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File:Sissy Villain.png

Hmmm...Slim build, fabulous clothes, swishy wrists... EVIL-DOER! Let's beat him up!


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"The Flaming Homo Bad Guy only has one goal in life, to be gayer and more evil than anybody else. If he sees a guy in a salmon-colored shirt and white khakis clubbing a baby seal, the Flaming Homo Bad Guy will put on a pink tutu, gather up some baby seals, kittens and puppies and rent a wood chipper."
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The Sissy Villain, as his name would suggest, is a man whose heart is as twisted as his wrist is limp.

Due to social stigmas against male femininity and "unmanliness", there's a strong tendency in fiction to assign effeminate traits to villains: flamboyant mannerisms, delicate voices, light builds, prissiness, femininely pretty looks, gradiloquent speeches, giggling, love for poetry and opera, impeccable fashion sense (not always in men's clothing), fondness for Persian cats, etc. Evil, it seems, is swishier than a silk skirt.

Frequently, The Hero pitted against the Sissy Villain is an old-fashioned Manly Man (any feminine traits he has are merely there to underscore his masculinity) and making the villain "unmasculine" is intended to emphasize this. After all, there's nothing manlier than beating up a sissy. However, effeminate does not necessarily mean weak.

The Sissy Villain is probably the second most common portrayal of effeminate gay men (besides "one-dimensional joke character"), but is not necessarily synonymous with Depraved Homosexual. While Sissy Villains are frequently gay or bisexual, most of them are merely sexually ambiguous or seemingly asexual, and some of them are straight. The Sissy Villain isn't intended to creep out the audience just because of the implication that he might like men (although this usually factors in), but because he acts like a "pansy."

Needless to say, this trope has often been criticized for its Unfortunate Implications. It is also particularly amusing to see this trope used with villains who are also shown as trying to steal the girl from hero, though this might be a reflection of one of the tragic modes of eugenics dramas of Sol III: 'Unsuitable male breeds with desirable female'.

This trope shows up mainly in Western works and those Japanese works aimed at a male audience; if the villain is presented as certain kinds of swishy, female fans are likely to declare him utterly fabulous.

Sissy Villains show up frequently in anime, where they often have white hair. A common subtrope of the Sissy Villain is the Villainous Crossdresser. See also Fashion Victim Villain, Gorgeous George, Depraved Homosexual, Depraved Bisexual, and Psycho Lesbian. May sometimes overlap with misogynistic views in the context of the Effeminate Misogynistic Guy. Contrast with Real Men Wear Pink, and occasionally, Evil Sounds Deep. When his ambiguous (nor not so ambiguous) sexuality is played for laughs, that's Queer People Are Funny. Not to be confused with Non-Action Big Bad, although they can overlap.

Since quite a few women actually find effeminate men attractive, this can also lead to Evil Is Sexy.

No Real Life Examples, Please

Examples of Sissy Villain include:


Anime & Manga[]

  • Yuki Michio, the main villain from Osamu Tezuka's classic thriller MW. Not only was he a crossdresser, he was also openly gay. Manages to avert most of the Unfortunate Implications, though, as the story's hero is also gay (Michio's lover, infact) & he has a not so evil twin brother who also crossdressed (albeit as part of his job as a Kabuki actor).
  • Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist has an extremely androgynous appearance, coupled with an effeminate outfit. However, he is a ruthless, murderous nutcase who goes out of his way to cause as much suffering as he can.
    • Envy is something of an unusual case, as it technically doesn't have a gender, with the (default) form it chooses to take being somewhere between female and male. It should, however, be worth noting that most characters through the series refer to Envy using male pronouns.
  • Harley from the Pokémon anime embodies this trope to the fullest. He's one of the most cold-hearted rival characters in the show and he treats May like crap, but he always looks fabulous doing it.
    • Don't forget, he's "Everyone's favorite naughty coordinator."
  • Leader Desslock from Star Blazers.
  • Pegasus from Yu-Gi-Oh is a Camp Straight Psychopathic Manchild whose preferred monsters are based off his childhood cartoons (get him mad enough, though, and he'll bring out Relinquished). In case you wondered if this was limited to the dub, he's exactly as flamboyant in the original, right down to appending "-boy" to his opponent's names.
    • Ziegfried and Marik to lesser degrees.
  • Mr. 2 Bon Kurei from One Piece, although he partially reforms by the end of the Alabasta arc.
    • Recently he's even become an close ally of Luffy, even making (another) Heroic Sacrifice.
      • A better example is Donquixote Doflamingo. Visually, he's based off many of the pro wrestling examples below, and makes suggestive comments to his opponents during the Marineford battle. Nonetheless, he is one of the most terrifying characters on the show, and until recently had the highest revealed bounty.
      • An even better example is Helmeppo, Captain Morgan's son. He's also a Jerkass of the highest caliber. Until he lost the villain aspect and Took a Level In Badass, anyway. Now he's just highly fashionable and only kinda rude.
  • Orochimaru from Naruto first appears disguised as a woman, at one point used another woman's body as a vessel, and even in his least freaky times speaks with a feminine speech pattern. And this is before you factor in his obsession with young Uchiha men and the giant purple butt bow. However, he is a very formidable opponent who, despite being killed twice, is still around in one form or another.
    • His teenage henchman Sakon, the default leader of the Sound Four, wanders somewhere between this and Real Men Wear Pink. He does indeed wear pink, sports pretty jewelery and goth makeup, and from the looks of it pays more attention to his hair than his squadmates (admittedly, not hard). He's also a vicious, strutting, trash-talking sadist who can and will demolish solid rock with a single punch.
  • Subverted by Johan Liebert, the titular Monster. Yes, he crossdresses, but it's pretty much because he sees himself and the sister he's dressing as as essentially the same person, with no definition between them. And he's too damaged and empty to even qualify as Asexual in the healthy orientation sense, let alone gay.
  • Suzu from the Peacemaker Kurogane manga becomes this, after going mad. He starts wearing nail polish and makeup, has the best fashion sense of all the characters, has flamboyant mannerisms and prissyness, giggles creepily, and has an extremely effeminate appearance. Oh, and he has a great fondness for exotic cats. Funnily enough, this example definitely gives off a lot of Unfortunate Implications, considering that he is shown to have been a good person before he became gay (and therefore Ax Crazy).
    • But consider that Suzu already shown he had more than disciple worship feelings toward his master beforehand and that he went crazy because his beloved master was killed and he was a sex slave to some old, dirty man afterwards.
  • Creed from Black Cat. Good god, this trope is Creed (coupled with him being Ambiguously Gay). He has the flamboyant mannerisms, gives Hannibal Lecture speeches (mostly to Train, whom he wants to rule the world with), Is Wicked Cultured in contrast to Train, has the most laughable fashion sense of all the men in the series, and is a White-Haired Pretty Boy. Granted, Train is actually shown to be more petite and have a smaller body build than his, but that is attributed as Train being more boy-ish.
    • There is nothing ambiguous about Creed's gayness.
  • Sailor Moon's Zoicite. The DiC dub turned him into a girl to satisfy the Moral Guardians.
  • Dilandau, the Bishounen Psycho for Hire from Vision of Escaflowne.
  • Frieza. A petite, painstakingly polite alien with a color scheme of pink, purple, and white who happens to be the most evil villain in the Dragon Ball mythos. Not to mention how he is voiced by a woman with a raspy old lady voice in the English dub and complains about not wanting to break his nails during his fight with Goku.
    • Zarbon until he changes into his final form. Particularly in the redub with his voice, which sounds like a cross between King Cold and Caroni.
      • The Team Four Star Abridged Series averted the Sissy Villain trope for Frieza. It was kept in for Zarbon, who is now a Sissy Villain — but it was subverted in episode 17 when it was revealed that Zarbon is in fact straight, and is shocked to find out that everyone around him thinks he's gay.
  • Ginias Sahalin fits this trope to a tee. Ascots? Check. Fruity wardrobe in general? Check. Sexual ambiguity? Check (he's one of the series' only characters who doesn't have at least implied heterosexual preferences). A seiyuu known for voicing numerous well-known BL characters? Check.
  • Grell Sutcliff from Black Butler is a flamboyant Shinigami who is characterized with shark teeth, long red hair, and a chainsaw. He often refers to himself as a female, wears a red woman's coat, and is very open about his blatant infatuation with his enemy Sebastian. Sometimes he even crossdresses.
  • Jakotsu the second in command of the Band of Seven from Inuyasha is extremely effeminate, looks, talks, acts, and dresses like a woman, is obsessed with fashion, hates women, and is very openly gay, but he is also a dangerous psychopath with a very cool sword.
    • Jakotsu was originally going to be a woman, but the author changed it because she disliked the idea of human woman getting killed by the main heroes.
    • The one shot villain Suzaku was also quite effeminate and flamboyant and he openly flirted with Miroku and Hojo's ancestor.
    • The infamous gay moth demons. The sheer amount of innuendo was staggering.
    • The main villain of the first movie is this until he turns into his One-Winged Angel form.
  • Kazkis Proxy of Ergo Proxy is a Bishounen angelic-looking guy who likes to drink wine and initially comes across as a little too friendly to the hero, Vincent.
  • The page picture is of Cytomander from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Considering the protagonist's Super Robot is actually powered by MANLY SPIRIT, it's surprising that he's the only Sissy Villain in the series. Of course the good guys also have a very effeminate man on their side too, Camp Gay mecha lover and all-around genius Leeron.
  • Koushaku Chouno, better known as Papillon, from Busou Renkin arguably fits this trope, though his sexuality is debatable. Still, he dresses in a flamboyant outfit including speedos and a distinctive butterfly mask, and he certainly has a lot of Foe Yay with Kazuki.
    • It seems to be less about sexuality and more about being free from his existence as Chouno. Chouno was average, understated, overlooked; Papillon is anything but.
  • Kano in Texhnolyze is effeminate and physically unimpressive, as well as a schitzophrenic soplisist produced from generations of selective inbreeding.
  • Lussuria from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. He's blatantly Hard Gay, has a lot of colorful feathers on his outfit, in the anime his voice is very feminine sounding, and he's also rather flamboyant with his mannerisms. During his fight with Ryohei he also goes into fanboy mode once Ryohei takes off his shirt and he decides he wants to take Ryohei home with him and make him a part of his 'collection'.
    • Mukuro was this before his ambiguous Heel Face Turn. The guy picked Kokuyou Junior High because of how stylish the uniforms were. His sexuality is quite ambiguous as well, considering how much Foe Yay he has with Hibari and Tsuna in particular. His plans of taking over Tsuna's body so he could get revenge on the mafia also carried some questionable subtext, what with all his talk of "wanting Tsuna's body", telling Tsuna to "give me your body", and that "with my technique you will soon be mine."
    • Byakuran seems to have traces of this. He wears a bondage outfit in chapter 274 and the following chapters, with zippers all the way up his legs, and gains sparkling wings.
    • There's also Kikyo with his Dude Looks Like a Lady appearance, long blue hair, tendency to walk around with his shirt open, and what appears to be blue eye shadow.
  • Prince Eccentro from Mon Colle Knights fits the trope perfectly. His Japanese counterpart, Count Collection, actually is gay.
  • Rolan and the Phantom from MAR.
  • Hunter X Hunter has Neferpitou, a male cat-humanoid chimera ant with a very feminine appearance and mannerisms.
  • Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Ashtaroth.
  • Szayel Aporro Granz from Bleach. He has effeminate looks, shoulder-length pink hair, is extremely flamboyant, and tends to make lewd, disturbing comments about his opponents. He also thinks of himself as an actor, especially when toying with/torturing his victims. During his first fight with Renji and Ishida, his clothes get damaged, leaving him shirtless — he stops the fight to go change clothes, saying that he'd be "too embarrassed" to continue fighting in such a state.
  • Both Arthur and Shalott of Air Gear. Arthur is a masochist who pelvic thrusts against his male opponent Agito and nibbles on his ear while fighting him. He also has flamboyant mannerisms, speaks in a polite manner, and frequently releases heart marks whenever he's reveling in the feeling of pain. Shalott is a loli who wears a frilly looking dress and drops a bridget on Agito, revealing that he's actually a girly-looking guy who is in a BDSM type relationship with Arthur. The end of chapter 279 has him pin Agito to the ground and straddle him, saying after he tortures him then Agito can "lick it" if he wants.
  • Two Speed Grapher villains qualify. Shirogane, the Rubber Man euphoric, is a very arrogant and somewhat campy ballet instructor who in his transformed state, runs around in what looks like a gimp suit. More sympathetically is Tsujido, the leader of the Terrible Trio, who wears what looks like a woman's leotard and shows some cleavage.
  • Most of the Innovators of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 combine this with Ambiguous Gender and Fashion Victim Villain.
  • Escargon from Kirby of the Stars. His Ho Yay with Dedede is a running gag.
  • Ukiyo of Samurai 7 is a mincing fop who either always wears make-up, or for some reason, has that as his natural skin tone. However, he's a Camp Straight version- the fact that he's often with his Paid Harem marks him as pretty clearly heterosexual (and some of the mincing is just an act anyway). There's also Hyogo, an elite mook, who has an androgynous appearance and wears lipstick and what seems like women's clothing.
  • Jaibo and to some extent Raizou from Litchi Hikari Club. Both are overtly gay with girlish looks and clearly crazy but Jaibo takes it to a whole new level of sadism. From disembowling teachers to planning to kill virtually everyone so that Zera will be his forever there is nothing Jaibo will not do.
  • Rosiel from Angel Sanctuary is a White-Haired Pretty Boy angel with full, luscious lips and long eyelashes. He often dresses effeminately and loves to be called "beautiful" more than anything else. He is also in a questionable relationship with his loyal right-hand man, Katan.
  • Yuda from Fist of the North Star. While his large harem seems to imply he's staight, he's nonetheless obsessed with his own physical perfection, to the point of being worried about scars in battle. This makes him look even more cowardly and twisted. In one of the most "manly" anime series, to the point of sometimes showing lots of Unfortunate Implications, the master of Red Crane Nanto is obviously depicted as everything a proud warrior should not be. Moreover he weirdly shows his "admiration" for Rei and uses a very heavy make-up,but he's still a fighter, so he's quite muscular, as anyone there besides casual oppressed peasants/children.
  • Hiromi Kisiragi of Eyeshield 21 is cornerback for the Hakushuu Dinosaurs, Co-Dragons to Manipulative Bastard Marco alongside Gaou, and an incredibly cruel player who tries his best to dislocate the arms of recievers. He's also a mincing pretty-boy with a massive mancrush on Gaou and the belief that strength is a true indicator of beauty. It's actually justified in his case and played sympathetically--sick of being bullied due to his effeminate nature and looks he joined the football team to get a life and was turned into the Psycho Supporter he is today by Marco.
  • M'Quve of Mobile Suit Gundam is a male Rich Bitch who speaks with a snooty accent, wears an ascot, has incredibly swishy wrists, minces when he walks, and generally effects the mannerisms of an eighteenth-century aristocrat. He's also a totally cold-blooded strategist, and utterly loyal to his lady, Kycilia Zabi.
  • Two from Death Note: Light Yagami and Mello. Funny enough, Light is the main "hero" and Mello is quite the Badass.
  • Akio from the Revolutionary Girl Utena movie.


Comics[]

  • The Joker is sometimes portrayed like this, perhaps most famously in The Dark Knight Returns.
    • WARNING: Potential Nightmare Fuel ahead....One fan theory about Joker's murder of Jason Todd (Robin) is that after he beat Jason bloody with a crowbar, he sexually molested his unconscious form. His leering, ogling expression as he's swinging the crowbar makes this theory uncomfortably plausible.
  • Xerxes in Three Hundred was also one. Frank Miller likes this trope.
  • How much of it is based on historical behavior and how much is writer embellishment is debatable, but King James I is well on his way to this in Marvel 1602 and definitely this in 1602: New World.
  • The galactic emperor from an in-universe Fan Fiction (read by Empowered) who forces Major Havoc and Syndablokk to have sex together.
  • Yellow Bastard from Sin City was a Spoiled Brat combined with Complete Monster with a dose of Dirty Coward.
  • The Marvel version of Loki is a somewhat deconstruction of this. He actually became villainous because he was too sissy for Asgardian standards. Being a scrawny human sized ice giant living in a land that ranks brute force and power above intellect and magic, with a brother who is the personification of the former is basically his Freudian Excuse.


Film[]

  • One of the complaints often levied against the Harry Potter films is that Voldemort often comes across as this.
  • Komodo from Warriors of Virtue is prissy, frilly and effeminate, but he very clearly has gotten with several of the hot women in this movie anyway.
  • Buffalo Bill, the quasi-transsexual Serial Killer from Silence of the Lambs is one of the most famous examples.
  • The Maltese Falcon pits macho Anti-Hero Sam Spade up against three Sissy Villains: Joel Cairo, Kasper Gutman, and Wilmer. (Only the Hays Code prevented the film from out-and-out showing that Cairo and Wilmer are the Gayngsters they are in the novel.)
  • Waldo Lydecker from Laura.
  • Bruno from Strangers on a Train, Brandon and Philip from Rope, Norman Bates from Psycho... it's safe to say that Alfred Hitchcock loved this trope.
    • Since "mother" only came out to punish women who aroused desire in Norman, he seems more neutered than effeminate. Not that there aren't Unfortunate Implications to this as well. However, Anthony Perkins was gay in Real Life, so there might be some slight Reality Subtext going on here.
  • Archibald Cunningham from Rob Roy, a downright fop who murders people to buy fancy new clothes. He affects a comically mincing facade, but drops the act when impregnating a woman (by consent or force as the fancy takes him) and in duelling to become a vicious and deadly predator.
  • King Xerxes of Three Hundred. He is usually wearing nothing but a gold speedo and lounging seductively on his throne.
  • The Scorpio Killer from Dirty Harry. The contrast is made more blatant by the fact that Harry Callahan is played by quintessential "man's man" Clint Eastwood.
  • Charlie Prince in the remake of Three Ten to Yuma.
  • Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, albeit he's an Evil Is Cool example.
  • Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd from Diamonds Are Forever.
    • Blofeld from the same movie got quite the upgrade in fabulousness, as well. He even got to dabble in Villainous Crossdressing.
  • Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg from The Fifth Element had some of these traits, specifically the delicacy and high fashion. Remember his perfectly appointed office? Dallas, on the other hand, is an ex-soldier played by Bruce Willis.
  • Dr. Terwilliker in The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. Even though he's intent on marrying Bartholomew's mother, you can clearly see he's very swishy. Especially during the fabulous dress-up song.
  • Subverted by Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt in Watchmen. The screenwriter and director were convinced he was gay, the actor who played him suggested he was probably at least bisexual in an interview, and there's an Easter Egg in a shot of his computer desktop that may or may not have a gay Porn Stash. He's also extremely well-dressed, to the point of garishness in some scenes, and has a fabulous androgynous haircut bordering on Power Hair. He's also a ruthlessly efficient martial artist, a hard-nosed businessman, and has terse, rather dry and dour speech patterns and body language. He might not be quite Straight Gay, but there is nothing mincing or effeminate about him in the slightest.
  • Repo the Genetic Opera has Parvi Largo as a minor villain. He is foppish, flamboyant and painfully vain; he dresses in replica vintage Italian suits, and speaks with an outrageous Italian accent for no good reason. Of course, he's also a serial rapist who wears the face of a beautiful woman over his own.
  • Park Chang-yi in The Good, the Bad, the Weird.
  • Prince Edward in Braveheart, a foppish, homosexual weakling who cares more about new clothes and playing with his boy toy than conquering Scotland. The main villain, Longshanks, is a manly man.
  • Scar from The Lion King is easily the most limp-pawed feline ever to grace the big screen. This becomes a Parental Bonus for the Swedish Viewers where Scar is dubbed by the Very Gay and Very Out Actor/Singer Richard Wolff. How out is he? He penned a song describing his Coming Out Story titled "Naked Boy, Naked Men." Don't worry, Scar is still awesome.
    • Disney's anthropomorphic depiction of Prince John out-swishes Scar to such a degree, the Lion King villain looks positively Leather Man by comparison.
    • Sure, they take the cake for the felines, but what about The Great Mouse Detective's Ratigan? Until he drops the veneer and goes feral during the climactic Clock Tower scene, anyway. (He was still rather imposing even before then. Well, as imposing as a big mouse can get, at least.)
    • "Honest" John Worthington Foulfellow in Pinocchio has his moments, though it may be more of a Large Ham persona thing. See the bit where he prances around and mimes throwing flowers while describing Pleasure Island "where every day is a holiday!"
      • Foulfellow is most certainly not this trope. He is indeed a Large Ham, and when genuinely angered (by his lackey Gideon, usually) butches up quite a bit.
    • The colour didn't yet have quite the same significance in the 1940s, when the movie is set, but the weasel leader's pale pink suit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? gives this impression to a number of 21st-century viewers. (It did have that significance in 1988 when the movie was made, though, so one wonders.)
    • Disney's human villains aren't immune either. Take Pocahontas 's mincing, flouncing, bow-wearing villain Governor Ratcliffe, for one. Most of that facade was forced on him by his assistant... Wiggins... who was extremely effeminate. Ratcliffe had his boisterous and rowdy side on occasion, though it was often just an act as well, when his men stood up to him, he folded.
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  "Nothing says sinister like little pink bows on your pigtails!" — The Nostalgia Chick

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  • Jean Girard from Talladega Nights is a comedy version of this trope. He even talks about his husband.
    • He raises horses — who are also gay.
  • They're not the main villains, but in Vanishing Point Kowalski picks up two stereotypical gay hitchhikers who attempt to rob him, and he beats them up.
  • Darren "Wall Street" Bettencourt of The Transporter spends his first appearance trying to feel Frank up, while talking about how much "I like him." He's got the limp wrists, the Large Ham gestures, the pretty boy look, and the mincing. And then he reveals that he's actually The Dragon and a fairly nasty Blood Knight who wants to fight Frank to the death. Anyone else see that coming?
  • Charles Laughton (who was gay) as Emperor Nero in The Sign of the Cross. Subverted in that he liked to play the role, and stated that it was better for him than a month of therapy.
  • Even though he's a deadly combatant (well...sorta), Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2 is also this. Of course, he IS a peacock.


Literature[]

  • Emperor Ublaz Mad Eyes of Redwall. His evil plan, which results in the slaughter and misery of hundreds of creatures by his followers, is to get hold of the Artifact of Death. The Artifact Of Death consists of six pink pearls which he wants to wear in a crown. They don't even have any magical powers (except for bringing horrible luck on everyone who owns them, but he apparently doesn't know that), he just wants a pink pearl crown. Yeah.... He also wears silk robes and perfume and paints his nails.
  • Zhong Ye, the eunuch sorcerer Big Bad in the young adult novel The Silver Phoenix: Beyond The Kingdom of Xia. However, while he is dandified and creepy, he's portrayed as a depraved heterosexual — and the heroine is the reincarnation of his lost love.
  • Arguably The Pardoner from The Canterbury Tales. He's a rather effeminate guy, and there's a scene where the Host, a Boisterous Bruiser makes a threat which could be loosely paraphrased as "I'd cut off your balls if you had any."
  • Percy Wetmore from Stephen King's The Green Mile.
  • Valentine Wolfe, evil space aristocrat junkie extraordinaire, from the Deathstalker books. He's more outrageously decadent than feminine, but he does wear makeup and have a rather Camp way of expressing himself at times.
  • The eunuch Lord Varys from A Song of Ice and Fire looks like this trope to a T — wears fancy clothes and perfume, and giggles constantly. And then subverts this trope to hell and back, being a Master of Disguise and a Master Actor, playing up the "sissy" aspect because that's what people expect to see — behind the perfume and giggles he's a Determinator who isn't afraid to get all up in the hero's grill. Possibly the top Chessmaster in a series notorious for its Gambit Pileup. Damn.
  • Lord Pumphrey, a.k.a "Pumps" in Sharpe. Variously known as "the molly," "that woman," and believed to have a crush on the hero. He is also one of the most effective Manipulative Bastards in the series, even mocking Sharpe to his face when confronted. He is, thus far, a well-earned Karma Houdini.


Live Action TV[]

  • Dr. Smith from Lost in Space.
  • Parodied in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, involving Special Investigator Lemming of the British Dental Association. Mad Dentist Super Villain "The Big Cheese" is played by Graham Chapman in one of his more flamboyant performances.
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 "Flopsy's dead and never called me 'mother'."

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  • Averted in Kings. Prince Jack is both a homosexual and a villain but he's also a soldier who commands the respect of his men and is fully capable beating a guy to a pulp in a bar brawl.
  • Captain John Hart of Torchwood is the ultimate aversion of this trope. Violent, evil, snarky, and can beat the crap out of anyone you care to name.
    • His good counterpart, The Hero Captain Jack Harkness was once described as a homophobic TV viewer's nightmare. An arsekicking, quipping queer. Bonus, his actor is gay, despite the character being 'omnisexual'.
  • Although he's definitely heterosexual, as far as mannerisms go Chancellor Dongalor in Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire practically floats out the window. Considering how snarky he is about the actual gays in the show you have to wonder what he's repressing.
  • In The BBC's 1960s adaptation of The Three Musketeers, Rochefort is shown to be an incompetent fighter (he literally falls on his arse from surprise when d'Artagnan challenges him into a duel) and he's seen crying after a minor injury. He's also wearing very light-coloured clothing and spends more time adjusting his shoes and swishing his cloak than doing any actual menacing.
  • Nevel in ICarly. "Mother, run a bath!".
  • Meemy or thereabouts from Mahou Sentai Magiranger. Imperious from Power Rangers Mystic Force was less so, though little attempt was made to hide the mannerisms (reminiscent of Queen Machina, actually) and when he first took that form, he called it "beautiful." Both versions are pretty non-flirtatious, though, and certifiably able to reduce you to very small smithereens.
  • Jim Moriarty from Sherlock. He's dressed to the nines and can be outright flaming, although he says he's only playing gay.
  • Goodness gracious, Terry Karrens from Dollhouse is rather effeminate for someone with one hell of an Oedipus Complex.
  • Ratallack of The Shadow Line. He's an extremely camp Gaynster who's ruthless enough that he'll order the death of his own boyfriend to improve his position.
  • Penguin, Hugo Strange, (and several other characters) in Gotham are Sissy Villains
  • The Sissy Villain is present as the Sissy Antagonist or Sissy Pest in Televisiin Comedies, particularly showing up,as fops perpetually vexed by the antics of Lucille Ball. Lucy finally got her own regular Sissy foe in the form of banker/boss, Theodore J. Mooney, aka Mister Mooney, in her second series, The Lucy Show.
  • King Joffrey in Game of Thrones is a particularly campy portrayal of a fopped up, evil little shit


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Mythology[]


Professional Wrestling[]


Radio[]

  • Mr. Gently Benevolent in Bleak Expectations epitomises and parodies this trope whilst being Ambiguously Gay.
    • Though he's probably more in love with himself than any other human of either sex.


Theater[]

  • King Herod is often portrayed this way in Jesus Christ Superstar.
  • Farquaad is played up as this in Shrek: The Musical.
  • Depending on the actor, Herbert in Tanz der Vampire. He's definitely at least bisexual, and is a vampire, but with time the show as a whole has been presenting him more and more sympathetically. (Some productions even hint that he'd be a better partner for the hero than the damsel-in-distress the hero's trying to rescue!)


Video Games[]

  • Vega from Street Fighter. He's obsessed with beauty, practically dances around the screen, and seems to particularly enjoy killing pretty girls. Most adaptations make this last a twisted attraction rather than rivalry, so he's most likely Camp Straight, but still...definitely sissy, definitely evil.
    • This is emphasized in his fight against Chun-Li in the Street Fighter II animé. He has the upper hand, yes, but she kicks him in the face like, once, and he starts crying and blubbing "My face!" in rage and starts getting sloppy.
  • GOOD GOD, KUJA. So much so he's the page image on Viewer Gender Confusion! Taken Up to Eleven in Dissidia, where his main form of offense is slapping people in the face with giant balls.
    • Kefka may seem like one of these at first, but it soon becomes apparent that he is much, much, MUCH worse.
    • From Final Fantasy XI Kam'lanaut is more than just a little fey and more than just a little evil.
    • The omnipresence of this trope led to people speculating that Mayakov from Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess was going to turn out to be working with the villains. In the end, he wasn't!
  • Genesis from Crisis Core. Flamboyant hand gestures? Check. Campy Bishounen appearance? Check. Endless recital of pretentious poetry? Oh yeah.
  • And then the lovely people over at Square gave us Kingdom Hearts, and the Big Bad of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Marluxia. This is a MAN (better get that straight right away) who's looks would put Sephiroth to shame. He has long, pink hair, his Weapon of Choice is a Pink Sinister Scythe, and his unique villainous ability is FLOWERS. Cherry Blossoms none the less... (The manga took this power one step further and had Marluxia scatter sakura petals with every move he made.) That of course, in Japanese mythology, cherry blossoms represents death, and in western mythology the scythe is the signature tool of the Grim Reaper, so it might not be so strange that Marluxia, despite all the aforementioned sissyness, still manages to retain most of his manliness.
    • Word of God is that Marluxia really was originally going to be a woman, but seeing as how he and Larxene were planning to betray the rest of Organization XIII, they felt that there would be Unfortunate Implications if both characters were female while the rest of the Organization was male.
  • One of the generals in Dynasty Warriors 6 matches this trope perfectly. He belonged to the mostly-evil Wei Kingdom, fought wearing a skirt and makeup, was obsessed with beauty, and in the Sima Yi ending, he's the first to join Sima Yi in backstabbing the Well-Intentioned Extremist, Cao Cao. That general's name? Zhang He.
    • Keep in mind, in ancient China, that kind of effeminacy was much more tolerated.
      • KEEP in mind this is a fictional work based upon history which is padded out to give more 'colour' to personalities and appearances of the generals. While Zhang He was just as battle-crazy, he was in reality another generic beardo in a continent full of Badass Normal bearded guys.
  • Alfred. Ashford. Granted, his compulsion to dress up in women's clothing is due to a Norman Bates-esque desire to emulate his sister, but he's still prancing around in a dress and giggling.
  • Depraved Bisexual Vamp combines knife fighting, knife throwing, and flamenco-dancing into his own personal combat form. And he's a subversion; it works so well that he only seems feminine in hindsight, not as he's slaughtering an entire team of Navy SEALS or going one on one with a cyborg ninja. Oddly, this stops short in one instance; you'd expect anyone who sees him get up, swishing around the whole time, after being shot in the head to be more terrified of his regeneration than mocking of his body language, but this only happens when the people around him are either glad he's back or already know what will happen.
  • Isaac from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, who wears an extremely skimply outfit, acts incredibly effeminate and alternates between flirting with the main characters and gleefully attempting to gruesomely murder them.
  • Valtome from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, anyone? Or is he just androgynous and prone to creepy giggles?
  • The Big Bad from No One Lives Forever 2. Although like the many outrageous stereotypes, he is Played for Laughs.
  • General Lionwhyte from Brutal Legend. His hair is so fabulous, he can actually use it to fly!
    • Also a nicely done shot/shoutout to all hair metal everywhere. It's easy to forget Dragonforce doesn't really fly around on the backs of dragons because they have such FAAAABULOUS hair.
  • Emperor Dondora, the Big Bad of Holy Umbrella definitely qualifies. The fact that the eyes of his chest mouth resemble breasts only leads to further Viewer Gender Confusion. Incidentally during the short time he's in your party, his attacks are ridiculously powerful.
  • The Marquis du Singe from Tales of Monkey Island, a fey and foppish Mad Scientist with an outrageous French accent.
  • Toyed with a bit in Vagrant Story. Sydney seems like a pretty standard twinky Squaresoft villain at first, questionable outfit and everything. It turns out he's not a villain. And he's really, really badass. Though he does briefly put his hand on Ashley's knee during the Atrium scene.
  • Father Balder in Bayonetta.
  • No one has thought to mention Vyers from Disgaea yet? A narcissistic, aristocratic demon with a flamboyant attitude and a french accent. True, none of the rest of the cast take him seriously, but he is at least a Midboss.
    • It's totally an act, though. He's applying Obfuscating Stupidity from the moment you first see him, and his true identity is a reincarnation of King Kirchevskoy a.k.a. Laharl's father.
  • Razer in Jak and Daxter.
  • Cumore from Tales of Vesperia, Dist in Tales of the Abyss, and Yggdrasil in Tales of Symphonia. To be fair, though, that last one is a lot more effective than most of the bad guys mentioned here, in no small part due to his Magnificent Bastardry and an Evil Plan that benefits him regardless of its outcome. as well as his eventual crossing of a pretty big Moral Event Horizon, even with his 80's disco suit.
  • Togainu no Chi: Arbitro swishes about in a feather boa, has a cleanliness fetish, collects statues of pretty boys....
  • Super Paper Mario's King Croacus IV is a gigantic, sentient rose wearing makeup, and constantly talks about "beauuuuuuuty!" and has some sort of Verbal Tic about saying "oooooooo-weeeeeee-oooooooo!" He's also responsible for kidnapping a race of cavemen and enslaving them to work in his mines, digging up more jewels to add to his palace. He was actually driven insane after drinking water polluted by said cavemen in an Anvilicious Green Aesop. Still, being driven crazy for some reason makes everything justifiable.
  • Cecile Newcastle in Winback.
  • Lord Ghirahim from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. His heart is full of rainbows! Also, he wears skintight clothing that only barely censors his nipples, he seems to be wearing white lipstick, and he enjoys approaching Link in molestacular poses. However, he has serious Mood Swinger tendencies, he's a demon (lord) with a blade, and the overall effect is less "sissy" and more "completely balls-out bonkers."
  • Sergei from Asura's Wrath. Effeminate looking, crazy, constantly relaying about the beauty of things, dresses like a drag queen, and has Steve Blum doing his best evil Leeron voice.
  • Yoshiaki and Sorin in Sengoku Basara.


Web Comics[]

  • Keith Feddyg from Fans!, a minor villain from Book 4 and Big Bad of book 6, probably the most blatant example of a Depraved Bisexual in T's comics, his first arc centering on a sex cult he created.


Web Original[]

Cquote1

 Marik: Foolish fools! There are no women in Yu-Gi-Oh! There are only extremely girly men. And I am the most girly of them all!

Pegasus: Keep telling yourself that.

Cquote2


Western Animation[]

  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars has Jabba the Hutt's uncle, Ziro, whose voice was allegedly based on Truman Capote's.
  • Stewie Griffin from Family Guy, especially in the earlier seasons. Not surprising, since he's a largely a Parody of various villain tropes.
  • Satan is done this way so often it's now a trope of its own.
  • Jack Spicer in Xiaolin Showdown. Frequently screams like a girl, to. Is even called a sissy in one episode, and accidently declares himself Queen of The Black Vipers, prompting looks from everyone.
  • Lex Luthor's pet iguana Ignatius from Krypto the Superdog, even though he had a crush on a female iguana in one episode.
  • Senor Senior, Junior is the Kim Possible variant of this, as metrosexual as it gets, overly concerned with hair care products, boy bands and far more interested in looking good than doing bad.
    • That's just the thing, though--he isn't really a villain, per se. Also, he's more bishie than sissy, IMHO.
  • Professor Hinkle from Frosty the Snowman.
  • Necron from Fire and Ice, he may look like a sissy but he has the ability to give Curb Stomp Battles to anyone foolish enough to attack him.
  • Ard (in the "Den" vignette of Heavy Metal: (singsong voice) "No-orl!"
  • From He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Skeletor. Dude sounds like Paul Lynde, I'm just sayin'.
  • Starscream of Transformers moves up and down a Sliding Scale of Girlishness and Childishness depending on the series and translation, but is consistently feminine bitchy. Some have mistakenly made him a girl, some have given him a female clone, some have made him an outright giggling fool and some have even made him a somewhat serious air commander... with a childish attitude and a girlfriend to complain to about how his lord and master mistreats him. Expect every incarnation to be a narrow-waisted, whiny, flighty asshole prone to backstabbing his lord and master for insults and ambition.
    • Except Transformers Energon, but he was brainwashed so that doesn't count.
      • His movie counterpart is just a bit cowardly and rather Badass, just look at his Crowning Moment of Awesome in the first movie, when he takes out the others F-22.
    • Transformers Prime gives us Knock Out, a metrosexual Decepticon who puts great concern with his vehicle form.
Cquote1

 Knock Out: I like the way I look in steel-belted radials

Knock Out: I'm not only an automobile, I'm also an automobile enthusiast.

Cquote2
  • Cobra Commander of G.I. Joe, often described as a "faceless effeminate screechy man." Where other villains go into rages, Cobra Commander throws hissy fits.
    • Hell, his threat level seems to be based on how deep his voice is.
    • It should be noted that the original Cobra Commander and the original Starscream were voiced by the same actor, Chris Latta. CC and Screamer obviously partnered in G.I. Joe/Transformers crossovers, comic and cartoon. Chris Latta himself was a bit bitchy and ended up being fired for all the trouble he caused the studio.
  • The Creeper from Animalia. It's that super-lispy voice of his.
  • Subverted in The Magic School Bus where there is a fey British scientist, who runs a place called herp haven that seems to want to do in the iguanana Lizz and prances around a bit. However, it turns out he's basically a good guy who runs a habitat for reptiles and was just trying to adjust Lizz's habitat.
  • Parodied by the Scoutmaster, played (in-universe, obviously) by Paul Lynde, a villain from the campy 1960s version of the Show Within a Show Radioactive Man from The Simpsons.
  • The Venture Brothers — The Wild Fop appears to be a member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, in spite of his demonstrated "inappropriate behavior".
  • Teamo Supreme has Baron Blitz, a German dictator ( who probably comes from another planet).Surprisingly, he wears a really fopish — looking outfit with a curled powdered wig and a beauty mark on his right cheek,big pink lips that give you the impression he's wearing lipstick, purple eye shadow, pink lacy gloves and high heels. Still Sissy villain material but to a lesser degree.
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