History Main / KarmicOverkill

** In "Muscle Mentor", Rigby chooses to ditch work once again while badmouthing Benson (who overheard it all); in turn, Benson has Muscle Man be Rigby's "mentor", putting the latter through a ''lot'' of humiliations in the process. While Rigby did start it by being lazy and disrespectful, many still saw this as overboard, with Benson's ''joy'' in Rigby's suffering not doing any favors.

** In "Lunch Break", Mordecai and Rigby prank Benson by ordering an $83 sandwich, prompting the latter to force them to eat ''the entire sandwich'', or else they're fired. This was seen as too extreme a punishment for the both of them, especially considering the fact that Benson [[NeverMyFault ignores that he wasn't obligated to buy the sandwich for them in the first place]].

* Angelica Pickles of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' is usually TheBully to the younger babies, and initially was a KarmaHoudini. Later episodes addressed this by [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty having her be punished for her actions]], but some went a bit too far.
** "Silent Angelica" - she wants a new toy, and Charlotte tells her she can have it if she remains quiet for a certain amount of time. Angelica does this obediently, even when Charlotte isn't around to hear her. The babies take advantage of this to make a mess, and Angelica gets blamed for it by both her parents. Her punishment is to get neither toy, [[NotMeThisTime even though she did nothing wrong for once]].
** "Chanukah" - her antagonism in this episode amounts to wanting to watch a ChristmasSpecial that's happening at the same time as a play Grandpa Boris is in. She gets put into a daycare room during the play because of things the other babies did, meaning she was going to miss the special for nothing. She does trick the babies into helping her find a TV... that smashes just as she's about to watch the special, and she's even left crying at the hopelessness of it all.
** "Word of the Day" - she overhears a DepravedKidsShowHost saying a curse word, and [[InnocentSwearing assumes it's okay to say]] and that it's the show's new catchphrase. Drew and Charlotte tell her not to say the word again, not explaining which one is the bad one even when she asks sincerely, and they punish her when she says it to ask if it's the bad one. She does get forgiven and brought to the audition she was up for...and then panics and says the word live on the air. It's presented as LaserGuidedKarma that she doesn't get to be on the show, even though no one around her would properly explain why the word was bad and why she shouldn't say it. Drew and Charlotte also don't seem too interested in finding out ''where'' she heard the word either.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': Although Al [=McWhiggin=] stole Woody in order to complete his collection to sell to a museum in Tokyo, one might sympathize with him when he cries on TV over the loss of not just Woody, but also Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete, which, as far as we can tell, he acquired legally.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian is one of the most divisive characters in the series but [[spoiler:getting run over and killed by a car]] was seen by his detractors to be too much, even for the show's standards.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': In "Candace Gets Busted", Candace is asked by Linda and Lawrence to not throw a party while they're away on a trip. A party ends up happening anyway after Candace lets her circle of friends in when they come to visit, resulting in more and more people pouring in from off the street. The episode ends with Candace getting busted for the party due to Linda hearing the noise over the phone and Candace is subsequently grounded for a week. Many viewers found the ending rather unfair as Candace never actually ''wanted'' to throw a party and wanted everyone to leave before they made a huge mess, only for the perfect storm of events to prevent everyone from leaving and result in her getting trouble with Linda.

** A second RecursiveFanfiction, ''Fanfic/KarmicBacklash'', explores it further by [[spoiler:having Adrien completely distraught at the living hell his existence has become and [[DrivenToSuicide trying to kill himself]].]] His former friends (except for Marinette and Luka, who TookALevelInJerkass in the year between ''Karma of Lies'' and this one) completely toss the idea of him being an AssholeVictim out the window by [[EveryoneHasStandards admitting they are still sore about his deeds, but they are horrified by what he did to himself]] and trying to help him. The plot also makes clear that Karma as presented in the prior story is most definitely a KnightTemplar and [[spoiler:comes to collect for Marinette deciding to leave Lila go with a proverbial [[ParanoiaGambit slap on the wrist]] and [[PrideBeforeAFall getting too prideful about her 'karmic windfall']] by [[HourglassPlot subjecting her to the same horrors Adrien suffered]].]]

** Hermione ultimately deals with Umbridge herself by getting her carried off by the local centaur herd, who are angry with the current Ministry of Magic's (whom Umbridge represents) harassment. It's not clear what happened next, but at some point she got away and is said to have been recovering in the hospital wing. At the time, readers versed in Myth/ClassicalMythology noted that mythical centaurs had a tendency to carry off human women and rape them, and therefore inferred that [[KarmicRape Umbridge's unspecified "ordeal" at the hands of the centaur herd was a gang-rape]], and considered this [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil an excessive fate even for Umbridge]].

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': Marietta Edgecombe is often viewed [[UnintentionallySympathetic more sympathetically than intended]]. She betrays Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge and gets SNEAK written on her face in boils ''forever'', thanks to Hermione's spell that she put on all the Army's members beforehand. However, many readers found that she didn't deserve this punishment for several reasons. First, Marietta never wanted to join them in the first place and was actually peer-pressured to do so by her friend Cho Chang. Second, her mother works at the Ministry of Magic, so Marietta could've been afraid that her participation in LaResistance would bring harm to her mother (though she could have cut ties with them without betraying them, implying that she actually wanted to curry favor with the authorities and not just protect her mother's job). Third, Marietta (along with the rest of Dumbledore's Army) was never warned about the consequences of her betrayal: if she had known she'd be revealed at once and scarred permanently, she likely wouldn't have betrayed them. Fourth, she later had [[LaserGuidedAmnesia her memories of ratting out Dumbledore's Army and her involvement with them erased]], so she's permanently disfigured for [[AmnesiacsAreInnocent a crime she doesn't even remember committing]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Arthur's Big Hit", Arthur hits D.W., then later a perr-pressured Binky hits him. While it's meant to be a case of "what goes around, comes around", with Arthur's dad telling him that now he knows how D.W. felt, many viewers objected to this because Arthur didn't do anything to Binky, he'd ''already'' been punished by his parents, and the moral was [[BrokenAesop meant to be]] "don't hit people". However, [[KidsAreCruel Arthur refuses to apologize to DW]] and [[BlamingTheVictim blames her]] and everyone for not agreeing with him until Binky gets pressured into hitting him, Only then, does Arthur apologize and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regret what he's done to his sister]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Arthur's Big Hit", Arthur hits D.W., then later Binky hits him. While it's meant to be a case of "what goes around, comes around", with Arthur's dad telling him that now he knows how D.W. felt, many viewers objected to this because Arthur didn't do anything to Binky, he'd ''already'' been punished by his parents, and the moral was [[BrokenAesop meant to be]] "don't hit people".

* ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'': There's no denying that Seymour is complicit in the murders. But the film made him [[AdaptationalWimp too passive]] and [[AdaptationalSympathy sympathetic]] of a character, being pushed around to do evil acts by [[ManEatingPlant Audrey II]] rather than taking initiative by himself.[[note]]The play's Seymour has more agency in his crimes, and [[TakingYouWithMe willingly jumps into Audrey II's maw in a vain attempt to kill the monster he created and die on his own terms]].[[/note]] Additionally, the original climax has Audrey II humiliating Seymour in a long musical number (after he witnessed his love die in his arms, no less) before slowly dragging him into the maw [[UndignifiedDeath to be eaten with zero dignity]], a fate usually reserved for an unsympathetic villain. The result is a GutPunch so severe that test audiences universally hated the ending to the point [[FocusGroupEnding it had to be changed to a more happier one]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Nanosec in his debut in [[Recap/TransformersAnimatedS1E06Nanosec the titular episode]]. He may have been a greedy crook who was recruited by Megatron to retrieve a highly-dangerous element, but that's pretty much all he is, unlike the fascistic Decepticons, the sociopathic Meltdown, or the corporate prick who callously threw a tween girl with no accountable next of kin out on the street the second he had control of her father's company. Nanosec getting tricked by Bumblebee into [[RapidAging rapid-ageing]] himself until he's a withered old man who can't so much as ''stand'' without support seems like an overly-cruel fate even if it was necessary to stop him accidentally blowing Detroit sky-high, especially since the ageing could well have ''majorly'' shortened Nanosec's lifespan if he hadn't been de-aged in his reappearance.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamilyLouderAndProuder'' episode "Grandma's Hands" gained infamy for this. After Penny avoids doing school work and stays out past her curfew for weeks, her parents decide to lock her out of the house at night (which is both dangerous and illegal in real life, yet here it is PlayedForLaughs). Oscar ''does'' send her to Suga Mama's house...but it only gets worse from there. Penny is "disciplined" by being forced to sleep in a little dog bed, denied eating breakfast and doing various chores. Thankfully, Penny gets better by the end and reconciles with her parents, but it still isn't hard to see why fans were turned off by this episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Nanosec in his debut in [[Recap/TransformersAnimatedS1E06Nanosec the titular episode]]. He may have been a greedy crook who was recruited by Megatron to retrieve a highly-dangerous element, but that's pretty much all he is, unlike the fascistic Decepticons, the sociopathic Meltdown, or the corporate prick who callously threw a tween girl with no accountable next of kin out on the street the second he had control of her father's company. Nanosec getting tricked by Bumblebee into rapid-ageing himself until he's a withered old man who can't so much as ''stand'' without support seems like an overly-cruel fate even if it was necessary to stop him accidentally blowing Detroit sky-high, especially since the ageing could well have ''majorly'' shortened Nanosec's lifespan if he hadn't been de-aged in his reappearance.

* Several Horror comics where the AssholeVictim gets an ironic death can elicit this depending on how extreme it is compared to the severity of the crime. An infamous example is ''[[Creator/ECComics Haunt of Fear]]'' #19's "Foul Play", where a UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} player murders a rival player with poisoned spikes. Rather than informing the police when they figure it out, the rival's team takes vengeance by luring the killer to the stadium at night and [[CruelAndUnusualDeath brutally dismembering him]] (''implicitly while he was still alive'') and playing a macabre game with his body parts as equipment. It's supposed to be vigilante justice but given how needlessly gruesome and sadistic the method is, the players just look like even worse psychopaths than their victim.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': In the lead-up to ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord to stop him using a mind-controlled Superman to massacre thousands of people in order to start a war between humans and metahumans. For this, Diana had her reputation dragged through the mud and she was forced to take on a secret identity as part of a new job to learn humility. Many felt that this was incredibly unfair given the circumstances under which Diana killed Max. It didn't help that even though the entire Trinity were all supposed to have been seen as losing their way, only Diana had to deal with the consequences of her actions while Superman and Batman's respective mistakes (covering up [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis the Justice League's history of using mindwipes]] and creating Brother Eye) were swept under the rug.

** In [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks a golden age story]], the robbing SuperVillain, the Penny Plunderer, is given the electric chair as a jury's punishment for trying to steal rare pennies and trying to murder Batman and Robin. That other villains, even back then, such as the ''ComicBook/TheJoker'', have done much worse than the Penny Plunderer, yet didn't recieve capital punishment, has not gone unnoticed.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Initially, [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily Jason Todd's death was treated as a tragedy]]. However, later writers portrayed Jason as the "bad Robin" for disobeying orders (something every Robin has done, including Dick Grayson, the original), which ended up giving off the implication that Jason deserved to be beaten senseless with a crowbar and caught in an explosion.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': During the Apocalypse War, Chief Judge Griffin is captured by Sov Forces and brainwashed to become TheQuisling. Dredd infiltrates the base where he's kept and manages to snap Griffin out of it; Griffin then concludes that he has committed treason and deserves to be executed. While Griffin had indeed become a propaganda tool for the Sovs, it was clearly not through his own choice. His only crime was being captured alive.

* ''Film/DantesPeak'': The only major sin Paul Dreyfuss committed was not immediately believing Harry 100% that the volcano was going to erupt at the very start. Not only did Paul have very legitimate reasons for waiting to push the panic button, he even has the team stay long after they normally would at any other investigation, waiting for something to happen, even beyond the time frame he initially allotted. When the seemingly inactive volcano finally does show legitimate proof that it is preparing to erupt, he immediately presses the panic button, does everything he needs to do to get the town prepped, apologizes to Harry, and orders the rest of the team to safety while offering to stay behind himself in the danger zone to try and help Harry off the mountain (the rest of the team stay too). Despite all of that, he dies from drowning after the military orders their evacuation and the bridge he's on collapses from under him. Definitely a heavy-handed death for someone that was nowhere near an outright villain, or a Mayor Vaughn.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamilyLouderAndProuder'' episode "Grandma's Hands" gained infamy for this. After Penny avoids doing school work and stays out past her curfew for weeks, her parents decide to lock her out of the house at night (which is both dangerous and illegal in real life, yet here it is PlayedForLaughs). Oscar ''does'' send her to Suga Mama's house...but it only gets worse from there. Penny is "disciplined" by being forced to sleep in a little dog bed, denied eating breakfast and doing various chores. Thankfully, Penny gets better by the end and reconciles with her parents, but it still isn't hard to see why fans were turned off by this episode.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamilyLouderAndProuder'' episode "Grandma's Hands" gained infamy for this. After Penny avoids doing school work and stays out past her curfew for weeks, her parents decide to lock her out of the house at night (which is both dangerous and illegal in real life, yet here it is PlayedForLaughs). Oscar ''does'' send her to Suga Mama's house...but it only gets worse from there. Penny is "disciplined" by being forced to sleep in a little dog bed, denied eating breakfast and doing various chores.

* ''Fanfic/ChuninExamDay'', by the same author as ''Partially Kissed Hero'', spends several chapters punishing Sakura and Sasuke for their "crimes", to the point where even readers who hate the characters felt bad for them.
** Sasuke undergoes massive amounts of AdaptationalVillainy, being TheSociopath rather than an IneffectualLoner who's worse crime up to that point was calling Naruto a chicken once. Almost every loop sees him murdered or at least mutilated for Naruto's entertainment and/or convenience, such as the harem repeatedly stealing his eyes to further their training. One particular loops sees him {{mind rape}}d by Ino who forces him to very publicly soil himself and tell everyone that the Sharingan evolves by making its wielder play with their feces. Afterwards, Ibiki threatens to kill him if he tells anyone what happened.

** Ginny has it even worse. She cheats on Harry, is (suddenly) [[FantasticRacism a pureblood supremacist]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking has put on weight since retiring from sports]]. This is supposed to justify Harry suddenly telling her that he wants to divorce her, and then telling her in the same breath to leave the house with nothing except her clothes, along with forbidding her from seeing or even saying goodbye to her children. Naturally, readers criticized this, stating that even if the spouse is cheating and/or has become some kind of bigot, throwing them out like that without any prior warning, especially if there are children involved, is inexcusably cruel, ''especially'' since Harry himself only married Ginny for her looks and has only ever loved Hermione.

** Draco Malfoy suffers extremely disproportionate punishments for what he does. In an early chapter, he makes an insensitive comment about Harry being [[YourSoulIsMine Kissed]] by a dementor, and gets thrown off the Hogwarts Express in retaliation, leaving him with severe injuries. Later, he tries to kill Luna out of revenge for [[YouKilledMyFather her murdering his father Lucius in cold blood]], and in response, Harry has him tortured in front of the entire Slytherin house by a confunded Snape. After ''that'', he gets forcibly turned into a girl and [[BreedingSlave made to bear twenty-four children by Crabbe and Goyle]], which is treated as entirely deserved.

** Liles is rather egotistical and condescending, and works as a CorruptCorporateExecutive's secretary. For this, the audience is expected to believe that she deserves one of the [[CruelAndUnusualDeath harshest and most drawn-out fates]] in the movie: getting horribly maimed in a car crash, set alight by gasoline pouring out of the fuel tanker she crashed into, and then blown to shreds when said tanker explodes. Granted, she's [[AmbiguouslyEvil possibly]] involved with the crimes committed by her boss, Jennings (she advises him on several issues related to the mercenaries and tells him that the EPA's been getting tips about him), but the worst thing she's actually shown doing onscreen is likening Alaska to a third-world country; even if she was party to the illegal activity, her end still comes off as unnecessarily extreme and excessive.

** While many people needlessly antagonize Junior, his violent reactions to the abuse go well beyond anything sane or rational. The stunt with the car could've easily gotten someone killed.

* ''Film/RevengeOfTheNerds'': Betty Childs was undoubtedly a rude snob in need of an attitude adjustment, but most viewers [[ValuesDissonance today]] think her being subjected to [[BedTrick rape by deception]] was a completely unacceptable form of "retribution".

* ''Literature/EmpressTheresa'': When investors in gold bullion file a class-action lawsuit against Theresa for her alteration of the economy, Theresa responds by putting what's effectively a {{curse}} on the lawyer who took the case, making it so that any motor vehicle with her inside will inexplicably stall and fail. This is treated as said lawyer getting what she deserves for "bullying" Theresa, even though it was the clients who actually did so, while the lawyer was just doing her job and has children to support. And since there's no indication that Theresa ever reverses what she did, this is presumably something the lawyer has to deal with for the rest of her life.
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': Marietta Edgecombe is often viewed more sympathetically than intended. She betrays Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge and gets SNEAK written on her face in boils ''forever'', thanks to Hermione's spell that she put on all the Army's members beforehand. However, many readers found that she didn't deserve this punishment for several reasons. First, Marietta never wanted to join them in the first place and was actually peer-pressured to do so by her friend Cho Chang. Second, her mother works at the Ministry of Magic, so Marietta could've been afraid that her participation in LaResistance would bring harm to her mother (though she could have cut ties with them without betraying them, implying that she actually wanted to curry favor with the authorities and not just protect her mother's job). Third, Marietta (along with the rest of Dumbledore's Army) was never warned about the consequences of her betrayal: if she had known she'd be revealed at once and scarred permanently, she likely wouldn't have betrayed them. Fourth, she later had [[LaserGuidedAmnesia her memories of ratting out Dumbledore's Army and her involvement with them erased]], so she's permanently disfigured for [[AmnesiacsAreInnocent a crime she doesn't even remember committing]].
* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' does this to Gabe, Percy's abusive stepfather. While he was no doubt an awful person who [[AbusiveParents verbally and possibly physically abused Percy]], [[DomesticAbuser definitely physically abused Sally]], and told the authorities that Percy murdered Sally after her disappearance to [[DisproportionateRetribution get back at him for wrecking his car]], some people felt that [[spoiler:Sally murdering him by [[TakenForGranite petrifying him with Medusa's head]] and then selling his stone form to an art collector after passing him off as a sculpture she made]] was too harsh of a fate for him. The movie adaptation softens it to the head being left in the fridge, with a note warning him not to open it, and him doing so anyway, meaning he brings it on himself.

* ''Series/SamAndCat'': Ellie from "[=#MyPoober=] was undeniably a total brat who insulted and manipulated Sam and Cat, but ''[[DisproportionateRetribution being abandoned by the group and left alone with a total stranger for who knows how long]]'' was certainly too extreme, especially considering the fact that it's outright child endangerment.

* At the end of ''Series/WandaVision'', the villainous [[spoiler:Agatha Harkness]] is brainwashed by Wanda into becoming the harmless [[spoiler:sitcom neighbor, Agnes, that Harkness initially pretended to be]]. It's a convenient way to keep the character around for a possible return instead of the usual route of [[SuperheroMovieVillainsDie killing off supervillains]] the MCU takes, and [[spoiler:Agatha]] had no qualms about killing children and [[KickTheDog puppies]]. However, to some viewers, it comes off as an unnecessarily harsh DeathOfPersonality, especially since earlier it was revealed [[spoiler:those Wanda brainwashed [[AndIMustScream were still fully aware inside]] and every night had to psychically witness her nightmares.]] Perhaps not surprisingly, the next movie Wanda appears in, ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'', shows that she's [[spoiler: truly become BrainwashedAndCrazy and is the outright villain of the piece]].