History Main / UglyHeroGoodLookingVillain

** And played straight with the {{Literature/Space Wolves}} and {{Literature/Salamanders}} who despite being [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Werewolf]] [[HornyVikings Vikings]] and [[ScaryBlackMen Scary Black Men]] respectively are actually one of the more genuinely heroic Space Marine Chapters.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Most of the villains aren't nearly as good looking as heroes but there are a few times when this trope gets played. [[GodGuise Enel]] and [[MarionetteMaster Doflamingo]] are tall and handsome blonde men while Luffy is a scrawny little pirate teenager. But personality-wise Luffy is '''a million times''' more decent human being than Enel and Doffy, both who borderline on the whole "human" part.

-->'''Cyclops''' [Jean] never loved you, you know. You always frightened her.\\
'''Wolverine''' And if she was here now... '''who''' do you think she'd be more frightened of?\\

-->-- '''Clopin''', ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has a little of this, though it's more like Deformed Hero, Normal Villain; Frollo isn't very good-looking, but his looks don't have the stigma attached to them that Quasimodo's do. Frollo teaches Quasimodo that he's "a monster", but in the end Quasi realizes that Frollo was the monster all along.

** Not to mention ''Literature/LordsAndLadies'', the Pratchett version of CantArgueWithElves. Elves are ''beautiful'', or at least appear to be.

* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' has shlubby-looking photojournalist Frank West (who was intentionally designed to be ugly/average-looking) foiling the terrorist plot of handsome villain [[DashingHispanic Carlitos Keyes]].

* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' has shlubby-looking photojournalist Frank West (who was intentionally designed to be ugly/average-looking) foiling the terrorist plot of handsome villain Carlitos Keyes.

* The "Exhibition Match" game of ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven Fever'' has you playing as a fat, ugly baseball batter, going up against an adorable female pitcher. Thing is, ''the pitcher's cheating'' (when she throws the ball, a monkey catches it behind a curtain and waits for a moment before throwing it, trying to catch you off-guard), making the batter the better man.

* The original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy often had location examples of this trope. The Rebel bases and ships were rusty, dirty, and falling apart. The Empire bases and ships were often clean and shiny. This emphasized the Rebels as underdogs that were scraping to get by while the Empire was very sterile and totalitarian.
** Inverted with Luke, Han Solo, [[EvilMakesYouUgly Darth Vader and Palpatine.]]

* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' pits shlubby-looking photojournalist Frank West (who was intentionally designed to be ugly/average-looking) against handsome villain Carlitos Keyes.

* ''Film/TheRoom'': The "hero" Johnny is played by Creator/TommyWiseau while the main antagonists are pretty DudeMagnet Lisa and the conventionally attractive Mark.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[-[[caption-width-right:288:Just the [[EgomaniacHunter good]]-[[GreenEyedMonster looking]] [[AxCrazy hero]] brutally stabbing that [[GentleGiant horrible]] [[WasOnceAMan monster]] to death with a [[SlasherSmile happy smile]] on his face... [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter Wait a second...]]]]-]

* Discussed/subverted at ''Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} A Death Worse Than Fate'', February 25, 2012. The Spectral Envoy (Wrestling/{{UltraMantis Black}} and Wrestling/{{Hallowicked}}) were challenging Team F.I.S.T. (Wrestling/ChuckTaylor and Wrestling/JohnnyGargano) for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-t.html CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas ({{tag team}} titles)]]. In The Envoy's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DqlyxjDKpY promo]], Mantis called their opponents "The Handsome Boy Modeling School." Team F.I.S.T. leader Icarus, who is not thought of like that, substituted for Gargano, making this a subversion.[[note]]For the record, Team F.I.S.T. retained, 2 falls to 1.[[/note]]

* The original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy often had location-example of this trope. The Rebel bases and ships were rusty, dirty, and falling apart. The Empire basis and ships were often clean and shiny. This emphasized the Rebels as underdogs that were scraping to get by while the Empire was very sterile and totalitarian.

[[quoteright:288:[[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gaston_beast.jpg]]]]

-->-- '''Clopin''', ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''

* ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' uses this with ugly hero The Beast and handsome villain Gaston. This is [[OlderThanTheyThink "borrowed"]] from Creator/JeanCocteau's film ''[[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast1946 La Belle et la Bête]]''. Interestingly, in Cocteau's version, the same actor played both the Beast and the Gaston-equivalent, and when the latter is killed, he takes on the Beast's appearance and the Beast's human form is that of the handsome villain. This situation leads the Belle character to muse whether she preferred this old form; this line was actually suggested to end Disney's movie as well.

* ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has a little of this, though it's more like Deformed Hero, Normal Villain; Frollo isn't very good-looking, but his looks don't have the stigma attached to them that Quasimodo's do. Frollo teaches Quasimodo that he's "a monster", but in the end Quasi realizes that Frollo was the monster all along.

* ''Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge'', much like Disney's ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'', has a handsome but black-hearted man who horribly abuses the heroine and an ugly but good-hearted Beast who she comes to love. The twist in this particular [=BatB=] retelling is that both of them are the ''[[SplitPersonality same person]]'', or at least [[SharingABody share the same body]] -- the major reveal at the book's end is that the Beast was actually the prince's original personality and his mother's wish for him to be handsome ended up creating "Jean-Loup", a separate personality who was good-looking but as ugly on the inside as the Beast was beautiful on the inside and [[SplitPersonalityTakeover overtook]] the Beast's personality until the enchantress "[[CursedWithAwesome cursed]]" him back into his original beastly form.

* Discussed/subverted at ''Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} A Death Worse Than Fate'', February 25, 2012. The Spectral Envoy (Wrestling/{{UltraMantis Black}} and Wrestling/{{Hallowicked}}) were challenging Team F.I.S.T. (Wrestling/ChuckTaylor and Wrestling/JohnnyGargano) for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-t.html CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas (tag team titles)]]. In The Envoy's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DqlyxjDKpY promo]], Mantis called their opponents "The Handsome Boy Modeling School." Team F.I.S.T. leader Icarus, who is not thought of like that, substituted for Gargano, making this a subversion.[[note]]For the record, Team F.I.S.T. retained, 2 falls to 1.[[/note]]
* [[Wrestling/RicFlair "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair]] dressed well and his millionaire playboy hedonist image made a decided contrast to [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes]], who readily admitted that he didn't [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9py4aMK3aIU "look like the athletes of today are supposed to look."]]

** Granny Weatherwax was never particularly attractive (although ugly would be an exaggeration much to her disappointment), her sister Lilith is a KnightTemplar fairy godmother (did the writers of ''Shrek'' read ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad''?) who looks like a younger and prettier version of Granny, and ironically was supposed to be the good one of the family.
** In ''Discworld/NightWatch'', the villainous Captain Swing believes in something like phrenology and thinks that rough heroic cop Sam Vimes has the face of a murderer, while SerialKiller Carcer has an honest face. Although it's been noted (and explored particularly in that book) that Vimes does have the capacity to be a murderer, but doesn't let himself.
** ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' uses the monster Aesop noted above. The heroine, Susan, is a nanny and uses a fireplace poker to kill monsters. At the end of the book, the [[PsychoForHire psychopathic assassin]] Teatime (whose boyish good looks are marred only by [[RedRightHand his creepy eyes]]) is at their home, along with Susan's grandfather, [[TheGrimReaper Death]] (long story). Teatime tries to convince the children that he is good and that Death is the one they should be afraid of and ends up with the poker being run through him, with one of the kids pointing out that the poker "only kills monsters".
** Not to mention ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', the Pratchett version of CantArgueWithElves. Elves are ''beautiful'', or at least appear to be.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Most of the villains aren't nearly as good looking as heroes but there are a few times when this trope gets played. [[GodGuise Enel]] and [[MarionetteMaster Domflamingo]] are tall handsome blonde men while Luffy is scrawny little pirate teenager. But personality-wise Luffy is million times more decent human being than Enel and Doffy who borderline on the whole "human" part.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' Peter Parker and Flash Tompson is classic example, with Petey being shy and sallow and Flash being athletic and proud, though where Peter is brave and compassionate, Flash was crude and shallow. But after high school Peter became a successful photographer and swift ChickMagnet, while Flash's attitude lost him a lot work and women. When becoming grudging friends, Flash acknowledges Peter became a better man than him and goes off to war to get of his shadow.

* In ''ComicBook/SinCity'', Marv has a face that looks like a worn out slab of concrete and fights mostly normal looking people (and Elijah Wood). He's (sort of) the good guy, [[GreyAndBlackMorality mainly by comparison though]].

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' can potentially play this trope straight if the PlayerCharacter is [[LooksLikeOrlok Nosferatu]] (who are so grotesque to look upon that just walking in the surface will risks breaking the Masquerade) since s/he will be going up against [[spoiler:[[ManOfAWealthAndTaste Sebastian LaCroix]] [[BigBadEnsemble and]] [[DragonLady Ming Xiao]]]], both of whom look very attractive. Initially averted, as their initial antagonist is the [[BodyHorror Tzimisce]] [[CardCarryingVillain Andrei]], since he looks ''far'' uglier than the PC (they will be bald with pointed ears and grey skin, while Andrei resembles an alien with his elongated face, reptilian features and spiked body).

* ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' is more frightening than ugly, but at least two of his enemies ('''Grigori Rasputin''' and his Nazi henchwoman, Ilsa Haupstein) are definitely [[EvilIsSexy sexy-type villains]]. Also note Prince Nuada, a very handsome elf prince, is the main antagonist of the second movie.