History Main / ArmoredVillainsUnarmoredHeroes

* Invereted most of the time in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', where Guts always wears armor, while most of the villains are un-armored, Especially the Apostles and the God Hand.

** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar1'', Kratos is almost always wearing a loincloth and sandals against the heavily armored Ares.

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' we have Kratos, who's almost always wearing a loincloth and sandals against the heavily armored Ares. The third game pit you against two notable armored bosses: Poseidon and Hercules. In both cases you have to smash the armor first.
** Averted in the 2018 game. Kratos can now wear full plate armor (although it is optional), and [[spoiler: the villain, Baldur,]] only wears a loincloth.

See also TinTyrant and TheLawOfDiminishingDefensiveEffort. Often related to BrainsEvilBrawnGood.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Both SpaceMarines and Chaos Space Marines use armor, but the CSMs' is the ObviouslyEvil kind, decorated with skulls and spikes and sometimes demonically possessed. By contrast, the Imperial Guard has flak armor, referred to in fandom as "T-shirts" to emphasize just how badly the Guard is equipped.

There are [[GoodWeaponEvilWeapon many]], [[GoodColorsEvilColors many]], [[GoodEyesEvilEyes many]], [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains many]] [[RedOniBlueOni ways]] of making the difference between heroes and villains obvious. One of the many tricks consist in making a villain or more wearing armor, while the heroes facing them don't.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' Link faces foes dressed only in a tunic and pants, while his armored enemies range from stone statues to ten-foot-tall knights in full plate. Later games would add a thin chain or scale mail shirt under the tunic, and in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' he can get a full set of armor that renders him invincible at the cost of constantly draining his rupees.

* For most of ''Series/Daredevil2015'''s first season, Matt Murdock/Daredevil wears black CivvieSpandex while the mob boss Wilson Fisk wears suits lined with knife-proof material. Matt eventually manages to save Fisk's armorer, Melvin, from his service and receives a red suit of armor from him.

* The Saiyans in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' wear some sort of armor, as do Freeza's soldiers later, in contrast to the protagonists who mostly wear martial arts gis. Vegeta in his long transition from villain, to anti-hero, to hero wears less armor every time he gets a costume change, from his first appearance with a battle skirt, winged shoulders, and a scouter, to the Buu Saga with no armor at all (though he does wear armor again in ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Battle of Gods]]'', ''[[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF Resurrection 'F']]'' and ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', which all take place after Majin Buu's defeat). After fighting on Earth it is said Vegeta only survived because of his armor but by time the protagonists had reached Namek it was shown to be [[ArmorIsUseless easily shattered]] even [[OvershadowedByAwesome by Krillin]].

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', Garland, the first boss, is a TinTyrant. The heroes (minus the Warrior) are in clothing or robes.

* Though the Seven Deadly Sins, the main protagonists of ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'', wore armor in the past, they don't wear such in the present. Instead they prefer to wear relatively casual clothes. In contrast, the antagonistic Holy Knights are practically almost always seen in full armor.
* Invereted most of the time in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}, where Guts always wears armor, while most of the villains are un-armored, Especially the Apostles and the God Hand.

There are [[GoodWeaponEvilWeapon many]], [[GoodColorsEvilColors many]] [[RedOniBlueOni ways]] of making the difference between heroes and villains obvious. One of the many tricks consist in making a villain or more wearing armor, while the heroes facing them don't.

* Inverted in ''Film/IronMan3'''s final battle, where the eponymous hero, famed for his PoweredArmor, fights the BigBad who wore normal clothes.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Both SpaceMarines and Chaos Space Marines use armor, but the CSM's is the ObviouslyEvil kind, decorated with skulls and spikes and sometimes demonically possessed. By contrast, the Imperial Guard has flak armor, referred to in fandom as "T-shirts" to emphasize just how badly the Guard is equipped.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': Mainy villains from the series are encased in armor while the heroes are running around in normal clothes ([[ImpossiblyCoolClothes well, when I say normal...]]).

* Inverted with the armored conscripts that defend Imperial China from the armorless Mongol horde in Walt Disney Pictures' ''Disney/{{Mulan}}''.

* While ComicBook/IronMan does use PoweredArmor to fight, his armor is typically much sleeker than that of his opponents, often including sculpted muscles which make it appear like his skin is simply made of metal. Conversely, enemy PoweredArmor tends to be much blockier, [[EvilIsBigger bulkier]] and "armor-like", sometimes bordering on MiniMecha.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'': Both SpaceMarines and Chaos Space Marines use armor, but the CSM's is the ObviouslyEvil kind, decorated with skulls and spikes and sometimes demonically possessed. By contrast, the Imperial Guard has flak armor, referred to in fandom as "T-shirts" to emphasize just how badly the Guard is equipped.