History Main / DeathIsALoser

* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with [[EldritchAbomination Nekron]], Lord of the Unliving. While a legitimately powerful and dangerous CosmicEntity, he is usually stuck as a bodiless spirit in the limbo-like Land of the Unliving, where he was threatened by the paradox of an immortal like Krona dying, and when Hal Jordan manages to incite the recently dead spirits to rebel against him. While he averts this by being a cosmic threat in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', he's only able to do so because of the death of his tether, Black Hand, and is banished to his realm shortly after Black Hand is revived.

* ''Series/TheWatch'': Unlike his [[Literature/{{Discworld}} book counterpart]], Death is treated as a joke by most of the characters he interacts with, seems more interested in getting accepted in a band than actually reaping, and is shown to have trouble doing his work correctly when he has to.

* ''Music/{{Mastodon}}'': The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUGda7GdZPQ Show Yourself]] features a comically inept Reaper who gets outrun by an old lady using a walker, beaten at ChessWithDeath, and berated by his boss and fired for misidentifying his targets. [[spoiler: He does succeed at killing Mastodon by making their tour bus crash with a BananaPeel.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': [[TheGrimReaper Death]] is portrayed as a geek who still lives with and is nagged around by his mother, and has no luck with with women. He ends up trying to collect Peter too early and breaks his ankle chasing him, [[DeathTakesAHoliday making him unable to do his job]]. He later tries to get Peter's advice on how to get a girl.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In one of the ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' specials Homer kills Death and is forced to take his place (via GroinAttack). He handles the duties of being the Grim Reaper in the regular fashion [[FatIdiot Homer Simpson]] handles everything else.

[[caption-width-right:339:[[ICouldaBeenAContender He Coulda Been a Contender]], now he just the plaything of a pair of brats.]]

[[quoteright:339:[[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d20152977165ccd23bf08f1b92984c355f5f9717_hq.jpg]]]]

* ''Series/TheWatch'': Unlike his [[Literature/{{Discworld}} book counterpart]], Death is treated as a joke by most of the characters he interacts with, seem more interested in getting accepted in a band than actually reaping, and is shown to have trouble doing his work correctly when he has to.

[[Folder:Fan Works]]

* Downplayed in ''Have A Nice Death'': The tedium and stress of running [[CelestialBureaucracy Death Inc.]] has weakened the Reaper considerably so he has to fight his rogue employees the old fashioned way, he still has a ton of weapons and spells at his disposal.

TheGrimReaper or any god of death is usually a big deal. They're master of one of the most fundamental forces of nature, [[{{Psychopomp}} carry souls off to the afterlife]] and usually look intimidating. At least, that's how they're usually characterized. But sometimes the scariest thing about the reaper is their job. They always lose ChessWithDeath, have trouble getting mortals to come with them and nobody respect or cares for the job they do. And if there are other gods, they tend to be TheFriendNobodyLikes. Maybe there are multiple incarnations of death, and one of them happens to be the ButtMonkey of the group.

Sister trope to TheDevilIsALoser and LoserDeity, when {{Satan}} and a god/''the'' {{God}} is the ButtMonkey. While it can overlap with DontFearTheReaper, that trope is where Death isn't scary because [[DarkIsNotEvil they're nice]], not because they're a loser. Compare HangingUpOnTheGrimReaper, where someone tries to push away Death, but that doesn't mean it's a recurring problem or Death's necessarily a loser. Sub-trope to TheGrimReaper.

* ''Series/TheNewAddamsFamily'': The Reaper tries to come for Gomez in "Death Visits the Addams Family". Initially he seems quite cool, being a giant, ominous dark robbed figure, with an inhumanly deep voice and supernatural powers. However, [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth after getting sick of the Addams' antics]] and them being completely oblivious to who he obvious is, he drops all the theatrics and takes off his cloak, revealing he's in fact a much shorter, bespectacled unassuming man, with a nasally voice who dresses like an accountant. Ironically this version actually manages to get the Addams to take him seriously (after he flat out explains what's going on to them), however, upon them learning you can challenge Death to continue your life, he proceeds to lose every contest to Gomez and ends up falling back into the underworld.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Reaper tries to take Wakko away because he ate too many meatballs. He really does try to be menacing, even appearing with a dramatic light show, which makes sense given that [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Toons are so hard to kill.]] He he is immediately undercut by appearing in the oversized pile of meatballs. And then Yakko and Dot want to come too, refusing to leave their brother. He tries to trick them through ChessWithDeath, the stakes being that they get to stay together forever, and on their victory [[ExactWords he kills them.]] But they [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth promptly annoy the Reaper so much]] he sets all three of them free, much to his chagrin.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Reaper tries to take Wakko away because he ate too many meatballs. He really does try to be menacing, even appearing with a dramatic light show, which makes sense given that [[WhoFramedRogerRabbit Toons are so hard to kill.]] He he is immediately undercut by appearing in the oversized pile of meatballs. And then Yakko and Dot want to come too, refusing to leave their brother. He tries to trick them through ChessWithDeath, the stakes being that they get to stay together forever, and on their victory [[ExactWords he kills them.]] But they [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth promptly annoy the Reaper so much]] he sets all three of them free, much to his chagrin.

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* In [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE7j5FieXSTf1_gNwhix5n-SA_Ahfcvy1 Purgatony]] death is at least a PointyHairedBoss.

* The premise of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' is that Billy and Mandy trick TheGrimReaper into becoming their best friend forever. They treat Grimm like their slave, and despite being legitimately powerful and scary when he wants to be Underworld rules means he can't break the contract. Ever since then he's become the laughing stock of the Underworld and is one of the series' main [[ButtMonkey butt monkeys]]. It doesn't help that [[CreepyChild Mandy]] is every bit as scary as he used to be, if not more so.

* ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'': Hades, God of the Underworld is treated as TheFriendNobodyLikes among his fellow Olympian gods, rarely appearing on Mt Olympus, gets ribbed by Zeus and hates his job. This is a contributing factor [[EverybodyHatesHades to his villainy and desire to conquer Mt Olympus]], where he releases the Titans and storms Mt Olympus [[WhosLaughingNow to show how much of a "joke" he is]].

* ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'': At the beginning of the story, Death's apprentice Mort is very bad at his job, completely messing up his entrance and unable to go through with the actual scything. Thankfully his first customer is an understanding witch who walks him through it, and ItGetsEasier as time goes by. Death even tells Mort that it's a good sign: had Mort shown sadistic pleasure in performing the Duty, his apprenticeship would have been cut short.

->''"I can't believe we Melvined Death!"''

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Reaper tries to take Wakko away because he ate too many meatballs. Yakko and Dot want to come too, and [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth promptly the Reaper so much]] he sets all three of them free.

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* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Reaper tries to take Wakko away because he ate too many meatballs. Yakko and Dot want to come too, and eventually they (unintentionally) bother the Reaper too much, so he sets all three of them free.