History Main / DesignatedMonkey

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Velma}}'' incarnation of Fred Jones is supposed to be the butt of the joke as the racist, sexist, misogynistic ManChild, but the over-the-top [[ButtMonkey constant mockery]] of him in-universe feels incredibly undeserved. His behavior overall has him acting more like an immature child who doesn't know any better thanks to his infantilizing mother and his father's toxic masculinity, which combined with his desperate need for approval makes it hard to laugh when other characters constantly mock him and feel no guilt for his wrongful conviction purely because he's a stupid, rich white boy. It doesn't help that there's a lot of in-universe fixation on things that are beyond his control and have nothing to do with his less admirable personality traits, particularly his [[TeenyWeeny smaller-than-average genitals]]. This is only heightened as the season goes on and Fred genuinely tries to improve himself, something that can't be said of characters such as Velma who are presented as more sympathetic than Fred. This is only epitomized by the revelation that [[spoiler:the killer of the season was his own mother, Victoria, who was going to scoop out his brain and replace it with a pretty woman's because she genuinely thinks [[AbusiveParents he is just that stupidly incompetent]] for the sake of the family business, meaning even one of the people he should trust the most utterly despises him for petty, selfish reasons after she'd ''raised him that way''.]]

* Lelouch from ''Anime/CodeGeass''; the show's writers said that they loved him, but his personality ([[MagnificentBastard highly intelligent but arrogant]]) led to him making lots of bad decisions, which came back to haunt him later on. The writers considered these repercussions to be "learning experiences" in their attempts to make him a better person. Of course, just how much of a Woobie he is [[BaseBreakingCharacter depends on the individual viewer's opinion]], but most will agree that it certainly ''looks'' like [[TheChewToy the universe has it out for him]] at times. It gets especially bad on the occasions where it seems to be [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished deliberately punishing him for trying to redeem himself]]. Of which there are many, most notably the infamous DiabolusExMachina in Episode 22.

** Ryuji can come off as this. While the comments he receives from his team mates are probably meant to be only friendly ribbing, some see them as being outright insulting to him. Thus the plot of Ryuji not realizing that [[spoiler:the comments he makes genuinely upset Morgana to the point that Morgana ''tries to leave the Phantom Thieves completely'']] and being forced to apologize can be seen as a weird DoubleStandard considering that [[spoiler:Morgana ''[[MoralMyopia never once]]'' [[MoralMyopia gets called out for his treatment of Ryuji]]]]. And finally, there is also at the end of [[spoiler:Shido's Palace where [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale he gets beaten up by the girls of the team]] while the boys do nothing to stop them even though he had just saved everyone just moments ago, and they all proceed to leave him out cold on the streets whilst completely forgetting about his near-HeroicSacrifice (and it's all ''PlayedForLaughs'')]].

** When Supes isn't written as an outright moron, he's a pathetic pawn of the government. Not to mention Miller's complete dismissal of Green Lantern as being a pathetic hero. One issue of ASBAR had Dick Grayson, [[MemeticMutation age 12]], steal Hal's ring and give him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown that ends in crushing his windpipe. Many fans assume that this was Miller's TakeThat for the aforementioned Geoff Johns example.

* With the exception of Superman, Creator/GarthEnnis has a ''serious'' mad-on for superheroes. Whenever they appear in his comic, they are depicted as either {{Jerk Jock}}s or complete imbeciles, and their usual role is to [[TheWorfEffect get knocked around]] and make the {{Badass Normal}}s look good. It's frustrating for readers who've seen his work on ''[[ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX Punisher MAX]]'' and ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', and know that he's a genuinely good writer when he's not writing what amounts to glorified RevengeFic. It certainly doesn't help that a good deal of his commentary on superheroes can come off as [[ShallowParody complaining about problems that don't actually exist]].

* Despite being a CreatorsPet during the post-Flashpoint era, Barbara Gordon herself was this long beforehand and became one again due to poor handling. After Creator/AlanMoore asked DC for permission to have her be sexually assaulted and paralysed by [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] in order to hurt Batman and her father Jim in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', Moore was reportedly told to ''"cripple the bitch"'', as they were already planning on killing her off anyway. She was fortunately revived and reinvented as Oracle, during which she was reasonably well treated for a couple decades and considered an inspiring character despite the horrible nature of how she became Oracle, but after the post-Flashpoint ''New 52'' reboot, this was undone in the worst way possible. She was un-crippled and became Batgirl again, with her previous abilities, achievements, importance, and CharacterDevelopment being retconned out, ''but'' the sexual assault and paralysation were ''kept'', with Barbara's ability to walk being {{handwave}}d by experimental surgery, essentially robbing her of the few positives she got out of the ordeal. Her PTSD over the events of the ''Killing Joke'' was then forced into being the ''entire'' basis of her characterisation, not letting her forget or move on from it, and any happiness in her life being torn apart for the sake of ''drama''. Eventually the ''Burnside'' relaunch happened that gave her a happier outlook and a more positive portrayal while de-aging her and re-characterising her as a personification of every millennial stereotype imaginable. It's clear DC is ''trying'' to actually prop her up and make her the ''important'' Batgirl, particularly given the treatment of others at her expense, but the way they handled it instead came off as turning her into a punching bag seemingly written to annoy fans.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': [[Characters/TheFlashWallyWest Wally West]] just doesn't gets '''any''' love from Creator/DanDiDio, ''at all''. This seems to have started after an AudienceAlienatingEra where Wally was replaced as ComicBook/TheFlash by his great-nephew Bart Allen (formerly Impulse/Kid Flash II), which due to bleeding sales and poor critical and fan reception led to them reinstating Wally. However Didio then approved plans to have Barry Allen return, and cancelled the Wally West Flash comic before the first issue had even been ''released'' (an event that drove Mark Waid, arguably the most influential Flash writer, to leave DC in disgust). Following this, Wally and his family were then RetGone out of existence by the events of ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'', with all his rogues and achievements as The Flash being given to his uncle [[CreatorsPet Barry Allen]], and a 'new' Wally West was eventually introduced as a completely InNameOnly character with a highly unlikable personality. Eventually ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' led to [[TheBusCameBack him coming back]] but as a CosmicPlaything. Most of the world has forgotten him, former allies treat him like a stranger at best, as Barry's less-accomplished sidekick at worst. His wife Linda Park is seemingly immune to the Speed Force magic memory-reviving touch he temporarily got during ''The Return of Wally West'' arc, and [[AbortedArc after initially seemingly being open to rebuilding their lost relationship slowly]], off-camera she decides she doesn't want anything to do with him. Two "crossover" arcs (the ''Flash War'' BatFamilyCrossover and the ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' '''CrisisCrossover''' arc, the latter of which also transforms him into a DesignatedVillain) essentially revolved around the fact that, while his children still exist ''somewhere'' in the multiverse, anything he does to ''fix'' this will only bring him (and countless other people) more misery so he should just man up and ''forget about them''. And he spends a period of time with a heart condition ([[FridgeLogic despite having a super-powered healing factor]]) that would kill him if he tried to exert himself too much (such as running too fast to, say, help any of his teammates), seemingly as a cosmic punishment for ''trying to fix his life''. Oh, yeah, and any importance he seems to have gotten recently appears to have gone the way of the AbortedArc. ''Holy crap''.

* Cliffjumper in the ''Transformers'' franchise. Hasbro kills him in the pilot of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' and then resurrects him just to kill him off again in ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}''. While Hasbro ''does'' regularly kill Autobots due to being a conglomerate of toy factories that build more toys to replace a discontinued one, Cliffjumper himself just dies before he even does anything.

* [[Characters/{{Robin}} Stephanie]] [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Brown]] became this in the mid-2000s. She seemed to constantly be tossed around between being accepted by Batman, [[Characters/{{Batgirl}} Oracle]], the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey, and the rest of the Bat Family, and being rejected by them, sometimes rather harshly, because of her perceived lack of skills. However, her incompetence was very much an InformedFlaw, as she was shown to merely be untrained, repeatedly demonstrating the same kind of potential all the previous Robins and Batgirls had, making Batman's refusal to train her come off as cold and dickish. This was best exemplified during her brief stint as Robin, where she proved herself rather resourceful and unexpectedly perfect for the job in spite of Batman's clear emotional abuse and being held to unreasonable standards the past Robins were ''never'' held to, but was fired after one mistake (where she chose to save Batman's life rather than stop the villain), which then led to her being killed during [[ComicBook/BatmanWarGames the next]] BatFamilyCrossover in an event she was then blamed for (despite it largely being indirectly the fault of Batman himself both giving her too much access and too little information, and his emotional abuse pushing her into drastic action). After being brought BackFromTheDead she was eventually given the role of Batgirl as compensation...until the ''ComicBook/New52'' happened, where she was given the same RetGone treatment other Designated Monkeys got during this event (see Wally West and Cassandra Cain below). Eventually she came back after a few years of being considered 'toxic' for potentially taking attention away from [[CreatorsPet Barbara Gordon]], but she was reduced to being a sidekick and ButtMonkey for ''another'' CreatorsPet and ReplacementScrappy Harper Row, all without any regular appearances. Eventually ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' put her on Batwoman's training squad in ''Detective Comics'', only for her to suffer a ''massive'' character assassination and turned into a DesignatedVillain. It's also noted that her home life seems to be taken out of various PSA specials at times, given she's dealt with teen pregnancy, abuse, poverty, and was retconned to have once nearly been raped. Generally, it seemed that when they wanted to do a VerySpecialEpisode, they'd just pile dirt on Steph's life and write about it. The fact [[{{Determinator}} she pushes past this and continues]] is also part of why her fanbase is so vocally protective of her.

* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20071024000412/http://drowtales.com/~wiki/index.php/Yafein_Val%27Sullisin%27rune Yafien]] from ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', who is a nerd in a world where everyone else is a ProudWarriorRaceGuy, does what any sane, unarmed person would do when three knife-wielding, demon-possessed people go after the girl you met three seconds ago: run away. He is also one of the ''few'' characters in his [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian]] world who has never killed, raped, robbed, etc., and is viewed in-story as a treacherous coward due to DeliberateValuesDissonance.
** [[http://www.drowtales.com/~wiki/index.php/Syphile Syphile]] had a terrible childhood where she was put down, abused, and beaten pretty much constantly, and is guilty of abusing [[http://www.drowtales.com/~wiki/index.php/Ariel_Val%27Sarghress Ariel]] and killing her kitten in a fit of rage. She was forcing Ariel to memorize a dictionary, and basically had no idea how to teach, and took out the problems on the child, who unsurprisingly grew to hate her. She does a [[BreakThemByTalking Breaking Speech]], pointing this out, and Ariel simply refuses to listen. Also, she gets to give one to her own mother. [[spoiler: And promptly die, but it may have influenced said mother...]]

** In that episode, and its companion piece "Games Ponies Play", he's not invited back to the empire ''he helped save''. Ultimately {{subverted}} in the latter case, however; it's revealed one season later in "Equestria Games" that Spike is in fact revered by the Crystal Empire, [[KneelBeforeFrodo including by the royals themselves]], and the reason he wasn't invited to begin with was so they could prepare a hero's welcome for him.

** This comes to a head in Season 5's "Princess Spike", an episode whose moral is [[BrokenAesop supposed to be]] "Don't get DrunkWithPower." However, all decisions that backfired on Spike [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished were ones he made with fully-good intentions]][[labelnote:*]] (stopping the loud maintenance work outside Twilight's window and adjudicating two ponies' schedule conflict, both of which he did because he was explicitly ordered to keep Twilight from being disturbed)[[/labelnote]]; his [[KarmaHoudini legitimately selfish choices had no negative consequences whatsoever]]. Showrunner "Big" Jim Miller would eventually acknowledge that [[https://trixiebooru.org/920805 Spike's Designated Monkey status had worn out its welcome]]. As a result, later seasons, while still letting Spike take his lumps here and there, have [[AuthorsSavingThrow dialled it back considerably in favor of giving him a more positive portrayal]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'' and WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer in the "Grounded" videos made in Website/GoAnimate, particularly those made by certain users. In most other "Grounded" videos, they often have their punishments coming, but other times, both their lives are just being made an utter ''hell'' by their family, friends, and even people who don't even know them the instant they step out of line, yet they're supposed to deserve it since they're [[PeripheryHatedom baby show]] characters. [[JerkassWoobie Several parts of the (both ironic and non-ironic) fandom beg to differ]].

* Moxxie from ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss''- he's the nicest out of the main cast but also happens to be the one who's abused for slapstick most often. It doesn't help that whenever he gets a big moment it's immediately undone for the sake of a joke- spare the lives of the kids in Murder Family because he hopes they can grow up and change? The cops annihilate the house. Finally gets a chance to stand up to his abusive father? He has to be saved by his wife yet again. Even people who like this already divisive series tend to get tired of how cruelly Moxxie is treated as the show goes on.

* Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} falls into this occasionally in comics written by Creator/GeoffJohns. Johns claims to like Batman, but considering how many times he's humiliated/beaten up/put in the DesignatedVillain role in his comics, a lot of fans feel differently.

* Creator/FrankMiller's treatment of Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} is up there with Johns's efforts on Batman. How many times does Big Blue have to come out looking like a moron, anyway? He treats them both as idiots in ''All-Star Batman And Robin'', though. ''ASBAR'', is, however, quite possibly a StealthParody (or so everyone hopes).

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsMaryJaneWatson Mary Jane Watson]], as part of being a CreatorsPest, especially during the late 2000s/early 2010s. Since writers and editors feel she ages [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Peter]] and limits story-telling possibilities, instead of trying to find creative uses for her character, they decided [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay magical divorce]] to get rid of her, then [[ComicBook/OneMomentInTime complete character assassination]] to try and turn readers against her. When it didn't work, they settled with making her a ShipperOnDeck for Peter and [[TheScrappy Carlie]] [[CreatorsPet Cooper]], then when THAT just made fans hate Carlie, they tried this. Making her the butt of jokes to establish she's not as smart as Peter and Carlie, making her appear like she can't move on from Peter, making her need rescuing [[ActionGirl even though she's always been able to defend herself]] except in some adaptations of the mythos, generally tormenting her character out of some childish spite. Fans were not amused. Fortunately, ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan2018'' led to mending this.
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] is a similar case, as in recent years characters have become prone to calling him out on being a terrorist or war criminal thanks to his actions during events like ''Schism'' and ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen''. While some fans sided with [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]] and Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} in their condemnation of him, an equal number of fans (that has since grown) have protested that their treatment is unfair and hypocritical, especially given he spent half of the latter being corrupted by the Phoenix Force and wasn't harming anyone until they pushed him, and that the whole mess started because of Wolverine telling Cap not to trust Cyclops. A few years prior, when Wolverine and Cyclops argued, fanboys would cheer Wolverine on; now, they comment that Cyclops should just shoot his head off and be done with it. It doesn't help that Cyclops usually just tries to defend himself when they attack him, and when a bigger and more important threat emerges, he'll be the one to suggest leaving the petty squabbling aside while they insist on giving snide remarks. This eventually culminated in Cyclops' [[DroppedABridgeOnHim ignominious death]] in ''ComicBook/DeathOfX''.
* [[Characters/TheFlashWallyWest Wally West]] just doesn't gets '''any''' love from Creator/DanDiDio, ''at all''. This seems to have started after an AudienceAlienatingEra where Wally was replaced as ComicBook/TheFlash by his great-nephew Bart Allen (formerly Impulse/Kid Flash II), which due to bleeding sales and poor critical and fan reception led to them reinstating Wally. However Didio then approved plans to have Barry Allen return, and cancelled the Wally West Flash comic before the first issue had even been ''released'' (an event that drove Mark Waid, arguably the most influential Flash writer, to leave DC in disgust). Following this, Wally and his family were then RetGone out of existence by the events of ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'', with all his rogues and achievements as The Flash being given to his uncle [[CreatorsPet Barry Allen]], and a 'new' Wally West was eventually introduced as a completely InNameOnly character with a highly unlikable personality. Eventually ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' led to [[TheBusCameBack him coming back]] but as a CosmicPlaything. Most of the world has forgotten him, former allies treat him like a stranger at best, as Barry's less-accomplished sidekick at worst. His wife Linda Park is seemingly immune to the Speed Force magic memory-reviving touch he temporarily got during ''The Return of Wally West'' arc, and [[AbortedArc after initially seemingly being open to rebuilding their lost relationship slowly]], off-camera she decides she doesn't want anything to do with him. Two "crossover" arcs (the ''Flash War'' BatFamilyCrossover and the ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' '''CrisisCrossover''' arc, the latter of which also transforms him into a DesignatedVillain) essentially revolved around the fact that, while his children still exist ''somewhere'' in the multiverse, anything he does to ''fix'' this will only bring him (and countless other people) more misery so he should just man up and ''forget about them''. And he spends a period of time with a heart condition ([[FridgeLogic despite having a super-powered healing factor]]) that would kill him if he tried to exert himself too much (such as running too fast to, say, help any of his teammates), seemingly as a cosmic punishment for ''trying to fix his life''. Oh, yeah, and any importance he seems to have gotten recently appears to have gone the way of the AbortedArc. ''Holy crap''.

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' asserts itself as being a [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruction]] of cartoon tropes, but this often only applies to the title character. [=BoJack=] suffers greatly from his [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood upbringing]] and the show [[LaserGuidedKarma never allows him to live down any of his mistakes]]. Meanwhile, most of the other characters are free to do tons of comedic acts of violence and selfishness without any [[AngstWhatAngst angst]] or [[KarmaHoudini consequences]].

** Usagi Tsukino. While she is lazy, whiny, and careless, she is relentlessly abused by the other characters (''especially'' [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Rei]] and [[BrattyHalfPint Chibi-Usa]]), regardless of how many times she actually saves the day or helps them out. Although they do love her and share a lot of heartfelt moments with her, their pranks and criticisms still come across as unacceptably mean-spirited.

** Loses all the gems he legitimately worked for in "Just For Sidekicks" (brushed off as karma for "his dragon hoarding instincts kicking in again", which some felt was not only unintentional FantasticRacism, but a seriously bad Aesop as it seemed to imply it was wrong for a kid to work for an allowance).
** In that episode, and its companion piece "Games Ponies Play", he's not invited back to the empire ''he helped save''.
** He has a crush on Rarity, who is frequently InnocentlyInsensitive toward him despite ''knowing'' about his feelings, and this is all PlayedForLaughs. Granted, Spike is not only a different species but also a ''child'' both physically and mentally.

** This comes to a head in Season 5's "Princess Spike", an episode whose moral is [[BrokenAesop supposed to be]] "Don't get DrunkWithPower." However, all decisions that backfired on Spike [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished were ones he made with fully-good intentions]][[labelnote:*]] (stopping the loud maintenance work outside Twilight's window and adjudicating two ponies' schedule conflict, both of which he did because he was explicitly ordered to keep Twilight from being disturbed)[[/labelnote]]; [[KarmaHoudini his legitimately selfish choices had no negative consequences whatsoever]]. Showrunner "Big" Jim Miller would eventually acknowledge that [[https://trixiebooru.org/920805 Spike's Designated Monkey status had worn out its welcome]]. As a result, later seasons, while still letting Spike take his lumps here and there, have [[AuthorsSavingThrow dialed it back considerably in favor of giving him a more positive portrayal]].

** For the longest time Raichu got the shaft in the franchise due to the WolverinePublicity of its pre-evolution Pikachu, who got increasingly marketing and exclusive perks to make it a competitive Pokémon to the point many instances seemed to actively discourage you to evolve it into a Raichu. The anime also frequently cast Raichu as an antagonist or a ButtMonkey to the protagonist Pikachu. Recent generations have been a bit kinder to Raichu, with it getting an Alolan form used by TheRival in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', a small buff to its speed stats and accessibility to Pikachu's fuller moveset.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
** Ryuji can come off as this. While the comments he receives from his team mates are probably meant to be only friendly ribbing, some see them as being outright insulting to him. Thus the plot of Ryuji not realizing that [[spoiler:the comments he makes genuinely upset Morgana to the point that Morgana ''tries to leave the Phantom Thieves completely'']] and being forced to apologize can be seen as a weird DoubleStandard considering that [[spoiler:Morgana ''[[MoralMyopia never once]]'' [[MoralMyopia gets called out for his treatment of Ryuji]]]]. And finally, there is also at the end of [[spoiler:Shido's Palace where [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale he gets beaten up by the girls of the team]] while the boys do nothing to stop them even though he had just saved everyone just moments ago, and they all proceed to leave him out cold on the streets whilst completely forgetting about his near-HeroicSacrifice (and it's all ''PlayedForLaughs'')]].
** By way of GameplayAndStorySegregation, Mishima can come across as such. Initially, him being a ButtMonkey is played off as retribution for him leaking the protagonist's background files, even if it was through being blackmailed by Kamoshida into doing so. However, after the Phan-Site gets launched, Mishima is subsequently treated as TheFriendNobodyLikes who's little more than a HeroicWannabe riding the Phantom Thieves' coattails. While this makes sense in the context of his Confidant, which involves him undergoing CharacterDevelopment to put his selfish desires behind and become a backer of the Phantom Thieves who doesn't ''need'' to make a name for himself, the problem is that his Confidant can be completed relatively early on into the story, which makes later outings of him as a ButtMonkey come across as undeserved when he's already learned to become a better person.
* The title character of ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' is frequently the IronButtMonkey of the franchise and something of an airhead, but in general he's only ''one of many'' slapstick buffoons in his cartoonish universe. ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'' marks the only story where it's usually Crash, and ONLY Crash that tends to be targeted for AmusingInjuries however, with almost every other character in the main cast playing things relatively serious, [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter if not outshining Crash in competence]] or supplanting him as the hero of the story. Subverted in gameplay however where TheManyDeathsOfYou is in play for every character.
* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'': A lot of fans believe that Luigi's ButtMonkey status in the series is taken unreasonably far, as most dialogue surrounding him from [=NPCs=] consist of either [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg not knowing who he is]], or placing Mario on a pedestal compared to him. It also doesn't help that Stuffwell and Starlow's primary RunningGag is the two constantly ragging on Luigi, and his status as a CosmicPlaything reaches its lowest in ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime Partners in Time]]'' when the Star Gate {{gaslight|ing}}s Luigi into thinking he's self-centered and not a team player, despite it being a SecretTestOfCharacter for Mario.
* ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'' has the Cultist, the character that the second player in co-op mode has to use; he's depicted as a {{Manchild}} and constantly mocked by everyone for not being the protagonist. Needless to say, the joke wears off rather quickly.

* Some wonder if Ryuji Sakamoto from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' is hated by the universe itself. Even for intentional ButtMonkey standards, he gets constantly belittled by his teammates (especially by [[JerkassToOne Morgana]]) whenever he makes a mistake, no matter how small it may be, and if he does something right he gets back-handed compliments at best. While [[LaserGuidedKarma there are times where he does deserve what happens to him]], the treatment he receives feels too excessive and unnecessary most of the time. It especially gets worse when [[spoiler: Morgana runs away due to his insecurity because of an insensitive comment Ryuji had made among other factors and the latter is immediately called out for this behavior, while Morgana on the other hand never gets called out for [[JerkassToOne the treatment he has been giving Ryuji]] ever since they met]]. The worst example of this may be at the end of [[spoiler: Shido's palace]] in which [[spoiler: Ryuji gets [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale beaten up to a pulp by the girls of the team while the boys do nothing to stop them]]. All of this simply for making an InnocentlyInsensitive comment at how the girls thought he died as he had [[HeroicSacrifice risked his life]] in order to save his teammates, but they all just seem to forget about this]].

* Some wonder if Ryuji Sakamoto from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' is hated by the universe itself. Even for intentional ButtMonkey standards, he gets constantly belittled by his teammates (especially by [[JerkassToOne Morgana]]) whenever he makes a mistake, no matter how small it may be, and if he does something right he gets back-handed compliments at best. While [[LaserGuidedKarma there are times where he does deserve what happens to him]], the treatment he receives feels too excessive and unnecessary most of the time. It especially gets worse when [[spoiler: Morgana runs away due to his insecurity because of an insensitive comment Ryuji had made among other factors and the latter is immediately called out for this behavior, while Morgana on the other hand never gets called out for [[JerkassToOne the treatment he has been giving Ryuji]] ever since they met]]. The worst example of this may be at the end of [[spoiler: Shido's palace]] in which [[spoiler: Ryuji gets [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale beaten up to a pulp by the girls of the team while the boys do nothing to stop them]]. All of this simply for making an InnocentlyInsensitive comment at how the girls thought he died as he had [[HeroicSacrifice risked his life]] in order to save his teammates, but they all just seem to forget about this]]. Many, especially in the West, speculate that his treatment in the game is the result of cultural views, which has been supported by many Japanese polls often ranking him the worst party member.

* With the exception of Superman, Creator/GarthEnnis has a ''serious'' mad-on for superheroes. Whenever they appear in his comic, they are depicted as either {{Jerk Jock}}s or complete imbeciles, and their usual role is to [[TheWorfEffect get knocked around]] and make the {{Badass Normal}}s look good. It's frustrating for readers who've seen his work on ''[[Comicbook/ThePunisherMAX Punisher MAX]]'' and ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', and know that he's a genuinely good writer when he's not writing what amounts to glorified RevengeFic. It certainly doesn't help that a good deal of his commentary on superheroes can come off as [[ShallowParody complaining about problems that don't actually exist]].
* [[Characters/{{Robin}} Stephanie]] [[Comicbook/Batgirl2009 Brown]] became this in the mid-2000s. She seemed to constantly be tossed around between being accepted by Batman, [[Characters/{{Batgirl}} Oracle]], the Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey, and the rest of the Bat Family, and being rejected by them, sometimes rather harshly, because of her perceived lack of skills. However, her incompetence was very much an InformedFlaw, as she was shown to merely be untrained, repeatedly demonstrating the same kind of potential all the previous Robins and Batgirls had, making Batman's refusal to train her come off as cold and dickish. This was best exemplified during her brief stint as Robin, where she proved herself rather resourceful and unexpectedly perfect for the job in spite of Batman's clear emotional abuse and being held to unreasonable standards the past Robins were ''never'' held to, but was fired after one mistake (where she chose to save Batman's life rather than stop the villain), which then led to her being killed during [[ComicBook/BatmanWarGames the next]] BatFamilyCrossover in an event she was then blamed for (despite it largely being indirectly the fault of Batman himself both giving her too much access and too little information, and his emotional abuse pushing her into drastic action). After being brought BackFromTheDead she was eventually given the role of Batgirl as compensation...until the ''ComicBook/New52'' happened, where she was given the same RetGone treatment other Designated Monkeys got during this event (see Wally West and Cassandra Cain below). Eventually she came back after a few years of being considered 'toxic' for potentially taking attention away from [[CreatorsPet Barbara Gordon]], but she was reduced to being a sidekick and ButtMonkey for ''another'' CreatorsPet and ReplacementScrappy Harper Row, all without any regular appearances. Eventually ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' put her on Batwoman's training squad in ''Detective Comics'', only for her to suffer a ''massive'' character assassination and turned into a DesignatedVillain. It's also noted that her home life seems to be taken out of various PSA specials at times, given she's dealt with teen pregnancy, abuse, poverty, and was retconned to have once nearly been raped. Generally, it seemed that when they wanted to do a VerySpecialEpisode, they'd just pile dirt on Steph's life and write about it. The fact [[{{Determinator}} she pushes past this and continues]] is also part of why her fanbase is so vocally protective of her.

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsMaryJaneWatson Mary Jane Watson]], as part of being a CreatorsPest, especially during the late 2000s/early 2010s. Since writers and editors feel she ages [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Peter]] and limits story-telling possibilities, instead of trying to find creative uses for her character, they decided [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay magical divorce]] to get rid of her, then [[ComicBook/OneMomentInTime complete character assassination]] to try and turn readers against her. When it didn't work, they settled with making her a ShipperOnDeck for Peter and [[TheScrappy Carlie]] [[CreatorsPet Cooper]], then when THAT just made fans hate Carlie, they tried this. Making her the butt of jokes to establish she's not as smart as Peter and Carlie, making her appear like she can't move on from Peter, making her need rescuing [[ActionGirl even though she's always been able to defend herself]] except in some adaptations of the mythos, generally tormenting her character out of some childish spite. Fans were not amused. Fortunately, ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManNickSpencer'' led to mending this.