Examples of this trope in comics
Comic Books[]
- The Joker - just mentioning him to any superhero and villain in the DCU other than Batman (even to some of the most powerful villains and heroes in the DCU) instantly kills a conversation, and even supervillains keep healthy distance from him. As The Trickster said: "When super-villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories."
- There's a reason Batman has been called "The Scourge of all Evil" and "the most dangerous man on the planet." Much like The Joker, Batman is able to kill any conversation among villains, even many Superman villains. You'd think he wouldn't be so dreaded seeing that he never actually kills anyone. His solution to this is to merely point out that if he has killed people, no one would ever know. The Joker, unfortunately, sees through this to Batman's true nature quickly.
- Interestingly however, if Batman: Arkham Asylum is to believed, Joker will cheerfully play up Batman's schtick to scare his mooks, either for shits and giggles or to make them work harder. Likely leading to at least some OTHER villains and mooks believing maybe some of what Joker says.
- A Sinestro Corp ring once tried to conscript Batman. This means that the ring judged Batman to be one of the scariest beings in the entire space sector. Even if that just effectively means Earth, that's still really impressive.
- There's a reason Batman has been called "The Scourge of all Evil" and "the most dangerous man on the planet." Much like The Joker, Batman is able to kill any conversation among villains, even many Superman villains. You'd think he wouldn't be so dreaded seeing that he never actually kills anyone. His solution to this is to merely point out that if he has killed people, no one would ever know. The Joker, unfortunately, sees through this to Batman's true nature quickly.
- Rorschach from Watchmen, even more so than Dr. Manhattan. During the riots people argued with Doc, but the rioters cleared by Rorschach simply walked away once he made his appearance.
- Judge Fear is made of this trope.
- Literally - the sight of his face will kill any normal human. Fortunately, Dredd isn't a normal human:
 |
"Stare into the face of Fear!" |
 |
- Darkseid. There are very few people in The DCU who can face him alone knowing what he is capable of doing without showing a hint of fear. If he wasn't one of these before Final Crisis, he probably is now. Put it this way for those of you unfamiliar - he's the Anthropomorphic Personification of the Platonic Ideal of Tyranny. And has the power and influence to match.
- Shown brilliantly in the penultimate episode of Justice League Unlimited when the rest of the villains try to resurrect Brainiac but accidentally resurrected Darkseid. The Oh Crap faces they all make speaks volumes.
- On a more humorous note, the tiny alien dragon Lockheed is this for the Brood.
- Subverted by Venom, the Evil Counterpart to Spider-Man. In his heyday, Venom was widely feared in the supervillain community, although this was typically due to how well he did against Spider-Man. On the other hand, he got his ass kicked by C-listers like the supervillain Styx and the superhero Darkhawk. Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you remember that Venom had some major advantages against Spider-Man. He knew Peter Parker's secret identity, which meant he could torture Peter in his civilian identity as Eddie Brock, and he was also immune to Peter's spider-sense, which screwed with Peter's usual fighting style. When he goes up against someone like Darkhawk, who's not psyched out by Eddie Brock and whose powers are not hindered by him, Eddie loses all his trump cards and becomes a much weaker foe.
- Though being a stronger version of Spider-Man, who unlike Spidey is perfectly willing to kill, is in and of itself rather formidable.
- The Punisher, for every reason you could believe. The very mention of the name "Frank Castle" is enough to scare the bejeezus out of the toughest, meanest thugs, killers, and mafiosi. At one point in the MAX series, a hardened mercenary from the Balkans drops to his knees and starts sobbing and praying at the mere sight of the white skull.
- Sabretooth is a sadistic, completely unhinged psychopath who treats everyone not allied with him as prey to be hunted down and slaughtered. This would be enough to make a lot of people nervous, but the worst part is that the bastard is smart. Not only is he a centuries-old professional soldier/mercenary who has been trained by countless agencies and fought in innumerable wars, but he's an exceptionally adept manipulator who can play almost anyone like a puppet without their even knowing. Just mentioning his name or the fact that you hired him is enough to cause alarm in a good portion of the MU.
- Wolverine got similar treatment in one storyline when the Hand resurrected and brainwashed him into being an agent of HYDRA. This makes perfect sense, since evil Wolverine essentially is Sabretooth.
- The Fantastic Four. There is barely a single supervillain out there who hasn't at the very least heard horror stories about their terrifying badassery and feats of awesome. Like the Doctor below, they have entire races of aliens, most of whom they don't even remember meeting, who tell tales about them as mythical bogeymen to scare their children with. Case in point:
|
Reed: It turns out they speak trinary code. So I said to them, 'I am Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, and I...' |
|
- Even among people who've never actually met the Four, the prospect of facing people who defeated Galactus (more than once!) would legitimately be terrifying.
- In the Ultimate Universe, Reed Richards goes through a Face Heel Turn and effectively becomes Ultimate Doctor Doom complete with facial scarring. The storyline covering this is titled "Ultimate Enemy" for good reason.
- All the Gauls, but especially Obelix are this to the Roman legionnares and pirates.
- Dormammu. Dimension Lord/Eldritch Abomination from his own demonic dimension. There's a reason they call him "The Dread Lord".
- Always a Bigger Fish; the demonic living superweapon Zom scares the hell out of Dormammu's sister, Umar(who's roughly his equal in power), and took the combined efforts of Dormammu and Eternity(along with unnamed others) to seal in a can. Imagine how Dormammu must feel about Zom if he was willing to work with Eternity to stop it.
- Bizarrely enough, Shuma Gorath is a lesser example of this compared to Dormammu and Zom despite being a Lovecraftian horror more powerful than Dormammu and on par with Zom (if not stronger). This is due to Shuma Gorath's Charm Person powers that make everyone it rules over revere it. Everyone not under its influence and aware of its existence fears it.
- The DC Universe has the Anti-Monitor. Only rarely seen as an actual Big Bad, he's referred to often as a greater threat than whoever is at the moment. How bad is he? Well, after defeating Death itself in Blackest Night, Ganthet tells the Green Lantern that they've actually lost because the Anti-Monitor has been freed.
- In some stories in both DC and Marvel universes, humanity (and/or Earth) itself. In the Marvel Universe various alien races are simply flat out-terrified by the sole planet that has not only forced Galactus to leave...multiple times, but has beaten off invasions by galaxy-spanning empires. In one notable case, when this information was brought to the attention of a soon-to-be-invading fleet's commander, the fleet immediately turned and got out of the area as fast as they could.
- At the end of the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy by Warren Ellis, Nick Fury sends Vision out into space not only with directions on how to defeat Galactus, but also with a little message from Earth: "Human beings can kick the hell out of anything."
- In All Fall Down, nearly everyone fears the Ghoul.
- While not explicitly mentionned as such nor shown to be one (mainly because most people usually believe him dead), Darkhell from Les Légendaires is strongly hinted to have been a symbol of fear in all Alysia during his time as the ruler of Casthell. His mere presence as the enemy usually is enough to get everyone becoming serious. Considering all the abominations he did, that's strongly justified.
- Deathmonger from Empowered.
- The only reason Willy Pete isn't this is because he likes to keep a low profile. Though after singlehandedly wiping out an entire team of superheroes, that's likely to change.
- One of the requirements to be part of the Sinestro Corps is that you need the ability to inspire great fear. They aren't kidding. Their ranks include a hulking drill instructor who happily eats those who fail, an emotionally numb crustacean who can snipe from three space sectors away, an alien who kills parents and takes their children, and an insectoid Eldritch Abomination Energy Being who possessed the Green Lantern's greatest hero. And again, a Sinestro Corps Ring tried to recruit Batman.
- The Incredible Hulk scares the hell out of the rest of the Marvel Universe. The most powerful heroes - even knowing full well he's not evil, just misunderstood - take his arrival as seriously as that of someone like Doctor Doom, if not more. Given what a rampaging Hulk can do, it's not without reason. He could get angry, you see. And you wouldn't like him when he's angry.
- Though in some stories, people do wonder if Banner is actually the more dangerous one. He is.