Hollywood goes gaga over eye patches

Hollywood is fixing its gaze on eye patches. The ophthalmologic trend isn't exactly new, but the rogue's patch is experiencing a retinal renaissance on the big screen.

Here's a closer look at movie eye patches, and what the accessory (the actors wearing them are all fully sighted) says about the character.

Anthony Hopkins as Odin in Thor (2011):

With no strings attached on the patch, the mythical figure must have access to Krazy Glue. In a pinch, the patch doubles as a spoon rest.

Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (2010):

For Bridges, it was more comfortable to wear his patch on the opposite eye than John Wayne did in the 1969 version of True Grit; it wasn't a creative choice to make the character his own. It's clear Cogburn (likely injured in the Civil War) has seen tough times.

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Iron Man 2 (2010):

Fury lost his left orb to shrapnel while in the CIA, but he's much cooler with blinkers than without.

Tom Cruise as Col Claus von Stauffenberg in Valkyrie (2008):

The German officer who tried to assassinate Hitler lost his eye when he was strafed; on Cruise, it just looks goofy.

Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004):

She may have only one eye (her tutor Pai Mei plucked the other one out), but the California Mountain Snake can still cut you in two.

Robert Wagner as Number 2 in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002):

Combine the eye patch-wearing menace of Emilio Largo in James Bond's Thunderball with a poop joke.