stars of the Beach Episode.
- In an episode of the Aladdin TV series, Princess Jasmine is turned against the heroes by Harmless Villain Abis Mal. She gets the dominatrix whip AND the black, as-close-to-dominatrix-gear-as-Disney-will-allow outfit AND the dominatrix attitude. Evil is Sexier With Princesses!!
- Any discussion of this trope in Aladdin has to include Mozenrath, everyone's favorite skinny Persian Draco In Leather Pants. This Troper also finds that Jafar is Sexy Evil, but YMMV.
- Sam in Danny Phantom briefly turns evil and gains a sexy Poison Ivy-ish wear. Also, Vlad Masters and his black suit. 'Nuff said. Not to mention Dark Danny, who is known, not for his looks, but his voice which made this troper blush too.
- Dark Ace from Storm Hawks, nuff said.
- Also, Master Cyclonis, in a creepy kinda way.
- Chase Young from Xiaolin Showdown. Even his beast-form is sexy.
- And Wu-Ya looks very nice once she gets a body. She even strikes some Male Gaze poses to seduce young Raimundo into continuing to work with her.
- In Gargoyles, when Elisa goes undercover as a crooked cop demanding protection money, she wears a black jacket, tight black pants, and a blue top that shows her midriff, displays cleavage, and nicely accentuates her breasts. No wonder she quickly charms mob boss Tony Dracon into letting her join his crew.
- Heather, the all round bitch from Total Drama Island.
- Duncan also. He is one of the most popular characters. Can't help but love the bad boy. See Draco In Leather Pants .
- AndrAIa of ReBoot post-timeskip was already hot stuff to begin with, but when she gets infected with the Daemon Virus she becomes downright seductive, going as far as calling Matrix "lover". Pretty shocking for a supposed kids' show.
- On that note, Daemon herself was pretty smex. Probably the accent.
- And Hexadecimal, when she's not wearing the scarier masks. Of note is the time Megabyte rebuilt her with a costume that featured a good deal of black leather. Her response: "WHO MADE ME LOOK LIKE THIS?! IIIII...like it."
- Shego in Kim Possible. The one episode when she turned good she was sweet and all, but when she's evil she is sexy! Not to mention that she wears a swimsuit, at work, in the same room as her boss, and his companion, several times.
- The Martian Queen of Duck Dodgers. Hell, she's basically Cleopatra with no mouth.
- Osmosis Jones's Thrax is all I need to say. Hell, he is the embodiment of this trope.
- If robots can be hot, Blackarachnia of Transformers Animated definitely counts. Starscream too, if you listen to his giant hoard of fan-girls.
- Blackarachnia is pretty attractive for a giant alien robot...as long as she wears her helmet. When it comes off...Gaaah!
Video Games
- Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat. It doesn't help that he wears a stripperific, BDSM-esque costume.
- Also, Quan Chi's bodyguards; A trio of Dark Action Girls in stripperific costumes, though the one with the most importance on the plot (and a decent fanbase considering she appeared in a unpopular spinoff) does a Heel Face Turn. A subversion comes with Mileena; who's decent looking with a mask, horrifying without it.
- See Morrigan (traditionally sexy) and Lillith (Lolicon) from Capcom's Darkstalkers series. Although they aren't anywhere near the most evil of the cast, the fact that they're demons grants them more than their fair share of hotness- complete with clothes that fly off during certain attacks. Considering, however, that they're specifically succubi, demons whose whole purpose in legend was to seduce men, this is probably justified.
- Sephiroth. Making Fangirls go "Squee" since 1997.
- Though as the Junon Canon fight sequence from Crisis Core shows, he was pretty damn sexy before his Face Heel Turn as well.
- Organization XIII.
- I-No from Guilty Gear. Red leather? Check. Nice body? Check. Shows it off at every opportunity? Check. Has a voice set jam-packed with innuendo and double entendres? Check. Witnessed the slaughter of a village for fun in one of the Drama CDs? Check. Wants to torture Dizzy by tearing her wings off and cooking them? Check.
- Sonia, one of the main antagonists in Fire Emblem 7, wears nothing but a black corset, an elongated loincloth thing that goes to her knees, and stiletto heels. Oddly enough, she's not very popular, probably due to her tendency to Kick The Dog. The dog being her own (adopted) daughter.
- Romancing Sa Ga Trilogy: Schirach, Rockbouquet, and Byunei.
- La Pucelle plays with this a bit. When a character turns out to have a Superpowered Evil Side, it manifests at night, impliying that she's basically going out in her sleepwear... which just happens to be some rather sexy-looking lingerie.
- Millenia from Grandia II. She's not totally evil (she is a party member, after all), and not exactly heroic (she is an aspect of an Evil Overlord, after all), but man, is she hot or what?
- Metal Gear Solid. Six words: Everyone is gay for Big Boss.
- Which one? The Solid Snake lookalike or the older dude?
- Also, Sniper Wolf.
- Vamp. Especially when he's repeatedly contrasted against Otacon, who's innocently handsome.
- If you fail to save Richter's girlfriend Annette in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, she gets turned into a vampire who wears incredibly revealing clothing. Succubi and other Cute Monster Girls abound in this series, especially the Sorrow games.
- Portal. Playing with subtitles on only makes it clearer. Sudden change in GlaDOS' voice after Morality Core incineration, anyone?
- Kerrigan becomes much sexier when she stops caring about what anyone thinks, slaughters people for fun, and coincidentally takes on the appearance of a mean naked succubus.
- I would call her somewhat of a subversion, as in this troper's opinion, there is nothing sexy about Kerrigan. AT. ALL. She may be naked, but 95% of her skin is a rock-hard carapace with spikes jutting out everywhere. Just...no.
- On the other hand, 95% of her skin is a rock-hard carapace with spikes jutting out everywhere. Mmmmmmmmm... (Of course, this troper feels the same way about her twin sister, Blizzard's own Andariel, who is both much more monstrous and literally naked. Her giant pierced nipples [she's about ten feet tall] are clearly visible in both some of the art and the game itself.)
- If you think Lamia Loveless is sexy, wait until she is Brainwashed And Crazy. She fights butt-naked, multiplying her sexy points in much points. Who cares about those green goos that's infecting her skin.
- Averted for the most part in Warhammer Online: Destruction is ugly, brutish, and filled with horrible mutants, until you get to the Dark Elves.
- Wind Fiend Barbariccia from Final Fantasy IV.
- Somewhat less so in the DS remake, despite more revealing clothing, due to low polygon count.
- While, with some specific ugly examples, most characters in Koei's Warriors games series (Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi) are good looking, those considered evil (or at least morally dubious, given the series mostly Grey And Gray Morality) can be absolutely GORGEOUS. Here's some examples:
- Cao Cao, the most elegant of the Three Kingdoms' rulers, and a perfect example of a Magnificent Bastard.
- Cao Pi, Cao Cao's son. Handsome, dashing, cruel and ambitious.
- Zhen Ji, Cao Pi's wife (what IS it with this family?), probably the hottest lady in the Dynasty Warriors series and a hell of a bitch.
- Sima Yi, Cao Cao's arrogant advisor. One of those elegant, almost feminine villains, although he isn't flamboyant at all.
- Zhang He, however, IS flamboyant.
- Diao Chan, a sort of Chinese Helen Of Troy. So many men died or killed for her, she can't possibly be pitied.
- Lu Bu, considered the most monstrous warrior of ALL the Warriors series, is the manliest, most gorgeous guy you could imagine.
- Nobunaga Oda, considered to be the baddest of Samurai Warriors' characters (and indeed, portrayed constantly as a villain in fiction) is an elegant, charismatic villain.
- No, Nobunaga's wife, actually gives Zhen Ji a run for her money in the sexiness department, and she has the Femme Fatale role down to a T.
- Kotaro Fuma. Sexy, in a VERY villainous, fetishy kind of way.
- Kojiro Sasaki, Musashi's rival. Another one of those feminine villains.
- Date Masamune, who was turned into a villain in the Warriors Orochi franchise. He's so damn ruthless and arrogant, the most aggressive, and most Bishonen amongst the men (not women) who side with the Tokugawa in Sekigahara.
- Oh come on now, Mori Ranmaru beats Masamune over the head with the Bishonen trophy. He's more feminine than most of the women in this game. The rest is true though.
- Though Ranmaru can't be said to be 'evil' than merely 'loyal'. Even in the worst moments of Nobunaga, Koei usually had Ranmaru in a lighter depiction.
- Orochi The Serpent King. Can give Sephiroth a run for his money in the "I'm gorgeous and evil, and you love me for it" department.
- Da Ji. A fox, both literally and figuratively, and probably the only character that's villainous just for the sake of being villainous.
- Sengoku Basara also follows KOEI's suits. Amongst the evil guys, Akechi Mitsuhide is a slender, white haired Bishonen in bondage suit. Toyotomi Hideyoshi is a huge, muscular villain with huge charisma, great for those who like muscles. He's also assisted with the slender Ill Man Takenaka Hanbei. Mouri Motonari also has quite the slender figure. Not to mention Oda Nobunaga himself, who while the sexiness of his body is very questionable... his voice is definitely sexy.
- Tsukihime and Melty Blood: "Vermilion" Akiha, that evil expression is so hot. As if she wasn't sexy enough as normal Akiha.
- Selvaria
Chest Bles from Valkyria Chronicles. Maximilian sure has exquisite tastes in right-hand women.
- Arguably the sexiest romanceable character in Baldurs Gate II, Viconia is Neutral Evil.
- Excella Gionne.
- The portrait of the female Necromancer in Battle For Wesnoth 1.6 is drawn in this way (the posing and all), despite the fact that she's supposed to look like she's very aged. Compare the male and female portraits
- Subverted with the Dark Adepts - although they aren't exactly ugly, neither even approaches the female Necromancer in sexiness. Also of note is that the female White Mage is also pretty hot, considering that all the above are wearing shoulder-to-toe flowing robes rather than skimpy leather.
- In Fate Stay Night, the 'Obviously Good' female Servant, Saber, turns out to be the least sexiest out of the other enemy female servants. Really, compare her with Rider, or Caster (especially with her hood down), though Rider has the excuse of just merely being an opposing Servant, not aligned as evil like Caster.
- In Command And Conquer, while it's true that the good guys employ quite a few hot female officers, the bad guys get the likes of Nastasha Henstridge, Tricia Helfer, and Gina Carano. In black leather/vinyl. Oh Hell YES.
- Jin Kisaragi from Blaz Blue. He's one hell of a Jerkass, and a crazy one at that. He puts the emphasis on EVIL in Evil Is Deathly Cold. And he's massively hot, and has attracted many Fan Clubs in-universe, and out-universe.
- The King Of Fighters contains many characters that embody this trope.
- Pictured on the page are Iori Yagami, Igniz, and Orochi. Iori Yagami, being the Ryu to Kyo's Ken, defines this trope for the series. He's got a freaking Elvis hairdo, a cool jacket with a crecent moon insignia on the back, and fights with his pant legs apparently tied together. Orochi is exactly what he is named for: the snake god, but taken the form of a shirtless Bishonen who has been reincarnated in the vessel of a Cute Shotaro Boy. Igniz is pure Bishonen, and this was admitted to by Word Of God, and this is despite him being 56 years old and having the voice of Norio Wakamoto. And even then it doesn't stop there. Geese Howard used to be quite a looker in Art Of Fighting, and the same goes for Rugal Bernstein.
- Heroes of Might and Magic: Dark Messiah has two possible love interests. The good one, Leanna, comes off as an annoying little sister and ventures dangerously into Scrappy territory. The evil one, Xana, is a naked succubus with the one of sultriest voices every heard in a video game.
Web Comics
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons And Dragons, in its various incarnations, has had not only incubi and succubi, but also alu-fiends, cambions, drow, erinyes, mariliths, and tieflings, not to mantion the ruggedly handsome Archfiends Asmodeus, Graz'zt, Mephistopholes, etc.
- Warhammer 40000 and Warhammer have the servants of the daemon god Slaanesh — a being of pure sexy evil whose sexy cultists' sexy hat is being perversely sexy.
Theater
- "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets!" The devil's sexy Fosse-dancing sidekick in The Musical Damn Yankees certainly fits the bill.
- Referred to almost by name in the Toxic Avenger musical, in the song "Evil is hot", where the mayor seduces a scientist into telling her the titular monster's weakness.
- Méphistophélès as sung by baritone John Relyea in Robert Lepage's production of Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust" is a handsome devil (literally) outfitted in tight red leather pants. The music was astounding, the Scenery Porn-ographic video backgrounds were beautiful, but this troper found it difficult to concentrate on anything other than Méphistophélès', er, voice.
- Pretty much the entire point of Chicago, isn't it?
Advertising
- Subverted in the nicotine gum ad where the initially sultry and seductive personification of tobacco turns into a little repulsive demon after the addict uses the gum to resist his craving.
Religion
- Lust is regarded as an evil or a sin by many religions. Often personified.
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