Basic Trope: The Butt-Monkey or Chew Toy becomes a villain.
- Straight: Everyone made fun of Emmitt Everson growing up. He decides to become Emperor Evulz to teach the world a lesson.
- Exaggerated: Someone once giggled at Emmitt; this turns him into an Omnicidal Maniac.
- Downplayed: Emmitt only gets revenge on the people who made fun of him. Everyone else is safe.
- Justified:
- The pressure of the teasing left Emmitt to believe his only outlet was Revenge.
- Emmitt has always been crazy and lacked empathy. He just needed something to push him over the edge.
- While Emmitt realizes he's now no better than the people who picked on him, he also realizes he's much happier in his current position as a villain.
- Inverted:
- Everyone made fun of Emmitt Everson growing up. He decides to become Amazing Man, a superhero, to gain the respect of those who didn't like him before.
- Alternatively, Emmitt was a popular kid growing up; he becomes Emperor Evulz because he wants the world to hate him and he was tired of the price of popularity.
- Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up
- Subverted:
- Emperor Evulz wasn't made fun of growing up, he just uses that as a Freudian Excuse to justify his actions of evil.
- Emperor Evulz attacks a former Jerk Jock, leading people to believe that he was just after revenge. He reveals that the jock had a MacGuffin that his "Machine O' Doom" needed.
- Emperor Evulz is about to attack a former Jerk Jock, but has a "My God, What Have I Done?" moment and stops himself from becoming as bad as those who bullied him.
- Double Subverted:
- Parodied:
- The entire universe laughs at Emmitt; he dyes his hair black and puts on a fake toothbrush mustache and the laughter instantly turns to fear.
- Alternatively Emmitt is a comedian.
- Zig Zagged: Emperor Evulz goes after a former Jerk Jock, then later claims it was because he had a part his "Machine O' Doom" needed. But he didn't necessarily need to attack him first. However, his next few victims didn't tease him...but the last one did.
- Averted: Emperor Evulz' life of evil isn't caused by teasing.
- Enforced: "It's not like the fangirls need an excuse, but still; why don't we give the bad guy a sympathetic backstory? We could have his life of evil be caused by relentless teasing."
- Lampshaded: "Let me guess. You were bullied in high school, so you decided to become a bad guy."
- Invoked:
- The local Jerk Jock quarterback is really a Straw Nihilist who hates existence itself; so he teases the already-unstable Emmitt Everson in hopes that this trope will occur.
- "Step 1 of my plan for global domination is nearly complete. Now, to provide the human sheep a reason to sympathize... Aha! I'll go be snide to the captain of the football team so he'll be a jerk to me and I can blame it all on him later!"
- Defied:
- After a lifetime of being teased, Emmitt instead channels his energy into assuring teasing will never happen again.
- Bob learns the history of people like Emmitt being driven to evil due to bullying and ridicule, and starts a program to discourage students from bullying others knowing they will become threats.
- The Jerk Jock that mocked Emmitt at school works on being more powerful so he will always be in a position where he can mock Emmitt freely, even years down the line.
- The Jerk Jock just points out that Emmitt is a Nerd in Evil's Helmet and continues to mock him. Whether it's an attempt to be Defiant to the End or plain stupidity depends on the writer.
- The kids know the history behind this trope and simply refuse to bully other people, period.
- Exploited: Knowing of Emperor Evulz's motivation for becoming a villain, The Hero knows he will attack the Jerk Jock who made fun of him and sets a trap in preparation.
- Implied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Well, the characterization that fanfic came up with for Emperor Evulz was...interesting, to say the least."
- Deconstructed:
- After relentless teasing creates one too many evil overlords, popular opinion shifts to the side of those bullied, allowing Emperor Evulz to Take Over the World with very little problem.
- Emperor Evulz's bullied background doesn't excuse the many cruel acts he did to get his way.
- Reconstructed:
- Those now bullied under Emperor Evulz snap under the torment and dethrone him, becoming equally cruel tyrants and showing that victims become victimizers in their turn.
- But despite this, Evulz' tormentors still deserved their comeuppance at Evulz' hands.
- Alternatively, Evulz doesn't care anymore and feels justified about exacting revenge against his tormentors.
- Played For Laughs: Emmitt's still a laughingstock / an imbecile.
- Played For Drama:
- Emmitt's stockpiling a nerve gas that causes permanent paralysis (except for the eyes), and planning to explode the canisters in the sewer system, causing it to waft up through every drain in the city specifically so he can have the Jerk Jock and the Alpha Bitch as living Action Figures.
- Emmitt, who is wearing an intimidating mask and a black leather coat, kidnaps all of the bullies in a dark room. He comes to them while carrying various weapons to torture them with such as a whip, a crowbar, a barbed-wire 2x4, and a flamethrower. He tells them in horrifying detail about how he's going to inflict pain upon them, all while remaining eerily calm. The bullies are all terrified and asked him who is he. Emmitt takes off his mask to reveal himself, and they all couldn't believe what they saw. He gives them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how they were constantly bullying him and disrespecting him at every opportunity and that their agonizing torture will be exactly what they deserve. The bullies plead Emmitt not to torture them and beg for his forgiveness, but it's too late and the torture begins...
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