History Main / VillainousFaceHold

* In Season 1 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Amon grabs a captured [[spoiler:Korra]]'s jaw and forces her to look up at him when he [[spoiler:threatens to take away her bending]].

** Ashi gets the same treatment as an adult, this time by the Dominator violently grabbing her face as he submits her to ElectricTorture.

* In Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', [[spoiler:Terra]] tries to quit working for [[BigBad Slade]]. Unfortunately, the armour suit she's wearing is integrated into her nervous system, and as she tries to leave, Slade uses the suit to drag her back to him and electrocute her. He grabs her jaw and holds her face still while he brags about how she can never leave him.

* ''Series/AlexRider'': [[TheDragon Eva Stellenbosch]] indicates her displeasure by grabbing James by the face when he plays classical records at a building-shaking volume while pretending to conduct, all to create a diversion from Alex and Kyra sneaking around Dr Greif's office.

** "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E7TheThingLayStill The Thing Lay Still]]": Lestat briefly holds the face of an encyclopedia salesman he has kidnapped and restrained while taunting his victim with "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. There's three of us you must provide for tonight."

** "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E5AVileHungerForYourHammeringHeart A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart]]": After [[DomesticAbuse raining blows]] on Louis de Pointe du Lac and [[WipeTheFloorWithYou dragging him across the floor]], Lestat de Lioncourt roughly grasps his [[CommonLawMarriage boyfriend]]'s swollen, bloody face as he forces him to stand up. Lestat's clasp remains tight when he makes Louis look at him, then at Claudia, and back to him before he [[VampireBitesSuck bites Louis' neck]]. Because the taste of Louis' blood is intensely HemoErotic for Lestat, this is [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything a vampiric form of marital rape]], so Lestat's hand clutching around Louis' cheeks and chin magnifies the disconcerting intimacy of this heinous act.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': In "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E7TheThingLayStill The Thing Lay Still]]", Lestat de Lioncourt briefly holds the face of an encyclopedia salesman he has kidnapped and restrained while taunting his victim with "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. There's three of us you must provide for tonight."

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': In Season One's final, after showing an illusion of a possible future together, Sauron gently holds Galadriel's face and turn her head to him while telling her that he is the only one who sees her value. Unlike most examples, this one reeks of FoeRomanceSubtext.

Can be paired with IHaveYouNowMyPretty, [[ForcefulKiss and]] [[LecherousLicking related]] [[PervertedSniffing tropes]], though this trope does not have to be sexual in nature, and can be employed by a villain simply to mock/intimidate the hero.

* In "Series/HouseofLies," Lucas played by rapper T.I, caresses the chin of Jeannie played by Kristen Bell. He uses his finger to trace along her chin, causing her to blush in embarrassment

* In ''Fanfic/TheGreatRedPandaRescue'', Mei is kidnapped and one of the kidnappers grabs her chin and forces her to make eye contact with him.

** During the Daughters of Aku's TrainingFromHell, [[AbusiveParents the High Priestess]] catches young Ashi starring at the sunrise outside. She gently lifts her chin with her thumb while talking about the beauty of Aku's creation... [[DisproportionateRetribution before violently grabbing her by the neck, throwing her to the ground and having her beaten for distraction]].
** Ashi gets the same treatment as an adult, this time by The Dominator violently grabbing her face as he submits her to ElectricTorture.

** During the Daughters of Aku's TrainingFromHell, the [[AbusiveParents High Priestess]] catches young Ashi starring at the sunrise outside. She gently lifts her chin with her thumb while talking about the beauty of Aku's creation...[[DisproportionateRetribution before violently grabbing her by the neck, throwing her to the ground and having her beaten for distraction.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* ''Fanfic/TheMountainAndTheWolf'': The Wolf does this to Cersei when she's struggling to escape, threatening to have her raped by his crew and their horses if she doesn't shut up. She complies, and he pats her on the cheek and condescendingly praises her intelligence (although he later is heard to say he's forbidden his men from raping her).
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheGreatRedPandaRescue'', Mei is kidnapped and one of the kidnappers grabs her chin and forces her to make eye contact with him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', [[spoiler: Prince Hans]] holds a weakened Anna's chin up so she's looking him in the eye whilst he [[spoiler: tells her of his plan to kill Elsa and usurp the throne]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' Mowgli runs into [[HypnoticEyes Kaa]] a second time, and Kaa repeatedly uses his tail to try to force Mowgli to look him in the eyes so he can hypnotise him. Shere Khan later does this to Kaa himself, lifting the snake's face up with one of his claws whilst threateningly recommending he inform Khan if he spots Mowgli again, establishing the power that he has over him.

** In the first film, ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', Ursula holds Ariel's jaw with one of her tentacles and forces Ariel to look at her, whilst feigning concern for her fractured relationship with her father and her inability to be on land. She does this to better pressure Ariel to [[DealWithTheDevil bargain]] with her.
** In the sequel ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'', Morgana has [[spoiler: Ariel]] caught in one of her tentacles and grabs her jaw to make her look at her, in order to mock Melody.

* In ''Film/BirdBox'', witnessing the aliens causes a person to kill themselves. However, there are some people who are immune and are instead driven insane. When [[spoiler: Gary]], one such person, succumbs to psychosis he grabs [[spoiler: Cheryl]], forces her eyes open, and holds her face towards the uncovered window so she sees the creature and slits her own throat.

** Inverted in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', where [[AntiHero Batman]] does this to terrorise Scarecrow. After forcing Scarecrow to inhale his own fear toxin, Batman grabs his jaw and back of the head and interrogates him on his employer. During this process, Scarecrow hallucinates that Batman is made of tar.
** In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': The Joker does this twice.

** Head monk Methodius has Johnny, Moreau, and Nadya captured so he [[spoiler: can execute the latter's son]]. He holds Nadya's jaw whilst telling her there's nothing she can do to [[spoiler: save her son]] before knocking her unconscious.
** Blackout later returns the favour, holding Methodius's jaw so that he's forced to look him in the eye as [[spoiler: he slowly kills him by [[WalkingWasteland rotting his flesh]]]]. He does this again to a [[spoiler: powerless Johnny]], whilst mocking him that [[spoiler: Danny]] was now possessed and witnessing the execution. Fortunately, [[spoiler: Danny gives him his Ghost Rider powers back before Blackout can kill him]].
* In ''Film/It2017'', Pennywise prepares to eat [[spoiler: Eddie]], and holds his face still so [[spoiler: Eddie]] can't look away whilst Pennywise imitates his crying. As a being that feeds off fear, it's clear Pennywise is doing this to scare him more.

** In ''Film/IronMan'', Obadiah Stane paralyzes Tony with a sonic device and then grabs his face to turn him over in this manner before [[EvilGloating revealing he called the hit on him in Gulmira.]]
** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', [[ComicBook/BlackWidow Natasha]], while being tied to a chair, has her face grabbed by Latrov's men as they question her.
** In ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'', Yondu grabs Peter's face with ''both hands'' after slapping him repeatedly for disobedience. He even threatens to kill him with his [[FlyingWeapon flying arrow]] afterwards.
** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler: [[AlternateSelf 2014 Thanos]] does a variation of this to his Nebula, sticking his sword under her chin and gently turning it over to lift her head up after her cybernetics got entangled with her future self's, before taking her back to ship to scan her memories. He later follows with a straight example, [[PetTheDog gently touching her face while giving her a chance to prove her loyalty to him.]]]]
** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3'', the High Evolutionary had a habit of wrapping his hand or hands around Rocket's comparatively small head. While not actually hurting him, the ''threat'' of violence was clear as was the attempt to assert control.

* A [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0d/eb/ff/0debff74874fd1ba79d5d06ee1dcdf45.jpg promotional photo]] for James Bond's ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' shows Bond in the clutches of new villain Jaws, who is holding Bond's jaw and head so that he's looking at the camera. During the movie it happens when Jaws is trying to kill Bond in the train compartment; on that occasion Bond's expression is more along the lines of "OhCrap"
* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise:
** Grand Moff Tarkin from ''Film/StarWarsANewHope'' grips captive Princess Leia's chin while mentioning that he's signed her death warrant. Leia is unbowed by this bullying.

** Supreme Leader Snoke from ''Film/TheLastJedi'' uses the Force to [[spoiler: drag a captive Rey towards him]] and hold her there so she's [[AccidentalPun forced]] to look at him as Snoke mockingly reveals he was the one behind [[spoiler: her connection to Kylo Ren]]. He does this again a few moments later, this time forcing her to look at [[spoiler: Kylo Ren]] as Snoke orders him to execute her.
* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'': Though Wonka is not a villain, he is quite a sinister character. When Verruca mocks the concept of a 'snozzberry', Wonka grabs her jaw and turns her head to look at him whilst delivering the unsettling line "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams." The line is especially unsettling as Verruca would end up being the next child to be 'disqualified'.

* In ''[[Literature/SwordOfTruth Faith of the Fallen]]'', when Richard realizes the new dark sorceress everyone fears is one of his former teachers, he tells the messenger, "Pray you never have to look into Nicci's eyes, Captain." We then cut to the next chapter, which starts with Nicci telling a child to look into her eyes while cupping her chin.

* A hero version occurs in ''Series/Batwoman2019'' when Kate Kane encounters an alternate universe version of her sister Beth. As there's a villain going around with the [[LatexPerfection ability to copy people's faces]], Kate's initial reaction is to grab Alt-Beth's face and twist painfully on her skin while screaming "WhoAreYou".
* In Season 7 of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Cersei kills [[spoiler: Tyene Sand by giving her a [[DruggedLipstick poisoned kiss]].]] To mock her mother, who is chained to the opposite wall, Cersei holds [[spoiler: Tyene's]] jaw whilst commenting on her [[spoiler: 'Dornish beauty']].
* In the Italian series ''Gamorra'' the son of Don Pietro does this to a man in a nightclub after he's caught chatting up his girl. Unfortunately he turns out to be the son of another boss (and is in fact running that clan since his father has retired). Don Pietro offers money to settle the problem, but is told the insult to his face is another matter.

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. A good-guy version happens in a flashback when Frank Castle gets angry with his son and grabs him by the face when he tells his sister that Frank is just fighting in the war to kill a bunch of ''Hajjis''. Given that the flashbacks have only shown Frank being a good parent before, it's a sign that what he's done in Afghanistan is starting to affect his personality back home.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "True Q," Q performs this on Amanda Rogers while considering her potential as a Q.
* In ''Series/TwinPeaks'', Mr. C grabs a car mechanic by the jaw to assert his power over him in his first episode.

* ''Series/TheBoys2019''. A member of TheMafiya does this to Kimiko. She responds by [[MuggingTheMonster tearing his face off]].

* Music/TaylorSwift's ''Music/NineteenEightyNine'': In the "Blank Space" music video, as Taylor's character takes a turn toward AxCrazy, she grabs her boyfriend by the face threateningly with both hands and gets in his face.

* In the 9th ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'', Dong Bai uses two fingers to lift up the chin of a defeated Diaochan, while she (Dong Bai) thinks of ways to kill her.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Furi}}'', while The Stranger is still restrained inside his cell, The Chain lifts his chin up and punches him in the face. [[spoiler: Subverted, in that while The Chain's a sadistic brute, he is not exactly a villain and he has some very solid reasons for keeping The Stranger locked up.]]

* In the [[Recap/BeastWarsS2E13TheAgendaPart3 finale]] of Season 2 of WesternAnimation/BeastWars, Megatron grabs Blackarachnia by the chin, after she faces away from him, to confront her about stealing the Ark's access codes from his computer.
* In Season 1 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Amon grabs a captured [[spoiler: Korra's]] jaw and forces her to look up at him when he [[spoiler: threatens to take away her bending.]]

** In the first episode, Nightmare Moon crashes a party and uses her starry mane to hold Rarity's chin up and then hit her whilst mocking the ponies over failing to predict her return.
** In Queen Chrysalis's debut episode, she holds the brainwashed Shining Armor's face and makes him look at her, whilst she boasts to his fiancée that he will soon be too weak to maintain the [[BarrierMaiden magic shield]] he has put around Canterlot, allowing her army to attack. She does this to Twilight in the same episode, holding her chin up whilst mocking the Mane Six's failure to stop her plan.
** In the Power Ponies comic world, the Mane-iac laughs in Spike's face, who plays the role of the KidSidekick Humdrum, for thinking she would bother incapacitating him with the rest of the Power Ponies as he cowers in fear of her, and tickles him under the chin with her mane while saying that would be "pointless".
** In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'', Tempest briefly holds Twilight's face during her VillainSong, just before her TroubledBackstoryFlashback.

* In Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', [[spoiler: Terra]] tries to quit working for [[BigBad Slade]]. Unfortunately, the armour suit she's wearing is integrated into her nervous system, and as she tries to leave, Slade uses the suit to drag her back to him and electrocute her. He grabs her jaw and holds her face still while he brags about how she can never leave him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'', Jafar again does this with Jasmine as she's chained to a wall, but she bites his hand.

* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'': Though Wonka is not a villain, he is quite a sinister character. When Verruca mocks the concept of a 'snozzberry', Wonka grabs her jaw and turns her head to look at him whilst delivering the unsettling line "we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams". The line is especially unsettling as Verruca would end up being the next child to be 'disqualified'.