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A Very Evil Goatee
Under the nightmare of Communism, moustaches were, of course, compulsory.
To have a beard is to rehearse
A battle with the universe.
It used to be that things were simple: Heroes had faces smoother than a baby's bottom and Villains had long, thin, oily moustaches to twirl after tying the Distressed Damsel to a set of train tracks. Then along came the grizzled Drifter with his five o'clock shadow, The Gunslinger with his proud beard, and other Antiheroes who broke out of old archetypes. Thanks to these brave pioneers in the fight for facial follicle freedom it's been okay for heroes to have beards, villains to be clean-shaven, and Antiheroes to blur the lines. However, much like superhero costumes there are still guidelines for who can get away with what.
By default Heroes tend towards clean shaves, whether it's because of artistic inertia or simple cultural popularity is up for grabs. Sometimes movies made in countries or/of eras that are friendlier to facial hair have a higher number of heroes and extras with beards and mustaches, though it is still very common to find anachronistically clean shaven male main characters. A full, thick, and above all well trimmed beard is almost always a sign of the good guys (Dwarfs, Santa, mentor characters, etc). The Obi Wan often has one. You will never, ever see a good character with a Fu Manchu mustache, nor one with a pencil thin moustache. Stubbles are an exception, as they're usually a sign of Anti Heroism and Badassitude.
Speaking of which, any moustache resembling Hitler's is off-limits (see the example below), even to villains, and can only be used to mock a character by photoshopping said moustache onto them.
Villains with beards tend to either have long wispy ones, short fancy ones, or wild and unkempt ones. This depends entirely on what flavor their villainy has. Sophisticated villains tend towards clean shaves and 'devil' goatees and will almost always be very fastidious about their appearance. Savage villains are likelier to have a full on uncontrolled beard, possibly with braids or dreadlocks. Back alley thugs or unsavory types are likely to keep thin and scraggly beards, in line with their ratty appearance.
An Antihero, of course, can go either way, although they rarely have the wispy beards. One pop culture extreme is to get incredibly elaborate patterns in a full beard. Again, this depends on if the Antihero is the grungy unkempt kind or is going for a Blade like extravagance.
For Evil Minions and foot soldiers one of the few perks they enjoy is complete freedom to go overboard with their beards: long braids, intricate patterns, pencil thin flame designs and more are common. The punk/grunge/barbarian image their intricate styles boast is an excellent cue that they'll soon be wishing they'd spent less time grooming and more practicing to dodge an Offhand Backhand.
See also Expressive Hair, Funny Afro, Hair Colors, Hair Reboot, Important Haircut, Beard Of Evil and Bald Of Evil. Compare Good Scars Evil Scars.
Examples of characters who exemplify particular facial hairstyles:
Heroes
- The Obi Wan and other mentors often have a neat full beard - especially if they are a wise old wizard.
- Obi Wan himself of course.
- Albus Dumbledore
- Gandalf
- Professor Henry Jones, father of Indiana Jones.
- Another professor, Maximilian Arturo in Sliders.
- The entire stock fantasy race of Dwarves, usually priding themselves on the fullness and thickness of their beards and sometimes styling them elaborately.
- A famous example in Commander William Riker's beard in Star Trek The Next Generation which not only signalled the moment when he was a Kirk clone no more but also created the trope Growing The Beard marking when the series started improving to become the television classic it would be.
- The first example is Merlin, King Arthur's famous advisor, who is always drawn/filmed/described as having a long beard, which was copied by Gandalf and Dumbledore.
- Cops, private eyes and plumbers are pretty likely to have a thick mustache, though this is the hardest hair to pin down. This is something of a Justified Trope insofar as before 1980, the dress codes of many urban police departments in France and the US mandated mustaches for men, as there was a perception that they made cops look older and more authoritative. Even now "moustache" is a French slang term for "policeman." In British shows senior military personnel will often have a moustache for similar reasons, probably a Kitchener-style handlebar.
- Magnum PI had Rick — his mustache is legendary.
- Mario and Luigi are two of the more iconic mustachioed heroes, as a simple mouth on the primitive game sprites wouldn't show as well.
- Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown from Sliders, a musician with more soul than any mere soulpatch could carry.
- Captain Bosch from C.H.U.D. had a moustache.
- Kai Kitamura from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. The Super Robot Soulgain also sports a metal moustache, though its pilot Axel Almer doesn't sport one. And yes, he's still a military man.
- Colonel Stephon Ely, from the Crusader series of games, has a thick moustache and chomps a cigar (which he never actually smokes, probably because the actor didn't).
- The Brigadier, in Doctor Who.
- Soichiro Yagami in Death Note - subject to a Lampshade Hanging about he is "obviously a cop".
- Captain Gordon from Godzilla: Final Wars sported a badass moustache, which suited a character so awesome he only spoke English in a Japanese movie (that and he was willing to take on Godzilla in a fistfight).
- Twin Pigtails - A sign of childlike innocence and/or blissful ignorance. Usually shows up on little girls, or women who are young at heart. Also represents Tsunderitude.
- Not all, but most lead Magical Girls have twin pigtails.
- Chiyo from Azumanga Daioh. Huge Schoolgirl Sakaki sports a pair of these during an Imagine Spot, where she realizes how ridiculous she would look with them.
- Cheerleader of the Teen Girl Squad from Homestar Runner.
- Brittany from Daria certainly fits the "blissful ignorance" version.
- Harley Quinn. (Before losing her mind and joining the Joker, she wore her hair in a bun.)
- Casey Bullocks-Femur-Campbell from Strangers in Paradise took to wearing these about halfway through the series.
- In the real world, Britney Spears also had these back in the late 90's and early 2000's.
- Subverted by the rogue Vala in Stargate SG-1, who is anything but childlike or innocent. Given the character, though, it's possible she's doing it deliberately to mess with people.
- Likewise subverted with Etna in Disgaea, who practically borders on Magnificent Bastard territory
- Partially subverted with Tohsaka Rin in Fate Stay Night. She's a sharp-witted and sharp-tongued young woman, but for all of her maturity she's a young girl at heart.
- Subverted to hell and back by pot-smoking, benefit-playing, tax-dodging, biodiesel-selling old-school cowboy hippie Willie Nelson.
- Konata from Lucky Star straight-up calls Kagami a Tsundere for being moody and having pigtails.
- Somewhat subverted with Lenalee from D.Gray-man; while she exhibits a sweet personality, she can and will mess you up if you threaten her or her friends. (The twintails were later sheared off after a battle.)
- Maka from Soul Eater.
- Tomoka Osakada (12-year-old Tsundere) and Miyuki Chitose (10-year-old Bokukko) from The Prince Of Tennis.
- Another notable Tsundere with pigtails is Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Very Long, Flowing Hair is a sign of femininity, both in women and in White Haired Pretty Boys: try to name a fairytale princess with short hair. In anime it's a staple of the Yamato Nadeshiko.
- As stated, almost every Disney princess ever, though averted by Snow White.
- In RPGs, it's usually the Staff Chick who has the longest tresses.
- Subverted pretty thoroughly in the Forgotten Realms-based Drizzt Do'Urden novels. Catti-brie, warrior woman and budding mage; Drizzt, deadliest fighter in the series; and Wulfgar, seven-foot hulk of a man all have very rather long hair for people who mix it up in close quarters.
- Also subverted by the perceptions of the ancient Spartans, who considered considered their warriors as the pinnacle of masculine beauty with their muscles and long hair.
- On Smallville every single one of Clark's love interests have long hair, Lana in particular; contrast with his Unlucky Childhood Friend Chloe, whose hair never goes past her shoulders.
- Subverted in CodeGeass, where several female charas have hair like this (Nunnally, Marianne, Shirley), but the one with the longest and wavier hair is... a Cute Shotaro Boy named V.V.
- Midna from The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess wears her hair in a very long ponytail (so that it can act as a hand); she is, however, a tsundere instead. In her true form, she has an odd form of Princess Curls, which are joined at her neck like bonnet strings.
- Good goatees are rare, but not unheard of.
- Gordon Freeman of Half Life fame mixes the mentor's full beard with a more compact cut when battling oppression and Eldritch Abominations.
- Worf of Star Trek: The Next Generation brought honor to the goatee and little else.
- Telemachus Rhade from Andromeda is another Warrior Poet who carried a goatee.
- The Prince in the Prince Of Persia series sports a goatee, but is a fairly classic hero much of the time.
- Ronon Dex of Stargate Atlantis is another goateed Proud Warrior Race Guy.
- The DCU's Green Arrow.
- Regenesis's Carlos Serrano, who's also balding.
- Can we count Lord Vetinari as on the Hero team?
- Both Comicverse and Movieverse versions of Tony Stark have been known to rock the goatee.
- DC Comics hero Green Arrow has a big bushy goatee (but he was clean-shaven on Smallville, where only Lionel Luthor may have facial hair).
- Hinjo from Order of the Stick sports a goatee. He's also a paladin and is consistently portrayed to be a reasonable, sensible and above all noble person.
- Paul Denton, brother of the hero of Deus Ex
- It's debatable whether he's a "good" character, an Anti Hero or just a Magnificent Bastard, but Willy Wonka sports a goatee. At least, in the book he does- both films have him appear clean-shaven.
- In the book this troper read, the illustrations had him look a bit like Uncle Sam. Coincidence? So or so, Uncle Sam is another example.
Villains
- Fu Manchu mustaches or wispy beards are usually villains and are usually Asian
- Fu Manchu, obviously, has the Fu Manchu moustache (but only since the film adaptations, not in the original books)
- David Lo Pan had the stereotypical Asian long and wispy beard.
- As did half the villains from Monkey
- Since it was based on Journey To The West, so do quite a few villains from the original Dragonball.
- Mandarin, a Yellow Peril supervillain from the Marvel Universe, has a very prominent Fu Manchu.
- Ming the Merciless - the name says it all.
- Many Klingons sported one, especially in Star Trek The Original Series.
- Ra's al Ghul - One of Batman's arch-nemeses. Subverted in Batman Begins; the fake Ra's has a Fu Manchu.
- Pai Mei in Kill Bill is one of the few Asian heroes with one.
- Granted, he was kind of a dick.
- Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Ruddigore is probably the master of this trope: Sir Despard Murgatroyd, the evil Baron of Ruddigore, usually has an evil goatee. Upon his Heel Face Turn, he shaves it off, whilst his brother Ruthven grows a twirly mustache and does a simultaneous Face Heel Turn, also donning a monocle and top hat. Upon Ruthven's Heel Face Turn at the end, he discards these. Also, Ruthven's sidekick Old Adam's beard usually gets much scruffier when he is evil.
- Averted in the webcomic Order Of The Stick, where Soon the paladin sports a Fu Manchu.
- Played straight, however, with scheming noble Daimyo Kubota.
- Even lampshaded by Vaarsuvius in this comic
 .
- Of course, in an Eastern-flavored setting, it would be far more likely for there to be a lot of men sporting such facial hair.
- In The Authority, Asian dictator/terrorist Kaizen Gamorra is depicted with one.
- Evil Chancellor Magon from Sluggy Freelance sports one of these. Torg even uses it as one of the criteria for determining whether he's a bad guy.
- The Evil Twin will invariably have a goatee.
- The evil goatee originated with one of the most memorable episodes from Star Trek The Original Series, Mirror Mirror, with a trip to a Mirror Universe of evil duplicates. Spock's duplicate had the goatee; ironically, he was the only one who wasn't really evil.
- As a homage to the above, in World Of Warcraft the gnome transporter can malfunction giving you the "Evil Twin" debuff, but the only effect is a black goatee. Even if you have a female character.
- Another Mirror, Mirror homage comes from MST3K, in which Crow gets transported into an alternate dimension version of Deep 13 run by an Evil Mike. Evil Mike has a goatee.
- Kids Next Door contains the same Homage in the Mirror Universe episode, giving the 10-year-old evil leader negative Number 4 a goatee: "It makes me look e-e-e-eviler!"
- This was subverted in Futurama, when Bender's goateed twin Flexo turned out to be the good Bender, while Bender was the evil Bender.
- Likewise, everyone from the evil parallel dimension in the South Park episode "Spookyfish" has a goatee, including the alternate version of Cartman, who is much nicer than the normal Cartman.
- The Master from Doctor Who sports a goatee in the incarnations played by both Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley.
- Order Of The Stick played this one straight: Elan's evil twin Nale sports a goatee — and Haley, being Genre Savvy, suspected he was evil well before it was actually revealed for exactly this reason. Nale later takes advantage of this by cutting off his own goatee and sticking it to Elan's chin with Sovereign Glue.
- In the Stargate SG-1 episode "Point of View", Apophis in the Alternate Universe had a goatee, as did Teal'c (who, in this universe, was still his First Prime). In the fourth season, "our" Teal'c himself sported a goatee for a short while.
- In Megas XLR's yet-another-parody-of the-Star-Trek-episode episode "Rearview Mirror Mirror", the evil alternate Coop has, you guessed it, a goatee.
- Then again, so does regular Coop. Evil Coop's primary difference was that he was skinny.
- Dave Davenport of Narbonic had one, blurring the line due the the main characters being Villain Protagonists.
- In this Darths And Droids webcomic, Governor Sio Bibble, Queen Amidala's trusted advisor, is described as having a goatee, although it actually seems to be just a beard. Based the description, the players immediately decide he can't be trusted. Bonus points for linking to both this page and Evil Chancellor.
- In the evil mirror universe of Dinosaur Comics, the protagonists all have goatees. Even being big reptiles.
- The Fire Lords of Avatar The Last Airbender all have goatees. Ozai really should have read the Evil Overlord List Item # 35...
- Communists and other cold war era baddies will often have a Lenin open goatee, Stalin full mustache, or a full-on Marx beard.
- Many James Bond supporting characters fall into this, although no Big Bad in any Bond film was bearded until Hugo Drax in Moonraker.
- Yuri in the videogame Command And Conquer: Red Alert 2 can almost be mistaken for Lenin. That is, if you ignore the tattoo and the psychic amplifier bolted to his head.
- Female Communists may have helmet hair.
- For example, the Soviet agent in the new Indiana Jones film.
- Not quite the same role, but the same do- Sydney Bristow has such a wig when she pretends to be a Russian soldier.
- The Mad Scientist wears the wise wizard's long beard, but unkempt from mania.
- Dr. Morbius of Forbidden Planet, who turned his id into a jealous monster.
- Gandalf's former peer and friend Saruman after his Face Heel Turn. The Movie even shows how his beard gradually dishevels itself.
- Dr. Reinhardt in the Disney movie The Black Hole - he gave the crew of his science vessel a fate worse than death when they wanted to go home.
- Daniel Curry's character Shepherd in the movie C.H.U.D. had a scraggly beard and wild hair, and yet was one of the film's heroes. He ran a homeless shelter.
- Today, the toothbrush mustache is so linked to Adolf Hitler that the only person that mainstream media will dare show wearing it that style positively nowadays is Charlie Chaplin. Even Chaplin took advantage that growing stigma in his lifetime when he made fun of the Führer in The Great Dictator. Especially ironic since Hitler was an admirer of Chaplin and chose to grow his toothbrush mustache because he liked his films. Otherwise, if you see a character with such a mustache, outside of older versions of Spider Man's J. Jonah Jameson, assume he is one of Those Wacky Nazis.
- Actually, this troper was under the impression that Hitler wore a toothbrush mustache because his previous mustache got in the way of the gas masks the Germans wore during World War 1, and was ordered to trim it.
- And this troper heard that Hitler based his appearance, including the moustache, on the god Wotan in Franz von Stuck's painting "The Wild Hunt".
- Oliver Hardy had a mustache like this.
- It was also included as a wearable item in the Nintendo DS version of Animal Crossing.
- The Pencil Mustache is a classic for black hat villains in Wild West serials. Other than Hercule Poirot, it's hard to imagine anyone but a villain or a Smug Snake with one of these. Extra points if it's curled into twin spirals.
- One short for Dexters Laboratory had Dexter artificially grow a super beard and pair up with Action Hank to fight a cartel of evil bearded men, all of whom use "beard fu". After beating the rasta and long bearded henchmen, Hank and Dexter face off against the Big Bad french chef, who along with his pencil mustache had a sheathed sword-sharp goatee!
- Oddly, inverted in LazyTown by Sportacus, who wears a pencil mustache so sharp it looks like it could double as a scalpel.
- This is further inverted by Harmless Villain Robbie Rotten, who is clean shaven to the point you wonder if the actor isn't wearing a rubber mask (actually, he kind of is). His otherwise meticulous good grooming is also a bit off on the evil-dress-o-meter, but being in a dark purple color scheme helps.
- Alfred, Batman's butler, is sometimes depicted with a pencil mustache, but that's the only heroic example this troper can think of.
- Averted by Det. Steve Crosetti in Homicide Life On The Street.
- Parodied by Sheriff Buford T. Justice in the Smokey And The Bandit movies.
- Captain Hook is usually portrayed with a wax-tipped pencil mustache, with or without the curls. See Disney's Peter Pan and the live-action Hook.
- Also averted by the Mexican comediant Mario Moreno "Cantinflas": always sporting a pencil mustache, always the good guy.
- Rhett Butler
- John Waters, hero to some, villain to others.
- Slicked-Back Hair
- Patrick Bateman, psycho, American Psycho
- Gordon Gekko, greedy businessman, Wall Street
- Dracula, blood-sucking vampire
- Agent Smith, The Matrix
- Shinobu Sensui, Yu Yu Hakusho
- Sousuke Aizen of Bleach slicks his hair back after The Reveal.
- Artemis Fowl, because he's a Villain Protagonist (sort of).
- Made fun of in this Onion article.
- The oily and arrogant Cardassians of Star Trek.
- Averted to a degree by Cleric Preston from Equilibrium; he starts out as a bad guy with slicked hair, does a Heel Face Turn, and keeps his badass hair.
Antihero
- Antiheroes tend to have a Soulpatch (the tuft right under the lower lip), as do normal heroes in dystopian futures.
- Future Hiro from Heroes has one of these. Unlike the energetic past Hiro, though, he fights in a dystopian future, and has stained his hands with enough blood to count as an Anti Hero.
- Marcus Fenix from Gears Of War also sports a soul patch, and is also a soldier from a Sci Fi dystopia.
- Tommy Oliver, the most renowned Sixth Ranger from Power Rangers history, who through the early seasons went back and forth between good and evil, also sports an anti-heroic soul patch.
- Private William Hudson had one.
- Morbius the Living Vampire from Spider-Man (who started out as a Tragic Hero antagonist, but became a Nineties Anti Hero) is occasionally shown with one, most notably in Spider Man The Animated Series.
- Jak acquired one in the switchover from the relatively innocent and idealistic Jak And Daxter to the much grittier Jak II, with corresponding change in personality.
- Oddly enough, the male Bratz dolls depicted as being 'bad boys' have cute, boy band esque painted-on/flocked soul patches, though the female characters they pursue romantically are supposed to be... preteens? Seventh graders? Mind you, though, it's possible — uncommon, but possible — to have seventh graders with full grown beards.
- Real Life: George Strombolopoulous, former Muchmusic VJ and current host of the CBC talk show The Hour, sports one of these. Since The Hour is seen by some as a transparent attempt by the CBC to appear hip and draw in younger viewers, George's anti-hero status is disputed.
- A five o'clock shadow or Perma Stubble is a classic way of saying "gritty".
- Chuck Norris' perma-stubble is so tough it can sand wood to a fine finish.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold Luke Danes of Gilmore Girls has a stubble that is scientifically proven to always be 5.5 millimeters long.
- Indiana Jones apparently shaves when lecturing students but gets instant perma-stubble when adventuring.
- Wolverine's face is pretty consistently fuzzy while rarely ever being clean shaven; one almost wonders if it's one of his mutant powers. Yet he never acquires a real beard beyond those sideburns.
- Wolverine is also notable for his super-hairstyle, which always forms two neat peaks at the sides, just like his mask. He once disguised himself beyond recognition by shaving his head.
- As a matter of fact, his hairstyle is a function of his regenerating ability, according to some sources. Notice how his hair returns to normal after he's reduced to a skeleton.
- The mercenary drow elf Downer, titular Antihero of the comic by Kyle Hunter, sports tousled hair and shaggy side-burns despite the fact that D&D elves usually have no facial or body hair. But then, Downer is a tough-as-nails loveable rogue and proven loser who only survives by wit, reflexes, dark gallows-humour and a lot of fast-talking his way out of situations. (Except when he actually dies, which happens a couple of times, and is brought back from the dead by magic, usually to punish him further.)
- The titular character from The Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr. always had a five o'clock shadow. In fact, it was once included in his description on a wanted poster.
- Gregory House of House usually has this.
- Dr. Cox of Scrubs sometimes falls into this one. Usually head first.
- Wesley Wyndham-Pryce of Angel gained a permanent stubble when he Took A Level In Badass and started Dating Catwoman. Lampshaded in that he had a reason to suddenly stop shaving - his throat had been cut, and the wound rather got in the way.
- Max Carrigan of Across The Universe isn't precisely in the antihero category (more like the leftovers in the Two Guys And A Girl setup) but features something resembling perma-stubble in his earlier scenes and something closer to a scruffy hippie beard in the later.
- The legendary Solid Snake, from Metal Gear Solid is known for his excellent five o'clock shadow.
- The pompadour, or reagent, is a hairstyle long associated with greasers in America, and with delinquents in Japan.
- Yusuke and Kuwabara in Yu Yu Hakusho
- Parodied in the Excel Saga episode "Butt Out, Youth!", where all the delinquents have ridiculous pompadours. The toughest of them all, Binbou, has a pompadour that extends about fifteen feet.
- Ditto Amamiya Ryu aka Bokuto no Ryu from Shaman King, who not only has a six-foot pompadour, but also a six-foot-long pompadour-shaped motorcycle helmet. He's also VERY pissed off when one of his rivals cuts his pompadour in half.
- Hanamichi Sakuragi from Slam Dunk has one of these in the first part of the series. He shaves it later as self-punishment for the loss against Kainan.
- In at least one case, Spider-Man III, the eponymous hero fixes his hair to match the evilness imparted by his badass new black suit. Taken from a thread discussing the movie: "Evil hair. Because that's what people do when they give in to the forces of evil and hatred. They mess up their hair."
- There is, in fact, one of The Simpsons Halloween specials wherein Snake, the notorious white trash criminal, gives his hair to be donated after he has been executed. It is given to Homer, and the Evil Hair makes him kill Apu, Moe, threaten Bart, and otherwise epitomize Bad.
- The King of All Cosmos had a pompadour as a teenager, as do most of the teenage boys you roll up in the game.
Varies
Curly hair, particularly if black/dark brown, often suggests evil and/or Ax Crazy tendencies in adults. However, it can also convey extreme innocence, particularly if seen on children or hobbits .
For the innocent side:
On the evil side:
- Bellatrix Lestrange, as played by Helena Bonham Carter in the Harry Potter films.
- Pretty much every character ever played by Helena Bonham Carter in a Tim Burton film, with the exception of Emily (whom she voiced) in The Corpse Bride.
- Male example: Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd
- Lynda Day of Press Gang.
- Magenta, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, is a spectacular example.
- Drusilla, from Buffy
- The vampires Lestat and Claudia of Interview With The Vampire both have long blond/e curly hair.
- This troper believes that Fran Drescher of The Nanny belongs firmly in this category.
- Mad Meg, and a number of other Insane Heroines in the Gilbert and Sullivan tradition, are usually portrayed with spectacularly frizzy curly hair.
- Partially suberted in Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter book universe, arguable re-instated with the casting of straight-haired Emma Watson (whose hair has been getting smoother year by year!) to play her in the film franchise.
- Sabine from The Order of the Stick is one of the very few curly-haired characters in the comic, although it's her red leather outfit that actually tips off the genre savvy Haley to the fact that she's evil...
- Darla Dimple from Cats Dont Dance, who's a thinly-veiled evil version of Shirley Temple. She has an...interesting (if painful-looking) way of curling it, too.
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