More than half of the top 10 movie villains share more than dark hearts and bad intentions—they also have some serious issues with their skin. Compare that to movie heroes, who all seem to have flawless faces. Maybe they manage to work in more moisturizing time between world-saving events?
That's what researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch concluded in a new study published in JAMA Dermatology, after they analyzed the mugs of the top 10 heroes and villain as compiled by the American Film Institute.
For each of the 20 characters, they evaluated dermatologic characteristics, including conditions like excess wrinkles, alopecia or baldness, facial scars, warts, and dark circles under the eyes.
Darth Vader in particular seemed to be the poster child for bad-skinned villains, with deep wrinkles, multiple facial scars and dark circles under the eyes.
Although they weren't mentioned in the article, plenty of other movie villains would fit this profile as well. Consider the dermatological challenges of characters like Freddy Krueger, the Joker, Scar from "The Lion King," Leatherface, and Bond bad guys like Blofeld and Le Chiffre.
On the other hand, when looking at the good guys, only two of the top 10 heroes had any of these skin issues—facial scars for Indiana Jones and Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca." And even then, the scars were usually subtler than those of the villains.
While the study provided a fun look at the similarities of what makes a world-class Hollywood villain, the findings actually do have some serious implications as well. Basically, they provide further evidence for Hollywood's tendency to depict skin disease in an evil context—and that carries consequences that can extend far beyond the theater, the researchers say in a press release.
That means it's reinforcing biases that skin problems equal evil, which can lead to further prejudice or judgment to people in the real world suffering from them. So maybe it's time for heroes to show something less than a flawless face on the big screen, too.