History Main / SkeletonMotif

* ''Franchise/OnePiece'': This motif is played with in Chopper's past: while he's making a soup for his ill foster father, he's reading a book of kinds of mushrooms; he comes across one noted with skull and crossbones near it. He thinks that it's like the pirates' jolly rogers, i.e symbolizing their free spirit, so he tries to obtain it. Of course, unbeknownst to Chopper, said mushroom turns out to be poisonous (the true meaning of such skull symbol), but his father just chooses to eat the soup with it so he won't let Chopper down.

* In ''Film/MajorLeague'' Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn has a skull and crossbones on the nosepiece of the NerdGlasses that he wears while pitching.

* In the novel ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' the badge of The Skeleton Army is an important clue in tracking the spectral serial killer.

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'': Ghost has a skull painted on the lower half of his balaclava.

* ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': When Aquaman and Mera briefly wind up stranded in [[ComicBook/TheWarlordDC Skartaris]], the Warlord quickly talks them into helping him fight the VillainOfTheWeek, an evil wizard. En route, Mera asks her husband if they should be taking the word of someone they just met that another person is, well, evil. Just then, they arrive at their destination, take a look at the wizard's lair, and Arthur answers her succinctly that the wizard ''lives in a skull.'' Mera can't contest the logic of that.

'''Erich''': I didn't say we weren't fun, but, fun or not, pirates are still the baddies. I just can't think of anything good about a skull!

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': Lord Hater's empire makes use of much skeletal iconography by virtue of Hater being a [[DemBones living skeleton]] himself. Taken to absurd degrees with not only his flags, banners, throne and [[FaceShip spaceship]] resembling or being emblazoned with skulls, but even his laptop, shower head, bed lamps, and ''toaster'' [[ExaggeratedTrope have a skull motif]].

* When ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} and Mera briefly wind up stranded in [[ComicBook/TheWarlordDC Skartaris]], the Warlord quickly talks them into helping him fight the VillainOfTheWeek, an evil wizard. En route, Mera asks her husband if they should be taking the word of someone they just met that another person is, well, evil. Just then, they arrive at their destination, take a look at the wizard's lair, and Arthur answers her succinctly that the wizard ''lives in a skull.'' Mera can't contest the logic of that.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', not surprisingly, has multiple examples:

* ''ComicBook/BlackTerror'': Long before the ''ComicBook/{{Punisher}}'', the Black Terror wore a black costume with a skull and crossbones insignia. He also had a sidekick who wore a similar costume; together they were known as "Terror Twins". During TheEighties Golden Age revival, the character was several time reimagined as a grim and gritty AntiHero under different aliases like "Terror", "Holy Terror" and even "Terrorist". He also appeared in Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TomStrong''. He sometimes appears in more recent comics as well: e.g. in one comic series he was given a RaceLift and called himself "[[CaptainEthnic Blackest Terror]]".

* Creator/MarvelComics:
** The Red Skull is a psychotic Nazi whose face was twisted into a skull-like grimace by a chemical accident.
** Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones, is a violent and sadistic henchman of the Red Skull's who wears a skull mask and a costume adorned with bone patterns.
** The ComicBook/{{Punisher}} is a vigilante who kidnaps, tortures and kills criminals. He wears a uniform/shirt with a skull insignia on the chest. It is deliberately done so that people aim for his better-armoured chest, rather than his head or joints.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Even though it's already well established that Capt. Storm is a bloodthirsty pirate the treasure chest containing his loot has Jolly-Rodgers carved into the ends, just to give it a little more skeletal piratey shorthand.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'': A [[GiantSpider Skulltula's]] armored carapace closely resembles a human skull, with the skulltula's actual head located in the "skull's" mouth.

* JollyRoger: The use the skull-and-crossbones and its variants by pirates.

For obvious reasons, this kind of imagery is very commonly used by {{necromancer}}s, TheGrimReaper, [[GodOfTheDead gods of death and the underworld]] and other "deathly" folks, and is likewise associated with places and events that have to do with death and the dead. More generally, skull and skeletal symbols commonly accompany evil, villainous or at least dangerous places and characters even if they have nothing in particular to do with death or necromancy.

* When [[Comicbook/{{Aquaman}} Aquaman]] and Mera briefly wind up stranded in Comicbook/TheWarlord's realm of Skartaris, the titular Warlord quickly talks them into helping him fight the VillainOfTheWeek, an evil wizard. En route, Mera asks her husband if they should be taking the word of someone they just met that another person is, well, evil. Just then, they arrive at their destination, take a look at the wizard's lair, and Arthur answers her succinctly that the wizard ''lives in a skull.'' Mera can't contest the logic of that.

* AgeWithoutYouth: an immortal character looks their age, often resembling a skeleton.
* BadWithTheBone: a character uses a bone as a weapon.
* BewareTheSkullBase: a base or hideout contains crucial elements or is made of a skull.
* {{Calacas}}: a skeletal or sugar skull character or Skeletal Motif relating to La Calavera Catrina or to the Day of The Dead.

* OurLichesAreDifferent: a highly magical undead creature that retains the personality they had in life even as nothing but bits of a decaying skeleton remain; these creatures are usually very bad guys.

* SkeleBot9000: a robot looks like a skeleton.
* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: a character wears real bones as part of their clothing.

* SkullForAHead: a character's face or head looks like a skull, either due to disfigurement or supernatural phenomena.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Sid (something closest to a "villain" in the movie) wears a skull T-shirt.