History Main / DissonantSerenity

** Later Mark Antony imagines a similar situation in which Caesar's ghost stands beside Ate, the Goddess of [[{{Revenge}} Vengance]] "''come hot from hell'' ", he then yells "''"Havoc!"'' " and she lets go of the leashes to a pack of [[{{Hellhound}} Hell Hounds]] borrowed from [[WarGod Mars]] himself, engulfing the whole country of Italy in a bitter war that drags on so long that the people become so accustomed to the carnage that "''mothers shall but smile''" at the sight of their children's bodies being brought home so horribly mutilated that they are barely even recognizable anymore. Though the fact that these thoughts fill him with the warm an' fuzzies is another matter entirely, one with elements of several RevengeTropes involved.

* After the carnage in ''Film/TheGallows'', the police the police find [[spoiler:Alexis]] calmly combing [[spoiler:Pfeifer]]'s hair: the two of them staring off into space with eerily calm expressions on their faces.

* Victor Ray from ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'' is able to keep his emotions in check and can execute his mission utmost efficiency. One time he was able to give off a lecture about the origins of the trust '''IN THE MIDDLE OF A GUNFIGHT''' without even breaking a sweat.
* In ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', Sinestro does this when [[spoiler: he gains the power of The Entity, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Life.]]

* In ''ComicBook/SinCity'', Kevin's facial expression never changes. He always has that calm, content face. All the time. And it's so fucking creepy.
* ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' frequently displays this attitude in combat. Including, on at least two occasions, while fighting blind.
-->'''Cyclops:''' You would not ''believe'' the day I'm having.

* ComicBook/{{X 23}} often tends towards this. Unlike [[Characters/WolverineJamesLoganHowlett her]] [[TheBerserker father]], Laura rarely loses her head in combat, and instead approaches killing with chillingly cold and collected detachment. If she's [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness ever]] ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness visibly]]'' [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness angry when she's coming for you]], you should be running. '''''[[OhCrap Fast]]'''''.
* [[CorruptCorporateExecutive James Stillwell]] in ''ComicBook/TheBoys''. As the head of [[EvilInc Vought]]'s Superhuman Development division he has a front row seat to all the lunacy and mayhem their superheroes cause but over the entire course of the series [[TheSociopath never deviates from looking calm, bored, or at worst mildly annoyed]]. The only indications that he's even capable of even ''feeling'' emotion are the fact that he supposedly cheered at his father's funeral [[spoiler: and the VillainousBreakdown he suffers at the end of the series upon realizing that superheroes will never be marketable again]].
-->'''Homelander:''' Hmh. Still eighty over sixty. You're about to be torn limb from limb, and you're completely calm. I think I've finally met a superhuman...

* ComicBook/{{X 23}} often tends towards this. Unlike her [[TheBerserker father]], Laura rarely loses her head in combat, and instead approaches killing with chillingly cold and collected detachment. If she's [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness ever]] ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness visibly]]'' [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness angry when she's coming for you]], you should be running. '''''[[OhCrap Fast]]'''''.

%%* Many of Ren's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR6KjNmN2BA more psychotic moments]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''.

* ''Film/TheThing'': At the start of the film, the Thing is in the shape of a sled dog. When being shot at by the lone surviving Swede, it simply runs away and doesn't act panicked. Later, when put into the kennels of the American base, it acts perfectly calm and sedate, never barking in spite of being in a new location surrounded by unfamiliar dogs. This eerie, undoglike behavior foreshadows its true nature. Behind the scenes, one of the actors noted that the dog playing the part was a dog/wolf hybrid and would naturally go very still and quiet rather than get animated and bark like the other dogs when feeling threatened, which he found much scarier.

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': Elohim maintain their calm, collected and detached façades at all times, including when performing actions that others would find upsetting; an Elohite will display no more emotion when smothering a man to death than when pouring themselves a coffee. Other angels find this extremely unsettling.

** In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02TheBeginning'', on Lui's 12th birthday, with his discovery that [[spoiler:Ukkomon has been essentially puppetting his parent's corpses for years years, brainwashing random children to be his friends, and created what Lui believes to be a species of slave monsters that exist solely to obey child masters, he snaps and violently pins Ukkomon to the ground, seemingly on the verge of beating him. Ukkomon simply smiles back and says Lui can hurt him all he wants until he feels better, causing Lui to let him go as the abject hopelessness of the situation sinks in]].

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}:

* Takeru (TK) has a touch of this in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02''. Normally his reaction to seeing Digimon attacked or manipulated by evil is outright anger and fury (a result of the childhood trauma of watching his own Digimon die), but in his confrontation with the Digimon Kaiser, he suddenly gains a strange Dissonant Serenity and calm smile, while ''catching a whip in his bare hand'' and turning Crusader From Hell on everyone.

* ''WebAnimation/ASonicChristmasCarol'' is YetAnotherChristmasCarol interpreted by ''Franchise/{{Sonic}}'' characters has [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant Yet To Come]] who has a polite, soft and upmost cheerful CreepyMonotone while discussing dark topics and ambiguous intentions.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In Volume 7, after [[spoiler:Ironwood's fear and paranoia over Salem have finally driven him [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Off The Slippery Slope]], and he decides to abandom Mantle to the Grimm while turning Atlas into a police state]], he becomes almost ''unnaturally'' calm and quiet, to absolutely ''chilling'' effect. [[spoiler:[[Literature/TheWizardOfOz The Tin Man lost his heart...]]]]

* In ''Fanfic/AFrozenFlower'', Olive walks into Oprah's office only to find it full of juice, with the floors wet and sticky and half-consumed juice boxes torn open. In the center of it all is Oprah herself, who is calmly reading a case file and doesn't seem to notice the mess until she greets Olive, at which she simply chuckles and acts seemingly normal.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The majority of the setting's factions are [[WorldOfHam ALWAYS SHOUTING! ALL THE TIME!]] As a result, the factions who go into battle in silence -- the more restrained Eldar, the mostly-silent Necrons, and the Tyranids, who communicate telepathically -- are often perceived as highly unnerving by the the others.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' has the Purple Man that appears in the mini-games. This mysterious fellow is always seen smiling, even when he's murdering a kid and making him/her cry very hard. He's also seen smiling after he finishes killing five other kids. There's also a second Purple Man that appears (rarely) in one mini-game; the character you're playing as tries to save the kids, but this Purple Man stops you from doing so... with a big smile on his face.
** Part of what makes the situation scarier is just how calm Phone Guy is about the whole affair, telling you not to worry about being locked in with murderous maybe-supernatural robots, and matter-of-factly explaining your probable horrific death by being stuffed into an animatronic costume. This does not even fully slip when he, with the slightest traces of overworked stress imaginable, explains in his pre-recorded message to you that "it's been a bad night" for him and asks you to maybe sometime check the animatronic costumes in the back on the off-chance that he's still alive by then.

* Website/NobodyHere: Jogchem remains quite calm in "[[https://nobodyhere.com/justme/toes.here Toes]]" despite having a nightmare that involves him growing ExtraDigits. Mostly, he finds the whole situation strange and not how things should be, and only starts showing concern [[SkewedPriorities when he realizes that his shoes won't fit]].

'''Peter:''' It appears I've spontaneously combusted.\\

* ''ADevilAmongstWorms'': Makima always appears calm and dignified with a serene smile, even when [[{{Kaiju}} Leviathan]] is ripping her to pieces as they fight. Director Piggot finds this very disturbing even if she has a HealingFactor and FeelsNoPain.

* The fighting game ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' features a young boy named Carl Clover, whose profession is as a bounty hunter. He is accompanied by his "sister", a semi-sentient doll/bio-cyber weapon which has long, sharp claws and is fueled by Carl's subconscious hate and desire to kill. Carl lets his courteous manners and innocent smile slip '''on a single occasion''' -- namely, when [[KnightTemplar Haku-men]] fills him in on this.

** "The Check": During Anais's ImagineSpot of living in the forest, Mr. Small is blissfully smiling while being chased by an angry raccoon.
** "The Stink": Gumball's tone of voice is awfully chipper while saying that he and Darwin might have to identify their teacher's dead body in the forest.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Poison Ivy always starts off sounding calm and sultry, like a proper, in control [[FemmeFatale noir seductress]]. The sort've woman who'll [[TheTease playfully flirt]] with a man as he's [[VineTentacles restrained]] by her pet ManEatingPlant, slinking in close behind to [[MassageOfLove teasingly caress his shoulders]] while explaining why his friend needed to be fatally [[DruggedLipstick poisoned]] earlier, sensuous tone maintained, like they were two lovebirds on [[CaptiveDate a date]]. It's only when her BerserkButton concerning plants is triggered that the sexy vampiness falls off and you see the [[FieryRedhead raging]] [[AxCrazy murderess]] Ivy is underneath. This is all perfectly demonstrated in her aptly titled debut episode [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE5PrettyPoison "Pretty Poison."]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Bender's cigar starts a fire in a museum exhibit containing very rare, and flammable, silk tapestries. Soon the whole room is ablaze, with everyone cowering in fear. Except for Fry, who spent the whole episode drinking coffee (spending his $300 rebate on 100 cups of coffee). He drinks the last of the 100 cups and turns from a gibbering mess into a paragon of peace and serenity. He is able to put out all of the fires and rescue everyone while moving in extreme fast motion (Leela would later attest to seeing only a bright, orange blur).
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In the episode A Fish out of Water, Stewie wondered what the house would look like if it had more culture which leads to a cutaway where Peter, Brian, Chris and Stewie are all talking to each other in posh outfits with wine. Out of nowhere, Peter spontaneously combusts and he sounds perfectly fine with it as he grew tired of living. The others are ok with it as well.
** Peter: [catches fire] Oh, dear!
** Brian: What is it?
** Peter: It appears I've spontaneously combusted.
** Stewie: Oh, I am sorry.
** Peter: Oh, it's quite all right. I've grown tired of living.
** Stewie: Ah, very good then.
** Chris: For the best.
** Brian: Indeed.

** In "The Twisted World Of Marge Simpson", as an epic [[MobWar Mafia war]] unfolds on their front lawn, Marge urges Homer into the house, but he points out that the one of the ''{{Yakuza}}'' is [[StrollingThroughTheChaos just standing in the middle of the fighting]], arms crossed, not doing anything. "[[PintSizedPowerhouse The little guy hasn't done anything yet]]! He's gonna do something, and you know it's gonna be good!" Homer still gets pushed inside, and immediately afterward we hear the sounds of one loud karate yell, one connected blow, and about three bodies hitting the ground. Cue Homer's disappointed groan. The same little guy's reaction to being [[DestinationDefenestration hurled through their window]] -- calmly getting up, brushing off the glass, bowing to them, [[JapanesePoliteness apologizing]] and walking out the front door.
** In "Bart On The Road", Bart gets a fake ID, rents a car, and crashes it in Tennessee. Lisa is unable to come up with a way to get Bart back on her own, so she explains the problem to Homer, but has him ''promise'' not to get mad first. Homer manages to keep a level voice and a perfect poker face, though it gains a brief purplish tinge.

** [[spoiler:Pink Steven, a hard-light construct of Steven's gem self, shows absolutely no emotions on his face, but screams with so much hatred, rage, and loudness it knocks over White Diamond]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011'' EccentricMentor the Drifter bets TheHero Lion-O that he can't split the willow reed the Drifter holds [[OralFixation in his mouth]]. Lion-O is given [[RuleOfThree three swings]] of his sword to try. After a very brief {{facefault}} when he realizes the ''finesse''-less Lion-O intends to charge him BarbarianHero style, the Drifter [[EyesAlwaysShut shuts his eyes]], [[PerpetualSmiler smiles]], and proceeds to bust out {{wuxia}}-level NotQuiteFlight {{Nonchalant Dodge}}s and DanceBattler moves, all while keeping the same expression and delivering [[IShallTauntYou taunts]] in a relaxed, conversational tone, to make a point about Lion-O's lack of swordsmanship.

** Whether it be mentioning how someone tried to kill him, describing how he's going to kill another, or actually doing the killing left and right, the Hunter is always the calm in the middle of horror, anxiety and carnage. The word "serenely" is often used in tandem with any bloodshed that involves him. Many of his allies find it disconcerting that someone could react with casual indifference or even be in a good mood during such situations.

* ''Film/TheReflectingSkin'': A lot of characters in the movie remain calm in various outright wacky situations, like admiring the sight of a building fire, or nonchalantly carrying around creepy photos, or talking to a dead body. Sounds like a black comedy, but it is not.