There are times even the Deadpan Snarker should know better and just shut up. This is especially true if the person being snarked at is giving him the Death Glare.
The Death Glare is a "calm", murderous look often coupled with a tensed and menacing posture, others with a deadly stillness, but (with the rarest of exceptions) is served with deathly silence. The Death Glare is hard to pull off, but, done right, can convey a depth of anger and potential violence that no Badass Boast or Pre-Asskicking One-Liner can hope to top. A form of body language with No Translation Necessary.
This can be used by any character (yes, even that Deadpan Snarker) under Break the Cutie, Heroic BSoD, Icy Blue Eyes, or other highly trauma/emotion causing pressures. Again, someone who's gently (or violently) pressing their Berserk Button may get this as a warning to stop before some Unstoppable Rage or Disproportionate Retribution is let loose.
Yeah, you really should Beware the Nice Ones (or the quiet ones... or the silly ones).
See also Killing Intent, Lightning Glare, Determined Expression, and Disapproving Look, and Collective Death Glare for the multiple variant. Frequently executed with a Kubrick Stare. This can also be a silent version of Give Me a Reason if the person giving this is known for reacting violently to mistakes or insults, possibly as a response to "You Mean Me?" Confirmation. Not to be confused with Eye Beams or Deadly Gaze, which can literally kill with a look. If someone glares down something way bigger or more dangerous than them, they are Staring Down Cthulhu. May be inflicted unintentionally by characters who unfortunately have the Face of a Thug. May occur after said character has Stopped Dead in Their Tracks to highlight the Deadpan Snarker having gone too far. Compare and contrast Civilized Threat.
Examples:
- Used to great effect by The Most Interesting Man in the World when discussing self-defense.
"The right look should suffice."
- Never Say No to Panda: The panda just stares at his victims when he appears. Combined with his smile, it's clear that things are about to get very bad.
- The Hesitant Fiancée
(1866) by Auguste Toulmouche went viral on TikTok in late in 2023 for the central figure's death glare being described as "embodying female rage", it was paired with statements that she's supposed to be reacting too or thinking.
- In the Simple Samosa episode "Sumo Momo", Sumo Momo throws Vada onto the ground for cheering for Samosa, Sumo Momo's opponent, and then proceeds to give Samosa himself a hard, angry stare.
- In the first Blue Collar Comedy Tour film, Bill Engvall recalls how he met Lucy, a goth friend of his daughter. He accidentally called her "Lucy...fer", and was promptly given one of these.
She looked at me like, "I will set you ablaze right now."
- Monty Python's Flying Circus: two legal justices turn out to be flaming gays gossiping about a constable in the case just heard.
There's nothing else I could do except bang me gavel. I did the "silence in court" bit! Ooh, if looks could kill, that prosecuting attorney would be in for thirty years!
- Asterix: Asterix in Corsica: This is a talent shared by every Corsican male, and they're not shy about using it on pesky foreigners.
Corsican: You can't tell the difference between a wild pig and a Corsican clan leader?
Obelix: I don't know, I've never eaten Corsican leader and please stop looking at me like that, it's giving me a headache. - Barracuda: Maria possesses an extremely intense one. When she strips off her gown at the Slave Market and stands naked on the auction block before the crowd, she manages—without saying a word—to cow the audience so much that they fall silent and make none of the catcalls or lewd comments they made when her mother suffered her Shameful Strip.
- Batman is one of the undisputed masters of these in comic book fandom, despite being a Technical Pacifist.
- A good example was during the Batman: Contagion arc. Other members of the Bat-family are trying to disperse an angry mob, to no effect. Cue Batman appearing, pointing a finger, giving a Death Glare to the mob, and stating: "Disperse. NOW." It worked.
- If "The Origin of the Batman" is any indication, Bruce Wayne was a master at this from the moment his parents were killed.
Bruce: They're dead! You killed them...you killed my mother and father...
Joe Chill: Stop lookin' at me like that!
Something about young Bruce's eyes made the killer retreat... they were accusing eyes that memorized his every feature... eyes that would never forget...
- Body Bags: Mack and Panda Delgado do this right before an off-panel ass beating, or when they are especially angry and plan to do something violent. Their angry green eyes fill up a panel when this happens.
- Brody's Ghost: Talia is particularly skilled at making these. played for drama when Brody confronts her over all her lies, and she gives him an especially intense death glare while admitting to everything. Brody also tends to make this kind of face if someone really crosses a line with him.
- Captain America: Even Steve Rogers himself is not incapable of this, if pushed far enough. At the end of "The Captain", he breaks into the office of the Obstructive Bureaucrat who's been on his case for the entire arc. As they're talking, the man's phone goes off. Steve just... stares at him, and coldly tells the man he should answer the phone.
- Daredevil's look sent chills down The Punisher's spine during their earlier encounters. The Punisher narrated it as being impossible to maintain eye-contact with Daredevil due to this trope. Eventually, the Punisher learned that Daredevil's tendency to stare straight through him wasn't a psych-out as much as Daredevil simply being blind.
- Disney Ducks Comic Universe:
- Scrooge McDuck has the most terrifying red-eyed scowl, memorably seen when he tore a steamboat apart in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The glare is shown on pictures hung around walls in his employees' offices, as a reminder he's not to be trifled with. His nephew Donald has also used this ability.
- In one comic, Scrooge is supposed to face Flintheart Glomgold in a game that resembles an absurdly complicated version of chess. He goes out to seek a retired champion in that game to teach it to him, only to find out that the man isn't a good player, he's just so good at glaring at his opponents that they can't play properly against him. He does help by following Scrooge back home and glaring at Glomgold so badly during the game that he immediately makes a suicidal move.
- Enemy Ace: In the backup story in Men of War #1, Von Hammer is confronted by a shell-shocked pilot wielding a pistol who blames him for the deaths of the other men in his squad. Unarmed, Von Hammer just stands there staring at him, unmoving. His gaze is so intense that the pilot's aim wavers and then he breaks: the pistol going off, missing Von Hammer and shattering the goggles he is holding in his hand.
- Mexikid: Pedro's sister Lila is described as having what the family called THE LOOK. A close-up is demonstrated in its own panel with a more realistic drawing style:
"She just stared at you until you collapsed under the weight of your own shame. It's pretty awesome when it's NOT pointed at you."
- New Mutants: Dani Moonstar acquires a literal Death Glare when she is adopted as a Valkyrie. She manages to terrify a hall full of Asgardian warriors, who recognize the Valkyries as harbingers of death, by staring and telling them to mind their own business.
- Preacher: The Saint of Killers' glare goes right past scary and into Bring My Brown Pants territory:
Cassidy: [regarding Jesse] If that were me, I'd be turning them white jeans brown.
- The Punisher MAX #19. A group of mobsters have just dug up the remains of Frank Castle's family and filmed themselves pissing on the bones in an attempt to get the Punisher angry. Cut to a shot of him watching it on TV in a diner that shows it definitely got him mad.
- Hell, it's easier to point out when Frank Castle is NOT giving one of these. He's really not that big on talking to lowlife scum...
- The Sandman (1989): Morpheus is very good at the Death Glare. It probably helps that a) he can look like anything he wants, and b) his eyes usually look like bottomless holes of night which turn red when he's angry.
- Dwight McCarthy caught a death glare from Miho in Sin City: The Big Fat Kill. He was trying to stop her from torturing Jackie Boy to death (to give a good idea as to how brutal she was being). Once she gave him the look, he took a step back. Scaring a guy like Dwight is no easy task.
- Supergirl:
- Kara Zor-El is a compassionate, kind-hearted person, but being a teenager means she is also short-tempered and hot-headed. If she is giving you one of these -often accompanied with glowing red eyes-, then you have pissed her off for real, and your last resort is praying.
- In Supergirl (2005) #58, a security guard is ogling to Cat Grant's butt. Then Supergirl leans over and glares. He starts and falls backwards.
- In Day of the Dollmaker, Supergirl is interrogating villain Toyman about several missing children, but he claims that he has done nothing wrong and tries to balk at answering her questions. Kara glares at him
◊ and a second later she slams him into the wall and urges him to cooperate as her eyes glow red
◊.
- In Red Daughter of Krypton she does this constantly because of her Red Lantern Ring. At the beginning of the story she glares at Lobo as she tells him she's done with users
◊... and with him, and Lobo — an inter-galactic bounty hunter and mass murderer — gets scared and tries to calm her down.
- When the Symbioship Strikes!: Andrew Vinson clings to Power Girl's cape when she is taking off, insisting he wants answers, he is going to get them, and obviously Power Girl will not dare to drop him. Kara's heated sidelong glare hints she is feeling sorely tempted, though.
- Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, Kara's glare after finding out that Lex Luthor murdered her cousin is... scary.
- Superman:
- All-Star Superman: Kal-El visits Lex Luthor in prison and implores him to put "that mind of [his]" to the good use of mankind, rather than insane schemes to kill Superman. What does Luthor do? Walks up the glass wall separating the two of them and hocks the mother of all lugies on it and just stares at Superman.
- Once Superman was able to make Mxyzptlk go back to his own dimension just by giving him the look.
- Often, Superman uses this look in concert with his heat vision, giving him red eyes.
- In one strip from The Outbursts of Everett True, two men are seated on a trolley such that an old lady has no space to sit. The next panel has them sitting up straight so that there's room for other passengers to sit after getting a meaningful glare from Mr. True.
- "Tattercoats": The old nurse repeatedly begs her lord to let Tattercoats go with him to the ball, but she is only given "black looks and fierce words" in return.
- American Girls Collection: American Girls: Molly: Meet Molly: Molly's family housekeeper Mrs. Gilford gives her a glare when she complains about having mashed turnips for dinner. Dr. McIntire used to call it the "Gladys Gilford Glacial Glare."
- Angela Nicely:
- In “Cupcake Wars!”, Angela “looks daggers” at Tiffany for stealing her idea for a cake stall at the Spring Fair.
- In “Miss Skinner’s Wig!”, Maisie glares at Angela for getting them both in trouble.
- In “Supermodel!”, Mrs. Nicely shoots Mr. Nicely “a look” for complimenting Tiffany on being a model, since Mrs. Nicely and Mrs. Charmers (Tiffany’s mother) are rivals. Then, she glares at him again when he thinks Angela is too young to be a model, then Angela glares at Tiffany for claiming it’s “sweet” that she wants to be a model.
- She glares at Tiffany again in “Starstruck!” for boasting about being able to sit close to the boy band at the concert.
- In “The Big Bike Ride!”, Angela shoots Maisie a “sharp look” for claiming she and Laura did most of the work on the lemonade stand.
- In “The Ugly Sisters!”, Suzy glares at the Payne twins for picking on Angela.
- Kristy's "Look" in The Baby-Sitters Club.
- Detective Falconer in This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It.
David: He gave me a look that would have made cancer apologize, then ran like hell.
- The Count of Monte Cristo. This, along with the occasional Psychotic Smirk, has various characters outright terrified of him.
- A Court of Thorns and Roses: Nesta is very adept at these.
- Darcy and Gran Don't Like Babies: Darcy is illustrated glaring after the neighbour claims she does like the baby.
- Discworld:
- Lord Havelock Vetinari. Just him looking at you may count as a Death Glare. Not to mention when he raises his eyebrow. Ooh, you don't wanna be in the same room when he does that...
- Sam Vimes freezes. Not for nothing is he known as "Old Stoneface".
The chill radiated off him. The lines of his face locked like a statue.
- In The Fifth Elephant, after Vimes frightens the ambassador of a hostile state into pulling his/their armies back till they're practically in the next country:
Vetinari: Apparently you also looked at the ambassador in a very threatening way.
Vimes: It was only the way I usually look.
Vetinari: To be sure. - Granny Weatherwax is fond of these Death Glares, and may use magic to augment them. (One usage in Wyrd Sisters is described explicitly as a "thousand-kilowatt diamond blue stare." She stares down a theatre patron all the way to the ground.) At one point she and another witch get into a duel that consists of them both performing a Death Glare on the sun. And when someone came close, he got instantly sunburned. Granny lights fires by tossing some logs into the fireplace and staring at them until they burst into flames. You do not get much more deadly than that.
- Mr. Slant, a zombie lawyer, manages to pull one these off on opposing lawyers in Making Money. Knowing 200 years worth of law and precedent because you were there to make it can be quite intimidating.
- A favourite weapon of Keldas to keep the Nac Mac Feegle in line, to the point where the mere thought of it can terrify them.
- Dios of Pyramids has one that's so effective people are honestly surprised that he doesn't have Eye Beams. When looking for an escaped prisoner, one finds oneself looking for lines of molten rock as he scans the room and walls.
- In Small Gods, when Brutha first runs into Simony the man shoots him a look of raw, unfiltered hatred.
- The Dresden Files:
- In Changes, Harry meets Agent Tilly. One word and a look from Tilly is able to send Smug Snake Rudolph running from the room. Quite impressive, as the only other things that have been able to accomplish this were a loup-garou and a scourge of Red Court Vamps. Harry's narration mentions that some people have one hell of a glare, that just the way they look at you gives you a little glimpse into the eyes of Death himself. Tilly is one of those people.
- Harry himself probably posseses a seriously deadly glare, which he wouldn't know being behind it. But when he looks at Cowl and Kumori in Dead Beat they visibly sway backward (Or maybe that was just the wind).
- Charity Carpenter, as a mother of a large family, has an impressive glare. Molly has inherited it.
- Late in Dr. Franklin's Island Semi tries to give one of these to Doctor Skinner, to enhance the She Was Once A Girl effect that seeing her has on him.
I stayed where I was, staring up at him as meanly as I could. Manta rays are not very mean by nature, but I did my best to look nasty and accusing.
- Earth's Scariest Monsters!: In "Canine Hysteria," Shadow (the ghostly black bullmastiff that attacked and killed Nicholette) stares daggers at the witch Diana after she blasts him with light magic during his second attack of Nicholette. Just a few minutes later, she returns the favor as he slowly picks himself back up off the ground when she blasts him with a giant orb of light magic at point-blank range.
- Egil's Saga has the Norwegian king Eirik Bloodaxe whose baleful gaze even terrifies the otherwise recklessly brave Egil. He describes the king like this in a poem:
You weren't safe looking him straight
In the eye. No kindness there!
It glittered like a snake's, grew
Ever more snake-like the more you stared. - In the Everworld series, the witch Senna Wales often uses these, to good effect; no outburst ever intimidates the others the way a flat stare from her gray eyes does. Her confrontations with her half-sister (the two hate each other) often consist of April being passionately, furiously angry, and Senna staring back all cold and contemptuously. Christopher states that Senna's glare says, "I'll crush you in my own good time."
- Britomart from The Faerie Queene rejects a pervert's advances with but a look, which the author spends a verse describing as a fiery arrow piercing the man's black heart.
- In the novelization of The Fugitive, it's mentioned repeatedly that Gerard has cultivated one of these, known as The Look. So much so that he can't get rid of it, leaving him unable to play "Good Cop". It also leaves him genuinely impressed with those who aren't intimidated by it.
[from the novel] "Dr. Anne Eastman was young, overworked, and completely uncowed by The Look. Gerard liked her immediately."
- At the start of Galaxy of Fear, Uncle Hoole is a Resentful Guardian to the point where when one of his charges comes into his room after knocking, he scares the kid with shapeshifting, tells him off in a threatening way, and turns a "gaze like a blaster bolt" on him. ...He warms to the kids, but it takes a while.
- Later in the series, Tash has her body taken over by a thug. Her brother, unaware, talks to her, but "Tash's glare was like the blast of a turbolaser."
- Goblins in the Castle: In Goblins on the Prowl, when Bwoonhiwda says that Queen Wilhelmina's court wizard had predicted a problem with the giant stone toad, the Queen sent her to investigate. When Karl in turn asks why the Queen would send a woman to do so, Bwoonhiwda gives him such a nasty look that Fauna's surprised his hair doesn't burst into flames. Bwoonhiwda later gives Igor a similar look when he makes a joke that sounds like he's making fun of her speech impediment, to his distress.
- In Good Omens, Crowley is described as having one. As he's a not quite Fallen Angelnote , reality tends to realign itself accordingly when he deploys his glare.
- Harry Potter:
- Molly Weasley has been described as a short, plump, motherly woman, and generally doesn't look very threatening, but if you piss her off, you will know about it. Her glare is capable of terrifying even her twin sons Fred and George (both of whom have otherwise never shown any signs of cowardice), and scares innocent bystanders (such as Harry himself in book 2). Even her own husband, also a brave and courageous individual, is reduced to nervous mumbling under her glare.
- Snape is described as narrowing his eyes malevolently at Harry in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix while saying "This may not be an ordinary class, Potter, but I am still your teacher and you will therefore call me 'sir' or 'Professor' at all times." when Harry addresses him casually and then keeping the glare for a while afterwards.
- Professor Minerva McGonagall is also capable of giving students "the sort of look that scorches."
- Hermione Granger can do it too — when Ron teased her in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire about her self-enforced fast in protest of Hogwarts's employment of house-elves, she "gave him a look so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall that he gave up."
- Harry too. After he suffers another horrible vision in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hermione berates him for not learning to block it and then makes the mistake of asking if he liked it. The glare he gives her for that makes her apologize quickly.
- Dumbledore may be a kindly Eccentric Mentor, but when Barty Crouch, Jr. tries to kill Harry while disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, the look on his face shows exactly why he's the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared.
- In The Heroes of Olympus series, it is used by Percy in Son of Neptune.
He'd perfected his wolf stare over the last few months — a look that said: However bad you think you are, I'm worse.
- In Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld, Ereshkigal uses a Death Glare on her sister Inanna that causes Inanna to die. Later, when she comes Back from the Dead and needs to find someone to take her place, and sees her husband Dumuzi living it up instead of mourning, she uses it on him.
- In Joe's World books by Eric Flint, Greyboar's glare is referred by several names, such as "The Mirror of Imminent Mortality," "Basilisk," or "Time to reconsider."
- Journey to Chaos: Retina Corison is said to have a glare potent enough that it can be sensed through his blindfold. When his wife tells him that Nolien is the one "taking care of our Tiza", the glare makes Nolien shiver.
- In Lord of Light, Yama's eyes can cause attacking men to drop their weapons and run. Being a Master Swordsman and the god of death could have something to do with it, though. Except that Yama does in fact have Eye Beams, too, which is why he's the god of death.
- The Lord of the Rings
- In The Return of the King, Aragorn and army meet up with Sauron's "ambassador" at the Black Gate. While the "ambassador" rants on and on, Aragorn just glares at him, never saying a word, never moving a muscle. He is so taken aback by Aragorn's spiteful gaze that he eventually shudders and exclaims that he has been practically assaulted at parley (a BIG no-no) before riding off. In the novel continuity sufficiently pure-blooded Númenóreans have psychic powers, so it could have been more than just staring. In the extended cut of the film, a death glare wasn't deemed quite enough, and Aragorn does indeed assault the ambassador at parley, hacking his head off. Gimli tersely observes "I guess that concludes negotiations."
- When Éowyn kills the Witch-King's flying beast and sends it falling to the ground with him still on the saddle, he stands back up and gives her an epic death glare without even having a face or eyes. He was about to kill her anyway, but now it's personal!
- The most impressive one comes from Gandalf, however. When he did it to Bilbo, it was accompanied by special effects going for the more than ordinary effect described in the book.
- Magic Hour: Near the end of "Troll Job," Jermaine and the male troll Zulkis stare daggers at each other after Jermaine places himself between Heidi and Zulkis when the troll charges at the two humans while swinging his large wooden club around.
- Every member of The Flock in Maximum Ride has one, with Max's being particularly powerful, at times even working on Fang, Erasers and grown men.
- The One Who Eats Monsters: Our protagonist, Ryn, is particularity adept at glaring due to having eyes with black sclera and glowing blue irises, that when seen cause a person to panic, partially from Ryn's divine power, partially from the fact that she's so old the human brain evolved to instinctively fear her gaze.
- Paddington Bear is, for the most part, a friendly, mild and pleasant sort of bear, but if you really annoy him — usually by forgetting your manners — you will find yourself the recipient of one of his infamous "hard stares", a glare that makes whoever is on the receiving end noticeably uncomfortable and disconcerted.
- In The Queen's Thief, the Queen of Attolia has a gaze that can slice down a crowd like a scythe. At one point, Costis is terrified of meeting her eye because her anger was so potent that he felt just being looked at could kill him.
- In the Redwall series, the ability to intimidate a foe with only a look is a common mark of badassery. Living Legend Martin the Warrior pulled off an unflinching glare against a slavedriver while said slavedriver was beating him, scaring him so bad that he stopped whipping him and went looking for an easier target. Ranguvar Foeseeker pulled off a similar feat while she was an oarslave of Vilu Daskar. There are even non-warrior examples; Sister Alkanet from Taggerung ran the Abbey Infirmary and used her own glare to make her patients take their medicine.
- Runeblade
: Ro is very skeptical about the guild leader's suggestion for a very risky training program for Porkchop, fixing him with a glare "that Kaius half expected to eat its way through the man's head, and the wall behind him."
- Saintess Summons Skeletons: Even Patriarch Avross, old and powerful as he is, looks away at the first opportunity from Erredis' angry glaring at him for wanting to stifle Sofia's growth and block her Ascension.
- Galadriel Higgins from The Scholomance has the sort of stature and habitually forbidding expression that would lend themselves to these alone. When combined with how something not readily distinguished from ALL THE POWERS OF HELL shines metaphorically from her dark eyes when she is in a temper, it requires great courage, vast confidence in one's own relative magical power, and/or absolute certainty in El's fundamantal benevolence to do much more than shut up and back off when she is staring anyone down in earnest.
- In Shadow of the Conqueror, Lyrah gives Cueseg and Daylen a ton of these, including an exceptionally vicious one when she confronts Daylen after finding out that he's really Dayless the Conqueror.
- In Shaman Blues, this is the default expression of Gardiasz when dealing with Witkacy.
- A Song of Ice and Fire:
- Tywin Lannister has perfected the glare into a downright artform. At one point a story is recounted in which a lord repeated an old joke about how Tywin was so rich he "must shit gold." Tywin's only response was to look at the man. Long after the laughter had died down, and throughout the rest of the feast, Tywin didn't look away. Eventually the lord had to flee the room to escape his gaze.
- Aeron Greyjoy is also well-known for his death glare, which has an in-universe reputation for souring wells and rendering women infertile.
- Ned Stark is said to have a powerful one, and almost without trying. For example, when he arrived to the throne room to see Jaime Lannister had killed Aerys the Mad (thus (a) slaying the man he was sworn to protect and (b) robbing Ned of his vengeance) he glared at Jaime. A decade and a half later, Jaime Lannister still sees that terrifying glare in the eyes of anyone that looks down at him.
- Spellster: Quite a number of the cast are fond of these, Dylan and Authril being the more notable.
- Spice and Wolf: While he probably didn't intend to kill the stranger he rudely bumped into, Lawrence gave the stranger a glare that made the much taller and tougher-looking guy back off instantly.
- Stalkers with Crushes: Allta and Titania stand in the doorway of Jermaine's dorm room and angrily glare at him before barging in to confront him about his lie of being too busy to go to a party with them.
- Richard from The Sword of Truth throws these around fairly frequently. It's apparently a trait common to the Rahl family. The novel Blood of the Fold has a scene where Richard silences a near-riotous crowd by glaring at them.
- Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, in true So-Called Coward fashion, deploys a death glare now and then.
Atticus turned his head and pinned me to the wall with his good eye.
- Stephanie Plum manages one in To The Nines as she's repeatedly being pulled aside for random security checks at an airport, calmly imagining murdering every annoying person around her in a particularly violent way. She doesn't let on what she's thinking, but Lula comments on how creepy Stephanie's suddenly gotten.
- Vorkosigan Saga: Miles Vorkosigan has, through a combination of osmosis and deliberate study of his near legendary grandfather and parents (as well as interactions with several veteran military personnel and senior government officials), learned to project quite an intimidating glare of his own, as his cousin Ivan discovers in A Civil Campaign.
- In the Warrior Cats graphic novel After the Flood, Leafstar proves herself very capable of giving death glares. One of them is enough to make her mate drop the prey he's carrying.
- Whateley Universe: Snark Knight (and occasional Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant) Nacht (Kate Twardowski) is able to bring opponents to their knees - in some cases, literally - simply through her disdainful glances, not by means of any superpower but because it is simply that unnerving. Adding a slight smile to this after a prolonged glare can break even the strongest of foes.
- Who Goes There?. Even though frozen in a block of ice for millennia, the alien creature's face has such an expression of inhuman, cosmic hatred and malice, that the most steel-nerved of the crew run out of the room terrified after just looking at it briefly.
- Charles Morgan from Witch Week, while not always meaning to glare at anyone, is described as having a "blank and nasty" look which is generally magnified by his thick glasses.
- In Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell can knock men back with just a look when he's pissed off. It helps that he has a Face of a Thug, everyone knows his mysterious past includes mercenary work, and that he's fully capable of knocking them back in a more physical way if he chooses to do it.
- The singing group Heart had one implied for a cheating lover in an appropriately named song called "If Looks Could Kill".
- Country singer Rodney Crowell also has a song called "If Looks Could Kill" about being on the outs with one's significant other.
- Verse three of The Beatles' "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill", entailed a tiger hunt:
The children asked him if to kill was not a sin,"Not when he looked so fierce," his mummy butted inIf looks could kill it would have been us instead of him
- Abdul Abulbul Amir: Ivan, when he left his camp on the day of this fight, "donned his most truculent sneer." This is before he even saw Abdul.
- Evil eye beads, found throughout Greece, Turkey, Armenia and parts of the Middle East, stem from ancient beliefs that they can protect the wearer from any ill karmic effects given by a death glare.
- Poetic Edda: In "Hymiskvida", Thor and Tyr go to the hall of the giant Hymir to borrow his cauldron. When they arrive, Hymir is not at home, and Hymir's mother asks them to hide behind a pillar, because Hymir does not like guests and might especially get angry if he sees Thor. When Hymir comes home, his mother gently instructs him who has come to visit him, and that Thor and Tyr are presently behind the pillar. Hymir turns to the pillar and glares at it so sharply that it splinters, and the cross-beam above it comes down. (Note that Hymir does not normally have a magical gaze.)
- "The Laboratory", by Robert Browning, in which the speaker has resolved to Murder the Hypotenuse in a love triangle.
For only last night, as they whispered, I brought
My own eyes to bear on her so, that I thought
Could I keep them one half minute fixed, she would fall
Shrivelled - Egil's Saga: In his poem "Arinbjarnarkviða" ("Praise of Arinbjorn"), Egil recalls his last meeting with his deadly enemy Eirik Bloodaxe, when Egil, as a castaway, delivered himself to Eirik's mercy in Eirik's royal hall:
You weren't safe looking him straight
In the eye. No kindness there!
It glittered like a snake's, grew
Ever more snake-like the more you stared.
- The game Adventure! has this as a Heroic Knack, Steely Gaze, which allows you to win all staredowns against non-Inspired characters and offers a bonus against Inspired characters, though the second-level Psychic knack, Cloak of Dread, might be a combo of this and a general aura of terror.
- In Aye, Dark Overlord, any player who fails to convince the Dark Overlord that he/she is not responsible for the failed mission (by shifting the blame to another player) receives a Withering Look. Three Withering Looks and you are out of the game.
- Similarly, Deadlands has an edge called The Stare that gives a bonus to intimidation rolls.
- GURPS has the Fearsome Stare perk that lets you make Intimidation checks without saying a word.
- In the 1951 French board game Long Cours, the first two combat cards, by ascending order of power,note are respectively "a mean look" and "a terrible look". Fittingly, the next two involve giving the offender black eyes.
- In Vampire: The Masquerade, kindred with Presence learn this at level 2. Higher level versions are even more potent. Then again, all vampires come off as the predators they are to mortals, making this sometimes unintentional.
- Warhammer 40,000:
- The Chief Librarian of the Blood Angels, Mephiston, has one of these. He's known as the Lord of Death. Bad enough, but when you consider just how much death is involved in 40K...
- Also the Nightbringer, whose glare can also function as an attack.
- Also for the imperium Commissar Yarrick, same deal. Currently it is an Eye Beam attack but he used to just be rumored to kill orks at a glance. That's the point: when he heard the rumor, he instantly plucked out his eyeball and replaced it with a laser to live up to his reputation.
- Also, in older pieces of fluff, Guardsman Ollanius Pius, whom Horus killed with a mere glance for attempting to stand between him and the Emperor. Later editions RetConned it to a Space Marine Terminator and then an Adeptus Custodes which are progressively Eliter Mooks to enhance the Death intensity implied by the Glare. Many fans were upset at the changes' subsequent reduction of Horus' sheer inhumanity of easily killing a mere human being and removal of Pius' understated bravery to go and stand before what is essentially a demigod about to kill another demigod.
- An amusing one happens in The Addams Family, when Gomez and Morticia discuss Wednesday's new boyfriend and Morticia isn't sure if Wednesday is ready for a serious relationship.
Gomez: Wednesday is turning into a lovely young woman, just like you were.
[Morticia sharply glares at him]
Gomez: Are! Like you are.
[proceeds to fawn over her while she gives a "That's what I thought" nod] - Subverted in As You Like It, where Phebe protests against Silvius slandering her eyes thus.
...but now mine eyes,
Which I have darted at thee, hurt thee not,
Nor, I am sure, there is no force in eyes
That can do hurt. - In the 1977 made-for-TV version of Ghosts for Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK), Helen Alving gives Engstrand a scolding look when she realises what he is up to.
- Similarly, in the 1970 version of The Wild Duck, Gina Ekdal gives Gregers a similar look when Hjalmar has rejected Hedvig as his daughter. Mona Hofland, the actress who did that part, was particularly good at death glares, by the way.
- In The '70s, this TV theatre made a number of political docu-dramas on behalf of ongoing activism in Norway — and the trope was used in full by five mothers with carriages, guarding a threatened turf in Oslo from "development interests". A man trying to park his car is calmly stared down by the five women for almost sixty seconds, and decides to leave without discussion. CMOA if ever there was one.
- As the title character in Hamlet, David Tennant delivers the Death Glare to Claudius several times, and at least once to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
- In the filmed version of Into the Woods, the Witch delivers a quite hilarious and frightening one to the Baker.
- In the 2012 arena tour version of Jesus Christ Superstar, Annas shoots a truly murderous one at Judas after he strikes Caiaphas and makes him bleed.
- A particularly terrifying one in this version of
The Mikado, especially since it appears to be directed at the audience.
- Ace Attorney:
- Damon Gant's Epic Stare of Death
is the embodiment of this trope. There was a flash parody which took Gant's sprite from the game, and used the audio from the above-mentioned Death Glare scene from Scrubs.
- Miles Edgeworth from the same games is legendary for this, and very proud, too.
- At one point, when he breaks one of his first Psyche-Locks, he is wondering whether it was the power of his glare that broke it. Also he is capable of glaring back at the detention center camera.
Edgeworth: "If someone glares at you, it's only polite to return the favor," is what I was taught.
- In case I-4, he accidentally glares at his reflection. He wins.
- At one point, when he breaks one of his first Psyche-Locks, he is wondering whether it was the power of his glare that broke it. Also he is capable of glaring back at the detention center camera.
- Morgan Fey throws off some particularly vicious glares when provoked, as does Dahlia Hawthorne. Like mother, like daughter.
- In Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, when Kristoph Gavin is upset, he gains Scary Shiny Glasses. When you perceive him in the fourth case, you get to see through them. What you see is incredibly unnerving...
- In Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Tyrell Badd gives one that makes Franziska back off. 'Nuff said.
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, Dhurke, like Edgeworth, is famous for these. They got the nickname of "Dragon's Glare". Since he was an attorney before his time as a rebel, it seems to be his version of the "Objection!" pose.
- The Great Ace Attorney: Barok Van Ziek's default expression is a soul-searing, Icy-eyed Death Glare. This is due to a combination of an assassination attempt that carved a literal furrow on his brow and his usual dour and morose disposition. Even after proving himself to be a caring if aloof person, Ryunosuke is still terrified to make eye contact with the man he's dubbed the "'Least Approachable Man in the World' winner, ten years in a row."
- Damon Gant's Epic Stare of Death
- ANNO: Mutationem: When Ann gets pushed past by her limit, she can be severely fierce by having a Death Glare towards whoever angered her. In the bad ending, after her brother is killed, Ann lets loose a glare of absolute rage before letting herself get taken over by her Superpowered Evil Side, Amok.
- The portrait for Jaheira from Baldur's Gate could be interpreted as giving a Death Glare; at any rate, knowing her character, it's easy to imagine her dealing them out to everyone. (The second portrait on this page, if you're wondering.
)
- Shinja from Battle Realms, whose death glare is an activated ability that intimidates all nearby enemies into dealing less damage. A popular folk tale claims that his glare can even block oncoming magic (in-game, Shinja is near-immune to magic attacks).
- Isabella in Being a ΔΙΚ has one as her default expression, made all the more intimidating by her piercing blue eyes. If she stays the night after helping the MC clean his room in "Damage Control", she gives a particularly frightening one to the DIKs as she is leaving the next morning while they are singing the "walk of shame" song, shutting them up instantly.
- The Borderlands series has Athena. While she does look very friendly and almost cute when she actually cracks a smile, the rest of the time she has a truly terrifying glare that would probably be enough to kill every one she looks at if it could.
- Charlotte Aulin from Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin lets out a comical Death Glare everytime that someone presses her Berserk Button by calling her a kid.
- Katherine of Catherine is nerve-wrackingly good at this.
- City of Heroes has this as a superpower called "Fearsome Stare", which strikes paralyzing terror into the foes before you.
- In CLANNAD, Tomoya gives one to a couple of creeps trying to hit on Nagisa that Mei has attracted to the bakery.
- In Cuphead, the final fight with the Devil begins with a one-eyed glare so thorough, his pupil briefly transforms into an axe and a teacup and plays out what he will do to the sibling protagonists Cuphead and Mugman. It seems to work; this intro is the only one in the game where the boys react by screaming in terror instead of getting hyped up for battle.
- Doom (2016): Strongly implied for the Doom Slayer, but not explicitly shown because of the entirely first person perspective of the game. With the introduction of third person cutscenes, Doom Eternal makes it clear that the Doom Slayer has a truly epic Death Glare, which appears to be his default expression on missions, judging from the terrified reactions of the UAC personnel on the Phobos base.
- Dragon Age:
- Dragon Age II — At the end of Act II, Meredith throws one at Hawke when she realizes Hawke has just saved every noble in the city and she now has no choice but to name them Champion. It says a lot about how willingly she shares power, especially if Hawke is a mage.
- At the end of Act III, should Hawke have sided with the mages, s/he gives the Templars surrounding them a withering Death Glare, causing them to immediately back off and let Hawke and their companions go free. Again, if you're playing as a Mage this carries an additional subtext. After mopping the floor with Knight-Commander Meredith, the Templars clearly know better than to test Hawke's patience.
- In Dragon Age: Inquisition, Cullen delivers an absolutely epic one to an unfortunate scout who interrupts his and the Inquisitor's first kiss.
- Dragon Age II — At the end of Act II, Meredith throws one at Hawke when she realizes Hawke has just saved every noble in the city and she now has no choice but to name them Champion. It says a lot about how willingly she shares power, especially if Hawke is a mage.
- In FEAR 3, the Point Man delivers a truly terrifying example
◊ of this in the intro when he realizes one of the Armacham soldiers is possessed by Paxton Fettel, and expresses his feelings toward him by slicing his throat.
- Final Fantasy:
- In the Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cloud (Disguised and Dragged Into Drag) gives one to Don Corneo right before being dragged off to Don's private room as his newest chosen bride; not that this terrifying glare does anything to stop the Don. Knowing how quickly Cloud resorts to violence, it's no surprise when he makes good on his silent threat a few minutes later.
- In Final Fantasy X, this and Hulk Speak make up the entirety of Kimahri Ronso's interpersonal skills (although he's actually quite the Gentle Giant when he warms up to you).
- Fire Emblem:
- The floating eye enemies named Mogalls in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones try to kill your units by looking at them, but they often miss.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Ashe's angry portrait has this effect, due to the lack of definition on his pupils and a heavier use of shadows compared to other characters. Gilbert, pre-timeskip Hubert, and post-timeskip Sylvain also have this as their angry portrait. The most notable example, though, is the one Rhea gives should Byleth side with Edelgard on the Black Eagles route, which borders on being a Nightmare Face.
- The Fruit of Grisaia: Protagonist Yuuji tends to show off these involuntary when his thoughts revolve around darker subject matters, or when the situation gets serious. We only get to see it on Makina's route when he gets fed up with Irisu Kiyoka's scheming and holds her at gunpoint, deliberating whether to kill her.
- In Genshin Impact, Yae Miko earns herself one from Raiden Ei when she suggests taking over the position of Shogun for a few days, causing her to quickly backtrack on that thought.
Yae Miko: Great minds think alike, hmm? I wonder, does that qualify me to, maybe, take the position of Shogun for a couple of days?
Raiden Ei: Glares at Yae
Yae Miko: Actually, no — forget that. Far more trouble than it's worth. - Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV pulls of a terrifying one late game when Jimmy Pegorino threatens him.
- In Hitman (2016), 47 delivers one without even trying. In Mumbai, there's a merchant who sells cloth in the market, and his starting price is a very large amount of coins, but he'll continue to haggle down if you keep waiting. If you wait even longer, he starts commenting on 47's piercing gaze, and continues to haggle lower than he would normally do. But if you keep waiting, he eventually gets scared so shitless at the guy who's been glaring at him silently the whole time, that he'll just give it to you for free. And all you had to do was do nothing for about a minute.
- At the end of Chapter 3 of Jade Empire, Silk Fox asks Kang to hang some flags on the Marvelous Dragonfly so they can enter the Imperial Palace, resulting in Kang making some snarky remarks about the flags. Silk Fox then stares at him for several seconds without saying a word, and while her mouth is obscured by the veil used to obscure her identity as Princess Sun Lian, Kang is so terrified that he meekly complies with Silk Fox's request.
- Kingdom Hearts example: Most of Organization XIII practices this frequently. A few (most notably Xemnas, Zexion and Saïx) have this as their default expression.
- In a moment of O.O.C. Is Serious Business, Kirby gives Queen Sectonia one after inhaling her Wave-Motion Gun, right before he shoots said Wave Motion Gun right back at her. This is the only time Kirby looked actually angry at the villain, rather than determined. Given what kind of person Queen Sectonia is, this seems rather fitting.
- In Kirby: Planet Robobot, Kirby gives Susie an epic glare when told that the people of Pop Star have been considered 'obstacles' to the Haltmann Works Company's business plans. He also glares at Haltmann during his fight. In fact, Kirby has a few extra glares in this game, appropriate considering its Darker and Edgier status.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword:
- Link pulls off an epic one whenever Demise is on-screen. Demise is actually intrigued by this: Link is the first human he's ever seen who looks at him with anger and hatred, rather than fear and terror.
- He outdoes even this when Ghirahim talks about sacrificing Zelda.
- Impa shoots one to Link before giving him a “The Reason You Suck” Speech for not showing up to save Zelda fast enough. With her red eyes, her death glare manages to be pretty effective.
- In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Hilda flashes this at Link when she reveals she plans to steal Link's Triforce of Courage to save her kingdom. A severe Out-of-Character Moment for an Anti-Villain.
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword:
- Kazuma Kiryu of the Like a Dragon series is a Perpetual Frowner by default, but he really gets into the Death Glares in Yakuza 6, especially when staring down Yuta, the man who got Kiryu's adopted daughter Haruka pregnant and then spent most of the game lying about it.
- Mass Effect:
- In Mass Effect 2:
- Tali'Zorah is a Quarian, whose race was almost annihilated when they accidentially created a race of sentient robots, with the few survivors having been forced to live in space on ancient dreadnoughts for several hundred years. When she is recruited to the Normandy SR2, she makes it very clear that she think it's a crazy idea to work with the human-supremacist group Cerberus and they can't be trusted a single bit, despite Jacob's best attempts to assure her that this group didn't have anything to do with the crimes and devastating experiments other chapters have commited. When she is about to leave the room, Jacob tells her to introduce herself to the ship's sentient AI, causing her to freeze in her tracks. She doesn't say anything and just stares back over her shoulder for a few very long seconds; if looks could kill, Jacob would have been vaporized along with the entire aft bulkhead.note The fact that she manages to do this through a near completely opaque/reflective helmet makes it all the more frightening.
- Shepard's no slouch at delivering such glares him/herself, and at one point is even able to outstare a freaking Krogan in Afterlife, leading to one of the funniest scenes of the game.
Krogan: I was just trying to have a drink here! No need to get all excited!
- In Mass Effect 3:
- Wrex delivers one of these
◊ to the Salarian Dalatrass after she insults the Krogan one too many times.
- Wrex gets one, himself, from a salarian STG soldier when he tells a biting joke after mentioning that the STG is always listening in on him.
Wrex: I like my salarian livers served raw. Hehe...
Salarian STG soldier: (silently shoots Wrex an ugly look) - Protheans are also capable of giving one hell of a Kubrick Stare with their four eyes and More Teeth than the Osmond Family.
- Wrex delivers one of these
- In Mass Effect 2:
- This is Bass' default look towards us in Rockman.EXE 4.5: Real Operation (and the series in general, actually). Glowing Red Eyes of Doom included.
- Mega Man:
- After beating the final boss in Mega Man Star Force 3, it gets up for more. After a short cutscene, the hero goes One-Winged Angel... stands there for a few seconds... and then glances over his shoulder at the boss. Cue unloseable boss fight.
- Mega Man X official artwork frequently depicts the title character with a glare or Kubrick Stare. In Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, though, the glare he gives to Sigma when they meet for the final battle is absolutely menacing.
- The Boss of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater throws a few of these at her former apprentice, most notably during their second encounter when she manages to lull him into dropping his guard, despite the fact that she broke a couple of his bones and threw him off a bridge just a week or two before. She also throws one at the Big Bad when he questions her loyalty to him. Despite the fact that he towers over her and power with electricity, it immediately causes him to back away and soften the accusation as just being caution.
- From Monster Hunter: World, Shara Ishvalda, the final boss of the Iceborne campaign sports an absolutely nightmarish death glare in the final phase of its fight. Combined with its twitchy movements, unnatural appearance, and world-warping abilities it’s doubly unnerving. Oh, and its eyes track you regardless of your camera position. No, not your character, you.
- The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog:
- The player character takes note that Knuckles and Shadow both have scary stares when they are annoyed or angry.
- When the party realized that Sonic was actually seriously injured and unconscious, Amy is so angered that she gets a unique portrait that's half-Death Glare and half-Face Framed in Shadow.
- Hanzo in Nightshade (2016) has an unfortunate habit of looking very serious and sharp, even when he doesn't mean to. Combined with his stoicism, he comes off as very intimidating to the younger shinobi like the main protagonist and her friends. Even the normally unruffled Kuroyuki is nervous in Hanzo's presence.
- In the Persona games from Persona 3 onward, whenever a Persona-user is about to get a critical hit or strike at an elemental weakness of their enemies, it activates a Super Move Portrait Attack focusing on the Persona-user's eyes striking an angry expression. Persona 5 takes it even further, with the character's 3d model sporting a spooky Face Framed in Shadow along with the standard angry eye cut in (and the portraits themselves often supporting sinister Slasher Smiles as opposed to the more determined looks from 3 and 4.)
- In Persona 2, one of Tatsuya's negotiation options is actually called "Death Stare".
- Several Pokémon have the "Glare" move, which paralyzes the target.
- There's also "Mean Look", which prevents your opponent from escaping, "Leer", which lowers Defense, and "Scary Face", which sharply lowers Speed.
- The ability "Intimidate" could also be an allusion to this trope, seeing as it takes effect (lowers the opponent's Attack) when all the battling Pokémon have done is merely look at each other, occurring before a single command is even given. Gets a bit weird though when the Olympus Mons are also intimidated. You could almost make a case for something like Jirachi being scared of Gyarados, but then how do Arceus and Palkia get scared? For that matter, how is Hitmontop even close to intimidating?
- Uxie likely has one of these, as its eyes always remain mysteriously closed. The reason for this is because if the eyes do open, anyone who meets them will have their memory wiped.
- Cyrus gives you, the player, a death glare during the opening credits of Platinum Version.
- Professor Rowan's dialogue indicates these with a "...". He's so good at it that he can even stop Barry in his tracks.
- Cobalion, a Generation V Legendary Pokémon, can command other Pokémon to do its will simply by glaring at them.
- Many mascot Pokémon from Generation 2 and beyond could be said to be exhibiting this trope based on their artwork.
- In Pokémon X and Y, a lot of Pokemon will give you one of these in Pokemon Amie if you start petting them on a spot they're not fond of.
- In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Team Skull Admin Plumeria's battle intro has her giving one of these, which with her yellow eyes manages to be quite unsettling.
- Lampshaded in The Punisher (THQ).
Frank: Out of the way, Bullseye.
Bullseye: Or what? You'll scowl me to death? - Gehn in Riven does this when he becomes annoyed or outraged by you. Make some specific choices in the game and he stares you down and will promptly shoot you with his musket, leading to a bad ending. Gehn is especially prone to a Death Glare if one were to keep wasting his time by pressing his call button without a good reason.
- In Saints Row 2, the Boss shoots one to Pierce after he reminds them of their "history with boats" (in response to a tip the Saints received about a yacht full of Ultor execs). The look is enough for Pierce to back down and for you to carry on with the mission.
- Jett in SC2VN will do this to you if you stare at her for too long, ask embarrassing questions, or play bad Starcraft.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2006): During her Mama Bear moment, Amy gives Silver a look that essentially says "take one step forward and I'll kill you right here and now." This becomes an awesome moment when you realize that she, a mere Badass Normal, made a powerful psychokinetic back off with that look.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- The normally Perpetual Smiler King Boo does this quite a few times in Luigi's Mansion 3, just to show how absolutely fed up he is with Luigi's continued resistance.
- Mario Is Missing!: After the internet got to him, Weegee began to do this frequently.
- In Mario Kart 8, some of the characters do this whenever they pass another racer. Luigi's strangely sinister stare even became a meme.
- WarioWare Gold: Ashley gives one to players that fail her microgames in her chapter.
- Mario & Luigi: Brothership has Mario give this trope - and nothing else - to Reclusa every moment the two are on-screen together.
- Tavern Talk: In the Intelligence ending of the Morlya quest, Hex glares at Iniko when the latter suggests breaking open the glass case containing a magic scroll, and Hex opts to solve its puzzle instead.
- Several characters have them in Tokimeki Memorial.
- Shiba Katsumi from Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2 has one that he'll flash at the heroine if she bugs him too much before he warms up to her.
- Ryukochi Kai from Tokimeki Memorial 4 flashes you one when you originally see her, but before you are officially introduced. She chases off some thugs who were gonna beat her up with one in her actual introduction scene. And if you happen to ignore her, to the point that she'll like bomb you, she will throw one at you if you meet her at the school gate after classes.
- In Tomodachi Life, fighting Miis will often give each other these if they momentarily stop throwing things in either apartment. The camera will show their staredown in close-ups during the cutscene of a third Mii intervening during a huge fight, complete with a dramatic Sting to match.
- Tsukihime: Tohno Shiki is usually quite gentle, doesn't particularly enjoy fighting and absolutely despises killing. However, if something truly angers him, The Glasses Come Off, and his glare has more often than not completely terrified his foes. Of course, his Magical Eyes help. In the Melty Blood manga, the majority of his expressions can be summed up into three categories: Exasperation, shock and tranquil
fury
. It should be noted that he hasn't gone Nanaya at all since the first game, so his terrifying glare is limited mostly to his normal persona.
- Tyranny has the ever-useful and memetic "[glare silently]" option. Depending on the context, it either terrifies people, serves as an appropriate reaction to various forms of idiocy, infuriates Tunon, or just earns a quip from those who are more tired of than intimidated by such efforts. Overuse may lead to extra snark.
- Although the graphics make it kind of hard to tell, the narration makes it clear Tunon himself is really good at these. If you spend enough dialogue choices in your game glaring at people, Tunon will eventually call you out on it in the final chapter. The Player Character is allowed to answer that it's a finally honed interrogation technique, learned through close observation of the court itself. Tunon's response is to say nothing and glare at you, much to the amusement of the other three Fatebinders present.
- In The Walking Dead: Season One, after Lee cuts Clementine's hair, she'll reach up to feel her new hairdo, and then scowl into the horizon. She starts to dish out epic glares in Season 2, including when Reggie pats her on the head. Reggie immediately backs off. She's become a pro of this by New Frontier, and she gives a lot of frightening ones as well in The Final Season.
- Happy Tree Friends: Handy gives one of these to the camera whenever he needs to do something to requires hands.
- A literal example in "Happy Trails Part 2": Flaky is given several after her quills pop the raft they needed to escape the deserted island. Cue a tombstone being nailed down.
- In "See What Develops", Toothy gives one to Splendid when he mistakenly attacks Giggles.
- In Inanimate Insanity, Baseball gives a downright evil
one at Suitcase in the episode "Alternate Reality Show", due to the fact that she destroyed his alliance with him, her, and Nickel via voting Nickel, his best friend no less, off last episode.
- Happens later again in the same episode and again at Suitcase with everyone glaring at her for unfairly and accidentally getting immunity during the challenge- with Baseball's being the worst one.
- Gilda the chicken in Knights of All Realms has a glare so intense she was able to light a barrel on fire with it.
- In The Most Popular Girls in School, Episode 51; when Cameron Van Buren flirts with Darren Darabond, his wife, Pamela Darabond, gives her this trope:
Darren: I think we should probably keep this uh, appropriate. After all, I am a United States Senator, and a Happily Married man. Also, my wife is looking directly at you. Very aggressively.
- Early in No Evil, when Huey utterly fails at his job of keeping Kitty's pumpkin patch free of birds and weeds, Kitty gives Huey a look of such fury that he bolts immediately.
- SNARLED: Mrs. Benwari in "Beware the old Higue" gives our protagonist such a menacing frown for a moment when she mentions the absent Dalion.
- RWBY: During her clash with Neo in "No Brakes", Yang's expression is locked into this.
- The YouTube Poop series Allison Won Derland made by YouTube user Geibuchan uses this trope thousands of times. Whenever Alice becomes angry at someone, she will do this. It is a red-tinted, zoomed in scene from the original movie that shows her angrily glaring at something. This is the fourth video of the series, which introduced the red-tint Death Glare.
- Angel Moxie
- Tears doesn't weaken at all the Death Glare Riley gives to Shugari
... just before blasting her into pieces.
- And Miya doesn't let looking like a cute cat stop her from death-glaring a bulldog into a whimpering mess.
- Tears doesn't weaken at all the Death Glare Riley gives to Shugari
- Anime News Nina: "The Guru" of action anime, also known as Bill, can do this with only one eye!
He can also make watermelons and presumably heads explode by punching them, too.
- Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Combining cuteness with internal fury, Lucy's stare
comes close to this.
- Captain SNES: Lucca tells Chrono that modifying the Epoch to be able to traverse interdimensional boundaries was too risky (even for her) and nothing he can say will change her mind. Chrono says nothing, and changes her mind.
- Carry On: A nasty-tempered old giraffe gets one... from an entire herd of females
.
- Code Name: Hunter: Never, ever try to imply that either Hunter or Gyspy (especially due to her parents' past) are slaves just 'cause they use bands, or Hunter will shut you up with a look.
- Dead Winter: Monday, local gun-for-hire, has an absolutely fiery one
with a dosage of Red Eyes, Take Warning.
- Dominic Deegan:
- Miranda Deegan, a powerful archmage, has what is called "the Evil Eye". It can hit from up to fifteen yards away and works around corners
! Even strong men quail at its influence. Even more bone-chillingly scarier, she can do it from another dimension
◊, as her son and Luna found out...
- Nimmel Feenix's death glare can be truly menacing... even if he just practicing.
- Miranda Deegan, a powerful archmage, has what is called "the Evil Eye". It can hit from up to fifteen yards away and works around corners
- Ears for Elves: Lady Trylia has an expression when she doesn't get what she wants that causes withdrawn Kanryl to speak since her glare was frightening his animals.
- El Goonish Shive:
- Sarah and Elliot
give one to Tedd in response to a joke that doesn't land, complete with Black Eyes of Evil.
- Nanase, Grace, and Ellen all give one here
when Nanase's Jerkass ex-boyfriend threatens to hurt Tedd.
- Grace gives a long glare
to intimidate Luke before leaving to let Justin talk to him alone.
- Sarah and Elliot
- Explorers of Souls: Mel gives one to the Pikachu when he asks if she is okay.
- FreakAngels: When the Angels link together, they can give a pretty spooky one
, and the victim doesn't even have to be there.
- Friendship is Dragons: A Campaign Comic based off of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Fluttershy's stare (see below) is not just an ability of the character, but of her player, and frightened the DM into submission when a dragon was menacing her party. When it was mentioned that she just thought about what her mother would do, The DM speculates that the ability is probably genetic.
- Girl Genius:
- When Moloch states the Boring, but Practical solution to a problem he earns looming glares from three Sparks at once.
- Zola manages to infuriate the usually unflappable Higgs, resulting in a very dangerous looking glare and brutal beatdown.
- When Moloch states the Boring, but Practical solution to a problem he earns looming glares from three Sparks at once.
- Godslave: Anpu gives one to Turner when he tries to take him away as if the deity would let him.
- Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name: Hanna does this whenever anyone questions his age.
- The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!: The normally mild-mannered and take-it-as-it-comes hero gives one here
, mentioned by name. It doesn't work, though.
- Jean is better at it.
Not that it gets through to Bob, either.
- Jean is better at it.
- Irregular Webcomic!: The Head Death does this
to the Death of Insanely Overpowered Fireballs (currently in the position of "Living for Over 900 Years"). Due to the lack of eyeballs, Fireballs couldn't tell.
- Kill Six Billion Demons: The Worm That Walks Gog-Agog manages a murderous glare without a body. She's already annoyed, but when Jagganoth's Breath Weapon reduces her to a pair of eyeballs floating amidst Ludicrous Gibs, she stares at him, instantaneously reconstitutes herself, and gets dangerous.
- Lackadaisy
- Roark "Rocky" Rickaby has hypothesized that the loss of Viktor's right eye has caused the hate energy he generates to become focused into an extremely powerful GLARE BEAM.
- And apparently, Ivy's been taking lessons as can be seen in the very last panel
. As the next page shows, you see that look on her face, run. Run very fast.
- Examples of both
. Poor, poor Freckle.
- Piro from MegaTokyo has a surprisingly
good
one
. It can make Miho switch from shameless to meek and covering herself
note in two seconds.
- Ménage à 3:
- Gary manages to provoke simultaneous comedy death glares from two women here.
Which is kind of a sad waste, given that one slightly harsh word is usually enough to make Gary crawl away weeping.
- One is also inflicted by Sonya on new character Peggy here,
despite the fact that Sonya was proudly doing Peggy a favour at the time. Sonya's not too bright, but she's passionate and good at showing how she feels about things.
- Gary manages to provoke simultaneous comedy death glares from two women here.
- Men in Hats: Aram demonstrates the nasty glare
he intends to use on people who look at each other and laugh together about something.
- morphE: Amical is a kind and sweet host who talks sugary sweet even when threatening people's lives. At the end of Chapter 1, he gives a near shocking turn to the seedlings (and viewer)
with a glare, reminding that he will always be watching.
- Niels: Agent 300 gives a frightening one to Niels before launching into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after Niels shot Agent 250 in the stomach.
- The Order of the Stick: Haley giving Sabine in disguise a "petrifying gaze attack"
is what clue Nale that Haley might have feelings for his brother Elan.
- Outsider:
- Jardin receives hostile glares from Stillstorm and at least one of the other deck officers while on Tempest's bridge, making the distrust and resentment toward his presence almost palpable at times.
- Tempo allowing Jardin to remain on
Tempest's bridge to observe the eventual destruction of Bellarmine's wreckage earns her a nasty glare from Stillstorm
. She doesn't back down, and Stillstorm gives a revolted look; the implication is that there was a harsh telepathic exchange between them.
- Pacificators:
- Larima gives a really scary one
to Rendo, but Muneca takes home
the trophy
.
- Enlil blows them out
of the water.
- Larima gives a really scary one
- Questionable Content:
- The characters know better than get between Cosette and her date. For good reason.
.
Luna: I saw... I saw a tunnel of light, with my granddad waiting at the end, waving to me...
Marten: Jesus, I thought she was gonna go all Temple of Doom on you and pull your heart out through your chest! - Marten pulls this off when he shoots down Pintsize before the little bot can even attempt to harass Claire.
- The characters know better than get between Cosette and her date. For good reason.
- Rain: Maria is a master at it. She could teach T-800 robots a thing or two about how to do it.
- Romantically Apocalyptic: The Captain gives an impressive (although unseen by the readers) Death Glare to an alien — a literal one, as it causes the alien's head to explode.
- Sabrina Online: While giving birth to Timmy, Amy lets Thomas KNOW right off the bat
◊ that despite her initial desire, natural delivery is not for her at all.
Thomas: Bomb 'er, Doc.
Amy: A double. - Scarlet Lady: Quite the common event.
- Chat Noir gives two in "Copycat": one to Scarlet Lady when Théo mentions thinking the two heroes were in love, and the second when Théo starts Crush Blushing on Marinette.
- In "Mr. Pigeon", Nathalie and M. Damocles fire a double-barrel glare at Chloé when she not only plagiarizes Marinette, but tries to blame Sabrina.
- Alya and Ivan do this to Nino in "Horrificator" when they learn about the kissing scene the latter wrote in behind everyone's backs (the former because it's her script he changed, the latter because his girlfriend Mylène would have had to act it out).
- In "Rogercop", Marinette gives Chloé a flat stare after the latter accuses her of stealing her bracelet, while Adrien and Tom have matching furious looks while defending Marinette.
- In "Reflekta", Adrien hits Chloé with a withering look after she traps Juleka in the bathroom, ruins the photo with her attempts to force herself onto his arm, then 'suggests' to the principal that they don't have time to retake it with so many other classes waiting for their pictures.
- In "Volpina", Adrien is not happy when he finds out that Lila threw out his father's book on the Miraculous after she stole it from him.
- The entire class gives Chloé a laser-focused one in "Zombizou" after it becomes clear Chloé ruined Marinette's present for Mme. Bustier out of pettiness.
- Schlock Mercenary: Multiple characters can do this. Kevyn
is apparently quite good with them off-screen, but the grand prize has to go to Massey Reynstein
after a long, busy night of mayhem.
Massey: Shh. I'm trying to kill you with my eyes. - Sleepless Domain: In Chapter 13, Rue's baby brother Dill gives her an adorable death glare
when she's caught out after hours.
- Sluggy Freelance: Bun-bun is a simply drawn rabbit, which means that most of the time he only wears one of three expressions: round eyes, bored eyes, or angry eyes. When the last appears (which is not seldom), you should be very afraid. Many creatures multiple times his size are.
- Sonic vs. Goku: In Chapter 2, Goku shoots an epic glare to Sonic after the blue hedgehog lands a heavy kick to his face that actually draws blood in his mouth. Sonic is unsettled that he takes a step back.
- Sunstone:
- Cassie receives a positively feral one from a drunk Ally when she walks in on her and Lisa initiating something in the toilets of a club.
- At the start of Chapter 5, Lisa outdoes Ally in a big way when her brother Jimmy suggests inviting Ally (who she is very, very pissed at following the end of Chapter 4) over to their parents' place. The glare she gives him could "curdle milk" according to him.
- Terra Incognita: When Paladin Devro comes across the sniped body of his second in command, and then O'Shea puts a round through the head of one of the warriors accompanying him, he glares furiously at the tree line before ordering his Hunters to bring him the sniper's head.
- Tiger, Tiger: Upon encountering Jamis in the middle of an enormous storm that's threatening to capsize the ship— with both men well aware that the reason they're in such a dire situation is that Jamis didn't want to go through the effort to make proper precaution— Remy simply glares at him.
Remy: I had no words for him. - Unsounded: When Damphir beats a bound and gagged Duane she gets yelled at by Lemuel, similarly bound, who says that if she touches his brother again he'll see her dead. She responds by flicking Duane in his unconscious face, to which Lemuel glares at her furiously.
- What, Were You Raised By Wolves?: The wild girl frequently gets those when she bites or attacks other people, including one from a teacher when she bites her bullies.
- Yumi's Cells: The metaphorical Yumi Laser Beam shoots out of Yumi's angry eyes, causing the target to feel immense heat. When Ruby is flirting with Wook, she feels the heat and turns around to see Yumi glaring at her. Yumi almost uses it on Woong when he pretends to not have dinner plans on her birthday. Hundreds of episodes later, Yumi blasts Soonrok's face with full force when he unknowingly name-drops her ex's restaurant, though he's unfazed by her glare.
- Lily, the human-hating fairy of Felarya has a truly frightening stare
(mildly NSFW) with a generous helping of Ax-Crazy.
- In the Quest Den adventure Shards, protagonist Chi gives an epic one
to the fake diplomat in response to a racial-based insult. It makes everyone around her flinch.
- Decker Shado's review of Gamera vs. Gyaos sees That Long-Haired Creepy Guy, a bisexual man, give one after Decker comments that the version they're reviewing spells the latter titular monster's name as "Gaes".
- Dr. Glaucomflecken: It's not the most intense kind of death glare, but meeting the Neurosurgeon's direct gaze
results in overwhelming imposter syndrome.
- The Lizzie Bennet Diaries:
- Lydia looks at Lizzie this way when she learns that she did not invite her to accompany her outside and that she — Lydia — is not going to have dinner at Netherfield house.
- William Darcy death-glares at Lizzie at the end when they got together when she keeps taking photographs of him at dinner with Lydia, Charlotte and Ricky Collins. It appeared on twitter accompanying the web series.
- As The Nostalgia Critic found out the hard way, Don Bluth has a pretty good one. Hell, he practically weaponized it in both the "Conquest of the Commercials" and "Dragon's Lair" episodes.
Don Bluth: Hey, do I need to do a Death Glare again?
Critic: You know what, try me. I bet I've gotten used to it by now.
Don Bluth: [death glare]
Critic: Daaaaah, you're like the shaming disapproval of every morbid grandparent! - Outside Xbox: In one episode of Show of the Weekend on the Xtra side channel, Luke Westaway has to justify the Anachronism Stew nature of For Honor while suffering under this kind of look from Andy Farrant, who gets really upset at historical inaccuracy.
- Some of the Cream Heroes cats pull this off when dealing with each other.
- Coco delivers one to Lala when she tries to pounce on him. He warns her to stop for her own good.
- Dodo delivers a rather epic one to TT after he sees her punch his mother in the face. It's immediately followed by him returning the favour and pushing her out of the spot she was laid in.
- Seems to be TT's default mode when the other cats annoy her, which is often.
- There are certain levels of eye contact that people usually exhibit during interactions with other people; these behaviours are entirely subconscious and are hardwired into our brains through millions of years of evolution. People who are trying to appear non confrontational or submissive they tend to keep eye contact to a minimum, when feeling non threatened but still friendly they tend to make eye contact around 50 percent of the time and finally when somebody is being aggressive they tend to make far more eye contact than normal, often resulting in this trope.
- Speaking as a former educator, permit me to assure the Honorable Reader - this is one of our "stock in trade" skills. A silent and deadly glare (ranging from "Arctic Winter" to "Vesuvius in a Bad Mood" in temperature) has a most powerful effect, if used sparingly. The ability to prolong this gaze into a "Python vs. Bunny" slow-roasting, quasi-hypnotic experience depends upon one's ability to avoid blinking for prolonged periods.
- NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, a.k.a. The Black Mamba, had a downright menacing one that you can usually catch once a game, especially in photos online (and abused hilariously in basketball memes). One of the most famous instances was during the 2012-2013 season when he gave one to then-coach Mike Brown while they were losing. Even though it was early in the season, the normally champion-level LA Lakers were on a losing streak, and that game was one another tally to the count... one week after the death glare was given, Mike Brown was fired. But seriously... does this look like the face of mercy to you?
- Even animals can give the Death Glare, as indicated by this famous quote by Robert Ruark on the Cape Buffalo. The Cape Buffalo is perhaps the deadliest animal in Africa. Just do not mess with it.
"I lurched up and looked at Mbogo, and Mbogo looked at me. He was 50 to 60 yards off, his head low, his eyes staring right down my soul. He looked at me as if he hated my guts. He looked as if I had despoiled his fiancé, murdered his mother and burned down his house. He looked at me as if I owed him money. I never saw such malevolence in the eyes of any animal or human being before or since. So I shot him."
- Surprisingly enough, pop country's sweetheart and noted dork Taylor Swift has an excellent one, often seen when hitting a line in one of her Take That! songs. Most notable when she reaches the front of the stage during her performance of "Mean" at the 54th Grammy Awards.
- Jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman would often glare at other band-members he felt were not up to his standard while playing a song, and would continue staring for minutes on end while they played the rest of the tune. It was infamously known as "The Ray".
- Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott once spent a good minute of a one-on-one interview silently death staring the reporter after being asked a question.
- Any fighting event with a weigh-in
, for example Mixed Martial Arts. Here's
possibly the greatest staredown of all time.
- Reportedly, Michael Bay was talking to USAF helicopter pilot Maj. Brian Reese when one of his subordinates walked by
singing the theme song of Team America: World Police. The Death Glare he gave the other resulted in Bay casting him as the Moustache Man in Transformers (2007). note
- According to the book Japan's Favorite Mon-star, Raymond Burr took his role as Steve Martin in the Godzilla 1985 dub for The Return of Godzilla very seriously. He was reportedly so offended by New World Pictures' intention to include him in Product Placement for Dr Pepper that he shut that plan down not through words, but simply by giving a long, cold and completely silent stare to one of the execs until they backed off. It's also strongly suspected that a similar glare that he produces in response to another character - and in particular, the phrase "That's quite an urban renewal program they got over there!" in reference to Godzilla's attack - was a moment of Enforced Method Acting, as he similarly disliked New World Pictures' efforts to turn the film from a serious monster movie into a comedy.
- The Northern white-faced owl
, popularly nicknamed the Transformer Owl, has a very interesting threat display. When faced with a competitor of similar size, it raises its wings to make itself look bigger, but when faced with a larger competitor, it adopts a "concealing posture", holding its feathers tight against its body, covering the paler feathers on its chest by holding a wing over its front as if it were a cape, and focusing its eyes intently on the competitor, giving an impressive glare in the process. Here's one in action, carrying out both versions of its display
.
- George Washington was famous for this, in a particularly funny moment with fellow founding father, Gouverneur Morris. Gouverneur made a bet that he could prove he was a good friend of George Washington by approaching him casually at a dinner party. The look Washington gave him after Morris slapped him on the back and shook his hand was apparently "not worth 1,000 meals" according to Morris.
- Richard Pryor told the story of two of these. He was working a Las Vegas casino when he became angry at his pay and/or treatment. He burst into the boss's office and gave him what he called his "Wild [n-word]" stare guaranteed to terrify any white man. The casino boss laughed and embraced him with a "this guy", unafraid. However, one of his henchman displeased the boss and when Pryor saw the boss's expression he thought, "Oh, man, this guy is dead. He's still breathing and walking around, but he is dead."
- Saying guacamole wrong will cause Stephanie March to go full-on Alex Cabot on you.
- Dominant wolves and wild dogs will do this to assert their status toward pack members. They'll respond in kind when a human does this to them, too, which is why you should never make aggressive eye contact with a wolf or unfamiliar dog, lest they mistake it for a challenge and attack. Domestic dogs also do this sometimes to their owners, especially when they're upset over something said owners have done (forgetting to feed them, taking them to the vet, etc). Huskies in particular have been known to give out epic Death Glares.
- Grigori Rasputin had a pretty intimidating glare
◊. Something you wouldn't expect from a faith healer...
- There is a picture
◊ of Joseph Goebbels that was taken in the moment he was told that the photographer is a Jew.
- If looks could kill, Jaz Coleman would
◊ be
◊ a
◊ mass murderer
◊.
- Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys did
◊ this
◊ a lot
◊ in his younger days. As did his younger brother, Carl
◊ Wilson
◊. And here
◊ they are doing it at the same time. (Brian's in the top left and Carl's in the bottom right)
- Legendary Canadian Kickboxer, Jean Yves Thériault was so well known for his ice-cold stare during a fight -particularly the stare down — that he earned the nickname "The Iceman" because of it. You can hear commentators mention it during some of his fights. Seeing as he's considered one of the greatest kickboxers to ever live, one can imagine it wasn't a pretty sight for his opponents.
- Romanian actress Veronica Lazar had a penetrating death glare that was rarely utilized in films, but was often exploited by the press. Neither Dario Argento nor Lucio Fulci employed said death glare to full effect, but we do get a scowl as she first appears in The Beyond that suggests her character is up to no good. However, in press articles about her, there would often be pictures taken of her smiling and then for good measure, the glare (a milder form was last seen in Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered).
- Roger Ebert is giving one hell of a glare
◊ on the cover of his book Your Movie Sucks.
- Shoebill storks. They're pretty much harmless, but you wouldn't think so from looks
◊ like
◊ this.
◊
- Bobby Liebling of Pentagram. Just look at those
◊ crazy
eyes
. Though, his eyes are probably like that because of decades of drug abuse.
- This gif
of Greta Thunberg giving Donald Trump a death glare moments after a powerful “The Reason You Suck” Speech quickly became memetic.
- After an angry mob stormed the US Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent Joe Biden's electoral victory from being certified, Mitt Romney's response
to Josh Hawley still insisting on protesting Biden's win went memetic near-instantly.
The look a Mormon gives a Missourian when they are inciting mob violence...
- Winston Churchill could certainly give one, as exemplified in the famous photograph "The Roaring Lion"
. Photographer Yousuf Karsh couldn't persuade Churchill to put down his cigar, so at the last moment reached forward and plucked it from Sir Winston's lips, apologizing. He got back to the camera to find a scowling PM and took a shot that exemplified Churchill's—and Britain's—stubborn resolve.
- During the Yeardley Love murder case, the main suspect was her recent ex-boyfriend, who was dumb enough to think that what he did wasn't a big deal and confessed almost immediately, not knowing she had died during his assault. However, multiple times during the interview, the lead detective's partner made several mistakes, like interrupting to ask a random questions to the point where he was interrupting the suspect mid-confession. As this analysis
humorously points out, the lead detective had only one way of shutting him up. Glaring daggers at him.
- Suppose two characters Death Glare each other? Best you get out of there quick!

