Trench coats in popular culture

Trench coats have been the distinctive wear of many famous characters in a variety of media.

In comics

Some popular examples of characters wearing trench coats include Commissioner Gordon, Rorschach (comics), Carland Cross, Doctor Occult, Green Hornet, the Sandman, and the Crimson Avenger, among others. John Constantine, the main protagonist of the Hellblazer series, wears a trench coat as an integral part of his image and refers to himself as a member of the Trenchcoat Brigade. Marvel Comics thief and purported "super-soldier" Fantomex wore a white trench coat as part of his costume.

Several characters in the Batman mythos wear trench coats. In Batman: Hush, Killer Croc, Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Dent, Clayface (pretending to be both Jason Todd and Hush), Harold are seen wearing the same generic trench coat model. Batman comments that he owns several as Bruce Wayne. Harvey Bullock, many other members of the G.C.P.D., P.I. Joe Potato wear trench coats too. The Joker often wears a purple one. Tommy Monaghan, another Gothamite and the protagonist of the comic book Hitman, regularly wears a dark green trench coat. Also from the DC Universe, The Crimson Avenger wears a red Trench coat, the Question, the Spirit and The Phantom (aka Mr Walker) wear a signature blue trench coats and fedoras. Clark Kent is also seen using them often.

During Grant Morrison's run on the X-Men comics, titled New X-Men, the characters Jean Grey and Emma Frost wore leather trench coats. Gambit from the X-men usually wears a brown trench coat over his armor. The Punisher AKA Frank Castle also wears a trench coat to conceal his skull t-shirt. Wonder Man sometimes wears a red trench coat as uniform and Bulls-eye often wears one over his spandex suit.

Other comic characters with distinctive trench coats are Hellboy (who wears a dirty, tattered brown one, with the right sleeved rolled up past his Right Hand Of Doom), Dick Tracy (a yellow one), Rorschach of Watchmen (a short one) and many of the characters in Frank Miller's Sin City wear trench coats. The Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles often use them to walk among regular people as anonymously as possible.

In Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury, television news reporters are frequently depicted wearing trench coats. The military details, like the D-rings and the collar strap, are carefully drawn.

In the webcomic Antihero for Hire the main character Shadehawk wears a trench coat when out on patrol as a super hero.

In the comic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac the main character Johnny wears a trench coat, though it is left behind when he returns to earth after going to Hell.

Science fiction

• The Replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner wore a black leather trench coat, while Deckard wore a custom, single-breasted trench coat.
• A Duster Style leather trench coat was used as one of the trademarks of vampire Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Likewise, the vampire Angel, also a Buffyverse character, often wore trench coats, especially during the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when he reverted to his evil self, Angelus.
• In the 2002 sci-fi series Firefly, the rebellious Independent Faction of the Unification War became known as Browncoats for wearing brown trench coats in combat (as opposed to the sophisticated battle suits of the Alliance).
• In the TV series The X-Files, both Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are known for wearing trench coats frequently.
• In the TV Series Invader ZIM Dib was the one and only character that wears a trench coat.
• On the NBC science fiction series Heroes, Peter Petrelli wore a trench coat throughout most of the first season, as did the villain Sylar. In their first encounter, Peter was wearing a white trench coat, while Sylar's was black, in the traditional good and evil motif.
• In the BBC television series Doctor Who, the Tenth Doctor played by David Tennant wears a light brown trenchcoat throughout the series; he claims in the episode "Gridlock" that he received the coat from Janis Joplin. The recurring character of Jack Harkness played by John Barrowman wears a Royal Air Force-style greatcoat (similar in pattern to a trenchcoat, but designed for warmth over waterproofing) for most of his appearances on Doctor Who and its spinoff series Torchwood.
• John Taylor from Simon R Green's Nightside books wears a white trenchcoat .
• In the well-known sci-fi tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000, the sub-faction the Death Korps of Krieg has trenchcoats as part of its standard uniform.

Film and television

• In Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the Nazi villains, a Gestapo agent named Arnold Toht, is always seen wearing a large leather trenchcoat. He even wears it while assigned to the Tanis project in Egypt, though he drapes it across his shoulders rather than wear it in the blistering heat.
• In the film adaptation of Silent Hill, Radha Mitchell as Rose Da Silva wore a trench in the beginning of the film.
• In The Punisher, Frank Castle wore a trench coat.
• The trench coat was a standard feature of the hardboiled detective in countless films noirs.
• Unusually, Van Heflin's private eye in Grand Central Murder (1942) wore a trench coat made of leather, a garment almost always denoting a villain.
• In Jumper, Hayden Christensen, as David Rice, wears a trench coat.
• Eric Draven, portrayed by Brandon Lee, wore a trench coat as part of his wardrobe in the film The Crow.
• Kevin Smith's character creation Silent Bob always wears a green trench coat.
• Lemony Snicket, fictitious author of the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, is often shown in photographs wearing a brown trench coat.
• Carmen Sandiego wears a red trench coat and a red fedora as her main costume.
• Many characters in The Matrix film series wear leather trench coats.
• The Immortals of the Highlander series often wear trenchcoats to conceal their weapons.
• The L.A. police detective Alonzo Harris from Training Day wears a black leather Trench coat which hides two pistols.
• The vampire David in The Lost Boys wears a black trenchcoat over a leather jacket.
• In the movie Moon Child, Sho (Gackt) wears a white trenchcoat, concealing his guns.
• In the Japanese tokusatsu series GARO, the main protagonist, Saejima Kouga, wears a white trenchcoat. His rival and sometimes friend or foe Suzumura Rei wears a black trenchcoat.
• Inspector Gadget always wear a trench coat that have some gadgets and can inflate.
• In the last scene of the film Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audrey Hepburn's character is shown wearing a beige trenchcoat.
• In the movie Watchmen, Rorschach wears a brown leather trenchcoat.
• In the movie Dark City The Strangers are seen wearing Trench coats when entering the city.
• In the movie The Returner, Miyamoto often wears Trench coats to conceal his weapons.
• Humphrey Bogart as the loner hero of Casablanca.
• Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.
• Colin Farrell as Bullseye in Daredevil.
• In many John Woo films, the main character (played by Chow Yun-fat) wore a trench coat (including The Killer, A Better Tomorrow).
• Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese in The Terminator.
• Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger in Wes Craven's New Nightmare.
• David Boreanaz as Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
• Emily Deschanel as Temperance Brennan in Bones often wears trench coats in a variety of colours.
• Wesley Snipes' character (half-vampire vampire hunter Blade) often wore a black trenchcoat in Blade
• In the television show Doctor Who, David Tennant often wore a trench coat while playing the title role of The Doctor.
• Clark Kent (Tom Welling) wears a black trenchcoat while crime-fighting throughout Smallville's ninth season until the season ten episode "Shield."

Other

• JC Denton and his brother, Paul Denton, both use trenchcoats in the game Deus Ex
• The eponymous main character from the TV police drama Columbo (TV series) is known for his iconic rumpled trenchcoat and cigar.
• Lynda Carter and Lynda Day George, each wore Trench Coats: Lynda Day George, in the first season episode, The Nazi Wonder Woman as part of Fausta's disguise, and Lynda Carter wore an identical garment in the second season episodes, Light Fingered Lady, Diana's Disappearing Act, and Mindstealers From Space...
• WWE Wrestler The Undertaker typically wears a trench coat in backstage segments and when he makes entrances to the wrestling ring.
• Former WWE, WCW, and current TNA wrestlers The Nasty Boys would wear trench coats, with splatter paint, when they make their entrance to the ring.
• While wrestling for WCW, Ray Traylor as "Big Bubba Rogers", would wear a trench coat to the ring.
• Current TNA wrestler, Sting (real name Steve Borden), would wear a trench coat, as would nWo Sting.
• Paul Heyman, former ECW owner and WWE on air talent, is known to wear a trench coat to the ring, and when he delivered his promos.
• Albert Wesker, the central villain of the Resident Evil series of video games, wears a black trench coat in Resident Evil 5. Nemesis, the central villain from Resident Evil 3, also wears a trench coat.
• Rick Astley wears a trench coat in his "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video. In the YouTube hit "Literal Rickroll", a trench coat is mentioned.
• Caleb wears a Trench Coat from the game Blood, made by Monolith Productions.
• Castiel from the CWTV paranormal drama series,Supernatural has never changed out of his trenchcoat.
• Dante of the Devil May Cry series regularly wears red leather trench coats.
• The character Seto Kaiba from the manga and anime Yu-Gi-Oh! is known for wearing various leather trench coats throughout the series. Plus, Yami Bakura even wore one in the fifth season for three episodes as well.
• The well known Chiptune artist Nullsleep is frequently seen and well known for wearing trench coats while on stage. AKA The "gimme gimme trench coat" look.
• Scott Shelby, one of the four protagonists of the PlayStation 3 game Heavy Rain, is almost always seen wearing a trench coat.
• In the popular PlayStation 3 game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the protagonist, Solid Snake, wears a cropped beige trench coat in the third section of the story, Act 3: Third Sun. Similarly, Liquid Ocelot wears a leather trench coat throughout the game.
• In the Devil May Cry video game series, the main protagonists Dante and Nero wear red and blue trench coats respectively.
• In the anime Darker than Black, Hei wears a bulletproof trench coat for combat, and for normal dressing in season 2.
• In the anime Hellsing, each one of the top fighters of each organization wears a trenchcoat. Alucard from Hellsing Organization, Alexander Anderson of the Iscariot Organization, and The Captain from the Millennium Organization.
• Alaude from the anime and manga Katekyo Hitman Reborn! wears a black trench coat.
• On the television sitcom Seinfeld, Jerry's father Morty who used to work as a raincoat salesman, invented a belt-less trench coat called The Executive.
• Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the Columbine High School Massacre, were frequently seen wearing trenchcoats. In the 1999 shooting, they wore trench coats yet took them off outside of the cafeteria (Eric) and in the library (Dylan).
• Yoite, one of the main characters from the anime Nabari No Ou, wears a black trench coat.
• Snow Villiers from the video game Final Fantasy XIII wears a light gray trench coat. In an early scene, Sazh Katzroy refers to Snow as 'Trench coat', having not yet learned Snow's name.
• The cover art from the video game Fallout: New Vegas features an armored man wearing a leather trench coat strewn with bullet holes.
• Musician Kurt Cobain often wore trenchcoats or similar clothing.