Joe vs Joe: When Outlaws Wild Out

Every archetype has a shadow side. The very traits that make an archetype powerful can become destructive when distorted or stripped of ethical foundation.

The Queen, unchecked, becomes a tyrant. The Lover becomes obsessive. The Jester’s shadow version? A cruel provocateur who weaponises humour to wound. And the divine disruptor, that icon of radical freedom and resistance — The Outlaw — can become something far more unsettling (and frankly dangerous) when their energy distorts.

In the Poeticize Your Presence system, I work with twelve archetypes: the Outlaw, the Queen, the Mystic, the Lover, the Creator, the Empress, the Warrior, the Poet, the Luminary, the Jester, the Innocent, and the Alchemist. (Most people are a blend of 2 or 3). These aren’t costumes. They’re patterns of energy that show up in how you communicate, carry yourself, and dress. Your Style Energy Archetype isn’t just about what you wear — it’s also very much about the atmosphere you create, the things you believe in, the frequency you emit, the way you move through the world.

So let’s talk about what happens when Outlaw energy goes rogue.

Shadow Outlaws don’t just break rules. They break lives. They operate without moral compasses, justifying destruction in the name of freedom, authenticity, or simply because they can. They’re magnetic, often brilliant, and always dangerous. And somehow, we can’t look away.

Let’s examine two Netflix icons who embody this shadow energy in wildly different ways: Joe Goldberg and Joe Exotic. One (Joe Goldberg, the homidical start of the iconic series YOU) is thankfully fictional. The other (Joe Exotic, larger than life star of the bingeworthy show The Tiger King) is disturbingly real. Both Joes ended up in prison. Both are textbook Shadow Outlaws — but their manifestations couldn’t be more different.

Joe Goldberg: The Sensitive Psychopath

Aliases: Will Bettelheim, among others
Occupation: Bookstore manager, literary obsessive, full-time stalker
Current Location: Prison (finally)
Signature Accessory: The Murder Baseball Cap
Signature Phrase: “You.”
Emblem: Rare books and his ubiquitous glass cage

Joe Goldberg is what happens when the shadow side Outlaw energy collides with shadow Poet archetype traits — and when someone chooses to weaponize their pain rather than process it. He’s clean-cut, articulate, well-read. He quotes literature while planning murders.

He’s the sensitive guy in the bookstore who listens, who understands, who sees you in ways no one else does. Except he sees you through binoculars. And from outside your window. And eventually, from inside a soundproof glass cage he built specifically for occasions like this.

WHAT DOES HE WEAR? Soft-boy predator chic. Dresses in “I’m harmless” neutrals, masking a stalker’s gaze. Paired with a symbolic battered baseball cap when he’s got murder on his mind and wants to conceal his identity.

WHY IS HE LIKE THIS?
The show gestures toward childhood trauma, but plenty of people experience rejection and abandonment without becoming serial killers. What makes Joe dangerous isn’t what happened to him — it’s his narcissistic conviction that his pain justifies controlling and eliminating others.  His quest for idealized love becomes a religion where he’s both priest and god, and anyone who threatens that vision must be eliminated.. He’s not just looking for connection — he’s trying to engineer perfection through control, surveillance, and strategic homicide.

WHAT HE LOVES: Books, unrequited obsession, constructing elaborate narratives where he’s the misunderstood hero

WHAT HE HATES: Rejection, being seen for what he actually is, anyone who gets between him and his current fixation.

ICONIC MOMENT: The entire glass cage situation. The casual way he discusses murder while making ethical produce choices at the farmer’s market.

Joe weaponizes his Poet side — the sensitivity, the cultural literacy, the soft-spoken introspection — to lure in his prey. It’s the most insidious kind of Shadow Outlaw energy: the kind that looks like depth but is actually a carefully constructed mask over a void.

Joe Exotic: The Feral Narcissist

Aliases: The Tiger King
Occupation: Zoo owner, country music “artist,” convict
Current Location: Prison (convicted for animal abuse 2 counts of attempted-murder-for-hire)
Signature Accessory: The mullet, always the mullet
Emblem: The mullet (it deserves to be listed twice)

Joe Exotic is pure, unfiltered  Shadow Outlaw, dressed in fringe and sequins. He’s angry, often high, constantly issuing threats, and utterly incapable of letting anything go — especially his obsession with Carole Baskin. Where Goldberg is calculated, Exotic is combustible. Where Goldberg hides behind cultivated sensitivity, Exotic performs rage like it’s a Vegas act.

WHAT DOES HE WEAR?: Chaotic rhinestone rodeo — sequined shirts unbuttoned to the navel, tiger-print everything, studded belts, bleached mullet

WHY IS HE LIKE THIS?
A toxic cocktail of unchecked ego,  substance abuse, and the kind of grandiosity that can only flourish in a space with no oversight and too many wild animals. His quest doesn’t even seem fully coherent — it’s just more destruction dressed up as entrepreneurship.

WHAT HE LOVES: Crystal meth, attention, wild animals (theoretically — though his reportedly poor treatment of them tells a different story), revenge fantasies
WHAT HE HATES: Carole Baskin, Carole Baskin, and also Carole Baskin

SIGNATURE PHRASE: Various threats, usually delivered with palpably frenetic energy and poor judgement

ICONIC MOMENT: The entire murder-for-hire plot.  The unhinged  music videos where he stages a fake Carole Baskin look-alike feeding her husband to tigers.

Exotic embodies Shadow Outlaw meets Shadow Jester — his rebellion has no moral foundation, just narcissistic injury and an audience. He didn’t break rules because systems were unjust; he broke them because rules applied to other people, not to him.

The Pattern

Here’s what’s darkly fascinating: Goldberg is objectively more dangerous, but Exotic is louder. Goldberg kills with precision; Exotic threatens with theatricality. Both end up in the same place — prison — because Shadow Outlaw energy, unchecked, tends toward two destinations: incarceration or death.

Both Joes share the Outlaw’s refusal to be controlled, but they’ve severed that trait from any ethical foundation. The result? “I won’t be controlled” becomes “I’ll control everyone else.”

Bonus: Other Shadow Outlaws Gone Wild

Doris Payne: The Relentless 95-year-old International Jewel Thief

OCCUPATION: Unstoppable international jewel thief (for six decades)

NICKNAME: Diamond Doris

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: Elegant enough to slide into upscale establishments and rob them senseless. Demure suits, tailored coats, refined anonymity.
CURRENT SITUATION: Still notorious. In her early 80s she stole a $22,500 diamond ring and was later arrested again, at age 87, for yet another jewel theft.
SIGNATURE ACCESSORY Whatever diamonds she’s about to steal

Now aged 95, Doris is proof that real Shadow Outlaws can be more outlandish than fiction. For sixty years, she stole millions in jewellery using charm, distraction, and absolute audacity — including a 10-carat, $500k diamond ring she nabbed in Monte Carlo back in the 1970s.. She’s the Shadow Outlaw as performance artist — each heist a carefully choreographed rebellion against property, convention, and the entire concept of retirement.

What she loves: Fine jewellery. The thrill of stealing it. She claims she even quite enjoys being arrested.
What she hates: Being underestimated, boredom, the idea of stopping
Iconic moment: Her entire life. Every single heist. The documentary about her life, The Life & Crimes of Doris Payne–is wild.

Tony Montana (Scarface)

ALIAS: Scarface
OCCUPATION: Drug lord, cautionary tale

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: Cocaine capitalism couture – razor sharp suits, wide lapels, silk shirts, gold chains.
CURRENT LOCATION: Dead
SIGNATURE ACCESSORY: A mountain of cocaine on his desk
SIGNATURE PHRASE “Say hello to my little friend!”

Tony represents ambition without boundaries, searing ambition twisted into violence. He clawed his way from nothing to everything, then destroyed it all because he couldn’t stop. His version of the Outlaw’s freedom was excess — more money, more power, more yayo (cocaine), more everything, until “more” became the only value that mattered.

What he loves: Money, cocaine, power, Elvira (possessively)
What he hates: Being disrespected, limits, sobriety
Iconic moment: The final stand — paranoid, coked-up out of his mind, going down in a hail of bullets while screaming defiance

Omar Little (The Wire)

ALIASES None needed. Everyone knows Omar.
OCCUPATION: Stickup artist specializing in drug dealers

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: Urban reaper drip – long duster coat, bulletproof vest, durag, combat boots – and a shotgun.
CURRENT LOCATION Dead
SIGNATURE ACCESSORY: Shotgun, durag.
SIGNATURE PHRASE: “A man’s gotta have a code.” / “Omar don’t scare.”

Omar is a truly iconic Shadow Outlaw with a twist — he operates outside the law but maintains a strict moral code. He only robs drug dealers. He refuses to involve civilians. He shows up to court to testify against a criminal who allegedly murdered a “civilian”. He’s a criminal with principles, which makes him one of the most complex Shadow Outlaws on this list.

What he loves: His grandmother, his partners, his code
What he hates: Social injustice, anyone who harms innocents, being underestimated
Iconic moment: The courtroom scene where he eviscerates a lawyer’s credibility. “I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It’s all in the game though, right?”

Omar proves that Shadow Outlaw energy isn’t always purely destructive — it can contain honour, even in darkness. But it still ends the same way: violently.

Walter White (Breaking Bad)

ALIAS Heisenberg
OCCUPATION High school chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: His wardrobe reflects his trajectory –from bland beige outfits to his iconic black porkpie hat and monochrome meth kingpin era.
CURRENT LOCATION: Dead
SIGNATURE ACCESSORY The porkpie hat (when he’s being Heisenberg)
SIGNATURE PHRASE: “I am the one who knocks.” / “Say my name.”

Walter is the slow-burn Shadow Outlaw — the simple “every day” guy who discovers he’s been suppressing his true nature his entire life. Cancer becomes permission to finally stop performing goodness and embrace power. Every boundary he crosses, he tells himself it’s for his family. But really? It’s for him. It always was.

What he loves: Power, control, being recognised for his genius, the empire he built
What he hates: Mediocrity, pity, being underestimated, his former friend Elliott
Iconic moment: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really… I was alive.”

Gus Fring (Breaking Bad)

ALIAS: The Chicken Man
OCCUPATION Fried chicken magnate / cartel-level drug distributor

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: Predator in immaculate tailoring. Crisp button-downs, tasteful ties, subtly perfectly-groomed. An aesthetic so controlled that it’s practically a weapon in itself.
CURRENT LOCATION: Dead (spectacularly)
SIGNATURE ACCESSORY That eerily calm demeanour and impeccable suits
SIGNATURE PHRASE “A man provides.” (Delivered with terrifying calm)

Gus is the corporate Shadow Outlaw — meticulous, controlled, and absolutely ruthless beneath a veneer of respectability. He runs a meth empire disguised as a chicken franchise. He’s the Shadow Outlaw who learned to hide in plain sight, weaponizing suburban normalcy.

What he loves: Order, control, revenge (coldly served)
What he hates: The Salamanca family, sloppiness, anyone who threatens his operation
Iconic moment: Walking out of a room with half his face blown off, adjusting his tie before collapsing. Even in death, maintaining composure.

Alonzo Harris (Training Day)

OCCUPATION Narcotics detective (theoretically)

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: Corrupt cop swag. Black leather jacket,shades, silver crucifix.
CURRENT LOCATION: Dead
SIGNATURE PHRASE: “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!”

Alonzo operates on both sides of the law, using his badge as licence to rob, intimidate, and murder. He represents the Shadow Outlaw who infiltrates institutions specifically to corrupt them from within. He’s not rebelling against the system — he’s exploiting it while performing loyalty.

What he loves: Power, money, control, Russian mobsters’ respect
What he hates: Weakness, anyone who questions his methods
Iconic moment: That entire day of spiralling criminality disguised as “training”

Bonnie Parker (Bonnie and Clyde)

OCCUPATION Bank robber, folk legend

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: Depression-era femme fatale – beret, bias-cut skirts, soft knits – accessorised with a pistol.
CURRENT LOCATION: Dead (in a hail of bullets in her early 20s)
SIGNATURE ACCESSORY Cigarette, gun, beret
EMBLEM: That photograph of her with a cigar and pistol

Keyser Söze (The Usual Suspects)

ALIAS: Verbal Kint (allegedly)

SIGNATURE OUTFIT deliberate blandness that serves his goal of erasing himself from memory!
OCCUPATION: Criminal mastermind, ghost story, possibly a complete fabrication
CURRENT LOCATION: Unknown (probably never existed)
SIGNATURE ACCESSORY: The limp, the coffee mug, the mythology
SIGNATURE PHRASE: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

Söze is the Shadow Outlaw as pure myth — a story so terrifying that its truth becomes irrelevant. Did he kill his own family to prove a point to rivals? Does he even exist, or is he just a tale criminals tell each other to explain the inexplicable? Either way, he represents the Outlaw taken to its most abstract extreme: the person who refuses to be known, seen, or caught. Power through disappearance. Control through legend.

What he loves: Remaining unknowable, the long game
Iconic moment: The limp disappearing as “Verbal” walks away. The entire elaborate fiction unraveling as the detective who’s been interrogating him stares at the bulletin board.

Why Do Shadow Outlaws Intrigue Us & Become Iconic?

Shadow Outlaws do what the rest of us are socialized NOT to do: they refuse everything. Rules, consequences, morality, social contracts. They embody radical freedom stripped of responsibility, and we watch them like we’re observing a chemical reaction we know will explode.

But here’s the pattern: they almost always end up dead or imprisoned. Because Outlaw energy combined with questionable morals (or no morals at all)isn’t freedom — it’s just destruction with better aesthetics.

The positive side of the Outlaw breaks unjust rules, innovates and creates new possibilities. The shadow side breaks everything, including themselves.

Both Joes thought they were the heroes of their stories. They both ended up in cages.

That’s the shadow side’s endgame: the cage you build for others eventually becomes your own.

Want to find out which Archetypes you possess? Book your analysis here!

Joe vs Joe: When Outlaws Wild Out