History Main / ConfusedQuestionMark

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: When Diana lifts a car that was about to hit a child a large question mark appears by the driver's side of the windshield, as both Diana and the child had been in a blind spot.

* Item Crash with a ''key'' in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDraculaX'' and your character will flash a question mark.
* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', trying to examine an object without something to examine will cause a question mark to pop up over your character's head. The same happens in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' if you use the Shield Rod's special ability with the [[JokeItem Alucart]] Shield equipped.

* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', trying to examine an object without something to examine will cause a question mark to pop up over your character's head.

* When a soldier in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' sees something unusual a question mark appears above their head (followed by an exclamation mark if they see you).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon ''Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of Life'', Jerry ends up walking off a construction beam and a question mark appears above his head just before he falls. In a NinjaProp moment, he grabs the question mark and uses it as a hook to latch onto a ledge. Tom later attempts the same thing, but before falling he becomes ''shocked'' rather than ''surprised'', getting an uselessly straight exclamation mark instead.

* Many RolePlayingGames indicate Confusion status with question marks.
** In the ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium'' games, question marks appeared above a confused Pokémon's head. In other games, it is usually portrayed by birds flying around its head.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', the confusion status effect was indicated by two question marks appearing above the Pokémon's head, each accompanied by a sound effect suggesting the "huh?" sound.
** Also, question marks appear above a Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'s head when it uses [[StatusBuff Nasty Plot.]]
** The protagonists of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' do this to indicate confusion.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', the icon for the "confusion" power depicts a perplexed head surrounded by question marks, and the confusion projectile itself looks like a giant question mark that the protagonist throws at the enemy, after pulling off the dot like a grenade pin.
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has no confusion status effect, but it uses question marks to represent amnesia (the "silence" {{Status Effect|s}}) instead.

* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', trying to examine an object without something to examine will cause a questionmark to pop up.
* If the Elite bosses from ''VideoGame/HeroCore'' try to use an ability CastFromHitpoints with only one point left, a question mark will appear above their heads.

* In ''VideoGame/StealthBastard'', question mark appears over to robots and cameras if they detect the presence of player but haven't gotten fully alert yet.

* ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' has three characters with confused ''titles'': Agitha the "Insect... Princess?" Tingle the "Reincarnated Fairy?" and Linkle "The Heroine?"
* In the Pokemon Mini game, ''Togepi's Great Adventure'', after Togepi completes the Tower Of Origin, Togepi comes across a Donphan that accidentally collides with Togepi to send it flying (thus kicking off the Tower Of Adventure), prompting Donphan to stop and glance behind it in puzzlement, with a question mark appearing above it.

* ''VideoGame/RemnantsOfIsolation'': Multiple times of such a PictorialSpeechBubble from the Girl who would be named Celesta:
** In the opening cutscene, she has one after the door to her cell mysteriously disappears.
** When leaving her cage, she says one when looking back to where the barrier was, presumably confused even after confirming its disappearance.
* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheShiftedSpires'': A PictorialSpeechBubble of this is used by Catie in the opening, after which she says:
--> ...where am i?
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfPenAndPaper2'': The "Confusion" {{Status Effect|s}} symbol is a purple question mark, and the afflicted character has three of them coming out of their head.
* ''VideoGame/TheOtherAirisAdventure'': PictorialSpeechBubble of them are used when people get confused, like Airi, when she finds out that the Park has become an UnnaturallyLoopingLocation.

* Very common in ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}''. The page picture is from ''The Secret of the [[CoolBoat Unicorn]]'' when Tintin finds a cryptic message.

* On the ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'' handhelds, giving a Tamagotchi certain toys can invoke this.

* The "Use" command in ''[[VideoGame/AstekaIITemploDelSol Tombs & Treasure]]'' depicts a man scratching his head with one of these floating next to him.

* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has no confusion status effect, but it uses question marks to represent amnesia (the "silence" StatusEffect) instead.

* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has no confusion status effect, but it uses question marks to represent amnesia (the "silence" StandardStatusEffect) instead.

* Can happen on any text-based messaging platform, from instant messaging to comment sections, where responding in nothing but question marks is perfectly possible. Sometimes taken UpToEleven when someone reacts to a particularly perplexing story or image with just [[StunnedSilence a string of dozen or more question marks.]]

* All ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} comic strip artists have used this, but none so more than Bud Sagendorf, who downright littered his strips with question marks. A panel with question marks in four or five individual speech bubbles were hardly unusual.

* ''Anime/HanaukyoMaidTai'':

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': When Diana lifts a car that was about to hit a child a large question mark appears by the driver's side of the windshield, as both Diana and the child had been in a blind spot.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicTheFighters'', right after Dr. Eggman zaps your character with a cloning ray (which produces a grayscale doppelganger).
** Also, [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure the Chao]] sometimes turn the floating balls atop their heads into question-marks.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' cartoon, despite the generally serious tone, one of these appears for a split-second, maybe a frame, over Dr. Robotnik's head when he falls into a pit trap set by Antoine.

* In the ''[[WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' Saturday morning cartoon, despite the generally serious tone, one of these appears for a split-second, maybe a frame, over Dr. Robotnik's head when he falls into a pit trap set by Antoine.

* In ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', the Genie's ponytail forms a question mark as he wonders what riding animal to turn Abu into.