History Main / IronicHell

Most depictions of {{Hell}} involve some form of eternal punishment for the damned souls who are sent there. In {{Iron|y}}ic {{Hell}}, they get a more personal service. Each sinner gets a punishment that is an ironic reminder of the sins of which they are guilty. A glutton might be force-fed something unpleasant for eternity (a common version is that they're fed something they enjoyed -- ceaselessly, [[RadishCure becoming wholly sick of it]], for eternity), or might be prevented from eating ever again.

** The most iconic Darklord is probably Strahd. In life, he was jealous of his younger brother Sergei, and desired Sergei's betrothed, Tatianna. After selling his soul and murdering his brother, Strahd now spends his unlife chasing the reincarnations of Tatianna, who always are just out of reach. As an added bonus, Strand is cursed to always feel like Tatianna's deaths were because he made a mistake, and he might succeed next time. He never does. A twisted theory states that this punishment isn't Strahd's, but Tatianna's. What sin did she commit to deserve such a fate, I wonder...

* In ''WebVideo/TenLittleRoosters'', [[spoiler:Ryan]] wakes up in a hole.

* German newspaper comic ''Touche'' has a recurring strip about the devil welcoming the new arrivals to Hell, informing them about the particularly horrible and humorous punishment that awaits them.
* There was a "Got Milk?" tv commercial [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnIjgw5A-iI where]] a CorruptCorporateExecutive is killed by a truck and wakes up in eternity. His all-white loft is supplied with giant chocolate chip cookies, so he assumes he's in heaven, but the refrigerator is full of empty cartons of milk.
-->"[[ThisIsntHeaven Waitaminute... Where am I?]]"
** A similar joke tells of a stoner who dies and is given a choice between "the afterlife with fire" and "the afterlife with no fire". He chooses the latter and is transported to an infinitely large cannabis field, with nary a lighter to be found.
* A car commercial shows a guy who has died and has gone to hell, but instead of the usual fire and brimstone, he's on a single road in the middle of a desert. Satan shows up as a normal looking guy in a white suit and explains to the dead man that he's not in heaven. The man exclaims that he lived a good life and never did anything wrong. Satan explains that it wasn't that the man did anything bad, but that he lived a very boring life and could have avoided it if he bought a new car (as shown in the ad). The man's punishment? He has to drive a mini-van.

* [[https://www.cracked.com/article_24364_7-surprising-ways-democracy-totally-different-overseas.html This Cracked article]] shows that not voting in Greece can get your driver's license and passport denied, thus forcing you to 'remain in the country you didn't care enough to vote for'.

** Ellen was raped in an elevator by a man wearing yellow, so AM kept her in a tight yellow box with the door frequently opening and closing on her.

** Benny's backstory [[AdaptationalJerkass was changed]] to make him a psychotic, brutish ColonelKilgore who murdered members of his own unit in China for failing to meet his expectations. AM turned his "handsome, strong good looks into the hideous warped countenance of an ape-thing", and kept him in a primitive cell that forced him to constantly dodge spears.

Often coupled with SelfInflictedHell and/or ThePunishmentIsTheCrime, and may also overlap with CoolAndUnusualPunishment. A late realisation of this may be ThisIsntHeaven. For the temporary version where you don't even have to die to get an ironic punishment, see LaserGuidedKarma. If Ironic Hell involved being tortured by one's own personal worst fears, see {{Room 101}}. Sub-trope to OverlySpecificAfterlife.

Often coupled with SelfInflictedHell and/or ThePunishmentIsTheCrime, and may also overlap with CoolAndUnusualPunishment. A late realisation of this may be ThisIsntHeaven. For the temporary version where you don't even have to die to get an ironic punishment, see LaserGuidedKarma. Sub-trope to OverlySpecificAfterlife.

* In ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', after Buck, the dog died, he wanted to be reincarnated as an eagle, but all the cats he got killed during his life and ate at the judgement's waiting room made the judge (a cat) decide that the best punishment for him was to be reincarnated as the Bundy's new puppy, Lucky.

* In ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', after Buck, the dog died, he wanted to be reincarnated as an eagle, but all the cats he got killed during his life, and ate at the judgement's waiting room, had the judge, a cat, decided that the best punishment for him was to be reincarnated as the Bundy's new puppy, Lucky.
** In the episode where Al sells his soul in order for him to take the Chicago Bears to the Superbowl, [[ExactWords but not play in the game itself]], Al dies, and [[DraggedOffToHell is taken to hell]]. However Al enjoys it since he's told he'll be fed a steady diet of Wieny-Tots, his favorite snack, and the kicker is that he'll have to spend eternity away from his family. However, the Devil, has the rest of the Bundys and the D'Arcies die as punishment for Al.

--> Beings who fail to believe in the scientific outlook are forced to live out eternity in absurd afterlife scenarios, [[FluffyCloudHeaven sitting on clouds]], playing tiny harps ''forever''.

* When Paul finally ends up in Hell in ''Webcomic/PicturesForSadChildren'', he is continually frustrated at its failure to provide tailored ironic punishments. The closest it comes is that Hell's version of Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} just lists things that you meant to look up, and when you click on them, it says "This information is unavailable and a waste of time." (You can just Website/{{Google}} it, though.)

** In "Time and Punishment" from "Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV Treehouse of Horror V]]", Homer goes back to the past and accidentally changes history, and spends the rest of the episode repeatedly going back to the past and changing different things in an effort to return to his own timeline. He eventually arrives in a timeline that is much ''better'' than his own: his family is filthy rich, his kids are well-behaved, and [[ObnoxiousInLaws Patty and Selma]] are dead. Naturally, he decides to stay there... until he asks for [[TrademarkFavoriteFood donuts]], and discovers to his horror that they apparently don't exist in this timeline, since Marge has never heard of them before. He immediately hurries back to the past to try another timeline. [[GaveUpTooSoon Mere seconds after he leaves]], donuts start falling from the sky en masse and Marge becomes annoyed that "it's raining again".

* In the fourth Halloween special of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer spends a day in Hell. Since he sold his soul for a doughnut, Homer is force-fed "all the doughnuts in the world" as punishment. Much to the frustration of the demon torturing him, [[{{Unishment}} Homer thoroughly enjoys the experience and even asks for more doughnuts when he's done]].
-->'''Demon:''' I don't understand it. James Coco went mad in fifteen minutes!
** This is explicitly shown to be in the "Hell Labs' Ironic Punishment Division", so presumably it's happening to everyone else there.
** The doughnut sequence is a reference to the early ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short ''Pigs Is Pigs'', where a young pig who steals a slice of pie dreams he's force-fed to the point of explosion.
** In another episode, [[DiscoDan Disco Stu]] has a vision of his own personal Heaven, which is naturally an eternal disco nightclub. For some reason, Music/FrankSinatra is there, and when Stu asks him what he's doing there, he replies, "For me, this is Hell! Ya dig?"
** In a living example, in another Halloween episode, Homer goes back to the past and accidentally changes history, and spends the rest of the episode repeatedly going back to the past and changing different things in an effort to return to his own timeline. He eventually arrives in a timeline that is much ''better'' than his own: his family is filthy rich, his kids are well-behaved, and [[ObnoxiousInLaws Patty and Selma]] are dead. Naturally, he decides to stay there... until he asks for [[TrademarkFavoriteFood donuts]], and discovers to his horror that they apparently don't exist in this timeline, since Marge has never heard of them before. He immediately hurries back to the past to try another timeline. [[GaveUpTooSoon Mere seconds after he leaves]], donuts start falling from the sky en masse and Marge becomes annoyed that "it's raining again".

** Ted was a ConMan who scammed rich women out of their money with his good looks while living in fear of getting caught and developed severe paranoia. AM kept him in a literal GildedCage (with lasers).

** Nathalie is made to view Adrien's life from his POV, including her own enablement of Adrien's [[AbusiveParents treatment of him]], unable to do anything to intervene or stop herself.

Most depictions of {{Hell}} involve some form of eternal punishment for the damned souls who are sent there. In {{Iron|y}}ic {{Hell}}, they get a more personal service. Each sinner gets a punishment that is an ironic reminder of the sins of which he or she is guilty. A glutton might be force-fed something unpleasant for eternity (a common version is that they're fed something they enjoyed -- ceaselessly, [[RadishCure becoming wholly sick of it]], for eternity), or might be prevented from eating ever again.

* After the events of the Marineford War arc in ''Manga/OnePiece'', Sanji, the ship's cook and [[ChivalrousPervert a raging skirt-chaser]], is stranded in the Kamabakka Kingdoms: an island nation of [[CampGay superhumanly tough, strong and fast extremely flamboyant]] and ''very'' {{gonk}}y {{Drag Queen}}s who all [[AbhorrentAdmirer think Sanji is extremely sexy and keep trying to alternatively hit on him or force him into drag as well]]. For an added layer of irony, they started pursuing him when he mistook one of them[[note]]he was only seeing "her" from behind, and thusly fooled by her outfit[[/note]] for an actual girl and started up his usual girl-chasing routine. Although he came out of the experience all the stronger -- having learned powerful new techniques, gaining even greater levels of SuperStrength and SuperSpeed, and learning special new recipes -- the events deeply scarred him; forever afterwards, anytime he brings up the island, he refers to it as "Hell".

* In ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', Jacob Marley's ghost is doomed to [[FlyingDutchman wander the earth]] carrying the chain of cash boxes, ledgers, etc. that he "forged in life, link by link and yard by yard".

** [[TheBerserker Kahn]], the warrior, has literally exploded with rage and reassembled into a wall to impede your path.