Basic Trope: An ugly hero is contrasted with a good-looking villain.
- Straight: Harry Hero is ugly, while his enemy Victor Villain is noted to be a handsome man.
- Exaggerated: Harry is a monstrous Gonk, while Victor is the most handsome man in the world.
- Downplayed: Harry is acknowledged as slightly unattractive; Victor Villain is slightly attractive.
- Justified: Victor Villain had plastic surgery in the past, while Harry's ugliness is a result of his tragic backstory.
- Inverted: Harry is attractive, Victor is unattractive.
- Subverted:
- Harry Hero is cursed, and his real appearance is a handsome man.
- Victor Villain is using magic to appear handsome, and is really ugly.
- Double Subverted: Harry Hero gets his real appearance back, but is horrifically scarred soon afterwards.
- Parodied: Sometimes instead of fighting him, Victor gives Harry beauty tips. They go to the salon on weekends.
- Zig Zagged: Harry is considered ugly, but cleans up nicely. Then he gets scarred, but gets plastic surgery to fix it. Meanwhile, Victor is attractive, but using magic to appear so; his real appearance is revealed, but it turns out he was quite handsome in his youth. His youth is restored and so are his good looks; meanwhile, Harry gets a makeover, and so on...
- Averted: The attractiveness of Harry and Victor isn't commented on nor is it particularly relevant.
- Enforced: The author wants a True Beauty Is on the Inside Aesop, so he deliberately makes a beautiful-but-bad villain and an ugly-but-good hero.
- Lampshaded: "Isn't it terrible, Harry, that not only do you lose to my evil plan, you're also uglier than I am?"
- Invoked: Victor deliberately antagonizes Harry, who is less attractive than him.
- Exploited: Victor invokes Beauty Equals Goodness and uses his good looks to charm people into trusting him and mistrusting the unattractive Harry.
- Defied: Harry makes himself more attractive so the contrast between him and Victor isn't so stark.
- Discussed: "It's just like those fairy tales. Ugly hero, handsome villain..."
- Conversed: "Why does the villain in these movies always have to be prettier than the hero?"
- Played For Laughs: To find out who'll be the hero against the dashingly handsome Villain Victor, people of Troperland hold an ugliness contest. The competitors put on horrifying wigs and makeup to win.
- Played For Drama: People are increasingly turned off by Harry Hero's appearance, while people start rooting for Victor Villain because of his good looks.
Back to Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain
