The
Menacing Stroll is the lithe, athletic walk of the perennial
Badass. Not quite a strut, it is a subtle, confident gait that lets everyone know that the walker could kick the collective ass of everyone in the room without breaking a sweat, because they are
just that awesome. The
Menacing Stroll was first observed in the
Castlevania games (
dubbed the Pimp Walk by fans), but it can also be found in assassins, thieves, and the leaner species of badass. It's all in the shoulders.
Compare
Unflinching Walk,
Power Walk.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
Comics
Film
- Captain Barbossa. Captain Jack Sparrow, not so much.
- The various models of Terminator can pull this off even when buck naked.
- Robert Patrick was cast as the T-1000 for his ability to do this at a very brisk pace.
- Aragorn.
- Used Narmfully
in the already So Bad, It's Good Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2
- Michael Myers of the Halloween series' highest level of speed, at least when the camera isn't on him. Even when his victims are running away from him, Michael manages to keep up with them with nothing more than a Menacing Stroll.
- Deconstructed by Behind the Mask, where Leslie reveals that he runs full-tilt when the victim isn't looking and switches to a power walk when they are. He does a lot of cardio to make the illusion work.
- Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2 has a moment like this in the beginning, moseying on over to Tony Stark in his Whiplash rig while racecars crash and explode behind him.
Literature
- The Wheel of Time calls this "Cat Crossing The Courtyard". In New Spring, Lan does one of these unconsciously when agitated called "Leopard in High Grass". A horse groom who sees this runs away.
- Harry Dresden walks like he's "heading to tear someone's face off" when he is in a bad neighborhood to avoid looking like a good target for some mugger. Granted, he most certainly is not a good target for mugging, usually being outfitted with a variety of magical defenses, but having a gun shoved in his face is still a liability.
Live-Action Television
- Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer... and Buffy developed one too, for that matter.
- Sylar's done it once or twice on Heroes.
- Done very well multiple times in the miniseries The Deliberate Stranger, about the exploits of Serial Killer Ted Bundy. A happy-go-lucky unsuspecting victim would walk past, the camera would pan down to the ground, and the viewer would get a shot of Bundy's feet as he slowly stalked her.
Video Games
Western Animation
