History Main / KarmicButtMonkey

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': The main characters are a bunch of {{Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist}}s. They try to scheme their way through life, but usually just end up making things worse for themselves and/or each other. Two of the protagonists are considered {{Butt Monkey}}s: Charlie, a stalker and Dee who once set a woman on fire.

* ''Series/TheNanny'': On one hand, C.C Babcock is a horrible, greedy, selfish RichBitch; on the other hand, she is also by far the most abused character on the show, especially when she is around Niles who always loves making fun of her.

* ''Series/TheNanny'': On one hand, C.C is a horrible, greedy, selfish RichBitch; on the other hand, she is also by far the most abused character on the show, especially when she is around Niles who always loves making fun of her.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Draco Malfoy is constantly suffering some over the top misfortunes like being [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban smacked in the face by Hermione]] or [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire turned into a ferret]], and he gets hexed on the Hogwarts Express by several different students at the end of two subsequent books. Considering that he's a [[FantasticRacism racist]] bully and all around {{Jerkass}} and his suffering is usually the result of him provoking or outright attacking his classmates, it's hard to have much sympathy for him.

* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'': Popple, the self-proclaimed "Shadow Thief", never manages to successfully get away with his stolen goods and suffers at the hands of his lackeys. Even his [[CombinationAttack Bros. Attacks]] lead him to get harmed in some extraordinary action. It's hard to say he didn't have it coming, considering how he acts a BadBoss towards his rookies, [[NeverMyFault blames them when things go wrong]], and [[DirtyCoward runs away if his rookies are defeated first]]. He also needlessly provokes a Wiggler into fighting him and the Mario Bros., acts as TheMillstone throughout the battle, and betrays Mario and Luigi after the Wiggler is defeated. His bad treatment of Birdo [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal would lead her to attack him and send him flying]], the Mario Bros. take him down pretty easily, and the Wiggler chases him out of his garden when proceeds to insult it.

* Logan Reese in ''Series/Zoey101'' suffers the most misfortune of the main cast, though he's also such a jerk towards others ([[WithFriendsLikeThese even to his friends]]) that it's mostly just karma giving him a good dose of often humiliating punishment. However, a few times, his punishments come off as DisproportionateRetribution.

* ''ComicBook/ScooterGirl'': Given Ashton's previous personality and behavior, it's hard not to see his misfortune as anything but deserved, at least at first. Margaret later lampshades how she wasn't much better than him, kicking him while he was down.

* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'': Popple, the self-proclaimed "Shadow Thief", never manages to successfully get away with his stolen goods and suffers at the hands of his lackeys. Even his [[CombinationAttack Bros. Attacks]] lead him to get harmed in some extraordinary action. It's hard to say he didn't have it coming, considering how [[{{Jerkass}} obnoxious he acts towards his rookies]][[note]][[BadBoss Verbally abusing them]], [[NeverMyFault blaming them when things go wrong]], and [[DirtyCoward running away if his rookies are defeated first]][[/note]]. In fact, his bad treatment of Birdo [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal leads her to attack him and send him flying]], and when he attempts to betray his latest "rookies" in the form of the Mario Brothers, it ends pretty badly for him.

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': Marie was a SpoiledBrat with an AllTakeAndNoGive relationship to her brother which caused his death, [[ReincarnateInAnotherWorld in her past life.]] What followed, was a never ending hell of abusive partners and debt, ended by a husband killing her. Afterwards, Marie reincarnated in another world as an unwanted and abused child forced to pay her new family's debts. Marie proceeds to seduce five guys for GoldDigger reasons while making Olivia and Angelica suffer to make that possible, but then the five boyfriends proceed to endlessly make her suffer due to being RichInDollarsPoorInSense after going from RichesToRags. Marie's supposed to be TheChewToy, but WordOfGod admitted to making her UnintentionallySympathetic.

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': Marie was a SpoiledBrat with an AllTakeAndNoGive relationship to her brother which caused his death, [[ReincarnateInAnotherWorld in her past life.]] What followed, was a never ending hell of abusive partners and debt, ended by a husband killing her. This was followed by reincarnating in another world as an unwanted and abused child forced to pay her new family's debts. Marie proceeds to seduce five guys for GoldDigger reasons while making Olivia and Angelica suffer to make that possible, but then the five proceed to endlessly make her suffer due to being RichInDollarsPoorInSense after going FromRichestToRags. Marie's supposed to be TheChewToy, but WordOfGod admitted to making her UnintentionallySympathetic.

* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'': King Dedede tends to suffer the most punishment and humiliation out of any character in the show. A lot of it is justified since he's a greedy egotistical tyrant who's always plotting to get rid of Kirby using monsters who also terrorize Dream Land.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'': Edelgard promotes Count Varley to Bishop of the Southern Church, which promptly turns him into a target of many assassination attempts by the Central Church and reduces him to a reclusive, paranoid wreck. Meanwhile, his allies, especially Bernadetta and Hubert, have very little respect for him, and the latter of the two makes it clear that they [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou only need him alive for political reasons]], and it's all but stated that Edelgard promoted him with the intent of making his life less comfortable while filling a seat. Given his [[AbusiveParents abuse of Bernadetta]], his greed and his involvement in the Insurrection of the Seven, he practically earned his predicament. From a gameplay standpoint, [[spoiler:while he is considered a main objective that needs protecting in the final chapter of Scarlet Blaze, he is one of the few where his death doesn't result in a Game Over, and Hubert's only gripe with his death is that he's going to be hard to replace.]]

This is a ButtMonkey whose misfortune is well-deserved and a repeated case of LaserGuidedKarma. Maybe they're just enough of a {{Jerkass}}. But far more frequently they are a fully-blown badddie. If the character is an outright villain, they are very rarely the BigBad - they are generally a lackey or a particularly incompetent [[TheStarscream Starscream]]. For many, this can make the Karmic Butt-Monkey come off as [[JerkassWoobie more pitiable than anything else]], becoming in an AcceptableTarget for the fandom.

A SubTrope of ButtMonkey and LaserGuidedKarma. Sister trope to AssholeVictim (though that's also a SubTrope) but they don't die, and while this trope is a guest character or someone only seen getting karma once, the Karmic Butt-Monkey is a main/recurring character who has a RunningGag of getting the short end of the stick. May become UnintentionallySympathetic if the ButtMonkey part overlaps too much the {{Jerkass}} part.

A SubTrope of ButtMonkey and LaserGuidedKarma. Sister trope to AssholeVictim but they don't die, and while this trope is a guest character or someone only seen getting karma once, the Karmic Butt-Monkey is a main/recurring character who has a RunningGag of getting the short end of the stick. May become UnintentionallySympathetic if the ButtMonkey part overlaps too much the {{Jerkass}} part.

** If anyone is going to get beat up, it generally tends to be Oz's resident bully [[{{Jerkass}} Kenny]] [[SmallNameBigEgo Wangler]].

* ''Webcomic/TwoGuysAndGuy'': Wayne, while not as bad as the other two, is a rude selfish slacker and often subjected to [[TheSociopath Guy's]] [[FieryRedhead rage]].

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin is lazy, bratty, self-centered, and has a NeverMyFault complex and an ego the size of a planet. He also CantGetAwayWithNuthin, bringing it upon himself most of the time.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin is lazy, bratty, self-centered, and has an ego the size of a planet. He also CantGetAwayWithNuthin, bringing it upon himself most of the time.

A SubTrope of ButtMonkey and LaserGuidedKarma. Sister trope to AssholeVictim but they don't die, and while this trope is a guest character or someone only seen getting karma once, the Karmic Butt-Monkey is a main/recurring character who has a RunningGag of getting the short end of the stick. May become UnintentionallySympathetic if the ButtMonkey part overlaps too much the {{Jerkass}} part

* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheatre'''s Black Mage, who's a {{Comedic Sociopath|y}}. As [[WordOfGod Brian Clevinger]] said (paraphrased); "The universe exists to hurt Black Mage".

* Charloss the Celestial Dragon has committed several atrocities, like beating up slaves for no reason, making women sex slaves even if they are married, shooting sick people and trying to buy a mermaid princess, Shirahoshi, as a slave. So, he deserved being disrespected by Zoro, being punched senseless by Luffy and even being clubbed by a fellow Celestial Dragon, Mjosgard.

** Spandam, the cowardly and manipulative leader of [=CP9=] who constantly suffers punishment since his debut from both enemies and allies. All of it is well-deserved, given that he's responsible for the execution of Franky and Iceburg's mentor Tom, severe abuse of Nico Robin while literally dragging her to Enies Lobby, and trying to get his hands on the blueprints for the ancient weapon Pluton. The end of the Enies Lobby arc has him left beaten senseless and a broken spine and [[TheDragon Rob Lucci]] eventually becoming his new boss when they get transferred to [=CP0=].
** Demalo Black, a FatBastard pirate who got the [[SarcasmMode ingenious]] idea to impersonate Luffy in order to amass an army of strong pirates. When the real Strawhats return to Sabaody, Black and his crew of Fakes end up getting effortlessly beaten up and/or humiliated multiple times by them and the marines, not to mention pirates like Caribou who were planning on killing them to bolster their own reputation. Black is beaten senselessly by Sentomaru and arrested while the other fakes are BuriedAlive by Caribou.

* ''Film/RogueOne'': TheHeavy of the film, Orson Krennic, tends to draw the short end of the stick, getting attacked, humiliated, or suffer from bodily harm whenever he appears. He also gets little-to-no respect from Tarkin and Darth Vader, losing command of the Death Star to Tarkin, gets Force-choked by Vader when he tries to complain about it, and finally gets killed directly by the Death Star's superlaser beam. But since he's an uncharismatic, pompous, [[SmugSnake arrogant]], [[BigBadWannabe irrelevant]] villain who has caused countless atrocities by killing imperials or innocent people, as well as taking away Jyn's parents and forcing her to fend for herself, it's safe to say he had it coming.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': [[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffery Baratheon]] whom despite being the king, suffers a lot of misfortune, which includes but is not limited to getting bitchslapped by his uncle Tryion, is reduced to tears when a little girl kicks his ass, and whenever he tries to assert his authority, he ends up being humiliated, especially by his grandfather and uncle who boss him around and insult him. Then he gets murdered at his own wedding which nobody, aside from his mother, really cares about as they all despise him. You'd almost feel sorry for him if he weren't such a reprehensible sadistic little monster.