A facial scar can be a reminder of a life-altering moment for a person, both in real life and on the big screen. Whether it is explained to the viewer how a character got a scar on their face or not, a good scar can be the defining physical feature of a character and can leave a lasting impression on a moviegoer. While in real life we do not want to define a person just by the scars on their face, scars in movies can be used to give context on an important past event, tomake a villain more intimidating and scary, or can even be used to help tell a more tragic story of how a character came to bear the marks on their face.
Regardless of why a scar is placed on a character’s face, there have been plenty of facial scars throughout the history of film, yet some characters have stuck out much more than others, leaving a lasting mark on anyone that has seen them. Here are ten of the most memorable movie characters with a facial scar, ranging from old school movie villains all the way to current-day superheroes.
10Wade Wilson/Deadpool
While Deadpool is the regenerative,fourth-wall breaking, merc with a mouth that we see wearing his famous red suit and mask, Wade Wilson is the man under the mask who has to bear the scars of the experiments that turned him into the mutant that he is. While many of the characters on this list have a scar or scars that are just limited to their faces, Wilson’s entire body is covered in scars, giving the appearance of him looking burned from head to toe. His scars aren’t from burns however, asDeadpoolexplains that Wilson was suffering from numerous forms of cancer before becoming the victim of the experiment that gave him his healing powers.
While the healing factor mutated his normal cells, it also mutated the cancer cells in his body, making them just as invincible as his regular cells. So, the constant battle between Wilson’s normal cells and his cancer cells is what gives him the disfigured look. This disfigurement is what propels Wilson to become Deadpool and seek out the man that turned him into the monster that he thinks he is.
9Freddy Krueger
Another character that is scarred from head to toe, Freddy Krueger haunts teens in their dreams and kills them ruthlessly as an act of revenge on the parents of the teens that had killed him. It is explained that when Freddy was still alive, he had gone around killing children. The parents of these children then tracked him down and set him on fire, killing him.
The burning of Freddy is what gave him his disfigured look, making him all the more terrifying when he would show up in the teens' sleep to kill them. Since the original release ofA Nightmare on Elm Street,Freddy has appeared throughoutnumerous otherElm Streetfilmsalong with other horror crossover films likeFreddy vs. Jasonand has terrorized movie viewers for nearly 40 years. His scarring along with his signature striped sweater and bladed glove have made him a certified horror icon.
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8Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes
A mysterious yet cold and ruthless killer, Bob Barnes is the main antagonist of the 1986 filmPlatoon. Throughout the film, Barnes’s backstory along with the scars all over the right side of his face are mostly shrouded in mystery, though it is stated that he’s been shot seven times. Is that how he got his scars? Are they from something else? Viewers are left to their imagination about how the wounds ended up on his face, but regardless of how they got there, they serve as a reminder of Barnes’s cold-blooded nature to both innocent people and the members of his own platoon. The scars also serve as areminder of the brutality of war, and how constant exposure to violence can truly change someone for the worse.
7Edward Scissorhands
Edward Scissorhandstells the story of Edward, a humanoid being who was created by an old inventor. Edward is a gentle and kind creature, but is left with scissor blades for hands as his inventor died before he could be finished. Thanks to the massive blades that he has for hands, Edward cannot help that he ends up nicking his face with them, leaving him with multiple scars across his face.
Despite the scars and his scissor hands being able to easily hurt someone, Edward uses the blades for positive reasons, such as trimming hedges, grooming dogs, giving haircuts, and carving beautiful ice sculptures. Edward’s intimidating appearance heavily contrasts with his gentle nature, as he turns out being the kindest character in the whole film, despite not even technically being human. Even with scissors for hands and scars all over his face,Edward is rememberedfor his good nature more than anything.
6Le Chiffre
There are multipleBondvillains with facial scars, but one of the most memorable of the bunch is the financier for international terrorists, Le Chiffre. A mathematics genius who wins millions of dollars in games of chance, especially poker, Le Chiffre is arguably most memorable for his distinguishing feature, a scarred left eye that weeps blood.
InCasino Royale,Le Chiffre sets up ahigh stakes Texas hold ‘em gameat the Casino Royale in Montenegro in hopes of winning over $100 million, so he can recoup a client’s money that he lost. Bond is sent to intervene, and we get to see a tense poker match as Le Chiffre and Bond battle it out to take home the massive prize. While it is never explained how Le Chiffre acquired the scar on his face, the scar along with the fact that he weeps blood out of that eye makes him one of the most memorable Bond villains, especially since there have been so many in the long history of theJames Bondfranchise.
5Ernst Stavro Blofeld
While there have been multiple actors to play the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, his most memorable look is Donald Pleasence’s performance inYou Only Live Twice.Not only does Blofeld’s massive scarmake him one of the most memorable villains in film, his character as a whole helped to inspire depictions of many other super villains across film, with tropes such as having his signature white cat in his lap that he would stroke. Even the scar across his eye and most of his face could be considered a villain trope, as we have certainly seen plenty of villains with facial scars throughout the years, especially intheBondfranchise. Regardless, Blofeld’s scar is a total mystery as to how he got it, but it certainly makes him feel all the more intimidating.
The Joker inThe Dark Knightis not only one of the best adaptations of the Joker that we’ve seen on the big screen, it’s also one of the best villain performances on the big screen period. Heath Ledger puts up a performance that leaves any viewer in awe, and his performance is accompanied by the scars we see along the character’s mouth. Viewers can’t help but wonder where the scars came from, and we get conflicting stories from the clown as he asks “You want to know how I got these scars?” on different occasions. In one scene, Joker says that the scars came from his abusive father, but in another scene, he says he did it to himself after criminals carved up his wife’s face in a similar manner. The actual truth behind the scars is never revealed, but the conflicting stories make the character all the more crazy and all the more interesting.
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The only animated character to make this list, of course a character with the literal name Scar would make it here. It certainly helps thatScar is an iconic animated villainand is one of the best villains in all of Disney animation, after killing his brother Mufasa and taking over Pride Rock for himself. Scar bears a scar over his left eye, which his where his namesake came from.
It isn’t explained inThe Lion Kinghow the vengeful lion got the scar, but it was eventually revealed where the scar came from inThe Lion Guard,which was an hour-long movie and a three season show that ran on Disney Junior from 2016 to 2019. InThe Lion Guard,it is shown that Scar, born with the name Askari, was bitten across the left eye by a cobra after being lured into a trap. Regardless of how he got the scar, though, Scar will remain one of the most ruthless but also fascinating animated villains we will ever see.
2Tony Montana
When the title of your movie’s name is literallyScarface,of course the Cuban immigrant become drug lord Tony Montana is going to make the list. Of course, it’s never explained exactly how Tony got his signature scar, but his rise to power in the city of Miami as he leaves a trail of blood and cocaine in his wake have made him one of the most memorable movie characters in the last 40 years. This is clearly helped by Al Pacino’s performance as Tony, as his transformation into adrug-addicted, homicidal maniacmakes Tony’s downfall feel all the more real. So, Pacino’s performance, combined with a great nickname for the character along with a nice tropical setting all works to make Tony Montana one of the most memorable characters period, let alone memorable characters with a scar.
1Harry Potter
Finally, we have The Boy Who Lived,Harry Potter. Not only is he one of the most memorable characters in all of film to bear a scar on his face, his scar alone is definitely the most memorable scar that you’ll probably ever see on the big screen. A scar that’s in the shape of a lightning bolt is certainly sticks out more than any other plain old scar, and the fact that it’s with a character in one of the biggest movie franchises in recent memory certainly helps as well.
Anyone that has seen theHarry Potterfilms or read the books know that the scar came from a failed murder attempt bythe evil Lord Voldemort, making him the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. And of course, surviving a curse like that along with a crazy looking scar to boot is enough to make Harry Potter one of the most memorable film characters, especially among the ones to have a facial scar.
