Who's Laughing Now?/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Someone who was the butt of several jokes becomes a villain.

  • Straight: Everyone made fun of Emmitt Everson growing up. He decides to become Emperor Evulz to teach the world a lesson.
  • Downplayed: Emmitt only gets revenge on the people who made fun of him. Everyone else is safe.
  • Exaggerated: Someone once giggled at Emmitt; this turns him into an Omnicidal Maniac.
  • Justified: The pressure of the teasing left Emmitt to believe his only outlet was Revenge.
  • 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.
  • Subverted: Emperor Evulz wasn't made fun of growing up, he just uses that as a Freudian Excuse to justify his actions of evil.
  • Double Subverted: ...At least, that's what he claims...
    • However, he went after the Jerk Jock first because he used to tease him.
  • Parodied: The entire universe laughs at Emmitt; he dyes his hair black and puts on a fake mustache and the laughter instantly turns to fear.
    • Alternatively Emmitt is a comedian.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 Nietzsche Wannabe who hates existence itself; so he teases the already-unstable Emmitt Everson in hopes that this trope will occur.
  • Exploited: "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.
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: "Well, the characterization that fanfic came up with for Emperor Evulz was...interesting, to say the least."
  • 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.

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