14 Movie Villains With Facial Scars, From The Joker to Kylo Ren (Photos)
The British Film Institute recently announced that it would no longer be funding movies that featured villains who had facial scars, burns or disfigurements. It’s in support of a charity campaign called #IAmNotYourVillain, which wants to change the stigma that people with facial differences should be seen as ugly, wrong, unnatural, or in the case of many films, evil. It’s a negative representation that shows up more often than you think among movie villains because it’s an easy visual way of showing that a character is different. Here are some famous examples that use this trope.
“The Phantom of the Opera”
The movie villains with scars trope dates back all the way to the silent era, when silent film star and make-up artist Lon Chaney earned the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Faces” for frequently portraying characters with disfigurements or characters depicted as grotesque or monstrous like “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925) or “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” (1923)
Scar – “The Lion King”
Well duh, Scar is his name. You think his appearance has anything to do with his character?
The Joker – “The Dark Knight”
The Joker gets a lot of mileage out of his scars in “The Dark Knight,” telling two contradicting backstories about how he received them, feeding into the mystique and manipulating nature of his character. And The Joker isn’t the only one, because the evil turn of Harvey Dent is symbolized with half his face burning off as he transforms into the villain Two Face.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld – “You Only Live Twice”
Ernst Stavro Blofeld, as portrayed with a massive scar down from his forehead and past his eye by actor Donald Pleasance, kicked off the James Bond movies’ long history with facial scars, including Alec Trevelyan from “Goldeneye” and Le Chiffre from “Casino Royale,” whose nervous tick is that he sometimes cries blood. It became such a cliche that when “Austin Powers” would parody the spy movie genre, its villain Dr. Evil naturally had to have a facial scar of his own.
Kylo Ren – “Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi”
Kylo Ren receives his facial scar after his battle with Rey at the end of “The Force Awakens,” though people were more upset about how that scar may have moved across his face in between movies.
Tony Montana – Scarface
Tony Montana got his scar when he got in a fight as a kid, he explains to an immigration officer, and not, as was suggested, by “eating p—.” “You should see the other kid,” Tony says in the film. “You can’t recognize him.
Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) – “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi”
When Darth Vader removes his mask to look upon Luke with his “own eyes” as Anakin Skywalker, we see a withered old man, scarred and pale to represent having become more machine and monster than man.
Freddy Kreuger – The Nightmare on Elm Street
Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees are plenty scary by wearing masks, but Freddy Kreuger’s terrifying selling point – aside from his ability to murder children in their sleep with knives for hands – is that his face has been horribly burned and disfigured.
Kakihara – Ichi the Killer
Takashi Miike’s hyper-violent cult film features its scarred protagonist Kakihara as a sadomasochist who tortures and hunts down a rival Yakuza boss. Although Miike’s considerably controversial film, which was banned in several countries, has enough problems as it is.
Miles Quaritch – “Avatar”
The colonel from James Cameron’s “Avatar” mentions that he received his facial scar from battling a beast on the Na’vi home planet of Pandora, which only feeds his hatred and racism toward the native civilization.
Thanos – “Avengers: Infinity War”
“Infinity War” doesn’t fully explain how Thanos got the three scars on his face, though it hasn’t stopped fans from speculating as to how the purple overlord received them, whether from birth or self-inflicted. Though it does vaguely look like the handiwork of Wolverine.
Dr. Poison – “Wonder Woman”
Actress Elena Anaya said in an interview that her character Dr. Maru – a.k.a. Dr. Poison – melted the corner of her face off when she tested her own experimental gas on herself. Anaya said the idea generated from director Patty Jenkins. “This is the sadistic side of Dr. Maru,” Anaya said. “She’s obsessive. She’s a maniac. And she doesn’t care about her face. It’s not important to her. She just doesn’t want attention.”
Richard Harrow – “Boardwalk Empire”
Richard’s character in “Boardwalk Empire” is a war veteran who suffered his facial deformity in battle. He’s soft-spoken and timid and always hides his face behind a mask designed to look like his old visage that covers all but the corner of his mouth. He’s one of the HBO drama’s most tender and likable characters, but also its most ruthless killer.
Deadpool – “Deadpool”
“Looks ARE everything,” Ryan Reynolds’s Wade Wilson says in “Deadpool.” “Ever heard Dave Beckham speak? It’s like he mouth-sexed a can of helium. You think Ryan Reynolds got this far on a superior acting method?”
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