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Foul Fox
(aka: Evil Fox)

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Foul Fox (trope)
Stu Hopps: You know what? Pretty much all predators, and Zootopia's full of 'em.
Bonnie Hopps: Oh, Stu.
Stu Hopps: And foxes are the worst!
Bonnie Hopps: Actually, your father does have a point there. It's in their biology.

Foxes are clever, and humanity generally respects cleverness. But they also have qualities that earn the ire of many people. They're natural predators to animals like rabbits and mice, which are often associated with innocence and sweetness. They're a menace to poultry farmers, often killing chickens, turkeys and waterfowl. They're an invasive species in certain places that are devastating to wildlife. They also smell rather foul.note  They're notoriously associated with rabies.note  And the un-dog-like sounds many species make are the stuff of nightmares.

So it's perhaps unsurprising that foxes are often depicted in a negative light, especially in children's media.

In fiction, it's not uncommon for foxes to be portrayed as sneaky, conniving, and unsavory. Antagonistic foxes will generally be evil geniuses or manipulative bastards. Even foxes who aren't predators get hit with this trope, especially if they are dangerous scavengers. Sometimes, they're mean-spirited tricksters who feign being good-natured. Sometimes, they're treacherous backstabbers who would sell virtually anyone up the river for a chance to get ahead, and other times they're just plain vicious bullies. Occasionally, they'll get portrayed as evilly seductive, sometimes complete with "foxy" wordplay.

Sub-Trope of Predators Are Mean. May overlap with Fantastic Foxes, Asian Fox Spirit, and/or Fox Folk. For other fox stereotypes, see Foxy Vixen and Cunning Like a Fox.

Compare Savage Wolves, Wicked Weasel, Those Wily Coyotes, Cruel Coyotes, and Devious Dolphins for the aquatic counterpart.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Animation 
  • One The Little Mole short features a hungry fox antagonizing the Mole and the other woodland critters, who paint themselves to bright colors to scare the fox away.
    • In "The Little Mole And The Eagle", the Mole gets captured by a hungry fox before being rescued by his eagle friend who scares the fox away.
  • In The Snowman Postman, the fox is one of the villains. She tries to trick the naive Snowman, is set on stealing the letter he is carrying, and constantly fights even with her own cronies. Since she has a rather vague idea of what a letter actually is, she starts the whole fuss thinking that, if she hands the Snowman's letter to Father Christmas, the latter will give her a chicken or maybe a duck.

    Anime & Manga 
  • Dakki from Hoshin Engi is an ancient fox spirit who's also a major antagonist, pretending to be innocent but actually being very ruthless and manipulative. She's based on the Chinese consort Daji, who was suspected of being a malevolent fox spirit in disguise.
  • Naruto: The Nine-Tailed Demon-Fox is a skyscraper-sized Kitsune who spends most of the series as Naruto's Enemy Within, having been sealed inside him while rampaging through the Hidden Village of Konoha. Towards the end of the series, he undergoes a Heel–Face Turn and goes from being Naruto's Superpowered Evil Side to providing his Golden Super Mode.
  • Seymour "The Big" Cheese from Samurai Pizza Cats is a fox named Kitsunezuka Ko'on in the original Japanese version of the show (the English dub makes him a rat instead despite not changing his design at all). He's also the main antagonist and an Evil Chancellor who regularly plots to overthrow the Emperor.
  • Ushio and Tora: Hakumen no Mono is a colossal nine-tailed fox that is Made of Evil and seeks to spread as much chaos and destruction as possible.

    Comic Books 
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) has Fiona Fox. As a child, Fiona was imprisoned by Dr. Robotnik during his rise to power as a result of being abandoned by Sonic and Mighty the Armadillo. Understandably, she developed a grudge against the two for what happened, and over time, her grudge worsened the darker aspects of her personality, until eventually, she fell from grace entirely and became an outright villain. Fiona has a history of mild illegal activity, including robbery. She's also extremely clever and has an acute memory. However, she is clearly reluctant to talk about her past. When she chose to follow a darker path in life (likely due to her past), she developed a relationship with Scourge, Sonic's Evil Counterpart, preferring him to the virtuous real deal.
  • Jizonobu in Usagi Yojimbo was once a kindhearted priest. Once. Then he sold his soul to dark gods to heal a sick girl out of desperation, since the girl's father threatened to kill everyone in his temple if he didn't. They turned him into Jei, and everyone in the temple as well as the girl's father died anyway (save the girl, Keifumi, and Priest Hama, who was badly wounded).

    Fairy Tales 
  • In Chicken Little, Foxy Loxy is a fox who eats all the birds, usually including the protagonist, all the while pretending he's going to lead them to the king's house.
  • In Jan Brzechwa's Szelmostwa lisa Witalisa, the titular character, Vitalis the Fox, is a skillful and vain conman who uses other animals to his advantage. Thanks to his, he becomes the president of the forest and begins his unjust rule, leading the animals to poverty while he himself lives in luxury. Finally, the wolf organizes a coup d'état and punishes Vitalis by shaving his tail bald and then exiling him.

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 

    Folklore 

    Literature 
  • The Adventures of Pinocchio: The Fox, along with his partner-in-crime the cat, is a con artist who pretends to be handicapped to take advantage of people's kindness. Not only that, but the two of them feign kindness to Pinocchio to steal his money and later try to kill him.
  • Ballad of the Sun and Moon: The Sky Fox is an evil seductress/temptress who lures the Moon with an illusory feast with the intent to "trap" him, then mocks him when he falls for her deception.
  • In Bambi: Friends of the Forest, the book's climax has Thumper being antagonized by a hungry fox. Bambi goads the fox into chasing him to save Thumper. Just when it looks as if the fox is about to catch Bambi, Bambi's father, the Mighty King of the Forest frightens the fox away with his powerful antlers. After the fox flees, the Mighty King tells Bambi that while he is much too young to outrun a fox, he heard from the bluebird about how he did so to save Thumper and is proud of him.
  • The Berenstain Bears: In "Learn About Strangers", Papa reads Sister a book called Silly Goose and Wily Fox. In it, Wily Fox tricks Silly Goose into entering his lair and it ends with him eating her.
  • Climbing Mouse and the Other Animals in the Hucky Bucky Forest: In this classic of Norwegian children's literature, Mikkel is a fox who is villainous, dangerous and unpredictable, but is constantly tricked when stealing food.
  • In The Grey King, the title character is an extremely evil Lord of the Dark. His minions include the milgwn: huge grey foxes that do his bidding, including slaughtering sheep.
  • Fengshen Yanyi: Daji is a sadistic 1000-year-old huli-jing sent by the goddess Nu Wa to punish King Zhou for his blasphemy towards her, corrupting him into a maniacal tyrant and feeding his darkest side. She has an entire family of equally evil, man-eating fox spirits dwelling in the hollow tomb of Emperor Huang, which can appear as spotless immortals and fairies but reek of death and corpses.
  • A Fly Went By: Subverted. The fox is suspected of wanting to kill the calf, but he turns out to not want to.
  • The Gingerbread Man: A fox tricks the Gingerbread Man into climbing on his nose and then eats him alive.
  • Goosebumps: In "Return to Ghost Camp", the child-killing spirit the Snatcher primarily takes the form of a fox and uses this form when killing its victims.
  • Redwall: Foxes are among the "vermin" species, and almost always play antagonistic roles. They tend to be more into subterfuge than other kinds of vermin are, often having no qualms about betraying their allies or superiors for their own self-gain. The OG example (and arguably the vilest one) is Slagar the Cruel from Mattimeo, who is all the above and a child slaver.
  • In Sam Pig, the unnamed fox is one of the primary antagonists, doing things such as conning the pigs into letting him eat Brock the Badger's dinner.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire: House Florent's sigil is a fox. They're also very ambitious and opportunistic when it comes to increasing their power. They initially support Renly over Stannis in the War of the Five Kings, despite Stannis being their in-law because Renly has the stronger position. When they do go over to Stannis's side, they convert to an Apocalypse Cult that practices human sacrifice. When the Head of the House Alester is arrested for treason, his cousin has no problem turning on him.
  • In The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, it's implied that the "Sandy-Whiskered Gentleman" (shown to be a fox in the illustrations) wants to kill Jemima, stuff her, and eat her for dinner, as well as make her eggs into an omelette.
  • In Warrior Cats foxes often attack the cats and compete with them for prey. This is why calling someone a "fox-heart" is a very bad insult. Because the foxes don't have a language that the narrative translates, the implication is that they're savage beasts.
  • Watership Down has select rabbits from Hazel's warren travel to Efrafa, seeking breeding does. En route, Bigwig detects a fox paralleling their course and decides to misdirect it away from the rabbit party. As it turns out, Bigwig encountered Groundsel and some other rabbits from Efrafa in a wood. The Efrafans were so fixated upon detaining Bigwig that the fox caught them by surprise. On the way back the fox grabs one of the does and Bigwig kicks himself for not realising the same one would likely be in the area. It's also mentioned that the defeated Efrafan force, while returning from Watership Down, had their numbers culled by a fox, further loosening their control of the Efrafa warren. Ironically the novel points out that foxes can usually be avoided by rabbits due to their strong smell; the above incidents occur because the wind is blowing in the wrong direction or the rabbits aren't paying attention to their surroundings.
  • The Wonderful Adventures of Nils: Smirre the fox is not a nice guy, especially in the anime, where he's a recurring villain. He frequently tries to eat the geese.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Grimm:
    • Downplayed. Fuchsbau have a reputation amongst the Wesen community for being sly and deceptive, and are commonly found in at least questionable trades. However, all the Fuchsbau to appear have been presented as reasonably sympathetic. With Rosalee Carvert being one of the show's main heroes.
    • Vulpesmyrca are black fox Wesen (and noticeably larger than Fuchsbau), who are renowned as vicious and relentless predators. They commonly work as mercenaries and traditionally prey upon Willaharas (rabbit Wesen) for their feet (which is used illegally as a fertility treatment).
  • The Mighty Boosh has the aptly-named "Crack Fox," a loathsome, drug-addicted fox with hypodermic needles for fingers who has built a house out of trash bags and seeks to steal Naboo's shaman juice in order to acquire unlimited power, with which he plans to lead a worldwide rebellion of woodland critters with him as it's leader. Played with in that he wasn't always foul: he used to be an aristocratic fox named Jerome who left the country for London in order to check out the club scene there. However, while he had some very good times from this lifestyle, the drugs and expenditure ultimately dragged him down and warped Jerome into the bitter, grotesque creature he is now.

    Music 
  • CG5: The music video for "Let Me Through" focuses on all the different variants of Foxy the animatronic fox seen throughout the Five Nights at Freddy's series. In the video, all the different Foxys try every means they can think of to get into the security guard's office, presumably to kill him. Nightmare Foxy and Funtime Foxy in particular show No Sympathy Between Mooks, as Nightmare Foxy kills the original Foxy, and Funtime Foxy kills the other Funtime animatronics. In the end, Funtime Foxy is the one who manages to get into the security guard's office. The video ends with the security guard panicking just before Funtime Foxy enters, and we don't know what happens after that.
  • The music video for Disturbed's "The Vengeful One" has one of the programs on the Ominous Television enthralling the family is a pastiche of The Golden Age of Animation. It shows a cartoon fox with a crazed expression running towards the camera, a large mallet in both hands.
  • Neko Case's "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" is inspired by a Ukrainian folktale about a fox who tricks a wolf into confessing his sins, which the fox then uses against him, the moral being to be wary of those who promise salvation. In the song, Neko confesses to a fox who shames her for what she's done; when she seeks solace from him, he responds that her suffering has no meaning other than to give her something to cry over "when the death of your civilization precedes you". Having lost all faith in everything else, Neko is forced to put up with his taunts just so she has someone to believe in.
  • The German parody rap band The Orsons wrote a song titled "Der Fuchs plant nichts Gutes" (Ger. "The Fox Is Up To No Good") about a nefarious fox that steals guns from a farmer to raid his chicken coop, before escaping across the border in a stolen car.

    Myths & Religion 
  • In Chinese Mythology, Huli-jing are vampiric shape-shifting foxes with up to nine tails, are composed of yin, and need to seduce men to drain their yang.
  • In Japanese Mythology, kitsune are shapeshifting foxes with up to nine tails, and like their Chinese and Korean counterparts, can be malicious predators or seductresses who drain the life-force from their victims. Though unlike their Chinese and Korean counterparts kitsune can actually be benevolent, for instance as emissaries of the god Inari.
  • The Korean kumiho is a multi-tailed fox with a taste for human liver.
  • Foxes play multiple roles in Native American myths, usually more benevolent compared to wolves or coyotes. However, the Iroquois in particular have a story of a fox tricking a hunter into starving himself.
  • In Luke 13:32 from The Bible, Jesus calls Herod Antipas a fox, probably as a way of saying Herod was weak and deceitful.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Zigzagged in Crimestrikers. The two main villains, Vance Coffin and Walter Mastron, are anthro foxes who run an international crime syndicate. However, two of the story's major characters, Walter's Antagonistic Offspring Diana Mastron and her boyfriend Hendrik Alquist, are heroic foxes who are dedicated to stopping them.
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • 1st Edition AD&D supplement Oriental Adventures
    • 4th Edition had a race of fox-like demons called "raavastas" who manipulated rulers and kingdoms by acting as Knowledge Brokers and selectively offering information or informing their rivals, replacing the jackal-like arcanaloths of previous editions. In 5th Edition arcanaloths are back, but the art occasionally depicts them as more fox-like than jackal-like, most notably Shemeshka the Marauder's appearance on the cover of the "Turn of Fortune's Wheel" adventure module.
  • Pathfinder: Nogitsune are Oni who either possess kitsune or form bodies in their image and act as spies and assassins. They have a "Contagious Whisper" ability that acts as a Suggestion spell but the victim can unwittingly spread it to other targets, potentially turning royal courts into bloodbaths.
  • Warhammer 40,000: It's a minor background thing, but there are the Rangda, a race of brutal slavers that existed during the Great Crusade. Prior to the Horus Heresy, they were one of the worst threats the Imperium had ever faced - it is hinted that the two lost Space Marine Legions, which had disappeared from history by the time the Heresy began, may have been destroyed during the Rangdan Genocides. And one of the few things that we know about the Rangda's appearance is that they were "lithe and vulpine".

    Video Games 
  • The only fox in Animal Crossing is Crazy Redd, a shady salesman who runs a black market shop. Although he typically does have some genuinely rare items that can't be obtained anywhere else, they're mixed in with overpriced common items, and from Wild World onwards, paintings and artwork he sells have a high chance of being forgeries.
  • The Fox known as "The Teeth in the Darkness" from Cult of the Lamb. He is a serial killer who eats other animals and a devil-like figure. He will give you Holy Talisman fragments in exchange for victims for him to eat. Getting the final talisman fragment from him requires you to sacrifice your mentor figure Ratau. He does this because he sees the lamb as a fellow predator and want to make them more like him. He is implied to be some sort of supernatural being as he can only be contacted in certain places at night and emerges from a pool of darkness.
  • Fate/Grand Order: Koyanskaya of Light/Dark, also known as Tamamo Vitch, is a kitsune and one of the candidates for the Beasts of Humanity. She works for the Crypters, her Light form operates exactly like a black-ops specialist, and states repeatedly that she loathes humans and wants to kill them. Her class, Assassin, reflects that attitude, while her Dark form has traits of her Beast IV:L form.
  • Five Nights at Freddy's:
    • Five Nights at Freddy's 1: Foxy is an animatronic with a fox suit who's just as dangerous as the other animatronics. Like them, he's hellbent on stuffing the nightguard into a spare animatronic suit.
    • Five Nights at Freddy's 2: Mangle is another fox animatronic, and just like its predecessor Foxy, it seeks to attack and kill the player. Withered Foxy, aka the Foxy that will become the one in FNAF 1, also will leap into the office to kill the player.
    • Five Nights at Freddy's 3: Phantom Foxy is just a hallucination, so he can't kill you, but he will give you a nasty Jump Scare and give Springtrap more time to get to you. Phantom Mangle, likewise, can't kill you or even jumpscare you, but can produce very loud static that makes it hard to hear Springtrap coming.
    • Five Nights at Freddy's 4: Nightmare Foxy seeks to jump out and murder the player (who is possibly a child, if they're the same person as the Crying Child seen in the cutscenes). In the Halloween DLC Nightmare Mangle combines the worst of Nightmare Foxy and Phantom Mangle, as if they get into the closet, the static makes it hard to hear other animatronics. And while this probably doesn't count, it should probably be noted that the Crying Child's bully older brother, whose responsible for the bite that killed him thanks to stuffing his brother's head inside an active Fredbear's mouth, wears a Foxy mask.
    • Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location: Funtime Foxy is as dangerous as the rest of the animatronics in the game; if they're found in the dark, they'll leap out, screaming, with their jaws snapping and their face lifting up, revealing their endoskeleton.
    • Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator: Rockstar Foxy is initially an aversion, but in Ultimate Custom Night he zigzags this as he becomes the Wild Card of the player's attempt to survive. He might help the player, he might kill the player. But at least he's Affably Evil about it. Getting certain scores also shows clips from Bear of Vengeance, in which Foxy is nominally considered the villain of the story (with Mangle as his sidekick), but his methods of dealing with Freddy are more Poke the Poodle than any real villainy (forcing Freddy to cook him breakfast, wear a fruit hat, or dress up like Santa and give out presents. In the end, he gets bored of fighting Freddy and takes a vacation.
    • Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted: Grimm Foxy is always wreathed in flames and the second he has you in his sight, he'll chase you down and try to kill you.
    • Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach: The Show Within a Show, "Freddy and Friends on Tour" portrays Foxy as a villain before becoming friends with the other characters. He is a pirate, after all.
    • Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted's Curse of Dreadbear DLC and Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2: Both have a variant of the original Foxy called Captain Foxy, who is the face of the Pirate Ride and Log Ride games respectively, and who is an aversion as he just welcomes you to the ride and gives you your score. Unless you shoot him too much in Help Wanted 2. Then he'll jumpscare you.
  • Dash Kobayashi from Jitsu Squad is an albino fox warrior and The Dragon to the main villain Origami, and one of Origami's most sadistic enforcers. Besides betraying his clan and having them massacred in his backstory, he also killed Hero's (the... hero) father, and returns repeatedly to taunt the players besides killing his subordinate, Shade over her failure to apprehend the heroes.
  • League of Legends: Played With by Ahri. She is a fox-like vastaya who emotionally manipulates and absorbs the souls of her victims, but doing this also absorbs the victims' memories, giving her a glimpse of their most impactful emotions like grief and sorrow. This causes her to grow more and more conflicted as while she enjoys the feelings of absorbing souls, she can't help but empathize with her victims, and is guilt-ridden for harming innocents in the process.
  • Ōkami: Ninetails is the lord of Ryoshima Coast, and an evil fox demon who murders and impersonates the priestess Rao to get the Fox Rods needed to restore themselves to full power.
  • Pokémon has a few.
  • Small Saga's prequel comic Needle Knight involves representatives of the Thimble Guard being dispatched to find out why people are disappearing from a shrew town. They find a Faux Affably Evil fox, Kaiju-huge compared to the shrews, who'd struck a bargain with the shrew leader - he would give the shrews one of his dens to build a town in and in exchange they would feed him daily. Any time they didn't have enough food to give as tribute, he'd take and eat one of them instead. Naturally, their stores ran low.
  • In Sonic Origins, the cutscene preceding Sonic the Hedgehog 2 shows a pair of foxes bullying Tails for his twin tails. Sonic runs past the two foxes, spinning them around and causing them to get dizzy, rescuing Tails in the process. From then on, Tails joins Sonic as his sidekick.
    • This is also humorously invoked by Eggman in the cutscene preceding Sonic the Hedgehog 3: when telling Knuckles about how Sonic and Tails are villains that they need to stop from getting the Master Emerald, the Imagine Spot shows Tails as a sinister-looking nine-tailed fox.
  • Super Ninja Meow Cat: The boss of level 2 is an anthropomorphic fox with an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy personality.
    Fox: You cant [sic] out fox me! I am a fox!

    Web Animation 

    Webcomics 
  • The Kumiho from The Fox Sister is a nine-tailed fox spirit who's very much malevolent (as they're typically depicted in Korean folklore), disguising herself as a human so she can get close to her human victims and eat them.
  • While for the most part Kevin & Kell averts this, there have been a few examples of this, at least before Heel Face Turns on the foxes' parts:
    • Vin Vulpin is a fox on steroids (Not Hyperbole, legit taking steroids) who bullied Rudy through high school, out of a desire to steal Fiona away and a case of Inferiority Superiority Complex. Making things worse is The Reveal that they're half-brothers, thanks to Rudy's father cheating on his mother with Vin's. Once Vin enters the workforce, his focus shifts away toward Rudy, especially once Angelique fires him. When he realizes there's enough evidence to prove him guilty of framing Angelique for fraud, he begs Rudy to fake his death and runs away to The Wild. The last time he's shown in the comic, he's become a father to three kits and has assimilated so much he forgot his name was Vin.
    • George (fennec fox) and Martha (red fox) were fox supremacists when they're first introduced, and only married each other to introduce some diversity into their respective gene pools. They both mellow out once they divorce and marry their Second Loves, though (wolf Ralph, for Martha, and former human turned rabbit Danielle for George).

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 

 
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Video Example(s):

Alternative Title(s): Evil Fox

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Slagar

Slagar, a fox, is a merciless slaver and kidnapper who is plotting against Matthias and his family.

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