The DCU
Faux Affably Evil in this franchise. open/close all folders
Comic Books
Comic Books
- Batman:
- The Joker, Depending on the Writer. Sometimes he's this, sometimes he's Laughably Evil, and sometimes he's just a Monster Clown. Sometimes, he's more than one at the same time.
- The Penguin zigzags between this and being genuinely Affably Evil Depending on the Writer. At times he can be shown to be genuinely polite and respectful of others while having standards. When he's in a foul mood or the writers want to emphasize his more villainous nature, he will be this.
- The Riddler may seem Affably Evil when he's in a good mood, but his disposition can quickly take a hard swerve into dismissive Smug Smiler on a good day, and Ax-Crazy murderer if he's particularly tee'd off. His Arkhamverse counterpart leans more towards this, but it's present to some extent in all his incarnations.Riddler: Well, well. So the shaved monkey has failed. How utterly, utterly expected.
- The Mad Hatter is this. He dresses like a gentleman and acts like one, but he's a psychopath.
- Hush is a textbook example. Thomas Elliot acts all affable on the outside, but he truly means none of it. He cuts out the brakes of his parents' car at a disturbingly early age in order to inherit their money. He's a mass murdering psychopath who cares for no one but himself.
- During his time as king of Gotham's criminal underworld, the Black Mask had some great lines. Considering he built his empire on a mountain of corpses, and his hobby is torture, a lot of it Crosses the Line Twice.
- James Gordon Jr. is able to put up a facade of friendliness, but in reality he's a stone-cold psychopath who gets off on making people suffer.
- Mongul in the Alan Moore Superman story For the Man Who Has Everything is very much this.Mongul: I understand that your society makes distinctions based on age and gender. Perhaps you can tell me which one of you it would be polite to kill first.
- DC's Vandar Adg/Vandal Savage (who, having been alive since caveman days, is a little bit more than Really 700 Years Old) has often acted quite genteel towards Earth's heroes. He also had an unsatisfactory minion for dinner with some of his colleagues and other subordinates. Sorry, he had the minion as dinner. He's a sociopath who is surprisingly persuasive. Not actually likable, but still fairly persuasive, if only through the controversial "agree or I burn your parents alive" technique.
- Most of The Trust and the veteran Minutemen in 100 Bullets, with the exception of Wylie Times who is Affably Evil and Jack Daw who doesn't even try.
- To those she actually sees worthy of respect, Sandra Wu-San/Lady Shiva is actually incredibly polite, and even cracks jokes on occasion. But even her closest allies are keenly aware that she would kill or even torture them in an instant if it suited her purposes, or even if she just gets bored.
- Lex Luthor from Superman, when he's not portrayed as genuine Affably Evil, is this. Beneath his charismatic exterior lies a man who is willing to manipulate, steal, and commit murder to get what he wants.
- In Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, Lex is a xenophobic, pitiless, egomaniac, manipulative, murderous, smug monster. He directly or indirectly murdered Supergirl's baby cousin and Batgirl's parents. However, he is always cool and polite. He even beams at you as he explains that he has been manipulating you all along and he is now going to kill you.
- Wonder Woman
- Vol 1: Tirza, The Queenpin of the Yellow Mask Gang, comes in and shoos away her men from torturing Myrna Dearfield, has the woman unmasked and acts as though the gang's brutality is excessive and tries to get Myrna to tell her where Dr. Dearfield's atomic weapon notes are hidden supposedly to prevent the men from doing more harm to Myrna, while at the same time drugging her. She also intends to kill Myrna for having seen her face and to track down Myrna's young son to use as leverage against her and to kill since he witnessed his mother's abduction.
- Vol 1: Solo and the other Masters of Neptune pretend to have crashed on Earth by accident and claim to want to help humanity. They're actually plotting to turn humans into their pets and slaves and jettison the Earth out of orbit and back towards Neptune for their own use.
- Earth 2: Wotan engages in a bit of polite conversation with Jay Garrick's mother, but soon tells her not to mistake a polite façade for the truth; if he doesn't get what he wants from Jay, he will kill her.
Films
Films
- Batman Film Series:
- Jack Nicholson's portrayal of The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) qualifies as this, like in his scene with Vicki at the museum and his scene with Bruce and Vicki at Vicki's apartment.
- Christopher Walken again in Batman Returns. His Max Shreck is a master at balancing his dual roles of gentleman and thug, acting just menacing enough to be chilling while also being just charming enough to let you know that no one would ever believe you if you ratted on him. Like when he catches Selina Kyle looking over his secret — and illegal — plans to stockpile electrical power:
- He then backs her against a window, letting on that he might, you know, just decide to shove her out of it. Then he puts on a "just-kidding" facial expression, and they both laugh. Then he snarls and slams her through.
Max: Who would you say this to?
Selina: [nervously] Nobody.
Max: What did... curiosity do... to the cat?
Selina: I'm no cat. I'm just an assistant. A secretary.
Max: And a very good one.
Selina: Too good?- Poison Ivy from Batman & Robin. She's a very attractive woman who flirts with many different men, but she's a terrorist with plans to have plants take back the world and has a deadly kiss. She plays many men like a fiddle, including Freeze when she lies that Batman and Robin have murdered his wife. The best example though his with Robin, who she flirts with the most and convinces him she loves him. When they are alone in her lair she finally kisses him, only to reveal her true colors and reveals he will die, then shoves him from her throne into the pond to drown him.
- Bane, the villain in The Dark Knight Rises, is terrifyingly brutal and utterly merciless. But he sounds like Patrick Stewart after four martinis and a large dose of Ecstasy, calm, polite, and friendly... even when he's crushing your skull.
- SHAZAM! (2019): Dr. Thaddeus Sivana can act somewhat cordial at times, but it still doesn't hide how truly ruthless and vengeful he is. Case in point, once he intrudes on the Vasquez household, he initially compliments the place... before taking it back and spitefully calling it a shithole.
Live-Action TV
Live-Action TV
- Arrowverse
- Arrow:
- Edward Fyers initially appears to be benevolent, offering Oliver some much-needed refreshment after his traumatic crash. When it turns out that Oliver is lying as to Yao Fei's location, however, he hands him over to Deathstroke for a brutal interrogation.
- Slade Wilson, by the time of his return in the present day. When he meets Oliver Queen's family, he acts incredibly polite and gentlemanly. Once he catches Oliver's sister Thea alone, the mask comes off and he reveals himself to be a psychopath who wants to ruin Oliver's life via his loved ones.
- The Flash (2014): Eobard Thawne as Harrison Wells comes off as a genuinely kindly, almost fatherly sort of guy who cares about Barry and his friends. However, when his true identity is revealed, he shows that he is completely willing to murder the people he cares about in order to ensure his plans are successful. He never quite loses the friendly mannerisms, but his actions speak louder than his words.
- Arrow:
Video Games
Video Games
- Batman: Arkham Series
- The Joker acts this way in Batman: Arkham Asylum and again in Batman: Arkham City.
- The Riddler is like this — until you start beating him.Riddler: It's hardly a surprise. I always knew I was better than you.
Western Animation
Western Animation
- The villains on Batman: The Animated Series run the gamut, from genuinely Affably Evil as long as you don't make them angry to flat-out nasty and no fun at all to be around.
- The Joker is more than capable of being polite and acting like a gentleman... when he feels like it. He's an incredibly petty person who will fly into a rage at the slightest obstacle, and take out his anger on whoever happens to be nearby (be it Batman, Robin, Harley Quinn, one of his mooks, a random driver on the road, etc).
- Poison Ivy is one of the most ladylike terrorists and murderesses you can imagine - and is an outright Bitch in Sheep's Clothing as her everyday self, Pamela Isley. Making it all the more satisfying when the tables are turned on her and this smug beauty becomes a shrieking harpy, best demonstrated in her debut episode "Pretty Poison".
- Most of the villains in The Batman qualify as well. Special mention goes to this version's Joker. For example he spends one episode being nice to a kid named Donnie and pulling pranks on people with him. Then when Donnie is unwilling to pull more deadly pranks (like launching a tied up Batgirl into the side of a building) Joker tries to dump him into a vat of chemicals to make him just like Joker.
- Harley Quinn (2019)
- The Joker is this as usual. He is very charismatic and Laughably Evil, but he's still the same murderous Monster Clown as always.
- The Scarecrow is initially set up as an Affably Evil Gossip Hen, but he later turns out to be no better than his other incarnations, performing horrible experiments on Poison Ivy to help him, Joker, and the Queen of Fables create an army of monstrous trees to take over Gotham.
- The Queen of Fables herself is initially shown to be very friendly with Harley. After she is released from the tax code she was magically sealed in, she proves herself to be far more ruthless and evil than Harley and her crew thought, and she tries to kill Harley despite their former bond.
- Slade in Teen Titans (2003) is softly-spoken and tries to present himself as a mentor and father figure to both Robin and Terra at various points. He's also cruel, manipulative, and brutal, and positively radiates creepiness.
