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Despite not even being closely related to them, Amphibians sometimes are portrayed this way too. Toads in particular have become heavily correlated with abhorrence due to their poisonous secretions, association with witches, and the myth that touching one will give you warts. However, there are many favorable depictions of frogs in fiction.
 
This is not a character trope. It is a pattern only visible when looking at an entire cast of characters. Merely having a few bad reptiles among a majority of good reptiles does not invoke this trope. When the only reptilian character in a work or the majority of the reptile-themed characters are bad guys, this trope is in play. This trope does not require that reptiles be [[Exclusively Evil]] -- there—there may be a few token good reptilians within a race of mostly evil reptiles as an example of [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]].
 
Sometimes the trope in invoked in-universe. Characters may assume that reptiles are more likely to be evil, whether or not it's justified. In these cases you may have Reptiles Are Abhorrent crossed with [[Fantastic Racism]].
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* ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' has the Zokugaku Chameleons, with their linebacker, Habishira, having long arms like a chameleon's tongue. The much tougher, [[Affably Evil]] Hakushuu Dinosaurs are another example.
* It isn't quite clear how ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' feels about this trope. {{spoiler|Machina}}'s alternate form (seems to be) a giant snake, and his first acts include {{spoiler|nearly killing the main character}} and acting like an all-around bad guy. But as of Ch. 255-ish, he starts being more than friendly with the heroes, even (jokingly?) asking Maria to marry him for her (and Sakuya's) hamburger-making skills.
* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' most of the Arcobaleno have cute mammals or birds as their pets. What do the [[Greed|greedygreed]]y [[Meaningful Name|Viper]] and [[Mad Scientist]] Verde get? A snake and an alligator, respectively.
* ''[[Bleach]]'': As if Rukia hadn't made the connection several hundred chapters back, Ichimaru Gin himself gave this little monologue in Chapter 414.
{{quote|[[Animal Motifs|I am a snake.]] [[I Lied|My skin is cold.]] [[Ax Crazy|I have no heart.]] [[Devil in Plain Sight|I slither around,]] [[Affably Evil|seeking prey with my tongue]]. And I swallow my favorites whole.}}
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== [[Disney Animated Canon]] Examples ==
* ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]]'' features an entire association of Rescue Aid mice, a friendly cat who sings about keeping faith, an extremely helpful dragonfly, and even a good turtle -- butturtle—but the alligators are the only mean animals in the movie. Huh.
** ''[[The Rescuers Down Under]]'' feature a [[Punch Clock Villain]] Goanna who still liked to terrorize smaller animals, as well as a bunch of man-eating crocodiles. The frilled lizard (one of the cute species) is a good guy, however.
** Tellingly, none of the mean reptiles in either of the movies talk. And the crocodilians of both films seem to be rather useful at being the method of a [[Karmic Death]]...
* ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]'' has the [[Punch Clock Villain]] Sir Hiss. Oddly enough, he's a goofy [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]]. Another villain is an axe wielding alligator. Two others are reptiles [[Punch Clock Villain|under the service]] of the Mammalian Prince John. The movie does feature a more sympathetic turtle: Toby, [[Nerd|nerdynerd]]y friend of [[Cheerful Child|Skippy Rabbit]].
* Kaa in ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' is another funny villain, but some viewers think he had definitely paedophiliac undertones to him ("[[Sssssnaketalk|Trussssst in me / Jussssst in me]]"). Note that in the book, Kaa was one of the main mentors for Mowgli. In the Disney adaptation, he was [[Adaptational Villainy|transformed into a villain]].<ref>There's a whole chapter in the seminal [[Doorstopper]], ''The Illusion of Life'' in which the authors go on and on about how they struggled to make both Kaa and Sir Hiss "cute" so that they ''wouldn't scare the women in the audience''.</ref>
* In Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', Jafar uses of snake motifs throughout the movie, and when he wants to amp up the evil, he [[Scaled Up|turns into a giant snake]].
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[Alligator]]'', cute baby gator Raymond is flushed into Chicago's sewers and starts chowing down on pet corpses spiked with experimental growth hormone; so he isn't really mean, just hungry. Notable for being among the first of many, many ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'' rip-offs -- andoffs—and for being [[Better Than It Sounds|one of the best]].
* The first ''[[Anaconda]]'' film, just in case the audience isn't already unsettled by gigantic snakes trying to eat people, asserts that anacondas will regurgitate their still-living prey after swallowing them, just for the malicious pleasure of ''eating them again.'' {{spoiler|This happens to the main antagonist of the first film.}}
* ''[[Snakes on a Plane]]'' had snakes as the designated villains, and in this case they were riled up by a spray of pheromones. It gets to the point that [[Samuel L. Jackson]] has [[Memetic Mutation|had it with these motherfuckin' snakes on this motherfuckin' plane]].
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* They aren't reptiles, but while we're on the subject of horror movies that assume we think crawling, <s> scaly,</s> swamp-dwelling animals are inherently scary: ''[[Film/Frogs|Frogs]]''. Yes, ''Frogs''. (And the frogs in question aren't the poisonous or gigantic variety, either.) Funny thing is, the frogs themselves don't do anything. They just stand around being ominous. All of the mayhem and murder is done by alligators, moccasins, snapping turtles, and anoles (the last lock a guy in a greenhouse and cause a chemical reaction that asphyxiates the guy with vapors).
* In his original appearance, [[Godzilla]] was portrayed as a walking nuclear explosion, destroying everything in his path. In subsequent movies, however, he was depicted in a grayer light, and even became a hero at times.
* The [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]] ''[[Lake Placid]]'' has a giant, attacking, man-eating crocodile. This could be another case of [[Humans Are Bastards]], though -- afterthough—after all, he didn't ''ask'' to be abandoned in a freezing cold Maine lake, did he?
* And in a case of Humans Are Stupid, ''[[Primeval]]'' stars SUV-sized "[[Never Trust a Trailer|Serial killer]]" Gustav, whose large kill record is largely due to idiot fishermen and similarly idiot photographers and big-game hunters. However, it's at least more factually accurate than ''Lake Placid''.
* ''[[Reptilicus]]'' is a giant, man-eating lizard-dragon-thing.
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* ''[[Dreamscape]]'' featured a little boy who suffered from nightmares about The Snake Man. The villain of the piece took on the hero by [[Scaled Up|turning himself into The Snake Man]].
* ''Zathura A Space Adventure'' (which is basically ''[[Jumanji]]'' <small>[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]</small>) gives us the villainous Zorgons, reptilian aliens who are attracted to heat sources.
* The original ''[[Star Wars]]'' films have very few reptilian sentients. Most of them are in the Cantina on Mos Eisley. The only exception is Bossk, a rather vicious Trandoshan bounty hunter. General Grievous was a Kaleesh, a reptilian species that are in war with the Huk, a mantid-like species. The Huk were the Invaders, and Grievous was very noble back then. The prequels have some other reptilian species, but none in a prominent role.<br /><br />From the "[http://www.yamara.com/yamara/rfw/rfw2/rfw2pg3.html Call Me MISTER Binks]" article (Radio Free WYHTL):
 
From the "[http://www.yamara.com/yamara/rfw/rfw2/rfw2pg3.html Call Me MISTER Binks]" article (Radio Free WYHTL):
{{quote|"I'm addressing, of course, the vicious, bigoted pattern of lizard-hate in the culture, and in the media.
''[[Star Wars|The Phantom Menace]]'' doesn't just contain one species-ist character, it slurs the entire reptilian phylum." }}
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** In "[[The Jungle Book (novel)|Rikki-Tikki-Tavi]]", a pet mongoose defends his masters' home against the deadly snakes that are ''[[Everything Trying to Kill You|everywhere]]''.
** In "Kaa's Hunting", the "poison people" are self-absorbed. The mad cobra in "The King's Ankus" seems somewhat insane, claiming that a jewelled inanimate object is "death" ({{spoiler|and it turns out he's also outlived his poison}}), but turns out to be right.
** Likewise, in "The Undertakers", the chief villain is a vain old crocodile called the Mugger,<ref> although mugger/magar/makara is an actual word for a crocodile species in South Asia</ref>, who ''boasts'' of having attacked human women and children (but is less than thrilled to be reminded that a woman once drove him away by shooting at him).
* [[Raymond E. Feist]]'s novel ''[[The Riftwar Cycle|A Darkness at Sethanon]]'' introduces the Panthathians, a race of snake-men who worship a race of evil [[Precursors]] that will [[Sealed Evil in a Can|destroy the world if ever freed]]. Naturally they are attempting to do exactly that.
* Played straight and occasionally subverted in ''[[Harry Potter]]'':
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* Played with in the novel ''Chester Cricket's Home'', a sequel to ''[[A Cricket In Times Square]]''. One of the residents of Chester's meadow, a water snake named Walter, realizes that many humans find him horrifying, a fact that he takes an inordinate amount of pride in. However, Walter is actually quite friendly and funny, if a bit of a wise guy at times.
* Subverted by David Eddings' ''[[Belgariad]]'' and ''Mallorean'' series. While the civilization most attuned to and appreciative of snakes, the Nyissans, are usually portrayed as a rather sinister, corrupt, and amoral people, eventually the chief eunuch Sadi becomes a rather amusing hero, and he brings his pet snake Zith, an intelligent, extremely lethal but extremely affectionate and endearing snake with almost cat-like habits. The only member of the party who doesn't take a shine to her is Silk, whose snake-phobia is more comical than rational. Zith's habit of curling up and sleeping in the bosom of Silk's love interest does not help this. Nor does how Silk finds out...
* ''[[Gator Gumbo]]'': The main character is an old alligator that can no longer catch prey. The other animals taunt him over this. In the end, he makes a batch of gumbo. The other animals refuse to help but want some. {{spoiler|So they get get close enough and he sweeps them into the pot, cooks, and eats them.}} It probably qualifies as a [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] as well -- Donwell—Don't be a jerk and never underestimate old people {{spoiler|or [[Bad Ass Old Guy|they will destroy you!]]}}
* Similar to the Disney's ''Aladdin'' example, the Queen of Underland in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Silver Chair]]'' turns into a giant snake when she finally runs out of subtler options for killing the heroes. Prince Rillian is glad of this, because it meant he [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|wouldn't have to kill a woman.]]
* Debora Chester's ''[http://www.lucasaliens.com/ Alien Chronicles]'' series has the Viis, who resemble giant frilled lizards. They're a despotic race that has enslaved various mammalian races, with the only other reptilian species being their allies instead. When the mammalian races leave to find a utopia, not even their Viis underclass allies go with them, and what becomes of the turtle-people is never said. The web page for the series even invokes this trope.
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* In Korney Chukovsky's children story ''[[Stolen Sun]]'', a crocodile swallows the sun (just go with it) and it takes a bear to tear him apart and release it.
* ''[[Villain Dot Net|Villain.Net]]'' plays with this one: upon encountering Chameleon, apprentice supervillain Jake Hunter presumes the reptilian shapeshifter to be a fellow evil-doer. He is quickly disabused of that notion. However, over the course of the first book, Chameleon shows himself to have a nasty edge, being perfectly willing to kill, and seeking revenge rather than justice.
* Pretty much anytime a reptillian character shows up in one of [[Terry Brooks]]' books, you can expect raw evil (although [[Our Dragons Are Different|Strabo]] is a noticeable exception). It's especially obvious with [[Lizard Folk|The Mwellrets]], who are the only species in the [[Shannara]] universe that hasn't featured a heroic member. Indeed, one of them, [[The Dragon|Cree Bega]], and his equally reptillian [[Big Bad|boss]], [[Brain Food|The Morgawr]], are the only characters in series who might qualify for [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsterhood]]hood.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] novel ''[[The Hour Of The Dragon]]'', the priests of Set keep giant snakes.
{{quote|''The Cimmerian recoiled, remembering tales he had heard -- serpents were sacred to Set, god of Stygia, who men said was himself a serpent. Monsters such as this were kept in the temples of Set, and when they hungered, were allowed to crawl forth into the streets to take what prey they wished. Their ghastly feasts were considered a sacrifice to the scaly god.''}}
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{{quote|"Mammals. Why did it have to be mammals?" }}
* Subverted, invoked, ''and'' reconstructed in ''[[Dreamsnake]]'': Someone's violent phobia of snakes is what kicks off the [[Frontier Doctor]] heroine's troubles. And while she views her cobra and rattlesnake (which serve as her medical kit) as both [[Cool Pet|pets]] and essential tools, not even ''she'' can find anything likable about the dangerous, ill-tempered, and downright ugly sand vipers.
* Subverted in [[Andre Norton]]'s ''[[Operation Time Search]]'', when a young man from 20th Century America is flung back in time to the war between [[Atlantis]] and Mu, and is surprised, though he doesn't say it aloud, to find that his Murian hosts revere snakes. A nine-headed serpent motif is often used in jewelry -- andjewelry—and the [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Emperor's]] crown.
* [[Our Goblins Are Wickeder|Goblins]] in ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' are a reptilian species of fairy. They're presented as extremely stupid and almost unversally prone to a criminal disposition. They are also the only fairy race with the ability to conjure fire.
* In ''[[The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel]]'', Quetzalcoatl is one of the more evil-aligned Elders (seriously, people need to [[Sadly Mythtaken|stop making the nicest Aztec god evil just because he's the only one they've heard of]]) and a Komodo-dragon-like monster called a Nidhogg is summoned and nearly eats Scathach in the first book. Also, everyone's magical aura has a different smell, and one of the villains' auras smells like a snake.
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* In the ''[[CSI]]: Miami'' episode "Identity," a sunbathing woman is killed and swallowed (but for some reason not digested) by a boa constrictor. Once again, this is more a case of Humans are Bastards, as the snake had been illegally imported and died soon thereafter.
* The Sleestak were the worst sentient villains in ''[[Land of the Lost (TV series)|Land of the Lost]]''. And the other villains? Well, they subverted [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs]] by being carnivores who chased the cast... except for Dopey.
* The main [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s of ''[[Space Cases]]'' were the Spung, an [[Exclusively Evil]] (except for [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|Elmira]]) race of bipedal reptiles.
* [[Kamen Rider Ryuki]] has Kamen Rider Ohja, which means [[Meaningful Name|King of Snakes]]. And Oh how [[Complete Monster|evil]] [[For the Evulz|he]] [[Blood Knight|is.]]
* A brief scene in the ''[[Davy Crockett]]'' mini-series featured Davy up against a few alligators.
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* There's a [[Playground Song]] based upon a [[Shel Silverstein]] poem called "I'm Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor", which exploits the fear of a snake being able to eat a person.
{{quote|''Oh, heck! He's up to my neck!''
''Oh, dread! He's up to my [[Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion|* GULP* ]]'' }}
* "Ah don't like spiduhs an' snakes..."
* The Church's unfair but rocking "Reptile" makes use of explicit [[The Bible|Biblical]] symbolism.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* The ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game has several sets of Reptile-type monsters that either affirm or subvert this; the Venoms (evil corrupting snakes with [[Naga]]-like "gods"), Aliens (patterned off of the reptilian humanoid and Roswell Gray alien theories, but no official word on their allegiance), the Gagagigos (flip-flopped between evil and good, but now officially evil), and the Worms ([[Light Is Not Good|Light-Attribute, but horrendously ugly, and the enemies of the]] [[Dark Is Not Evil|Dark-Attribute Ally of Justice monsters]].
* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' snakes were originally depicted as nasty creatures with cards like Serpent Warrior, but more recently the Orochi were powerful and noble [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]]s, if a bit hostile. However, Orochi are surely the least snake-like "snake men" ever illustrated: they have hair, [[Non Mammalian Mammaries|breasts]], four arms, two legs, and no tails, and their faces are mostly humanoid. Dragons have been in every alignment (including a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|genius dragon mad wizard scientist]]), but skew towards evil or violently, destructively instinct-driven. Reptiles may be simply animals, but aside from some Orochi there aren't many heroic reptiles, nor are many in White, the most community-driven, justice-oriented, or stereotypically "heroic" color.
* One of the fictional series in ''[[Cartoon Action Hour]]'', "Warriors of the Cosmos," has a evil snake-human in the form Serpentina, but of course, that tabletop kisses the mouth of 1980s cartoons very hard.
* The ''[[Champions]]'' superhero RPG had the ubiquitous VIPER criminal organization as well as reptile-themed villains. One was King Cobra (formerly Dr. Timothy Blank), a Mad Scientist who discovered the Coil Gene, which mutates humans into super-powered reptilian creatures. He was his own first subject, of course. His goal is to turn every human in the world into reptiles... totally loyal to him, naturally. He's been a master villain in ''[[Champions]]'' for at least the last three editions of the game, probably longer.
* In the Ani-Earth [[Animal Superheroes]] setting for ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'', it is specifically stated that reptiles tend to be villains, with snakes as evil masterminds, lizards as mid-level bad guys and crocodilians as dumb mooks. Freedom City's [[Big Bad]], Overshadow, becomes Cobrashadow.
* In the ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' sourcebook "Mythologies", one of the possibilities for the first vampire? The son (or daughter) of Eve, the First Woman... and The Serpent of Eden. The book includes several snake-based powers to apply to vampires to further imply that this might be true, including making snakes into default forms for the Protean discipline, it being easier to Ghoul snakes, and making vampires immune to snake venom (ordinarily, snake venoms -- likevenoms—like most haemotoxins -- workhaemotoxins—work just fine on vampires).
 
 
== Toys ==
* The Zyglak in ''[[Bionicle]]''. There's also the Skakdi -- aSkakdi—a group of them (the Piraka) were collectively the [[Big Bad]] of the 2006 [[Story Arc]], and one of their leaders (Nektann) briefly became [[The Dragon]] to overall series [[Big Bad]] Teridax during the 2010 arc. It is not uncommon for villains to get [[Baleful Polymorph|turned into snakes]].
* In the ''[[Beast Wars]]'' toys played the trope straight, usually. Dinosaurs, reptiles and arthropods where villainous Predacons. Interestingly fish, manta rays, sharks, and squid were Maximals. The main non-evil dinosaur was Dinobot, who abandoned the Predacons because he considered their leader incompetent, and ended up with the Maximals. He remained an only half-trusted anti-hero for much of the show, {{spoiler|but got a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] towards the end.}}
 
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** There're even more nasty snakes in the expanded universe.
** The snake loa was never given the opportunity to do anything bad given what we see. The wind serpent loa is a rather nasty fellow, but not completely unjustified. He/she decides to spend his/her eternity as a now-incorporeal being torturing and murdering those who betrayed him over and over for shiggles. Then again, it does help you out, and they do sort of deserve it.
** Trolls of all subraces in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' are frequently shown to have deep connections to reptiles -- subvertingreptiles—subverting this trope, since trolls are no more inherently evil than other player-character races. Their racial mount is a small dinosaur, snakes are a common motif of troll architecture, and a troll vendor sells a variety of snake vanity pets. In ''[[Warcraft]] III'', the troll Shadow Hunter hero unit summoned Serpent Wards. Trolls and tauren hold snakes to be somewhat sacred. For example, Arikara, the tauren avatar of vengeance, probably would have gone on to kill [[Devil in Plain Sight|Magratha]] for being a complete backstabbing jerkass (the implication is she lies to you when she tells you who its target is).
* Played mostly straight in the ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'' series. While the human scientists were the scheming and callous baddies (invoking the [[Humans Are Bastards]] trope, as well), the mutated minions were the ones just doing the direct dirty work and nothing more... Komodo Joe (a Komodo Dragon) and Dingodile did nasty things too:
** Komodo Joe was said to run an illegal Cubic Zirconia fraud business, and the concepts released by the ''Crash Twinsanity'' developers showed that he would cheat Crash and Cortex out of Power Crystals while they ended up driving around a course in a car with no brakes.
** In the same game, Dingodile ends up hearing about the alleged treasure of the Evil Twins from Crash and Cortex, secretly follows them, makes base in the boiler rooms of the Academy of Evil, and ends up blasting Cortex out of said rooms when Cortex won't reveal where the treasure is to him (which is more a case of Cortex not understanding what he's asking for, anyway). He does appear in the handheld versions as a lackey of Cortex in Crash of the Titans, but it does seem that Cortex trusts him a lot less.
* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' gives us Anguis and Draco Cantus, Megumi Kitaniji's Noise forms -- aforms—a giant snake and a five-headed dragon, respectively. Fitting, considering his [[Jerkass]] nature. (And, incidentally, his fondness for snakeskin suits.)
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]''
** Played straight in the original ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', in which the [[Big Bad]] turns out to be the queen of a race of lizardmen hiding in a glorified magical bomb shelter.
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*** Poroggos are frogs that were able to walk due to [[A Wizard Did It|magic]], and actually were nice to the Tarutaru, thinking they were on good terms with the main races... too bad Windurst got scared of talking, magic-casting frogs and tried to kill them all. Now the Poroggos go around and hit adventurers with party-wiping magic.
*** Quadav are [[Turtle Power|turtle]] beastmen who actually had a nice life and weren't very nasty. This, of course, all went to hell when Bastok started taking and destroying the Quadav's homes so that the Republic could get more resources. Now the Quadav attack pretty much anyone they see, defending their homes with extreme prejudice.
* Any time [[Orochi]] shows up, and whatever form he takes, he's bound to be trouble. He seems to be attracted to [[Crisis Crossover|Crisis Crossovers]]s, as well. That's not to say that's all he shows up in...
* Far more often than not, when they're not player-controlled, the [[Lizard Folk|Sakkra]] are usually quite ready to attack others, in the ''[[Master of Orion]]'' series. Not helped any by their tendency to have the "Repulsive" racial trait, which severely limits communication and gives a negative modifier to diplomatic relations. Basically, you can't live with them, and if you slacked off on building a big fleet you can't kill them.
* In ''[[Contra]] [[Rebirth]]'' your enemies this time are the Neo Salamander Army trying to take over the Earth in the past and wipe out the Contra forces retroactively, but it's also subverted with Plissken, one of the unlockable allies in your game who's a blue Salamander and {{spoiler|is also Colonel Salamander, the leader of the entire army who changed his evil ways and joined Contra to do good, or for revenge.}}
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