History Main / SinisterSilhouettes

** Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost: Son Biten, Enoko Mitsugashira, and Chiyari Tenkajin, TheDragon of [[MeleeATrois the three Animal Realm Yakuza Clans]].

* ComicBook/{{Batman}} does this a lot, [[TerrorHero on purpose]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' has the Guild of Calamitous Intent's Council of 13.

* ''Series/{{Goosebumps}}'': In "Literature/CryOfTheCat", Rip the cat's shadow appears to be frightening when he's about to find Allison at the hospital. His scary shadow appears again when Allison and Ryan are about to run away from Crystal's mom.

* The [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64 original]] ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' plays with this for the opening cinematic. It shows off all the normal playable characters, but the four {{Secret Character}}s ([[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi,]] [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Jigglypuff,]] [[VideoGame/FZero Captain Falcon,]] and [[Videogame/{{Earthbound}} Ness]]) are only shown as silhouettes until you actually unlock them. Despite the silhouettes though, they definitely aren't ''evil'' characters by any means.

* In ''VideoGame/ShounenKinindenTsumuji'', the Dark Ninjas first appear as silhouettes on a tall tree before attacking Tsumuji's village and turning everyone into stone.
* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', entering a new level shows the boss's name and their silhouette.
* In ''VideoGame/OwlBoy'', Molstrom and his mysterious hooded benefactor first appear in shadows.
* [[GeneralRipper Ishijima Kaigen]] from the Creator/{{Nitroplus}} VisualNovel ''Hanachirasu'' is only ''mostly'' silhouetted, but she makes up for it with GlowingEyesOfDoom.
* Even though it doesn't happen in the context of the game itself, in the manga for ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', Kariya and Yoshiro say "Since we appeared in silhouette earlier, you probably thought we were up to something ''dastardly''. We're totally not."
** Although early in the game, the Reapers ''do'' appear, with some slight dark shading over them, so...
* Although they aren't silhouettes, Organization XIII from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' invoke this by wearing a hood that obscures their face, revealing their appearance only when Sora meets the individual members properly.
* In ''Franchise/AceAttorney'', the profiles of unknown/unintroduced characters are shown as dark silhouettes, with question marks for their age and profession. A larger version is seen in the first case of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' when a mysterious figure catches Edgeworth at gunpoint in his darkened office--and since the dialogue is completely text we don't even know what gender the person is. It turns out to be [[spoiler: Detective Badd]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Rama}}'' (1996) the intro shows the silhouettes of menacing aliens and a human astronaut running away.

* The "[=HellValleySkyTree=]" figures in Shiverburn Galaxy in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2''.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2'': The Zaibatsu executive in the cinematic.
* ''VideoGame/EnigmaAnIllusionNamedFamily'':
** The murderer always appears as one, with only [[ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes their eyes visible]].
** This also applies to anyone that Minhyuk hasn't identified yet. One scene has him realize as much when he {{Jump Scare}}s himself by [[spoiler:not recognizing his own reflection in a darkened mirror]].

* When the the Ginyu Force first appears in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' they appear as black silhouettes, then introduce themselves one at a time. Silhouettes of Vegeta and Nappa in the first opening sequence are shown doing a PowerWalk with fire and lightning in the background.

** Hidden Star in Four Seasons: [[DualBoss Mai Teireida, Satono Nishida]] and Okina Matara [[spoiler:in her BonusBoss form]].

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* Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} does this a lot, [[TerrorHero on purpose]].

* ''Film/Daredevil2003''. One of the Kingpin's thugs is beating up a guy in an alley when a ''huge'' silhouette of Daredevil looms up on the wall in front of him, with [[MookHorrorShow the thug staring in horror at it before fleeing]].

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* On ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', the first time Father, the BigBad, appears, he shows up as a silhouette. However, it's quickly revealed that this is because he wears a suit of shadows. For a good deal of the series, even if he appears in broad daylight, he's a silhouette. It's finally ripped off in TheMovie...and it turns out [[ChekhovsGunman we've seen what he looks like in previous episodes]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'' features "The Light", TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness who are nothing but sinister silhouettes on a set of screens till TheReveal of their identities near the end of season 1. For an added touch, the silhouettes are ''white'', running with the team's name.