Karma Houdini Warranty

Sometimes, a character seems like a Karma Houdini. However, certain circumstances and actions taken can result in the vicious retribution of Karma, related phenomena and even their own mistakes:


 * They feel sorry for his actions and tries to make amends.
 * They meet someone who is a bigger bastard than they are.
 * The plot undergoes Cerebus Syndrome, and the Karma Houdini loses his immunity.
 * They push their luck until Laser Guided Karma steps in.

If one of these conditions is met, the karma from previous actions returns in full force and everyone turns on them... right at the moment when they doesn't really deserve it. Karma may get vindictive and make even minor blemishes seriously punished afterwards, while good deeds are belittled.

The expiration of a Karma Houdini Warranty tends to turn the character into The Woobie or a Jerkass Woobie for the audience... but this isn't the case in-universe. The other characters (and in most cases, the author) usually believe that the character is getting their just desserts, and show No Sympathy.

The Karma Houdini Warranty is now available in our Trope Co catalogue!

Anime and Manga

 * From Eroica with Love has Dorian, a rogue and a thief, but he always seems to come off worst when he keeps his word and/or his intentions are good. The Major assumes the worst at all times, and pulls his nastiest double crosses when Dorian genuinely keeps his word or takes action to help.
 * Pet Shop of Horrors has Leon Orcot, who was characterised by his muleheadedness and cynicism over the supernatural. Count D welcomes him at the pet shop nonetheless... until Leon actually proves himself in a confrontation with D's father and recognises the pet shop and the Count for what they truly are. That's when he gets abandoned.
 * A Certain Magical Index: Accelerator didn't quite go unpunished, but he might as well have. What happened? Beaten up and kicked out of a program he actually didn't want to participate in in the first place. What had he done? Killed ten thousand teenaged (kinda) girls and planned to kill another ten thousand after that. So that people would quit messing with him. Maybe. After this, he pulls a Heel Face Turn... and takes a bullet in the forehead for it. Permanent brain damage that leaves him unable to speak properly, use higher brain functions or motor control without outside assistance - ironically, this assistance comes from the survivors of the teenaged girls that he had been killing.
 * Then there's Othinus. She starts off as one of the most powerful characters in the series, kicking everyone's asses and generally getting away with her misdeeds due to her powers. But when Touma manages to convince her to change her ways, that's when she pays for her actions via Humiliation Conga.
 * Candy Candy: Eliza and Neil usually get away with their own horrible misdeeds, so the few times karma hits them, it hits them HARD.
 * Hiyori Moritani from Kotoura-san fits the bill. She started the series as The Bully to Haruka Kotoura (due to being jealous of Manabe's interest in her), taking advantage of her traumatic telepathy and even going as far as to send thugs to beat up Manabe, forcing poor Haruka to leave. This last act led to a Heel Realization, apologizing to Haruka for her actions and making a Heel Face Turn in the process. Since then, she has become the Butt Monkey of the group, and the series makes it clear just because Haruka has forgiven her, doesn't mean the others will (especially NOT Manabe and Haruka's grandfather Zenzou). This trope, combined with her becoming supportive to Haruka and Manabe's relationship despite her own feelings, led to Hiyori being Rescued from the Scrappy Heap for many people.

Comic Books

 * Minimonsters: Quasim is Villa Susto's main bully, and his intimidation and strength ensured he didn't get any comeuppance for his behavior in the first album (in which he was part of a Big Bad Ensemble). The second album, however, made his warranty expire in a big way when Miss Hit, being way stronger and eviler, knocks him out twice with a Megaton Punch. He also got knocked out by Frank's exploding teleporter hat (though in that case, it was accidental).
 * In Spider-Man comics, Jonathan Caesar was obsessed with Mary Jane, Peter's wife - and as a billionaire with an entitled attitude, he would not be denied what he wanted. While he did go to jail for his initial plot to kidnap her, his sentence was laughably lenient, and afterwards he had Mary Jane blacklisted and evicted, making her life hell for many in-story months. He seemed able to manipulate anyone through a combination of bribes, blackmail, and a sleazy Amoral Attorney, going so far as to hire the super-villain assassins Styx and Stone as his enforcers (who thankfully, weren't the best of such). Still, some people just can't be threatened or bribed, and when it turned out Mary Jane had a second, far more insane stalker after her, Caesar was gunned down in cold blood before she managed to take down that guy on her own.

Fan Works

 * Karndragon's Love Hina fanfics For His Own Sake and An Alternate Keitaro Urashima are all about the Karma Houdini Warranty expiration for the Hinata Girls and their associates.
 * For His Own Sake feature Keitaro realizing that his relation with Naru is abusive and leaving the relationship, the Inn and the girls behind. Every person who tries to bring Keitaro back to his previous status quo or menaces his current recovery road gets Reality ensuing on them, hard. That includes the two villainous OC who, after having got away with actual murder in the backstory and spending the fic trying to get "revenge" on the people they couldn't bully anymore, end the story being arrested and getting her ass hauled by the living relative of their previous victim respectively.
 * In An Alternate Keitaro Urashima, the exact pinpointable moment when the Hinata Girls Karma Houdini Warranty expires is the scene where the girls are trying to convince Keitaro to become the Inn's manager despite their visible disgust, a thing Keitaro immediately calls out. The disproportionate reaction they all have for his rejection marks the begginnig of the Humiliation Conga for each one of them. Had the girls follow their anti-male instincts and not acceded to Hina's petition as a favor to their kindly landlady, no one of them (Hina included) would have received the reality bitch-slaps they end getting.

Literature

 * Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter intentionally created six horcruxes, splitting his soul into several pieces and hiding them in various inanimate objects so that, if he ever actually gets killed, then his soul will survive and he'll have a chance of returning. However, the process of creating a horcrux (which involves copious murder) comes with a vicious catch: if the maker ever feels remorse for his actions, then the magic separating his soul fragments from the one contained in his own body will immediately be nullified, with the pain of reintegration being so excruciating that it's often enough to utterly destroy him, killing him for good. Funnily enough, though, the fact that splitting your soul tends to result in your rapid devolution into a demented, sociopathic monster serves as a rather effective safeguard against the above fate.
 * On the flip side, dying with your soul in pieces like that is revealed to be a Fate Worse Than Death: Harry actually feels compelled to offer Voldemort one last chance to show remorse before the final battle. It might be more accurate to say that Voldemort's insurance ran out the moment he put Draco Malfoy up to assassinating Dumbledore: had he been able to keep track of the Elder Wand's actual succession, he would have truly been its master and the outcome of the final battle might have been tragically different.
 * A straighter example happens with Dolores Umbridge. She doesn't get much comeuppance in-series for her atrocious actions and behavior, but Word of God confirmed she was life-sentenced to Azkaban for her crimes at the end of the final book. You bet the fandom rejoiced at this.
 * Gwendolyn in the Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton spent the entirety of the series as the spoilt, lazy, unpopular Butt Monkey of her form. In the 5th book, however, Gwen meets the new girl Maureen, a similarly spoilt and unpopular schoolgirl. Gwen takes a disliking to her, recognizing her own personality flaws in Maureen, and so makes amends to behave better. Unfortunately for her, the rest of the form is now fed up of dealing with Gwen's antics and takes no notice of her Character Development.
 * The character development, however, goes down the toilet in the 6th book, and Gwen does eventually get her comeuppance.

Film

 * Homer in The Simpsons Movie comes to mind. For the entire series everyone loves his antics, but in the movie Marge actually leaves him over them (though they naturally end up together in the end).
 * This trope also happens to Mr. Burns too, losing his belongings at the end of the movie (but like Homer, he somehow gets them back).
 * Archie in the film adaptation of The Chocolate War runs into this at the end of the film. Unlike the novel it's based on, where Archie gets away with manipulating everyone and sets up the book's protagonist to suffer a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, Archie isn't a Karma Houdini in the film and deservedly gets his ass kicked in the end.
 * From Inglorious Basterds. Austrian SS officer Hans Landa is, to be blunt, complete scum. Known as the “Jew Hunter”, he’s a state-approved Serial Killer who loves his job. But he’s also both The Starscream who plots against his superiors, and a Dirty Coward, eventually deciding to turn against Hitler and aid the Allies when it's clear The Axis army is on its last legs. Since he’s turning states’ evidence here, it seems this means he will never face justice for his atrocities - or so he believes. Raines -  who isn’t a very nice guy himself - decides to shoot Landa's accomplice and then give him a Swastika he “can’t take off” (as in, carve it into his face with a Bowie knife) ; it’s doubtful the rest of his life in self-imposed exile will be as pleasant as he assumed.

Live-Action TV
"Esperanza: I don't think you'll have the same luck and justice will believe you're innocent again. There's too many evil deeds together, too many crimes! Don't forget that."
 * Game of Thrones is fond of this trope, especially as seasons go on. Many evil characters commit atrocious acts and get away with it for some time, only to karma step in in the worst way possible. Notorious examples are Sometimes, it does happen to more morally grey characters for petting the dog, starting their paths towards redemption
 * This is one of the main themes of Breaking Bad. Vince Gilligan has stated every person will have to face the consequences of their own actions, no matter how long it takes.
 * Maria La Del Barrio: Soraya crosses this trope with Laser-Guided Karma. No matter how long it takes, all her evil deeds will eventually blow up in her face with horrible consequences. Esperanza even lampshades this trope:

Religion

 * Orthodox Cristianity is all about this. God waits for the sinners to repent, as sins can be forgiven and destroyed. But if they do not... let's just say the result after death is unpleasant, to say the least.

Video Games

 * Miles Edgeworth, from Ace Attorney, suffers from this. He started as a ruthless prosecutor who search for victory in his cases, doing pretty dubious things (coaching witnesses, concealing evidence, etc.) and getting away with them as a result. However, the moment he starts searching for the truth instead of winning cases, things starts going to hell for him, what with being blamed for murder, his dirty deeds starting to get known, and realizing in horror he won his greatest case by using forged evidence (which he had no idea about). He fares better than the other examples of this page, since this Break the Haughty process led to his Heel Face Turn, becoming a respected prosecutor who fights to find the truth and willing to reform the court's crooked system.
 * This is actually a common theme in the series. Every Big Bad in the series has committed heinous crimes and got away with them for a while, only for Phoenix and Co. to crash the party and give them their just desserts.
 * Amateur Surgeon has the Big Bad, . He avoided consequences by using a fake identity  for quite some time...  That moment is when his Karma Houdini status disappears via Humiliation Conga. . Karma is really a bitch,.
 * This happens again in Amateur Surgeon 2. It seems that if Alan gets involved in some way,  warranties will expire in spectacular ways (although his Stupid Evil tendencies  do contribute to this).
 * Mortal Kombat X was a game where many villains regarded as Houdinis (and in some cases, Villain Sues) finally got theirs..
 * Although, as of XI,.
 * Alice: Madness Returns;
 * The Playstation 4 Spider-Man game begins with Kingpin being on the receiving end of this. In-universe, he's been a thorn in Spider-Man's side for eight long years, always outsmarting him and dodging jail-time when they'd come into conflict. But once the NYPD builds enough of a solid case to lock him up, they work together with Spider-Man to apprehend Kingpin and send him off to jail for good. And while he's still able to keep his operations running from behind bars (to the point of nearly escaping prison), a lot of the game's sidequests are dedicated to shutting them down and humiliating him even further.

Web Comics

 * Textbook case: Fox Maharassa from Friendly Hostility. A flirt and a danger magnet with little empathy, Fox got away with quite a lot. But the "transgressions" that actually landed his relationship with Collin in serious trouble, weren't really his fault. It involved Arath dripping poison in Collin's ear (incorrectly accusing Fox of cruelty and cheating when not only did Arath have no proof, he didn't know Fox to any extent at all), being stuck in a catch-22 with Collin (Collin flatly refusing to explain why Fox was in the doghouse and playing the "guess what you did wrong" game), and even having the goalposts moved on him when he took drastic measures to rescue their relationship. In short, Fox went from a lovable rogue to The Woobie.
 * Collin himself suffered the Always a Bigger Fish version of this trope when he encountered Lovable Rogue /MagnificentBastard/ Karma Houdini Leslie Rudd. Collin was always obnoxious, but in the one case he had every right to be annoyed - Rudd having sent Collin's boyfriend into serious danger - he got smacked down by the one character with no right to criticise. Oddly, while Fox suffered a backlash from the fandom (and perhaps, the creator) when his Karma Houdini Warranty expired, Rudd was universally adored...and as he adhered strictly to the terms of his warranty, got a happy ending.
 * While the Warranty certainly expired as a result of Cerebus Syndrome, blaming the breakup on Arath is hardly fair. Collin ignored his gossip for years before finally agreeing with him, and when he did, it was because of an accumulated bitterness over Fox' past antics and the fact that he was failing at the guessing game, combined with breaking the isolation he'd had from the rest of the world.
 * Yorick from The Word Weary makes constant fun of his friend, John, who never retaliates or threatens to end the friendship over the constant berating... as long as he's sober.
 * Every important antagonist in Penny and Aggie will get away with their schemes for some time, but will eventually pay for their actions in different ways, with some being more sympathetic than others.
 * Stan gets his in "Mister Smiles", which eventually turns him into The Atoner by the time of "The Popsicle War".
 * Karen was all-mighty at the start, but in the last chapter of "The Popsicle War", it all comes crashing down for her.
 * Just when Charlotte was becoming a lot more sympathetic with her sweet relationship with Duane, things go to hell for her in the "Missing Person" arc.
 * Cyndi, the vilest and most twisted villain of the comic, finally gets her comeuppance at the end of the "Missing Person" arc.
 * Meg and Tharqa may have gotten away with their actions in high school, but they grow into rather miserable people as adults. And while Mrs. Simms got away with her abuse of Charlotte,

Web Original

 * In the webseries The Most Popular Girls in School, this happens to in episode 58.

Western Animation

 * After 10 years of punishing the Eds, the kids finally got their karmic retribution in The Movie.
 * Hindsighted case:
 * This trope even applies to Eddy himself, in a similar way to Homer above. While always being hit with karma, he was always back with new schemes, and still had his friends at his side despite him treating them like shit. The Movie addresses this with his latest scheme failing in spectacular levels, forcing him and his friends to leave. Not only that,
 * Aku from Samurai Jack gets hit with this in the Series Finale. After years of being a Karma Houdini who put Jack through hell for most of the series,
 * Way, way back in Season One of The Simpsons, Ms. Botz, the notorious Babysitter Bandit managed to rob the family's house and get away scott-free, mostly due to Homer's bumbling. The Season Eight episode "Hurricane Neddy" shows she's finally been apprehended, as she is an inmate in the asylum.
 * For four seasons of Rick and Morty, Tammy was one of the most hated villains in the show. As an agent of the Galactic Federation, she feigned friendship towards Summer in order to get close to Rick, lied to Bird-Person (Rick's closest ally and best friend), about a Friendless Background to get close to him, seduced him,  tricked him into marrying her, used her wedding as a sting operation to assault the Sanchezes, killing Bird-Person in the process, resurrected him as an enslaved cyborg, and  gave him the rather ridiculous rename of Phoenixperson. (Okay, in her defense, she didn't choose that name.) Through it all, she receives no comeuppance whatsoever, all until the Season 4 finale where she is killed in a brutal, bloody fight with Rick. Warranty Expired.
 * Scoutmaster Lumpus from Camp Lazlo was an angry, selfish, stingy jerk. He hated children, he was mean to his charges, stole their things, laughed at their misfortunes, and abused his assistant Slinkman, in one episode chasing the poor guy with a salt shaker. Why on Earth would the guy in charge hire him to look after kids? Well, as the Series Finale showed,
 * Princess Morbucks from The Powerpuff Girls was really never a Houdini to begin with - as early as her first appearance, her scheme lands her in jail. However, the episode where she recieves a fitting comeuppance befitting a Spoiled Brat like herself is in "Bought and Scold" where the ending implies she is finally about to be punished by her father, something she is truly terrified of. (His rolled up newspaper suggesting she might even get a spanking.) It was a satisfying Catharsis to many fans.