Scarf of Asskicking

There are many ways to show that someone is badass, one of which is to give them a scarf. It can be of any color, although it's frequently red, yellow, or black. It seems to almost always be flowing in the wind. May possibly be a Shout-Out to Kamen Rider, one of the earlier uses of the trope and is quite iconic in Japan.

Bonus points if the scarf partly or completely covers the mouth.

May require serious MST3K Mantra when you realize that a long bolt of cloth wrapped around your neck is one of the first things you should take off before getting into a fight^note In fact, this is why they stopped using them regularly in Kamen Rider.

A Sister Trope to Badass Cape and Fedora of Asskicking. Frequently part of an Adventurer Outfit. Can occasionally be replaced with a sash or a Martial Arts Headband.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Afro Samurai:
  • Afro Samurai does something similar with the Number Two headband. Actually, anyone with one of the headbands gets this effect.
  • Ninja Ninja does it with an actual scarf.
• In Attack on Titan, Mikasa nearly always wears a long red one, whether she's killing Titans several meters tall or taking on highly skilled soldiers. It's a keepsake from her childhood when Eren offered it to her when she said she was cold after he'd just rescued her from human traffickers.
  • On that note, albeit only then, Eren himself, who was wearing said scarf when he rescued Mikasa by stabbing two adult human traffickers to death, all by himself.
• Kai Hiwatari from Bakuten Shoot Beyblade wears a white one in the first and third seasons. It's weighted in the latter. There are multiple occasions during the first season that people (rightfully!) assume he's the toughest of the BBA and while not as explicit in later seasons there's always this thing about him that makes people know. Takao and Kyōju fairly poke fun at the inseparableness of Kai's attitude and Kai's scarf in S3E8. There's also Shōgo in Bakuten Shoot Beyblade 2002 - Gekisen! Team Battle!!, who has a red scarf and is a member of highly powerful Team Amō.
• Lin Xiao Li (aka Number X) from Black Cat takes this trope quite literally as his weapon is an actual scarf.
• Mr. Chang's scarf in Black Lagoon doesn't serve any practical purpose other than increasing the coolness of his outfit (which, itself, is a homage to John Woo's The Triads and the Tongs movies) tenfold. Needless to say, he is extremely, over-the-top badass.
• Bleach:
  • Byakuya's scarf is a symbol of his position as Kuchiki clan leader. It's also ridiculously expensive, worth enough to buy ten mansions.
  • Mashiro is a Kamen Rider Shout-Out so she naturally wears a scarf to go with her white bodysuit and the Hollow mask that looks like a Kamen Rider helmet.
  • After the time-skip, Hitsugaya has taken to wearing one. It's a slightly more ragged example than Byakuya's although he wears it in the same way. It's turquoise to fit in with his Ice Person image and colour scheme.
  • Rangiku wears a pink scarf. A Filler episode has her using it to take down an evil copy of Kira, making it a literal application of this trope.
• Buso Renkin as well. Kazuki looked pretty cool when he used the fabric from his kakugane as a scarf to hide his face. (It didn't work, but it was still cool.)
• In Change 123, the protagonist is an Otaku fan of the Kamen Raider series (a Shout-Out to/Lawyer-Friendly Cameo of Kamen Rider). At one point, he goes into action dressed up as a raider, including the standard issue scarf. And, of course, since he is such a clumsy nerd, he steps on this scarf and stumbles.
• Arguably among the oldest examples in Anime or Manga, dating from 1964; the main nine cyborg characters of Cyborg 009 all wear iconic flowing yellow scarves as part of their uniform. Since they were created by none other than Shotaro Ishinomori, the man who would later create Kamen Rider in 1971, this should be no surprise.
• Digimon:
  • Justimon is basically a Digimon verison of Kamen Rider. It also has a prominent role in Digimon Tamers.
  • Before Justimon came to be in the aforementioned anime, his Biomerge Digivolution core, Ryo, wore a red scarf while roaming in the Digital World.
  • Lobomon wears one as well. It also has a big anime role, specifically Digimon Frontier.
  • Another notable example of this trope is Pandamon, who is more of a parody of this trope than an example of it.
  • The King version of Shoutmon dons battle scars and a yellow kick-ass scarf. It first appeared in Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time as Taiki's Partner Digimon.
• Dragon Ball:
  • In Dragon Ball Super, Bergamo, one of Universe 9's top fighters, wears a scarf. Slightly averted, though, as he is not one of the strongest fighters in the tournament, as evidenced by his quick elimination.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Natsu is rarely seen without his trademark scarf. It Was a Gift from his foster father, Igneel. He's without it for a total of 5 panels. Four with him as a small child in a flashback before he got the scarf, one when he makes Lucy wear it hoping she'll be mistaken for him by Erza.
  • Erza Knightwalker and Romeo after the seven year time skip also wear one.
• Haruko of FLCL wears a scarf quite often. Since her main mode of transportation is a supersonic Vespa, it makes a bit more sense than most... until you remember she doesn't use it or her goggles while flying.
• Getter Robo: Ryoma Nagare, Hayato Jin and Musashi Tomoe all have them on their outfits. Getter Robo Armageddon even has the titular robot itself use a scarf as an impromptu weapon.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers:
  • This is one of Psychopathic Manchild Russia's trademarks. According to the manga, it's a gift from his older sister Ukraine.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All over the place in Battle Tendency. Joseph and Caesar wear them as part of their combat gear, while Straizo and Lisa Lisa both weaponize them.
• The titular protagonist of Kamen no Ninja Akakage with his red scarf. Predating Kamen Rider both as a comic and Toku, he is the one Strider Hiryuu gets his look from. All ninjas with trailing scarves go back to Akakage, often carrying on the striking red color.
• In chapter 19 of Karneval, the badass split personality of Yogi saves Gareki from the split personality's own attack with his long-ass ass-kicking scarf.
• Kekkaishi: Mudou's scarf is a literal example of this trope as he can use it in battle in Ayakashi form. He can use it to grab or strangle enemies, slash through objects objects or increase it to several times its length.
• In one plot arc of Kill la Kill, Senketsu, the uniform that grants Ryuko her power, is chopped to pieces. Unfortunately for the villains, Ryuko managed to keep a single piece, which she wears as this sort of scarf for the following episode while reassembling him.
• In Kino's Journey, Kino usually wears a scarf, although it's most notable during the winter scenes or when driving her moterad in bad weather.
• Satone Shichimiya from Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! wears one specifically for the "asskicking" imagery. She at the very least likes pretending she can kick ass.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Garyuu in what may possibly be a nod to Kamen Rider, considering how he's a humanoid insect.
  • Cute Bruiser Subaru has the flappy headband variant.
• Kouji Kabuto from Mazinger Z was going to wear a scarf, but Go Nagai removed it when Kamen Rider premiered because he did not want people thinking that he was ripping it off. Tetsuya Tsurugi, from Great Mazinger, wears one constantly, though.
• Space Medafighter X/Uchuu Medarotter X uses one in Medabots, since his outfit is an entire Shout-Out to Kamen Rider.
• In Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Domon Kasshu and Master Asia exemplify the alternatives to this trope respectively. Hell, Master Asia IMPALES and destroys mobile suits with his scarf.
• My Hero Academia features the teacher Eraser Head, who fits this trope by kicking ass with his otherwise impractically long scarf made of steel wire alloy woven with carbon nanofibers. Eraser Head later goes on to share this trope with Hitoshi Shinso, a student from the General course who works to transfer into the Hero course and successfully does so with some help and training from Eraser Head.
• Mai in My-HiME, and though the scarf only shows up in the opening animation, she's the lead, and her Empathic Weapon CHILD has more or less the capabilities of a nuke.
• Naruto:
  • Konohamaru has never been seen without a scarf, though it initially didn't help him much in the way of asskicking or popularity. Still, he eventually takes a level in badass by distracting Pain with a Shadow Clone, allowing him to become the first defender to land a good hit on one of his bodies.
  • Killer Bee also has a white scarf, and wears it well.
  • Tobi wears a scarf in his first appearance.
  • Akatsuchi also wears a large yellow scarf, though he actually wears it in the front.
  • Not technically In-Universe, but do an image search for "Kakashi ANBU" on DeviantArt. At least 40% of the pictures will involve the Giant Red Scarf of Badassery — which he barely even wore yet it has made its way even into licensed merchandise.◊ It's from the first movie. While in Snow country, Kakashi wears a scarf in addition to his mask. The scarf is also seen in the flashback to his last mission that took place in Snow, which was when he was in ANBU. Amusingly enough, both Kakashi and his would-be rival Might Guy wore scarves when they were academy students; Guy kept up the habit for a little longer afterward.
  • Naruto sports two in The Last: Naruto the Movie. The first one was the green one knitted by his late mother Kushina. The second one was the red one given to him by Hinata, and it helped him finally defeat Toneri.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • Being a Ninja, Kaede naturally wears the tattered rag she received as her Artifact like a long, flowing scarf.
  • And on the villain side, Tsukuyomi sometimes wears a scarf as part of her Impossibly Cool Clothes.
• Ririka, heroine of Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, sports a scarf that looks rather like a pair of wings when she assumes her Magical Girl Warrior form.
• Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!'s title character has two flame-like scarves in her Full Force Form; though the series is packed full of Kamen Rider references, in this case it's actually an homage to Knight Blazer from Wild ARMs 2.
• Tandoji of Sacred Seven has one of these. And makes it live up to the "Ass-kicking" part, by turning it into a lethal Whip Sword.
• Saint Seiya:
  • Crane Yuzuriha, a Silver Saint from Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, has a scarf that literally kicks ass (through its wearer's telekinesis).
  • Sagittarius Seiya also wears one in Saint Seiya Omega.
• In Saki Achiga-hen, Yuu Matsumi, who is especially susceptible to cold, wears a scarf even in the summer. During some of her more impressive moments, it appears as this, such as when Izumi reflects on how she's unable to win against Yuu and two other third-years.
• In Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi, Yoichi wears a long green scarf and tends to kick ass (when not confronted by women). Of course, the scarf is also sometimes used to drag him away from another one of his "misunderstandings".
• Mutsu from Sekirei wears a yellow scarf, and is one of the strongest of the titular battle aliens.
• Soul Eater:
  • Asura has prehensile scarves of a sort, made of his own skin and usable as both incredibly strong protection and deadly weapons.
• Speed Racer: Go Mifune/Speed Racer wears a scarf-like, red neckerchief.
• The protagonist of Symphogear, Hibiki, wears a pair of scarf-like things on her symphogear starting with season 2. With gems on the end for some extra flair. By the last season, they evolve into an actual scarf, pulled down to stop covering her mouth during her Transformation Sequence. Her Alternate Universe counterpart from the mobile game has a scarf from the beginning, complete with mouth-covering.
• Lots in Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee. It helps that it's part of the letter bee uniform.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
  • In the first half of the series, Friendly Sniper Yoko wears one... and little else. She ditches the scarf post-timeskip, but doesn't kick any less ass without it.
  • Viral picks up a tattered one (echoing Kamina's cape, given Viral's status as, well, you know) after the time-skip and wears it over his◊ poncho cape thing. When he formally joins the team and becomes the latest pilot of the Gurren, he ditches said poncho cape thing for something closer to what a space robot pilot would wear, but keeps the scarf◊.
• Hime from Yozakura Quartet.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Ra Yellow student Kagurazaka wore one of these while imitating Atem. He was still defeated, but it was arguably one of Judai's harder opponents, as it was the second one-on-one duel he fought that was split into more than one episode.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds:
  • A lot of Yusei's monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds wear this kind of scarf (Junk Synchron, Junk Warrior, Tuningware, Scrap-iron Scarecrow).
  • Yusei himself wears one in the 5D's manga.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Reiji Akaba, the resident Kaiba Expy wears a long red scarf instead of a Badass Longcoat. Like the Kaiba coats, Reiji's scarf defies gravity and has its own Dramatic Wind.
  • A case could also be made for Shun Kurosaki, wearing his red Resistance scarf and being able to pysically beat up prison guards, although his scarf is subdued by the long coat he also wears.

Comic Books

• The Shadow: Pulp-era hero the Shadow. Probably one of the earliest examples of this trope in fiction. Although the scarf itself is not a part of the original character design (it was the prominent red lining of his coat and the collar used to cover his face) but instead added in the character's DC series.
  • In the Batman/The Shadow crossover, it appears as two billowing red sheets that always stretch beyond the panel and have no visible end◊, which often makes them appear bigger than The Shadow himself. This panel◊ in particular shows it as long enough to dwarf Man-Bat and Clayface in size. Partially justified in that The Shadow is a master of illusion who frequently changes form as he clouds men's minds.
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Mina Murray, although her asskicking is generally more mental than physical. She wears a scarf to cover her neck scars from Dracula.
• Major Grom: A long scarf is part of Igor Grom's regular ensemble. Sometimes he allows it to flow freely behind him; others, he tucks it into his leather jacket.
• Mega Man (Archie Comics): Oil Man wears one over his face to hide his, ahem, lips of a certain offensively stereotypical persuasion.
• Ms. Marvel: Ms. Marvel's original costume. Her current costume still retains the visual element, but now it's a waist sash. The new Ms. Marvel has since brought the scarf back into style.
• Primal Warrior Draco Azul: Draco Azul is outfitted with a tattered red scarf that it can use to wrap up opponents. It's revealed in "Legacy of Valor" that the scarf is all that remains of a regal red cape that the mech was originally adorned with and speculates it was shredded during Draco Azul's fight with Quetzalcoatl.
• Strikeback: Rascal had a striped red-and-white scarf he could morph into things like frying pans, chainsaws, baseball bats, etc.
• Watchmen: Rorschach. But he keeps his scarf tucked into his Badass Longcoat.
• Werewolf by Night: The supervillain Tatterdemalion wears a long scarf tipped with lead weights which he uses as a weapon. It was later enchanted by the demon Sattanish to be strong enough to choke Wonder Man.

Fan Works

• The Bridge:
  • Monster X's human form has a twin-tailed scarf as a part of his Morphic Resonance motif to his true form, which has a split tail. As for the latter half of this trope, he's probably in the top five badasses in the story, even after being turned into a human.
  • The Mirror Universe version of the Mane-iac, who is a superhero, has a scarf as part of her costume. In battle, she tricks opponents into hitting the scarf instead of her head and neck. It is designed to be easily detachable if it is grabbed.
• In Wonderful (Mazinja), Wonder Red wears a red scarf. It's her "battle scarf", and Taylor doesn't appreciate Sophia calling it dorky.

Film

• Really weird scarf/cape/Squick hybrid: In The Cell, a journey into a serial killer's mind, one of the manifestations of his psyche is a huge man with metal rings set into his back, and velvet cloth hanging from the rings. When he stands up and walks forward, the velvet is dragged along behind him like a bridal train ... and the velvet curtains in the background all start to rise at once, as they're actually part of the extremely long scarves linked to his back. Creepy as freakin' hell.
• The burglar Harry wears a thick, badass scarf in each of the Home Alone films, though the one he wears in the second film is longer and thicker and is wrapped high around his neck for most of the film.
• A scarf is worn by Charlton Heston as treasure-hunter Harry Steele in the film Secret of the Incas, one of the primary inspirations for Indy and his outfit.
• Many of John Woo's heroes (usually played by Chow Yun-Fat) in his early Heroic Bloodshed movies wore white scarves to their black Badass Longcoats. Think Mark Gor from A Better Tomorrow and Ah Jong from The Killer (1989), for example.
• The Marvels (2023): The Aladnans equip Kamala with a scarf. While fighting the Kree, Prince Yan tells her it is a weapon and she finds it makes an effective flail.
• In the Sherlock Holmes-meets-Jack the Ripper film Murder by Decree, Holmes weaponizes his trademark scarf by weighing it down and swinging it like a cudgel.
• Lady's thick badass scarf in The Quick and the Dead certainly qualifies, and needless to say, goes well with her Badass Longcoat.
• Knives seems to acquire an incredibly long black and white knitted scarf for her battle outfit during the climax of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. She even uses it to disarm Gideon Graves during that final battle.
• Loki wears long stylish scarves with his Badass Longcoats when he puts on human clothes in both Thor and The Avengers.
• Like his comic-book counterpart, the 1994 film version of The Shadow wears a red scarf around his neck and across his lower face as part of his costume.

Literature

• Ryan Cawdor of the Deathlands series has a white silk scarf weighed at the ends, for the entirely practical reason that no one suspects it's a useful garotte.
• Thea Stilton from Geronimo Stilton sports a lavender scarf.
• Skulduggery Pleasant usually takes a scarf with him whenever he goes out in the first few books. Being a skeleton, it's not to protect him from cold but rather to cover his face if he needs to hide from Muggles. Eventually, he gets a magical disguise which removes this need.
• Mat Cauthon of The Wheel of Time series constantly wears a black silk scarf from book four on. It's to cover up the scar from where he was hung from a tree by the neck.

Live-Action TV

• The Defenders (2017): Jessica Jones typically wears a tattered scarf during periods of cool or cold weather. When she and Matt Murdock are infiltrating Midland Circle and find themselves under attack by the Hand, Matt borrows it to use as an improvised mask to hide his identity, much to Jessica's confusion.
  Jessica Jones: You look like an idiot.
  Matt Murdock: It's your scarf.
• Doctor Who:
  • The Badass Bookworm Fourth Doctor. In at least one episode, he actually used it to trip up enemies.
    • One interesting note: the Fourth's very, very, very, VERY long scarf was originally intended to be of just ordinary length. But apparently the costume designer bought a huge amount of wool in various colours and hired a friend to knit a scarf from it... and she used it all. "Witty little knitter" indeed. Also, it was shortened after "The Sontaran Experiment" when its length caused Tom Baker to trip and break his collarbone on location, requiring a double to take his place in long shots (!).
    • And tripping enemies wasn't the only use for the absurdly long and iconic accessory.
    • Early on, he made the throwaway comment that it was knitted by Lady Nostradamus.
  • The Seventh Doctor sported a silk paisley scarf, but it served no function other than being a natty accessory.
  • Amy Pond, the Eleventh Doctor's first companion, has one too. Admittedly, it's not half as long as Four's, nor is it used to trip people.
  • The Thirteenth Doctor sports a rainbow-striped scarf in the first pictures from the 2019 New Year's Day special.
• Kamen Rider, in its earlier incarnations, has the hero with a scarf. Just having it makes them badass. Much homaged and referenced in Japanese media, as stated above and seen throughout the article. The tradition was dropped in 1987's Kamen Rider BLACK (due primarily to safety reasons), but the following Mythology Gags have cropped up in later shows:
  • In Kamen Rider Agito, Sixth Ranger Another Agito has two scarves; in fact, his entire design is a Mythology Gag: he looks like an organic version of Kamen Rider 1.
  • The Big Bad of Kamen Rider 555, the Arch Orphnoch, is a Rider-like monster (in fact, his insectoid theme makes him more Rider-like than that series' Riders) with a bifurcated cape that resembles a pair of scarves.
  • Lampshaded or subverted, depending on your point of view, when the Evil Twin from Kamen Rider Blade is only distinguishable by the fact that he's wearing a scarf.
  • Kamen Rider Kabuto pays homage to this in a chapter where Souji shows up wearing a scarf just before transforming. It's also the Kamen Rider anniversary chapter.
  • In early episodes of Kamen Rider Den-O, Ryotaro wears a red scarf in his street clothes as part of a Shout-Out to his predecessors; ironically, when Momotaros possesses him he throws off the scarf before he starts kicking ass in the first episode.
    • When Momotaros appears in Kamen Rider Decade, anybody possessed by him spontaneously gains a red scarf along with the usual effects of his possession (spiked hair with a single red lock, red eyes, voice change, muscle mass increase).
  • Kamen Rider Double gains a scarf, but only when he uses his Cyclone powers; in The Movie, when Kamen Rider Decade splits Double into two whole beings, the CycloneCyclone Double has two scarves. Also, the recurring antagonist Nasca Dopant has a bifurcated scarf. He undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, only to be murdered by his wife shortly thereafter. The movie-exclusive Kamen Rider Skull has a tattered scarf as part of his outfit.
  • A similar homage as Kabuto and/or Den-O occurs in Kamen Rider OOO when Eiji receives a red scarf as a gift.
  • In Kamen Rider Drive, Kamen Rider Mach is designed as a massive homage to the original incarnations and includes a scarf hanging off of one shoulder.
  • In Kamen Rider Build, the title character gains a scarf when he uses his Ninja-themed powers.
  • In Kamen Rider Zi-O, has Rentaro Kagura aka Kamen Rider Shinobi who's a Ninja-themed rider with purple scarf. Likewise with Kamen Rider Woz when he's Power Copying Shinobi, he also has the purple scarf that Shinobi has on his suit.
  • In Kamen Rider Zero-One, Zero-One's Super Mode Zero-Two takes design inspiration from the original Riders; and while he doesn't have an actual scarf he has armor plates sticking up off the side of his neck to evoke the imagery of one.
  • Kamen Rider Saber includes Kamen Rider Kenzan, another Ninja-themed Rider with a scarf as part of the look.
  • In Kamen Rider Revice, Vice wears a scarf in most of his Kamen Rider forms. In this case, the scarves are often Kibbles and Bits for toy functionality — Vice and his partner Revi can combine into animal forms, and the scarves are sometimes used to make part of the form. For instance, in their default forms they can become a T. rex where Vice's scarf makes the tail.
  • Kamen Rider Geats is themed after a kitsune, and sports a white scarf that resembles a fox's tail. It gets replaced by a bigger, non-fox-like gold scarf when he uses a "Fever" form (activated by getting two of the same powerup at once), but otherwise disappears when he gets upgrades — until his Super Mode, which multiplies the scarf into a nine-tail cape.
  • Kamen Rider Gotchard wears a white scarf in all his forms (at least the humanoid ones). The head writer has said that the season is a bit of a throwback to the early installments, so the scarf is presumably part of the homage.
• Though it's not a traditional scarf, Merlin's neckerchief deserves a spot here.
  • After 4 seasons of uncontested scarf-badassery, Merlin finally meets his match when Mordred reappears with an even bigger, more awesome scarf.
• Super Sentai series, particularly those before Dynaman, used scarves. However, they had to change into scarf-less spandex because it was a lot safer to do with stunts. However, X-1 Mask, Black Puma, and Koguma Skyblue wear them. Koguma Skyblue's scarf also has weights on the ends so it can be used as a weapon.
  • When Kimberly time-travels into the Wild West in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, she recruits some of the local cowboys (counterparts of her modern-day friends) to be stand-in Rangers, and they have cowboy bandanas as part of their suits.
  • The Akibarangers have small capes attached to one shoulder that are intended to resemble scarves.
• Ultra Series:
  • Seiji Hokuto and Yuko Minami, the human hosts of Ultraman Ace, wear white and yellow scarves with their TAC uniforms respectively. Apparently, Seiji wears a white scarf when he first appeared in the show and it remains as part of his Iconic Outfit.
  • Kotaro Higashi, the human host of Ultraman Taro, also wears a white scarf. His actor suggested this because he was inspired by Seiji's outfit. Later on in the show, the other three Ultra brothers (Ultraman, Seven, and Jack) in the human form also wear white scarves.

Mythology

• In one of the variations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain gets one of these at the end to cover a newly received scar on his neck. As a show of solidarity, the other knights wear scarves as well. Another variation has a green sash. After Gawain tells the other knights about everything that happened, King Arthur laughs and decides that all the Knights of the Round Table should wear green sashes as well, in honor of his cousin's adventure.

New Media

• Gaia Online has several items like this that your avatar can wear. Most are limited-edition and highly sought by collectors, like the Nitemare Scarf.
  • Several NPCs also wear scarves. Labtech X was famous for adding a tattered scarf to his Labtech Uniform to hide his face He later traded his cyan-green scarf for a jet black one, complete with a full face covering and large X on the front. This appropriately named "Sinister Scarf" is one of the four rewards you can earn from defeating the Mechlab Bot at X's Underwater Base. The "Chyaku Norisu Scarf," a popular limited edition item, is worn by high ranking members of the Chyaku Norisu Clan (namely Kin, though two other NPC concepts have been seen wearing similar scarves).
• Nhazul, the protagonist of..well..Nhazul's stick flashes from 2008-present, sometimes sports a rather magnificent one (for one worn by a stick figure).
  • Tentionmaru, another stick figure and Nhazul's comrade, also sports one that doubles as a Morph Weapon.
• Averted in There Will Be Brawl: One of the henchmen wears a yellow scarf, the only clue that he's supposed to be Isaac. In his case, it's a Scarf Of Getting Your Ass Falcon Punched Into Oblivion.

Professional Wrestling

• Antonio Inoki's second trademark was his red scarf (his first was his chin).
• Ivory carried one for a time in the "Alliance" stage of her WWE run, sometimes hooking it in her pants.
• Nikki Storm sometimes wears a pink scarf during her entrances.

Tabletop Games

• Pathfinder has bladed scarves as an exotic weapon for Clothing Combat. One archetype for the Magus character class specializes in the bladed scarf, which boosts their defenses and can channel some of their supernatural abilities.

Theatre

• In RENT, Mark Cohen's character wears a blue and grey scarf throughout most of the show. During filming, Mark's actor wanted to wear the same scarf he had worn while performing on Broadway, but the colors didn't work so well on camera, so a substitute was made (with the real scarf possessing a place of honor on the set at all times).

Video Games

• .hack: Ovan of the .hack//Roots anime and .hack//G.U. games has a light blue scarf that often covers the bottom part of his face. Along with a Badass Whitecoat and Scary Shiny Glasses, he's exactly as powerful as his accessories would suggest.
• Some of the equippable capes and back items in AdventureQuest Worlds are scarves, especially with some being color customizable.
• Jude in Agarest Senki 2 abuses this with flair in his battle animation, and his victory pose.
• Konoha of Arcana Heart, another Ninja. Her long red scarf is large enough (and her small enough) to be used as an impromptu glider.
• The Kid, the Heroic Mime of Bastion, winds up as something of a One-Man Army and is never seen without his scarf.
• Bang Shishigami from BlazBlue wears one. It's as manly as he is.
• Bloodborne: The so-called "holy shawl" is part of the traditional clerical attire of the Healing Church, meaning that most Church-aligned Hunters and bosses wear it. The earliest example is Father Gascoigne, who combines a tattered scarf with a Badass Longcoat and serves as the early-game Wake-Up Call Boss. Much later, you may also encounter the Optional Boss Martyr Logarius, who sports the original holy shawl, as his gear's Flavor Text explains that the Church has incorporated his personal style into their official habits to honor his martyrdom.
• Boktai has Django wearing his father's crimson scarf, which becomes wings when he turns into a vampire.
• Castlevania
  • A random encounter in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow had a skeleton wearing nothing but a Kamen Rider style red scarf, who attacked Kamen Rider style, with flying kicks. See here for more.
    • It never shows up on your sprite, but on occasion the Kicker Skeleton will drop its scarf of asskicking as an item.
    • From the same game, check out Julius Belmont's character art: he's got a red scarf on, too, though it's much smaller and less dramatic than the Kicker Skeleton's scarf.
  • In the PSP remake of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Dracula X Chronicles, all of the characters were redesigned. Richter Belmont's (the main playable character) new design includes a similar scarf to Julius', but it's white instead of red.
  • Iga's semi-spinoff^note It's done by much of the same team as the Castlevania and features all the well-known Castlevania tropes, but it's basically a game Konami would not let them make and they had to fund the game through Kickstarter and remove all Castlevania branding Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night gives protaonist Miriam one of these as an armor slot of its own, and different scarves feature different cosmetic effects.
• The Disgaea games give the hero of the game a red scarf. Laharl of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness has one. Almaz in the third game has a scarf too but, considering his Chew Toy status, the "of Asskicking" part is debatable. The lead Prinny in Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? wears a red scarf that also prevents him from randomly exploding as Prinnies tend to do. Or rather, there's one scarf which is shared between a thousand Prinnies and passed down whenever one dies and the main character is whoever is currently wearing the scarf.
  • And then there's Adell of Disgaea 2 and his Necktie of Asskicking, a unique variant also worn by his birth parents.
    • Nisa even wears one in Neptunia and later Disgaea games as she's an anime personification of NIS in general.
• Party members Bethany, Merrill, and Aveline all wear Scarves of Asskicking in various colors in Dragon Age II. Developer commentary reveals that this design choice was primarily driven by the fact that all three change their armors in the course of the story, so the devs had to animate their body and head models separately to save money, placing their scarves strategically to conceal the "seam" where their heads are attached to their respective current body models at runtime.
• The earlier Final Fantasy games with concept art by Yoshitaka Amano are heavily loaded with characters wearing dozens of scarves and sashes. Later Final Fantasy games by Tetsuya Nomura switched from the scarves and sashes to belts and zippers.
  • The male version of the Mimic class in Final Fantasy Tactics also wears a scarf.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Micaiah and Sothe of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn wear these.
  • Volke, from both Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, sports a pretty nifty scarf, which only serves to add to his general intrigue.
  • Nils in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, too. Doesn't make sense until you find out he's a dragon.
• Isaac from Golden Sun. If a 17-year-old kid told you he was out to save the world, would you believe him if he was wearing a bright yellow scarf? Well, neither did Saturos, Menardi, Agatio, or Karst. Or anyone else outside your party, for that matter.
  • Speaking of Menardi, her Sash of Asskicking also fits the qualifications of this trope.
  • Isaac's scarf has been passed down to his son, Matthew for the threequel. And yes, he wears it well.
• Gunstar Green in Gunstar Heroes wears a blue skarf at the start of the Seven Force battle.
• In Inazuma Eleven, Fubuki Shirou, the icy ace striker of Hakuren, wears one. Also a Tragic Keepsake.
• The main character of Intrusion 2 has a flowing red scarf, and since he shoots laser guns at flying octopus robots while riding a giant wolf his status as an asskicker is pretty obvious.
• Jak gets one of these in Jak II: Renegade and Jak 3: Wastelander.
  • Nathan Drake follows in the footsteps of the former Naughty Dog protagonist in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.
• Hero the, erm, hero from Jitsu Squad wears a flowing red scarf alongside his ninja attire, an outfit that's likely inspired by Strider.
• Your character in Journey (2012) wears on his/her cape a scarf containing energy used to perform flying. Scarves are charged when you touch a form of cloth, and to make them grow, you have to collect glowing symbols around the world of the game. If you fail at evading the war machines, you will be caught on sight by them as a punishment, shredding the scarf apart. Since there's little to no violence in the game, it ignores the "Asskicking" part of this trope.
• May Lee from the The King of Fighters 2001 has a "Hero Mode," which amounts to her throwing on a scarf, as a homage to Toku hero, Kamen Rider.
• When Yuudachi from KanColle is remodeled, she gains a white one. Also with the remodel comes boosted firepower that can out-gun a Heavy Cruiser. Mind that Yuudachi is a friggin destroyer.
• Doing a hardcore ascension as a Sauceror in Kingdom of Loathing gets you a scarf. Made of stainless steel , meaning that whoever wears it is either a total badass or stupid. Or both.
• Prince Alexander in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow wears two scarves, (orange and purple) as a Shout-Out to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
• Raziel wears his old clan flag slung around his shoulders and the lower half of his face like a scarf. It's made more badass/scary when he pulls the cloth down to reveal that he has no lower jaw.
• The Legend of Zelda: Link, the hero of Hyrule, sports a nice blue one in the hack-n-slash spin-off Hyrule Warriors. It's become something of a meme among fans, which Nintendo is fully aware of, as various Limited Special Collectors Ultimate Editions in different regions include Real Life version. Revali in Breath of the Wild also invokes this trope, wearing his champion's blue cloth like this. You can also unlock it in Age of Calamity as a reward for 100% Completion.
• In Malicious, the protagonist wears a scarf/cloak called the Mantle of Cinders that takes the appearance and function of acquired weapons/tools.
• The title hero of Maximo: Ghosts to Glory wears a scarf and kicks the undead's ass. What more can you say?
• Proto Man in the Mega Man (Classic) series is never seen without his trademark yellow scarf. Then again, considering that he was heavily inspired by Kamen Rider...
  • Also, in Mega Man X: Command Mission X is redesigned and given a plasma scarf that activates when he moves.
  • Harp Note in Mega Man Star Force has a long white scarf, and is surprisingly tough.
• Kisuke in Muramasa: The Demon Blade. He has a blue scarf, is a Ninja using a sword style specifically created to kick the ass of everything from other Ninja to god of dragons with a metal blade. Oh and the blade he uses? It was made by the spirit of one of the greatest swordsmiths of all time from the souls of his defeated enemies.
• Pokémon
  • All three main characters in Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum have scarves, as do their manga counterparts.
  • There are also scarf items that serve this purpose for your Pokémon: the Silk Scarf gives a 20% power boost to your Pokémon's Normal-type attacks, while the Choice Scarf increases your Pokémon's Speed by 50%, although it is locked into the first move it uses until it is switched out.
  • Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire introduced the Blue, Pink, Yellow, Red, and Green Scarves, which increased a Pokémon's Beauty, Cuteness, Toughness, Coolness and Cleverness respectively; attributes used in that game's Pokémon Contests.
  • In Pokémon HeartGold And SoulSilver, Gym Leader Pryce has one of these signifying his status. Justified in that Leader of an Ice-type Gym, and the place is covered in ice, so he wears winter clothes.
  • Ninja master Koga wears one. His daughter Janine follows this tradition when she takes over the Gym three years later.
  • Accelgor has a scarf made of a thin membrane that keeps it from drying out. It is also partially inspired by a ninja.
  • Greninja, who is also inspired by a ninja (its species is even the Ninja Pokémon), uses its tongue as one.
• Prince of Persia (2008) has two. Technically they're a turban, but the majority of the fabric is around his neck and they come off his shoulders, and they flow awesomely while he does all the parkour and stylized duels, so they count.
• Carla Radames from Resident Evil 6 rocks a red scarf and kicks some ass, though she mindfucks Chris more than she she does the former.
• Luste Teuber of RosenkreuzStilette acquires her own scarf in the sequel, Freudenstachel. She had a longer one in the April Fool's screenshots.
• Both Hattori Hanzo and Galford of Samurai Shodown wear scarves. The scarves were short in the first two games, but when SNK redrew their sprites for SS3, they became tripping hazards.
• Asuka of Senran Kagura has a red scarf in both her civil school uniform and her ninja costume; it's adequate as she is the main protagonist of most instances of the franchise, becomes a badass during the course of Hanzo's conflict with Hebijo, and Asuka fancying herself as a hero of justice.
• Shin Megami Tensei:
  • Persona:
    • Ryoji Mochizuki from Persona 3 wears a long yellow scarf. He doesn't come across as anything close to an asskicker, but he's also a personification of Death, and his true form easily kicked Aigis's ass.
    • Akihiko Sanada from 3 also wears a red scarf as part of his winter outfit, and is one badass boxer.
    • In Persona 4, Yosuke Hanamura's initial Persona Jiraiya has a red one.
    • Makoto Niijima from Persona 5 wears a long black scarf as part of her Phantom Thief outfit, and is something of an intimidating hardass in battle.
  • In Devil Survivor 2, the Main Protagonist had a white one in concept art.
• Shinobi (2002) gets a special mention - the story goes that a programmer increased the scarf's length as a joke, and it was so popular it was increased again before release.
• The standard Star Fox flight suit since the first game has distinctive colored scarves to augment already badass character designs. They appear on at least some main characters in every game except Star Fox: Assault.
• Faize of Star Ocean: The Last Hope gets one of these partway through the game. The scarf's presence is what makes Lymle realize that the Apostle of Creation is really Faize.
• Nel Zelpher, ninja wizard special forces agent in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, wears a thick striped scarf - the only whimsical touch on an otherwise rather practical costume (by video game standards, at least).
• Rose of the Street Fighter series, being based on Lisa Lisa, uses her scarf to kick your ass. It's especially evident in Street Fighter IV - just ask Ibuki.
  • From Street Fighter III, there's Makoto. This may be a subversion, as the scarf in question is said to be an oversized Martial Arts Headband worn around her neck according to some sources. Makoto, on the other hand, is not a stranger to five-star beatdowns. Ouch.
• Strider Hiryu, pictured above, is well known for his long, bright-red scarf. He first wore it in the 1988 manga, then it went suspiciously absent in his 1989 game appearance. He got it back for Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and has kept it ever since.
  • Subverted in the 2014 remake in which he has ditched the scarf but instead has a Battle Aura of plasma trailing behind him, his body producing so much of it that his Cypher cannot use it all.
  • Strider K/Cain (from the manga) and Hien (from Strider 2) wear similar scarves.
• Lyra Swiftail from Super Lucky's Tale wears a blue scarf as part of her aviator-style outfit.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Mario gets one in Super Mario 3D Land upon obtaining a Statue Leaf. The scarf is used to distinguish between the two Tanooki Suits to determine which Tanooki form has the statue ability and which one does not. The scarf indicates Mario has the statue ability.
• Appears in Super Robot Wars, no surprise there. The third Dynamic General Guardian, Dairaioh, has one since it's, that's right, yet another homage to Kamen Rider.
• Super Smash Bros.: From Brawl onward, Captain Falcon lets his yellow scarf hang out while going toe-to-toe with the strongest fighters.
• Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World has Emil Castagnier in his 'Ratatosk Mode'.
  • In the first game, we have Lloyd, though it's more like "long, white Martial Arts Headband wrapped around the neck" of asskicking.
• Rita Mordio in Tales of Vesperia uses scarves/sashes as weapons when not using a chain. She even justifies their use as weapons in one of the game's skits by stating how she makes the "aer" in their weaves more dense in order to make them rigid. Or something like that.
• Arizona from Them's Fightin' Herds wears a bandana around her neck that acts as one. The other playable Champions can also wear scarfs like this trope in the Pixel Lobby.
• Touhou Project:
  • Iku Nagae of Touhou Hisouten ~ Scarlet Weather Rhapsody not only wears a scarf, but actually uses it for many of her attacks, utilizing it as a whip or even a drill.
  • Parsee in Touhou Chireiden ~ Subterranean Animism wears a dainty pink/white scarf, and is a pretty impressive foe with spellcard mechanics typically used by Touhou endbosses, such as an attack that follows you around on the screen... in her Stage 2 midboss fight. This establishes SA's status as "That One Game" in the minds of a lot of Touhou fans.
  • Sakuya for definite sports one of these in Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom. However that IS because it's winter during the Incident.
• Papyrus from Undertale sports a red one, complete with it blowing in the instant Dramatic Wind whenever he's posing heroically.
• Momo Kuzuryu of Valkyrie Drive -Bhikkhuni- is not only one of the few characters to actually have real combat experience but also, she's never seen without her signature scarf.
• Zul'Jin, the forest troll leader of Warcraft II has a long scarf has his distinguishing feature. In World of Warcraft, it also serves to hide the torture inflicted to him as a POW.
• One of the types of customization option available in Warframe is the syandana. They have varying styles and intents, from the large and ornate ceremonial Uru to the more practical twin-tail Yomo fashionable with the elite. All of them tend to flap all over the place and flow about when moving and in battle, or flail and twitch around violently, apparently trying to strangle the user.
  • Notably, the "syandana" group doesn't just include scarves - there's also Badass Capes and similar back/neck-wear. In sanskrit, the word can mean 'flowing'; quite appropriate given most items in the group.
  • The warframe Excalibur Umbra even comes by default with a scarf that is unique to him.
• The Wild ARMs series is in love with this trope. Every game has a major character wearing a long flowing scarf. Wild Arms 1 has Zed, 2 has Knight Blazer, 3 has Jet, 4 has Arnaud, 5 has Dean, and XF has Rupert.
• Viewtiful Joe, being a parody of Tokusatsu shows in general, gives Joe a scarf as yet another Shout-Out to Kamen Rider. It's pink, but that arguably makes it even cooler.
• Adol Christin seems to have picked one up in Ys: The Oath in Felghana, and continues on to wear it in Ys SEVEN. It makes you wonder why it took so long for the developers to give it to him.

Visual Novels

• In Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Kay Faraday wears a long scarf with the end cut into a bird-wing shape. She also pins a home-made Yatagarasu symbol broach to it.
• Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: Gundham Tanaka, who fancies himself an Evil Overlord, wears a long, dark purple scarf to enhance his badass image — although he's more prone to hide the fact that he's blushing when he gets embarrassed than kick any ass.
• Arawn gets a red scarf in the beginning of Tears to Tiara. The scarf is something like a crown to the Gael tribe he leads.

Web Animation

• RWBY:
  • Yang Xiao Long wears an orange scarf in her original outfit (Volumes 1-3) and her current one (Volumes 7-8). She's also a Boisterous Bruiser who eagerly deals out Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs when given the chance.
  • Lady of War and Cat Ninja Blake Belladonna wears a black scarf both as a small child (shown in a flashback scene) and as a teenager in her original outfit (Volumes 1-3).
• Shrapnel: Reznya, a brutally efficient hunter killer, has a red scarf she wears every now and again.

Web Comics

• Lampshade Hanging in Bob and George, with Protoman's and Bob's ever-flowing scarves. Bob doesn't actually wear one in his native universe; he adopted the look in the Megaman Universe due to his taking the form of a Protoman recolor. Subverted with Alternate Bob and his fabulous purple scarf.
• Homestuck:
  • Rose Lalonde (albeit only briefly) and her mother both wear these scarfs. Roxy also wears the ass-kicking scarf. Fitting, as she's Mom Lalonde's post-Scratch counterpart.
    • Rose later made a new dress that seems to use the scarf as a belt.
  • Eridan Ampora also wears one full-time, and he's more than capable of kicking ass with his rifle.
• Troy McKelski of A Loonatic's Tale. Also, the Mysteelion military uses scarves as ranking indicators, so the scarf of, say, a combat-hardened sergeant, most likely is a literal Scarf of Asskicking.
• The punnily named vigilante duo from Trying Human both sport these: Guinea is a Sharp-Dressed Man with a classy red one, while Pig wears a yellow scarf over twice as long as she's tall.
• In Yokoka's Quest, Mao gains a scarf as part of his chapter 9 outfit, which he wears while fighting a giant boar-goat in an arena.
• In El Goonish Shive, the Aberration known as Scarf is always shown wearing one hinting at his dangerousness. Indeed, he is the one that comes closest to killing Adrian Raven out of all the Aberrations.
• The Order of the Stick: When the Order moves to lower temperatures in the Northern Lands, the heroic Roy starts wearing a green scarf.
• Sleepless Domain: The magical girl Heartful Punch is a Girly Bruiser whose signature accessory is her long pink scarf, the end of which forms a heart shape and appears to emit smaller hearts behind it as it flutters. Much like Heartful Punch herself, the scarf is constantly in motion and generally "does its own thing" — according to an interview, she doesn't think it's sentient...

Western Animation

• In Craig of the Creek, the titular Craig dons a scarf at the end of "Treasures" to add it to his adventure outfit. It even comes with its own improbable wind, as he was inside at the time.
• Della Duck from DuckTales (2017) is almost always seen wearing a teal scarf as part of her aviator style outfit.
• Launchpad Mcquack in Darkwing Duck wears a similar aviator scarf as Della, but in white.
• Mako from The Legend of Korra has a long red scarf that doubles as a Tragic Keepsake from his father and is pretty solidly badass. How he keeps it from catching fire is unknown, but it's probably just one of those things you don't question.
  • Korra actually uses Mako's scarf in one episode to beat up an Equalist thug and throw him into a steam vent.
• Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja's ninja outfit comes equipped with a scarf that serves as a pretty handy weapon and tool.
• The G3 Mooks in Sym-Bionic Titan have scarves, to go along with the rest of their appearance, which is a homage to Kamen Rider and other late-'70s Toku.
• Wilhelm, the blonde swordsman in Tales of Alethrion, sports a scarf from the time he's a young loser to the time he's a grizzled old fighter.
• Mister Twister in Young Justice becomes an Adaptational Badass while sporting one of these in the third episode.

Real Life

• Probably the Trope Maker—a likely source is the romantic image of World War I fighter pilots, and later motorcyclists, who needed the scarf partly against the wind, but mostly to keep their neck from chafing against the collars of their leather jackets when they turned their heads, which they had to do constantly to ensure an enemy aircraft wasn't coming up behind them.
  • Silk scarves also served a practical purpose, especially for wartime pilots: they could be printed with maps that wouldn't be ruined if they got wet. Useful in case of a crash.
  • They also worked well to clean those aviators goggles in a hurry. Front-mounted, exposed (for air-cooling) engines that frequently leaked oil, combined with open cockpits, made for very messy flights with early planes of the era.
  • And of course, it is worth noting, it's cold at high-altitude. For every thousand feet up, you lose about five and a half degrees Fahrenheit, or ten degrees centigrade for every thousand meters. Cold enough for a World War I aviator flying upwards of twelve or fifteen thousand feet over Europe, much colder for a World War II aviator in an unpressurized cabin twenty or thirty thousand feet up. Airmen were typically heavily bundled in cold weather gear which might even include a suit with an electrical heater which needed to be plugged in, although pilots of single-engined fighters got some heat from the high-powered engine they usually sat behind.
  • Contrary to the popular image, the scarf of an airman, motorcyclist or racing driver was always tightly wrapped and knotted around the neck. A flowing scarf was a lethal danger: it could quickly be caught by the spinning propeller and strangle the hapless guy to death before he would even know it. Isadora Duncan's death strangled by a silk scarf caught by a sportscar's open wheel became renowned, yet most people overlook the grisly details: she was not only strangled, but nearly decapitated (silk is almost as tough as a steel wire garrotte), pulled out of the car and smashed on the pavement.
  • An anecdote from Soviet test pilot Valery Chkalov: Soviet brass once wanted to get rid of silk scarves for pilots, considering them "bourgeois". Chkalov then invited the Commissar who pushed for that idea to a demo flight — without a scarf, naturally. After a flight filled with looking back and forth from the cabin, the commissar ended up with a terribly chafed neck. The idea was immediately dropped.

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