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Who dares put an image on this page?

"You dare bring light to my lair?! You must die!"

Who DARES to make this page a Self-Demonstrating Article?

Standard villain or otherwise ominous being Stock Phrases. Said in a booming deep voice, the villain rhetorically asks Who Dares whatever action the hero has done; be it defy them, attack them, talk to them, look at them, etc. Expect them to start referring to themselves in the third person, and giving themselves important sounding adjectives.

Possibly has something to do with the odd word-order (you don't say "How do you dare?") making the phrase sound like Antiquated Linguistics, always the domain of the overimportant egotist.

Proper heroic form, incidentally, is to stand tall and reply "I dare!"

"How dare you!" is a common variant used by heroes and villains alike, the former usually in response to the villain Kicking The Dog.

Here is a compilation with a lot of examples of "How Dare You!"

Any villain using this will usually give a "This Cannot Be!" variant upon defeat.


Who Dares to make Examples out of these?

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • The Avengers: In one Heroic Age comic, the Avengers are battling Apocalypse when Iron Man traps him in a forcefield. Cue the following exchange
    Apocalypse: Who dares!?
    Iron Man: I dare.
  • Batman: In the story "There Is No Hope In Crime Alley", Batman interrupts an attempt to mug Leslie Thompkins at the very spot where Batman's parents were murdered. One of the muggers is stupid and/or desperate enough to try pulling a gun on him:
    Batman: You dare? You dare to pull a gun on me — to pull a gun on me here? DO YOU?!
  • Chaos War: Eternity says this after having been summoned by Hercules.
  • Fantastic Four: Of course Doctor Doom plays this every chance he gets.
  • The Sandman (1989): Desire starts in on Dream for banishing Nada to hell, earning a cold "You...dare..." from Dream. Desire's totally unimpressed.
  • Superman:
    • Stated by Darkseid in Legion of Super-Heroes storyline The Great Darkness Saga when his gloating after defeating the Legion and Orion is interrupted by Superboy and Supergirl's quite violent arrival.
    • From Legion of 3 Worlds #2, when Mordru is angry at Superboy-Prime's appearance:
      Mordru: Who dares disturb Mordru?
      Superboy-Prime: Who dares question my dare?
      Mordru: What?
    • In The Supergirl from Krypton (2004), Darkseid roars a very loud "YOU DARE?!" when Batman has reprogrammed and set off his Hellspores firebombs, hecen Apokolips will explode unless Darkseid releases Kara.
  • Ultimate X-Men: Who dares to interrupt the execution of Bush by Magneto? Xavier? Oh, great, that's so much better! Let's forget about Bush and execute Xavier instead!
  • Wonder Woman: In The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016), Zeus is furious that Diana and Alcippe (Philippus) dare defy him, and they both barely escape with their lives after his booming angry exclamation.

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animated 
  • The Cave of Wonders in Aladdin: "Who disturbs my slumber?"
  • In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, during the festival of fools, Frollo is furious when Esmeralda unbinds a tied-up Quasimodo against his orders not to, shouting "How dare you defy me!?"
  • In more a homage to this trope than anything, at the start of the climax of Megamind, as the title character finally realises it's worth risking everything to correct his mistakes, the former Supervillain announces his presence in the most dramatic, villain-esque way possible...
    (as thousands of his worker drones come together to form a giant holographic version of his head)
    YOU DARE CHALLENGE MEGAMIND?
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas has an (anti)heroic example. During the final confrontation with Oogie, Jack bellows "How DARE you treat my friends so shamefully!?" in the most righteously indignant way possible. Bonus points for it being a Pre-Mortem One-Liner.
  • In Yellow Submarine, the head Blue Meanie asks Who Dares bring music back into Pepperland. The Dragon, Max, first answers, "Rimsky-Korsakov?"; this gets him blasted and stomped. He next suggests "Guy Lombardo?"
  • In The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Mojo states "You dare challenge me!?". He actually manages to make it sound intimidating.
  • In Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, when Eris shows up at the end, after her Big Entrance, she immediately starts in on Sinbad, opening with a very loud "HOW DARE YOU?!" Due to the fact that Eris is about fifty feet tall at the moment and she's a Physical God, this is played dead serious, and Sinbad himself is understandably nervous.
  • Darkseid gets into it in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse as well, when Batman blackmails him.
    Darksaid: You dare?!? You DARE?!? *Swats Batman into a wall*
  • In the short CBS special Faeries, the hero and his friend Puck confront the evil Shadow, who booms in bombastic fashion, "Who intrudes upon my perfect darkness!?"

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Conan the Barbarian (1982).
    King Osric: What daring! What outrageousness! What insolence! What arrogance! ... I salute you.
  • Hercules in New York
    Hercules: HOW DARE you touch Hercules!
  • In the movie adaptation of Hogfather, Death's response to the Auditors.
    "Yes, there ARE rules. And you BROKE them! How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!
  • In Labyrinth, when Sarah tries to enter the Goblin City, the gate slams in her face...and each wing of the gate has half of a huge mechanical giant (who's named Humongous, by the way), who grabs a huge axe and starts swinging it back and forth while repeatedly booming "WHOOOOO GOES?!...WHOOOOO GOES?!"
  • Dracula's first line in The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires after he is woken from his slumber:
    "Who dares to disturb the sanctity of Dracula?"
  • The Wizard of Oz, where Oz is bluffing at how awesome he is, using special effects to make people not pay attention to The Man Behind the Curtain.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has the King of the Dead say this when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli first enter his chamber.
    Dead King: Who enters my domain?
    Aragorn: One who would have your allegiance.
    Dead King: The Dead do not suffer the Living to pass.
    Aragorn: You will suffer me! seeing as he (Aragorn) is the direct descendant and heir of the guy who made them into ghosts and all
  • A heroic example from Masters of the Universe
    Man-At-Arms: You dare threaten her (the Sorceress) life?!?
    Skeletor: I DARE ANYTHING! I am SKELETOR!
  • The Russian film "Two arrows - a stone age detective story" ends with a rather poignant "who dares?!" when the clan leader realizes his political assassination tactics have caught up with him.
  • Near the end of Clear and Present Danger:
    The President: How dare you come in here and lecture me?
    Jack Ryan: How dare you, sir!
    The President: How dare you come into this office and bark at me like some little junkyard dog? I am the President of the United States!
  • Murder by Decree: When the Prime Minister takes offense to Holmes' words, Holmes responds that his offense is based on being himself offended.
  • Star Trek: First Contact: Picard's response when Lily accuses him of having enjoyed killing two Borg drones.

    Literature 
  • Voldemort, twice, in the last Harry Potter novel, when Harry calls him by his real name ("Riddle") during the Final Battle. It's always met with the same derisive response:
    Voldemort: You dare—
    Harry: Yes, I dare.
  • The Dresden Files:
    • Harry is so impudent. Nicodemus, the White King, the Erlking, the Winter Lady Maeve, the Black Court Wizard Mavra and others have found that there are very few lines that Harry won't cross. As the books progress, this evolves from just being his personality to an actual survival strategy — an indignant villain yelling at him is, after all, a villain that is not currently unleashing one of the many arcane powers floating around that could crush him in an instant.
    • Subverted repeatedly in one of the short stories; Harry encounters a blustering teenager who thinks he's a powerful warlock but has hardly any talent at all. When he challenges Harry to a magical duel and Harry simply draws a gun, he repeatedly says "You would dare—" only to be constantly interrupted.
  • The Troperrific Doctor Impossible shouts this repeatedly in Soon I Will Be Invincible, especially during the climax. In his narration, he reflects that it's kind of silly, but part of the role of being a supervillain.
  • From Romance of the Three Kingdoms:
    • The coincidentally named He Man (Pronounced something like 'Huh Mahn') shouts 'I am He Man, the devil who shoots across the sky. Who dare fight with me?' when he appears. He is immediately cut down by a random minor character.
    • In Chapter 42, Zhang Fei stands on a bridge to hold the line for a retreating Liu Bei, loudly challenging Cao Cao's army with "Who dares fight me?". He intimidates the approaching army so much that his booming voice causes one of Cao Cao's generals to die on the spot from shock, and the army scatters shortly after that.
    • Also the death of Shu general Wei Yan. On the order to retreat from Wuzhang Plains for Zhuge Liang's final plan, Wei Yan insists that they should charge instead. He then boasts "Who dares kill me!?" in order to assert his authority, only for Ma Dai to reply with "I dare!" and cut him down, allowing the others to retreat.
  • Lucy, now fully undead, calls this out in some versions of Dracula after the heroes stop her just as she is about to feed on a child.
  • Star Wars:
    • Played fairly straight in one novel, where Mara Jade strolls into the lair of the Big Bad to save the main character in a Big Damn Heroes moment:
      Big Bad: Who DARES?
    • In the Hand of Thrawn duology, the booming automated voice whenever someone enters Thrawn's personal cloning chamber:
      "Who dares disturb the sleep of the Syndic Mitth'raw'nuruodo?!"
  • Journey to Chaos: Getis squeaks out "You...you...dare.." after being subjected to a Groin Attack. Eric smugly replies, "Mercenary".
  • Edgar Allan Poe Features this trope in "The Masque if The Red Death" . It's the first (and last) thing that Prince Prospero says to the Red Death when the same dares to interrupt the bacchanalian, hedonistic Party they're having.
  • In the Liaden Universe, Clan Korval has this as its Badass Creed: "I Dare".
  • The Fall of the House of Cabal: When the devil Zarenyia is summoned out of Hell, she manifests dramatically with the beginning of a "Who dares summon..." speech, then realizes it's her friend Johannes and breaks off with a delighted hello.

    Live Action TV 
  • Every Go'auld in Stargate SG-1 plays this straight; naturally O'Neil mocks them for it every chance he gets. Eventually, by the episode Zero Hour it becomes:
    Ba'al: You dare mock me?
    O'Neill: Ba'al, come on! You should know. Of course I dare mock you.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Innocence". The Judge, an invincible demon summoned to destroy the world, asks this when Buffy shoots him with a crossbow.
  • Angel:
    • In "Release", when Angelus gets annoyed at how the Beastmaster is booming away in his head.
      BEASTMASTER: YOU WOULD DARE TO DEFY ME?
      ANGELUS: Defy who? A big scary voice? Whoa! Hey, I got one of those, too. You wanna hear it? (cups his hands over his mouth) You can kiss my vampire ass!
    • In "Hell Bound", Spike's response to evil ghost Pavayne asking "You dare?" is a laconic "Quite a bit, mate."
    • In "Expecting", when he was still something of a Comedic Hero, Wesley nevertheless comes up with a good response to this trope.
      Haxil: WHO IS THE INTERLOPER? TO THINK YOU COULD DISTURB THE BIRTH OF MY CHILDREN? Who Are You??
      Wesley: Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, rogue demon hunter. And I’m here to fight you, Sir, to the death...preferably yours.
  • The Singaporean version of Crimewatch, (not to be confused with Crimewatch UK), drops this phrase in a rather memetic exchange.
    Vicky: Don't you think you can insult my boyfriend!
    Kai: Why not? You're nothing but a prostitute.
    Vicky: HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A PROSTITUTE!
    Kai: But you are!
    Vicky: You better say sorry.
    Kai: Why should I? Go to hell.

    Music 
  • In Devin Townsend's concept album Ziltoid the Omniscient, the Sixth Dimensional Planet Smasher makes his entrance growling "Who dares awaken the Planet Smasher?"
  • The Nox Arcana song "Hall Of The Witch Queen" opens with dramatic thunder and a shout of "WHO DARES INTRUDE UPON MY DARK DOMAIN?!"

    Theatre 

    Theme Parks 

    Video Games 
  • Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic: Undead King Joseph attempts to intimidate the player like this. Then he remembers that he was only a minor villain who died in all endings of the first game, and immediately decides it would be much smarter to get on the player's good side.
  • Asura's Wrath: Chakravartin's response to Asura punching him in the face? He yells "...how dare you defy me?!"
  • Baldur's Gate II
  • Darksiders: One of the reactions that certain Elite Mook enemies give when the player approaches them is a snarly "Who daresssss?"
  • Devil May Cry 5: When Urizen gets hit for the first time (just a scratch on his palm), he calmly monologues for a bit about how his attacker is merely a human. Then comes the fury.
    Urizen: How... dare... you... strike... ME!
  • Diablo III:
    • When the Nephalem are making their way through Leoric's Tomb in Act I, his ghost appears and roars, "You DARE to bring the warmth of light into my tomb!?" before using four summoning towers to call forth a crowd of undead.
    • Later in Act I, the ghost of Queen Asylla tasks the Nephalem with freeing the souls of six prisoners in the Cursed Hold. After you free the first two, the ghost of the Warden shouts "What!? Who DARES?!"
    • One of the Wizard's Badass Boasts during battle is "You dare attack me?"
  • DC Universe Online
    Brainiac: I have conquered worlds. You dare defy me? Witness my power.
  • Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: "What fool dares awaken me, the great Laharl?"
  • Dynasty Warriors 4: When approached for a duel, Lu Bu beckons you with "You dare face the mighty Lu Bu!?". Bad idea to dare if you are low leveled and are at Hu Lao Gate.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • In Final Fantasy VIII, Diablos spouts this — "Who dares disturb my sleep?"note 
    • In Final Fantasy XIII-2, when Noel and Sarah stumble into the Coliseum in search of a fragment, the first thing they hear from the Arbiter of Time is "Who dares?! Explain this intrusion!" Noel tells him that they'll leave if he gives them the fragment and since he wants neither the fragment ("an omen of time-shattering misfortune") nor their presence, he gives them the fragment and they leave.
  • In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, if the player chooses to turn against the church in Chapter 11, Rhea lets out a shocked and furious "You... How dare you!"
  • Illusion of Gaia's King Edward is not happy if, when he asks for the Crystal Ring, you flatly tell him "no" you don't have it:
    "How dare you say such a thing to me!"
  • In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, this is the first thing that comes out of Fecto Forgo's mouth after Kirby defeats Leongar and rescues Elfilin for the second time. This occurs in the English dub, that is.
    Fecto Forgo: You... you dare...
  • Knights of the Old Republic: You find some Sith in the Temple on the Unknown Planet. "Who Dares intrude on our meditations?"
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age: While traveling through western Moria, the heroes come upon the Throne of Durin. Partway through the throne chambers, they encounter a goblin armed with a magic staff. The goblin growls "Who dares?" Hadhod responds "I think I do!" and draws his axe.
  • RuneScape
    Lucien:You dare to mock the power of Lucien?
    Dragonkin: We dare.
  • Makai Kingdom: Zetta gets insulted by a Tome of Fate when it predicts that his stupidity and arrogance will doom his netherworld.
    Zetta: How dare you read to me like that! I'm a freaking Overlord!
  • Marvel vs. Capcom 3: said word-for-word by Galactus in the bonus comic that came with the special edition.
    Galactus: WHO DARES?
  • Marvel Ultimate Alliance:
    Thor: Soulless machines! You dare strike the Son of Odin?!
  • In Mass Effect 2:
    • Commander Shepard has the option to headbutt a Krogan rival. The watching Krogan Shaman finds it hilarious.
      Uvenk: You...You dare?
      Shaman: [laughs loudly] I like this human! S/He understands!
    • If a different dialogue path is chosen in the same encounter, the Shaman can say the exact same words to Uvenk when he questions his authority. However, the Shaman has a strong enough voice to make it sound legitimately threatening rather than blustering. Proof that it's all in the delivery.
  • Mortal Kombat X: Shinnok yells a variation at Johnny Cage at the start of the game, after he interrupts Shinnok about to lay a pounding on Raiden and Fujin.
    Shinnok: Miserable wretch... Insignificant speck of feculent scum! HOW DARE YOU!
  • Paladins:
    • Drogoz and Lian may react to being attacked by saying "You dare attack me?!". Azaan is a lot more straightforward in this: "Who dares!?"
    • When Makoa uses his Ultimate, he'll announce it with a booming "YOU CHALLENGE MAKOA?!".
  • Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous: In the prologue, the Player Character can respond to the demon lord Deskari subjecting a silver dragon to a Curb-Stomp Battle by hitting him with a crossbow bolt. Deskari says something along these lines in response, seeming to be irrationally pissed off that a mere mortal would stand and fight him.
  • Persona 5: In the fifth palace, the cognitive representation of Haru's fiancee (a ten-foot robot) tries to crush her, only to say this in response to her persona's effortless rebuffment of his attack.
  • One of Cervantes de Leon's intros in Soulcalibur V and VI on the 1P side has him say "So, you DARE to defy me?" being the dreaded pirate that he is.
  • When a mimic of Spider-Man knocks out security at the Science Expo:
    Dr. Octavius: Who dares? Face me coward! Face a worthy foe!
  • Super Mario Bros.:
  • Tekken 6: Feng Wei asks this to anyone who crashes his private training grounds.
  • Warcraft:
  • There is an Achievement in Xenoblade Chronicles 1 called "Who Dares Defy Me?". You get it for using Melia's Arts 100 times.

    Web Comics 

     Web Originals 
  • raocow's iconic Let's Play of Super Mario Infinity: WHO DARES to try to stop the time bommmmmmmmmbbbbb!?"
  • Dragonball Z Abridged:
    • While the actual words "Who dares" are never actually said, the spirit is very much there in the series' version of Super Android 13. Both Vegeta and Piccolo are hanging out in the Arctic looking for some alone time when the battle between Goku, Trunks, and the androids disturbs them. Both of them make a Large Ham entrance that includes both a display of their Ki power and starting to ask who disturbed them before they realize who it is.
      Vegeta: [Shatters a glacier and intones in a dramatic voice] For thousands of years I lay dormant! Who has disturbed my-
      Goku: Hey best buddy!
      Vegeta: [speaking normally] ...oh, it's you.
    • From Episode 54 of the main series, when Cell announces the Cell Games:
      Cell: And much like Vegeta's mother, I will accept all comers.
      Vegeta: (suddenly shirtless for some reason) HOW DARE.
  • In Epic Rap Battles of History: “Zeus vs Thor”, Zeus’ opening line is “How dare you challenge my immortal throne?”
  • GoAnimate grounded videos tend to have the parent/parent figure characters shout "[Name of troublemaker], how dare you [infraction]?" as part of their usual spiel of grounding the troublemaker.
  • From the Zero Punctuation review of Subnautica, when Yahtzee discusses how addictive the game is:
    Random passerby: Hey Yahtzee, still playing that game?
    Yahtzee: Who DARES trespass upon Fortress Ocelot Alpha?!

    Western Animation 
  • A Robot Chicken sketch had George W. Bush discover he was a Jedi. He then used his lightsaber to vandalize the Lincoln Memorial only for it to rise from the ground and reveal a hibernating Abe Lincoln underneath...
    Lincoln: Who dares disturb my slumber?
    Bush: Well who dares question my...daring...of his dare?...jerk?
  • Aku of Samurai Jack is particularly good at this, playing it utterly straight in his first confrontation with Jack...only to subvert the trope much later on when he's visited by a group of gangsters that don't merit the full Who Dares speech.
    Aku: (bored) Who dares to summon-oh, it is you...
    Don: Uh, hi boss!
    Aku: Do you forget you are forbidden to come here?
  • Rocko's Modern Life had a very large hippo-woman whose Running Gag was berating Rocko the Accidental Pervert with "HOW DARE YOU", delivered in a creepy fashion.
  • Superman: The Animated Series: In the series finale, "Legacy", Superman and Darkseid have finally come to blows in the climax of the series. As Darkseid mercilessly devastates Superman with the Omega Beam, Superman manages to get close enough to finally lay hands on his foe. However, unlike many of the entries on this page, Darkseid really is that powerful, and regards Superman's blows more with confusion than anything before he grabs Superman's fist, crushing his hand as Darkseid drags the Man of Steel to his knees.
    Darkseid: You DARE strike me!?
  • Justice League:
    • When Superman is presumed dead in "Hereafter" and Lex Luthor shows up at his funeral:
      Lois Lane: How dare you show your face here? (slaps him)
    • Memorably parodied in "This Little Piggy":
      Circe (After taking two tables to the face): Insolent trickster! You dare to strike—! (chair) You dare to stri—! (another table) You dare to strike—! (tablecloth) QUIT IT! (stares) Oh no. (piano)
  • Not villain-ish, but a few episodes of The Backyardigans invoke this trope. A good example, in High Tea:
    Grumpy Emperor Austin: WHO DARES RING MY DOORBELL?!
    Tasha: It's me, Tasha.
    Tyrone: And me, Tyrone.
    Uniqua: And Uniqua.
    Pablo: And Pablo.
  • My Little Pony
    • In the G3 movie Twinkle Wish Adventure, when the ponies approach the dragon's cave, they are greeted with a booming, "Who dares disturb the dragon?" However, when Pinkie Pie states their names and business, the voice instantly changes to a friendly tone and welcomes them in.
    • In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Dragonshy", this is said to the dragon, signifying Fluttershy's shift from The Load to Beware the Nice Ones.
  • Ben 10:
    • In a 'What If?' future episode, Kevin thought it would be funny to attack Ben's son mid-battle. Big mistake.
      Ben: [mashing Kevin into the ground, having morphed into Way Big] HOW DARE YOU?!
    • The Sequel Series Ben 10: Alien Force played with this:
      Dr. Animo: Who dares?
      Brainstorm: That isn't the way to tell a joke, miscreant. First, I say "knock, knock", then you say "who dares?"
  • From Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor: "Who fouls the air with notes so sour, and dares to challenge Sindbad's power?"
  • This is the Flying Dutchman's main Catchphrase in SpongeBob SquarePants: "Who dares disturb the Flying Dutchman?!"
  • In the 1990s X-Men: The Animated Series cartoon, this is the mutant warlord Apocalypse response when his arch-enemy Cable infiltrates his pyramid temple in Cairo in 3999 AD.
    Apocalypse: You dare challenge Apocalypse again? Blasphemer!
  • Played for Laughs in an episode of Beast Wars:
    Waspinator: Who dares shoot at Waspinator?!
  • Biker Mice from Mars:
    • Deathmaster combines it with an Implied Death Threat when he was teleported from his world:
      "What worm-ridden carcass would dare spirit me from my catacombs?"
    • In "The Motor City Maniac" Limburger wonders this when he learns somebody else attacked his men.
      "Who others than those meddlesome Biker Mice would dare wage war against Limburger? One would have to be a moron, a mouse or a complete madman!"
  • A variation in Star Wars Rebels where it's Grand Admiral Thrawn who explains exactly who is doing the daring. Hera is posing as a Twi'lek servant girl, but drops the act when she realises that Thrawn has worked out who she really is.
    Hera: It doesn't matter where we come from Admiral, our will to be free is what's going to beat you!
    Slavin: You...You dare!
    Thrawn: Slavin please, you embarrass me in front of our host.
    Slavin: Host...what?!
    Thrawn: May I introduce Hera Syndulla—rebel pilot, freedom fighter, and military leader.
  • Looney Tunes: In his earliest appearances as a western outlaw, Yosemite Sam would issue a dare as to "any lily-livered polecat" who would try to tame him. Bugs would be more than up to the challenge.

     Real Life 
  • Inverted with the motto of the British Special Air Service (and many other units with ties to the British SAS): Who Dares, Wins.
  • Unironically used in Neil Bauman's laughable 'cease and desist' letter to YTMND dot com, which included the line How dare you and your brethren make death threats against our personnel?
  • Greta Thunberg's "How dare you?" speech became famous internet meme to the point that if you just type "how dare you" on Google, you will immediately see Greta Thunberg herself wearing a pink shirt.

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